My home buying journey....It's finally time

[futurehomeowner?]

I can not believe that I am actually starting this thread. When I joined this site 1 year ago this month I set a goal to start the home buying process by April 2014. I really didn't think it was possible since my FICO was in the 500s and my wife had a bunch of late pays in 2009, 2 charged off credit cards, and a judgment. A few weeks ago I hired a lawyer to fight the default judgment and he was able to get it thrown out. I promptly disputed it on the 3 main credit bureaus and as of today it is gone from all 3.

 

I have followed all of the other home buying threads and have learned a great deal but the home buying process is still very new to us. I have so many questions so I figured it would be best to ask them all in this thread instead of starting a new thread daily. I hope all of you smart people join me on this journey and help us out with all of our questions.

 

 

First order of business:

We have a meeting set with a LO on March 17th. What all info should I take with us with the initial meeting. I ordered my tax transcripts for the last 2 years. I was going to take those, past 3 months bank statements, past 2 months pay stubs, a detailed list of all of our debts. Is there anything else that would be helpful on the first meeting?

 

Also, what should I expect for the first meeting? Is it going to just be completing the pre approval app and we are on our way? Or will we discuss the different loans and rates and such? I always see auto underwriting mentioned on here, is that what they will do? Will we leave their office with a denial or preapproval on that day or will it take them some time to get it together?

 

Uggg see I meant to ask 1 question and it went on and on.

[road2freedom]

It sounds like you will have most of what you need up front, but they can, and usually do, always ask for more. The first conversation will likely be to prequalify you and discuss some of the different options. Get an idea of what you want before going in too, so you aren't overwhelmed. Then you will move to the pre-approval process, which will take a look at your credit and finances. It really depends on the lender/LO if they put you through UW up front or not. You can ask and see what they say.

 

I think you are more prepared than most for thr first meeting, so don't sweat it and just see what they have to offer. And remember... you are the customer!

[futurehomeowner?]

It sounds like you will have most of what you need up front, but they can, and usually do, always ask for more. The first conversation will likely be to prequalify you and discuss some of the different options. Get an idea of what you want before going in too, so you aren't overwhelmed. Then you will move to the pre-approval process, which will take a look at your credit and finances. It really depends on the lender/LO if they put you through UW up front or not. You can ask and see what they say.

 

I think you are more prepared than most for thr first meeting, so don't sweat it and just see what they have to offer. And remember... you are the customer!

 

The LO asked me to go on their website and fill out their application so it would save time. I was on their last night and it got to a part that asked a bunch of yes or no questions. Like have you filed BK, is your down payment borrowed, etc. If got to 1 question and it made me stop. Now I am wondering if I need to put this off for a little while.

It was something like.

Are you currently involved in a lawsuit?

Well we both currently are. Mine is a class action against an old employer so I assume that is no big deal. However, the other is my wife. The credit card that we had the judgment vacated is still in litigation. We had the judgment vacated but now we have to fight it. It is against a JDB so I am confident that we will win. Even if we lose I will pay it off in full the day of the final court hearing. Will a LO think this is a big deal? Even if we lose we will pay it, I can see them not closing until this is taken care of but will that prevent us from getting a pre approval?

[ugghh]

I would wait until tomorrow and then call her. Tell her you were filling it out and you saw this question and explain it to her. She will tell you what to do at that point. That way it is not a surprise to her without an explanation.

[road2freedom]

Agree with Uggh.

[futurehomeowner?]

yeah I figured that was the answer. Stupid weekends. I think anyone who works in an industry that I need should have to work 7 days.

[Brian B The Loan Professor]

yeah I figured that was the answer. Stupid weekends. I think anyone who works in an industry that I need should have to work 7 days.

Some of us do

[futurehomeowner?]

I am a little annoyed today. I know it is early in the process and it takes a lot of time but still. Has anyone is the North East dealt with Howard Hanna mortgage. I have heard some good things. They are a larger company as I see it so I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I wish I could go through Brian or Dallas but I want to use the PHFA loan program and you have to use one of their approved loan people to do so. So here is a brief listing of my experience so far.

