Gamecock's Mind over Money

Well it's been a roller coaster few last days. I am deep in the trenches looking for a job. It is SO FRUSTRATING!! It's hard not to take it personally when you don't get called in for an interview for a job you want. Or worse, a job you think you are way overqualified for.

It's hard not to get discouraged when you spend so much time answering job ads online and the jobs are all FAKE and creative ways to fill your inbox with spam and get you to fill out their phishing pages.

I don't know if its recent but a popular ad on craigslist is advertising great sounding jobs, then when you apply, they send you an email saying that "After reviewing your resume, you have fit the qualifications for the job, but due to the economy/viruses/company policy- they want you to present your credit score to them before they interview you, a free credit check can be found at XXX site." That SOUNDS legitimate! I learned about the scam by responding to their email with a request to do a credit check after the interview and the reply to sender was a fraud account. Since then over 50% of the jobs I apply for send me the same request for a credit check. Ugh. So frustrating that you cant tell legitimate jobs from Spam until after you have applied.

Anyways, I had one legit job offer for a low low wage, but the guy kept commenting on the way I looked and talked about how employees thought he was sleeping with his former assistant-so I declined the offer.

A lot of Work from home jobs that are cleverly disguised on craigslist too.

I have been inundated with commission only jobs selling insurance of some sort. A friend of mine decided to start selling life insurance and he has made about 3k this month...but hes working a lot and has been spouting "living the dream, if I can then I will" motivational stuff that his company is feeding him. He is sounding a bit cultish. Always trying to sell it to me or get me to sell under him.

I was called in yesterday to interview for a retail job. Retail is an industry I have ALWAYS fallen back on and its an industry I excel. It also drives me bat s***crazy. I can only tolerate retail for about a year and then must find a non retail job. I thought my previous retail management experience and degrees would at least get me head manager job, but no. I must complete a corporate mandatory 90 day "manager trainee" program earning MINIMUM WAGE for the 90 days then I am promoted to assistant manager and then can graduate to manager.
I am thinking about actually taking this job, because:
*I MUST wear jeans and flip flops at the store. (yes! I hate professional wardrobes!)
*I can stop looking for a job. (I mentioned looking for a job is ego crushing and awful- right?)
*I do like retail. I am good at it. I can excel at this job very quickly.
* Its fun working with younger college kids, music blaring, and talking about boys and other teenager angst type stuff. I admit I am not so keen on working with
adults who have real problems to deal with.

BUT:
* it pays minimum wage for 90 DAYS. I don't know what it pays after that. (I would guess in the $9-10 hr range). I was hoping to get into this job for maybe a year tops and get out when an office job becomes available.
*I have not worked for $10 hr since 2004. Is it really a huge regression for me to work for pay I earned 5 years ago or is it a sign of the times?
*I am working with teeny boppers. This is a big name brand clothing store that you wish your teenager didn't shop at because the clothes are so incredibly expensive (and they are sold wrinkled!). I think it might be REALLY ego crushing to be working alongside other managers who are 5 years younger than me.

Should I take it? It am so torn. And I just don't know what I am worth right now.

When BB & I bought this house there was no grass on the lawn at all. Savannah has MONTHS where leaves rain down everyday from all the tree lined streets around here. And the leaves smother the grass. Having a grass lawn is difficult to maintain. Luckily we didn't have a yard full of weeds either. We just had a yard full of dirt and leaves.

I have spent the last 2 months growing grass. Every morning and every night I had to hop about on the yard trying to collect the leaves while not crushing baby grass or disturbing seed. (I didn't spring for Sod. At $20 a bag for grass seed and needing 3 bags..I don't know why we didn't get sod.)I spent hours with a watering can watering the yard because hooking a hose up is just to much work when it must be disconnected again or else it will be stolen.

So yesterday it was time to finally buy a lawn mower!!! I had proved grass will grow, and that it will stay alive.

We bought an old fashioned push mower for $95.00. We bought it because the yard is small, and I need something lightweight because we store it underneath the house, in the foundation. (lots of lifting it in and out.)

In addition, another perk is the fact that we don't use gas for it. (yesterday being Earth Day and all.) We initially bought a weed whacker to cut the grass but I have only used it once because I hate the noise, the vibrating and the weight of it.

It takes me about 2x as long to mow with a push mower than an electric mower- but since it takes me 20 min with the push mower I don't see the problem.

So I don't know if I ever got around to posting about our roof issue.

Anyways, we purchased our house 3 months ago with a 4 yr old roof. The roof was in excellent condition- according to our inspector.

So 2 weeks ago we get 3 days of heavy rain, high winds.

Every morning I kept letting the dog out in the backyard to find shingles on the grass. I would mutter about people throwing their trash in my yard and go back inside.

Finally on the 3rd day there was a sheet of shingles hanging from the power lines by the house. No person can make that kind of toss.

BB & I have a roofer at the house the next day. I was still in denial that we had a problem and kind of felt bad for wasting this guys time.

Anyways, the shingles were put on improperly and the storm loosened a bunch, and we were told this will be a re-occuring problem.

I called my home insurance and had an adjuster come out. He agreed to replace 1/2 the roof (2 slopes that were damaged) to a tune of $4500 minus our $1000 deduction.

We talked with the roofer and set up what I thought was a sweet deal. He will replace the two damaged slopes, add a duct venting system to the roof to help the shingles last longer (our inspector did tell us to get this to increase the shingle life), replace 2 slope areas that had been tarred over and not been correctly fitted with metal inserts, and walk the entire roof, re-enforcing any shingles that were loose on the good roof sides. All for $5400. So $1900 out of our pocket.

I thought it was a good deal, but my home insurance company warned me that they will drop my coverage if I file 3 claims in 3 consecutive years, and that was stressing me a bit. I worry that if our entire roof is improperly shingled, then its only a matter of time before the other half of the roof needs to be replaced as well. And that's ANOTHER claim I will need to file.

BB and I actually want a metal roof. The roofs come in pretty colors, they look cool, they are good for the environment, and they last about 30-50 years. We decided when we bought this house 3 months ago to start saving for a metal roof so we would have the $15,000.00+ when our roof needed to be replaced in 10 years. Well 10 years came in 3 months and we don't have the $15 grand needed. We questioned this roofer about it but couldn't get a price below $13,000. BB and I had privately said the only way we will agree to a metal roof is if we can get a quote below $12,000. So we told the roofer "thanks but no thanks" and planned for the shingle repair.

So...this morning roofer guy comes to the house and lays it on the line. He says "I know you guys want a metal roof and I have not worked in a while, I have nothing lined up for 2 weeks, I need a big project and will replace your ENTIRE roof (and front porch roof) with a metal one for an extra $4500.00."

