For those who have bought a house or are hunting

For those who have bought a house or are hunting

Now I knew this whole process was involved but my god I never thought it would entail so much work--
there are so many facets to the mortgage process(and you need more documents than i thought existed!!) and there is almost always one thing that comes up daily that we knew nothing about--just like wedding planning I havent done this before--but one big thing that not one person told us that once you sign the contract you are supposed to accompany it with 10% of the purchase price-- we didnt have a clue-- thank god we had it but it was a complete surprise-- at least with the wedding planning it seemed like how much we did was up to us but with buying a house it is all out of your hands--ok just thought I would vent
Thanks for listening
Laura

Been there

Laura,

Going through the mortgage process had to be THE most stressful time of my life, and probably my husband would agree. I`d certainly rather go through the whole wedding planning process again than the house purchasing process.

While house hunting can be fun, the legalities of it are absolutely the worst!

As someone who has been through this process, I know how frustrating, annoying and scary it can all be. Make sure to keep on top of the mortgage company, constantly checking in with them regarding paper work. Our mortgage company had told us they had all the paperwork they needed from us, then after not hearing anything for a few weeks, we began to wonder why we had no closing date yet. I called them to find out why, and the lady made it like it was my fault they were still waiting on some paperwork from us!

We also had a similar experience where the real estate agent didn`t tell us we were going to need part of our down payment at contract signing. And there were several different occasions at different points in the whole process she called and left threatening messages on our answering machine telling us the sellers were going to back out of the deal!

Hang in there. The closer you get to your closing date, which you are not likely to get until about 2 weeks before, the harder it gets. You`re so excited about moving to your new home, but you also worry if every last detail has been tended to. I was so scared something was going to go wrong and prevent us from getting our house!

Don`t forget about insurance, if the agent hasn`t told you about this already. You will need to check into insurance, and give the insurance company the specifics on the house.

Like I said, the best piece of advice I can offer is to just stay in constant contact with everyone .. your lawyer, the agent, the insurance company, and the mortgage company.

Good Luck!

Have you gotten an engineer`s report yet?

Kel

Ok you brought up more questions--
we already have a closing date and have told the mortgage guy that we need it by that date(he says no problem)
as for insurance- we do that on our own? but need to have it by when?
one plus on our side --there is no raltor involved so our lawyers are dealing directly as well as we talk with the seller quite often-- so at least we dont have to go thru anyone which i have been told is a plus--as for the mortage guy--- he can be pushy at times but has been educating us along the way--but i have had enough of hearing the phone ring(at work of course) and it being his voice on the other end!!!
what engineer report? do you mean inspection? yeah we did that--there were a few minor things as well as one big that the seller immediately said they would fix(over 10K worth) and they immediately had their lawyer write an affidavit to that fact--so wer lucky that they are quite honest and upfront
but i feel better talking to someone who has gone thru it
Thanks for listening
Laura

Laura (Long)

I know what you mean about the phone. It got to a point for us where we needed to screen our calls, because sometimes the agent representing the house was calling us for silly reasons. Mainly because of misunderstandings that would come up because of all the middle-men. Those misunderstandings would make the sellers paranoid, so the agent would call back to set the record straight. So yeah, it sounds good that you`re dealing more directly with the owners.

As for insurance, definitely discuss this with your mortgage person, since he`s been helpful in educating you. Also, ask your lawyer too. But yes, you are going to need insurance beginning for when you are expected to close on your house, since it will become yours. You are going to need info on the house, such as square footage and such. But ask questions and start looking into this now so you can have the proper insurance ready.

Also, you will need to contact all the utility companies, like gas/oil, electric, water, cable, etc., so they can make the proper change-overs without interrupted service.

Find out from the homeowners if they have lawn-care/landscaping service. If they do, the service will be looking to keep the business when you move in.

Find out if they have any warranties on appliances in the home.

Find out who the sellers used for repairs or installations of any kind. They will know the systems best. We recently had trouble with our Central A/C, and luckily the previous homeowners had left us paperwork, so we knew exactly who to call. Turned out the guy headed the installation of the unit and he was able to offer recommendations and explanations on why certain things were done.

