Excuse me while I move

I'll be out of pocket for a few days while we move into our new home. Our internet won't be connected until Tuesday. I planned on having some posts prepared ahead of time to post over the weekend but I've been so busy packing and running errands trying to get ready for this move, I just haven't had the time.

I am way behind on reading blogs and commenting too so if you haven't heard from me in awhile...that's why!

You have to come back...I have something special to share with you!!

Closing - not tomorrow :-(

Found out we are definitely not going to close tomorrow on our house. May be Friday - may not. Who knows at this point. Everything is in place...just waiting on the underwriter's final seal of approval and then we are good to go.

Of course I was disappointed about this yesterday and this morning until I received a tremendous blessing from God today and it reminded me once again how He is in control. We have put out a lot of money in the last month and we are running real tight until this Friday - payday. We know we have to have a certain amount at closing and we still have that mess we have to straighten out at our water department (which I've just put off out of sheer bull-headedness!) so we have really been watching our money the last two weeks. Closing was set for Thursday (the day BEFORE payday) and we don't float checks so we had to make absolute sure the money was in the bank.

This morning I received a call from a friend informing me about a great deal on groceries. I got $630.00 worth of groceries for $84.00 today! Go check out that story here.
Now that closing isn't going to be until Friday or next week I had the money free to be able to do that. Praise God! This was a wonderful blessing indeed!!

Closing on our new house

• We are supposed to have closing at 9:00 a.m. this Thursday.
  
• We have the Uhaul truck rented for Friday.
  
• Power and water are set to be turned on Thursday.
• I have a friend who is preparing to move (who needs boxes) all ready to come pick up my boxes as I unpack this weekend.

Found out today from our mortgage loan processor that the underwriter and bond stuff is still "in process" and probably won't be back until Friday or maybe even beginning of next week and closing may have to be delayed.

Can you feel my frustration screaming through the computer monitor?

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!

Retail Therapy

My mother-in-law has graciously let me use her car the last couple of weeks while we've been house-hunting and taking care of all the details involved with that. Greg and I arranged to meet at their house last night after he got off work so we could drop her car back off and I could ride home with him. Since it was just he and I (Dakota was at camp) and I had a completely stressful day, we went out to eat dinner to discuss the day and unwind.
Let me just say --- I love my husband! There is nothing better than just sitting and talking to my best friend at the end of a rough day!

After dinner we stopped by JCPenneys on the way home because my stepson was working and he had purchased some Dockers slippers for Greg and we were going to pick them up....(they were on sale for .96 by the way.) While we were there I managed to snag a few items for Dakota. My growing boy needs clothes!! Dakota is into Adult Medium shirts now which gives us a lot more variety to choose from AND greater sales - I was able to pick up these 4 shirts for about $5.00 a piece after my son's employee discount.
This morning we had our home inspection. Greg and I both attended for awhile and walked through the house making plans of where to put what while the guy doing the inspection did his work. Occasionally he would call us over to point out something or show us how to make inexpensive adjustments to something. Greg had to leave to get back to the office after about an hour so I decided to leave too. I ran by Walgreen's on my way home...ya gotta know me by now - I'm out and by myself! I'm gonna hit ONE of the stores!! LOL
I got all of this for $5.96 and I'll be getting a rebate from the August Easy Saver for the Pert Plus in the amount of $3.79 - not bad if I do say so myself!

Our offer was accepted

We put in a contract on the house we wanted and after a little negotiating we came to an agreement of sale price and terms!! We got the final word yesterday!

This next week we start the process of getting the home inspected and the seller has to have a survey done. I know the next few weeks are going to drag in a sense but they are also going to fly by - with everything that has to be done.

We went out window shopping yesterday and managed to snag a few awesome deals at JCPenney's! See...we basically don't really have anything left to set up house because when we moved in with my parents we put stuff in storage. Over the years as our children have gotten married and moved into homes of their own we have given them everything. I praise God this house comes with a washer & dryer AND a refrigerator (although we actually do still have a refrigerator even though it's nine years old.)

