Where We Stand

We have news!

After taking paper after paper to the mortgage company, making the ladies at the bank hate me because I always need something from them and getting the worst fever blisters ever from all the stress we have a tentative closing date.

 

Last week Jacob went back to work and started football practice full time.  This week I am back at work.  In less than a month we should be closing.  I am so excited y'all. 

Hopefully it will not be long before this baby is ours.  We put our offer in on our house over 2 months ago.  At that time we were supposedly pre-approved.  So much has happened since then.  I have been to the mortgage company a couple of times EVERY week.  It has been a long, drawn out, frustrating process but tentatively it will be paying off on September 9th.  If everything goes as planned we will be moving in on September 19th.  Which is right smack dab in the middle of football season but we will make it through!

 

These people are going to be homeowners soon! 

My real wish was the we would be able to move in Labor Day weekend.  It was just going to work out best.  Jacob's football game that week is on Thursday night.  We were both already planning on taking the day off that Friday (of course when this idea was first even discussed we were sure that we would be in the house long before Labor Day!) and we are both off on Monday.  We could run to the courthouse and get hitched on Friday morning and still have 3 nice long days to settle in to our new married, home owning life.  (I won't lie I am still kind of holding out hope for that.)

Put on your rally caps guys we need a miracle.

(Side note: the rally hat in this picture totally worked.  The braves came back in the 9th from being down like  5-2)

 

It's Happening!

It's Happening!!! (Imagine Kristen Whig SNL skit excitement with that.)  Seriously it is happening.  I can't say I thought this day would ever get here but after bringing the mortgage company every single piece of scrap paper ever given to Jacob and I we are finally approved. 

These people are buying a house!

 

 

Tuesday our mortgage originator called Tuesday and you could literally head how excited they were for us.  I know it must be a relief for them too because they have been working so hard.  Being teachers we get paid once a month.  (And it is on the same day so it is literally one pay day a month...which takes some serious planning.)  So they wanted our pay stubs we got yesterday to add to our file before they sent it off to USDA.  So today I took everything to them and they will be sending it off to USDA by Monday.  Which means we SHOULD be moving in mid to late September.  Which is a little later than we really hoped for but whatever we are moving in at least!

 

 

This has literally been the longest, most frustrating process ever.  It has taught us a lot.  Mostly patience.  Not everything works out just like we want it.  Just because we have a plan doesn't mean the plan will work out like we want.  But what is meant to be will be.  We will get through it.

Apparently this is my favorite shirt ever...

 

We also learned that we love each other a whole lot.  I mean we knew that before but this has been a strengthening time for us.  Jacob has been amazing.  We are figuring out our roles as our relationship grows.  As our relationship changes from dating to being a married couple in the next few months our dynamic will change.  Mostly because so many things around us will be changing.  We are so much stronger after all of the frustration we went through this summer.  We learned to lean on and confide in each other.  Jacob knew just to wrap his arm around me as I walked down the road in San Antonio crying a few weeks ago when our chances of getting the house did not seem to be looking too good. (I must admit, not my finest moment.) 



I certainly wish that this whole process had been a little easier.  I know it isn't easy for anyone but it was a little more complicated because of our circumstances.  It has been a real process.  But I wouldn't choose to go through the process with anyone but this guy right here.

Missing In Action

Y'all I have been so out of it the last couple of weeks that I have not even wanted to blog.  But I do this so that I will have a way to remember what we are up to...so here goes.

(This is what I get.  Which is why the same good pictures show up here all the time.)



We are still waiting on the house.  Week before last we struck out on a last minute road trip to San Antonio, TX.  Jacob's dad was stationed there when he was in the Air Force and had not been out there since 1988.  (PS Jacob was 3 and I wasn't born yet then.  So it was way overdue. )  It was a really quick trip and I have yet to upload my pictures from the whirlwind three days so pictures will come one day.

 

 





This past week I had a week of AMSTI (Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative) training.  And football season is picking up.  And my classroom still looks ridiculous.

Actually it is worse than this because there are boxes of stuff needing to be unpacked right now in the open place.  So I am going to have to get in there for real over the next couple of weeks because school starts 3 weeks from tomorrow.  Ugh.  So not ready. 

When we were in San Antonio we heard from the mortgage company and they wanted a couple of more things from us.  Which is extremely annoying.  We have literally given them everything we have at this point.  Plus we have invested $700.00.  So if they don't give us this loan I am going to be more than upset.  They shouldn't have let us spend this money if they weren't sure.  When we wrote those checks we were under the impression that the loan was a sure thing but after weeks of waiting we are feeling slightly less sure.  We got them what they needed this week though and hopefully will hear something definite this week.  We seriously can't wait much longer. 

So all in all it has been a stressful couple of weeks.  Our whole life is on hold at the moment and I am really ready to move forward!



