We still have no idea what's going to happen, but it's looking more and more like the deal is going to fall apart. The new bank is more than willing to give us the loan, but they've flat out told us that they believe we are paying too much for this house. So now we've had 2 banks tell us that the house isn't worth the contract price.
So that raises the question, just because we want the house and can buy the house, does that mean we should? I think we're both coming to the conclusion that we shouldn't. This is very hard for me to admit because I really want this house. We've looked at EVERYTHING on the market, and I really believe that the price we agreed upon is fair. It's on the high end, but it's fair. It's really hard to push forward though when one bank passed on the loan, and the second is telling us they'll provide the financing, but they believe we should wait a year because home prices are going to continue to drop.
What to do? What to do? The one little plus to the scenario is that the rental house we missed out on is once again available, or it will be. The family that moved in last week is being evicted because their check for the first and last month's rent plus security deposit bounced. The owner called us to see if we're still interested. Which it's now looking like we will be. He's supposed to let us know when they'll be out. At least we might have our plan B back in place.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
A Tale from Texas
On the way to Houston, Jax missed his opportunity to nap because of our flight time. He was just too excited on the plane to sleep. He didn't want to miss a thing, and that included his free drink and snack tray. There was no chance to nap once we landed because then he was caught up in the excitement of seeing family and being in a new place. Once we were in the car and headed towards the hotel, he finally dozed off in the backseat. We loaded him into a stroller during the check-in process, and when we were finally in the room, we tucked him into bed.
About an hour later, Jax woke up, and I immediately handed him the gift bag that his Aunt had put together. Talk about waking up to a surprise. He and Baylor received t-shirts (including the Texan football shirts in the picture), homemade cookies, drinks and snacks, and some toy cars. Excited about his presents and still somewhat dazed from his nap, he eventually looked around the room. After a long pause, he looked at me and asked, "Is this my new house?" Anh and I burst into laughter and then explained that we were in the hotel.
I guess we could have played a cruel joke on him and answered "yes," to the question. Wonder what his reaction would have been?
Monday, September 8, 2008
One More Thing
Oh, I forgot to mention that while at Aunt Glenda's house, Baylor set a new sleeping record. He went down about 8:30pm and slept until after 10:00am. Unbelievable, but completely true. I guess he was comfortable with his surroundings!
Texas
We arrived home late last night from our weekend in Houston, and I think it's pretty safe to say that we all wish we could have spent a few more days there. We just weren't able to accomplish all that we set out to do in 4 short days, but we know we can always go back, and next time we'll probably have a few more family members along for the ride because some seemed to be quite jealous of all the fun that Jax and Baylor had.
Aunt Glenda and Uncle Robert picked the boys up from the hotel on Friday morning so we could spend some time with Diane. The original plan involved a day and possibly 1 night of fun, but we actually didn't end up getting the boys back until Sunday. They didn't mind a bit, however, because they had an incredible time with their Great Aunt and Uncle. They spent Friday at the Houston Zoo where Jax got see a baby elephant and giraffe, in addition to all of the other animals. Jax seemed to be most impressed by the tiger though. Evidently, he wasn't the only one impressed by the animals. Aunt Glenda reported that Baylor was quite fascinated by the brightly colored fish in the aquarium exhibit.
After a full day with the animals, they headed home. Jax had no idea what fun toys awaited him there. No battery powered vehicles at Uncle Robert's house. Nope, he has the real deal. Jax was in heaven! I guess there's nothing more exciting to a 3-year old than digging dirt with heavy equipment.
In addition to all the other firsts (zoo, driving/operating heavy equipment), Jax got to go fishing for the first time. His only fishing experience involves a toy rod and battery operated fish that he plays with in the tub. I guess the tub practice didn't prepare him for the real experience because lunch that day was corn dogs, not fish.
It would seem that Jax thought he'd have better luck fishing for Baylors.
