House buying and becoming an adult
Yesterday David and I became homeowners, which seems like a big life step from where I am standing. It was glorious to finally be given keys to our house and be able to unlock the doors ourselves and go inside. It was really like opening up the biggest present ever. (Except that we are paying for it and to get to this point was awfully horrendous.)
1st week in March: David and I optimistically dressed up and went to the bank to see if we could be pre-approved for a home loan. We got home panicked because at the end of the appointment we had realized we didn't know if David had a credit score and if he didn't we couldn't buy a house. Moments later, great relief when we found out he did have a score, that it was better than mine, and that the bank was pre-approving us for more money than we ever thought.
1st weekend in March: There is a torrential downpour. Much more like a small hurricane or monsoon than normal Boston rain. Despite this David and I decided to take our newly acquired pre-approval and look at a few open houses in Watertown, MA. (At this point Watertown is only a small blip on our house buying radar, we are assuming we will move to Arlington or Somerville.) The rain means that we can see any basement flooding, but also that there are very few people around. We have one open house to ourselves. This open house is being manned (womanned?) by Helene. Helene becomes our most trusted Realtor. She remains with us through the whole process and is a rock of knowledge and efficiency when things start downhill later in the process.
3rd weekend in March: We ask Helene to show us a few townhouses in a condo community called "The Village". This is a lovely community situated on 4 blocks in Watertown. All the houses are colonial style brick built in the 1940s for returning service men from WWII. They are townhouses with 2 floors and usually a finished basement. For two weeks David and I have been looking at 2 family homes where we would purchase one floor and half the basement in a Victorian home. I love the period details in these 2 family homes, what I miss is the home feeling. They feel much more like apartments. When we see the small, but delicious homes in The Village we are hooked. The neighborhood looks semi-British as it is populated by semi-detached homes that all look the same, and the 2 bedroom layout is perfect for David and my first house. These townhouses feel like houses. We look at 3 Village townhouses. We like them all. One has a remodeled kitchen, one has a second bathroom.
We decide to put in an offer on one of the townhouses when we are called by our agent and asked if we would like to put in an offer on the one with the new kitchen (they have an offer and would like the competition). We decline and instead put an offer on the one that needs more work, but has a second bathroom.
We offer very low. It has been listed over 300,000 and we don't think it is worth that. We offer at 280,000. We are told they need more time to think about it. Then we are told they have other offers. This overpriced townhouse has been on the market for over 100 days. What are the odds that the day we make an offer is the day they get several other offers. We give them our highest and final offer, 292,000, and wait. They choose someone else. We have no house.
Last weekend in March: We go back to The Village to look at more townhouses. The one with the new kitchen is still on the market. Their offer fell through. We pounce. This townhouse is reasonably priced and is in great condition. Since the beginning of March, the torrential downpours had continued. The basement at this property is dry. We make an offer on the one with the new kitchen. The offer goes through, we are going to buy this house, but it is going to be a looooong two months.
First and second weeks in April: We are still optimistic. We have the home inspection and it is really good (except that something might be wrong with the furnace.) We ask the sellers to have the furnace checked. The furnace is fine. We are so happy. Sign a Purchase and Sale agreement and apply for a loan. We should know that everything is going through in a month. This seem good. We contact our loan processor, ELizabeth, to give her the name and address of the attorney we want to handle the closing. She emails back asking for the attorney's contact information. This should have been our first sign. But we soldiered on unaware of what was to transpire.
Last two weeks in April: We scramble to get all the necessary paperwork to the bank before their May 4th deadline. We find out Elizabeth is on vacation during this crucial time. We hope she is back by our deadline.
We get offered by the sellers to sell us their curtains and rods for $300. They tell us they are hand forged and gilded curtain rods. We assume we already own the rods, they are affixed to the house. We get into a back and forth with the sellers over the curtain rods. I wonder why they didn't just ask us if they could keep the rods, since they mean so much to them. I would have let them if they had asked. I get very angry over curtain rods (it's not a pretty sight, but I was being wronged). I acquiesce and let them take the rods, but tell them they must leave the brackets. They agree.
