So we drove out to the lender’s office only to find out that the power was out in their building.  We had a nice chat, but didn’t get anything substantial out of it because he was unable to pull up any documents on the computer or crunch any numbers.  We left without any more information than we came with, although I will say that I thought the meeting went better than expected.

He doesn’t strike me as the condescending, sleazy salesman that for some reason I envisioned.  He’s more of the jolly, effeminate high school band nerd type.  Nice guy.

One thing I have learned about myself over the years is NOT to trust my instincts.  That sixth sense thing that women are supposed to have totally skipped over me.  I have the intuition of a dead frog.

So anyway, the power remained off in their building for the remainder of the day, but late last night he was able to email us the good faith estimate, so we could compare apples to apples.

And it looks like it’s going to be doable.  Which means I’m happy because we get a house and happy that this particular waiting game has ended.

…Now we get to start the 6 or 7 months of waiting for the house to get finished.

It never ends.

Ok, who ordered the hurricane?  This is not going to be fun to drive in, and our meeting is in an hour.

The rain is crashing into the front of the house, so at least it’s not coming in through the back door this time.  I hate cleaning up puddles in my livingroom.

Sheesh.

Well, we meet with the loan officer today to figure out if this whole new house thing is really going to work.  We already have a good faith estimate from another lender, but in order to get certain incentives (like a percentage off the home price…which we need) we have to use the builder’s lender.  Based on the good faith estimate we have from the other lender, this should work out… but still I’m doubtful.

I’ve never met this loan officer before, but I have the very distinct impression that he’s not in it for our best interest.   I don’t know why.  Is that weird?  I just feel like we’ll have to finagle and negotiate with him in order to get anything close to reasonable.

I have absolutely nothing to base that feeling on.  Although I suppose it’s partly because this group of houses are selling so well that we’ve already been told the lender won’t pay closing costs because they don’t have to - if we can’t make the purchase there’s someone else who will.

So somehow, I can’t help but expect that he’s going to give us a good faith estimate that is… less than good.  Am I just being paranoid?  I guess I’ll find out today.

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So in a rather spontaneous and unexpected turn of events, we’re thinking of moving. Of building, actually:

After visiting some new homes just on a whim and partly out of boredom, we actually found a house that a) we could afford, and b) would be a reasonable step up from the house we’re in now.

It’s the only one in the entire area that has the right price and square footage for us. So we’re really considering making the leap, even though it would probably mean losing a little money on the house we’re in now. Unfortunately, the area we’re in hasn’t appreciated much in the 2 years we’ve been here. In fact, this new house will appreciate more in the next 6 months than our current house has since we bought it.

Sad, isn’t it.

So anyway, that’s what we’re up to. Tomorrow we meet with our agent and the builder to see if this is really something doable, so I’ll probably know tomorrow evening if we’re going to be moving or not.

The funny thing is, since it’s all been so quick and sudden-like, I haven’t had time to become totally wrapped up in the new house. I mean, I feel like I could easily call it home after walking through the model a couple of times…but if it doesn’t work out, I won’t be absolutely devastated. Basically - and this is really unusual for me - I’m feeling really relaxed about this, regardless of which way it goes.

…Despite the fact that I’ve already decorated every inch of it in my mind and have all the decorating necessities saved on eBay and my Bed Bath & Beyond registry.