We Closed on our first home Tuesday December 22,2009 and it should fund and record today so we can have the keys. Below is our story of the miracles that helped us find it ... (shhh.. Starboy still doesn't know about the house. We won't be moving until June, so we will tell him around Easter. That way it won't be such a long wait.) In the mean time we will be putting in a basement bathroom and carpeting. I will put on more pictures later. YEAH!!!
Finding Our First Home November 2009
On November 17, 2009, We won the bid on this home
It has been a crazy week. But the inspirations I have had and the spiritual promptings have been amazing so I feel I need to write them all down. Coach and I have been married for over 11 years. We have lived in my parent’s basement or home for over 7 of those years. We spent 2 years in a Ger in Mongolia. 6 months in Douglasville, Georgia in a smoke filled apartment and 1 year in an apartment in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that had major mold problems. We are so grateful to my parents for the time they have let us stay in their home. It has helped us accomplish many things that otherwise may not have been possible.
It is actually a complete miracle that we are even able to look at a home at this time. The Housing Market began to crash in 2008. People had overdrawn on their mortgages, banks hand over lent, and builders had over developed. The above home was originally listed in July 2008 at $247,500. Because of this downward spiral the US Government got involved to try and boost the economy. They in 2008 they offered a $7,000 tax credit to new home buyers buying that year. But there was a hitch attached to this $7,000. It would have to be paid back from taxes on subsequent years.
In 2009 the housing area was not looking any better, and many people were upset about this supposed tax credit that was actually a government loan. So the government changed their tune and offered a 2009 $8000 tax credit that does not need to be repaid. This tax credit was to expire on November 20, 2009. I was pretty sure Coach and I would not be able to make that deadline. A few weeks ago it was announced that the tax credit had been extended to April 2010. This is when I looked at Coach and said “Now, is the time for us to look and buy” I wanted to be in my own home before my parents got home in June anyway and with the free $8000 so many more possibilities could open up. I had been taking a Raw Foods class at Life Clinic taught by two wonderful young people Kali and Jordan. They not only taught us about food, but also about visualizing what and where we wanted to be, using the speech of abundance. Using the Do, Be, Have theory and positive affirmations to shift energy such as “Today is the Best Day Ever!” or “I Feel Terrific.” It was in this class that I realized that I needed to figure out what it was I really wanted, and why I started taking mental notes and writing down exactly what kind of home I wanted for my family.
So, I began looking at homes online and looking at our finances.
I felt a strong urgency that I needed to go to the bank and see what we would qualify for as well as get a realtor. I tried to get a hold of one of my parents missionaries for a couple days, but we just played phone tag. On Friday November 6, 09 I went to the bank and they said they would approve us for a ridiculous amount of money (over 200,000). I told them that we were looking for a home where our house payment would be between $1000-$1200 a month including insurance, HOA, and any other fees. This brought the loan approval down to $175,000. I turned in my loan application online that same day, and began gathering the papers needed to turn in to finish the process and get my pre-approval letter. Zachary at the bank was very helpful during this process.
On Tuesday I called my cousin Craig S. who my mother reminded me was a realtor. I told him that we were interested in looking at some houses. He wrote down what we were interested in. Locations, size, etc.. and told me he would set me up an account at www.utahrealestate.com. On Wednesday I saw a home rambler for 175,000 short sale that was 5 bedrooms 3 baths and almost 3,000 sq ft. I called Craig gave him the MLS# and he said that it had been raised to $190,000 and was under contract. The bank wouldn’t accept 175,000 so the price had been raised. I looked at this picture and said. Something like this is what I want and this is the list I made
5 bedrooms, 2-3 bathrooms, Rambler, partially finished or finished basement, over 2000 sqft, .15 acres or bigger. Near to park, schools, in a culde- sac or non busy road, flat area good for riding bikes. Then I wrote $170,000.
