Boxes, Boxes, Boxes

Well, here we are. Waiting again.

Another roadblock has been thrown our way from people slacking in the government (go figure) and I am stressed to the max.

Our apartment has been slowly packed into boxes stacked high for the last 3 months. We have only two weeks left before we have to vacate and clean the apartment. Thus meaning those boxes have been multiplying at an insane rate. All that is left to pack is our dishes, cupboards and about half of our clothes that have managed to escape the boxes.

It gets to be difficult at times to know that we need to just keep packing with out really having an end spot. We have wonderful people in our life and thankfully we have been offered a place to crash if we need to. It is going to be tough. Everything will need to go into storage.

On top of all that our poor dogs will need to go to boarding. That is if any boarding facility will take an anti-social dog and a pit mix while leaving them together at all times. I was researching a few last night and some look just like a dirty run down pound. I actually began to cry. I can't do that to our poor babies. But a friend recommended the kennel he uses for his Boston terrier and his boxer. I checked them out and it seems perfect. So that feels a little better. Now we need to get them up to date on their vaccines. 

Knowing that we now have a plan makes it a little easier to keep moving forward. I don't feel as worried about our pups and I can calmly focus on the now.

Well, as calmly as possible while wanting to ring the necks of everyone working on our file!

We have ten business days, including today, to sign the papers on this damn house. Our closing date is set for the 31st and I really don't think anyone is going to allow yet another extension. We have already gone over a month past what the original date was set to be.

We received approval from USDA about two weeks ago. We could have already been in our home. But our lender, with very good intentions, decided to cancel that approval and raise our loan amount to cover some extra property taxes. Unfortunately she did this right when the boss went on vacation for a week. So nothing got done. They haven't even touched our file yet. If we don't get approval from them by tomorrow we won't be able to close on time.

I don't know what to do or what I am even able to do.

I just keep my fingers crossed everyday.

Until next time, fingers crossed for us.

oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!!!!

I've been blabbering about buying this damn house since April.

It has consumed my every waking thought.

I've been packing since August and planning since May.

I have paint swatches galore and notebooks full of ideas.

But it really hadn't sunk in that we were going to be homeowners. I knew we were going to be moving into a house in a new area and I knew we would get to do whatever we wanted with it.  It never actually hit me the huge responsibility we were taking on. Don't get me wrong, I am soo game for this it just never hit me with that euphoric-holy-shit-this-is-AMAZING-jumping-for-glee moment.

When we put the offer in and it was accepted we were excited but reserved. We knew we still had so many hoops to jump through and it could still possibly fall through. Then we were happy inspection wasn't devastating, but just happy. The trend continued. When the lien holder approved our amount we were thrilled and felt so ready and so excited but it was quickly dashed with all I've wrote about in the past. Since then every little victory has been met with just a small sigh of relief, nothing too exciting.

Except for yesterday.

Yesterday I had a hell of a night at work. We had one of our busiest nights in a long time and I was pooped and on the verge of being pissy. I went and checked my phone around 9pm last night and this is what I saw:
                         Lender: I wanted to let you know I did hear something from USDA on Friday:)
APPROVAL!! The loan amount was wrong (because we adjusted it to pay some of your insurance costs) so it is being reviewed and will be fine we just need their approval. We will have it sometime next week. Maybe even the following Monday due to this Monday being a holiday. But just wanted to assure you we will have everything in 5 or so business days!!!!

Let me tell ya, I freaked out!!! I started squealing and jumping up and down. I did a cute little chicken dance and then ran out to the kitchen to tell anyone who would listen! I was shaking for a good 5 minutes or so. I felt it. I got that euphoria I wanted! I can only imagine what happens when we are handed those keys!

Now I am packing with a deadline and purpose. I am slowly realizing it. WHoo to the HOOO!!!!

scary times!!!

We have until Thursday to let our apartment know our plans on continueing a month-to-month lease, vacating or re-signing. Thursday is in 5 days. FIVE!

I started to do some math in my head and I decided that if we went month to month and paid for the month of November we would be throwing away about $95o if we only stayed for a week into the month.  It would cost us $1288 for the whole month of Novemeber, plus utilities and all that jazz.

I talked to Cory and decided we should just terminate the lease and give them our intent to vacate. I would prefer to spend that money on things we need. He, like a smart and rational man, didn't think it was the best idea seeing as how this whole process has gone so far. I, being the impatient and frusterated woman that I am, decided to veto him. I am telling this apartment to go stuff it!

I figure if need be we can crash somewhere for a week or two or we can sleep in a U-haul. I've been known to make those pretty cozy.