This new opportunity means we will get a metal roof for $9900.00!! This deal is way to good to pass up.

The roofer actually put the metal roof on our next door neighbors house 3 yrs ago. (We contacted this roofer through the neighbors referral) The roofer also directed us to a house that he installed a metal roof on a few streets away. I recognized the address immediately because it was for sale last summer and I spent several weeks trying to configure how I could make another 100k appear in my wallet so I could afford the house! I didn't get that house; but I did get the same roofer the new owners used!

I am excited. Doing the math, we have the $3500 from the insurance claim, we have $4500 leftover from the $8000 first time homeowners credit, and so that leaves $1900 coming out of our savings.

The roofer is coming out tomorrow morning with a new contract for us to fill out.

I cant believe I am so excited about a roof. I have become so boring.

I am afraid to look at what I have spent in house projects. I know every single project went into the "way overpriced" range. I have learned some things along the home improvement way:

1. When a contractor quotes you a price, get it in writing and make sure it covers the cost of EVERYTHING including materials.

2. Plan out projects. Don't go into demo mode until you have a game plan for the outcome. Making decisions on the fly will have very costly consequences.

3. Always consider the cost of additional tools needed when deciding whether to do a project yourself or hire the job out. Even doing a simple paint job will get very costly when you factor in paintbrushes, tarps, painting tape, ext. if you don't already have that.

4. If you need to embark on a project that
might crop up regularly, buy the tools and do it yourself. Buying paintbrushes and paint supplies is worth it because it is reusable and easy to store. Buying wheelbarrows and sledgehammers to break up and re pour a slab of concrete might not be so re-usable or easy to store.

5. Don't fight the house. Your wallet will lose. If there is a major structural reason you do not like something- learn to overlook it or don't buy the house. I have embraced my closet sized master bath with 5'8" ceilings that BB cannot fit into. The room is mine-all-mine!

6. If you are "not in the mood" to get started, work on a project- don't do it. It will turn out terribly. Likewise with buying something needed for the house. If you need a rug; don't pressure yourself to find a rug just because your husband cant stand staring at a rug-less dining room. The rug you buy will end up very overpriced, poor quality, and not really match the rooms color scheme at all- or any other room in your houses color scheme. Poor quality is poor quality and now you are stuck with the $50.00 rug. (Same goes for a guest room bedspread...and a master bedroom bedspread for that matter.)

7. Craigslist and ebay is only a deal if you are searching for the item listed. If you come across it and it is a "good deal", it "kind of fits the description you need" or "you cant tell from the picture of the quality or color"...don't buy it! You cannot return it, and (if using craigslist) when you go to the persons house it sure is awkward to look at it and say "thanks but no thanks" (not to mention the time wasted). Canoes-yes. ladders and hammers-yes. Rugs- no. curtains-no.

8. Understand the emotional strain of a DIY project. This is the amount of tempers lost, ensueing fights, and petty comments that are created during the project. After numerous project attempts, I learned that my husband has a "the mind is willing but the body cant" attitude and wasted a lot of time buying into BB's plan to fix, put up, renovate this or that..only to get started on the project to learn that 1) his back flat out will not let him do it. or 2)he is determined to do it despite screaming pain and suddenly everything around him is getting on his nerves (including me).

If you must stop a project after its been started and get a pro out to the site to finish, repair, or clean up...you run into lesson #2. If you allow your husband to grit his teeth and attempt to work through the pain...a long, heavy fight is immenent. And if you escape the fight without losing your mind, you have to tolerate his moaning and groaning for the next week every time he needs to perform a mundane task around the house like putting on shoes. Sometimes there are hidden COSTS to a DIY project that has nothing to do with your bank account.

I have been stressing over the house exterior colors and it has come out nicely.

I was totally uncertain right up until the end when the last of the teal was painted over.

Once the teal was gone the rest of the colors came together and made a pretty picture.

We will be painting the "arms" of the cement the brick red color- but we had to stop painting when a tornado came into town this afternoon.

Anyways, this is the finished product. I do like teal...on someone elses house though!

I am repainting a lot of the house this weekend. I am very worried about doing it. I love love love this house. And one reasons I love it is the bright color scheme on the exterior.

But over time I noticed that the house is actually a dark green. The house is painted a dark grey-geen color. This will sound ridiculous but I thought our house was teal.

Our foundation, steps, and front porch are painted a blindingly bright teal color. And the teal was so bright that it was the most noticable color feature of the house and I just assumed the whole house was teal.
I'm not the only one. Our next door neighbor said she has never looked at our house color either because her eyes could not get past the teal.

So I bought "brick red" paint and started working on the foundation. We will paint the porch and steps creamy "Catalina Sand" color, and also have basic white to touch up the trim.

Now I have noticed that the house looks kind of dark. And a bit Primary. I mean primary red with a primary green and a primary white all on one house.

If the teal did one thing it certainly "brightened" up the house. So these paint choices did have this one unintended consequence of "darkening" the house. I think I just need to get used to it. Or maybe once the porch and steps get their coat of creme....

I have come to realize I prefer light colored houses. I like the light green, yellow, white, or light blue houses. This green color would not have been my first choice for a house color (But if the HOUSE was painted in teal I think I would love that!)

Anyways, I have concerns. I am concerned that the house will look mundane and boring now. I am concerned that the "creme" color will look out of place in this sea of primary colors. I am concerned the creme color will look odd next to the white trim (not enough color contrast). I am concerned the house will look overall dark.

But I keep telling myself that if I don't like the final effect then maybe I can paint the foundation the creme color from the porch and steps....Funny how colors sitting next to each other give off such different effects than when they are standing alone.

Anyways, this blog entry was mostly for me to sort out my own mixed emotions about these paint colors...
BEFORE:


Now:



After painting all day:

I miss you guys. Ya'll were so helpful when I had crazy questions about the economy and encouraging when I was saving for a house. Then I buy a house and *poof* my enthusiasm for this site dissipates.

I really need to get back into this site because the spending has been crazy and there is no accountability.

The house projects are nearing finished. I will be painting our foundation, steps and front porch all weekend. And we need to have our roof repaired after a major storm came through last week.

But BB leaves to play baseball soon so we hope the home improvements will end with his departure.

I have been looking for a job. After learning to sift through the 100% commission sales jobs, I have been on 2 legitimate interview. I have been so distracted with starting a new life here in GA that I have not given the job hunt the commitment it deserves either.

But our new home and new life is better than I expected. We are making friends, and now we live closer to our college friends. So we seem to have house guests or be out several times a week. It's a wonderful change from the feeling of isolation I had in FL.

Anyways, I'm signing off, I am interested to read what is going on in your lives nowadays.

So, I'm not sure whats going on with me- if this is a transitional phase for me or maybe I am different now. I have lost my interest in money!!!

