Keeping an eye on the prize

This has been one of the most stressful weeks I've had for a long time.

Thankfully, the kids have been amazingly well-behaved (Crowbar's not calling his daycare friends 'stupid asses' anymore, which, you know, is good.) and every one's managed to stay healthy, despite all the swine flu hoopla.

The house-buying process however, has been less than enjoyable. And it's factored heavily into the tolerability index this week:


Early in the week, we were told that there was a possibility we wouldn't be able to close in early-to-mid May, like we'd expected. We were told there was an outside chance we wouldn't be able to close until sometime in June.

Uh... remember this? Yeah, we're homeless after May 31.

So we went through all the possible scenarios of when we might close and move, including the dreaded Plan X which involved having a moving company load our stuff on a truck and hold it while we shack in a hotel. There's no way we're staying here another month.

While moving late in the month shouldn't be a huge deal, it is, considering we're planning to host our wedding reception at our new house on June 20. I'd really like to be in and relatively unpacked before guests arrive.

So what's the hangup? We were told that our lender (all lenders, actually) is backlogged with loans and refinance requests. Thanks to low interest rates and the first-time buyer tax credit, there's a lot of activity in the pipeline. Couple that with cautious lenders who scrutinize every prospective buyer and you've got a bottleneck.

Luckily, on Wednesday, we learned our loan was in the process of being underwritten and we could expect to get our new closing date sometime next week. Geeked with the news, we made another excuse to drive by and gawk at the house.

I call it 'keeping an eye on the prize.'

We'll drive by slowly in our blue minivan and drool out the windows. We envision our cars parked out front and our kids playing in the lawn. We wonder out loud when they'll change the sign from 'Accepted Offer' to 'SOLD."


As Mark studies the bare patch in the front, desperately in need of TLC, he lets out a dreamy sigh.

Do you think anyone would mind if I jumped out and raked a little?

I reach over and take his hand.

Some day, honey. Some day.