The Final Weeks

Welps, we're cleared to close.

Source

In less than two weeks, I will officially be a homeowner.

Wow.

For years, my husband and I have talked about our eventual home and what it would be like. I have to say that I'm pretty emotional about it - I'm totally going to be one of those people that cries after closing (after reattaching my hand after signing so many damn papers). Also, I will totally be one of those people who takes the house keys, drive to my new house, give it a hug, and whisper "I'm so glad you're mine; we're going to get along swimmingly."

It's been a long and stressful process, of which I'll share some details on later when life is a bit calmer (because, buying a house + full time job + todder +keeping our current residence show-ready = crazytown, which is why I've been MIA lately), but we have a few people to thank for making it loads easier than the last time we went through it:

• Our wonderful real estate agent, who has helped us through every step of the process and is, quite possibly, the most responsive person I've ever met in my life. I mean, I sent her an email the weekend before Christmas (not expecting a reply - believe me, I'm not a fan of making people work during the holidays, which is why I refuse to shop on Thanksgiving!) and she replied within an hour. She's super smart and knowledgeable, which is why we wanted her in the first place. She also was the first agent we had that didn't try to do a hard sell; in fact, she warned us against buying the first property she showed us, which won a TON of brownie points in my book as I'm not at all a fan of the hard sell. Which is probably why I hate shopping for cars.
• Our loan officer, who was referred to us by our real estate agent. We started off with the bank we worked with last time, thinking it was just the loan officer we worked with that was the problem; nope, it was actually the entire mortgage department that sucked, which was unfortunate. The new loan officer we've been working with has been tirelessly helping us through the loan process and is so proactive, which was HUGE as the last time we went through the process the bank was not at all responsive and we had no clue what was going on until the last minute - basically things got moving only after we were forced to play bad cop because the bank wasn't communicative at all. The loan process was a lot smoother this time around, and it's in huge part due to our loan officer.
• Our attorney, who was the first one to respond to our query asking for one when our offer was accepted on the house. He's been super responsive and helpful, as neither of us have ever retained an attorney before (we never had a reason to; plus, to be honest, I just don't like lawyers on principle). I've been impressed by his experience and knowledge, and how great he's been at communicating with all parties regarding the purchase.

One key theme you'll see from these pros is that they are experienced, responsive, and proactive - for first time homebuyers like ourselves, this was HUGE. Granted, we kind of went through the process previously, but part of the reason we freaked last time was because we didn't really have help. This time around, I was adamant that we have professionals on our side that could help us without us having to do all of the work (because we're busy people, ya know!). Like any home purchase, it wasn't without its hiccups, but overall this time around went a LOT smoother thanks to those three pros helping us out.

I'll try to get in a post next week, but the more likely scenario is that I'll too busy packing/toddler wrangling to get one done. Next post will likely include some variation of me hugging our new house.

:)