House Update and PICTURES

Everyday seems to bring a dose of bad news and then good news. This whole house-buying thing is a roller-coaster ride! For now, our closing is set for August 28th. I am praying that everything continues to move forward and we can close then because Greg has taken that weekend off of work, the Uhaul's been rented and the utilities are set to be turned on beginning 8/28.

I spent over an hour at the bank yesterday with our mortgage loan processor - working on the numbers and re-figuring details. When I first went to get pre-approved we qualified for 100% financing due to a 1st time homebuyers bond (for $10,000) that would pay our downpayment and closing costs. When I went by the bank yesterday to drop off a check to pay for the appraisal, our mortgage processor told us that when she was inputting the information into the computer again it kicked us out for being allowed a $10,000 bond saying Greg made too much money. Now we are only qualifying for a $5,000 bond....yikes!

My heart sank when she first told me that because I was thinking of the money we had already put out, what we knew we still had to put out and all I could think of was "we don't have $5,000 to lay our hands on to cover anything else!" After going over the contract together with a fine tooth comb (and calling our realtor to get clarification on a few things as to what the seller is paying for and what we are paying for) we got it down to we are only going to have to pay $867.00 on the day of closing. Okay, I can handle this...whooo, that was close! Then on the way home I remembered we paid $500 good faith money (which we were told was going to be used for closing costs) so I called our mortgage lady and asked her about that and she said yes, I can subtract the $500 from the $867 - oh Praise God!!

Countdown / Timeline to having our own home!!

• Contract submitted 7/30/08

• Seller sends back another price - he doesn't agree with our offer - 8/1/08
• We counteroffer with another price and seller accepts- 8/3/08
• Inform the mortgage processor at bank and fax her the contract - 8/4/08
• Pay good faith money; sign lots of papers at realtors' office - 8/6/08
  
• Home Inspection completed - 8/7/08
• Received home inspection report; informed the realtor 2 things we wanted fixed - 8/9/08
• Two issues from home inspection fixed - 8/12/08
• Appraisal ordered - 8/12/08
  
• Discovered the change in bond issuance; reworked loan papers - 8/13/08
• Waiting on appraisal from bank, pest inspection and survey from seller....

Here's some pictures...

We are buying the middle section in a triplex (hence the two large walls on either side)

Standing from the dining area looking towards the back door (on the left beside the refrigerator) and the utility room is beyond the kitchen on the right hand side.

Standing in the kitchen looking in the dining area and through to the living room and the front door.

Back porch - I love this because it is covered and nobody can see us when we are sitting out here. The other units (on either side of us don't have covered back porches)

Our back yard - nice size for our 4-legged family member!