How's the House Hunt?

Well, LET ME TELL YOU!! You might want to get comfortable, cause I have a feeling this one may take a while. I wont be offended if you choose to not read the whole thing. I promise...well, maybe a little bit, but I don't hold grudges...for long.

We got bit by the house hunting bug at the beginning of the year. We got a nice tax refund. We were reminded of the wonderful tax credit for first-time home buyers, and a friend in the ward was selling her house. So we started searching for a realtor. I asked for recommendations from a community yahoo group and within an hour had received over 30 emails with realtor recs. We were a little overwhelmed, but chose a couple and met them in person at different times--although now that I think about it, having them meet each other and holding some kind of Roman gladiator-esque competition might've been a better way to go...hindsight, I tell you.

We had a little bit of a tough time deciding. We liked them both--but for very different reasons. If only we could mesh the two into one super-uber realtor we would feel like we struck real estate oil. We broke up with one and committed ourselves to the other, and have felt on multiple occasions that we made a horrible mistake--just kidding. Time and time again Curran and I have felt that we went with the best one for us. We've also learned that the relationship you have with your realtor is just like a dating relationship. On more than one occasion I have referred to us "going steady" with him, and how sneaky realtors have tried (on more than one occasion) to get us to "break up" with him. But communication is so important, and honesty, and rapport (which might be the same as communication), and values--check, check and check, my friend.

There are a few things you should know about me: I'm a girl, and as such I am entitled to be stubborn, and fickle, and indecisive (which might be the same as fickle), and I exude these traits to the max. It started out with my firm rule of not wanting to move out of the ward boundaries--yes, that same ward I was so hesitant about 9 months ago; the ward I thought I would never be able to feel part of. I didn't want to move to a new ward, and be "the new girl" again--or worse yet--be called to the nursery again since that seems to be my "hazing" upon moving into a new ward.

After exhausting those options I compromised and said I would look out of the ward boundaries...but NOT out of the stake boundaries. We had more to choose from and actually found a few we really liked. Some of our possibilities did not come to fruition (love that word) but we have one that is hanging in there. We have hit a bit of a massive road block thanks to a lender who shall remain nameless. Let's just say their name rhymes with "mytech." Said lender is made up of a bunch of CHUMPS. That's right, I said it--chumps. I will spare you all the details, but let's just say the words "loan fraud" have been thrown around to refer to what they're trying to do. Chances are this lender has tried this tactic before and been successful, otherwise, why would they attempt such a risky deal? Isn't that sad? The most frustrating part is that our hands are basically tied. There is nothing we can do (that is legal) to please them.

We went as far as to look in another city completely only to learn that it just didn't feel right--see? I can be flexible. So now, we wait. We wait to see if those jokers have a streak of integrity and take the deal before the bank forecloses on the house. We wait to see if any new listings in our price range come up. We wait to see if we get a $20,000 check in the mail. We wait to see if we win the lottery. Problem is, I STINK at waiting.