It's true. I don't care anymore. I barely keep track of my expenses (but I do...but not meticulously). I just spend money when I feel like it. I don't watch MSNBC anymore, and I don't care about the dollar figures in my bank accounts.

Being as involved with my money as I was when I was saving for a house took up a lot of my time. I no longer want to devote that time to my money.

I don't know if it's guilt because I am eating out with friends several times a week, I am still buying things for the house, or if I no longer care because I am no longer saving up for a big ticket item.

BUT there is some hope yet. Finally! Things have slowed down around the house where I no longer "need" anything for it. So the purchases have stopped. And! I have a few "big" projects I want to do now that I previously didn't plan for (move a palm tree to close to the house, repour concrete front steps)and maybe that will inspire me to start getting financially minded again.

I am very motivated to get a job, so hopefully actually working for money will cause me to take an interest in where it goes.

I don't want to be in debt. I don't want to be irresponsible! I don't want to wake up one day and be years away from financial freedom! I am going to try and be a smidge more responsible and hope that kicks me into gear.

Anybody here like to garden?

If you do, even if you do it a little bit; you probably know more than me.

Lately I have been really into gardening. I created a flower bed and have slowly been adding plants.

The trouble is, when you go to the nursery and read the little tag attached to the plant in the store...you still have no idea if this plant will work in your flower bed! You don't get an idea how tall it grows, if it gets bushy, if the leaves fall off in the winter (I hate it when the plants look dead all winter).

So I am starting to experiment. I am very nervous. I don't know about my soil yet. I don't know how acidic it is. Nor do I care to figure it out at this point. From what I read that is pretty important though.

Anyways, I just bought two gardenia bushes but they are very little! I'm impatient!

And so I wonder...is the garden I plant "now" (this season) going to be the garden I like for a few years...or will it grow in looking awful? Do beginner gardeners generally "get it right" on their first try? Are there any ways to mess up a garden? What mistakes should I avoid?

This is frustrating because all the plants are tiny and so I don't know how it will look in a year or two. I don't know how it will pull together.

I am trying to only plant periannuals so that there is not a lot of ripping out and redoing...but its tough trying to find plants just based on that little tiny tag. It seems if left to grow, that all bushes eventually get too big, all garden edgers get out of control, and all ground cover eventually takes over everything. Ugh.
Anyways, here is what I am trying to achieve:

you see, that "wild, kind of not really organized, extra full" type of look.

And this is what I have (don't laugh!):

It's super organized looking! I am afraid to plant wildly and impulsively! I am afraid I will screw this up!

But this is what I started with:


So yeah- gardening is on my mind.

I have decided NOT to become an insurance saleswoman. For now. I will revisit the opportunity in a few weeks if I cannot find another job.

I applied for 5 more jobs today. Insurance data entry, dental hygienist(OK! I know I don't know how to do that, but the ad never mentioned going to school or being licensed...and it pays $30/hr), Human resources/payroll, dating coordinator (part time, I think the pay is bad...but I am setting people up on dates! How FUN!) and a marketing rep.

So we will see.

I had another interview today. Another sales job. This time selling life/medical insurance. I got the whole dog & pony show presentation and left confused.

The company will fly me to a training center for a week where I am paid $30 a day for meals (they comp hotel/airfare). Then I come back and 'shadow' a rep for 4 weeks where I am paid the commissions they earn. Then I go into the field. I make phone calls 3 days a week trying to set appointments then go to the persons home the other 2 days a week to do a presentation at the appointments.

I wouldn't mind trying it out, but...there are a few drawbacks.

I have to pay $300 to get licensed.
It's a lot of time spent on training before you even find out if you are good at it.
It's a lot of wear on my new 2008 vehicle.
No part time work allowed.

It's the 'no part time work' that concerns me. I have worked in call centers, I have worked retail and it takes about a year before I am burned out. I am very good at sales but sometimes if I have the wrong attitude I just suck at my job. And when I feel "trapped" in a job- my attitude goes waaay down. I am really looking for a stress free job right now where it's not a lot of "taking your work home with you". Right now I am willing to sacrifice $$ for the less stress.

The presenter kept emphasizing that most insurance agents make $50k a year their first year, and I just wonder how many hours it takes for that 50k. I am really just looking for 30k a year in exchange for flexibility/freedom/and a secure job.

I feel very selfish. I have been in sales my whole life. I know I am a good seller. And I have been on 2 job interviews for sales...but I feel like I already "invested" in my future by spending 3 yrs getting a masters degree and I don't want to "invest" in a job that may make me large sums of money down the road, but also may not.

These commission only jobs require a lot of risk and upfront investment. Granted the commissions here are larger than the last interview job...but I need to pony up $300 for a license and spend so much time in training to possibly turn around and decide halfway through that this is not for me.

I have seen insurance salesmen and know it's a stressful, time consuming job. Does the reward merit the invested time calling to set appointments, driving around, and getting licensed? Or is this an industry for suckers or extremely motivated/ambitious people? Am I awful that I already know I am not ambitious or incredibly motivated?

Well I did not take the "marketing" job selling for commission pay. I think I could have done it, but a year from now I think I would have been burned out, and I didn't like how they would reveal bits and pieces of their programs to me every time I went in for an interview, 2nd interview, orientation. I started to wonder if a big bombshell of "now you must pay US/buy equipment for this job" was around the corner.

So today is designated job hunting day.

In other news the house is fantastic. BB hung cabinet doors on our built in bookcases, and I created a flower bed out front.


Nothing else to really report other than I will be looking for a job and our spending has slowed down considerably. Thankful the money floodgates are almost closed again.

Well, it's been a while since I have been in the mainstream workforce. Seems things have changed a bit.

"Marketing" means: selling. "Generating leads" means: hard selling. "Management training" means: Good enough to be on your own (managing yourself?). "Pay is negotiable, $25k-$45k a year" means: Commission.

So today I had my second interview. More like an orientation. The job is standing around in department stores selling products.

I already told you the end of the story, but this is the ad I responded to:

"Looking for marketing representatives to work as aggressive lead generators in an on going campaign. Work for one of the top companies in Georgia. We aim to provide customers with the everyday value and uncompromising customer service that has made us so successful. We are now accepting applications for Marketing Consultants in our business development unit. Previous experience in sales, financial sales or self-employment a plus but not required."

My interview asked about my schooling and interests, and vaguely explained the job as "creating marketing campaigns to sell XX product. You will be traveling to work with clients. Hours are long and some days end at 8pm. Is that something you might be interested in?"

In my ignorant brain I thought the job was actual marketing. Like developing campaigns to sell the product. Not standing around asking people to sign up for a service for only commission pay.

