Home buying thread

calhoonjugganaut

calhoonjugganaut

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I just closed on my townhome last month and my first mortage payment is due on December 1st. I purchased the 2 br, 2.5 ba 1344 sq ft townhome for $112,262 and my interest rate is 3.75% through United Veterans for 30 years. Today I recieved some mail from Village Capital & Investment about me being eligible for the FHA Streamline program. It estimates that my $685 monthly payment can be dropped by $80-150 a month with no lender costs, no appraisal, no out of pocket cash, no re-qual, no credit score, and no income verification. So basically they are just going to use the information that was provided when I closed on the home. I've never refinanced anything before and I'm coming off of a 24 hr duty so I apologize if this is a bit scrambled.

Is this too good to be true? The letter says this offer is for a thirty-year fixed rate VA real estate mortgage, so I just want to make sure that the rate will never exceed 3.75% if I wanted to venture down this path. Anyways, hopefully I provided enough information for someone to chime in. I know this is something I should probably talk to my loan officer about, but just wanted to come here first since it's the weekend, I'm curious and I won't be able to speak to her until Monday.
 
Sludig

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CalhoonJugganaut_sl said:
I just closed on my townhome last month and my first mortage payment is due on December 1st. I purchased the 2 br, 2.5 ba 1344 sq ft townhome for $112,262 and my interest rate is 3.75% through United Veterans for 30 years. Today I recieved some mail from Village Capital & Investment about me being eligible for the FHA Streamline program. It estimates that my $685 monthly payment can be dropped by $80-150 a month with no lender costs, no appraisal, no out of pocket cash, no re-qual, no credit score, and no income verification. So basically they are just going to use the information that was provided when I closed on the home. I've never refinanced anything before and I'm coming off of a 24 hr duty so I apologize if this is a bit scrambled.

Is this too good to be true? The letter says this offer is for a thirty-year fixed rate VA real estate mortgage, so I just want to make sure that the rate will never exceed 3.75% if I wanted to venture down this path. Anyways, hopefully I provided enough information for someone to chime in. I know this is something I should probably talk to my loan officer about, but just wanted to come here first since it's the weekend, I'm curious and I won't be able to speak to her until Monday.
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When you buy property, you will get deluged with these kinds of offers. Unless somehow the market has drastically changed, I havnt' heard of any of those types of things being worthwhile unless you got some horrible deal in the first place. (Better rate than my house I bought earlier this year and I had great credit.)
 
Vinen

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Noodleface_sl said:
I'm jealous you got roughly the same size house as me for approximately 40% of the price.
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AND you get the bonus of living next to Fall River!

/Paid 650K for 2000 SQFT house in Arlington T_T
//House was built in 1910 but gut remodeled in 2013
///Friend just paid 950K for a 2000 SQFT condoin Somerville. 2nd/3rd floor, remodled in 2007. Mile from a T station.
 
Noodleface

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It's ok man, you only get the fall river smell when you drive by it on 24. I like Somerset! I just wish it was closer to Hopkinton
 
Khane

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Anyone have any experience with online mortgage lenders like quicken loans or ditech for a refinance?

I had started the application process with a local company after doing some shopping around but noticed on their Federal Truth In Lending Disclosure they included a lot of items and costs they told me they would waive. Including the origination fee. So I'm not a happy camper and I'm not signing that shit.
 
Frenzied Wombat

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Khane_sl said:
Anyone have any experience with online mortgage lenders like quicken loans or ditech for a refinance?

I had started the application process with a local company after doing some shopping around but noticed on their Federal Truth In Lending Disclosure they included a lot of items and costs they told me they would waive. Including the origination fee. So I'm not a happy camper and I'm not signing that shit.
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Personally I wouldn't touch the online refi lenders, as their advertising strikes me as predatory with all their small print. Quicken always looks like they're giving the best rates until you look at their fees and closing costs. When I wanted to refi I contacted my old real estate agent and he set me up with a company that gave a good rate. I'd also suggest contacting your bank, as they inevitably offer mortgages as well and have all your finances at their fingertips.
 
Khane

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I've already contacted my bank plus other large national banks as well as local companies. I always go over everything including what they charge to buy down interest rates, if they are going to force me to pay for their lawyers (some banks allow you to use your own lawyer for title search, insurance and closing but then still require you to pay for their own lawyer to "look over the paperwork". Total horseshit), origination fees, appraisal fee and escrow options.

These are things I would discuss with Ditech and Quicken so I'm not concerned about "hidden fees" because I would make them spell that out over the phone. I'm more concerned with how easy it was to deliver them paperwork, sign and return paperwork they send me, ease of contact, and time to close.
 
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koljec_sl

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Khane_sl said:
Anyone have any experience with online mortgage lenders like quicken loans or ditech for a refinance?

