I am going to take you on a tour of Erie.
Fun Stuff:
Waldameer is the local amusement park. They opened a new roller coaster this year, called the Ravine Flyer II. I've been on it once already and it is very intense. It's a wooden beast that goes over Penninsula Drive and back. At the top of the lift hill, you can see the lake and the bay. This park is very old, so there is still the old wooden coaster as well. Old=kind of boring. Here is the link for Waldameer: http://www.waldameer.com/
The Erie Zoo. It's free on Sundays from 3-5 or 4-6, depending on what time of year. My big beef with the zoo is that there aren't any elephants. It's not a huge zoo. You can see everything in 2 hours. We have giraffes. I love giraffes. Here is the link: http://www.eriezoo.org/
Presque Isle State Park. Now, this is the penninsula on Lake Erie. There are lots of nice sandy beaches, paved trails, and lots of historical sights. The problem with the beaches is that you can only swim in designated areas and the water is kind of shallow. The good part is that the water gets really warm dring the summer and there are snack bars and music. The paved trails are great for roller skating too. Here's the link: http://www.presqueisle.org/
Houses are CHEAP! Example: our 6 bedroom house for $52K. A 4 bedroom house around the corner for $35K. You can check these out at www.homes.com Just type in Erie, PA and have a look-see.
Bad Stuff:
Sports (UGH)... I'm not a huge fan, but here goes... We have the Sea Wolves, a minor league baseball team. I would only go for the food and beer. Then, there are the Otters, hockey...yuck! I hate hockey. But living here, you get bombarded with it. The Stanley Cup finals are even televised. Yuck. I think we have an arena football team, but I'm not sure. Rumor has it that we're getting an actual NBA team. As far as the NFL goes, everyone here is usually a Browns, Steelers, or Bills fan. Go Steelers!!!!!!
The east side. Oh wait. I don't want to get shot. I'm not going there.
We are trying to buy a house.
This is how it happened:
We were preapproved for a loan a few moths ago, and were going to maybe look for a house to buy this summer. We are always looking at homes for sale in the area 'just in case.'
We found this 6 bedroom house for $50K. We thought it would be fun just to go look at it since we really have no intention of buying a house right now. Not to mention, it's out of our price range.
So, we call to schedule a look-see. Now, I'm not sure if you understand the housing market right now, but it is very hard to get a loan, so brokers won't show you anything without a preapproval.
Our preapproval was expired, so Kirk (our broker) referred us to Sheila (a mortgage specialist).
Wow. We found out we are preapproved for an FHA loan. Double wow. This 6 bedroom house falls neatly into the price range we were approved for. Triple wow. We looked at the house and it is awesome!
It's a bit scary because everything is moving SO fast.
We called last Tuesday, were preapproved Thursday, looked at the house Friday, signed the contract and wrote a check as a good faith deposit on Saturday, the seller accepted out offer Sunday. Today is Wednesday and we are going to go apply for the loan itself (and write another big check). Whew!
Underwriting should take about 3 weeks, the government looking at the loan should take another 2 weeks, then a week for everything to come together, then closing. Closing is scheduled for June 30th, but our broker said it will probably be a week after that.
The thing I am most afraid of is our bank statements. I needed to supply 2 moths worth, and both of them have NSF charges. Figures. The only ones in 2 years with overdrafts!
Other than that, as long as nothing changes, we should get it.
I'm trying not to get too excited in case the loan falls through, but 6 bedrooms!!!!!!!!!!!! Wowie-wow-wow.
Psst* I've laready been to Lowe's to look at paint and carpet colors. Ssssssh.*
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