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Uggh, everything was lining up perfectly for me to close on my house Thursday morning. I just got a call from my real estate agent that it's been pushed to Friday since the sellers haven't been able to get an appraisal on the house that they're moving into. Looks like I may be renting my house to them for the time being. wahhhhhhhh edit: Realistically it's ok because I can't get out of my lease until the end of June anyway, but I was hoping to have them out of there as soon as possible. edit 2: Also thank you for this thread, it's been pretty helpful.
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May 25, 2010 18:22
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Yeah, my close kept getting pushed a day, and then another day, etc. due to lost paperwork, the bank taking longer to fund for no explicable reason, it just dragged on. It's to be expected. If your purchase is dependent on the seller's purchasing timing, that's two sets of sales to stack on top of each other, and therefore twice as much chance of things coming up that cause delays. Don't worry though. Three months from now you'll barely remember what day you closed on, it'll all be insignificant.
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May 25, 2010 18:51
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TheWevel posted:Uggh, everything was lining up perfectly for me to close on my house Thursday morning. I just got a call from my real estate agent that it's been pushed to Friday since the sellers haven't been able to get an appraisal on the house that they're moving into. Looks like I may be renting my house to them for the time being. Two other guys from work and I are all buying houses. We were all supposed to close the first week of May. Guess what none of us have done yet? If you guessed "Close on the house" you would be correct.
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May 25, 2010 19:51
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So an update for those of you concerned about short sales from the seller's end... After about 3 months of brutal negotiations by all parties, a rejection, and about $1200 in HOA fees I'm throwing at the bank to make them more likely to help me, my short sale has finally pulled through. Closing is now in three weeks, which means I have to pay the lovely HOA fee again  The bank asked me to bring $5k to the table, $3k more from the sellers on top of them paying closing costs, and for the agent to take half commission. My agent negotiated me out of paying the $5k. My brother in law in the Phoenix area, on the other hand, had his close within 2 weeks despite him making a lot of money and having a sizeable bank account compared to me - my financial documents have me with about $2k in the bank (granted, like $60k in stock). The primary difference was that he didn't have PMI and we had similar loan-to-value ratio and similar income (the lender paid my PMI and I expected to keep the condo for 15+ years at least until I realized the HOA completely sucks and destroyed our property values more than the bust did). I still remember my closing day because it was the day everything started to gently caress up for me when almost everything has gone pretty swell. And now I can give a big, fat middle finger to Bank of America for making this so drat hard as I ride off a whole $90k lighter in the pocket for my troubles (my calculated cost of owning this abortion of a property). Beware anyone buying a shortsale property with BoA as the lender - your results will vary greatly.
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May 25, 2010 22:50
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necrobobsledder posted:Beware anyone buying a shortsale property with BoA as the lender - your results will vary greatly. Yeah, the lender that owns the mortgage on the short sale I am trying to close on is BOA. After we accepted their counter-offer, they re-countered a week later for a higher amount. They have yet to respond to emails, phone calls, and messages through the shithole that is Equator in over two weeks. If they do not figure their poo poo out within two or three weeks we are probably going to walk.
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May 26, 2010 03:14
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necrobobsledder posted:And now I can give a big, fat middle finger to Bank of America for making this so drat hard as I ride off a whole $90k lighter in the pocket for my troubles (my calculated cost of owning this abortion of a property).
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May 26, 2010 15:51
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They're getting paid $65k by the PMI company, which makes up all but about $30k from the price, which has been made up for by the interest payments I've made to them in these past few years. They've made money off me, period, and I've come out -$90k and they're maybe up about $5k. PMI protects the bank, not the consumer. I got it because the lender agreed to pay it, my family advisors said I should take the offer by the lender, and I had planned to keep the place a long time, so I preferred to keep as much liquid as possible for emergencies.
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May 26, 2010 22:13
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necrobobsledder posted:They're getting paid $65k by the PMI company, which makes up all but about $30k from the price, which has been made up for by the interest payments I've made to them in these past few years. They've made money off me, period, and I've come out -$90k and they're maybe up about $5k. PMI protects the bank, not the consumer. I got it because the lender agreed to pay it, my family advisors said I should take the offer by the lender, and I had planned to keep the place a long time, so I preferred to keep as much liquid as possible for emergencies. This doesn't account for all of the transaction costs, overhead, and most important opportunity cost since they loaned those dollars years ago and ended up getting the same amount back...
