Final Walk Through

We did a final walk through of the house with Rick. We still love the house and how it makes us feel when we walk in. It has great energy and it feels like it belongs to us. We took some measurements for the zillionth time today because each time we have measured, our numbers never add up. It should not be that hard to get it right darn it! Because I have OCD, The Mister knows that left to my own devices, it will take me hours so he took care of the measurements.

There was a surprise waiting for us on the kitchen counter. It was a hand written letter by the seller. It wasn't an e-mail, it wasn't typed, it was an actual letter on beautiful paper. Gone are those days. I had thought of writing a letter to the seller a while back but didn't know if it would be appropriate. But after receiving her letter, and especially after knowing how special this house was, it only seems fitting that we return the gesture. I want to assure her that we are going to do what we set out to do from the get go. We want to have modern conveniences without sacrificing the charm and character that we fell in love with.

The Lender Has a Condition

Turns out we can't get the loan unless we have the security bars taken off of the windows. We are supposed to close in 6 days but the lender won't lend us the money until the bars are taken down. Why? They are considered a fire hazard because they don't have an emergency release.

We checked to see if we could take them down ourselves so that we can get this done faster. The seller did not complain. We want to close on time so we don't mind taking care of. Closing late over security bars? Not an option.

Forms, Forms, and More Forms!

We got a call from West Coast Escrow that we needed to go and sign our loan documents today. When we get there all of a sudden Jud our broker appears and slides into the empty seat next to us. When we first met him he told us he would be there when it came time to sign our loan documents. We had completely forgotten about that so it was such a nice surprise because we had a few questions and having someone we trusted next to us answering them helped.

We must have signed a million things and it wasn't as scary as I thought. Closing date still looks like May 5th. Crossing our fingers!

The Three Amigos

Rather than bore you with the escrow process, I'm going to keep it short. Most people don't know what to expect during escrow, but we did. Remember how I said we had a great team? Well between Rick, Jud, and Jud's right hand man, Eli Pindler, there were no surprises. And I mean NONE. During our escrow process we have been fully informed every single step of the way.

I have talked about Jud and Rick plenty, but I want to talk about Eli because he was a huuuuge part of our experience. He works with Jud to make this process a smooth transition for the buyer. Anytime I had a question, and I'm not lying or exaggerating, Eli got back to me within minutes!! Responses always came in a timely manner even when I would e-mail after business hours. Some days that was just the only time I had time to catch up. Eli returned my e-mails when he should have been at home relaxing after work. I was shocked that we got so much personal attention and care. When we asked stupid questions, he was so gracious and patient with us. We can't praise him enough. He was a dream to work with.

I know I may sound like a broken record, but our team was awesome and in Los Angeles, sometimes it is hard to weed out the bad apples. I don't cut anyone breaks and I am very hard on people so when people are good to the Mister and me, we like to share. If you have any questions, or experiences you want to share, please feel free to comment or e-mail.

April 2, 2009

We heard back from the seller, and they accepted. One more time, we heard back from the seller, and they accepted!!!!!!! Happy dance! WE ARE OFFICIALLY IN ESCROW. Lord willing we close May 5th, 2009. Cinco de Mayo party at our house!!!! Ajua!