Time to celebrate

It's funny. Justin and I stopped blogging around the same time last year. I couldn't think of a good reason why we both stopped until I had the urge again to blog this morning and Justin actually did blog...we are both finally feeling liberated.

We are one of those couples who bought a house at the height of the market and were in an adjustable mortgage. We wanted to pay the money we owe, we didn't want a hand out, we just didn't want to be paying 10.99% on our mortgage, nor could we afford to...who in the world could?

We had been trying to get help for over a year by the time we stopped blogging. Last July our mortgage company put us on a "trial remodification" which means we were to make a smaller payment on a trial basis until they can confirm all of the paperwork we submitted and maybe get us into a fixed rate. So we held our breath and waited with crossed fingers.

Well, we were suppose to do that for 3 months. The 3 months turned into 5 months. And by the end of the 5 months, we should have had an answer. We didn't have an answer for another 5 months, until yesterday. In total, we have been asking for help for about 2 years.

So after 2 years of dealing with our mortgage company, trying get help with our super sucky adjustable mortgage, we finally have it settled. And we have both breathed a sigh of relief. Because at any point in this process our mortgage company could have said for any number of reasons, that we didn't quailfy and return us to our adjustable mortgage.

We still want to kill our mortgage broker, who lied to our mortgage company and told them that this was a 2nd house for us (we had never owned a home before), which caused us to have a higher rate loan in the first place. Then lied to us and told us we had a fixed rate but "we will have you refinance in a couple of years to get a better rate," not knowing that it was a fixed rate for 2 years then turned into an adjustable. We do take responsibility since we were the ones who signed our paperwork. Now we know to not trust anyone, not even the title company who rushed us through the signing of our paperwork. We are now aware. Thank God for that.

My heart goes out to all of the home owners that are in the same place as we have been. The worry and stress is unbearable. Justin and I stopped putting work into our house because we were not sure how long we would be there. We were living in a temporary home, that is how we needed to see it, just in case. It's not a fun place to be.

Now it is time to celebrate. Celebrate because we are now in a very reasonable fixed rate for the next 25 years. Celebrate because our house is now our home. Celebrate because our home will not be taken away from us. Celebrate because we are spending so much less each month on our mortgage payment. Celebrate for those who have helped us through the past two years, financially and emotionally. It is NOW time to CELEBRATE!