Finally, we begin

The house is ours, and the first of the holidays that round out the year is over. Now it's time to settle down and begin work in earnest. Tonight we're simply going to go over to the rat hole and take a look around, deciding what needs to be explored, what needs to be done first, what can be done simultaneously. I guess it's a quick and dirty planning session. While we're figuring that out, we'll begin cleaning. Well, we'll probably start that tomorrow. The place definitely needs a good cleaning, especially the bathrooms. *shudder* We bought plenty of gloves and other supplies.

For a while we were considering putting in wood floors right away, since there's a sale on the flooring we want, but we just don't know enough yet to want to make that purchase. So, carpet it is, at least for the moment. That way we won't have to worry about ruining our floors as we work. We can also put off making some of the structural decisions, since the carpet will be temporary.

We decided that we'll scrape the money together to try and stay in our apartment through mid-January. It was just going to be too difficult to try and clean and repair the rat hole on top of packing up, moving, and cleaning the current place on top of the holiday preparations.

We'll start posting pictures again as work progresses.

The key to the situation

This morning we finally got the keys. Turns out the keys were outside the whole time, even though we had gone out on Wednesday and Friday and couldn't find them. Our agent did find them this morning and re-hid them so that we could find them. And find them we did. We went inside, walked around, and realized just how much crazy work we have ahead of us. We're going to have to come up with a schedule soon so we can figure out what we're doing when. We're in, though! We're finally in! I want to start today. I want to get in there, rip down crappy wood paneling, clean up filthy bathrooms, and start to make the place ours. All in good time, I suppose.

Where are the keys?

I guess everybody left town for Thanksgiving and the keys didn't get put in the place they were supposed to be. Very disappointing! Our real estate agent might take some time and retrieve them tomorrow (or Friday). We've paid for the ride but it hasn't started yet. Well, that's not true. This has been one hell of a ride!

Rat Hole, sweet Rat Hole

So that's that. The paperwork is supposed to be recorded today. When it does, our agent's going to give us a call and we'll go get our keys. This is the fun part- the keys are hidden somewhere on the property, and we have to find them. Apparently the selling agent isn't very local (local to Washington, just not local to Kenmore), and so he doesn't have time to actually hand our agent the keys or something. Sounds to me like neither of them ever want to see us again. Well, whatever. I guess I don't care so long as we get the keys. And then we'll give our friends the grand tour tomorrow when they all come visit us for Thanksgiving. Then the fun of trying to repair the place begins.

I'm actually very excited. I can't believe we own the house. I'm really looking forward to spending hundreds of hours fixing it up. At the very least, it'll be good stories to tell my grandkids when I'm older- "When I was young, your grandfather and I bought our first home, and let me tell you, it was a rat hole...."

Thanksgiving's just around the corner. Have a happy holiday!

Closed!

Well, we did it! Rather, it happened. We got to go down to the escrow office and sign a load of paperwork. We kept forgetting to sign with our middle initials, too! Had to go back and make a few corrections. The escrow lady looked really bored. I don't think I could handle that job. We will most likely get the keys on Wednesday evening!

And now the fun begins...

More on that later.

The end is near

So after all that drama and stress, we might close today. As with everything surrounding this house, nothing is certain. If we don't, it'll be because the lender couldn't get their crap together. Of course, that's pretty much been the story of this house. It's been the people surrounding it that have made the journey such a roller-coaster ride. Anyway, if we close today, we'll probably close around 4pm. If we don't close today, we have to close before noon tomorrow. If we don't close tomorrow by noon, that's the end of the road.

I would really, really like to close today. Even after all the garbage that's been going on, I would still love to have the property. We could really make it nice, I think, and it would be a great way for us to build equity. Plus it will keep us busy (because everyone knows we have problems keeping ourselves busy *grin*).

City Hall and Utilities

I finally had some time in my schedule to go down to city hall and do some research. I should have done this weeks ago. City Hall planning told me about sub-division. It may be possible to sub-divide the lot in half in five years. Maybe. It’s really close. There may not be quite enough square footage and access could be an issue (the resulting second lot couldn’t use the driveway and would have to access the private road that runs next to the house). The lady I spoke with said that things could change a lot in five years, though. For example, the private road could become public. Or the lot size requirements may change.

The water and sewer utility told me some very interesting stuff, too. We will have to move our water meter service. This will cost about $2000. This doesn’t include the trench or line from the meter to the house. Connection to the sewer is a big one. $7205 for the permit and connection fee. Another $3500 for a contractor to connect from the sewer to the house. The gas connection and line would be $842 (not including the trench). I’m still waiting for information on electricity.

Needless to say, we won’t be jumping into the sewer connection right away.

