Frustrating mortgage process almost makes renting seem worthwhile

Note: I'm using the Internet tube to publish a bunch of articles written for newsletters that never appeared in newsletters. This is one of them, written in summer 2009.

I’ve told Brea a number of times that we might very well never move again. Part of that is because we really like the house and part of it is because we’re sick of moving, but much of it is because we never want to have to go through the mortgage process again.

To say the process was a nightmare would be putting it lightly. There were times where we thought buying the house wasn’t going to happen, and most of these times were just a few days before we were supposed to close.

From the very beginning of the process — from being preapproved before actually looking at houses — our mortgage broker at Windermere kept assuring us that everything looked great. These assurances continued until just days before our scheduled July 31 closing.

On July 28 (my birthday), we got a call from the mortgage broker that our mortgage didn’t clear underwriting and he didn’t know how he was going to be able to make it work (happy birthday!). We were, understandably, crushed and dumbfounded by this. After the initial shock wore off we simultaneously tried to figure out how we were going to salvage this, plus how we were going to have someplace to live the next month, since the lease on the house we were renting was running out.

In a nutshell, underwriting wasn’t allowing any of my income to count because I don’t have a traditional full-time job and also wasn’t counting any of our income from being foster parents because we hadn’t been doing it for at least two years. (We’ve since been told these are pretty common underwriting rules and that our broker should have known about them, especially since he’s been in the business for 10 years.)

Eventually we got everything worked out and closed a week late, but it was a pretty tense week. The landlord for our rental house was fine with us staying there longer than anticipated, but otherwise it was very stressful — all we could think about was whether everything would work out, and we were never sure whether to be excited or afraid when the phone rang and the caller ID said “Windermere.”

In the aftermath of all of this, we’ve been told by people who know about such things that we experienced the stingiest underwriting they’d ever seen. It all worked out, though, and we’re very glad to be in our new (and perhaps last) home.

 

Cougs invade San Antonio, attempt to forget actual game

Note: I'm using the Internet tube to publish a bunch of articles written for newsletters that never appeared in newsletters. This is one of them, written in fall 2009.

Despite the consistent awfulness of our favorite college football team, a bunch of us traveled to San Antonio in October 2009 to watch our Cougars take on a little-known school from the Midwest, Notre Dame.

(Why was WSU playing Notre Dame in Texas? The athletic department made something like $1.5 million to be the Fighting Irish’s punching bag. Seems reason enough to me.)

Nate Stockman, B.J. Rusunen, Chad Andres, the Plasters and us rendezvoused in San Antonio for the action. We stayed in condos within walking distance of the Riverwalk and had a very enjoyable stay in Texas, aside from the part where the actual game took place.

We spent most of our time there on the Riverwalk, which was a wise choice. There are tons of great bars and restaurants on the river, and it’s a beautiful setting.

The Cougars’ bar of choice for the trip was a place called Dick’s Last Resort. I have a feeling someone saw the slogan — “The Rowdy of the River” — and figured it was perfect for Wazzu fans.

As one might expect, there’s good Mexican food to be had in San Antonio. Our best meal of the trip (and perhaps our lives) was at Mi Tierra. Our good friend Dave Andriesen (a native Texan) told us not to come back if we didn’t go there, and we’re glad we followed his recommendation. It was spectacular.

Also in the dining department, Nate came back to the condos one day with cinnamon rolls from a place called Lulu’s, which had been featured on the Travel Channel. They were huge, and delightful. It was so good Brea and I got one on the way to the airport and brought it back to Spokane with us.

The WSU Alumni Association did its usual excellent job with the pregame gathering (or, in other words, it was all-you-could-drink beer again), and technically a college football game took place afterward at the Alamodome.

Football game aside, we had a very good time in San Antonio. Our only regret was not getting to Austin; the rest of the group went there Sunday, but we had to travel back home that day.