Wednesday, July 9, 2008

House Hunters


I have been trying to write on this topic from past 2 weeks… just could not come up with how to begin the topic…. HOUSE HUNTER. Yeah that’s the reason of me missing from action for so long. I have a new profile now House Hunter although we have closed on a house 2 weeks back and moved in so its House owner… but the process of doing it was one of a kind. As first time buyers having no clue of the terms used here, it was journey filled steep curves and narrow lanes.

Being a part of General Google… we googled for everything, google became our best source to learn and understand the market, the terms used by realtors, search properties, loan options, legal documents and every possible thing you can think of related to buying home. For weeks we just ate, talked, slept of options found on google.

Once we made ourselves familiar with terms like foreclosure home, homes on short sale, FHA approved, buying agent, credit rating, good faith estimate, HOA etc. we started the act of looking for a house. We saw all types of houses, beautiful, comfortable, BIG, small, House with red florescent and blue walls… he he, once with leaking roofs, houses which felt like Battle of Panipat took place there and our dream house… Big comfortable… with a fire place…. lots of closet space….cute patio, a nice private view very near to P’s workplace… we jumped and signed a contract for it… the very same day. So excited by the house we got our friends to place in the evening and literally trespassed the ground to show the house…. And then was the most difficult thing to do… wait… wait for the Bank to get back to us…. And we had feared not to happen happened.. bank did not approve of our contract… L So.. me and P with heavy hearts started the search again…

Our enthu was dampened by the fact that we did not get the dream house… and nothing can match that one. But we continued our search and again saw few more houses…. The ones we liked or choose were always taken… gone…under contract or the worst for senior living… he he.. at one point we almost thought that we will have to rent a place again… but thanks to internet, remax and a joint effort by of our buying agent AA and us we managed to find couple more of them which were could fit our budget and give us stuff we wanted (not in comparison with dream house). We shortlisted 2 from the list one with a pool view… I loved the view and the other with 2 car parking…P liked the later. Comparing both we decided to go with the one I like…the house with pool view… agreed on price and asked AA to draft another contract. Happily we decided to head back to our temporary weekend home… my best friends (BF) place. On our way back a 40 mins drive… we talked about the house.. the view…one thing led to another and compared the two house ‘one with view’ and the other ‘2 car parking’ by the end of the drive we were convinced that the other house is better option and so sheepishly we wrote an email to AA asking her to change the contract for the other house…. The next day we checked the house again to be sure, and then signed and submitted a new contract… and then… kept our fingers crossed….. to our surprise the wait was only few hrs and we got a call…. Saying the bank has approved our contract! Shocked by the quick response both of us were shocked by the news and felt silent… still remember my BF’s hubby saying… khush ho jao yaar… tumko ghar mil gaya! :D :D

It didn’t end there… then was the task of getting loan approved and at the rate which was promised to us.. the EMI changed every day, we were always asked to compromise this not available… that will be more expensive… our loan agent working on weekends for us… to get the best deal.. us calculating and hunting for other options… days passed, emails flew in all directions, phone calls.. uff… by the end of it we just wanted it to happen.. and then the D day came… Friday the 13th for apartment no 313 :D :D . Finally the loan was put in place not completely on our terms… but it was not a bad deal at the end.

And now we are HOUSE OWNERS and not house hunters… It does not have a fire place but I guess we can still keep it warm with our friends and family… the view is not a pool view but of woods.. its nice to listen to birds singing in the morning… and the closet space…. It has plenty room for my shoes

Welcome to OUR home!