Under Pressure

Sorry for the pathetic lack of blogs lately. It seems that now things have started to move forward in the house department, my desire to discuss them has waned. Maybe its because it is all (well, almost all) I think about these days. And I'm tired of it already, and it is just the beginning! I mean literally tired of it. It is emotionally draining for me.

Let me explain...no, not enough time for that. Let me summarize. The prince is in the castle and is to wed the princess in little less than half an hour. The castle is guarded by... Oh sorry, that is a movie and not my life.

On Friday, I called a mortgage lender to discuss steps for financing. I gave a few pertinent details - name, SSN, 2 previous addresses, how long I have been at my last 2 jobs, the amount of money in my savings, 401k, etc. In less than half an hour, the lady had called back and told me my credit was excellent, and I was pre-approved for a loan. She emailed me a Good Faith Estimate, with an estimated payment that was just what I had figured it would be! I guess researching before hand was smart. So with that information, my agent and I were on our way to looking at houses in my now approved price range, which we did on Saturday, me and my saintly sister.

I met the agent at 1:30, and we proceeded to house #1. It was a small, garden lot, zero property house. Which means next to nothing yard. The neighborhood was immaculate since the HOA fees paid for front yard maintainence. It was built in 1990, and owned by an old lady - who was there when we walked thru her house. It was well kept, but pretty tiny. It was small, and at the higher end of my price range. So it just didnt' seem like the best value. But still an option.

House #2 was built in '82. Very affordable, but not well kept. It would have required a lot of work both inside and out. I liked the front of the house and had a nice yard. But it was out of the question.

House #3 was the same age, but in much better condition. It had a unique floorplan. Great neighborhood with lots of big, established trees. But it was fairly expensive.

House #4 wasn't really a house for sale - but it was a new construction home that has already been sold. We looked at it to see the type of house this builder builds. I liked it. It didnt' really stand out, but it seemed a good size for me, and pretty high quality. The negative was a small lot, and apartments around most of the cul-de-sac. There is one interior lot available that wouldn't back into the apartments. We called it a day, and I got home around 6pm. So exhausting, and that was just 1 day!

Since I showed some interest, the builder has hounded (well, not hounded, but definitely been persistent) my agent to talk to me. It seems they want to pour all the foundations for the remaining lots this week. He said he needs to know soon if I want it. So that is where I am now. He is giving me some prices for some of the upgrades to see if this house would be too expensive for me.

It feels too soon! I didn't want to be rushed in this decision. But I am leaning towards building. Even though I dont' want the hassles of building, and it will be several months before it would be ready. I'm sure this Old Testament amount of rain would not help the process. We'll see. I will see how I feel about it in a few days. But wouldn't it be dreamy to live somewhere where no one else has lived before? And I found out that a friend at work lives .5 miles away, so we could carpool. It would be about 25-30 minutes from work, so more than doubling my gas bill. Maybe I need to draw up a pro/con list. But I think I'm going to do it! So scary. Maybe tomorrow I will change my mind.