living a rollercoaster life

The good news: my HPAP application has been approved! I'm now officially eligible to receive a MESS of money towards a downpayment and closing costs. Additionally, they estimated the amount of house I can afford to buy, and it's more than I expected. It feels SO GOOD to have this taken care of - and to know that it's a major step that has been checked off the to-do list. I keep reading the approval letter just to make sure it is real.

taking control

Here is something I've learned about buying a home: unless you are very, very wealthy, you will need to rely on approximately 2387964827364 external influences to make it happen. I'm currently juggling my HPAP application, which left the hands of Housing Counseling Services (through whom I applied) and is now in the care of the Urban League. In addition, I've been wrangling my student loan consolidation process so my debt-to-income ratio reflects what I actually spend per month on student loans rather than what I'd owe if I was paying it all back, essentially, at once. Needless to say - it's exhausting.

the importance of a good mattress

When I first moved into my current place in October 2010, I was bordering on broke. I got my apartment as soon as I was hired at the job I still hold, and had been living on sofas and guest beds for about two months prior. Having come from graduate school preceded by a notoriously low-paying profession (hello, undergraduate admissions counseling!) I'd never been in the position to live alone - and when I realized I'd be able to do it now (now = October 2010) I jumped RIGHT ON BOARD. Of course, living alone in a major city doesn't come cheaply. Nor does a job search. So when my lease got signed and I settled in, the process of financing my comfort was a tedious balance of cheap and durable.

here is a list of things i recently learned

1. It is difficult to combine a HPAP second-trust loan with any first-trust loan that isn't FHA.
2. FHA loans won't cover the purchase of a co-op apartment.
3. Every condo I find in DC that fulfills all my needs turns out to be a co-op.

Le sigh.

UPDATE, 4:58pm: It turns out there might be a FHA loan that I could use for a co-op after all! I've put out feelers to a few mortgage brokers to learn more about the 203(n) loan and how it might apply to my sitch. More later.

disappointment and reassurance, all in the period of three hours

Last week I had a big moment, in which I toured my very first home. It was actually the outgrowth of a HUGE disappointment - the home I'd had a crush on for quite some time was taken off the market. That link, by the way, LIES LIES LIES when it tells you it's still available. The way I found out the home was no longer for sale was such: after completing my HPAP documentation, I couldn't wait five more minutes to see it, so I scheduled a time later that week with my realtor to tour the house. ONE HOUR before I was supposed to leave work to go see the home, my realtor emails me saying that she heard back from the seller's agent and it was going under contract that very day. I was incredibly, incredibly bummed.

más HPAP

So, today was my HPAP appointment - and I won't lie, I've been panicking for a while in preparation. But I went over my checklist a few times and confirmed with my colleague (the one who told me about HPAP in the first place) that I had everything. Then, I went to CVS and bought one of those lawyer-y portfolios - you know the kind, the brown cardboard expanding files with the elastic that surrounds it to keep all the documents together. I also bought dividers - yep, like in tenth grade. I was FREAKIN' ORGANIZED, folks. And I left work at 2:30 today for what my boss and I are calling "that thing," since I'm not quite public with this news. (At time of this post's publication, the only people who know about this whole ordeal are: my boyfriend, my mom, a few of my closest friends, and my boss.)

more great online resources

Are you a fan of Lifehacker already? If you aren't, you really should be. I check it a few times a week, and always come away with handy advice on how to improve my life. Mostly, however, I use it for tech-related things. Recently, while checking a few of my usual blogs, it occurred to me: Lifehacker probably had a lot of the same do-it-yourself and make-it-better suggestions as I was finding on all the new pieces! I quickly directed my browser that way, and realized I'd been MISSING OUT.

in which i have more HPAP updates and start using images

I spoke earlier today with my HPAP adviser, as I had emailed her earlier with the list of documents I've collected. At the advice of the real estate broker who led the first "so you want to buy your first home" seminar I attended, I had contacted her in advance to make sure I had all my proverbial ducks in a row. Having probably never heard of me aside from the fact that I'm one of many names on her calendar for next week, I'm sure she had the classic whoa face when she signed into her email this morning and came across my message:

another awesome blog: apartment therapy

Somehow this escaped my radar for a long time, but Apartment Therapy is a definite must-read for, well, anyone! While its name implies a renter-specific bent, it is generally rent-or-buy neutral. More than anything else, it's a great resource for living in a small space. There's a heavy emphasis on minimalism (a favorite of mine) and a diversity of design styles.

