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

Moving Forward...

Okay, first an update regarding the insurance stuff. We have been informed by both Steph & Mia that they have the corrected binder and is moving forward. Steph, our loan processor, says she has gotten the loan back from the underwriters. She is waiting only now for the House Key Plus loan underwriter (they are providing the down payment assistance). Steph said to Jen, our agent, that she expects the House Key loan to be in hand tomorrow. Then she said "Next is getting everything over to Escrow. That is what we have been waiting for! Escrow! Yay! We're getting really close now to closing on our first home. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We will continue to keep you all up to date, as we move forward along this journey to owning our first home. SDG LN

Last minute issues....

Well it seems there is to be another last minute issue we must deal with. Yesterday, we found out from our local insurance agent with Allstate that the new agent with Allstate wrote out the insurance binder with the wrong address and wrong name. Today it has come up again. Our local Allstate agent was very negative and said the other agent had "screwed it all up". His attitude was stirring up those see-saw feelings again that I had last week. But I resisted and instead called someone who I thought might be able to help.

So, I immediately called our agent Jen. Jen said this was a minor issue that can be cleared up quickly. She was very positive about it all and said she would follow up with the agents involved to get it resolved. She had a very reassuring attitude and I believed in her ability to resolve things.

This morning's devotion focused me on how I perceive things. Like when faced with daily circumstances, like this insurance mistake, do I see the glass half full or half empty? Do I immediately go for the negative thoughts or do I think positive ones? I always believed I was a positive person. Lately, though I'm not so sure. Today the insurance agents negative way of looking at things as "the glass half empty" almost got me thinking the same negative thoughts. But it was Jen's attitude of "the glass half full" that ruled out. So maybe there is hope for me after all!

I've been really put to the test over the last week. Maybe this is a good day to put into practice what I learned last week....to "give thanks in all circumstances (1Thessalonians 5:18). Thank you God for your grace in time of need!!! SDG LN

The Joys of Moving...

Just wanted to let everyone know we are still on schedule to close this week on the house and plan to move on Saturday, August 29th. Since last week, we have been organizing and getting things packed. Today we spent the morning calling to start up new services for electric, water, sewer, garbage. We also got a new phone number. We had a call from our home insurance agent that they had Rob's name as "Bob" on the new policy and the address was wrong. They had transposed the first two numbers. We contacted our lender and she said everything was fine on her end. So it was a false alarm. So other than that, everything is pretty calm and we are really looking forward to closing and getting the keys to our first home. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. SDG LN

What a difference a day makes...

The guard rail is done!!!! The condition has been met! We can move forward to close on the house next week. Rob & J.D., our seller, built it together. They had it up in a few hours with one little mess up when the top rail was not level. But they were able to pull the spindles out and re-nail them. All checked out level and to code. We all breathed a sigh of relief. We give God all the glory!

Here are some photos of the guard rail...

Good news!!!!

Okay, things are looking up. I just got the call that the Appraiser will amend the condition to only building a rail on the north side of the deck, which he claims is 30" (but measured at 29.75"). Rob and I are on our way over to the house tonight to start the work. If nothing else comes up, we should be able to meet out tentative closing date 8/28. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. LN

Breaking NEWS!!!!

Just received word that the Appraiser is going out for a second measurement to confirm if the deck meets the requirement of the railing. This is great news!!! We will post later the results. LN

Rollercoasters are fun, this is not...

Okay, we are starting to get to a point where we are seriously thinking this may not happen. Why? Well, yesterday we were told by the county that the rail, that we were told we needed, we don't need if our deck is below 31". But our lender's appraiser says it's aprox. 30" and needs a railing. Now it's starting to feel like we're on an endless roller coaster. Yeah, we've graduated from the seesaw to the roller coaster stage. It makes it difficult when the officials we have to rely on say different and contradictory things. One says one thing, and then another says something else. So what is it? Do we need the rail or not? So I started to do some investigating on my own. Here's the result.

