We ALMOST got a house!!

Well, I haven't written too much on my blog lately because we've been in the process of buying a house. Sadly, we are not going forward with our house purchase, but at least we know quite a bit about the house-buying process. Next year, we hope to have saved even more and will be even more prepared...then we'll get a house.

Anyway, this was the perfect little house we found.



It's gorgeous. New construction. Sweet master suite. Three bedrooms, not counting the master (Adam and I were going to declare one a library and another the "room of requirement"). In a little town (Dayton) that's still close to our jobs in Harrisonburg but has a lot of spunky personality and YUMMY farmer's markets. Lots of yard. Drool-worthy kitchen. Fabulous porch.

It also had minuses: square-footage isn't much bigger than our townhouse. Gravel driveway. No sidewalk (but the builders were going to put in a sidewalk for us after closing). No fence.

Overall, though, we had negotiated a great price. The builders/sellers were lovely to work with and our realtor is a true gem. We ran into problems with the financing. We were pre-approved and everything, of course, but the loan we really wanted (a Rural Development loan) turn out to be a problem. We signed the contract on May 23rd and were supposed to close on July 15th. On June 1st, the Rural Development regulations changed. According to our lender, we were now OVERqualified for that loan now. Huh?

It turns out that my teaching salary (since it is on a semester-to-semester basis) shouldn't have been calculated into the overall picture of our finances. However, the underwriter didn't do his job (i.e. left our paperwork on his desk for two weeks). If you want to know the company we were working with, let me know and I will e-mail it to you.

Even though we calculated that we qualified, the underwriter wouldn't approve it and refused to get the information from my human resources department to verify my employment status. (I have a lot of choice language that I use when referring to *that* underwriter.) We switched lenders, but that still didn't work--mainly because we had run out of time. We did qualify for another FHA loan, but the downpayment was a little more than we wanted to pay, and we may have had to borrow money from our parents. Instead, we just decided to wait and save a little more this year and get an even better house next year.

So, I'm sad. In a spot of GOOD luck, though, we were able to stay in our current rented townhouse. Our landlords had been showing the place and had a few offers, but they heard about our loan troubles and waited to sign new tenants. When we found out that we didn't get the Rural Development loan, they told us that we could extend our lease! That was some great news....because I would have hated to either (a) be forced into the larger loan or (b) rush to find a new place to rent.

Next year, I hope to be posting pictures of our house. Until then, though, I'm happy to have a comfortable home with my husband and my dog and steady jobs. Can't ask for much more than that! :)