No Bull, No Baloney... Just Getting it Done

After rebounding from my darkest moment in this entire experience I am very happy to report that THINGS ARE LOOKING UP!

How? Why? What's going on?

Well, I'll tell you.

It all began on Tuesday morning when Bob declared this week a "Bull---- Free Week." As in, no baloney. No messing around. Just getting it done. Making it happen. Turning it all around. It was a powerful declaration and I got on board.

With a foreclosure looming on the horizon and no word from the short sale negotiator, I decided to call Countrywide and request a Postponement of the Foreclosure. That was an interesting/frustrating couple of hours. I actually "tweeted" (yes, Littof is on Twitter! Follow us) in real time while I was on the phone. If anyone is interested in what that looks like, here's a screen shot of my tweets from Tuesday. Click on the image to enlarge, then read bottom up to get the progression:



The bottom-line is that I was given the run-around (per usual) for a while until I was told by someone in the short sale department that they had no record of our offer, our file was closed and they wouldn't be able to postpone the foreclosure.

No record of the offer?! We submitted it weeks ago! What the hell?!

I e-mailed our Realtor that has been handling the negotiations with our lenders and expressed my utter confusion and frustration. She sent me our negotiator's phone number and said I could try to call him but that she'd been leaving him messages and hadn't heard back. I did call him and I left a message asking him to get in touch with me as I'm worried and had questions. I tried to sound sweet and not like the crazed banshee that was raging inside.

About an hour later, our Realtor called with our negotiator on the line. The negotiator said he was looking at the offer and not to worry, he could have it approved by Wednesday evening.

"See? There's nothing to worry about," said our Realtor. I know, but I won't rest until this deal is done and the foreclosure is off my back, I told her. She said she understood completely.

She was right, though. Because Wednesday morning it was approved. Phew! Finally!

Next step was to get the approval from National City (our 2nd mortgage.)

And we got that yesterday! Just like that. Getting it done. No Bull----. As soon as the National City approval came through, we entered 'escrow' (see definition at the bottom of the post) and the buyers were already scheduling the property and termite inspections.

What does this mean?

This means we are on the path to successfully avoid foreclosure.
We will officially celebrate when we close. But, this is good. Great, actually. Things are looking up, indeed.

Our closing date is June 27th. 30 days. That means we have one month left in this house. That means that we can start selling things. We can start planning. We can begin to move on. Yesterday, I sold (with lots of help from a friend) enough books to earn $109 on abebooks.com. Today I'm cleaning the house, getting more boxes, selling my remaining books at a used book store, bringing some items to Goodwill, planning a giant estate sale. Moving on.

Yesterday as my friend and I itemized our belongings and entered them into an excel spreadsheet, it hit me, this is actually exciting. I mean it. I'm excited to sell all this stuff. I didn't think I could do it. But I am and I'm excited. I think I'd feel totally different if I were packing everything and having to store it somewhere until who knows when. That would be completely different.

"Yeah, how depressing," said my friend.

This is exciting and not depressing because it's an adventure. An opportunity to learn. To wipe the slate clean and begin again.

Last week Bob said to me,

"I don't want to acquire things. I want to acquire experiences."

And that's exactly it. That's what I want our life to be. Acquiring experiences. I think it's what I've always wanted. And that's what we're doing. Yes, this has been incredibly challenging, but I am so grateful for the experiences we've 'acquired' in the process. We are far more interesting now than before. Lighter, freer, happier. And Bull Shit Free.

What's escrow?

From Realtor.com:

Escrow opens when the buyer and seller sign a sales contract, commonly called a real estate purchase agreement and receipt of deposit. The contract, along with any additional instructions, serves as instructions for the escrow officer.

Escrow assures that the lender releases the home purchase funds at or about the same time that the deed is recorded to reflect new ownership. Escrow includes depositing, with a neutral third party, funds, documents and instructions necessary to complete the transfer.

For us, escrow means that things are moving ahead. But, like I said, we won't officially celebrate until the deal is done. Until June 27th.

Any readers want to elaborate on the ramifications of escrow in California? Do it in the comments below! Thanks!