One more step

Quick update for those of you who have been hanging on to cliffhanger of a saga we have going on with this mortgage company.  

We finally received our GFE and the breakdown of all the charges.  The money needed to close is approximately $3000 LESS than originally predicted.  I am still a little ticked that the mortgage company had the nerve to charge us  $950 application fee!  For that type of money I expected a lot more than the last minute shenanigans we had to go through.  

In any case- we seem to be back on track (2 weeks after we derailed).  

 

Almost there.........

Our loan papers have finally been resubmitted to the underwriters.  We now have a closing date of 3/31/15 that can be moved up if the underwriters clear everything.  Even with that, the loan processor just threw a small snag into the works- figures right?  We have completed our 2014 taxes and owe a few hundred dollars.  My husband and I are use to this by now because we now fall into a tax bracket were a lot of the credits we use to be able to claim- we can no longer claim.  So at the end of the year, even with us claiming no dependents through out the year, they want a little bit more.  Normally we write a check, and be done with it until next year.  This year- every dollar counts and so simply writing a check RIGHT at this point we can not do.   So the plan was to click the send button on April 15th.  Nope- they want confirmation that the taxes were completely filed including payment.  Our loan processor says she will check with underwriting to see if this absolutely necessary.  I warned her we could file but we would ask for a short term payment plan (something like 2-3 months).  Somehow the last week of pulling together assets escaped her and she now thinks, no big deal just write the check.

Now you ask- what's the big deal?  When we decided to make the purchase of the new home non contingent, we did not know that the mortgage company would then ask for 6 months of reserves to cover for BOTH mortgages.  So the assets we had, was still short of what they wanted.  Thus a mad scramble to come up with the rest of the cash.  Now this is not so bad as we feel we can sell our current home relatively quickly but again- that will take another 6 weeks compared to the urgency of now.   We came up with the cash but it has put us in a "Don't touch anything!" mode.   And now you know why we have been a little jumpy.   Okay that and the fact we had to kill a whole tree to prove that our income was a lot more than what they said.  Geez- I knew our DTI wasn't as high as they claimed!

Inspection is complete!

I had my pre settlement inspection yesterday and things are looking good!  There is one major problem that needs to be fixed.  One that we would have never known about until it was blazing hot outside.  Our inspector did his due diligence and climbed into the attic and discovered that HVAC unit was collecting water from some unknown source.  The problem with this is that once the water level hits 1/2 deep, the unit shuts off.  Can you imagine a record breaking temp of 101 and service can't come out until 2 days later because its not an emergency?   They do not demonstrate the AC during the winter which this problem could have had the potential to brew and cause some major issues- including a leak in the ceiling!
Next major issue:  our step to the front porch.  It was leaning a bit and can pose a potential slip and fall risk.  Other than that paint this, nail that was the rest of the report.  All in all, my inspector reported it as a well built house.

While we were in the basement, I again questioned installing a wet bar using the 3 piece rough in we were told was needed to finish the task on our own.    It was confirmed that it was truly not needed for the wet bar- only to install a bathroom later.    I was told we could tap directly into the sump line, using a special sink with a pump.  BUT he also said, that it still may be useful for resale value as a lot of people look for an extra bathroom in a finished basement.   At this point, I really just want to move I am not thinking about selling.

NEWS FLASH: If you are like me than you haunt your community's website on Ryan Homes.  They reduce the number of models to be built down to 5- removing the Courtland Gate as a choice!  When choosing our lot there was not that many lots left that could accommodate the size of a CG with a morning room- something that they started including in the base price.  Not jealous at all.  Checking the math against what they will save vs what we saved- we would have ended up spending the same amount of money.  I am, however,  little jealous of the closing costs offer they are currently running, grrr.  Lastly- we are down to 10 lots!  Ten lots are left before we get into the swing of spring selling season.  Looks like we may be a completed community by the end of this year.

UPDATE:  If you have been following my mortgage saga- its getting closer to the end.  I was told by the loan officer that if everything cuts the mustard  we can feasibly look at closing next week.  To that end I have reset my count down clock.  I am still looking to hear back from Ryan on how this all fell apart so fast.  Our loan officer did take some of the blame and quickly moved in to help us figure out a plan BUT we still had to do the leg work.  I don't think I can rest until I have those keys in my hand.

Pre Settlement

 We finally had our walk through today.  There is so much to remember to maintain a home.  I will admit that we are probably a little nervous about this one because this is something that we chose everything that went in to the home.  And with little swatches and cut outs its hard to see the big picture.  That is until pre settlement.  So here are a few pics from today.

My Juliette- they still have to repair the portico- which I have in writing

The door really looks brown today- thinking about a paint change

I love my back splash

Bedroom #2 

If I get any more pics tomorrow, I will add them later.

As far as the mortgage mess, it got a little messier.  I will not report any more here, but I am still holding out hope that it will work out soon.  Just make sure, you get EVERYTHING in writing.  I think my only saving grace is that the mortgage company admitted there was a mis communication  which makes them more willingly to work with us to get this resolved.  So whatever they say ask for it in letter form.

What a complete mess!

I am not a cursing woman but I am seriously thinking about it.  We are set to close on Thursday-or so we thought.  The mortgage company that NVR set us up with decided they needed MORE paper to verify our income.
Problem 1:  we just found out 2 weeks ago that we were suppose to close on the 12th.