We turn in all of our paperwork to the bank.
May 3rd: We email Elizabeth asking if she has received all the necessary paperwork. She emails back with a list of missing paperwork. All of the items we have already submitted to her. I write a detailed email outlining which emails had the paperwork attached. She emails back that everything is okay now. We think we just forgot to sign one page on one form. We sign the page and email it back to her. It is now time to wait. This episode has left us mildly annoyed and feeling that Elizabeth is an idiot, but not that she will hold up our process because of it. Still optimistic we wait to hear back that everything is alright and that the bank is issuing us a Commitment Letter for our loan.
Friday, May 14th: We email Elizabeth to make sure that we will have the commitment letter by May 19th. She emails back that she is missing some paperwork from us. She gives us a list very similar to the one she gave us on May 3rd. Instead of arguing. I resend every document to her (it takes me a long time to scan them.) I have a mild panic that the insurance binder that she needs in our private insurance and not the condo insurance, I am told that the condo insurance document I gave her is what she needed. She says May 19th should be doable.
Monday, May 17th: I email Elizabeth again to ask if everything is going forward. She tells me that the insurance document is expiring this month and they need a new one. She also says that she never received a signed copy of our Purchase and Sale agreement. This is the first time we have heard about the P&S. It was the first bit of paperwork she received from us. I can't believe she hasn't told us this before. I can't believe that I sent her the Insurance Binder 3 times and she never mentioned it had expired before. I can't believe it is two days from our deadline and she isn't going to get it done. I cry on the phone to my dad in the office lunch room for 20 minutes. I get back to my desk and arrange with Helene (the rock of efficiency) to get a new Insurance Binder from the sellers. David complains to our local bank manager and loan counselor about the inefficiencies of Elizabeth. Our lawyer calls to ask what is going on. I don't think Elizabeth the horrible can get us our letter by Wednesday. I worry that we wont be able to get our loan and that we will lose our house.
Tuesday, May 18th: Elizabeth gets the new Insurance Binder. I ask her if she will be able to get us the insurance binder for the next day. She says she has two underwriters working on it. She responds quickly and politely. I think that our complaint and our lawyer's involvement has put some pressure on her. I refuse to give up. Before 2pm we get an email saying there is no way they can get us our letter on the 19th, they have not received our tax papers from the IRS. David and I blow our stacks. This means she didn't apply for our tax returns a month ago when she was told to. This means she is delaying everything. We have our lawyer arrange an extension with the sellers attorney. Elizabeth has until Friday the 21st. We tell her she has until the end of the day on the 20th.
Thursday, May 20th: I am sitting in a Production Meeting at work and I get a text from David. There is a commitment letter in my email. We are buying a house! We rejoice at never having to deal with Elizabeth again.
Friday, May 21st: We are asked to sign a new estimate for our loan by Elizabeth. This is no problem, easy to do, minimal contact. I make sure our mortgage insurance is being financed with our loan. She tells me it is. David and I spend the weekend finding movers and packing up our books.
Wednesday, May 26th: The day before closing and homeownership. Our lawyer calls to tell us our closing costs. They are upwards of $7000. They are supposed to be $2000. I panic. I ask why. I am told it is because of our mortgage insurance premium. I tell her that our mortgage insurance is finance in our loan. She tells me to call Elizabeth. I leave a panicked message for Elizabeth. I email Elizabeth. I wait. by noon I am told it is fixed. I am told our closing costs are only $1000, this is less than we thought. Things are okay again. David and I vow to remove our money from the bank as soon as possible.
Thursday, May 27th: Closing day. We are so excited! I find a grey hair. This was caused by that horrible Elizabeth person. It is a badge of honor, because I got through it. The walkthrough goes well. We have rented a zipcar and filled it with things for the new house. We plan to camp out over the weekend so we have a blow up mattress, a small table, and some folding chairs. We have paint samples too. This is going to be our house. We go to the lawyer's office and sign papers for almost a full hour. We are given keys, the house is ours. The lawyer tells us as an aside that the bank sent her office the wrong amount of money. It's typical, but at least we don't have to deal with it anymore.
