Alright -- this was not what I expected, I did not think it would be easy, but what actually happened was just plain awful -- the worse day of I have ever had. My dad picked me up from my sisters house at 8:40am -- We headed over to the house to do a walk through. Surprise, the house was still winterized --- it was pretty hard to do a walk through that way. My realtor had contacted the listing realtor about us doing a walk through, so they knew -- they just didn't bother to de winterize it for us -- yet another miss communication. It made me a little uneasy, but I figured I had looked at it when the water was on, so it must be alright -- one more thing for me to get done when the house was mine.
We left and headed to the bank for me to make a cashires check for $3200 dollars, the amount that my lawyer had called me with earlier that day. We got that done and headed over to the closing. We got their before anyone else and had some coffee -- my Lawyer was their next, and we went into the room we were assigned. My realtor came next, and the sellers Lawyer was already their because he had several closings that day. We started going though the paper work, I signed paper after paper, several stating that I could not use my home for terrorist activities (totally ruined all my plans..), or get any money form another country, stuff like that, over and over again. My Dad could not resist changing the topic and asking about pointless things that had nothing to do with my house closing, but he wasen't TOO bad, but still, I wanted out of their and we were already an hour in. I thought we were almost done -- but i was wrong. The last 2 papers were a problem they were addressing the escrow account for the paint money. Kondor Capital, the seller, wanted to sign off on that and have it my responsibility to take care of that -- however the paper work said that they were responsible for getting people to complete the project, which meant that they would have to continue to insure the property and would not be completely done with the deal--not what they wanted . This really upset the lawyers because they had thought that everything was fine -- they thought that the lender had told them that this would be agreed upon at the closing, and what ever agreement we came up with was fine as long as the money was put up. This was not the case I found out when later I revived a call form my lander who promptly blamed the whole mess on "the clueless lawyers".
We called the lender and talked to them, then needed to go up the ladder and talk to someone else about it. We waited. Finally we got a call, we had to sign or no loan. We waited, the sellers lawyer said that they would not agree to that and when the lender called back he talked to them and offered to give the money directly to the lender and let them hold it till the work was completed -- they had to go up the ladder again. We waited.
Before all this happened I had to call my home insurance guy and pay for my insurance over the phone, because the escrow account was 300 dollars -- 300 dollars that had not been included in my original numbers I had the check made out for, so paying for the insurance over the phone made it possible to change the number which originally included insurance. I had to get him to mail over a recipe etc. -- at the end all that work for nothing because...
Finally we got the call -- the lender would accept, but only if the seller fronted the money to them to keep, I then had to get the job done by April 15th, it would then be inspected, I pay for the job, and they take the money $3500 and put it towards my loan. The sellers Lawyer called the seller -- then had to go up the ladder, then finally they agreed unhappy -- before they would have gotten the extra money back -- but not they got nothing. The sellers lawyer said the conversation went something like this: seller:"so we're not getting ANY money back?!" Sellers Lawyer: "No, nothing" Seller: "what are our other options" Sellers Lawyer" "We can set another closing date or re list the home for the new year" Seller: "hold on" Seller:"get rid if it".
We then signed more papers and sent it all in to the lender, then we waited. We got 2 back to resign, then we waited. finally after I called and left a message to my contact at Wells Fargo, we got the call -- it was all good.
So after 4.5 hours of signing papers, drinking coffee, hearing tons of crazy lawyer stories and a lot of frustration it was over. We headed back to Plano, I was SO hungry. we went to get something to eat, I then realized that I left my keys at my sisters and my truck at my Boy friends -- my sister was not home and my key to her house was in her house. So, my mom had to come all the way to Plano with her key, her windshield wipers stopped working and we had to meet her at my house because it was closer and she couldn't see -- we then all got in the same car went to my sisters on the edge of Plano to get keys, then to Jers in Yorkville to get my truck, then all the way back to Plano to unload it. Wow, so much running around. We got it all un packed and shoved the drive way which had not been shoved the entire winter . That was enough for one night -- everyone headed home to sleep -- I was starving again.
So, I have a house! I'm exited I think. The next day I called the City to get the water turned back on, called Com Ed and was put on hold for 20 minutes, got my name changed over for that, then I called the gas company, got my name changed over for that.
The water guy came later that day, he thinks one of the toilets leaks and would be constantly running, so I have to have my dad look at that among a few other things, but it was done, I had a working house. I started un packing -- It was like playing house with the biggest toy house i'd ever had. It was fun, Matilda found one of my tennis balls in one of my many boxes and started playing around in the house -- My sister came over and helped me arrange things and brig in some more stuff that had been at her house.