Problem 2: Discovered that they had sent a pre approval letter to RH based on us selling our current home when we signed a NON CONTINGENT agreement.  They did not send us this letter, just to RH to let them know to start building the house.

Problem 3: they attempted to pull this letter out as proof that we failed at our task of selling our home as agreed upon.  We didn't agree upon it because there was no way we could sell our home with how hectic our life is on any given day.  We needed to be moved out completely to allow for any minor repairs, a coat of paint and a good cleaning to sell this home.

Problem 4:  They calculated my income wrong and disallowed some of my husband's income thereby increasing our  DTI.

Problem 5: they now want a copy of our taxes to prove our income to show that our actual DTI is much lower than they calculated.

I am so done right now.  We need one more 1099 to complete the taxes which I have no idea when we are going to get that- I am hoping by Tuesday but in any case NONE of this has been submitted to the underwriter.

I know this will work out but I am so aggravated at this point with this mortgage company that I could scream.  Now it looks like WE are holding up the process when that paper work was done incorrectly (by them not us) and we were not notified of closing date until late in the game.  If we were told 4 weeks ago- maybe this would have all been resolved.

Finally!

We have finally received our loan approval letter (email)- with conditions of course.   The conditions are not outrageous- latest pay stubs and W2's, and of course keeping track of the money trail.

We received our pre approval within DAYS, so it was a little nerve racking to have to wait 2 months, for a conditional approval which isn't really conditional.  I mean its the stuff I expected them to ask for, updates.  I guess I shouldn't complain- we could be operating under loan guidelines of 2 years ago and never had a shot- even with stellar finances.

NVR and their cronies

Let me just say that this truly isn't a NVR problem but they did submit our application to another bank- Amerihome.

RH insists that you meet with a loan officer (either NVR or one of your own choosing) to start the loan application within one week of you signing the purchase agreement- we did that within in 4 days.  We got a call the following week from our loan officer at Amerihome and was approved- everything had to be submitted to underwriting.  Great!

I have contacted Amerihome on 3 separate occasions to see how underwriting was going.  I was told on 3 separate occasions everything was fine.  On the last inquiry I was told that the assistant of the assistant to the loan officer would be contacting us to verify a couple of pieces of information.
Well the contact came today- with a LONG lists of items they needed to be submitted- items that was submitted with the original application nearly 2 months ago!  I understand needing new bank statements and even an additional paystub BUT needing employment history, a W2 and a letter of intent for our current property that was submitted with the original application?  In addition they want us to sign paperwork on a disputed claim to say we don't dispute it.  ?!?!?!  This would mean we agree that we owe those funds- which Amerihome then would expect us to pay before we could proceed with the loan because it looks like an outstanding balance.

I expected them to request more paperwork- but the SAME paperwork and to go as far as to admit to an account we NEVER opened- already getting a little ticked.  I was informed that this info was needed before they could submit it to the processor.  Okay- what the hell were you doing for the last 2 months?

 I kindly responded saying they need to keep better records and that I expect a more timely response and acknowledgement from here on out.  After a few questions are answered, I will resubmit their requests- then I will be the most annoying person they ever met and email them everyday to make SURE that they are processing the paperwork and not just letting our files languish on the corner of someone's desk.  I am highly annoyed.

Structural changes and NVR Meeting

We set our meeting with NVR 4 days later.  In the meantime our SR was trying to pressure us to have any structural changes ready by Wednesday.  Don't let them do this to you!  You have a full week and after much back and forth between me and the husband we finally requested that we be given our full 7 days.  See we purchased on our Courtland Gate based on the floor plan alone (insert gulp here).  The nearest model was about 1 hour away and we hadn't seen it yet.  More on that later

The NVR meeting was set to happen at the model in our community.  We came prepared.  Both I and my husband had been doing our homework.  Something I suggest you do if you are planning to purchase a home, new construct or resale.  This doesn't just mean saving for a down payment (which is actually the least of your worries) but checking your credit and fixing any problems, pay down debt and begin gathering documentation.  In our case, I knew our debt to income ratio.  And I knew that our buying a home would not be contingent on selling our current home, because our DTI was very low.  Check this link to help figure out your DTI: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/why-debt-to-income-matters-in-mortgages-1.aspx  I suggest that you calculate your DTI before hand, this information will be used later to fill out any mortgage paperwork.  

Now don't get me wrong- our credit is not "stellar".  I have a ton student loans, but all my bills were paid on time giving me a close to excellent  FICO score.  My husband also has his share of snafus, but he had been working on showing a good payment history and removing any erroneous reports on his credit report.   To this end, I suggest you actually purchase the service of credit monitoring service.  Can't afford it then try this:  www.creditkarma.com.  It is free, just have to deal with upsale attempts but nothing too intrusive.  

Our meeting went very smoothly and we spent most of the time just randomly talking.  

Now back to viewing the model- we rushed to Delaware on a Tuesday after I got out of work.  What a nightmare!  We had to rush to get my youngest from pre school- who decided to have an "accident" that had to be cleaned up before we could get on the road.  Then of course, there was traffic.  Ever traveled 95 south after work?  Unless you have time to kill I wouldn't suggest you do it.  We got there with 5 minutes to spare and did a quick walk through.  My thoughts:  my home is going to be beautiful!  My husband's thoughts:  our house is way too big, we need to downsize.

Uh oh.