In November of 2009 I (Jared) received an email from Paul. He said he was possibly, maybe, could be, might be, thinking about moving to Fort Wayne. He was living in Oregon at the time but used to live here when he was younger. Well of course he was younger when he used lived here...
Paul asked me to keep my eyes open for homes in a certain area, but he made sure to tell me not to put too much effort into it. I set him up on an auto search and let it be.
I would hear from Paul every couple of weeks, always by email. He sent me some of his amazing pictures (he was a photographer), told me stories of how Fort Wayne used to be in the 60s, and shared recipes with me (he was also a chef). His emails were very entertaining and always brightened my day. Then, out of the blue...
HE CALLED ME!
We chatted about life, women, food, music, and how beautiful Oregon is. Then we got down to business. Paul had decided that he is moving to Fort Wayne! He had a few months left on his lease and wanted me to find him a home for him to buy. He told me that he wanted something with charm and character, and it had to be close to downtown Fort Wayne.
I thought that I was going to go ahead and send him a handful of homes that fit his criteria, and when he got here we would go take a look at them in person and decide. Nope. He told me that he trusted me and wanted me to find the house for him and make the offer sight unseen.
YIKES! That was a first for me. I took his top three and went out to take a look. I took my camera and shot videos and sent them to him. He picked one that was listed with my broker and we submitted the offer and got it accepted. Talk about being nervous...
A few weeks later Paul packed up his things in Oregon and started his trek to Indiana. He said he was going to take his time and enjoy the journey and that he would be here the day of closing.
Things moved along nicely until right before closing. Paul had somehow gotten connected with a real bonehead of a lender down in Indianapolis and a week before closing the lender tells me that he can't do the loan. (I can't get into too many details, but I will tell you this lender is not on our Christmas card mailing list.) When I tried to get a hold of him to talk about the problem, his office told me that he had been terminated. Nice job Mr. Lender!!
So... here we are just a few days before closing is supposed to take place and we can't close. Paul is on is way with no cell phone and no way for me to get a hold of him. Again I say YIKES!
When Paul arrived I gave him the bad news. He took it surprisingly well. I sent him to another lender and they delivered the same bad news the first lender did. NO GO. He said it would be a year before Paul could get financed.
What the hell are we going to do?? The sellers needed to sell and the buyer is homeless. I guess there was always the option of living in a van... down by the river.
We scrambled and came up with a solution. Since the home had been on the market for quite some time and there weren't a lot of homes selling in that neighborhood, the sellers agreed to let Paul move in on a rent to own basis for one year. WHEW. He moved in the month of March, 2010.
During the next year I checked in monthly with Paul. We had some great chats, some great laughs, and even ended up together at the Three Rivers Festival that summer to watch the bed race. It's safe to say we developed a nice little friendship.
Fast forward to April of 2011... CLOSING TIME! The new lender had everything he needed and we were all ready to cross the finish line.
NOPE. The lender overlooked a few items and we had more delays. He said "Give me 30 more days and we are good to go." To say that I wanted to strangle this lender was an understatement. Everybody agreed and we kept going.
30 days later we had more delays. Then more delays, followed by more delays. Man, my blood pressure is rising as I am typing this!! :)
Finally... finally... FINALLY we hear those words we have been waiting to hear for 16 months...
CLEAR TO CLOSE!!! We finally made it!!!
Wait, what's that? Another delay??? Underwriting called for one more freakin document. The original appraisal expired and the new appraisal came in just short of purchase price. We worked it out between buyer and sellers, but the lender's lack of experience almost blew the deal up again. Since there was a change in purchase price the loan amount changed and the lender needed a document (I forget what it's called now, but I bet that lender would remember!) showing the adjusted loan amount.
We were delayed a few more days but thankfully we got the deal closed. Closing was a little anti climactic. Paul had already been living in the home for 16 months so there was no exchange of keys, no anticipated moving day, and no huge celebration. It was just nice to finally close.
There it is. Paul and Jared's excellent adventure!
Over all I learned quite a few things and am thankful to have made a new friend. Hey Paul, let's go get a beer next week! On me! :)
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