I guess thats it -- that is the adventure of buying a house with a FHA loan. It was crazy, I can't believe it is over. So much waiting, so many miss communications and hold ups -- I hope in a few weeks I can say that it was worth it -- I do like the little house. It seems strange that it is mine, i'm not quite sure what to do with it... I guess I will just live their and figure out the rest as I go -- that's what I did when I started this whole process... "live is a dance, you lean as you go..." Live and learn... Never give up.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Closing tomorrow they say..
Just in case I didn't already have enough to worry about, my car decided to break down on the way to work tomorrow. Lucky for me My boyfriend was also on his way to work -- he gave me a ride and I got another ride back to it about an hour later -- it started up and we took it to the shop. I find out now, that it is a very over priced shop, yay for me. They are looking at it, I haven't heard anything, with my luck it will be the fule pump, or at least that's what they will tell me. I just hope they don't drive it all around for an hour to get it to stall and then charge me 100 for the hour -- that would be lame.
Anyway -- the house. I got a call from the Lawyer and he said we will meet in Park Ridge (one hour away) at 11am tomorrow morning -- however Wells fargo still had to approve it. Well, it's about three hours later and it is still not approved. Once it is, that is, if it is ever, I will get the grand total of what I owe on the big day -- i'm guessing it's going to hurt. probably at LEAST 3500, and that's plus the 1000 they already have of mine. One nice thing is that its close to my Lawyer so he is charging me less, now I only have to pay $300, so that's nice of him, see? hiring family of friends is finally paying off. However, a bad part about it being far away is that my car is in the shop and my truck is hooked up to a trailer, which, by the way was VERY hard to back up, who ever told me that it was hard to do was NOT kidding! That's all for now, as usual.... I wait.
Anyway -- the house. I got a call from the Lawyer and he said we will meet in Park Ridge (one hour away) at 11am tomorrow morning -- however Wells fargo still had to approve it. Well, it's about three hours later and it is still not approved. Once it is, that is, if it is ever, I will get the grand total of what I owe on the big day -- i'm guessing it's going to hurt. probably at LEAST 3500, and that's plus the 1000 they already have of mine. One nice thing is that its close to my Lawyer so he is charging me less, now I only have to pay $300, so that's nice of him, see? hiring family of friends is finally paying off. However, a bad part about it being far away is that my car is in the shop and my truck is hooked up to a trailer, which, by the way was VERY hard to back up, who ever told me that it was hard to do was NOT kidding! That's all for now, as usual.... I wait.
Monday, December 27, 2010
2 Weeks and three days after we were supposed to close
Well -- it is after Christmas and I still have no closing date. I got a call from my lender and he said I'm cleared to close -- I then called my lawyer and he said that he had one more paper that showed how the escrow that is being held back for the paint job will work. He faxed that to my lender -- I talked to my lender and he said we didn't need anything else, but he would send the fax to the person that works with the under writer. I then called my Realtor back and he was upset that he didn't know what was going on, he felt that ever since my Lawyer was hired he had been left out of the loop and had no idea what was going on. I tried to explain what was going on the the best of my ability, but that just seemed to frustrate both of us because quite honestly I really don't know what's going on. I then called my Lawyer back and he explained that he just needed the lenders consent on the plan for the escrowed money -- I also discovered that I had another $200 fee to pay for them to hold that money, but at least I didn't have to pay to paint the house. So, that's where i'm at, where ever that is. I could close anytime, and then I could never close, it seems.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
the search began
I started thinking about buying a home in August of 2009 -- I talked to a Realtor looked around a little on the web and then decided that I could not do it because I did not think I had good enough credit, and I did not think my father would co sign for me. Then, in July of 2010 I started looking again because my Dad agreed that he would help me with the loan -- At first I wasn't too serious I just looked on line at a few places, but then the idea of owning a piece of the world started to grow on me. I casually requested to see a few condo type homes. I met a Realtor from Remax, he showed me a lot of 1bed room 1 bath, 2 bed room 2 baths
little condos in Bristol Bay subdivision, in Yorkville. They were super cute and
I really liked them and at the time I could totally picture myself living their.
