Today I have a bit of advice to anyone going through the real estate purchase process. People told me that finding people (buyer’s agents, a lawyer, a loan officer) that were readily available and able to answer your questions was of supreme importance. Going on referrals (another way to prescreen), I found people in each of those categories, and when they were on their cell and always available and helpful to me, I decided to give them my business loyalty.
My warning is that, if you’re smart, there should be no loyalty in business unless you’ve signed a contract. To be more to the point, if you get preapproved from a bank, go ahead and get preapproved by 3 more, find someone good to work with at each of them, and inform all of them of your purchase decision if and when you make one.
I did get preapproval from 3 banks, and when they were all for the same amount, I decided to continue to work with the individual agent that had been most helpful. I contacted only him when I decided to put in an offer (in order to get a revised preapproval letter to give to the seller with my offer… this is so they don’t see your max amount, but only approval for you to get financing for the price of their sale). I went along with Citizen’s Bank all the way until the mortgage paperwork (application, estimates) were mailed to my house.
On Tuesday, I walked in from work to find a large manilla envelope containing these documents. I sat down to review them only to find they were figuratively in Chinese. I hunkered down, intent on getting through them, and lo and behold, when reviewing the numbers I found an error. The loan officer had either believed you could add rental income to the buyer’s gross income on a single family (dead wrong) or just randomly decided that I should be paid $850 more a month than I actually make.
I called him, and yes, he was accessible at 7pm — answered his cell — but when someone’s always accessible TO APOLOGIZE for making egregious errors that change all of your numbers, you don’t necessarily even want to be able to talk to them. In the end Citizen’s denied me the loan… and I had been “banking” on them……… I love cheap jokes. 
With 48 hours before the scheduled signing of the purchase and sale agreement, I had to try to find financing with another lender, and let me not keep you in suspense, I DID. I’m working with someone at Bank of America, and I have another agent at a well known lending institution in my pocket just incase B of A drops the ball.
Another thing to know is that by the signing of the purchase and sale agreement, you must have a very reasonable belief that you will obtain the financing you need with a specific lender. However, your commitment date is later, so even if you believe you’ll get financing at the time of the purchase and sale, if you withdraw before the commitment date you won’t lose your deposit.
So today is September 12, 2008 and I am going to get a bank check for the total of my down payment (that alone is scary) and then I’m driving it (seatbelted) to my buyer’s agent’s office in Weymouth where I will sign the purchase and sale agreement. Steps that come after that are as follows:
- The bank waits for a reply from the underwriter, who may have further questions on the application, or who may immediately approve the application.
- The bank sends out an appraiser to the property to confirm that it’s worth at least what you’re paying for it.
- If your financing is a go, you attend the closing as scheduled (in the time frame decided upon at the offer (by you and your agent, and agreed to by the seller and seller’s agent)
- The closing is a conference room type deal, with the seller, buyer, seller’s agent, buyer’s agent — though if the seller (as in my case) is out of state, they can give their agent Power of Attorney, meaning the agent can sign their own signature in place of the seller’s signature)
- The closing is when you officially sign a hundred thousand documents and leave the meeting with the keys to your new place!!!!!
I’m working on sketching a tattoo as this is a very momentous happening. An open gate and a heart with a key inside it… but believe you me, I will not be getting inked any time before I have the keys physically in hand. Speedbumps are part of the process!!!!!
Love,
Your very happy friend
