Friday, November 4, 2011

All Moved In

Well, it's taken a while to post this, but we closed on the house and are all moved in. Once we settled the flooding issue with the appraiser, everything went pretty smoothly. We closed on Wednesday, Oct. 26th. We were so excited! And to top things off, on the way back from the closing, we got a call from someone wanting to rent the townhouse we were in.

After a mad rush getting things moved, since the new renters wanted us out by the end of the week, we finally were able to get all of our stuff to the new place. Now we just need to unpack everything. Darcy has been doing a great job finding a home for everything and the empty boxes are piling up. We will be settled in no time. Pictures to come soon.

Friday, October 14, 2011

He What?

So, here's an interesting story for you. We were on our way to the house yesterday for the inspection. We were already aware of some issues with the house, but we were a little anxious about what else he might discover. We were about half way there when Mike's phone rang. It was our realtor, A. Mike answered and then I heard A take a big breath. I thought he was going to tell us that the inspector cancelled. And then Mike kept saying, "Uh-huh, uh-huh, ok." He was using his uh-oh voice. My heart started pounding, and I was thinking, "Oh great! What now?"
WELL. Apparently, the appraisal had been done the day before. And appraiser thought he would be helpful, and turn the water on. (I bet you can already see where I'm going with this.)
He went downstairs to turn the water on. At this point, I'm not sure if he went directly back upstairs, or if he stayed in the basement for a while. But, when he did go upstairs, there was water all over the kitchen. When the sellers unhooked their fridge, they turned the main water off, but not the water line that goes to the fridge. Probably not a big deal normally, but the kitchen floor is a wood laminate. The appraiser ran back downstairs and turned the main water back off. Then, he called the seller's agent and told her to get someone over to the house to clean up the water in the kitchen. And then.....he left!!!!!! He left that puddle of water on the laminate floor. Seriously!!??? The seller's agent was busy, so she called our agent. He was busy, so he called another agent from his office, who ran over to the house and cleaned up the water. But now, the wood seams are all curled, the water has soaked up the walls of the base cabinets, and it appears that water is puddled under the cabinets where it can't be reached to dry up.
The Appraiser is trying to pass it off as no big deal. The seller is in desperate need to sell the house. We don't want to back out, but the kitchen IS damaged somewhat. And the killer is that the cabinets are on top of the flooring, so the whole kitchen would pretty much have to be completely ripped out.
We are in little bit of a dilemma. Our realtor arranged some contractors to come look at it today to give an estimate for repairs. Then we either need to go after the appraiser and his insurance, or hope that the sellers insurance is up to date so they can file a claim. If that happens, we have to then hope that the seller doesn't just take the money and run. Ugh. Our stress level just jumped into the red zone.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Finally

It finally happened! The paperwork came back, and it was all good and correct this time. Yay! We met with our mortgage guy (now being referred to as MG) yesterday and he said we should be able to close in about 3 weeks. We, of course, are trying to pressure him to get us closed a little sooner. The bank wants us closed by Halloween, and we have to be out of our current place that same day. MG thought we could close by Oct. 28 and have the keys on Oct. 31. I have a feeling we won't find much help to move on Halloween, though. So, we are crossing our fingers once again. But, we are definitely relieved to be soooo much closer to having this done and over with. Our inspection is going to be on Thursday, and the appraisal will hopefully be this week also. I guess I better hurry and finish up a few projects, and get some more packing done!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Third Times a Charm

For the third Friday in a row, we received a call from our realtor at about 5pm. The first two times we were told that everything was a go, it was done, we were ready to schedule inspections and closing. This Friday was no exception. Same news for the third time. This time however, I'm not getting too excited. I'm waiting to see if we get that dreaded Monday call again. The one that says, "Oops. Sorry." I certainly hope its the real thing this time. If not, I'm going to have to start unpacking before we even move. We've been living on just the essentials for over a month now, and the garage is brimming with boxes. The poor kids haven't had any books, movies, or toys for several weeks. It's killing them (and me). So, third times a charm! Right?

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Buying a House

Buying a house is stressful for everyone. But, when you are trying to buy a short sale, that stress is magnified by about a thousand. We made an offer on our *hopefully* future house on August 22. That was 44 days ago. And for the past 38 of those, we've been hearing, "just a couple more days." Ugh. This is getting old soooo fast. Last weekend, the other agent even told us that she had the paperwork back, we were definitely on, and to go ahead and schedule our inspection. And then on Monday, they took it all back. Again. Apparently the previous owner has 2 mortgages, and the bank with the 2nd decided they weren't happy about the money they were getting. So, here we are. Waiting. And waiting. And waiting. "But it should just take a few days to get it all straightened out." We'll see.
So, in the meantime, my husband and I thought it would fun to start blogging about our *almost* cute house. I say *almost* for a few reasons. First, because it's *almost* ours. And second, because it's *almost* cute. We have lots of plans for this house. We plan to use this blog as a way to record our progress and work. Now, if only we can get the house.