I liked that I wouldn't have to remove snow or mow the grass or landscape
anything, I would just live their... and I thought they were a really good deal,
lots of them were available and I thought that since the new home owners tax
rebate was already over - less people were buying and that was one of the reason
the market was still dropping. After I looked the first time with my boy friend
Jerry I decide I was more serious, I took my parents next. I then experienced my
first, of many to come, home inspections and Realtor interrogations with my father.
It was hot out, as my dad asked question after question. I got the feeling eventually that he was just trying to find a question that "my" Realtor did not know the answer to, which, proved to be rather easy. I then thought he was just trying to make the Realtor look stupid. I was sweating as we went outside and walked form place to place.We were supposed to look at a certain condo, a woman came to the door with a towl on and clamed she had no idea that we were coming & we should come back some other time -- the house wreaked of smoke just from the door -- I wasn't interested anyway -- turns out she was a renter.
My dad brought up some very good points that I choose to ignore at the time
because I was in love with the idea of living their. Some of those were: I would
be living in a building with 6 other units, it might be noise, no one was
actually paying their SSA fee every month so if they didn't have the money how
would they fix the roof if their was a big storm, or who would be hired to shovel
or mow the grass with no money to use for that? I left very frustrated & my parents and I went out for one of
our many to come, after home hunting dinners to discuss.
After that experience I decided to branch out and look at a few other places I
found a few that I liked but before proceeding I wanted to get pre approved for a
loan. My parents and I all headed over to the loan office of Wells Fargo. We sat down and started to get some numbers and facts together -- It turns out that my parents couldn't help me if my credit was bad -- I was on my own, if my score wasn't good enough, no house for me. The lender asked me questions & started plugging the numbers into the machine of fate. finally all the numbers were in, and he said we would know in just a little while. My heard was pounding I could feel it pulsing in my head, my face was hot and then..... I was approved for a FHA loan all by myself, somehow my credit was good enough to get a house but only good enough for a $200 credit card limit --wow, I was shocked. I had almost given up hope.
It also turned out that I would not be able to get a condo in Bristol
bay because FHA did not approve them because of the fact that no one was paying their FHA tax, so, all that time I spend looking at the condos and dreaming about living their and researching the construction of the
buildings, all the questions my dad asked while my Mom and I were standing their sweating, was now no use to me except that I could now cross it off the list.
It was for the best I thought, Condo living was not for me and did not have the best
resale value. I then walked out the door of Wells Fargo with my first pre approval letter -- I felt very old.
After getting pre approved later that week I went off to look at more houses.
This time my focus was on Lakewood Springs where my sister already lived. I
couldn't afford an actual house, so we started looking at duplexes. We looked at
a lot, Some were trashed, some were very messy, some had people living in them that were clearly unhappy we were their looking to take their house from them... however, I found one that I loved, it was listed at $65,000 2 bed rooms, 2 baths, a
huge walk in closet with a window in it, a loft, hard wood floors all down
stairs, a porch... "it was perfect". I put in an offer and the seller accepted,
however it was a short sale so the lender had to as well. Well, I thought I had
it, I was so exited... Then, the fateful call came it, "my" "dream house" had
been auctioned. The sellers Realtor didn't get my papers in soon enough and it went to the auction block (so the story is told). I was heart broken and vowed not to fall in love with another house untill I knew it was mine.
After that Joe and I hit the streets again, we looked at more duplexes and also some town homes. One place had a rather aggressive scared dog loose in it, then the owner came home and didn't know that were going to be their because his Realtor had not told him....AWKWARD. The town homes had more bathrooms and a completely different floor plan, they had cathedral clings & were 4 unit buildings, they also had a 2 car garage however you had to pay 135 a month in SSA to maintain the building instead of the $35 for a duplex in addition to the normal 1 time a year $1000 SSA tax. I was off the town house kick after Bristol bay and wasn't too interested although I did like them.
We found 3 places I was interested in and we took my parents out to them the next week. My Dad, to my complete surprise loved the town houses, even though he hated the Bristol bay ones.. I couldn't believe it... Then we went to "the one" that is, the one I really really liked (again) and he wasn't all that impressed... I really liked it and already had my heard set on it it. It didn't have hard wood floors or a nice wooden deck, but otherwise it was pretty much the same as the last, better land scapeing, a brick deck, a fenced in yard 2 bathrooms 2 bedrooms, nicely painted already "it was prefect", my heart chimed in again. So, in an effort to respect my dads feelings that the town house had better resale and was a better deal and to ignore my heart a little I decided to put in a offer on the town house, for the same amount that I wanted to offer on the duplex (the town house was listed for less) The contract that I filled out ended up being the wrong one, so I would have had to re do it, by then I had decided that I really wanted the duplex and I was the one who was going to pay for it and live in it , I didn't want to pay an extra 100 per month, the taxes were more and I wanted my own plot of land so I could have a fence and a dog.