 

Last week I called and tried to make an appointment. I was told to go on their website and fill out their initial app which has all of your basic info on it and asks the questions like have you filed bankruptcy. I did that over the last weekend. Early Monday morning I received an email and it had a few more questions on it. I answered them within minutes since emails go to my phone. Within minutes he responded back to me and said that he was going to forward my info to the appropriate office based on the area we were looking at. I emailed him back and said I think it should go to a different office which is actually located in the area that we were looking opposed to an office that was about 10 miles in the opposite direction. He never responded to that email. Early this morning I emailed him again. My email went as follows. Hello- XXXX, I just wanted to email you to get a rough time frame as to when someone would contact us. This is our first time going through this process so I am unaware of how long the initial process takes.

 

Again I have not gotten a return email from him. Maybe I am just a little antsy but I feel that a week is a bit long for an initial contact with a LO. If they are too busy to even call to make an appointment then maybe they are too busy for my business. They did pull my credit on Monday morning as well. Maybe they feel that we are not well qualified and know that we will be some work. Maybe I am over reacting?

Thoughts?

[Brian B The Loan Professor]

It could be any one of many things - the lack of communication though is inexcusable

Being in the dark when you are already stressing every step of the process will get old quick

Is there another company that you can work with?

[Crystallee]

If someone doesn't get back to me in what I feel is a timely fashion they are fired. You pay them, it's your choice.

[futurehomeowner?]

I decided that I will give them until Wednesday.

 

Being that we want to use the PHFA we have to use a company that is approved. There are about 15 in this area but I have never heard of any of them. They are smaller loan companies. Howard Hanna also is one of a few places that can do a quick close which means then don't have to submit the paper work to the PHFA UW, they can make the decision on the loan. Again, I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I would think if they make too many bad decisions then they would lose that ability so maybe they are actually a little tougher on approvals.

[TimP]

Someone who tells their client to "go on the website and fill out an application" is, IMO, lazy and unprofessional.

 

Simple things, like "how much money do you make" is a completely subjective question that a LO can get answered if they spend 30 seconds asking the right questions over the phone. Whereas an applicant might think "is that gross, or net?" Or they factor in all of their overtime income, which might not be allowed if they do not have a long enough history of getting overtime. Or same thing with commission income. Or what if the borrower works for a company but is paid as an independent contractor? It is so important to get off on the right foot to set the stage for the rest of the process, and I don't think you can do that with an online application. Sorry.

[futurehomeowner?]

Over the weekend I was talking to a realtor from another state. I told her my little story about the current loan officer issue. She was appalled that they would not have contacted me within 24 hours. She recommended that I just drop them now and not give them more time.

 

I think I agree. If they take this long for a return email then what is it going to be like when we get deep into the process and we actually need something. I am going to read some reviews of other places that have the program that we want and look into contacting another agent. It just sucks that we took hard pulls for this already. I should contact them and demand that they get them removed.

[road2freedom]

If they take this long for a return email then what is it going to be like when we get deep into the process and we actually need something. I am going to read some reviews of other places that have the program that we want and look into contacting another agent. It just sucks that we took hard pulls for this already. I should contact them and demand that they get them removed.

 

This is the main reason I stopped pursuing NFCU. That and the fact that I just had to use the word pursuing...

[cputrwz]

Yea I agree, the only time my loan officer never returned an email was when she was on vacation or it was a holiday. I was able to get preapproved all via email... I did have to fill out an application but I believe she emailed it to me. But we got through pretty much all of the initial stuff without me ever having to go see them. Once I had got an approved contract on our lot, I believe that's when we went into the office and met with them to sign and fill out all the remaining stuff.

 

When I was shopping for a mortgage company, I emailed a ton of them... then whoever seemed the most responsive and would answer all my questions instead of just reading the first line of my email got my business. I also ignored anyone that simply wrote back with a "call me". If they can't be bothered to answer a few questions in email then I'm not gonna bother with them. Plus I absolutely hate talking on the phone....

[futurehomeowner?]

I posted my above message at 11:32. At 12:45 I received an email from the new realtor. I sent her a long message and she responded within 15 min. We went back and forth about 12 times and the last 4 or 5 we were talking about our kids and the area. So far she is what I would expect in a realtor. Part of it might be because she knew about our first experience but at least now she knows we will go elsewhere if we are not happy.

 

On a great note for us. I got home from work and grabbed the mail. In the mail was a letter from Howard Hanna with our scores from the pull they did this week.

Here is what they said.

Me:EQ- 684 TU- 695 EX- 700

her: EQ- 703 TU- 729 EX- 729

 

As you can see from my siggy we have come a long way from our starting point 1 year ago. I am feeling good about the chances of getting a pre approval. It may not be for the amount we need but it will at least be a pre approval.

