Friday, June 10, 2016

Comedy of Errors (aka: buying a house)

There is a reason I've said there are two things you do AFTER you have forgotten what they were like the last time you did them....  1) having children and 2) buying a house.

I've found a home that I truly fit with and love and am set to close on Monday (June 13th, 2016), but it hasn't been a road without many twists and turns and bumps.

Here's the road to home ownership this time around:

HOUSE:
Find house I like, make an offer.
Buyer goes with ANOTHER offer.
Two weeks pass.
The other offer withdraws, and the seller contacts us to see if we are still interested.
YES!!
Make offer.

ERNEST MONEY:
Take loan against retirement:  should be 3-5 business days.
2 weeks later: contact lender who informs me that they have sent it back to my retirement account. Contact retirement.  They need a picture of a check.
Send picture.
1 week later... contact retirement.  They say they will transfer the money electronically.
2 days later, still no money.  Contact retirement.  Check is in the mail.
2 days later... check arrives.
3-5 business days = 1 month apparently.

MY HOUSE:
List FSBO on Facebook and ksl.com.  Asking $218,000.
Several interested... no offers.
3 weeks later, contact Uncle Clayton to have him put it on the MLS.
30 minutes before he arrives, a CASH buyer shows up and makes an offer.
$206,000.... which is about what I would have taken away from a real estate offer through the MLS.
Accept offer.
After the inspection, buyer has ~$9000 in repairs she wants to do in order to buy the house.
$197,000 offer.
Counter with $199,000 if I do some repairs and leave the washer and dryer as well.
Accepted.

MY TITLE:
Find out through title search, H's name is on my deed.
Talk to several attorneys and real estate people... no one seems to know how to deal with name on deed, no longer alive and his bankruptcy... all in the same package.
Hire probate attorney.  $500
Attorney contacts Fraser's to see if they will act on H's behalf in signing his portion of the deed.
No go.
Pay $360 to act as signor for deed on his behalf.
10 days later, judge accepts my request for probate.
Title company won't sign off on deed, even with probate, with H's bankruptcy not taken care of.
Vaguely recall seeing something in the mail about the update on his bankruptcy.
Didn't submit 2015 taxes to the BK trustee... if not submitted by 5/31/16 then BK to be dismissed.
Wait until the day after 5/31... email BK trustee.
BK dismissed.
2 days later, letter in mail showing such.  Take picture of letter and submit it to the title company.

MY LOAN:
All going well until the week before closing.
Because of amended return in 2015, the numbers aren't matching up.
Lender needs transcript of amended return, suggests going into IRS.
Call IRS.  Appointment available on the 17th... days after our house is supposed to close.
Beg for closer appointment.  June 10th.
Ask about transcript for amended return.  Informed that once filed with them, it will take 16 weeks to process and get a transcript.
Call lender.  A stamped submission of amended return will do.

And...
Here we are.  Set to close on both homes in 3 days.  Monday, June 13th.
It's been a crazy road.... just enough to make me crazy and lie awake at night with my mind racing wondering how to fix things.
Some pretty amazing blessings along the way.
*Been able to get the garden in at the new place, even though we aren't there yet.
*Have an amazing uncle who has been my support this entire time.
*Thankful for tax transcripts not being submitted so that the BK could be dismissed.
*An amazing partner in crime that has listened to me cry, whine, complain and celebrate.

Now for the best part... (NOT).
Moving...


12 Years - Through A Window



It's been a crazy week... crazy month... heck, even a crazy year.  So many changes.  Hayden passed in April, and I'm still trying to figure out what that means.  Kids married and on missions and my second year just finished in a new school.  This year I've sold a truck (for a $7000 loss), finally finished (for the second time in a year) my basement that was flooded last July, and have had legal issues with the divorce decree.  There's been a lot of good too.  Brenden married Ashlee last July, I'm six months into a pretty cool relationship, and I have some pretty amazing friends, kids and people in my life.

But now... it's time.
Time for NEW.
Time for FRESH START.

12 years is a long time.  I've never lived in a place for this long during any part of my life until now.  This little house in Lehi has seen its fair share of just about everything.  Kids, laughing, dancing, singing, fights, late nights, early mornings, winters, snow, summers, gardens, pets, cooking, sewing, sticky floors, vacations, new hardwood...

Right now I'm mentally already in the new house... and coming back to the Lehi home to work on packing or repairs feels like a lot of work.  I don't want to work on a yard that I won't benefit from... so I spend my yard work time in Herriman.  But yesterday, after having mowed the yard, Ed said "That might be the last time you have to mow this place"... and then it hit me.  I'm leaving.  I'm leaving this place that I fell in love with in 2004 when I saw the hardwood, the kitchen and the garden spot.  I'm leaving this place that has been painted so many times with OOPS paint from Home Depot.  I'm leaving the only home that Aspen has known for the past 9 years.  The home that saw me start and end a relationship, raise and send off kids, plant and tend to flowers.

I stood in the shower yesterday, looking out into the yard as I've done a thousand times.  I've done it in all kinds of weather... snow, rain, heat, and falling leaves.  I've watched the yard and tree and trampoline through that window.  Taken in the smells of the day through that window.  Watched Aspen jump on the tramp while I showered.  12 years... through a window.  I'm going to miss that window... and life through it.  (not the trailer park I get to look at through the window however :)

There will be a series of LASTS... last mowing, last dinner in the house, last time sleeping there.  I just want to make sure I TRULY appreciate them while they are here... because very soon, I'll look back and long for them.  I've put a lot of love and heart into this little place.  I'm just hoping someone after me enjoys some of the same things I've left behind... and appreciates the little pieces of my heart that this house will always have.

On this Blog: