6 weeks ago I was ready to quit. I had spent nearly 3 months looking for houses and making my credit report the best it could be, and I was ready to throw in the towel. I had even gone and looked at apartments and called my insurance agent for a quote on renter's insurance.
But then an email came from my dear Aunt who was vacationing in England reminding me I'm no quitter. And for the last 6 weeks she's been an awesome source when I've been frustrated or confused or totally overwhelmed at the home buying process. Plus, I had a fabulous mortgage officer who I'm proud to call my friend when she's not writing mortgages that was there to explain anything I asked (and trust me it was A LOT). And there was my realtor who has this super calm demeanor that was a great asset to my very excitable and eager personality. It was a dream team to make my home buying experience happen. And with these people on my side the process went from step to step to step to....... keys.
While I'm thanking people I want it known that the coworker friend and her husband who have gratiously housed me and Pili since we moved from Sugarhouse have been amazing! They are dog people who have allowed Pili to roam the house and share the guest bed with me. I have felt like a welcome, loved guest.
Tomorrow after work I'm picking up Pili and we're going to meet my realtor to get the house keys! What a process buying a home has been!! While I'm extremely giddy and grateful to be a home owner, I sit here emotionally exhausted. My head aches as the reality sets in. And the perma grin still remains. I'm sooooooooo glad to be done with the paperwork and the process and sooooo very ready to paint and unpack, finding all my things a place in our new home.
I've heard since I was a young girl that owning a home is the American dream. I've always thought it was an unreachable, unattainable goal. However I've learned with this process, as with everything else in life, that owning a home comes from hard work, saving money, and a mountain of responsibility. And of course, there's also signing your name about 50 times.
I still can't help but grin from ear to ear. I'm a home owner!!!!!!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
The Latest
First of all let me say I know its been nearly 8 weeks since I last posted and I fully realize I've broken my commitment to write at least weekly. Life happens. And mine has been busy!!
I didn't get the job I really wanted. I still have my same job and have more work to do. There was a trip to Kentucky for a week for work. The buyer at our site there retired and I was picked to learn her job and bring it back to Salt Lake. She had worked in her job for 37 years. 37 years!!!! Anymore people are lucky to make it 3 years in a job before leaving for more money or a better 401k. The Kentucky weather was abnormally hot. I'm so glad that the week I was there was one of the hottest they'd had on record in nearly 20 years. And then you add into that the 90% humidity and I was just insane. Air conditioning was my favorite friend that week!! Also that week I got to take a night off work and go visit my cousin Robbie III. He and his wife Kara and their 8 week old (at the time of my visit) son Robert Lee Caswell IV met for dinner. It was so nice to chat and catch up. Robbie is the next oldest cousin after me on my mom's side of the family and I miss how close we were growing up. It was so great to be around family during my work trip. It was a nice distraction from the stress of the uncomfortable weather and stressful week of work!!
My dear friends Emily and Brady had their second child, a little girl they named MaKynna. When she was about a week old and waking her mom up every 2 hours her older sister Jaylee came to spend a night with me and Pili. What an adventure! Jaylee has so much spunk and energy! That little girl has a contagious zest for life!! I found myself constantly giggling at her. One of my favorite moments was getting cereal at the grocery story and as I'm paying Jaylee is squatting and grunting and then popping up like a frog over and over again. When I asked her what she was doing she told me, "Trying to get big as you Courtney!" And I just couldn't help but giggle and give her a hug.
Speaking of babies..... My friend Staci and her husband Clay welcomed their first daughter, Kelsey Jo. And she is the most beautiful little girl! My friend Jenn will be having her 2nd boy next week. Her oldest is 12 and she's starting over with the soon to be arriving Tyler. I'm very excited to meet the little man we've talked about since last December. And the most exciting news of my summer was that my dear friend Cherisse and her husband Corey are expecting a child!!! Cherisse has been married 5 years and is finally, very excitedly, expecting their first child. This makes me so happy to see her so happy about the child that is on the way.