After consulting with county officials in charge of building codes, I determined that the requirement for guard rails, per the IRC (International Residential Code), used by our county says, "Guards shall be located along open-sided walking surfaces, including stairs, ramps and landings, that are located more than 30 inches (762 mm) measured vertically to the floor or grade below at any point within 36 inches (914 mm) horizontally to the edge of the open side." In layman's terms, if our deck measures at any point along a 36" edge of open deck a height above 30" from the ground, a guard rail is required. So, logically what we did next was measure to see for ourselves if we meet the requirement.

Our agent, Jen took the pictures & my hubby, Rob, did the measuring with a contractors tape. Sure enough, our deck does not meet the requirements for a guard rail. We measured on the different sides of the deck and found that it averaged aprox. 26" to the grade below. Only in the northeast corner did it measure at it's highest 29.75" but still under the requirement of more than 30". So, our agent decided to email the photos and the info from the county to our lender for their consideration and hope they would reschedule the appraiser to amend the report and remove the condition.

We are still in negotiations at this time. My agent, Jen has been awesome and I'm so grateful for all her efforts and her encouraging words today. This may work out for us or it could go against us. I'm pretty sure the roller coaster ride isn't over yet. Hopefully through endurance and keeping a level head, we'll get to the end of the ride. I'll be glad when this final leg of the journey to home ownership is over. Thank you all for your continued support and prayers. LN

[UPDATE: Thanks to Steph and Mia, they presented our appeal and they just got word that the underwriters will remove the condition of the rail if we can get an "uninterested" party, such as a county inspector to come out an measure. Our measurements are not allowed since we are interested parties. We contacted the county planners and they said that since the deck does not require permitting, they don't do inspections for unpermitted projects. So, that option isn't there. So we're back at square one. But then My brilliant agent, Jen thought, "Why not just have the Appraiser John go back out and measure?" I said, "Sounds good to me." So we are going to pass that on to Mia & Steph and try for that next. Please keep checking back for the next installment of "The Not-So-Young and the Railless". LOL ;-) ]

The Up's & Down's of Buying a Home...

Yesterday was a long day. It was Rob's day off and we had planned to continue packing and organizing our storage unit for moving day on the 28th. But one key piece of our moving forward hadn't been communicated to us yet and we had been praying that the news would come on Monday. It did. The appraisal was in! We both breathed a sigh of relief.

As we continued reading the email documents which included the written appraisal, we were searching for the final result. Was the house worth what we offered? As we scanned the pages we finally saw it. Appraisal Value $136000. We immediately felt so thankful and thought how close it was, within $500. But it was over so that was good...very good! We don't need to go back to the seller's lender to renegotiate. Things were looking up.

Then we came upon something. Condition of the Appraisal. What's this? I started feeling that seesaw feeling in my stomach. We kept reading. The rear deck is 30" high and needs a railing. We both looked at each other and I said "How are we supposed to build a railing in time? Where will the money come from? Things are looking down. Rob said "Let's pray".

After we prayed, we started making phone calls. We called to confirm it with our agent first. Jen said "Yes. It is a condition that must be met before we close." Okay. Then we called various people, friends and church members. We left lots of messages. Then, I thought about the apartment complex guys, Pat & Clint. They had just completed a retrofit of all our balconies. These guys would know about deck railings. So Rob went off to find them. He found Pat and he said he was busy this week but maybe Clint would be available to help. Later Clint got the request from Pat to come see us and he did. He helped Rob put together a material list of what we would need. But the questions remained we've never built anything like this before. Plus, we don't have the estimated $300 to buy the stuff. So, while Rob was talking to Clint, someone I had called earlier, returned my call.

A very close friend we hadn't seen for awhile, Neal, had received our message and spoke to me about the situation. Neal is a contractor. He agreed to meet with us and look at the rear deck. So we arranged to go and meet Neal at the house. Meanwhile, I was receiving emails from our Lender. The Lender wanted to send us disclosures. Disclosures are required by the TILA (Truth in lending Act). The lenders don't like doing it but it helps us borrowers know what is going on behind the scenes in regards to our loan processing. It makes for alot more paperwork and with more paperwork comes the need for more time to sign the paperwork. So we were under a deadline to sign all these papers yesterday and date them 8/17 so that we could meet the 7 day processing period needed by the lender and escrow people so that we can meet and sign the final papers next Tuesday 8/25. So, while running around trying to figure out how to build a railing for the deck of the house, we are also under a deadline of sorts to get this new batch of lender papers signed and dated yesterday.

