So, here’s the deal.
We settle on this house in Baltimore on Wednesday.
As in, this furious storm of papers involving credit reports, mortgage applications, homeowners insurances, utility bills, alarm system paper, letters of recommendation, job history, job salaries, past renting and any other legal document ever written about me and Tamika is culminating in this big stack on my realtor’s desk.
God has been working through this incredibly; pushing back settlement dates when we needed it to be, giving us breaks on insurance, even putting it on our seller’s hearts to give us an INTEREST FREE LOAN for the next 10 years for the difference in our mortgage.
We discovered last week that we were unable to include Tamika in the mortgage because (another blow against teachers) her job; Substitute Teaching Services, would NOT guarantee ANY salary for her next year. They wouldn’t do this because Tamika’s job is dependent on some other teacher being sick or calling off so Tamika can take her place. And her job wouldn’t even give her an average.
So that meant I had to bear the entire weight of the loan with my credit alone. Fortunately, I have pretty darn good credit (I pay my bills very promptly, or as promptly as I can), so we got through ok, but the mortgage didn’t quite meet the price of the house entirely.
And then the sellers offered to finance the difference (a substantial amount) without interest over the next 10 years. These people are really cool. This is pretty much unheard of.
So everything is coming together. We have another inspection tomorrow (Saturday) to make sure everything that the seller was doing gets finished up, and then Settlement (where we sit down and the money & contracts change hands) on Wednesday the 5th. We’ve been told that we need to bring something around $2000 to the settlement table, in case there are fees and stuff, and we still have no idea where that is going to come from, but God has being taking care of us so much so far that we have no more doubts. We just need to have faith and just do our best.
After that Tamika will be moving into the house. I’m going to stay in Gaithersburg until September when we get married. Hopefully this will give her a head start on getting a job and everything there. She’s a little nervous, but I know she’ll be ok. She’s a strong woman. I won’t be too far away either, and will get to see her much more than I do now.
The MAAFA production is now over, and the both of us can now breathe a little easier.
It was pretty crazy. Tamika was had the lead role, and was singing as well, and I had several minor roles, did the Graphic Design, sang, and played djembe. The production was a spectacular success; the best MAAFA production ever. Her parents got to come opening night, which was awesome. Despite all the stress before it, it was as smooth as syrup during the show; and everyone walked away feeling awesome about it. God really did work in this.
Marriage plans are going well; we just had our first counseling session last week with our Pastor. She’s been out of commission lately because she snapped her tendon in her heel practicing the African Dance for the MAAFA (how many can boast that of their pastor!!!). She was in good humour about the whole thing, though, and we had a nice session. I’m looking forward to meeting again with her to learn more about Tamika through the sessions.
Anyhow, that’s all for now.