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May 27, 2010 00:32
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necrobobsledder posted:They're getting paid $65k by the PMI company, which makes up all but about $30k from the price, which has been made up for by the interest payments I've made to them in these past few years. They've made money off me, period, and I've come out -$90k and they're maybe up about $5k. PMI protects the bank, not the consumer. I got it because the lender agreed to pay it, my family advisors said I should take the offer by the lender, and I had planned to keep the place a long time, so I preferred to keep as much liquid as possible for emergencies. They're in the business of loaning out other people's money to you in their mortgages. 5k over 3 or 4 years is less than they're paying out in some of their savings accounts (I have one hovering around 1.15% APY), without factoring in any of the other transaction costs.
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May 27, 2010 03:59
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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May 27, 2010 16:49
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I've been in my condo for almost a year now; so far, so good. I paid 35k off the 75k mortgage, I expect to pay the rest within 3 years. My mortgage is a 6% interest 5/1 ARM. The reason the APR so much for an ARM from last year is because I'm in some kind of special portfolio for low-owner-occupancy complexes (40%). I called 20+ banks and this co-op was the only place that would give me the time of day, let alone a mortgage, with such a low owner occupancy. I was noticing that Fixed-Interest Home Equity Loans (around 5%), and HELOCs (4% right now due to 3.25 prime), both beat my interest rate. Is there any reason I shouldn't use one exclusively to pay off the rest of my mortgage? It seems like a great way to refinance without a heap of closing costs and hassle.
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May 30, 2010 00:22
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It's unlikely you'll find anyone to give you a HELOC that big on a condo. Especially with the low OO rate
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May 30, 2010 04:28
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I doubt you can get a home equity loan for more than $20k if you can get one at all - don't they usually have a maximum 80% LTV? If you can do that, and proceed to pay it off in three years, you're looking at saving a total of $650. Not nothing, but maybe not worth a lot of trouble either. All you people with sub-$200k mortgages make me jealous. I like my house and yard 5 minutes from downtown though.
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May 30, 2010 05:44
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skipdogg posted:It's unlikely you'll find anyone to give you a HELOC that big on a condo. Especially with the low OO rate A loan officer I talked to couldn't send me the HELOC paperwork fast enough when he ran my stats, but he also didn't ask for the OO rate. I'll see how that goes. You'd think the LTV wouldn't matter if I was promising to funnel it directly into the mortgage; that would instantly boost my equity after all. Again, that's a weird area. I think I was running the amortization calculator incorrectly before. I didn't realize I have, at worst, $3500 of tax deductable interest left to pay before I'm free and clear. My bank must want me dead, they're making so little off me. My place is also 5 minutes from downtown... just no backyard (I consider that a plus) and 500 square feet (huge after living on a ship for three years) 
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May 30, 2010 07:52
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Part of the reason why you won't get financing for most of those sorts of places with low owner occupancy is because you're basically now expected to be getting a loan as an investment property. Investment properties carry a lot different terms than your typical home loan partly because there's a lot higher risk of price instability because most of the homes exist to make the owner money and so you get a higher interest rate and so forth (in theory). I experienced this firsthand as an owner of a condo in a low owner occupied community - 50% of owners weren't just not in their condos, they weren't even in the country (another 20% still lived in the US). What happened is that renters took over, trashed the place, vandalized the amenities (or their unaccounted for guests), and property values mentally dropped. Once the investors saw what was going on in their absence, they all started selling it off, dropping values (on top of the terrible housing market in Seattle) about 25%, which erased the equities of those that even put in 20% before the boom (boom didn't hit Seattle until about late 2004). Sucks to have bought any of them, period - everyone lost except for those that sold at the height of the boom (a lucky 7 or so - 2 of them by the HOA president, sounds suspicious already, huh?).alreadybeen posted:This doesn't account for all of the transaction costs, overhead, and most important opportunity cost since they loaned those dollars years ago and ended up getting the same amount back...
