118 N. Alexander in Royal Oak, Michigan, had been on the market for several weeks. I'd had my eye on the listing for some time; the price was right and the pictures of it looked great. It was in a terrific school district and was only 7 minutes away from the hospital where Kyle would begin his residency in July. I had other homes in mind also but, while they were quickly being sold, this one stayed on the market.
About a week before we were scheduled to head out to Michigan to begin the search for our first home I was looking at listings again and noticed that 118 N. Alexander had a new asking price - $30,000 higher!! I looked at the new pictures of the home and wanted to cry. It had been renovated - a new kitchen with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, fresh paint, and a finished basement. I loved it, but I was so upset because I thought for sure we could not afford it now and, especially, that it would be sold before we got the chance to see it.
Because Kyle is (almost) a physician, we qualify for a "doctors only" home mortgage loan. It gives us 100% financing and a low interest rate; the idea is that, even though we have a ton of student loan debt and practically no savings, we are not much of a risk because his future earning potential is rock solid. Only a handful of banks provide this loan and, after doing some homework, we contacted a bank near us, told them what our plan was, and asked if we could come in and get started on things.
All seemed well at first but they kept giving us inaccurate information about different things and then made us wait about a week before seeing us. When we came to our appointment the day before we were to leave to look at houses we thought we'd be walking out with our approval letter. Instead, we were told they needed even more paperwork (even though I'd asked ahead of time what we needed to bring with us) and that they would get it to us the next day. Just before we walked out Kyle thought to ask the lender to verify the interest rate - it was NOT what we had been told before and was much higher than we had been anticipating. Kyle told the lender that his classmate was getting the same type of loan from another institution but at a lower interest rate and could they match it? We got a lot of hemming and hawing.
The next morning, the day we were leaving for Michigan to find a home, Kyle called his friend's lender (who happened to be in the very area we're moving to), described our situation and by that afternoon, through e-mails and a phone call, we had a credit check done and an approval letter sent to our realtor! It was incredible.
We left for Michigan as soon as Kyle got home from work that night. We took the kids with us. They were so good for the whole trip and we had a really good time together. We had reserved our hotel room online ahead of time for four nights at a place charging only $50 per night for two queen beds. We new it was cheap but we were trying to save money. We rolled in at around 1 am, checked in, and crawled into bed. We didn't even turn on a light because the kids were asleep and we had a big day planned.
I had noticed a nasty smoke smell when we first walked in but decided I was too tired to care. However, the next morning as we were getting ready we were noticing little things like the grunge around the sink and the little shampoo bottle looked like it had the seal broken and had been watered down. There were hairs everywhere. The "complimentary breakfast" was going to be just bagels and coffee. What did us in though was what I found in one of the drawers when I started unpacking the kids' clothes. It was full of junk - a phone charger case and wrappers, a woman's shirt, a notebook, and a rather large leopard-print bra. I was annoyed and was just going to demand our room be cleaned, thoroughly, but after Kyle's curiosity got the better of him and he read a tiny bit of what was in the "diary" he told me to pack up everything and that we'd be leaving. You do NOT want to know... YUCK!
The hotel was pretty cool about refunding not only our next three reserved nights but also not charging us for that night either. So, with the money we saved from being refunded we were able to afford a slightly more expensive room at the Fairfield Marriott directly across the street. We checked into our room - it smelled clean, the room looked great, and in the top dresser drawer was a Bible AND a Book of Mormon. We felt much better about this place.
Our realtor was referred to us by one of the resident's wives who I had been in contact with. Her name is Michele and she is AMAZING!! She loves working with first-time home buyers and was so great at finding listings which were exactly what we asked her for and at telling us whether or not we would be able to re-sell the home again due to this or that. She is also LDS and it was so cool to be able to talk to her about which ward and stake we would be in. She even drove us past the temple in Detroit so we could see it.
We saw nine listings our first day and 118 N. Alexander was our second stop. We walked in and I was in love! Hardwood floors, beautiful updated kitchen, original hardware on the doors, clean bathrooms, a finished basement, all appliances included in the sale, a 2-car detached garage with a fence enclosing the yard and not the garage doors, a huge deck with gates to keep it closed off for the kiddos, a big yard with plenty of shade and no low-hanging power lines, close to downtown but on a quiet street with a park less than a block away and a whole bunch of very large brand new homes being built nearby which were already sold. Everything on our checklist was being taken care of. While walking around the home we noticed a picture of the Chicago skyline on one wall and several medical textbooks on a bookshelf - there must be a resident or fellow living here! I felt like it was "us in 5 years!"
We asked Michele if we should make an offer but wondered why it had been on the market so long when other homes we had been interested in had been snatched up so quickly. She called the seller's realtor who told her that she had just received an offer for the house but hadn't called the seller's yet. She told Michele the amount of the other offer (that is NOT usual practice) so Michele asked us if we wanted to bid a little higher. We decided we could go slightly higher but it was really at the top of our budget so it would have to include the closing costs. We asked if Michele could tell the other realtor to tell the seller's about where we were coming from and who we are; she did and the sellers must have liked it because they gave us a counter-offer! Michele was laughing when she told us what it was and said, "You must be living right because I have NEVER seen an offer this low - they want only $500 more!" We said, "YES!!" and we signed the purchase agreement the next morning.
The seller's realtor told Michele that another offer had come in later that night after the counter-offer had been made for the full asking price with a conventional loan but the realtor didn't tell the seller's about it because she thought our deal would go through so much more quickly and smoothly. We have to stay in Chicago until the end of May for Ky's graduation but we'll close the middle of May. The crazy thing is that the seller's are going to go out of the country (to India) in mid-May and are hoping to be able to rent the house from us for a month while they are gone so they don't have to move their stuff until mid-June. This works perfectly for all of us!
I can't believe how blessed we have been to have everything fall into place the way it has. I know Heavenly Father has been guiding us through this whole journey we've been on and I know that when we have righteous desires and the drive to make good things happen He will help us in every way.
We were also able to visit with two families while we were out here - both are residents Ky will be working with and they are LDS too! Both of the wives were so nice and fun and I think we'll have a lot in common and be able to lean on each other for support. Our kids are all around the same ages and so Meg and Logan were having a lot of fun meeting the new friends they will have after we move.
So...the inspection takes place Thursday and I am PRAYING!!!! there are no major issues because that would REALLY break my heart after all these good feelings I've had :) Wish us luck!
