What’s going on

I have been enjoying my regularity in posting to my blog.  I don’t want to lose that, but my computer’s internet crashed.  Then we got some news that has diverted my attention from my fixed computer.

 

We are short selling the house.  I know it is a good thing that this isn’t an easy process.  I want to not want to do this again, and the bank has been incredibly obliging in promoting that notion.  We actually have two offers on the house.  One from someone who will live her, another all cash offer from an investor.  The bank has ignored the second-coming investor, but countered the potential occupant.  She accepted immediately.  That was back in October.  Since then we have just been waiting for the bank to accept her acceptance of their own offer. 

As I understand it, this is the problem.  We refinanced just before the furloughs began and the process was a nightmare.  We fell for high pressure tactics and signed things we shouldn’t have.  One aspect of the refinance that wasn’t in our favor was their insistence that we have two mortgages.  And that, apparently, is our current problem.  See, both loans are through the same bank, and the first mortgage accepted the offer on the house but the second mortgage didn’t.  ….   yeah…..  OK.

So, Monday we had the pleasure of having foreclosure notices taped to our door.  I was pretty surprised, as you can imagine.  We immediately called our real estate agent to see what was going on.  She said there was nothing to worry about.  We just needed to wait for the bank to talk to itself.  yeah…OK.  Next day our house and names were in the paper with an auction date for two days after Christmas.  Day after than three certified letters came with the same information, plus one to the occupant, in case we were renting the place out.  And no word from our ‘don’t worry’ real estate agent.

Needless to say, Tuesday we started looking for a place to rent.  I called every place within our budget, including little 1 and 2 bedroom places.  I am surprised to discover that two Beagles and a rabbit is more of an encumbrance to house hunting than a budget.  Wednesday, we started driving by and looking into homes.  Everything was pretty small and cruddy, but we weren’t expecting anything else.  We have a goal to get into someplace very affordable. let our credit recover from the short sell/foreclosure and save up for a commuter car and down payment on a house in another few years.  We kept steady heads even as houses were rented out as we were calling on them. 

Thursday we had an appointment to see three more houses.  The lady taking us around mentioned another house that had just dropped its price.  We agreed to check that one out as well.  All four houses are out of town, two are ten minutes in one direction and two are ten minutes in the other.  We headed west for the first two.  The first was the best house we had seen or read about so far.  Huge fenced, yard, inviting laundry room (those of you charged with this chore might appreciate that with me), nice kitchen.  The third bedroom is small enough that we figured the kids would share and the third would be used for play/school and office space.  No garage, but many houses up here don’t have them.

Then we went to house number two on the list—the one we’d just heard about.  I will tell you honestly, I cried.  It was perfect for my family.  Four bedrooms—the fourth with a closet of shelving—can you say School Room??  The master room had a little bonus room attached.  Since I have known Brian, he has dreamed of having a ‘library.’  This was perfect.  The kitchen has a two level island with plenty of cupboard space.  There was a nice garage, a large fenced backyard….  The place is 100 dollars over the limit we’d set.  I don’t know what is best, but we went ahead and applied.  One thing that caught me up short was that the realtor said that since our rental history begins over a decade ago, prospective land owners may want to come to our house here to see how we live.  What?!?  I mean, uh, yeah!  Sure, that sounds great!

Did I mention we are short selling?  Our agents helping us out with that have told us repeatedly to not put a penny into the house.  If we can afford to fix things, than we can afford our mortgage payments.  So our 30 year old house has been maintained, but in the year that we have been going through this process, there have been some problems.

So I shake all that off, and just deal with whatever matter is at hand.  I am half-packing and cleaning.  We are taking a short break from school while we get ourselves in order.  The rest is up to Him.  Which house we get, if we foreclose, where we celebrate the birth of His Son.  Exciting adventures!