TIPsgiving and the reveal of the list book

Every year I have the great joy of reuniting with an amazing group of friends for what we call TIPsgiving. This proclaimed holiday, which originally occurred in November (hence the name) and has begun to creep toward the early part of the year, is a very important day of the year: it's when we come together, cook an incredible meal (well, mostly we let one friend with incredible kitchen skills handle this task), play a ton of games, drink delicious beer and wine, and sit around telling stories and making one another laugh. This year was no different.

really awesome blog: mintlife

Are you familiar with the personal finance interface at Mint.com? It's pretty impressive. I don't actually use it, because my bank account's web access is based on it (PNC Virtual Wallet, y'all - the name implies it's geared toward an 18-year-old with her first Grown Up Bank Account, but I've stopped caring because it's so darn wonderful). BUT! I discovered, perhaps late in the game, their exceptional blog, Mintlife. And it's my new favorite.

HPAP update: almost there!

If you've met me for five minutes, you know I'm exceptionally Type A - and when it comes to massive financial investments, I'm exponentially moreso. When I applied for student loans, I read every. single. word of the promissory notes. As such, you probably won't be surprised to hear that I've been a little obsessive-compulsive about collecting the myriad of financial documents required for my HPAP application. As I mentioned in my previous HPAP post, there's a bit of a time commitment to getting all your ducks in a row before you apply. Because I've got a relatively uncomplicated income (I'm a salaried employee with no side contracts, I'm single and have no children, I have a reasonably responsible credit history) I'm lucky enough to write "N/A" next to half of the 22 required documents; that said, I still have a list of 11 pieces to pull together before my appointment to officially apply.

how i learned to stop worrying and love decluttering

I've moved across the eastern half of the country a couple of times now. When I was 18, I left North Carolina for Texas to attend college. Six years later, I moved from Louisiana to DC for graduate school. When I finished with my Master's in 2010, I trekked back to Texas for work, and then back east a few months later when my contract was up and I was yet again job hunting. Each time I've crossed multiple state lines in the pursuit of a life, I've learned to leave behind items when I go.

OMG, WTF is HPAP?

Here's something to know: buying a home in DC, at least as a first-timer, involves a lot of acronyms. Thankfully, I went to American University, where "acronym" is the national language. (MA 2010, SIS, IPCR, thankyouverymuch. And my grad assistantship involved coordinating CSLP for the CSC, now the CCES.) Over the course of a week I went to two "What to Expect When You're Expecting...to buy your first home" workshops, and they threw so many letters in our direction that I had to stop trying to write down the longhand name and instead just made a "things to Google later" list.

One of these programs is HPAP.

(i thought it was) over before it began

Today involved a minor moment of panic, in which I was pretty sure I'd have to give up the dream before even having my first official meeting. In preparation for my HPAP* loan application meeting I've been gathering financial documents left and right, and experiencing a pretty significant rollercoaster of emotions when, for instance, I thought I was going to have to battle Corporate Hell to get one of my W-2s (it was a similar battle four years ago when I needed them for filing, and a lesson I should have learned then) but then realized that I could file my 2011 taxes before the meeting and not have to worry about my 2008s. That kind of thing.

sticks and bricks

I've been wanting to buy my own home for years. My first year out of college, when I was living in the same city (but not the same house) as my mother, she would come by my office every Thursday to pick me up for our standing lunch date. En route to our go-to sushi restaurant, we'd always detour a bit through the neighborhood between the college where I worked and the strip mall where the restaurant lived. This neighborhood, bordered by a public golf course, the Knights of Columbus Hall (where I voted), and a busy commercial strip, was perpetually dotted with For Sale signs, and the bungalow homes were perfect daydream material for a broke-and-in-debt woman in her barely-20s.