Homeless No More

We did it!!!! We actually closed on the house!!!!

Right up to the last minute, it was looking a little dicey. Our appointment was supposed to be at 10am, but of course we got there and there was no paperwork from our lender. None. The lender swore to our broker over the phone on Tuesday that they would be ready at 3pm on Thursday, on 'her personal word of honor'. Well, I guess she's a crack dealer, because she was surely smoking something potent if she honestly thought that THAT was going to happen, and even more so if she thought we were really going to believe her. So, while we weren't surprised that the papers weren't there, it was totally inconvenient and annoying, because I had had to reschedule our appointment with Moving Company #3 to noon because our closing had been supposed to be at 10am, which was when they were supposed to be coming. I did the call of shame and changed it back. Sigh.

Luckily, the mover not only came, but did his quote calculations on the spot, meaning that we had the third quote in time for the county to review it and make a decision in time to meet next week's check cutting deadline, meaning that we can still move next weekend. It actually turned out that we handed the quote to the county guy at the closing, he approved it on the spot, and we were able to call the movers back this afternoon and firm up plans with them. I am SO GLAD that's over.

Two hours later, all of the papers still weren't there, but we started anyway. Then we realized, surprise, the county guy, Joe, wasn't there to hand over the county's portion of the closing costs, and he hadn't left a check! We called and called and finally got ahold of him, only to hear that he hadn't gotten what HE was supposed to get, either.

Of course, the entire time, the seller and his rabid realtor were sitting there, staring at us. Even worse, our kids were both there, because today was a professional day for the teachers (something I think all financial employees could use, at this point - a class on professionalism!). Worse still, the seller's kids were there - the kids whose house was being sold in front of them because their parents couldn't keep it together. Luckily, they were older, maybe 11 and 13, and didn't seem upset about it at all. Still, I felt really bad seeing them, and having them see our kids, and know that our kids were going to be sleeping in their rooms. Ugh.

Finally, all the paperwork showed up, and we finished after TWO HOURS. I'm telling you, there's little that's more awkward than being trapped in a room with a seller for that amount of time, especially when it's your paperwork that's holding up the works. But, it's over. We have the keys. It's our house. We can go in it whenever we want! We will be packed on Friday, and moved on Monday and possibly also on Tuesday, depending on what they can finish in one day. They said they'll move our bedroom stuff first, so we can sleep and whatnot, and then extras afterwards.

After we finished, we celebrated by going to a local Amish market and buying an octagonal picnic table that seats up to eight, and a small kitchen island that seats a person at each end. I love getting stuff there. You always know it's well made, and if something goes wrong, the people who actually made it are right there to help. They're even delivering it for free, for heaven's sake. Oh, AND we lucked out in a HUGE way, because they were having an anniversary sale, where you pop a balloon and there's a sale percentage written on it - we got 20% off the island! Yahoo!!! When it comes in a couple of weeks I'll take a photo and post it.

I am both elated and exhausted. I almost dissolved into tears a few times this afternoon, I think because I've been trying so hard to hold it all together, and it's been getting harder and harder as the stress has mounted. It barely feels real that I never have to deal with that nutty realtor again, or those awful subcontractors, or get dissed by another moving company. I think it may set in tomorrow, when we go over to start working on cleaning and prepping to paint.

Anyway, here she is - our new house:


The back yard actually goes all the way to the next house that you see - it's split by the garage, which will allow us to segregate the dogs when we want to. In a few weeks, the non-fenced portion will have a picket fence around it, and there will be a large gate across the driveway that will connect the pickets to the stone wall. It's four finished stories, with two sleeping porches on the back and a wraparound on the front. We're thrilled. :)