** This is part five of a longer story. If you want to understand what’s going on I recommend starting with PART ONE (which is packed full of intensely awesome action), but if understanding isn’t a priority… by all means… read on!**
There are a lot of reasons why people want to own real estate. There are also many popular arguments out there about how it may not be the best investment, that you could earn more if you put your money in the stock market… but real estate just has a different feel.
It’s tangible. It’s a thing that you can more easily wrap your mind around. It’s literally a more solid investment.
I think that’s why it’s become such a rite of passage into adulthood. You no longer are just flitting through life, you now own a piece of this world that we live in. A concrete piece. Suddenly things like the use of land transfer tax dollars means something to you…
Those were just a few things that were floating through Mimi’s head as she picked up the bank draft that would secure the offer on her first piece of this great Canadian city (even though the rest of Canada likes to mock it).
Oh right!
When we last left off the whole question of the bank draft was up in the air #cliffhanger. Well it ended up working out just fine, and actually trended simpler (which is the exception in this whole process). Turns out using the TD account wasn’t a problem and bright and early the next morning Mimi headed down to get her bank draft.
“Are you buying a house??” Asked the cheerful teller
“Yes I am.” Smiled the radiant almost-new-home-owner
“Well, congratulations!!”
And she was off again to drop off the draft at the real estate office. It wasn’t long before she was finished there, too, and holding her receipt (always get a receipt 😉 ) and she headed back into the crisp fall air.
Adult rite of passage achieved.
A part of this world
It’s one thing to own something, but to own part of something that you love is a special thing. Toronto has been home to both of us off and on for 10 years, and even though it’s not always a love-at-first-sight city, it is a wonderful place.
The thing that makes it so special are the number and diversity of its neighbourhoods. Moving to Toronto is one thing, finding the right neighbourhood is the other. And here we were about to buy not only in Toronto, but in the neighbourhood that had helped the city really feel like home.
It’s a wonderful feeling.
So, full of that wonderful feeling she headed home (I was spending time with a cousin who was in from out of town… which is why I am absent from this part of the story… but I assume this is exactly what happened).
A few more things needed to be done. The appraisal (remember from PART 2, the 5 day financing clause) needed to be done, and of course even though it is mandated by the bank it’s not free. So a few hundred dollars later everything seemed squared away and on track.
WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING???
And then… our lending fell through again.
Ya. I’m running out of fun ways to say it, but it fell through.
Now you may be thinking that it was something wrong with us.. maybe our self-employed status, or that we didn’t have enough money… or some kind of opera singer bias…. But that wasn’t it at all.
We were fine.
They just didn’t want to finance the property. There wasn’t anything really wrong with the property either… but every bank (or lender) has a portfolio of properties, and they don’t want to ever be too loaded up on one kind of property, or in some cases, on that is unique (like ours). Unique is great on stage, but not always on paper…
Turns out, after they had a look at the MLS, even before having an appraisal, they decided it wasn’t something they were going to invest in, mainly due to the small square footage.
The annoying thing is that they can’t tell you that UNTIL you’ve actually put in the offer (because lenders don’t work in hypotheticals)… which can put you in a pretty dang awkward position UNLESS you have the magic of a 5 day financing clause (from PART 2).
Serendipity SUCKS
Even though I get that these things happen… this last hit really sucked. All that serendipity from the first day seemed to have faded away. It’s tough not to start imagining that even though our agent insisted we weren’t the problem… that things would be different if we were different.
When things get hard there are all kinds of questions that you start asking. Some of them valid, and some of them not. Asking questions is great, but most of them end up being those crazy ‘what if’ questions that just aren’t answerable.
Every decision carries risk. Every investment certainly has risk. And as much as we felt we had carefully talked to people and weighed the options… it seemed like the universe was not having it.
It ain’t over until the model-thin-6-foot-blonde sings (#operaischanging)
But we had the financing clause.
Seriously, thank goodness we had it. This is why our agent refused to let us consider the property without one.
If we had waived that clause (which lots of people do in the super hot Toronto market) we would be on the hook for the contract that we signed… even if we couldn’t find a lender.
But in our case we could always walk away if we couldn’t find someone else to give us a few hundred thousand dollars in the next 4 days.
… Wait, is that the sound of ANOTHER clock ticking?
Next time on The Mortgage Files: the insanity of the mortgage world gets ridiculous. Don’t miss Part 6: One hundred thousand dollars
***Just for the record let me make clear that this is a story of OUR experiences with ONE MORTGAGE SITUATION. If there’s anything that I’ve learned about this crazy world is that every person and property brings up a whole new set of circumstances. If you have questions talk to a broker (I know a great one). ***