There was a wedding I went to for my friend Anna who holds the same title for me that I hold for her - my longest roommate and my last roommate. Anna and I lived together from May 2008 through July 2010. I loved Anna's quirky personality and how clean she is, and how inventive she would be with our roommate dinners. Anna's family was also a great part of my life. When I'd come along for their Sunday dinner I loved playing games after with her mom who never lost and gloated when she'd win. While this bothered Anna and her siblings I never cared. It was nice to have a mom around who enjoyed time with her children. I loved being invited for Christmas Day festivities and will never forget how exited her mom got when I opened my stocking she'd give me. She would make me a stocking just the same as her 3 daughters and the girls and I would exchange lotions or lip glosses to get a different flavor the other one had that we liked more. And of course my favorite thing about Anna was how much she loved Pili. For her not being a dog person, she sure never showed that to me. Pili often was taken on Anna's walks and there was never a time Anna cooked that Pili wasn't given chicken scraps. And when I was out of town Anna would tend Pili and Pili took care of her laying on her bed until Anna went to sleep and then quietly heading downstairs to my bed where Anna would find her sleeping the next morning. I wish Anna and her husband my congratulations and hope their life together is all they hope it to be.
My dad and his wife and kids have moved from Nebraska to Idaho. My dad's wife's father died a couple months ago and his house is where they are now living. I'm excited to have them so close - a 3 1/2 hour drive. They have been there a week and already came to visit me once. We went to my company party with my friends Sarah and Lakshmi -and it was such a fun evening!
And then there is my house situation. Wow. Here we go.... I was working on an approval with a bank who had a first time buyer 100% financing option, that ended up not working out and almost made me quit the buying process. Thanks to many emails from my Auntie M who was half the world away in England vacationing, I refocused and went back to the original mortgage officer I'd initially worked with. 2 days later I was pre-approved. I spent the next week in Kentucky and when I got back from Kentucky I spent the last week of July looking at houses. By the end of the week I had an offer on a condo/townhouse in the same subdivision as the one I'd originally loved so much. And Aug 4 the sellers and I stopped making counter offers and I was under contract for my new home! The last 3 weeks have been filled with home inspections, meth testing of the house, the appraisal of the home, and then underwriting. We got the ok to close 2 days ago and now we're working with the sellers for when they can sign paperwork. They haven't finished financing on their new house and their dates need to line up with mine for closing and moving. Its a delicate dance at the moment.
While I was working on buying my first home my landlord dropped a bomb on me that they were not selling and moving back into their house. This required me to move 2 weeks early. And since I am not closed on my house and I had to move early I had the option of being homeless or accepting a friend's offer for me and Pili to live in her basement. The friend I was going to stay with had a daughter who got left at the alter so I have made arrangements to stay another place. So Pili and I are between homes and everything I own is in storage. Not exactly the most ideal situation, but I'm making the best of it and looking forward to my next move - to my very own home!!!
Since January of 2008 I lived in the most charming neighborhood in Sugarhouse and loved it! If I could have afforded it, I would have bought that house. I had 6 roommates during the 2 years and 7 months I lived in that house. Women who taught me to share, who loved me as a sister, who frustrated me worse than my own sister, and are now some of my dearest friends for life. I knew most the neighbors on my street. And I loved how dog friendly the area was. While the last couple weeks were the most dramatic and least enjoyable there, the house on Redondo will forever hold a place in my heart as some of the most fun, healthy, memorable days of my life.
So here I sit excited for the new babies, visiting the ones that have arrived, keeping extremely busy at work, saying goodbye to the house on Redondo, and anxiously waiting to move and tell you about my very own first home. I can't help but feel excited and nervous. And hopeful.
I didn't get the job I really wanted. I still have my same job and have more work to do. There was a trip to Kentucky for a week for work. The buyer at our site there retired and I was picked to learn her job and bring it back to Salt Lake. She had worked in her job for 37 years. 37 years!!!! Anymore people are lucky to make it 3 years in a job before leaving for more money or a better 401k. The Kentucky weather was abnormally hot. I'm so glad that the week I was there was one of the hottest they'd had on record in nearly 20 years. And then you add into that the 90% humidity and I was just insane. Air conditioning was my favorite friend that week!! Also that week I got to take a night off work and go visit my cousin Robbie III. He and his wife Kara and their 8 week old (at the time of my visit) son Robert Lee Caswell IV met for dinner. It was so nice to chat and catch up. Robbie is the next oldest cousin after me on my mom's side of the family and I miss how close we were growing up. It was so great to be around family during my work trip. It was a nice distraction from the stress of the uncomfortable weather and stressful week of work!!
My dear friends Emily and Brady had their second child, a little girl they named MaKynna. When she was about a week old and waking her mom up every 2 hours her older sister Jaylee came to spend a night with me and Pili. What an adventure! Jaylee has so much spunk and energy! That little girl has a contagious zest for life!! I found myself constantly giggling at her. One of my favorite moments was getting cereal at the grocery story and as I'm paying Jaylee is squatting and grunting and then popping up like a frog over and over again. When I asked her what she was doing she told me, "Trying to get big as you Courtney!" And I just couldn't help but giggle and give her a hug.
