Hi everyone!
I apologize for not posting last week. My time and energy had to be elsewhere, but I am back! So, what had my attention last week? Well... MY HUSBAND AND I BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOME!! We are so excited to start this new adventure in a space that is ours and ours alone. No more landlords, shared driveways or parking lots, and walls so thin you can hear the conversation your neighbor is having.
Our home is an adorable ranch-style house with a small front porch, back patio, two car garage, basement, 3 bedrooms, and 2 full bathrooms. It also has a hot tub, which, by the way, my brothers and friends are super excited about. The home definitely needed some improvements, but we are slowly getting those done before we move all our furniture over.
When this whole process started, my mom told me that the two most stressful things you will do in life is buy a car and buy a home. Let me tell you, buying a car was a breeze compared to buying a home! Allow me to take you through the journey that led us to where we are now.
My husband and I started looking at homes in either May or June, but we didn't start getting serious until July after we got back from my family's vacation. We found a small house that we loved on a Tuesday and scheduled a tour for that Thursday. Our relator told us that final offers were due on Friday evening and that we would need a pre-approval on a mortgage in order to make an offer. That Wednesday we started that through Rocket Mortgage and the bank. However, due to my sleep schedule, phone tag was the game and we were losing. I even gave the lenders my husband's number so that they could call him, but no one did. On Thursday, the day we were supposed to tour the house, I happened to wake up at noon and saw I missed a call from the relator. She left a voicemail saying that final offers were moved up to that night at 7, which means we would need to draft an offer after our tour at 5. At that point, I grabbed my laptop, ran downstairs, and we tried like crazy to get the pre-approval we needed. But, the bank wouldn't be able to approve us in time and Rocket Mortgage's rates were way to high. So, sadly, we had to back out of the showing as it was too rushed. Saying we were bummed was a major understatement.
After that, we toured two more houses, but they were either too small, didn't have what we wanted, or were too much money for the work that needed to go into it. Also, the relator that showed us those houses wasn't very genuine and would say anything to get us to make an offer that day. She also wasn't very knowledgeable on the homes or the area and would answer our questions based off the home listing. We didn't like either of those things, so we moved on from her.
Another problem we ran into was that due to being in a rather rural area, most homes had well and septic for the water supply. Now, there is nothing wrong with that. I know people who've had well water and love it. However, we grew up on city water with a pubic sewer system, so we didn't know the first thing about how to care for a septic tank or treat well water. So that really limited the houses that were available to us.
Fast forward to the beginning of August. I couldn't sleep one morning after work, so I was doing my daily Zillow/Relator/Redfin search. I happened to find a home that had only been listed for about an hour and it had everything we were looking for. I sent my husband the link and within minutes, he was telling me to book a showing. Luckily, I still had the number for the first relator we talked to. I reached out to her and within an hour, we had a tour scheduled for the following morning.
After seeing the house, we fell even more in love with it. It was the perfect size for us, looked like it only needed minor cosmetic changes, and it had a decent sized back and side yard (both of those are important because we really want a dog). By the end our the tour, we knew we didn't want to waste any time and potentially lose the house. We told our realtor we wanted to make an offer and scheduled a meeting for the next morning to fill out all the paperwork. That night was also spent submitting our application for a mortgage through the bank.
That next morning was super stressful. Our meeting went from in person at 9am to a phone call due to the relator having a family emergency. After providing her with our emails and all the information she needed, there was radio silence for almost an hour. We started to think we had been ghosted by this relator and were planning on finding another one. The call ended up being a three-way phone call (since my husband had to go into work) that happened around 11:00am with the papers signed electronically and submitted by 11:45am. We were told we wouldn't have an answer from the sellers for about 24-48 hours, so safe to say the next two days were filled with constant check-ins with the realtor. Thank goodness she understood our excitement and wasn't annoyed.