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May 30, 2010 08:16
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necrobobsledder posted:And even if I had sold the property as a regular sale, they'd have been "hosed over" in some respects because I'd be cutting short the terms of the mortgage. Also, let's not forget that the new owners are getting a new mortgage, so somebody else comes along to take my spot in some respects. In fact, it is in the bank's best interest for me to keep paying interest as long as possible instead of paying down my principal, and I could have hosed them over just by paying off my mortgage so early. The contracted terms are for the bank to make a certain interest rate on the amount they have loaned out. If you pay it off early, they get to loan out that principal to other loans - same as if you had a regular sale. But with a short sale, they have to take the loss on the books for that year. They're only getting back more than they loaned you by a small amount, because that 5% or so interest you paid in over the previous two or three years has been completely erased by the shortfall now. They've mitigated their loss by requiring PMI, but make no bones about it, they're still at a considerable loss compared to someone paying off the entire amount.
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May 30, 2010 17:31
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Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I recently bought a house April 27th of this year. Now I'm trying to get the credit. I filled out form 5405, and I assume I'm supposed to file an amended 2009 tax return with form 1040X. Problem is, I'm 1040X stupid. I honestly don't know what I need to fill out on this form just to get the $8,000 credit. Do I just fill in #14 with 8000, and then line #21 with 8000? I already filed my taxes online ages ago with 1040EZ. Edit: Thanks, moana! Philthy fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Jun 3, 2010 |
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Jun 3, 2010 04:04
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I don't know the answer to that but the people over at the income tax thread will probably be able to help you out if you want to crosspost: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2649574
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Jun 3, 2010 04:10
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Ok, looking for advice: Mom died. She leaves behind a house that she owes 75k on and a 25k Equity loan. House prices in the area are (lol) at least 110,000. Can I just call the bank and tell them she's dead and not have to worry about trying to sell the place?
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Jun 4, 2010 15:56
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You should talk to an estate/trust attorney about this (if possible, the one who helped your mother with her will). They'll know the state laws about what you can and can't do. The only thing you might want to do yourself is having all the locks changed if you don't know who else has keys to the house, just in case. Are you the executor of the estate? My condolences on your mom's death. It's always hard to deal with minutiae after the passing of a loved one. Get help from your family and your attorney, and don't try to do it all alone. 
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Jun 4, 2010 16:34
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Hey guys, i'm closing on a house and i found a bank with a ridiculous rate (Example: 4.625 no points or 4.125 with 2 points ... 60 day lock... application fee (edit: aka origination fee) is like $600 or $700 i think?). They're one of the bigger banks in the country, but they have this promotion where they take .25 percentage interest rate off if you open a checking account with them. I'm kicking myself for not signing up with them sooner, but i had to get the tax credit by june 30th so i had to stick with the original bank i signed up with. I Just couldn't take the chance of congress extending the tax credit. Their rates beat even 30 day rate lock mortgage brokers In comparison, my current bank is offering 4.875 with no points and about the same application fee. PM me if you want the mortgage specialist's contact number (i'm not going to post their contact info in this thread). Mister Fister fucked around with this message at 12:59 on Jun 25, 2010 |
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Jun 25, 2010 00:40
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Anybody know in general how tight banks are being with listing prices vs. what they'll accept for a foreclosure? This is in Austin, Texas, and the house is owned by HOMECOMINGS FINANCIAL REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS LLC % LITTON LOAN SERVICING in Houston according to the tax records. They're asking $146,900. The house was appraised last year at $267,000 and all the neighboring houses are valued at $250,000-$350,000, so it's a good deal no matter what we pay but we obviously don't want to pay more than we have to. It needs a lot of cosmetic work (wallpaper, paint, flooring, appliances, door hardware: all that crap that makes a house look nice and modern) so the more we save on purchase price the more we can spend on kick-rear end home improvements. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with how low an offer we should start off with. The house has only been on the market for a month, so they're not to the point of being crazy desperate to get it off their books yet. Are they expecting to get list this early on, given the already huge discount, or would offering something like $140,000 pretty much guarantee us an acceptance? Would offering something like $125,000 or even $100,000 just make them not take us seriously? Do banks even negotiate, or are they just "this is our price, take it or leave it" and there's no back-and-forth? I've bought houses before, but never a foreclosure. With owners you have to be worried about offending them with low offers and stuff like that, but I don't how to begin to guess what kind of stuff the bank is thinking.