My step-son works at JCPenneys - at least for one more week, until he quits to go back to college for his senior year - so he helped us out yesterday with coupons and his discount. We were able to pick up bedroom stuff, lamps, and dishes that the totals were originally priced at $939.97......for.......get this.........$283.77!!!

Isn't that awesome?!!

We found a House!

I read this today---

President Bush on Wednesday signed a massive housing bill intended to provide mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling homeowners and stabilize financial markets.

and it is a little scary considering we found a house to buy today!!! I've been going out with our realtor every day looking at houses and making notes on which ones I like and which ones I don't and then discussing them with Greg every evening. Greg has been searching the MLS site, HUD site, and Craigslist daily and picking out more for me to look at every day. It's an exhausting, stressful task - trying to pick out a house!

I've been praying for that perfect one - the one that when I walk in the doors I wouldn't want to leave because I had found our home. After looking at 2 houses today we went to the 3rd one and that was it...the perfect one. It's only about 3 miles from Greg's office so I called Greg and told him to come look at it - he loved it too. The realtor and I wrote up the contract and I am waiting for Greg to come home from work so he can sign it and we can fax it back to the realtor.

GREAT NEWS!!

WE GOT APPROVED!

After 7 years of paying off debt and rebuilding our credit...we FINALLY got the approval to purchase our first home!!

Now the search begins for a house...

House Hunting Update

Since we only have one vehicle I am normally limited as to what I can do during the week. Last week however, my mom was in Brazil on a mission trip and I had the use of her vehicle while she was away. I decided to use this time to look at apartment/house rentals AND go back to the bank to try again to get approved for a home loan.
After 3 days of looking at apartment rentals and houses I was frustrated. We found a great house for rent in the country (close to where we live now) with a couple of acres fenced in for our dog to run around. Lots of trees and flowers, big screened-in back porch, big front porch and then we walk inside...oh my goodness! This house was built in 1968 and I don't think the carpets or curtains have been changed since then. The musty, dusty smell was horrible!!

Next stop was two apartment complexes - same price as the house, newer on the inside with all the conveniences (fitness center, pool, tennis courts) but very little room for our dog to even walk around AND he would have to be on a leash every single time he went out. I am so used to just opening the door and letting him out - this would be a huge change.

I had an appointment Thursday morning with my friend at the bank who writes up home loans and then I had an appointment to go look at one more apartment complex which is 5 mins. from Greg's office. This friend I met with at the bank met with me two years ago and looked over our credit reports and made a few suggestions as to what we should do to try to increase our score and hopes of securing a home loan. She entered only Greg's information this time (since his income is sufficient and mine is minimal) and we got a "soft" approval. She was elated. This was further than we got last time AND when she pulled his credit report his scores had gone up significantly from two years ago. I had Greg run over to the bank at lunch time to sign the papers and take a couple of things to my friend and now we are waiting. We are supposed to hear something by Thursday.

When I left the bank I went ahead to my next appointment at the apartment complex. I really felt like this one was going to be out of our price range but I wanted to check it out anyway. I was thrilled when I left there!! The apartment and amenities were wonderful and there was plenty of room for dogs to run and play. They really cater to dogs! They are even getting ready to put in a dog park. I told Greg when I left that apartment complex that it didn't matter one way or another what happened at the bank...I had found the apartment I wanted if we couldn't buy a home. Thursday turned out to be a great day - we are getting closer to being in a home of our own !!

End of June Wrap-Up

Can you believe June is gone already? There are 176 days til Christmas 2008! I know July is going to fly by for me because Tina, Bryant and my grandbaby are coming into town this Friday the 4th and they will be here until July 20th...that time will go by much too quickly.

Dakota is going to Kids' Camp the 2nd weekend. This will be his last year that he's able to attend Kids' Camp. After this he is officially a youth (as far as church events go anyway.)