So, I put my offer in on another duplex that was actually very close to the last one. I had to drive all over the place to RUSH to get my offer in in case someone else wanted to make an offer, I put my $500 earnest money down, thankfully I changed the contract to include a time contiguity on the earnest money, saying that if the bank did not accept in a certain amount of time I could get it back. The seller excepted, I was exited... and then I waited, then I waited some more, then I waited some more, then I started looking at the pictures of it, and thinking of where furniture would go, and what colors the drapes would be and what kid of dog I would get. Then I daydreamed about how awesome it would be to live their, it was close to work, close to the YMCA, close to my sister.. "it was perfect" I complained and complained how the bank was taking forever, as I kept waiting I kept looking at homes that were new to the market (online) I found one in Lakewood that was a different floor plan which was more desirable than the one I had an offer on and was listed for 10,000 less -- we looked at it, everyone liked it, however the neighbor hood wasn't as nice so I stuck with the original one. The time contiguity was up, I could have my money back at any time... And then I waited, and then I got restless again.
I found a little house in Plano, the actual town. It was a 1890 2 story white home with a white picket fence and a detached garage. it had green shutters, hard wood floors down stairs, an actual basement a porch, a patio... I though "why not look" the taxes were WAY less, no SSA, it was right in town which I thought maybe I would prefer because of how much I loved living in the city when I was in school. I decided to causally look at it, I was sure that something would be wrong with it, mainly I was just curious to look at an ACTUAL house. So, I contacted the listing Realtor and set something up (mistake..#14991 of my home searching, I already had a Realtor... opposite) We met after I got done with work at 4pm. I loved the outside, it was really cute.. we got inside and I loved it too, the upstairs was like a little doll house, it has 3 bedrooms, 2 upstairs and 1 down stairs, the stair way was really cool, the hard wood was nice, the kitchen was pretty big, the basement was defiantly a place to hide when a storm hit. all in all once again I fell in love. Then I realized my problem... I had cheated on my Realtor - what now? If that wasn't bad enough, I had cheated on the other house, I now loved another. I was frustrated. At first I thought I would switch Realtors. My Dad didn't think Joe was any good at it anyway -- then I felt guilty because of all the time he had spent showing me homes etc. so I called the lady that showed me the house and told her my story.. she agreed to let me have Joe take over -- I did feel guilty for that, however people make mistakes, she only showed me one house, so the guilt was less... Although she did say she would buy me white wooden chairs for the porch if she was my Realtor and I bet Joe won't, so I loose their too.
After that I had my parents come see the house, Joe couldn't make it so he did something once again that he should not do, he gave me the code to get it. My sister and Brother in law came too, Jer couldn't make it. Everyone loved it right away and we all decided I should drop my offer on the other house and put it on this one. Suddenly I was thanking God that the bank was so slow with the other house. I called Joe and he put the call in, a few days later I put the offer in, he said that it had multiple offers... Then I waited, not long though. I got a call from Joe, since it had multiple offers they wanted another "best" offer. "great" I thought as my heart fell into a dark pit once again, I'm not going to get this one and all that time that I spend with that other house will be wasted and the process will have to start all over -- it must have been a feeling something like when relationships break up because of someone else, then that "perfect" someone else dosen't work out ether and then you just wish that you had stayed with the first person that suddenly didn't seem so bad.... So... I decided to prepare to fight. I read up on what to do. I decided to up my offer which was already list by $1000 dollars, also to double my earnest money offer, I also wrote a letter to them saying that I was ready to move, pre approved, had no property to sell and could move in ASAP....and that it would be a first home for me and I had been searching for a long time (my effort to receive a little empathy which was much more honest then telling them that I was getting married and having a baby and needed a home and was so exited...etc. that my Realtor suggested...) This I did because I decided that this was the sellers motive, to sell as quickly as possible. Then I waited.Finally after a whole 30 or so hours that were quite possibly the longest I have had in my life I got the call. My offer had been excepted! I was thrilled and the dreaming began as well as a lot of trouble: Papers were signed, my loan needed to be processed, papers were provided, bank statements were given... amendments were made, and finally a contract was signed by me and the seller was produced. I then hired a lawyer $400 (my x room mates father out of Des plains) I scheduled a home inspection $325 and signed more papers, faxed more papers and wrote more checks. The home inspector came and found some things, the things that concerned me most was that the kitchen where the fridge was had a sagging spot I hadn't noticed, it was because of the additions that were put on the house, it was propped up from the basement so it wouldn't sag farther, but could use some more support -- also it had no gutters, he suspected the basement leaked a little, the chimney needed to be relined. He said that FHA was picky about peeling paint, I didn't think much of him saying that... So after talking to him researching and more I decided that I still wanted it. The loan company sent their appeaser and I thought it was fine and excepted -- he appeased it for 10,000 more than my accepted offer, I was happy with that.
