We decided to buy a house

[Kimbear 53]

You know.... it didn't end there. Two or three weeks ago I heard a noise outside. I looked in the driveway and there was a Sheriff's Office vehicle. I went to the front door and there was no one there. I opened it and saw a bag hanging on the door handle. Inside was an eviction letter and a notice to appear in court. It was addressed to the former owners and/or current occupants. *sigh* I walked to the driveway to tell the officer that they didn't live here anymore but he/she was gone. I contacted our realtor who said he'd take care of it. My husband came home, picked up the documents, and took them over. Our realtor called the lawyer representing the bank. The same bank we had purchased the property from. He then followed up that conversation with an email. Days went by and we still hadn't heard back from the law firm. I sent a document to them with a copy of our deed showing we were the new, legal, owners. We just heard back from our realtor yesterday saying they had withdrawn the eviction and we should receive confirmation in the mail. It all boils down to the asset department not informing the legal department of the sale. Whatever. I just didn't want to come home to my belongings out on the curb and/or my house sealed against entry one day. And the fact that I wasn't getting a response from the law office was making me uneasy.

OMG ARE YOU SERIOUS??? i think i would just have a freakout after all you've been through. Don't think i could deal with that at all lol

[Kimbear 53]

yes, hoa's can be awesome if management is responsible and the scope of duties does not get whittled down as time goes by. what happened in our neighborhood is they started off doing a lot - and then mismanaged things so bad that there were service cuts every year with accompanying cost hikes.

i used to pay 125 a month back in 2003. today it is up to 210 and they do less than they used to. the playground for kids is gone (its a muddy pit now). they are no longer patching potholes in a timely manner. they no longer clean snow unless its 6 inches or more over a 24 hour period. and a few other things.

well so far the biggest issue i'm running into..my dogs. most of these so called HOA fees have pet limits and some even have weight restrictions..k umm #######. and after looking at so many houses only to see these rules...i'm a tad depressed. i mean we were looking at getting a new apartment but everywhere we looked it was over 1k for a 1 bedroom and again..issues with my dogs.

I really miss Canada right now..i miss my old house..in the country on 8 acres of land...in fact lately i'm missing alot of stuff about Canada..

[Krikit 1,165]

really miss Canada right now..i miss my old house..in the country on 8 acres of land...in fact lately i'm missing alot of stuff about Canada..

I feel you. (((((((Hugs))))))))

[Kimbear 53]

Ok i gotta say after a week waiting for pre approval paperwork, realtors to call me back etc..i'm kinda annoyed.

so far no one has gotten in touch with me..and after 3 emails to my bank all i get is a generic letter ??

does America not give you a pre-approval letter with estimated closing costs, a locked in rate for 60 days with a ton of details based on the amount you want to borrow for a mortgage loan?

back in canada i would bounce these between banks like scotia td and Bank of Montreal to get the best rates.

how the EFFFFFF am i supposed to negotiate this?

America..your banking system SUCKS!!!!

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Ok i gotta say after a week waiting for pre approval paperwork, realtors to call me back etc..i'm kinda annoyed.

so far no one has gotten in touch with me..and after 3 emails to my bank all i get is a generic letter ??

does America not give you a pre-approval letter with estimated closing costs, a locked in rate for 60 days with a ton of details based on the amount you want to borrow for a mortgage loan?

back in canada i would bounce these between banks like scotia td and Bank of Montreal to get the best rates.

how the EFFFFFF am i supposed to negotiate this?

America..your banking system SUCKS!!!!

Sure - pre-aprrovals are normal, we got one and we looked at a couple lenders

[Flames9_RN 358]

I'm sure others are more in the know as we stopped looking for houses last Summer when we relaized we were moving. But we called like 4 banks and received good faith estimates via email---Didnt take that long. We interviewed 4 Realtors and the one we went with usually called back/emailed right away.

What I disliked about the system here---is that once you get a rate, and it goes down, its seems to be harder to get that lower interest rate before you close! In canada (at least in my experiences) if the rate went down, it was a gimme that you got the lower interest rate. Wasn't the case here.

SunTrust gave us the best Mortgage rates//closing costs when we bought our condo and again when we refinanced. Best of luck

[Hugglebuggles 60]

I really don't think it should take that long Kimbear! Are you having a hard time hearing back from Realtor's? You'd think they would be all over the oppertunity to make money.

