So the day came and I have spent my first night in my new house. I am so sore and I took a 2 hour nap today which is really unusual for me. What a 24 hours I’ve had!
It all started on Friday with finishing up the packing. My friends Rachel and Adry came over with my sister Anna and we got the kitchen and final clothes boxed up. It was more work than I would have expected and you wouldn’t believe how much stuff I have! Kind of shocking! I guess when you think about it I have all the stuff for a home and that adds up.
Exhausted I went to bed Friday kind of dreading the next day and the big move. I was in a lot of pain and so worn out but I was determined to not show it at all. I put on a smile and got the U-haul truck. Anna and I started loading and then one person showed and then another, and one more. Before you know it there were a dozen or so people!
To say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement. I was truly touched that so many people love me enough to help me move (something I have come to understand is the greatest example of friendship). There were even 3 or 4 people that I didn’t even know from my old ward and friends of friends. I figure you have to be an extra special person to help someone you don’t know move!
With so many people we finished the loading and unloading in like 2 hours! I was blown away. I wish I had taken photos of everyone who came but it was just too nuts. We got home in enough time for my sister, cousin and I to start unpacking. Believe it or not today I finished all the kitchen, most of the living room, and a lot of clothes. When I saw all those boxes I never thought they’d be emptied as fast as they have been.
Take a look at all the boxes!
Last night I wearily laid down in my house. I felt overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by all the love showed me. Overwhelmed by the months of work and anxiety. Months of frustration, tears and excitement. It will certainly go down as a landmark occasion of my life and it felt SO good! I feel blessed and I LOVE MY HOUSE! It was super hard and I’m not going to claim to have handled everything in the best way but I did what I could and am grateful for the learning experience. It was a huge test and I think me and my friends have passed. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
The big day has finally come! Today I closed on the house. Halleluiah! I met the builder and my realtor who I have both come to know quite well over these last 6 months at the title company and was presented with a myriad of documents to sign and initial (all with my full name including initial which I kept forgetting)
Me, my builder Dave and realtor GregSo much to sign!
I was very grateful to my mortgage brokers who couldn’t make it to the signing but they did a great job at preparing me for the process. It was through Marc and Christopher at City Wide Home Loans. They were wonderful. Marc actually explained every fee and the entire closing process to me twice so that I understood what was happening (I had gone over it once and then I called my Uncle Tom and he had all these questions so I called Marc back and he went through it all over again. So nice). I highly recommend them if you live in Utah and are purchasing a home.
They also got me a great rate of 3.25 with an FHA loan. I have to pay the mortgage insurance but we decided as a long term investment getting the lower rate was a better plan as the insurance is just for the first 5 years. (that was a drama-filled process!). I’m not going to tell you I understood everything that I signed but pretty close. Integrated Title Services was also good about explaining each document and keeping the process from feeling any more overwhelming than it already did.
So after signing my name about 30 times I was finished. It is done! I’m a homeowner! Finally. Halleluiah. Hurray. Whatever positive exclamation you can come up with! Yes! I am SO relieved and So excited. Mainly I just feel exhausted. A little like I did at the end of my mission, just spent but so thrilled to be spent. I did it!
My realtor said I was one of his most excited clients. This amazed me because I thought I was pretty subdued for me. What amazes me is how someone could not be excited? You are buying a house for goodness sakes. If you can’t be excited for that what can you be excited for?
Not to be a downer but after my signing I went and visited my Grandma R in a care center. She looked pretty good and is recovering from her surgery and pneumonia. My Grandma W is also in the hospital with heart failure and I’m very concerned about her. She is super special to me. I wish I could be there to help her through this and will get out there as soon as I can. Please send out a prayer for both my Grandma’s that they will be strengthened if it is God’s will to do so.
Some of you that don’t follow me on facebook may be curious to know where my house is at. Unfortunately I don’t have great news. The house is done and gorgeous but I can’t go through closing until the FHA on the complex gets approved. I’m not going to hear anything until Tuesday because of the Monday holiday. We have no idea if we will even hear anything then. I think I am going to go crazy!
To make matters worse we could go through all of this and get denied for the myriad of reasons FHA has. I’m trying to not think about that because it is highly unlikely but still possible and with so much time to stew on things the mind reels. Yesterday I caused myself to have a mini-panic attack trying to decide between keeping with the FHA loan or abandoning it and going conventional. In the end, I decided to stick with what I have and not second guess myself.
So now it is just waiting. The house is done. It’s sitting there and I’m waiting.
