My Homebuying Journey

[cputrwz]

Ok, so I'm starting a new thread on my home buying quest! We officially signed a contract today for a new construction home by Atlantic Builders. I have been preapproved by their preferred lender one approval for 365k and the second for 400k. She said at 400k, it was pushing the envelope with a 46% DTI but it did pass through automated approval and did not need manual review.

 

The base price of the home was 358k and we skimped as much as we could on the upgrades - only getting structural things that we had to have and leaving cosmetic things for changes we could do ourselves. We also opt'd to leave the basement totally unfinished. We did however put a deck on the home and added a morning room and 4 foot family room extension as well as an "alternate" upstairs that put the laundry room on the second level and gave us an owners suite with a sitting room and deluxe master bath. Gourmet kitchen with an island was already included in the base price. I also got hardwood floors going up the stairs in the landing. We will also have a walkout basement.

 

We took a realtor with us that I got through Navy Federal's home buying program. This will give us 2k rebate after closing.

 

Initially, the builder would only offer 5k in closing costs and then the lender credit of 2.5k for closing costs but we really wanted to do a late in the year settlement. So, she actually asked the president of the company if we could push settlement to the end of this year and he compromised by offering us an 08/30/2013 settlement and gave us 1.5k extra closing costs.

 

So, after everything was said and done... the final price of the home is 390,425.00 and the square footage is 3,600 above grade. We also got a corner lot with .75 acres. Backs to trees and we will only have a house on one side of us.

 

They also agreed to accept a payment plan for the earnest money downpayment - they wanted 5k total but agreed to 500 dollars today and then starting 2/21, 1k a month with a final payment of 500 dollars on 6/21.

 

We felt and so did my realtor, that we got a really great deal.

They gave us 14,800.00 toward upgrades

They gave us 6,500.00 in closing costs

They agreed to push settlement to 8/30/2013

And they agreed to a down payment plan for the earnest money

They are going to give me a free IPAD 2.

Oh, and the HOA fee is only 300.00 a year!

 

So, all in all, I'm super excited and still can't believe this is happening. I now just have to provide all the explanation documents to the lender and get copies of my discharge and foreclosure paperwork and then hope the underwriter is in a good mood. I'm hoping since it did go through automated approval that they won't be too hard on me. Aside from the BK and the foreclosure, my history is squeaky clean and we have a mid credit score of 750. Perfect rental history and I make 125k. The only thing I'm weary of is the use of my NavChek LOC the past few months and hoping the underwriter won't deny me for not keeping my checking account positive all the time. The credit report we did was good for 120 days... so, they will have to pull it again in April. Also, my foreclosure will be 3 years old 4/30/2013. I did my new budget and calculations for saving up... and assuming the 8/30 date sticks for settlement, I should have 22,000 saved up.

 

This is a picture of the model (we didn't get this elevation though - ours is just a plain front with no porch):

Edited January 22, 2013 by cputrwz

[DadofThree]

Nice looking home . Congrats for sure and keep us posted on the whole process.

[Missfontella]

The house sounds fabulous! Very happy things are working out. I look forward to reading about your journey as I hope to be doing the same in a few months.

[doodlebugger]

Congrats! That is a beautiful home. Hope everything goes smoothly!

[IAmOnMyWay]

sounds wonderful! The builder was willing to work with you. Best of luck

[ugghh]

Congrats! We should be moving in to our new build about the same time. Nerve wrecking journey building a house!

[cputrwz]

Thanks everyone!

 

Yea, it is nerve wracking... we want out of this apartment so badly and we've only been here a little over a month. We have some crazy flowers rude obnoxious neighbors upstairs that stay up all night act crazy and blast incredibly loud movies and music. They are playing rap music right now at max deciples and you can go outside and hear it. I complained to the office and they told me "don't worry the problem will take care of itself soon" ... she said she couldn't go into details but they are dealing with the "problem" and it should be rectified "soon". I also complained that whenever they walk we can hear every single move they make and she said "when the apartment is empty we can fix the floors". So, I put two and two together and guessed that they are being evicted. I went up there one morning to ask them to turn down whatever it was they were listening to at 10 AM on a Sunday and I got yelled and screamed at for not having the right to come up there and I seriously thought the dude was gonna hurt me just cause I wanted them to be quieter. He then retaliated by turning it up louder and then doing exactly what they are doing right now.