David and I drive to our house. We paint and eat pizza and drink sparkling cider. This is our house. We drive home at 9:30pm satisfied and happy. Despite the horrible process with the bank, we love our home.
1st week in March: David and I optimistically dressed up and went to the bank to see if we could be pre-approved for a home loan. We got home panicked because at the end of the appointment we had realized we didn't know if David had a credit score and if he didn't we couldn't buy a house. Moments later, great relief when we found out he did have a score, that it was better than mine, and that the bank was pre-approving us for more money than we ever thought.
1st weekend in March: There is a torrential downpour. Much more like a small hurricane or monsoon than normal Boston rain. Despite this David and I decided to take our newly acquired pre-approval and look at a few open houses in Watertown, MA. (At this point Watertown is only a small blip on our house buying radar, we are assuming we will move to Arlington or Somerville.) The rain means that we can see any basement flooding, but also that there are very few people around. We have one open house to ourselves. This open house is being manned (womanned?) by Helene. Helene becomes our most trusted Realtor. She remains with us through the whole process and is a rock of knowledge and efficiency when things start downhill later in the process.
3rd weekend in March: We ask Helene to show us a few townhouses in a condo community called "The Village". This is a lovely community situated on 4 blocks in Watertown. All the houses are colonial style brick built in the 1940s for returning service men from WWII. They are townhouses with 2 floors and usually a finished basement. For two weeks David and I have been looking at 2 family homes where we would purchase one floor and half the basement in a Victorian home. I love the period details in these 2 family homes, what I miss is the home feeling. They feel much more like apartments. When we see the small, but delicious homes in The Village we are hooked. The neighborhood looks semi-British as it is populated by semi-detached homes that all look the same, and the 2 bedroom layout is perfect for David and my first house. These townhouses feel like houses. We look at 3 Village townhouses. We like them all. One has a remodeled kitchen, one has a second bathroom.
We decide to put in an offer on one of the townhouses when we are called by our agent and asked if we would like to put in an offer on the one with the new kitchen (they have an offer and would like the competition). We decline and instead put an offer on the one that needs more work, but has a second bathroom.
We offer very low. It has been listed over 300,000 and we don't think it is worth that. We offer at 280,000. We are told they need more time to think about it. Then we are told they have other offers. This overpriced townhouse has been on the market for over 100 days. What are the odds that the day we make an offer is the day they get several other offers. We give them our highest and final offer, 292,000, and wait. They choose someone else. We have no house.
Last weekend in March: We go back to The Village to look at more townhouses. The one with the new kitchen is still on the market. Their offer fell through. We pounce. This townhouse is reasonably priced and is in great condition. Since the beginning of March, the torrential downpours had continued. The basement at this property is dry. We make an offer on the one with the new kitchen. The offer goes through, we are going to buy this house, but it is going to be a looooong two months.
First and second weeks in April: We are still optimistic. We have the home inspection and it is really good (except that something might be wrong with the furnace.) We ask the sellers to have the furnace checked. The furnace is fine. We are so happy. Sign a Purchase and Sale agreement and apply for a loan. We should know that everything is going through in a month. This seem good. We contact our loan processor, ELizabeth, to give her the name and address of the attorney we want to handle the closing. She emails back asking for the attorney's contact information. This should have been our first sign. But we soldiered on unaware of what was to transpire.
Last two weeks in April: We scramble to get all the necessary paperwork to the bank before their May 4th deadline. We find out Elizabeth is on vacation during this crucial time. We hope she is back by our deadline.
We get offered by the sellers to sell us their curtains and rods for $300. They tell us they are hand forged and gilded curtain rods. We assume we already own the rods, they are affixed to the house. We get into a back and forth with the sellers over the curtain rods. I wonder why they didn't just ask us if they could keep the rods, since they mean so much to them. I would have let them if they had asked. I get very angry over curtain rods (it's not a pretty sight, but I was being wronged). I acquiesce and let them take the rods, but tell them they must leave the brackets. They agree.
We turn in all of our paperwork to the bank.
