The Rector's are homeowners!

We finally did it! We purchased our first home! 

This experience has been years in the making. This has literally been the hardest journey my husband and I have taken together. It was a learning process along with figuring out what we really wanted. 

Our first challenge was getting my credit up. I didn't learn about credit growing up so I had no idea how to build it, let alone fix it! Choices I made in my younger years really did impact my score in my adult years and I didn't know what to do about it.

Another problem was, no one really wanted to help. Yes, they'd tell you what your score NEEDED to be but no one told me HOW to get it there. The only ones who would offer to help were people who wanted money up front from you, a couple hundred dollars. My thought was, couldn't that couple hundred dollars be put towards some of the items on my credit report? 

We also found that companies weren't as willing to help you get a mortgage loan if your credit needed a lot of work. Basically the response we would get was " call us back when you get your credit score up".

Then my husband got connected with Eric. This was completely by chance. Leroy was trying his best to find a mortgage lender and attempted places like Lending Tree and Quicken Loans. I'm not sure exactly which pathway Eric came from but he contacted Leroy and offered to help. 

Eric not only told us where my credit score needed to be but he gave us step by step instructions on how to get it there. He did not ask for any money, he just wanted to help us get a loan. He had experience and promised us we could get it up in no time. He only asked that we did exactly what he instructed. So we had nothing to lose and we took care of everything that Eric told us to take care of. My credit score jumped by 50 points!

With that increase we were immediately approved for a loan way more than we needed to spend. First conquest was conquered. Our next battle would be figuring what type of home we wanted. I always thought that looking for a house will be so much fun. What I didn't know was that having too many options can really cause a headache. I did not realize how many options we actually had. 

We could build stick-built home, we could build a modular home and put it on land or buy a pre-existing home. We went every single route possible. We didn't think that Eric could assist us with building a new home because most home builders have their own loan processors and we wanted to start off with trying to build a stick-built home. That loan was through KB Homes and that fell through because they did not like the way my husband got paid. At the time he was working for a moving company that paid them based on weight of the packages. He left there soon after that and returned to dental assisting with his favorite dentist :-)

Then our parents introduced us to the idea of modular homes that we can put on land. This was the Pearl Harbor Homes. This choice was very intriguing and convincing. The homes are gorgeous and they're not like a trailer home like you would imagine, they are very luxurious with huge kitchens and huge bathrooms with walk-in closets, it had the works! The only difference is these homes are built inside of a warehouse and then delivered to the land rather than a stick-built home that's built from the ground up on the land. Nothing went wrong with this loan per se, I just realized I wasn't ready to give up my city girl life. I would have to convert to the country and I was not ready to do that yet. I would say this is a very viable option for the future closer to what we are getting ready to retire in the kids out of the house. This is still an option for later.

After we decided to do this we checked back with our contact at KB Homes and decided to get one of their homes that were recently built but the borrower's loan fell through. That way we didn't have to wait on the home to be built, it would be brand new and it has a floor plan that we liked. That loan moved quickly and we got all the way up to the contract signing and we had a gut feeling we were doing the wrong thing. Ultimately, it came down to that number on the contract giving us the price of the home. While we would love a brand new home and all the amenities that come with it, we did not want to be house poor. We cancelled that contract because of the price. We just wanted a home for our family to live in and be comfortable, we did not need all the raz and pizzazz. We also wanted to be able to still do things with our family such as taking trips and having outings. With the payment this house would have given us it would take away from that and that was not a sacrifice we were willing to take.

Once my husband and I talked it out and figured out how much we really want to spend on a house we decided to get back in touch with Eric. He was the reason that we had options to begin with. We decided to look for a pre-existing home with a similar floor plan to the new home that KB Homes was offering for a price that was more decent.

Our next battle, finding a pre-existing home and having our offer accepted. Eric was able to hook us up with our Realtor, Dawn, through his referral company. Dawn was amazing. This woman was so laid-back and also very straightforward which is what I prefer and we always had a good time look at it homes together. She didn't shadow you while you were looking at homes, she gave you just enough space to look around but also enough guidance should you have any questions. This search took about 6 months and while it was so much fun at first the fun dwindled down to frustration. We probably look at about 60 homes. The homes that we were looking at were either too old, too damaged or perfect but someone would always beat us to the punch by getting their offer in and accepted first. Then at one point the houses we're just not coming in, it was right in the beginning of Summer.

Then there was a post of a home with no picture the night before we were going to go out looking at a few other homes. Something told me just to tell Dawn to go ahead and put it on the list. There wasn't much to go on from the description but when I looked at the square footage and I did a bird's-eye view of the home on maps it looked like it was a pretty decent size so I decided we should just go look at it since we would be out anyways. The price point was also a trigger, it was in our comfort zone and if we liked it, we would be the first to see it and put in an offer.

We are so glad that we took a chance on a post with no picture because this would end up being our home. The owners really outdid themselves by having everything in the house redone. The house had new siding, a new roof, new carpet and the kitchen stole the show. Stainless steel appliances with slam proof cabinets and a gorgeous cherry red color that we could not resist. We only asked for at least one living room and a game room, this home came with two living areas and a game room. We would have more than enough space for the six of us. We also got the added bonus of having a covered patio that we can just sit out and relax on and do a little bit of grilling. We immediately put in our offer and it was accepted the next day. Now we begin the war!

I call it the war because going through the underwriting process can be very frustrating as they ask for everything short of the blood of your first born child. Now that all was said and done, I have to admit it wasn't so bad. I think the only frustrations was getting them bank statements after bank statements after bank statements because they really want to make sure that your funds are intact.

Today was the day! Underwriting approved everything, we did our final walk-through yesterday and today we signed our papers for very first home! 

I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that we have taken this big step in our lives and it took a lot of hard work and a lot of holding back while we saved money. Through this entire process I vowed to keep KLOVE radio station playing in my car and so I've had morning and afternoon worship all the way through this. God has definitely been  my strength through this process along with the support and love from my husband. The last couple of months have been tough because it's summertime and every summer we do so many things with our kids. This summer we could not do that as we were making sure we had enough funds for our closing. But the kids are so excited right now that it is all worth it.

WE ARE THE RECTORS, HOMEOWNERS!

Thank you for reading about our experience and sharing our excitement with us.