So today (on the second interview)I got the full jist of the job. Standing around. Harassing people. Working on commission only. 40 hrs a week. Working full weekends. High school education preferred.

But here's the thing. I think I am going to try it out.

BECAUSE: the company just expanded into this city a few weeks ago and has 2 high up employees that have been sent here to get the business running up here. The job of these two men is to hire, hire, hire and create a full, well running office. Right now they are in full time hire mode to get the office off the ground, but they need people to take over the more complex "managerial" jobs that the best employees will get promoted to. Right now, from whom I have seen hired- my education outranks everyone by far. I have the advantage to be promoted very quickly. AND the head exec pulled me aside and said he wants to go back to FL (where they expanded from) ASAP and as soon as the office is self-sufficient he wants to go back to FL and wanted to see if I was interested in replacing him down the line. I ran around with him for 5 hrs today as my orientation and I can definitely do his job.

Beyond that, the man who hired me has been with the company 9 months and has already been promoted to head exec or whatever his title is.

So I just need to prove I am reliable, dependable, and I can effectively do the job I will be asking everyone else to do if promoted.

Beyond that, I make $140 per sale so I figure why not give it a shot and if I am no good then that will be a quick discovery. If I turn out to be good at it but hate it, maybe I can negotiate working part time and get a less insane job elsewhere.

New hubby thinks I will suck at the job and wants me to not show up tomorrow. He wants me to have a 9-5 "showy" job that utilizes my masters degree and pays benefits. I am more realistic and know those jobs are hard to find. I am willing to give this a shot but he is very pessimistic about my success.

Second job interview today. Rather than focus on all the things I will be losing as a result of taking this job; I will focus on the positives.

*I can get my eyebrows waxed regularly as opposed to only before big events.
*I can get haircuts regularly as opposed to once every three months.
*I will feel better about our retirement situation.
*I will feel more self worth and better valued.
*I will have money to travel to see my friends (though I will have less time to visit them).
*Big house renovations can start sooner.
*I will have more money to put into the emergency fund and therefore be better prepared in the future.
*I can pay down my mortgage faster and be less in debt.
*I can purchase more things on my credit card and earn more cash back bonus points Joke!

that's about it. Does not seem like much but that will have to do.

I think I have a job. I applied to a couple places on Sunday and was called in for an interview yesterday and they want to do a second interview tomorrow.

In this economy and job market I am grateful. I really am. But I'm not excited.

I don't like working for other people or big corporations. I dont like answering to people and making them money. I cant think of a single job that gets me excited unless it's some work-from-home or self-employment business.

But in this economy and this stage in life the smart thing to do is get a job. So it looks like I have one. As long as tomorrow goes well I might be on the payroll starting next week.

I don't know what the pay is. They start me on a probation trial for 2-3 months then will place me into a management training program.

I am lucky that I don't NEED any certain amount to live so I am flexible on the pay.

I am looking for a job that allows me to punch in, get the work done during my shift, then punch out and not have to worry about it. I hate "taking my work home with me". Since I prefer to "work to live" rather than "live to work", this trial period seems up my ally but if I move into management I might be getting into a situation that means more stress and more hours with that more pay option. So we'll see.

The good things are:
*I will meet people my own age or a bit younger.
*I have the opportunity to move up.
*It's about 10 min drive from my house.
*I am a little overqualified for it so I think I will get moved up quickly if I want to be moved up.

I'll play it by ear and see how it goes.

I felt like a grown up yesterday. I called our home insurance company to add our cars onto the list and also get an umbrella policy.

I'm not completely positive what an Umbrella policy is and covers, but I do know that I have been told to get one.

I think in the event of a lawsuit of any kind the policy covers everything I own and protects my assets.

The woman asked if I wanted a million dollar policy or a two million dollar policy and I quickly tried to mentally figure my net worth and asked her for a "half million dollar policy".

No go. They don't have those. Just as well. Some day the economy will swing back to good and real estate will rise, I will be frugal and not increase the policy and that's the day I'll be whacked with a lawsuit for something. It was only $140 a year which seems very fair to me!

On another note; the appraisal we had purchased for our new home came in today-it appraised for $43k above what we paid for it! Before we put in the $10k of work! Exciting stuff, but I do love this property and hope to never leave.

New month- New habit forming time. No more blogging 3x in one month. Must. Blog. Regularly.

I did my monthly spending calculations for Feb and we fell off the wagon big time.

Income $3589
CA Rent $1150
Ebay $134
Baseball school $430
GA Rent prorated $1875
Store Rebates $239

Bills Total: $1679.00
HOA $500
Groceries $149
Gas $140
Electricity $0
Health Ins $0
Water $0
Internet/phone $100
Pest $650
Car Ins $76
Security alarm $64
Total $1679.00

Moving company Total: $1680.00

Home Improvement Total: $9497.00
Home depot/Lowes $1442
Home decor $1267
Wood Floors $938 (312 sq ft)
Plantation Shutters $1800 (8 windows)
Contractor labor $4050 (1 window, floors, pocket doors, spackling)



Fun Total: $850.00
dining out $217
Fast food $151
Video games & movies $57
Hair $41
Gym $30
Shipping $21
Fax $19
Gun $230
Clothes $84

We finished off the month spending $13,706.00. We incomeded $3589.00= $10,117.00 in DEBT.

Lucky for us we had the money in savings because we did not have to put down as large a down payment as we had been expecting, and our unit of the house is DONE! We took care of all the big projects for our unit (except the kitchen). So although we spent so much now, we can get back on the savings train and work on building the savings back up.

During the last 2 weeks I got really behind on recording my spending (but I saved about 70% of the receipts) and now I need to get back on track and feel overwhelmed. And shame.

We spent so much on fast food. We spent so much on things that we could have done without.

Its like buying the house gave us a "reason" to give in to our desire to spend. Not even buy things we have been wanting...just to buy because we could.

We purchased new flooring and bought 10 extra feet "just in case". Now we have an extra box of flooring under the house.

I wanted 1 outlet cover for 1 outlet and bought a whole packet. Now those are in storage.

I went a bit crazy buying paint. At first I bought 2 gallons of paint for a room- got home- hated the color. Went to the store bought 2 gallons of a different color- still didn't like the color. So I bought some samples. Went sample crazy- bought 6 samples @$4 each- then bought the paint I liked by the gallon. Well come to find out each room needs about 1/2 gallon (plaster takes less paint than sheetrock apparently). So I have gallons of unopened paint.

We bought a swiffer for the floor. We were told a different brand would work better and bought that one (it didn't). We still were not getting good results and paid $60 for a steam shark (swiffer with hot steam) and it works GREAT! but now have 2 swiffers hanging in the closet never to be used again.

Stuff like that makes me angry with myself.

