As the inspector continued to do his thing and Matt's dad was checking out the heating and air conditioning systems, I stepped out onto the big front porch and just gazed up and down the street. People were strolling along the sidewalk on their way to either of the two church's just down from each end of the house. I was dying for someone to ask if we were buying the house, just so I could say yes, why yes we are. It was a great feeling.
The inspection wrapped up and it was time to hear the verdict. I prayed he didn't find anything that would kill the deal for us. We had kept in mind that we were buying a house that was nearly 113 years old and it would be unreasonable to think that everything would be perfect, but still, we hoped that anything found would be minor and wouldn't come between us and this house we had fallen in love with. For the most part, the Manor got a a clean bill of health. The roof was probably less than a year old. One of the a/c units was less than a year old as well. The boiler for the hot water radiators that heated the first floor was less than 10 years old and was in great working order. All wiring had been updated and was compliant with code. All in all, the house was in great shape, however...there it was, the caveat....there were some things that needed to be addressed pretty quickly. Once of the pipes under the kitchen had a leak in a joint where it connected to another. Not only was it leaking when the water was run in the sink, but it happened to be leaking directly onto the power outlet for the basement sump pump. There were a couple of pipes leading to the boiler that were fairly corroded and needed to be replaced in addition to the drain pipe for the washer. While the wiring to the washer and dryer outlets was connected, there was no juice. It could be a bad breaker, but it needed to be fixed. A little bit of wood rot due to age and moisture was found under the porch and in the decorative bases to the large columns on the front of the house. That last one is what made my heart stop. Were those columns about to collapse and send the entire front of the house into the yard? Obviously I wasn't aware that the real support runs through the center of them and that everything around that was just cosmetic, so I began breathing again. Then came debate. At one time, there must have been a second floor portico above the porch roof. Currently, there is a door that provides access, but no railing around the roof of the porch. This would present a problem with the insurance company when we obtained home owners. It would absolutely be seen as a liability that someone could technically walk out there and fall off the roof of the porch, so some type of barrier would need to be installed, such as a guard rail mounted to the door frame to prevent someone from walking out there until such time that we would rail in the area as a whole or convert the door to a permanent window. There were other things, but nothing critical and each could be addressed over time.
While it seemed to me, that what needed to be addressed right away was a lot, the inspector and agent reassured us and made me feel better that these were things any buyer would want addressed before closing on the house. I kept telling myself that these are not unreasonable requests, but in my mind I wondered what the seller would thing once presented with them and our desire for him to correct them prior to closing.
That night we received the addendum that our agent would present to the seller's listing agent. We reviewed the items, agreed that these would address everything we felt was most critical, and we signed the document. It was now in the hands of the seller's agent. Again, we wait and again, we worry.
Monday goes by and we hear nothing. Tuesday comes and goes and again, nothing. Oh jeez, he probably got that list and is trying to make up his mind whether to tell us to hit the bricks or not. I tried to remind myself of what the agent told us about any buyer wanting these things fixed. I'd feel better for a while, but then I'd ask myself then why hasn't he agreed? Wednesday arrives and the termite inspection takes place. As with any property that has sat unoccupied, it was expected that they would most likely find evidence of termites. Our agent told us that actually, it was in our best interest that they find something. That way, the seller pays for the initial inspection and treatment and then we could simply sign a new pest control contract and not have to foot the bill for that initial step. As expected, they did find evidence of termites and worked up the quote for treatment to get us in a good spot for just annual inspections after that. Like the home inspection, that report was sent on to the seller's agent as well and we continued to wait.
By Wednesday night, I had myself so worked up over not hearing anything, that I had convinced myself this deal was not going to go through. I came home from work in somewhat of a funky mood. Never had I stepped back away from the situation and thought about the fact that we were only a little over a week into this whole process and considered how much had already taken place. I was acting as if we were days from closing and were trying to work out details that would prevent us from actually closing the deal. What a relief it was though when the phone rang and it was our agent on the other end. The seller had agreed to our list of items from the home inspection and would be paying for the termite treatment. Wait for it...wait for it....ah yes, there it is...that wave of relief, the third one I think in the past week slowly moved down my body. I calmly set down the cup of coffee I had fixed myself that evening and pulled a bottle of wine from the rack in the dining room.
So where are we now? We are two days before Christmas so not much is going to happen over the next several days. On Thursday of this coming week, I have my appointment to take all of my documentation to support everything that went into the automated underwriting system into the mortgage company and to sign the formal loan application. We still have a couple of details to work out with the down payment. We have it, but since we are moving ahead of schedule, Matt is going to have to "gift" a larger portion than originally planned since I had my savings goal based on our original timeline of February which was dependent on an end of year bonus and my annual tax refund, so we have to get that money transferred and complete the required documentation and return it to the mortgage company. Once we are through this week, we should only have to wait on two more things. The appraisal has to be ordered and completed and final underwriting. I'm not that anxious about the appraisal. The tax value on the home is a good $50K above what we are paying for it, so I think we're going to be ok there. Obviously waiting on final and absolute loan approval has me a bit anxious, but I'm told that as long as you can back up the information that went into the automated underwriting system, there should be nothing to worry about. Luckily, when we first discussed starting this process back in November, I immediately went out and bought two bound notebooks of pocket folders. I then researched what type of documents are required for a mortgage and labeled each pocket for things like bank statements, W2 forms, tax returns, pay stubs, my 401K quarterly statement, and our current lease agreement and contact information for the landlord. One folder has originals and one has copies. Our loan officer is going to email us with the complete list of what's needed, but I feel confident that I already have 95% ready to go.
I just realized that through all of these posts, I've yet to include a picture of the house. She's very stately and I feel such a connection to it already. I truly hope that's a good sign that it's meant to be and that five weeks from now, we'll be calling it home. In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
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