Cory wasn't too thrilled so I called our lender and asked her how confident she was in us closing before our closing date. (our lease is up on Oct. 31st and our closing date is Oct. 31st) She, thankfully said that she thinks our closing will start in the next week and that is should only be about 2 more until we get the actual keys. Leaving us with a week to move!!! YAY!!!

She said she was 95% sure we should be fine and that terminating will be a good idea. Now let me remind you that she also told us she was 97% sure that we would be fine back in July and then a few hours later called to say the deal was dead. We are not getting too excited but I'm still forging ahead with packing and letting the apartments know we will be bailing out at the end of the month!!

I can possibly be in my new home with paint in my hair in just a few short weeks!  It doesn't even feel real. I feel like I was meant to sit in limbo forever. I think it will all be so surreal when we actually walk in there as owners.

So thank you all for keeping those good vibes going for us!!

Ongoing.....

Since our last chat not much has changed, except for our closing date.

Again.

And for good measure, AGAIN!!

That's right, it changed twice. We extended our closing date to October 19th and then we were requested to push it even farther to October 31st. Just in case.

Just in case what exactly?

Just in case USDA closes for a week in October to do their end of year reports.  Just in case there is a nightmare with USDA boundaries. Just in case our underwriter didn't have all their shit together.

Oh I am so ready.

This is my favorite time of the year and I am being jipped. I don't get to decorate, or bake. In fact, my house has been half-packed for over a month now!

I am missing out on a great time of year, of settling in and getting cozy. A time when we still have semi long days and sunshine to dry the paint. Time before the rains to dry our crawlspace and blow insulation into the attic. The magic Indian summer that Washington always manages to snag. We don't get to take advantage.

Although, I did sneak up to the house yesterday and place gutter splash guards at the bottom of all the gutters. In our inspection we found that there is nothing directing rainwater away from the foundation. No problems with the foundation (thank goodness!) but it does cause a water issue in the crawl space that can be remedied for $30 at home depot. I wanted to get those babies down before our first big rain so that we don't have to deal with it.

In going up to the house we did find that the previous tenants are completely moved out. They even were nice enough to do a real good thorough cleaning of the place! It even looked like the carpets were steamed. On a bad note, every door was unlocked.   I went through and locked up most of what I could, the slider doors don't seem to lock but we put sticks in the tracks.

I was so nervous on the drive up that it would be trashed and vandalized but so far so good! I just want to get in. I just want my home.

For now, we wait some more. You think I would be so much better at this waiting game now that we are 6 months in to this process!!

I leave you with the listing photos until we can get the keys and take our own:

Nothing goes as planned

We are now at the end of September and I still am sitting in a rental apartment surrounded by boxes.

Our closing date was supposed to be on September 14th. Now our new date is September 28th and we were told a second extension may be necessary. An extension into October.

Oh and USDA underwriting does their end of year reports in October so they close down for about a week. So we may not actually be able to close in time for that extension.

Did I tell you that my agent says we most likely wont even get this second extension? Did I tell you that the closing date is in less than a week? And we haven't even applied for a second extension?!

This has been tough. We got our acceptance from the lien holder at the end of July. We were told that we had a complete package to ship off to USDA and that we had a 97% chance of everything being perfect.

BWUAHAHAHAHA They got JOKES!! JOKES I TELL YA!!!

The day we went to go do a walk through of the house after acceptance we found out that the seller's still had not completed the list of things they needed to fix (it was a whopping 4 things that would cost about $250) and so that would postpone us being able to go to underwriting.  A little over a week later we received confirmation that the repairs were made and we could move forward.

I then got a call saying that their was a disputed item on my credit that didn't show in the first few initial credit checks and that USDA had changed the guidelines and would not accept someone with a dispute. We had to hire a company to take the dispute status off of my credit item. They took about a week for some reason and by now we were pushed to about 3 weeks out from our closing date.

Once we FINALLY got the dispute taken off my credit they ran a new check. Wouldn't you know it, my score dropped by about 23 points just because I no longer had a disputed line item (which still should be in dispute or taken off completely). I got a call while driving to work and was told that I was now 3 points below where I needed to be to be accepted for the USDA program.

Yep. Ridiculous.

I was under the impression that we just had to get through this one hurdle and then we would be in the safe zone and on our way to home ownership!

We had no options. We were told that the deal would have to die unless we could find a cosigner. There was no way to raise my points in time for closing. So I had them run Cory's information for the whole loan. Wouldn't ya know it, he could be on the loan alone. One problem was his debt to income ratio. You see, we just bought a truck about 2 years ago. A brand new and expensive truck. But we were told if he sold the truck he would still be eligible for the loan.

