December 2011

What a month is has been...

The month started off like this...

packing up out apartment.

It was a pretty scary thing to be honest, we has to start packing up our apartment with out truly knowing if we were going to be able to get our house. I know there are always bumps in the road of home buying but I thought we had passed all of ours with the actually making offers and getting acceptance road... I was wrong!  The Wednesday before Thanksgiving we got a call that changed our whole process... We had to scrabble last minute and change our whole plan with the house. With a week away from what we though was closing on our house, we were left looking for solutions and wondering where we were going.  We had to change lenders to get the deal done and even that was kind of iffy.  We started the loan process with a completely new lender that Wednesday and had to wait through the long weekend to figure out where we stood with them.  I joked we always find out bad news on Friday then have to wait for an answer on Monday that we actually get on Wednesday. So waiting even longer due to the holiday weekend was rough!

Monday came.. no answer.. Tuesday came and this was our very last day of due diligence with financing.. we had to either walk blindly into the future and hope that everything works out knowing that if it didn't we would loose all the money we had put down for earnest money (not to mention the money for appraisal and inspection), or walk away today and know we were out. We had already given our notice to the apartments we lived in that we would be out by the 5th of December so we couldn't even stay put we HAD to move that weekend somewhere.  We decided to put our faith in the new lender and go forward blindly knowing we could loose a lot. It was super scary but we knew it was the house for us and we had already fought so much to get it why give up now? Friday came and we got the call that our file had been submitted to underwriting and came back already! WE HAVE FIRM APPROVAL!  What a great day.!

On the 3rd we  had our Thompson Family Christmas Party, then it was back to the apartment to finish boxing up to move to my parents the next day. We had set to close on our house on the 9th so we knew we only had a week of living at my parents. Knowing where we were going to really end up make it a lot easier to pack up the apartment. 

Sunday the 4th we moved out of our apartment and in to my old bedroom at my parents (which they had just begun making into a project/craft room, I guess they didn't plan on me coming back ever lol)

We had setup a time for Thursday the 8th to go sign our life away! However on Monday we got a call asking if we would like to sign earlier, so we signed on Tuesday and it was not as scary/dreadful as I thought it might be. It was actually pretty low key.

The rest of the week went by kinda slow, we knew the weekend would pass by so quickly. Thursday we celebrated my mother in laws birthday with some cake from none other than coldstone! After doing cake we ran around getting cleaning supplies and getting tile for our master bathroom (seriously who still puts carpet in a bathroom? Our house had it and it was built in 2006... )

Friday Morning came... Today we get our keys we were told they were going to get our keys to us as early as possible they had set up a wire to be there first thing that morning to fund the loan and they only needed to record it that morning.  We ran around all morning getting paint/ setting up delivery of our washer/dryer and loading up supplies to take to the house... after that was done we still didn't have keys... GRRR I wanted to get in and get done.  Around 3 pm we got a text message from our Realtor telling us the code to get into the house :)

We  got to the house about 3:30 and got to work painting that walls and trim, and cleaning the bathrooms and kitchen.  We were lucky to get the sellers to pay to have the carpets shampooed before we got access to the house.  We spend all afternoon and night at the house painting and cleaning. I was so sick, ( I love how just as your stress level can lower, BAM you get sick!) We painted pretty much every wall in the house and painted 3 accent walls. Kasey had made it out to rip our carpet in the master bathroom and begun the tile process.  We finally finished about 11:30 that night.

The next morning was Moving day!

This wasn't too bad as we had just loaded all of our stuff onto my parents 4-wheeler trailer that weekend before so it was just pulling it to the house and unloading. Everything was in pretty quick and we began unpacking boxes and finding every things new home.

That night we had yet another family Christmas gathering, we went to dinner at Fuji and to see the lights at temple square. Seth and I went to temple square and then realized it was too cold to walk around with me being sick, not sure where my coat was and really tired from the last couple of day so we say goodbye and went home before walking around the temple grounds.

On Friday the 16th I came home to 2 little elf's in my house putting up a Christmas tree and decorating my house for the holidays, I wasn't sure I was going to decorate as it had been so stressful already and I didn't know how much more I really wanted to do... So my mom and dad decided they would do it for me. I loved it! It was very kind of them and Seth and I really appreciated it!

On Sunday we went to the Paxman Family Christmas party, we had fun and it was nice to see everyone and relax for a few minutes.

Christmas Weekend

We spent Christmas Eve over at my parents house with the traditional turkey dinner and playing games. Presten had bought a new game to play called Killer Bunnies... its fun but SUPER LONG! I think we spend 3 hours playing that night just 1 game and we had to escalate how quickly we ended the game.

