Saturday, April 4

skinny jeans banking

If you remember.. back in my last post, I mentioned that the house we liked.. was found by searching ever so slightly out of our comfort zone.

Yeah.. more than slightly.

If our comfort zone were yoga pants... this house is skinny jeans.  Like,  maybe with 5% lycra.

We talked to our Realtor.  We talked to the potential builder.  I cried a little bit.

Then, in the midst of trying to sell our house -  with all the house tours and packing and constant cleaning and pissy cat wrangling.. I had to find our W-2's.  I needed to find 3 years worth of taxes, 6 months of pay stubs, social security cards.  I had to find our 401K paperwork, and my checkbook.

We were going to meet with the bank.  THE BANK.  We had to find out if we could financially make this house work.  The builder was willing to work with us, but he had a bottom dollar.

As someone who is not good with money... I always get nervous when a bank is involved.  It's like the dentist.  I know the banker isn't going to do anything horrible.  I know they're not evil..(well.. some may argue with me there). But there is no reason why me, a grown-ass woman with a good job, a responsible hard-working husband, and mutually strong credit scores, should be so nervous about meeting with a banker.

But I was.  I was frantic, and worried, and terrified.  So... I over-prepared.  I made lists.  I ran numbers and crunched figures.  I had everything we might possibly need. And then some.

Right before going to the bank, we met with our Realtor and the builder again.  We toured a house again. We weren't under formal contract, but we were dang close.  The bank was the deciding factor.  We had been pre-approved previously, but had kept to our comfort zone during that process.  That was yoga pants banking.

It was time for skinny jeans.  So we went.  And I was a hot mess. Like, literally sweating.. I was so nervous.

And our banker was chill.  He made some suggestions.  He was nice, and kind, and supportive.  He juggled numbers and shuffled papers.  He made jokes and offered water.  And he made it work.

We signed the contract the next day.  That night online, actually.  We were legally bound to potentially have a house on a plot of land in our favorite neighborhood, pending the sale of our house -  of course.

Oh, and all this.. when two weeks prior -  we didn't even know the neighborhood existed.  

I still get anxious when I run the numbers, or think about the finances, or contemplate going to meet with our banker.  It's a huge financial commitment... and I freak out over buying a pair of shoes that cost over $50.

And this is a house... that we're building... OMG. I'm starting to get a little antsy and freaking out again... 

 Let's go to a kitten picture for good measure. 

Much better. More on the house soon...

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