AUTHOR: M. DATE: 9:14:00 PM ----- BODY:

I am a crazy person tonight. A few months back we started the first-time homebuyer's program at ACORN (which is an incredible organization). We did 2 of the three pieces you have to do to qualify for the first-time home-buyer goodies like a reduced mortgage rate and no PMI and a (relatively) small down payment. When we met with the mortgage counselor, the news was mixed. So we put off the final step, figuring when we had more money (read: another income, in the pipeline for after Isadora's graduation in May) we would do the last piece and then be ready to go. But it didn't temper the real-estate section obsession. So we've been looking, in a half-assed, all-over-the-map kind of way. And with Isadora's graduation within tasting distance, we've decided that we wanted about half the places that we've seen - even though they are mostly about $50,000 above what we can afford. This is not small potatoes, particularly in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country. Last night we found... The Place. I think. Maybe I'll eat my words by next week. But it's just what we want. And I'm almost afraid to say it, but the price is right, at least based on the sale prices of the units above and below it - it would actually be a mortgage that wouldn't require us to eat white rice until 2008. So we're finishing the homebuyer program, but the last piece we need isn't offered until a week from Saturday. So, on tomorrow's to-do list: 1. Scramble around like a maniac trying to find all of our paperwork and income documentation; 2. Call the bank and beg them to pre-approve us for a mortgage without our having finished the first-time homebuyer program; 3. Call ACORN and beg them to expedite things for us so that when we do finish the last part of the program we can have all of our paperwork in order; 4. Call the bank that has our down payment and figure out how fast we can actually GET the money should we get to that point; 5. Call the lawyer my co-worker referred me to today and figure out how much she'll charge us, how we're going to pay her, and what on earth we actually need her to do; 6. Figure out our agreement with our landlord and see what kind of deposit we would be owed so we know what kind of money we'd have to lay out towards our housing in the next few months if for some insane reason this worked out; 7. Look up lead paint laws and try to figure out our rights and what we need to do sooner rather than later to prevent Alleged Future Kid from ingesting large quantities of poisonous substance if this sale actually goes through; 8. Look up definitions for things like "mortgage ARM" (I believe this is not a body part but I can't be certain) so we don't sound like complete and total idiots when asked basic questions by the seller or the buyer's agent. Who actually buys the first place they make an offer on? No one, right? So we keep telling each other that we will NOT get attached to this place. This is a complete and utter fallacy. It is way too late for that.

-------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Shirky COMMENT-DATE:10:16 AM COMMENT-BODY:we bought the first place we made an offer on! it is not weird, merely efficient! -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Shirky COMMENT-DATE:11:02 AM COMMENT-BODY:ps Two years is a long time for my aging brain but I do remember some things about the process. Let me know if I can help. -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR: Laura COMMENT-DATE:11:55 AM COMMENT-BODY:Good luck! I'm still all about the renting, but I'll send good house-getting vibes your way... --------