At the end of March/beginning of April, I had this brilliant idea to take Memorial Day weekend off and head to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I’ve never been and I just felt this need to get out of Maine, to go away and relax for a while. My friend Nicky and I were going to book a hotel room as soon as we got our next paycheck and drive down at the end of May. I put in a request for time off (we have a 4 day weekend, but I asked for an extra two days before and after the weekend just for packing and down time after the drive home). That weekend (after I had made this decision), my parents came to visit and out of the blue said, “There’s a duplex we want to go look at it. We’re thinking about buying it and wanted to know if you wanted to buy it with us?” My folks own two houses, the one they live in now and the one that I rent with my brother (that my folks have been wanting to sell for ages), but they’re looking for some place to retire to, to be closer to the family and the amenities that they don’t really have where they are now. I was looking for someplace to call my own that was out of town, where the neighbors weren’t right on top of you, police and fire sirens weren’t an hourly occurrence and strange people didn’t walk the streets at night making so much noise that they wake you from a sound sleep.
So I held off on getting a hotel room in NC, but I kept my request for time off in, in case this fell through and I could still make those reservations. Mum & I looked at the place and thought it was cute. Built in 1984, it had been on the market since September of 2009 and sat on 1.75 acres; it had two bedrooms, kitchen, living room, bathroom and a full basement on each side and independent heat systems. It sat on a dead end with 2 other duplexes, off a camp road and was backed by a Central Maine Power right-of-way (so no one would ever be building back there – a big change from the nursing home that currently backs my house.). Mum wanted Dad to look at it and he liked it. If we bought it, I would live on one side and we’d rent the other until Mum & Dad were ready to sell their current house (which would greatly help pay the mortgage).
Mum started calling banks and kept encountering negative loan officers who said things like, “Now is a bad time to get a loan, no one is lending,” “You don’t have 20% to put down? Oh, our bank won’t even consider it,” and “You already own two houses, that won’t work to your advantage.” It was rather disappointing. But after finishing my budget one day, feeling particularly discouraged that we couldn’t come up with a 20% down payment, I started praying for the perfect bank to come to us, one that would work with us (I’m not Christian, but I’m spiritual and I believe in the power of positive thought). I kept repeating “the perfect bank will come to us at the perfect time and offer us a loan for this duplex” like it was a life saving mantra. Suddenly, an email popped into my inbox with the daily news headlines (when I say “suddenly”, I mean as soon as I saved my budget and closed the file…it was just that quick). The subject of the email was about a bank merger and expansion. I don’t believe in coincidences, everything happens for a reason. So I called my mother and told her to call this bank. They were great – the woman said things like, “Oh, now is a great time to buy a house,” “You have two houses that are paid off, that can only work to your advantage,” and “You don’t have the 20%, don’t worry, we work with our people…we’ll figure something out.” And they did! They’ve been phenomenal!
We started looking into the house & property and come to find out, it was sitting on less than an acre…but that was okay and we put in our bid.
After several days of back and forth with the owners, we were at a stalemate. They didn’t want to go any lower than their last counter and we weren’t going to go any higher than our last one. It was looking like it wasn’t going to happen…but it didn’t feel that way. It felt like the story wasn’t over and that we were supposed to get this house. But we knew that we couldn’t justify going any higher and we thanked the real estate agent for his time anyway, and said that if the owners wanted to reconsider a month or two down the road to call us. The agent told us to hang tight and he’d see what he could do. A day later, he called and said that he would drop his commission by $6,000 to ensure that we got the house for the amount that we wanted and the sellers wouldn’t have to drop their asking price any lower.
From there it was a whirlwind; sign these, meet with the bank, sign more, get the inspection, test this, check on that, send this in…now wait…and wait…and wait some more. Now all of a sudden, it’s back to hurry hurry hurry! And the closing is scheduled for next Friday. The process has only taken about a month, but it has felt like longer. And I have to say, hearing house buying stories from friends and coworkers, this process has been smooth and positive!
Now, with closing just over a week away, I’ve got to start focusing on packing; on what’s staying, what’s going and what needs to be bought new…and how I’m going to afford those things. It’s more than a little nerve wracking, to say the least! I managed to pack a box last night – whoo hoo, one box – hey, it’s a start.
Since today is raining, I thought I would take the day to go through closets and really delve into the process of what goes to the new house and what goes to Goodwill.
~:: Wish me luck! ::~
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