We are on our third buyer (as in we accepted two previous offers that fell through at various points of the sale process) and we were originally set to close on November 1st after accepting their offer in late September. We had completed all buyer requests for repairs and improvements by October 24th and we had our offer accepted on a home in Montana we fell in love with and we set our MT closing date for November 16th (which I thought was MORE than enough padding).
Right after we completed work, we scheduled flights, arranged temporary lodging, and prepared for the movers to come and pack the entire household. Sometime in this process, we are informed there is a back-up offer on the house in MT we want. But who cares, right?
The tractor trailer and car transporters arrive October 30th, two days before we're supposed to close. While the team is loading our household goods, the VA appraiser for the buyers show up... which is not a good sign since there are no business days left to process this appraisal. The day gets worse since after our cars were picked up for shipping and enroute to Northwest Montana and 80% of our household goods were loaded on a tractor trailer, we were notified that the buyers had to extend closing until November 10th because their lender would not be able to complete underwriting in time due to not scheduling the appraisal sooner.
Bad timing, we had so much money wrapped up in the actual relocation of our personal property and ourselves, that it would have been financially devastating to pull the plug. So on November 1st, my father and I haul my Scout behind our other remaining vehicle and bring my dog along (because I couldn't find a reasonable way to fly her out). Late that night a tire loses tread on the car dolly, but luckily had a spare and we caught it before it blew. Ten minutes to change it and we're back on the road.
Then on November 2nd, as planned, my wife and daughter fly out to Montana and check into our [not-so] temporary lodging. That same afternoon. the other dolly tire goes in the middle of nowhere North Dakota. It was an adventure finding cell signal and locating the closest tire service to come mount two new tires, but we got it done fairly quickly and back on our journey west. We only lost about an hour and a half.
November 3rd I arrive in Montana and soon after look for storage for the Scout and dolly so we don't have to pull it around everywhere we need to go in the Tundra until our other vehicles arrive. On November 5th, we have our belongings sent to a warehouse for storage but take delivery of our vehicles. Our vehicles introduce a new wrinkle because they arrive with only flimsy copies of their keys and without the keyless entry transmitters because the originals were lost somewhere... and no one in the custody chain will admit responsibility (or explain how they were able to make duplicates).
November 10th comes and goes and no closing so we take matters into our own hands and begin contacting the buyers' lender directly. It was mostly my wife, because I was so angry and frustrated that I probably would have blown the entire deal. We discover that the buyers were displeased with their percentage rates and decided to consolidate their debt by taking out not one, but two additional loans after they had been pre-approved for their mortgage. This required their lender to completely re-evaluate their debt:income.
They finally get (re)approved Wednesday morning (November 11th), but because they took so long, their rate lock expired and due to new laws from October, there is now a mandatory 3 business day waiting period. Which means they want to close on the 16th, which means we wouldn't close on the Montana home (because we need my VA eligibility restored by the purchase of our Indiana home).
We do our own search and discover that the mandatory three day waiting period can be waived for hardship purposes, so we explain to the buyers' lender that if we don't close on Friday the 13th (of course it is!) then we won't get our home in here in the Rockies (due to the back-up offer that we were told the seller is ready to take because its better than ours). This approach fails, because it must be the buyers' hardship not the sellers'... so we inform them our hardship will become their hardship because if we can't close, they won't close since we'll scuttle the entire deal. They immediately draft a hardship letter and submit it.
Thursday morning we were informed the buyers' hardship letter was approved and I try to set closing for early AM Friday, but hey, one of the sellers has to work until the afternoon, because you know, closing on your house after all this struggle isn't important enough to request off work. I manage to get our side of things, and everything else but the buyers' signatures scheduled to be processed for Friday morning and the buyers set to finish early in the afternoon.
Because we didn't have enough time left for the VA and our own lender to process my eligibility, we had to push our Montana close date back to the 18th (luckily, I noticed there was a clause in our contract that said we have a 5 day grace period if we're having issues getting our loan) and I also manage to swing a free extension because now my own rate lock is going to expire.
We finally got confirmation Friday evening that the sale was complete and we saw that the bank has processed the purchased and marked our first mortgage as paid in full. The VA still hasn't cleared my eligibility, but I'm hoping that the official documentation of the purchase is all we need to close on our new home. Things are finally beginning to fall in place. In the meantime, I'm going to watch these dark clouds float past the beautiful Swan Mountain range.
