Bloggus

setbacks This whole house-buying adventure has been like a game of chutes and ladders. Some days we move forward 2 spaces, some days we go back 8. The closing was set for yesterday, so I took the day off from work. This in itself is usually enough to qualify as a Good Day, but unfortunately the closing did not go as planned. We met the sellers lawyer, and the agents for both sides, at Prudential Fox and Roach building in Media at noon to complete the closing and transfer paperwork. I should mention at this time that my wife and I spent the previous evening at the aforementioned Home Depot buying expensive paint and hundreds of small painting and electrical work accessories and paraphernalia. The car is loaded up and ready to go, we have cleared our schedule for the next two weeks to make room for all the work we are hoping to complete before moving in. So anyway: we are signing and signing all the little papers, disclosures, promises, covenants, and vows necessary to purchase a house. As we reach the financial paperwork provided by our bank our agent, Joe Perri (I would have given you the link for his picture on their site, but all PruFoxRoach sites appear to be down right now) notices that the numbers for the loan seem high. Good eyes, that Joseph. We had been approved and agreed on the full asking price of the seller, but then after inspection (see earlier post) we had renegotiated a lower price, to account for the money that would need to be spent on some repair work. Although my mortgage banker had been informed by both Joe and myself of this fact, the numbers had never been readjusted in the actual financial package from the bank. We were at a standstill. In defense of the bank, we did find out that the seller has been less than timely in returning paperwork we've submitted on more than one occasion. In this particular instance, the paperwork in question is the addendum stating the price change, and the time in which is was returned is never. Verbal consent was given only, and no paperwork has been returned. When the lawyer tried to reach the seller, who was supposed to be available by phone in Florida for the scheduled closing time, no one answered the phone. We found out later, through our various connections, that the seller had been picked up the night before on DUI and kept overnight in the cooler. Anyway...we've lost two valuable nights of home repair time, but we're rescheduled to close tomorrow at noon. There are more threads to this story, but I don't feel like telling them at this time. Suffice it to say that our agent, the sellers agent, and the woman running the closing (I don't know her title) have all been very hard working, gracious people. They went to bat, played hardball with the bank, and performed services worthy of many other sports analogies. I was supposed to turn this experience into funny anecdotes, but right now there is just nothing funny about it.