I did what any good girlfriend would do, I went to the dealership the next day and sold them Cory's truck just so I could buy it back. It cost us another $4,700 in taxes and licensing but it means we could have the house.......

Or so we thought.

One thing after another keeps happening.  And time after time we find a way to fix it.

I don't know how many times I have had to turn in the same paperwork just to get a call and be told they need it again. Or how many times I have had to micromanage them and tell them how to do their jobs.

We received confirmation last week that our loan was accepted through the mortgage company and could finally be sent out as a complete package to USDA.  Oh, and we have EQUITY!!! So we actually rolled closing costs in to our loan so we can have cash money for renovations.

It has been tough. It has made us fight hard and we will not accept defeat. This house will be ours. One way or another.

I'm assuming their will still be more to creep up. It seems that there always is. We will just keep moving forward and please just keep those fingers crossed for us. We need some luck around these parts. We really need something good to happen.

Initial here, sign there

Yesterday morning we started the day out with a lot of thinking.

Numbers and fine print were on the agenda.

We went and met with our awesome lender, Robin Gentry at Mortgage Advisory Group, and submitted or last few statements and paystubs. We signed a whole bunch of papers and got the ball rolling for the USDA loan that we are utilizing.

The rates right now are insanely low (3.75% anyone?) and we are hoping we can lock-in within the next few weeks!

So now we have our closing date of no later than September 14th and we are just waiting on a few repairs to be made this week so the appraisal can go through.

We are really hoping that it is appraised a little higher than purchase for some instant equity. The goal is to be able to roll about 3k of our closing into the loan so we have some cash to do some of the immediate fix-its from the inspection. We are only able to do that if we are appraised higher. So fingers crossed!

We also got the chance to drive up to the house and do a walk through. Make sure we are still interested and see if we have any new questions. We met our agent, Ginger York from Keller Williams, as well as the listing agent there to sign the final addendum.

As we did I found a very large discrepancy in our closing costs of about $1700! So happy I found it and so nice to see that off the balance!

As we wandered the house we realized a few things that we never noticed before and were reminded of a few glaring things as well.

The sellers are no longer living there and have a bit of stuff moved out so we really got a better feel for the size of the house and I was so pleasantly surprised! It's much bigger and taller than I remember!

We also realized, now that crap isn't everywhere, that every room has different carpet. The living room is yellow, dining room is hardwood, kitchen is vinyl, family room is berber biege, hallway is yellowish, guest rooms used to be white/gray, master is a different tone of biege/white, master closet is pink, and the step into the garden tub is pink carpet too!

We also have every room except the master painted a different color. And some are multi-colored! Paint funds will be extreme! I will be taking donations/helping hands for that project!

Other than all the fun cosmetic projects, I went through our inspection sheets and feel pretty confident about getting our home homey and livable by the holidays!

Until the next bump in the road, I leave you with paperwork!

We got it!

We freaking got it!

We are officially in escrow!

We got the call yesterday that the lien holder approved our price and we can follow through with the purchase of our own home!

The only snag so far is that they lowered the amount they are willing to pay for closing. A bit of a bummer but not too big of an issue.

We are sitting down on Tuesday with our lender to start all the paperwork and then heading out to the house to meet with our agent and see the home again!

I can not wait! We are so terrified and so excited!

If all goes as planned we should be in the house by the end of September. Which means..... We will be in our home for my favorite time of year!

Please keep us in your thoughts so it all goes smoothly!

Down with the cuteness

It's been a tough few months. We are so ready to have an answer on this house. Or to at least have a direction, a timeline, any news at all. But we don't and so we wait.

In the time of waiting and saving we try to embrace each other and keep the love alive. No easy thing when we work opposite schedules,let me tell you!

Once a week we hit a movie or dinner, sometimes lunch if we won't see each other for dinner.

I love these little moments we spend together. I am reminded daily of how wonderful he is and how freaking cute that face is!  Even when the laundry doesn't get switched or the dishes put away or any little thing doesn't get done he gets away with it because that freaking face!

It makes me a bit nervous about what our future child will get away with!

So until we have a house to fill our time and drive us crazy I will just continue to enjoy our time together!

Cuteness and mushy overload!

Stagnant.....

We are stagnant.

We are stale.

We are DONE!

Done with the waiting and having our life on hold! This home buying process has been draining. So draining. And we have only just started.

