What I CAN do - Getting A House On ODSP

I did it. I now own the house, in my previous post. I must apologize that I have been slacking on blogging, my life has been crazy. My father came home after a year and 11 days in the hospital with a lethal bought of pancreatitis and became a miracle by surviving it. I have been trying to help out there as he is still ill but it's hard when my new home is 3 hrs away and I don't have the money to travel back and forth. A lot has happened in the past year and life has been at its hardest. I have so many medical appointments and procedures that I should post about but I need to get back to a stable routine first and hopefully add in some blog time on good days. I want to concentrate on getting a semblance of my life back and work hard at getting "better". Better in that I am living life more than I have been.

My house, when it was listed.

As per usual I had to jump through a lot of hoops so this will be a long blog, to try and even explain a bit of it.

Back to the goods - the house. It was very arduous and one of the most difficult things I have done in my life but I did it. I am proud of myself and astonished. My real estate agent literally said, "I have never had anyone work so hard to get a place, you deserve it." I am one of those people who works hard and when a walls comes I figure out how to break it down, over and over again until I get something done. I am forever determined when I want something. In the end I am disappointed that I did not fully buy the house on my own and it would of been impossible without my Father and Step-mother but it still happened and that's what mattered.

The before photos/ listing photos.

Here's how it worked out. I'm afraid to be so frank on here with all my personal info but hopefully this will help someone else so I will bare it. I had to choose an area that wasn't ideal for me because the house needed to be extremely inexpensive but also liveable for my own sake and for the sake of insurance. I also needed to choose a house that needed tons of repairs to really afford it. A larger size home works best for me as it gives me space to walk and not hit into things. Also it allows my massive family to come visit. Luckily my one sister lives 15 minutes away and another sister is 1 hr from here. Unfortunately everyone else I know and the things I know are all a min. 2 hr drive away one way. At least it's 30 min drive to a beach. I was told I had to choose a house that was less than $75 000 but in the end it had to be much less based on weird banking formulas and my student loan. I have a massive student loan at $43 000 at the time, after almost 10 years of university, as my large debt. It is currently on hold payment status, I pay $0 but it shows on my report and it made getting a place very difficult because most banks just go by formulas alone and don't look much at the grey areas. I do not have to pay my loan while I am disabled. I have a credit card but it is almost always under $1000 and I pay it off regularly. My credit score is amazing, my only saving grace in this situation. At the time of my final approval, it was 811. The first mortgage broker I worked with was awful, the second merely bad but I persevered. The 1st was not able to get me a mortgage after 3.5 weeks and three extensions. He made me feel like I was unworthy of things because it was such a low mortgage and not worth that much of his time. I asked him at the beginning if he wanted to work on this application because it wasn't much, he beyond agreed. In the end he would never get back to me when he said he would, even with a deadline looming of loosing the house and he wrote me an awful email saying to not contact him, writing lies of how I was writing him 10 times a day when I only contacted him every few days asking him important questions, that needed answers. At this point, I wrote the last post about not getting the house. I decided to keep trying even if it might be impossible. Needless to say, I told the first mortgage broker I was going to look at other options, and found another mortgage agent at a bank, that got me a mortgage approved in a week and a half. This mortgage company was bad too but not as bad. He, a mobile mortgage broker for BMO also asked me to stop contacting him at the end saying how they understood how bad the last mortgage company was but that they were on my side. He did this in the last few days when I was asking him each day, if he would send the info (that we mostly finalized more than a week before) to the lawyer as the lawyer was saying they would need an extension or things would fall through if they didn't get the info asap. The mortgage company did need to wrap up a few things, from head office but they were minor, like ensuring my Dad and Step-mom own their property free and clear. They asked me for the same info on property description, numerous times and then said, that they knew they already had it. It's confusing, so I'll stop there. Let's just say it was a mess. I thought I was crazy and second guessed myself thinking I might have contacted them too often but talked to many people who were appalled at how I was treated in both situations and also had many experiences of mortgage companies not getting back to them repeatedly in easier situations. So my advice is, find someone that is willing to take the time to help you, even though it's a low mortgage, that is very timely and is most of all super kind because this is stressful. These types of situations take a LOT of work. We had to get extensions so many times and literally fill out mass amounts of paperwork over and over again. It took about 5 weeks for mortgage approval alone. It was not straight forward. I understand others frustrations but they could still be kind. The mortgage companies need to know everything about you and whomever your backer is. You will need a backer. I was going to put down 20% given to me from my Daddio and Step-Mom but at the last minute (1 week before closing) was told from the mortgage company I needed 25%. Luckily my Dad and Step-Mom stepped up with the rest and gave it to me. I will pay them back if I ever get the money one day but for now, it's the biggest, most important gift I have ever received.  