So happily, I can report that the trip to Texas resulted in some great memories for the boys. I'm sure Jax will be asking to go back. I guess I'd better get out the calendar to see when we can make that happen. After hearing the activity report from the weekend, I was actually worried that he wouldn't want to leave all the excitement behind. Luckily, Jax didn't get to see Uncle Robert's newest toy. Then, I'm certain I would have had to drag him kicking and screaming back to Florida.
Thank you so much for everything, Aunt Glenda & Uncle Robert!
Aunt Glenda and Uncle Robert picked the boys up from the hotel on Friday morning so we could spend some time with Diane. The original plan involved a day and possibly 1 night of fun, but we actually didn't end up getting the boys back until Sunday. They didn't mind a bit, however, because they had an incredible time with their Great Aunt and Uncle. They spent Friday at the Houston Zoo where Jax got see a baby elephant and giraffe, in addition to all of the other animals. Jax seemed to be most impressed by the tiger though. Evidently, he wasn't the only one impressed by the animals. Aunt Glenda reported that Baylor was quite fascinated by the brightly colored fish in the aquarium exhibit.
After a full day with the animals, they headed home. Jax had no idea what fun toys awaited him there. No battery powered vehicles at Uncle Robert's house. Nope, he has the real deal. Jax was in heaven! I guess there's nothing more exciting to a 3-year old than digging dirt with heavy equipment.
In addition to all the other firsts (zoo, driving/operating heavy equipment), Jax got to go fishing for the first time. His only fishing experience involves a toy rod and battery operated fish that he plays with in the tub. I guess the tub practice didn't prepare him for the real experience because lunch that day was corn dogs, not fish.
It would seem that Jax thought he'd have better luck fishing for Baylors.
So happily, I can report that the trip to Texas resulted in some great memories for the boys. I'm sure Jax will be asking to go back. I guess I'd better get out the calendar to see when we can make that happen. After hearing the activity report from the weekend, I was actually worried that he wouldn't want to leave all the excitement behind. Luckily, Jax didn't get to see Uncle Robert's newest toy. Then, I'm certain I would have had to drag him kicking and screaming back to Florida.
Thank you so much for everything, Aunt Glenda & Uncle Robert!Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Just So You Don't Think I've Had a Nervous Breakdown
I thought I'd better share the news that we're heading out of town. Given our current housing drama, I worried some of you would think that I'd succumb to the madness and decided to just take off for the hills. Well, have no fear. I am still relatively sane, but we're heading to Houston to visit our good friend, Diane, and my Aunt Glenda and Uncle Robert. I'm sure the visit will serve as an excellent distraction from our current situation. Surely we'll have some fun pictures and stories to share when we return on Sunday.
A Last Ditch Effort
Yesterday, after telling us the low value of their field appraiser's report, the loan officer "gave" us the "opportunity" to pay for a second field review. She said ordinarily the field appraisal would have to stand, but since the appraiser isn't familiar with the area (they used someone from a bank branch in a nearby metro area rather than using someone from one of the local branches) and the value came in so much lower than the appraiser we hired from the area, they were willing to accept a 2nd field appraisal and take the average. Gee thanks!
First, you expect us to pay for a field appraisal that sabotaged our entire deal. Two, we're supposed to pay for our own appraisal and inspection that would never have been conducted if we had been told about the huge discrepancy between the 2 appraisals. Three, now you want us to pay for a 2nd field appraisal using an agent that's actually familiar with the area and may be able to provide an accurate appraisal of the home's worth. Ummmmm, NO! We told her that not only should we not be responsible for paying a poorly chosen field appraiser from outside the area, but that the least they could do to help rectify the situation is to arrange a 2nd field appraisal free-of-charge, especially since they stand to make a huge amount of money off of us if we close on the house.
The loan officer is meeting with the underwriter and the bank president to see what can be done. Meanwhile, our realtor has told all of the other realtors at her firm about our crazy predicament, and no one has ever heard of something like this happening. Yeah, just our luck! All of the realtors are up in arms and screaming that this is "unethical." I don't know whether it's unethical, but it's certainly a nightmare.