Back to Neal...We did meet with Neal at the house and he looked at the rear deck and took some measurements. Then the Lord blessed us through Neal with providing the materials we needed to build this rear deck railing. Rob, Neal & I went to Home Depot and Neal bought all the materials at Home Depot for us. We agreed to pay him back after closing. We are so grateful to God for Neal and his timely help to provide for our need. Thank you Neal.

So, when we returned to the house with the materials, we met J.D. our seller at the door. He had just received word from his agent about the condition of the appraisal. He was worried that he would have to pay for it and he, like us had no additional funds to do this. But I gave him the good news that we had a benefactor in Neal who is supplying us with credit til after closing so we can get to work on building the railing. J.D. was so relieved. He wanted to help and said he could get started right away. I explained the need for us to get it finished, by code, before the Appraiser leaves for his weekend on Friday. J.D. was willing and had built the deck originally so he had knowledge of what to do. Everything was looking up again...We are working as a team...We can do this!!!!

As you can see, there were ups and downs in our day yesterday, like riding a seesaw for a few hours, but the day ended on the upside. We got the papers printed and signed and dated for the Lender, we secured the materials needed for the railing, we built a team...J.D, Rob & I, to build it, and most importantly, we have our Captain overseeing it all, providing for our needs before we even know what we need. Thank you Lord for always being faithful and giving us what we need to endure the journey... ups and downs and all! SDG LN

Yard Sale Today!

It was a slightly cool and cloudy morning for our Yard Sale, but later on, the sun did come out. The clouds did not keep the bargain shoppers from coming by, especially our neighbors across the street. We sold the majority of stuff, especially the big stuff, in the first hour or so. Our kitchen set, hutch, cookbook case, table & chairs and microwave cart all were sold right away. What was left was some clothes, housewares, linens, camping stuff, electronics, etc. We did okay with the rest. We only had a couple of boxes of stuff to take back to the storage. All in all, we were pleased, our prayers were answered. We needed $100 and we sold $151. My friend Janice had a computer desk she & her hubby brought down and she sold it too...to us! I know. But my hubby, Rob, liked it and thought it would make a good sewing table. So I have a sewing table now, which I am most thankful for. So that's all for today. Rob is off to his store meeting and I am off to take a much needed rest from all the packing and selling today. Looking forward to the Lord's Day and the peace that God brings to my heart when we can "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." (Psalm 100:4) Till next time... LN

The Appraisal is done!!!

I just received the phone call we have been waiting for. Our Agent, Jen, called to say the appraisal will take place today between noon and 2:00pm PDT. What a relief! Rob and I have been waiting for this news since we signed all the mortgage papers. This means the appraisal will happen in plenty of time for our fast approaching closing date of August 28th.

We also have started to pack up our little apartment and have been saying goodbye to all our neighbors & friends. We also are planning, weather permitting, a "Yard Sale" this Saturday. This will help us to get rid of some stuff we've been accumulating over the last 13 years and get some much needed cash. I hope to, later that day, to make a BBQ/picnic with our neighbors to celebrate our home purchase and say "goodbye". I'll post next week on how the yard sale and the BBQ goes.

Okay, so for this week we will keep packing for the move while putting aside stuff for the yard sale on Saturday. I'll post more details later about the results of the appraisal. We are hoping that it will come in close or over the purchase price so we won't have any delays. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. Blessings...LN

Another Hard Thing Done...

After almost 13 years of living in our small one bedroom apartment, we took a giant step Tuesday and gave notice to our managers that we were leaving by the 1st of September.

