When I last wrote about our housing situation we were dealing with snowballs. I'm torn to give this one an analogy of either a tea kettle or a roller coaster. Maybe I should do a tea kettle on a roller coaster?
Currently we are tick tick ticking our way up to the top of the roller coaster, the tea kettle is cool enough that I can hold it in my lap.
We had scurried to get all the work done on the house for a closing of Friday the 2nd of August, this was supposed to be our move in date for our new house. Gabe finished the deck work on Monday and got the office window prepped for the replacement. He did however fail to get the trim on the house fixed. The appraisers came in and gave the okay on everything except of course that trim, Gabe said he thought we were going to take care of that part and wouldn't be able to get back there until after 5pm. Once again I was frantically trying to get this fixed up and Catherine was attempting to get the appraiser back out there to confirm that the trim had been fixed. I was able to sweet talk my dad and his neighbor David to go over there and fix that trim up. So mid afternoon on Monday we were completely done with our end of everything.
On Tuesday the appraiser came back out and gave the all clear. I scheduled the moving company for Saturday Aug. 3rd. (And as I am writing this from our same apartment in Dublin you can guess that this didn't work out so well).
We are at the top of the roller coaster now looking down at what appears to be the craziest set up ever with dips, turns and drops. My kettle is just a warming up, but it's still okay to hold it.
Catherine calls us to let us know that even though we are done with inspections and appraisals, the new buyers loan office still will not give us a closing date. It seems that these buyers are using one of those Quicken Loans or 1-800 loans that you see on TV. The customer service is atrocious and they will not commit to a closing date. According to Catherine, this is unprecedented.
Next I get a phone call from our CA realtor Jim who informs me that he also has been on the phone with Catherine and the Friday closing date will be impossible to attain. He also has been on the phone with this rinky dink lender and even though there is no privacy laws preventing them from giving us a closing date, this lender just will not commit to a date.
Our roller coaster is plummeting down the rails now, my cheeks are plastered back, hair is whipping behind me while I white knuckle the bar in front of me. The frustration in my body is heating that kettle up to an uncomfortable bath temperature.
In the meantime...... on a whim, another realtor did a showing of our house to a couple in Boulder. These people are first time home owners and were really interested in it. My feeling was this, I am so tired of dinking around with this house, why not! Catherine tells me that the Boulder people are a conventional loan, they don't have to sell anything in order to buy. The downfall, if we have to go through another inspection there maybe more things that they want fixed and after dropping over $10 grand into this property, we just are not spending another dime on it. I gave Catherine some terms to run past the Boulder people, the house will be sold as is and we need a firm closing date. They agreed, we're home free right? Nope!
Catherine then calls the first buyers, the Montana people to tell them that they are now moving into a back up position and the Boulder people are in first position. The Montana people come back with an offer of $5000 more. Well, money talks right? Ok, let's sell it to the Montana people if they can get a closing date. Catherine calls all the interested parties to deliver the news. Our Boulder people were devastated.
Now behind the scenes of all this drama we also have the potential of losing our house in CA because our sellers also have a back up buyer all set and ready to go.
On top of this, we are now up against a dead line of Aug. 8th that we have to be out of this apartment. I am not looking forward to trying to house the entire family and 4 pets in a hotel. Not to mention the fact that we would have to pack all of this up and probably store it in our cars, just to move it again once the house closes. These Montana people and their lender have put us into a horrible situation. Not to mention, our sellers are also waiting for that money, they are staying in a B&B with their family. So this domino effect is rippling it's way through at least 3 families, that I know of.
My roller coaster is on a rapid up and down track with my stomach dropping at every fall and anxiety building up every hill. My kettle is boiling and ready to start whistling.
To make sure we don't lose our house in CA Ed and I decide to just liquidate everything. We are flying without a safety net at the moment. The thought being that after all is said and done we can just put that money back into 401k's, college funds, etc.
Because of the liquidation, we now no longer have to worry about a time deadline. It's just a matter of how fast can they get the money to us, this goes to federal reserves being open on the East coast and brokerage firms getting the job done.
This is the straight part of the roller coaster track where you are up really high, but you're just sort of chugging along. It's a little bit surreal and euphoric, you can't believe that you just made it through those ups and downs, but there are still plenty of twists and turns ahead. The kettle is no longer screaming, but it's still too hot to hold.
Now back to the Colorado house. The Boulder people are so devastated about losing the house they come back with another offer. They match the extra $5000 and offer to get the closing done in 2 1/2 weeks, putting it at the 20th of Aug. The Montana people gave us a 'range' of between Aug, 19-23rd, still not committing to anything. The Boulder people also threw in an extra $3000 to go towards any repairs that need to be done after the inspection. So we said that's it... let's sell it to those nice people from Boulder.
On Friday we received word that the paperwork for our money will be available either late Friday or Monday at the latest. Once that is in we have to race to the title company to get notary work done and I'm not sure how much time will pass after that until we finally get the keys in our hot little hands.
And that is where we are right now. My roller coaster is safely coasting into the station, my tea kettle is lukewarm.
Wednesday will be our last night in this apartment whether we have a place to go or not. Keep fingers and toes crossed that we have the keys to our new place before then.
Side bar, I now completely understand the people pushing shopping carts around with all of their belongings in it mumbling to themselves. They were previously trying to buy a house from a disreputable lender. By next week, I might be joining them.
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