In the meantime I’m trying to curtail my anxiety and fears as best I can. Mostly I’m trying to distract myself from the boxes and the continually rescheduled moves and the looming loan and closure and some moments I do better than others. A lot of the day my brain feels like it is going to explode. Like I’m in a big vice and it gets tighter and tighter. I’m left wondering what I can do and the answer is nothing and that makes things tighter and tighter.
So all there is to do is wait and sigh and try to distract myself. I wish I could explain it better but the attempt feels totally futile. I’m not stressed out, I’m not even anxious. You know that feeling when you are just about to throw up, like your insides are going to pop outside of you? That’s how I feel all the time. I wish I could help it. I wish I could make it go away. I wish I could grow up and deal with things better. Sorry I’m really trying.
I am trying to make things nice for my tenants by ordering a POD to be delivered at the house on Monday so they can do part of the move on Monday if they wish. It’s the least I can do with all they have put up with.
Today I did the walk through inspection of my house. We went from room to room with blue tape and marked any dings, nicks or spots. No major problems just little things here and there. So basically everything is ready for closing except for the FHA renewal which everything hinges on. The entire complex has to be approved and I guess my builder had to overnight them additional information on Friday.
Once the FHA case # is posted online it can take 48 to 72 hours for the closing to get done. The builder is hoping to hear back from FHA by Thursday or Friday. This means I probably won’t have a move in this Saturday like I was hoping but we will see. Maybe I will get lucky and things will move right along? (Goodness knows I could use a little luck and especially my poor roommate. What a month she has had!). It took them 10 days to give us an initial response so hopefully the correction (they had listed 107 units instead of 108) won’t take that long. We’ll see!
Nothing we can do but just wait and go crazy (patience has never been my strength)…Sigh
I did some video of my house so that my family and friends could see what it looks like. I think it is very pretty! I know it will all be worth it but I can tell you this- I am not moving for a LONG time!!!!!
Main floor
Top Floor 1
Top Floor 2
Basement Apartment
Please everyone say a prayer that FHA will come through and I will be able to close soon. Thank you! I’m so excited for my new house. I think the colors and the choices turned out very nicely. I’m really proud of how it turned out.
So they finally came! The countertops were installed yesterday. So excited! I think the townhouse looks great. The tenants are looking at the basement apartment today and I think they will love it. It’s a small apartment but very classy. I think they will love it and they’ve been so great to work with that I’m looking forward to the next year!
I can’t wait to move and get in my house. One step closer with the countertops! Wahoo! Tomorrow I am going to my new ward so that should be exciting. It’s been a hard process since I started in August and I am so ready for it all to be over and done.
Now it is just the final steps, appliance installs, fixtures, carpet etc. Then there will the loans and FHA to finish. Can’t wait!
kitchen countertops in all their gloryFinally here!Basement countertops!Master bathroom countertop
When I was on my mission my president told me to write a 30 page paper on patience. (I’m not kidding). Clearly I had to learn a lot about being patient, especially with my companions. I still have it in storage and it is probably a pretty good paper. The one thing I remember is that patience is one of the highest forms of godliness, right up there with charity and forgiveness.
No wonder it’s so hard! No news today about the install of the cabinets which makes me think it won’t be done this week and then there is no way the house will be done the 31st. Everything then is delayed but I don’t know for sure because nobody is returning my calls or texts about it. The waiting to hear news, waiting to make plans, making plans but having back ups, is exhausting!
Plus, I feel doubly bad because my tenants also have to wait before they can get in their house but luckily they have been so nice and understanding. It’s just hard for all of us to be patient. Plus, it’s not just being patient for a house but a whole new life and experience. Also, I still am nervous about the loan and hope nothing goes wrong. The longer we wait the longer I have to stew over that.
I think if I could just get an install date on the cabinets I would feel much better about my timeline but as it is I am left with nothing but hopes that somehow they will pull it off and my move can go as planned. Each day I don’t hear back the hope grows smaller and I grow more anxious.
I’m SO ready for all of this to be over and to have my house and life back. It’s so hard to not know what’s going on in your house and to have things in other people’s hands and to be waiting on them. Makes me want to go install the cabinets but that’s probably not a good idea!
Anyway, the waiting is making me crazy. The mess is making me crazy! The not knowing is making me crazy
I have exciting news! I’ve decided to get a roommate for the 3rd bedroom of my house. This will probably come as a big surprise to some of my friends and family who have heard me defend the lifestyle of living alone. I am as surprised by it as anyone else. What can I say it just felt like the right thing to do. It’s going to be an adjustment but I’m looking forward to something new and making new friends.
Financially its a no brainer. I will be making more money on tenants than I am currently spending on rent and I will end up with more square footage and nicer space even with the space allocated for tenants. I will have an office and a huge master suite so there should be tons of privacy. Sharing a kitchen might be challenging at first, but I’m up for a challenge.
