I am over Facebook, it is so impersonal. And crowded with people that I met once on a bus somewhere or had a class with once upon a time. So...that combined with the fact that I have a horrible memory has driven me to write on the interwebs about the major and not-so-major life moments.
Major Life Moment: The boy and I are in the middle of buying a house! Yikes! Gulp! Smile! Fingers crossed!
We weren't even looking for a home. In fact, we had settled into life here in the little apartment, enjoying the view of the Space Needle and walking from here to there. As a life-long procrastinator, I operate on deadlines. only. Its the 11th hour or it just isn't getting done. When my father gave me a deadline on the "grandpony daycare situation", I knew it was time to sell them or find an affordable option out here. And selling them isn't really even an option. So, I was surfing Mr.Craig's list, slumping more and more in my chair as the horse boarding farms I kept clicking on were too expensive. There was no way we could afford apartment rent and pony rent at the same time. Light bulb moment. What if we could find a place and combine the two? So I looked up cheap horse places, sifted through the listings (and seeing a lot of SERIOUS fixer-uppers) when I clicked on this house. Love at first interweb picture! A cute house nestled in the mountains complete with 2 stall horse barn and a couple acres. My lifelong dream seemed to be staring me in the face. Suddenly I knew I had to try. I am unemployed and busy with grad school, but I was so in love with that little orange house that I had to give it a shot. I showed Pasquale, and he seemed open to the idea, liking the picture. That was a month ago, and things have been crazy busy ever since. We set up an appointment to view the house. From the moment we walked in, Pasquale's face lit up. I was trying hard to play the "poker face" that my parents always did when we they were trying to strike a bargain in my childhood. We left, excited to discuss our options. The first step of financing was a nightmare. I went through the the pre-approval process only to be denied twice. Ego bruised. Tears shed. We were able to put in an offer through creative financing but it was a serious lowball offer. The rejection did not surprise us. The last lending leg we had was the USDA loan, which is a brilliant program for those of us that are poor and want to live in the country. Pasquale qualified for the loan and I was running errands trying to secure the rest of the necessary documents, like the proof of funds and earnest money. This adventure took me to the bank four different times to produce the correct paperwork. Ugh. The third time resulted in my account producing 3 fatal errors on 3 different teller's computers. I started to panic inside a little, thinking maybe it was all a sign and that I couldn't really make the house work out. Then I get a phone call that someone else is looking at the house and is putting an offer in. The house has been on the market for 9 months without any other offers, then BAM, this other person comes outta nowhere! After the emotional seesaw, Pasquale and I decided it was time to let it go. We would find something else, this house wasn't meant to be. We started looking at other places, but nothing else felt as perfect. I felt angry because (I will admit this is lame) no one else could love that house as much as we could. And I was cheating on that house just by looking at other houses. I let our realtor know that we don't think we can compete with the other offer, but he encouraged us to try. So, in a snap decision at 6:30 in the morning in our kitchen, we decided to give it everything we have. We both felt so strongly about the "good vibes" of being at that house (we had been back to visit several times) that we had to give it one more try. We busted our asses and got all the paperwork in by the end of the day that Thursday. By 8:30 Friday morning, we had confirmed that the bank accepted our offer. I will always remember calling Pasquale to tell him the news...the joy and shock in his voice reminded me of a kid at Christmas who gets the Furby or the Elmo or whatever it is that kids are into these days. I am so grateful to be with a man that has encouraged and supported this process. We want to build a home together, and knowing that he has my back through this crazy house buying thing has kept me sane. I also appreciate the support of my family, from my aunt's good luck rock, to my father's knowledgeable guidance and generosity of spirit, to hearing my mother say she is proud of us for taking this big step. My sister and her boyfriend have also visited the property and liked it. It is important to know what others think before such a big investment is made. Kinda like you are dating a house. The family has to approve before it gets too serious. Our friends were also stellar in this process, offering resources and encouragement when we were down.
So now we are over phase one and into phase two; the inspections. Wish us luck!
