We were jostled around by mortgage brokers and banks, given the run around with our income. We had originally filed our last 2 years of taxes with my design income being "hobby" income, as I was working full time outside of design. Since now I'm designing full time, they needed at least a year's worth of taxes showing "business" income. So we had to amend our 2011 return, and pay in another $2k of self-employment taxes for the lenders to even LOOK at our income.
Finally we found Compass Bank; they were willing to give us an amount large enough to start looking into ACTUAL HOUSES, not townhomes. As we started looking for homes, we ran into a whole other can of worms. In our area, homes are selling like HOT CAKES. We would put together lists of homes for sale, from the IRES site for Colorado, and by the time our realtor set up showings, the homes were UNDER CONTRACT. Many times within 24 hours.
After searching for several weeks, we ran across new homes being built in a town 20 miles southeast of where we lived. We went and looked at a couple of their model homes and FELL IN LOVE with one of them. The best part of it - the floorplan we loved was the LOWEST price. UNDER our pre-approved mortgage amount. SQUEAL! We were on the road to a brand new house! Well... almost...
Next up was signing the contract on the home and putting down earnest money. Excited and happy for the 2 month build, we set out to finalize our loan with Compass, as the mortgage officer assured us the loan would be no problem with their "in-house" bank loans. Woohoo! Our lease came up at the end of June, and we looked at the hotel stay idea. After calling SEVERAL hotels, and finding out they were BOOKED UP through July, we started looking into the idea of <cringe> moving into my dad's basement. He offered us a place to live, so at the last minute, we decided that free rent was worth the headaches of living back home.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago.... long story short, our mortgage loan came back DECLINED AND REJECTED... three times. Underwriters are the BANE of my existence. Our mortgage officer kept fighting for us and our situation, and FINALLY FINALLY got a conditional loan approval. <sigh>
So.... after living in my dad's basement for almost 2 months and dealing with his VERY anal idiosyncrasies (you can't leave the stove light on because the bulb might burn out, etc), a design client load of almost 50, cramming 2 fish tanks and our cat in the house, AND potentially losing earnest money and the contract on our house.... TOMORROW IS THE BIG DAY. FINALLY. Barring delays with the final loan approvals and closing orders, we will be SIGNING OUR LIVES AWAY at 3 tomorrow afternoon.
It's been a LONG LONG LONG rollercoaster ride of emotions and anger and tears. We've fought so long, we're numb... We've gotten through and can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just keep my mind focused on the end result: opening our door, with our key.
As Brian and I got to watch the house building process, which was very awesome, we learned as a couple, grew closer as couple, and now are beginning a new chapter in our lives. God willing, we will be moving outta here tomorrow at this time, into OUR OWN HOUSE. No more apartments. No more neighbors above us. No more stomps and wall hitting.
This DIY blog: Our Modern Homestead was inspired by this house, as our address is Homestead Lane.
We took "progress" pics of the home, since the day we signed the contract, more than 2 months ago. Here's the progress pics! Tomorrow, I'll be posting the DONE pics!!
No comments:
Post a Comment