The house is, officially, MINE

So, this morning I got the call from my mortgage broker who said that we had gotten final loan approval from the lenders. It's a bit of a juggling job, as far as making the payments every month, but I think it just might work, until we can refinance in June. Actually, I'm pretty confident it will work. It's just gonna be a stretch. HOORAY!! I'm planing on taking everyone who offered up on their offer to help move. I'll host a moving party, where we will move stuff from the house first and then from storage up to the new house. Please let me know if you really are serious about helping to move, and I'll add you to the invite list :-D

My mortgage broker says that she's planning to pull docs so we can close on the 11th, so Doug, that means that I'm going to come back to work on Tuesday the 3rd, and then take that other two weeks off starting on the 17th of January. I'm going to plan to start moving in on the weekend of the 15th and 16th, barring any significant delays.

I also found out today that I have diverticulitis, which is why I've had such severe pain in my abdomen for the last week. This was diagnosed mostly by an urgent care doctor, and so I'll have to follow it up with appointments with an internist for a final/definite diagnosis via colonoscopy or cat scan. I'm now on Septra and Flagyl (two antibiotics to kill the infection), and praying that it doesn't rupture and turn into an acute case of peritonitis.

THE gift

So, this christmas I got Nikolai this teddy bear from osh. Nikolai's not a real teddy bear kind of kid, but this one has a special feature: it lights up from the inside. Not only does it light up, but once lit it changes colors of light every few seconds. I figured it might be something he would find slightly entertaining, although the closer we got to christmas the more confident I was that it would end up getting lost in a sea of new "things with wheels". I was so very wrong. Not only did he absolutely love it, but it truly outshone all the other gifts.

He's slept with it every night, and has taken to slobbering on it. I can't explain the slobber, but I think it must mean he really loves it

As the House Turns

So, In comes yet another broker. This one promises roughly 1k less per month. This one is more likely to go through, at least, and they're under the impression that it can be finished by one week from now. I'm not holding my breath, and since my hopes have been inflated and crushed so many times I'm pretty much in zombie mode about it now.

I think this means we have at least 2 lenders who are willing to do this for us. We'll see.

Christmas

So this Christmas was tougher than most in some respects but easier in others. Like, for instance, I had the virtually impossible challenge of "forgetting" about the progress on the house for 3 days while all lenders and banks were closed and nothing could be done. I also ran out of money about 40 presents short, so had to just make the conscious decision that I was going to enjoy what I *was* able to do, which had been presents for the children, which was the most important of all presents anyway (this was an example of "easier", btw).
Melissa was my little helper (she said "well, at lest I'm not the old fat guy") and helped wrap presents, as well as put them under the tree on Christmas Eve. I also let her help me stuff stockings on Christmas Eve, which I think felt like a special opportunity for her. It actually really felt like I was passing on a Christmas tradition to my daughter. Training her in the art of Santa.
In the morning Nikolai woke up raring to go, and after all was said and done had enough of unwrapping presents. At one point he refused to open any more and handed them to me and said "No, YOU open it." I have a feeling next year he won't have any issues opening all his presents.

Melissa got an ipod, some clothes, some jewelry, some shoes and some various toys from Grandma and Grandpa. The crowning presents, though, came from Grandma and Grandpa. They got Melissa and Anthony each a video camera of their own.
Anthony got a gameboy micro, a very gothic looking chess set with stone dragons for pieces, wireless keyboard and mouse, some various toys.
Nikolai's presents were so various. No big present this year. He's just as happy with small ones.

welcome home

So, went to see the house a few days back. When we went in, in the kitchen in the alcove above the sink the previous owners had propped a card up on the fake plant that said "Welcome home Rebecca, Matthew, Anthony, Melissa and Nikolai". I nearly cried.

I opened it up (I shouldn't have done this, I know), and inside was a summary of the history of the house, including the coming of the green room. My heart pretty much broke at that point.

If any of you believe in God, say prayers for us. If not, cross your fingers.

