The mortgage process is the most frustrating part of buying a home.
A couple of weeks ago, I gave you a blow by blow account of the timeline for buying our first home. Our initial offer took place on July 1, and I’m sad to say that we still haven’t closed. Today was supposed to be closing day, and we’ve obviously missed it. I thought I’d pick up where we left off.
We left off on July 24, when I was waiting for the appraisal to come in.
July 25 – The appraisal finally comes in. It’s $20K above what we’re paying for the house. That’s been the highlight of the home buying process so far.
July 25, late afternoon – The loan package is sent to the underwriter.
July 30 – We get a conditional approval on our loan. We need to provide some additional documentation, and the sellers need to put some tie-downs on the foundation, because it’s a manufactured home.
July 31 – We get the additional documentation to the loan processor. The sellers start the process for putting the tie downs on the home. Our realtor thinks we can close a little bit early.
August 4 – The tie downs are on the house, and the structural engineer is headed out to sign off on the foundation. We’re hoping to close on the 8th.
August 6 – I call the mortgage broker for an update. They’re waiting on another picture from the appraiser and employment verification from two of Jim’s past employers. By the end of the day they have a picture and verification from one employer. We’re not going to close early.
August 7 – I call Jim’s employer, who is just back from vacation and hadn’t seen the forms she needed to fill out yet. She gets the documentation in within an hour. The conditions are sent back to the underwriting department. We’re told we should be expecting to sign on Monday the 11th, exactly on schedule.
August 11, afternoon – I call the mortgage broker to find out what’s going on. The title company is ready to go, but nobody has seen loan docs. The mortgage officer calls the bank, and apparently some alert didn’t go off when they received our conditions, so the underwriter hasn’t even looked at our loan yet. We’re assured they will move us to the top of the priority list, and we should have documents on Tuesday morning.
August 12, noon – Still no documents. I call the mortgage broker again. Our loan has been signed off on, and now we’re just waiting for documents. Someone at the bank says they need a 24 hour turn time. So much for docs on Tuesday. They assure us the docs will be in first thing Wednesday morning.
August 13, 2:00p.m. – Still no docs. Frustrated, I vent about it on Twitter. I’m beginning to wonder if it’s really just a problem getting the docs or whether there’s something wrong with our loan. I start to panic. Thankfully, greenstew, who blogs at Green Stew, has a little experience in the mortgage department, was on twitter and proceeded to reassure me that this was all completely normal for my lender.
August 13, 3:30 p.m. – While still on twitter, my phone rings. It’s the mortgage person, who tells me the docs have just arrived at the title company. She lets me know I should be hearing from the title company in about 30 minutes, and that they’d try to arrange for signing that afternoon.
August 13, 4:45 p.m. – The realtor calls to find out if I’ve heard from the title company yet. Since I haven’t, he calls, and then calls me back to tell me signing is scheduled for 1:45 on Thursday. So that’s where we are.
At this point, if everything goes smoothly, we might just close on Friday. I’m not counting on it though. The name of this game seems to be hurry up and wait. In reality, we will probably close Monday morning. Our realtor is going to see if the sellers would be willing to give up the three days they have after closing to move out. If they do, we’ll get keys Monday morning. If not, we’ll have keys by Thursday at the latest.
Though we’re running almost a week behind where we thought we’d be at this point, I am thrilled that the docs are in and everything will be OK. I will be spending the morning registering my son for kindergarten in our new school district and meeting with the handyman who will be doing a lot of work on our house before we move in. And I will be spending the afternoon signing papers. We are marching forward, and the end is near!
Photo by woodleywonderworks.
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“July 25 – The appraisal finally comes in. It’s $20K above what we’re paying for the house. That’s been the highlight of the home buying process so far.”
I know that sounds like a good thing, and I just purchased a home this year too and would have thought that at first. However, if the appraisal is higher than it should be then you will be paying more taxes. Lots of people are constantly trying to get their houses appraised for LESS than what the appraiser gives them. The earlier you fight it the less taxes for the rest of the time you own the house.
I am glad that my process went much smoother, it took me about 2 weeks from first time to see the house to the day that I was moving into the house!
Best of luck and try not to get stressed about everything and make sure to read read read.
oh my, didn’t realize it was such a long process to close on a house. Once you move in it will be yours, well the banks, but hey you name is on the Deed!
When purchasing a house, the bank is the one with the most power, so everything will wait for them. Nothing unusual, but it can be frustrating. But I guess the scenarios are hit-or-miss because the two times I’ve purchased, my credit union flew everything through right away. I guess it all depends on if you’re lucky enough to get in at a slow time.