Christmas morning we headed over to my parents to open presents and see my family for a little bit. followed by going over to Seth's parents to see them for a few and opening presents there.  When we left his parents we picked up Seth's friend Gary and went home.

Later in the day we had both families over for dinner and games... again we played killer bunnies and it was super long again. Playing a long game while trying to host everyone is really hard, but in the end I think everyone had fun and it was nice to have everyone over. We love that our house is great for hosting gatherings and being able to get together with our friends and family.

Here are some pictures of our new home... Enjoy

Living Room

 Master Bathroom

 Kitchen

 Dinning Area

 Office with Purple Accent Wall

 Guest Bedroom

 Master Bedroom with Green Accent Wall

 Our Washer and Dryer and Laundry Room

 Awesome tile work by my brother Kasey

 Guest Bathroom

Holiday Dogs :)

Thankful

So Everyone has been doing posts a day for things they are thankful for, I am Thankful for many things but I will never be one to blog every day, so in wanting to express my Thankfulness I give you my 30 days of thankfulness in 1 post… yup no need to check back every day you get it all NOW! That you can be thankful for.

1. Seth- I know its kinda clique but I am so Thankful for my husband, he loves me unconditionally and is always there when I need him the most. He has been an amazing partner to go through so many life changes in 1 year with. Although we have only been married a little over 7 months he is totally my rock and the one I love with all my heart!
2. My Mom- My mom has taught me so many great things, she taught me to cook and to be the great wife I am aspiring to be. We have had our ups and downs but what mother/ daughter doesn’t have those? My mom is always there to help all her kids when they need help and she doesn’t ever let them give up on their dreams.
3. My Dad- My dad has truly shown me what hard work means, he has done so many great things and has always worked so hard to give me and my family everything we ever wanted. He is my hero and someone I truly look up to. He has helped me grown and learn in so many ways and for that I will always be thankful for. I know I will always be daddy’s little princess.
4. My Brothers- I am grateful for the teasing and playful times we have had growing up, I am thankful for the different qualities each of them bring to my life. Jesten is awesome in figuring out techy stuff and is someone I can always count on to give me good opinions of gadgets, he is also awesome with cars. Jesten has taught me how to take care of those things that are important to me whether that be my car or loved ones. Kasey- is kind of a jack of all trades, he is very handy and does amazing tile and construction type work, kasey is someone I can go to when I am not sure how to fix things. He is also someone who has taught me no matter how hard things get, you gotta keep moving forward. Presten- is crazy! I think that’s a great word to describe him, he is all over he has many friends in many different types. He has so much energy and is so fun to be around. Presten has taught me to go with the flow, and have fun don’t worry what people think about you.
5. My In- Laws- I really am pretty lucky with my in-laws, they are always there for us and willing to help in any way they can. They don’t ask much of us and understand that we still adjusting to married life and working out the kinks of having 2 families to include in life now.
6. My Friends- I am so thankful for all my friends the ones who live close and the ones who live far away. I am thankful for them always being there for me and picking me up when I need a boost, for giving me a kick when I needed a fixing. I am glad that with so many of my friends that even though we don’t talk every day or even every week, that when we find the time to talk that its like we never missed a beat. I really do have the best friends
7. Zoie- I truly love my dog, she is a great pet. She has quiet a personality and is very jealous, but she has always been there for me when I just need her to be. She has been by my side through so many ups and downs and has been very loyal to me.
8. Huk – He is a new addition to my family, but we are so happy he is with us. We weren’t really planning on getting another dog when we got him but he is perfect for us. I love seeing how happy Seth is to finally have a dog of his own that he gets to raise from a puppy. He is great to play with and is always there to give loves. He is full of energy and always wants to play. He is a good dog.
