Relief

The mortgage guy (his name is Ron) actually CALLED ME today. I was at work, so he left a message. I called him back and his receptionist went to put me through just as he picked up another call... I left him a message and he called me back! This guy is good. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to call a business or company and didn't get through or no one called me back... It's very frustrating sometimes! Anyway, he was very nice, had a lot of information, was extremely patient while I scrambled to look up the information he was asking for, and answered ALL of my questions.

My friends and family have all recommended their realtors and mortgage lenders. But naturally, "I don't have his card... I have his information at home...blah, blah, blah". Thanks for the help anyways :) I am so glad that the first realtor I met turned out to be extremely nice and helpful. Not to mention, NO PRESSURE! Walking through homes with Brad feels like walking through a house with a friend/relative that happens to know a lot about real estate. I hope the rest of the "house hunting" and actual buying goes this smoothly. I've only talked to Ron once, but I am not nearly as scared about this whole ordeal as I was just yesterday. I am thanking my lucky stars that everything has gone this smoothly so far (knock on wood). I can only hope it stays this way.

I am amazed at how fast the pre-approval process is. Ron took our vital information...name, address, social security numbers, employment history, rental history... all over the phone and without so much as a pause in conversation, he had all the information he needed to know: what we would qualify for, how much interest we'd pay, and that our credit is just fine (YAY!) I was soooo relieved to know that our credit was OK and that we would qualify for a house in our price range with NO PROBLEMS. I didn't ask how much we could get. I figure it doesn't matter if we qualify for half a million dollars if we can't afford the monthly payments. I had him calculate the payments for between $160k and $175k and the payments were between $1100 and $1200 a month. SCARY! We're already paying $955, so an extra $150 to $250 isn't the end of the world. We can definitely cut back on some things. Cable TV for one, I have around $100 a month taken out of my paychecks for an ESPP, we don't need Netflix, Mike could probably do without WOW for a while, we would be saving on gas for his car, and my car gets the better gas mileage. Those things alone would make up the difference and it's not like we're "bone dry" after paying rent now. We just won't be able to nickel and dime the extra money away on soda, fast food, cigarettes, etc., etc.. We were scared to take on a $955 rent payment, and we're FINE, so I know we'll be OK with a little bigger house payment. Worst case scenario, one of us finds a second job, or we start selling plasma... or sperm ;)

I just want to shout from the rooftop, "OUR CREDIT IS GOOD!!"

A little tidbit about this post's picture; I found this photo on Brad's website. It's the "Washington" floorplan I've been raving about. I know it looks small from the front, but there's quite a bit of house behind the garage. I hope to post a lot of pictures documenting our house hunt. My camera should be back from being serviced next week :(, but I'll take the old one out with me this weekend.

Also, I posted a floorplan called "the cottage" to the "My Links" bar on the right side of the page. There's something about that plan that I love, but it definitely needs some re-working. Check it out.