Monday, January 28, 2013
Saturday, January 26, 2013
48 Hours...
...and it will be ours! Everything has moved along very well over the past week since finding out our loan had received final approval. We are scheduled for the walk through at 9am on Monday, followed by closing at 10am. All of the other details have fallen into place perfectly as well. The termite inspector was back out and satisfied with the treatment and all of the required repairs resulting from the inspection. All of the other work related to the home inspection has been completed and the seller even had the entire front porch repainted for us.
Yesterday, we obtained our cashiers check for the down payment and were pleasantly surprised after receiving the settlement statement last night that over $400 of it will be refunded to us due to the seller's contribution to settlement costs, the lender credit we received for locking in our interest rate at the time of loan application, and the funds we've already prepaid like our deposit and appraisal fee.
I remain astonished at this entire process. What I had envisioned in my head of how this would go couldn't have been farther from the reality of how it actually all went down. How we went from falling in love with this house online back in November, to closing on it two days from now, on the exact date we specified at the very beginning, without any problems, hassle, or last minute bumps just amazes me. Any worry or stress was strictly self inflicted out of fear that something negative would happen, not from anything that actually occurred.
We are just about all packed. This weekend we are doing a few last minute things and trying to do the nitty gritty cleaning for the apartment like bathrooms and the kitchen. My hope is to vacuum rooms as the movers empty them and be able to walk out of here Wednesday night, a day ahead of schedule, so that we can concentrate our efforts Thursday and Friday on unpacking and getting things set up at the house the way we want them.
I'm going to keep the blog going though as we discover the adventures that await us as homeowners and as we take on various projects. After seeing so much in the way of negative experiences on the internet, and after seeing how ours turned out, I hope that this can provide a sense of hope and what to expect to someone who is thinking about venturing down this road. I know it certainly would have helped me and perhaps given me some reassurance at the time when I had no idea whatsoever what awaited me as we started out on this endeavor.
Happy weekend to all!
Yesterday, we obtained our cashiers check for the down payment and were pleasantly surprised after receiving the settlement statement last night that over $400 of it will be refunded to us due to the seller's contribution to settlement costs, the lender credit we received for locking in our interest rate at the time of loan application, and the funds we've already prepaid like our deposit and appraisal fee.
I remain astonished at this entire process. What I had envisioned in my head of how this would go couldn't have been farther from the reality of how it actually all went down. How we went from falling in love with this house online back in November, to closing on it two days from now, on the exact date we specified at the very beginning, without any problems, hassle, or last minute bumps just amazes me. Any worry or stress was strictly self inflicted out of fear that something negative would happen, not from anything that actually occurred.
We are just about all packed. This weekend we are doing a few last minute things and trying to do the nitty gritty cleaning for the apartment like bathrooms and the kitchen. My hope is to vacuum rooms as the movers empty them and be able to walk out of here Wednesday night, a day ahead of schedule, so that we can concentrate our efforts Thursday and Friday on unpacking and getting things set up at the house the way we want them.
I'm going to keep the blog going though as we discover the adventures that await us as homeowners and as we take on various projects. After seeing so much in the way of negative experiences on the internet, and after seeing how ours turned out, I hope that this can provide a sense of hope and what to expect to someone who is thinking about venturing down this road. I know it certainly would have helped me and perhaps given me some reassurance at the time when I had no idea whatsoever what awaited me as we started out on this endeavor.
Happy weekend to all!
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Patience is a Virtue
The waiting game is no fun! Since hearing that the appraisal came back ok, we have been in waiting mode. We've been keeping ourselves busy packing, which is starting to overwhelm me. Tuesday night of this week I packed things that were on shelves in our storage room and as I wandered the apartment, box in hand, looking for some open floor space to set it down, I nearly had my first meltdown. We've been living in a maze of boxes for over two weeks now. With all of the furniture still here plus the boxes everywhere you look, it just makes you feel like you're never going to get there. Every time I think I have a particular room all packed, I'll spot something else I forgot about. Looking around the apartment at everything sitting around, the fear of something going wrong struck again. I have no idea what we'd do. We have no contingency plan for temporary storage. We have no flexibility to stay beyond the 31st since the new tenants are ready to move as soon as we're out and we absolutely are not going to pay movers to move us twice. All we can do is keep moving forward and pray for the best.
