We closed on 8/21! It took me a little over a week to post this because I need to decompress after the roller coaster ride, and then moving into our new house :-)
The last week leading up to closing was so incredibly stressful, and I hope to never do that again. We received the conditional approval on 8/7 and submitted everything they needed to satisfy the last few things. Unfortunately, there was an error on the 4506 form to get our transcripts from the IRS so it was kicked back and we had to resubmit that on 8/14.
Major stress #1 - the Saturday before closing, I received an alert from MyFico that my scores dropped 15-17 pts because of a "new inquiry." It was our mortgage company doing one final pull, but I knew that wouldn't tank my score that much. I finally log on and see a "new" medical collection from 2014 had popped up on TU and EQ. I was in panic mode and reached out to the LO. At first we thought it would be fine, but then the UW flagged it and was talking with her supervisor to see if they could ignore it or would need to repull our scores. I was able to call the collection co and original provider to get it resolved, but not quick enough to get my reports cleared up.
Major stress #2 - We were supposed to close on 8/20, but we still didn't have tax transcripts on 8/19 and the seller took forever to turn in a couple forms (we bought a new construction home). So our LO and realtor decided to request an extension, hoping that we'd close on the 20th or 21st, but requesting an extension thru the following Monday just in case. That request was met by a nasty gram email from the developer's lead agent, threatening to cancel the deal because they had other people waiting in line willing to pay $50k+ more than we had a contract for (we bought when it was still a pile of dirt). Luckily Mr. Nasty was going on vacation, and we were back to dealing with the regular listing agent who was more reasonable. Our agent finally got her to convince the seller to agree to the extension and assured them that we were doing everything in our power to close Friday. Our LO was also working on a Plan B in case he didn't agree.
So then back to Stress #1...the supervisor said they had to repull credit scores. We made it BY ONE POINT!!! I about puked...and our LO said she had to step outside after she got that back . But we cleared all conditions, got the tax transcripts back, and everything was sent to doc processing Thursday PM and we were told to be on standby Friday AM to go to escrow for signing. In order to fund in time for recording, we needed to try to be signed by 10:30-11:00am.
Friday AM, our LO went to the escrow office first thing and pulled some favors to get them to rush everything thru. So their closing agent and our mortgage office were finalizing the HUD statement, the seller went and signed around 11am and then they told us to head over. We rushed over there, and the escrow office was awesome...they flip-flopped some paperwork so the docs that needed to get to the county could be rushed over with the courier for recording. We were in and out in about 20 mins. I texted our realtor and LO and it was back in their hands.
But then back to Stress #2 - a half-hour later, I got a call from our LO saying they were waiting on the seller to get the extension agreement and one other form they were still waiting on. Once they got that, they could give clearance to fund. That's when our realtor finds out that the seller NEVER SIGNED THE EXTENSION. Our realtor was texting and calling the listing agent for updates all Thursday and she assured us that he would get to a computer and send it that night. He was apparently holding on to it to make sure docs went to processing as promised. So technically our contract died at midnight. I was livid...especially since he had been at the escrow office and could have just signed them there.
So I'm on the phone with our realtor (who is also my dad...ha) and he said the listing agent doesn't think it will happen Friday. The seller is away in meetings and can't get back to a computer to docusign the two things, so no recording or keys until Monday. But while we're on the phone, he gets a text from escrow that they had cleared to record. He hangs up with me and calls escrow, then the listing agent. Apparently the seller magically found time to sign the stupid forms, our mortgage lender cleared for funding, and escrow cleared to record. So then we were just waiting for confirmation that they would record before 5pm on Friday...because they agent wouldn't get us keys without confirmation. Then she calls my dad offering keys at 4:20 but we needed to get there by 5pm, so we drop everything and race over there. And on the way, I get a call from escrow at 4:45 that our docs were recorded and it was officially ours...and keys were picked up at 4:55. I was an emotional basket case...so then we picked up our kids and took everyone out for a celebratory dinner (and margarita!)
BUT...all that is behind us, and we officially moved in on Thursday. This truly is our dream home and I could not have done with this without MyFICO...the tips and info on here helped me cleaned up our credit reports so that we could qualify for a VA loan. My husband's went up almost 200 points, and mine close to the same. Our future is bright :-)
And I cannot say enough good things about Caliber Home Loans and our LO...they pulled some serious miracles, and our LO became a friend over the last few months :-)
So to everyone else out there...have faith!!