Speaking of babies..... My friend Staci and her husband Clay welcomed their first daughter, Kelsey Jo. And she is the most beautiful little girl! My friend Jenn will be having her 2nd boy next week. Her oldest is 12 and she's starting over with the soon to be arriving Tyler. I'm very excited to meet the little man we've talked about since last December. And the most exciting news of my summer was that my dear friend Cherisse and her husband Corey are expecting a child!!! Cherisse has been married 5 years and is finally, very excitedly, expecting their first child. This makes me so happy to see her so happy about the child that is on the way.
There was a wedding I went to for my friend Anna who holds the same title for me that I hold for her - my longest roommate and my last roommate. Anna and I lived together from May 2008 through July 2010. I loved Anna's quirky personality and how clean she is, and how inventive she would be with our roommate dinners. Anna's family was also a great part of my life. When I'd come along for their Sunday dinner I loved playing games after with her mom who never lost and gloated when she'd win. While this bothered Anna and her siblings I never cared. It was nice to have a mom around who enjoyed time with her children. I loved being invited for Christmas Day festivities and will never forget how exited her mom got when I opened my stocking she'd give me. She would make me a stocking just the same as her 3 daughters and the girls and I would exchange lotions or lip glosses to get a different flavor the other one had that we liked more. And of course my favorite thing about Anna was how much she loved Pili. For her not being a dog person, she sure never showed that to me. Pili often was taken on Anna's walks and there was never a time Anna cooked that Pili wasn't given chicken scraps. And when I was out of town Anna would tend Pili and Pili took care of her laying on her bed until Anna went to sleep and then quietly heading downstairs to my bed where Anna would find her sleeping the next morning. I wish Anna and her husband my congratulations and hope their life together is all they hope it to be.
My dad and his wife and kids have moved from Nebraska to Idaho. My dad's wife's father died a couple months ago and his house is where they are now living. I'm excited to have them so close - a 3 1/2 hour drive. They have been there a week and already came to visit me once. We went to my company party with my friends Sarah and Lakshmi -and it was such a fun evening!
And then there is my house situation. Wow. Here we go.... I was working on an approval with a bank who had a first time buyer 100% financing option, that ended up not working out and almost made me quit the buying process. Thanks to many emails from my Auntie M who was half the world away in England vacationing, I refocused and went back to the original mortgage officer I'd initially worked with. 2 days later I was pre-approved. I spent the next week in Kentucky and when I got back from Kentucky I spent the last week of July looking at houses. By the end of the week I had an offer on a condo/townhouse in the same subdivision as the one I'd originally loved so much. And Aug 4 the sellers and I stopped making counter offers and I was under contract for my new home! The last 3 weeks have been filled with home inspections, meth testing of the house, the appraisal of the home, and then underwriting. We got the ok to close 2 days ago and now we're working with the sellers for when they can sign paperwork. They haven't finished financing on their new house and their dates need to line up with mine for closing and moving. Its a delicate dance at the moment.
While I was working on buying my first home my landlord dropped a bomb on me that they were not selling and moving back into their house. This required me to move 2 weeks early. And since I am not closed on my house and I had to move early I had the option of being homeless or accepting a friend's offer for me and Pili to live in her basement. The friend I was going to stay with had a daughter who got left at the alter so I have made arrangements to stay another place. So Pili and I are between homes and everything I own is in storage. Not exactly the most ideal situation, but I'm making the best of it and looking forward to my next move - to my very own home!!!
Since January of 2008 I lived in the most charming neighborhood in Sugarhouse and loved it! If I could have afforded it, I would have bought that house. I had 6 roommates during the 2 years and 7 months I lived in that house. Women who taught me to share, who loved me as a sister, who frustrated me worse than my own sister, and are now some of my dearest friends for life. I knew most the neighbors on my street. And I loved how dog friendly the area was. While the last couple weeks were the most dramatic and least enjoyable there, the house on Redondo will forever hold a place in my heart as some of the most fun, healthy, memorable days of my life.
So here I sit excited for the new babies, visiting the ones that have arrived, keeping extremely busy at work, saying goodbye to the house on Redondo, and anxiously waiting to move and tell you about my very own first home. I can't help but feel excited and nervous. And hopeful.
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