May 3rd: We email Elizabeth asking if she has received all the necessary paperwork. She emails back with a list of missing paperwork. All of the items we have already submitted to her. I write a detailed email outlining which emails had the paperwork attached. She emails back that everything is okay now. We think we just forgot to sign one page on one form. We sign the page and email it back to her. It is now time to wait. This episode has left us mildly annoyed and feeling that Elizabeth is an idiot, but not that she will hold up our process because of it. Still optimistic we wait to hear back that everything is alright and that the bank is issuing us a Commitment Letter for our loan.
Friday, May 14th: We email Elizabeth to make sure that we will have the commitment letter by May 19th. She emails back that she is missing some paperwork from us. She gives us a list very similar to the one she gave us on May 3rd. Instead of arguing. I resend every document to her (it takes me a long time to scan them.) I have a mild panic that the insurance binder that she needs in our private insurance and not the condo insurance, I am told that the condo insurance document I gave her is what she needed. She says May 19th should be doable.
Monday, May 17th: I email Elizabeth again to ask if everything is going forward. She tells me that the insurance document is expiring this month and they need a new one. She also says that she never received a signed copy of our Purchase and Sale agreement. This is the first time we have heard about the P&S. It was the first bit of paperwork she received from us. I can't believe she hasn't told us this before. I can't believe that I sent her the Insurance Binder 3 times and she never mentioned it had expired before. I can't believe it is two days from our deadline and she isn't going to get it done. I cry on the phone to my dad in the office lunch room for 20 minutes. I get back to my desk and arrange with Helene (the rock of efficiency) to get a new Insurance Binder from the sellers. David complains to our local bank manager and loan counselor about the inefficiencies of Elizabeth. Our lawyer calls to ask what is going on. I don't think Elizabeth the horrible can get us our letter by Wednesday. I worry that we wont be able to get our loan and that we will lose our house.
Tuesday, May 18th: Elizabeth gets the new Insurance Binder. I ask her if she will be able to get us the insurance binder for the next day. She says she has two underwriters working on it. She responds quickly and politely. I think that our complaint and our lawyer's involvement has put some pressure on her. I refuse to give up. Before 2pm we get an email saying there is no way they can get us our letter on the 19th, they have not received our tax papers from the IRS. David and I blow our stacks. This means she didn't apply for our tax returns a month ago when she was told to. This means she is delaying everything. We have our lawyer arrange an extension with the sellers attorney. Elizabeth has until Friday the 21st. We tell her she has until the end of the day on the 20th.
Thursday, May 20th: I am sitting in a Production Meeting at work and I get a text from David. There is a commitment letter in my email. We are buying a house! We rejoice at never having to deal with Elizabeth again.
Friday, May 21st: We are asked to sign a new estimate for our loan by Elizabeth. This is no problem, easy to do, minimal contact. I make sure our mortgage insurance is being financed with our loan. She tells me it is. David and I spend the weekend finding movers and packing up our books.
Wednesday, May 26th: The day before closing and homeownership. Our lawyer calls to tell us our closing costs. They are upwards of $7000. They are supposed to be $2000. I panic. I ask why. I am told it is because of our mortgage insurance premium. I tell her that our mortgage insurance is finance in our loan. She tells me to call Elizabeth. I leave a panicked message for Elizabeth. I email Elizabeth. I wait. by noon I am told it is fixed. I am told our closing costs are only $1000, this is less than we thought. Things are okay again. David and I vow to remove our money from the bank as soon as possible.
Thursday, May 27th: Closing day. We are so excited! I find a grey hair. This was caused by that horrible Elizabeth person. It is a badge of honor, because I got through it. The walkthrough goes well. We have rented a zipcar and filled it with things for the new house. We plan to camp out over the weekend so we have a blow up mattress, a small table, and some folding chairs. We have paint samples too. This is going to be our house. We go to the lawyer's office and sign papers for almost a full hour. We are given keys, the house is ours. The lawyer tells us as an aside that the bank sent her office the wrong amount of money. It's typical, but at least we don't have to deal with it anymore.
David and I drive to our house. We paint and eat pizza and drink sparkling cider. This is our house. We drive home at 9:30pm satisfied and happy. Despite the horrible process with the bank, we love our home.