A Day of Highs and Lows

I hit Week 19 today.

Highs:

• Hubby and I executed Power of Attorney this afternoon, which gives my bro-in-law full authority to deal with our HDB flat in our absence.
• Sis-in-law mentioned that she has foreign talent colleagues looking to rent a maisonette in our area. She subsequently followed up with 2 leads: they are M'sian and Myanmese nationals. For the latter, there would be at least 6 tenants sharing the flat and they are offering $1.1k. Need to talk to my real estate friend to find out if this is a reasonable offer and whether to have it on a 1-yr or 2-yr lease.
• We made a tentative booking with a travel agency for our one-way tickets to Melb for 4 Sep. Tentative because we still haven't heard from our real estate agent on the loan application outcome for our investment property in Melb.
• My friend Karen (who migrated to Melb 2 years ago) called long distance to advise on everything from opening a bank account to buying a car to whether to ship our electrical appliances! How lovely and helpful!

Lows:

• Said agent called to say our loan application has been REJECTED. Reason: I am self-employed and my income is unstable.

For some strange reason, I am not feeling particularly anxious or upset (yet). I think God is trying to teach us something here (not least the folly of going into a major financial decision without consulting Him first!). I feel that just because one bank has turned us down doesn't mean we can't go to Melb or that there aren't other lenders that might say yes. Surely we can't be the only investors in such a situation? (On hindsight, it was foolish to have quit my high-paying Civil Service job without taking advice on the possible implications for our loan application, but what's done is done.)

The question is - where do we go from here? Uncle K in Perth had previously offered to take over our interest if we felt we needed to offload the property urgently (and now we do). The issue was whether there was any legal obstacle to him doing so. I had another look through the fine print just now and found the clause that says if the contract is sold to a named purchaser (that's us) and/or nominee, the named purchaser may, at least 14 days before settlement date, nominate a substitute (Uncle K?) or additional purchaser, but the named purchaser remains personally liable for the due performance of all their obligations under the contract.

Theoretically, this could mean that we name Uncle K as substitute purchaser and he takes over the property and pays us $x, which we then use to discharge the outstanding purchase price. Have shot off an email to the agent to see if this is possible.

Meanwhile, am also researching other options. There are things called No Doc Loans, Low Doc Loans and Non-Conforming Lending/Subprime Lending, which is targeted at pple in our situation (e.g. new migrants to Oz, self-employed persons). These come with other T's&C's which may be a bit more onerous, but are nevertheless worth exploring.

What's really helpful is the motivational articles/books I've been reading these past 2 days by the likes of Robert Kiyosaki, Adam Khoo (in his case, I downloaded his free 39-min audio CD on the 7 Steps to Financial Freedom), Jim Rohn, Dennis Waitley et al. They all say one thing which I particularly noticed: When you hit an obstacle, don't just give up and assume it's the end. Ask yourself - what can I do about it? Use your imagination and creativity to find solutions. So if you are a kid and you need $10 to buy something, you don't go to your dad and ask for $10. You ask yourself how you can earn that $10 yourself. Sell lemonade? Mow someone's lawn? Start a comics library and charge the neighbourhood kids 10 cents per 4 hours of reading pleasure? (as RK did)

That's what I'm trying to do now. And I ain't giving up my dream of going to Melb (now when we've come so far and are so close to fulfilling the PR requirements!) just because some bank thinks a freelance writer is a poor credit risk. If the other applications aren't approved before we leave, we'll just go anyway - and work something out in Melb. Might even have a better outcome than in SG, who knows?

PRAYER
Dear Lord, You are wise and powerful, and You alone know all things. You can do more than we could ever ask or imagine. You can turn a hopeless situation around, even if it is our fault that we are in this mess. We commit this financial situation into Your loving hands, and ask that You guide us with Your wisdom into the best possible outcome. We ask that You will grant us faith, hope, peace and joy even as we wait upon You for an answer. Help us to use the resources You have already given us. Help us use our imaginations and creative abilities fully. Help us to trust that You know what is good for us, and to remember Your promise in Romans 8:28 that all things will work together for us, because we love You. Thank you for the loving friends and family You have blessed us with. We ask that You bless each one of them and that You will grant them the desires of their hearts. Amen.