I just had a thought dawn on me… my new house has a fire place, which means there’ll be a mantle on which to put the mantle clock my grandmother gave me from my grandfather’s collection after he passed away a year and a half ago.
Somehow, this idea is the cherry on the sundae. Any doubts I might have had have been shed. I’m now thoroughly convinced this is the right house for me.
I finally heard from the lawyer’s office today. His paralegal (I’m assuming) called to get my insurance agent’s information. I also tentatively scheduled closing for 1:00 PM on July 21st. The girl at the lawyer’s office said it’s likely we’ll have to reschedule as we get closer. I had hoped for a very early appointment, but I guess I’ll have to take what I can get.
Paul faxed me the official response to the addendum this afternoon. The seller has agreed to fix four of the five items and claims that the one item doesn’t need fixing. Basically, the home inspector found a lot of dampness under the sliding glass door that enters the kitchen. He thinks the sill pan needs to be replaced. The seller says that the water is the result of a plant that had overflowed. I called the inspector to see if he buys that explanation and as I guessed he doesn’t really believe it. There was a colony of ants there that most likely wouldn’t have been there had the leakage been a one time thing. I called Paul and told him the inspector didn’t agree with the seller’s statement and he’s called the seller’s agent back to advise him that we’re going to take another look. I’ll email the inspector and see if he can come back out for a few minutes next week once the tenants are out of the house to take a better look.
I emailed the mortgage company to see how things were going and at the moment, everything is right on pace. Once the lawyer speaks to my insurance agent, I’ll have to get with him about finalizing the insurance, but other than that, I think I’m all up to date.
24 days and counting.
I emailed Paul yesterday because I still hadn’t heard any response to the addendum to the contract after the inspection last week. He told me the seller’s wife had been in some sort of accident, which is why their response had not been forthcoming. This morning Paul called to to let me know that the seller was going to fix everything himself. That’s fine by me. It would have been nice if they’d just thrown some cash my way at closing, but this is okay too.
Paul is also going to call my lawyer today to see what his hold up is. I have yet to talk to the guy myself, and my insurance guy is waiting to hear from him as well. Paul says this is typical for lawyers at the end of the month, especially since my closing is still thirty days away.
So, basically, everything is good. I’m slowly packing and pitching what I can at the apartment. I think I have 20 or so boxes already done and stacked in my living/dining room already. I guess I need to start submitting change of address stuff, huh?
Wow… this is really happening. Pretty cool, eh?
This afternoon I emailed the two lenders from the fiasco that was Tuesday night to let them know that I had decided on another lender completely. One called my work number right away, but I happened to be away from my desk. He left a voice mail, then emailed me, and then, when I hadn’t responded to him within about fifteen minutes–because I was working, go figure–he called my cellphone. What followed was a horrible display of unprofessionalism.
He asked what caused me to make my decision. I explained to him that I found a local lender who I felt more comfortable with and who provided me with a more than reasonable option. I thanked him for his time and then he went into a raised voice explanation of why I was making a horrible mistake. I told him very clearly that I had made my decision and that it was final.
That wasn’t good enough for him. He started to get rather animated on the phone and I told him that it was nothing personal. Business is business, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and any other cliche that fits the situation. In this case, you just came up short. He tried to get going again, heading in the “I’ve spent the last two weeks working for you and now I have nothing to show for my work” direction. Face it, bud, you’re in sales, it happens. The other thing is, what had he really done to this point? Maybe three hours worth of work spread over two weeks. If you don’t like the rules of the game, pack your shit and go home. I finally thanked him again for his time and got off the phone.
Five minutes later I got another email from him telling me again why I was making a mistake.
How on earth can people operate like this? Over the last couple of years I’ve really learned to trust my instincts. When my gut starts complaining, I listen. On the face of it, the guy had a good deal, but the one I took in the end was better for my situation. Sorry, it happens, get over it and go on to the next one.
So today ended with a few highs and lows on the mortgage roller coaster. I signed the papers with the new guy to lock in my rate making my application official. I got into an argument with another. I retained a lawyer to handle my closing. And I even hooked up with an insurance agent to get my homeowner’s insurance going. Tomorrow I have to forward a whole bunch of financial documentation to the lender which should bring me up to date as far as what’s required of me so far (at least I think so).
I’m heading to Mom & Dad’s this weekend to see my Grandmother who’s up from Florida after a bit of a scare yesterday. I’ll probably post about that later, right now I have to head to the grocery store.
It’ll be nice to get away from house stuff for a couple of days.