9. The Lakes/ Wave running – I am so grateful that every winter I have something to look forward to. I have told many people I feel most like me when I am out on the lake alone than anywhere else. It’s a very special feeling and place for me and I am so thankful for that.
10. Running Water / Flushing Toilets – I think this goes without saying much… So thankful
11. Prayer- I am so thankful that I know the power of prayer, and although I probably don’t pray as much as I should, I am thankful that I learned at a very young age the real power of pray and that he is listening.
12. Life Lessons- I wouldn’t be the person I am today or doing the things I am doing today with out the trials I have been through. I am so glad that I was able to look at the lessons and learn as much as I have. To look back 10 years and see myself just graduating high school and look at where I am at in life now I am so thankful for all the hard times that built me.
13. Dr. Pepper- I love this stuff, I am so thankful for it and the boost it gives me when I need it.
14. Education- I am thankful for my education and all that I have learned, not just in text books but the underlying knowledge from doing my homework and attending classes. I am thankful to know how to do many things and be able to problem solve, to think clearly and to understand what I read. I am thankful that I was able to attend college and push to get my degree.
15. Facebook- I know this seems kind of odd, but I love facebook not because I can stalk people I went to high school with or see what so and so is up to now. But I am thankful with all my friends throughout the world that even though we don’t talk because of costs, time zones and busy lifes that I am still able to know what is happening in so many of my friends lives, even if it’s just a snapshot.
16. Lotion- I have such dry skin especially this time of year that I am so thankful that there is something out there to soothe my dry itchy skin.
17. My Job- My job is just like any other jobs, I have good days and bad days, but in the end I am so thankful for what I do and knowing that I am here to help the employees with their questions.
18. Insurance- Yes I hate paying it, but I am thankful for it when I see doctors bills or claims. I am glad that I can make someone else pay for the majority of my medical bills or car accidents.
19. Music- Sometimes there is nothing better than cranking up some music and just jamming out. It can help with so many emotions and to clear my mind.
20. Family Vacations- I am so thankful for the many great times that I have been able to spend with my family, not having to deal with the hassles of everyday life and being able to see and do new things together. To learn the best type of history lessons and to test our nerves on new and thrilling rides. I have so many great memories of vacationing with my family. I hope that I am able to give my future children some of these great memories as well.
21. Online Banking- I am so thankful that I don’t have to go to the bank anytime I want to know something or pay a bill. I am glad I can manage my life with just the click of a mouse and know where I am at, at all times financially.
22. My Sense- You know Sight, Hearing, Touch, Smell, Taste… I am so glad that I am able to do them all, that I can take in all that is around me and the beauty that comes from that.
23. My Health – I am overall in good health, yes I could lose some weight and would be better, but I am thankful for where I am today. I have no major medical issue and I am able to live a normal day to day life.
24. Heat- I am so thankful that on cold days I can be warm.
25. Electricity- I use so much of it every day and it would be so easy to take it for granted, but from the time I wake up in the morning until I go to sleep at night, and even while I sleep it’s there making my life run smoother.
26. Sleep- I am thankful that I am able to re-energize my body to keep it going, as well as the many fun and interesting dreams that happen while sleeping.
27. Those that serve our Country/ My Freedom- I am so very grateful for those that serve and protect us, for the sacrifices they, the family and loved ones make for our freedom. I have many great friends who are in the military and I appreciate them so much. I am so thankful that I can go
to sleep at night and not worry if my home will be under attack in the night.
28Sunsets- I love them, they are BEAUTIFUL .
29. Water- I am thankful for something so pure and natural that we all need on a daily basis, I am thankful to be able to drink it, play it in, and clean with it.
30. Life- I am so thankful for this journey, though its truly just beginning I am thankful that I am here and that I am able to enjoy every minute of it.