As I was driving back one night after work From Elgin where I was picking up a free couch and chair that I already had a mental placement for in my new home, my Dad called -- he suggested I go over to the house and check the basement since it had just rained and was going to rain more -- I in fact was racing this storm hoping that my free couch and chair would not be ruined. I decided this was a good idea and headed over their after unloading my loot in Jerrys garage, which was already full of the things I had been collecting and lets just say he wasn't all that keen about this. I texted Joe to tell him what I was doing -- I went in and sure enough, to my dismay their was water in the basement, not a ton, but some -- it seemed to be coming from the walls... one in particular. The house did not seem scary even though it was empty, I wasn't supposed to be their and I was all alone, I thought this was a good sign. I headed back to my car only to find that my keys didn't fit, I had left the right keys in the locked car and taken my truck keys with me. Lame -- I headed over to the police station and found some guys to break into my car wondering how I would explain to them, if required, why I was at the house with no Realtor...I didn't have to thankfully. Finally my night was done -- I got a text from Joe and he said that I shouldn't have gone into the house because he could get into big trouble... I figured he shouldn't have given me the code... and if he had responded right away to my text he could have stopped me. I had to do what I had to do... now I knew. I thought it would be a negotiation factor, but the seller wouldn't not help pay for anything -- I wanted help paying for closing costs... I decided that I would still get it even though it leaked -- my car leaks and I still like it-- it didn't have a pump down their and it also did not have gutters, I had faith that I could fix it plus I didn't plan on really doing anything down their. I talked to the home inspector after researching and he was impressed with what I had learned, he said that I was meant to own a house like that and that he wished others were more like me. Maybe I was meant to own this home, 2 years ago while I was still in school all I wanted for Christmas was tools, although I really had nothing to fix nor did I plan to... I just wanted tools, now I have tools and I will have stuff to fix.
After that I came back once to inspect once again for the dreaded termites I had been having nightmares about, I was sure something had to be their, They had to be hiding, I had researched a lot about them and knew what I was looking for. I crawled all over the basement floor, picked up stones in the yard, looked at all the wood, and nothing. No wood droppings, no saw dust, no mud coverings...no decay. Nothing. I was convince their were no termites. I did not want to pay for another inspection and considered google a good enough resource to feel confident in my knowledge. So despite all it's faults I still wanted the house... I was all in, all my cards on the table I felt as if I had won.
After that I discovered that I need to get a survey guy to survey it for the loan to be approved $325 -- that was done, no problems, then I needed more bank statements, ok... done. Next I was told that the FHA would not accept the loan till all the peeling paint was gone from the window trim and the fence -- it was freezing outside... I thought I was going to have to pay for it but thankfully the seller took that responsibility from me. They got quotes in and will put 1.5 times the highest quote in escrow till the job is done. Closing was going to be the 10th of December, then the 20th -- now today...the 23rd -- i had a trailer lined up, someone to work for me, days off.. but no it is not going to close because the seller was not even informed that we wanted to close and they don't have papers ready. The communication problems are horrible, the right people never call me back, ether no one communicates or everyone communicates the same thing... it is so frustrating I wanted to have Christmas breakfast at "my new house" but I do not have a new house yet and most likely won't till next week. So my story continues and I wait frustrated, stressed and restless. I find myself loosing my train of thought, forgetting everything, un able to concentrate, a little emotionally un stable. Today at work a somehow found my self standing in the middle of the sales room with a stickie note, not knowing what I was doing with it or where I was going with it. I also almost responded to a message that I sent someone else among other things... it's crazy this buying a home business.
little condos in Bristol Bay subdivision, in Yorkville. They were super cute and
I really liked them and at the time I could totally picture myself living their.