I took another step this week to complicate things even further if the situation ends up turning bad by calling to transfer all of our utilities effective on our closing date, the 28th. Why not just toss that in there as well to cry about if something goes wrong.
I learned on Wednesday night of this week that our file had been in underwriting for four business days. What? Everything I've read has indicated that underwriting should only take about 24 hours. This can't be good. What is the hold up? Do they need more information? Are they questioning something? I still hadn't heard whether the appraisal had listed anything negative about the house that would have to be addressed before approval and closing, so could this be it? The loan officer said that she would check in with the underwriters in the morning and let me know what's going on.
By Thursday afternoon, I hadn't heard anything and began to worry. We're only a little more than a week out from closing and being "homeless". I've become "that" person in the sense that I set up the loan officer and the real estate agent in my VIP list for emails so that when I received communication from them, my phone would light up like a Christmas tree. So, when the bells and whistles started going off just before leaving work Thursday night, I nearly tripped over my own feet to grab it off of my desk. While my loan had been in underwriting all this time, it was just being worked for the first time that afternoon. While I was relieved that some number cruncher hadn't been stewing over it and debating nearly all week whether to give me the loan or not, I still wanted an answer and wanted it now. I likely wouldn't hear until sometime on Friday.
Shortly after lunch on Friday, I received the appraisal from one of my loan officer's assistants. I sent back the acknowledgement of receipt and began reading over it. I was thrilled to see all of the positive things he listed about the house and what great shape it was in. I was even more happy to see that there were no FHA/HUD contingencies that required addressing before loan approval and closing.
Shortly after reading through the appraisal, my phone began to dance across my desk. There it was, an email from the loan officer. Hands shaking and knees wobbling, I picked it up. All I had to do was read the subject line. That alone told me exactly how this story ends. APPROVED!! in big bold letters!! Holy crap! We had done it! In this age of nightmares and horror stories about home buying experiences, we had received a clean approval, with no further conditions attached. I made one and only one trip to the mortgage company to turn over my initial collection of documentation and sign the loan application papers. There was no running back and forth. There was no gathering additional documentation. And as it turns out, there was no reason to stress out as much as I did. We were approved over a week prior to our scheduled closing date and all signs pointed to an on time closing. Wow!
In the approval email, the loan officer made a point to mention the manner in which I submitted all of my backup documentation and my ability to "get" how a paper trail needed to be followed. This will my biggest piece of advice to anyone thinking of going into this process. I did my homework ahead of time, provided probably more than they required, and got a clean approval without the constant back and forth that so many friends have described from their own experiences. In the end, it was so worth the extra upfront effort!
So we are now 9 days away from closing. We are still packing and are down to probably two rooms left to get boxed up. I'll probably update again next weekend just before closing and then again shortly afterward. It's all coming together and we couldn't be happier!
I took another step this week to complicate things even further if the situation ends up turning bad by calling to transfer all of our utilities effective on our closing date, the 28th. Why not just toss that in there as well to cry about if something goes wrong.
I learned on Wednesday night of this week that our file had been in underwriting for four business days. What? Everything I've read has indicated that underwriting should only take about 24 hours. This can't be good. What is the hold up? Do they need more information? Are they questioning something? I still hadn't heard whether the appraisal had listed anything negative about the house that would have to be addressed before approval and closing, so could this be it? The loan officer said that she would check in with the underwriters in the morning and let me know what's going on.
