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Update nov 2—I think we sold our house


Scarlett
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17 hours ago, maize said:

Rent is often at least as if not more expensive than buying, eating up any money that could go towards a down payment.

 

If I could qualify, buying would be less expensive than renting my area. I got a house that works for us, but rents have gone sky high in my area. A smaller, older house with zero renovations near me just rented for $400 more than my rental. Mine is a bit retro, but has a new roof, furnace, and some appliances.

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We lived overseas from 2003 to 2006.  We moved back in mid 2006.  I was shocked at the signs we were seeing when looking for a rental home in coastal FL.  The developers has signs advertising stuff like no credit check, no down payment, etc, etc,  Now we had bought both of our previous homes at that time with no down payment-VA loans, but they sure checked our credit, income, debts, etc,.  I was telling the kids that this was not going to end well with these kinds of risky lending. And of course, it didn't. 

Now as many of you are saying, they always wanted to approve us to buy higher cost homes.  We have only ever bought what we could afford and was less than the typical percentage for housing than banks expected.  Therefore, we have always been paying more to pay down the loan faster.

Oh and as to closing costs, we always had the owners pay most of those but because of that, we didn't lowball the offers we made.  Like for the house we have now we paid almost asking price but they did cover closing costs, and they put in a needed component to the house (radon reducing system) that cost many thousands of dollars.  

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3 hours ago, TravelingChris said:

We lived overseas from 2003 to 2006.  We moved back in mid 2006.  I was shocked at the signs we were seeing when looking for a rental home in coastal FL.  The developers has signs advertising stuff like no credit check, no down payment, etc, etc,  Now we had bought both of our previous homes at that time with no down payment-VA loans, but they sure checked our credit, income, debts, etc,.  I was telling the kids that this was not going to end well with these kinds of risky lending. And of course, it didn't. 

Now as many of you are saying, they always wanted to approve us to buy higher cost homes.  We have only ever bought what we could afford and was less than the typical percentage for housing than banks expected.  Therefore, we have always been paying more to pay down the loan faster.

Oh and as to closing costs, we always had the owners pay most of those but because of that, we didn't lowball the offers we made.  Like for the house we have now we paid almost asking price but they did cover closing costs, and they put in a needed component to the house (radon reducing system) that cost many thousands of dollars.  

And we would have been fine with that. 

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On 8/21/2019 at 11:50 PM, Seasider too said:

As far as needing to document where your downpayment money came from - they need to verify that you weren’t given money by a friend or relative in a casual loan, because that “loan” would then have to be calculated into the debt ratio, which the lender uses to figure out if/how much of a loan you qualify for. 

This must vary by lender or geographically because I don't remember having to show anything but a pay stub for DH (which, technically we didn't have because he was changing jobs). No bank statements, no explanation if where the down payment was coming from, nada. I vaguely recall the pay stub thing for our first house (which would have been mine since that's what our mortgage was based on because DH was in the military & not living with me at the time).

My brother bought a house sometime after that in another part of the US and asked us for a loan to cover some of the down payment. I don't think his lender asked for where the down payment money was coming from  (although who knows since we didn't provide it). His was a stupid situation where the house wasn't worth what they were willing to pay for it & the first appraisal said that. Idiots that my bro & his wife (now ex-) were, instead of using that to lower the asking price, their real estate agent found an appraiser to do a 2nd one that matched their offer. #^$@%! They were way underwater on that house when they divorced.

So I think each lender must have their own policies...

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5 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

This must vary by lender or geographically because I don't remember having to show anything but a pay stub for DH (which, technically we didn't have because he was changing jobs). No bank statements, no explanation if where the down payment was coming from, nada. I vaguely recall the pay stub thing for our first house (which would have been mine since that's what our mortgage was based on because DH was in the military & not living with me at the time).

My brother bought a house sometime after that in another part of the US and asked us for a loan to cover some of the down payment. I don't think his lender asked for where the down payment money was coming from  (although who knows since we didn't provide it). His was a stupid situation where the house wasn't worth what they were willing to pay for it & the first appraisal said that. Idiots that my bro & his wife (now ex-) were, instead of using that to lower the asking price, their real estate agent found an appraiser to do a 2nd one that matched their offer. #^$@%! They were way underwater on that house when they divorced.

So I think each lender must have their own policies...

 

Not just the lender but the type of loan.  The types of loan that get better interest rates also generally require more documentation.

