Back Room Almost Down

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MachoMachoMan

A little coffee and a power bar and walls come down.
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MY BUDDY AND ME

It felt good to meet a new buddy today. I got a good feeling about this guy, he can lay it down. What a gangsta.

The least help ever

This is some shmuck from homedespot. We asked about some tile we saw on their webpage. He said, "you have to be stupid to buy tile online." aren't you the one selling it online?

Lost and Found

We found this painting when we took out a cabinet. Made me miss my father in law.
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Cabinets

The Mister went to town. Cabinets down! We got a head start on our big day tomorrow.
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Inspiration

Saw these while taking a walk with The Mister this morning. Would love to have something like this in my front yard.
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Home Not Sweet Home Depot

We are picking up some more tools. Amateur stuff. Nothing fancy. Every time we come here I get so frustrated though because I never get an answer to my question. Their customer service sucks! They make me feel like a moron. I wish we had a Lowe's close by!!
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Under Linoleum Lies...

The house is finally ours! We had a busy day so we didn't get to the house until the evening. We were curious to see what was under the kitchen floor. The Mister took the crowbar to the linoleum and to our surprise was the most beautiful wood floor. Maybe it's a sub floor? If it's not then the floor is a keeper and we know what color we want to stain it!
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Uneventful

We watch too way too much HGTV. We thought closing was going to be like it is on television, a big event. We got up, showered, and got dressed up because we were getting our keys today. We pictured ourselves sitting at a table signing more documents pretending to be soooooo bothered that the stack of papers was a mile high and then we would hand over a check and someone would actually hand us the keys. Yeah not so much. It was like opening a bottle of champagne and the cork not making a sound. Sigh.

GREETINGS FROM THE HOUSE STUPID MISTER

Yeah we're tight, but we'll be just fine, we've come this far.

I am the House Stupid Mister, I am even more dangerous than the Missus. because I pretend that I know something even when I don't. That gets me into trouble. Blogging isn't my thing, but I'm going to give it a go.

Last night I had a conversation with my father, he always knows what to say. He is not your typical father knows best, slacks wearing type, but more of your straight shooter with a rock for a fist and a heart of gold. It got me to thinking how blessed we are to have this opportunity. If it wasn't for our family's and friends this couldn't be possible, but most importantly, God. Things work out when you let them.

Enough sap from this tree. WE ARE CLOSING TODAY!!!!

The House Stupid Mister is on Board

Welcome House Stupid Mister!

Christmas Comes Early

We got a call today that our loan funded today. It means we close tomorrow instead of next week!!!!!!!! Closing early, almost as good as Christmas morning!

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!

The Counter Offer

After sleepless nights, and crunching numbers, and many discussions, The Mister and I decided to try and see if we could come to a meeting point with the seller. We had nothing and everything to loose. Everyone must have thought we were crazy to try but we had been looking for a long time, and if anyone knew what was out there in our price range and in the areas we liked, it was us. This was the safest neighborhood we had seen, there were excellent schools a few blocks away, and we were already spending a majority of our time in that part of town anyway. It made sense to us.

After our agent spoke to the seller's agent, he asked us to come up with a letter to accompany our counter. We wrote it off and our agent presented it. Even though we loved the house, at the end of the day, we were prepared to loose. If we lost the house, we knew it would be for good reason. We had never been steered wrong before and we knew this would be no exception. We turned in our counter April 1, 2009.

The Estimates

After talking to Rick, and before completely giving up on the house, we decided to get some real world estimates to see what it would cost to take care of all these problems. We didn't have much time left. I found three reputable companies that were willing to come and give us an estimate over the weekend to see what bringing our house up to code would cost.



Saturday we had Carlos from Try Me Electric. This guy was awesome and he reminded The Mister and I of friends from back home in San Antonio. He gave us a complete estimate to redo the entire house. One con from this company is that they charge to come out and give an estimate. We were short on time and most people we called couldn't come on such short notice over the weekend.



Then we had Jim from Schuelke Plumbing come out to do an estimate. He told us we would have to replace the plumbing in the entire house. He gave us an estimate to replace the plumbing and get it up to code.


On Sunday we had Shawn Kyles, one of the parteners from Julian Construction come out to look at our foundation. We called them because they have a great reputation when it comes to foundation work. To the foundation estimate he added the cost of grading the back yard which is the main source causing all of the foundation damage.




We have a lot to think about. Our original offer doesn't make sense after all the work that needs to be done.

The Dreaded Inspection

After calling around for we settled on a company called Prime Home Inspection. A fellow by the name of Prentice Sherman was the gentleman who showed up to do our house inspection. We scheduled a 9:00 a.m. appointment and he was there on time and ready to inspect.

The inspection went well through to the afternoon. He had warned us that it would take a while. Prentice was thorough and very detailed and since this was potentially our first home purchase, we really appreciated that. He gave us an incredible report. If you click on the link, you can see a sample report of what we got after the inspection.

The results weren't great. We had a lot of problems in that house and unfortunately they weren't just cosmetic. Among the many small problems that eventually add up to big problems, there were big things that needed immediate attention.

• Foundation work had to be done to the back room.
  
• The electricity was obsolete and therefore needed to be completely replaced.
  
• There were exposed water pipes running next to the electricity which translates to a fire hazard. The plumbing needed to be completely replaced.
  