By Thursday afternoon, I hadn't heard anything and began to worry. We're only a little more than a week out from closing and being "homeless". I've become "that" person in the sense that I set up the loan officer and the real estate agent in my VIP list for emails so that when I received communication from them, my phone would light up like a Christmas tree. So, when the bells and whistles started going off just before leaving work Thursday night, I nearly tripped over my own feet to grab it off of my desk. While my loan had been in underwriting all this time, it was just being worked for the first time that afternoon. While I was relieved that some number cruncher hadn't been stewing over it and debating nearly all week whether to give me the loan or not, I still wanted an answer and wanted it now. I likely wouldn't hear until sometime on Friday.
Shortly after lunch on Friday, I received the appraisal from one of my loan officer's assistants. I sent back the acknowledgement of receipt and began reading over it. I was thrilled to see all of the positive things he listed about the house and what great shape it was in. I was even more happy to see that there were no FHA/HUD contingencies that required addressing before loan approval and closing.
Shortly after reading through the appraisal, my phone began to dance across my desk. There it was, an email from the loan officer. Hands shaking and knees wobbling, I picked it up. All I had to do was read the subject line. That alone told me exactly how this story ends. APPROVED!! in big bold letters!! Holy crap! We had done it! In this age of nightmares and horror stories about home buying experiences, we had received a clean approval, with no further conditions attached. I made one and only one trip to the mortgage company to turn over my initial collection of documentation and sign the loan application papers. There was no running back and forth. There was no gathering additional documentation. And as it turns out, there was no reason to stress out as much as I did. We were approved over a week prior to our scheduled closing date and all signs pointed to an on time closing. Wow!
In the approval email, the loan officer made a point to mention the manner in which I submitted all of my backup documentation and my ability to "get" how a paper trail needed to be followed. This will my biggest piece of advice to anyone thinking of going into this process. I did my homework ahead of time, provided probably more than they required, and got a clean approval without the constant back and forth that so many friends have described from their own experiences. In the end, it was so worth the extra upfront effort!
So we are now 9 days away from closing. We are still packing and are down to probably two rooms left to get boxed up. I'll probably update again next weekend just before closing and then again shortly afterward. It's all coming together and we couldn't be happier!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
As Good As It Gets...
So here we are at January 12th. It has been a couple of weeks since I've posted an update, so let me get started catching up on everything.
First off, the appointment with the loan officer. I was so nervous that morning. I felt like I was prepared, but my stomach stayed in knots all morning until I left work to head to my appointment. I found the office with no problem and walked in to a sign on the front desk welcoming me. I'm pretty sure the receptionist thought I had to pee or something the way I was rocking back and forth on the waiting area couch, but that's just me when my nerves are shot. The loan officer came out to greet me and suddenly I felt incredibly at ease. She could not have made me feel more welcome and comfortable. The first thing she asked me was if I had any objection to her new assistant sitting in on our meeting. It was his first day and his first opportunity to observe such a meeting. I was totally ok with it, so the three of us settled into her office and started reviewing what looked like a mountain of paperwork on her desk. We talked about whether to lock in at that day's interest rate, we went over my credit report, FHA and HUD forms, good faith estimates, and a variety of other things that I tried to understand before signing. Being just a few days away from the fiscal cliff resolution in D.C. and not knowing what the outcome would be, I opted to lock in at my 3.25% that day. There was some chance the interest rates would drop even more before closing, but I wanted to walk out of there somewhat assured that the ball was rolling as fast as it could be at that point.
After we reviewed and signed all of the necessary documents, she asked for the documentation that I brought in order to verify all of my information we had gone over during our initial conversation a couple of weeks prior. I broke out the folders I had put so much time into preparing and gave her the choice between originals or copies. At that point, I had my first indication that the preparation would be worth it. She smiled and indicated the folder of copies would be sufficient. I went over each pocket folder, indicating what I had included, how I had everything labeled, and that I had even included a few things beyond what she had asked for. I felt great after I handed it over and she looked at her new assistant and told him not to set the expectation for future clients based on how I presented my information. In all, it took about an hour and a half to complete everything we needed to do that day. I wrote the check for the appraisal, which would be ordered the next day and we wrapped things up. On my way out, we stopped so that she could make a copy of my drivers license. At that point she indicated that she may need me to bring my social security card in so they could make a copy of that as well. After doing some research online and learning that this was sometimes required, I pulled it out of my wallet and handed it over right then. That would be the moment she asked if I would ever consider teaching a session on how to prepare for a loan application if they ever offered a new home buyers workshop. What a great way to end a meeting that I had been stressing out about for several days.
