Sunday afternoon
Back in Charlotte. The closing for the Va home finally happened late Friday afternoon/evening after a huge number of phone calls, emails, conversations and texts. Technically, I'm done, with all the signatures on all the pages. But there are still issues with Fannie Mae that can't be resolved until Monday morning. The sale can't be recorded until the Fannie Mae problem is solved so I can't take procession of the house until that happens. Good thing I wasn't planning on sleeping there over the weekend.
Started closing around 4, didn't get done until after 6 pm. On a Friday afternoon, after hours, when everyone is trying to get out of the office because other life priorities are hanging out there. Before all this started I was running around with my sister doing other things and watching the time. By 3 pm I was convinced it wasn't going to happen. When I got the call at 3:30 to get to the closing office I was more convinced. When everything is going good closings take awhile. With as many problems this closing was generating I knew it wouldn't go smoothly. It didn't.
Gena, the closing agent hands me a stack of paperwork to start reviewing while she is running back and forth, trying to solve the final problems. To be fair to her, she did her very best in a very bad situation. Part of the issue with the closing was that this particular financing program through HUD has lots of very particular items that I one, didn't completely understand and 2, Gena didn't either. Turned out she's only closed on 2 '203K' financing loans.
The first hiccup on the documents; page 1 listed the 'rehab' budget almost $15 more than what I was working with and my contractor had agreed to. Gena didn't know why. That was my first phone call. The lenders had to explain this, in small words, so I would understand the increase.
The words, 'permits, fees, escrow and 'estimated amount' are being tossed around. I kept asking 'why estimate?' I'm signing these documents committing me to the total amount, not an 'estimate'. The lender keeps telling me when the rehab is done and if the whole amount isn't used the amount will apply to the principal of the loan. Huh uh. I'm not convinced yet. The pen is sitting beside the documents, not in my hand.
The next hiccup is on page 2. The interest rate is 6%. I'd locked the loan in at 4.1%. My next phone call. Meanwhile Gena is running back and forth between Fannie Mae and HUD. When I pointed out the issue to Gena she's frantic. If that is wrong, then lots and lots of documents are wrong. This closing just went out the window.
My phone call to the lender is a long one. Turns out that a '203K' loan is a 6% loan, regardless where I originally locked the loan in at. I'd been notified of this little item by email back in March. Do I remember that email? Of course not. Why did I have to jump through the 'lock in a loan' hassle? Because when I put earnest money down back in March we weren't talking about a '203K' loan. Of course this means my house payments are going to be quite a bit higher than originally estimated. I keep telling myself I"m not keeping this loan very long. As soon as the Charlotte property is sold, this loan is paid off. Gena heaves a sigh of relief and keeps trying to solve the problem with Fannie Mae.
Moving on to the next page. Still haven't picked up the pen. The next page starts out with the payments start in August. Next problem and that requires 2 phone calls. Last week I"m being told that because this is a 'construction loan' I can't move into the house until the construction is completed. Because I can't move into the house, my payments don't start until I move in. I went over that with the lender, with HUD, and back to the lender. Didn't believe it for a moment. Everybody keeps telling me the same thing: I don't make payments until I move in. Now in black and white, payments start in August.
The lender starts out with 'you don't make payments until you move in'. My patience with this is so gone I can't even see. Please explain this to me in small words because the loan paperwork says something completely different. Remember that extra $15K on the first page that I questioned? Turns out the payments that have to be made before I move in comes out of that pool of money. They are using words like 'the payments are escrowed' for the approximate 4 months I'm not living there. In other words the loan is paying the loan because no money is coming out of my pocket. It takes 20 or 30 minutes before the lender finally gets around to language I understand. I'm not dumb when it comes to buying houses, this is the 6th time I've done it. But the double-talk with this loan is just huge.
Meanwhile Gena is closing with another buyer while I'm pacing back and forth on the phone. It's after 5, the office is officially closed and everyone is going home. Gena is supposed to be getting ready for her son's graduation. I haven't picked up the pen yet and there's over 100 pages to sign and initial.
Finally, somewhere close to 6 I start signing documents. Gena still hasn't solved the problem with Fannie Mae but she's been told to go ahead and close, as long as I'm aware that I can't sleep there until Fannie Mae is satisfied. 30 minutes after I sign my name the first time I'm done. The loan is more than I'd ever expected; I'm really not happy with it and if I thought that I'd get a better location on a nice home in Madison Heights I would have walked away.
The only good thing about this is that I'm not writing a check for several more months. If I'm really lucky the house in Charlotte will sale sometime this summer and I will only write one check; the one that pays off the loan.
I met with the contractor the night before and worked out the priorities for the rebuild. The first priority will be the crawlspace and the drainage in the backyard. The back of the house has a row of azaleas that will be dug up to fix the drainage. I hope to keep them so my sister and I put stakes in the backyard to place the azaleas. By making a hedge in the back I"m starting with the plan of cutting the backyard almost in half and helping keep the rainwater from running under the house.
I drove back to Charlotte yesterday afternoon, carrying a stack of paperwork, a pair of new keys for the new locks going on the Va house and once again in debt for a house.
