When we were planning the move, we had so much to prepare and organize. Flights, accommodation, a moving company to move our furniture, how to get the animals over. I knew that once we got here and settled, there would be a mountain of additional lists. What I had underestimated was how we would be treated like we were 18-year-old unexperienced youths again, with no credit or driving history. I mean, I had been banking and buying things and driving in Europe for the last 18 years, and Thomas his whole life – does that not count for something? Apparently not.

So when we found the home we wanted to purchase and make our dreams of homesteading and farm life a reality, it honestly did not occur to me that we would have trouble getting a mortgage. After all, I had been with the bank for several years, we had enough money for the down payment, and I had a job that easily covered mortgage payments. We had no debt and had excellent credit in Switzerland.  Imagine our surprise when the bank told us that the credit department turned us down for a conventional mortgage. I had a lot of emotions coursing through me when I got that news – I was honestly offended, and my feelings were hurt. Here we were, a financially responsible couple in their 40’s being told that we were too risky. 

Luckily, we had done a few things right after all. Having a relationship with the bank going back several years made them want to help us and we were offered an insured mortgage at an excellent interest rate. So I got over being offended and breathed a sigh of relief that our farm plans were going to come true after all.  After that, things just sort of took on a life of their own. We did not know what to expect (it was our first mortgage after all!) but I guess we had this old school idea that there would be a lot of paperwork and that we would have a handover of the keys with the sellers where they would show us around and let us know where the important stuff was. But this is the 21^st century – everything was done in one DocuSign until shortly before handover and then we met our lawyer, who had us sign a couple of documents and took care of everything else. And that was it. On handover day, our awesome real estate agent let us know as soon as she had the keys and we met at a prespecified time to get the keys. All very anticlimactic really.

We had a small celebration of the day with my parents at the house with some snacks and then got on with the work. It was a project after all and no time like the present.