I feel like my blog is becoming very negative, but that is only because buying a house is the worst thing in the entire world. I would like to say "screw you, Dave Ramsey" because he is the one that convinced me that buying foreclosures is the best thing ever and that I should live within my means. If it weren't for him, maybe we'd be buying a brand spankin' new house with no stupid drama and no maybe termites and no absentee ovens (which could be a dealbreaker if you're USAA) and maybe I wouldn't really worry or care about how much it all cost. Right now, that looks like a beautiful, beautiful thing. I could really go for some blissful ignorance.
We're trying to change lenders, now. Let me paint an analogy for you: Back in high school/college, when the Spectacular Seven (my group of friends) would get together and play games, a few of us would sometimes 'invent' new variations of the game and call it "Kinky ____" (whatever game it was, Kinky Scrabble, Kinky Trivial Pursuit, etc.) Basically, we'd just make up a new rule or disregard an old rule to suit ourselves, and if another player protested ("hey, you can't take money out of the bank whenever you want!") we'd respond with "Yes I can, we're playing kinky Monopoly." Well, I kind of feel like USAA is playing Kinky Lending with us now. "Oh, did we say you could get that loan with 5% down? My bad, we really meant 10% down, since it's in a depressed market."(side note: what isn't a depressed market right now?) "Oh, so now you won't have any money to buy floors and appliances? What kind of appliances do you mean, exactly? There's no oven? Oh, well we can't close if there isn't an oven." (Ovens are more essential than floors?) "Oh, all that paperwork you faxed us last week that explicitly states the contract expires May 25? You serious? Well, we can't so much close any earlier than May 27th. Sorry!" I'm sorry, are you kidding me? Can you SERIOUSLY blame me for "escalating" with them whenever I have to put up with this bull-freaking-crap? So yes, our realtor is now asking the seller whether we can pretty please change banks, and this time we will go with the bank that is a) in our town, with actual human beings with offices we can sit in, but b) offers higher mortgage rates and closing costs. But if they will let us do this with less drama and less down, then maybe it will be worth it. Otherwise, I'm done. I will be so happy renting for the rest of my life...if I ever start feeling unhappy, I will just look back on my trusty blog and re-live these (hopefully) few awful weeks of my life.
i had no idea homebuying was that much of a hassle! i hope things fall into place soon for y'all.
ReplyDeletep.s. i always thought it was the magnificent seven - has christopher been telling me wrong all these years? can't wait to get (most of) you back together next month!
ReplyDeleteHome-buying is NOT this much of a hassle! I have heard of people having a small issue here or there, but nothing like this.
ReplyDeleteIt's like there's a new restaurant in town and everyone else loves it and thinks it's the best thing ever. But you go and have crappy service and they get your food wrong. So your impression is: this place sucks. But really it was quite a fluke and if you went back 20 more times, you would have 20 great experiences.
So while I'm so very sorry for all this mess you guys are going through, please don't let this taint your idea of buying a house altogether.
And maybe next time you avoid the foreclosure route despite Dave Ramsey. =)
There's no reason that if you have good credit you should have to put more than 5% down, even in this market! I honestly think it's your lender so PLEASE go and get some other opinions. Local banks are GREAT resources and they are very much lending right now...
ReplyDeleteAlso, I do know that some states have state housing agencies that are giving short term, no interest loans in conjunction with the $8,000 credit - you can use the loan to help pay your down payment and then you pay them back when you file your taxes and get the tax credit... I don't know if Georgia has one but it would be worth looking into.
When I bought my house I got $4,000 from the state of SC, $2,000 of which I don't have to pay back (was a down payment assistance program) if I don't sell the house within two years. So anyway, point being... ask about some of these things. If you have a shady lender they won't tell you... DEFINITELY call some banks and try to get approval for a loan through them! Foreclosures are still a good deal... they can be a pain, but you are getting a great deal on a house.