Less than a week....
That is exactly how much time we have left till we close on our new home! I am sooo excited I could burst. We've ordered the new carpet (at the seller's expensive..yessss!) and flooring and it's scheduled to be put down the day we close. However, our bank is still giving us headaches.
I can see now why a lot of people are renters and not owners. The frickin closing costs! We are using a retirement fund that my hubby had while he was in the army to pay for our closing costs. We find out after we get pre-approved for a mortgage that they need proof of closing costs for the deal to go through. They said that having the money in his TSP (military savings plan) wasn't proof enough. It had to be in our account to be sufficiant proof. So my mother, took out a home improvement loan to give to us (since we will pay her back once Dave's savings is deposited into our account) so that we could show them proof of closing costs now.
They STILL weren't happy enough. They wanted a letter showing that we were getting that money as a gift that we didn't have to pay back. So my mother (knowing that we will pay her) signed that letter and we showed them the money is in our account.
Keep in mind, our closing costs are estimated at around $3,000. We gave the seller $500 in good faith money, our bank $350 in good faith money for the closing costs. Then our seller is paying $750 (for some repair work to the home) towards our closing costs as well. That is $1600 of our closing cost that have already been paid. We only truely have $1400 left in closing costs to pay, and we definately can prove that we will be able to pay it. I am beginning to think whomever we have working our loan is an idiot or is new or something. My husband is almost ready to tell them to forget about it, we'll get our loan with another bank that wants our money.
I mean...come on...you people PRE-APPROVED us for a home loan. YOU considered us a good risk...and you're worried about $1400? Well, I feel better for ranting.... :)
I totally look forward to moving in day. I can't wait to get the keys and start moving into that house...with the new carpet smell. I look forward to my little boy getting a room of his very own again. I look forward to my husband and I having a room of our very own again. I look forward to having privacy again. (since we live with my mom right now) I look forward to decorating this house and making it a home. I look forward to planting flowers and doing some garden work. I look forward to settling in to our new town (it's not too far from OKC) and getting a job. I look forward to moving forward......
I can see now why a lot of people are renters and not owners. The frickin closing costs! We are using a retirement fund that my hubby had while he was in the army to pay for our closing costs. We find out after we get pre-approved for a mortgage that they need proof of closing costs for the deal to go through. They said that having the money in his TSP (military savings plan) wasn't proof enough. It had to be in our account to be sufficiant proof. So my mother, took out a home improvement loan to give to us (since we will pay her back once Dave's savings is deposited into our account) so that we could show them proof of closing costs now.
They STILL weren't happy enough. They wanted a letter showing that we were getting that money as a gift that we didn't have to pay back. So my mother (knowing that we will pay her) signed that letter and we showed them the money is in our account.
Keep in mind, our closing costs are estimated at around $3,000. We gave the seller $500 in good faith money, our bank $350 in good faith money for the closing costs. Then our seller is paying $750 (for some repair work to the home) towards our closing costs as well. That is $1600 of our closing cost that have already been paid. We only truely have $1400 left in closing costs to pay, and we definately can prove that we will be able to pay it. I am beginning to think whomever we have working our loan is an idiot or is new or something. My husband is almost ready to tell them to forget about it, we'll get our loan with another bank that wants our money.
I mean...come on...you people PRE-APPROVED us for a home loan. YOU considered us a good risk...and you're worried about $1400? Well, I feel better for ranting.... :)
I totally look forward to moving in day. I can't wait to get the keys and start moving into that house...with the new carpet smell. I look forward to my little boy getting a room of his very own again. I look forward to my husband and I having a room of our very own again. I look forward to having privacy again. (since we live with my mom right now) I look forward to decorating this house and making it a home. I look forward to planting flowers and doing some garden work. I look forward to settling in to our new town (it's not too far from OKC) and getting a job. I look forward to moving forward......
posted by Brandi at
Thursday, August 31, 2006
9 Comments:
I know that closing frustration. We also had this exact problem with the gift letter.
We just wanted to smack some people around.
I'm so excited for you. Good luck! and enjoy that new carpet smell. LOL
(p.s. - did you get a home inspector to the house to look it over? They're very handy.)
By
Nikki, at 2:58 PM
Nikki - Yes, we did hire a home inspector to come in and take a look at the house. Apparently since our loan was a conventional one the lender doesn't do as good of an inspection as we wanted. If we're going to invest this kind of money we want to make sure it wasn't a money pit.
Thanks for the well wishes!
By
Brandi, at 5:01 PM
I used to work in home loans for years. "Pre-Approved" doesn't mean anything. Any yahoo can generate a letter stating that a borrower is approved. The key is to find a loan officer who knows what he/she is doing. It sounds like you went with a full documented loan, meaning it wasn't "stated income/stated asset." "Stated" anything means you're lying and the interest rates reflect it. Providing documentation for everything is the way to go because you will get the lowest interest rate. I know gift letters and proof of monies sounds silly but you would be surprised just how deep into debt people will get to buy a house. I've seen people who have more in monthly payments to debtors than they have in monthly income. It's crazy. While it seems like insanity, your situation is normal. The only difference is that your loan officer should have prequalified you with actual documentation and anyone worth their salt will know exactly what the closing costs are and what to ask for from you to show proof of the funds. It's much better to get all of that paperwork done up front rather than at the last minute when you should be thinking about carpets! Anyway, enough of my two cents worth of advice. You are on your way to becoming a homeowner and all this headache will be worth it. Congrats!
By
Pat & Reg, at 11:56 PM
We had the same issues when we bought our home. We did an FHA loan, which was a pain in and of itself. Our house is log sided, so that caused an issue b/c the bank thought that it was a traditional log home and FHA didn't want to take on that risk. That got figured out and then the closing date kept getting switched. We literally had all of our belongings in a u-haul truck and in my car and they changed the closing date on us. We had to get one of my parent's friends who is on the board of directors at the bank we used to step in and get everything straightened out. We still moved in before our insurance kicked in, which was a big liability to the previous owner, but she was kind enough to relent. Anyway, I think it is one of those things like childbirth, you forget all the pain when you get the itch to sell your current home and find another one. Our bank actually turned out really great. Two years later we refinanced when the rates got so low, and we basically did everything over the phone. Our bankers we've dealt with for Regions have been wonderful since then.
How exciting about the whole thing though! It is nice that you will already have new flooring when you move in, nothing like that "new" smell!
By
The Big Fat Project Management Team, at 8:50 AM
Reg - I understand why they need the letter, it's just that we can prove that we've got about 6K for our closing cost and it seemed like they were still iffy on whether or not that was good enough.
It was like...come on already!!! :)
By
Brandi, at 8:55 AM
Marin - My husband and I were both in the military and we did the GI loan for the house and we still had closing costs. Who did you close thru?
By
Nikki, at 6:15 PM
Brandi, you aren't alone. I felt violated nearly by the time we closed our first and only (16 years this month) home loan. LOL, seriously, I was on the edge of going postal on somebody.
BUT, it's worth it, when you hammer that first nail in YOUR VERY OWN wall. Congrats!
By
MilkMaid, at 8:49 AM
Ah, moving in to a new house is the best feeling in the world. It's so exciting! All the rest of the hassel will be forgotten once you start unpacking and making it your own.
House buying and selling never goes easy.
New carpet smell.....oh yeah, that's the best. Right up there with bread baking.
By
Crabby, at 9:53 AM
Thanks guys...we close tomorrow!!!
And milkmaid...I LOVE your avitar! Hotstuff!!! :)
By
Brandi, at 11:56 AM
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