Farewell, House

Our financing got approved!

We sat down with the listing agent, all the papers in front of us, and began going through everything. What's included in the house, what's not, closing date, etc. In the midst of it all, our mortgage broker called to tell us that YES, we're pre-approved. With a loan amount of x the payments will be about $1500.

Woooahhhh there. Back that train up.

Tom and I looked at each other with intense shock and fear. $1500 a month was not the number we had come up with. We were struggling to accept a $1300 payment, but adding that additional $200 pretty much blew things out of the water.

With both of us panicking, but not really knowing what to do, we continued going over all the paperwork for the offer. Finally the listing agent stopped, looked at Tom, and said, "You don't look like you're comfortable with all of this." I think he took a huge sigh of relief when we were able to put the brakes on and talk about everything. We sat in the conference room alone for a bit, then we called Gary and told him where things stood, and then we called the listing agent back in.

So after all of that, we had to walk away.

It's weird to feel such a huge mixture of extreme disappointment and extreme relief all at the same time. That house would have been wonderful for us, and I'm sure that when and if we continue to look at homes, it's going to be beyond difficult to find one that will compare. At the same time, I think Tom and I would both prefer to be in a better financial position before we purchase a house. We knew what a good deal that house was, and our parents were willing to do whatever they could to help us take advantage of that deal. The problem is that we have quite a bit of debt to clear up, and we would be completely unable to furnish and decorate this awesome new house that we had.

We haven't quite figured out what our next step is in this whole process. Our ideal plan would be to tell our landlords that we're having financial difficulties (which isn't really a lie), pack our stuff into storage, and camp out at my parents house for a few months. With the money that we wouldn't be paying towards rent, electric, cable, etc., we would be able to pay off a lot of our debt and get my credit back to a decent spot. We would be able to save for a down payment, and put some away to buy things for a future house. I think we would both be able to take huge sigh of relief that we're finally back on track.
Obviously this plan requires my parents participation, and that's where the hang up is. I can't blame them for not wanting their two adult children and two grandchildren to be in their faces constantly, so I'm completely aware of what a tall request this is. I'm hoping, though, that they'll see how much it would benefit us.

Who knows when this house buying saga will continue. Someday, though, we will own a house.