It's finally MINE!!!

After a lot of stops and starts and more paperwork then I ever want to see again 200 Oakland is mine.  I spent last Thursday back in Madison Hgts resigning everything.  Now that all the feds are happy and I have the keys I can breathe easier.

Of course the next step is a major remodel and then move.  There will still be lots of going back and forth until the final move which will probably be sometime in August. 

The core remodel will have to be almost done before I move in for the simple reason I only want to move furniture once and I don't want to be in the way while the contractor is ripping things apart and rebuilding.

Advice to anyone else purchasing a foreclosed home.  Patience, patience, patience.  If a realtor tells you 30 days for something, automatically double it.  Same goes for contractors, closing, everything.  Above all, pick the house for location because you're going to be living there for awhile.  Everything else can be fixed.

The '203K' funding program is a decent thing to use if you have to finance the remodel/rebuild.  Make sure that the lender you're using, the closer, the realtor and anyone else you're working with understands the ins and outs of the program.  There are lots of really particular rules that apply that will throw you if you've never used it and don't have someone working with you that understands the program and it's legal restrictions.

Final suggestion, don't get your hopes to hi when you start the remodel.  A good contractor makes it easier but contractors have their own supply lines and if you're in love with a particular store or product there are bound to be conflicts.  I'm an alpha personality and sometimes I'm my own worse enemy.  Patience, Patience, Patience.

I still have a house to sale and that in itself is adding to the long term problems.  But it'll get there.

It's not over until the government says it's over.

Tuesday morning.

Sigh.  I spent last Friday signing a stack of documents, supposedly closing on my house.  Nope.  Yesterday Fannie Mae decided they aren't done yet and now it looks like I may have to sign everything AGAIN.  Which means another trip to Va to meet with the closer and start over.  I talked to my realtor at length yesterday hoping I can at least meet them halfway (Danville) which is 2 hours away.  I'm still waiting to see if that can be worked out.  I'm more than aggravated. Fortunately, I have the weekend pretty clear so if I have to I can drive 4 hours on Thursday, sign a bunch of paperwork, overnight at my sister's and drive back Friday it's doable.

They say hindsight is 20/20.  This is my last house so I guess I should just smile and suck it up.  I wanted this house for a lot of reasons.  It's in the right area of Madison Heights.  It's close to my sister.  It's a ranch.  It was a beautiful home when it was originally built and can be again.  It's cheap.  It will be inexpensive to live there if I ever get there.  It will keep me busy for a long time with projects.

But I will be so glad when this is all done.

Closing happened, after lots of drama.

 Sunday afternoon

Back in Charlotte.  The closing for the Va home finally happened late Friday afternoon/evening after a huge number of phone calls, emails, conversations and texts.  Technically, I'm done, with all the signatures on all the pages.  But there are still issues with Fannie Mae that can't be resolved until Monday morning.  The sale can't be recorded until the Fannie Mae problem is solved so I can't take procession of the house until that happens. Good thing I wasn't planning on sleeping there over the weekend.

Started closing around 4, didn't get done until after 6 pm.  On a Friday afternoon, after hours, when everyone is trying to get out of the office because other life priorities are hanging out there.  Before all this started I was running around with my sister doing other things and watching the time.  By 3 pm I was convinced it wasn't going to happen.  When I got the call at 3:30 to get to the closing office I was more convinced.  When everything is going good closings take awhile.  With as many problems this closing was generating I knew it wouldn't go smoothly. It didn't.

