Anyhoo, this week's glitches came because our contractor's estimate did NOT decrease as much as we'd thought from cutting off 300 square feet off the plans and from my stupid Citibank Student Loans, from grad school, which I'VE PAID OFF!!!
First, the bigger issue: the contractor's estimate was still about $30,000 more than we can afford. Again, $5,000 or $6,000, we can deal with. $30k is a deal breaker. I pretty much decided we couldn't do the remodel or we'd just do the first floor and have a very small family room on the deck. Dave, Kumbaya Boy, was still holding out hope that the contractor could bring the $30k down to a number we could deal with.
Foreshadowing what would happen, I told Dave that if this deal did work out then he could lord his Kumbaya-ness over me forever. And indeed, 24 hours later, the contractor came back with an estimate only $6,000 over our budget, a number we could afford with some of the savings we've squirreled away. So, Kumbaya, oh lord, kumbaya.
The second glitch is in actuality minor but in reality could be a real problem. My credit report came back will multiple disputes on it with my Citibank Student Loans. Considering 1) I was never late with a payment, 2) that these loans are all paid off and 3) this has never shown up on my credit reports before (including the ones for our current mortgage), I was not amused. When I called up the Citibank Loan services, the service representative quickly new what the problem was: there is no problem with my account. Instead, the credit bureaus often "misunderstand" what Citibank reports and put down that there is a dispute when, in actuality, there is not.
W. T. F.
Maybe Citibank should change what they report to the credit bureaus so that this is not such a common issue!!! I faxed my info requesting the problems be corrected on Tuesday morning and just called and they "still haven't received the fax." I put that in quotes because Dave, my calm and Kumbaya husband, called bullshit on that one. I'm calling back tomorrow and at that point, Dave told me I need start getting nasty. I'm pregnant with twins: I can do it!!! The distance between calmly hanging out and raging bitch is pretty short!!
So tonight I continue packing. I actually stopped on Monday because we weren't sure the remodel was going through. We thought we'd pay the first month's rent and give our 30 day notice. Now we're actually going through with this! Of course, we have still not resolved the second glitch, which annoys me to no end. One possibility is that we go ahead with just Dave to qualify for the loan, but that would mean that although I'd be on the deed, I wouldn't be on the loan, and I have to be perfectly honest with you: it makes me feel like less of a partner. I don't like it.
But just like the contractor estimate worked out, this is going to work out. And if I need to let my pregnancy freak flag fly to get this done, by jove and by golly, I will.
We're switching internet from the old to the new house tomorrow, so I may not be available. I'm sure this weekend, I'll be able to update what is going on as we move into our interim new house. WOW!!!
Good luck with all of the above!
ReplyDeleteI hear ya on the "less of a partner" issue. Back in the day when we bought our first house, only the husband's income was ever considered because, after all, we flaky fully-employed females could so easily up and get ourselves knocked up and out of the job market, dontcha know. Aaugh!
Good luck with all of the above!
Carroll