Furniture

We have places to sit!  YAY!!  Our furniture arrived Tuesday.  The desk came in the morning from the office furniture store.   And around 3:30 the Rooms to Go truck arrived with the livingroom and bedroom things.  Took the guys nearly two hours to get it all unpacked and set up.

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After all the deliverymen left, I went and got Bud.   He was not happy to go for a ride in the Jeep.  And he was not happy with the new house.  Even though I brought all his beds and toys.  He wandered through all the rooms meowing.  He spent all night telling us how not happy he was.  None of us got much sleep.  But Wednesday morning we went out onto the patio and he looked around and decided this isn’t such a bad place after all.  He has settled in and plays with his toys, naps on the furniture and climbs his tower.

Florida Welcome Wagon

Its nice to get a warm welcome to your new home. 

No, this isn’t our house.    Thank goodness!!!

We closed on Thursday.  It was a long day, starting at 9 when I went to the bank to wire the closing costs to the title company.  Then, we went and signed a-a-a-l-l-l-l the papers.  Sheesh!  I thought we had already given them plenty of samples of our signatures, but no, they needed even more.    By the time we got out of the title company it was after 1.

We took some stuff over to the house; removed the back seat from the jeep and stowed it in the garage.  Next stop, Best Buy to get a nice, big TV, sound bar and stand.  We managed to fit them in the back of the jeep, with one box poking out the back window.  I drove very carefully  back to the house and unloaded them.

Friday we got up early and went to the house, set up the PC, built the TV stand, unboxed the TV and got it set up on the stand just in time for the Verizon tech to get there to hook everything up.  He arrived shortly after 11 and finished up around 3.  We have wifi internet, cable TV and a phone.

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Today We took more stuff over to the house and I did some shopping at Petco and Target.  I got Bud the basics for the spoiled cat — a recirculating water fountain and a giant cat condo.  And for us mere humans I picked up some bedding, dishes, silverware.   While I was at the house I even ran a couple of loads of laundry.

So there you have it — the perfectly furnished house: a tv and a cat condo.

More furniture should arrive on Tuesday.

And The Answer Is …

Earlier today I called the furniture company to put a hold on our furniture delivery.  And I called the cable company to delay our hookup. 

It is 8:30 in the evening.  After a day of phone calls and emails and some heroic efforts by our realtor, we just got a call from the banker in Arizona.  And the word from the underwriters is “Yes!!! The loan has been approved!!!”

You can picture Richard and me dancing around the room with huge smiles on our faces. 

The bank and the title company will prepare all the final papers early next week and we will most likely close (crosses fingers) on Wednesday or Thursday.

Friday the 13th, the Prequel

Somehow, our pursuit of a home loan has progressed from a general frenzy of activity to a trip into the twilight zone.  I am so dumbfounded by the latest turn of events as to become speechless.  Really.  I have no idea how to describe the current situation.

Let me go back to this past Monday.  We signed a paper that is known as the Condition 2 Statement.  It says:  THE PURCHASER, SELLER AND SELLING REAL ESTATE AGENT OR THE BROKER INVOLVED IN THE SALES TRANSACTION, HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE SALES CONTRACT ARE TRUE TO THE BEST OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEF AND THAT ANY OTHER AGREEMENT ENTERED INTO BY ANY OF THE PARTIES IN CONNECTION WITH THE REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION IS PART OF, OR ATTACHED TO, THE SALES AGREEMENT.

Somehow, I had thought that our signatures on the sales contract meant that, but apparently not.  Anyway, we signed it; the sellers signed it, the realtor signed it.  And I thought our trip to the land of the bizarre was over.

Sadly, no.  The VA also apparently requires a written Agreement (with the capital A) from the CDD (Community Development District) stating that they maintain the street.  A CDD is quite common in Florida.  It is a governing body established by a builder to provide the infrastructure for a community; similar to, but not the same as a Home Owners Association.  The CDD actually levys taxes to pay for the infrastructure — the county collects the moneys and distributes them to the CDDs.   Our realtor and the Title company lady have been unable to find any document that specifically states “The CDD maintains the streets.”  They have contacted the CDD director, gotten statements from him and copies of numerous public documents and even more documents from the CDDs lawyer.   There has been an ongoing flurry of emails to and from the bank, the realtor, the Title company, and the VA.

Our frustration level has been climbing all week. We have been anticipating a closing on Friday.   I have made deposits with the water, electric and gas companies.  All utilities are set to be put in our name as of the 13th.  We have the cable company coming to the house on Monday.  We have furniture being delivered on Tuesday.  The bank is closed on Monday due to a holiday.  We really need this to be resolved.

Since I have been dealing with bank personel in South Carolina and Arizona I felt that touching base with an actual human may prove helpful.  Today I went to the local branch of the bank to see if I could get any satisfaction.   I discussed the situation with a banker.  She and I and the gal in Arizona had a conference call.  I got answers to my questions.  (Mainly, the answer was, we are dealing with the VA and this is what they insist on.)  I wasn’t thrilled with the answers, but I had a better understanding of the process and was satisfied that things will move forward, not as fast as I would like, but hopefully in time to close late Friday.

I headed home by way of WalMart.  While I was in the check out line at WalMart, I got a call from the banker in Arizona asking if I had contacted the VA.  And from there things went right into the Twilight Zone.

When she contacted the VA office they said they won’t speak with the bank. They told her that the realtor and borrower had already contacted them and gotten instructions and they were not going to explain it again.

I am still stunned.  Neither Richard nor I have had any contact with the VA about this.  I told her that.  Nor has our realtor been in contact with the VA person(s) handling our loan.

 

Charred Card

We have been busy these past few days. Lots of phone calls, emails and faxes to and from the bank and an insurance agent and the realtor. Long story short – we are closing on Friday the 13th. What could go wrong?

Today we went shopping and picked out furniture. We are getting a king size bed with matching dresser and night stands that have burled wood inlays. oooo…. pretty!! We found a nice living room set for the family room. It has a reclining love seat with built in cup holders and a niche for holding the remotes. The sofa has POWER recliners. We didn’t care all that much for the end tables and cocktail table that came with the set, so I picked out a different set that looks more casual. We also didn’t like the table lamps, and Richard spotted a really cool pair that have shades like stained glass, except that instead of glass it has translucent sliced rocks. Very attractive!! Turns out they were the most expensive lamps in the store. We fried Richard’s credit card!