Our realtor also put us in touch with a loan officer from another local bank, and they are fast-tracking a loan package for us. They are willing to match all of the conditions that we negotiated with our current bank, but in the 5 weeks since we started this process, the interest rates have crept up. We're now looking at paying significantly more. Not good. We probably won't pursue a 2nd loan based on this increase. In our minds, we had already agreed to the absolute max that we were willing to pay for this house.
So we'll see what happens. In our mind, the deal is dead, but I guess everyone else seems to think it can be revived. We'll see.
First, you expect us to pay for a field appraisal that sabotaged our entire deal. Two, we're supposed to pay for our own appraisal and inspection that would never have been conducted if we had been told about the huge discrepancy between the 2 appraisals. Three, now you want us to pay for a 2nd field appraisal using an agent that's actually familiar with the area and may be able to provide an accurate appraisal of the home's worth. Ummmmm, NO! We told her that not only should we not be responsible for paying a poorly chosen field appraiser from outside the area, but that the least they could do to help rectify the situation is to arrange a 2nd field appraisal free-of-charge, especially since they stand to make a huge amount of money off of us if we close on the house.
The loan officer is meeting with the underwriter and the bank president to see what can be done. Meanwhile, our realtor has told all of the other realtors at her firm about our crazy predicament, and no one has ever heard of something like this happening. Yeah, just our luck! All of the realtors are up in arms and screaming that this is "unethical." I don't know whether it's unethical, but it's certainly a nightmare.
Our realtor also put us in touch with a loan officer from another local bank, and they are fast-tracking a loan package for us. They are willing to match all of the conditions that we negotiated with our current bank, but in the 5 weeks since we started this process, the interest rates have crept up. We're now looking at paying significantly more. Not good. We probably won't pursue a 2nd loan based on this increase. In our minds, we had already agreed to the absolute max that we were willing to pay for this house.
So we'll see what happens. In our mind, the deal is dead, but I guess everyone else seems to think it can be revived. We'll see.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Unexpected Change of Plans
We're still moving, but as of 4 o'clock this afternoon, I have no idea where. The contract on our house fell through. As required by the bank, we had the house appraised and inspected by bank approved firms. Both reports came back with good news. So we were pretty surprised when the bank told us that they would be conducting their own field appraisal. Their appraiser came in with a much lower number, and the bank has decided the discrepancy is just too great. They are not going to approve the loan.
The rug was just ripped out from under us. We thought everything was squared away, and we were just counting the days until closing. The bank has been telling us all along, "everything looks good." It wasn't until last Friday that the loan officer said the underwriter had asked for "additional information." We weren't informed of what the problem was. In fact, the loan officer did her best to avoid us all together. Of course, this set off warning bells in our minds, and we spent the holiday weekend worried about whether the deal was about to fall through, only to discover today that it had.
To make matters worse, our "plan B" rental house was rented to another family yesterday. In fact, many of the homes that were once for rent have now been rented, and we currently have no idea where we will move. We've got until the end of the month to be out of this house, but all of our plans (work, school, etc) require us to be up there in less than 2 weeks. Needless to say, we're just a bit disappointed and stressed.
The rug was just ripped out from under us. We thought everything was squared away, and we were just counting the days until closing. The bank has been telling us all along, "everything looks good." It wasn't until last Friday that the loan officer said the underwriter had asked for "additional information." We weren't informed of what the problem was. In fact, the loan officer did her best to avoid us all together. Of course, this set off warning bells in our minds, and we spent the holiday weekend worried about whether the deal was about to fall through, only to discover today that it had.
To make matters worse, our "plan B" rental house was rented to another family yesterday. In fact, many of the homes that were once for rent have now been rented, and we currently have no idea where we will move. We've got until the end of the month to be out of this house, but all of our plans (work, school, etc) require us to be up there in less than 2 weeks. Needless to say, we're just a bit disappointed and stressed.
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