Home "Closing" ?

[inactive]

Closing costs can jump 40% because they do not like the look of your face that morning, chances are that is why it has skyrocketed. They can also base it off of your payment histories with every single vendor you have ever used, miss a power bill payment, that can add a half percent to closing, it is really their own little game of make it up as they go.

I'm not sure what you mean by this? I can't remember a whole lot at closing (aside from down payment) that was based on my payment histories or whatever, and I just closed on a sale of a home last month. I recall it being commissions, county and FHA fees, inspection costs, and fees to the title/abstract company.

My Realtor (a good one) estimated them off the top of her head - within a hundred buck or so - the moment I told her verbally what I realistically expected to get for the house.

 

[smcgee10]

Our lender made the closing process hell. One piece of paper after another. They said they could be mailed but that would slow the closing. They would not accept faxes. Finally got fed up and changed lenders midstream. The old lender was PISSED! Told them "I asked what you needed, and you said this and this. I got it to you. Then you wanted MORE. Why did you not tell me that when I asked. You are looking like you have a severe lack of Professionalism and that lack of professionalism just cost you a client."

 

[inactive]

The American Dream of owning a home was contingent on people doing the work themselves and building their own homes, the fact of the matter is unless you do that you will probably never own it, your lending institution does, and until that Lien is off the Title you do not own anything.

Well, yes and no. It depends on the % of loan to value. If it is less than 100%, then I have equity, and that is how much I own of my house, regardless of the amount of the loan.

Though I get your point. Too many people expect to have house payments (and car payments for that matter) the rest of their lives, and really never, ever consider paying a home off in full and owning it "outright."

When I sold my house, my wife took the equity and immediately paid off our car (and cleared 7 whole dollars hey, we were only in the house 5 years so we did pretty well). People thought we were nuts, but we are both under 30 and have no debt aside form the student loans.

 

[SMS]

The American Dream of owning a home was contingent on people doing the work themselves and building their own homes, the fact of the matter is unless you do that you will probably never own it, your lending institution does, and until that Lien is off the Title you do not own anything.

This. The two friends in question are perfect case studies. They both built similar sized homes with similar custom features. One paid a builder, the other worked as his own general contractor and did alot of the roughing-in himself with the help of family in friends.

Outcome: Guy who paid builder ended up house-poor with two mortgages on a $400K+ house the day he closed. Guy who did his own contracting ended up with a $200K mortgage on a house that appraised at over $400K.

Biggest problem is time. Time is money, working 40+ hours mon-sat every week doesn't leave time for much. The guy who built his own is a fireman and only works 10 shifts a month...he still gave up a lot of family time but he now has a beautiful place to raise his kids in and he's not house-poor.

 

[BadgeBunny]

Well, yes and no. It depends on the % of loan to value. If it is less than 100%, then I have equity, and that is how much I own of my house, regardless of the amount of the loan.

Though I get your point. Too many people expect to have house payments (and car payments for that matter) the rest of their lives, and really never, ever consider paying a home off in full and owning it "outright."

When I sold my house, my wife took the equity and immediately paid off our car (and cleared 7 whole dollars hey, we were only in the house 5 years so we did pretty well). People thought we were nuts, but we are both under 30 and have no debt aside form the student loans.

This. I bought into this house at less than appraisal so I had instant equity. Everyone tried to get me to take out a second mortgage for this that or the other ...

Nothing doing.

The first mortgage will be paid off shortly. Principal only payments are like manna from heaven.

 

[onwmed]

I'm putting in an offer on a house today. Hope It works out, I walked into this house and knew right away that I wanted it.

 

[Slack]

Me and my business partner own several rent houses, so I have gone to quite a number of closings in the last few years. Every time I wonder to myself why it seems like it is the first time all the parties involved have ever done this.

Then again there seems to be a high turn over on the banker's side, so maybe it is their first time :-)

Nothing ever seems to go completely wrong, but it is obvious that the lenders and the title company put everything off until the last minute. Best as I can tell it only takes about 1.5 days to get everything together for a closing and they start about 2 days before. So if anything is messed up it screws everything up.

Take your time and understand everything. If you have questions, then ask them. Closing is the time to get it figured out. I have had minor issues with things being wrong and we get them fixed. Start harrassing the title company at least a week before for some "final" numbers. These numbers should not change on closing day except for few dollars here and there due to day to day prorated insurance, taxes, etc.

 

[TerryMiller]

I guess the wife and I have been lucky. Over the years, we have been through four closings. While I don't remember on the first one, the other three were a breeze.

But then, we have an excellent realtor and an excellent mortgage broker. The realtor is out of Mustang and the mortgage broker is out of Yukon. We've never had a surprise in our closing costs and never had a delay in going to closing.

And, for what it is worth, forget the online lending institutions. One individual who was going to buy our home in Blanchard went with one and then they dumped him right near the closing period. Our realtor recommended to them that they go to the Yukon mortgage broker and within a few weeks, we were in closing.
.

 

[SMS]

Me and my business partner own several rent houses, so I have gone to quite a number of closings in the last few years. Every time I wonder to myself why it seems like it is the first time all the parties involved have ever done this.

Exactly the point of my OP. Why is this? There's got to be someone on the board with some inside information.