House troubles

I knew that buying a house wouldn't be easy, but seriously I didn't think it would be this much of a pain in the ass!! 

I started looking for a house over the summer. Every house in my price range seemed to need a lot of work. Don't get me wrong, I figured I'd need to do some minor things but these house needed more than I was willing to do. FINALLY, I found a house that I loved in September.

After negotiations we agreed on a price 40k less than what I was pre-approved for so I thought we were all set. Sign some paperwork and we'd be done...

I was applying for a USDA loan, which I found out pretty quickly were very picky. They kept requesting more and more information. So the application wasn't even accepted until November. The lawyer said it would probably be january since it was getting close to the holidays which was fine. So when I didn't hea anything for a while I didn't really think anything of it. 

Then, my real estate agent calls asking for the name of who I'm working with at the bank and the phone number. He said that he had another client that signed paperwork for the same type of loan 3 days after me and was closing the following week (I had yet to even get a commitment letter).

After talking to her he says she has no idea what's going on with my loan and that she's to call USDA and figure out what's going on and call him the following day. The next day she leaves me a message to call her. 

When I return the call she says that I have been declined... Which really doesn't make sense since I was asking for a lot less than what I was preapproved for.  Come to find out, she added overtime into my income, which I work when I can but it isn't consistent. Because of that, my debt to income ratio was too much... Ugh, so frustrating!!

So now, because this lady screwed the loan up were trying to figure out an exception. She seems to think that if I can prove that I have 3 months worth of my mortgage payment within my savings, checking, and retirement that they'll give me the loan. 

It's been 2 weeks and still haven't heard anything, so it's not looking good.... But I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Spoiled BRAT!

A couple months ago I got a phone call from Evan's teacher requesting that Bill and I come in for a parent-teacher conference. At the conference she told us how Evan frequently makes comments that his mom hates him. He even had said at one point that he was playing a game in his head, that was ok because it was in his head, called slapped. When asked what the game was he said that he was slapping his mom.

Of course this sent red flags to the school so they sent him to speak with the school counselor. Upon being asked why he thinks his mom hates him he said things like, "I only get to play games at her house for an hour. And at my dads I can play as much as I want." Clearly, not a source of concern.

The reason the parent-teacher conference was still called was because the teacher and school counselor felt that Evan needed to speak with a counselor outside of school. Although neither Bill or I felt that this was necessary we didn't want to look like we didn't care so we said we would do it. Fortunately, my employer has a therapist that employees and immediate family are able to use for free. 

The therapist was really good with Evan. And us as well. First, she talked with all three of us. Asking Evan things like "who lives in dads house?" And "who lives with you and mom?" Then, she had Evan go in the waiting area and draw on an easel while she talked with just Bill and I. What she said next was not news to me but not what I had expected her to say. 

"Please don't take offense to this but there is NOTHING wrong with your child. I do not feel he needs to regularly speak with a therapist. He is very much an only child.. He is a spoiled brat! He tells his teacher you hate him for attention. Stop acknowledging it and it'll go away."

So that's what we did. And that's what we told his teacher to do... And away it went. Except during a meltdown every now and then.