House Update

Monday was such a crappy and fantastic day.

When Mark left for work, he woke me up to tell me he was leaving. That was about 5:00 AM - an hour and a half before my alarm goes off. Of course, I couldn't fall back asleep. No matter how long I kept my eyes closed and no matter how many deep breaths I took, I just couldn't fall asleep. [I learned about a year ago that I can normally fall asleep pretty easily if I just take some deep breaths while my eyes are closed. Who knew falling asleep was so simple?! I love it!] Since I couldn't fall back asleep, I decided to go in the family room and watch a documentary I recorded Sunday night, "The Cove". Oh man, less than five minutes into it, I was crying. Trust me, "The Cove" is one documentary EVERYONE has to see! It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2009 - and I remember watching when it won. Seriously though, WATCH IT!! And when you do watch it, make sure you have tissues with you because only a heartless, self-centered person with their head up their butt wouldn't cry. The kids woke up about the same time the documentary was over, so I made them breakfast and we sat around for a little bit.

Once the boys were wide awake and wanted to run around, the day had really begun. I eventually get online and get to work on the housing situation for us in Florida and then the mortgage broker I talked to last Friday called me. As if I wasn't stressed enough about trying to find a house to buy down there, this guy made me even more stressed. He made me feel like Mark and I shouldn't even try to buy a home. He made me feel like we were making the biggest mistake of our lives! Are you serious?! I know we aren't rolling in money, dude, but we aren't poor either! Our monthly rent here is $900, our water and electric bills together are any where from $150-$225 a month, and we never make late payments on anything! I just didn't understand why this guy was making me feel like buying a house was such a horrible idea. I had my own worries already, but this guy just made me worry even more about stuff I wasn't worried about! I was worried we wouldn't find the right house and have it in our possession in the right amount of time, finding the right mortgage/loan, about renting/selling the house in 3-4 years when it's time for us move, and stuff like that. After I got off the phone with him, I called the one realtor I have been talking to for the last week or two, and she didn't answer her phone, so I talked to some other people in the office. [The woman didn't even call me back till Tuesday afternoon! I know you're busy, lady, but you didn't return my call for over 24 hours?!] So after that miserable morning, I just sat on the couch and I cried. I cried hard. I called my mom, and while she was trying to be nice about it, she said, "Maybe you guys just shouldn't buy a house right now." I feel bad because I got snippy with her after she said that. That's not what I want to hear! We can buy a house! I knew in my mind and in my heart that we are capable of buying a house and making every payment necessary. I just knew it! After the phone call with my mom, I began crying again. Ugh. Ridiculous.

After a while of sitting around and moping and playing with the kids and getting them lunch, I got back online and asked a friend of mine in Pensacola if she could recommend a realtor because she and her husband bought a house not even a year ago down there. She told me about her realtor and said how great he is, gave me his contact information, and said that he'll find whatever it is we want real fast and he's not pushy. I gave him a call. Oh, what a breath of fresh air that phone call was! We talked for a little bit, he asked what we were looking for in a house and all that good stuff, but I couldn't tell him a price range because I wasn't sure of one since the last mortgage broker I spoke to made me feel like we weren't ready to buy a house. Since I didn't know a price range, he set me up with a mortgage broker at the mortgage company his realty company works with. He gave the mortgage broker my information, and soon after I got off the phone with him, the mortgage broker gave me a call. As if Lyle [the realtor] didn't make things better for me and calm my nerves some, Pati [the mortgage broker] made me feel like everything we're doing is perfectly right! She pulled up Mark's credit information and credit score, and she told me how excellent his credit is [all thanks to me because I'm the one who makes sure every bill is paid on time or paid off way in advance] and that we could even buy a house for a lot of money [as long as we could make the monthly payments]. I cannot even tell you how happy I was after talking to Lyle and Pati! They made me feel so much better about us wanting to buy a house! They reassured me that buying a house was more than okay for us and that it is the right thing to do!

After talking to Pati and then talking to Mark, I let Lyle know of our price range. Shortly after I got off the phone with Lyle again, I got an e-mail with a nice, long list of brand new houses in the area that are for sale. Mark and I looked through them, and we really liked them! I got back to Lyle and let him know, and we should be checking them out next week! I am so excited! Mark's excited, too! Now that everything has turned around and is in our favor, Mark's excited to go find a house to buy!

Oh, and to make things so much better, because we're looking at brand-spanking-new houses, Lyle and Pati said that if we start the process of purchasing one next week, we could own a house within the next 2-4 weeks! Since the houses are new, the VA Loan people won't drag their feet and make ridiculous "complaints" about the house, so they'll approve the loan right away. And Lyle and Pati said that we'll be able to make a great offer on a house and it probably shouldn't be turned down. They basically assured me that everything should work out great for us! I sure hope they're right! I don't want to be renting forever.