Mortgage pre-approval

[dbarker]

Definitely check out a couple of MORTGAGE companies in your area. Walk into the "brick & mortar" mortgage companies and talk with the loan officers. They will want your business. They will be able to help you w/ advice on what you can and cannot do.

Also, check out FannieMae. They have some awesome info on mortgages and credit. They do it as a free public service.

Good luck house hunting.

 

[girli565]

I thought you had to have a good credit score to get a mortage??

I do now, but in my youth I was not as responsible as I am now. I have cleaned up my credit significantly in the past year. I said earlier that I had two charge-offs that I have cleared up and paid in full but they still show up on my credit as "paid in full charge-offs," and one was with Chase so I worry that Chase will not deal with me.

So as of right now I have a very high 600 score, I'm nearing 700, but those charge-offs don't fall off my report for at least another few years.

That's what I meant when I said Chase would deny me. They hold a grudge!! Even my other charge-off company has offered me loans and CC's again.

 

[girli565]

they told us when we got ours you only needed a score of 620 to get one Dh had a bankruptcy 2 years before we got our house but that's a whole other story which I had NO involvement in (well at least spending part you can thank his ex-gf who moved out and left him with almost 75k in cc debit to pay himself )

Oh, my DFi was in the same boat as your DH, not 75k but like 10k because of his ex-gf. He's down to like 3k now, proud of him!!

I used TopDot Mortgage (who is licensed in most states, so they told me) and they worked out GREAT! I closed in a matter of DAYS (home equity) If you're interested, PM me and I will give you my reps name and phone number.

Thank you!! I think I'm going to start just walking into brick and mortar places and tell them what I'm interested in.

It's a myth that you have to have a good credit score. With FHA you can have no score and still get 100% financing...I do it everyday!

Now if you want a really good rate you have to have above a 675..below that the rates are tiered.

FHA rates are good though too. There are a lot of misconceptions about fha and people think it's only for people with bad credit but that's what sub-prime is for and if any of you watch the news you know how well that went.

If all the slimey mortgage brokers who were out for only money and not to help people took a min. to really look at the customers profile we would only have 1/2 of this mess. The other half is the customer's fault who signed the papers and knew full well they couldn't afford it.

Sorry for ranting. I am a mortgage broker and we get a bad rap because of the bad seeds that used to be used car salesman and just got into this industry to make a quick buck and use people.
A good loan officer will educate you and explain things in a way that you can really understand.
Please don't be fooled by lending tree and quicken those companies are a waste of time.
By the way... your realtors who are "referring" you to a lender are also getting a kickback so there is some incentive there for them to refer your business. It's always a good idea to get 3 rate quotes and good faith estimates from 3 seperate lenders. A good one will match.
Please anyone feel free to ask me any questions. I like being able to use my knowledge to help people, it makes me feel better about paying my student loans!

Exactly, I think that's why I was so weary about just walking into a place because of the horror stories you hear now with foreclosures and ARM's. I think you alone have made me feel much more comfortable with this process, thanks!!

Oh yes we did the FHA and got almost 100% with 30yr 5.5% locked (3 years ago next month) we are not in forclosure or even close to it. We did not go above what we could afford even though they would have given us 5times what we wanted.

Wow, that's a great rate!! And that's exactly what I want to do, get exactly what I can afford and nothing more.

I have been working w/ Wells Fargo Mortgage. You can checkout their website and see if there is a local mortgage office in your area. Our credit has some blemishes on it as well and we so far we have had wonderful service and no trouble w/ them. I did start out w/ a local mortgage company that my realtor recommended but they were not so great to work w/ I especially didn't like that if something was wrong or if they needed something else they didn't notify me they would let my realtor know and she would call me. I finally got fed up and moved on. I haven't spent nearly as much time w/ my WFM rep and we have accomplished twice as much. They also let me know that if we close the loan w/ them they offer incentives b/c of the company my dh works for b/c they do business together, she also told me that if I still worked at my previous job that we would have also gotten 500 dollars b/c the company I worked for works w/ them.

I might just check with Wells Fargo, I have one about 5 blocks from my apartment.

