Hi, I’m about to sign a finalized purchase agreement on a property. I understand that I have a very short period of time to close after I sign that agreement. (My husband is currently handling the inspection; I’m working on title company and bank stuff.)
I have a conditional approval by our current bank where we are getting a rate discount because of the amount of money we have invested there. The lender at my bank told me they would beat anyone else’s rate.
Pretty much everyone in my husband’s family is involved in real estate. So our agent, his cousin, recommended we see our other cousin about a mortgage broker.
I don’t know anything about any of this. All I know is I have what, a week? To find the best mortgage rate I possibly can? Do I even have a week?
How do I do it without running to every bank in the area and giving them all of our info? Can I get quotes online? My husband is worried about seeing a broker and then not using that service, just running back to our bank with a lower rate in hand. Is that rude to the broker?
I need some direction here. I’m dropping in the escrow deposit on Tuesday and probably having the inspection that day as well. So assuming those two things are done… What next?
Bonus points for answers that SAVE ME TIME.
I hope this makes sense, I haven’t been able to sleep much in ten days.
If your husband’s cousin the real estate agent is up to speed on your need to close, and her cousin is a mortgage broker, it’s worth using the family connection to see what he can do.
My experience with mortgage brokers is that they really CAN find you a good rate. What they CAN’T do, however, is get the lender to move any faster than the lender would normally move. If you’re on a really tight deadline, your current bank, the one you already do business with, might be better to help speed things along, even if it means paying a slightly higher rate than a broker might find.
The best thing you can do is get every single document you can think of that has to do with your financial status. A few years of your tax forms, mortgage statements on your current property, paycheck stubs, information on your other financial dealings, maybe even a monthly cash flow worksheet. You’re probably doing all that already.
Last minute complications can be terrifying, but they’re also common. Just do your best to roll with it.
That’s what a mortgage broker does. They shop your loan application around to various lenders to find you the best rate. So give them your information and see what they can come up with.
I don’t think “rude” plays into it. This is business - if they can give you the best rate, great! But if the bank you normally use can bear their rate, even better! Saving your family money should be your top priority, not protecting the feelings of a company.
I’m going through a mortgage renewal right now, so I feel your pain. Up here mortgages are typically no longer than 5 years (long story, I don’t want to derail the thread).
We are currently negotiating with our current lender, a mortgage broker recommended by a real estate agent friend, and one the big 5 banks where a) I am a commercial client and b) my wife works.
I’ve told everyone we are looking at the other options, at the end of the day we will take the deal that is best for us. This is a business transaction and the people involved are business people, not friends.
Using extended family for anything involving money is a fraught business.
Some cultures / ethnicities do it all the time and not using family if there is one in [whatever line of business] would be a grave insult. Other cultures think the inevitable family trouble when dealings go sour are not worth the dollars that might be saved, or more likely, just kept within the larger family circle.
IMO … Once you start down the road to using family for something, you’re stuck using family for everything. Unless you want to insult the first family member you don’t use. In your case that’s the cousin-broker. Oops. You’re already trapped.
Turning to the loan:
It’s nice to have done your own work with your bank to the point of knowing the rate and fees you’d pay there. If you do invite the cousin-broker into your process, I’d not mention what you’ve already done. Let them do their magic, get you a family rate if they can, whatever. Then compare to the bank rate you’ve already got in hand. If they didn’t beat the bank, time for them to try harder or lose the business.
The amount of time is whatever the buyer and seller agree to. 60 days is a very common number for residential property.
If you don’t know what closing interval you are about to agree to, or what you already did agree to, that is a gigantic red flag that you don’t know what else you don’t know. It’s nice if just Hubs knows, but it’s better if you both do and it’s a disaster in the making if you both don’t know some salient facts about the deal.
Just to clarify, the cousin is not the mortgage broker. The cousin knows a mortgage broker.
Also, we have 19 cousins so hopefully they don’t all take this personally. This is definitely one of those highly enmeshed ethnic families where loyalty is supreme.
Closing date is 6/22. We have one month.
