Wed, Oct 13, 2004

: House Buying Adventure

I was up late last night and up early this morning working on mortgage stuff. Made some progress. Due to an odd set of circumstances (it was owner financed but payment was made via a bank) I never received a title on my current place and now the old owner can’t be found, but I did manage to get a report from the bank that shows I paid off the balance, so hopefully that’s proof enough that I own my place. I vaguely knew about that situation but of course I wasn’t planning on moving until next summer so I thought I’d have time to figure it out by then. Now I’m forced to do everything in a rush, which actually isn’t that bad of a thing because otherwise I’d probably put it off forever. Anyway, I’m well on my way to getting the rest of the list of documentation taken care of. A few of the things are items the bank and others must do (such as an appraisal of the property), so no worries there. Speaking of the appraisal, the mortgage lady had hoped that they might not need a walk-through appraisal (which takes longer) but word today is that they will. It’s been scheduled for tomorrow, though, which is quick. We haven’t even done our own inspection yet! I think that inspection will happen later this week; since this property further south than my Realtor’s normal inspector goes, Phil is trying to find a good local person.

The inspection makes me a little nervous. It’s not that I expect anything to be wrong, but simply because I’ve already invested so much into this purchase and if anything goes wrong now, I’m in a quandary. Since it’s a bank sale at the other end they have said they won’t fix anything and I suspect that means they won’t drop the price unless it was something so huge as to significantly effect the appraisal value. So say we discover an issue with the plumbing, something in the neighborhood of a few grand to fix. Do I eat that and go ahead or lose the inspection and other fees and tremendous amount of time invested in the purchase so far? Of course I’d be tempted to say I’ll take the house no matter what the condition simply because I’m now emotionally committed, but rationally that’s not always a good decision. Hopefully the inspection and appraisal go smoothly (the house is only ten years old, after all) and this will be all moot. But meantime, I can’t help but look at all the possibilities. Time is running out and I really need to start packing if I’m going to complete this move in the time allotted, but I don’t want to jinx things by starting too early. The waiting and unknown is driving me crazy. At this point I am starting to think I’m moving, but stuff could still derail the process. It’s frustrating. But I mustn’t let myself get down. We’ve made a ton of progress (it’s been less than two weeks since I first saw the house) and actually we’re going faster than scheduled. But the unknowns are making it difficult for me to concentrate on regular work. I feel like I can’t plan ahead. I have to make two schedules, one if I move and an alternate in case something falls through.

Topic: [/house purchase]

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