Moving to America – Accommodation

Next, I start looking for a home. The finance company tells me I must have the ever-important credit history. They generously agree to accept Indian credit history and suggest reference letters from ‘Utility companies’ or ‘Credit Card institutions’. I can hardly keep a straight face as I imagine the Delhi Electric Supply Board writing a reference letter for me! I try to explain that I come from another planet where these things are not possible. Finally, my employer helps me acquire a mortgage approval.

After some looking, I find the perfect home that fits me and fits my budget. We do the offers and the counter offers and the contract is signed, the deposit paid. Only when we head out in suits and ties for the formal ‘Closing’ at the ‘Title’ company do I ran into a wall. Missouri state law stipulates that a married person must have a ‘marital waiver’ to buy a house, even when moving without a spouse. It's just that no one was aware of this law! We beg the seller for three additional days to protect my deposit. I call friends, relatives, others in the middle of their night – the husband, the Notary, the Courier service. It is hard to explain to people in the US that email is not all-pervasive in India and  ‘overnight’ or ‘express’  delivery is rare in a land where there are frequently no roads and two hundred miles a day is an unheard of speed! Somehow, it all gets done. 

Ironically, after all this, the property deed the Title Company mails me six weeks later has (in addition to misspelling my name) got me down as a ‘single’ person! This combination of particular and meticulous on the one hand and careless on the other amazes me - I await the corrected document…