I had started the application process with a local company after doing some shopping around but noticed on their Federal Truth In Lending Disclosure they included a lot of items and costs they told me they would waive. Including the origination fee. So I'm not a happy camper and I'm not signing that shit.
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A few years ago, I would have recommended seeking out a local lender, the type of business you can visit in person if there is a complicated problem or you want to build a borrowing relationship. But there aren't a whole lot of those anymore, and, even if you find one, there's a really good chance your loan will be turned over to a mega-servicer like CENLAR.

As long as the numbers are good on paper, one lender is just the same as another.

Pro-tip: find out who to contact with the Lender for when the servicing company shits the bed.
 
Brando

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Khane_sl said:
Anyone have any experience with online mortgage lenders like quicken loans or ditech for a refinance?

I had started the application process with a local company after doing some shopping around but noticed on their Federal Truth In Lending Disclosure they included a lot of items and costs they told me they would waive. Including the origination fee. So I'm not a happy camper and I'm not signing that shit.
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So I've been a mortgage banker/broker/whatever for 15 years now. I have clients that will only do business in person, others it's over the phone and email, then I'll have people that I never talk to and it's all by email. The online guys like ditech still require a licensed mortgage employee do the work on it, just to save costs it may be some newbee that knows shit from shinola and is getting paid pennies on the dollar for his work. In theory if that saves you a ton of money and again your deal is clean then it should still be fine. If you have anything out of the norm from an income, asset or credit standpoint then you're going to want to make sure you find someone that knows what they are doing.

The forms for fees and closing costs are now standardized and if there is any deviation of more than 10% from start to finish then the lender is on the hook for that money, they have no choice as it's a big fine if they fuck it up.

Harfle_sl said:
Anyone care to share any advice or experiences of with a VA home loan?
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What do you want to know?
 
Brando

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Harfle_sl said:
Was thinking about using one. Everyone I have talked to say they are to much trouble and you are better off getting a regular loan.
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It's part of your entitlement as being a veteran and lenders bend over backwards to do them as they make a lot of money. The rates are the same as FHA with no down payment depending on the county you live in and the size of the loan with no MI. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Always use USAA if you don't know anybody, they are the best at it.
 
Khane

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Brando_sl said:
The forms for fees and closing costs are now standardized and if there is any deviation of more than 10% from start to finish then the lender is on the hook for that money, they have no choice as it's a big fine if they fuck it up.
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So in other words, that disclosure document he sent me with all the shit he had said would be waived is the document you're talking about?
 
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Tenks

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Are there any gotyas for buying a property that has water on it? I'm looking forward to what I may want out of my next house and I'd really like to live on the river in my town. But I don't know if there is some catch like your homeowners insurance skyrockets or anything like that. Or if there are any unexpected consequences of owning a bit of river.
 
Khane

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You need to pay for flood insurance. Other than that I have no idea.
 
Harfle

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Brando_sl said:
It's part of your entitlement as being a veteran and lenders bend over backwards to do them as they make a lot of money. The rates are the same as FHA with no down payment depending on the county you live in and the size of the loan with no MI. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Always use USAA if you don't know anybody, they are the best at it.
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Sounds good to me. Seems like everyone else was probably just a misinformed civilian when it came to talking about it. I will let you know how it works out.
 
Khane

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Harfle the only thing I'll say is based on my experiences and what I know now 5 years after I purchased my first home on a 30 year fixed I would never, ever again buy a home on 30 year loan.

My current belief is if you can't afford the payment on a 15 year loan you can't afford that house. In fact I'd argue if you can't afford the payment on a 10 year loan you can't afford that house.

Because of the amortization schedule on 30 year loans even if you get a low interest rate you'll still pay close to 100% of the actual loan price in interest. I bought my home at 4.5% with a $240K loan amount. I've already paid about $54k in interest in 5 years. If I just kept making normal payments every month for the entirety of those 30 years I'd end up paying around $250k in pure interest. It's throwing money away. On a 10 year fixed that total interest paid would be close to $70k at that interest rate. Which is still a ton of money, but much better than the 30 year amount.
 
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koljec_sl

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Khane_sl said:
Harfle the only thing I'll say is based on my experiences and what I know now 5 years after I purchased my first home on a 30 year fixed I would never, ever again buy a home on 30 year loan.

My current belief is if you can't afford the payment on a 15 year loan you can't afford that house. In fact I'd argue if you can't afford the payment on a 10 year loan you can't afford that house.

Because of the amortization schedule on 30 year loans even if you get a low interest rate you'll still pay close to 100% of the actual loan price in interest. I bought my home at 4.5% with a $240K loan amount. I've already paid about $54k in interest in 5 years. If I just kept making normal payments every month for the entirety of those 30 years I'd end up paying around $250k in pure interest. It's throwing money away. On a 10 year fixed that total interest paid would be close to $70k at that interest rate. Which is still a ton of money, but much better than the 30 year amount.
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This is a good point (and it really puts the absurd usury of student loans into perspective), but I don't think you want to get too extreme with it. Longer term loans with low interest rates can be a practical way of keeping money liquid in the short-term. Just make sure the loans can be repaid early and without penalty.

PMI is worse than interest.
 
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