Buying A Home

Underwritters suspended approval?

Hwrd2be — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:27:20 GMT

The underwriters came back & said our approval is suspended cuz they need to get more info. This info was stuff we brought to the loan officer but he said he didnt need it. I am curious, if you had your approval suspended. How long after you gave them the information did it take to hear back from the underwriters?

WWYD? a buy vs rent vs assume mortgage question

Birdyne — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:03:01 GMT

This may be long, and I thank you in advance for taking your time to give me feedback.

First the background:

DH works full time, I'm a SAHM with three kids in their later teens (1 boy and 2 girls). We're a one car family. CC debt of roughly $7k and roughly $10k left on the car. We make about short $49K, with a scheduled raise in about a year. We have some college bills for the older two teens, but manageable (money was set aside for them in a will by my grandmother). We have never owned a home.

Currently we rent a home in suburbia from relatives at a fixed monthly rate - and have done so for the last 15 years. We have a child that had extreem medical needs which equals even with a fixed monthly rent, we weren't able to save up much money at all. In reality, the house is much better than we could afford if this wasn't family. It's big (roughly 2000 sq ft, four bed, two full bath, garage and a pool). It was built circa early 80s? There's a lot of fix it stuff that the house, just from age, will need (we just replaced the ac, roof and garage door will be next).

We have a GFE/FHA loan for $130K which definately is not a lot, but will help us get our foot in the door into an area of town that we always wanted to live...not the prettiest or roomiest house on the block, but our foot could be in the door. And by "always" I mean, when we were teens daydreaming about our future, we would walk the streets there thinking of how much we'd like to live there. We spend most of his days off in the area because there is so much stuff over there to do. Or it could really get us something that is grand in scale, but could possibly turn into a money pit in a different urban historic district. An adventure, right? LOL

And last but not least, we'll be empty nesters in roughly 4-5 years at the most. So if we purchase anything now, it'll have to fit all of us. We want space, because DH is also an artist and paints on a large scale...so ideally, as the kids filter out, I'd get my "office" or "guest room" and he could have a studio.

OK.....

OPTION #1
We've been offered the chance to just assume the mortgage on the home that we are currently living in. It's been a good place to raise the kids, offered us a lot of space, but was never anything that we would want to retire in, really. I've lived in suburbia all my life, and in ranch homes that were pretty much cookie cutter floor plans with nothing to walk to. I'm no dummy, however, and know that it is a great deal and if it were completely turned over to us, we could really make something of it...what we couldn't change was the area - safe and all, but nothing to walk to, not a big sense of community. We'd basically continue to live as we do now. Assuming the mortgage would increase our monthly bill roughly $300 which is what we'd be doing if we purchased a home anyway...*but* we'd only be paying for this home an additional 7 years (I'm not quite clear if we would assume their rates?) and pay all the taxes. In the end, we could always move (by then I'll nearly be 47yo) and rent this place...but the relatives don't (understandibly) want us to buy the house so cheaply and turn around and sell it - basically because they could use it as investments in their own old age. Besides, if we kept it, even if we never rented it out and moved later, we'd be able to put almost DH's entire paycheck (and whatever paycheck I'll gather) into savings.

OPTION #2
Purchase a not-dream home but in the dream area, understanding that the house itself will not have many amenities, will be small and cramped...pay for a longer period of time (30 years) and basically know that we'd likely retire in the home without a lot of savings as everything will be house payment and taxes.

OPTION #3
Purchase a dream home that's well hidden beneath all the physical labor that one would have to do...possibly forever making ourselves live paycheck to paycheck inside a "project in progress" in an area that hasn't quite reached the dream-area status. We'd also have all the long term house payments and taxes plus a lot of home repairs on large scales as these homes are hitting the century mark.

...

My assumption is that Option 1 is the smartest, financially, but I guess before I actually settle on that in my heart, I could use some other words of wisdom because I really, really want Option #2 or 3. TIA!