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Jun 25, 2010 01:48
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I Wish I Was posted:Anybody know in general how tight banks are being with listing prices vs. what they'll accept for a foreclosure? This is in Austin, Texas, and the house is owned by HOMECOMINGS FINANCIAL REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS LLC % LITTON LOAN SERVICING in Houston according to the tax records. I would talk to an agent that's handled these transactions before. I think your expectations are off base. If that house is a desirable area you can plan on it being sold way above asking price. Investors who have cash are watching the market carefully and will scoop that property up fast.
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Jun 25, 2010 04:11
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What banks will accept varies pretty wildly. Some properties they just don't budge on, some they will give a little bit. From what myself and some other couples have seen in the Atlanta area is they aren't in any big hurry to get rid of the houses they have on their books. I made a few offers of $120-125K on houses listed ~$140-150K and they didn't even give a counteroffer. Your realtor should have a good idea of what to offer that won't get immediately rejected and at least get you a counter. I Wish I Was posted:They're asking $146,900. The house was appraised last year at $267,000 and all the neighboring houses are valued at $250,000-$350,000, so it's a good deal no matter what we pay but we obviously don't want to pay more than we have to. If you haven't already, check what other houses are actually selling for, not assessments. Assessments are still very high off of the bubble because city/county governments aren't exactly rushing to lower their incoming tax revenues by re-assessing properties at realistic values. Inside Atlanta there are a ton of houses assessed at $250-350K that are listed at $150K, and are lucky to be worth that. They are impossible to sell inside city limits because you get a nice $800 mortgage payment but the high assessments tack on another $350-400/mo. Banks are too lazy to actually fight the high tax values and its not worth putting the effort into it as a home buyer unless there is gold buried underneath the floorboards.
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Jun 25, 2010 04:43
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My information while we were buying a forclosure was that some banks will negotiate and some wont; and some will list properties well above what they want for them with the expectation of negotiating, some will advertise a very low price with the expectation of getting multiple over-offers, and some name a fair price and stick to it. Also, at least here in California, my agent was not allowed to specifically recommend or indicate a dollar price for a house. He gave us tons of advice but he said it's illegal for an agent with an interest in the final price (because agents take a percentage commission on the sale) to suggest a dollar amount to their own clients. On the other hand, my loan broker had plenty of advice about pricing (his job was just to get us the best loan possible, and he's paid by the bank and not the client). I guess a lot of people shop for loans themselves but as FHA buyers we went with an FHA loan broker specialist dude, and we were very happy with the results (and the heaps of great advice we wouldn't have gotten otherwise). But on the gripping hand, everything depends on location and local market. What is true about what the banks are doing in one area may be false in another market, and the same goes for what prices are doing (rising, stable, falling), what buyers are doing (bidding up everything, trickling along, staying away while prices plummet), and what kinds of properties are going up for foreclosure. Mister Fister posted:Hey guys, i'm closing on a house and i found a bank with a ridiculous rate (Example: 4.625 no points or 4.125 with 2 points ... 60 day lock... application fee is like $600 or $700 i think?). Do the math carefully; a difference of .25 percent on a 100k 30 year loan is pretty small, in terms of monthly mortgage payments. Its more significant on a 300k loan... Also, what is an 'application fee'? There are a ton of fees involved in an actual mortgage but I don't recall seeing that one on ours.
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Jun 25, 2010 07:25
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Leperflesh posted:
Application fee = origination fee... lenders call it different things i guess. 1/4 of a percent is still something over the long term... that's like $13,000 difference over the life of my 30 year loan (on a 250k loan).