I liked that I wouldn't have to remove snow or mow the grass or landscape
anything, I would just live their... and I thought they were a really good deal,
lots of them were available and I thought that since the new home owners tax
rebate was already over - less people were buying and that was one of the reason
the market was still dropping. After I looked the first time with my boy friend
Jerry I decide I was more serious, I took my parents next. I then experienced my
first, of many to come, home inspections and Realtor interrogations with my father.
It was hot out, as my dad asked question after question. I got the feeling eventually that he was just trying to find a question that "my" Realtor did not know the answer to, which, proved to be rather easy. I then thought he was just trying to make the Realtor look stupid. I was sweating as we went outside and walked form place to place.We were supposed to look at a certain condo, a woman came to the door with a towl on and clamed she had no idea that we were coming & we should come back some other time -- the house wreaked of smoke just from the door -- I wasn't interested anyway -- turns out she was a renter.
My dad brought up some very good points that I choose to ignore at the time
because I was in love with the idea of living their. Some of those were: I would
be living in a building with 6 other units, it might be noise, no one was
actually paying their SSA fee every month so if they didn't have the money how
would they fix the roof if their was a big storm, or who would be hired to shovel
or mow the grass with no money to use for that? I left very frustrated & my parents and I went out for one of
our many to come, after home hunting dinners to discuss.
After that experience I decided to branch out and look at a few other places I
found a few that I liked but before proceeding I wanted to get pre approved for a
loan. My parents and I all headed over to the loan office of Wells Fargo. We sat down and started to get some numbers and facts together -- It turns out that my parents couldn't help me if my credit was bad -- I was on my own, if my score wasn't good enough, no house for me. The lender asked me questions & started plugging the numbers into the machine of fate. finally all the numbers were in, and he said we would know in just a little while. My heard was pounding I could feel it pulsing in my head, my face was hot and then..... I was approved for a FHA loan all by myself, somehow my credit was good enough to get a house but only good enough for a $200 credit card limit --wow, I was shocked. I had almost given up hope.
It also turned out that I would not be able to get a condo in Bristol
bay because FHA did not approve them because of the fact that no one was paying their FHA tax, so, all that time I spend looking at the condos and dreaming about living their and researching the construction of the
buildings, all the questions my dad asked while my Mom and I were standing their sweating, was now no use to me except that I could now cross it off the list.
It was for the best I thought, Condo living was not for me and did not have the best
resale value. I then walked out the door of Wells Fargo with my first pre approval letter -- I felt very old.
After getting pre approved later that week I went off to look at more houses.
This time my focus was on Lakewood Springs where my sister already lived. I
couldn't afford an actual house, so we started looking at duplexes. We looked at
a lot, Some were trashed, some were very messy, some had people living in them that were clearly unhappy we were their looking to take their house from them... however, I found one that I loved, it was listed at $65,000 2 bed rooms, 2 baths, a
huge walk in closet with a window in it, a loft, hard wood floors all down
stairs, a porch... "it was perfect". I put in an offer and the seller accepted,
however it was a short sale so the lender had to as well. Well, I thought I had
it, I was so exited... Then, the fateful call came it, "my" "dream house" had
been auctioned. The sellers Realtor didn't get my papers in soon enough and it went to the auction block (so the story is told). I was heart broken and vowed not to fall in love with another house untill I knew it was mine.
After that Joe and I hit the streets again, we looked at more duplexes and also some town homes. One place had a rather aggressive scared dog loose in it, then the owner came home and didn't know that were going to be their because his Realtor had not told him....AWKWARD. The town homes had more bathrooms and a completely different floor plan, they had cathedral clings & were 4 unit buildings, they also had a 2 car garage however you had to pay 135 a month in SSA to maintain the building instead of the $35 for a duplex in addition to the normal 1 time a year $1000 SSA tax. I was off the town house kick after Bristol bay and wasn't too interested although I did like them.
We found 3 places I was interested in and we took my parents out to them the next week. My Dad, to my complete surprise loved the town houses, even though he hated the Bristol bay ones.. I couldn't believe it... Then we went to "the one" that is, the one I really really liked (again) and he wasn't all that impressed... I really liked it and already had my heard set on it it. It didn't have hard wood floors or a nice wooden deck, but otherwise it was pretty much the same as the last, better land scapeing, a brick deck, a fenced in yard 2 bathrooms 2 bedrooms, nicely painted already "it was prefect", my heart chimed in again. So, in an effort to respect my dads feelings that the town house had better resale and was a better deal and to ignore my heart a little I decided to put in a offer on the town house, for the same amount that I wanted to offer on the duplex (the town house was listed for less) The contract that I filled out ended up being the wrong one, so I would have had to re do it, by then I had decided that I really wanted the duplex and I was the one who was going to pay for it and live in it , I didn't want to pay an extra 100 per month, the taxes were more and I wanted my own plot of land so I could have a fence and a dog.
