Z/Web

Things had calmed for a bit and I thought we were through with the dramatics, but no, it was only the calm before the storm. Today everything happened and happened quickly. It began when I called the buyers of my place here to see if they could perhaps pay me a day or two earlier. The payment was scheduled for Nov. 5, but if they could pay earlier we could close earlier, which would help with the scheduling of my short prep trip to get the new house move-in ready. I’d hoped to close on the 8th and be in the house 8-10 and back here in California to move on the 11th. But the buyer here told me the parent company would issue a company check, not a cashier’s check, and there was no way to get it earlier. I pleaded but to no avail. Things were not looking good. If the payment was not a cashier’s check, we’d have to wait for it to clear before we could close escrow. That meant the house wouldn’t close until Nov. 9 or 10 at the earliest, ruining my prep trip plans. (The move itself is fairly concrete for Nov. 11-14.) Then things got a little worse when I spoke with the mortgage lady who intimated that docs couldn’t be drawn up until I had the money, which my real estate uncle said would really slow things down since the docs have to be signed both up in Oregon and down here by me. If we had to wait until the 9th or 10th for docs, we’d really be behind. We possibly wouldn’t close until the next week! This was frustrating news because up to now we’d been running on schedule and things seemed okay and I’d started making concrete plans. Now that all seemed in jeopardy. I started wondering if a prep trip was worth it, if I’d have to change the move dates, etc. I wondered if this tight schedule was really insane and if it was going to even work.

But literally minutes later everything turned. The mortgage lady talked with the underwriter who was going to try to get it ready for docs for Monday, and then the doorbell rang. To my surprise it was a rep from the company buying my place. He handed me a check! “It arrived just minutes after you called,” he said. “I knew you were in a hurry so I brought it right over.” The check was dated two days earlier and had been mailed to the local office. It was not a cashier’s check, but since it’s a full week earlier than scheduled, there’s time for it to clear. I rushed it over to the bank and deposited it.

Speaking of deposits, I had an interesting experience trying to open a new Bank of America checking account in Oregon. As I wrote I tried to do that last week. I had to do it over the phone because of a weird error on the website. They told me I’d receive my account info within five business days. Nothing had arrived, so I called today. Guess what? They had no record of me ever calling and opening an account! I finally went ahead and did it online again, and again I got the same error. The error was weird: it wouldn’t accept my credit card to fund the required opening balance because it said the name on the account must match exactly. Well, it wasn’t kidding. I finally got to work… by removing the period after my middle initial! I guess that was the hold-up all the time. Once the period was gone the name matched and the account process went through. Can anyone say lame?

Ordered a new washer, dryer, and refrigerator from Sears today. The big sale is over tomorrow, so I decided it was best to do it online and schedule the delivery for when I’m at the house during my prep trip. I would have preferred picking out the appliances in person, but saving a few hundred bucks seems worth it. Besides, all the stuff seems standard and I got the main features I wanted (i.e. water and ice on the fridge door). I did check with Consumer Reports and Kenmore is one of the top brands, so I feel good there. It’s a little strange ordering such items online and not being at the house to measure or prepare anything, but hopefully everything will work out. There were some odd questions like a 3-wire or 4-wire installation kit for the dryer: I held off ordering that hoping I can do it later when I find out what I need.

The bank had me running through hoops today. I didn’t get much packing or anything done. Apparently the underwriter came up with more questions, including providing evidence of my “undocumented” income. Now that’s just weird. If income’s undocumented, why do I have to document it? I had to go to one of my clients and get them to sign a letter saying they hire me for consulting work. I don’t know what that has to do with undocumented income, but apparently it satisfies the bank somehow. It’s weird, because the docs I already gave the bank show my “undocumented” income better anyway, but I guess it’s more difficult to decipher numbers than letters.

Got a few more evening calls from the mortgage lady with more questions from the underwriter. I again explained all my businesses, trying to keep things simple but accurate. It’s complicated having multiple sources of income. All the money ends up in the same pool so I don’t know what difference it makes, but what the underwriter wants the underwriter gets. I emailed a bunch more financial records to the mortgage lady during dinner. Hopefully that will be enough, but I’ll have to keep my cell phone handy tomorrow evening because I might get a call with more questions when the underwriter looks at it tomorrow. Sigh.