Ok, so everyone keeps asking what the status is, and I kinda need to vent and get this all on "paper" so here goes.
Two and a half weeks ago we fell in love with a house. It was listed at $130,000, and was a short sale. Basically a short sale is kind of the last stop before foreclosure for the owners. Typically these can take months to get approval, and even then that selling price may not get approved by the bank. However, our house was listed as preapproved for this price, which cuts out the months of waiting. We put in our bid for the asking price just to get it all done. We hoped to have a response within a few days but it's been 2 and a half weeks and we just heard something today.
Unfortunately it wasn't exactly what we wanted to hear. Basically the bank had received an offer months and months ago of $135,900, so they came back saying this is what they wanted. Basically our option now is to accept that offer. Once we do the bank will do an appraisal. No matter what the appraisal is, the highest the price will be is $135,900, but there's the chance it will appraise for less, in which case that would be the price. So the options are either buck up and pay $135,900 or possibly less.
We're in a tough spot right now basically just because we're so pissed off! It's not so much the price because if the house had already been listed at that we would have bid anyway. It's more about, 'like what the hell else are we gonna be told that isn't true'? I mean, if the house isn't really going to be sold for $130,000 then it shouldn't be listed at $130,000. And we kind of feel like 'screw you, keep your house, there's plenty more, and probably for less.'
So that's that. We're both kind of going back and forth between different thoughts. Of course the screw you is at the forefront of my head right now but running right beneath that I'm trying to look at this through 'the secret' point of view. The universe (God, whoever you want it to be) is doing this for a reason...maybe the house will be appraised at a lower price, maybe it won't but it's buying us time for some reason, maybe we'll find something we like better... I don't know.
I told Ivan we really don't have anything to lose by offering the $135,900. There's the chance that it will be appraised for less, and even if it's not, we can still decide we don't want the house. So it's worth doing just to see if we get it for less I think. If we could just get our pride and stubbornness out of the way.
As for other houses, yeah there are plenty of other houses for sale, even cheaper ones, and even in better condition. But you can't change the location--this house backs up to empty land so you feel like you have space (although that could change down the road), it's in a neighborhood we know and like, and we have friends very close by. So those are all the upsides of this house. I dunno. But anyway, that's where it stands and I'll be posting when I know something!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Hey there!
Not much going on. Still no word on anything I wrote about last time! The state has yet to make any decisions on the budget cuts, therefore the schools can't make any decisions either. I'm hopeful though that even with cuts I will keep my job. Even if I don't want it forever, I'd like it a few more years to just build up some security.
No word on the house either. It's a short sale which we've been told can take a very long time but this one was pre-approved by the bank so it should be faster. We were expecting faster to mean a couple of days but it's been almost 2 weeks since we made the offer. Our realtor has said although it's a waiting game to try not to worry. He doesn't see any reason why this house won't be ours. It's just a matter of the bank doing their job to get back to us and I would guess they are a little busy right now. On the other hand I'm ok with waiting a bit because I'm still waiting on documents to be mailed back to me to actually complete the loan process. It just sucks being at the mercy of someone else. I've done all I can do and now we wait. In the long run it will be for the best that it takes some time to save us money on double rent & mortgage for a few months over the summer. It's not worth breaking the lease on the apartment so we'll have both places for a bit. The longer the house takes the less we'll be out, I just want to know it's a for sure thing!! Giving me lots of time to daydream I guess.
This afternoon I have an 'informal interview' for this volunteer thing I applied for. The program is with the city of Phoenix and is called River Rampage. Basically, each year they take a group of kids-- some with special needs, some at risk kids (such as homeless, low income, gang related, etc) and take them on a week long white water rafting trip in Utah. The idea is to help teach the kids to appreciate diversity. There have been some amazing effects on these kids after the trips. The kids earn their trip by completing 40 hours of volunteer work, so there are clearly more benefits to the kids and the community which I am all for, plus I've always wanted to go rafting. So if I am accepted into the program my role would be to mentor the kid(s) and help them in completing their volunteer work--help them find ideas of where to volunteer, take them and participate with them if they need me to, etc. And then go on the trip with them. Everything about this program just sounds wonderful to me and right up my alley. I'm not sure if they require rafting experience or if they are looking more at experience with kids, etc. So we'll see!
Summer is approaching (only 43 days of work left!) and I'm actually pretty excited to not have much planned. I won't be working and I'm not doing any major traveling so I can do whatever I want. Although I can already tell I will 'accidentally' fill it up. If I get the rafting trip I will keep busy volunteering with the kids and the actual trip is 1 week long. My friend Cathy is coming to visit for a week, I'll be coming home for a week or 2, and probably going to Ivan's family reunion for the first time in Memphis. I also want to maybe finally do the volunteering with the IRC I've been talking about for years. I've been thinking about tennis lessons too...we'll see! Hopefully I'll have a new house to be decorating and enjoying. And Celeeste has just about talked me into doing the Chicago Maraton in October, which means I'd be training all summer. I don't really have a reason not to other than being lazy. And I need to get moving again anyway, I like working towards a goal, and will have plenty of time over the summer to train. So we'll see. I'm just worried I won't have the motivation to train since I've already done one.