We finally got an answer from the sellers the next afternoon. They countered our offer, but it was reasonable, so the initial purchase price was set. I was home with my parents because one of my best friends had an appointment to find her wedding dress and my husband was spending the weekend with his family, so there were a lot of celebratory phone calls made for the rest of the weekend.
Once we were both back home, the next step was to set up the inspection and get estimates from contractors for any problems that were found. Luckily, the inspection went really well and there were only minor plumbing problems that needed fixed along with both garage doors. Once the estimates were submitted, we put in a new purchase price with the seller, and that was accepted! However, the next few weeks were filled with sleepless days and a lot of worrying.
About three weeks before our planned closing date, our relator texted us and said our lender hasn't called her back about scheduling the appraisal. I reached out to the lender and originally got her voicemail. I left a message and within the hour or two I got a call back. I told her our problem and she was shocked as she submitted for the appraisal a few days ago and hadn't heard back. She said she would talk to that department and call out relator to get all that figured out. Luckily, that problem was resolved and the appraisal was completed at the beginning of the following week.
Finally, we got word from the lender that our application was approved and that we were moving forward with closing. Our title agent reached out and we scheduled to close on the date originally discussed at the beginning of this process.
However, the Friday before we closed, our title agent reached out and said the lender wasn't aware that our purchase price had changed and that they needed to update their paperwork. She said that this happens and it shouldn't cause a problem with closing. We did find out from our relator that she informed the lender twice of the price change, and it showed that the lender saw both those documents. So they dropped the ball on that one.
Fast forward to Friday night, our lender reached out to my husband (I was taking a nap), and informed him that they made an error and forgot to place an order for a surveyor to go out to the property. She said she didn't think that it would be done by our closing date and that closing would be moved back. We were annoyed, and I let our title agent and relator know. As it turns out, our relator knew none of this as the lender didn't speak to her, so we had to fill her in on the whole situation.
Now, on the original closing date, I slept with my phone ringer on in the event we got a call from anyone on our team. I wake up around 10am and had no missed calls, texts, or emails from anyone. I called our title agent and she said that they surveyor filed all their paperwork so she didn't know what the problem was. I told my husband this, so he called our main lending agent and I called the person handling our application through closing. I got their voicemail and the main lending agent originally started reading my husband information from the wrong application! She corrected herself, but then to him to call the person I called. When I didn't hear anything back, I emailed the person I tried calling and within five minutes, I got a response. She said she was reaching out to "closing and collateral" and would let us know when she heard something. Again, our relator was out of the loop on all of this because for some reason, the lender didn't call her for anything.
By the following morning, we finally had everything that we needed, our application was again approved, and we scheduled closing for that Thursday. Signing the closing documents was super fast and easy and we were in and out within 30 minutes (maybe even quicker). We originally thought we were getting the keys that night, but we didn't get them until Friday after the title was put in our name. Thankfully, we now have the keys and have been working all weekend at getting the house ready for move-in day.
What was also really cute was the day we got the keys, we walked into the kitchen and found a bottle of sweet bubbly rosé, two wine glasses, and a card from the previous owner of the house. The previous owner is a 74-year-old lady who recently moved into assisted living, but she had lived in that house since it was built and raised her family there. In the card, she wished us well on this new adventure and told us to get ready to create tons of memories and dreams. She also said that she'd love to come back some day and see the house again and gave us her phone number. We were so touched by this because she did not have to do that for us. It also made us realized that we bought a good house. Once we get the house all fixed up to our liking, we will definitely reach out to her and have her come back and see the house.
Despite all the bumps, twists, and turns, I am so happy with the final result. We have a house. A place to call our own. A place to host big family holidays, game nights, and long weekends with guests without feeling cramped. A place that we can finally add our own personal touches to without worrying about losing a security deposit. And, a place to raise a little fur baby, when that time comes. Yes, this was by far, without a doubt, the most stressful thing we have been through to date. But now ,it's time to relax, enjoy this new space, and make memories that will last a lifetime!
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