Definitely check out a couple of MORTGAGE companies in your area. Walk into the "brick & mortar" mortgage companies and talk with the loan officers. They will want your business. They will be able to help you w/ advice on what you can and cannot do.

Also, check out FannieMae. They have some awesome info on mortgages and credit. They do it as a free public service.

Good luck house hunting.

I have been reading everything on fannie Mae, I love that site! I think I might just start calling B&M places and make appointments.

 

[DVCJEN]

The builder we are looking into works with Chase but I've had a charge-off with Chase so I'm worried they will deny me.

Chase won't work with you if they charged you off, unless you pay them in full first. Then they might.

 

[stahshee]

I do now, but in my youth I was not as responsible as I am now. I have cleaned up my credit significantly in the past year. I said earlier that I had two charge-offs that I have cleared up and paid in full but they still show up on my credit as "paid in full charge-offs," and one was with Chase so I worry that Chase will not deal with me.

So as of right now I have a very high 600 score, I'm nearing 700, but those charge-offs don't fall off my report for at least another few years.

That's what I meant when I said Chase would deny me. They hold a grudge!! Even my other charge-off company has offered me loans and CC's again.

girl share my world:scared1..in my youth I charged and then later thought how I was going to pay. I have worked my tail off .. so I never charge not unless an emergency

 

[girli565]

Chase won't work with you if they charged you off, unless you pay them in full first. Then they might.

Well, I did pay them in full but I doubt it, they really do hold a grudge.

girl share my world:scared1..in my youth I charged and then later thought how I was going to pay. I have worked my tail off .. so I never charge not unless an emergency

Well my biggest problem was that I stopped working for about a year 3 years ago and that killed me, 2 cards went into collection (the 2 charge-offs) and I had two 30-day lates on two other cards. But the minute I got my teaching job I buckled down and paid everything off! Thank you for the hugs!!! You need them too

 

[mikeysmom]

Watch the fees with Wells fargo.... Last year a friend of mine who I have done work for them a lot was having a house built and the builder recommended a lady at the wells fargo branch by the property. The builder made them think that they had to go with her.

My friends are very knowledgeable ( I taught them well ) about mortgages and what to look out for. Wells Fargo charged them a fee to lock in a rate... that is BS you should never have to pay a fee to lock in a rate. It's free to us why should you pay??? Then when they got the good faith estimate they were charging them 1.5 points plus a the regular fees. This was a very big loan amount and they had great scores... it was almost 5k!!! The rate was also higher than what I could get them. They also had to fight to get the $300 back.
I was actually surprised that Wells fargo (retail) did that. I guess their thinking is that most people don't know and they figure that they have the big name behind them they can do whatever they want.
So to those of you going thru Wells fargo retail branches watch the fees and the only thing you should pay upfront for is the appraisal...to the appraiser directly when he inspects the property. (no more than $400 depending on the property type)
Good luck out there!

 

[leight]

Can someone help with this question. Dh & I are preapproved for FHA 222,300 and conventional for $250,000. Can we wrap up the closing costs into the FHA loan? We are looking to buy a house for around the $222k- we will put the 3% down which would drop the loan amount to $215k- can we envelope the closing costs up to the full allowable FHA limit of $222k for our area? Or should we look towards an 80/20 loan to give us the biggest cushion in our bank account?

(I don't have great credit- am working on it because it just droped 80 pts due to a charge off 2 yrs ago assessing me NOW for $1.00 interest that was miscalculated by the third party who bought the loan and I never got notice of this just appeared in jan as reported by the original creditor and I found out when my mortgage broker told me that's what dropped my score so drastically.) So a conventional will probably cost more in interest rate. DH is a major worrier and really doesn't want to pay closing costs(he wants a LARGE savings account rather than lower monthly payments. We would then have about 15months emergency savings. We can't negotiate with a seller since the house is a short sale and those negotiations aren't entertained by the bank. The house should appraise at least at $235k if that helps.

Thanks!