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10 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

Holy cow! I just looked up current interest rates for mortgages. I didn't realize they are so low. I thought we had a good rate back in the day (under 5% APR), but there are a few at 3.25% APR. Crazy talk!

Yep.  Which is why we would like to sell now and buy the house in town that we found.  

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Reading through some older posts in this thread and I have a question.

We’re kind of figuring on buying an(ther) house or land and construction in a year or so. It’d all be on dh’s finances, since I don’t work.  But the vast majority of “his” money gets transferred to my bank account and I move it around to where it needs to go (in his, mine, and our names.). Are they going to want to look at my stuff, too?  Because it’s going to give them a major headache, lol.

We did buy our house with a low down payment, fwiw. It was far from a terrible decision for us.  If we expected to see through a 30 yr mortgage it might be, but that’s never been the intent.  Frankly, being in such a crummy market, I’m glad we haven't had more money tied up in this place.

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2 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

Reading through some older posts in this thread and I have a question.

We’re kind of figuring on buying an(ther) house or land and construction in a year or so. It’d all be on dh’s finances, since I don’t work.  But the vast majority of “his” money gets transferred to my bank account and I move it around to where it needs to go (in his, mine, and our names.). Are they going to want to look at my stuff, too?  Because it’s going to give them a major headache, lol.

We did buy our house with a low down payment, fwiw. It was far from a terrible decision for us.  If we expected to see through a 30 yr mortgage it might be, but that’s never been the intent.  Frankly, being in such a crummy market, I’m glad we haven't had more money tied up in this place.

Yes, they will look at both of your finances.  Don't worry about it being messy, that is what they do for a living.

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We bought both of our homes using a VA loan and $0 down. We don't consider either of those a mistake at all. We were gifted closing costs on first home and used the profits from the sale of first home to pay closing costs on current home. We purchased this one four years ago and have a 3.25% interest rate. We knew we wouldn't be staying in either home forever. This home will just be for about four more years and right now is valued at quite a bit more than we owe. 

Of course, we also didn't listen to either of our lenders about how much house we could afford. We knew realistically we could afford much less than what they told us.

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On 11/2/2019 at 1:11 PM, Tap said:

Yes, they will look at both of your finances.  Don't worry about it being messy, that is what they do for a living.

I don’t think that’s true.  When we’ve bought homes, they only look into the finances of the applicant(s).  Sometimes I applied with dh if we needed my assets for the mortgage.  Last one only he applied, and they only looked at his financials.  So he is on the mortgage.  We are both on the deed.  You can have just dh apply for the mortgage in your case and not worry about your stuff.

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3 minutes ago, matrips said:

I don’t think that’s true.  When we’ve bought homes, they only look into the finances of the applicant(s).  Sometimes I applied with dh if we needed my assets for the mortgage.  Last one only he applied, and they only looked at his financials.  So he is on the mortgage.  We are both on the deed.  You can have just dh apply for the mortgage in your case and not worry about your stuff.

But if his finances are going into her account they will have to look at that account to see where his money goes.  We dealt with this last year when we bought a house.  Dh was the only one on the mortgage so they didn't need to see any of my income but in our savings account is in my name only.  They did need to see that because his money was going into it.

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1 hour ago, Seasider too said:

 

Hmmm. Perhaps someone got their Thursdays mixed up. Maybe it was last Thursday, not next Thursday. IME foreclosure actions can go fast,  but not until they legally repossess the house, which they shouldn’t do until the actual advised date to the mortgage holder  

Call her and tell her to bring back your money and contract to tear up, you’re dealing with the wrong seller now. 

ETA call your bank (or use your mobile app) and stop payment on that check ASAP. At least that’s what I’d do in your shoes. She doesn’t have clear title to the house. 

ETA2 ok admittedly saying you should tear up the contract may be premature action, but in your shoes, I’d be up with the sun to figure out who it is that actually owns the right to sell that property to you.  

Well if she doesn’t still own it she can’t sell it to me so I am not worried about tearing up a contract.  I am not a bit worried about that part.  I am worried that red tape will somehow make it impossible to stop he foreclosure in which case we won’t be getting this house.  Everyone.....our buyers, the seller and us and all our friends are certainly on pins and needles.  Hopefully we will get some answers tomorrow.  

