Paperwork

I think I may, may have found a bureaucratic process that is actually more complicated than applying for a UK student visa.  The major difference with getting a mortgage is there are other people around to help me through the process.  Thank God. 

With the visa, I was kind of flying solo, getting only a little guidance from the home office whom I felt, like me, were making it up as they went along.  The process of buying a house feels similar.  Changing regulations and policies make it so complicated, you need a realtors license to muddle though.  But, I have kind of enjoyed the process and jumping into homeownership with both feet.  It has seemed easy, mostly because I kind of bought a house by accident, little believing that I could afford one I would actually like. I kind of assumed that I wouldn't and believed the whole looking process was futile and wouldn't go any further than 'ooh, this is nice...and expensive.'
But, it wasn't futile, and before I knew it I was 'signing my life away' on an official offer.  That involved way more than I thought it would, including signing about 30 pages of contract. 
Then all was accepted and happy and I found myself an inspector and we hovered over him as he checked all of the major organ systems of the house.  Now I know 10% more about houses than I did before, which means I know 10% about houses.  I found the inspection pretty scary because it was that time when I realized just how much can go wrong in a house.  Renting is great, something breaks and someone else fixes it.  Oh, but owning.  When my 14 year old water heater kicks the bucket, it's all on me.  Then it was more signing, calling a contractor, and waiting to see if the sellers would adhere to our wild demands. 
In the midst of that I was shopping for interest rates and sorting out homeowners insurance, and getting overly excited about organizing my stuff and deciding what color I want to paint the living room.  Since then I've locked in my rate, signed about 60 more papers, and figured out that I can't at the moment afford solar panels, but I definitly want them. 
The mortgage application process is absolutely crazy, and after I submitted every possible piece of official paperwork I had, they asked for more.  Mostly, they wanted an explaination about my address and job situations which are both a bit complicated by school and that fractious 12 month gap in income.  They asked me about specific bank deposits which basically I couldn't remember.  So I had to call the bank and get a copy of the checks I deposited to justify a $200 deposit.  What silliness.  I guess I've discovered that thanks to banks loaning to people who didn't realize what mortgage payments meant, I have to account for every penny I have.  And it just irritated me, because I was under the impression that what I did with my money wasn't anyones business.  Oh well, now that's done I hope.   
Things are calmed down now and it's just a matter of waiting for my settlement date which sounds very serious.  Mostly because I need a lawyer.  And a pen.  I think the signing isn't finished, and I hope that these papers aren't compared for accuracy because I think that my signature varies quite a bit from page to page. 
I'm very grateful other people are telling me what to do in this process, I'd be lost otherwise.  And even thought this one entails quite a bit more money, the visa process made me way more nervous. 
Now back to shopping for veggie seedlings, rugs, and cleaning supplies. 

Comments

Unknown said…
congratulations on your new house.. :-)

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