So, I put my offer in on another duplex that was actually very close to the last one. I had to drive all over the place to RUSH to get my offer in in case someone else wanted to make an offer, I put my $500 earnest money down, thankfully I changed the contract to include a time contiguity on the earnest money, saying that if the bank did not accept in a certain amount of time I could get it back. The seller excepted, I was exited... and then I waited, then I waited some more, then I waited some more, then I started looking at the pictures of it, and thinking of where furniture would go, and what colors the drapes would be and what kid of dog I would get. Then I daydreamed about how awesome it would be to live their, it was close to work, close to the YMCA, close to my sister.. "it was perfect" I complained and complained how the bank was taking forever, as I kept waiting I kept looking at homes that were new to the market (online) I found one in Lakewood that was a different floor plan which was more desirable than the one I had an offer on and was listed for 10,000 less -- we looked at it, everyone liked it, however the neighbor hood wasn't as nice so I stuck with the original one. The time contiguity was up, I could have my money back at any time... And then I waited, and then I got restless again.
I found a little house in Plano, the actual town. It was a 1890 2 story white home with a white picket fence and a detached garage. it had green shutters, hard wood floors down stairs, an actual basement a porch, a patio... I though "why not look" the taxes were WAY less, no SSA, it was right in town which I thought maybe I would prefer because of how much I loved living in the city when I was in school. I decided to causally look at it, I was sure that something would be wrong with it, mainly I was just curious to look at an ACTUAL house. So, I contacted the listing Realtor and set something up (mistake..#14991 of my home searching, I already had a Realtor... opposite) We met after I got done with work at 4pm. I loved the outside, it was really cute.. we got inside and I loved it too, the upstairs was like a little doll house, it has 3 bedrooms, 2 upstairs and 1 down stairs, the stair way was really cool, the hard wood was nice, the kitchen was pretty big, the basement was defiantly a place to hide when a storm hit. all in all once again I fell in love. Then I realized my problem... I had cheated on my Realtor - what now? If that wasn't bad enough, I had cheated on the other house, I now loved another. I was frustrated. At first I thought I would switch Realtors. My Dad didn't think Joe was any good at it anyway -- then I felt guilty because of all the time he had spent showing me homes etc. so I called the lady that showed me the house and told her my story.. she agreed to let me have Joe take over -- I did feel guilty for that, however people make mistakes, she only showed me one house, so the guilt was less... Although she did say she would buy me white wooden chairs for the porch if she was my Realtor and I bet Joe won't, so I loose their too.
After that I had my parents come see the house, Joe couldn't make it so he did something once again that he should not do, he gave me the code to get it. My sister and Brother in law came too, Jer couldn't make it. Everyone loved it right away and we all decided I should drop my offer on the other house and put it on this one. Suddenly I was thanking God that the bank was so slow with the other house. I called Joe and he put the call in, a few days later I put the offer in, he said that it had multiple offers... Then I waited, not long though. I got a call from Joe, since it had multiple offers they wanted another "best" offer. "great" I thought as my heart fell into a dark pit once again, I'm not going to get this one and all that time that I spend with that other house will be wasted and the process will have to start all over -- it must have been a feeling something like when relationships break up because of someone else, then that "perfect" someone else dosen't work out ether and then you just wish that you had stayed with the first person that suddenly didn't seem so bad.... So... I decided to prepare to fight. I read up on what to do. I decided to up my offer which was already list by $1000 dollars, also to double my earnest money offer, I also wrote a letter to them saying that I was ready to move, pre approved, had no property to sell and could move in ASAP....and that it would be a first home for me and I had been searching for a long time (my effort to receive a little empathy which was much more honest then telling them that I was getting married and having a baby and needed a home and was so exited...etc. that my Realtor suggested...) This I did because I decided that this was the sellers motive, to sell as quickly as possible. Then I waited.Finally after a whole 30 or so hours that were quite possibly the longest I have had in my life I got the call. My offer had been excepted! I was thrilled and the dreaming began as well as a lot of trouble: Papers were signed, my loan needed to be processed, papers were provided, bank statements were given... amendments were made, and finally a contract was signed by me and the seller was produced. I then hired a lawyer $400 (my x room mates father out of Des plains) I scheduled a home inspection $325 and signed more papers, faxed more papers and wrote more checks. The home inspector came and found some things, the things that concerned me most was that the kitchen where the fridge was had a sagging spot I hadn't noticed, it was because of the additions that were put on the house, it was propped up from the basement so it wouldn't sag farther, but could use some more support -- also it had no gutters, he suspected the basement leaked a little, the chimney needed to be relined. He said that FHA was picky about peeling paint, I didn't think much of him saying that... So after talking to him researching and more I decided that I still wanted it. The loan company sent their appeaser and I thought it was fine and excepted -- he appeased it for 10,000 more than my accepted offer, I was happy with that.