[futurehomeowner?]

well another update. It has been quite a day. The realtor that I have been speaking with gave me the info to one of her recommended brokers. I emailed him while my son was playing in the library. This was at about 7:20 PM. He called me 3 minutes later and we talked for about 45 min. Unfortunately he was unable to get me pre approved for the PHFA loan that we wanted to use. He tried 5 times and kept changing some numbers around but the denials were for DTI which I knew would be an issue, AAOA, and time since opened cards. I have 4 cards that are all under a year and my oldest is only 2 years old. I knew that was going to be an issue. When I first started my credit repair journey I had 1 card and there was no way I could get another. Within a month on this website I was able to get 2 cards. I knew it could be an issue but there was nothing I could do at that point. On the positive news, I was pre approved for FHA. So getting a pre approval felt really good after the hard work I have put into this. The only problem is that with the mortgage insurance, it is limiting the amount of house that we can buy so it will be a struggle to get it done. In 3 months if we don't find a house the broker said we can try again for the PHFA to see what happens.

 

In a period of 12 hours today I was able to get a realtor and also a pre approval. It is a pretty good day in my book.

[futurehomeowner?]

I was sitting here looking at the listings that our realtor sent us and I started to get annoyed about Howard Hanna running our credit and never contacting us. I think I am going to complain to the BBB and anyone else that I can think of. If they thought that we were not qualified then they should have at least contacted us to tell us to go away.

[futurehomeowner?]

I spent so much time and energy fixing our credit that now I feel lost. I used to dedicate 60-90 min a night researching and reading. then I spent about 45-60 min looking at houses and mortgage info. Now we are in a waiting pattern, waiting for new houses to hit the market in our area. Right now there are 26 houses in our price range and we are not interested in any of them.

 

I do have a question though. I was too quick to get our pre approval. I really should have waited a month or 2 to get our credit cards paid off but I got caught up in the moment while talking to the LO. We were denied for conventional because of ago of accounts, DTI, reserves, and balances too high on cards. Since then I paid off all cards on my report which lowered the balances and DTI. Next month we will have the down payment plus 2 months reserves so our only bad thing will be ago of accounts. So my question, in 2 months would I want to try again for a conventional pre approval? Or would we wait until we find a house to do that since we already have a pre approval? From my understanding you only need a pre approval in order to put a contract on a house so it dosen't matter what type of financing is giving you the pre approval. If that is correct would we need a new preapproval for a conventional or do you just submit the loan and see if it gets approved and if it doesn't you fall back on your pre approval which in our case if FHA?

[road2freedom]

I recall reading somewhere that, depending on how the contract is written, if you change the type of mortgage you have to notify the seller and it could give them the option to back out. If you go into a contract knowing you may try again for conventional, make sure that it's written to allow this change (and it will probably say something along the lines of "as long as there is no additional cost to the seller").

 

Personally, I'd probably go for the approval again now if you are sure that you've addressed all of the previous concerns and are actively looking. I'd rather be ahead of the game in case the perfect property pops up and you want to move fast. Then if it drags out longer than expected, you can just keep providing the updated docs as needed.

[futurehomeowner?]

I recall reading somewhere that, depending on how the contract is written, if you change the type of mortgage you have to notify the seller and it could give them the option to back out. If you go into a contract knowing you may try again for conventional, make sure that it's written to allow this change (and it will probably say something along the lines of "as long as there is no additional cost to the seller").

 

Personally, I'd probably go for the approval again now if you are sure that you've addressed all of the previous concerns and are actively looking. I'd rather be ahead of the game in case the perfect property pops up and you want to move fast. Then if it drags out longer than expected, you can just keep providing the updated docs as needed.

I always see people mentioning rate shopping but I guess that is different? When you rate shop you are using the same type of loan but a different company but when you go FHA to conventional you are changing terms of the contract?

[road2freedom]

Yeah, sellers are more concerned about the financing program and down payment, not the rate.

[futurehomeowner?]

we are going to look at our first home tomorrow. Any hints or tips when looking at houses?

[FreeaAndClear]

Congrats!

[futurehomeowner?]

Congrats!

Thank you but I don't think it is going to be a winner. We are kinda just doing a test run. The house is in our school district, price range, and is decent. BUTTT there is a creek that runs through the back yard so that is a major turn off. If the house really wows us then we will have to really think about it.