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Jun 25, 2010 12:57
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I Wish I Was posted:Are they expecting to get list this early on, given the already huge discount, or would offering something like $140,000 pretty much guarantee us an acceptance? Would offering something like $125,000 or even $100,000 just make them not take us seriously? Do banks even negotiate, or are they just "this is our price, take it or leave it" and there's no back-and-forth? I'm sure it's different in other areas, so just be prepared for anything! I wouldn't get attached to one house - it seems kind of like that in your post. If it's a great deal, expect other people to be bidding up the price. Don't be sad if you lose your first bid, that is just what happens sometimes. You'll find another one.
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Jun 25, 2010 16:02
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Mister Fister posted:Application fee = origination fee... lenders call it different things i guess. OK, gotcha. In my case, the origination fee was paid by my loan broker, out of his commission (paid by the banks to him), so from our buyer perspective, the only important consideration was the best rate. Pretty cool.) When you are figuring out whether paying points is worth it, you need to consider amortization schedules, and (if you are paying less than 20% down,) PMI. For example. Let's assume you are looking at a house for $250,000. You are putting a 10% down payment, and therefore financing $225k. Two points costs you $4.5k (I think it's based on financed amount, not total cost of the house, right? I forget. If I'm wrong, it's actually $5k.) In exchange for $4.5k, you save .25% on your mortgage rate. Looking at a amortization calculator, let's look at three cases; CASE 1: You pay no points, and get 4.625%. You keep your $4.5k in your pocket or spend it elsewhere. CASE 2: You pay 2 points, and get 4.125. Your $4.5k is gone (points are a fee). CASE 3: You pay no points, and get 4.624%. You add your $4.5k to your down payment, reducing the total amount financed to $220.5k. OK, here's the results: CASE 1: Your mortgage payments (not including tax, insurance, or PMI) are $1156.81. After 360 payments, you have paid a total of $416,451.60, of which $191,451.60 was interest. CASE 2: Your mortgage payments (not including tax, insurance, or PMI) are $1090.46. After 360 payments, you have paid a total of $392,565.60, of which $167,565.60 was interest. CASE 3: Your mortgage payments (not including tax, insurance, or PMI) are $1,133.68. After 360 payments, you have paid a total of $408,124.80, of which $187,624.80 was interest. So far, paying the points up front seems totally worth it. CASE 2 saves you $43.22 a month over CASE 3, and over the life of the mortgage, you save $15,559.20. But hold on. You paid 10% down, so you'll be paying PMI until you reach 20% equity. Between CASE 1 and CASE 2, that date is the same (assuming you don't make extra payments in CASE 2), but it's different for CASE 3 (because you actually put $29.5k down, which is 11.8% vs. 10% down in the other scenarios). Lets suppose your PMI works out to about $100 a month (a reasonable guesstimate). You will stop paying PMI when your equity hits $50,000 (20% of the original value of the house, $250k). In CASE 2, that happens after your 70th payment (12 payments per year); in CASE 3, that happens after your 64th payment. That means between Payment 64 and Payment 70, CASE 3 saves you another (6x$100) $600, in Year 6 of your ownership, in non-paid PMI fees. This number is of course different depending on how much you actually pay in down payment; the more you pay, the less you save in PMI by using your points as down payment, whereas if you are making a very small down payment, using the extra money for down payment instead of points saves you more. But wait, there is one more thing worth considering. Are you really going to keep the house for 30 years? Most people do not stay in their first house for the life of the loan. Much more likely, you'll be wanting to sell it at some point and move - maybe to a nicer house (because you're making more money and can afford one) or another location (change of career, family grows, looking for a better school district) or who knows. Paying points returns the most value if you stay in the house for 30 years. However much less time you keep the house, the less points make sense. Even comparing CASE 2 to CASE 1, you are saving $66.35 a month, so you won't make up that $4.5k in lower payments until your 68th payment (5 years 8 months)... plus $600 in extra PMI fees and that's another 9 months, for a total of 6 years 4 months to break even. If you sell your house after 6 years, you won't have made up the cost at all! Comparing CASE 2 to CASE 3, you are 'out' the $4.5k either way, but if you sell the house, you get your equity back out, so we still account for it; and it takes you until your 105th payment (8 years 8 months) before you make up that $4.5k in lower payments. So... do you think you might want to sell that house in less than 8 2/3 years? If so, you are better off with CASE 3 compared to CASE 2. And that's also not considering: you might save a little bit more off your taxes in CASE 1 or CASE 3 (because you pay more in deductible interest), and, inflation means money tomorrow is worth less than money today, so the slightly higher monthly payments down the road might be worth less than the $4.5k in your pocket (or in your equity) today. The numbers change depending on your down payment, the loan size, and the points. I'm assuming most people have gotten as far as comparing CASE 1 and CASE 2, but my intention here was to remind you that there is much more to consider than just the final number after 30 years. In your case it may still make tons of sense to pay points for the lower interest... only you can determine that, because only you know what your plans are in the long term. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Jun 25, 2010 |