Did you have to request a final walk-through?

Ali2302 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:42:22 GMT

DH and I close on our house on monday @ noon. If it weren't for this board, I never would have heard about "final walk throughs." Should I request one? Is it automatic? Is it something my realtor has dropped the ball on?

I'm so confused...

XP: FHA Streamline Refinance?

Mrs.S.on.01.19.08 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:03:01 GMT

We are looking at refinancing our year-old mortgage for a lower interest rate. The original loan is an FHA loan at 6.5% interest. Our lender has recommended an FHA streamline refinance as the easiest and best way to refinance @ 5.25% interest rate.

Are their any other better options that could potentially save us $, even if it required additional paperwork? Anything else we should be thinking about it in this process?

TIA

Is there an IRS number specific for tax credit?

MommaToBatman — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:17:08 GMT

I've looked on their website, but nothing. :-(

TIA!

Realtor and Closing?

JulieLynn25 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:55:03 GMT

Just wondering...how much more we'll see of our Realtor...Do they attend the final walk-though or the actual closing? I feel like he's been out of the picture now that everything is pretty much in the hands of the attorneys.

Also, I know this has been discussed before but I couldn't find the post...Did anyone give their Realtor a Thank You Gift? Our has been wonderful throughout the past couple months and besides a referral letter I'm trying to think what would be an acceptable way to say thanks. I don't really know much about him so it's hard to do something too personal.

Buying a home with a non-funcitonal pool

dani2480 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:24:38 GMT

DH and I are trying to buy a home that is almost exactly what we've been looking for... except that it has a pool in the backyard that needs $14k in repairs. We're getting an excellent price on the house, and could afford to re-do the pool (and are thinking we want to anyway). Although, it'll eat up half of the money we'll have left over after we buy the house. So we were really hoping we could delay the pool repairs a little while so that we could do other upgrades to the house first (like energy efficient windows).

The problem is that the lender is asking that the pool be filled, with either water or dirt, before they'll approve the loan. We got the sellers to agree to do this for us. I started Googling a bit, and found people saying that some lenders (if not most) are requiring that the pool not only be filled, but that it be "functional". This pool is not functional according to the inspection the sellers had done. The pump, motor, and filter among other things, needs to be replaced. We do not have an FHA loan -- we have conventional financing (I know FHA has stricter standards).

I'm worried about raising red flags with the lender if we ask them questions. But I'm also worried that even if we say nothing and hope for the best, that the appraiser will try to test the pool, beyond just seeing it and noting that it has water in it, and that we'll have a problem closing.

Does anyone have any experience with or knowledge about such an issue that they could share?

Another tax credit question =)

mam677 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:06:48 GMT

When my grandmother passed away about 15 years ago, my mother inherited her home. She then put my name and my brother's name on the deed. She rented it out for several years but now my husband and I live in it and pay rent.

We're looking to buy our own house and were wondering if having my name on the deed disqualifies us from getting the $8,000 tax credit for new homebuyers. Anyone have an idea? TIA.

How did you get your financing?

ErikaAndChris — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:01:29 GMT

Feeling a little overwhelmed and wondering how other people went about it. Did you use a broker? Shop at local banks? Go online? Did you apply multiple places and then pick the best offer, or did you pick just one lender to apply with? Thanks!

Have u made it through a Short Sale?

chance_encounters — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:25:54 GMT

This has to be the most frustrating process ever! The owner is very slow at filing the paperwork that the bank requests from her. We have been through 5 negotiators and countless other levels (11 total). Now 8 months later we are still waiting! The bank requested the owners 2008 income taxes (she hasn't done them yet and said she would have them done and file them by today....not holding my breath). They ordred the BPO and completed it 4 weeks ago (2nd time a bpo has been done). So now what?! I know the owner this is why I know how slow she is and what they are requesting from her....

Closing Date

Hwrd2be — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:51:50 GMT

How far in advance did you find out about your closing date?