Okay, I've been MIA for about 2 weeks. You guys are not the only ones who noticed, my friends were neglected to. But the house is nearly done, and I'm lovin it!!

We took on many time consuming projects and when we were not doing that we were to tired to communicate to anyone but the dog.

And...in the interest of honesty...things were adding up. And not all 'needs' either. I didn't want to feel guilty about purchases because I waaannnttted them!

But the house feels like home now, and I'm including pictures.

One big learning lesson: Thank the heavens we purchased a duplex- we spent just over $9,000 renovating ONE FLOOR- no way could we have done both levels at once; financially, physically or mentally. We finished 'our unit' and when we outgrow the bottom floor and take over the top floor...we must do everything all over again. But thankfully that's a few years away.

I was concerned about cutting our living space in half when we moved- but 950 sq ft is nice. Not to bad to clean and no wasted space.

Now that things are quieter- I will be back to regular blogging.


our 'found' floor that no one would restore so we had to buy new


our new wood floor for the 2 side rooms.


main living area floor...shined up nice.


living in a construction zone for 2 weeks- pushed me to the end of my patience at times.


Starting to paint.


Dining room


Entry way


living room


our bedroom

That's it for now, on to read ya'll's blogs!

I'm checking in a bit. Things have been...different. But good different. BB and I have had lots of memorable experiences since my last post on Thursday.

WE CLOSED ON THE HOUSE!! It went so smoothly. Done in half an hour.

Then the memories began. We closed on one of the coldest days of the year. At 5pm. On a Friday. Me being an apartment girl didn't think that the electric and water would be off when we moved in. I thought we would just change it into our name.

Nope. no heat, no water. On a Friday night.

We bought candles, bundled up, slept on the floor and rationalized that the discomfort was worth it.

Over the weekend we actually reset our internal sleeping clocks. Up at 7am with the sun...getting sleepy about 6pm and in bed ("bed" or blankets on the floor) by 7pm. (It's so dark with only a few candles!)

But water, electric and cable all came on Monday (now dubbed "The Greatest Day Ever" by BB and me...modern conveniences...oh how did those cavemen and settlers survive without them??)

Anyways- everything is going well. The house is wonderful. We got right to work destroying it on day 1.

We have sanded the plaster walls of almost the whole downstairs unit.

We pulled up carpeting and ordered hardwood for the bedrooms (original hardwood ended up being to damaged to restore .

Pruned the backyard.
Swept the front porch,

and talked talked talked about our future. That's all there is to do when you are sanding walls for hours and have no TV or radio to listen to.

AND! We met our upstairs tenants. 3 college boys, very cool. Somehow BB's job proceeded him and one boy had already looked up BB's stats online. They already said they want to stay in the unit for the rest of their college years (2 more years).

So a few observations...
1) I feel like I have been on a MAJOR SHOPPING SPREE! Oh my it's so fun to let loose and buy buy buy. Even unloading that huge down payment...just handing people money has become fun. It's been so long that I have been limiting my spending- now I am free to BUY! (BB and I are reviewing the numbers tomorrow to see just how much damage we have done.)
Since we did not have to put down as much $$ as we were originally planning..we did take 10k and put it away in savings for an emergency fund before going crazy at Home Depot.

We bought a starter house that will turn into a forever house! I think I have touched on it before- but it hit home for me this past weekend. The units are about 1000 sq ft each, and our bottom unit is a good fit for our 2 person family. But once we have one kid walking age...I think we will be bursting a bit (look at me planning for kids, not even planning to get preggo yet) and then we can go upstairs! Our sq footage will double and we wont have to move! I didn't plan on that bonus feature when buying a duplex- we were planning to move out and buy a SFH...but we love this one. I don't want to leave.

When we first moved in- it felt like a rental. Didn't feel like ours at all. It just felt like it was another baseball season and we have moved again, taking only bare essentials, setting up cable, power, all that. But as we started ruining the walls (that's what I think sanding does to the walls- BB assures me we are going to be pleased with the results), the place felt more like ours. By the end of the weekend...it felt so much like home. I never ever want to leave. I'm so attached. Even if it looks 10x worse right now than it did when we moved in.

I am very very afraid that we don't own the house. We closed. We handed over our money. But I keep imagining getting a letter in the mail or having a policeman knocking on the door telling us there was a mistake and we must vacate the property immediately because it's not really our house. Worse still, that the real owner is requesting we return the house in the condition it was when we moved in. :P

Anyways, I will get up some pictures soon! I am sorry I have not been reading ya'lls posts- we just got internet yesterday...but I was so thrilled to have WATER that I didn't even turn on the computer yesterday. (using bottled water to wash your hands and planning your errands based on what store has a bathroom is humbling!)

I think this whole week is going to be crazy as we demo the house and put it back together again. (not really but it feels that way) So next week I will be back to regularly catching up on WhiteS home purchase, Texe's dilemma to stay or move to CA, monkeymamas updates on tax changes, coanegigs(sp?) green kitchen countertop, DisneyS' ebay and survey updates, BA and Merch's stock strategies and everyone else's daily posts.

We're closing!! It's done! the seller signed papers today- we drive up to Savannah and sign tomorrow and get the KEYS!! It's done for sure. I think. We got the settlement statement and learned we got a CONVENTIONAL LOAN (No PMI!!) at 5.5% fixed 30yrs. Our closing costs are $7,900...slightly high I think but don't care at this point. Our taxes are $1,000 less than I anticipated they would be...and our monthly payment is $940.00 a month including taxes and insurance!

And we close tomorrow!!!

No rescheduling movers!! No more whining!

We set up the cable/internet guy to come out on Monday- so it may be a while before I'm back to report on the closing...but I am hoping it's all sunshine and daisies from here on out.

I am exhausted. But getting more and more excited.

Well, I'm still in total housing mess right now.

There has been no more talk of the foreclosure short sale issue- Mortgage people believe they resolved it/ seller stated his side= someone is lying but I don't think I will know the true story anytime soon.

My underwriter called me yesterday morning to tell me her part of the process is done, she's handing off the closing details to the closing attorney.

Closing attorney called me in the afternoon to tell me he is meeting the seller today to sign the documents, collect the keys, and he needs to set up a time/place to meet with me on Friday for me to sign everything.

YIPPEEE!! Closing is finally here! I set up movers. I filled out a change of address card. I gave my health insurance my new address. I set up a cable man to come out Monday morning ($70 month for TV & Internet).

Then last night Underwriter calls me in a panic. She called BB's last place of employment and does not understand how he only worked for them for 1 month.

I'm not panicked because that's true. He was traded late in the season, only played in TX for 1 month.

I don't know what Underwriter had in her notes or on the application but she thought he played for 1 team for the last 2 years. Maybe she misunderstood when I told her BB just signed a 2 yr contract with the team. Or that he's been a ball player for the last 7 years.

