Achieving the American Dream Essay Example for Free

Achieving the American Dream Essay One would think that purchasing your first home would be a very fascinating experience; after all it is one of the most major purchases of your entire life. In America, home ownership ties in with the American Dream and the spirit of working hard to one day earn through hard work a home with a white picket fence. My husband and I felt that it was time for us to reward ourselves for all the hard work we have been putting in over the years by purchasing our first home, which was well overdue. I quickly learned the process of purchasing your first home can be very frustrating and stressful. However, if you survive the home buying process the reward is priceless once you move into your â€Å"American Dream.† Before we started shopping for our home we both agreed it was important for us to have a mortgage loan preapproval. Although I assumed that obtaining a preapproval would be the most challenging part of purchasing a home, it happened to be the easiest part of the entire process. I was able to be preapproved by my bank over the phone in a matter of minutes pending certain guidelines. Acquiring the preapproval was so easy I was sure the remainder of the process would be effortless. I was startled to learn that I would be faced with many obstacles to overcome in order to complete the process of buying our first home. Next, it was time for us to shop for a new home. I was excited and anxious to shop for our first home. Unfortunately, I was unaware that the housing market in Houston, TX was flourishing and it was very competitive. On my quest for the perfect house, I looked at several beautiful homes. I found one in particular that I liked, and it was a foreclosure. I decided to place an offer on the home. However, only a few days later I was informed that I was outbid by another buyer. Since this was the first home I placed an offer on I did not foresee the outbidding being a major issue. We decided that we would continue our search for our â€Å"American Dream.† The next home I fell in love with was a model home; however, I soon learned that it was a short sale. A short sale can take up to six months to be approved, and I did not have time for that ,because, my existing lease had already expired on my rental home. I begin to work with a realtor who was also an investor. She had a lovely home for sale in a beautiful neighborhood. I extended an offer to her on the home, and she said that she would need to talk it over with her husband. She later contacted me to advise me that she had agreed to accept a cash offer on the home. I continued to look for the perfect home and was not having much success. I soon discovered that the realtor had a new house on the market in the same beautiful neighborhood. I contacted her right away and made an offer on the house. Once she accepted my offer we signed and faxed the contract to the bank right away. The realtor and I both agreed on a closing date which was 45 days from the date we signed the contract. At this point, it was time to make sure that we met all of underwriting guidelines. It was not only important for us to meet all of the bank stipulations but the actual house had to meet bank standards in order for the bank to approve the loan. Shortly, after faxing the contract over to the bank I was contacted by my loan processor, her name was Emily. She told me everything that I needed and I emailed Emily the requirements within 24 hours. The only thing that was pending to my knowledge was the appraisal on the house which I had completed within one week. After, I faxed over the appraisal I did not hear from Emily until three days before my 1st closing date. Emily was contacting me to make me aware that the underwriting department was requesting that a 2nd appraisal on the home be completed before we could close on the home. I was very disappointed that three weeks had passed and I heard nothing from her and now three days before closing she was contacting me to relay this information to me. However, I was not about to give up. I got the appraisal and sent it to the bank, only to have Emily contact me a few days later to tell me that the underwriter was now requiring a termite inspection. We were already well past our 1st closing date and quickly approaching our 2nd closing date, I contacted a termite inspector and had the termite inspection performed right away. Emily then informed me that she was sending all of our information over to the title company so they can arrange a closing date. She gave me the title company’s contact information and told me to contact the title company for my closing date. I contacted the title company and was very surprised to discover I could not close on the house until the seller returned from the Bahamas because she needed to sign a release form. The seller returned from the Bahamas two weeks later and I finally got a real closing date which was October 18, 2012. Finally, I said to my husband we have an actual closing date. I was beyond excited. My husband and I went to the title company on October 18, 2012 to finalize our purchase on our home. I can’t explain the feeling we felt as we signed the mortgage papers on our new home. After signing what felt like a million papers we got the keys to our new home. When we got in our car we had to take a moment to give thanks to God, for not only allowing us to purchase our first home but for letting our first home be our dream home. Why was the process so difficult and complicated to purchase my first home? I can imagine it was due to the housing crisis in America. I believe that banks require so much now because they are trying to prevent homebuyers from losing their homes to foreclosure. They are making every effort to make sure that homebuyers are not overpaying for homes and making every attempt to ensure that homebuyers can afford the homes. Although, I was very frustrated I want prospective homebuyers to know that it was worth all of the trouble. I think homeownership is the American dream and encourage everyone to work towards achieving the American dream by not giving up or becoming frustrated. I think it is very important for prospective homebuyers to focus on the final prize-homeownership. Reflections Paragraph The step I found to be the easiest was major revisions. It was easy because I was able to tie in my conclusion with my introductory paragraph. I am hoping that will grab the readers’ attention and keep them more interested in my essay. The step I found the hardest was proofreading. While I was proofreading I noticed that many sentences did not sound correct. I did my best to try and correct the sentences that did not sound correct. I learned that writing by revising your essay allows you the opportunity to make your essay even better. I still have many errors for improvement; however, I am confident that with practice I will become a great writer.