What A Day!

Well, first off the news about the house. I talked to Natalie today and she still hadn't heard anything from the seller's realtor but we did discuss the details of the addendum to the contract, the updated estimate, and the letter from the VA Appraiser approving the removal of the rear hot water heater and installation of a tankless one in more depth than we did on Friday.

With the mortgage company's approval we raised the offer on the house to the VA's Appraisal amount from $119,900 to $120,500 to offset the sellers out of pocket expenses for the repairs. This is only going to raise our monthly payment by about $3, which isn't any big deal (especially since we are getting such a great rate on our home insurance).

The new more realistic estimate is still higher than it needs to be (for instance, they are estimating it costing $50 for 2 smoke alarms) but at $1325 its still ridiculously lower than what the VA estimated. Hopefully the new estimate won't freak out the sellers like the old one would have.

The good news is that as long as the sellers agree to go ahead with the necessary repairs and the final cost stays within the range of the estimate we will still be able to close without bringing any money to the table because our earnest money and appraisal fee will cover what the extra $600 from the sale price doesn't.

I am keeping my fingers crossed because we would really like to use the money we have saved to work on the house before we move in. If we have to come to closing with cash it won't be the end of the world though. We just save up again and do things slowly.

Now that I have updated everyone about the house, I have to say all my fears about starting work today were completely unfounded. Tim is a wonderful, patient, kind boss, the work is really easy to get the hang of, and I honestly think I am going to love it once I get settled in.

We got to go over my position, pay and potential growth in the company more thoroughly. Yes, I am only starting out at $8 an hour for 2 days a week but I think Tim is hoping to have me up to full time by the end of summer as well as sending me to class to get my license to give insurance quotes before that.

One of my main responsibilities will be to help increase his business by calling his current clients and inquiring as to whether they would be interested in upgrading their insurance. For every customer that decides to upgrade (add auto to their homeowners for instance) he is going to give me a bonus on my check. If anyone comes to him as a new customer and says that I referred them I will also get a bonus.

He also informed me that once I get up to 30 hours a week or more he will help me start investing in a 401k and will match my contribution up to 3%. The idea of actually having a retirement plan on myself is so foreign to me. I am so used to worrying about whether or not J.'s 401k is going to be enough to support us at retirement age it never occurred to me that I might be in a position that will allow me to contribute to our golden years.

The whole day just flew by and it felt so great to just be out in the world again. I don't even remember the last time I got to spend time outside of the home with other adults where kids weren't the main topic of conversation! LOL

So even though we still haven't heard which way the sellers are leaning I still feel incredible about my day. I hope you all had one as wonderful as mine!