We finally signed the closing documents on our new home Friday, and we are expecting to receive the keys today, Monday.
Simple. Right? Not.We both wanted to walk away from the whole deal. I don't know how realtors, title company brokers, and loan managers deal with this stress everyday.
Cue dream sequence....
I long for the good old days where you walk into the bank, everyone knows you because you've been with them for years, and you chat with the bank manager to discuss a new home purchase.
You meet with a realtor who finds homes to show you based on what you are looking for and want in a new home. She shows you a half dozen homes over a period of a couple of weeks, you decide on one you like, make an offer, the seller counter-offers, everyone is having fun, laughing and all come to mutual agreement. Then you list your house, an offer is made, accepted, and skip to my Lou you've switched houses.
Then comes appraisals, inspections, and loan applications. Look at all the new friends you're making, what fun! So excited to move in to a new home.
Ha! Wake up, the good old days are gone, and everything is done online now. I have yet to meet our loan manager, and it is best that I don't, nor does she want me to. I won't go into details. Evidently, losing documents, miscommunication, and scrambling to finalize very important paperwork is the norm in real estate and banking transactions. We did everything we needed to do well in advance, we got all the paperwork and information together that they needed well in advance.
Why do they do this to us, let alone to themselves? This was not a fun process at all.
I finally received the call from our realtor about 4:00 Friday afternoon that all the paperwork went through, funding went through, and we now own a house. Technically two, our realtor laughed and called us land barons. We'll close on our old house in a couple weeks.
There were no whoops of joy, nor cheers of congratulations, simply a big collective sigh of relief.
Now we wait for keys. There's no final walk through, we get to walk in and discover what surprises await. I was able to wander through the house during the inspection, making mental note of the overall condition of the house, and what immediate repairs are needed. Brandy has only seen the house during the brief half hour initial viewing and offer. We've taken more time test driving and looking at cars than we have putting an offer on a house. If we don't like a car, or someone buys it before us we just order another car. Not so with a house, especially when you're competing with multiple offers. Nor can you simply sell your house because there's a rattle in the dash, because we're not going through this whole rigamarole again anytime soon. I have a poor memory, but this emotional nightmare is burned into my psyche for years.
We'll go in with mop and bucket in hand expecting nothing to be cleaned, blinds hanging haphazardly from the window, grubby paw prints on the fridge from the snot nosed, sammich grabber that lived there before, and we'll clean, scrub, paint and repair while we move in and nest.
Trobairitz is awesome, and such a positive influence in my life, I know that she'll make this new house a home and I love her for that. She'll smile at me and I'll know everything will be alright.
Our old home was a rental when we bought it, intending it to be a two year flip it became our home for twelve years. We renovated, remodeled, landscaped and grew to love this house. We learned a lot, sweat a lot, bled some and even cried some; and I'll miss it dearly, but we'll take those memories with us and we'll create new memories in our new home and I'll think back fondly... while standing in my new double garage!
~ “Some people look for a beautiful place. Others make a place beautiful.” — Hazrat Inayat Khan