**House Shopping**

In the midst of all of this we are in the process of moving. We have waited for many years to have a place to call our own. When I began this blog exactly a year ago I talked about what had happened that had led us to this point. While I am sad to say we are not totally debt-free (as I had hoped) we do carry considerably much less debt and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Now the question is....what to do? Is anyone going to let us purchase a home? No, we don't have money for a downpayment but I know there are so many programs out there to help with downpayment assistance. I've been researching and looking at the different programs. I did go to one lender already to see about getting pre-approved and was told we were going to be pre-approved...she needed a couple more pieces of information. After I faxed those to her I received a call from her the next day saying the underwriter was going to turn us down because she noticed that Greg is supposed to pay $1000/mo child support and he only has $923.08 deducted from his paycheck so she looks at that as "current" bad debt every month. When I explained that legally he doesn't make enough for his employer to deduct anymore from his paycheck she told us we need to go back to court and get that changed. Yes I know we need to do that...after years of dealing with child support issues on both sides (mine & his) we both just get tired of dealing with the hassle of it all.

I think my next step is to go talk to a friend of mine who is a mortgage lender to see about getting pre-approved and I am not even going to mention the whole child support issue. It actually came up as a fluke in that other situation and it bit me in the butt!
In the meantime I've been looking at apartments and rental homes just in case we don't get pre-approved to purchase a home right now. We have our "big" dog and it's a little harder to find rentals that accept large pets. I have found a few though and I'm going to look at them this week. I am so thrilled that rental prices have dropped around town! We looked into renting last year about this time and the rent was running from $950-$1300 for the size house we are looking for. Now we are in the $750-$900 range!!!

**CVS ECB**

Did you get your ExtraCare "Spring Spending" Bucks today? I got mine! I logged into CVS to check my account and see how much I earned for my purchases made last quarter. I got an extra $10.00!! Whooohoooo - FREE MONEY!

**Budget Info**

My husband has teased me all month about my "addiction" to CVS. Even though I only went to the store FIVE days out of the entire 30 days of June - I would hardly call that an addiction!

But just out of curiosity I thought I would keep up with my purchases this month...what I got, how much I spent of my own money and how much of CVS' money I used (their ECB) - here's the results -


Food Items:

Chex Mix x 2
Raisin Bran cereal
Milk 1 gallon
Eclipse 3 pk gum
Peanut M&Ms 27 oz
Powerade drink
Gold Emblem bottled water 24 ct
Doritos Nachos x 2
Trident gum x 2
Starbucks Vanilla Frappucino (my dear husband's purchase)
Sobe Life Water x 4

Healthcare/Medicines:

Bandaids 40 ct x 3
Arnicare pain relief
Alavert allergy pills
Tylenol Arthritis 24 ct

Cleaning Supplies:
Swiffer Wet Jet Refills x 2
Swiffer Duster Refills x 2
Dawn dish soap x 2
Lysol Neutra Air x 2
Canned Air car freshener (my dear husband's purchase)

Health & Beauty:
Jergens Natural glow moisturizer x 2
Got2be Spiking Hair glue x 2
Oral B toothbrush
Sally Hansen Nail Coloring Pen x 4
CVS tampons 5 ct
Stayfree pads 32 ct
Colgate Whitening toothpaste & toothbrush
Colgate Total toothpaste
CVS cotton balls x 2
Aussie Hair Gel
Clairol Hair color
Right Guard Professional deodorant
Brut Deodorant
CVS chapstick
Listerine Advanced – 1 liter
Physicians Formula mascara
Listerine smart rinse x 2
Oral B toothbrush 2 pk x 3
Sea Breeze face cleanser x 2
Q-tips 500 ct x 2
Q-tips 625 ct x 3
Huggies Bath Hair & Body Wash x 4

Household Supplies:
Charmin Toilet Paper 9 rolls x 2
Charmin Toilet paper 12 rolls x 2
Duracell Batteries AA 12 pk
Duracell Batteries AA 4pk x 2
Duracell Batteries AA 8 pk x 2
Ziploc Twist n Lock 3 ct storage containers x 4
Ziploc freezer bags 15 ct

Let my money talk...

Out of pocket expenses: $84.69 + $7.58 tax = $92.27

ECB's spent = $139.40