This is IT.

Our financing is A-P-P-R-O-V-E-D!

Yup. That's right folks. Andy and I are officially buying our first house! We close on June 3rd. With all the closing extensions we have had over the past 2 months, I still am holding my breath a little. On the other hand, our realtor and mortgage guy says it is a GO. So, for the next 5 days we will be hovering between elation and frustration.

It is so strange, I went on a run today because I am so tired of putting our lives on hold until we find out about the house. Not sure if that is what we have done, but it feels like that. I will speak for myself here, but I have been so preoccupied with THE HOUSE, I have not been able to relax. Not really truly relax. So I figured today, rain or shine I was going to go on a run. A nice easy relaxing run. No watches. No mile markers. Just running...running and praying. I prayed most of the run. I prayed for us and the house, for others, for guidance, & some other stuff.

I got back into the Trek Store and Tyler said, "So Wednesday is the big day, uh?" I had no clue what he was talking about and said so. He was really apologetic and sorry he spilled the beans. I said, "So we are closing next Wednesday? I don't care who tells me, as long as it's true! You better be telling the truth or I am gonna get you!" I have to admit, I think Tyler was a little scared ;-) I found Andy and he confirmed Tyler's babbling. Whew. I am really happy. Tyler is too.

We put an offer on the house at the beginning of April, and it was accepted on April 3rd. We are closing on June 3rd. Only 2 months of torture. It sure seemed a lot longer than that. I guess when you are in the mix of it, it is consuming and overwhelming. I am just so happy it is over and we can start to really unpack, decorate, landscape, and start making our first house our home.

Thank you to everyone for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. I know it helped. Andy and I are very lucky to have such great friends and family. We can't wait for you all to come and visit. I may have to post a calendar of sorts, seems like we have become a popular vacation spot ;-) Thanks again. Talk to you all soon.

Heather

PS-If anyone applies for a rural development loan...give your self at least a month and a half for it to go through. ;-)

The House Saga Continues...

I just can't wait any longer.

Andy and I found this great house up on top of Flat Top Mountain in Soddy Daisy, TN 6 weeks ago. Since then, we have been in financing limbo/purgatory/hell -- whatever.

The first hurdle we ran into was the mortgage guy our realtor suggested wasn't really what we were looking for. He did not want to even consider my income because it is commission based and I have been there for less than a year. Then, he was really pushing for us to get a co-signer. Andy and I made the decision if we couldn't get a house on our own, we didn't want to get one until we could. Ergo no co-signer. He also wouldn't consider any other types of loans besides a FHA.

Then we spoke with Dale Whaley here in Chattanooga. He is great. He looked at all of our finances and said the same thing about my income. Total bummer. But then he said that since the house we found was "outside the city limits" we could apply for a federal loan. Specifically, a USDA Rural Development loan (United State Department of Agriculture) not the Department of Drugs and Alcohol ;-)

Dale mentioned, with only Andy's income we would have a really great shot at getting this type of loan. Long story short, when you deal with the government, you get a lot of red tape. Lots of hoops to jump through and longer deadlines.

At this point we are set to close on May 15th. We have extended the close date 3 times previously (First it was April 30th, then May 1st, then May 4th.) If this doesn't happen on the 15th. I think Andy and I are going to be back to square one. Grrrrr. Although, Dale is really really confident we are going to get the loan and we will be able to close on the 15th, Andy and I are a little apprehensive. Below is a link to the rural development loan we are going to be looking at...

http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/

I spoke to our current landlord and she said we could stay until May 18th. Whew. We thought we were going to have to move into a hotel/motel until we got into our new house. Not fun with dogs and a "tight" budget.

We are keeping our fingers crossed and our chins up. On the whole, we are trying to stay positive and are thinking this is all going to go through in a timely fashion.

Stress. Stress. Stress. Now onto the fun part...the house.

It is being sold by a Prudential realtor. The MLS listing is 1124781. It is a 2 bedroom 2.5 bath home on 2.4 acres on Jones Gap Road in Soddy Daisy, TN. The Cumberland Trail goes through our back yard and the bike riding routes are amazing! There currently is a fence out back for the dogs, but that will need to be updated in the next couple of months. There is also a HUGE deck for entertaining. The 2 bedroom thing was a concern of mine, but once we got into the house to look around, we realized it won't be a problem at all. The large family room on the east side of the house has a bathroom and a door. When guests stay, they can stay there until we remodel.

We already had our inspection and appraisal. Things are moving right along...we hope.

So there it is. We have been waiting to post something until we had the security of it actually going through, but I just can't wait any longer. I have been getting a lot of interested and concerned family and friend e-mails and phone calls. I didn't want to blow any of you off, but I have been worried I would jinx it if I spoke about it. But oh well, there it is. It is out there. I posted it. It is almost like it is written in stone, right ;-) Just kidding.

Take care and we will post something more "concrete" as soon as we know.

Heather