Housie Update

I figured calling it a "housie" would make it seem less daunting, maybe even kind of cute. Then I could even bring in rhyming - Housie Mousie, or the Housie Wousie with my Spousie.

Not working. It's still major construction project, and it's still stressful as all blogging hell.

So, we are waiting for the final permits to be, uh, permitted and then it begins. There was a glitch in the permit to give them the plans to get the permits. They called and said the survey was reduced. I was thrilled! Less money!? Nope. They meant the size of the paper that the survey was on had been reduced, and they couldn't accept the plans as they were. OK, to rectify the sitch, I had to come up with the original survey on the original paper. Not so easy when the only survey copy I got was the one in my mortgage packet which is bound and uniform, easy to read, but apparently the survey page was scanned and printed to fit and the town found this unacceptable. Asshats. OK. PANIC. I needed this to be approved yesterday and now there is a glitch.

So I call my mortgage guy. Yep. You heard me. He was the only person I could think of who could a) Tell me what I was looking for b) Tell me where I might find it c) Tell me what I could do if I can't find it. It couldn't be faxed because it would "alter the size in some way". OK, fine, but I can't crap the thing out of thin air and time is running out! Joe (hereafter referred to as Mortgage God; or MG and to be accompanied by the sound of choirs and angels with harps) found my survey info within seconds, scanned and emailed it to me in 3 different formats just in case one didn't work. It was again rejected by the town, because it was a scanned copy, and might not be to scale. OK. Now MG *insert angels and harps* jumps into super mode and finds the original survey company. He calls them himself and has them fax, mail and prepare a copy for me to pick up in person, since the place is semi-local. Luckily Lisa had time and she ran to get them. I handed them over to the contractor who would take them to the inspector himself to bitch about the commotion. When I opened the 'real' survey - it's the same fucking size as the faxed one, the scanned one, and the copies!!! I was seething!!!

So the main point is that we are back on track here, and I expect the call telling me to bring my checkbook and a waiver for my first born to get the permits-then construction begins in a week. All good and well, but none of this would be flowing right now if it weren't for the magnificent Joe Kustra of Quicken Loans. I linked him for a reason. Go visit him. People had told me that mortgages were evil things and buying a home would turn me grey and give me hemorrhoids. I was told I should just razor my wrists instead of dealing with the mortgage people, especially since I had never owned property or bought anything before. So, I looked around a lot, did research on companies, and listened to recommendations from friends and strangers. I went with Quicken, referred by the wonderful Lynn and Joe in NH. Joe actually does software creation or some technical designing thing with applications they use in the company so he must know if it's good, not to mention they use them too. The referral saved me $500 off the bat as a promotion they have if you are referred by someone. That was a bonus, and helped at closing. I can't say enough about how smoothly everything went. Joe Kustra was amazing, and he was there 24/7. He gave me his personal cell for any questions, and he always had the information at his fingertips. He answered all of my insane questions - even ones that had nothing to do with the house. "Boxers or Briefs Joe, I need to know." He had a great sense of humor, put up with my neurosis and made things so much easier. I hardly drugged myself to sleep during the process at all.

I recommend that anyone thinking of refinancing or buying, give him a call. At the very least, he can guide you and introduce himself. I think you'd be very happy with him. If I weren't such a huge queer, I'm sure I would have moved up there and made babies with this man. Now THAT'S a stamp of approval if I ever heard one. Don't forget to tell him that it's a friends and family referral from me to get that great deal.