We did it!

Good Morning... or afternoon, I'm not quite sure. I'm just incredibly sleepy. I hope you all are having a day filled with sunshine and bubbles! I sure am!! We are finally getting off that roller coaster ride called "Your First Construction Loan" boy has it had some serious ups and downs and complete flips along the way! We signed our final paperwork yesterday with Mary Lou and Michelle. As we walked into the bigger office they were giggling and saying "Man, we didn't have much luck in this office last time around" so we did hesitate before we entered the room and they eventually clarified what had happened previously on a closing they did. Long story short they thought the last couple should get a divorce, they have higher hopes for us. :)

After signing a small Rain Forest worth of paperwork and handing over a large check we have entered into the first stages of the American Dream... or Debt. TaaDaa! We are the proud parents of a mortgage! I think it might be nice to go over a few things we have learned along this tiring process....

• Money: You need to begin planning and saving to build your dream home by the time you have your first piggy bank. This is no joke. If you want everything in said dream home that you have ever wished for then seriously start saving. 

• Patience: I do not usually have much of this, but I have a little now. "I'll get right back to you" in bankers terms really means 'I'll call you in a few days'. This can possibly be the same with almost every person you will come into contact with until the day your house is finished. The Hubs is the best in this department and so he kept me away from the phone for most of this. 

• Not Waiting: Yes, I know I just touched on patience but this goes for when you begin your dream to build a house. We went through countless (22) floor plans before we came up with the right balance of open areas and functionality. Before you even think to get a pre-approval on a mortgage you need to know the size of your home, the location, the amount of rooms... ect. We had to have completed plans before we even were allowed to talk numbers. (see first bullet point, plans are not cheap) 

• A Box of Tissues: I'm not always an emotional wreck, but when I am its because I'm trying to get a loan. 

• Good Credit: This ladies and gents is a lie! Sure it helps but at the end of the day if you have a crappy appraiser  your credit score doesn't mean shit. We both have watched our credit since day one and have some of the highest scores but even the bank will tell you that it "doesn't matter". (yes, Wells Fargo literally said this) 

• An Outlet: Not the electrical one but something more along the lines of chocolate, the gym, or cooking. For me I used all of these to take out my aggression, sadness, or impatience. 

• A Rock: Mine was The Hubs, and his was me. When he was stressed I took on the role of calm and collected even though I was secretly freaking out myself (a few times this slipped) But again, he is much better at being a rock than I am. I think I would suck at Poker as well, but thats why I dont gamble. 

• Money: Lets just bring this back up. If you want a loan for a house fairly nice sized (Florida sized, not New York sized) home then you need to know that your plans are paid per sqft, your impact fees are based on the sqft, your flooring, drywall, windows, doors, and everything else is all based on sqft. Do not go in over your head on this. Its okay to go smaller! 

• Stay Strong: I think most banks (and lawsuits) use the whole "make em wait" technique to wear someone down. There were the usual "run around" rituals they put us through that we ran off in the gym, but the waiting made us turn to food, chocolate, and eating out because we just didnt feel like cooking. 

• DirectBuy: Do not contact this company. As much as you want to they are going to harass you for months to come. Yes- I wanted to see the showroom, No- I didnt have intentions of buying anything. Fun facts about them: You have to sit through 30 min of mouth flapping before you can see anything, if you dont join after this or decide not to even show up you cannot step foot inside a DB for 5 years! Membership fees are FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. gross. We are going on month 2 of being a no show here and they have called me from all over the country and from blocked numbers. Its getting out of hand. 

We may never do this again, but I may be lying. I think we are going to be much more prepared next time.... ((says Mrs. OCD who has a binder for everything all the time. Ie: 3 years of Tax returns binder, bank statements, credit scores, pre-approvals, and other financial records binder.)) Okay fine... I think we will be much more emotionally prepared next time. 

Now we begin....