We bought our house last year, and things moved pretty fast. The time between our first phone call to our lender and the first day of looking at houses was about 3 days. We called the Realtor first, because it was someone we knew, and a person that my husband worked with before. He recommended a few different lenders, and it came together really fast.

We definitely had a letter with a breakdown of everything when we started the house hunting. I think that's important to have before making a move. Everything from projected closing costs, to the projected interest rate, to estimated insurance costs (which was really wrong ) and then a projected monthly payment. We actually didn't lock into our interest rate until about a week before closing, which was nice because it went down a full percentage between the time we got the approval and our closing date.

The banking system in the US has always confused me. I call my husband my banker because he navigates everything for me. He's also the mailman, the tax man, my IT guy and our mechanic...

[Moosker 7]

Demand a "GFE" aka Good Faith Estimate. Our realtor told us to do this and when Bank of America said they didn't, she said - that's a lie, they have to! And we went to 2 other companies who provided us with it. BofA has a lot of fees and the GFE would show it. If those banks won't give you one, then move on.

[Flames9_RN 358]

I think by law the4y have to provide a GFE!! A good deal on the phone or email, may look totally different then a GFE!! It shouldn't if they are an honest company!!

I played hockey a few yrs with a fellow that owned a small mortgage company! He verbally gave me a great rate! But when he sent me the GFE, he wasn't even in the ballpark! He had various fees, had to buy points, etc etc. Its like when we bought our 2011 CRV, salesmen told me, everyone pays pretty much the same price within a few hundred $$$--NOT! lol

[Kimbear 53]

ok little update..

finally after a week i got something from my bank called a "closing cost worksheet" which looks to me like a GFE although they insist it is not a GFE, but whatever, it has amounts on it and the interest rate she verbally gave us 4.5 is not on it. in fact the APR (which i believe is what i should pay attention to right?? ) is 5.611.

after waiting for realtors to get back to me which they didn't (cough century 21, and remax), i went on the redfin site and browsed the forums. Well, i found a realtor who is in my area and works the areas i'm intrested in posting quite a bit there. so i got in touch with her and within an hour i had not only a phone call from her but also an email!

This realtor is from Coldwell Bankers, and that very night after our phone call, she sent me 24 listings to look at which we narrowed down to about 6 or 7. She also suggested i call her mortgage lender and as it turns out he seems great as well. so i emailed all my docs to him to see what his figures are, and he is a fountain of information, in fact both he and the realtor are!

i have been having no issue in bouncing questions off on both of them and getting quick timely replies and explanations to things i did not understand. both of these people have made me feel much more at ease and confident in their abilities to help me find my house.

Now i'm just waiting for my realtor to get back to me on all these subdivision rules regarding my two dogs, so i can make appointments to see these houses.

[Krikit 1,165]

Glad to hear you're finally getting results, Kimbear! Have fun on the search.

[Moosker 7]

That's awesome kimbear! Glad you found redfin (love that site) and a great realtor. Having a realtor on your side really makes you feel better about the whole process, it's daunting!

Definitely go to another bank and get a pre-approval. I was told by our realtor that you can get a few "quotes" (aka preapprovals) from different banks within about a 30 day period and it doesn't reflect hits on your credit, because it's all for a mortgage and it shows clearly you're shopping around.

Edited March 22, 2011 by Moosker

[Kimbear 53]

Moosker, your right, i checked equifax i believe it was, and they said as long as all the credit checks are done same time frame for the same thing it wont affect my credit. But i thik they said 14 days.

Anyways, my issue is that in order to do an FHA and use the govt grant in Illinois i have to chose an approved lender for both. in my area there are only 55 fha lenders and out of those only 3 are approved with the illinois hud for the "SMARTMOVE" loan.

Just waiting on the answer from the third one. I just wish each lender used the same costs and same terminology for them. They really need to simplify that for homebuyers.

I'm just worried that the closing costs are going to be way more than what i'm seeing on these. So far they already differ about 2.5 - 3k between the two estimates i got.

[Moosker 7]

I'm guessing you told them how much you have as a down payment, correct? They figure that in. So if you have X amount, they work that all into the final closing costs and how much you can afford. I think you should be okay. Our closing costs total were I think $1,500 more than our down payment. Also, remember you can work with the sellers on them paying closing costs! Our sellers agreed to pay half. Ask a million questions if you have to, if you're a first timer, they should know they have to answer a ton of questions!

[Kimbear 53]

50 houses later...i am still not allowed to buy one...

buyers market my butt...they either want cash, a diff loan, or its not acceptable under my loan, or some other bs #######. sigh.