::Ouch…think I pulled a muscle patting myself on the back::
This is a big deal for me given that my credit record was so screwed after college and job prospects not panning out very well back then that I thought this is something I’d never be able to do.
Some things that stood out during this experience:
We (my wife and I) sat down at the title corporation and are surrounded by 5 people in power suits. Our attorney, the seller’s attorney, the title agent, the mortgage agent and our realtor. The people participating by phone (calls to the seller, mortgage agency, etc). Having taken the day off my wife and I dressed casual (jeans). While nobody had issue with anything it wasn’t fun feeling like a schlepp in front of these people.
I should have soaked my hand in ice water before going to the closing. NEVER have I had to sign so much crap in my life at one time. 2+ hours of almost nothing more than signing my name (literally).
The CRAP they make you sign. For example I ask, “What’s this paper I’m signing now?” They answer, “That paper says that you signed that other piece of paper.” (no joke)
A sneeking suspicion creeps into your head that you could be signing away your first born child and not have a clue. Granted, our attorney was there to protect us from that sort of thing. Also, a good portion of the billion sheets of paper we signed are pretty much generic crap EVERYBODY signs but my dad is an attorney and I have been admonished my whole life to NEVER sign ANYTHING you haven’t read. Of course, if I read everything I signed we’d still be there 24 hours later and that assumes I could even decipher the legal mumbo jumbo in those documents.
All in all an interesting experience. Now I have to face moving which I loathe beyond almost all other things. I can’t wait to get that behind me and settle in to the place I will soon call home.
Yep, buying a house is one experience, like childbirth, that everyone should deal with. I would not have felt out of place with the way I was dressed if I were you, you are the one with the money, they should have been kissing up to you. I remember going through the same thing when I bought my house two years ago. Only difference is it was just my lawyer and me. And she asked me if I wanted a drink before I got started. She made it a pleasant experience, thank goodness. And look what you have now!
And that is the highway robbery that takes place during a house sale. Everybody and their brother climbs out of the woodwork to grab a piece of the pie. My wife and I figured our finances and what we could afford. No problems and we found a place we’re very pleased with.
What we did not expect is the THOUSANDS of dollars needed to seal the deal. The great city of Chicago nicely charges $7.50 per thousand dollar value of the sale for ‘title transfer’. That’s bullshit cuz they don’t do a thing. The title company charges several hundred dollars for ‘title transfer’ as well but at least they actually do a little work. How about ‘courier fess’? We never once had ANYTHING couriered ANYWHERE. Doesn’t matter, it’s a standard charge. I guess passing the paper down the table counted for the courier charge.
The crap goes on and on. Some people work for and earn their money others are just gouging (ala the City of Chicago). In the end however it is shocking the amount of money laid out to achieve the sale.
Congratulations Jeff. It’s a PITA, but worth it. I know what you mean about signing all that crap. I bought my first home last October. Luckily, I spent seven years in the army learning to sign anything that was put in front of me so closing was no problem.
Congratulations Jeff and Mrs. Jeff!! My husband and I bought our first house in December and it’s the best thing we ever did. I remember having to sign all that stuff but it was definitely worth every minute of the agony!
Enjoy the new home! I hope you have a little money left over because there’ll be things you just can’t live without now that you’re a homeowner.
Not only is there no way to really read all of that paper at the closing, but: before my wife and I bought the present Firefly residence, I asked if it would be possible to look at the papers the day before. No way, I was told. (I can’t remember the reason.) Everything worked out OK anyway.
Both times we bought a house, though, our realtors gave us a full run-down of the costs. Any surprises at either closing were down in the white noise: nothing out of the low two figures. I’m hoping you meant the ‘extra’ costs surprised you when you first found out about them (yes, they still bite), but that you knew about them well before the massive paper-signing ritual. (If not, never use that realtor again.)
I hope it’s a terrific house, that the roof doesn’t leak, and that the drainage is good. (Hopefully, your inspector checked #2 and #3 on that list.)
Congrats Jeff! It is a really neat grown-up thing to buy a house, we love ours, got it last year.
One thing that pissed me off though- I specifically asked the loan guy about closing costs, and he said they would be about $3000. They turned out to be over $8000! And we didn’t find out until the very last minute!
Now, this guy has been in the business a long time, and the idea that he wouldn’t know about how much my closing costs would be is absolute bullcrap. He just didn’t want us to find another lender. Needless to say, the next time we buy a house, everyone from the previous party will be in on it except for this asshole.
Other than that, loved it. Our realtor was actually my hubby’s teacher in HS, so we know he’s an honest, straight-forward guy, even waiving his fees for us and just taking the fees from the sellers.
Yes…we knew of all closing costs ahead of time. In fact, the closing costs turned out to be a bit (a very small bit) cheaper than we were told. We were told to bring a check for more than the closing costs as I guess some last minute gotchas are to be expected. The title agency cut us a check on the spot for the difference between the cashiers check we gave them and the final amount.
Nope…everyone we worked with did real well. If you’re ever buying in Chicago I’d happily recommend the folks we worked with.
That said the one thing that did catch us (and catch us BIG) we’re our property taxes. When we bought the place the taxes seemed low, even to our attorney and realtor. They checked into it though and the taxes were right on. Three days before closing the City of Chicago released its new appraisal of our property increasing our taxes by 800%! (Yes…800%…that is not a typo) Needless to say our homeowners association will hire an attorney to fight this but it MAJORLY sucks. We expected the taxes to go up but geez!
You betcha party at my place! (Although I had best check with Mrs. Jeff ahead of time) We live in a pretty rockin neighborhood of Chicago too…plenty of bars within walking distance. There’s another thread around here about an upcoming Chicago Dopefest in October (not at my place though)…check it out. I’ve already started researching bars personally and will advise the SDMB as I find the cool ones. It’s hard work so I hope my fellow Dopers appreciate my effort on their behalf.
