Off Topic Part Cinq

[The_Dude 1,142]

Based on your advice Huggles, David contacted our bank..his credit score actually went up 5 points..and he was pre qualified for a 70k mortgage. unfortunately out here that means a forcloseure / roe far from work or a manaufactured, prefab trailer home...and well..after beign a fan of trailer park boys lol i dont know if we want that some of them do look nice like real homes but..you have to pay soo much extra and condos are retarded, sigh..why did david have to live in greater chicagoland..

This is the quandry that I find myself in. We made so many mistakes when we were deciding on what visa to go for and who was moving where. My job paid a lot more than hers, so it seemed natural that she would move here. I also think that the aura of Los Angeles was a bit alluring too. But the fact of the matter is, with the job that she was going to get, our combined income would have put us in the neighborhood of $110k-120k per year, and that would barely have qualified us for a loan. Where we live right now, houses are $800k+. We would have to move north of L.A. about 60 miles to really be able to afford a home here. And excuse my language, but ** THAT PLACE. Not going to move north of l.a. to the desert where coyotes outnumber people. So now, after putting all that time, effort, money, and anxiety into immigrating here, we'll be moving to Canada. Sucks that we incurred so much debt or this would be much less complicated. But hey, better to find this out now than be miserable and make the same discovery 5 or 10 years down the line.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Sorry to hear that Kimbear!

The bank you went too, are they an FHA approved lender? I ask because we used a lending company that specializes in FHA loans and apparently they are easier to qualify for. There are some limitations to an FHA loan, but when we were house hunting we found that 95% of the sellers on the market said they would accept one. You can only put 5% down, and they want your mortgage payment to be about 30% of your gross income, among some other strange things, but it could possibly be a better option. FHA Home Loans

[Kimbear 53]

Sorry to hear that Kimbear!

The bank you went too, are they an FHA approved lender? I ask because we used a lending company that specializes in FHA loans and apparently they are easier to qualify for. There are some limitations to an FHA loan, but when we were house hunting we found that 95% of the sellers on the market said they would accept one. You can only put 5% down, and they want your mortgage payment to be about 30% of your gross income, among some other strange things, but it could possibly be a better option. FHA Home Loans

yes they are fha approved, in fact the letter we got says it's for an fha loan and that in order to even get 70k mortgage it would require over 4k to cover the closing costs along with downpayment etc. They said if we could come up with more down payment we'd get a bigger possible mortgage. Unfortuneately, living with his parents is not working out cheaper, with the 2hour drive to work (including wonderful chicago traffic) and the soo expensive gas, and the illinois tolls, we end up loosing money each month. For the price of that plus what we chip in for rent it would work out the same to us having and apartment in the NW subburbs. And David needs over 500$ repairs on the car from the tractor trailers tire that flew off and nailed him right before his exit on the highway /sigh.

I really wish i could work or do something. Right now David is contemplating picking up 2 more jobs...on top of his full time one..but As it is i never get to see him hardly.

[lilacvioletiris 11]

yes they are fha approved, in fact the letter we got says it's for an fha loan and that in order to even get 70k mortgage it would require over 4k to cover the closing costs along with downpayment etc. They said if we could come up with more down payment we'd get a bigger possible mortgage. Unfortuneately, living with his parents is not working out cheaper, with the 2hour drive to work (including wonderful chicago traffic) and the soo expensive gas, and the illinois tolls, we end up loosing money each month. For the price of that plus what we chip in for rent it would work out the same to us having and apartment in the NW subburbs. And David needs over 500$ repairs on the car from the tractor trailers tire that flew off and nailed him right before his exit on the highway /sigh.

I really wish i could work or do something. Right now David is contemplating picking up 2 more jobs...on top of his full time one..but As it is i never get to see him hardly.

Sort of an off note, but are you using the I-PASS for "open road tolling" in Illinois? It means the tolls are half of the stated cash price and it makes it easier to get places without having to stop. You can purchase them at Jewel-Osco and the kiosks at the oasises on the I-294 and I-90. I use I-Pass to drive to visit my family in the Chicago area and in Wisconsin.