You can never have more than $5000 with odsp and if you are given a gift which is allowed for a down payment for your primary residence, you must only have it in your account for less than 30 days. Remember this for your down payment, you have to figure out how to show the mortgage company you have enough for the down payment (which can also be an issue for some banks, if it is a gift and doesn't come from you) and yet, not have it into your account for more than the 30 days. In the end the mortgage company wouldn't even give me the final cost of what my mortgage payments were and when they were to start as they were to change it from monthly to accelerated bi-weekly and only gave me the monthly cost and timing. They never changed it and never sent me the final paper work. I had to get a HELP mortgage - Home Equity Loan Plan not a regular mortgage, which is like a line of credit almost and at least knew the rate. It wasn't a great rate but it wasn't bad either at 3.64%. Luckily though, I can pay the full amount off at any time, if I can one day. The lawyer, discreetly said, in different words that they were not happy with the last minute info and requirements of the mortgage company and that they were being stonewalled as well. They did a lot of last minute crap and in the end never gave my lawyer the full mortgage info. I thought it wouldn't go through but on the second last day the lawyers received enough info to finalize the deal. They also made my Step-Mom, on the last day before closing, get independent legal advice (ILA - google it - I'm sure others will say how much of a pain it is), that lawyers don't like giving and many refused to do. I had to get the house with my step mother on as a co-signer and she owns 1% of it but I own 99%. Although she already signed her "life away" with the mortgage company for to be able to sue others they made us get the ILA but didn't tell us, only our lawyers at the last minute. So again, I thought it was over again but I paid more money and the lawyer found another lawyer friend who would do it as a personal favour on the morning of closing day. My lawyer, Thomas Kelly of London was great and really made this happen, easing us through all the bumps, thankfully.  I paid the lawyer fees and all other required start up costs for the house myself. Through this whole deal the real estate agent was the most phenomenal of them all. He set me up with the second mortgage company and although they weren't perfect, it still happened. The real estate agent, filled out so much paper work and answered a million questions I sent. I did send him a lot of questions and he was so kind, timely and helpful. He let us use his lawn mower when we first arrived, he listened, he was always did what he said he would and beyond, he will even be helping us in the future with advice on fixing our place and has offered to help. I hope to not have to ask him for the help but how nice is that! He also didn't make that much on the deal but was the buyer and seller agent, so he did a lot of work. He works for Triland Realty and his name is Terry Smith. He works in and around the south of London toward Chatham. I recommend him to anyone. That being said, I will also recommend Mark Kinnee of Remax Realty in the K/W region. He helped us previously until we started searching in a different area. He doesn't have experience with ODSP and K/W doesn't offer prices that would work for ODSP recipients unless you have someone who can gift you a house but he's a great agent for those looking in that area that has higher priced homes.

Sadly the owner of this house was an older lady, whom had lost her husband the year before, she had dementia and it was getting worse. During the 5 weeks it took to get our mortgage approved, she deteriorated and was put into a home earlier than they had planned. Her son and POA asked that we change the closing date to earlier and then asked to change it to earlier again. So we closed on May 7, 2014 instead of June 1, 2014. While in the retirement home, the former owner had a stroke and passed away a week later on May 6, 2014. Her death did not effect closing much as all had ensured they had put in back ups, with the POAs, for it to go through. Her family needed to close the deal at that time and we were happy for them that this didn't drag on longer and become more of a mess with her passing. We had already extended so many times. We were indifferent on timing as we were living on my dad's farm. It brought us great sadness to hear she was gone even though we only met her a few times. I am glad she approved of us living here when she was lucid and I am very sad to think she is gone and so suddenly. I hope she is somewhere with her husband, that she missed so. Rest in peace Myrtle.

Myrtle  while we were touring the house, alongside the furnace in the dining room.