That night, I received an email from her to let me know that she had been putting my file together and how easy it was due to the way I had presented my documentation. She said that when I left, her assistant pointed to my folder and asked if that was as good as it ever gets, to which she replied, yes....yes it is.
So what has happened over the past two week since then? Well, last week I secured our homeowner's insurance. It just so happens that the company I went with could offer me a 30% discount if I had multiple policies with them and offered me a premium on my car insurance that was 50% less than I was currently paying. Seeing as my current insurance company never bothered to return my call when I contacted them for a homeowners quote, I promptly fired them and switched my auto insurance over. I went from paying $1200 a year to $600, paid the premium in full for six month, so I'll now not have that monthly expense until August. That worked out great!!
The appraisal has had me a bit nervous. Yesterday was two weeks since it had been ordered and I had not heard anything back yet. With our closing date just barely two weeks away, I was starting to panic since we have to be out of our apartment by February 1st. While emailing our agent last night though, she let us know that it had come back yesterday and it came in more than we were financing, so that was a huge relief. She also informed us that most of the items from the home inspection were complete and the seller was just waiting on one more estimate for one of the things that had to be addressed.
We've been packing up the apartment slowly but surely and we have movers coming today to give us an estimate on moving everything.
Oh, and the best part? At least so far, all of the horror stories I've read about and heard about from friends regarding the mortgage process have not come to fruition. Outside of emailing me forms to sign and fax back, I've not had to make one trip back to the mortgage company and all indications as of this week is that everything is moving along just fine and we are still on schedule to close on time.
I just can't believe how this has all come together. It just goes to show that if you can imagine it, you can achieve it. Somehow, you always find a way.
First off, the appointment with the loan officer. I was so nervous that morning. I felt like I was prepared, but my stomach stayed in knots all morning until I left work to head to my appointment. I found the office with no problem and walked in to a sign on the front desk welcoming me. I'm pretty sure the receptionist thought I had to pee or something the way I was rocking back and forth on the waiting area couch, but that's just me when my nerves are shot. The loan officer came out to greet me and suddenly I felt incredibly at ease. She could not have made me feel more welcome and comfortable. The first thing she asked me was if I had any objection to her new assistant sitting in on our meeting. It was his first day and his first opportunity to observe such a meeting. I was totally ok with it, so the three of us settled into her office and started reviewing what looked like a mountain of paperwork on her desk. We talked about whether to lock in at that day's interest rate, we went over my credit report, FHA and HUD forms, good faith estimates, and a variety of other things that I tried to understand before signing. Being just a few days away from the fiscal cliff resolution in D.C. and not knowing what the outcome would be, I opted to lock in at my 3.25% that day. There was some chance the interest rates would drop even more before closing, but I wanted to walk out of there somewhat assured that the ball was rolling as fast as it could be at that point.
After we reviewed and signed all of the necessary documents, she asked for the documentation that I brought in order to verify all of my information we had gone over during our initial conversation a couple of weeks prior. I broke out the folders I had put so much time into preparing and gave her the choice between originals or copies. At that point, I had my first indication that the preparation would be worth it. She smiled and indicated the folder of copies would be sufficient. I went over each pocket folder, indicating what I had included, how I had everything labeled, and that I had even included a few things beyond what she had asked for. I felt great after I handed it over and she looked at her new assistant and told him not to set the expectation for future clients based on how I presented my information. In all, it took about an hour and a half to complete everything we needed to do that day. I wrote the check for the appraisal, which would be ordered the next day and we wrapped things up. On my way out, we stopped so that she could make a copy of my drivers license. At that point she indicated that she may need me to bring my social security card in so they could make a copy of that as well. After doing some research online and learning that this was sometimes required, I pulled it out of my wallet and handed it over right then. That would be the moment she asked if I would ever consider teaching a session on how to prepare for a loan application if they ever offered a new home buyers workshop. What a great way to end a meeting that I had been stressing out about for several days.
