We've been approved for the house!

So, we were approved yesterday by the bank and we're going to go for the house!

We close in 2 weeks on May 8th, so I doubt that I will be around too much since I'll be packing like a fiend!!

I'll send pics when I get them :)

What a freaking carnival ride!

Okay, so this whole attempting to buy a house thing is rather akin to riding a carnival ride...it's soemthing everyone should do at least once, but no telling if you'll like it or not...lots of twists, turns and bumps along the way!

Well, both the home inspecition and the home assessment came in better than expected...in particular the assessment!

I've got a call in now to my insurance guy as well as to a lawyer that comes well recommended for real estate.

Appointment at 11am tomorrow morning at the bank.

I guess that's the last thing.

We went looking at fridges this afternoon. Very expensive for our "wish" and I think we're going to go for more than our "need" fridge, but hmmm....yeah...OUCH!!

Houses are really expensive! LOL!!

Not looking real promising --EDITED--

the home inspection was this morning as was the home assessment.

The inspection found the things that we expected it to find - missing doors, mising moulding, no eavestroughing/poor eavestroughing, etc.

It also found one that we weren't expecting...faulty heating! There are 3 "zones" with 3 thermostats. The back one and the upstairs worked fine. The front one that heats the master bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen didn't work. Inspector said that it's not likely to be the thermostat as the pipes coming from the furnace itself for that zone wasn't working/the pipes weren't heating up. It could be as simple as the line is clogged and needs to be bled or it coudl be as bad as the zone valve needs to be replaced.

Either way, the current owners have refused to spend another dime on the house, no matter what and they will not budge another cent lower either, so if we want the house, we will have to eat the costs for figuring out what may be/is wrong with the furnace and the costs to fix it.

I am currently uncertain if I want to take that chance.

The assessment will not be ready until tomorrow morning. I'm not sure that it will come in to meet or exceed the agreed upon price. He picked up a few things as well.

If this sale falls through, I'm only out $100 and the current owners left instructions to take the home off the market until they return 3 months from now.

EDITED: I'm only on the hook to the realtors for $100. I paid for the house inspection and house assessment today to the tune of a little more than $700 for "peace of mind". Funny how I feel less secure about it now than I did before this morning.

Part of me is tempted to say no due to the furnace in the hope that after they pay 3 more months of mortgage payments they will be more willing to negotiate.

Part of me wants to be done with it and take it for what it is...better than most, certainly not perfect.

*le sigh* I don't know.

Van isn't off until 8:30pm tonight, so we can't even talk about it until after that.

Then we can't get in to talk to the bank until Wednesday at 11am and Wednesday is the deadline day.

Don't know, don't know, don't know...so much riding on what is really so little.

garg. I feel like a rock and a hard place!

Would you do things differently?

Is there anything you would do differently when looking back at your life?

Is there a difference between looking back and thinking that you would have done something differently and having a regret?

I don't really have any "regrets" as most people explain to me what they think a regret is. So, I do not feel that I have "regrets", but I have to say that there are things that I would definitely do differently...Choose differently when presented with decisions, etc.

Are these really regrets or is it learning life lessons?

Is it just hindsight, or regret?

I could probably count on one hand the things that I would do differently but admittedly, they are doozies. I wouldn't be where I am now, nor would I be the same person I am now neither of which is good or bad since it didn't happen differently.

For me, I would make different decisions if the opportunities were to ever present themselves again, but I don't believe I regret the decisions I did make...I'd just like to know what I would have had a chance to experience on the flip side.

Wait, that does kind of sound like a regret...hmmm...

What a philosophical thought for a cloudy Sunday afternoon!

House update

So, I have to meet the appraiser at 10:30am tomorrow and the home inspector tomorrow at 11am.

I don't know whether I should hope or not!

back again

So, we went back to the house again and made a detailed list of "issues" that we could see...some were petty, some were not (leaking window, leaking furname valve or pipe) and made another offer in hopes that the owner may see their delusionalness and accept the maximum I could offer, even though it was about 5% lower than their counter offer.

The owner accepted it!

So, we have a home inspection and home appraisal set for this coming Monday morning. Pending those two things "pass", then we could take possession on May 8th!!

Still not a done deal, but it's much more promising than it was the last time I blogged.

WOOT!

Got to get on with it

I have found the start of 2009 to be very difficult. Mainly of my own making, which is nothing new.

I quit my job and haven't been looking in earnest for a job. Have been working on my "store", unfortunately after looking at store front space in SJ, it's not going to be possible.

That started a mini-slide into a depression hole.

Then, about a month - 6 weeks ago Van and I learned that the house we have been renting a flat in was put up for sale and uncertain of who may purchase the property or what they would want to do with the place we are renting, we decided we should probably look around at other places either for rent or for sale.

That first time out to open houses, we found a fantastic for us house. I couldn't do anything about it though because a) I wasn't out of the bankruptcy long enough to be wiped off the record and b) I had no money for a deposit which meant c) I'd have to go to mom and dad for financial help, but then they would have to find out about bankruptcy, which they hadn't known about to date so I just didn't do anything.

In the past month, I have settled on the accident and have paid off all debts, including the car, bills and credit card.

Mom and Dad bought a new vehicle, so I bought their old one (which was still much better than the car) in cash.

I have stashed the rest for a downpayment.

April 1st was when the bankruptcy was wiped off my credit report.

The house we had loved at first sight ended up back on the market after a conditional offer fell through.

I went to the most recent open house with my sister, who also surprisingly loved it and thought it was great for van and I, as well as for my "hoped for" home-based business...it woudl allow me to have a teaching studio at home as well as a waiting room and spiritual store separate from the "home".

Last week I went to the bank in hopes of getting some financing. Due to other unforseen issues, van's income is not usable and I had to try for a mortgage on my own. I was "approved in principle" for around $140k, which isn't enough for the asking price of this place.

I took mom, dad, sister, bro-in-law and hubby back to the house for a viewing to see if the parental unit would be impressed enough to assist with funding. They were initially, but after further consideration and looking at all the things that would need to be "fixed" up because the work that was done by the current owners was so sloppy, the parental unit doesn't think it's worth anything close to what they are asking.

I decided to put in a low ball offer, expecting to have them come back with a counter offer with a deadline of 6pm Maundy thursday. I heard nothing back until yesterday. Which had me in a complete funk the whole time.

They ignored my offer completely and are sticking to their price because they put over $40k in upgrades to the place and want to get their money back. Problem is their upgrades while nice on the surface sucks.

Needless to say, I'm frustrated and disappointed with people who apparently don't want to really sell a house. They are delusional with the price - it's approximately $20k over the highest price of any other house in the area.

I figure we would have to put $2500 in work into fixing things up - just the things we can see - not counting what might be found by a home inspection, etc. Plus, we have to buy a couple of appliances - mainly a fridge.

So frustrated and annoyed.

Is this my sign that this isn't the one for us, even though all things point to it? Including it coming back to market right when my financials are set up to go for it? there are no other house in SJ less than $140k with such minimal work to do. I don't want to get in to a fix-er-upper. Neither Van or I have the ability/knowledge to do it ourselves, so it's all money out the tubes.

So, yesterday and today, I've been on the verge of tears all day. I am sliding further into the pit of depression, even though I tried very hard to not get my hopes up about it.

It seems rather unfair that it lined up like kismet only to be met with impossible to negotiate persons.