Today's the day!

28 July 2009

We ended up signing our loan documents last night after all and the whole package was sent back to the lender for final review today (to make sure we didn't miss a signature page or anything). It'll go back to the escrow company who will then take it to the county clerk's office for recording. Once the transaction has been recorded and the title transferred to our names, we can legally call the house OURS.

Signing the loan documents took about 90 minutes to complete and by the end of the appointment, my head was swimming in legalese and dollar amounts. Plus, my hand was shaking throughout most of the process, making my signature look awful. It's a good thing the lender doesn't base its decision on one's handwriting.

We're having my family come over tonight to see the house in what will probably be the cleanest state it's going to be in for a loooong time. We've also invited our friends over tomorrow night for a celebratory toast. Tom, Karen and Doug have done an amazing job keeping this process on track, even with the hiccup we experienced with the appraiser, and we're thankful for the expertise they shared with us during our home buying adventure!

WELCOME HOME!

Another Delay

27 July 2009.

Today was supposed to be our original close date but some things have transpired that prevented us from getting our keys today. The appraisal report came back on Friday afternoon and was sent to the underwriter for review. Because the paper work was received so late on Friday, it won't be sent to the escrow office until Monday afternoon (today). So, the hope is that we'll sign our papers late this afternoon, the lender will get them back on Tuesday morning for final approval and release the funds to the escrow company, the escrow company will disburse the funds and send the title off to the county clerk's office. Hopefully, this will all happen before 2:00pm on Tuesday, which is when the clerk's office stops recording transactions for the day. If all goes well, we'll get our keys on Tuesday afternoon!

Bump in the road

22 July 2009
In home buying, there are a lot of variables that have the potential to slow down the process. We've been fortunate so far to have experienced almost no slow down whatsoever...until today.

There's a new rule that prohibits the lender from having direct contact with the home appraiser that everyone is getting used to in real estate. It makes sense to me, considering that there were lenders who were pressuring appraisers to appraise homes at certain values (usually over-inflating the price of the home). This predatory practice is one of many that led to our current economic state. So now we've got a bunch of rules that should prevent predatory lending practices and helps home-buyers from getting in over their heads.

However, it seems to me that even with all these new checks and balances imposed on the home buying process, the greatest potential for failure is with the appraisal and the turn around time it takes for the appraisal report to come in. I've heard a few anecdotal reports of appraisers under-appraising homes by less than 1-2% of the purchase price of the home, which only serves to slow down the process. The other point of failure is the lack of an enforced turn around time for an appraisal report to be submitted to the lender. The norm is 2-3 days after the appraiser inspects a home. In our case, we're now going on day 5 and THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT... except to light a candle and pray to St. Joseph the Carpenter (patron saint of real estate) for this deal to close! The management company said that they would send the report by close of business yesterday and didn't come through. Now they're saying we'll have it today.

So what does this mean? Well, we were supposed to sign our loan documents tomorrow so we could close next Monday. That appointment has now been cancelled and we're looking at signing on Friday evening, maybe next Monday; and closing on Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm hoping St. Joe will help us out here.

Meet the Neighbors

10 July 2009

We met some of our new neighbors today - Matt, who lives across the street; and Matt and Debbie, who share the easement with us. This photo was taken by across-the-street Matt. :)

Locked-In (the rate, that is)

9 July 2009

Today we locked in at a rate for our mortgage loan and ordered the appraisal for the house. We're obviously disppointed that the rates have gone up from their all time low at 4.75%, but we're still getting a fantastic rate. We also had to finalize how much down payment we were going to put towards the house, and, I have to admit the number makes my stomach do a little flip. A co-worker helped me to re-frame the stress as something more positive. She advised that even though the money was coming out of one asset, it's going right back into another asset. Therefore, the money isn't a debit. It's reassigned to a different asset. Thinking of it that way makes me feel better, for sure.

We're now done with the intense period of negotiating with the seller and figuring out the financing. Now it's all up to the lender and the underwriter to approve the loan based on the appraisal and our paper work. It's out of our hands now, which is scary and intimidating for someone like me who wants to know exactly what's going on and why. It's also frustrating to feel helpless, to not be able to do anything more to convince the lender that we're responsible people who aren't going to default on our home loan. I just take several deep breaths (being careful not hyperventilate) and try not to worry about it.

What's next? If the appraisal goes according to plan and the loan goes through, we'll sign the documents on July 23rd and get the keys on the 27th. And, there's the small issue of packing up and organizing our belongings (which neither Toby and I have found the energy to begin). I'm leaving for a band trip to Scotland the week after we move in, so I need to keep track of my gear and make sure we don't accidentally put my drum and sticks in the attic. :-)

Appraisal time

8 July 2009
We submitted our Inspection Response this evening to the seller and, let me tell you, there's nothing like working with a motivated seller. We finished writing up the paperwork at 7:30pm and at 8:45pm, we received a call from Tom saying that the seller accepted our conditions. For all intents and purposes, we've bought ourselves a house! We'll place an order for the appraisal tomorrow morning and then it's on to Closing Day.

