Evil genius, or suburban soccer mom?

Following is an excerpt from an email our mortgage guy sent to us:

"With clients that have wells fargo bank statements, they are taking extra measures to verify the validity of those accounts internally with the bank since there have been several instances with fraudulent wells fargo bank statements being used."

So, apparently, there really are evil geniuses in the world.  I don't claim to be a genius, evil or otherwise, but they have copies of our bank statements.  I'm pretty sure one glance would let them know they weren't fraudulent.  If I was out to get them, wouldn't I make it look like we had more money?  And frankly, I think a checking and/or savings account statement is a pretty poor indicator of someones net worth.  I'm sure Donald Trump has his entire fortune nestled safely in a savings account earning, what, 0.5% interest?  Oooohhhh...

I appreciate that lenders are trying to be more careful.  I get that they screwed up in the past.  But, it seems like things are going a bit too far.  We still have to show up at closing with a check.  They will still verify funds.  How exactly could I scam them?  Wait!  Don't answer that.  I'm sure there is a way.  I'm just not genius enough to figure it out...

Losing my positive outlook!

So, just found out that "they" don't have all the necessary paperwork to close on the 20th.  Have I mentioned that I'm not good with waiting?  I just want to get in there and get stuff done.  I've been assured that everything is still okay as far as timeline on the mortgage loan, but it's just frustrating.  We did our part and got every possible scrap of information they asked for in a timely manner.  Is it too much to ask that everyone else does their part as well?  Apparently, we have until January 31st on the mortgage.  That's our wedding anniversary.  Maybe it's a good omen?

Ok, rant over.  :-)  I'm still excited about the new house.  Plus, the delay gives me a little extra time to get our current home ready to be listed.  Our architect is working on revising the plans.  We have several builders lined up for quotes.  It's all good, right? 

For now, I will just take a little advice from Dori in Finding Nemo..."Keep swimming, keep swimming, keep swimming."

We have plans! Real, actual, house plans!

Our architect emailed us some drawings today.  I'm so excited!  Add that to the fact that we finally got our "official" acceptance letter from the bank (as opposed to the email version) and it looks like we're really, truly going through with it.  Frankly, I couldn't be happier.

I'm not a big fan of delayed gratification.  I can't imagine if this would have gone down like a real short-sale situation.  Months and months of waiting with no answers?  I would be a basket case.  As it is, the wait has still been killing me.  Our new (tentative) closing date is January 20th.  Three days later than originally planned.  9 weeks of waiting.  Hard for an impatient girl like me, but hopefully, so worth it!

Panic attack #2 (The second, and I can assure you, not the last.)

For those of you who have been reading the blog, you may remember that panic attack #1 came when I realized this was our last Christmas in our house.  The second happened yesterday when I realized the scope of what we are actually going to be doing to the new house.

Mark and I were joking about how much we were changing the new house.  I thought, well, at least we're keeping the walls.  Until I realized we weren't.  We are planning on taking down two internal walls, as well as knocking out an entire side of the house for the addition! 

With new flooring, fixtures, lighting, cabinetry, counters, windows,  and the myriad of other changes, there will be little left of the original interior.  My palms are sweating, just typing this!

I spent two hours there this last Monday with our architect.  I went room by room, noting the changes to be made.  Wow!  It's a lot. 

Part of my stress comes from picking out everything.  There are so many choices!  What if I get it all installed and then find out I hate it?  Or have crappy taste?  Or run out of money before it's done?  I mean, I watch HGTV, right?  They make it look so easy.  But, what if it's not?

Hopefully, once we have plans in hand, and have bids from builders, I can relax.  Until then, I'll just keep breathing into my paper bag...