From there, it was like things just kept falling into place for us. If we hadn't had to wait so long for the pre-approval, the house we wanted would have been 16k more expensive. If we'd have waited any longer, the house would have foreclosed.
All in all, to me, it just seems like something was happening all along to steer us to this house. It's a wonderful house, and it's very big, which we love. The kids will each have their own rooms, plus we'll have 3 main living spaces- a living room, a den, and a family room. It really does give us a lot of space to sprawl out in, though I have a feeling the house is going to seem a bit empty at first.
So, here's the status of things. The house is being reposessed on Saturday the 14th by the bank, after having been in foreclosure for the past 6 months. We have to have the house closed on completely no later than Friday the 13th.
Along the way, we've had a few snags- of course the preapproval was a snag, but then when we decided on -this- house, the bank's appraisal took forever. There was a problem with someone else having already done one, and there only being able to be 1 listed on the record. That alone took over 3 weeks, and made us very close to the deadline.
When the pre-approval came in, we were told we had 3 debts (all small) on the credit report that needed to be cleaned up and paid off, so we did those. When we talked with each one, we were told that if we wanted a receipt, we had to ask for it in writing when we sent in the payment. No problem.
Unfortunatly, only 1 was willing to send one back. Fast forward to last week. On Tuesday, the house was re-inspected by FHA to make sure we did the required repairs. On Wed, we were called by the lender, telling us that the underwritting process was done, the bank had officially approved the loan. From there, we were told it was being forwarded on to MSHDA, which is a state program that is helping with the closing costs, and some other things, like keeping the rate low (5.85%).
On Friday, Nick got a call from someone else at the bank (we had always only dealt with the lender at the bank, not anyone else to this point). Seems there was a problem with those 3 creditors we paid off. They got confirmation from 1 company (the same one we got confirmation from), one wasn't answering the phone at all, and the last one refused to release information to the bank.
We scrambled around. Nick talked with the third one, as it was in his name. They refused to give him confirmation, either, but if we faxed in a written request that was signed and dated, they would fax the neccessary paperwork on to the bank.
I talked to the 2nd one, because the account was in my name, but Nick had been second on that account when it happened (a bounced check from almost 8 years ago), so it was on his credit report as well as mine.
When I talked with them, I found out that there was a 2nd bounced check just in my name from 11 years ago that had to be taken care of, otherwise my account was not considered "Paid in Full", so they wouldn't be able to release confirmation. Thankfully, it was a low amount, and I was able to take care of it in full over the phone. In turn, they faxed me the paperwork immediatly, which I inturn faxed to the bank.
For being a creditor, she was very understanding and nice on the phone, so I was happy to have gotten her to talk with. ;)
Anyway, come this morning, all 3 creditors had faxes on the desk of the banker we were dealing with now, and she said the matter should be done this afternoon. As far as I'm aware, there are no more steps between us, and closing on the house.
The closing has to be done in 2 steps. First, we close on our end, which releases the money to the right person. Then, because the owners now live out of state, the paperwork is faxed to them, where they go ahead and close on it from their end (hopefully before the end of the day on Friday!). Once that's done- we get the keys and take posession of our house!
Wish us luck!
rate
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 28
I'm looking at the picture...have you thought about putting shutters on the windows? I think they would look really nice on this house. Just me doing my computer decorating!!
Sue, I have actually! We have to get the roof done next year, and I think I'd like to use a dark green for it. Once I do that, I'd like to paint the doors dark green, and add matching shutters to the house. I think it would look nice against the yellow!
But, they were all small, easy repairs- scrape and paint the window frames, paint the cap on the chimney, and replace the brick moulding on a door frame. Nothing extensive or expensive.
Auntie M