House Update

Mike and I are constantly being asked how things are going with the house. Instead of trying to update everyone individually, I thought I'd just post our story here.

There's no other way to say it - buying this house has been an absolute nightmare! Every time we feel like we are making progress, another road block is put in front of us. Let me take you back a few weeks...

We did not settle on the October 15th, as planned, because the mold in the basement wasn't remediated. The mold wasn't remediated because (1) the bank took three weeks approving which contractor the selling agents could hire and (2) the water wasn't on and the selling agent was told by the mold specialist that he needed water.

The water was turned off by the county water department, so we were on hold yet again because the county water department wouldn't turn the water on until the bank/owner sent a notarized letter in giving authorization to the selling agents to turn the water on. Once the selling agents had the paperwork, they didn't have time to meet the county water guy at the house so our realtor went to the house to take care of it. When the water was turned on, water started pouring out one of the walls. It appears that the pipe going to the master bath is busted. There's also another pipe that needs fixed.

The water delayed us about two weeks BUT had the selling agent asked how much water was needed, she would have been told a few buckets (which the mold guy could have gotten from a neighbor). The mold was finished late last week.

In the meantime, our contract expired on November 3. We received the addendum to extend the contract yesterday. However, since we didn't settle on time, we ended up changing lenders because it would have cost us almost $60 per day to keep our loan lock that expired on October 19th. Since we changed lenders, we now have to pay for a second appraisal (you can no longer transfer appraisals from one lender to another, thanks to the mortgage industry collapse). The second appraisal will be done Monday morning. We're keeping our fingers crossed that this appraiser doesn't suggest that our lender require the pipes to be fixed before settlement like the first appraisal. If it's required we may have to walk because we sent in an addendum saying we would reimburse the bank/owner at settle for the pipes to be repaired, which the bank/owner signed, but the bank has also said NO to signing a contract for any additional repairs. We were told by one of the selling agents to write an addendum asking permission to have the pipe repaired prior to settlement. Against our better judgment we did just to be "safe."

On Wednesday, the other selling agent said that the asset manager for the property said, "we can't do that." She also said the bank/owner won't sign a contract for the work even though we have a signed addendum that they agreed to allow us to pay for the repairs at settlement. The selling agent actually told our realtor to just have us do it anyway even though we don't have permission AND oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the original contract says the bank can pull out of the deal at anytime for no reason. The selling agent actually told us to break the law...lovely! So we're basically playing Russian roulette with about $2,500K of our money. I think I've covered it all.

NO WAIT! There's one more thing...we are living with Mike's parents while all of our belongings are sitting in a POD outside the house we still don't own.

You would think that buying a house where we have 30% to put down would be this difficult? Nope. Not a chance. So as of today, we are praying we'll be homeowners again by next Friday. Hopefully Friday the 13th will be a good day for us.

It's almost comical when you read about the darn thing. Seriously, who would think everything I just said could possibly happen?