Praying for Peace

We asked the seller how we go about getting the repairs done on lender required issues. We would have to send in the appraisal with the underwriting guidelines, but then they choose who does the repairs and they can ultimately transfer the cost of repairs to us either via eliminating our closing cost credit, or increasing the purchase price. Neither of those are good options for us as we would have to pay more out of pocket with the closing costs, or get another pre-approval letter from their lender if they increase the purchase price.

I'm trying not to be stressed out so I just think of the really exciting things about the house - like how I can look out the back gate and see this park!

Inspection

Today was had the home inspection, it came back with several issues. Most of the things we would be able to do ourselves, but I know our lender is going to require some of the things be done prior to the loan being finalized. The two that I am sure they'll require are the deck and the sidewalk.
The deck has some dry rot right where it connects to the house, so that will have to be removed and new siding put on. It's sad because I really liked the deck :( Also the sidewalk has a lip that could be a tripping hazard, which is a liability and will need to be repaired.

Dewinterization and Inspection

The dewinterization was scheduled for yesterday, but I got a call from Amy at the dewinterization company that the city put a lock box on the water meter. They were unable to turn on the water to dewinterize the home, which means we couldn’t have the inspection completed either.

The seller was supposed to have the lock box removed prior, so Amy had to call them to do so. The city made it out there today, so Amy scheduled the dewinterization for this afternoon! The inspection has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning! I'm not quite sure what happens after that, but at least we'll have one more thing checked off our list!

Days to close: 37 (or 27)

Inspection

We have the dewinterization and the inspection all set up for tomorrow! Hopefully the inspection comes back with no major problems so we can continue to move forward. The bank needs two more things from us before they can get things rolling.

I've started packing the things we don't use too often and I'm trying to decide what we can get rid of. Packing is going to be a LOT of work!

Days to close: 40! (or 30)

It's Signed!

Today we got word that the bank finally signed all their paperwork and we can start the inspection process! It's nice to be moving forward and not having to wait on the bank for something. The next step is to dewinterize the house, which is scheduled for tomorrow, after that the inspection, which is set for Monday.

I'm not sure when the closing is as one paper says 7/25/2011 and the other says 8/4/2011 - or 5 days within loan approval. Either way I better get packing!

Days to close: 42! (or 32)

Chaotic Friday

Talk about a stressful Friday! We were supposed to get the pre-approval letter this morning from Bank of America. Late this morning we still hadn't received anything so we sent over an e-mail. We finally heard from her after lunch only for her to tell us that we mostly likely wouldn't qualify as we already have a mortgage! She had just left her office and would call back later after running the numbers.

That afternoon we finally heard back from her, she asked me a series of questions regarding income and credit history. After about 15 minutes she informed me that we barely qualified! Our income just put us up to the amount that we needed.

We sent out the pre-approval letter to the seller and now we just have to hear back on when the inspection period begins.

We're praying that the rest of this process goes a lot smoother!

The count down continues: 48 days to go!

Agalliao

It seems like there is always something the bank needs before we can move forward. Yesterday it was the Oregon Realtor form and an acknowledgement form, then today they told us that we have to get a pre-approval from Bank or America - even though we already had one from our own lender.

Hopefully we'll get the pre-approval letter tomorrow so we can finally set up our inspection for sometime next week! One step at a time.

The best part is that I feel like I should be really stressing out, but I'm not. I feel such an amazing peace about everything. I learned a new work today that completely describes how I am feeling:

Agalliao: Greek: to exult, leap for joy, to show one's joy by leaping and skipping denoting excessive or ecstatic joy and delight. Often spoken of rejoicing with song and dance.

God's Answer to our Prayers

We made the decision to look for a house around the middle of April. We made a list of things that were important us and started our search. Our list included things like: location, square footage, 3+ bedrooms, 2+ bathrooms, 2 car bays, kitchen size, and laundry location. We figured we would have to bend on one or more of those and so we made offers on a few homes, which were quickly snatched away.

Last month our realtor presented this house to us and the next day Andrew went to look at it, that very night we decided to make an offer! It fit everything on our list and then some! It’s actually a 4 bedroom with a 20x20 kitchen and a laundry closet! Since we don’t need 4 bedrooms there is potential to turn the 4^th bedroom into a laundry/craft room. Plus it’s in a cul de sac, in the exact neighborhood we wanted, with a good sized yard, a nice deck, a/c, and a park right over the back fence!

We went back and forth on price for 2 weeks until we were informed that another offer came in that they were considering! It was another whole week until we heard anything else from them.

Last Thursday we finally received word that they accepted our offer! We have a lot of work ahead of us, but with a little elbow grease and lots of TLC we'll turn this house into a home.

The garage door is a little crooked and it could use a fresh coat of paint.

It has a sunken living room with oh so attractive wood paneling and lovely yellow tinted side windows.

More wood paneling in the dining room - and the wood floors desperately need to be replaced.

Then there's the kitchen, a nice island and pantry 2x the size of our current one. The cabinets need a little bit of a face lift, and there's a odd tile covering over the oven that I will probably remove.

And the side yard, in which I can already picture my girls splashing around in a kiddy pool! Around the corner is the deck and just over the fence is the park.


Our next step will be getting it dewinterized, then an inspection, eventually we'll need to get an appraisal, and there's also the super fun job of packing!

Let the count down begin: 54 days to close!