went to WF to day, and was offered 3.375% for 15 years, and $6k in closing cost. I thought I would give them a chance because they're my current mortgage lender, but they're just wasting my time.

1/13/2012 5:33:24 PM

Just sent in the check to start the process with Coastal.

1/13/2012 5:37:55 PM

How common are buyer's agents? You guys use one? I thought almost everyone did, but my dad says the opposite.. thinks it's better to NOT use one... not sure who it's better for the buyer though?

1/13/2012 10:03:11 PM

I don't see why you wouldn't use a buyer's agent. They act in your best interest, and they're free. I definitely recommends it especially if you're a first time home-buyer.

1/13/2012 10:58:36 PM

That was my thinking, but my dad said I'd get a better deal without one... I don't think he knows how this works....

besides, too many damn homes available for me to effectively search for what I want; know what's a good price, and know what bid is reasonable.

1/13/2012 11:21:41 PM

If you don't have a BA, the listing agent will try to act as a dual agent (so they can keep the full realty fee) usually.

If you don't use one, you would typically offer that the BA fee is put towards closing costs or price reduction.

A good BA can get alot of information that you wouldn't have access to otherwise, and they can find out about houses before they hit the market and can get things processed very quickly.

The BA helped my inlaws have a contract signed on a house the day it hit the market (it was appraised 15% above what it was listed and sold for, as the owner was just trying to dump it)

We used the same BA and she is helping us get a house that is being built (an infill) with our requested changes that never made it to market (and easily would have sold very quickly even w/o our changes).

If you know you want a specific house that has been sitting on the market, you probably could get by w/o a BA, but you could also miss out on a hot property if you don't use one.

I can pass along our BA's info for anyone interested.

[Edited on January 14, 2012 at 7:03 AM. Reason : ]

1/14/2012 7:01:05 AM

I would also definitely advise getting a buyer's agent. They can be very helpful.

1/14/2012 10:30:01 AM

Anyone care to share/know some bid vs list price comparisons? Maybe bid as a % of list price? or PM to me if you're divulging your info and don't care to post it. I don't need the actual numbers, unless you don't mind sharing them.

So far I've heard 95%... but that was from a realtor.... but seems plausible in this market...

1/16/2012 2:01:48 PM

^it really depends on your competition. If the house has multiple offers/bids, you might even have to offer higher than asking price.

1/16/2012 2:13:18 PM

I know that and if that's someone's case, then that can be stated as well.

1/17/2012 8:45:17 AM

anyone ever figure out Randolph Bank?

Got quoted 4% with only $350 for an appraisal.

Other closing costs have been $4-6k... is it as simple as them earning their money on that slightly higher rate (other banks quoted at 3.75%)?

1/18/2012 3:52:36 PM

my quote was an FHA loan, that requires a 1% lending fee...so that's theoretically the only closing cost. were you quoted an FHA loan? seems to be all they do...

also the PMI on their 30 year products (if you aren't at 80/20) was much higher than other GFE's I've seen.

1/18/2012 4:08:27 PM

nah, conventional with 5% down. yeh, the guy hasn't stated any MI numbers yet... haha

1/18/2012 4:11:41 PM

>4K sounds nuts. Does that include escrow?

[Edited on January 18, 2012 at 5:37 PM. Reason : or pts?]

1/18/2012 5:37:30 PM

We're going through Randolph. I'm pretty much done, with ~6850 due at closing. That includes the escrow accounts that must be set up and down payment (-1000 in earnest money already paid to seller).

Randolph basically gets credits back from the underwrite and uses those credits to offset the costs of closing. So far the appraisal is the only "closing cost" I've paid.

1/18/2012 7:07:05 PM

^^yeh, should be everything except down payment.

^so you owe 6,800 at closing? I thought randolph paid that.

I think I'm going to try to go USDA... if the home i like is approved for USDA (so far, several have been).

But I'm having trouble finding information on it. I've seen 100% financing at market rates, no PMI, closing costs can be financed in, and a 3.5% fee financed in. However, one realtor's site stated that the 3.5% was changed to 1% with a 0.3% annual fee.

I'm also confused about escrow... so I've got to pay 1 yr of taxes and 3 moths of insurance into escrow at closing.... but my monthly mortgage payment already includes taxes and insurance... why am I double paying?

[Edited on January 19, 2012 at 8:31 AM. Reason : .]

1/19/2012 8:23:55 AM

^you're funding the escrow account for next year's taxes / insurance.

[Edited on January 19, 2012 at 9:58 AM. Reason : d]

1/19/2012 9:57:55 AM

but wouldn't I still be paying those in my total monthly mortgage payments?

1/19/2012 11:17:52 AM

^I too was confused by that.