Anyway I guess I'll get going. Ivan's mom flies in today, just for the weekend so that'll be a nice visit. We'll probably do some shopping and show her the house. Keep your fingers crossed on that!
Not much going on. Still no word on anything I wrote about last time! The state has yet to make any decisions on the budget cuts, therefore the schools can't make any decisions either. I'm hopeful though that even with cuts I will keep my job. Even if I don't want it forever, I'd like it a few more years to just build up some security.
No word on the house either. It's a short sale which we've been told can take a very long time but this one was pre-approved by the bank so it should be faster. We were expecting faster to mean a couple of days but it's been almost 2 weeks since we made the offer. Our realtor has said although it's a waiting game to try not to worry. He doesn't see any reason why this house won't be ours. It's just a matter of the bank doing their job to get back to us and I would guess they are a little busy right now. On the other hand I'm ok with waiting a bit because I'm still waiting on documents to be mailed back to me to actually complete the loan process. It just sucks being at the mercy of someone else. I've done all I can do and now we wait. In the long run it will be for the best that it takes some time to save us money on double rent & mortgage for a few months over the summer. It's not worth breaking the lease on the apartment so we'll have both places for a bit. The longer the house takes the less we'll be out, I just want to know it's a for sure thing!! Giving me lots of time to daydream I guess.
This afternoon I have an 'informal interview' for this volunteer thing I applied for. The program is with the city of Phoenix and is called River Rampage. Basically, each year they take a group of kids-- some with special needs, some at risk kids (such as homeless, low income, gang related, etc) and take them on a week long white water rafting trip in Utah. The idea is to help teach the kids to appreciate diversity. There have been some amazing effects on these kids after the trips. The kids earn their trip by completing 40 hours of volunteer work, so there are clearly more benefits to the kids and the community which I am all for, plus I've always wanted to go rafting. So if I am accepted into the program my role would be to mentor the kid(s) and help them in completing their volunteer work--help them find ideas of where to volunteer, take them and participate with them if they need me to, etc. And then go on the trip with them. Everything about this program just sounds wonderful to me and right up my alley. I'm not sure if they require rafting experience or if they are looking more at experience with kids, etc. So we'll see!
Summer is approaching (only 43 days of work left!) and I'm actually pretty excited to not have much planned. I won't be working and I'm not doing any major traveling so I can do whatever I want. Although I can already tell I will 'accidentally' fill it up. If I get the rafting trip I will keep busy volunteering with the kids and the actual trip is 1 week long. My friend Cathy is coming to visit for a week, I'll be coming home for a week or 2, and probably going to Ivan's family reunion for the first time in Memphis. I also want to maybe finally do the volunteering with the IRC I've been talking about for years. I've been thinking about tennis lessons too...we'll see! Hopefully I'll have a new house to be decorating and enjoying. And Celeeste has just about talked me into doing the Chicago Maraton in October, which means I'd be training all summer. I don't really have a reason not to other than being lazy. And I need to get moving again anyway, I like working towards a goal, and will have plenty of time over the summer to train. So we'll see. I'm just worried I won't have the motivation to train since I've already done one.
Anyway I guess I'll get going. Ivan's mom flies in today, just for the weekend so that'll be a nice visit. We'll probably do some shopping and show her the house. Keep your fingers crossed on that!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
New Developments
First of all-- it's Spring Break! yay! And we only have 50-some days of work left before summer, which is mind-blowing! I'm excited, and scared because we should know in the near future what the upcoming budget cuts mean for jobs next year. I could be needing a new job, which is partly scary, partly exciting too. I'm comfortable in what I'm doing so as much as I would like a change sometimes, I think I'll need an involuntary move! I'll keep you posted.