It's a Waiting Game

It has been a little while since I have updated but to be honest there hasn't been that much to update on.  Wednesday July 3 we had our appraisal. Of course, the 4th of July was the next day so we knew we wouldn't hear anything until after the weekend.  We FINALLY heard something this past Thursday, (7/11) and the house appraised for exactly what we are paying for it.  (Thank God)

We have been taking paperwork to the Mortgage company almost every day this week.  Seriously.  We went Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  They finally have everything they need though so we will wait now.  Which will be the most difficult part. Tomorrow our file will go back to the underwriters for final approval.  Once they approve it our file will then go to the USDA (Because we live in the boondocks and are eligible for a rural development loan.) Which will be the longest waiting period.  Oh yeah and we go back to work in just a few weeks.  Jacob goes back 3 weeks from tomorrow and I go back 4 weeks from tomorrow.  And all of the kids come back 5 weeks from tomorrow.  So yeah stress level is about to go through the roof!

While we wait this is what I will be focusing on....

That is my bedroom...with all of my classroom stuff in it.  Yeah, well my aunt is coming next week and needs to sleep there....so I should probably make it so she could get to the bed.  So all of that needs to be moved!

This is what my classroom looks like right now.  (Can I get an amen for those super shiny floors?) But nothing is where it needs to be.  So that is what my tomorrow looks like.  Getting all of that stuff from one place to the other and then getting my room in tip top shape! 

Quick Update

So, we have no new house news but there is so much to be done in the mean time.  It is really overwhelming how many things we need/how many things we need to do.

Thank God we are both teachers and are off and able to have the time to do these things. 

Here is what I am working on right now:

Remember that?  Remember how I said it was two different colors?  (It is believe me even though it isn't quite as obvious in this picture.  Well I have been beautifying it.  Well actually my Poppy has. Here is what we have been doing yesterday and today.

We stripped it down to the base and then put the first coat of stain on it.  We still have another coat to put on it to get it really close to the color of the top.

After we finish this we have a coffee table to do too that Jacob's mom gave us.  (She forgot she even had it!)  So excited.  Crossing a few things off the very long list.

(Oh, and somehow I am also supposed to go back and decorate my classroom....because this is what all of my classroom stuff looks like right now.

And I will leave you with that.  Because obviously I have a lot to do.

Fast Track

Y'all, this home buying process is really moving now.  All I can say is Praise the Lord!

Tuesday I told you how they had scheduled the home inspection for next Tuesday...and that I couldn't wait.  Well guess what?!? I didn't have to! Tuesday evening our agent texted me.

 (By the way can I just say how much we love our agent?  I loved her before because I have known her forever, but she has just really been amazing through the whole process.  It takes patience to deal with these two new home buyers.)

She texted me Tuesday night and said she had a different inspector that could come....the next day!  So I jumped on the phone and called Jacob.  I had workshops an hour away on Wednesday and Friday this week so I knew I may not be able to be there so he definitely needed to be.  (Especially with his daddy the home improvement guru.) But, even better news...Tracie scheduled him late in the afternoon so I could make it too.  It was amazing. 

Then, on top of all of this good luck, we had the best inspector ever.  He was so nice and explained everything and just sung the praises of our new house.  (Which makes a home buyer feel really good since I am already really proud of it!)  Jacob's dad came and everything the inspector said was things he could fix. (Although it was just cosmetic stuff he was mentioning not anything that will actually be a problem.)  My mama also came so that we could measure windows. 

The whole thing was wonderful.  (I need a thesaurus apparently I believe I have said wonderful a million times!)  So our inspection is done.  We turned in our final loan disclosures yesterday.  We have to go sign one more paper today that had gotten left out somehow but the whole thing is going right along. 

Oh, and look at this beauty we got this week. (My dad and Poppy are trying to figure out exactly how to mount the top to the bottom in this picture.)  My great-great uncle (yeah) loves antiques and has all kind of things in a shed in the back of his house.  Well he had this beauty.  The top is great.  It has been refinished a dark wood color that I love.  The pedestal is not the original one, and it doesn't match right now.  But we will be refinishing it next week so match and we will have a nice dining room table.  (Which you can order leaves for this one so when there is a large group eating we will have room!

The appraisal should be happening in the next 5-10 business days.  (Hopefully closer to 5.)  Then, the underwriters will finalize everything and it will go over to the USDA.  (We are getting a USDA loan. )  The USDA is currently 3 weeks behind so that is where we are standing right now.  It is looking like we are 30-45 days away from closing.

Yes, Jacob is trying out furniture.

 

If you (Pamela since you are the only blog reader I am talking to you!) are the praying kind of person please pray that we will be closer to the 30 day mark.  Since we are both teachers it would just really be much less stressful to be in the house before school starts.  And Jacob is the football coach at his school (not sure I had mentioned that) and he will be practicing basically all day starting at the beginning of August.  So before school starts is really going to be helpful!

