I didn't get the house :(

For some reason I just KNEW this was going to be the one. Well, on Tuesday morning my agent sent me an email letting me know that the bank went with another buyer. I was devasted, i won't lie. I cried and cried. Yesterday was my angry and pouty day. Today I put my big girl panties back on and haven't looked back....

Still waiting....

Still waiting to hear back on my offer on the new place. I spoke with agent# 4 tonight and she said she called the agent and was told there may be an answer on Monday.

I've not given up hope. I can't wait to hear "offer accepted".

It will be so excited to finally spend a little money buying home necessities. I need a sofa, bedroom furniture for my little one, plates, utensils, a vacuum, and a dinette table and chairs. This is my immediate need and i'm hoping I can get all this for 2k or less. If not then something will have to wait because I don't want to spend more money than that right now. I will also need to likely spend about $500 painting the living room and the 2 bedrooms.

I just can't wait to get this going. I am really praying for my house yall. Watch out there now!!!!

My prayers have been answered....well soon as in tomorrow!

I don't have time to get into right now but tonight I found our dream home. I LOVE IT!!!!!! It's been on the market 3 days has everything i'm looking for. I just know this is it, the home i've been believing and praying for. A big plus is that its bank owned so when we put in my offer tomorrow morning I will have an answer within 36 hours. I will post back with my acceptance info in the next few days. I have claimed this house, I know this one is mine.

Yep, still waiting

Nothing new to report and even if there were i'm to sleepy to type it. I must admit i'm a bit frustrated. I want my home....NOW. What is taking the bank sooooo long??!?!?!? It's been almost 30 days now since I put the offer in on this place.

Blessings upon blessings

I feel my blessing coming. I just feel it. Can't explain it but I do. God is coming through for me and it's all him and totally beyond my experience or control.

So incredibly awesome he is!!!!!

Going to look at another property tonight. Hope it's a good one!

I can just cry right now

I think i've been abandoned by my 3rd agent. When I called her phone today and yesterday I get a message that says "the person you are trying to reach is not accepting calls at this time". Also, I haven't heard from her since Monday. I sent her an email a few days ago giving her 3 listings and asked if she could look into them for me. Apparently not because I never heard back on that PLUS today we were supposed to have an answer back from the listing agent on the offer we put in two weeks ago.

I'm not sure what to do at this point. My heart is heavy and I just feel alone and kind of depressed....

Still waiting

Hello readers (?),

It's been about a week since I put in my offer for the short sale property. The waiting is nerve wracking. Just wanted to update my blog to let any who is reading know that i haven't received an answer yet.

Still hopeful and praying....

So I checked my Equifax report today

I got my fico from Equifax today because I wanted to see where I was. Equifax was the lowest of my 3 credit reports so I was pretty anxious to see how my credit has changed since May which is when I officially started my homeowner journey.

As of May my Equifax was 603 (the other two were mid to high 600's) and thats horrendous I know. The good news is that as of today my fico is 620. This means that in 2 months i've raised my score 17 points. Yay me! This is wonderful news because i'm hoping this means my other two scores have gone up as well. Remember that with an FHA loan they typically use your middle score. Well, kind of.

There is another report they use in the mortgage industry which i've forgotten the name of. I will update and advise on my next entry. Anyway, this special report had me at a 616 score as of May so i figured it would be no problem to get a few extra points to raise me to 620 to get my loan. So i said all this to say that if my lowest score went up 17 points then i'd have to assume that the mortgage report definitely should be past 616 as well.

Tomorrow I am going to see 2 more fha properties so i'm pretty excited about that. Also next week we should know if I my offer has been accepted.

On the verge of "maybe"

My agent called today and let me know that the offer I put in has a 50% chance of being approved. There is only 1 other offer in and they are asking for closing costs whereas I am not. By the end of next week I should have an answer. In the meantime my agent has two more places to show me so we are going out Sunday afternoon to take a look.