When we bought our first house, it was hilarious. The title company handled the exchanging of keys and as they handed the keys to us, they told the seller, “Congratulations, you are now officially homeless.” And they told us, “Congratulations, you are now in debt up to your ears.” I guess that’s a pretty apt way of describing the situation. :)
@Philip:
In my part of the world, city and town appraisers are completely separate from private/bank appraisers.
Lynnae: You’re lucky, it’s almost unheard of to have a closing less than 60 days after a purchase and sale agreement is signed, unless someone is paying cash. This gives EVERYONE enough time to get all ducks in a row.
Good luck!
I know how frustrating buying a home can be – in the 40 years of marriage we have purchased 4 homes & 7 manufactured homes (5 of those in the last 5 years, long story involving Florida and hurricanes). Anyway, you NEVER mention having a lawyer – why not? Lawyers, while they do cost money, keep the deal going, make sure all necessary paperwork is done, and are truly on your side.
Thanks for the mention:
A few tips for those buying there first home:
It is hurry up and wait, that is just how it is.
I have never seen a home close very early, one day maybe but no matter what the Realtor says they normally close on time. Unless you are buying a home from a builder, those seem to go faster.
The really golden rule applies in lending “he who has the gold rules”
Really going through the process the first time, stinks but it is really worth it.
You know, there really ought to be a much easier way to go about buying and closing on a home. Unfortunately, most of the hold up is related to legal and bureaucratic noise–imagine that! I hope things shake out for you soon as I’m sure you are all eager to take possession of your new home and start getting settled.
I work in real estate and this is actually very common, it can be a hurry up and wait. Even with an attorney (which is common practice in my area), you have next to little control over the title company and the mortgage company and how they roll out documents. Closing in less than 60 days is great in this market. Usually the lenders ask tons of questions and want tons of documentation and the process gets delayed because of that.
Y’all are making me more and more surprised with how mine went. I had my realtor place my first offer on Jan 14th, I signed the papers and had the keys to moved into my house on Jan 31st, and waited to the weekend to actually move in, but it was mine. Exactly 17 days total for the entire process.
I guess I should thank my realator and credit union for getting everything taken care of sooooo quickly for me.
I agree with the other comments that 60 days to close on a house is actually pretty good. We’re on our 2nd house and both times the closings went over 60 days.
Congratulations on your new house!
Usual time in small town Oregon USA is 30 days – Have bought several, and never over 30 days.
However, I always was preapproved for the loans – that seems to speed things up some.
But the last one was the fastest! SIX DAYS!!!
If you have cash, buy as-is, forego inspections, and just have to wait for the title search and insurance, and for the check to clear, it goes really quickly!
Crossing my fingers for you today!
Oooh hope all goes well for you today!
Good luck! I remember it being like this when we bought our first house too. It really made you question the competency of some people! Can’t wait to see pics!!
I’ve been gone all day going over things with our handyman, registering Sam for kindergarten, and signing papers. And there’s already a glitch, though it’s a small one. Just as I was getting back home, the title company called and said the lender faxed over one last paper that needs to be signed by 10:30 tomorrow morning. So it’s back into Medford to sign another paper first thing tomorrow.
At this point, I feel good that things are signed. I know this is going to happen, whether it’s tomorrow or sometime next week. And I’m really tired. Not sure that I’ll manage to get a post up tomorrow. At the moment, I don’t feel like I can even put two sentences together.
So only put one sentence up ….say “IT’s OURS!” That’s all we need to hear :)
Good luck tomorrow and take a rest/break – you need it!
Good luck to you. I have the same goal of being debt free in a year, including the recent mortgage. Being a homeowner is great but the mortgage does have a mild psychological effect of bondage. Please check out Dani Johnson’s “war on debt” it might help you out on your journey.
@Marci – believe me, the thought crossed my mind, but it really won’t be ours until it funds & records. And that won’t happen until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. I was going to take a video of us signing some papers, but I totally forgot.
@Kalimah – I will definitely check out that resource. I haven’t heard of it before, but it sounds right up my alley.
Wow seems so stressful! :)
Hi,
My heart goes out to you; delays are SO frustrating!
I had similar delays in closing on both houses I’ve purchased. And there are these wierd panic-y thoughts of “nobody’s seen this paperwork?!” What if I can’t get this house and I’ve already made arragements to move, put a deposit down, etc. Especially the firt time. Ouch!
People in the mortgage and real estate businesses are so nonchalant about all this because it’s what they do all day, every day. I think they forget how big a deal buying a house is for most people:)
Good Luck,
Trixie
First let me congratulate you on buying your home! How totally exciting that is. I remember so well, as we bought our first house just 2 years ago. I also remember the hoops you must jump through to get to the closing! I hope you will find in the end, like we did, that it was so worth it.