Home Sweet Home

Quick update... we finally closed on our forever home!

It was a crazy process. We put in an offer on a 95% completed short sale right before Thanksgiving- we happened to be the THIRD buyers on this house. Our bank would not proceed until we got the all clear as the new buyers from the seller's bank. Seller's bank took awhile, but we finally got approved shortly after Christmas. Seller's bank says we must close no later than January 28th, when the short sale approval expired.

And then our bank wouldn't give us a closing date. So we waited. And waited. And then on January 22nd, the proposed closing date, our bank gives us the clear to close. But they say we can close no earlier than January 29th.

So starts the bank wars.

Not really. But seller's bank was ready to drop the deal if we didn't close by the 28th. TRID guidelines (whatever that is) state that we need a certain amount of time after clear to close to actually close, and the 28th is too early. Back and forth, back and forth. Tim and I started to line up other houses to see because we were pretty sure we were going to lose this house. Our bank had until January 26th to let us know if this deal was actually going to happen. And on January 26th, sometime in the afternoon, we finally got the all clear to close on the 28th, at 3 pm, which was basically the LAST AND FINAL HOUR that the seller's bank would allow us to close without terminating the deal.

Sound boring? I mean, yeah, bank shit is boring. But we were on the edge of our seats for weeks.

Blah blah though, happy ending. We were originally just going to paint, replace the carpet, and refinish the hardwood in the house and then just move right on in. And then because my husband is, well, my husband, he walks through the house after closing and decides he is also going to remodel two of the four bathrooms, replace banisters going to the basement and upstairs (which he has never done before, oddly enough), etc. etc. before we move in. And our target move in date is the 13th, because I've already sent Jordan's birthday invitations out for the 20th - and her party is AT HOME. We are in way over our heads.

Tim also eventually wants to add a third car garage and a 600-700 square foot addition over the garage, making it our huge master suite. I mean, who am I to stop him? I love me some vaulted ceilings and he's promised to make me the bathroom of my dreams. That will make our house a 6 bedroom, 5 bathroom house and I'm trying to think of how to keep up with the housework. But man, am I excited! I'm trying to think of ideas on how to incorporate the boys into the house (pictures, of course, but anything else would be great - especially things we can look at and know its for them, without it being obvious).

Surgery is scheduled for Monday. I'm oddly looking forward to it, because they said that they'll knock me out and I should get a good nap out of it. I need one.

FET is scheduled for February 23rd.

It's going to be an amazing year.

Our first fire at the house, right after closing (complete with a large pizza and 17 samples of paint to throw on the walls)