I wouldn't get excited or tell anyone about the house until I had the keys in my hands because there were so many constant let downs and so many things that popped up, that should of made it impossible for it to work but my little miracle occurred. I was also embarrassed to tell people how poor I was and how difficult it is to find a place so very few people knew we were looking. I didn't want to be let down again as I have been on this house search in the past, so I held out. I was the most ecstatic person in the world when I had those keys in my hand. I could finally be excited. I owned a home, for the first time of my life, at the age of 30!

Holding the keys in an envelope outside of the Lawyer's office.  SO EXCITED.

The house needs a lot but it is mine. The type of house that is affordable for those on ODSP are major fixer-uppers. Here are a few of the issues, that I didn't know about and some that I knew of prior to buying...

The house is a gut job and needs loads of work. It has sloping floors and stairs, lathe and plaster walls, electrical repairs required, electrical panel moved, needs knob and tube removed, live wires that had created a small electrical fire in one attic removed, needs some brick work, needs some ceilings fixed asap that have mould due to roof leaking in the past, needs a bathroom on the second floor, old kitchen and bathroom need replacing, needs insulation in walls, ceiling lifted in certain rooms, all new floors, walls and ceilings, fire blocking due to balloon framing, roof needs proper insulation, roof, flashing and eaves repaired, new heating and duct work installed or maybe just radiant flooring as the furnace now has no ducting and is in the dining room not to mention 35+ years old, new windows (replace single pane) and more.

Lathe and plaster ceiling shown. Damage to ceiling from roof leakage.

Sloping Floors

Panel location, in kitchen cupboard.

Yellow panels in dining room before moving in.

Uneven old floor boards

Old carpets upstairs in bedroom

Sloping stairs before removing carpet.

Since we have lived here we have found out it needs a lot more. 

Due to the previous owner(s) smoking, I have actually been allergic to the house. I was on the way to developing a second bought of pneumonia when I stayed here at the beginning but the decision was made to remove the yellow ceiling tiles, all the gross carpet and expose the warped, uneven old floor boards, remove the wood panelling on the walls and expose the lathe and plaster that is falling off the walls in many places ... but I can breathe. I still feel sick often as the whole place still needs a wipe down and there's still a lot to remove but it's better. Removing the carpets we can see under the walls to the brick on the outside. There's no building paper, I'm not sure if the bricks are tied to the studs, the studs don't come down to the floor plates in places, I think the base plates are wood and rotted in places and there are lots of gaps along with the floor dropping away. The former owner's son, failed to disclose that there was a root removed when they emptied the septic and they didn't fix it so we have septic issues of the toilet not flushing, general issues with draining water and it smells at times. Lovely. We have also found we have a major bat infestation. There are tons up there in the two attics and they are in the empty walls. They make awful sounds and one night I stopped counting at 20 coming out of the roof when we were outside. One came into the bedroom once and my dog stepped on a baby one that came out of one wall by accident. We can't do anything about it until mating season is over and the babies learn to fly but it will be one heck of an operation to evict them. When we removed the wood panelling and gross ceiling tiles, we had lots of "poop" dropping fall and see a lot in the walls. We have found out that it's bat poop. I know understand the term "bat shit crazy". It is toxic too so I have been vacuuming it up with the shop vac. with a mask and gloves. Above all I want to rid of the bats and their excrement. Ugh. 

Yellow tiles when they were taken down, shows the original colour

Bat Crap in the attic. Thought it was mouse at the time.

Although this post may not come across positive and doesn't explain half of the chaos, it is positive. It was a crazy ordeal to go through and was so difficult but it happened. I was able, under the most difficult circumstances, to get a house, to follow my dream and to have a place of my own, to design, to love, to come home to and I know it will be the house of my dreams, one day. I don't know how I am going to fix anything physically or come up with the money to do so but it will happen. I will have the most beautiful house one day. I am inspired to start a second blog soon, on this crazy old house and it's transformation. I hope I can do both.

Demo - removing the gross carpets. I can do things that involve being low to the ground for certain periods of time.

I have been here at this house sweeping up dust from plaster for the tenth time and found myself smiling absurdly because I was actually happy to sweep up the floor in my own home. I can do some very big things despite my disabilities. It's not easy and it's not perfect but it's perfect to me.

The house the other week before removing the front door awning.
 Can't wait for the chance to make it my own.