 



Look what we got!

Yep, that is a signed purchase agreement! Yesterday I hounded politely called Mr. Mortgage Man.  Actually I emailed him because I didn't want to inconvenience him by calling and annoying him.  Then my phone rang!

 

He said the underwriters had given us the go ahead for the loan so we are well on our way to being homeowners!  Up to this point this is what we have done:

6/4/13- Got original pre-approval.  (The one that meant nothing.)
6/5/13- The house we wanted to look at first sold.  (Thank You Jesus.  Blessing in disguise I do believe.)
6/10/13- We looked at houses and found the one! (We looked at 7 houses in one day.)
6/10/13- We made an offer on our house!
6/11/13- We got the counter offer from the sellers which gave us pretty much everything we wanted and only raised the price we offered by a little bit.
6/13/13- Talked to Miss Loan Lady (ugh) who busted the nice bubble that we were living in by saying we needed at least 20% down.  (Hello what first time home buyer really has that?)
6/13/13- Called Mr. Mortgage Man.  Knew we found the one to help us.
6/14/13-Met with Mr. Mortgage Man.  Gave him the blood of our first born child.  (At least that is what it felt like.)
...then we waited.
6/24/13 Mr. Mortgage Man called and said we were good to go!
6/24/13 Our wonderful real estate agent (whom I have known forever) let us come over to her house to sign since she wasn't at the office.
6/25/13- Emailed Mr. Mortgage Man our signed purchase agreement.

So now we are back to the waiting game.  But now we feel free to pick things out so of course we went to Lowes last night.  That is our new favorite place!

So, the next couple of weeks will be really busy but I wouldn't ask for anything else!

While We Wait

They say patience is a virtue.  But it surely is not one this girl possesses.  We went last Friday to complete our loan information for the house and were told we should hear something within 3-4 days. Well we didn't start counting days until Monday (because we assumed that that is when the actual loan underwriters would get the information anyway) which would have put us hearing something Thursday or Friday.  Well no such luck.

I have learned Jacob isn't very patient with the waiting game either (although he is extremely patient in every other aspect of life) by this conversation.

"Have you hear from the loan today?"

"Nope"

"We are never going to hear anything."

"Well eventually we have to hear something.  They have to say no at the least they have to respond."

"It has been a week!"

This was Thursday.....which was actually day 6 but only day 3 counting from Monday. 

We just knew we would hear something yesterday.  But we didn't hear anything at all.  So instead we went and looked at furniture and household items.  Which led to us realizing that I like really girly things and Jacob will probably regret saying I could pretty much decorate how ever I want.

I am trying to be considerate but I don't think that things he thinks are girly are girly...just pretty.  So the whole decorating thing should be pretty interesting.  But, yesterday we did pick out our living room furniture.  (Which is going to be a wedding gift from my parents. Yay!)

 

We went to furniture store after furniture store yesterday. We sat on tons of couches. I kept being drawn to couches with this basic look though.  I love the color because it is so neutral.  I am a mind changer.  I will probably want to redecorate over and over again.  I feel like this couch is neutral pallet.  I will be able to do so much just by changing out some throw pillows!

The set comes with a sofa a loveseat and an accent chair which is in the fabric of the circly pillows.  We probably will not get the accent chair because we would like a bigger chair (like a recliner or a chair and a half) so we can really get comfortable.  I am already wanting to recover these pillows to get some color going on.  Here are some of the fabrics I am considering.

source

 

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(Although I am pretty sure that would is considered too girly by the man of the house.)

 

I want something bold but not overwhelming.  I am thinking envelope pillow covers with some cute button closures would be super cute. 

 

So, now I am off to decorate my hypothetical house in my head.  (Seriously what did we do before Pinterest!)

 



Really?!?

Okay, so remember when we looked at houses last week?  Well yeah going into that I believe I mentioned we had a pre-approval from our own bank. We were so excited.  Even though they wanted the blood of our first born child in return.

I had to get all kinds of information together and we were waiting on some of these things to come in.  Well in the meantime the couple owning our house (yeah we call it our house already) counter offered.  We were pretty happy with their offer though.  Then I talked to Miss Loan Lady. (which I don't say as a nice name.  I say it mean.)

Miss Loan Lady said that we didn't need to sign anything because this loan system was new and they didn't know much about it yet and she had heard of people who got pre-approval not having actual approval.  Excuse me what?  You are saying that you approved us for a loan 20,000 dollars more than what we now need and that was all just a joke?  Seriously?  So I cried for a solid day because all my fears were coming true.

This wasn't going to be mine!