On Thursday night Nov 12, 09. I was looking at some of the listings craig had sent me. I then looked at the map. Though Jason had said that this specific area was not his first choice, I kept feeling like we should look their. Especially since Craig had told me about the Rural Housing Loan that is only available out in certain areas. This rural loan is 0% down with no mortgage insurance and has rates as low as 5%. As I looked through the homes on their map section , I came across the one on Rose Street. It said JUST LISTED. Coach was at an Elder’s Quorum meeting.. I looked at the house and said “That’s my house” It was everything I had listed above,. Ramber, 5 bedrooms (3 up-2 down) 65% finished basement, .18 acres, in a culde-sac loop street, 2400 sq ft, 2 finished bathrooms up and a roughed in bathroom for downstairs. It even had a cute park just kiddie-corner (which I could see with the google earth street view) It was a bank owned property and it was listed at $162,900. There were no pictures of the inside, but I knew it was gorgeous. Coach got home about 10pm and I showed him the house and told him I wanted to go see it tomorrow. ..He liked the look of it and agreed for me to go see it. He helped me get all of the Bank information together so we could get our pre-approval letter. I e-mailed Craig at 11pm telling him I wanted to see this home the next morning.
I did not sleep at all that night. I knew that I had to jump on this house. I knew that this was my home and I had to see it and offer on it. At 6:30 a.m. I texted craig. I was so impatient. I called my sister Cindy and asked her how early was too early to call my realtor if it was my cousin. She said probably 8 o’clock. I was out of my mind waiting. Luckily at 7:30 he called me. He was amazed that this house was not a short sale and that it was just listed. After calling the selling agents he found out they already had 2 offers on the home. I told Craig “This is my house craig, I have to see it” He told me to meet him there at 9:30 am. Trying to act non-chalant so Starboy didn’t know what was going on, I hurried and got myself ready and the baby and Starboy. So that we could all leave at the same time. I dropped Starboy off at the bus stop and headed out. This home is only 3 minutes (2 miles) from my Sister Cindy’s home in the ranches, and 10 minutes from Jason’s sister Tami.
I got to Cindy’s early and the two of us drove over to the house to look around. We walked around the outside and I was bursting with excitement. We went back to her house to feed the baby and eat some breakfast before we met Craig. My niece Kate was there visiting, and offered it babysit Princess while we went to look at the house. I knew this would help me concentrate. We met Craig at the house. Inside it was beautiful. It not only had everything I had written down, but many other extras. Such as a formal front room, ceiling fans, a small deck, a garden space. The master bathroom has both a shower and tub, a double sink vanity, and a walk in closet. It also has a beautiful view. Because behind the home is an easement for the power lines, no one can ever build behind us. So even though our lot is relatively small, it has a gorgeous view of the mountains and seems a lot larger with the fields behind our fence, instead of other houses bearing down over us.
One of the bedrooms upstairs is so small that we will use it as a small office for Coach. It faces the front of the home and will work perfectly for him to have a place to study, read, or just get away sometimes.
There is no laundry room, the laundry facilities are in a closet as you enter the house from the garage and across from the bathroom. This of course is not ideal, but since there are only 4 of us it will do. I could always make a laundry room downstairs in the unfinished portion of the basement if I really wanted to. Downstairs are two finished bedrooms. One is smaller- which will be Starboys room and the other is the largest finished room in the house. We will use this as our family room. There is also a HUGE unfinished area for both a bathroom and a family room in the future. It was gorgeous. I knew it was my home and told Craig I wanted to place an offer.
He told me I needed my approval letter, and to meet him at his office. Well, I had all the paperwork to get my approval letter from UCCU. But my bank was 45 minutes away. Craigs office was 1/2 way in between. So I called Zach at UCCU and told him the situation. I asked him if he would e-mail me an approval letter, even though he didn’t have my W2’d and income verification yet. I was amazed when he said yet, but that we needed the paperwork in by today. He also said that the rural loans would take 90 days for his office to process. So to make sure I asked for more time unless I went FHA.