Right after we completed work, we scheduled flights, arranged temporary lodging, and prepared for the movers to come and pack the entire household. Sometime in this process, we are informed there is a back-up offer on the house in MT we want. But who cares, right?
The tractor trailer and car transporters arrive October 30th, two days before we're supposed to close. While the team is loading our household goods, the VA appraiser for the buyers show up... which is not a good sign since there are no business days left to process this appraisal. The day gets worse since after our cars were picked up for shipping and enroute to Northwest Montana and 80% of our household goods were loaded on a tractor trailer, we were notified that the buyers had to extend closing until November 10th because their lender would not be able to complete underwriting in time due to not scheduling the appraisal sooner.
Bad timing, we had so much money wrapped up in the actual relocation of our personal property and ourselves, that it would have been financially devastating to pull the plug. So on November 1st, my father and I haul my Scout behind our other remaining vehicle and bring my dog along (because I couldn't find a reasonable way to fly her out). Late that night a tire loses tread on the car dolly, but luckily had a spare and we caught it before it blew. Ten minutes to change it and we're back on the road.
Then on November 2nd, as planned, my wife and daughter fly out to Montana and check into our [not-so] temporary lodging. That same afternoon. the other dolly tire goes in the middle of nowhere North Dakota. It was an adventure finding cell signal and locating the closest tire service to come mount two new tires, but we got it done fairly quickly and back on our journey west. We only lost about an hour and a half.
November 3rd I arrive in Montana and soon after look for storage for the Scout and dolly so we don't have to pull it around everywhere we need to go in the Tundra until our other vehicles arrive. On November 5th, we have our belongings sent to a warehouse for storage but take delivery of our vehicles. Our vehicles introduce a new wrinkle because they arrive with only flimsy copies of their keys and without the keyless entry transmitters because the originals were lost somewhere... and no one in the custody chain will admit responsibility (or explain how they were able to make duplicates).
November 10th comes and goes and no closing so we take matters into our own hands and begin contacting the buyers' lender directly. It was mostly my wife, because I was so angry and frustrated that I probably would have blown the entire deal. We discover that the buyers were displeased with their percentage rates and decided to consolidate their debt by taking out not one, but two additional loans after they had been pre-approved for their mortgage. This required their lender to completely re-evaluate their debt:income.
They finally get (re)approved Wednesday morning (November 11th), but because they took so long, their rate lock expired and due to new laws from October, there is now a mandatory 3 business day waiting period. Which means they want to close on the 16th, which means we wouldn't close on the Montana home (because we need my VA eligibility restored by the purchase of our Indiana home).
We do our own search and discover that the mandatory three day waiting period can be waived for hardship purposes, so we explain to the buyers' lender that if we don't close on Friday the 13th (of course it is!) then we won't get our home in here in the Rockies (due to the back-up offer that we were told the seller is ready to take because its better than ours). This approach fails, because it must be the buyers' hardship not the sellers'... so we inform them our hardship will become their hardship because if we can't close, they won't close since we'll scuttle the entire deal. They immediately draft a hardship letter and submit it.
Thursday morning we were informed the buyers' hardship letter was approved and I try to set closing for early AM Friday, but hey, one of the sellers has to work until the afternoon, because you know, closing on your house after all this struggle isn't important enough to request off work. I manage to get our side of things, and everything else but the buyers' signatures scheduled to be processed for Friday morning and the buyers set to finish early in the afternoon.
Because we didn't have enough time left for the VA and our own lender to process my eligibility, we had to push our Montana close date back to the 18th (luckily, I noticed there was a clause in our contract that said we have a 5 day grace period if we're having issues getting our loan) and I also manage to swing a free extension because now my own rate lock is going to expire.
We finally got confirmation Friday evening that the sale was complete and we saw that the bank has processed the purchased and marked our first mortgage as paid in full. The VA still hasn't cleared my eligibility, but I'm hoping that the official documentation of the purchase is all we need to close on our new home. Things are finally beginning to fall in place. In the meantime, I'm going to watch these dark clouds float past the beautiful Swan Mountain range.