If I don't seem excited about my offer it's because i'm really really trying to rein in my emotions and not get attached to any place I put in an offer for.

Still praying and hoping for the best....

So I put in an offer

I put an offer in on the place I revisited over the weekend. My offer was for the amount they are asking for plus no closing cost assistance. I had to do it because its so competitive around here, maybe by me not asking for closing costs it will give me an edge.

In any case, it's a short sale so who knows if and when I will get an answer on this. In the meantime I will definitely keep on looking.

One of my credit cards was lowered

My Chase cc limit was lowered. I received a letter in the mail today letting me know (Yay, thanks Chase! *sarcasm*). How is this going affect my credit score?? All three of my credit cards are at a zero balance but still i'm pretty scared. I am praying that this doesn't screw me up.

In other news, my agent didn't get back to me today when we agreed that we'd be putting in an offer today. I am starting to really be over this whole process. Is it worth it?

Went out again today

We viewed a new property plus one that i'd looked at last week.

The first place was uhhhh.....interesting. The front door was messed up, it stunk inside, flies everywhere. You can tell it would have been a nice place to live but apparently the jokers that used to be there was acting ignant before they left. I can't see myself and my little one staying there. On to the next!


The next place was one that I liked but was on the fence about. This time it was clear that it's somewhere I can see us living. 1100 sq, upstairs/downstairs, 2br, computer nook (which I would make into a mud room), 1 1/2 ba, attached garage w/ washer and dryer hookups and a small outdoor patio area which was nice because it was tiled which I like. There are a few minor things it needs but overall I can definitely see it as our first home. This home is a short sale which means we may not hear anything for a while.

We are putting in an offer on Monday - Don't worry, I am not getting my hopes up. I've asked my realtor to keep her eyes open for new listings so hopefully in the next couple of weeks we can look at some other places.

Going out looking again tomorrow

I'm going out tomorrow looking again. My agent and i are looking at one new place and re-visiting a townhome we saw last weekend. It's a two br/two ba 1050 sq end unit. It has a patio, upstairs/downstairs/attached garage and laundry hookups. This place will require some fixing up but i'm thinking that it may work and it doesn't hurt to put in an offer since the price is right.

I hope tomorrow goes well...

Rude awakening

I didn't get the house :( My offer was DENIED and another one was accepted.

I spoke to an associate who started home shopping about 2 or 3 months before I did. She just got her offer accepted for a home after making offers on 18 different properties. Did you hear me? I said 18 offers were rejected before she finally got her first yes.

This was totally not what I was expecting. I was sure this home would be mine, all I had to do was make an offer right? Sigh. What was I thinking.

When I found out I lost the house I went into the bathroom at my job and boo hoo'd for about 10 minutes. I'm over it now and learned a very valuable lesson in the home buying game which is "Do not get your heart set on any place you find".

I will keep looking and I guess just start putting in offers all over the place. I didn't expect this at all......

I put in an offer over the weekend

Yesterday I found exactly what i was looking for:

3br (the master is huge and the others are sizeable as well)
1 1/2 ba (the main bathroom has jack and jill sinks)
attached garage (2 car)
laundry room
tons of storage
small townhome community
low hoa
new carpet
fresh paint

*perfect price*

Exactly what i've been praying for.

I am a nervous wreck. I mean, I've prayed for my home and I know that realistically either I get it or I don't but this waiting is tough. I've claimed my home in Jesus name and i'm really hoping this is it. My agent advised the listing agent has already gotten offers but none of them were accepted because the bank wants full price plus doesn't want to pay closing costs. I put in full price and asked for zero help with closing costs.

I will get an answer tomorrow.

Tomorrow's the day!

Well, I just confirmed w/my agent that she has four places lined up for me to see tomorrow that are FHA. Two of the units that we had on the list already have about 10 offers each so for this weekend we are down to four.

I am praying that at least one of the townhomes gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling because i'm ready to buy!

