I guess I own a home...??

Well...it has been some time since I have written an update. In that time, a good friend from Texas came to race his bicycle, I took a lot of time off my bicycle and my brother has kicked some serious ass and put up some sweet results. I think in about 3 or maybe 4 races, not real sure. One of those was a stage race, so if you are going to be picky, it could be way more considering it was 6 stages.

In any event...things have gotten quite interesting. As is well documented, I have been looking for a home. I found one...way back in July, probably about the 15th or so, maybe even earlier in July. For those not familiar with the process it is a lot of hurrying up...and then waiting.

After I decided this was going to be the one I wanted to put an offer in on, and after a few others didn't work out...the games began. I worked with a friend of mine who works for the Wauwatosa Fire Department. Great guy...good at a lot of things and has a background in building and construction, bonus. He has a tendency to be a little retentive and so he likes to do a lot of things himself...so he decided to get his real estate broker's license last year and started a real estate company. He also sells guns...which is awesome.

Anyway, back to the story...the offer was put in and after about 6 counter offers, a deal was met. I signed the final paperwork and off to the races we go. Sort of. Did I mention the hurrying up to wait? After the offer and price was agreed upon, I have to get an inspection done. The person/company that did the inspection was great. Very knowledgeable guy and really easy to talk to. Plus, he is also a contractor/builder/master carpenter...so he knows his stuff. The inspection was good with the exception of a crack in the foundation wall. He didn't really seem too concerned, however, because of his profession he has to make a note of it and make suggestions. He suggested we get an engineer to determine whether or not the wall would need to be repaired/braced etc.

In the meantime, the mortgage broker stopped by my apartment with about 100 pages of legal documents relating to this home purchase. They were all loan application documents and a disclosure of the costs associated with buying a house. And there certainly are some serious costs. I signed my life away and moved on. The mortgage broker then took the paperwork to the appropriate people and the application was off to the lending company.

I went to get insurance on the place so that when it came time to closing on the house, I had insurance and we could proceed. Because of some regulations or something, it is required that you have insurance. I am guessing that is because a majority of Americans don't have the funds to buy a home outright in cash and are borrowing money. This then creates the issue that a bank has an interest in the house and what happens to it. Regardless, I got it taken care of and was all set to close on the house on August 13th.

In retrospect, I think I am happy it didn't happen on the 13th because if you were to look at a calendar you would have noticed that just so happened to be a Friday! However, I still think it turned into more of a nightmare than it needed to be...

I had talked with the mortgage broker a couple days before Friday and he mentioned the possibility the closing may not happen on Friday. A day before the closing he told me it WASN'T going to happen on the 13th and had no idea when it would happen. This set forth a chain of events that will still be unclear to me...and will remain frustrating and confusing.

Apparently, government regulations state that a mortgage broker (ie. the person working for me) cannot have contact with the lending agency for fear of a conflict of interest. Simply put, the person whose reputation is on the line to the client has zero ability to make sure things are done in a timely manner. A lending company (ie. bank) also has 48 hours, at a minimum, to review the loan application conditions. Keep in mind, there is no maximum, at least that I have been made aware of. One of the loan application conditions is the insurance and the effective date of the policy. The original effective date was 8/13, but because the deal couldn't be closed on the 13th, a new date had to be set. The new date was today, the 18th.

So...because of a new closing date, the conditions have to be resubmitted...and apparently ALL the conditions. NOTHING else changed, except the closing date which would in turn change the effective date of the insurance, but EVERYTHING has to be re-reviewed. Did I mention the hurry up and wait?

Well, the new conditions were submitted on the 13th, I believe, which then gives the lender, at minimum, 48 hours to review it. So...being generous, as I always am, we'll just say that the final conditions weren't submitted until late on Friday, the 13th. Being that it is a Friday, I am sure people need to get home early, or don't want to work all day, or whatever, and so we'll just say they will get to it Monday 8/16. 48 hours from there would be...TODAY, the 18th.

So, I am all set for today, the 18th, at 1pm. Well, at about 11:30 I got a call that it won't be until 2. Then at 2 I got a call that said it looks like it will be about 2:30...then it was 2:45! At this point I am getting a little nervous because I have to go to work at about 3. At about 3, the paperwork arrives that I finally get to sign...well, some of it. The real stuff didn't get in until 3:45...a full 2 hours and 45 minutes after the original appointment, all because the date on the closing had to change and be reviewed by the lender...who was too slow in reviewing the application...which made the date change...!!??!??! Yeah, I am too tired right now to even come up with an applicable analogy.

In any case, I signed a bunch of paperwork, which boiled down to, "Make your payments and you'll stay in the house. Make sure you have insurance on the house, and don't continue to store the waste from your nuclear energy research in the basement, that stuff is dangerous."

At this point, usually the buyer gets the keys...but not for this guy. The lender now has to re-review, the re-reviewed loan paperwork...which is now officially signed...to then release the bank funds to the sellers. Yep, hurry up...and wait.

So, I am hopeful that today, I will be getting the keys to the joint. There are lots of projects in my head, but as a wise man (father) told me, "there are needs and wants...take care of the needs first."

I am thinking if it isn't much of an inconvenience, I will take some pictures and post them for your viewing pleasure. Until then...Peace.

Oh...and go see the movie "The other guys." It is kind of a dumb movie, I'll be honest, but I didn't stop laughing literally the whole time.