Since the deal is almost closed with our current bank, maybe we should just do that. There are only a few easy-to-procure documents they need before they will approve the loan.
This has been really hard for a lot of reasons, my husband has had a really hard time and even though we’ve been married 20 years I am seeing new insights into his personality by the day. We have such limited bandwidth due to our schedules, I am extremely sleep deprived, we’ve had fights, we just want this to be over with. Right now we are trying to schedule an inspector before we sign the purchase agreement because our realtor/cousin wrote in 7 days for inspection and only two of those days work for my husband and it’s a holiday weekend (and he insists he must be there.) Because of my husband’s special brain, he did not articulate to either of us that he was not comfortable with that time frame. The slow speed at which he processes things combined with his obstinance about things being a certain way has been very challenging to work with. The seller has indicated they are flexible around when we sign it, they understand the difficulty, but it’s also listing that we have to close by the 22nd so we can’t exactly take our sweet time.
In retrospect, there’s a lot we would have done differently. I assumed that the terms our realtor/cousin wrote were industry standard. I assumed that if we didn’t agree to 7 day inspection and one month close that we wouldn’t get the house. That’s because the last offer we made was rejected in part because the other bidder gave a shorter timeline for inspection. It’s very competitive right now in our area. The city we want to live in is a hot commodity and this place is a deal. We can spitball all day about what we should have done, this is the situation we’re in now, with a house we really want, a purchase agreement we need to sign this weekend, and very limited bandwidth to keep looking, and I’m just trying to get him over the finish line.
This isn’t quite as stressful as having a newborn, but it’s a lot closer than I ever would have guessed.
Based on everything I just said it’s probably best we just finish the deal with our bank as soon as possible. Next time we won’t be in such a rush (we need to move this summer) and we can see a broker and all that.
OK, I had a different idea. I get our banker everything he needs as a first priority, I see a broker as a second priority. I assume our banker can always tweak the terms of the loan if I find a better offer.
Yeah?
The inspector just said he was gonna call my husband back in an hour THANK GOD. Fingers crossed his schedule is open.
Former title attorney here. I used to do closings.
While, yes, this is the intended closing date, it is possible to sign a contract extension should that become necessary. Admittedly, there may be some gnashing of teeth if that becomes a concern, but don’t treat the closing date as something that can’t ever be adjusted.
I used to have this picture hanging in my office.
No.
Your first priority is to get some sleep. Being sleep deprived is not doing you any favors.
But, then, yes, get info to your bank. Then get the same info to a broker. See who does better. Then wait for the inspection and an appraisal to finish. If the house passes inspection, and appraises for an appropriate amount, and you get a lender who qualified you for a loan, then you’ll close.
You’ll get through this! The best advice I can give is to not suffer from imagined worries; just take it one day at a time. Today, get a nap. Then gather financial records to send to your lender. Then ask the broker what they need, and send it to them.
Congrats on the new house!! It sounds like you’ve got some really positive changes coming your way and I hope it works out.
I agree on the above advice re: get some sleep. The next month is going to be stressful.
A 7 day inspection window and 30 day close are pretty standard where I am, so don’t feel like your realtor gave you bad advice. You and the seller are going to need time to negotiate on what repairs must be done before close (and getting that done is not always a fast process) or negotiate on cash in lieu of repairs, etc.
When I bought a house earlier this year, I used a mortgage broker and my bank to negotiate the best deal between them. They competed on rate, price for points and other closing costs and I was able to get a better deal on all of those because I played them off each other. I ultimately went with my bank because they didn’t need any documentation from me - they already had my bank statements, they had proof of my income because it’s direct deposited, etc. So that might be a consideration for you as well.
I also don’t blame your husband for wanting to be there during the inspection. It was really helpful to me to be able to ask the inspector about any specific concerns I had or any questions as we went through the report. This is also a great time to take any measurements you need - is my couch going to fit where I want it to, will the bed need to be in a different spot, etc.
Start organizing and packing for the move when you can. That is also going to be stressful. Also, I recommend scheduling a cleaner to come do a pass through the new house before you move in. One more thing off your plate and it’s so much easier to clean when the house is empty.