So underwriter is in a tizzy and wants me to email her immediately BB's places/names/addresses/phone numbers of employment for the last 2 years. I was able to get her the information in about 10 minutes (thank you internet).

So that went down around 5pm yesterday. Since then...silence. No phone calls, emails, nothing.

Raise a hand if you think I'm moving tomorrow. Anybody?

Guess it's time to cancel the movers AGAIN!

So for those of you following my first home purchase saga...here is an odd twist I am trying to wrap my head around.

Yesterday the mortgage underwiter sends me an email saying: "I have great news, I have been working with the Attorney and the
Seller to save the house from foreclosure and we were sucessful. They have given us an extra 30 days. I also have approved
your loan."

Since BB and I were not buying a foreclosure I immediately called my Realtor who confirmed he had not heard about any foreclosure and this was news to him.

I called my mortgage broker who told me the property was in foreclose and due to foreclose TODAY (1 day before they 'saved' it). He told me that his attorney discovered this and was working all last week with the bank to stop the foreclosure because the property is in the process of a sale. The seller actually owes "quite a bit more money on the property than my purchase price and I am getting a spectacular deal." He and the attorney saved me from having my purchase contract be voided out and having to start the purchase process all over again and negotiating to buy the property from the bank. The bank was happy to hear there is a buyer for the property and extended the broker 30 days to get the property to the new buyer (me). There is no way my Realtor or I would know it was in the foreclosure process because it was a pre-foreclosure or short sale and that information does not need to be disclosed to the buyer.

So I call my Realtor who told me he asked the seller if the property is in foreclosure. The seller explained a story about a foreclosure mix-up. "It had to do with miscommunication last year when he got behind on payments -- he actually had everything caught up, but the bank didn't have the payments in the right account -- it was just a matter of getting the payments in the right place. He said this underwriter had nothing to do with "saving" it from foreclosure. He's a little pissed off and we really need to close this deal by Friday."

So that's the story. Really I guess if the house was in foreclosure or not it does not effect me. But someone is lying here.

Either the mortgage broker is trying to look like a hero after all his delays and outright deception on getting this deal closed in a timely manner- or the seller of the property is lying because he does not want to look like a bad businessman or deceptive seller.

Both sides have their merits. How can a property owner be receiving foreclosure notices from a bank and not get that information fixed immediately? Wouldn't his credit score be tanking, wouldn't he be getting hit with all kinds of overdue/non payment late fees month after month?...Wouldnt he be motivated to make sure his monthly mortgage payments were actually paying his mortgage?

And if it was indeed a short sale and he owes more on the property than I am purchasing it for...wouldn't the seller have had to go to the bank to ask if he can accept my offer? Wouldn't I have found out immediately it was a short sale because the negotiations would have dragged out while the bank interfered with our negotiations. Instead the seller and I reached an agreed price on the same day I made an offer.

But if it was not a foreclosure then how is it that the attorney spent several days working with the bank to stop the foreclosure- unless they were flat out lying to me? How can a person successfully work with a bank to stop a foreclosure if the problem is that the money was placed "in the wrong account" for a few months. Wouldn't the bank admit it's actually not a foreclosure but a banking error that they have corrected? What would be the broker's motivation for inventing a foreclosure story? To make me grateful to him and forget about all the inconveniences and unfulfilled promises he made me? Can/do brokers actually just invent entire stories to save face or hold onto a client?

If it was a banking error and not a foreclosure did they waste a week of my time doing nothing with my mortgage and are covering it up with this foreclosure story...or did they really spend a week working on a problem that did not exist but they believed did exist? I don't know which option makes their business practices look worse.

And finally...do you think the attorney is going to charge me for this? I am guessing yes. But I don't want to pay for services I never asked to have done, was not told were performed until after they were finished, and may or may not have been needed.

Can anyone offer any suggestions here? I feel like someone is lying and I don't know who to trust.

Well I tallied up our January spending. BB has not gotten his paycheck for working at the baseball school the first 2 weeks of January so I did not include it in the numbers but assume it will be about $200.

Ebay, as expected was TERRIBLE this month for me. I did not list any items around the first of the month because I knew people were recovering from Christmas shopping. Then I had one week to list items then I shut it down in anticipation of moving. Then I listed a few items when the mortgage was delayed but could not list anything valuable as it has all been packed away.
So despite the problems I actually netted $688.00 but then I was hit with eBay fees from last months sales ($358) and spent $275 in shipping and that only left me with $55 profit for the month. So I didn't even make the ebay challenge.

Anyways...even though all our normal sources of income were severely limited this month, and we only brought in about 50% of our normal incomes- we only would have been -$70 behind...but then we also spent $683 in house purchase related expenses and $425 on an unexpected vet bill (dog is now fine)...so we went into the red $1178.00. OUCH!

Without further ado...here are January's numbers:

Income: $1965 + BB's paycheck
Fixed Expenses: $1338
New house buying: $683
Vet expenses: $425
Fun: $520(Takeout $236/Video games & movies $34/Scrapbooking $165/Misc $85)
House maintenance: $20
Car maintenance: $157
Total Month spent: $3143
NSD: 6

Still no mortgage. I'm kind of talked out on this subject but lets see if I can gather some energy.

We are still in Florida. All the boxes are stacked around us. BB has been unemployed for 2 weeks now. I have had ebay shut down for 3 weeks now. We spend our days checking our email for news, watching T.V. and complaining.

Our purchase contract had us closing by Jan 20th. After Jan 20th we were given 7 days extension. Now, as of 4 days ago- the seller is available to take any other incoming offers on the house.

I don't know when we are closing. I don't know why we have not closed.

As you guys remember we were denied a mortgage by the first guy. He told me this on the 14th.

Same day I find a new broker who PROMISED he could get it done by the 20th. "What would you say if I told you I could get this done by the 20th? Would you be happy?" were his exact words.

And he did work day and night on the mortgage. On the 19th he calls me to tell me he ordered an appraisal and the company cant get an appraisal done for a few days. We are now looking at a Friday the 23rd closing. "Well- our movers are coming on Friday the 23rd so that will complicate things but we'll make it work." -I think to myself.

On Wed the 21st I call concerned because I don't know who to make the down payment check to. I also need to know how this closing will play out with me living out of state. They tell me "We're still waiting on paperwork, we are not closing on the 23rd. I am aiming for a closing by the end of the month."

So I call the movers and reschedule for Friday the 30th. I'm very disappointed by now and BB and I spent the last week bored and annoyed at life.