So at Craigs office we printed off the pre-approval letters for both a rural loan and FHA and then talked over the options of what to offer. The bank had listed it as 162,900. But we knew there were already 2 offers. I told Craig about the list I had written and the $170,000 price I had put on it. I knew that was what I was supposed to offer. We talked about closing costs and Craig mentioned that if I offered $170,000 but asked for them to pay closing costs, to the bank I was really only offering $165,000. He also told me that since there were other offers, the cleaner and more straightforward our bid was (here is the money, you don’t have to do anything, just let me have the house) would make it more enticing. He told me how he had lost a couple bids by just $100. So my final decision was to bid $170,100 with me paying the closing costs. We had all the papers signed, and the bid in by 11:00 a.m.
That afternoon at 4p.m. Coach met us out at the house. I had told Craig that if he didn’t like the home, we would take back the bid. Luckily he did like the home.. though he was pretty composed about it. His response was “Let’s see if you win!” The weekend went by so slowly as we waited. Many other people had looked at the home that day. In fact while we were looking at it at 4pm other people came to see it to. It was definitely a HOT item.
The selling agent had texted Craig and told him there would probably be an answer on Monday. Monday came and all day I focused all my positive energy repeating “Our family lives in this home. I pulled the picture of the home up on my computer and kept looking at it and picturing my family there. It felt so right! I told Craig, my sister, and sister in-law to send out more positive vibes to the bank. So that when they saw my offer they would say “Of Course…Coach and Nutritionmomma (of course I used our real names) live at this homes address. Well, 5 p.m. on Monday came and went and we had not heard anything. I did not sleep much that night either.
Tuesday November 17,09 I decided to stay busy. I took the neighbor girls to play group with me and Princess, and then went over to see Kristine (my sister in-law). It was while there that Craig called and said that they were leaning toward my offer, but wondered if I would be willing to put in carpet in the upstairs front room (the loan would not be approved without it) I agreed. About 15 minutes later he called back. I had WON the bid!! I could not believe it. I had to sign one more paper that he would e-mail me and then scan it and send it back. I was so excited I cried, I jumped up and down. Kristine was so excited for me. (She lives with Mom H. just like Coach and I have lived with my parents for so long. And though we are both extremely grateful, the idea of having our own home is HUGE. Just after this Mom H. came home and I shared the good news with her. It was so amazing!
I texted Coach, I called and left a message, but he did not respond. So I waited impatiently to tell him. Finally he called after school about 4pm. He sounded both excited and scared. He had asked me to not tell Starboy anything about it, since we didn’t know if we would get the home, or when we would move if we did. He got home about 8:30pm. Just before he arrived Kristine and Kevin showed up with a sugar free peanut butter chocolate pie to congratulate us.
We all enjoyed eating the pie and being excited about the house. Coach and I decided that evening that we would most likely stay in my parent’s home until school is out. We both thought changing Starboys school mid year would be difficult. Also, this way we could put in new carpet, put in the basement bathroom, fix the fence and yard etc.. before moving in. So this meant not telling Starboy until April. Coach has had a lot of students in 7th and 8th grade that find out their moving and then just stop working. They are in transition and their work goes downhill. 6 months is a really long time for a kid. So, I will be working on the house mostly during the day while he is at school. And if we go on weekends, he will stay with aunts, or Grandma. We’ll see how long it stays a secret.
On Wednesday November 18,2009 Jason and I met at the Prudential office with Ben at Mortgage Express. Zach had told me I needed 90 days to do a rural loan through the credit union. With a bank owned property, they like to close within 30 days. I had offered and they had accepted closing on December 23, 2009, which was exactly 35 days. Zach said it was impossible. But Craig told me that Ben at Mortgage Express in his office thought it could be done. Jason and I met there. We locked in at a 5% 35 day loan. Which meant we have to close on December 23,09 just as I told the bank we would. So all of our eggs are in that basket and we are having faith that heavenly father has made all these miracles come together so far and that he will continue to help us. With 0% down and rolling the closing costs into the Mortgage. Our final Mortgage will be $178,500 or so. With the 5% interest rate including home insurance, taxes, and HOA fees our monthly payment will be under $1200 per month, just as we needed.
