Thank you for all your support. We finally closed today. Our agent is a buyers agent only. She did a wonderful job. As first time buyers we really didn't know what to do. When we started, we called on a agent, he said "get pre-approved" and that was the end of that conversation. So we got approved, and I met another realtor at a home I was driving by. I told her we already had a lender, but wanted to look at some homes. She told us she could have found us a lender. Both the realator and the title rep said that this was one of the worst closing that they had delt with. We are just happy that it is over. And now with the home bombing

 

WARNING - HOME BOMBING IS MORE EXPENSIVE THAN TRUCK BOMBING!!!!!!!!!

And I have the receipts to prove it.

Enjoy the new digs. But be prepared to start hanging out at home improvement stores.

 

Congrats on the new digs. Just curious Mostwanted, but what kind of interest rate did you get for your mortgage? I just re-fi'd for 5.75% @ 30 years with the bank paying all closing costs. Couldn't pass that one up. Heard the rate have bumped up in recent days.

 

Apologize for earlier going off on tangents about Realtors...Congrats on your new home....Now more money to spend over and above the truck

I'm in my happy place now...315's came in last night...

 

My family owns a title company and I swear I have seen it all.
My only advice is: Be very careful in your choice of lender, its very easy to hide things. We had a closing yesterday where the lender was going to make 13 grand on a 175,000. loan. We disclosed everything and the borrower was furious. The lender now hates us for not trying to hide it for him.
My dad once told me "If you are going to have an honest business, you better do a darn good job."
Now that the lender hates us I am sure he will find another title company that will be happy to hide his fees and keep his business.
Lucky for us, we do a darn good job.
Good Luck!

 

WOW 13 large on a 175k loan! That's incredible. The real estate business is certainly a very complex woven system. There are many levels that most people aren't even aware of. One thing I've learned to accept is that it is a business, however corrupt some may view it, that drives this nation. When you look at nation wide property exchange and value, the numbers are incredible.

Not as incredible as 13 large though!

I just locked in a week ago at 5.75 for 90 days, (waiting for my house to be completed)

 

Best of Luck with that.
Where are you building at? I am also in Utah. (American Fork)

 

Farr West...it's west of Ogden.

 

All I can say is that it is below 8%. I have crappy credit wifes is okay. We are both new to this, so I am sure we will learn with our mistakes. We will probley refi in a couple of years. My wife understands this stuff more than I. I am more of the mechanical half around here.

The bombing has begun already. We ripped out the carpet last night and have been pulling staple out of the hardwood floors .

 

7/99 a good rate was 7.75 fixed for 30

My refi locked a month ago at 5.75 - 2 points makes a LARGE difference (can you say BOMB/toy funds more readily available?)

As long as you are never late with a mortgage payment getting a refi in a year or two should not be a problem.

 

I know what you're saying, but you have to acknowledge that there is a difference between a real estate agent and a DISHONEST real estate agent. Unfortunately, there are dishonest people in the world.....of all professions. That doesn't mean that they're all that way though. It's up to us to have enough common sense to know if we're dealing with an honest person or a dishonest one.

I would never pay an agent to sell my house. Not because I think it's a scam, but because I want to keep that 6% for myself. I have friends I go to church with who are agents. I would feel completely comfortable working with them, but I'm still not gonna do that because 6% is way too much money to let go of in my mind.

 

HOSS keep in mind the selling agent only gets 3%... if they so happen to find the buyer and the buyer agrees for them to be their represnting agent then yes it CAN be 6%. Also bear in mind that some agents are truly working for you and are willing to take hits to make deals work. In fact my wife just closed a deal where she got nothing, not a red cent. It took her 3 weeks of work to finalize the thing and she didn't take a penny. She saw that the people needed help, they had referred her another couple, and wanted to help them out. It takes a certain type of person to be able to do this. We make enough money to get by and then some, so a few thousand bucks isn't going to put us out but it let these folks get a home they really needed. So these heroes above there that think the whole thing is a scam really don't have a clue of what they are talking about.

Plus when you factor in how much agents pay in advertising, that 3% really isn't all that much.

 

This has been an interesting thread. I sure know what you mean about the problems and hastles. Years ago I moved for a while to near Seattle and bought a house. We had money to pay cash for the house in Canada (had just sold my house there) but for various reasons did not want to convert my Canuk bucks to US, so decided to finance. Even with bank guaranteed security in Canada what a circus that turned out to be! Talk about being put thru hoops and more. The mortgage company kept on coming to us asking for more and more info. Some of it was just plain stupid. One day I came home to find my wife in tears as the mortgage company had just called to ask for yet more info. I called up my real estate agent and told him the deal was off. Less than an hour later he called to let me know that the mortgage company did not want that info after all and we could sign the papers the next day. He really worked with and for us.
I have bought houses in Canada and they seem to have a different system because I never had this problem there. It seems much easier to finance a house up there.
BTW, I sold that house two years later and expected to lose on it. My realtor listed it on a Friday, the signs went up on Saturday and the house was sold for more than we were asking on Monday. We had three buyers bidding against one another. I did not lose on the deal. I attribute this to the power of prayer and a Christian realtor.

 

I have over the past ten years, bought and sold 8 houses, pieces of land.
The one thing I have learned is that you need to find a real estate agent that will work in your best interest, not his or hers.
My agent is a family member, so this helps a lot.
When choosing a lender, the same applies. Make it known at the start of the deal that they all stand to make money because of you.
This means that if you back out, the agent loses 3%, the lender loses the interest, fees that will be associated with the loan.
This sets the rules at the beginning of the deal.
Yes, I had to jump through hoops, give countless bits of information, and generally spend days on the phone.
If you have a good agent, a good lender, this is a lot less painful.
The one thing that you should seek is a lender that will not sell your mortgage.
If their is a local bank or lending institution that holds their mortgages, this makes it easier if you have a problem, question.
You can walk in and talk to someone.
Rates, points, terms are all variables that effect each other.
Read, understand what your mortgage company's rules are about the mortgage being assumable.
Find out what the fees, penalties are for early payoffs.
And the most important thing that I can say about buying property is,
don't be pressured, don't be driven by emotion.
Be driven by information, be informed, be ready to walk on any deal if it doesn't
meet your expectations, criteria.
I am 34 years old, I don't know everything there is to know about real estate.
I am still learning. Find people you trust, and they will work with you on finding your piece of the american dream.

Off my soapbox now.

Rich