Almost as soon as Rob walked into the door from work , he was chomping at the bit, ready to go over and give notice. Of course, it's been me who has needed the time, to think, to pray. But there is a time for everything, and now was the time to act. So we walked down the walkway to the managers place. It just so happened, they were enjoying a glass of wine and sitting on their patio. They were happy to see us. I gave a sigh, looked at Rob to see if he wanted me to tell them and he gave me the look that means "go ahead". So I proceeded to tell them our news.

It was not as hard as I thought it would be. Actually the manager's wife guessed what are news was before I could get it out. Both of us felt relieved that they were happy for us and had words of encouragement. There was a moment that they seemed concerned for us, testing us by asking questions on the neighborhood and if we had checked it out thoroughly with the local sheriff's dept. We assured them we had and that we have been waiting for several months for this home which gave us lots of time to think over our decision to buy it. They were satisfied, I guess with our answers, and said we are always welcome back, especially to use the pool. We thanked them for their friendship and all they had done over the years to keep our little apartment and the surrounding grounds a safe and beautiful place to live.

To formalize our verbal notice, I will type up a written notice with all the details and give to them by Monday. According to our state's laws, it needs to be in writing and delivered to them at least 20 days before our move out day.

So we did another hard thing that turned out to be not so hard after all. The Lord is really teaching us how to depend on Him through each leg of this journey. We will surely look fondly over the years of our stay here. But right now, I can't think of anything but getting the keys to our first house. That is where we will make our home now and Lord willing, for years to come. What a joyful thought! LN

A Day of Rest, Relaxing & Recreation

After a very busy week and lots of thinking about the home mortgage papers, we spent Sunday morning worshipping & praising God with our Church. Then, afterwards we spent time relaxing at our ERC picnic last Sunday. We love our Church picnics! Such a fun time and this year we had a beautiful hot sunny day to enjoy the clear blue lake & pool at John & Cindy's. Thanks John & Cindy for your hospitality!

Every year, the men of ERC have a pie baking contest. This year, since Rob didn't enter a pie, we asked to be judges. Thanks Drake for relinquishing your spot to us. It was so much fun, but a little harder than I thought it would be. We send special thanks to Melissa, who explained the rules of judging (this is serious business!!!) and our fellow pie judges, Sarah, Misty, Jim & Kristina. All the pies were good, but there could only be one best of show. This year, it happened to be the pie we judged best for our category, Baked Other, "Coconut Cream" baked by one of our Elders, Jim H. Good job Jim! The winner got a specially engaved plaque, with his name, that will be his for the next year and a chef's hat. Special congrats to the other category winners, Jeremy (Baked Fruit), Joel (Unbaked) , Rich Sr.(Most Original). Thanks to all the men of ERC who entered and showed us women what great bakers you are! LN

Mortgage Papers Signed!!!

We signed the mortgage papers! Yes we did it. We are officially applying for the actual loan to buy our house. I know this might seem a little wierd for me to be emphasizing, but, this was a big step for us (me in particular) and I am so happy this step along the journey to buying this house is over.

Thank you all for contacting me after my last post. So many of you had kind and encouraging words of wisdom, having gone down this path too. I especially want to thank my sister-in-law Cathy. She emailed me a wonderful letter and it really came at the most opportune time. A big hug of thanks to my Sis!

So, what's next? Well, we are supposed to hear this week about the appraisal. This is very important for us. We need the appraisal to come in at our price or above to be able to move forward to the closing day, which seems to me to be rapidly approaching. Our closing day is scheduled for August 28, the actual day we get the keys. We go in to sign the final papers and give them our monies a few days prior. So, Rob and I are once again asking all of you to pray for us. We need lots of patience still and even more wisdom to make the best choices as we move ahead on the path of home ownership. We are so blessed to have all of our family and friends support right now. From our heart to yours...xoxoxoxo. LN

The Toughest Part of the Journey...

The outdoor thermometer was bulging at 104 yesterday. I was sticky and hot. If not for the small apartment air conditioner we bought at Sears during the last 100+ summer heat wave, July 2004, I would have melted into a puddle on the floor. It was on this blazing hot day that we received the mortgage loan papers.