I also found out today that we will not be getting another extension. The 25th is do or die.

And the lender is kicking herself for not using her regular appraiser.

Extension

Just got an extension. That didn't seem to be too hard. Now the official closing date is the 25th. Since next week is Thanksgiving, we're not really getting that much extra time. Oh, well.

Hurry up & wait... and hurry up...

Our lender called this morning. She's having a new appraiser do his thing - deadline Thursday. She tells me we could close on Friday. She asks if I have the insurance arranged. I said no. She needs the name and contact info today (by 3:00)! I had gotten a quote a couple of weeks ago, she said it was high and that she'd get me the name of a guy to get a new quote from. She hadn't done that, yet. I talk to her new insurance guy today. He gives me a quote of $2549 a year! Gulp! The original was $900! Regualr houses have insurance policies between $400 and $600 a year. Her guy was not so good at finding a good deal. But he is across the hall from her. Location, location, location. Now the lender has the contact information of the insurance company so they can submit a binder request. The insurance guy said he can turn that around in 20 minutes. Why is some stuff so easy?

We have to keep our Friday open, though. We just may close.

See-saw

Up and down we go, back and forth...

So the appraiser wouldn't budge. The lender got on his case about being slow. He said it was too bad. So we're not using his appraisal. The lender's own appraiser (who we should have used in the first place - just my opinion) is going out on Thursday and thinks they'll be able to give us what we need. We could close on Friday, or we could need an extension. Our agent talked to the seller's agent about lowering the price. The seller's agent said that the seller was very difficult to work with.

Whew. Looks like we're back in rapid-fire land, possibly.

Well, okay

This morning we have a bit more clarity surrounding the situation, I guess. Turns out the appraiser DID appraise the property for what we offered for it. What he didn't do was appraise the property for what we offered for it PLUS the money that will go in the escrow account to make our whole financing scheme work. So, the lender is going to try and straighten that out today. If he won't do that, we can still have the lender's appraiser go do it. Our other option is have our agent go and ask the seller to lower his price. If he doesn't want to do that, I guess he can walk away. I don't want him to be able to walk away. I want to buy the house. Yargh.

Regardless, we're not closing on the 19th. The underwriter still has to do his or her thing, and bunches of other things need to happen as well. We're not sure what the new timeline will be, though. Hopefully we'll know soon. I feel like that's becoming our catch-phrase with all things surrounding the rat hole...

Maybe tomorrow

So the appraisal was turned into the lender today. Apparently she called the moment it crossed her desk.

Unfortunately, we still don't know what exactly that means. It's strange because this appraiser actually valued the property less than the asking price. Even though it was the seller's appraiser. Um, okay. The first appraisal we had with the first lender, the one that said absolutely don't lend on this unless it's fixed first, said it was easily worth what we offered for it, even in spite of the problems. So the lender's going to find out if the appraiser made a mistake. If he says he didn't, the lender's going to use their own appraiser.

And then we will wait some more. Although she says that her appraiser can turn it around pretty quickly.

Wonder why we didn't get to use that appraiser in the first place.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll find out. Oh, it would be so nice to find out. In spite of all the waiting and worrying and wondering, I would still like to get the little house.

Strange things afoot

This whole situation is strange. The appraiser thing is the most strange, although it gives us bargaining power at the end of the deal, should we decide we still even want the house. The conflict of interest created by using the seller's appraiser (which we didn't even find out until after the appraisal was already done- very shady) should give us some leverage, one way or another.

And, of course, when we tell our friends and family about the situation, all sorts of red flags go up. It's very strange that this is so difficult. People buy fixer-uppers all the time. The house isn't even in that bad of condition. It's structurally sound and really just needs cosmetic work and a lot of time put into it. Yet if a house could be treated like a leper, this house is certainly being dealt with in such a mannter. We don't really understand what the deal is.

After discussing it at length, we've decided that there must be something else funky going on with the house, something we don't know about. I'm not talking about dead bodies or vengeful spirits or anything, although that could be interesting. No, we suspect that there's something legal going on. We're going on a quest on Monday to try and figure out what's up with the house. Hello, county records. Here we go.

Gift Money

Here's my first post to the blog...

As the other half of the rat hole hopeful, it's been fun to watch the blog take form. Well, maybe not. There sure are a lot of hoops to jump through!

As you may have read, we've settled on a lender who came up with a pretty creative way to get us a loan. It requires 5% down and then we draw on the equity in the house to get that 5% back so we can repair the house. My father has been wonderful and given us most of that 5%. I deposited it into our bank account on Monday. Today I find that the bank has put a hold on the deposit! Not only that, the hold clears after our closing date!!! This really sucks!

