The beginning of January we learned that values came up 30% which if we sold our house at that time we would break even and I just got my settlement from my car accident (happened in October 2011 - which we can use for down payment with an FHA loan) so we decided to go for it. We looked at houses 1st because our realtor (who is my hubby's Dad) said houses that were conventional sales (not a short sale) are selling fast. We came straight to Logandale which is a small town 55 miles outside of Vegas. I have family here, it's a small town and most importantly it's NOT Vegas but still close enough for Nick to commute to work in Vegas.
So the 1st house we saw was perfect and we put our offer in then put our house on the market. A couple weeks later the seller, of the house we want, contacts us and says he got a better cash offer. TOTAL BUMMER! This was our dream house. So we decide to go back to Logandale to hopefully find another house. A week later, the day before we are planning to go look again, we get a call from the seller that his cash offer fell through and are we still interested. YES!!!! Then almost minutes after that we get a call that a cash buyer wants to buy our home and he wants to close by the 25th (which is in 10 days). SO the house we are buying is vacant so we asked the seller if we could move in before closing and rent until we closed. He said that was fine as long as the appraisal came in at the loan amount. Only condition is seismic straps need to be installed on the water heater. Ok, fine don't care we can do that. We got the appraisal back Friday afternoon the 22nd at the amount needed. This is the Friday before we are supposed to move-in so we cut it close! So we got everything set up, scheduled movers and got the kids transferred from school. We were scheduled to move in Monday morning the 25th. On Saturday the 23rd at 3:30 pm the seller called and said he changed his mind and we couldn't move in until AFTER we closed. I went into full panic mode!!!!
We had to tell our movers to take all our stuff to storage and just pack our clothes and a few personal items. Now I'm wondering how was I supposed to find a place for a family of 5 with a 110 pound dog to live in a small town on the weekend, with less than 36 hours notice!? So I called my Grandma to see if we could stay with her. She said yes we could stay in her 5th wheel and put kids on floors and couches. Then she remembered she had a friend who also had a house by hers that he only vacations in and called him to see if we could stay there. He said that was fine, it was a little one room shack.
So the 1st night of moving we are exhausted but we went to the lake and got water to fill the tank and get settled.
OK LET ME JUST STOP FOR A SECOND TO EXPLAIN THE WATER SITUATION OUT HERE WHERE MY GRANDMA LIVES: she lives ON the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The houses here were built BEFORE this became a national park. There is no "city water" you have to supply your own water to your house. So this is how we get water: we hook the tank to the truck, haul it down to the lake, fill it at the pump, haul it back up to the house then pump it from the trailer tank into the tank to the house (it's in the ground just to the right) ... it's amazing how fast you go through water when you have to carefully monitor it! And we are being extra careful on usage. Check out the pic below for reference.
SO as we are filling the tank to the house with the water we just hauled from the lake the water pump (which pumps the water into the pipes of the house) busted. So now we have no running water. We spent the night but now we have to carry a 5 gallon bucket to the outside tank, open the lid, dip the bucket in to fill with water and haul it inside so we can dump it into the toilet, you know so we can flush the toilet. Plus there was no heat, it was 35 degrees outside AND all the electrical in that shack was a total fire hazard. Busted outlets, switches with exposed wires hanging out of the wall, AND the fridge was plugged into a tiny white extension cord which was plugged into a broken electrical outlet! OMG get me outta here!!
Again total panic mode, and my kids are crying they just want to go home and right now we technically don't have a home so I didn't even know what to say to them. I just cried too. Luckily my Grandma was able to call another friend here who also has an empty house and so that is where we are still...
SO separate from the house subject I get my kids all enrolled in school, well my elementary kids are lucky enough to already have another elementary kid living in this area by the lake (30 miles away from there school - by the way) so they have bus transportation. YAY! I am told by the middle school, where my oldest son goes, that CCSD transportation refuses to send a bus out for my middle schooler. They are telling me where we are staying doesn't exist HA! GREAT! So now I have to provide transportation for my son. That is 120 miles a day I'll have to make to get him to school. Luckily my Aunt lives within walking distance of the school so we were able to arrange for him to stay with her 2 nights a week to save us on gas.
SO next we are told by our lenders that because we are buying a flipped house that was purchased and flipped within 90 days we have to get a 2nd appraisal! Seriously!? We are told this on Friday afternoon so of course I get to stress over it ALL weekend. Tuesday we find out we don't have to do the 2nd appraisal but it does have to go under a 2nd review. GREAT! So it's sent to the first appraisal company for review. Well, no one there wants to touch it because the property is in Logandale and they aren't familiar with the area. We finally find someone to review it, Friday afternoon I get word that the original amount is correct and we are good to go. WHEW!
THEN I get a call from the elementary school and I am told my daughter has lice and I have to pick her up immediately. I am so embarrassed to share this BUT it just adds to the hell we have been through. I lost it, complete melt down. I was crying, sobbing, blubbering you name it! My poor baby girl with her BEAUTIFUL LONG strawberry blonde hair has LICE! UGH I had no clue what to do. Never dealt with this before! To shorten this part of the story I had to tear apart and clean a house that isn't mine. Let's just say we had endless laundry and TONS of trips to the pump to get more and more water. We luckily caught it at a very early stage and are now clear of this awful, awful memory!
SO now I get a call from our lender and they need the Settlement Statement from our short refinance we did 3.5 years ago. Great! I'd love to get that for you except ALL MY STUFF IS IN STORAGE! UGH! So I'm scrambling to get a hold of the lender or title company to find this document. I go through old emails to find the name of the title company. Finally find it and look up the phone number. It's disconnected. So I Google search the title company's name. Guess what: they've been shut down for FRAUD! AHHHHHH! Panic! AND of course this too happens on Friday!! So I find the name of the Lender, the receptionist tells me it's probably in storage and she doesn't know when they will be able to get it. I burst into tears! I beg, I plead, I bribe! PLEASE get me this document!!! She will check into it and get back to me. 3 pm rolls around and she calls, she found it and is emailing it! YES!!!! Now we have the ball rolling, at least on Monday anyways LOL
THEN we get an email from our lender they need certain documents from title they have been requesting for a couple weeks. Boy did I rattle their cages for that! They finally get them over to our Lender. YAY!
Then as of Wednesday (March 20th) they have everything but OH wait did anyone put those straps on the water heater?? AHHHHHH! So that's where we are now. AND OF COURSE THEY FINALLY GET THE STUPID STRAPS INSTALLED AFTER 3PM ON A FRIDAY! Now it's too late to fund, everything has to wait until Monday. Cross your fingers for us!!!!
Hopefully we'll finally be "home" next week ... OH and let me just say I will NEVER be moving again! LOL
