So, we’re buying a house.
All my work to get my credit scores up has paid off, and I have qualified for an “A-List” loan. The mortgage people I’m working with seem very nice, and very un-used-car-salesman-like, which is nice compared to the first guy I spoke to. I’m beginning to understand the rules of the FHA loan process, and it’s slowly starting to make more sense. There are still lots of things that I don’t understand, after going over the Good Faith Estimate last night, but, I’m sure a call to them this morning will clear that up.
Jess and I have an appointment to see 8 homes this evening with a Realtor. My Dad had me under the impression that a Realtor would really know the area he/she worked in. But, according to this lady, that just isn’t the case. There are way too many homes for her to possibly know everything that is on the market. So they use electronic listing tools to browse through what’s available. That kind of makes her job seem senseless when you’re technically inclined, as I am, but, unless I feel like calling each listing Realtor individually in order to see each of the houses, it’s just easier to have her show them to us, so that’s the route we’re going, for now.
The only hitch in all of this is our savings. I had estimated, somehow, back in April that we would have about twice as much cash as we actually have now. We had a lot of unexpected expenses, and a couple of last minute purchases that added up pretty quickly. It isn’t causing too much of a problem just yet, as we still have enough to put down the required 3% on the loan amount we’re anticipating needing, but we’ll have to get the seller to pay a good chunk of the required closing costs and, in the end, we’ll only have a couple hundred dollars left over to handle the move, activating utilities, etc. We’re going to really tighten our belts for the next 2-4 weeks and hope that we can squeeze an extra $1,000 out of my salary. It doesn’t seem likely though. Jess’ parents offered, some time ago, to help us with our down payment as a wedding gift. I’ve been trying to get Jess to get them to send us some money NOW… but, I know how hard that is with all of the stuff happening with her grandmother (in short, she’s in the hosptital and not doing very well at all). So, if anyone wants to leave some money on our doorstep, I promise not to turn it in to the police.
I’m considering a different type of loan. Wells Fargo has a “No Money Down Plus” program that will finance up to 103% of the appraised value of the home with low to no out of pocket expense at closing. We’d end up paying more each month, and we’d end up with a higher interest rate, but, I think that might be better at least for a few years, than paying a down payment that completely depletes all the cash that we need to actually move in to the house.
Despite all the stress involved with buying a house, I’m very excited to be home owner. Jess and I have had a lot of fun looking at houses online and trying to decide what we’d like. Looking at houses tonight will be fun too, though I’m sure that’s when the stress is really going to kick in. “Do we make an offer?”, “Should we wait and see what else is out there?”, “How much do I have to pay, again, just to make sure this home is livable?”, etc.
Wish us luck and, if you want to throw money at me the next time you see me, I won’t be offended.