That night, I received an email from her to let me know that she had been putting my file together and how easy it was due to the way I had presented my documentation. She said that when I left, her assistant pointed to my folder and asked if that was as good as it ever gets, to which she replied, yes....yes it is.
So what has happened over the past two week since then? Well, last week I secured our homeowner's insurance. It just so happens that the company I went with could offer me a 30% discount if I had multiple policies with them and offered me a premium on my car insurance that was 50% less than I was currently paying. Seeing as my current insurance company never bothered to return my call when I contacted them for a homeowners quote, I promptly fired them and switched my auto insurance over. I went from paying $1200 a year to $600, paid the premium in full for six month, so I'll now not have that monthly expense until August. That worked out great!!
The appraisal has had me a bit nervous. Yesterday was two weeks since it had been ordered and I had not heard anything back yet. With our closing date just barely two weeks away, I was starting to panic since we have to be out of our apartment by February 1st. While emailing our agent last night though, she let us know that it had come back yesterday and it came in more than we were financing, so that was a huge relief. She also informed us that most of the items from the home inspection were complete and the seller was just waiting on one more estimate for one of the things that had to be addressed.
We've been packing up the apartment slowly but surely and we have movers coming today to give us an estimate on moving everything.
Oh, and the best part? At least so far, all of the horror stories I've read about and heard about from friends regarding the mortgage process have not come to fruition. Outside of emailing me forms to sign and fax back, I've not had to make one trip back to the mortgage company and all indications as of this week is that everything is moving along just fine and we are still on schedule to close on time.
I just can't believe how this has all come together. It just goes to show that if you can imagine it, you can achieve it. Somehow, you always find a way.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
This Old House
A week ago today, we rolled up in front of the house for the home inspection. The inspector was already there and had gotten right to work. It was great having a few hours to wander the house and take in all of the things we had overlooked when going through it the first time the week prior. We got to see everything operating and were relieved every time an appliance turned on and functioned. Living in an older building in Ghent, you get used to certain things. We don't currently have our own washer and dryer. All of the residents in the building utilize a single coin operated washer and dryer in the basement. We don't have a dishwasher unless your count our four hands combined. Our kitchen is long, but narrow. The door to the refrigerator only opens about halfway before it bumps up against the counter on the opposite side. Considering all of these things, it felt like we hit the lottery to stand before the stainless steel refrigerator in the new house. It really is my dream appliance. A large full sized fridge on top (that opens all the way) and a deep freezer drawer on the bottom half. As I pulled open the freezer door, I nearly sucked all of the oxygen out of the entire house when I gasped at the ice maker. No more filling empty ice trays after longing for something cold to drink to discover that they hadn't been filled after the last of the ice cubes had been twisted out of their nesting spots. The dishwasher actually turned on and ran through an entire cycle without issue. While there isn't a washer or dryer already in the house, I still felt pretty emotional just staring at the empty hook ups where a set will eventually sit.
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!
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!
How Does All This Work?
Coffee in hand, we anxiously awaited our agent's arrival to write up the contract and offer on the Manor on Broad, which is what we've "termed" the house we so desperately want. Once she arrived, we sat down and got right to work. Wow, I always thought that at closing you had a ton of paperwork to sign, so I was floored at just how much goes into the initial contract. We went over pages having to do with military noise zones, lead paint, asbestos, etc. It makes it sound like we're buying a death trap, but due the proximity that nearly everything in this area is to some type of military base and the fact the house was built in 1900, it's all just formalities.
