Category: Mortgage

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Small Miracles

I am writing today to confirm that small miracles can indeed happen. Case in point: merely two days after I sent my public records dispute to TransUnion, they have deleted the record from my credit report. Hooray! I was mortified that the investigation might take up to 30 days. Thank goodness it has been resolved so swiftly.

I have already spoken to my mortgage rep. He says there should be no problems getting our file updated to remove this negative entry. Hopefully, this will be the end to our mortgage stress.

But I’m not holding my breath.

 

—Michael

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New York? I Never Lived in New York!

Yesterday, a thick packet of documents arrived in the mail from the mortgage company. Its peaceful, white envelope belied the torment hiding within. Sure, there was good news. We had been conditionally approved for our mortgage. Conditionally. And that’s where the torment began.

Most of the required conditions were reasonable and expected: more FHA paperwork to sign, the need to explain a five-hundred-dollar wire transfer into our checking account the week after we applied, having to prove our earnest money payment to the builder. What was not reasonable or expected, was a demand for me to satisy a tax lien from the state of New York filed back in 1989. For the record, I have never resided nor worked in the state of New York. I quickly visited the Website that allows you to print a free annual credit report.  More torment.

Yes, Virgina, you CAN get a free credit report from all three credit reporting agencies, but only after wading through dozens of carnival side-show solicitations for various products guaranteed to improve your credit rating. “Step right up,” they beckon. “God knows what will happen to your credit rating if you don’t protect yourself with our  credit monitoring service! Try it now, for the low, low price of only $14.95 per month!”

After clicking the “No thank you” button enough times to give me carpal tunnel, I was finally able to view and print out my reports. Of the three bureaus, only TransUnion was reporting the public record concerning the New York tax lien. I immediately set about researching what little information was presented. An address on Walt Whitman Blvd turns out to be an office building in Suffolk County, Long Island.  The docket number yields nothing when I search the New York Unified Court System Website. The search form specifies a completely different format than what is presented in the public record. Everywhere I look, a dead end. In desperation, I dash off an email to the informational contact listed on the court’s Website. Could somebody, anybody, help me prove this was not my lien?

Before I went to bed last night, I registered a dispute with TransUnion. The small print on the submittal form told me that invetsigations might take as long as 30 days. As Liz lemon might say, “Blurgh!” I also sent off an email informing our mortgage processor of my dilemna, and asking for advice. Hopefully, something will break soon.

 

—Michael

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Mortgage Madness

Point-six-two-five. That’s the difference one week made when locking in our mortgage rate. Back when we first inquired, we were quoted an FHA 30-year-fixed mortgage rate of 4.5%. Last Friday the mortgage market saw the largest single-day jump in rates that anyone in the industry can remember. Consequesntly, 4.5% quickly morphed into 5.125% over the weekend. Still…5.125% is really nothing to complain about. Perusing the historical mortgage rate  information for the last 30 years or so reveals that mortgage rates peaked in October 1981 at an eye-popping 18.45%!

Despite the higher rate, our meeting with the Loan Officer over at Centennial Home Mortgage  went better than expected. Centennial is a partnership between Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and Dominion Homes. Dominion offers homebuyers an incentive for using their own mortgage partner—they will pay up to 3% of the purchase price to cover closing costs or to buy down the rate.  We are using that money to buy down the rate. Dominion offers another incentive for employees at Nationwide Insurance, where I work. An additional $3000 is offered to Nationwiders that can be used to pay closing costs or pay for options to the home, thus lowering the purchase price. We chose to use this money for our closing costs.

A third incentive program offered by Dominion is called “Helping Hand.” It allows the buyer to earn up to 4% of the purchase price for the downpayment by completing one or more projects on the house during construction. One example is called “The Great Outdoors,” and requires the homeowner to clear the lot of large rocks and debris, to plant the landscaping and spread the mulch, and to apply sealer to the sidewalks and driveway. For this they pay $800. Helping Hands Work Equity ProgramsPainting the interior and attaching doorknobs and shelving is called “Fresh Coat.”  Completing this one earns you a cool $2100. We are both pretty excited about this program because we feel like working on the house in this way will give us greater pride of ownership. I will keep you posted about how the projects go once we actually get to that point. As of today, they haven’t even broken ground.

What these incentive programs mean to us is that we will be moving into this house with ZERO DOLLARS out of pocket! They will even be refunding us our deposit and mortgage app fee. So we could actually be walking away from the table with almost $1000 in our pockets. Or we could choose to use that money to further buy down the interest rate on the mortgage. Tough call. We will probably use the cash for new furniture and window treatments.

Yay, us!

 

—Michael

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Sorry, Jim

My mouth was getting dry, and I could feel the hesitation creeping up my throat. Just when I thought my call would go to voice mail, he answered.  “Good afternoon, this is Jim”.

“Hey Jim, this is Michael calling, how are you doing?”

“Doing great, how can I help you?”

“I just called to let you know that Shannon and I have decided to buy the new construction. So we won’t be needing your services for this purchase.”

There was a brief pause as he reacted to the news. Mortgage brokers work on commission. Losing our relatively small transaction probably won’t make very much difference in the long run, but every fisherman regrets the ones that get away. Jim, a VP at Swain Mortgage Company in Westerville, had been great to us, spending several hours educating us on the mortgage market, and setting our expectations for the purchase ahead. In the end we simply couldn’t walk away from the cash incentives the builder was offering for using their mortgage partner. Still, I felt as if I were betraying a family member.

“Okay. Well, I did know you were leaning that way,” he answered, “thanks for calling and letting me know.”

“It’s no problem. I just wanted to tell you that we really enjoyed meeting with you, and would definitely recommend your company to our friends and family. And we will certainly consider using you for our next purchase.”

Another awkward pause, this time by me. “Uhm,” I stammered, “do we owe you for the credit reports or anything else?”

“No, the cost is small enough that I will just go ahead and pay it. But that was very nice of you to ask.”

There really wasn’t anything left to say. “Okay, thanks again, Jim.”

“Thank you for calling to let me know, and good luck with the new house.”

 

—Michael