• There was also a termite problem. Fun right?
  

Our stomachs sunk. The guy I took home from the bar, didn't look so pretty in the morning after all. The Mister and I were about to embark on a lot of heart to heart talks.

The Event

After we signed the papers, we took our niece shopping down Melrose. You know how when catastrophic events happen, people always remember where they were when they heard the
news?

It was March 20, at approximately 5:30 ish p.m. We were inside Fitzsu when the phone rang. It was Rick and he had news. I stepped outside because I didn't want to cry inside the store if we lost the house. He said something like, "So I heard back and, (a few other things and a then a long pause) they accepted your offer." Mascara running down my cheeks, trying to keep it together, I go inside so Rick can tell The Mister himself. The Mister reacts like a coma patient. I panic because The Mister is not reacting like I am. Our niece's eyes darting back and forth in concern not for us, but for the shops that are going to be closing soon.

We are in a frenzy. Do we call people? No not yet, we aren't even in escrow. Ahh screw it, we call the parents because if we loose the house they will know exactly what to say. We don't tell friends because if we loose it, we just don't want to deal.

We get to the bank before it closes. Just in time to move our money around so when we cut the deposit, we don't bounce our check. Everything is in sync. Everything is moving according to plan. We are desperately hoping and praying it continues to be a smooth ride from here on down.

Somebody Pinch Me

Tuesday, March 17th and we saw another home we loved. We quickly put in an offer and actually heard back right away. The bank was considering us along with two other offers. We needed to submit our best and final. Sound familiar?

My niece was in town for Spring Break and we had planned a full day of activities on Wednesday, so we we didn't have time to think about it. Ok, I lie, we checked our phones every thirty minutes to see if Rick had heard anything. At the end of the day we heard back. The bank went with an all cash offer.

Thursday, March 19th, Rick had two properties to show us. The first one was in Eagle Rock. Awesome location, great street, kids were walking home from school, and the property seemed nice. We couldn't get in because someone had stolen the keys. Funny how things work out. But not to worry, Rick had another property up his sleeve.

He handed me the second listing we were going to see. The house looked gorgeous. I prayed this one looked as good on the outside as it did on the inside. When I read the address out loud it rolled off my tongue with familiarity and I knew why the minute we drove up. When I stepped out of the car, I had come home. And when we walked in, I knew with certainty this one was meant for us. While the Mister looked at foundation and structure, I was planning my house warming party.

It was near the end of the business day so we put the offer in early Friday Morning. And then we waited. A process we were very familiar with.

It's Not Me, It's You

Our search was long. Some days were great and we were confident and others had us completely drained of hope. There were many times we didn't think it was going to happen and we wanted to give up and call it a day. We were only certain of three things. We knew it wasn't because we didn't have a good agent. We had the best one. We knew it wasn't because he didn't show us good properties. He showed us stellar properties. Most importantly it wasn't because we didn't have faith. We had all the faith in the world that God would make it happen when it was meant to happen for us.

I can't stress enough how unique our situation was. We were having a difficult time getting a home for three reasons. One, we were competing with all cash offers. Almost every house we lost, we lost to an investor. Two, we were also competing with other buyers who like us, had saved up for the day prices finally dropped in LA. It was a tough time to buy even in the downturn economy. Three, most of the homes in our price range were bank owned or foreclosures. In a city where you have more renters than home owners, you bet competition is going to be stiff.

Our budget was minuscule and everything in our price range was going to need work. We had to look at homes differently. We couldn't just say, we love it we'll take it. Some of the homes we loved, we couldn't afford to fix. The homes that didn't need that much work, everyone fought for. So as you can see, this wasn't your ordinary run of the mill home buying experience.

Rick was amazing at keeping us feeling confident. If our offers got rejected, he made sure to show us properties the following day. This gesture did not go unnoticed. He always went above and beyond. He made us feel like we were one of his million dollar clients. And anyone in this town who would do that for the Mister and me, is someone we will always give our business to.

Jud "The Great" Whyte

After our pre-approval expired we had to begin the search for a new lender. We didn't have time to start from scratch and shop around again. Because the market was so competitive, the minute we found a house we liked, we had to submit an offer right then and there. Taking a week or two shop around for a lender was not feasible. Rick suggested the idea of using a mortgage broker. The advantage of using a broker is that they are able to shop around to get you the best rate because they have access to hundreds of lenders. Sounded good to us. He suggested we sit down with Jud Whyte at First Capital Mortgage.

Two minutes into the interview, my first thought was, why did I not meet this man before?!?!? I had never received that much information about the lending process. I learned things that no one had ever told me. He literally mapped out how we would get from point A to B. Yes, there were diagrams involved, yes he moves at the speed of lightning, and yes he still manages to be thorough and concise. And the best part? He broke it down in simple English. Let me put it this way, I recommend anyone who is interested in buying to sit down with Jud even before getting their agent. I say this because if for example there are problems with your credit, or if there is something that would worry a lender, Jud can get you in in good shape or at least put you on a path to become more attractive to a lender. See him before you go off falling in love with a home. Trust me, it will save you a lot of grief.

The Mister and I lucked out. Between Jud and Rick, we had the best team we could have possibly asked for.

Anyone have any good/bad experience with any other mortgage brokers? Please share!