Congrats!!! I hope to join the ranks of home ownership on March 24th.

Thanks all, for your well wishes. I love my place. I love the garbage fees. I love the fire dues. I love the pesky weeds now shooting up between the grass blades. I love my neighbor's dog poop on MY grass.

Obviously, I am out of my mind with joy at the moment, but hey, I have 30 years to hate the above things, so I might as well love them now - lol!

I told my loan officer that I would much rather finance everything listed in my GFE straight than pre-pay stuff like appraisal, credit report fee, etc... I felt my money would do me much better sitting in the bank as 2 months reserves than taken off the finance amount resulting in a $7.00 a month lower house note. He agreed with my logic.

He estimated on the high end my closing contributions and did not force me to prepay the credit report fee or the appraisal. He did not require a new survey.

I also asked him to allow Amsouth to cut me check back from my $1000 earnest money instead of deducting the overpayment from my financed amount. He agreed.

He offered to decrease his origination fee to .625% from 1% after I locked in at 6.5% and the rates fell (the next day, of course) to 6.375%.

So, at closing, after a $1000 earnest, my contribution ended up being $104, and they cut me a check for $896. Unbelievable but true.

30 year fixed conventional, 6.5%, no PMI.


If you wonder if it can happen to you, it WILL. Just plug away at your reports, change your spending habits, and don't be afraid to think outside of the box.


By the grace of God,

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marci
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AmEx Blue 8.49%
BofA Platinum 10.99%
Capital One Platinum 8.99%
Chase Platinum 6.99%
Citibank Platinum 7.99%
MBNA Quantum 9.49%