I call the phone number on the hold notice letter. This person can't help me. Apparently banks use to be able to clear holds very easily. This person tells me it doesn't work that way anymore. She says to go to my bank in person and beg. I'm gonna go beg, but I might get pissy.

First, I shave. Haven't shaved in a couple of days. I think the bank might like me better if I shave. Plus, my other half likes it, too! Then I put on a nice sweater. The one I'm wearing is not so great. But it's warm!

I'm at the bank. I'm told by the "bank host" that a meeting with the manager will be a little while (half hour or more). Then he asks if he can help me. Apparently he's a vice president. Maybe everybody is a VP these days. I explain my situation. He says he'll take a look. A few taps on the keyboard and the funds are available. Sweet!!! I thank him, shake hands, and drive home.

It was a little anti-climactic. I really wanted to throw a stink, but he was really nice. It was far easier than the lady on the phone led me to believe. Maybe it's because I shaved.

At least it's not our fault

So after numerous calls to the lender, we find out that the appraiser is still dragging his feet. However, it turns out that he was not the lender's apprasier- he was the one the seller's agent advocated. So, it's the seller's fault he's so damn slow, not ours. If this prevents us from closing on time, we won't have to deal with any penalties. I guess having the appraiser be on the seller's side means that he'll be more inclined to be gentle with us, because the seller wants the property off his back.

In the meantime, we're still trying to get our financial ducks in a row and provide all the proper documentation. We're still waiting, but it's not quite as terrible as it was before, even though we still have no idea if we'll get the house or not.

Another helping of waiting, anyone?

So it's Tuesday. Not even early morning Tuesday, but not-so-far-away-from-close-of-business Tuesday. We still haven't heard a thing. Last week the appraiser had informed the lender that there were no problems meeting the purchase price. We already knew that from the first appraisal, but I guess it never hurts to hear it again. At least the rat-hole is worth what the seller said it was, even if most of the value is in the land.

However, what the appraiser was still trying to figure out was the dollar amount of the work that would have to go into the home. Basically that's the list of what we'd have to get finished to get the money released from the escrow account. If we got the house, that is. If. Big if.

We were supposed to find out yesterday, and there was no word. So we thought we'd find out today, and there's no word, and neither of us are in a good position today, time-wise, to carry out a long discussion with the lender.

I really hope we find out tomorrow. I don't like being stuck in limbo.

Monday

That's the day we should get our good faith estimates and find out what exactly is possible. The appraisal was done yesterday, but it didn't get back to the financing people. So, they'll take a look on Monday and get back to us with what's going on. We should know soon, but that's what we've been thinking all along. It would be nice to have something concrete to know and think, instead of being left to wonder all the time.

I realized that I haven't posted a picture in a while, so I'll do that now. This is the master bedroom. If we get the house, the plastic lamps are outta there.

Movement, maybe

So apparently the appraiser went to the rat hole at 10am this morning, and will probably be finished about 2. Maybe that will be enough time for the lender to chat with him, maybe not. Once the appraisal comes in, though, we'll be able to get some good faith estimates and look at some actual numbers, which would be nice. We'd love to lock in some rates. Oh, and find out if we can actually buy the house. That would be nicest of all. If we don't hear today, we'll probably hear on Monday.

Isn't this fun?

Riiiight. Waiting is a great time. We haven't heard anything yet, so we can only assume that the appraisal hasn't taken place yet. We know that numerous family members are checking this daily, wich is why I keep posting the same thing every day. The appraiser only has two days left this week, including today, so we can only asssume that we'll have some news soon. Hopefully it will be good. We're under the impression that the appraiser was asked to be gentle. Hopefully the waiting will pay off.

Still nothing

And we still haven't heard. We're hoping to by the end of the week. Not a whole lot of time left now, actually.

It's hard not to shop for stuff for the house while we're waiting. I was sent a ton of links for fun faucets, tile, etc., and it immediately sent me on a flight of fantasy. It would be so fun to pick out everything and install it ourselves, making the house truly ours. However, each time I think about the future of the rat hole, I feel a bit uneasy, because I'm still not convinced everything will work out.

But I guess it's still fun to put it all together in our heads.

More waiting

Makes for riveting reading, doesn't it? Blah blah, nothing new, blah blah. But there really isn't anything new. We found out yesterday that our new appraisal will be sometime this week. We'll see how kind or harsh it is, and then it's up to the appraiser, the insurance agent, and the lender to decide what's going on. Hopefully we'll know our chances by the end of the week. It's hard to believe that if everything goes poorly, it only took us a few weeks to come within inches of owning a home before plunging back into reality. Otherwise, it'll be hard to believe that we went from having no intentions of purchasing a home to actually owning one in such a short amount of time.

We're still trying, we're getting our money in order, and we settle in to wait, again.