The Waiting Game

Waiting is really not my favorite thing. I tend to be impatient, especially when it’s for something as fun and exciting as getting our first house. I would be lying to you if I said the experience was totally pleasant. We went through USDA which is an awesome loan option for rural areas; however, the tradeoff is you are at their mercy. After our loan officer got the initial underwriting process completed, they shipped our info off to the USDA and we had to wait for their stamp of approval. 

The entire approval process took weeks (we accepted the counter offer at the end of May and it was now July) and our close date changed FIVE times before we actually closed. It was pretty stressful (apparently they were understaffed and had over 300 applications come in around the same time, ours included), especially since I am a planner.

I think the most stressful part was that the lease in our condo was up on July 31 and we had to move out and have it totally clean by then, regardless of whether we had our keys or not. I was really nervous about being "homeless" for an unforeseen amount of time. Thankfully my sister and brother-in-law and parents graciously offered for us to stay at their house until our loan finally closed. Let's just say, the days leading up to the 31 move-out day were less-than-boring...

This was our timeline:

Tuesday, 29^th: David picked up our UHaul after work and him, our friend Andrew and I loaded it up. We had pretty much everything packed except our bedroom so it was fairly easy to throw it all in there.

Side note: When you move, opt for the bigger UHauls. We were going to get a 17’ moving truck and we are SO happy we didn’t. We got the 28’ and had plenty of room so we didn’t have to play Tetris with all our belongings. Unfortunately, our neighbors who were also moving opted for the 17’ and had to make multiple trips to load and unload it at their new place. It sounds just awful.

At 6:30 pm, we got an email from our loan officer saying the USDA had FINALLY given us their stamp of approval and the paperwork would be available to sign the following day. YAY! We finally had an official closing date!

Andrew stayed until about 9:30 pm after we had a fancy Burger King dinner (without silverware, a table or chairs. David and I closed up the UHaul around after 10 pm and David drove it to my sister’s house in the Forest Grove area to park it until we could actually unload it. We then piled back into my car and got home at about midnight, but because our bed was already packed, we had to make a nice spot on our bedroom floor among the chaos. I think Hank liked it because he could easily sneak around the room while we slept but overall, it wasn’t as bad as we thought. Thankfully our sleeping bags made it less uncomfortable than it could have been. Asleep by 1 am.

Wednesday, 30^th: David had the day off so he spent the day running errands and cleaning/packing more while I was at work. Partway through the day, we got an email saying the paperwork was ready for us to sign! I left work a bit early, picked David up and we made our mad dash to McMinnville to sign the paperwork before their UPS driver came for the afternoon pick up. If we made it in time, we would get the keys the following day. If we missed his pick up, we wouldn’t get keys until Friday. Thankfully we made it in enough time and got those paper signed! It was SO exciting and really made the whole experience real. 

We both left feeling more excited than ever. Especially since we stopped and picked up Chinese food for dinner. 

After dinner, we both worked on cleaning the already emptied rooms before tackling our bedroom. It was another late night cleaning and packing but our cars were loaded and the only things David would need to grab in the morning was Hank, his toiletries and our Brita. Asleep on the floor by midnight.

 

Thursday, 31^st: Moving-Out day had officially arrived. David had scheduled our condo's walk through at 3 pm (I worked again) so I loaded up all the miscellaneous items I could in my car and let me tell you. Driving to work with a box fan, a vacuum, tons of boxes, two laundry baskets and our entire closet in my car made for an interesting trip. It’s a miracle I didn’t get pulled over. I blew the condo a kiss and that was the end of my three year stay there. I’m going to miss that little place, it was perfect while we were there (with the exception of our drunk naked neighbor roaming the neighborhood one night. That was weird). David spent the day over at his sister’s house and we got a text from his sister (our realtor) saying our keys were ready! I got off work and met David and Hank at our new house. David and I turned the key together and he carried me through the threshold to our new home.