We finally got to the actual offer. The house was listed at $179,900.00. Our agent felt like we could go lower, so we wrote the offer at $170K. We were well prepared to pay list price if need be, so this left plenty of room for negotiation. We also included items such as the seller contributing 3% of the purchase price toward settlement costs, which should pay most, if not all of them. In addition, there were provisions for anything critical resulting from the home inspection and of course, the termite inspection. What really hit home though for me was the closing date documented in the contract, January 28th. Wow, could it really be that by the end of next month, we could own our own home? We spent an hour going over everything, signing and initialing what seemed like a thousand documents. By the end of it, she left with contract in hand along with our earnest money deposit and the waiting game began all over again.
I've probably watched too many episodes of Million Dollar Listing on Bravo because in my mind, the two agents would get on the phone and hash it out, probably before she even pulled her car away from the curb out front. In reality though, we went all day waiting to hear something. Finally around 9PM, we got an email from our agent that the seller lived out of town and the listing agent was having trouble reaching him. We'd hopefully know more tomorrow. I don't think I slept more than a few hours that night as I ran through multiple scenarios in my head. It was about 9:30 the next morning before I got the next email. He didn't accept our offer for $170K, however he would counter at $174K, keeping all other terms of the contract the same. This still put us about $6K below asking price, so not only was our reply yes, but hell yes. Within an hour we had the updated contract back to initial and just like that, we bought a house!
Our agent is very no nonsense and a full steam ahead type of person. Within that same hour, she had our home inspection scheduled for the following Sunday. That would be only one week since the holiday homes tour when we walked around the neighborhood and simply toyed with the idea of calling her to look at some of the homes we saw. This was moving at lightening speed, which in my mind was good. It left less time to be nervous about the entire thing. As the weekend approached, we were excited and anxious about the home inspection. Would it give us all the more reason to be excited about this house or dash our dreams and force us to start over with something that we in no way loved as much? Is there ever a time in this entire process where at least something isn't present to worry about?
Speaking of worrying, I nearly left out another gut wrenching moment. What about our apartment? We obviously can't wait until the finality of closing to tell our landlord, "yeah, by the way, we're moving by the end of the week". Now that we had a contract, the right thing to do is to tell him, so he can begin planning as well. Our landlord owns and lives in the building. He's been very good to us over the last six years by making improvements and addressing any issues before we could even get the words our of our mouths explaining what as wrong. We had seen many people in the building come and go at various times in their lease, so I really wasn't too worried about the fact that we had missed our renewal notification window by about 30 days, but still, what would his reaction be? I was down in the basement doing laundry the day before the home inspection. I could hear him in the next room in his workshop and kept praying he didn't come out while I was down there switching loads of clothes. He had to know, but I just didn't have the words formed in my head yet about how to tell him. I am one of those people who can't just spit out what I have to say. I have to start everything with a back story, sometimes dating as far back as the day I was born. On the next to the last load of clothes, my luck ran out though. I heard that door open and we came face to face. He thanked me again for inviting him to our Christmas party and stated that he wasn't sure what we could ever do to make our annual event more over the top than it already was. There it is, the perfect lead in without having to go all the way back to 1967 and the birth of a child in the Catskill Mountains. So I did it, I just spit it out...a new big house, THAT would make our party more over the top! There is was again, that flush of relief. The same one that came over me after hearing from the banks, again after hearing we had a contract, and now, after telling the landlord we had started the process to buy this house. He couldn't have been nicer and more understanding. He congratulated us and expressed how much he'd miss us and the way we treated the apartment and paid our rent on time every month during the six years we've been here. He even offered to let us use our deposit as our January rent so that we could keep that money aside for whatever we needed it for. Wow! How could that have gone any better? And oh yeah, he had someone in the wings who was dying to get into our building, so he'd be up with them in about thirty minutes to see the apartment. Well damn! As I knew anyone would, they loved the apartment, gave their deposit to hold it and now we must pray harder than ever that everything goes as planned!
