Since I started this blog later in the process of buying a home I wanted to briefly share with you a recap of the highs and the lows of going through the process.
First, let me start off by saying HGTV makes buying a home look like a walk in the park…I’m sorry to break it to you folks, but it’s far from the above. When Christian and I’s second offer had been accepted, we foolishly thought we would be closing in no time. One extension (of our settlement date) later we are finally one week away from closing.
Our home is “special”; it’s almost 100 years old and needs what one would say some TLC. Tons of TLC…new septic, new well, new roof, new electrical (everything), new duct work, new walls, new bathrooms, new kitchen….catch my drift? We decided to pursue buying this house through a FHA 203K loan, which basically gives us the ability to borrow money that goes towards renovations. The process of the 203K loan (compared to a conventional FHA) is much more tedious. We will be making necessary updates to the house in order for it to be considered “habitable” and all of those changes need to be done within 4 months of closing.
Our first hurdle was with our mortgage company, unfortunately with the bank being smaller; they were unable to take such a risk on our home and the type of loan that we needed. We found out this information 2 weeks away from our first closing date of 4/18/2012, many tears fell from my eyes as I saw our dream home slipping through our fingers. Fortunately, my step-mom is an expert when it comes to going through the process of buying a home, and after moving 15 times has developed a pretty awesome relationship with one particular mortgage broker. That night after learning that the one bank could not help us out, we scrambled to send over all of my information over to Dave to see if he could help us out.
I said quite a few prayers that night…and then again in the morning when I read my email from Dave saying that they would be able to help us out. The appraisal was ordered and the process of signing, scanning, and sending papers began all over again!
Our second hurdle has been waiting for the appraiser to send over the actual appraisal document. After multiple phone calls (including one at 9:00 am on a SundayJ) we finally received the appraisal today, 4/23/2012. We have exactly one week for our loan application to go to the underwriters and be approved so we can settle on the 30th of April and once again I find myself saying a few prayers.
I have a feeling this week is going to be stressful, especially if the underwriters come back and need more verification/documents. Hopefully there is no 3rd hurdle that we need to jump over, but only time will tell…
Of course I will keep you posted through the process!
Cheers,
Gina
First, let me start off by saying HGTV makes buying a home look like a walk in the park…I’m sorry to break it to you folks, but it’s far from the above. When Christian and I’s second offer had been accepted, we foolishly thought we would be closing in no time. One extension (of our settlement date) later we are finally one week away from closing.
Our home is “special”; it’s almost 100 years old and needs what one would say some TLC. Tons of TLC…new septic, new well, new roof, new electrical (everything), new duct work, new walls, new bathrooms, new kitchen….catch my drift? We decided to pursue buying this house through a FHA 203K loan, which basically gives us the ability to borrow money that goes towards renovations. The process of the 203K loan (compared to a conventional FHA) is much more tedious. We will be making necessary updates to the house in order for it to be considered “habitable” and all of those changes need to be done within 4 months of closing.
Our first hurdle was with our mortgage company, unfortunately with the bank being smaller; they were unable to take such a risk on our home and the type of loan that we needed. We found out this information 2 weeks away from our first closing date of 4/18/2012, many tears fell from my eyes as I saw our dream home slipping through our fingers. Fortunately, my step-mom is an expert when it comes to going through the process of buying a home, and after moving 15 times has developed a pretty awesome relationship with one particular mortgage broker. That night after learning that the one bank could not help us out, we scrambled to send over all of my information over to Dave to see if he could help us out.
I said quite a few prayers that night…and then again in the morning when I read my email from Dave saying that they would be able to help us out. The appraisal was ordered and the process of signing, scanning, and sending papers began all over again!
Our second hurdle has been waiting for the appraiser to send over the actual appraisal document. After multiple phone calls (including one at 9:00 am on a SundayJ) we finally received the appraisal today, 4/23/2012. We have exactly one week for our loan application to go to the underwriters and be approved so we can settle on the 30th of April and once again I find myself saying a few prayers.
I have a feeling this week is going to be stressful, especially if the underwriters come back and need more verification/documents. Hopefully there is no 3rd hurdle that we need to jump over, but only time will tell…
Of course I will keep you posted through the process!
Cheers,
Gina