Hope your housing situation can get remedied. Hopefully your EAD comes through soon!

[Kimbear 53]

yes lila we are and it is still costing over 100/month on tolls. we live near rockford right now and some of the tolls are 1.60..which is ridiculous if you ask me, and david works in des plaines. i'ts only70 miles at most..but with traffic..seems no one knows how to drive on a damn hiway here or merge..grr i miss ontario hiways..at least they were in better condition too

Edited June 30, 2010 by Kimbear

[lilacvioletiris 11]

yes lila we are and it is still costing over 100/month on tolls. we live near rockford right now and some of the tolls are 1.60..which is ridiculous if you ask me, and david works in des plaines. i'ts only70 miles at most..but with traffic..seems no one knows how to drive on a damn hiway here or merge..grr i miss ontario hiways..at least they were in better condition too

Yikes, yeah, 70 miles I am assuming each way would be a killer. Yes, the roads in Illinois suck for the most part. You would think that all the tolls would mean better roads! Unfortunately that is not the case.

[Marilyn. 340]

oh my gosh.. so i mentioned earlier I posted some stuff on Craigslist.. well someone emailed me about one of the items asking me to call them to give my address... so I called and it rang and rang and finally the voicemail picked up and the automated voice said "please leave your message for" and then there is a pause and this voice comes on and all it is someone breathing heavy... ugh how creepy.. now I am worried because if they have call display they have my number

the person just called back , he said he got the number off his phone etc.. it seems normal but maybe I will let my husband call him back...

oh and what do you do if you have 3 people wanting the same item and are emailing me around the same time? ..lol

Edited June 30, 2010 by Marilyn.

[Marilyn. 340]

oh it gets weirder...lol.. so about 5 minutes after the first call the phone rings again but this time it is a different number and the call display says "LA County Sherrif" I don't answer and whomever is calling doesn't leave a message but then I remember that the person's email address ended in "@dcfs.lacounty.gov"

[trailmix 77]

What I did was set up a time with the first person immediately (and let them know others were interested but they could have first shot) then emailed the other people back saying someone is coming at <whatever time> to see it, if they don't buy it it's yours.

And the sheriff guy is the heavy breather?

Edited June 30, 2010 by trailmix

[Marilyn. 340]

What I did was set up a time with the first person immediately (and let them know others were interested but they could have first shot) then emailed the other people back saying someone is coming at <whatever time> to see it, if they don't buy it it's yours.

And the sheriff guy is the heavy breather?

what I did was email the other people and told them I had somepme possibly buying the item and if they didn't I would keep them in mind..

I don't know if it is or not..

after searching I realized that the email address has something to do with child and family services of LA county... it is just weird that a few minutes after the person calls me the sheriff office calls ... and just to clarify when the person called me and left a message, he didn't do any heavy breathing ..lol it was just on the person's voice message thing...

[Marilyn. 340]

I am selling this stupid exercise bike that my husband desperately wanted but then only used maybe 5 or 6 times in the last 2 years or so

I put it up a few days along with some other stuff and I got no response and then today I posted it by itself and I have received maybe 7 emails about it already.. but I have someone coming to look at it tomorrow and hopefully they will buy it too...

[Sprailenes 47]

█ ♥ █ Happy Canada Day! █ ♥ █

I'm going to the embassy today with lgg! So excited!

Edited July 1, 2010 by Sprailenes

[lgg 2]

Yeah! Can't wait! Sprails and her husband are awesome enough to swing by and grab on the way to Washington! I am going to wear my Habitants shirt.

Yeah for Canada day and yeah for good friends.

█ ♥ █ Happy Canada Day! █ ♥ █

I'm going to the embassy today with lgg! So excited!

[Kimbear 53]

Happy Canada day to my fellow canucks!

[Sprailenes 47]

I don't know if any of you Canadians saw but lgg and I were on CTV last night!

They interviewed us at the embassy because we were so festive!

It really was fun and we went to Virginia afterwards for some poutine - which really was the crappiest version we ever had but it we still ate it.