 

If it goes past 11PM I suppose we'll have to call the cops but I can't do anything until then. I just want to be out in our own home and not have to deal with this. I'm like scared to be here cause the people upstairs are very violent and scare the crap out of me. Just makes me wonder if we can hear it from the street and clear as day in our apartment just how loud it is inside their apartment. Sigh....

[ugghh]

Thanks everyone!

 

Yea, it is nerve wracking... we want out of this apartment so badly and we've only been here a little over a month. We have some crazy flowers rude obnoxious neighbors upstairs that stay up all night act crazy and blast incredibly loud movies and music. They are playing rap music right now at max deciples and you can go outside and hear it. I complained to the office and they told me "don't worry the problem will take care of itself soon" ... she said she couldn't go into details but they are dealing with the "problem" and it should be rectified "soon". I also complained that whenever they walk we can hear every single move they make and she said "when the apartment is empty we can fix the floors". So, I put two and two together and guessed that they are being evicted. I went up there one morning to ask them to turn down whatever it was they were listening to at 10 AM on a Sunday and I got yelled and screamed at for not having the right to come up there and I seriously thought the dude was gonna hurt me just cause I wanted them to be quieter. He then retaliated by turning it up louder and then doing exactly what they are doing right now.

 

If it goes past 11PM I suppose we'll have to call the cops but I can't do anything until then. I just want to be out in our own home and not have to deal with this. I'm like scared to be here cause the people upstairs are very violent and scare the crap out of me. Just makes me wonder if we can hear it from the street and clear as day in our apartment just how loud it is inside their apartment. Sigh....

 

Ugh! I could not deal with that. I talked the wife into renting a house for a year and having the new one built. The only downside is our rental has a pool and now she wants one

[visorboy1974]

We have some crazy flowers rude obnoxious neighbors upstairs that stay up all night act crazy and blast incredibly loud movies and music. They are playing rap music right now at max deciples and you can go outside and hear it.

 

It's called thinking the louder you play it, the more "max effect" it has. I'm amazed at the amount of people who have a lack of respect for others. I have a friend who plays video games with the volume cranked up. I wouldn't be able to handle it if I were his neighbor.

[cputrwz]

I think this whole thing is going to give me lots of new gray hairs....

 

1. we ended up calling the cops last night... the officer apparently thought it was too loud too cause he went up and knocked on his door. They said they would drive by and if it was infact too loud they would do something about it. This like enraged the guy and he was really angry and slammed the door when the cop left and then they started retaliating against us and dropping things on the floor and standing on squeaky boards and jumping up and down.

 

The good news is we found out that they have been causing all sorts of problems and apparently their lease is up in March and the complex is not allowing them to renew it. So, they will have to move by march 1.

 

 

2. I'm nervous about my loan now... I know I made it through automated preapproval with this C&F Mortgage who is the preferred lender of the builder but Navy Federal called me last night and they just outright denied my FHA application. So, it made me highly paranoid. Navy was surprisingly very unpersonable. The dude just took a few answers to some questions he had and then called me back 3 days later to say I was denied. No chance for explanations or any sort of conversation. I don't even know if I failed to get preapproved or if this was just the underwriter looked at me and said hell no. I know it went to the underwriter cause he said the underwriter denied it and no discussion or anything just I will get a letter in the mail. I'm wondering if Navy outright denied it cause my foreclosure isn't 3 years yet (not until 04/30/2013). My current underwriter knows this and said we just need to pull my credit again in April. I dunno.

 

So, now I'm all paranoid. The last thing the lender that I plan on using said to me is that she didn't see any reason why the underwriter would deny my loan but of course I'm like all freaking out. We have 3 days to go back on this builder contract and we signed it on Monday and I can't get ahold of my loan officer cause she was on vacation till today.... lol.

 

So, between my neighbors and being totally paranoid about loans... I think I may have a stroke.

