Monday, June 29, 2009
Our new Neighborhood
So far, we’ve found our new neighborhood to be a pretty friendly one. It’s mostly Asian with sprinklings of Caucasian and African American throughout, and there are quite a few Africans and Hispanics nearby. Our part of Beacon Hill is definitely a working class neighborhood. Both of these facts make our ‘hood very different from the bleached out rarified hues of our old Leschi Digs. Plus, plenty of people have come up to introduce themselves to us – again, much different than Leschi, which to me is the “Seattle Freeze” typified. I’m looking forward to what the upcoming years will bring.
At Last!
It almost didn’t seem like it would happen. Our initial lender fell through at the last moment, and our mortgage company stepped up and scrambled trying to get a replacement. The replacement lenders didn’t offer the nice slim interest rate of the first lender (the later was half a percent higher), and demanded that we carry more insurance on our property – but we ended up getting things done in the long run.
On what was supposed to be closing day, we discovered that, due to a miscommunication between the lenders and our escrow company, a single document hadn’t been signed! That held closing up for a day, which meant that we had to close and move pretty much on the same day. We had to wait until 3:30 before we could get the keys and step foot inside our own house. Oh – and note to self – never rent a U-Haul from the location on Ranier. The people there are very poorly trained, and the “manager” has a major attitude problem.
But I digressed. It took us six hours over two trips to move out of our old place and into our new one. We’re still unpacking and cleaning to this day, but it’s well worth it. We have a beautiful place that we are in the process of truly making our own.
On what was supposed to be closing day, we discovered that, due to a miscommunication between the lenders and our escrow company, a single document hadn’t been signed! That held closing up for a day, which meant that we had to close and move pretty much on the same day. We had to wait until 3:30 before we could get the keys and step foot inside our own house. Oh – and note to self – never rent a U-Haul from the location on Ranier. The people there are very poorly trained, and the “manager” has a major attitude problem.
But I digressed. It took us six hours over two trips to move out of our old place and into our new one. We’re still unpacking and cleaning to this day, but it’s well worth it. We have a beautiful place that we are in the process of truly making our own.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Signing day
Carrie and I signed a bunch of documents yesterday - about half an hour in, our hands were getting tired, and we were still looking at three inches of paperwork still to go - at the very end, we had to sign a piece of paper attesting to the fact that we had just signed a bunch of other pieces of paper. How meta! Anyway, the deal's not quite done yet, as we now have to wait for the VA, Lender and King County to bless the union between humans and house. We'll know (and possibly) celebrate by the end of the business day today!
Martyr
No matter how loudly the self-pitying egocentric martyr within me screams, I shall only regard the things that go well in my life, and do so fondly; the things that are true for me, and do so often; and the friends that are dear to me, and do so with great reverence. Grace shall grant me the perseverance, wisdom, patience and fortitude to deal evenly with all else.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Exploration
Whenever the inevitable wanderlust churns within my soul, I quell it with the gentle reminder that sometimes the best way to truly explore one’s inner self is to sit still.
Monday, June 22, 2009
It ain't real until you sign the paperwork!
Well hell, another snag...
The thing about going through a mortgage company - even though they may underwrite the loan themselves, they will still (generaly) go to another company to actually provide the funds. That is what happened to us - we were approved for financing from one source at 5%. However, that source is in danger of failing, so, as a backup, our man at the mortgage company went to another source to secure funding in the event that the first one failed. Thing is - that second company approved us at 5.5%, and they are requiring us to bump the dwelling coverage amount on our insurance policy. So, not only do we get to pay about $10 / month more for our insurance, we also get to pay $100 / month more for our mortgage payment as well, which, this being Seattle and all, is pretty substantial.
Everyone is working to make it so that in the case of our having to go with the second company (there is still hope that the first will pull through), enough money will be available so as to pay down the percentage points of our loan, from 5.5% to 5.25%. Just shaving off that extra quarter of a percent will save us $50 / month in loan payments. What really sucks, though, is that we may not be able to move into the place on our original date - and you know how much planning goes into that!
All this is why I always say - It ain't real until you sign the paperwork!
The thing about going through a mortgage company - even though they may underwrite the loan themselves, they will still (generaly) go to another company to actually provide the funds. That is what happened to us - we were approved for financing from one source at 5%. However, that source is in danger of failing, so, as a backup, our man at the mortgage company went to another source to secure funding in the event that the first one failed. Thing is - that second company approved us at 5.5%, and they are requiring us to bump the dwelling coverage amount on our insurance policy. So, not only do we get to pay about $10 / month more for our insurance, we also get to pay $100 / month more for our mortgage payment as well, which, this being Seattle and all, is pretty substantial.
Everyone is working to make it so that in the case of our having to go with the second company (there is still hope that the first will pull through), enough money will be available so as to pay down the percentage points of our loan, from 5.5% to 5.25%. Just shaving off that extra quarter of a percent will save us $50 / month in loan payments. What really sucks, though, is that we may not be able to move into the place on our original date - and you know how much planning goes into that!
All this is why I always say - It ain't real until you sign the paperwork!
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