Home sweet home

I tell you once you get your hearts set on a house you fight to get it…
This time fighting paid off. We got our House but it has not been without many hoops and obstacles to overcome. I have 2 other posts on here describing some of them but let me tell you the rest of the story of us getting our home.
After the house went to foreclosure Bank of America bought back the house then gave it to Fannie Mae, I started to think that this might be nice because the majority of fannie mae homes we looked at were newly painted (one less thing I would have to do J ) and in some cases they replaced the carpets, the carpets in the house are not bad, they need a good deep cleaning though. So I thought, maybe that’s why we are going to have to wait even longer to get our home, because that’s they way life works right??? Not so much…
Our Agent had set up a search that tracked any changes on the address of the house we love, every hour of everyday so that when it did come back on the market we could know ASAP. Well it came up one Monday night while Seth and I were relaxing at home, I didn’t have my phone on me for a few hours and as soon as I looked it I saw the email “ Something has changed with 2288” I quickly clicked on it to see if it was true. It was, the price was still in our price range and we were super happy. We logged onto the computer and read the description and looked at the new photos to see if they had done anything else to the house, all they frantically calling and texting our agent. We didn’t want to risk not getting our offer in as soon as possible.
In reading the new listing we didn’t notice anything that said they were accepting offers for x amount of time, so we assumed it was the first good offer would be accepted…
While talking to our agent he said that we could get our offer in that night, but that he didn’t think anyone would jump as quickly and we would probably be okay sending over all the documents in the morning. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep so I instead that it get done that night. While our agent drew up the documents Seth and I ran to my parents house to use their printer / fax machine.
We got the documents and printed, signed and tried to fax them back, my parents fax machine was not working and kept faxing blank pages (yes I had the pages the correct way.) So we ran to Office Max and faxed them there.. I still can’t believe it cost $18.00 to fax 12 pages. Whew it was in and we should hear back in the next day or so on whether it was ours.
The next we found out that the listing agent had decided to accept all offers on the house until Friday at noon and then they would choose the Highest and Best offer, rather than doing what 99% of agents do and just accept the 1st acceptable offer. So again we got the lame agent who wants to complicate everything, I was so bummed! We had done everything right and yet still more hurdles to jump over.
We talked to our agent and he told us about what’s called an escalation clause, basically we say our offer it $1000 over the highest offer received. With that in place we felt good but scared that the price would go over what we really wanted to pay for the house.
On Thursday the listing agent came back and asked for Highest and Best offers from everyone, he asked us to resubmit our offer with our escalation clause with and up to amount, something like we will pay $1000 over highest offer up to XXX dollars. This became more scary in the fact that we has to name an up to amount, we didn’t want to go too high for fear it would drive up our price, yet not low either cause we wanted the house to be ours. We submitted our offer and was told that on Friday at noon the listing agent would choose the offer he would submit to the bank.
Mid morning Friday I got an email from our agent telling me that all offers are being submitted to the bank and they will choose what offer they are going to accept, so we weren’t looking to get an answer back until Monday or Tuesday the following week at the earliest.
Around 4pm, I was with Seth at a Chocolate Festival that ColdStone was participating in at South Towne Mall, it was noisy and I didn’t hear my phone. Something told me to look at it and I have a missed call, voice mail and a text from our agent saying CALL ME!
I quickly called our agent to see what was going on. WE GOT IT! Well that’s if we wanted to pay the higher price on the home… it was something that we weren’t sure we wanted to do and it was very stressful/ heartbreaking to deal with. On one hand we GOT IT! It was ours if we choose to accept the offer from the bank, no one else could get in the way and we should have a REAL approval letter early next week if we accepted. On the other hand, the price came back higher than we had thought we wanted to go, not much but a little, we worried if we could afford it (then again I worry about money crap all the time). We talked to our mortgage loan officer and asked a lot of questions and realized that it wasn’t that much different than when we thought we had it a few months ago. We knew this was the house we wanted, great location, and great house!
We called out agent and told him that we were pretty sure we wanted it but would let him know 100% Monday morning.
On Halloween we officially signed and accepted the banks offer. We are set to close on December 1st and move December 3rd.. We thought!

Summer Lovin... Summer 2011

Our Summer... In Pictures

Waitng for Andrew and Jen outside the temple..

 Our New Tent..

 Planking at the Lake

 After the "Festival of Colors" at Bear Lake

 Marysvale Mudd Bath

 The whole Group in the Flash Floods!

 BFF Kyle and Presten

 Drive Up by Kamas with Mom and Dad

 

Oktoberfest...

... And My Heart is 1/2 Broken

So I promised that I would let people know what happened with the house...


I am not sure the story is completely over but here is where things stand right now.

Around the end of August I got a call from our Agent telling me that he had just got off the phone with the agent and that the deal had been approved! I was super SUPER excited about it, I called Seth immediately and told him. We thought about not telling anyone until we had the official approval letter (Probably should done that in hind sight) but we were too excited so we told some close friends and family.

In an email we were told the file just had to do one last check through QC and that we should have our approval letter within 72 hours...
Fast forward to the end of September now, NO approval letter, we keep asking where it is at, getting no answers. Our agent starts to do some digging around only to find out that a week prior the bank had ordered a BPO (Brokers Price Opinion, basically a cheap appraisal done by a real estate agent to let the bank know where the house should sell at.) They DO NOT order BPO's to be done on a home that is already approved so why was it ordered? Come to find out we never had approval, The BPO came back at a higher amount than our offer which meant the bank would not approve the sale. Meanwhile the house was set to go into foreclosure in a week from that day.
We talked to our Real Estate Agent and decided we would try to get a postponement on the home from going to foreclosure... We had tried to cut the emotional ties we had to that home, but it was hard. While looking at some other no so great homes our agent got and email from the listing agent asking us to provide proof that we were 100% serious about the home and showing we had "our ducks in a row"... That secretly gave me more hope that it would pull through... 2 days before the foreclosure date we were told that the bank would not approve the postponement nor the sale of the home at our offer. We decided to submit and offer at what the listing agent said where the BPO came back at... This was higher than what we really wanted to go but our thoughts were, we would submit the offer, get it approved and keep the home from going to foreclosure, then tell the bank our appraisal came back less than the offer therefore needing to come down on the price of the home.

