FINALLY

Well, we finally closed on our first home. Even though it was a long (long!) time coming, everything seems unreal still, like it's not a permanent move.

There are plenty of things that Tim and I really want to update and renovate and change into something special to us, but since the bank took it's sweet damn time getting everything in order, we had to move in quickly, set all our stuff up, and prepare for miss Ivy's birthday party this coming Sunday. I have been so dang busy unpacking and arranging our things, and doing all the things needed for the best first birthday party that we can give, that I haven't had time to worry about the ugly kitchen floor or wallpapered master bedroom.

Even if we had planned on doing some quick painting or something, we have had a couple issues pop up already. We've had water problems in the basement.  I should  have known when the previous owner had a dehumidifer running, that there was a moisture issue. First the basement bathroom toilet overflowed (twice!). And, the AC unit wasn't properly draining outside, so we have wet carpet and padding and drywall. Son of a bitch. Down the line, these issues are going to need a more thorough clean up; for now we are running fans (and the dehumidifer).  Tim is fixing the toilet and we re-routed the AC drain.  Ugh! That was not a nice welcome into home ownership.

The first few things on our list are:

• new flooring in kitchen, hallway, and bathroom
• stainless steel appliances (weee!!)
• a new main floor bathroom (which is a lot worse off now than I remember from looking at the house before)

Yikes. Well, before pictures of our dwelling will be included in the next post. And maybe some pictures from Princess Peach's party.

The waiting is the hardest part..

Seriously, Tim and I have been waiting since freaking May to close. We were initially getting an FHA rural development loan which had to be approved by the USDA.  Well, the USDA has income guidelines set for the loan which our bank told us from the beginning that we meet.  We waited almost FIVE MONTHS for the bank to process our loan and send it on to the USDA, which is ridiculously uncalled for. Finally, the USDA received our file, and reviewed it only to come to the conclusion that we make too much money to even qualify for the loan! So technically we waited five months for nothing. The bank really screwed us over first by taking so long to process our file, and secondly by assuring us we qualified for the loan when in fact we don't.

I don't know of anyone else who has ever waited so damn long to close on a home.  It wasn't even a short sale! Pretty much everything that could have went wrong in this process has.  Now we are changing the loan program from RD to a conventional NIFA loan, and have to come up with $6,000 in assets for closing costs, taxes, a down payment, and two month reserve, which is also a huge pain in the ass.  In the meantime, Tim, Ivy, Raul and I are all staying at my mom and dad's. 

All this time I am trying to stay optimistic that we can close by the end of August and have Ivy's first birthday party on September 1st at our new home. I have talked Tim into putting down a dark laminate hardwood in the kitchen, hall, and bathroom, and getting new stainless steel kitchen appliances.  For now we're just waiting to close so we can freaking move in and start putting our touches on the Smith House.  Stay tuned  :)