Talk about a roller coaster

So here's what's going on:
Lender #1, who said perviously that they would fund it no problem, backed out when they saw the appraisal document (even after having seen an appraisal from several months back, not sure what they got cold feet about there).
Lender #2, who had also said that they would fund it, demanded a bunch of ytd information plus bank statements to prove that matt actually gets paychecks. That didn't appease them. They passed on it.
Lender #3, who had also said they would fund it, has now said that instead of an 8.5% interest rate, we can get it with a 10.5% interest rate. ACK. That's only 5k per month mortgage payment. Holy moly.
Now what?

Loan contingency was released more than a week ago, so if we don't get funding at this point we're out 5k. Hey, that's only a month's mortgage...

or not

now the lenders want to see 12 months of bank statements proving income. things are looking pretty grim. i suddenly feel like it's all falling through.

To close soon

So, today we signed the "remove any and all contingencies" document for the house. We are waiting for the verification of employment from Borland (Borland to verify to lender), and that is the last bit before we can actually close.
Once that is all set, the lenders will do up all the paperwork and send it to the title company, who will do their thing (whatever that is) and send it back to the mortgage company, and then we will meet up with the mortgage company to sign the paperwork. If the verification of employment gets there by Monday morning, then we could be closing as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. If not, it'd look more like the 26th or 27th.

I measured the space for the dishwasher today. The people come to inspect the fireplace on Monday afternoon.

OK, I won't get graphic about this one

Just let me say this: This week is not the week for avoiding public incidents involving bodily output.

For the second time this week I found myself with a shivering naked 2 year old. At least he wasn't vomiting this time...

Vomit Season in the Starbucks Bathroom (woofin' the cookies at the coffee store)

Well, we went to sign some more paperwork at Starbucks this evening. Met up with Daniel, the realtor, and checked out each page carefully...for the first 6 pages. Then we generally scanned the documents for red flag words. Then, after about the 20th document, we just sort of glanced at the page to see if there was a signature line. And then, by the 30th page or so we were initialing the pages at the bottom faster than he could turn the pages. Nikolai was squirmier and squirmier, and getting more and more agitated, and begging louder and louder to go outside. Finally, my mother's instinct kicked in and it occurred to me that he REALLY looked like he was about ready to throw up. I stood up suddenly and said "I'm taking him to the bathroom because he looks like he's gonna throw up." I got some strange looks from Matt and Daniel, but I didn't stop to explain. I got into the bathroom and sat down gently on the toilet with him on my lap and was moving him around to cradle comfortably in my arms when he started spewing. He had eaten a candy cane earlier, and so he was ejecting sticky bile all over himself, and of course panicking because he's never really thrown up before. Panic causes a 2 year old to cling like there's no tomorrow to the adult overseeing the vomit session. The panic also introduced a new challenge: choking on sticky bile, as well as whatever was causing the chunkiness. I'm not going to even venture a guess at what it was when it went down the hatch. Round about the third bout of hurling in the bathroom, I was completely covered. Shirt, pants, jacket, everything. Nikolai's clothing was totally beyond any salvaging, and so I asked him if he wanted me to take them off. I did, only to realize that I had a wet shivering vomiting 2 year old in a Starbucks bathroom who would not let me pick him up because I was covered in vomit. Meanwhile, our realtor is outside the door with Matt, listening to what must have sounded like the hounds of hell meets rabid howler monkeys in the bathroom.
So, out of desperation I opened the door to ask Matt for his clothes.
I wrapped Nikolai in Matt's jacket, and put on the extra shirt Matt had on (I've never been so glad that he always wears 3 layers). I handed Nikolai off to Matt and started mopping up the bathroom floor with an unnecessarily high number of paper towells. I've been fighting woofin' my own cookies all day, and I very nearly lost it several times during the cleanup process. I wadded up the massive ball of vomit drenched clothes and walked as briskly as possible out of the store. Put the clothes in the car and returned to the table with Daniel as if nothing had happened.

I pray to the powers that be that I can just take a DAY OFF tomorrow.