Jump back a little, with all the craziness going on with the home my mom called the listing agent (since we were never getting a great idea of what was really happening with the home from him) and pretended to be interested in the home. He had told her that there was an offer in on the home but that it was going to foreclosure next week.

My mom got a follow up call the day the home went to foreclosure... WHY? Because the listing agent got sidetracked and forgot to submit our offer into the bank to keep it from going to foreclosure. Talk about being pissed! Had the agent done his job I probably could be one step closer to having my house.


Since the house was sold at auction we will still have a chance to pick it up when it comes back on the market as a bank owned home, We don't know when it will come back on the market it could be anywhere from 30 days to 3 months. We are still looking into homes as they come up on the market but it’s so hard to see the good in the other homes when my heart is still tied to this house...

Making the Cut...

This is my cute baby boy Huk last time he came home from the groomer.... so cute and fluffy!!!!

This is how he now looks, :( its kinda sad, but I am getting use to him and the time it will take to keep him combed is not worth the fluffyness he was before. He also goes in to be nuetered tomorrow so he needed to be cut shorter for surgery. 

We love our Huk no matter how fluffy he is or isn't.

Home is Where the Heart Is

In June we decided it was time to start looking for a place to call home. This was something we had been talking about how we want to do since before the wedding. Our initial plan was to stay put and pay down our debts so that next year we would be in a better spot and then start looking, but the more and more we talked about it we thought it was the right time to being life’s next little adventure and start the home buying process. We thought a yard would be nice for the dogs; living in an apartment with 2 (even though small) dogs is crazy. Also the market seems to be a good time to buy right now. Seth had a friend who knew a good agent (or so we were told.) He came over one afternoon and we login onto the MLS with the agent’s login, and began looking at homes.


Our first thought was let’s not go too crazy and let’s look at smaller less expensive home and townhomes. We found a few really cute townhomes but none seem to fit just right, my parents told us don’t buy a townhouse you will hate it, and although I still like the idea of a townhouse it just doesn’t meet our needs. (We need a yard for the dogs.) The first night we went out looking at houses we were a little disappointed in what we saw. It was tough we really want to just find a place that we like. We realized that some of the homes are going to need work and that was our mindset. We had been pulling the lists ourselves and going based only on what we saw in pictures on the MLS listings. We went out again and found a home we thought would work well for us, it was at the time priced where we felt good and although it needed work we felt comfortable with the price and the money it would take to fix up the home. We put our offer in… a few days later the bank came back wanting 15k more, I wasn’t sure what to do, I asked my parents to come with us to look at the house because I was not sure. I think it was then that we realized this was not the home for us especially when the bank now wants more money on a home that really needed some TLC. One thing that my parents really pointed out to us was that our Realtor was not really helping us make the right choices; he was almost pushing us into buying this home, even when we brought up our concerns with the home, and he basically just played them down like it wasn’t a big deal.

The next day we changed agents, and looked at a few more homes with a lovely agent, she was nice and was pulling homes for us to see which was a lot more than what the previous agent had done for us. Then my mom was looking on KSL and called on a home she saw that she thought we would like. The agent called my mom back and talked to her for some time and my mom told me to look at the house on KSL. When I pulled up the ad, it was a home that I had seen on the MLS several times and kept asking to go see. I talked to the agent and he set us up with a time to see the home he was selling the next day. The following day I had several email exchanges from this agent asking me so many questions about the home I really want not just what I think I can afford at this point in my life. I listed the basic’s 3 bed, 2 bath, yard for my dogs to play in, good neighborhood, told him the area’s we like. He came up with a list of about 10 homes that he thought matched what I was looking for and sent them to me and told me to tell him all the things I liked vs. hated in the homes. From that list we saw about 6 homes that night. We saw 4 homes we just loved and knew matched what we wanted. 3 of the homes were short sales, 2 of the homes were really nice and we didn’t think we could ever really get them, but we decided to make offers and see what happened.

The non- short sale home, came back quick and the agent wanted a lot more than we were willing to pay for a home we had an offer in on an identical home 2 doors down. So we walked away. A few weeks last we learned that on our Favorite home we were in first position and that the bank will be countering but we heard the counter, however before they officially counter offer us they needed to run the offer by the investor of the home, we were told that in 2-3 weeks we should hear back from the investor and could very well be on our way to owning this home. We got super excited… That was July 18th, it’s now Aug 26th and almost 6 weeks later we are still waiting to hear on the home. We are still very hopeful that this home will be ours, and have fallen more in love with the home during this waiting phase. WE HOPE THIS IS HOME! However if it’s not we still have offers in on the other 2 homes, and we continue to look at what’s on the market. So far nothing compares to this home… Stay tuned for news of when we get an answer now.