Donna Reed
There's nothing like buying a house to make an empowered twenty-first-century girl long for the simple security of 1950s housewifedom. With a new kitchen inspiring perverse fantasies of the bakery, cookery, and crockery variety, and a washer and dryer that will be operated with enthusiasm before we've even lain the literal welcome mat upon the doorstep, I also wish that the signing of documents and phone calling of agents and transferring of utilities and configuring of insurance plans were all matters kept behind the heavy doors of the man's home office and not partially my responsibility, to be worked in among the tasks of my own full-time job, all of it wreaking havoc on my dumb little girly brain. Someone bring me my salts.
All of which is to say we have a hundred things to get done before closing in two days (TWO DAYS!) and I'm smack in the middle of it all, perfecting my signature, organizing binders of paperwork, and discovering new and inventive ways to avoid calling anyone on the phone because, even after all these years, that darned contraption of Alexander Graham Bell's still terrifies the crap out of me. It would be so much easier to just stay home and bake cookies and iron my corset.
(In truth, Simon's taking on more house-related organizational tasks than I, but I still feel valid complaining about my own involvement because I don't have the constitution for such things. In the midst of last-minute third-party sloppiness, Simon is emanating an aura of calm, which runs all the way to his core, while I, on the other hand, am sporting a thin veneer of mild uneasiness backed by white-knuckled panic and the urge to pinch sharply on the forearm all the people who have been telling me for the last three weeks, "Relax, it's fine, we have plenty of time, it's all under control" when, now two days from closing (TWO DAYS!), we're discovering that Document X didn't make it to Location Y and that we might actually be three days (THREE?!) from closing, or maybe six (NO!) if we have to wait until Monday. It may be too soon to say "I told you so," but I've started embroidering it onto the first of many gift handkerchiefs just in case.)
Yay!!!
Sadly, I'm the paperwork and organizational person. The boy works in a restaurant so it's easier for me to do it.
Our closing was delayed because some dumb person was out (sick) and they were the only person at the loan company who could sign some document or something. We were supposed to close on a Friday. Didn't close 'till Tuesday. It was awful. We found out when we were closing about 2 hours before due to the fun incompetence.
I'm not saying it's going to happen to you, but I'm saying breathe and don't have a panic attack at work like I did. (Especially when the realtor says oh yeah, if you don't close by the end of this day your loan will expire and all that and argh.) Closing delays do happen but lots of time they don't. We're the only people I know that it happened to. You'll still get the house...
But oh my god! 2 days!
Spend that night in your brand new house no matter what. It's sooooo worth it.
The funny thing is, I'm the organizational and paperwork person too. I create all the to-do lists, but I make Simon do all the to-doing. :)
Sadly, no matter what happens with the official closing, we won't be spending any time at the house together until Monday anyway. I'm being abandonded for the weekend. Details to come.
Before you know it, all of the I's will be dotted, T's will be crossed, etc...and you'll be IN YOUR HOUSE!!!!
Wheeeeeeeee!!!
How I remember those days of buying our first home. We walked into the closing afraid that someone would finally realize what a mistake they were making and say, "haha, nevermind, just joking."
I still don't think my right hand has recovered from the 2 hour signature marathon. And I can hardly believe they actually loaned us that much money. Fools.
So close! I spent the first week in our new home being the perfect hostess, cleaning and making huge casseroles and delicious meals. Its something to do with actually being a stay-at-home-mum and not actively contributing to the finances! So now I budget and bulk buy and make casseroles that are perfect for my husband to take to work the next day, along with a marmalade cake for the office!
Can't wait for it to be signed and sealed for you guys!
Prepare yourself to sign fifty bajillion papers when you close. And you never have time to read them all either. Just stay calm though....it'll all be okay. Good luck!
Oooh, good luck!
I'm still a bit jealous, as the apartment I live in is for sale (boo), might have been sold (double boo) and my roommates annoy the ever-loving crap out of me.
Can't wait to see the pics of how you decorate!
Just a tiny bit of advice that my brother-in-law passed onto us and that he learned the hard way himself... When signing your closing papers do not write out your full and complete name including middle names, etc. because you will have to sign it the exact same way on all the papers you have to sign.
It's your first time. Of course you're nervous. I've gone through it twice now (one with a newly-built home and then with a pre-owned condo) and now it doesn't seem nearly as scary.
Everyone involved (absolutely everyone!) wants this deal to go through, so it will. You'll see.
I'm not nervous or scared that the deal will fall through. I'm pissed that the lending bank has fucked up a delicate schedule that includes Simon going out of town on Thursday, which means he won't even be around to sign anything. Also, we're scheduled to start paying utilities on Friday, and if we don't get into the house until Tuesday, that's just money down the drain. Grr.