Will upload pics this weekend if any of them pan out :)

Please keep my little family in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow.

Count Down to Saturday

I'm so excited!!! And I just can't hide it!!!!

It's almost Saturday, hurray!!! My agent sent me an email this afternoon letting me know that of the 13 properties I asked her to look into, 6 of them are FHA, 2 are not (awwww) and 5 she is still waiting for status. This means that at the least I will hopefully get to look at 6 places that i've already browsed on the internet.

In other news I have my down payment ready to go so if need be I can definitely make an offer very very soon. Woo!!!

I'm praying this will fall into place. I'll be sure to take my camera and upload a few pics once done this weekend.

Wish me luck and blessings!

Almost went crazy!

The suspense of finding a place is driving me insane! I couldn't even relax over the holiday :( All I think about these days is researching homes on line, imagining rooms and paint colors, furniture, my daughter playing outside, etc. I'm being CONSUMED!! I feel like i'm about to snap lol.

Anywhoo, blessedly, my agent (again now on #3) connected with me today (I must admit I called her first as I couldn't stand it). She apologized profusely for not reaching out to me and mentioned losing a code to a box or something like that. This afternoon she sent me maybe 10-15 townhome/condo listings which made my day. From that list she told me to send her the one's i'd like to see and we will set up a meeting on Saturday to view those that are available. I sent her about 6-8 units i'd like to see. I prayed over my little list yall and hopefully I'll find something thats a fit.

Now i'm going to be anxious about Saturday taking too long to come LOL. I can't wait!!!!

Let go of realtor # 2 today

I sent an email this afternoon to realtor #2. This is someone that I told in no uncertain terms about my needs, concerns, etc with realtor #1. He has turned out to be just as non responsive as the 1st person. Here is the email I sent to him today:

Good afternoon Daniel, After much thought I think it's in my best interest to break our relationship and look for another realtor. I am looking for someone that will stay connected with me as I go through this process and actively reach out to me with information on properties and schedule visits. I want to get into my place before my daughters birthday in October and definitely before November 30th, so the agent i'm looking for ideally would be showing me properties at least once a week. Since to date we've not gone out looking and i'm not getting timely information on properties that may work I think it's best to move on.

So, back to realtor#1. She STILL has not called me back. The property that we viewed on Sunday may not even be available at this point. She is getting the boot as well. Thankfully i'd not signed any contract with either of them so I'm moving on.

Today I spoke w/ another agent at length that one of my friend/coworkers recommended. So far she seems very professional and listened to my needs. She's already sent me a few properties to review. We may go out and view properties over tomorrow or over the weekend if a few things fall into place.

Let's see how this goes. I've been praying about this overall situation so I'm believing that God will work this out for the better good.

Do I stink or something??

I'm so bummed readers (if there are any lol). My realtor has been MIA for the last 2 days. We went and viewed the property I spoke about a few days ago and i've not gotten an update since. She told me she'd call the people 1st thing on Monday then called me that afternoon and said she left a message. Well, it's now Wednesday, 2 days later and haven't heard from her since. I was anxious to find out if the property we viewed on Sunday is FHA and alas, it's almost Thursday and I have no answer. Who's to say the place doesn't already have offers on it? I'm pretty annoyed.....

There's a such thing as a "part time" realtor and likely that's what she is. I'm not knocking the hustle and I understand that everyone has to keep a steady stream of income coming in but I don't like feeling like i'm just some side action. This isn't the only time something like this has happened but I guess now i'm finally fed up.

I will start looking for another realtor on Friday if I don't hear back from her.

Went out with my agent again today

We looked at two places on the same street. Both were townhomes, 2 br/ 1 1/2 ba, both bedrooms upstairs.

The 1st place (985 sf) had renters in it that are moving out in the next few weeks. They were an extremely nice and gracious family. The hubby showed us around the property. Unfortunately there were a few things I didn't like about the unit. The first is that there were no laundry hookups. Secondly the garage is not attached. Also, the outside area was just "ok".

