April 14, 2010

House Hunters *Update*

UGH…so a few weeks ago I posted something about the house situation and said I’d explain later. Now is later. I’ve put off writing this for so long because quite frankly it ANNOYS me. I hope you already read all your other blogs, updated Facebook, Twittered, checked your email, etc because you’re going to be here a while.

We were *this close* to closing {one week away to be precise} when we got an email from our lender telling us we needed proof of flood insurance. Flood insurance? Umm…ok, we have homeowners, is that the same? No {we are clueless if you can’t tell by now}. OK so we reluctantly got a {decent} quote for flood insurance and thought we were all set to close on the 30th. WRONG. I got a call from our lender saying that the quote is wrong because it’s for flood zone X and the house is in flood zone A. Ok, whatever…I got a new quote. WHOA! This was WAY more than the original, I’m talking would have changed our offer on the house different, but we love the house so much that we sucked it up and said continue.

*screeching halt*

Our realtor called to tell me this was NOT right. Why? Well there are several reasons. The lender is now telling us we may not qualify for our loan because the house is in a flood zone. Also, the current homeowner, bought the house 5 years ago, didn’t know the house was in a flood zone {because it wasn’t in one when she bought it, she was NEVER notified when it changed}, and has NEVER carried flood insurance. See what happened was this little natural disaster called Hurricane Katrina. Who knew it would affect Ohioans! When she bought the house in 2005 it was not in a flood zone but after Hurricane Katrina hit, FEMA redid all the flood plains and now a TEENY TINY corner of the garage {THAT IS IT} is inside the flood plain. I should add that the house is ON A HILL; it would have to rain for 40 days and 40 nights for water to come anywhere close to the house.

This news isn’t sitting well with any party involved- us, homeowner, our agent or the seller’s agent, we are all annoyed. She wants to sell {like yesterday} and we want to move in {like 2 weeks ago}. So the homeowner had to have an elevation survey done and send FEMA a LOMA {Letter of Map Amendment} application to try and get the flood plain moved to not include the house. This could take FEMA six weeks. So we are waiting.

That’s not where the fun ends boys and girls. I got a phone call from our agent yesterday stating that now our lender is having issues with the well & septic. Apparently they are to be 100 feet away from each other and according to the inspection report ours are not. Oh…country living. So again, this could affect our loan.

So…I know what you are thinking; “why don’t you just say F it and start over and look for a different house that doesn’t have all this going on?” Well, honestly, we don’t want to. We LOVE this house; it’s the PERFECT combination of what we both want. It’s out in the country {him} but close enough to the city {me}, has land {him} but not too much to be overwhelming {me}, good schools {both}, finished basement {him}, big kitchen {me}, fireplace {both}, deck {both}, 2 car attached garage {both}, wood floors throughout {both}. We want this house, we are getting this house.

Another question I’ve been asked is; “why don’t you go with a different lender?” Well that has crossed our minds and our realtors mind but the problem doesn’t lie with the lender, it’s the type of loan we have applied for. So, “why don’t you go with a different loan?” We that is an option and we are looking into that. But for now, we wait.

I’m so frustrated/upset/annoyed because we should have been in this house for over a week by now, we were supposed to move in April 3rd. We have our baby girl’s bedding and furniture at this point; I should be setting up her nursery, not living out of boxes. We have over 45 boxes packed in the condo right now. Mr. Husband’s shorts and flip flops are packed away because it was cold and we figured by the time it was warm we’d be in our house…wrong we were!

The only good thing that has come out of this is we got the price of the house lowered $10K, IF we need flood insurance the seller will pay the first year, and we got all the yard equipment {mower, spreader, and pull-behind}for free. So that’s good, I guess.

So if you could all say a prayer to the magic moving Gods and FEMA and whoever else will listen, we NEED it! I don’t know what else we can do at this point, and I think that’s the most frustrating thing of all. So…we wait.

17 comments:

  1. Wow what a process this has been. I can't even imagine. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the rest goes smoothly!

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  2. That sucks Shan, FEMA can really screw up things these days. But being a lender myself, we are required to pull a flood determination on all properties we do a mortgage on, and I pull it immediately when I get the address, so it sucks your lender didn't pull sooner or if they did didn't let you know about the flood thing sooner. But on the other hand with the well and septic thing, we have no control over those rules set for us by Fannie and Freddie guidelines. Good luck, though, it will be worth it in the end!!

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  3. Girl, if it is meant to be everything will fall into place! Praying!!

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  4. Wow thats tough, I am praying for you!

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  5. Oh no! That sounds like such a headache! I'm sorry you're having to go thru this. Hopefully fema will get a move on and it won't take so long!

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  6. oy! I am so not excited to get to the housing market.... 1.5 yrs left in NYC before I get to deal with this... but I am sending good wishes your way!!! xxxoo

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  7. Wow, that is alot of things to go wrong! I know you have got to be overly anxious being pregnant and wanting to plan! Hopefully you are in your house before you feel the need to start nesting!
    I am dealing with our flood insurance company on an issue that they screwed up with a typo and so I know what a PITA it is! I've been fighting with them for 3 months on it, ugh!

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  8. OMG that sounds like pure hell. Ill be praying for you guys!!!

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  9. Sorry about all the hurtles that you are dealing with! I hope everything gets straightened out soon! We moved while I was pregnant, poor hubby wound up having to do so much since I was put on bed rest a week after we moved in. Everything will fall into place!
    Kelly

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  10. I'm sorry!!! That all must be so overwhelming and frustrating. I'll cross my fingers for you!

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  11. Ugh that is so frustrating! I hope it all works out and SOON!

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  12. You poor thing! It's crazy!!

    www.dukeandsarah.blogspot.com

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  13. that would be SO frustrating!!
    i'm saying a little prayer for you guys right now!

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  14. First of all, I'm really sorry to hear you're going through all of this. Sometimes the house-buying process can be so complicated, confusing an frustrating!

    However, I hate to be Debbie Downer, but you absolutely do not want a house on a flood plain. It may be your perfect house, but it's not going to be in 15 years when it's 10 feet under water. :-( This was a huge deal when I was looking at houses because practically all of Rhode Island is a flood plain. We were lucky to find our house that is one of the few in the state to not have a sump pump in the basement, and I was ever so grateful a month ago when RI was under a flood state of emergency! We got two inches in our basement during the "100-year flood," but it was no where near as bad as it could have been.

    Just be careful and make sure you know the house will be safe. Flood insurance or not. I'll be saying a prayer for you.

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  15. Ughhhhhh sucko! I am so sorry! I am crossing my fingers that it goes through!!

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  16. I hope it works out for you! It was a great looking house!

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  17. I'm so sorry you're going through all this. I'm keeping y'all in my thoughts!

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