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1 hour ago, Seasider too said:

 

Hmmm. Perhaps someone got their Thursdays mixed up. Maybe it was last Thursday, not next Thursday. IME foreclosure actions can go fast,  but not until they legally repossess the house, which they shouldn’t do until the actual advised date to the mortgage holder  

Call her and tell her to bring back your money and contract to tear up, you’re dealing with the wrong seller now. 

ETA call your bank (or use your mobile app) and stop payment on that check ASAP. At least that’s what I’d do in your shoes. She doesn’t have clear title to the house. 

ETA2 ok admittedly saying you should tear up the contract may be premature action, but in your shoes, I’d be up with the sun to figure out who it is that actually owns the right to sell that property to you.  

 Winterizing stickers were dated 10/19.  She said she had last been there 3 weeks ago.  

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2 minutes ago, BusyMom5 said:

Are you going thru an abstract office?  That's who holds the earnest money where I live- not the seller.   

 

I guess start making calls Monday morning- hope it works out for you!

Yes the earnest money check is made out  to Abstract office.  Not worried about getting scammed or losing our earnest money....just worried about the foreclosure.  

I actually gut trust this seller more than our buyers.  

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1 hour ago, matrips said:

I don’t think that’s true.  When we’ve bought homes, they only look into the finances of the applicant(s).  Sometimes I applied with dh if we needed my assets for the mortgage.  Last one only he applied, and they only looked at his financials.  So he is on the mortgage.  We are both on the deed.  You can have just dh apply for the mortgage in your case and not worry about your stuff.

Maybe state and lender specific. Since the money is transfered into her account and bills paid out of it, a lender will want to see where the money goes. If all the expenses were paid out of his account they can see the ebb/flow of money that would be different.  

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The seller texted me last night and told me she logged on to her mortgage account and it shows her in default but not in foreclosure.  And she said if she needs to make payments to catch up to stop for closure she is prepared to do that.  So I am feeling fairly hopeful.  But still nervous.  

I think someone just jumped the gun on winterizing....or maybe even did it early because they knew it was vacant ( she told them that back in July) and we did have several nights of low 30 temps.  They did not change the front door lock.....so that tells me they weren’t trying to keep the seller out yet.  They did bore out the back door dead bolt but didn’t replace it...they only replaced the door knob lock which is rather annoying because it is not near as secure now.  

They also BADLY mowed the lawn....worst job I have ever seen.  Oh and they padlocked the gates around the pool.  

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21 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

Your home stress is stressing me out 😂 I hope it’s just in default and someone was quick to winterize before any damage could happen.  Remind me again why this property is such a good fit for you?  Is it location? Size?

I am hoping for the very best for you and your husband from this, and no more shenanigans from your own buyers 🤞

 

The location is wonderful.  Closer to dhs work by at least 15 minutes, 5 minutes to my parents, 2 minutes to Wm, lol...and the neighborhood is really really nice. I think the nicest neighborhood in this small town.. 1/2 acre lot, in ground pool, lots of trees, a detached Building that has power and water and 1/2 bath and with very little work could be made into a rental. 2000 sf. 3/2/2...

And the price is just unbelievable.  She basically dumped it to avoid messing with it since she lives an hour away.  And because she can’t afford the payment and utilities...

It does need some work to even move in....popcorn pulled down and ceilings re textured.  New carpet ( carpet is only in the 3 bedrooms) and all interior painted.  But structurally everything is fine.  The pool has been cared for...opened and closed and cared for by professionals...not since he died though.,,so it is a bit of a mess right now....

The biggest things I don’t like are the lack of natural light....and there is no way to really fix that.....one west facing window could be made bigger but beyond that it really is just what it is...and the kitchen is dated and closed in. But in good shape....in contrast to my current kitchen which is very open but needs a complete gut job. Current kitchen is in horrible shape.  New house kitchen can be fixed by knocking down a wall between kitchen and living room and taking over the space where a small eating area is now....(there is another ‘formal’ dining area). But that project will have to wait.  In the meantime I only ask that a cabinet that is over the bar be removed as I hate leaning down to see people on the other side of the bar. But that will be a small project that can be done before we move in. 

The tile in kitchen and hallway and entry way is dated and poorly installed but I can live with it for a good while.  This house does need some work, but it is a very very far cry from this fixer we have now when we first got it.  

And the master bedroom is huge....but has a funky design of the sink being open to the bedroom..."probably can put a wall up but that isn’t a priority.  Both bathrooms have tub shower combo units....I will so so miss my custom zero entrance walk in shower that Dh built for me.  

We are very excited......:)

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