The 2nd place (1020 sf) was empty so we showed ourselves around. The price on the property is astounding and it has an back enclosed patio area where I can maybe add some fake grass and a little front yard area, BUT (again those buts) it also doesn't have an attached garage plus it's not move in ready. To get it move in ready (heavy heavy duty cleaning, new carpeting for stairs and bedrooms, paint) will likely cost me $3k-$4k. Plus I will need to buy a washer and dryer. In the next 6-12 months I'd need to revamp the upstairs bathroom (another maybe $1500) plus update the flooring in the living room to laminate flooring (the tile is ugly but in excellent condition). Also, this place does not have central air! WTH!!!! Le sigh.......

So, in the 2nd place I see a lot of potential, and since the price is just SICK i'm considering it. I'll be talking with the agent about it again tomorrow because she needs to confirm if its FHA approved. I need to tell her that going forward I only want to see places that she has already confirmed are on the list so we don't waste anymore time.

In regards to the 2nd property the agent told me I really should see this as a started place, somewhere I can live for maybe 5 years or so, build equity then move on to my "real" house. I guess she's right but i'm still chewing on that.

Do you know about the 2009 1st time buyer credit?

I'm sure you already know about the HUGE tax credit available through November 30th, 2009 for 1st time home buyers right?????

If not, take a look here:

2009 Tax Credit!

That's hot right? Yes, it is :)

So, I had found this place....

Last week i'd gone out with my realtor and found this place I really, really, REALLY liked. Come to find out, when you utilize FHA funding the condo must be on the FHA approved list. If it isn't, they won't fund your loan. Well, this place wasn't on the list and I had no idea. I'm surprised my realtor never mentioned this wholeFHA approval list to me, and in fact I was a bit disappointed that she hadn't.

Imagine me walking around this townhouse, 2 huge brs, walk in closests in both, laundry room inside, 2 car attached garage, grassy area in the front, only maybe 8-10 units total. I just knew this was going to be my place and I was ready to make a bid and everything. Had taken pics on my camera (which i've sense deleted since there was no point in keeping them), imagined painting rooms, having a party, etc, etc, and come to find out I can't purchase the property. I was bummed with a capital B.

This has definitely taught me not to get too attached or my hopes up during this process.

Well, as they say on TAPS ~ On to the next!

Here we go!

Hi and Welcome to my blog!

In this blog I will discuss the in's and out's of the home buying process for me, a 1st time home buying, African American, single parent woman in my early 30's.

Right now I live with my mother in her condo with my daughter. I moved back in with my mom about a year ago so that I could pay down my debt and have a semi fresh start. To date i've payed off my 3 credit cards AND my IRS debt (long story). This means that there are only 2 major bills I pay a month- my daughters tuition and my car note.

My goal for this year is to purchase a house/condo/townhome. Here is my wishlist:
3 br (2 of the 3 upstairs minimum)
2 ba
attached garage
laundry hookups
front or back yard area
nice kitchen
everything modern
safe area
small unit (if condo/townhome)

Again, this is my WISHlist in a perfect world :) I know that for the amount I was approved for (small for Los Angeles standards) I will likely need to rein it in and focus on top priorities. For example I can live with only 2 bedrooms but i'd love to have 3.

So again, I've been preapproved for a home loan, FHA by the way. The lending person told me that I need to tweak a few things to get my score up, and pay off a few bills in collections. I've since paid off the small balances on my credit cards and paid off 1 bill that went to collections so my mortgage company feels confident that the next time they run my report I will be where I need to be. While i'm waiting to find something I will continue to pay my bills on time and also knock off a few more things that went to collections.

With patience and the grace of God I WILL be a homeonwer this year. I can't believe it!!!! I'm so excited.....and nervous.

Well, here I go! I hope you check in on me from time time and leave me love, advice and criticism where needed to help me stay in check during this process.