Maybe it's because of the heat this week effecting my hubby and me, but this is probably the toughest part of the journey so far for us. Yeah three months of waiting to find out if the lenders bank would except our short sale offer was nothing compared to this. Waiting and patience seems so easy now (it really wasn't, but it seems like it). I opened the packet up first before Rob got home from work. I wish I had waited.

I was fine up til now. I mean the home inspection went very well. Nothing major came up, only small minor stuff. Even when we got news that the down payment assistance we had planned to use was suspended due to lack of funds, we only had a day of concern until we had a backup plan in place. We accepted the changes and went forward. The monthly payment went up a little and the interest rate was up a .25 point but we crunched all the numbers and everything was still doable.

I opened the packet and I started going through, page after page, trying to make sense of it all. Rob and I know we don't have any experience with buying a home, but at times during the process, we've relied on common sense, hoping that "street smarts" will get us through. I'm finding out very quickly, common sense was not being served on the menu the day the lawyers thought up the system of buying a home.

First, the address of the home was wrong. Second, we found more corrections like, the number of years at our current address, bank accounts stuff etc. But that's all minor, really. That we could handle. Besides, these aren't the final papers. Typos or mistakes are expected on a long loan document like ours. No biggie.

Then we got to the nitty gritty...the numbers. You know the pages that showed the thousands of dollars we would be paying for the home. I had to grab hold of something while I was reading. I thought I would pass out or hyperventilate when I read the amount of interest we would be paying over the life of the loan. You know, 30 years. That's alot of moula at 5.75% or whatever the APR is after figuring in the loan costs. Whew! It definintely was the most sobering moment I've had so far.

The questions starting coming. Even more when Rob came home and we looked at them together. Then our mind, like a factory, starting manufacturing doubt after doubt. They had multiplied while reading through all the pages. Are we doing the right thing? Can we really afford this? Will we be going back into debt? Knowing us, you can understand our reaction. We just spent the last 4 1/2 years paying off all our debts. Plus, we are simple folk. We've always rented, for 25 years of marriage. Small apartments in low income areas. This is really a big step for us. I know they always say this, but it is true...this is the biggest and most expensive decision we have ever made! Very sobering.

I'd like to say we immediately took it to the Lord, but we didn't until after we ruminated on it for a while. It wasn't until bedtime that we prayed and asked God to forgive us for our anxiety and doubts. He brought us both peace so we could sleep but I still felt the consequenses of those doubts today in the form of body stress which made my blood sugars higher.

So, we called our mortgage advisor, Mia. We made an appointment to meet on Saturday at Rob's office. She promises to answer all our questions. Rob and I love this home. We want to close on August 28. But we do need assurances from Mia. The payment has to be affordable for us to go forward. The interest rate needs to be no higher than agreed upon. We are hoping Saturday all will be explained so we can be comfortable and move forward.

Please pray for us to make our decisions wisely. We want to glorify the Lord in all we do. It's still forecasted to really be hot the rest of the week. We are trusting God with the weather and the wisdom needed to go forward. We plan, in between now and Saturday's meeting, to just chill (figuratively and literally). SDG LN

Home Inspection Day: And The Results Are...

Today, we had the home inspection. Let me first say, we had every confidence that all would go well going into this. Maybe because of the encouragement and guidance we have received from our agent, Jennifer Lampe, or because we believe the seller, J.D., is a very honest and forthright man (and we are pretty good judges of character) or maybe because the prayers of all those who have been praying for us, as we go on the last leg of this journey. I think it is all of the above.

So here is how it all went down. It was a very hot day for our area, in the mid 90's. I started the day at the doctor's office getting my routine blood work to check my A1c and get an unexpected Pneumonia shot. We got home at 11:00am, and Rob made me us a late breakfast. I was starved cause I had been fasting. We got a phone call. It was our agent, Jen. She wanted to change the time we meet of the inspection. the home inspector team had called and had finished the previous home and wanted to come early. The time of 2:00pm was moved up to 1:00pm...not too bad since we all wanted to be done as soon as possible.

