Grumpy Smurf: I hate Mortgages!

So, I mentioned in passing way back in May that we were buying a house, but I never got around to giving you the details, probably because I was paranoid that it would really happen. Well, given our current situation, I am still paranoid, but I need to vent over &*%^ing mortgage companies and the unbelievable amount of stress that goes into buying a house. And, I'm not even thinking about moving again yet.

First, the fun stuff, for those of you who don't care to hear me complain. We actually made an offer on the house months ago, and couldn't believe it when the seller agreed to (1) 'save' the house until we could close in September, (2) accept less than asking price and (3) pay $10K in closing costs. It was meant to be!! The details on the house ....

Only a couple of blocks from the house we are renting now, the first thing I noticed, and loved, were the "climbing trees" in the front yard. You can see one of them in this photo, but the best one is just out of the frame. I know the kids will be in that thing as soon as we have possession.

You know that homes in Northern Virginia are very expensive, and most were built in the 1960s; this one is dated 1965. We were lucky enough to find a home that had been kept up well, had recent improvements (new hardwood floors, new kitchen, new windows) and had a fully finished basement. This will be the largest house we've ever lived in, at 3616 sf, it is 1300 sf MORE than we have now, and even several hundred sf larger than our Greenwood house.

There are 4 bedrooms and 2 full baths upstairs (the Master Bath has only a shower, no tub). The kids' bedrooms are about 13x11 and the master is 13x14). There is a vented attic with a floor for storage. And Zak's room has a laundry chute that goes to the basement. There are two closets in the Master bedroom, and I promised one to Mike, because I'm taking the one in my office (11x11) too.

The first floor has the half bath, a sunken living room with fireplace (22x13), kitchen (11x11) with granite countertops (and all appliances including ceramic stovetop and double wall ovens), separate dining room (11x11), and a family room (20x12) with sliding glass doors to the deck. The first and second floors are all hardwood, except the family room is carpeted.

The basement is old fashioned tile, but newly laid. There is a 'rec room' with a cedar closet and lots of wall shelves. A second room will be Mike's office, with several storage closets and a door that opens to "garden storage" under the family room. The basement entry opens into a third area that has the water heater, furnace, washer, dryer, sink and workbench. I think there might be room in this area for the air hockey table.

We'll be putting our green couch in the family room, the black couch in the rec room and we'll get new furniture for living room. There is a one car garage converted from the original carport, so there's no entry directly to it from the house.

The back yard is huge (total property is 1/4 acre), and covered mostly with ivy. There is some grass, a storage shed, storage under the deck and fencing all the way around except for about 10 feet from the property line to the house (where the white truck is sitting in the photo). The property backs up to a road, and there's a privacy fence along the back. The current owner said there are lots of children in the neighborhood.

So this is a long post already, and if you've made it this far, I'm not going to go on and on about the mortgage company. Let's just say that we were supposed to close no later than 9/20. And we still don't have a firm time/date, though we've scheduled it 4 times now. I'm staying patient for now.