The water test came back with a minor amount of bacteria. They said verbally that they would be treating the water and then retesting.

The lawyer called me yesterday to let me know the title search was complete, or rather they were finishing it up. There are no liens or anything on the property (they search back 60 years), but there are two right-a-ways. One of which I knew about, the driveway to the left of the property. Apparently a right-a-way for that driveway was created initially as a 20 foot right-a-way in April 1986, and then another 30 feet were added in July 1986. So in total, there’s a 50 foot right-a-way, most likely starting in the center of the driveway with 25 feet on either side.

That’s a pretty big right-a-way, and was probably initially done for a development. However this was in 1986, and dad thinks that they probably couldn’t develop the woods behind us because of the two rivers there making it wetlands.

Still, it’s a shared right-a-way, so it shouldn’t interfere with our garden. However I am still going to research what our rights would be with the right-a-way, and if there’s any way we can get the amount reduced. I mean it -is- our property so I imagine we have to have -some- rights.

The other right-a-way is for the electrical company Med-Ed, which I assume just means there is some sort of electrical line on the property somewhere. The lawyer said those are usually only 10 feet or so, but that I can call that number where you have people come out and mark utility lines on the property for you and that should give me an idea of where it is.

Edit: Found this How to Amend Existing Property Easements. Should be fun *sarcasm*. I also emailed the lawyer to find out what my rights are with the land, or rather what -they- could do with the land potentially.

“Hi Crystal, Just wanted you to know that I was able to improve your rate today, a full half point to 5.50% based on the same costs. See the attached, I can do this on occasion for clients when the market warrants. It was a rare day yesterday, seeing the market improve in such a manner. I hope it helps! Have a great day, Joe”

Electricity

I called the electric company (Med Ed) and have scheduled service to start up on October 1st. There is a $12 connection charge for this. I’m curious to see how expensive electricity is in PA. I really wish I could have gotten the co-op company, but they service on the other side of 15, not my side. I’m -right- out of range.

Still, I’ll probably consider alternative energy at some point. I don’t know if it’ll be at this house or the next one.

Trash/Recycle

I called a trash company that was recommended, but they have weird restrictions that I’m not used to down here in Maryland. They offer recycling at $4.xx a month, not bad and worth the price probably. And then they have two waste options.

1. 5 32 gallon bag limit at $49.98/quarter
2. They supply their own trashcan and that’s all you can use for trash at $58.98/quarter. (I shoulda asked how big their trash can was, bigger than 5 32 gallon bags?)

In MD we just put out whatever trash we had and the only limit was on content, not amount. I may call around and see what other trash companies are around, but I think my choices are fairly limited. I definitely want to do more composting at the new house. Dad and I have already been experimenting with reducing our waste (like removing paper towels in August 2007), so I consider it a fun challenge to continue to do so. Kinda like when I was reducing my monthly bills and how much of a fun challenge that was. Now I get to play the same game with our weekly waste.

Phone/Cable/Internet

I am getting the triple play with Comcast because it saves me around $400/year. I have to call and reschedule my appointment though because when I set up the installation, they couldn’t schedule past September 30th. I’m trying to get it set up for October 1st in the afternoon (though I may schedule it for October 2nd so I have time to figure out where I want the tv and my computer).

” Hi Crystal, Your appraisal came in fine at $165,000 and there are no repairs or additional inspection requests. Thanks! Joe”

That was the last big hurdle I was worrying about before settlement. As far as I know all that is left is the results from the water test and the actual settlement date. I’m slightly paranoid about the settlement meeting on the 30th, like someone is going to pull some mysterious fee out of a hat or something.

I’m going to put my foot down if that happens though. I’m fully prepared to walk away from this house and walk out on the settlement meeting if someone does something I don’t like.

I signed up for homeowner’s insurance with USAA this morning. The originally quote they gave me of $628/year was for a $500 deductible. I decided that since my father and I have had renter’s insurance for years and never used it, and we can do most repairs ourselves, I’d opt for the higher deductible. If I didn’t have a healthy emergency savings, then I wouldn’t have done this. Fortunately since I do, I can handle the higher deductible.

At $1000 deductible it brings the yearly premium to $546.44, so a slightly lower monthly payment and about $80 less a year. USAA even offered to set up the transfer of my account to my new address and the cancellation of my renter’s insurance automatically on October 1st.

This was the last step that I needed to do myself, since I got copies of my 401k and Roth IRA statements this morning as well. Now it’s all in the hands of the settlement lawyers and lender. Though I do still need to get a certified check for the remaining balance of the down payment, but I am still waiting to hear from the lawyer about that.

As far as the closing process goes, #1, #3, and #4 are complete. Now it looks like the lawyers need to complete their title search, the lender needs to have the property appraised (and I assume some sort of FHA inspection), the lender needs to approve the loan, settlement lawyer needs to demand pay-off of the original mortgage (I kinda doubt there is one), and I need to get a cashier’s check for the lawyer, then we have our settlement appointment on September 30th and I get my damn keys!

Reminder: Buy new locks.

In the mean time I will be looking at paint colors and setting up appointments for electric hook-up, etc.

Stuff left to do so I can mail off loan papers tomorrow:

Get statement for 401k

Get statement for Roth IRA

Get dads SS card (opted for 1099 form instead, since he lost his SS card years ago)

Get statement for bank account in August

Make copies of all of the above papers and mail with loan papers tomorrow with a copy of the settlement Attorney’s information.