We are almost three months in from the date of placing an offer and I feel like nothing has changed. It was all go go go at the start. So many addendums, inspections, drive bys. It all was happening so fast. And then we hit the brick wall that is a short sale.

We are at the mercy of the lienholder. Just waiting and waiting for the call and hoping it is a good one. And then the stress really starts.

Until then our lives are on hold. We just keep working and saving and passing each other like ships in the night. Only pausing once a week for dinner together. We miss each other. We miss our lives.

Right now we can't change a single thing about our money. I can't switch to a better job, although I Sooo desperately want and need to. The vw is slowly breaking down and not so reliable but we can't get a new car. Our mattress leaves much to be desired and we are taking turns sleeping on the couch.

It's not all negative but it is all tho he that we badly need to fix, replace or purchase and we can't. We must wait. Our credit can not change until the keys are handed over.

I can't release until then. The pressure is so needing a little escape. A little good news, a little forward motion, a little something, anything.

The abyss of not knowing is driving me insane. I just want our life to begin! Until then, we do drive-bys (with the tinted windows rolled up) about once a month to remind me why we are doing this. So, I leave you with this....... A picture of our hopefully-ours-home.

I'm back!

Oh happy day! I finally downloaded the Blogger app so I can actually blog again!

Our powercord broke a few months ago for our laptop and trying to blog from my phone on the full site was next to impossible but now I'm mobile! Yay!

I work in a few minutes but just wanted to say you shall be expecting much much more from me!

Big steps

Cory and I are taking the steps to purchasing our first home together!!

We are actively searching for a place where our puppies can wrestle and play, a place where we can be comfortable and cozy and most importantly.... I place where we can bring in a new addition. We, well I, are very excited to get to that step along the way! The faster we get a home the sooner we can start baby making!!! YAY!!

But we are not letting that cloud our judgment, just using it to make proper decisions about the property we purchase.

I am thrilled about this step we are taking.  It has opened new avenues for conversation between us. It has helped us learn about each others future goals and dreams. It has helped us learn to communicate aspects that are truly important to us individually and, in turn, when and how to compromise.

So far we have found a few homes we loved. We even went to put an offer on one but unfortunately we were out bid by thousands. Twenty thousand to be exact. We are being practical and staying in a budget that is comfortable on one income. We are also not getting too attached to any properties. We understand how quickly we can be outbid with our price point and we have faith that the right one will come to us at the right time. For now just keep sending us those positive vibes!!

Until then, we shall keep saving and keep looking.


xoxox

The charmed life.....

The past few months have been life changing for me. I can actually feel the shift in my heart, soul and mind.

I made a few choices that I wasn't proud of last fall. I felt a pull away from who i was and it was strong so I caved into it. Most of it was contributed to me drinking more than usual and I would love for that to be the main source of blame but I know that I am a big girl, I know what I'm doing when I pick up that drink and I accept that responsibility.

I have a family that has addictive personalities. I have a family that is full of wandering eyes, fickle hearts, and always changing. I thought I was able to avoid most of that. About 3 years ago I did go through a very hard time. I went thru about 4 months of non-stop drinking that I have wrote about before. I lost everything in that time frame. My job, my car, my apartment, my boyfriend, and my faith in myself as well as my confidence.

I met a group that helped me thru it all and then I met Cory. My life changed and calmed drastically. I would still have my moments of being 23 and stupid. Getting drunk and trying to leave him. We have struggled like any couple. But our struggles really only came to the surface when I would drink. I slowly started to see this and I slowly started to drink less and less.

Last fall I began my new position in the kitchen. I started smoking again, started going out drinking every night after work and stopped focusing on my relationship. I was inactive in our relationship. I was no longer a part of it. I rarely saw him and when I did I would block him out of my life. My phone became my world so I didn't have to deal with what was in front of me.

Thank God for Cory. And I do. I thank God for him every single night. He let me find my way back to him. He was there for me when I broke down and told him how much I needed him to help me. We moved out of our old place that just felt haunted with bad blood from so many other people's misfortunes. We got our own place for just the two of us and our puppies. We make a daily effort to tell each other about our days and how much we love each other. We find whatever amount of time we can in the day to spend with each other.

I can honestly say that I feel safe. I feel like I found my match and my mate. I feel like my life is so charmed and special and I am who I want to be now.  I slowly stopped reading blogs and postes from people that never showed their weakness, it was making it too easy for me to find faults of my own that I didn't have such a "perfect" life. In reality I do. I have a perfectly broken life, a life that I love to live everyday and that I get to share with my perfectly flawed boyfriend.

I wouldn't have it any other way.