I acquiesce...

Ok, let me start this by fully admitting that I have committed the cardinal sin of blogging: I started this blog, put up a couple posts and then let it lie dormant for, well, a whole month. A lifetime in blogland. I know, I did it, now let's get past it.

For the record, I had my reasons, and they were good ones. I started this blog to entertain you with the adventures of new homeownership... But three couple weeks ago I had the rug pulled out from under me. The lovely bank (who will remain nameless until I have keys in my hands) that holds the first loan on the property changed their minds. Yep, changed their minds. After signing a contract with me and accepting my offer, they said, "If you don't close by Monday, we're foreclosing." This was on Wednesday. Needless to say, I proceeded to crawl under a rock and feel sad about my bad fortune and another summer NOT living downtown. Let's just say, things have changed. Here's a brief re-cap of the events of the last month in Discoballand.

1. We find out there is a SMUD lien on the property for $5k. SMUD will not negotiate the amount, take payments or anything of the like. It must be paid upon closing.
2. I offer to pay $1500 if Bank 1 pays $3500. (God forbid the schmuck who took out the loan actually pay for it.)
3. Bank 1 takes approximately 3 weeks to get back to me, within which time I find out that under the terms of an FHA loan, I am not allowed to pay back any of the SMUD lien. An interesting rule (to put it nicely), if you ask me.
4. This is the point at which Bank 1 tells me that if I don't close the loan in 4 days, they are foreclosing. Now, call me a pessimist, but the idea was floating around that the bank had a cash offer, no strings, waiting to buy the place on the courthouse steps. This hasn't been confirmed, but the events of the following week lead me to believe it's true.
5. I get really sad, then really mad, then really really mad, about this crappy treatment and the fact that some jerk with cash can blow my deal out of the water. I'm preeeetty sure that schmuck with cash has no plans to actually live in my little shack, but rather improve it to livable conditions and rent it out. I resign myself to no longer looking for a place to buy (did I forget to mention that even if I did find another place, I am now ineligible for Uncle Sam's generous first time homebuyer tax credit? Oh yeah, that's important, too. Thanks to Bank 1 taking upwards of 4 months to make decisions, I'm SOL.)
6. I test out the ride (on our bikes) from Rancho Cordova to downtown Sac. Hey, an hour and a half isn't THAT long, right? I can totally stay in Bordova for the summer. 100+ weather and an hour and a half to get to the beers, no problemo.
7. My Monday deadline to close the loan comes and goes.
8. Wednesday rolls around and I get a call from my wonderful Realtor, who was "giving me time to think about what I want to do." Why the heck is he calling me??? It goes a little bit like this:
Wonderful Realtor: "Are you sitting down"
Me: "Umm, why?"
Wonderful Realtor: "The other realtor called. Bank 1 changed their minds and they are willing to pay the entire SMUD lien and give you two more months to close."
Me: "Umm, what?"
Realtor: "You heard me right."
Me: "I think I might have a heart attack at 27."
Apparently that cash offer did not show up on the courthouse steps. Too bad for Bank 1, tough luck.
9. Here we are. Appraisal, done. Inspection, done. Underwriting, working on it. As of now, it looks like next week or the week after I might be signing papers and getting keys to my new little shack. Now, I know that a lot can happen between now and next week, but all signs point to go.

So, now I am getting back to this blog and looking forward to keeping you posted on the antics of the weeks and months to come. I promise I won't wait a month to post again. Kisses.