The following Wed I call to get the specifics of when we are closing. I am told: "we are still waiting on the appraisal that was completed last Wed. It has not been faxed to us yet." I call the appraisal company. THEY are still WAITING on the appraisal order to be resubmitted to them so they can complete the appraisal. They said they have emailed mortgage company 2x for the order. So each company wasted 5 DAYS waiting around for the other company to do something. I called and got the glitch fixed in 1 day...but alas- it was to late to get a Friday 30th closing.

I called the movers AGAIN to reschedule and they told me to NOT reschedule, just call them a day or two before I need them.

On Friday the 30th I called the broker who promised me the world and acted really offended and ticked off when I told him I also had another bank working on the mortgage. He was so offended that I halted the banks efforts way back around the 22nd of January. I asked him when we were closing because our purchase contract had run out, the seller is really aggravated with us, we have rescheduled movers TWICE, and that if I was in a rental/lease situation then I would be living in a hotel right now. He tells me "this is the natural time line it takes to process the mortgage. You are not in danger of being denied but even if you were Donald Trump himself you cannot speed this up. It always takes 12-15 days to qualify and be approved for a mortgage."

WHY DID HE NOT TELL ME THIS BEFORE??!!

All along he kept acting like closing was just around the corner. The bank we were working with told me they could close by the 30th and I canceled their efforts because this broker promised he could do it by the 20th.(then the 23rd..then the 30th..now who knows.)

I am frustrated and so so over this. BB and I had so much enthusiasm to get to Georgia and refinish the floors..we wanted to spackle and paint the walls...take the popcorn off the ceiling- and now I'm so OVER moving. I just want to get there, unpack and return to a normal routine where furniture is in it's proper place, clothes are hung in the closet, and dishes are in cabinets.

I am also OVER having no income. BB and I planned for unemployment to last 1 month. We had enough in savings to cover repairs and living expenses for about 4-5 weeks before we would need an income to start coming in. Now we have been hanging around here in FL unemployed using up electricity, gas, utilities and not getting anything done. Come February we'll be paying hefty FL bills and setting up our GA bills (deposits and all that).

Oh and here is a kicker: When Mortgage guy said we could close on time on the 20th I was so grateful that I told him we will go to Atlanta (where he and coincidentally, the seller, is located) if that will make the process easier. He told us it's unnecessary as he will overnight paperwork to us in FL to sign and do it that way. Well on the 30th I call him and get that "natural process" speech and he sums up by saying; "and I think it will be best if you guys come up here to Atlanta to close so we can meet face to face." Atlanta is over 7 hrs from where we live in FL. It's 4 hrs from our new house in Savannah. It would use up about 13 hrs of our time to close in Atlanta and cost us over $150 in gas (2 cars). Its fine to close in Atlanta if he produced a miracle..but aint no miracle going on right now so why am I being inconvienced MORE? You know why?? Because BB plays baseball. It is so aggravating when people learn that BB is a ball player because suddenly they stop what they are doing to talk baseball with BB. Our vet spends more time discussing SEC baseball than he does explaining what he is doing to our dog. Our TV repairman did the same thing. The mortgage guy requested to talk to BB 1 time and the whole conversation was about different minor league teams mortgage guy knows about. No mortgage information at all. Mortgage guy just wants to pal around with a ball player and is disguising it as a necessary step in the mortgage process.

AAARRRRGGGG!!!! Ok, bitchfest over. I know it will all be worth it in the end.

Grrrr....took dog to the vet yesterday to the tune of $325.00. She was throwing up and had diarrea. During the drive to the vet BB and I discussed how our vet always gives such good care but charges a bundle for it. We decided that this time around our dog doesnt need exceptional care. She needs some antibiotics and that's the end of it.

Guess what? Once at the vet, he starts talking about all the possibilities that could be wrong with her, all the possible sources of her sickness. He says "I'm just going to run some blood tests to check her white cell count, check her pancreas, check this, this and that." I was prepared for the vet wanting to do bloodwork and had a response waiting "no. If you dont mind can we just try some antibiotics and see if that helps her? We are on a tight budget and don't think the tests are necessary yet."

But I held my tongue! I didn't say it! I don't know why. The vet gets so darn reactive to all the possible things that could be wrong with her I kind of feel like it would be animal abuse to not allow the tests to be run. As it is he was already telling us she was running a fever and how did we not notice she was sick earlier?

I guess I feel like she is our child and no good parent tells a Dr to "skip the tests just give the medicine."

Then of course once I looked up the receipt and the "tests and blood drawing" was $110 of the bill I had major buyers remorse.

So I'm still bitter about that one. Very very bitter.

Since it looks like it will be about a week before we are able to close on the house I sort of snuck in some ebay auctions last night.

I put up 7 auctions for small items that can be transported to the new house if the buyer ends up being late to pay and I cant mail the item out immediately.

It seems rather ridiculous because my 2009 resolution was to not spend any money earned off ebay this year- so who really cares if I have any auctions running now or 3 months from now?

But I'm feeling panicky. I'm on edge. We have almost no money coming in right now and all our savings accounts will soon have a zero balance. So even though the money cannot be spent- it's a nice feeling to look at one bank account and see a growing balance.

And so far I have $50 in bids on the 7 items!

I never signed up for the ebay challenge because I knew my ebay would be halted for the move and finding a job...but so far I have met the goals anyways.

Mortgage update: things are going...alright.

New mortgage guy is on the ball and had me convinced up till last night we were closing on Friday (tomorrow).

Then he drops the bomb that he cant get the place appraised for 3-5 days.

So no closing tomorrow.

I suppose there is a higher reason for all this but when you have already attended goodbye dinner after goodbye dinner with friends, your husband has quit his job, you have movers lined up for Monday, ebay has been shut down for weeks in anticipation of moving and everything is packed and boxes are everywhere...I don't see any bright side to this.

Maybe Obama will increase the home buyers credit. That would be worth all this hurry up and waiting.

And its TOUGH to have $$ in the bank but you cant spend it! (Total selfish whine here) but it's hard to want to go out to eat but tell yourself you cant afford it when you have major money sitting in a savings account. I just wanna pay my down payment and get rid of this "rich" feeling already. It's a very intoxicating and powerful feeling to see the $$ sitting in the account day after day after day. (yes- I am paranoid of identity theft and obsessively check my account online to make sure the money is still there.)

One thing I have learned- closing costs are EXPENSIVE. It is EXPENSIVE to buy a house. I don't know how people can afford to regularly buy houses. I am wondering if people factor in their closing costs when they determine if they "made money" off their house.

Our good friend is in the process of buying a house right now as well and he is rolling the closing costs into the loan- not understanding that the 8k will cost him about 18k after 30 years- "he would rather save himself 8k now" was his line. So since he is not paying closing costs out of pocket he is really not concerned about their cost. We are paying them upfront and I am totally aghast at the prices. How are banks failing after they charged these prices and made such a profit during the market boom!?