Be prepared for some major expense when you do move in. Many people I`ve known, including us, got hit with some major expense almost right after they moved in. It sounds great that the current owners are going through the expense of making all those needed repairs now, and it`s great you have it in writing, but still, make sure you don`t cut yourself too short for anything that might come up after moving in.

One week after we moved in, we had a major rain storm. I went to the basement to bring up the laundry, and there was a puddle on the floor. Water was coming into the house through the electric panel!! Well, we had been advised that we would eventually need to upgrade the ampage on the house, so when the electrician came to fix the electric panel so water wouldn`t come in, we decided to let him do the upgrade. The repair work he was doing was basically what he`d need to do for the upgrade anyway. The final cost to us was about $1000. If he just did the repair, it would have been in the $700s. Had we decided to do just the repair, than the upgrade later, the upgrade still would have cost us about $1000.

Someone else we know had trouble with their toilet after they moved in, another couple had problems with their water pipes, and another couple had drainage problems where water would leak into their basement when it rained because their driveway was sloped slightly the wrong way.

I`m not trying to scare you, I just think it`s good to be prepared. Luckily for us, we closed at the end of Dec. 1999, and we didn`t owe a mortgage payment until February.

One other annoyance that could come up in your first year of homeownership ... the constant selling-off of your home loan. I was told to expect this from my insurance broker, but I didn`t expect it to happen so many times. After closing, we never made a payment to that mortgage company again. We were sold to Fleet. From Fleet, we were sold off to another company, which later ended up becoming Washington Mutual, I think through a merger. Anytime you have a change in your mortgage company, you need to inform your insurance company.

As for the engineer`s report, yeah, I guess that would be the inspection. We had only been given a few days in which to bring someone in after making the offer. But the company seemed pretty thorough, writting up something like 40 pages for their report. However, the one draw back .. the engineer didn`t allow us to walk through with him as he conducted his inspection. Did they also do a termite inspection for you?

Anymore questions, please feel free to ask. We went through this two years ago, so I may not be remembering everything that at the time would have been helpful to know. We unfortunately got stuck with people who acted as if we were experts in the home sales process. If your mortgage person has been helpful, keep asking him questions, even if you think you know the answer .. ask him anyway. If you`re not satisfied with his answers, check with your lawyer.

Also, make sure the date they have given you is the actual closing date, or just a tentative closing date. We were initially given a tentative closing date, which we thought was our REAL closing date .. we found out later it wasn`t the actual closing date, and didn`t get that until two weeks before closing.

You need to be careful when you lock into your mortgage rate, because the rates are only good for a given number of days. And by law, the homeowner can change the closing date within a given number of days from the tentative closing date. You don`t want to have your rate expire if the homeowner decides to push back the closing date for whatever reason within their legal boundaries. Again, I know this probably sounds scary, but just make sure your rate will go through the sellers absolute last day by law to delay the closing. Your mortgage person can tell you how long the lock-in for a rate is good for, and your lawyer can tell you the legal flexibity the sellers have for moving the closing date, whether they push it up or delay it.

Feel free to email me anytime:
[email protected]

You are great

Wow--thanks for all that-- I am sure everyone else got a great lesson as well--
as for something major happening a lot of people have warned us about that--the hardest thing with all this is being used to having a decent amount of money in the bank and not having as much of a cushion for the 'just in case'
as for the insurance-- we actually got a call tonight from the company that is associated with our mortgage banker-- I have to look into it because I have know idea what we 'should' be paying and how much insurance we need/want..
as for the warranties and stuff--thank god the woman in the house is as anal as me and has already offered up her files--the completely redid the house so we should have most of the books/warranties on all the major appliances--so that is a plus
THe inspection was really good-- we went on a recommendation and got a huge binder filled with info/crap and we were able to walk around with him--but to make you laugh at how thorough he was-- he tested the stove and it is an electric halogen --those new flat tops that heat instantly and also have the red dots to let you know there is a hot surface well he proceeded to tell us that the red light really meant that that the surface was hot-- like we were 3 year olds-- we also tested the septic/well (most of li doenst have this) as well as the oil tank is being inspected on Fri-- and they did termite--and now on sunday we are having an electrician look at some things that the inspector brought up--
as for the closing--it is in the contract -- and the mortgage guy is aware so we are waiting to lock in until 30 days before so that it will be okay and then it can be extended 10-12 days-- the good thing is the seller is buying their house 2 weeks before and they already went through time of the essence(or something similar) so there closing should go fine--
did you move in the day you closed? i have heard that some people have to or just do give the seller time to move out? we dont want to and the contract has us immediately occupying the day of closing---
and as for the mortgage payment--we are looking forward to that first month of not having one-- i have been told it can be 2 months depending on your actual closing date and where it falls in the month but am not sure about that one
thanks for the help--
Laura