We arrived just at the same time as our agent, Jen. The seller, J.D. welcomed us all in and a few minutes later the home inspectors, JJ & Suzanne Grieve, along with their niece Ashley, arrived. We did the intro's and then Suzanne & Ashley set up their hi-tech computer stuff and JJ got to work doing the hands-on (dirty) work. After about an hour and a half, the inspection was completed. Then JJ & Suzanne went through the completed report. They printed it on site with color photos ...very cool! After fully explaining the results and taking any questions we had, the final word was...the house was sound! No major repair expenses! Only minor stuff, most of which we could handle ourselves (with a little help from our friends, I hope). We can sign off on it and go forward knowing the house is not a "money pit". We really found a good house!

Now, that we have got over that hurdle, we wait for the appraisal to be done. Our mortgage advisor, Mia, was called by us to let her know the inspection was over and the house was good enough to go forward. She ordered the appraisal and in about a week, Lord willing, we should know if the purchase price we offered is approved by FHA and our lender for our mortgage. So, we ask again, for your continued prayers and your support as we wait some more....until the appraisal...have a great week everyone! LN

Understanding Closing And Settlement...

This was a cute video that explains the stage we're in right now of buying our first home. We aren't using the Title Company mentioned, but, I still wanted to share it. Hope you find it informative and entertaining too! LN

Home Buying Tips

Very informative with sound advice for anyone currently thinking about buying a home today. Hope you find it helpful. LN

Top 3 Mistakes Home Buyers Make Before Closing...

Good information! Our inspection is scheduled for Monday, July 27th.
We will definitely take to heart what we learned here. LN

All's Quiet On The New Home Front...

Today has been a quiet day. "No news is good news" as they say. Instead I took care of some family matters, caught up on some phone calls, updated my other blog, cleaned the apartment, puttered around in the patio garden and finally updating this blog. While I was on the patio looking at all the plants in containers, the hostas "Howard & Hoss", my 25th anniversary flower Hanging Basket and the roses , it hit me that this would be our last summer here. So I grabbed the camera and starting clicking away. I wanted to get this all for later reminiscence. I uploaded them to Facebook. So anyway, a quiet day is good...soon we will be busy, busy, busy. Rest now for closing day is 36 days away! LN

Wednesdays Update

Hi everyone. Yesterday after work, we went to give our earnest money to the Escrow company handling the closing on our home. It was a wierd day. I think it finally hit Rob. Afterwards, on the way home, he got really giddy, you know, laughing at stuff he normally wouldn't laugh at. Then I started laughing at him laughing. Well, when we finally got home we settled down and realized that we just bought a house! I guess we both have sorta delayed reactions to big stuff like this.

Then today, I got emailed, by our agent, the final approval letter that shows from the Seller's lender that everything is approved for sale, as specified in our Purchase and Sale Agreement and Addendum. After downloading it, I read through it, or actually I skipped through the beginning legal mumbo jumbo to the figures of what gets distributed and how much. When I saw all the amounts I think that's when it finally hit me how much money is involved here. I knew it in my head, but somehow seeing it on paper with the bank's logo, it seemed so formal. And it should. It is formal and final. At least at this point of the journey. Next we have the Inspection. Everything could change then, depending on the outcome. If the Inspection shows anything major, that we can't afford to fix or don't have time to fix before closing to appease FHA, then all is off. So please be praying that all will go smoothly next Monday. We'll know on Monday the results of the Inspection so we'll post again that evening. Thanks for all your prayers...L

It's Official!!!

Well we got the official call today from our agent Jennifer...we have been formally approved by the bank for the short sale of our home...Yeah!!!! That means the seller's lender, who was selling the home to us for less than he owed his lender, approved our addendum to the original purchase and sale agreement. The addendum was filed Sunday night at midnight due to a little misunderstanding between our agent and the seller's agent. But not to worry...thanks to 21st century technology Jen emailed us the addendum and then we signed it and drove over to her house (only a short distance) and hand delivered it to her. Then Jen scanned it in and made a pdf and sent it on it's way the seller's agent. So, anyway it all was in to the seller's lender by 9am Monday and today we got the formal news...we have bought a house!!!