Call USAA and purchase their home insurance program for October 1st. Will do this over lunch and include information in loan papers being sent tomorrow.

[Done already] Email Attorney to verify that move in day is October 1st so I can schedule electricity, storage, and cable. Also ask Attorney for estimated total of certified check needed so I can get that money to my Aunt so she can get a certified check (also verify how long they are good for). Attorney says they reimburse if I overpay, I just need to get this taken care of. Oh, and I need to know who this check is made out to. Waiting for an answer on these questions.

After this is all done, I can start getting information on getting a new license, registering to vote, and all the other needed things as I think of them. (Any ideas?)

I was already on the phone with the Social Security office this morning for almost an hour getting dads income verification letter. What an automated pain they are At least it’s done.

Yes, a post not about boring home buying crap Well…sorta.

Dad drove by the old place today. They have a lockbox on the door and a realtor sign in the yard. They are going to try and sell that place for $185,000.

Excuse me while I convulse with laughter.

[Moment of Convulsing]

Anyone who has ever been to my house knows what a craphole it was. How can you try and sell a condemned house with cardboard walls, a dirt basement, no closets, a septic that hasn’t been checked let alone serviced in 29 years, leaks everywhere, that’s ready to crumble to the ground every minute, for $185,000.

I at least thought they’d level it and sell the lot. I suppose a builder still could, but to put a lockbox on the door so you can show the house? That land isn’t worth $185,000. You’ve got to be kidding me.

Dad and I are buying a house for $161,000 that is 100x better shape, bigger, and more than double the land.

I can’t help but be amused I guess. I’m cynical, and I’m not ashamed of it.

In other news, there are coyotes roaming around up here. My uncle who lives 3 houses down spotted them the other day, and when my Aunt took her rottie for a walk out back the other day, he wouldn’t go down to the property line. Our peacock is also dead, but he was in a pen so we think it was stress possibly related to coyote’s being outside the pen. Peacocks tend to run around and go crazy so it’s possible he killed himself.

We still have two females, and will have to pick up another male once we get our place next month. Still, I am not thrilled about the coyotes. Hopefully they don’t get into anything at my uncles farm.

I would kinda like to see em though

HSBC Insurance (Safeco) - HSBC seems to give quotes from several different agencies. The cheapest quote was from Safeco Insurance at $470 for an annual premium, which is $39/month. They priced the insurance for $202k to rebuild the house. However, looking at online reviews I’m a bit hesitant about bothering with them to save $20/month compared to USAA, who appears to have one of the highest satisfactory ratings. And the reviews are bad not just on the freeadvice.com, but also on epinions.com. So is it worth the $20 extra a month to go with a company with a much higher satisfaction rating? I think so. Sorry Safeco.
Contact: Mick Ross 865-226-1082

HSBC Mortgage - 6.125% interest rate, 0 points, FHA loan with 3% down. By far the best quote I’ve received so far in PA. I did receive a better quote from Liberty Mortgage for MD, but the guy I spoke with couldn’t do PA so…

They are supposed to fax me a good faith estimate Tuesday for closing costs.
Contact: Nelson Rivet, 800-622-7759 x5512

USAA Insurance - $628.02/year which is $52.40/month, and I get car insurance through these guys too, and they still aren’t the best rate, mortgage-wise OR insurance-wise. However they have a high satisfactory rating for insurance claims, as mentioned above. So I may go with them for insurance, but definitely not for mortgage.

USAA Mortgage - $8050 down payment (5% down) at 6.5% interest and no points and no origination fee. But it’s a Conventional loan, they don’t do FHA Loans, hence the larger down payment.

Chase Bank Mortgage - 3% down at $3.6k, with $4.8k closing costs (which includes the $9k already towards closing costs from the seller). 6.0% interest rate with 2.1 points, which is another $3,000, making a total of $11,000? I don’t know how I can go from being quoted $3400 as all the money I’d need for the transaction, to $11,000. It just shows you that reading the fine lines is well worth it.

However their head honcho of loans is supposed to call me Tuesday because he thinks I’m mistaken with the extra amount they look to be charging me. Lets hope I -am- mistaken, but it looks pretty clear to me.

Countrywide - still waiting for their good faith estimate

Pinnacle Mortgage - still waiting for their good faith estimate

Liberty Mortgage - still waiting for their good faith estimate

Ditech - Ditech was just ridiculous as far as customer service is concerned. The woman’s software for an FHA loan wasn’t working, so she couldn’t even give me a direct quote. But she decided to go ahead and give me a conventional loan quote to “get an idea” of what their rates are. I already forget what they quoted because I’m so put off by them, but it would require about $10k up front costs. I told her I wouldn’t be able to do that, which is why I wanted an FHA loan with 3% down. So she tells me that since that’s the case, that the government sets the FHA rates so they are pretty much all the same with every company and that whomever I got a quote from already is probably already giving me the best rate. She then said she’d withdraw my loan application, didn’t even try to get my business.

Well that answer pretty much shocked me so I said goodbye and hung up. I’ve been getting rates from 6% to 7.25% so for her to tell me that they are the same across the grid, not even considering points, is just absurd. I do not recommend Ditech at -all-. LOST ANOTHER LOAN, DITECH.