News from a new Homeowner

So, closing happened, and now I'm a homeowner. It was great, I showed up at the lawyer's like I was told at 11am, and they turned me away saying it was scheduled for noon. I drove all the way back home, when I got a call from my agent telling me to come back. After getting back, I waited around for another 15 minutes, making it almost noon . . . Then I signed a bunch of paperwork, and went about my day.
Over the weekend I spent over $1,000 on a couple pieces of furniture and blinds for ALL the windows. I bought a new refrigerator for about $1,500 and a new bed for around $2,000. All of this is on credit . . . Gonna keep my expenses as low as I can so I can pay off that debt as quickly as possible. The bed is to be delivered today, the fridge tomorrow. Luckily, most of that was financed with zero interest if paid in by the deadline. I think I might start putting in some extra overtime once I'm done moving to get that debt paid down faster.
I'm going to be moving slowly over the next couple weeks, a carload at a time. We'll be spending a lot of time there over the weekends doing some general work on the place (installed a mailbox yesterday, need to clean the roof and gutters, install the blinds, etc).

Tomorrow is the day!

Yesterday I got the final number and got a cashier's check cut for the amount. I know where to go, and when to be there. I just need to remember a few things to bring with me when I go to the house for the first time. I need to bring a pen  and some paper (duh) and a tap measure. What else? I don't know. I need to figure out how big the master bedroom is and how much space I have for a fridge. I'm going to bring a few other things with me, stuff my mother is holding for me.

2 days to go

Two days until closing. I still have not been told where I'm supposed to go, I have emailed my realtor about that. I also have not received information about how much the check is supposed to be for, but I was told to expect it tomorrow.
What I do know is I have the entire day off work on Friday. I am supposed to be somewhere at 11am to start the closing process. I need to bring a cashiers check for an unknown amount of money.
I'm anxious, but in a good way, can't wait to get this over with and begin the next big thing. I'm nervous, but only a little at this point, I'm confident things will go well. And I'm calm, because I know this is almost done and at this point I have done everything I can, so there is nothing more for me to do.

3 Days Remain

Only three days till closing. I need to make sure to bring a tape measure with me because I plan on going straight to the house afterwards. I need to get a measurement for the fridge as well as determine what size bed I can use. I think I'll wait till after that to pack my first load of stuff to bring over.

Four days and counting

So there's only 4 days until closing. I think I'm going to use today to make a couple lists, what I need and what I want.

Need:
New Locks
Refrigerator
Bed
Dresser for The Boy
Desk for The Boy
Desk for me


Want:
New Dishes
Washer and Dryer
Freezer
Mini Fridge
Roomba

That's all I can think of, but I'm sure I'll grow this list over time.

Home Improvements anyone?

Haven't even closed on the house and already thinking about home improvement. What I want to do is build a paver patio behind the sun porch. I've been doing some research and found that it takes a lot of sand to do what I want. I think the project would be a lot of work, but I also think it could be a great addition to the house. As it stands now, there really isn't a good place for my grill.
It looks like I'd need to put a base of at least 4 inches of compacted sand below the pavers, and then fill in the cracks between the pavers with polymeric gelling sand. It would cost a couple hundred dollars to do, I could possibly even substitute gravel for the sand if it were cheaper.

Friday Update

Everything is moving along with the closing, so far I've dealt with everything I need.
I got utilities scheduled to be in my name the day after closing (as is required).
Finally have all the insurance stuff dealt with, which is a relief.
Other than that, there's not a whole lot to update on. I'm excited and nervous about closing.
There will be a lot of stuff I have to do after closing, I still need to contact an exterminator which I think I'll do today.

An update of sorts

Just thought I'd drop in and give an update on some stuff since it's been a while since I've posted. First, things seem to be going along swimmingly. The closing is scheduled to happen at 11am on the 30th. Insurance is dealt with, which is a relief.
The bank that's doing the mortgage has this thing they're doing which requires me to have a checking, savings, and credit card. What's cool is the credit card is a rewards card, where the rewards points go toward the principal on my mortgage. I don't have all the details, like how much each point gets me or whatever. But each dollar I spend earns me a point, unless it is on home improvement stuff (I'd assume that means purchases at Lowe's or Home Depot) I get two points.
Just got off the phone with the water company, scheduled switchover date to the day after closing.
Setup gas service online as well for the same day.
And now power is setup too. I hope that is all.

Stupid State Farm!

So, I'm back on the insurance issue again. Days after telling the agent I wanted to get insurance, they finally got back to me telling me they can't help me because I don't know the age of the roof and other systems! I gave them a second chance after having bad experience with them once before, but they've totally screwed me. I've contacted Nationwide now, and at the very least they'll be able to hook me with the FAIR plan.
The agent I spoke to seems to be confident that I'll be able to get a nationwide plan though, which means less money out of my pocket. I just wish the agent had said something sooner. I'm pretty sure that I even said something about the other insurers to State Farm, but oh well, screw them!
Update: After looking back, it took the State Farm agent 4 working days to even get back to me when I first requested we write the policy. I know for a fact that the age of the house was discussed, but also pretty sure that it was stated up front that I had no idea how old the major systems in the house are.
Needless to say, I wrote a scathing review of the agent on their google places page; quoted below:

I was severely disappointed with the service I got from this agent. I am purchasing a new house and this was the only insurer that I contacted that knew the age of the house and gave me a quote knowing I didn't have any information on the age of the systems within it. After agreeing to the quote I was told (after hearing nothing for 4 days) that they needed to know the age of the internal systems, and without that information they wouldn't be able to write me a policy. It blows me away that they knowingly wrote me a quote for insurance that they knew they wouldn't be able to write.

Friday Update

The closing date has been moved to the 30th, which gives me more time to move, so it's a good thing
The appraisal is in and all is good there.
I'm not going to focus so much on my credit scores now, just gonna post if they change.
All the overtime I worked for this paycheck has put me well over the amount estimated for closing, so I might actually have a little cash to buy some of the needed stuff when we move.
I still didn't do a monthly overview of my spending, but I think I'm going to just not do that for the next month or two as I've been focusing on not spending money, so I think I don't have to worry too much.

Oopsie! Update time.

So it's Monday, and I didn't get a chance to give you guys an update on Friday. Here comes one!

It looks like my lender is trying to move the closing date up to April 30th, according to her, it'll save me money, although I think it's more about their quotas and such.
I was asked for more documentation from the underwriter on the mortgage, and I was able to supply that yesterday.
My Credit Sesame has gone up to 771!
But my Credit Karma score is still at 766.
Not exactly sure how I came up with all those numbers last week, but I'm still looking good for the money for closing and down payment.
It appears I totally dropped the ball on my monthly overview of spending, I'll try to get that done tomorrow. Work has been very busy (and I've been working a ton of overtime to get more money) so I haven't had as much time to write as normal.