BB and I are hoping this is our "forever house" because I never want to go through the mortgage process again, and I never want to pay closing costs again.

If we eventually turn this duplex back into the single family house it once was- it will be plenty big to raise a family and I think we will come out much much richer if we don't have to buy a SFH down the line.

I have a weird family history in that my fathers kids from another marriage were estranged for my whole life and I only recently met them and now we are pretty tight and see each other at least once a year.

Anyways, I just saw them a few days ago and learned an interesting tidbit.

During a conversation about her finances, my sister told me our brother (age 35) has already paid off his mortgage. He paid it off in 2 years.

According to everyone who knows him, my brother has always been cheap, frugal, thrifty. My father was the same way. I THOUGHT I was like my dad because I was financially minded and always a little frugal but my brother takes it to a different level with the craigslist, freecycle, and coupons. I always agreed with my brothers mindset to look for free before you pay, find the best deal, use money wisely- and my brothers wife has commented I am like him a lot with my way of financial thinking.

Anyways, of course I was stunned to hear they paid off their mortgage in 2 yrs. They sold his townhouse that he had bought before he was married and I don't know what kind of down payment he was able to put down. They bought their current house maybe 5 or 6 years ago and immediately only lived off his income while they applied the wife's entire teaching salary to the mortgage. It took them 2 years to pay off the mortgage. They had their first kid after the mortgage was paid off.

They have lived mortgage free for years now and each year that I have known them they make 1 large improvement in the home. They added a pool with a beautiful deck, they added an addition, they replaced the kitchen appliances.

I am writing this because primarily I am celebrating that for me, this is proof that OUR PLANS WORK! All these thrifty plans, these frugal tools, the wisdom all collectively allows people to live life completely debt free!

Everything my brother and his wife do...all of us savers do! All the wisdom we spread to one another about "dont buy a house bigger than you can afford...pay in cash...use coupons.."- that WORKS!

It sure was nice to actually see a person actively, publicly following a religion I have been secretly trying to learn - and it WORKS!

After being surrounded by financially irresponsible people (just about all my friends) it's a breath of fresh air to see the battle to be debt free can be sucessful. And I am happy BB heard this conversation too- he was really impressed to see that financial diligence really pays off. I have new found respect for my older bro and look forward to really asking him for financial advice in the future.

I have not been posting the last few days. Yes I lurked and commented on a few posts..but no posting of my own.

I have been embarrassed and ashamed.

It's possibly premature to even discuss now but I think we are out of the woods.

BB and I were denied our mortgage 3 days ago. Our income does not meet the lenders formula.

It happened by accident- me finding this out. I was having a mounting feelings of "uh-oh" by the lack of communication with our broker and the increasing emails from my Realtor asking "what is going on?"

So I flat out asked my broker if we were in danger of being denied the loan and he responded "yes. Two underwriters have rejected it and I will be submitting it to a third tomorrow."

This was on Tuesday. Closing is next Tuesday. We have 5 business days to get it worked out after 3 weeks of doing nothing because my original broker was avoiding my emails and phone calls.

So jumping into overdrive I contacted a bank that had previously reluctantly told us they could probably approve us- and then I bitched to my sister about everything.

Lo and behold her coworkers husband used to be a broker in Atlanta and swore up and down that his former boss is the man for the job. I called old boss in Atlanta and left a voice mail. I got a call back that evening and after talking he says "You are the perfect candidate for an FHA loan. Nothing you say has alerted me that this will be a problem. I will call you in the morning and I think we can have you approved by the end of the week."

The guy is a smooth talker and it made me nervous- but he has held up to his end of the bargain so far. He devoted a whole day to creating my application- he calls me 2 or 3x a day with info or questions and told me I was "informally approved" 2 days ago. He called last night asking if I want to escrow the taxes and insurance...that sounds pretty far along.

So I did some research on my own for this FHA loan (federal govt standard loan for first time homeowners- for everyone not familiar).

Some pros and cons. Pro is the standards are less strict with income, you only need to put 5% down, closing costs are less, and we fit the criteria. I have since learned that banks don't really offer this loan because they don't make $ off it.

Con is it is more expensive than a bank loan. I found out that I will have to pay PMI for 30yrs...and will have to pay a MPI fee that is rolled into the loan (about 1.5% of the loan amount). And I thought "uh-oh. That doesn't sound cheap."

But beggars cant be choosers and so I sat down and got to work about calculating how to minimize the damage.

BB and I decided to put 40% down. It's a luxury that most people cant do but we are very lucky I had the extra money from an inheritance sitting in a MM fund not earning much interest. With 40% down we are cutting the PMI down 35% (originally the ATL broker wanted us to put down 5%.), and we are cutting the MPI charge down 35%. As well as our interest payments over the life of the loan.

A benefit of this FHA loan is that our closing costs will much lower because our broker is charging us 1 point of the loan amount (about 1%) and the other broker was estimating closing to be about 3k...and the bank (that we are also still working with...just in case) wants 7k for closing costs. So essentially us telling the broker we want to put down 40% rather than 5% means his commission is severely cut since he is making money off the loan amount.

We were worried he would fight us on this point, but he didn't. He just said he would need an extra day to rewrite the application to reflect the new down payment amount.

Now- if you are still reading this long ass blog you are wondering why we didnt just suggest to the ORIGINAL broker we would put 40% down and we could have averted this whole mess. Well- we never told the broker we would put down 40%.

We told him we would put down 50%.

yup. That's what we needed to get "approved" in that guys mind. I never mentioned in the blogs that I was preparing to put down 50% because I would either get comments like "If you have to put down 50% then you cant afford that house"...as well as in this present economy many many people are struggling and I guess I still see it as somewhat "showy" to say I am putting down 50% when others are struggling to save up 3%.
BTW- that 50% was us scraping the bottom of the barrel to create. We were going to be left with single dollars after closing and planned to live off credit cards till our next paychecks arrived within a few days. Wasn't a good plan- I didn't like it- but it was our only option.

ANYWAYS- imagine this mortgage brokers surprise when he is talking to me initially and I tell him we cant get approved for a mortgage with 50% to put down. He was like "do you have credit card debt?" "no." What about child support, car payment, do you have another mortgage, did you have a bankruptcy?"

Then I told him the 50% was going to be really tough for us and if he could get us a mortgage where we would need to put down 48 or 45% I would be GRATEFUL.

So he comes back at me the next day and is like "I got you a mortgage and you only have to put down 5%. How wonderful is that?" And I later tell him we want to put down 40%...imagine his surprise again.

Anyways, he told me he wants to see the official rejection letter when it comes in the mail because he cant figure out why we were denied in the first place.

So things are looking up. Now that I wrote this we will probably get rejected.