Loan Hell

So when I started this process, it was nearly a whim.....at the time I was dead set on buying a swanky condo in a highrise built in the 50s. Sleek, streamlined and modern, no yard to manage, no snow removal, on site laundry and pool. The one I looked at had original metal cabinets from the 50s in white, tons of light from being nearly all glass from waist to ceiling. Once I'd looked I was smitten, imagining somehow I would have the lifestyle of a jet setting swanky Rat Pack type and throw fabulous cocktail parties in my chic penthouse 5 floors above the streets of Des Moines, Iowa. Whether that was a possibility for me in my REAL world was irrelevant. I popped in to my bank, got pre-approved and somehow in between getting the paperwork and making an offer I realized I really DID want a yard. Aside from that, they didn't allow pets and I would have had a hell of a time hiding 3 cats.

So within a couple weeks I found the bungalow. Its from the same era as the apartment building I've been in the last 4 years so it wasn't surprising that it felt like home right away. A happy perk was that it was in an older neighborhood making it eligible for funding from the Neighborhood Finance Corporation, and the house still had $10,000 in forgiveable renovation funds left on it....catch being that the financing has to go through them. As a self employed chick, my challenge then became scrounging up all the papers and documentation they require. Much more tedious than a big bank application. MUCH more. But it would be worth it, right?

Nope. My credit isn't awesome (though even the underwriter couldn't explain why, with only 2 late payments at all in the entire year of 2007). Despite great financial shape, paying rent at home and my business for 4 and 2 years resepctively on time every month and letters offering solid explanations for my 2 late payments, I was shot down. After THREE weeks of being asked for additional information, letters, signatures, appeals, being told the answer would come the next day and the next day and after the weekend and so on......three weeks wasted waiting for a resounding "NO".

So while I can go back to my own bank, I have another option which has been being looked at the last 3 days and what it comes down to now is that I *should* hear today on this one (which is way less % down up front, a good thing). My take on it is this.....the call comes today, I call my apartment building manager to give notice and get busy packing and picking paint colors, lining up help to move and get this ball rolling! Closing date is March 20th. Cutting it close.

Buying a house is not a happy time, is it?

~Ang