For everyone interested in this kind of stuff,  here’s the timeline of what we had to do be able to get our land.

It all actually started some time at the beginning of May when we saw an add for land being for sale close to where we live. We met with the relator to look at it, decided we liked it and asked him to reserve it for us. Since it was raining quiet a bit he said he doesn’t have any paperwork with but now knows we want it and he’ll send us the contract after the weekend. I told him that scared me because so many people are looking for land in this area and someone will just take it before we get the contract. He told me not to be silly he knew we were buying it so he’ll send it out Monday.

Saturday he sent us an email that he now sold the land to someone else…

Fast forward to Monday June 9th.
I get a call from the same relator saying someone decided they didn’t want land right next to the one we were looking at after all (probably financing problems) and he was wondering if we would want it.
However, due to the guy canceling this late, the notary appointment was already set and paid for by the realtor’s company for Thursday June 26th. He didn’t want to change this appointment since that would mean he’d loose money so he made it very clear that we’d have to get a financing contract done till then.
We had 17 days. We were told before that financing usually takes 2 – 3 weeks. However, since we already had talked to our financing realtor and had been approved a certain amount already, I didn’t think it was going to be that long.  So I told the guy to reserve it for us and got an email about half an hour later with a contract to buy the land as well as the information for the notary appointment.

I called up our financing guy who made an appointment with us for the next day, June 10th. We gave him all of our current information, printed out and copied what he still needed and made sure to tell him about 50 times that our deadline was on the 26th. He reassured us that that was plenty of time to come back with several good offers from different banks (which is why we wanted to work with him in the first place. Instead of us going to different banks he’d do all the work for us and just give us all the offers and all we’d have to do was to decide which bank to go with.).
Three days passed and he called us again Friday the 13th and asked if we could have another appointment. He said he had “good news”.
We thought that meant he already brought a bunch of offers with and were thrilled.
We were wrong.
He came here and said that according to all the calculating they did in their company we would have no problem getting the loan we were hoping for and he can now tell us what all we still had to send in to them so they can start giving stuff to banks.

This shocked me a little, considering that we already KNEW that for like 5 years but he again reassured us that it would all be done with plenty of time to spare till the 26th. He would go on vacation for a week starting Monday but his very great colleague would take over and handle it all for us. This is where all of my alarm bells should have gone off, but not knowing what we were doing or how long banks actually need we trusted the guy.

The days kept passing without so much as a word from them. When I called or emailed them I got a short reply saying they were working on it and it was all going well.

Then came Wednesday the 18th of June. Around 7pm. I got a call from the relator asking if we had financing done. I told him we didn’t hear back from our financing guy yet but it was all going well and we’d get it done till the 26th. He told me that actually the 26th is when the notary appointment is so he needs to know before that if we are going to be there or not. Let’s say Monday morning. As in Monday the 23rd. If we can’t get it in writing till then he would give it to someone else, after all he has a 4 page list of other people wanting it. I told him that might be kind of tough to do, considering that it was now after bank closing time, the next day, Thursday the 19th was a holiday and banks were closed, so all I’d have was Friday since he wanted his answer early Monday morning. He said I could just call banks myself and get it done.

Obviously I went into panic mode. Chris always tells me to stay calm no matter what, but this one time it was worth it 😉
So I called and emailed our financing guy. I didn’t get an answer. Friday morning came and as soon as all the banks opened I made what felt like 50 Million appointments with different banks. Most said it was impossible to get financing done in 24 hours. Even more said they need at least 3-4 weeks. We went to an appointment with Sparkasse which lasted for like 3 hours only to have them tell us that it will take several weeks to get it done. They even had the nerve to tell us it doesn’t matter though next time will work out of us then if we just have more time. Next time?! After 5 years of searching they had the nerve to tell me next time. Like land becomes available around here ever day or two. It was like they didn’t even live here… Somewhere in the jungle of calling banks and going to appointments, sometime that Friday morning I remembered a commercial I saw several years ago about a well known bank in Germany called Ing-DiBa. So I checked them out online and called.
A really nice guy answered, listened to our desperate story and told me he was very sorry but getting financing in less than 24 hours was basically impossible.
All my hope pretty much died till he said
“UNLESS”

 

 

 

 

 

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Unless I was willing to kick some serious butt.
– I was.