 

[Glenn]

Like others here I would suggest checking with several local lenders, people who have been in the business a long time & intend to continue to do so. Check with several local banks too.
Have you worked on a budget of your own to see what you would feel comfortable to spend? Do so to see if it is lower that the monthly bill a lender might approve. Remember to include principal & interest, real estate taxes & all insurances. No use accepting a payment if your lifestyle or special circumstances make it more than your comfortable to pay.
Oh by any chance are you a veteran? The VA has some good programs too.

 

[minnie1928]

Watch the fees with Wells fargo.... Last year a friend of mine who I have done work for them a lot was having a house built and the builder recommended a lady at the wells fargo branch by the property. The builder made them think that they had to go with her.

My friends are very knowledgeable ( I taught them well ) about mortgages and what to look out for. Wells Fargo charged them a fee to lock in a rate... that is BS you should never have to pay a fee to lock in a rate. It's free to us why should you pay??? Then when they got the good faith estimate they were charging them 1.5 points plus a the regular fees. This was a very big loan amount and they had great scores... it was almost 5k!!! The rate was also higher than what I could get them. They also had to fight to get the $300 back.
I was actually surprised that Wells fargo (retail) did that. I guess their thinking is that most people don't know and they figure that they have the big name behind them they can do whatever they want.
So to those of you going thru Wells fargo retail branches watch the fees and the only thing you should pay upfront for is the appraisal...to the appraiser directly when he inspects the property. (no more than $400 depending on the property type)
Good luck out there!

That surprises me, I have a 1st and 2nd with WF and they charged no fees...in fact ALL my settlement costs were paid by WF during my refinance. The even more shocking thing that was my 1st mortgage rate is 5.25% which is way lower than the rate that my employer (a local bank) was offering at the time. So I got the great rate without paying a single penny. They also lowered the rate on my 2nd with a simple phone call, again no cost to me. My 2nd was fixed at 7.25 and I received a letter from a competing bank offering 6.24. So I called WF and they lowered the rate right on the spot, again with no fees.

We are being relocated and I'm REALLY going to miss these interest rates. It's a shame you can't transfer your loan terms (not the balance, just the terms)....

 

[mikeysmom]

Back about 3 or 4 years ago wells fargo was doing just that but since the market changed so have a lot of other things. You can try to assume a sellers rate and term if they have a good rate. Most conventional loans are assumable.

As far as the poster with the question about the closing costs. Yes, you can include the closing costs in your loan as long as you put down the required 3% but you cannot go over the max loan amount. Keep in mind that with the new economic stimulus plan they just signed the loan limts are being raised.
How you do this is:

purchase price -3% + closing costs = loan amount.

You can also get a downpayment grant to cover the 3% there are so many sources for this...ask your loan officer, if he/she doesn't know find one that does.

You are better off doing the fha because the rate on a 100% conventional loan with non prime credi (675+) is horrendus (high 7's - low 8's)plus the PMI rate is much higher that FHA whereas the FHA rate is in the mid to high 6's

Hope this helps.

 

[girli565]

Like others here I would suggest checking with several local lenders, people who have been in the business a long time & intend to continue to do so. Check with several local banks too.
Have you worked on a budget of your own to see what you would feel comfortable to spend? Do so to see if it is lower that the monthly bill a lender might approve. Remember to include principal & interest, real estate taxes & all insurances. No use accepting a payment if your lifestyle or special circumstances make it more than your comfortable to pay.
Oh by any chance are you a veteran? The VA has some good programs too.

No, not a veteran, my dad is and he may be coming on as a co-borrower so we will look into VA loans.

 

[jamounger]

We just did a FHA in Nov and had to have 3% of our own money invested in the deal. It could not be from a loan and I did not get the impression that it could be from a gift. We had to prove it was our own money. The 3% could be from fees, insurance, etc that we had to pay towwards closing. We had to pay around 6000 for a 177,000 loan.We started out with Lending Tree but ended up using Cambridge through our realtor. My realtor put me into an incentive program with lending tree and Costco. After closing we recieved 350 dollars in gift cards from Costco for using their realtor and a check for 1300 dollars for the purchase. If you are a costco member I would definitely check into incentives they are offering. You can look on their website to see what they are offering.We had to upgrade to an executive membership but that 15 dollars really paid off.