All 3 of my tenants I found via craigslist (something I swore I’d never do again) and I checked references (the girl who is rooming with me goes to my old ward and knows a lot of the same people I know. Small world). You never know with things like this but taking risk is part of life. I feel as confident as is possible that they will be awesome tenants and it will be a great thing for me. Regardless I know its what Heavenly Father wants me to do and that is what is most important. I am sure it
is His will. I can’t wait to see why He wants me to do this and the blessings that unfold.
Life is certainly full of twists and turns. So, they also announced that my house will be done 12-31-12. What a fun New Years present! I’m going to give my notice on Monday at my current place just to give a little more leeway if something goes wrong (like a blizzard comes in or the appraisal gets delayed. Whatever). This means my move in date will probably be around the 5th. Get ready friends to help me move! (Thanks in advance!)
Other news…I’m not going home for Christmas this year. This is the first time in my adult life except for my mission and I really went back and forth over the decision but talking with my Dad today confirmed it will be best for me to stay here and get ready for the move. I just know the anxiety of travel combined with moving will be too much. (I hope my family knows how truly agonizing the decision was for me. I felt really sad and even a little guilty not coming. Hard to explain but true). Plus, saving money before closing never hurts and my parents are coming out the next week anyway so it would really only be for the day.
It does make me a little sad to know I am 31 and spending Christmas alone…I don’t think that is anyone’s ideal but it is what it is. I’m certainly going to be less lonely come the beginning of the year so no complaining there! God has His own timing for my life and I just have to keep faith. He knows me and He has certainly been guiding me as I’ve gone through this housing and subsequent tenant search, I have to believe he will guide me in ALL parts of my life.
The Christmas season isn’t going to be that different. I just have a little bitty tree (the tree I got from my mission) instead of my large memory tree (still doing 2012 memory ornaments).
My little Christmas tree and twinkle lights. Keeping things simple this year!
I am also making this the season of the Messiah Sing-In. Always a tradition for me since I was a little girl but this year I am going to three! Nothing like it. Makes me emotional every time I hear it. I think of my mission when I had some deep lonely times and the music always made me feel at home. I listened to it year-round.
Next week I am having the 2nd Annual Christmas Swimfest, which I am excited about. This is something I invented last year to give back to my swimming family. We do a solid workout set and than a bunch of goofy relays like exchanging t-shirts after a lap or eating a saltine cracker in-between laps (its really hard!).
I’m going to try and think of some holiday themed relays and already have some (nutcracker relay, back stroke with foot out of water like a ballerina). If you have any ideas let me know. I debated about doing the Swimfest this year because of the move and everything but I’m glad I decided to do it. It’s really the least I can do and after doing 3 of them already it’s not much work. Getting the word out is probably the hardest part, so if you are in the area come out- Gene Fullmer pool 10 am.
I am also going to Christmas Carol on the 18th with my best friend Emily and her husband. Hurray! This is always a highlight of the holidays for me. I love the message of redemption in the story of Scrooge and that nobody is a lost cause to Jesus.
So, as you can see I will have plenty to keep me busy (and there’s more I could listen, let alone packing up my apartment!). Still, I’m a little concerned with Christmas Day itself. What can I do on that day to make it not seem lonely but happy and full of a spirit of giving to others? (I am doing a sub-4-santa type project but that will be done this Saturday, not Christmas Day). I’ve thought about going to a midnight mass at Cathedral of the Madeline. I’ve always wanted to do that but never been able to step away from family. It could be a neat community experience.
What would you do if you had Christmas alone? How would you make it special? I’d be especially curious for those who have spent Christmas alone and what they have done to ensure it wasn’t a big pity party. (Oh and I just want to clarify that I am not staying at home as some kind of revenge to my family. So many of the posts I read online were of that vein. As chaotic as they can sometimes be, I’m actually sad to be away from my family at Christmas).
Please forgive for this somewhat rambling post. Lots of news to catch you up on. (Oh also next week I am going to a speed dating activity in Salt Lake. Wish me luck!)
Oh and I also want to see Les Miserables on Christmas Day if anyone wants to come with!
Last night I wearily laid down in my house. I felt overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by all the love showed me. Overwhelmed by the months of work and anxiety. Months of frustration, tears and excitement. It will certainly go down as a landmark occasion of my life and it felt SO good! I feel blessed and I LOVE MY HOUSE! It was super hard and I’m not going to claim to have handled everything in the best way but I did what I could and am grateful for the learning experience. It was a huge test and I think me and my friends have passed. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Rachel's Musings 