[syncracirca]

My memory sucks sometimes, but I thought you were a veteran. No VA loan?

[cputrwz]

No, not a veteran... I am a government contractor though.

 

My father was though...can I use his VA benefits? lol. JK, I know I can't.

Edited January 23, 2013 by cputrwz

[syncracirca]

Ok, gotcha. I'm buying a house too right now but I'm too lazy to track the progress here on CB. Might put up a success thread after we close February 15th. CB has helped me so much I'm blown away at what we can accomplish by mailing out lawful and reasonable requests in the pursuit of fixing credit reporting errors.

 

Sorry about your neighbors. It seems like waiting another month for them to be gone could be tough.

[cputrwz]

Hehe I'd be too lazy as well but I get myself so worked up that posting here helps me vent and relieve the pressure. I'm so nervous about this loan getting approved... all because I used my overdraft line of credit...I'm probably being overly paranoid. I do have a "backup plan" though ... I also got a preapproval from K. Hovnanian and she told me if my current bank statements show the use of my NavChek then we'll just wait and use February and March's statements... so, I'm hoping my current loan officer for the home we put the contract on either says the same thing or doesn't think my negatives will be an issue.

 

I just hate it when people don't answer me back... its been like 4 days and I am starting to get ansy... lol.

[chistian123]

Congratulations OP! My hubby and I are looking to start the building process around September of this year. If you wouldn't mind me asking can you tell me a little more about the process? When you received the pre-approval did you have to provide all tax returns, w2 etc at that time before you started building?

Thanks in advance!

[cputrwz]

Once I got preapproved she did send me a list of all the things she needed once I signed a contract... W-2s, tax returns, bank statements... tons of stuff.

[chistian123]

Once I got preapproved she did send me a list of all the things she needed once I signed a contract... W-2s, tax returns, bank statements... tons of stuff.

 

 

Thanks! Did she tell you that you need to submit everything before they would start building? I'm just curious because I want to use my two most recent tax returns as I had a few employers (on 3 different w-2 contracts) in 2010 when we start the process.

[cputrwz]

No, just told me I needed to provide those things once I signed a contract... however, it seems getting ahold of her now is impossible. I email and I call and she's always "on the phone". I'm starting to get a little peeved cause I need to know what the heck is going on with my contract... lol.

[chistian123]

No, just told me I needed to provide those things once I signed a contract... however, it seems getting ahold of her now is impossible. I email and I call and she's always "on the phone". I'm starting to get a little peeved cause I need to know what the heck is going on with my contract... lol.

 

I would want to know too! I will be the same way!

[cputrwz]

I'm about to sick my realtor on them..... lol.

[jop3]

Your realtor would happily do that for you, do it!

[cputrwz]

I feel a little bit better... finally talked to my loan officer she said everything looked good that I sent to her and the overdrafts are not a problem as long as I have overdraft protection. They are concerned about actual overdrafts that generate a fee. I only had one of those that happened by accident and I corrected that almost instantly. She is handing off my loan to the branch manager though as he handles the account for the builder that I am working with.

 

I'm still on pins and needles though.

[ugghh]

Sending positive thoughts...

[cputrwz]

Thanks...

 

Just out of curiosity... what happens if you are building a house and the builder accepts your contract and everything is moving along and then for some reason 3 months from now my lender decides that I'm not worthy for the loan and you lose the finacing? Do you just scramble to try and find someone else? I'm just nervous with all this stuff I've heard about people losing their financing at the closing table... dis is some scary stuffers. Not like buying a car... which I thought was annoying before I started doing a mortgage.

[syncracirca]

Thanks...

 

Just out of curiosity... what happens if you are building a house and the builder accepts your contract and everything is moving along and then for some reason 3 months from now my lender decides that I'm not worthy for the loan and you lose the finacing? Do you just scramble to try and find someone else? I'm just nervous with all this stuff I've heard about people losing their financing at the closing table... dis is some scary stuffers. Not like buying a car... which I thought was annoying before I started doing a mortgage.

 

That's a risk even if you're not building, you just have to be patient.