News on the house

So, here's the most recent news as to movement on the house situation:
Brenda, my mortgage broker, told me this evening what happened with the lenders. Apparently she had proposed this opportunity to her in house lenders, who had responded with a "No, Thank you." She then brokered it out to two external lenders, and got a response from them this morning that they wanted to move forward with it...were willing to lend to me (those of you unlucky ones whose offices are inconveniently located near me got to suffer my squealing when this news came in). Once she had the affirmative from the two external lenders, she proposed it again to the in-house lenders, who said "Oh, well, we'd like to revise our statement..." haha
So, since the lending is in-house, then everything is considerably easier. I had a really rough night there last night, thinking that everything was crumbling down around my feet. I really had a while there where I didn't fully believe it was gonna go through. I guess that'll show me.
Loan contingency period ends on Sunday, officially, but businesses will most likely cease function on friday afternoon, which means we should have word by Friday afternoon what the final decision is.

Some additional photos for those who care

The Green Room
Kitchen
Downstairs hall/stairway
Living room fireplace and such
Dining room

The Green Room is MINE

I took Anthony to the house today. He hadn't had a chance to see it, so I wanted to make sure he could render his own opinion. When we got up there, there were a bunch of people there looking at the house. They were wandering through MY LIVING ROOM, standing in MY KITCHEN, drooling over MY HOUSE! It was not a pretty sight. Fortunately I was able to contain myself enough that I didn't say anything out loud. One of the people checking out the house said to the realtor "Wow, with a place like this and the price, offers must just be flooding in!". His realtor responded with "No, not at all." He followed on by saying that it wasn't really a family place because of its locataion, blah blah blah. Wow...my self restraint has grown over the years. I STILL kept my mouth shut.
I sat down in my bedroom and just felt the house. We opened the window in Nikolai's room and "listened" to nothing (aside from the occasional light noise of the trespassers). I took pictures of everything I could manage, before my camera died. I left there feeling like it was my home and I was coming back every day of my life, and like I wasn't going to get it bcause there was just too much interest in it.

When we got back down to civilization we decided to stop at Burger King to get Anthony some food. On the way out of the drive-thru I got a cell phone call from my realtor. He told me that the sellers had countered our offer (asking only for a shorter loan contingency period...no extra money), and were going to work exclusively with us. We got the house!! I don't think I could have asked for a better Christmas present.

EEeeeeeEEEEEeeEEE!!!!

So! I heard from my mortgage broker this evening, and here's the scoop:
The seller's agent reports that I had the weakest offer, but the letter I wrote to them really touched them. That combined with Princeton Capital being the mortgage company won them over. They liked our offer, but wanted affirmation that the 100% financing was really going to happen, and wanted to be sure that the lenders are aware that it is a rural property. The lenders reported back that they were fully expecting the property to be rural, at 7.7 acres in santa cruz county, but would be able to give every assurance that they would back it 100% after seeing an appraisal. The seller's agent will get the appraisal document from the sellers and hand it over to Brenda (my mortgage broker) who will, in turn, hand it over to the lenders who will examine it for whatever it is that they are concerned about. My realtor reports that he has seen the appraisal, and the house appraised at roughly 700k, which means that there shouldn't be any problems proving the property's worth.
Brenda said something along the lines of "Well, at least you don't have to worry about whether or not they're going to accept your offer." I took this to mean that as long as the appraisal is fine, then we're good to go. Woo hoo!!

So now we wait. The offer expires tomorrow evening (saturday) at 5:00 pm. Cross your fingers.

Went to see the house again

Well, we went to see the house again. This time I asked mother and carl to come with me. Amber camea long as well, and it was fun for all. At least I think it was. I know I had fun. :-D

To the owners of my home:

I thought I would write a quick note to you to share my feelings, family and intentions. When I entered the house on Treehouse Way it was immediately obvious to me that it was my family's home.

I have been working for many years on my credit, in an attempt to get my scores high enough to purchase a house within my price range. My mission to find a house was made even more challenging by the need to accomodate my family. Three beautiful children who have absolutely nothing in common, and aren't compatible room-mates for various reasons. Matthew with his need for quiet space of his own to think, and me with my desire to have a room of my own. I was bound and determined to find something I can afford which would also give everyone their separate space. What I found was that and so much more. The house is charming and has exciting potential. Its steep staircase ascending to three rooms, radically different from one another but each with its own personality, immediately piqued my interest. The attic nook which wraps around to secret access to the master bedroom closet sealed the deal. This house was made for my family.