Spice Weasel, this probably sounds off. What’s your son thinks of the property you’re getting? If I were that young and exuberant, I’d have some ideas for backyard adventures.
Way back while working on my PhD I studied life events and depression. One of the takeaways was that all life events are stressful, even the good ones. Sometimes especially the good ones.
I’ve only gone through, I think, six closings in my life (3 purchases, 3 refinances). The big thing I learned is that nobody involved in the process makes any money unless the deal goes through. If it falls through for some reason the seller, realtors, title company, and mortgage people all walk away empty handed.
Because of that, no matter what kind of odd problems they bring up at the last second, they all actually want it to happen, and there will be weird problems, and doc requests at the last minute. Angry demands for the last 3 months of statements, because after 30 days they are missing the most recent; demands to explain some random $200 deposit; etc. I just kept telling myself it’s the regulations that are petty and tiresome, not the people.
Every closing I’ve done has had a contingency to get out if financing fell through. And speaking of contingency, if the inspection turns into a horror show, then it is time to run away.
He’s excited. He likes to scream into the vaulted ceilings. I’m sure neighbors will love this.
Thanks for the support everyone.
I finally got some sleep and much-needed time with my family, and I’m feeling much better about this. We have a finalized signed purchase agreement. We have inspection scheduled this week, my husband is reaching out to a mortgage broker, and we are meeting with our preferred lender on (hopefully) Friday. They already have all of our documentation so I think that will be easiest, but it would be nice if we can give them a rate to beat. Right now there are only two outstanding things they need from us - proof that the earnest money cleared (pending) and an insurance quote. They are re-doing the underwriting as we speak, based on the purchase agreement.
This part feels like it will be comparatively easy. I hope I’m right. One of the benefits of being a grant writer is that I’m really good at coordinating things on a short-term deadline. So far on the administrative end, it’s not much different than my job. We had a discussion with our realtor/cousin to explain next steps, and there was nothing unexpected in her spiel. I can deal with last-minute requests. It’s fine.
I’m not even all that nervous about inspection. Our big focus for that will be ensuring the finished basement will be reasonably safe from flooding, but we do plan on having flood insurance because I think that’s a good idea generally, if you have a basement. It is pristine down there and I saw no signs of water damage, but you can never be sure. The basement was a huge selling point for us - this is a townhouse condo and after seeing so many of these, it’s become clear that in our price range, a finished basement is the only way we’re getting the square footage we want.
My husband and I have been fantasizing about what we’re going to do down there. It will be mainly a den, with our huge sectional, TV, and office space. And upstairs will be a TV-free zone with a reading nook. I’m really looking forward to seeing it again during inspection. We already did some measuring but we’ve been discussing how we want furniture arranged (with paper cutouts built to scale) and this will help us think through the details.
Moving can be stressful but it’s not a contingent sale. Our only deadline for getting out of our current place is how much longer we want to pay the lot rent (and before my son’s new school starts.) I’m sure selling this place will be a whole other thing.
Don’t be surprised or dismayed if it comes out of underwriting with some additional conditions. That’s what underwriters do. One I expect is going to be an appraisal to verify the value of the property. But they almost always seem to come up with some other request for some sort of obscure paperwork.
Of course, it’s been years since I dealt with that stuff and I could be way off. It sounds like you’re well on your way to a brand new home!
For me, one of the great things about living in Colorado was the basement. I love basements, and I’m quite jealous. I’m back in Florida, where you can’t build them - the water table is too high.
Yes, the bank scheduled an appraisal by default. We included a $10k appraisal waiver because we wanted it that badly. So even if it comes out under the seller’s asking price, we’ll make up the difference in cash. It was priced appropriately according to the comps from the same complex that we were given, if not a little low, so I’m not too worried about that either.
Just reviewed Master deed and by-laws for HOA. The manufactured home complex I’m living in now has more rules than this HOA. No surprises there. Going to review their finances and board minutes next.
Mine wanted a written statement explaining why the rent checks I was writing in the months leading to the closing still had my previous home address printed on them.
…because I don’t have new checks printed every move and no one ever asked.
