Everyone Please Stand and Do The Happy Dance!
If you read my blog January 17th, The Mortgage Won't Pay Itself...you know why we are dancing!
We closed on the loan last night! After almost 4 months of paperwork, phone calls, emails and home repairs, we did it!
Do You Need Help?
If you do not know about the Making Homes Affordable program go there now - I need help. This program is designed to help people refinance and renegotiate their loans.
Do not wait!
Dave and I felt guilty for not knowing what the scammers were doing. We felt responsible for UNFAIR debt!
If Your Still Reading
Ok...if you are still reading then either:
(1) your mortgage is great;
(2) your in denial, or ;
(3) you want details!
The Details
One requirement of our loan was to have windows and awnings painted and reinspected before we could close. YEAH, RIGHT! In December, in Ohio??????
We negotiated to set up an ESCROW account based on a quote for the work to be completed in the spring. This sounded great EXCEPT that we had to come up with 1.5 times the amount needed in order to close!
Ugh! I had white paint in the garage! If I lived in sunny Florida, I could have gone out and slapped on the paint in a day. Now, at Christmas, we needed to find a way to save more money than we had been able to save in a year.
So, how did we do it?
Now don't click away and stop reading because you think the rest of the BLOG is about how great we are and how we did amazing things that no one could possibly do...
Here was our motivation: (the picture is my daughter's self portrait)
3 Beautiful Children
If we could save the required amount we would:
1. Reduce our dept amount by $40,000
2. Reduce our payment term by 10 years
3. Reduce our interest rate by 1.5 points
4. Lower our monthly payments
Every month we waited it was costing up more and more money.
What We Did
1. After we paid the absolute HAVE TO's we calculated what was left after we removed the amount needed.
2. Got the kids buy in! My kids are young,but NOT blind or deaf. Age 9, 6 and 4 they heard it from us, the news and their friends that everyone is having to scrimp and save.
I was even selfish enough to tell them, that if they could try really hard not to ask for something unless they needed it because Mom really had a hard time having to tell them not right now. ( I can count on 1 hand the requests I had! I love my kids!)
3. We divided up was was left over until the next paycheck. $400 for 2 weeks...OOPS! Let me correct that because we missed to large payments in our original calculations, so we were down to $200 for two weeks! (If you haven't counted yet, this is to feed a family of 5, gas, childcare...anyway you get the point.)
The Day of Closing
No Milk, No Eggs, No Bread.
The peanut butter jar licked dry and no red sauce to through on cheap pasta.
But we made it... AND WE DIDN'T NEED THE MONEY!
WHAT????
Someone please, take this money, you have NO IDEA what it took to gather these funds!
OK this is where I stop whining...Someone in "Mortgageland" or somewhere had worked the cost into the loan already. It was taken care of...
Thank You
(This is an excerpt of the Thank you Letter I sent to Jeff, our original loan officer who lost his job at GMAC but gave us hope.)
"In order to collect the money in time, Dave and I were forced to be disciplined in ways we didn't even know we could.
At the beginning of the month we shared with our children our goal and that it would affect them also.
We did it...did I have dinner for the night we closed, NO. Peanut Butter was gone, soup was exhausted. No eggs, no bread...I had finally resigned on that day to let my parents buy us groceries.
This month we had unexpected medical and dental bills and my client was unable to send his check... but we made it.
God is good."
Our Deepest Appreciation
These are the credits... so for those of you that have read this far this is the point in the movie where you either leave the theatre or wait for the outtakes...feel free to leave or stay and acknowledge the people that support us.
My sister Michelle: For pestering me and holding me accountable. Calling every so often just to be sure I had called about the "opportunity".
Bob "G-PA": For your quiet wisdom and always clipping out items from here and there to help us.
Jeff Sorrells: For allowing me the tears, frustration, confusion, ignorance and humanity. Not all angels have wings! The next company that snags you up is blessed!
Heather Lilly: You had big shoes to fill and you stepped up! I already told you this but, Thank you again for staying on top of this, putting up with my directness and allowing us to hit a due date we literally could not afford to miss.
Deb Shoemaker: Thank you for making the closing process painless and taking the time to tolerate my distrust of all those with packs of paper requiring me to sign my life away ;0)
Gamma and Poppy Strimple: You know I have not listed people in order of importance...Thank you for support in more ways than I will ever even realize. No matter how full your plates are you ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS take care of others. Thank you for your example, guidance and love.
To the rest of our family and friends that have supported us through is "opportunity" and many others we give you our deepest gratitude and love.
Dave and I will be celebrating our 12th Wedding Anniversary on Sunday knowing that we have secured shelter for our family now and the future... THE BEST PRESENT WE COULD EVER GIVE EACH OTHER!
(Disclaimer: No child missed a meal during this process.It may not have been want they wanted or as much as they were used but they survived... and are maybe even better for the sacrifice.)
