Step 6 - Contract Deadline

Once we got the written approval from the bank, we had several timelines to meet. We had 7 days to get the Seller's Disclosures - which are where the seller tells you if they are aware that anything is wrong with the house. I had to call and remind my agent to get those to me and it came on the very last day stating they knew nothing was wrong with the house.

Then we had 10 days to get a home inspection. My realtor gave me a list of a few home inspectors in the area, but I also asked a couple people for references. I found this really great company through my co-worker. I called and the owner walked me through the whole process. Just a couple days later he had someone at the house. I asked my dad to come with me to meet the inspector so he could make sure everything was checked properly. There were a few surprises by nothing major, which was great!

Then we had 14 days to finish the financing. Through this whole process I have been working with a mortgage broker, who shops around to find you the best deal. I had kept her updated throughout the process, but once the offer was accepted I felt like we were talking at least twice a day. We were emailing paperwork back and forth. It was crazy. I got approval but the process continued up until the day of signing.

The bank gave us a deadline to close by January 31. We decided to close on the 27th just to be sure everything went through. Although, nothing went as planned.

Monday, last week, we had all the paperwork done and were waiting for a final approval from the lender. I called to see if we could close early on Wednesday and she thought it was possible. On Wednesday morning we had the closing scheduled with the title company at 1pm. At 10am one piece of the paperwork had not cleared the IRS and the mortgage broker realized she had put the wrong address on it. She said we would have to delay the closing. However she called back around 2pm and said everything had cleared and that the paperwork was being sent to the title company. Jeff and I showed up at the title company at 4pm...still waiting for the paperwork to come through. Well, it finally did but then (halfway through signing the HUGE stack of paperwork) I realized all the paperwork was predated for the 27th. The title agent told me we had to do this all over again the next morning...SERIOUSLY?????

Well, Thursday morning, we signed all the paperwork and gave them the check for the down payment. Friday the deed was going to record and we would get the keys. Friday afternoon...no keys. The sellers didn't sign the paperwork in time. I was so upset. Our agent had to call and get the sellers permission for us to get the keys, which they did and we were able to start moving in.

As of today, the sellers sent in copies of the paperwork instead of the originals so the house is still not in our names...maybe tomorrow.