Gena, the closing agent hands me a stack of paperwork to start reviewing while she is running back and forth, trying to solve the final problems.  To be fair to her, she did her very best in a very bad situation.  Part of the issue with the closing was that this particular financing program through HUD has lots of very particular items that I one, didn't completely understand and 2, Gena didn't either.  Turned out she's only closed on 2 '203K' financing loans.
  The first hiccup on the documents; page 1 listed the 'rehab' budget almost $15 more than what I was working with and my contractor had agreed to.  Gena didn't know why.  That was my first phone call.  The lenders had to explain this, in small words, so I would understand the increase.
   The words, 'permits, fees, escrow and 'estimated amount' are being tossed around.  I kept asking 'why estimate?'  I'm signing these documents committing me to the total amount, not an 'estimate'.  The lender keeps telling me when the rehab is done and if the whole amount isn't used the amount will apply to the principal of the loan.  Huh uh.  I'm not convinced yet.  The pen is sitting beside the documents, not in my hand.
   The next hiccup is on page 2.  The interest rate is 6%.  I'd locked the loan in at 4.1%.  My next phone call.  Meanwhile Gena is running back and forth between Fannie Mae and HUD.  When I pointed out the issue to Gena she's frantic.  If that is wrong, then lots and lots of documents are wrong.  This closing just went out the window. 
  My phone call to the lender is a long one.  Turns out that a '203K' loan is a 6% loan, regardless where I originally locked the loan in at.  I'd been notified of this little item by email back in March.  Do I remember that email?  Of course not.  Why did I have to jump through the 'lock in a loan' hassle?  Because when I put earnest money down back in March we weren't talking about a '203K' loan.  Of course this means my house payments are going to be quite a bit higher than originally estimated.  I keep telling myself I"m not keeping this loan very long.  As soon as the Charlotte property is sold, this loan is paid off.  Gena heaves a sigh of relief and keeps trying to solve the problem with Fannie Mae.
  Moving on to the next page.  Still haven't picked up the pen.  The next page starts out with the payments start in August.  Next problem and that requires 2 phone calls.  Last week I"m being told that because this is a 'construction loan' I can't move into the house until the construction is completed.  Because I can't move into the house, my payments don't start until I move in.  I went over that with the lender, with HUD, and back to the lender.  Didn't believe it for a moment.  Everybody keeps telling me the same thing: I don't make payments until I move in.  Now in black and white, payments start in August. 
  The lender starts out with 'you don't make payments until you move in'.  My patience with this is so gone I can't even see.  Please explain this to me in small words because the loan paperwork says something completely different.  Remember that extra $15K on the first page that I questioned?  Turns out the payments that have to be made before I move in comes out of that pool of money.  They are using words like 'the payments are escrowed' for the approximate 4 months I'm not living there.  In other words the loan is paying the loan because no money is coming out of my pocket.  It takes 20 or 30 minutes before the lender finally gets around to language I understand.  I'm not dumb when it comes to buying houses, this is the 6th time I've done it.  But the double-talk with this loan is just huge.
  Meanwhile Gena is closing with another buyer while I'm pacing back and forth on the phone.  It's after 5, the office is officially closed and everyone is going home.  Gena is supposed to be getting ready for her son's graduation.  I haven't picked up the pen yet and there's over 100 pages to sign and initial.
  Finally, somewhere close to 6 I start signing documents.  Gena still hasn't solved the problem with Fannie Mae but she's been told to go ahead and close, as long as I'm aware that I can't sleep there until Fannie Mae is satisfied.  30 minutes after I sign my name the first time I'm done.  The loan is more than I'd ever expected; I'm really not happy with it and if I thought that I'd get a better location on a nice home in Madison Heights I would have walked away.
  The only good thing about this is that I'm not writing a check for several more months.  If I'm really lucky the house in Charlotte will sale sometime this summer and I will only write one check; the one that pays off the loan. 

I met with the contractor the night before and worked out the priorities for the rebuild.  The first priority will be the crawlspace and the drainage in the backyard.  The back of the house has a row of azaleas that will be dug up to fix the drainage.  I hope to keep them so my sister and I put stakes in the backyard to place the azaleas.  By making a hedge in the back I"m starting with the plan of cutting the backyard almost in half and helping keep the rainwater from running under the house.

I drove back to Charlotte yesterday afternoon, carrying a stack of paperwork, a pair of new keys for the new locks going on the Va house and once again in debt for a house.

Tuesday and hopefully almost done.

Tuesday evening on the final week of this adventure in frustration with banks, lenders, appraisers, contractors and probably a whole lot of alphabet groups I've forgotten.

Last weekend only got me almost to the end.  The lender promised me all the i's were dotted and the t's crossed.  Wrong.

Today the lender comes back to me with more questions and requirements.

I had provided (months ago) copies of documents showing that I owned the house in Charlotte.  Now the lender wants a copy of the deed showing my ownership, free and clear, plus the insurance documents showing the same.  Sigh.

Fortunately, all of those documents are stashed in computer files on the harddrive and it's just a matter of finding them.

Next item:  the appraiser comes back with requirements that add to the cost of the remodel.  Things like cleaning the carpets (which are scheduled to be replaced) and replacing both bathroom vanities.  Both are minor things in the long run but both require the remodel contract be rewritten and changed.  Which requires all new signatures on the contract.  Which requires me to print off the pages needing a signature, signing them, scanning them in and sending them to the lender who in turn sends them to the contractor for his signature before the lender can proceed with setting a closing time.

I had planned to remodel both bathrooms sometime next year when my budget recovers some so the vanities that have to be installed now will be the absolute cheapest of the cheapest just to meet the contract requirements.  Sigh.

There still isn't a firm time for the closing.  Sometime Friday afternoon, maybe.  I'd planned to meet with the contractor to take a real look at the kitchen cabinets he plans to order and to lock down the construction schedule.  Juggling his time and my time is going to be fun.  I'd wanted to get back to Charlotte Friday evening but it might not happen until Saturday.

I'm still showing the Charlotte house as often as possible.  With as many showings that have happened you'd think this house would be gone.  I really want this done and it's not happening very fast.  Trying to schedule showing for the Charlotte house from VA gets to be another juggling act.

And it's only Tuesday.