Before I started looking for a house I started shopping for a mortgage loan, figuring that if—for whatever reason–I couldn’t get a loan there was no point in hooking up with an agent. I filled out an app with Lending Tree and another with Lender A.*
For the uninitiated, Lending Tree is basically a front man who takes your info and then matches it up with lenders with who your situation is compatible. Then, the lenders themselves are responsible for contacting you. Between Lending Tree and Lender A* I had four guys trying to get my business. I quickly wrote off two of them… they just didn’t seem right (one was too pushy and the other sounded like a kid out of high school) and continued to talk to the Lender A and the company I’ll refer to as Lender B*.
The guy from Lender B* called the day after I sent in my application and we spoke for about twenty minutes as he got my particulars. He seemed honest enough which was the only reason I kept talking to him. The guy from Lender A* hooked me up with a preapproval letter right over the phone.
At this point, there’s not too much else to do with the mortgage lenders until you find a house. They basically sit around twiddling their thumbs while you shop, calling every once in a while to make sure you still remember their name. So I found an agent and started looking for new digs.
Fast forward to Tuesday night. It’s time to decide who I’m going with: Lender A* has a recognizable name, but his rate’s a little higher; I’ve never heard of Lender B*, but his rates are better and seems to be a decent guy to deal with. I’m crunching number from here to Sunday trying to figure out where the advantage is. Lender A* guy is telling me that Lender B’s* numbers are bogus and is trying to pull a fast one. Lender B*, of course, is telling me it’s all on the up and and up. But the fact is, my gut is rolling in so many directions on both of these guys and neither one is really answering my questions as well as I think they should. I finally tell both of them I’m not making a decision under these circumstances and take the night off from thinking about house stuff.
That day was the house inspection and when I saw Paul that afternoon he gave me the name of a local lender that he’s worked with before, so Wednesday morning, after all the crap from Tuesday night I called Lender C* to see what he could do for me.
Yesterday, at first glance, Lender C’s* monthly payment numbers were right in the middle, with his closing costs blowing both guys right out of the water. But this morning, thanks to my credit score, the monthly payment dropped by almost $100 dollars. That’s awesome. Obviously, I know who’s going to finance my house now.
Now it’s a matter of waiting on the seller’s to reply to the addendum. Paul recommended I lob a high one in there to see if they’d swing at it. Neither of us really expect it to fly, but it allows them to negotiate down to a more realistic number. Paul expects to hear something by tomorrow afternoon. So, what’s left is to wait.
* Names changed to protect the innocent.
For the most part, the inspection this afternoon went pretty well with the major exception being that the current tenants are slobs with way too much stuff, which made the inspector’s job more difficult than it should have been. He found a few things that need to be addressed pretty quickly, and I’ve had my agent issue an addendum to the agreement to address how I’d like things to be handled. We’ll see what they say.
While I was there I took some pictures of the outside of the house (don’t even ask about the inside right now). Click on the thumbnails below for expanded images.
And here’s a two-second panorama from the side of the house on the big deck.
So, we’ll see how they take my addendum offer and go from there.
I imagine I’ll have at least a few more nights like last night before I close on the house. I woke up at 3:00 AM in a panic… I mean, full on, the world is going to end and there’s not a fucking thing I can do about it panic.
I’m better now, but I can’t help but think that maybe I should have put this off for a couple of more months. I’m still a bit worried about covering all the closing expenses. The first few months of actually living in the house are going to be really tight thanks to the outlay of cash required for said closing.
In other news, the tooth seems to be making nice with my jaw again thanks to the antibiotics.
Sort of. My offer was accepted. Paul called to give me the good news this afternoon. Now, there’s the inspection and finishing up the financing.
I’m more than a little excited. I’ve called most of my family, and those I haven’t called will find out from mom I’m sure. It’s a big deal… I feel like a real boy now.
Paul got a call this morning from the agent on the offer I made last night. I offered $5000 less than they were asking, and they countered with $1000 off their asking price. No thanks… it’s just not worth that much to me. It’s a nice place, but it’s little more than an apartment with a nice yard.
I put in the offer on the other house with an expiration time of 5:00 PM today… I expect to hear something one way or the other before then, but that’s the deadline.
They never even responded… which is fine with me. As cute as the house is, it’s just that–cute. I called Paul at ten after nine and he hadn’t heard from the seller’s agent. I told him not to bother with calling them. They had my offer and apparently didn’t like it. I wasn’t going to change it, so there was no point in belaboring the issue.
So, I’ll make an offer on the other house tomorrow morning.
I was really looking forward to three bedrooms, but the view off the back deck of this one makes up for it. Plus, there’s a fireplace… and as Paris would say, “That’s hot!”
