whoarethemachines?

BTW. This is in NY and the closing is scheduled for Mon 12/12. It's amazing how stressful this process has been for everyone involved. Every step of the way, my brother has been completely useless. We were supposed to close on Fri but he was unable to get all his stuff out of the house in time. A couple of weeks ago his wife even threatened to squat on the property. The excuses he gave for not being able to do the things that were expected of him and that everyone but (my mother and) I accepted as valid reasons were just mind boggling. Sorry, just had to vent a little.

Well, If I were to formally go through the process of determining whether or not taxes are expected to be paid, I might say yes they are to be paid. By Formally, I mean using a work sheet and determining insolvency. But if the form just expects me to give my best guess, why would I say yes? In other words, if someone were to ask me that question while sitting across a table. I'm going to say NO. Now, if at closing we are asked to take some time to fill out a form, then I'll go through the details.

Yes, here's an update. Sorry bout being MIA, been a little tied up w/ Life :-) At this time my father is trying to work w/ 2 accountants. His usual guy who is out of town until the end of the year. As a result of his absence my brother got my father in touch w/ his accountant. This one's wife is in stage 4 cancer so he hasn't be readily available and we're not (understandably) pushing him. My goal was to sit down for a planning session to avoid surprises as a previous poster mentioned. The info provided here has been the most concise. As for possible insolvency. I'm expecting that might not be the case since this property is about $200k in the hole but my parents have their primary residence w/ no mortgage. At worst this one is probably valued at a little more than $200k. At best it's a little more than $300k. Then if you include cash equivalents and other retirement accounts, they're probably over.

So my parents own a house in which my brother lives. My brother was supposed to pay the mortgage and hasn't done so in probably over a year. That house is now days away from a short sale. We're expecting the closing day to be announced any day now. The short amount is about $200k. I understand that my parents may have a tax liability because it is not their primary residence. They live somewhere else and have been doing so for at least 10 yrs. My brother's accountant is telling my parents that he will take care of filling out the 1099-c. First ? - Wouldn't the 1099c get filled out by the bank, one copy go to the IRS and another to my parents? The accountant is also telling my parents that whether or not they pay tax on the short amount depends on how the 1099-c is filled out. Apparently simply checking off a particular box could mean no tax is owed. 2nd ? - is that correct? TIA.

TY. Being told that the HUD is based on Invoices does make me feel a little better.

Whether it helps or not might be a matter of opinion but from what I understand of the situation is that in some instances it will prevent multiple overdraft charges. I haven't bounced a check in years so it very likely won't effect me but IMO, this is a good thing.

Keep your budget in mind. Don't forget to factor in taxes, electric, heat, groceries, etc...

TY. That answers one of my questions.

So basically there's nothing I can do about any of this until after I see the charges. - I have no estimate of how many days between seeing the final #s and closing date. - No info on what are my legal rights as to the level of disclosure the bank has to give me on the charges. So typical of the level of info available to the consumer. So I take a day off from work, go to the closing and sign all this paperwork then I have 3 days to decide whether or not I want to go through w/ the deal. At that point who's really going to say I don't like this deal? Most people would simply say oh well, the deal is done I may as well leave things as they are. And we all know the banks count on it playing out that way. I'll report back as things develop.

I don't believe he is either. I think he is the 'Dean of the Mortgage Forum'. B won't steer you wrong. You're point about disclosure is exactly what this is about. That and of course being charged a fair fee for the services the bank (or 3rd party) is providing. On the GFE they've listed about $6200 for Title Search, Gov recording and Xfer txs. I was told by the woman w/ whom I've been speaking that GFE's are generally at the high end so that their are no surprises. I can accept that and feel that makes sense. But if these fees come in lower how can I be assured the bank will lower the costs? The only way I can be assured is if they show me what they were charged for these items. I pretty much figured me seeing the Appraiser fee was a fluke. I told the woman that I want to see the final closing costs and was told that "the final figures are not available until your loan is totally cleared and moved to the closing status". I can understand that but she it's been 2 business days and she has not clarified if that means days before or hours before. Let's be straight here, the less time between when I'm told and the closing is scheduled the less time I have to review, understand and/or ask for clarification of the fees. How transparent does the bank legally have to be w/ the disclosure of fees? Ideally, I 'd want to see the actual receipts and payments for these services but understand that might be asking for too much.

Right, because banks are probably the most trustworthy institutions around. Are you a loan professor or loan processor?

Lucky Driver. Here's what I found: http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2010-01-17-closing-cost-rules_N.htm and this: http://news.mortgagecalculator.org/new-rules-clarify-closing-costs/ But nowhere do I see that they have to pass to me any savings from the GFE. Already they're telling me that the loan amount is 285000. I feel like they are forcing me to borrow more than I need or want.

IDK. I'm just so convinced that the bank is going to nickel and dime me anyway they can to make it a better deal for themselves. The appraisal fee on the GFE is listed at $400 but the fee listed by the appraiser on the appraisal report is $300. I'm expecting the bank to not change the $400 to $300 at the closing. Also,I'm expecting that they're gonna try and push a 285000 loan on me instead of the 280000 needed for payoff. Not to mention all the other closing costs like title search, gov recording fees, etc... I mean if the GFE lists $5000 for those items but it winds up costing the bank only 3k for those items, are they really gonna pass those savings on to me?

So I've been working w/ TD Bank on refinancing my mortgage w/ IndyMac. Current rate info is Rate: 6.375 Outstanding Balance $280,100.00 TD is offering 4.875 so I'll definitely be saving money. However, when I filled out the application I estimated the balance at $285000 and was told that estimates would be fine since they know the #s will be changing. I'm concerned that the bank is going to try and tell me that nothing can change because the paperwork has gone through the Underwriting process and to change any #s means redoing everything which would also mean a new interest rate. Can anyone give details on the underwriting process and when is the latest that these #s can be adjusted? Thanks.

I'll check it out. I signed up w/ fool many years ago but never really felt that their articles offered major insights, but then again, I signed up for the free account.