"Sssssssstressssss" said the snake, the sneakedy, slimedy snake
It's kind of amazing how everything seems to happen at once.
First, we find out that the $30,000 we've paid to live in our house for the last two years cannot be retreived as the vast majority of it went to interest, and the rest goes to my dad. See, the house is in my dad's name because he has the credit. The deal was that he would get us into the house, we would make all the payments, and in two years when we've established our credit we would get the house into our name and off we go! But to get the house into our name we have to BUY the house (as opposed to assuming the loan balance), which means we are no different than any other schmo who wanted to buy it with the exception that we get to buy the house at the price of dad's loan, which was $3,000 more than the asking price (to cover taxes, etc). Unfortunately for us, the house only appreciated by $3,000 over the amount of his loan and there was hardly any equity after just two years which means that we have to buy it for the cost of the appraisal which leaves us with no cash and the dark memory of a really expensive "rent" payment! To make a long story short, we have to start all over again.
Now, that's not so bad--surely we've learned from our experience and at least we are qualified to get a loan now. BUT, ours is a 2-bedroom, 1-bath house. Sure the kitchen is HUGE and we have 2 living rooms and an enormous porch, deck, a black-top drive, two nice outbuildings and 2 acres--but none of that really matters because we only have 2 bedrooms. And we want more children. And we jumped through many, many hoops to be qualified to foster and adopt.
So we made plans to put an addition on our house, something that the banker told us was a pretty sure bet. So we secured a good builder, got the building permit, and hired a guy to draw the plans. It was going to cost no more than $45,000 to add 3 bedrooms, a large bath, and an 8-foot hallway to connect it all to our existing house. Woo-hoo! Excitement ruled the day. The social worker said to call him when we broke ground and we would then become much better candidates as adoptive parents.
Then the appraisal came in and, while high for a 2-bedroom, it wasn't high enough for the bank to approve the loan for the addition. The banker told us we would be better off buying a different house with more bedrooms. Since the only loan we can get involves paying interest ONLY for at least two years (and that's because we have no more than 5% for a down payment because we spent the last two years paying off our credit cards to improve our credit rating and get out from under the iron claws of the corrupt credit card racket instead of saving for a big down payment) I decided that we would be better off in a cheaper house--preferably one with more damn bedrooms!
So now, suddenly, I'm thrust into house-hunting mode. Weird. We all love our current house and thought our plans were firm. Now, not only do we still have to get through the paperwork involved in getting the house into our name, but we now have to turn around and put it on the market, learn what it takes to sell a home without a 6%-taking real estate agent, and somehow find the time and money to make the many little improvements that vastly increase our little house's chances of getting sold.
To top it all off, there are lots of MUCH bigger and, in many cases, cheaper homes out there, but they're either in Mount Vernon--which means a two-hour round-trip commute--or in Old Towne East--which means living in a quasi-dangerous neighborhood (but up-an-coming!) right in the middle of the city. Hmmmmm.......
You know, if I really stopped to think about it, I might get pretty damned depressed. So I won't stop to think about it.
First, we find out that the $30,000 we've paid to live in our house for the last two years cannot be retreived as the vast majority of it went to interest, and the rest goes to my dad. See, the house is in my dad's name because he has the credit. The deal was that he would get us into the house, we would make all the payments, and in two years when we've established our credit we would get the house into our name and off we go! But to get the house into our name we have to BUY the house (as opposed to assuming the loan balance), which means we are no different than any other schmo who wanted to buy it with the exception that we get to buy the house at the price of dad's loan, which was $3,000 more than the asking price (to cover taxes, etc). Unfortunately for us, the house only appreciated by $3,000 over the amount of his loan and there was hardly any equity after just two years which means that we have to buy it for the cost of the appraisal which leaves us with no cash and the dark memory of a really expensive "rent" payment! To make a long story short, we have to start all over again.
Now, that's not so bad--surely we've learned from our experience and at least we are qualified to get a loan now. BUT, ours is a 2-bedroom, 1-bath house. Sure the kitchen is HUGE and we have 2 living rooms and an enormous porch, deck, a black-top drive, two nice outbuildings and 2 acres--but none of that really matters because we only have 2 bedrooms. And we want more children. And we jumped through many, many hoops to be qualified to foster and adopt.
So we made plans to put an addition on our house, something that the banker told us was a pretty sure bet. So we secured a good builder, got the building permit, and hired a guy to draw the plans. It was going to cost no more than $45,000 to add 3 bedrooms, a large bath, and an 8-foot hallway to connect it all to our existing house. Woo-hoo! Excitement ruled the day. The social worker said to call him when we broke ground and we would then become much better candidates as adoptive parents.
Then the appraisal came in and, while high for a 2-bedroom, it wasn't high enough for the bank to approve the loan for the addition. The banker told us we would be better off buying a different house with more bedrooms. Since the only loan we can get involves paying interest ONLY for at least two years (and that's because we have no more than 5% for a down payment because we spent the last two years paying off our credit cards to improve our credit rating and get out from under the iron claws of the corrupt credit card racket instead of saving for a big down payment) I decided that we would be better off in a cheaper house--preferably one with more damn bedrooms!
So now, suddenly, I'm thrust into house-hunting mode. Weird. We all love our current house and thought our plans were firm. Now, not only do we still have to get through the paperwork involved in getting the house into our name, but we now have to turn around and put it on the market, learn what it takes to sell a home without a 6%-taking real estate agent, and somehow find the time and money to make the many little improvements that vastly increase our little house's chances of getting sold.
To top it all off, there are lots of MUCH bigger and, in many cases, cheaper homes out there, but they're either in Mount Vernon--which means a two-hour round-trip commute--or in Old Towne East--which means living in a quasi-dangerous neighborhood (but up-an-coming!) right in the middle of the city. Hmmmmm.......
You know, if I really stopped to think about it, I might get pretty damned depressed. So I won't stop to think about it.
posted by lulu | 6:10 AM
1 Comments:
Nothing is simple, eh? Property is theft.
This really sounds more like 2-sixpack conversation, but, long story short, there might be a big old funky house out there with your name on it. Let's be neighbors! In Nova Scotia!
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