As I was driving back one night after work From Elgin where I was picking up a free couch and chair that I already had a mental placement for in my new home, my Dad called -- he suggested I go over to the house and check the basement since it had just rained and was going to rain more -- I in fact was racing this storm hoping that my free couch and chair would not be ruined. I decided this was a good idea and headed over their after unloading my loot in Jerrys garage, which was already full of the things I had been collecting and lets just say he wasn't all that keen about this. I texted Joe to tell him what I was doing -- I went in and sure enough, to my dismay their was water in the basement, not a ton, but some -- it seemed to be coming from the walls... one in particular. The house did not seem scary even though it was empty, I wasn't supposed to be their and I was all alone, I thought this was a good sign. I headed back to my car only to find that my keys didn't fit, I had left the right keys in the locked car and taken my truck keys with me. Lame -- I headed over to the police station and found some guys to break into my car wondering how I would explain to them, if required, why I was at the house with no Realtor...I didn't have to thankfully. Finally my night was done -- I got a text from Joe and he said that I shouldn't have gone into the house because he could get into big trouble... I figured he shouldn't have given me the code... and if he had responded right away to my text he could have stopped me. I had to do what I had to do... now I knew. I thought it would be a negotiation factor, but the seller wouldn't not help pay for anything -- I wanted help paying for closing costs... I decided that I would still get it even though it leaked -- my car leaks and I still like it-- it didn't have a pump down their and it also did not have gutters, I had faith that I could fix it plus I didn't plan on really doing anything down their. I talked to the home inspector after researching and he was impressed with what I had learned, he said that I was meant to own a house like that and that he wished others were more like me. Maybe I was meant to own this home, 2 years ago while I was still in school all I wanted for Christmas was tools, although I really had nothing to fix nor did I plan to... I just wanted tools, now I have tools and I will have stuff to fix.
After that I came back once to inspect once again for the dreaded termites I had been having nightmares about, I was sure something had to be their, They had to be hiding, I had researched a lot about them and knew what I was looking for. I crawled all over the basement floor, picked up stones in the yard, looked at all the wood, and nothing. No wood droppings, no saw dust, no mud coverings...no decay. Nothing. I was convince their were no termites. I did not want to pay for another inspection and considered google a good enough resource to feel confident in my knowledge. So despite all it's faults I still wanted the house... I was all in, all my cards on the table I felt as if I had won.
After that I discovered that I need to get a survey guy to survey it for the loan to be approved $325 -- that was done, no problems, then I needed more bank statements, ok... done. Next I was told that the FHA would not accept the loan till all the peeling paint was gone from the window trim and the fence -- it was freezing outside... I thought I was going to have to pay for it but thankfully the seller took that responsibility from me. They got quotes in and will put 1.5 times the highest quote in escrow till the job is done. Closing was going to be the 10th of December, then the 20th -- now today...the 23rd -- i had a trailer lined up, someone to work for me, days off.. but no it is not going to close because the seller was not even informed that we wanted to close and they don't have papers ready. The communication problems are horrible, the right people never call me back, ether no one communicates or everyone communicates the same thing... it is so frustrating I wanted to have Christmas breakfast at "my new house" but I do not have a new house yet and most likely won't till next week. So my story continues and I wait frustrated, stressed and restless. I find myself loosing my train of thought, forgetting everything, un able to concentrate, a little emotionally un stable. Today at work a somehow found my self standing in the middle of the sales room with a stickie note, not knowing what I was doing with it or where I was going with it. I also almost responded to a message that I sent someone else among other things... it's crazy this buying a home business.
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