So, remember we were planning to rent a house from a friend? They are now going to try and sell their house, which is great for them, but a change of plans for us. So, with the economy going to hell the housing market in Arizona is perfect for buyers. Ivan & I decided just to see if we could get pre-qualified, and we did! So we've been house hunting a lot in the past week. The good (and sometimes bad) thing is that there are hundreds of houses to see so it shouldn't be a difficult process. In fact, the first house we looked at was perfect so we put in a bid...so did 37 other people! That house had only been on the market for 6 days and the bank actually accepted an offer about an hour before we got ours in. It was a very pretty house with granite counter tops, stainless steal appliances, plantation shutters, wood & tile throughout except carpet in the bedrooms, a pool, hot tub, built in fireplace & BBQ in the backyard...so you can see why it got so many offers! The downside (only downside I think) is that the backyard was just filled with all those wonderful things, no grass. But I was pretty sure I could cope :) So, we kept looking and have actually put in a bid on another house. This one has been on the market longer with no bids so I'm hoping everyone's already seen it and didn't want it so it will be ours! Although it needed a little more work than the other houses we looked at, Ivan & I both felt it was the right house with the most potential and had all of our wants in it. It's a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, with a pool and still a lot of yardspace, it's all commercial open lots behind the houses so you feel like you have a lot more room since you're not completely surrounded by houses, and it has a living room and a loft upstairs. Wish us luck! I spent a couple hours this morning with the loan people doing paperwork and still have a short list of documents I need to track down. I don't have pristine credit so I'm still scared at every turn that this could all go south! The mortgage lady seems confident so I should just trust but I don't want to get my hopes up and counting on something. I will keep you posted!
Mom & Dad just came to visit as they do every year around spring break. The first couple of days they were here I was still working so they got to lay out and hang around, at night we were looking at houses and one night went out to eat at this place called Rustler's Rooste. It's a pretty cool place--they have a Longhorn bull out front, sawdust on the floor, live entertainment, rattlesnake for an appetizer, and a slide you can slide down to your table. Kinda neat. Saturday we headed north to Prescott, had some lunch at this place called The Palace where Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday used to hang out, and did some shopping. Then we kept going up to Page which is close to the Utah border. Sunday we took a float trip down the Colorado River which was pretty neat. We had thought it was leading into the Grand Canyon but learned it stops just before it because inside the Grand Canyon is white water rapids and you have to do a multiple-day trip. We weren't quite up for all of that! When we came back to Surprise we spent some time just hanging around and more house hunting.
I'm off the rest of the week but I think a lot of my time will be spent doing stuff for this loan! I guess it's good that I'm off so I can do all of that. It will be my project tomorrow cuz after meeting with her this morning I don't want to think about paperwork!
So, remember we were planning to rent a house from a friend? They are now going to try and sell their house, which is great for them, but a change of plans for us. So, with the economy going to hell the housing market in Arizona is perfect for buyers. Ivan & I decided just to see if we could get pre-qualified, and we did! So we've been house hunting a lot in the past week. The good (and sometimes bad) thing is that there are hundreds of houses to see so it shouldn't be a difficult process. In fact, the first house we looked at was perfect so we put in a bid...so did 37 other people! That house had only been on the market for 6 days and the bank actually accepted an offer about an hour before we got ours in. It was a very pretty house with granite counter tops, stainless steal appliances, plantation shutters, wood & tile throughout except carpet in the bedrooms, a pool, hot tub, built in fireplace & BBQ in the backyard...so you can see why it got so many offers! The downside (only downside I think) is that the backyard was just filled with all those wonderful things, no grass. But I was pretty sure I could cope :) So, we kept looking and have actually put in a bid on another house. This one has been on the market longer with no bids so I'm hoping everyone's already seen it and didn't want it so it will be ours! Although it needed a little more work than the other houses we looked at, Ivan & I both felt it was the right house with the most potential and had all of our wants in it. It's a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, with a pool and still a lot of yardspace, it's all commercial open lots behind the houses so you feel like you have a lot more room since you're not completely surrounded by houses, and it has a living room and a loft upstairs. Wish us luck! I spent a couple hours this morning with the loan people doing paperwork and still have a short list of documents I need to track down. I don't have pristine credit so I'm still scared at every turn that this could all go south! The mortgage lady seems confident so I should just trust but I don't want to get my hopes up and counting on something. I will keep you posted!
Mom & Dad just came to visit as they do every year around spring break. The first couple of days they were here I was still working so they got to lay out and hang around, at night we were looking at houses and one night went out to eat at this place called Rustler's Rooste. It's a pretty cool place--they have a Longhorn bull out front, sawdust on the floor, live entertainment, rattlesnake for an appetizer, and a slide you can slide down to your table. Kinda neat. Saturday we headed north to Prescott, had some lunch at this place called The Palace where Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday used to hang out, and did some shopping. Then we kept going up to Page which is close to the Utah border. Sunday we took a float trip down the Colorado River which was pretty neat. We had thought it was leading into the Grand Canyon but learned it stops just before it because inside the Grand Canyon is white water rapids and you have to do a multiple-day trip. We weren't quite up for all of that! When we came back to Surprise we spent some time just hanging around and more house hunting.
I'm off the rest of the week but I think a lot of my time will be spent doing stuff for this loan! I guess it's good that I'm off so I can do all of that. It will be my project tomorrow cuz after meeting with her this morning I don't want to think about paperwork!
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