Back in Charlotte. The closing for the Va home finally happened late Friday afternoon/evening after a huge number of phone calls, emails, conversations and texts. Technically, I'm done, with all the signatures on all the pages. But there are still issues with Fannie Mae that can't be resolved until Monday morning. The sale can't be recorded until the Fannie Mae problem is solved so I can't take procession of the house until that happens. Good thing I wasn't planning on sleeping there over the weekend.
Started closing around 4, didn't get done until after 6 pm. On a Friday afternoon, after hours, when everyone is trying to get out of the office because other life priorities are hanging out there. Before all this started I was running around with my sister doing other things and watching the time. By 3 pm I was convinced it wasn't going to happen. When I got the call at 3:30 to get to the closing office I was more convinced. When everything is going good closings take awhile. With as many problems this closing was generating I knew it wouldn't go smoothly. It didn't.
Gena, the closing agent hands me a stack of paperwork to start reviewing while she is running back and forth, trying to solve the final problems. To be fair to her, she did her very best in a very bad situation. Part of the issue with the closing was that this particular financing program through HUD has lots of very particular items that I one, didn't completely understand and 2, Gena didn't either. Turned out she's only closed on 2 '203K' financing loans.
The first hiccup on the documents; page 1 listed the 'rehab' budget almost $15 more than what I was working with and my contractor had agreed to. Gena didn't know why. That was my first phone call. The lenders had to explain this, in small words, so I would understand the increase.
The words, 'permits, fees, escrow and 'estimated amount' are being tossed around. I kept asking 'why estimate?' I'm signing these documents committing me to the total amount, not an 'estimate'. The lender keeps telling me when the rehab is done and if the whole amount isn't used the amount will apply to the principal of the loan. Huh uh. I'm not convinced yet. The pen is sitting beside the documents, not in my hand.
The next hiccup is on page 2. The interest rate is 6%. I'd locked the loan in at 4.1%. My next phone call. Meanwhile Gena is running back and forth between Fannie Mae and HUD. When I pointed out the issue to Gena she's frantic. If that is wrong, then lots and lots of documents are wrong. This closing just went out the window.
My phone call to the lender is a long one. Turns out that a '203K' loan is a 6% loan, regardless where I originally locked the loan in at. I'd been notified of this little item by email back in March. Do I remember that email? Of course not. Why did I have to jump through the 'lock in a loan' hassle? Because when I put earnest money down back in March we weren't talking about a '203K' loan. Of course this means my house payments are going to be quite a bit higher than originally estimated. I keep telling myself I"m not keeping this loan very long. As soon as the Charlotte property is sold, this loan is paid off. Gena heaves a sigh of relief and keeps trying to solve the problem with Fannie Mae.
Moving on to the next page. Still haven't picked up the pen. The next page starts out with the payments start in August. Next problem and that requires 2 phone calls. Last week I"m being told that because this is a 'construction loan' I can't move into the house until the construction is completed. Because I can't move into the house, my payments don't start until I move in. I went over that with the lender, with HUD, and back to the lender. Didn't believe it for a moment. Everybody keeps telling me the same thing: I don't make payments until I move in. Now in black and white, payments start in August.
The lender starts out with 'you don't make payments until you move in'. My patience with this is so gone I can't even see. Please explain this to me in small words because the loan paperwork says something completely different. Remember that extra $15K on the first page that I questioned? Turns out the payments that have to be made before I move in comes out of that pool of money. They are using words like 'the payments are escrowed' for the approximate 4 months I'm not living there. In other words the loan is paying the loan because no money is coming out of my pocket. It takes 20 or 30 minutes before the lender finally gets around to language I understand. I'm not dumb when it comes to buying houses, this is the 6th time I've done it. But the double-talk with this loan is just huge.
Meanwhile Gena is closing with another buyer while I'm pacing back and forth on the phone. It's after 5, the office is officially closed and everyone is going home. Gena is supposed to be getting ready for her son's graduation. I haven't picked up the pen yet and there's over 100 pages to sign and initial.
Finally, somewhere close to 6 I start signing documents. Gena still hasn't solved the problem with Fannie Mae but she's been told to go ahead and close, as long as I'm aware that I can't sleep there until Fannie Mae is satisfied. 30 minutes after I sign my name the first time I'm done. The loan is more than I'd ever expected; I'm really not happy with it and if I thought that I'd get a better location on a nice home in Madison Heights I would have walked away.
The only good thing about this is that I'm not writing a check for several more months. If I'm really lucky the house in Charlotte will sale sometime this summer and I will only write one check; the one that pays off the loan.
I met with the contractor the night before and worked out the priorities for the rebuild. The first priority will be the crawlspace and the drainage in the backyard. The back of the house has a row of azaleas that will be dug up to fix the drainage. I hope to keep them so my sister and I put stakes in the backyard to place the azaleas. By making a hedge in the back I"m starting with the plan of cutting the backyard almost in half and helping keep the rainwater from running under the house.I drove back to Charlotte yesterday afternoon, carrying a stack of paperwork, a pair of new keys for the new locks going on the Va house and once again in debt for a house.
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