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House Hunting

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  • edited December 2012
    http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/apa/3476171914.html Wanna rent a home in the Philadelphia suburbs! :-p
    Post edited by Cremlian on
  • Before you EVEN attempt to buy a house move all your money into one account that will be doing the buying.. My Zeus it's been a pain in the neck getting all our weird accounts to transfer or communicate with each other effectively in the last week or so before settlement.
  • Before you EVEN attempt to buy a house move all your money into one account that will be doing the buying.. My Zeus it's been a pain in the neck getting all our weird accounts to transfer or communicate with each other effectively in the last week or so before settlement.
    You have a car so there is an easy solution. Go to all the bank branches where you have accounts and get cashier's checks. Then deposit them by hand into the one account.
  • edited January 2013
    Except online banks. like Smarty PIG, USAA and Life insurance accounts.
    Post edited by Cremlian on
  • Not so simple Scott. Once you start moving money around the bank treats you like a money launderer.

    My mortgage company told me to send them a bank statement when my balance was highest. Then they asked for a signed and dated letter asking me to explain why my current balance was so much higher than my average balance!
  • Not so simple Scott. Once you start moving money around the bank treats you like a money launderer.

    My mortgage company told me to send them a bank statement when my balance was highest. Then they asked for a signed and dated letter asking me to explain why my current balance was so much higher than my average balance!
    Yea that too, is a HUGE pain in the ass but I understand why it's there.
  • VA appraiser went through yesterday. Bank gets to pay to rewinterize house.
  • Yea for example one of our issues, was we had an account on a saving goal bank with decent interest rates (it's a online) thing, the issue is it can only transfer funds back to the account it was drawing from which was from an account that was also only online and then we need a banker check from that so we need to then transfer it to a local account... WE originally thought we would be able to transfer from the saving goal bank to the local bank directly not realizing that money had to have been transferred to the saving goal account from that EXACT bank for it to be able to receive the money.....(to do it quickly otherwise it would take 5 or 6 business days) This all wouldn't be a problem if our Loan Agent advised us not to move the money till after most of the mortgage account checking was done about 2 days ago. Now attempting to get it all together with less then a week of business days is kinda annoying. The solution right now is to have the saving goal bank WIRE the money to the other online bank, which then cuts a banker's check and FED EX it to us.....Paperless society my ass :-p
  • edited January 2013
    I just said fuck it to multiple accounts across different banks. The ROI is just not big enough right now for me to bother. If I could boost my savings a couple percentage points maybe, but the difference between my regular savings and the best I can find on the net is 0.5%.
    Post edited by George Patches on
  • Just locked in my rate at 3.25%. Now waiting to see if two things the VA appraiser found are going to delay my closing : peeling paint and back steps have no railing.
  • Settled on the house yesterday! at 3.25% soooo nice. They almost make it worthwhile to not pay the mortgage off early at that rate since you can probably invest money and make more.
  • Settled on the house yesterday! at 3.25% soooo nice. They almost make it worthwhile to not pay the mortgage off early at that rate since you can probably invest money and make more.
    Congratulations!
  • Settled on the house yesterday! at 3.25% soooo nice. They almost make it worthwhile to not pay the mortgage off early at that rate since you can probably invest money and make more.
    That is supremely awesome. Congrats sir.

  • Pass some of that closing luck my way!
  • Looks like peeling paint on the window trim is going to screw me out of buying a house.
  • how is that?
  • Peeling paint is a deal killer for VA loans. House is owned by Freddie Mac and being sold as-is. Add in freezing temps and the odds on trim being scraped and painted prior to sale are near zero.
  • *Knows nothing about buying houses*
    You can't just claim it a "fixer upper" and say you'll paint it yourself? :/ I don't get it, peeling paint doesn't seem like a big deal... *again, knows nothing about buying houses*
  • Normally yes. My Atty even asked if this could be dealt with later via a credit on price or an escrow account. Lender said no, must be repaired prior to closing.

    My Realtor suspects that because the appraisal came in low ($117K) that the lender is trying to get out of the deal by throwing up insurmountable obstacles. I don't see how appraisal could have come in that low the house is assessed for over $170K and that is only 70% of expected sale price.

    Question is; did appraisal come in low due to collusion between appraiser and lender or did low appraisal lead to lender making things difficult for me?
  • edited January 2013
    Yeah I don't think appraisals are always "correct," maybe something fishy was going on. When my parents went through bankruptcy and had to get their house appraised, the appraiser was sympathetic to my parent's situation and purposefully assessed it to be way on the low end. (So it would be worth too little to the bank and they wouldn't lose it). *shrug*
    Still, complaining about peeling paint is stupid. I don't understand how a low appraisal would offend/worry them. Maybe that they would give you the loan and somehow the house would fall apart and they'd not get their money back... or something? I dunno, I'd say "Ok buttface, say goodbye to all my moneys" and walk away :-P

    Edit: I know I'm eventually going to buy a house one day, so I try to pay attention to this stuff. HGTV makes it seem so easy. :-P
    Post edited by Lyddi on
  • Did you read the Appraisal? Why did it come in so low, honestly appraisals are just a scam unless you pay for them yourself, the bank goes in and just makes sure it hits 10% above or below selling price, otherwise they have to fill out lots of paper work (if it's above) or if they want to kill the loan (if it appraises too low) Why not come back to the seller and see if they will drop the asking price. Since they are going to have problems if it is going to appraise that low. I think the house I bought appraised the max above the selling price they could do without having to fill out paper work :-p
  • They refuse to give me a copy of the appraisal until after they receive a notice of value. I will be calling VA today because something is seriously wrong here.
  • Go commando, get a bunch of friends and some spot lights, go painting in the middle of the night.
  • No house for me.
  • d'oh are you able to go through a non-va loan sometimes you get better rates and probably don't have to deal with as much BS?
  • No. Then I would be stuck with PMI. Judging by the appraisal it doesn't matter because they are cherry picking properties as comparable (size) while ignoring the condition. I.e. a house that has burst pipes and needs major work is going to sell for less than the same house in move in condition but that is not noted on the appraisal.
  • edited January 2013
    Yea, PMI sucks, I've managed to put 20% down both times I bought houses just to avoid PMI, fortunately in both cases the houses appraised for more then what I was paying so in my first house they let me use the difference of the appraisal value against the 20% which made it easier for my living at home self to afford. This time around I pretty much wiped myself out, 20% on 260k is a lot of liquid cash. (House appraised at 280k)
    Post edited by Cremlian on
  • I think what is happening is that VA lenders are not interested in offering 100% loans even though 100% financing is possible under VA rules. Because of the price point I am looking at closing costs are about 10% of the price of the home.

    When I get to work I'm going to look at my 401K and the rules it has on using the money to buy a home.
  • That sucks Steve. I just have one one thing to say, "Never assume malice for something that can be equally explained with stupidity." :P Better luck next time. ;)
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