Mr. Potter Lives

And he is refinancing our home.

I am not talking about Mr. Potter, as in Harry.

Remember the cranky old banker from Jimmy Stewart's movie, ‘Its A Wonderful Life’?

It's him of whom I speak.  He’s back and he has taken over the banking system of today.

Wonderful Guy and I decided it made sense to refi the loan on our home. The decision has to do with lowering the interest rate and the monthly payment, not with providing us cash out of the equity.  You know, just in case one of us ceases to bring in a regular income. It has happened to each of us once. And my position holds that dern temporary label like the sword of Damocles over my head.

So we move forward, with our good standing, all our paperwork in order, our i’s dotted and t’s crossed.

Or so we thought.

We apparently had some 'splaining to do.

We of the never having missed a payment, of the wanting only 60% of what the property appraised at, and of the attractive credit rating?

We had letters of explanation to write!
Additional documentation to provide!
More verification to make! (about my income that ‘wasn’t going to be needed anyway'…)
Wet signatures were required! (after all documentation were e-signed.  E-signed!!) (and sick of that term I am.)

I know it wasn’t the broker’s assistant’s fault, but I got so tired of seeing her name in my email and on my caller ID. Seriously fatigued I was of that chipper little voice, I might say.

It is a crazy circle whose ends do not meet in my mind. The housing market finds itself spanked for loaning willy-nilly to people who didn’t deserve credit. The economy teetered on the brink as a result, so dollars were pumped into the credit market which was meant to unfreeze those tightfisted bankers that suddenly were all panicky. Now having lots of money lining the vaults, and showing some profits, and making some tidy bonuses to boot, those who would borrow, who will pay the payments, who are worthy risks…

Well, it was not a warm fuzzy feeling, folks. And it plain didn’t seem to make sense.

But hey, I am a scientist, albeit not a rocket scientist, and certainly not an economist.

And we close today, and there will be no more chipper little voice telling me what I must do next…

Except...could we please come early today...so we could over the something or other one last time... (this after we made the closing appointment 4 weeks ago, knowingly for immediately after work, expressly with no time to spare.)

The sound you hear is my head hitting my desk.

I know....I know....

I promised a give-away today. I am such a tease.

I am just all a-flutter that I finally live in a blue state!

Finally!!

It's been many years....like...NEVER!

I have been voting since I turned 18 in 1973 (do the math!), the year after they gave the vote to 18 year olds. (Yep. I remember back in the day when 18 year olds could be drafted to go fight in a war and die, but didn't have the right to vote.)

My first national election was 1974, in the middle of Watergate. My first presidential election was 1976. I think I voted for Carter. I may not have. I like him now though. I like to think I voted for him.

I have lived (and voted) in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Colorado. I take that back. I was not old enough to vote when I lived in Kansas.

All those states last night? Red. Except where I am living now...and whooping it up, doing my own little happy dance...in the privacy of my own little heart and soul and mind. And in the semi-privacy of my blog for all the innerwebs to see.

Because that's what us middle-aged white chicks do!

I am thinking I will be remembering the 2008 election like I remember the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and Armstrong and Aldrin landing on the moon in 1969. These are events that remain imprinted on my consciousness for my lifetime, that I marvel I was witness to.

(There are other events all imprinting up my consciousness, but some of them are downers, man, and we don't need anyone bringing us down today, man...)

Interesting...1969, 1989, almost 2009...every 20 years...