We finally got to the actual offer. The house was listed at $179,900.00. Our agent felt like we could go lower, so we wrote the offer at $170K. We were well prepared to pay list price if need be, so this left plenty of room for negotiation. We also included items such as the seller contributing 3% of the purchase price toward settlement costs, which should pay most, if not all of them. In addition, there were provisions for anything critical resulting from the home inspection and of course, the termite inspection. What really hit home though for me was the closing date documented in the contract, January 28th. Wow, could it really be that by the end of next month, we could own our own home? We spent an hour going over everything, signing and initialing what seemed like a thousand documents. By the end of it, she left with contract in hand along with our earnest money deposit and the waiting game began all over again.
I've probably watched too many episodes of Million Dollar Listing on Bravo because in my mind, the two agents would get on the phone and hash it out, probably before she even pulled her car away from the curb out front. In reality though, we went all day waiting to hear something. Finally around 9PM, we got an email from our agent that the seller lived out of town and the listing agent was having trouble reaching him. We'd hopefully know more tomorrow. I don't think I slept more than a few hours that night as I ran through multiple scenarios in my head. It was about 9:30 the next morning before I got the next email. He didn't accept our offer for $170K, however he would counter at $174K, keeping all other terms of the contract the same. This still put us about $6K below asking price, so not only was our reply yes, but hell yes. Within an hour we had the updated contract back to initial and just like that, we bought a house!
Our agent is very no nonsense and a full steam ahead type of person. Within that same hour, she had our home inspection scheduled for the following Sunday. That would be only one week since the holiday homes tour when we walked around the neighborhood and simply toyed with the idea of calling her to look at some of the homes we saw. This was moving at lightening speed, which in my mind was good. It left less time to be nervous about the entire thing. As the weekend approached, we were excited and anxious about the home inspection. Would it give us all the more reason to be excited about this house or dash our dreams and force us to start over with something that we in no way loved as much? Is there ever a time in this entire process where at least something isn't present to worry about?
Speaking of worrying, I nearly left out another gut wrenching moment. What about our apartment? We obviously can't wait until the finality of closing to tell our landlord, "yeah, by the way, we're moving by the end of the week". Now that we had a contract, the right thing to do is to tell him, so he can begin planning as well. Our landlord owns and lives in the building. He's been very good to us over the last six years by making improvements and addressing any issues before we could even get the words our of our mouths explaining what as wrong. We had seen many people in the building come and go at various times in their lease, so I really wasn't too worried about the fact that we had missed our renewal notification window by about 30 days, but still, what would his reaction be? I was down in the basement doing laundry the day before the home inspection. I could hear him in the next room in his workshop and kept praying he didn't come out while I was down there switching loads of clothes. He had to know, but I just didn't have the words formed in my head yet about how to tell him. I am one of those people who can't just spit out what I have to say. I have to start everything with a back story, sometimes dating as far back as the day I was born. On the next to the last load of clothes, my luck ran out though. I heard that door open and we came face to face. He thanked me again for inviting him to our Christmas party and stated that he wasn't sure what we could ever do to make our annual event more over the top than it already was. There it is, the perfect lead in without having to go all the way back to 1967 and the birth of a child in the Catskill Mountains. So I did it, I just spit it out...a new big house, THAT would make our party more over the top! There is was again, that flush of relief. The same one that came over me after hearing from the banks, again after hearing we had a contract, and now, after telling the landlord we had started the process to buy this house. He couldn't have been nicer and more understanding. He congratulated us and expressed how much he'd miss us and the way we treated the apartment and paid our rent on time every month during the six years we've been here. He even offered to let us use our deposit as our January rent so that we could keep that money aside for whatever we needed it for. Wow! How could that have gone any better? And oh yeah, he had someone in the wings who was dying to get into our building, so he'd be up with them in about thirty minutes to see the apartment. Well damn! As I knew anyone would, they loved the apartment, gave their deposit to hold it and now we must pray harder than ever that everything goes as planned!
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Oh Lawd!