Feeling pressured.

chance_encounters — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:28:40 GMT

We put an offer on a short sale 8 months ago. For about the last 4 months the owner has been requesting that we move in now (rent free). I have told her no on several occasions, my realtor thinks its a bad idea too. She tells me she is tired of taking care of our house and we need to move in already. She just recently shut off the power (it freezes out here) and now we are worried about the pipes. She will not put antifreeze in them because it is bad for the environment. Then she says "I don't understand why you don't just move in, you could be saving money all this time!". Thoughts?

Renting...question please give me some input!

TriciaChick — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:13:32 GMT

I will try to make this as short as possible!:) We own a condo in mi. We bouht it for almost 160 5 years ago. It recently appraised for 95,000. So basically we thought we were stuck forever here.

There is a company out here called Marketplace Homes Basically they rent out your home for up to 6 years whether someone is living in it or not. They pay all utilities/repairs and act as landlord. They will try to sell it to the renters. If after 2 years it has not sold then it is reassessed for current market value. Then marketplace homes will split the difference if it is lower than what they were giving you. For example they are willing to give us 1280 a month for our condo. If after 2 years is was valued to have a payment of 1200 then they eat 40 and we pay 1240.

They work with several builders out here and you have to purchase a home in the program. They are new construction homes. We found one we LOVE and it is very comparable in price to other homes in this area.

Well friends of ours were going to do this as well. They were perhaps more on board than us. Well my friends dad said why not pay a relator to find a renter then you can get whatever house you want. Now she is having second thoughts. My opinion on the whole thing is that we have a 6 year guarantee plus we are getting a really good rate from this company (more than what we pay each month for our mortgage! so we will technically be making money.)

My DH is a cop and several cops he has known have done this. It has been featuured on several radio/tv stations out here and has a good rating in the better business bueau.

I guess my question is do you really think that going through a realtor would be better? I cant see how it would be but I want to know if I am missing something. My friend has rented places and had horrible luck collecting money ect. I just want to get some input. Here is the link to marketplace h omes if you are interested.. .http://www.marketplacehomes.com/

Thanks so much!

i could do a happy dance.

StingShark425 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:26:14 GMT

i usually lurk here. but i posted a few weeks ago about someone "stealing my H's credit, an then we found out it was a name mix up.. we had to dispute all 19 items on the credit report, including 3 mortgages today.

well ive been watching the trans union website, checking the status daily. yesterday it said 14 of 19 items complete..today it said 17 of 19... i couldnt stand it, i had to call to see what else got deleted.

I found out the 3 mortgages from the other person got deleted off his credit today. THIS IS GREAT! there are still 2 credit cards but we've already gotten 14 credit cards knocked off so 2 more is nothing.

the investigation is done on DEC 4, and then we should be able to proceed.. Ive been in contact w/ the mortgage broker a few times to let him know we are still interested in working with him for a USDA loan.

i'm sorry, but i'm so excited. I thought this was going to be a nightmare of a proces, but so far it turned out okay.

When Did You Move Out?

P&D1223 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:58:00 GMT

We are selling our home and waiting for a close date? Did you move out before the closing date was scheduled? Or did you wait it out and move close to that date? We would really like to move Thanksgving weekend because we would have tons of help... but are hesitant to do this.

Also, any horror stories of things falling through at the last minute?

CRAZY closing continues.

just call me "GG" — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:57:52 GMT

this has been the most bumpy house-buying process ever. we hopefully are closing tomorrow and these are the issues...

1.) my husband did the walk-through and the seller left a SHOTGUN. no freaking kidding.

2.) they came up with our figures tomorrow and its $4,000+ OVER our GFE. i have to clean out my accounts. literally.

3.) gas fireplace not working....

4.) place filthy (but "broom-swept", how ironic)

5.) the lawyer that was giving us a DEAL is charging us $1500 for closing.