 

 

Seriously, I cried all day.  I was pissed.  Really pissed.  But, we finally got all our paperwork in and we decided it was still worth the try.  We took a big file folder including the agreement to give them the blood of our first born and then Miss Loan Lady made it all worse.  Our approval was based on a 5,000 dollar down payment.  Hello, that is not a small chunk of change?  I don't know about you, but we are just starting out and that is way more difficult than it should be.  Miss Loan Lady said that if this new system (which hello she should have training on before she is able to break the hearts of obviously already attached future homeowners.) was anything like the old system it wouldn't let us get away with anything less than 20% down.  (Yeah I watch HGTV I know this is fairly common but seriously who has that starting off?) That would be like $27,000...cash.  Yeah excuse me while I go get that out of my other purse.  No, we don't have that type of money. So my dreams are dashed right?

 

 

 

But, these people are very determined.  We found out about USDA loans.  Well we kind of already knew about them.  But we didn't know our house was eligible.  (They make it seem like there is some kind of odd qualifications but seriously there isn't.)  Perk of living in the boondocks...no one else wants to live here!  This is 100% financing.  Which means no down payment at all.  (Which means we can put a pool in with what we were planning on using as a down payment...yay.)

 

 

But our bank doesn't do USDA loans.  (Seriously Miss Loan Lady, you are at the top of my list at this point.) But we were turned to some people that do by a good friend of mine.  And let me tell you something.  Mr. Mortgage Man is wonderful.  He absolutely rocks.  He has been the most helpful person on the planet.  We now are so much more informed.  We feel much better about where we are in the process.  I called on Thursday, we had a meeting on Friday and are now waiting on the underwriters to let us know.  Which is making this the longest week ever.  We are already so much farther in the process than we ever got with Miss Loan Lady.  So that is where we are.  Waiting on Mr. Mortgage Man to let us know.  But he feels well about our chances...which makes us feel amazing. 

 

 

But luckily, this weekend I got to keep my mind off of it because my family went to the beach!  My mom's brother was down for a visit and we all gathered at the Beach.  Post on the whole trip coming soon!

 





We'e buying a house

...wait what?!?!

Yeah, we made an offer on a house today.  I feel like such a grown up.  Seriously who is letting me make an offer on a house?  I am a child. (But seriously I am not, I just kind of get stuck in that mind set.)

So today we looked at 7 houses.  Yeah 7.  Our day actually started with a nice lunch.  We live in a small town where there isn't much to talk about in the food department.  With that in mind we decided to randomly drive 30 minutes away to eat.  (Which is no longer in our budget. Yeah.)

So that I will remember it when I look back here are the houses we looked at. 

P.S. Weird thing about buying a home in a small town where you already live an grew up....you know whose house it is.  Which is weird.

Here is number 1

We walked in and knew this wasn't it.  It wasn't one thing or another it just wasn't it.  And it was kind of small.  That was probably it. 

 



This was number 2.  It was the leader at this point.  (Against the one other house.) The fence was weird on it.  It didn't go all the way to the edge of the property.  Really odd.  And I don't love that it is yellow.  We wanted a brick house. 

 

 

Number 3...which is much more appealing in person than in this picture.  The living room and kitchen were absolutely wonderful.  But the rest of the house was just a little out of date for us.  We are too busy for too many projects in a house.  We wanted something we didn't to do a lot to.  But we could have lived here.  (Winner right now)

 

 

Going into the day we thought this house was our number two.  But apparently he person who took pictures of this house knew what they were doing.  It was not wonderful.  The rooms were much smaller than the pictures made them seem.  We just couldn't really see ourselves here. It is also on the golf course so we wouldn't have any privacy.

 

 

Then we saw this house.  Jacob has actually lived here before. Not this exact house, but a house with the exact same layout.  We didn't love it.  It was really, really small on the inside.  The rooms couldn't fit any more than a twin bed.  We knew this wasn't it.

 

 

Then we saw this and fell absolutely in love.  We could definitely see ourselves here.  We could see having kids here.  We loved that it had a garage.  We loved everything about the house.  Except for the outside.  As you can see it needs a little love.  And this was at the very top of our price range.  Which meant there would be no money left for improvements for a little while.  But we were willing to work on it.  This was ahead by leaps and bounds at this point.  We were going to the house that we loved before the search last and we knew it had some big shoes to fill.

 

 

Then we went here.  Look at that yard.  And you should see the back. It is immaculate.  And it has a shed/man cave. And it doesn't need us to do anything to it but move in.  Maybe paint.  But even that isn't absolutely necessary.  So fingers crossed this is our house.

 

It was so funny, we had said that we would look at houses, come home and talk about the houses and then call our agent back the next morning.  But it wasn't necessary.  We knew.  This was home.  So we went straight to her office to make an offer.  And now we wait.  The seller has until 5pm tomorrow to get back with us. 

 

This has been an extremely crazy day but hopefully the next few months will be even crazier as we start our lives together.  (By the way our agent will be leaving the country the middle part of July...so we have to get our butts in high gear!)