Well, buying a house in the Sacramento market is definitely not as easy as it was back in Indiana! We are still in contract, but have had to deal with picky lenders and a lot of paperwork to make this happen. The good news is that it looks like we will close a little after Thanksgiving. The bad news, it’s only about 4 weeks later than we expected.

The inspections went well. There was about $4000 in damage, mostly to the exterior of the house, that the seller is paying. Overall, the house is in good shape structurally. The furnace, which is in the attic, needs to be replaced, but we will deal with that after we move in. It and the air conditioner unit both need to be replaced, but there are some great deals out there for new systems.

The only thing left is the financing, which has hit a few bumps. We have had a few lenders show interest, then turn us down at the last minute. That has caused our delays. We have a new lender who has signed off on the income requirements, but has asked for a new, independent appraisal. So we are waiting for the appraiser to do her/his job and report the results. Then it should be a couple weeks before we close. The seller was gracious enough to allow one extension, and now we have to ask for another. (The house was previously under contract and went through four extensions, then the buyer backed out, so he is understandably concerned about going through that again.) We are very confident that the appraisal will come back fine, so we know that we only need a little more time. Keep your fingers crossed!