1/19/2012 11:21:53 AM

You usually overpay for you escrow. At the end of the year, the escrow got re-calculated and the bank refunds you the difference. You can either do that, or handle the tax/insurance yourself.

1/19/2012 11:43:12 AM

No escrow ftw.

1/19/2012 11:43:55 AM

Quote :

"but wouldn't I still be paying those in my total monthly mortgage payments?"

You're paying this year's insurance/taxes at closing. You're paying next year's w/ your monthly payments. This way, when your taxes come due next year the money is already in your escrow account. Does this make sense?

Also, yes, no escrow FTW.

in personal news, I was able to reduce (by close to $1000!!) the closing costs on my 3.25% 15-year loan by simply asking. Don't forget to ask your loan officer!

[Edited on January 19, 2012 at 12:35 PM. Reason : d]

1/19/2012 12:33:45 PM

eh, sort of. are you stuck with escrow for the life of the loan then? and wouldn't that put you ahead on those payments?

1/19/2012 1:02:57 PM

You're not stuck. I started my loan with it and just recently had it removed. Requirements vary between lenders, but generally if you have a few years of making your payments on time and decent equity they will remove it for you. Watch out though, some lenders will charge you a fee (around 1% of the original value of the loan) to do this.

Yes, if you keep it for the life of the loan you will be ahead. In this case, they would issue you a refund after the loan closes out (or just apply the balance of your escrow as the last payment). As someone else stated, they are required to evaluate the escrow requirements on a yearly basis. If your taxes or insurance rates change, they will either require more money from you monthly or reduce your monthly payment and refund you a certain percentage of the balance in the account.

[Edited on January 19, 2012 at 1:48 PM. Reason : d]

1/19/2012 1:47:46 PM

looking at refinancing my place I deal with Wells Fargo I am at a 30 year fixed 5.25% my payment is $675 a month. After talking to them they said I could do a 15 year fixed 3.50% my payments will go up to $811. No closing cost, no appraisel, nothing because I am already doing business with him. Sounds like a hard deal to pass up

1/19/2012 2:05:53 PM

^by closing costs, I assume you mean origination fee? There are certain fees that can't be bypassed AFAIK. Things like title insurance, recording fees, etc.

1/19/2012 2:12:23 PM

all this confuses me haha I was told by wells fargo it was a streamline loan (I think?) and since I have my loan with them they would take care of yall the fees. Does that sound right?

1/19/2012 2:19:32 PM

Hard to say. They all have different ways of shuffling the money around. The word streamline makes me think this is an HFA loan? If so, watch out for their equivalent of PMI (forget what they call it). If you don't have it on your current loan, you certainly don't want them to add it on to your refi.

The only way to really know is to start the application and get a Good Faith Estimate from them. They are required to disclose what (if any) fees they're charging, and what credits they might be giving you to cover said fees.


The main reason I'm asking is because I am also doing a very similar refi through WF (my current lender), and they ARE charging me fees

[Edited on January 19, 2012 at 2:22 PM. Reason : d]

1/19/2012 2:21:59 PM

^ good info I will do that. Also I currently have a PMI

1/19/2012 2:23:01 PM

My figure included the down payment. No one is allowed to pay that but you.

Even if you get assistance from a family member for the down payment, you have to go through this process where they sign a letter saying that you owe them nothing for the gift.

They're essentially making sure you didn't take out a small loan for the down payment.

1/20/2012 7:00:12 PM

Anybody actually used the USDA loan setup before? I am interested in that and considering it for a place up in Mebane. Our apartment lease is not up until August, but they have to be informed 3 months out if you are bailing, so I am trying to be proactive, and we saw a nice 3BR/3Bath last weekend that we really liked while riding around.

2/3/2012 1:56:53 PM

Anyone think rates are gonna inch up with all this positive economic news? [/newb question]

2/3/2012 2:00:18 PM

depends on what you mean by 'inch'...there's not gonna be any significant rise in the immediate future.

2/3/2012 2:04:18 PM

^^ the job numbers were actually terrible today, but the media did a good job of spinning into news that sounds positive to the average american.


Rates will bump along here for a long time and then they will eventually spike dramatically. But that's a few years away.

2/3/2012 2:55:43 PM

^^^^I'm looking at the USDA loan. I've heard it's a lot of paperwork and the annual fee + loan fee kind of spoil that loan (yes, I know, 100% financing). But the annual fee + loan fee end up costing you about the same as a conventional with PMI. And you can get rid of PMI; you can't get rid of the annual and loan fees with USDA. If BB&T's CHIP loan is available there and you're eligible, it normally beats out USDA by a good bit. The CHIP loan is either 97% financing or 100% financing, based on your income (Something like 62k and 79k total household/year). There are other low down-payment options, if you can do them, that are much better, especially over the life of the loan.

[Edited on February 3, 2012 at 3:05 PM. Reason : .]

