It's Finally Done!!!! The House is officially ours!!!

Yes!!! We made it! We got moved and we heard just today, that we have officially closed. First off let me just say I can't right now find the words to express my feelings of gratitude and relief. So many of you have been praying for us and supporting us. Rob and I are so grateful!!! Thank you!!! We are moved in and we now can start to unpack and settle in. We want to say more about the move from the apartment, the last minute snafu that delayed the closing, and the resolution, but right now I am exhausted and have so much to do around here I don't have time to blog about it. I'm sure you all understand. So, please forgive me. I will be back to write about it all and in the meantime, just know that we are happy and well, loving the fact that we are first-time homeowners!!!! SDG LN

We are Signed, Sealed, and almost Delivered...

What do I mean by that? Well, we signed all the final papers today to close at Chicago Title. Yay! Now as we are told by the closer, the documents get sent back to the Lender for final revue and then they will be couriered to Olympia for recording. But that won't be happening till Monday. So now you see what I mean right?

We will be moving tomorrow morning though rain or shine (right now it's raining). We have special permission by the seller to go ahead with our moving plans. J.D, the seller, left today for his parents home in Oregon. We got to see him one last time at the escrow office. It was nice to say our goodbyes knowing this probably won't be the last time we will see him. We'll probably get a visit from him sometime down the road.

So, I need to cut this short cause Rob & I are really tired. We didn't get as much packing done today as we had planned but who ever does right? We're thinking rather than stay up late, we should get some shut eye now and get up around 5am to finish before the helpers arrive at 10am. Rob is going with my friend Janice's husband, who also is a Rob, and they will pick up the uhaul truck at 9am. Also the plants and outdoor stuff will be taken to the house by a friend from church. Special thanks to Chris & Rob.

Goodnight All! Signing off for now...I'll be posting next when we get the services hooked up, maybe late Saturday or Sunday. Thanks for all your continued thoughts and prayers. SDG LN

We have the keys!!!

Well, last night we went over to say our goodbyes to J.D., our seller. J.D. has a bad back and Rob helped him with a a few heavy items. He was mostly packed and loaded on his uhaul truck. The house looked different empty. It seemed bigger. It looked ready for us. I was finally, I think, feeling this was really going to happen, if you know what I mean. It was starting to become less about doing this and that and actually enjoying the fact we have bought our first house and will be sleeping, eating and living in it in less than 48 hours. It feels good!

J.D. and Rob both get along really good. I'm so glad God led us to this home and gave us favor with the seller. Even though J.D. knows we can't sign and be recorded until Monday (oh yeah, I forgot to say that we had to move our closing day to Aug 31st) he decided to give us the keys before closing. We made sure that our respective agents, Jen & Staci, were involved so everyone was on the same page. They made sure all the necessary paperwork will be filed with the last minute changes. It seems that our experience of buying a house is completely unorthodox from most. But that's okay. It makes it more memorable.

So, we have the keys and today we are scheduled to go in a sign the final closing papers at 11am. I'm waiting for the phone call from the escrow closers as I write this. I'll post more after the closing is final. Thanks again to all who have been supporting us throughout this journey to buying our first home. We couldn't have done it without you!!! We are blessed to have you continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We love you all. SDG LN

Three Cheers for Jen!!!

Just a quick acknowledgment for our real estate agent Jennifer Lampe. Since this morning's phone call to her, she has been proving her worth in gold to us. She has made phone calls and left messages to the lender. She has called me back every time she gets new information. She is reassuring and comforting when we talk. She is willing to pull out the big guns (her Broker) if need be. She has a plan in hand if we can't close tomorrow that sounds reasonable. I have new found respect for the work of an real estate agent. It's tough and hectic, when things don't go as they should. I just wanted to give her praise for a job well done, no matter how it works out, Jen, your the greatest!!! LN

Down to the wire....

Things are really coming down to the wire. I just spoke to Cheryl our escrow officer. This was the first time we had made contact. She sounds very nice & efficient. She also sounded very busy. I asked about our closing time and she said she had not received anything from our lender yet. I was a little surprised, since Rob was told yesterday that we would probably be signing papers today. Cheryl said she could not say if she could fit us in today since she also needed 2 hours of work before she could have it ready. Basically nothing can be scheduled for closing till our lender gets all the docs to them.

Apparently the end of the month is the busiest time for escrow. If you are fortunate enough to close at the end of the month, you save sometimes hundreds (thousands for some more expensive transactions) in interest and such.

Currently, I'm not sure when we are closing. But I can see the glass half full right? Yes I can. Our loan team of Steph & Mia have been working so hard and have had tremedous results in getting us through this process from the beginning back in April. I believe they can pull it out....even if it's down to the wire! We need to be closed by tomorrow and they know it. Please continue to pray for this to work out favorably for us. I'll post back when I get more info from our loan processor Steph and Mia on the status of things. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers. SDG LN

Last minute paperwork...Done!!!

Stephanie in fact did call me at work on my cell number. She needed my employment verification. Talk about last minute paperwork. She said she would fax over to me the sheet to be filled out and then fax back. Once I got it, I gave it to Lori, my manager, who is very supportive of me right now in this time of house buying, and she filled out most of it, but had a question on part of it. So we called Stephanie back and asked her. She said there was a way we could actually do this electronically. So we got the website to go to, put in certain personal info and submitted it. It came back with the info which I then emailed to Stephanie and called to follow up. She said she got it. Whew! She said the papers should be ready by tomorrow afternoon for signing. Yayyyy!! We also got word that the key transfer will actually happen tomorrow afternoon as well. We will be doing a final walk through tomorrow to make sure everything is okay. We are about 90% done in the packing and will be picking up the U-Haul truck Saturday morning in Spanaway. We will be starting at 10am to load the truck. It is really happening!!! RN

A few more issues... but we're cool!

I just got a call from Mia that the House Key loan underwriter needed a copy of my certificate from the Housing Seminar Rob and I went to last year. Somehow the one we provided was misplaced. Mia was very efficient and arranged to swing by the apartment on her way to the office. I was just hoping and praying that I still had the copy she needed.

After digging through the black bag that Rob has been keeping all the copies of documents in, there it was. She arrived just a minute after that and I gave her both mine and Rob's, just in case. I asked Mia what was next. She said that she was going to fax it to the House Key Plus underwriter and then wait for them to call with confirmation. Needing to know more of course, I asked if we might still be able to sign papers on Thursday, in which she replied "I don't know. I'll call you when I know more."

Then right after she left, I received a call from Mia's counterpart, Steph. She needed to get an employment verification on Rob. I gave her his cell. I suggested she call him directly. So after Rob gets home today, I'll let him update on his side of the conversation and maybe, he will have more definitive news.

Rob has been as cool as a cucumber through the last couple of issues, which really helps me to stay cool too! We're remembering to put into practice what we learned last week ...

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:34

Thanks to all who are thinking and praying for us. SDG LN