One thing that annoys me is watching HGTV shows like "Property Virgins" and "House Hunters". There must be a lot of TV magic that happens on those shows because we had to sign and initial a bunch more paperwork than those people ever do. "My First Place" is a little more accurate, but it annoys me how these shows imply that you can buy homes in a couple of days. We're moving really quickly, it seems, but even then it's taking us about a month to close!

One step closer

7 July 2009


We finished our home inspection today and got one suprise result. There seems to be a leak from the upstairs master bath that needs to be investigated further, but otherwise the house is in good condition with no major issues (i.e. repairs costing more than $1000). It feels like this house is too good to be true at times. We're now waiting for the inspection report to come in from the engineer and we'll meet with Tom tomorrow to write up our response. Seller has two days to respond and we have two days to respond to them. In the meantime, we will schedule an appraisal for next week and hopefully we won't run into any snags there either.

Wow! That was fast!

3 July 2009
This has been a very eventful week so far. On Sunday, June 28th, we went to an open house and toured a home that was listed by Tom and Karen Jurewicz. Tom and Karen sold my parents' home in Rainier Valley a few years ago, as well as my sister's homes in Queen Anne, Greenwood, Greenlake, and West Seattle, her in-laws' house in Edmonds, and her sister-in-law's in Pinehurst. Needless to say, they've all been really happy with Tom and Karen and it was a pleasant suprise to go to their open house. Right off the bat, I LOVED the house. Sure, there were some things that could have been better - the parking situation (one car garage) and lack of a back yard, but nothing we couldn't learn to live with. Toby wasn't 100% sold on it, of course, and needed a day to think about it. We know there's an offer on the house, also, but of course, they couldn't tell us the specifics.

I know I sometimes complain about this particular characteristic of his, but really I'm grateful for it. He's talked me out of some impulse buys in the past and while I had been grumpy about it at first, I know that he was really looking out for my best interest.

Monday, June 29th, Toby says the house is growing on him and wants to see it again. Tom and Karen show us a couple of other properties with similar square footage, price, and location before going back to the one we saw the day before and it became clear to us that the house was the best one we'd seen in months of searching. T&K mentioned that the offer on the house fell through and to give this house some really deep thought (and not to stress out about it). *Right*

Tuesday, July 30 - more thinking, debating on whether or not we'd see anything better come up in the inventory. Finally, we decided to make an offer on the house.

Wednesday, July 1
1:00pm. We met up with Tom at the ReMax office on Eastlake to write up our offer. We decided to offer what we thought was fair market value, with a closing date of July 27th, and asked the seller to respond by 9:00pm that evening.

3:00pm. Took Toby to Urgent Care to get meds for his sinuses and congestion. Poor guy...physically, he feels really tired and generally miserable with his respiratory condition. The doctor thinks it's allergies and prescribed basically Flo-Nase and Zirtec. He's still not 100% better, but at least he's not feeling like he's dead tired any more.

5:45pm. Noticed a missed call from Tom. I forgot I don't get cell reception in hospitals. Ack!

6:00pm. I'm standing in line at the check-out counter at Safeway when Tom returns my call. He says that the sellers signed the offer outright - no changes to the offer letter and will send me the mutually agreed purchase and sale agreement in the morning! He says that they considered countering the offer, but the timing was too good for them to pass up and the reasons for our asking price were justifiable.

So, now we're under contract to buy a house!!! We have an inspection scheduled for Tuesday, July 7th, at 11:00am, at which point I'll post pictures of the house. I also got an email from our mortgage broker saying that he's sending us our pre-approval letter today.

A friend of mine says that major events happen in 3's and wonders what my 3rd will be. New Band, New House, New ????. Frankly I don't think I need a 3rd event - it's all so overwhelming as it is!!

Adventures in house hunting and other news

24 June 2009

Toby and I are about to join the ranks of home-owners in America! We started the process last month by meeting with a mortgage lender (Coulombe and Evered) to get our pre-approval letter. We've managed to save a hefty down payment by managing an apartment building for the past 5 years and being able to save our monthly rent. Next week, we're supposed to get our approval letter in hand and then we start some serious house hunting. We're looking just about anywhere north of the ship canal bridge and south of 145th St, but really, we're open to anything... including Shoreline and Lake Forest Park.



In other news, after 13 years with the Keith Highlanders Pipe Band, I joined the Grade 2 New Westminster Police Pipe Band, formerly the Maple Ridge Pipe Band. It was a difficult decision to make, but ultimately, I needed to be in a band whose politics didn't affect me closely. Some friendships were lost in this move, but the ones that were worth keeping remain - for which I am entirely grateful. The picture on the left is my new tartan - the Ancient Weathered MacPherson. It's rather pretty, imho. :) My first competition with the band will be July 11th, at the Skagit Valley Highland Games in Mt. Vernon, WA. A couple more competitions and we're off to Scotland to compete in the World Pipe Band Championships in August!

Learning to knit

1 February 2009

I've been knitting for a little over a week now and I really like it! I finished one project already - a hat for Toby. However, the hat was deemed to "girly", so now it's mine. That's totally fine with me, but if any of you out there have more "manly" beanie hat patterns, feel free to send them to me!