Almost there!

Finally the week has come where we get to close on the house!  We are a bit overwhelmed with everything but we know it will all fall into place and will turn out.  

The packing is coming along, it is my most hated job on earth though so it takes  a lot of discipline :)  Our goal is to pretty much be totally packed by wednesday night.  We have to be at the bank at 3pm thursday for our closing, then hopefully we can go right to the house and check it out again, using our OWN key!!!!!  We (or I guess I should say "I") want to clean the house before we move our stuff in.  So that is going to be a big job between thursday night and friday night.  

Then the big moving day is saturday!  I am actually not going to even be there for it!  Myself along with a couple other girls from our church our going to a bridal shower in Green Bay that morning.  The men folk are going to do the moving for us!  We are so thankful to have met such great people in our short time here that are willing to help us with this big job, truly a blessing. 

We did have another little hiccup with the house though (of course its us!).  The appraiser did not appraise the house for what our loan amount was for.   So, that caused some drama.  The final result was that the sellers lowered the purchase price (again, so that worked out for us!).  But also this appraiser is making us paint the trim on the house (which is in bad shape) before we close.  We are not sure why he even cares, but again here we are playing their games.  So Alec took the day off today to go over there and scrap them and paint them, and the appraiser is going back there at 1pm to re-appraise the house.  Again though it all worked out and we pray nothing else happens in the next 48-hrs before we close!

We will be very very happy when it is all said and done and finalized!  Way too many changes have happened, but it has definitely been a learning experience for us!

Our busy life update!

I thought maybe it was time for another update!  There is nothing to major going on.  We have had very busy weekends recently.  Easter weekend my family was here, then last weekend our close friends Dave and Alyx came to visit, and then this coming weekend my grandparents are coming!

We had a great time with our friends Dave and Alyx, thankfully the weather was absolutely gorgeous so we were able to be outside a lot.  We went downtown and parked the car and walked all along the water front, then checked out the art museum.  Then we headed to Bayshore mall, which is set up so we you walk outside between all the stores.  It was so much fun!

Walking along the water front downtown Milwaukee

We are very much looking forward to closing on the house, only 1 more week!!!!!  We are going to schedule a final walk through as well, either sun, mon, or tues.  This is typical and a good idea I guess just to make sure everything is in the same condition as when we last saw it.  We are very very anxious though and have even started the dreaded job of packing up our apartment.  This move will be our third time moving this year; we moved from our college houses to the grand rapids apartment, then from there to milwaukee, and now to the house.  NO MORE MOVING, haha, I hate packing but hopefully this will be it for a little while!

That is all for now!

Easter Weekend

The DeKruyter family came to Milwaukee for the Easter weekend.  We had such a great time seeing them again and showing them around the area.  Easter is always a special time and is a big deal in our family.  And we still get Easter baskets :)

Checking out the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan

We went downtown Milwaukee and drove along the lake a bit checking out the sites, then got out and walked around for a little while.  It was soooo windy and chilly though that no body lasted too long outside.  Then we headed to the art museum, it is pretty famous apparently and so we thought we had better check it out.  Well the building itself is just soooo cool, and you can get inside the foyer for free.  So we didn't actually go check out the art in the museum, we just went and checked out the cool building.  Lets just say it is not really our thing to go pay and see art........... nobody in the family was given artistic ability/appreciation.  But we had a fun time taking pictures right inside it!

We then headed to the Domes, which are huge structures that have different settings.  One is a rainforest one, and there is a desert one, and then another one that just has tons of flowers and stuff.  They are really cool, and just fun to walk through.  

All in all it was a really fun weekend!  

Loan commitment!

A quick update for those interested:

Yesterday we got our final loan commitment for the house, which means good things. The loan lady said basically nothing can change from this point (but we have heard that before so we are being cautious!). But we are starting to actually allow ourselves to be very excited and start making plans for the house!

My entire family is here this weekend (yes in our two bedroom apartment), and we are having a great time. I will post this week some pictures and such of all that. But all looks well for the house and we are getting very excited!

Back in the Game?!

Well.......we thought the house journey was over but here we are still trucking along. Yes again there are new developments. Frankly I am sick of it, but my persistent husband is much more patient!

So we had made the hard decision to say good bye to the lovely house and stick with renting for the time being. Well Alec called the lender to get the paper work we needed to get us out of the offer to purchase contract we were under. The lender talked with him and offered a different scenario, although it was a long shot. She said if we could get the purchase price lower, then we could put less down. So we thought well why not, lets give it a shot at least.

So we made a counter offer (significantly less then our original) and asked for more money for closing costs. Well we knew it was a long shot.......our realtor presented the offer to the selling agent, and they accepted! Oh my goodness. Now what?!

Well now we just take baby steps and just see what happens. I have learned not to bank on anything. The appraisal is the next step, which should happen in the next day or two. Then after that hopefully we can lock things in..........again.

This is all been a pain in my butt, but I guess if we can pull this off and get the house it is all worth it. We are proceeding with caution however! Please pray that God's will be done in the situation and we feel His guidance throughout the many decisions surrounding.

House Drama.......

Well some of you know that our house search has NOT been smooth from the get go. Let me take you through our journey and where we are now.

We originally were pre-approved and were all set to go. So we began our house search! Found the one we absolutely fell in love with and our offer was accepted (after a bit of negotiation of course). Well shortly after our offer was accepted the lender changed their regulations on us, putting us on the border of being able to complete the purchase. We did jump through their hoops though and made it work out. Then about two weeks ago we 'locked' in our interest rate for the mortgage. We were feeling great and assumed we were 'good to go' since that is what we were told!

Well then today our lender called us with more bad news, more hoops to jump through. Alec and I spent a lot of time looking at everything and have made the decision not to go through with the purchase of this home. This is a huge bummer because we absolutely love this house, but have decided that way to many factors have changed for us to continue forward. It is sad because we were planning on moving in to the house beginning of May and had begun thinking of the changes we wanted to do, however we will have to forget it all and put it past us.

We do plan to buy within the year (of course! we want the tax credit!!!) But are going to wait for now and just stay put in our apartment. Oh well, it has all been a learning experience though and we are much more wiser from it all!

On a happier note: we went to the Bucks vs Lakers game last night which was SO fun! Alec got tickets from work last minute. It was sweet seeing Kobe Bryant play. Too bad the Bucks lost.....not that we really care about either team :)