If you read my blog January 17th, The Mortgage Won't Pay Itself...you know why we are dancing!
We closed on the loan last night! After almost 4 months of paperwork, phone calls, emails and home repairs, we did it!
Do You Need Help?
If you do not know about the Making Homes Affordable program go there now - I need help. This program is designed to help people refinance and renegotiate their loans.
Do not wait!
Dave and I felt guilty for not knowing what the scammers were doing. We felt responsible for UNFAIR debt!
If Your Still Reading
Ok...if you are still reading then either:
(1) your mortgage is great;
(2) your in denial, or ;
(3) you want details!
The Details
One requirement of our loan was to have windows and awnings painted and reinspected before we could close. YEAH, RIGHT! In December, in Ohio??????We negotiated to set up an ESCROW account based on a quote for the work to be completed in the spring. This sounded great EXCEPT that we had to come up with 1.5 times the amount needed in order to close!
Ugh! I had white paint in the garage! If I lived in sunny Florida, I could have gone out and slapped on the paint in a day. Now, at Christmas, we needed to find a way to save more money than we had been able to save in a year.
So, how did we do it?
Now don't click away and stop reading because you think the rest of the BLOG is about how great we are and how we did amazing things that no one could possibly do...
Here was our motivation: (the picture is my daughter's self portrait)
3 Beautiful ChildrenIf we could save the required amount we would:
1. Reduce our dept amount by $40,000
2. Reduce our payment term by 10 years
3. Reduce our interest rate by 1.5 points
4. Lower our monthly payments
Every month we waited it was costing up more and more money.
What We Did
1. After we paid the absolute HAVE TO's we calculated what was left after we removed the amount needed.
2. Got the kids buy in! My kids are young,but NOT blind or deaf. Age 9, 6 and 4 they heard it from us, the news and their friends that everyone is having to scrimp and save.
I was even selfish enough to tell them, that if they could try really hard not to ask for something unless they needed it because Mom really had a hard time having to tell them not right now. ( I can count on 1 hand the requests I had! I love my kids!)
3. We divided up was was left over until the next paycheck. $400 for 2 weeks...OOPS! Let me correct that because we missed to large payments in our original calculations, so we were down to $200 for two weeks! (If you haven't counted yet, this is to feed a family of 5, gas, childcare...anyway you get the point.)
The Day of Closing
No Milk, No Eggs, No Bread.
The peanut butter jar licked dry and no red sauce to through on cheap pasta.
But we made it... AND WE DIDN'T NEED THE MONEY!
WHAT????
Someone please, take this money, you have NO IDEA what it took to gather these funds!
OK this is where I stop whining...Someone in "Mortgageland" or somewhere had worked the cost into the loan already. It was taken care of...
Thank You
(This is an excerpt of the Thank you Letter I sent to Jeff, our original loan officer who lost his job at GMAC but gave us hope.)
"In order to collect the money in time, Dave and I were forced to be disciplined in ways we didn't even know we could.
At the beginning of the month we shared with our children our goal and that it would affect them also.
We did it...did I have dinner for the night we closed, NO. Peanut Butter was gone, soup was exhausted. No eggs, no bread...I had finally resigned on that day to let my parents buy us groceries.
This month we had unexpected medical and dental bills and my client was unable to send his check... but we made it.
God is good."
Our Deepest Appreciation
These are the credits... so for those of you that have read this far this is the point in the movie where you either leave the theatre or wait for the outtakes...feel free to leave or stay and acknowledge the people that support us.
My sister Michelle: For pestering me and holding me accountable. Calling every so often just to be sure I had called about the "opportunity".
Bob "G-PA": For your quiet wisdom and always clipping out items from here and there to help us.
Jeff Sorrells: For allowing me the tears, frustration, confusion, ignorance and humanity. Not all angels have wings! The next company that snags you up is blessed!
Heather Lilly: You had big shoes to fill and you stepped up! I already told you this but, Thank you again for staying on top of this, putting up with my directness and allowing us to hit a due date we literally could not afford to miss.
Deb Shoemaker: Thank you for making the closing process painless and taking the time to tolerate my distrust of all those with packs of paper requiring me to sign my life away ;0)
Gamma and Poppy Strimple: You know I have not listed people in order of importance...Thank you for support in more ways than I will ever even realize. No matter how full your plates are you ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS take care of others. Thank you for your example, guidance and love.
To the rest of our family and friends that have supported us through is "opportunity" and many others we give you our deepest gratitude and love.
Dave and I will be celebrating our 12th Wedding Anniversary on Sunday knowing that we have secured shelter for our family now and the future... THE BEST PRESENT WE COULD EVER GIVE EACH OTHER!
(Disclaimer: No child missed a meal during this process.It may not have been want they wanted or as much as they were used but they survived... and are maybe even better for the sacrifice.)
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