Chapter 10: Accepted your offer
Back in January I was finally compiling papers together to submit. I was copying, printing, scanning and emailing my USDA agent constantly.
The first round was definitely a marathon and getting all the paper work in without any updates was proving to be a challenge. I remember in those months leading up to spring wondering if I was doing the right thing, as if some adult would drop in and “um actually” me to death so that way i’d somehow be satisfied with a condo.
Two years ago a local realtor took me around Shoreline and Edmonds, showing me 1–2 bedroom condos in my price range. Sunken into earth, little natural sunlight and gave me flashbacks of my first apartment.
My throat felt dry looking at it, my body felt bored fussing over what would be the most optimal way to get to work but most importantly get the hell out. Everyone has a preference for whatever house, studio, mobile home, condo they stay in but living in a Condo, underground, little sunlight and neighbours just around the way ? No thanks.
I simmered and what was the final nail in the coffin was knowing that they’d never take my application seriously without having a full time job, not contract.
More importantly two years ago my credit was 540. That HAD to get fixed and I had to be more consistent with paying down my debt consistently even if it was only 40 dollars a month. I remember while I was working at google, calling Navient shaking and saying that was all I could do and without judgement the lady set me up to pay just that .
Immediately after announcing the offer was approved I got some questions as to how this happen and the short answer : google
The long answer : Full time employment and Credit Score.
That being said is if you are a contractor can pay up front cash on hand this isn’t an issue but typically when applying for a loan or any other USDA loan you want to have stable income coming in (2 years worth ) , decent credit score and to understand that anything that involves land, home or a giant mile stone is going to take a decent amount of paper work .
That being said and most importantly is they accepted my offer to buy land.
It’s 1.72 acres, lakeside that is within my budget. Maybe when i’m more comfortable I’ll do a breakdown of how much I was granted and how I divided it up but this still gives me enough money for any type of extra construction the house might need.
I might save that for my last post on this topic alone. I’ve held my breath until everything is set in stone and my name is officially on the deed.
The papers were signed yesterday, the 5,000 dollar earnest money deposit is what i’m putting down and it sounds like i’ll be getting that back for closing costs.
I remember looking at my name on that sheet of paper, the date and my marital status “unmarried persons.” I wonder what the seller must have thought seeing only my name on the transfer.
The next step of this phase ? Deposit. Feasibility study. construction.
House.
