July 30, 2011

Positive short sale news and transitional home before pictures

Before we get to the transitional home that we bought last night here's the update on the short sale. The bank has gone through our house to assess the home value and we are waiting on a price to put the house up for. It should be a week or so according to our negotiator.  The negotiator with the Realtor says they already have a few interested parties in our house!  So we are happy to see things moving along now. We are also glad we found this home because we have work to do and it will take a good month at least.

The transitional home we found is in the park we were originally looking to move a home into because of their special deal. We were in the office handing in paperwork for residency application and the park manager had told me on the phone about a new house that would be available. When we got there I asked the price. We were jaw dropped by what they said!! We snatched it up right away.

For only $4000 we nailed a 3 bed, 2 bath home.  If we were to rent a place at that price it would be at least $700/month (and that is conservative). If we stayed in that rental place for 5 years it would be $42,000 which we would have spent over the course of that time.

With this home we are paying a $376/month lot rent, plus the $4,000 purchase price. Over the course of 5 years as a comparison to the above number we will spend $26,560 saving $15,440!  Even if lot rent is raised we'd still be saving a good amount.

Here are the before pics of the home. I forgot the kids bathroom and will have to add that pic later.

To the right as you walk in the door is the East end of the home.


The first room on the left is the kids room.


Kid's closet:


The next room to the left is the kid's bathroom.

Jake's office is the front room. Nice bay window for natural lighting.


Closet in Jake's office:


Back to the front door looking into the living room. See the kitchen on the other side.


Looking at the southwest corner. (see a bit of the front door on the left) I can not wait to tear out those vertical blinds! 


Looking through the kitchen you can see all the way to the master bath.


Looking the other direction at the kitchen. I'm standing in the dining room.


The dining room and a silhouette of wonderful Dad in Law.


The pantry just next to the kitchen. Love it!!


Standing in the corner of the master bedroom.


Walk-in closet? I KNOW!!!


Garden tub that needs help in the Master bath. The toilet has a cove to the right and their are shelves to the right as you walk in the room.


Back where Dad in Law was standing in the dining room there is a door to a 3 season porch. The laundry areas is also by that door. 


Um, yeah. All this for $4,000 folks!!!

This just dropped in our laps.  Not only was it a deal, it has all the amenities we would desire for a functional home. Without having many more children we could live here very comfortably I think!

I have half my colors picked out for the walls. You can ask Jake. I am itching to get going and work on this place. I think I'm nesting early for the baby. :)

July 25, 2011

Things are Happening

A couple quick notes because things are busy around here.

A) An internal broker is coming in to assess the value of our house tomorrow
B) We found a mobile home park that will relocate a home into the park for $5500 and give back to us any extra money.
C) We found a home 924 sq ft home on property for $3500... the guy at the mobile home park that a single wide would average about $3000 to move.. leaving us $1500 to help pay for the home.
D)  We may be about to purchase a home for $1500 moved to the park for free.
E) Lot rent would be $376 and perhaps an extra $10/month for our doggy.

We are trying to just breath right now. We could have a vacant home ready to be moved in by the end of this week to early next week. WHAT!?!?!

July 9, 2011

Weighing options

Well, I will be completely honest with you all.  We seriously are not sure if we should continue making payments on this house.  Mind you, we are not going to go and make some drastic leap like this without feeling completely kosher about it.

Finances are tight as it is, but what's really the kicker was when Jake talked to someone he knows who does foreclosures for a living.  They talked about it for a little while and he really drove the point home that the bank just simply won't hardly look at us unless we miss payments.  He also suggested buying another house and defaulting on this loan.  We still don't think missing payments is an option unless Jake loses his job, which might not be too far off anyway.

So, There we have it.  Do we go with the unethical system of the bank because everyone else does and that is what they expect us to do as well? Or do we stick to our guns and trust that God will cause the road to rise up in His timing. Whether Jake has to lose his job or the bank miraculously begins to look at our file, something is bound to happen at some point!

July 6, 2011

One month later...

Still waiting after one month ago the bank saying there would be an appraisal ordered within a few days. It has also been almost 4 months since we started the process. I know it can be done in 2 months if the other parties do their part without procrastinating.  If Jake loses his job we're sunk, but then maybe the bank would get the picture. Not sure if I've said this before, but we have next to no savings.  They are sucking us dry, but we will never miss a payment if we are able to pay.  We don't think it is right to stop paying just to stop paying, but the bank is taking advantage of that.

We will homeschool so I will begin planning for the fall a simple curriculum for a 3 year old. We are going the Montessori route.  This includes setting up a room that is suitable for children. Kid sized everything. If we move at least I will have all the supplies. I will just have to set it all up somewhere else.

We continue to rest on God's direction.  There is a good reason we are waiting. It's hard, but  I try to think that maybe the longer we wait the greater blessing we have in the end.