The Pekemas are moving to the circus!
This really wouldn't be a surprise to most, given how absurd
we can both be. But, as you have probably noticed this is just our house
tented for termites. We closed escrow yesterday,
recorded today and will have keys tomorrow.
The actual circus, aka the worst part of home buying, is escrow. It is all hurry up and wait. And heaven help you if you are
the cause for delay. Basically everyone else can take their time except the
buyer. You find out you need to send in docs and they
basically needed to be sent in yesterday. Then you find out your “cash to
close” total, and you have 2 days or less to actually have the cash available
in the escrow account. For a conventional loan, that is 20% of the purchase
price plus all of the escrow fees and other miscellaneous fees. I’m serious. So
for the average responsible adult, most of your assets are in stocks, bonds etc.
earning their keep! If you are the person who keeps ALL of your cash in a
checking account then you probably aren't buying a
house. So, the substantial portion of your savings that are not liquid, need time to be sold and become available for withdrawal. This almost screwed us.
Thankfully my Hubarooski is a champ and handled things like a boss. In other
words, he took care of it all. Yay for me. Now that we are at the end of this torture I have advice to shell out.
1. After your offer is accepted and inspection is
done, start the process of liquidating assets as necessary and be prepared to transfer those funds to escrow
in a seconds notice.
2. Be prepared to take long lunches, or leave early
to sign hundreds of documents or drop off original documents.
3. Make sure you work with people you trust and
respect. They are integral in this process going smoothly. We worked with a fantastic broker and real estate agent.
Without them, we would not have closed on time and the seller would be bending us
over (worse than they are).
Side note: We used a mortgage broker, it seems to have made the process much easier to wrap our brains around, they were able to tell us exactly what we would
need to do through the whole process and what to expect. They also took my
calls every time. First time homebuyer? Yes, you will call ALL the time.
It is invaluable to have someone not only take your call but thoroughly answer
your questions too. It really put us at ease through the whole process. Plus,
they knew exactly what to rush and who to rush to make it all go accordingly.
OK, now that you are all well prepped to purchase a home I’ll
tell you about the one we just bought!
Here are the standard details that have been requested, the
stats if you will:
4 bedrooms
2 full bathrooms
Big yard
Built 1978 (read as: needs updating)
And, the moment you have all been waiting for…our new home.
We move this weekend; interior pictures and backyard shots coming soon.
Boxes, boxes, boxes! I'm in the midst of moving too. Good luck!
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