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Jun 25, 2010 17:14
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moana posted:I'm sure it's different in other areas, so just be prepared for anything! I wouldn't get attached to one house - it seems kind of like that in your post. If it's a great deal, expect other people to be bidding up the price. Don't be sad if you lose your first bid, that is just what happens sometimes. You'll find another one. Yep, with foreclosures you really need to remain detached and have reduced expectations. The trouble is the bank has a loss figure on a foreclosed property that they are willing to accept, but you don't know what that is. If it's priced ridiculously low, they are trying to incite escalating bids. If it's priced between 15-25% off market price (and assuming there's not a lot wrong with it), then that's probably pretty close to their minimum acceptance point. Case in point, we found a foreclosure that had its price reduced from 230k down to 213k and then to 205k in the space of about 10 months. Average comp sales were 240-250k. They finally accepted an offer of 200k + 8000 in closing costs. So nothing as shocking as 50% off market (which will send investors/flippers into a frenzy), but still a solid 20% off market price.
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Jun 25, 2010 17:51
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new home, old colors, same Arsenal
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moana posted:This is how it worked with all of the foreclosures we bid on (in California): We'd make an offer. It didn't matter what the offer was, but after a few days or weeks (or probably months for some other people) we would get notice from the bank asking us to make our "highest and best" offer and then we'd send in the final amount we wanted to bid for. There was no negotiation involved here - it was just like bidding at an auction with a bunch of other people where you only get to bid once. We saw houses that started at $150k end up selling for $300k because the price was set artificially low to attract interest. One house we put a bid on had like 45 other bids. It's crazy. This house isn't up for any sort of bidding; it's just listed in MLS by a normal realtor. I've seen some listings that talk about bidding but this one doesn't. I just assumes that the offer process would work like any other house purchase, just you're negotiating with a bank and not an individual homeowner. Our realtor advised us against trying to buy houses listed as short sales because they're apparently a huge pain in the rear end, but she didn't say anything special about foreclosures. I've been generally dissatisfied with our realtor so far, and her lack of insight into this part of the process is not helping her case at all. How hard is it to fire your realtor after signing a listing agreement?
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Jun 26, 2010 21:52
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pimpslap posted:Yep, with foreclosures you really need to remain detached and have reduced expectations. The trouble is the bank has a loss figure on a foreclosed property that they are willing to accept, but you don't know what that is.
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Jun 27, 2010 01:22
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I Wish I Was posted:This house isn't up for any sort of bidding; it's just listed in MLS by a normal realtor. I've seen some listings that talk about bidding but this one doesn't. I just assumes that the offer process would work like any other house purchase, just you're negotiating with a bank and not an individual homeowner. Check the agreement - it should say whether you've agreed to have your realtor be your buyer's agent for all houses. I would venture to guess that if you just ask any other real estate agent, they'll be happy to let you know if you can fire your old one! And if anybody is in the San Diego market and wants a good agent, ours was awesome.
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Jun 27, 2010 01:40
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moana posted:Of course it will depend, but there isn't usually anything listed special about those foreclosures or the bidding process involved. Our agent was very knowledgeable and told us beforehand that that is how most of the bidding process works in our area even if it's not mentioned in the listing. Short sales on the other hand are a pain in the rear end. Yes, she is our buyer's agent as well as listing agent. My husband used her to find our current house back when he was single and remembered liking her, so we called her up for this. She's been really wishy-washy about everything though, never giving us an answer that made me feel confident that she knew what she was talking about. Our listing price is just what we came up with after spending some time on Zillow and looking at recent sales in our neighborhood. She gave us almost no guidance on that, and when we asked about fixing things she wouldn't give us a defi ite answer on whether things would help the house sell faster or increase price or anything; it was very "whatever y'all want to do." I've bought and sold houses before, but my mom always acted as my realtor so I'm not sure exactly how a professional is supposed to act. I'm in a different city and mom has let her license lapse, so I'm out on my own for the first time in this.
