Our New House!

It took a while to get here but we are finally settled, for the most part, in our new home.  It all started in the spring of 2012 when we decided to see what was on the market.  Little did we know that the search would involve about 60 houses and take 9 months!  The timeline for our house goes like this.....(this is a long post with lots of pictures)!

July 20^th we visit house for 1^st time. 

July 21^st we submit contract for short sale

September 13^th we hear from bank and are provided with their appraisal for the property and new asking price for the house. 

September 25^th we believe the appraisal to be incorrect and inaccurate to the area, and we decline the banks offer and house goes back on the market.

October 17th^th we hear price will be dropping and we decide to see the house again.  We put in a new contract for the banks bottom line.  The seller signs the contract, but extends the close date from 12/31/12 to 1/15/13.

We start waiting while the bank sits on our information until 12/21/12 when it is approved with closing date of 1/21/13.  The bank finally sends the approval letter to lawyers on 12/26/12.

January 8, 2013 Lawyers send approval letter to our mortgage lender.  This is the first time we see the acceptance letter.  The lender we had been working with could not manage 13 day turnaround.  The mortgage search begins, meanwhile an extension to 1/31/13 is asked for by us with little to no hope of an extension.

January 9^th we find a lender who might be able to close on the 21^st.  Fill out all paper work on and sign papers 1/9/13.  Final approval from underwriting arrives on January 11^th.  Closing is set for 1/21/13

We get all the utilities set up for a home inspection on 1/12/13.  During our inspection we realize that 1/21/13 is a federal holiday and bank/lawyers move closing up to 1/18/13.  The seller flips out, standard operating procedure at this point, and refuses to close on the 18^th.

January 15^th the bank approves extension til 1/31, and a new closing date of 1/22 is set.

January 19^th the dishwasher, microwave, 2 ceiling fans and a light fixture are stolen.  We make the decision to proceed as is instead of asking the bank to replace the missing items.  The extra time to get the bank to replace the items was not worth the risk of additional damage.

January 22^nd closing starts at 9am, the seller leaves at 10:30am without final approval.  Our real estate agent tracks the seller down at 2:30pm and gets final signature, returns to lawyer and closing is finalized at 5pm.  In the meantime we went ahead with the re-keying of all locks and the installation of the alarm system install at 1pm.

January 23^rd – March 1^st We have all the carpet replaced, all interior walls and half of the ceilings repainted, leaking roof fixed, gutters replaced, installed 4 ceiling fans, 6 light fixtures, house thoroughly cleaned and figured out that Alexis has celiac’s disease….. see earlier post  here.

March 2^nd with the help of many friends and family members we move in.

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing so far but life is good and we are loving our new home.

Before and After Pictures