2/3/2012 3:04:38 PM

Quote :

"the job numbers were actually terrible today, but the media did a good job of spinning into news that sounds positive to the average american."

I wasn't speaking about only about today, it just seems like some things are looking up...
https://www.google.com/search?ix=heb&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=us+manufacturing
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&btnmeta_news_search=1&q=jobs&oq=jobs

2/3/2012 3:08:27 PM

On the flip side though the global growth numbers have looked horrible the last few weeks. Likely that we'll get dragged into the slowdown kicking and screaming.

Lots of channel stuffing here lately, backorder logs look ugly. Having such a mild winter after last years snowstorms will make the YOY comparisons look pretty good though probably.

2/3/2012 6:02:24 PM

The USDA loan is pretty prohibitive if you have a combined income. I think the limit is pretty low.

We close on Wednesday with Randolph Bank. The only thing due at closing is the 3.5% down for FHA. We locked in at 3.75. Our mortgage adviser seems to think we can get rid of PMI within a year since we're getting a pretty good deal on the house, and they require that you own 20% of the worth of the house before you can leave PMI behind.

[Edited on February 4, 2012 at 1:44 PM. Reason : ujhklkjh]

2/4/2012 1:41:56 PM

Anybody doing the mortgage/refinancing through zillow? The rate quotes I got on there seem to be the lowest around.

2/4/2012 2:41:49 PM

^^ how do you plan on going from owing around 96.5% of the homes value to owing 79% of the homes value in a year? most estimates i've seen say it takes about 8 years to get rid of PMI. if you do 5% down you can get a conventional loan with no pmi

2/4/2012 4:35:27 PM

^LTV at purchase is based on purchase price; afterwards it's based on apprasial. I guess he's getting it significantly under market value.

^^^Typically, you leave PMI behind when you hit 22% value. It's 20% only for when loans are initiated. Are you sure their policy is different?

2/4/2012 5:00:44 PM

it would need to be waaaaaay under market value to get rid of pmi in one year

2/4/2012 5:10:07 PM

Anybody who banks with BB&T and is looking to get a first home, BB&T offers a no PMI, up to 100% 30 year fixed rate loan with no prepay penalties or any weird shit at 4.25% (or 4.125% with some fraction of a point or 4% with just under a couple points). The program has an income limit in wake county of $63,920/yr. I just closed on a home Friday under this deal since i was getting offered 4% with PMI elsewhere on a 95% loan (this way's cheaper). Before paying any points it was just over about $3k in closing costs I think. Can give you a contact for this if you bank with BB&T and want to ask about it, just send me a PM (no I don't get anything for the referral).

2/4/2012 8:11:26 PM

^yeh, I jsut posted about that loan a few posts up. Sounds like a great program, and I'll likely use it.

Forgot to mention that BB&T only charges an admin fee, like $350 I think, so no origination, etc.; just the costs you'd have with any home purchases.

2/4/2012 9:01:22 PM

^ Yeah, I just now realized that. Honestly when I spoke to the mortgage broker lady at BB&T I had no idea what the program was called. I still don't, really. My understanding is I have $5k more in my pocket and I pay about $60 less per month and my dad got another 10% out of the value of the home sale because the appraisal went much better the second time 'round.

That new law where you can't pick the appraisal firm is just fucked. It has good intentions, to be sure, but in execution some super shitty appraisal firms seem to be out there that have no familiarity with an area whatsoever.

2/5/2012 11:48:43 PM

I'm planning to refinance. Should I wait for the rate to get lower? I read somewhere that the cost of mortgage will go up in the next few months. Is that true?

2/22/2012 2:18:13 AM

^^, ^^^ - we just moved in to our first house, financed with BB&T's CHIP loan. 5% down, no PMI, got a 4% interest rate by using the rest of the closing costs in our contract to pay the loan points. You don't have to bank with BB&T, we didn't and still don't and that wasn't a problem for us. If anyone needs a contact at their local branch, PM me. All the other banks I talked to and got loan offers from were either over 4% w/no PMI, or 3.75% or 3.875% with PMI.

2/22/2012 7:44:22 AM

Refi at noon and still don't have the final amt. Attorney's # has been disconnected. God I hate Coastal. I'd never refi with them if they weren't a 60 second walk from my cube.

2/22/2012 9:43:46 AM

Coastal finally called me back. The attorney just moved and their phones were down. Smooth...

2/22/2012 10:29:21 AM

^ my contact with the bank was let go, and I didn't find out until I called her manager.

I didn't know my final closing costs until 4 hours before closing (perhaps that's why the original contact was let go). I pushed closing back another couple days to review the final documents and finally closed last friday.

I ended up paying $147 dollars at closing for a 10 year 3.25% loan at Provident Funding.

2/22/2012 1:06:56 PM