So I grabbed the kids, parked them in front of their favorite movie (it was a Friday and the day before was a holiday, so no kindergarten). Since we usually don’t watch TV they loved that. I told them just for one day I needed to do some important work and they could watch TV all day. Then I got on the computer, found all the paperwork needed (ALL of it, since we hadn’t talked to this bank before), called and emailed with Chris who got me from work what I still needed and sent it in to the guy.
Somewhere in between I finally got an answer from our financing dude saying it was a day after a holiday and before a weekend so NO bank would be open so it wasn’t worth trying anything today. Also you can’t get good offers under pressure. So that was that. I was all on my own in this, Chris trying to help how he could while he was still working.
The guy from Ing-DiBa called or emailed almost ever hour with the latest update. Told me what I still needed to send in, what I needed to sign and send out with the mail, then send him the receipt of the post office so they could trust I send it in,…. etc.
While the kids continued their movie marathon with a bunch of drinks and snack in front of them, my pulse was probably hat 800 beats per minute, I was stressed, I was tired, I was annoyed and I had absolutely no hope left. The Ing-DiBa banker was amazing though updating me and walking me through everything along the way. I swear that guy didn’t get any other costumers done that day. He said if I can prove to him that we have that deadline by sending in the notary appointment times signed and all he could work on our application before working with stuff from people that sent theirs in weeks ago. I did that too.
Somehow the day turned into night and the Ing-DiBa banker had to go home. Before that there were endless phone calls and obstacles thrown in our way. At one point they denied the application saying that we wouldn’t have enough money to pay back the loan once the house was build. Turns out they forgot that we would not pay rent anymore once we build the house. After the guy who worked with us told them that actually the rent would not be paid anymore once we move out of here they kind of had a “duh” moment and realized that we’ll have plenty enough money to pay back the loan each month. So they approved our application and all that was left to do was have it signed by the bank director. Because they forgot about the rent thing though, he had already gone home! *ugh!*
The banker told us he would get back to us first thing Monday morning. He’d try to get his boss to sign our application right away so we could tell the relator we’d be there.
That night our financing guy called and told us we were good to go, any bank would want us and he’d get back to us with several offers Monday morning and not to go with the Ing-DiBa offer.

I was not a fan of the following weekend. There we were with time slipping through our fingers and still couldn’t do a single thing Saturday&Sunday due to the banks being closed.
It was a weekend full of worry, stress and what if’s. What if they deny? What if they approve but it’s a horrible offer with gazillions in interest,….

Monday morning came and I was a wreck.
Then the Ing-DiBa guy called and asked me to check my email. There it was in black and white! We were approved! It all went well and we did it! On top of that the interest they offered was great! I called the notary and relator right away, said we’d be there.
I thought once we get it all done I would be jumping through the roof.
Instead I just felt pretty numb. It was surreal. Was it really over after 5 years?

Shortly after I had called the notary our financing guy called us. He said he had talked to all kinds of banks Friday but it was just impossible to get it done till Monday. Also they were still missing some paperwork and could I send that in. – I didn’t.

Let’s look at the score quick, shall we?

Professional financing relator who does NOTHING but this all day every day. It’s his job! He’s got 17 days total do to this. Can’t even get a single appointment or even a bad offer = 0 points
Stay at home mom, no clue what she’s doing, horrible at math, get’s plenty of appointments with banks and a great offer in LESS than 24 hours! = 1000 points

I think we have a winner.

I will be forever grateful to the Ing-DiBa banker who really, really did an amazing job! I would recommend this bank and their service to all our friends and family. Not only do they actually do their job, they are outstanding at it and the offer was actually very, very good.

I was still in panic mode, because we hadn’t signed the contract yet. I thought with our luck the notary would drop dead and the seller would be so shocked not to sell anymore or whatever.
The notary didn’t die.
We went there, paid quite a bunch of money for the notary to read the contract to us that we had read 50 times ourselves before. He was mumbling so bad it wasn’t even funny anymore and I just tried really hard not to laugh at him.
We signed our names, so did the seller, the ink dried and we – who walked into the  building with not a penny to our names – walked out owning a little piece of Bavaria.

It was surreal for the first couple of days, sometimes still is, but it’s starting to sink in 🙂
The first morning after the notary appointment I turned on my computer and went to immobilienscout.de which is the page to find out if there is land for sale.  Just like I did every morning for the last 5 years. I was pretty lost for a moment, when I realized I didn’t even have to do that ever again in my entire life. It was a pretty odd but good feeling.

We’re now in the phase where everything is starting to become real. We made an appointment with the house company who was in contact with us over the last 5 years and for the first time ever we will talk to them and actually own land. We can actually make real plans now. We’re spending time on pinterest finding ideas to decorate rooms, how to do the yard, we are going to furniture stores picking out a kitchen. It’s surreal.
I have to admit, so is the $$ that we are paying for the land. But at least we are paying for something that will be ours forever. Not for our landlord’s new car! 🙂

Right now it’s just a bunch of dirt and grass, but I can’t help but think it’s OUR dirt and grass. 😉

Yay!

 

 

 

 

 

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Timeline:

– May: Wanted to reserve land, but the relator just sold it to someone else.
– Monday June 9th: Call from relator that another piece of land is available.
– Tuesday June 10th: Appointment with financing relator who has 17 days to get stuff done.
– Friday June 13th: Useless appointment with financing guy telling us what we already know.
– Wednesday June 18th: Call from relator at night moving the deadline up to the 23rd.
– Thursday June 19th: Holiday.
– Friday June 20th: Super stressful, crazy day. I get a loan in less then 24 hours.
– Saturday & Sunday: Wait.
– Monday June 23rd : Financing relator gives up.
– Monday June 23rd: Ing-DiBa financing is finally approved and I call the relator
– Thursday June 26th: We sign the contract at the notary. WE OWN LAND!!!