Well j-lynn told me to ask you about our recent inquiries with buying a home. well we have been in contact with a builder and a lender in Wichita Falls, the lender is American National Bank (good or go somewhere else?) She gave us a good faith estimate and I told her we had some derogs and paid collections, and I am assuming she didn't pull a report cause she gave us a rate of 5.75% for 122,000 I was blown away, the only thing is it has nothing to do with my score right, she hasn't pulled anything right? I asked her who they pull and she said a consolidated one all 3. The 5th was the deadline for equifax and my disputes so this week-end I will pull a new one from there site to see if anything has changed. The buildler is asking 4,000 up front for Earnest money, and well we won't have that for a month or two, so I was straight with him on that. What relation (if any) does that good faith estimate have on the pre-approval process? I mean does it even remotley effect what is on the reports? We are trying to pre-approve next week but I am going bananas I mean nerves are killing me, we want this home and are so worried we will not get it. We will have about 12,000 by July we really want this home and just becuase of our scores I am afraid we will not get it. We need to buy a vehicle, and take away that 4,000 will leave us with about 2-3,000. All of this is from 96/97 and it just ticks me off. If I shop online for a mtg will that give us a better shot with our low scores? Thanks in advance and talk to you soon.
I am not an authority to answer your question, but thought I would post some comments. I, too, am looking to purchase a home and from all the material I have read on the internet, it is a great idea to research and comparison-shop for mortgages/rates. This course by Nehemiah has a lot of information and could assist you with some of your down-payment. http://www.getdownpayment.com/hec/
we are doing a VA loan where there is no down payment just fees that we have to pay for upfront and according to the builder that is what the Earnest money will cover and then we will get some money back, but it is qualifying for the loan itself, that is in question. Shopping on the net for a loan, will that give us a better chance or more options? Is there even an opportunity out there for high 500's low 600's mtg loan?
IMO, NO! Earnest money has nothing to do with qualifying for the loan from what I have read. AND, you will need to read all the paperwork associated with the Earnest money to be sure that if you do not secure a loan for the house that your money is not forfieted. This happened to my best friend and her husband (they paid $8000 in Earnest money and decided against getting the hous and they are fighting to have their money returned - 2 years later). It gives you better options and possibly better chances. However, depending on your score, your interest rate could be high, in the 8.5+% range.
teresa j-lynn is being nice again I see...LOL. I know nothing about American National Bank. Ask her straight out whether or not she pulled your reports. If she is reputable she will tell you. I would expect that she did at least an in-file to get an idea of what your credit looked like before giving you a rate quote. For a VA loan, the rate sounds reasonable, though I would have to check to be certain. The big question will be what type of closing costs are listed in the GFE. They can be very high if you are not careful. I do very few VA mortgages, but from my understanding they are very difficult to obtain and there are a lot of turn downs. The Earnest Money has nothing to do with qualifying for a mortgage. Have a clause put in the purchase agreement to the affect that if you do not qualify for a VA mortgage at the rate quoted to you, then the purchase agreement is null and void and all earnest moneys that you have given are to be refunded to you within 30-60 days (you choose time frame). This will protect you against losing your earnest money. Your other option is to get the lender to pre-approve you for the mortgage before you give the builder any money. Shopping online may work, though I tend to doubt it. The biggest problem I see with the online lenders is that there is no way for them to actually work with you to determine what it is that you are actually trying to accomplish (buying a home is actually just part of the overall equation). What are you long term goals and how does home ownership fit into the picture. Also, how long are you planning to be in the home. These along with a lot of other questions that, unfortunately, I see far to few mortgage brokers getting into these days. (Now I will climb down off my soapbox) I hope this helps. If you want or need more detailed answers, you can email me off-board and I will respond. fla-tan
Re: Re: fla-tan----------HELP! Shhhhh, don't let my kids here you say that...they are positive I'm a meanie!
msbandit Actually, it is more important to shop for a mortgage person that you will feel comfortable with and can trust. You are basically laying your soul bare for this person. Also, a good mortgage person can be a tremendous asset and help you to achieve long term goals. A lesser mortgage person can actually hinder you in reaching those goals. One scenario that I run into constantly...A person is looking to purchase a home. They plan on being in the home anywhere from 3-7 years. Most mortgage people are trained to immediately offer and talk only about 30 year fixed rate mortgages. This is harmful to the buyer. A 5 year ARM would probably be about 1-1.5% lower in rate. That could save the borrower substanially over the time. In addition, there are other options that can be presented to the borrower that may better fit their investment goals. Another thing you need to be aware of. That is closing costs. A low rate does you no good if the costs of getting the loan are high. The last time I checked, there was no way to get an idea of closing costs from an online lender/broker without having to give them a lot of personal information and having them pull credit. Just some food for thought. fla-tan
Re: Re: Re: fla-tan----------HELP! they just wouldn't believe me anyway...I am an oldster...LOL fla-tan
Thanks, FLA-TAN! As I stated, I am constanly researching the home-buying process. I do not want to get in over my head. I appreciate your comments!
as far as I am aware of it is VA. I did not plan to give any earnest money until we were pre-approved anyway. I appreciate all of your help... this is all so greek to me, buying a home is a HUGE step. We will be in the home approx 4 years seeing we are military and then hopefully just rent it out until we are ready to retire (13 more years at least) then turn around and sell it then so hopefully we can gain some money and buy a home for just hubby and I. I have no idea what an infile is, she did say she pulls an infile (combined report) for the pre-approval, as I did come out and ask who they pull for pre-approval. How could we not qualify for a VA loan score wise? Just some more questions fla-tan when I have more time I will email you, I appreciate the extended offer to email, but it is late and it is too long to go into right now...maybe this week-end after I pull my equifax scores since these are the most accurate if I remember correctly. also the est closing costs in the good faith letter were about 3500. The lender said that for VA she can't roll over anything into the mtg except the home and the va funding fee. One more thing can anyone tell me on the VA first time users, no money down, is the VA funding fee 2% or 1%? Thanks again
Teresa, I am in a somewhat same situation, looking at a VA loan in TX. Curious to know what's going on with your situation and if you have any advice? thanks!
I came across Cendant in the past on military.com, supposedly they write the most VA mortgages. I talked with their rep, let them pull my CR. He told me that scores aren't used, that you just need a clean past 6 months on your CR and to pay any collections off.
Thanks - I'd like to go through the builder, they're offering great incentives, but Cendant would be an alternate, I think I can get a deal through my company. Anyway - is that collections, or collections and chargeoffs? I have a deficiency on an 2000 repo. Otherwise I should be fine. (I hope)
