I’m attempting to tie up all those loose ends before closing.   I really don’t want to be caught with my pants down.  I asked my buyers agent to mail me a checklist of what I need to do.  I really should have had this from the moment I walked in the office, but alas I did not ask for that.

I contacted my Roth IRA company and got 10k transfered into my bank account.  I did not have to use the first time home buyers exemptions since I am using only contributions.  I did not know I could use contributions to my Roth at any time.  If I pull out any earning early that is when I get penalized.  I still plan on checking with my CPA on this information.  I need an expert, not some random Joe working at my investment firm.  Since its a lifetime of 10k max, if I use only contributions, it doesn’t count towards the max.  Also if you haven’t owned a home in 2 years, there are exceptions to the first time home buyer exemption.  Now I have the money to cover my closing and down payment.  A bit more then I originally planned on, but this still works.  My original plan was to use 0% down VA loan.  It made things easier to get lender approval with 5% down.  Its not a big deal, I can recoup that when I refinance down the road.

I also talked to my insurance provider.  I was originally quoted at $442 annually.  I got a quote number, name of the person I was talking to and their extension.  Unfortunately when I called to talk to them again, he was not in his cubicle.   No biggie, I had the quote number and talked to another representative.  He then proceeded to quote me at $495 annually.  I immediately baulked at this and we walked through the checklist again.  No pets, no smoker, pitched roof, deadbolts etc etc.  He then gets to the question “Is your house within 1000 feet of a fire hydrant.  Yes it is.  New quote $395 per year.  I’m not complaining.   I suggest you walk through several quotes and make sure their data is correct.  Saved me $50 right there.

Today I called the Va again.  My paperwork was sent out this morning.  My guess is 2-3 days for arrival.  I know, I know, the check is in the mail, but its a start.  My lender already got initial VA approval via an online system they have.  Literally takes seconds to process.  To my dismay, lenders are beings pains in the rear right now.  They need to hard copy from the VA as well.  Oh well.  They’ll get it in 2 days.

I finally got my digital camera back from my sister.  She took it to Disney World.   I’ll get some outside pictures of the house shortly.