Closing Time

The day after the low appraisal came back our lender called and told us that our loan had been denied because of Albert's brother's house that Albert still owns. They said that we would have to wait until the loan had been assumed. We were really bummed. The only thing we could do was try and get a new lender. Our realtor gave us three recommendations of mortgage brokers. I spoke to one and our realtor talked to one both conversations were unfruitful, but Albert was able to get a sympathetic ear who was convinced we were good candidates for a loan. We discovered that our problem was the way we presented the issue. After we fixed that they put it through to underwriting, which took a couple weeks longer than it was supposed to, but in the end it was approved on June 22nd with no problems although we were worried the entire time.

The new appraisal came back in the afternoon of Tuesday, June 26th for $5,000 more than the agreed upon price.  This was a little surprising, disappointing, and a relief.  Surprising because it was $21,000 more than the first appraisal and most people we spoke to in the real estate business didn't seem to think that there would be much difference between the two appraisals.  Disappointing because we were hoping to get a deal on the house, maybe pay $5,000 - $10,000 less than the agreed upon price.  We were relieved because then we wouldn't have to worry about any other negotiations and potentially losing the house. 

Also, it justified our initial offer.  While we were excited thinking that we could get an even better price on the house after the first appraisal came in, it made us feel like we were suckers agreeing to the higher price.  So with the new appraisal being even higher than the agreed upon price it made us feel better about the whole thing and our ability to put in a decent offer.

panoramic from the backyard

We had our final walk-through in the evening of Thursday, June 28th and the seller was still cleaning up and the electrician was there fixing a few things we had requested. On the morning of Friday, June 29th we closed on the house! After all the issues with the loan and having to switch lenders we still were able to close three days after the initial closing date.  

We were a little worried about Quentin acting crazy while we were signing all the papers so we found some stuff that he would like that he hadn't ever played with before and I bought some organic animal cookies from Whole Foods on the way there.  Also our realtor bought him some toys as a thank you gift so that kept him occupied.  I decided to bring the stroller so he would be contained for a little while.  He started crying towards the end and so he sat at a little table and chairs they had in the room for kids and he was fine the rest of the time.  Whew! We were worried, but every thing turned out great. 

We used a Groupon at an Asian restaurant in downtown Albuquerque for our celebratory dinner.  It was really good.  Downtown Albuquerque is a little hipster and I look forward to when the temperatures go down and we can go back and walk around all the cute shops like we used to do in DC.  Albert was so excited to go see the house that he went by himself after Quentin went to bed.  He kept saying how he wanted to take some of our stuff there, but I know he just wanted to go see it.  We switched over all the utilities this afternoon, it's the first time we will have to pay for utilities and the first time I've lived in a house since I was 17.  I feel so grown up!