Our First Home

Well it finally happened! After living for the last 13 years in a small 1 bedroom apartment, we found a cute little 2 bedroom 1 bath house, with a fantastic yard, a garage for Rob, front porch, back deck with a hot tub for me, and all appliances (except washer/dryer) and put an offer in and guess what...it was accepted!!! Well, it didn't happen at all like it sounds. If you want to hear about it, keep reading.

This whole thing was such a learning experience and leap of faith for both of us. First, we had to look at lots of houses before we found this one. Most of them online. Actually, we looked at hundreds of houses. Plus most of the time we didn't think we could ever afford one. But then, after we went through almost 5 years of faithfully paying off all our credit cards, saving when we could, not taking vacations, and living off very little, we came to a point when it seemed like it just may be a possibility. Then interest rates started to drop, and so did housing prices, and it really seemed possible. Then we found out, through our credit counseling program, about a class we could go to that would qualify us for down payment assistance and then it really started to look promising. That class is where we met our Mortgage Advisior, Mia, who is why we are able to buy this home. She encouraged us to try and we took her advice to heart.

Then more incentive came through the $8000 tax credit, but actually we weren't too thrilled about it at first and here's why. It basically caused every Tom, Dick & Harry to enter the first time buyers market which already didn't have a lot of houses available anyway, not in our neck of the woods. Also the down payment assistance programs which had also received stimulus funds, were starting to flooded with applications. (Our own DPA ran out of funds just yesterday and we had to go with a back up State run agency.) I guess that's what the Feds wanted..to stimulate the housing market..and it sure did around here.

Well anyway, then we met Jen, a really honest and forthright young woman, who became our agent, and then it happened... we found this home. But, it turned out to be a short sale. What's a short sale? Well it means the seller is selling the house for less than he owes the lender. There is alot of homes like that right now on the market due to the housing market bubble bursting and many homes lost value starting in 2007. our seller was a nice man, who had lost his wife and was being laid off from his job. He really wanted to sell to avoid foreclosure and we wanted to help. Well, we had been praying for some time about finding a home and we just wanted to glorify God and trust Him so we stepped out in faith. We made the offer and the seller accepted.

That was back on April 9th. So let's fast forward 3 months to now. So yesterday, we found out the seller's lender will let him sell us the house for our agreed amount including some closing costs. Yeah!!! Aren't you happy for us! We hope so.

So that brings us to the present. What's next you ask? Well, now starts the actual process that normal home sales go through...appraisal, inspection, title searches, underwriting our mortgage, closing and so on, until our closing day which is set for August 28, 2009. That's the official day that we get the keys, but a few days before, we actually give all the money. In our state you don't get the keys for a couple of days so that everything can be funded and filed with the powers that be.

So there it is! We can hardly believe it, so I'm sure if you know us at all, you probably are the same! We started this blog mainly to document the process till closing and the initial move. Some of you may not have known at all that we were going through all this. Sorry for that, but everything was so iffy at times, we just wanted to keep it to ourselves till we knew we could actually get under contract. And since now we are, we wanted to share our good news with all of our family and friends. Please be praying for us. Your prayers are the means God uses to give us wisdom and discernment when making these decisions.

Please enjoy the movie above, that we made of the photos of the house. If you want to see the photos instead of movie you can click here to go to our photo album or scroll to the bottom of this page. These pics were taken for the listing and are all we have currently. When we get more, we will be sure to post them. Love, L&R

Hello World!

Hi everyone! This is the first post to our new blog "Neytropolis". We hope to use this as a forum to share our thoughts about the world as we know it. Rob and I will be sharing the blog although I will be doing most of the writing and posting of stuff. We plan to keep our readers current on what's happening in our life, our thoughts on current events, interesting news found on other blogs we frequent, photos, videos, and music we like. We hope our friends and family will enjoy it as much as we do in creating it together. Blessings, L&R
[This photo was taken after our recent session creating a music video with our ERC Choir. We'll let you know when it becomes available.]