The BIG Bad

Just after the holidays I told you all that the BIG BAD happened, but I didn't fill you in.  I was waiting until we had a resolution before spilling this story.  Thankfully, it has a happy ending!  This will be our new house at the end of the month!!!!  We're moving to Franklin, Tennessee (just south of Nashville).  Get ready for lots of pictures and a crazy story.

(kitchen)

We toured this house in May of 2011 while it was still under construction.  It's a new home in a new development.  We fell totally in love with it and wished we could buy it right then!  We decided we would build new using the builder of this home.  We never thought this house would stay on the market.  

(view from kitchen into breakfast nook/backyard)

In November, our relator sent us an email stating the builder had completed the house and was lowering the price during the winter season by $30,000!!!!  Holy cow!  So we started thinking, we should just buy it now and save ourselves the hassle of building a house from scratch!  We got pre-approval from USAA and thought it was meant to be.  We were all set to close on the 29th of December.

(more kitchen pics--the granite is a dark green)

When we got the loan paperwork from USAA I noticed a mistake in my husband's employment history. They had typed that he worked at his second job for 5 years, but he's only been working there 5 months. I corrected this mistake in my first conversation with our loan officer.  Just so you guys understand, my hubby is a physician in the military, but he moonlights at civilian hospitals for extra money.  He has a job lined up in the Nashville area already with a signed contract.

(view from the living room to the front door)

The weeks pass and we are constantly having to come up with some document or bank statement from USAA, but everything seems routine.  No problems or issues.

(eeek! my 5 burner gas stove!)

I talk to the loan officer regularly to make sure everything is going ok and they don't need anything more from us.  Then, we leave for Christmas vacation to my in-laws in Missouri and we plan to stop in Nashville on the way back to close on the house.  I talk to the loan officer a few more times since we're getting close and the title company still doesn't have USAA's closing info and money required.  Two days before closing USAA says they need some other doc from us and we send it.  Never does USAA express any problems or concerns.  They just say, "the underwriter wants X".  The day before the closing USAA leaves another message requesting some other document.  I email it to them that night (we were on the road to Nashville when they called).  

(patio, it's not completed yet in this pic)

The day of closing I still haven't heard from them and we're supposed to do the final walk through on the house.  I call only to find out they did not approve our loan!  WTF?!?!?!?  To say I was pissed is putting it mildly.  Apparently, since hubby has only been working at the part time job for 5 MONTHS they can't use that income.  They can't use his future income because he will be an independent contractor.  They are only able to use his military income--which isn't enough to qualify us for the house.  THEY TELL ME THEY SHOULD NEVER HAVE PRE-APPROVED US!

(living room/fire place/built-ins)

Had the pre-approval department entered in the information correctly we would have never been pre-approved!  While normally this would be upsetting, you wouldn't be losing any money.  However, we had the builders do custom work on the home after we got the preapproval and put $20,000 down for those improvements.  We will not be getting that money back.

(view from stairs into living room/backyard)

Now comes the very long process of us trying to get a loan, because USAA's right, with the new mortgage rules, no one will give us a loan!  This is particularly crazy to me since we are able to put 20% down on this house and we both have credit scores in the 800s.  Nutsy cuckoo!

(dining room/front porch)

In the end, we find we can get a "Doctor's Loan" with a few banks, but the closing date has to be within 60 days of his contract start date.  Sigh.  We were not looking forward to convincing the builder to wait to close on this house in April!  Oh, and we have to pay $90 per DAY for every day we push back the closing of the house!

(my sewing room!)

At the last minute, right before the builder was going to give us their decision on delaying until April, we found a bank that can do the loan at the end of the month.  HOORAY!  We got our confirmation letter (meaning the underwriter has approved our loan, not just pre-approval) yesterday. To say we are relieved is an understatement!  This is our dream home and we were heart broken when we thought we couldn't get it!  Needless to say, I'm still supremely pissed off at USAA for their mistakes and how they handled them---like not informing us there was a problem, EVER.  A customer should not have to call the day of closing to find out something is wrong!  I'm in the process now of having them compensate us for the fee we will have to pay for moving the closing date.  Fun times!  Here are a few more pics, drama free! :)

(where my fabric will go)

(master bedroom)

(master bedroom looking into master bath)

(master bath)

(shower)

(tub with cool tile work)

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(master closet)

(hubby's man cave at top of the stairs)

There are three more bedrooms, two bath rooms, and another bonus area upstairs which will be the boys' playroom.  I just figured you all were tired of pictures now so I'm summarizing the upstairs.

So that's our BIG BAD story with our happy ending!  We can't wait to move!