WTF!?!

We found a home we love!!! And a Q-

KSimone619 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:02:12 GMT

Last week I wrote about making sacrifices, not "loving" a home, etc. - well a house we had liked came back on the market yesterday (contract fell through b/c buyer's loan wasn't approved) and we went to look at it last night. We loved EVERYTHING about the house- it had every single thing on our "want" AND "nice to have" list- only downside is it's about 4 miles further from DH's work than where we were originally looking.

Q- The house was appraised for $50K BELOW the asking price- how should this affect our offer?

Selling and Christmas Decorations?

Emandchris — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:31:35 GMT

Hi ladies. I am mostly a lurker around here, but have a question. We have had our home on the market for a while now and are still having pretty steady showings. As Christmas approaches, I am wondering if we should put up our decorations. We usually have nothing crazy, just a simple tree and a few things outside. Should we skip this year because our home is on the market? Just looking for some opinions. Thanks!

Those Who Have Closed... Opinions Please!

P&D1223 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:47:26 GMT

We are selling our home and are very close to closing. Here is what the status is right now. The buyers got their commitment with contingencies... all of them were met as of a few days ago. The bank attorney was chosen, that office has the bank file. The title was ordered and has been in for a month now. Things are ready to go... do you think things would have gone this far and then they don't get the commitment? If anyone can share their experiences on closing and what happened in the days/weeks prior to it, it would be much appreciated!

This might be a dumb question - cash price

doctorwho — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:18:51 GMT

When a realtor says something is listed at 'cash price', what percent more are they expecting me to offer if I'm not paying cash?

Isn't it a terrible idea, in this market, to tell people "It's x amount for someone else who walks in here, but x+y% for you"?

What did I miss?

Mortgage & divorce what to do?

jill1231 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:47:38 GMT

anyone have any suggestions. we are getting a divorce and still kinda agree as much as possible he has agreed to assume payments on the house til we can sell it?? i dont want to still be legally liable for it but still want say in the selling process any ideas ..so far he has suggested we refinance in his name only and keep me on title .. not sure how that works any ideas for me besides go talk to attorney im planning on that..

You tell me?

jenn&tim05 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:53:17 GMT

Here is a link to our listing.....we have been OTM for almost 2 months. No showings at all. Very little action on our OH a few weeks ago. REA says we are priced right for our area.

I keep seeing comments about pics on MLS and are they giving the home a good light. Well tell me.....what do we need to change? What better audience then a bunch of women looking for a new home. Blast away I can take it....what ever it takes to get sell it! TIA

http://tinyurl.com/y9hvrk3

Thanks Ladies!

jenn&tim05 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:08:37 GMT

Im off today so Im going to begin working on retaking all the pics and decluttering more. Thank goodness we have clear skies today so outside pics will be a success.

Ill update soon hopefully with the bf and after product and descriptions. It really did help having another set of eyes.

We are meeting with our agent next week to get the pics updated and possibly talk about a price reduction depending on his further research. Hopefully the pics will do it for us and we will keep the price adjustment in our back pocket! Just hoping our dream home doesnt sell while we continue to modify things!

Buyer's remorse: I think we overbid on our house

MarriedWriter — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:36:32 GMT

Our offer was accepted yesterday, but we ended up going pretty high. I was looking at similar sales, and most homes in the area are selling for approximately $50 less/square foot than our offer. Clearly, we should have done our research first, but I got very caught up in my emotional attachment to the house.

How can we get out of this deal????

HGTV "Property Virgins" (xp)

Married8024 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:40:20 GMT

Did anyone watch last night's episode? The buyer, Kelly, was on an episode of What Not To Wear last year. She worked at a children's book publisher or something and had super thick glasses (but I think WNTW gave her contacts). I thought it was odd that she was now on another TV show. It was amusing because she didn't dress very well on the episode last night, considering she's spent a week in NY with Stacy and Clinton, LOL