The day following our adventure with the real estate agent, I was nervous beyond belief. This was the day that the loan officer we had been referred to by our agent was going to call to get us rolling with preapproval. I don't think I've ever stared at my phone so much waiting on it to ring. Would she be nice? Would she seem indifferent to what was surely one of the biggest steps we have taken in our nine years together? I tried to stay busy and to keep my mind off of the pending call. I was just about to eat lunch when I jumped nearly out of my skin as my phone vibrated across my desk and rang. Oh Lawd! The number was not from one of my contacts. It had to be her. I took a deep breath and answered in the most positive and cheerful voice I could muster up. How relieved was I when the conversation began to feel like talking to an old friend. She was so nice as we talked about what loan programs were available as we decided that indeed, an FHA loan was the best solution. We spent several minutes going over my income, employment history, current rent payments, etc.
As I hung up the phone, my heart was racing. Would she really call back and give us the green light to proceed? I felt pretty comfortable with my credit rating, as I had just checked my report fairly recently. Still though, forever the pessimist, I began mentally preparing myself for the worst. Whatever you do Chuck, don't cry when she calls back and says there isn't anything she can do for you. I went through the afternoon without jumping out of my skin from the phone ringing. I wandered the grocery store after work, increasingly becoming more certain that this wasn't going to work out. If it was a sure thing, she certainly would have called back by now. I came home and put groceries away, right angrily in fact. After slinging food into the refrigerator and slamming the door shut, I walked out of the kitchen and literally froze when I noticed the missed call on my phone. Was it her? Most likely not. The number didn't match the call from earlier in the day and there was no indication of a waiting voice mail message. Surely she would have left a message had it been her. As I plopped down onto the couch, I bitterly punched the buttons on the remote. After Matt got home, it was probably ten minutes or so before he noticed an email on his phone from our agent. He began reading it aloud. I nearly fell on the floor. "Hey guys, I'm sure you know this by now, but we are good to go. Lets set up a time to write a contract and make the offer". What???? How could this be? I hastily grabbed my phone and looked again. Still no voice mail indicator. Could it be that of all calls, this was the one where my phone decided it would keep the fact I had a new message a secret? I immediately began to manually dial into my voice mail before I realized I had forgotten how! Damn relying on those buttons and touch screens to do the thinking for me. I finally got in and listened as sure enough, a message from the loan officer played, congratulating me on the automated underwriting system approving me for a mortgage. The weight I had been carrying around on my shoulders for the past twenty-four hours began to lift. Within five minutes, we had an appointment set with our agent for 8am the next morning to write the contract and submit an offer!
As I hung up the phone, my heart was racing. Would she really call back and give us the green light to proceed? I felt pretty comfortable with my credit rating, as I had just checked my report fairly recently. Still though, forever the pessimist, I began mentally preparing myself for the worst. Whatever you do Chuck, don't cry when she calls back and says there isn't anything she can do for you. I went through the afternoon without jumping out of my skin from the phone ringing. I wandered the grocery store after work, increasingly becoming more certain that this wasn't going to work out. If it was a sure thing, she certainly would have called back by now. I came home and put groceries away, right angrily in fact. After slinging food into the refrigerator and slamming the door shut, I walked out of the kitchen and literally froze when I noticed the missed call on my phone. Was it her? Most likely not. The number didn't match the call from earlier in the day and there was no indication of a waiting voice mail message. Surely she would have left a message had it been her. As I plopped down onto the couch, I bitterly punched the buttons on the remote. After Matt got home, it was probably ten minutes or so before he noticed an email on his phone from our agent. He began reading it aloud. I nearly fell on the floor. "Hey guys, I'm sure you know this by now, but we are good to go. Lets set up a time to write a contract and make the offer". What???? How could this be? I hastily grabbed my phone and looked again. Still no voice mail indicator. Could it be that of all calls, this was the one where my phone decided it would keep the fact I had a new message a secret? I immediately began to manually dial into my voice mail before I realized I had forgotten how! Damn relying on those buttons and touch screens to do the thinking for me. I finally got in and listened as sure enough, a message from the loan officer played, congratulating me on the automated underwriting system approving me for a mortgage. The weight I had been carrying around on my shoulders for the past twenty-four hours began to lift. Within five minutes, we had an appointment set with our agent for 8am the next morning to write the contract and submit an offer!
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