Melissa, my 12 year old daughter, traipsed into the master bedroom and said "This is my room, Mom."
Nikolai, my 2 year old son, bolted into the smallest upstairs room and proclaimed "This is my room, Mama. This is NIKOLAI'S room!"
Anthony, my 14 year old son, has decided he needs the room with all the outlets to power his various computers and gadgets.
I plopped down on the carpet in The Green Room and staked my claim. "This is my room. I might let you come in." It came to my attention after the fact that this room has a lock on the door. On the OUTSIDE...

I realize there might be quite a bit of interest in this house right now, but I really believe that we are the best fit for this house. We will treasure it and it will see my children grow happily into adulthood. Who knows, it might even see my grandchildren grow into adulthood.

Thank you for listening, and thank you for considering my offer

Boy what a day

When it rains it pours. My body finally gave in and succumbed to whatever it's been fighting since the weekend. I suppose I should have expected this, what with the stress of going through this "trying to buy a home" thing again on top of shipping this product on top of Christmas stress. It's a miracle I've been able to fight it this long.

I got bad news today about financing. It's still looking like something I'm not going to be able to afford. I asked my dear beloved sister for assistance, and without a moment's hesitation (that I noticed) she responded "Sure. Whatever you need, Bec." Wow. My tears of sorrow and frustration turned into tears of love and appreciation. It might be something I can do after all.

Today is a serious roller coaster.

Started the ball rolling today

So, I sent a message to my mortgage broker today to see if she could get me a loan on the house. This must be the 12th time I've tried this, and have been disappointed every time. I'm not holding my breath...

Christmas tree time!!

We went to get a christmas tree today. It was one of those archetypal family days that movies are made of. Or, at the very least, hallmark cards. We walked around Johnson Farm for about 10 or 15 minutes until we found the perfect tree. It was made for us. We grabbed our scythe and cut it down ourselves. Melissa began the job of sawing while Nikolai watched in awe. Matt took over after a while, finishing the process. We carried our tree over to the "netting" area to have it wrapped and put on top of the car, while we took Nikolai and Melissa over for a hay ride (alas, no hay). Matt and I got apple cider while we waited for them to return.

It was such a crisp and beautiful day. Everyone had steam billowing from their mouths. What a perfect day.

We went to see a house today

We've actually seen this particular house before. It's been on the market since sometime last spring or summer. My first experience there didn't leave much of an impression on me, and so the thought ogoing back wasn't met with any particular emotion.

Last night I had this dream that we were going to see the house, and I was very pleasantly surprised. In my dream the house was much closer than I was remembering (in fact it was a different house entirely), and the rooms were much larger and conveniently placed. There were other families and people wandering around looking at the house, and obviously very interested in it. I expressed to my mother that we should put an offer in on the house right away, as I felt it was going to get snatched up right away. I woke up thinking "oh great. now I've had this dream that the place is wonderful, and I'm gonna go up there and it's gonna be the same old house." I was completely prepared for disappointment. I was completely unprepared for what happened.

We drove up zayante to get to the house this time, instead of descending from summit. It didn't take nearly as long to get there as I had remembered. This time when we arrived at the house I noticed there was a beautiful wooden fence greeting us (wasn't this previously wire?), and as we entered the house I knew I was home. The rooms were actually very well laid out, and the number of them conducive to private space for all. This time I lingered and discovered some really wonderful stuff about the house. There is an almost finished attic that, with some work, could become a loft as an extension to one or two of the downstairs bedrooms. The kitchen has a door which has a top and bottom half that open separately...just the thing to keep the 2 year old from going out while letting the fresh air come in.

Melissa and Nikolai were there with us, and chose their rooms. Melissa chose none other than the master bedroom. Nikolai ran and squealed happily into a smaller upstairs bedroom saying "This is my room, mama." I staked my claim in The Green Room. It is small and has no closet, but it is perfect as a little nook of my own.
The best part about it is that in spite of its flaws, it's a lovely home and is only $479,000. Those of you out of state might have a heart attack at that, but those of you in this area know that trailers don't even go for that little in this area.

Now if I can only get the financing. Maybe 2 years and thousands of dollars invested in my credit will finally pay off...