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Jun 27, 2010 02:17
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Ok, my GF and I have been househunting and we have settled on something that we like (a lot), a 1800+ ft^2 home built in 2005 that was bought for 200k and is now owned by fanny mae. Here's what I would like to know: the home falls under homepath, which basically means that it's bank owned, fanny mae owns the property and may also lend money if you qualify. Benefits: no mortgage insurance, up to 3.5% concessions, 3.5% down. I've been prequalified for the amount by my lender also does homepath. Here is what I want to know, for those of you that are in the know: is homepath worth it? I can't get a straight answer on this, I'm seeing APR's through google of over 5% and I know that over 30 years 1/2 percent can be gigantic, but I also know that no mortgage insurance might negate that. edit: I'm also hearing rumors that the 8000 dollar thing might be extended. If I buy now, can I still get it? edit2: nevermind, homepath doesn't look like it's worth it. I found a pretty good summary over the years and FHA is way better. peengers fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Jun 27, 2010 |
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Jun 27, 2010 03:44
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FHA has its own insurance program that is an alternative to PMI (mortgage insurance). It is generally much less expensive than PMI would be on a less-than-20%-down mortgage, but it is money, so it's worse than some sort of arrangement where you pay no PMI at all. Except that I'd be very skeptical of any 3.5% down, no PMI deal, because that would be very risky for the lender; I suppose it might fly if the government was paying for the PMI themselves (or, actually, guaranteeing the loan themselves, which is even better for the lender, but worse for the taxpayer). Good luck with that property you like (keep your fingers crossed, but be ready for disappointment too; it is best not to 'fall in love' before you know every detail, because you need to be clear-eyed about pitfalls).
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Jun 28, 2010 06:15
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Leperflesh posted:FHA has its own insurance program that is an alternative to PMI (mortgage insurance). It is generally much less expensive than PMI would be on a less-than-20%-down mortgage, but it is money, so it's worse than some sort of arrangement where you pay no PMI at all. Except that I'd be very skeptical of any 3.5% down, no PMI deal, because that would be very risky for the lender; I suppose it might fly if the government was paying for the PMI themselves (or, actually, guaranteeing the loan themselves, which is even better for the lender, but worse for the taxpayer). The homepath stuff works the way it does because the bank is the one selling the property and guaranteeing the loan. Turns out that their version of "insurance" is a higher APR, which in the long term is what makes it not worthwhile. quote:Good luck with that property you like (keep your fingers crossed, but be ready for disappointment too; it is best not to 'fall in love' before you know every detail, because you need to be clear-eyed about pitfalls). Thanks, I made an offer once before on a short sale before they got the level of notoriety that they have now. Believe me, I know what you mean. On a more positive note, the offer has been made and home inspection is tenatively scheduled for this upcoming thursday. Here's hoping that things go well.
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Jun 28, 2010 11:03
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peengers posted:edit: I'm also hearing rumors that the 8000 dollar thing might be extended. If I buy now, can I still get it? quote:Homebuyers would get an extra three months to complete their purchases and qualify for a generous tax credit under a bill overwhelmingly passed by the House on Tuesday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38003340/ns/business-real_estate/
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Jun 29, 2010 23:39
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peengers posted:Benefits: no mortgage insurance, up to 3.5% concessions, 3.5% down. Best regards, Disaffected Homeowner
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Jun 29, 2010 23:54
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gvibes posted:If you can only put 3.5% down, should you really be buying a house? I can put way more than 3.5% down but I'm not. Best regards, Thanks for Posting.
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Jun 30, 2010 03:12
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IndyPunkOne posted:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38003340/ns/business-real_estate/ Not what I'm talking about. It's not an extension to complete the purchase but an extension for the program itself.
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Jun 30, 2010 03:13
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