Things you don't think about until you are at the bank...

E: (Calling from the bank) Who do we get the cashier's check made out to?

N: No clue. Call you back.

After three calls, one to the loan company, one to our REA and one to the closing company, I had the answer. The check draining most, if not all, of your savings goes to the closing company.

Also, you don't know the total until the day before, if you are lucky, or the day of closing.

We were lucky and heard our total funds for closing today, with 3 hours to spare in the business day. Even luckier, our total came in lower by a lot. Almost 15% lower.

As of COB today, we will be ready to close on Monday, followed closely by shopping for paint and buying a new stove.

Putting "The Watch" on a House

I think we may have found a house. We are cautious and not making any sudden movements, but there's a house that could potentially be THE ONE. E & I are in the right place to pull the trigger and make an offer, but we want to wait some more.

We contacted our REA to talk about making an offer, seller's assist and closing costs, and decided not to put an offer in. We are still curious to see what houses may prop up on the market over the next few months. We have plenty of time since our target date for closing is not until early-March. However, we would hate to miss out on this house.

Our REA recommended that we put "a watch" on the house. Meaning that if someone else puts in an offer, the seller's agent will notify us to see if we want to put in an offer as well. This way we won't lose the house without a fight, and we can wait a bit longer to see if anything even better comes along. So, that's what we are doing. Watching the house until we are ready to pounce. Fingers crossed that no one snatches it up before we are ready to commit or that, if they do, something even more perfect comes along.