After signing all the paper work, we drove back out to the house with Craig to measure for carpet. We needed the carpet in before it was appraised, and we want it appraised just after Thanksgiving so we knew we needed to act fast. When at the house I felt great peace and excitement. I knew that this is where we were to raise our children. We took some pictures and made measurements. More people came with their agents to see the home while we were there (I guess they had not heard it was under contract).
On Thursday morning I called the inspector and scheduled an inspection on the home for Monday at 1pm. Then at 4pm Coach and I met at Ogden’s carpet to pick out what would go in the formal front room. We wanted something that would somewhat match the tan carpet already in the house. We chose a lighter tan carpet with specks of darker brown in it. I think it will go well with the current paint and carpet. It was 25.00 per square yd. But they gave us a discount at $21 per square yd. So to do that area and the front small entry hall was just over $450 (ouch). Both Coach and I like darker carpet better, but we needed it to blend nicely with the other carpet. So we figure we can turn this rug into an area rug when we change out the other carpet. Or leave it a different color since it is the formal front room. It is painted a darker color than the other rooms, and I didn’t want the whole room to be too dark. They said they could install in on Tuesday morning November 24, 09.
After we got home, my sister Cindy called me with even more information about the home and how an even greater Miracle this all was. She had been at her community meeting and was talking with one of the other Gentleman there who was in real estate. She mentioned that her little sister had just won the bid on her first home, here in the ranches and how ecstatic I was. The gentleman asked where the house was and she told him it was down by the chevron off of Pony Express.. His eyes got big and he said “You mean the one on Rose Street.” She confirmed that this was in fact the house. He then proceeded to tell her that his office had been the selling agent on this house (not him but a guy in the next cubicle.) There had been 15 offers on this home during the 2 days it was available. 5 other offers had been at $170,000. What made the difference, and the reason they chose me, was the fact that, I was the only one that did not ask for closing costs. So my $170,100 straightforward bid snuck out just ahead. Thanks to Craig’s advice and the spiritual promptings I had received. I called Craig and told him the amazing miracle. He was also amazed that so many offers had been put in. He then told added to the miracle by telling me the history of this house. It is like it was just being saved for our family, because it does not follow any of the normal processes when a home is trying to be sold or forcloses.
July 31,2008 active listing at $247,500
Aug 14,2008 active listing at $239,900
September 14, 2008 active listing $234,500
February 2009 Expired off the Market.
Sometime between February 2009 and June 02,2009 the home went into foreclosure and became bank owned. According to the history it never was tried to be sold as a short sale, or at auction.
June 2, 2009 active listing by bank at $190,000
July 6,2009 Went under contract
August 17,2009 fell out of contract
September 3, 2009 Expired off the market (why? No on knows)
November 10,2009 Active listing by bank $162,900
(This is where I came in-as well as the other 15 people and bid $170,100 with me paying closing costs)
November 17,2009 Under Contract (to Coach and Nutrition Momma)
And on December 23,2009 it will say SOLD.(to our Family)
And this is when our new adventures at our new address will begin.
We are now just waiting to follow through with each step until closing on December 23,2009. This week we will have the inspection, put in carpet, enjoy Thanksgiving. Then hopefully next week the home will be appraised for more than the loan amount we need. After it is appraised it will be sent in for bank approval and then to the Rural loan office and everything will wrap up smoothly. We are thinking positive thoughts WE WILL CLOSE ON DECEMBER 23,2009 on our very first house. I know that many blessings will come to my family from being in this home as my children grow up. It will be so fun to be close to family members. Coach will still have a 40-45 minute commute, but he has been doing that for 4 years and is used to it, and now it will be coming to and from our own home..which will be even that much sweeter.