Sounds like you`re rolling right along!

There are definitely some differences from the process we took, to the process you are going through .. most noteably the closing date. I wish ours had been in the contract from the start, we would have been in for Christmas! As for the question of when to move in ... ownership transfers at closing. There was no way I wasn`t moving in right away! LOL

Make sure you get your final walk through before closing. The agent involved with the sale of our house asked us to do it a couple of days prior to closing, and there was no way we wanted to do that. I wanted the very last possible opportunity to check over the house before signing on the dotted line. The closer your final walk-through is before closing, the less chance you have for there to be something last minute going wrong with the house. Of course, something might come up anyway .. but you know what I mean.

We did think about postponing moving in for a few days, so we could have the hardwood floors redone before moving in. But, part of me was too impatient to wait, I was afraid of scratching the new floors when we did finally move stuff in, plus, we just didn`t have the funds! Two years later, the floors still aren`t done, but with the wedding done, it has now moved to the top priority on our long list of things to do .. followed closely with purchasing a living room set, dining room set and bedroom set. The expenses never end!

Oh, and one more thing .. since you said you have the electrician going to look at the house .. pay close attention to the outlets. We didn`t notice until after we moved in, that the older rooms in the house, that hadn`t been rennovated, had old two-prong outlets. It is very frustrating to us now, and we wished we had noticed it before. Also, we just had to purchase a new refrigerator a few weeks before our wedding .. and we found out they had an 3-prong adaptor on a 2-prong outlet. Definitely something many people would say is a no-no!

more tips

hi - Welcome to a very happy & stessful time!

Make sure that in your contract w/ the seller that all
itmes the engineer lists as 'needing repair', is repaired and then
inspected and signed off by a liscensed technician( electrician, plumber).
This was an arbitrary third party is validating that the
woek was done and done right.

after the closing, you are givin the keys and that is it-
the owner has to be OUT.
If they aren't prepared to vacate the premisis, they HAVE to pay
you rent for each day or part of the day.
Your lawyer should have covered that in your contract.

glad to see the wife had all the paperwork you need.
See if she also knows the brand name pint they used. I know this sounds
wierd, but we loved the color scheme of our soon-to-be
home, so we wanted to merely freshen the paint.
knowing it was benj Moore made finding the exact shde
a LITTLE bit easier ;0)

make sure ANYTHING the owners SAY they are leaving:lighting
fixtures, appliances, furniture, window treatments, is WRITTEN
into your agreement- it should be a LIST of items.

Thanks for discussing this here

We are just getting familiar with the whole process and it helps alot to hear as much as possible from those who have gone through it already or are currently purchasing. Very informative. Thanks :o)

;-)

Part of the electric problem(or hopefully not a problem) is the fact that they upgraded the electric throughout the house but some of the outlets werent tripping the way they should (you know those test/reset buttons)
now we are looking into homeowners insurance--any good recommendations on what to have ? where to look, etc?
we 'unfortunately' found a bedroom set by accident this weekend but do not have the money to lay out $6k dollars---so that will have to wait and luckily we have enough furniture from our condo to last until we save enough--
as for the paint--that is a good point--they are also leaving us the tiles from the kitchen and bathroom in case any break--
thanks again
Laura

Thanks...

I hope you don't mind me posting but thank-you for all the advice. We are starting to look here in Buffalo for a house and I don't know where to begin sometimes. :)!

Did any of you get preapproved? I know that is the first step for us. Up to this point we have been just checking out housing/prices/taxes to get an idea where we want to concentrate on.

Nancy