I'm a homeowner now.

Well it's official. We closed on our house yesterday and its ours. It didn't go quite so smoothly though. The assistant to the loan officer we used totally screwed up our loan when she faxed us the docs before the close. Brad called her and tore her a new asshole as did our kick ass agent. She fixed the problem and gave us a lower interest rate by the time our closing came along.

While Brad was dealing with incompetent mortgage assistants I was leaving heated messages to the real estate agents who represented a new construction property that we were going to buy but we backed out of. In December we withdrew our offer and until this afternoon had still not received our $2500 escrow money back. I left a withering message on the realtors voice mail telling him that I was going to call him every day until we got our money, that I was contacting my lawyer to investigate legal action, and that I would file a formal complaint with the better business bureau regarding their real estate agency. Anyway he called me back and said he had the title agency cut the check and it was ready to be picked up. He apologized and I accepted his apology and then he proceeded on this long story about how the people who needed to sign to release the money were out of town....blah blah blah. By the end of it I said, "Yeah well that was never MY problem." It all turned out OK. Once again our agent, whom I worship, was a beacon of shining hope and picked up the check for us so we didn't have to worry about it.

The lawyer at the title company where we closed was terrific and he had everything organized so well and explained the documents perfectly. All the shit from earlier in the day was washed away when the title company presented us with a bottle of champagne to congratulate us on our new home. I thought that was a nice touch. So we're home owners now. I'll have some pictures to share once we get moved in and paint etc. so forth and so on.

In spite of the fact that we are a wealthy well-fed nation, homelessness and poverty are remarkably present in our nation. I'd like to express how fortunate I am that I have Brad in my life and that we are able to have a house together. As a youth I used to feed homeless at soup kitchens and one time I helped build a home for habitat for humanity. I feel reinvigorated to pursue that kind of volunteer work again. At a minimum everyone deserves a place to call home. I'm not religious, nor do I believe in god, but I truly feel blessed.