I am about to go crazy (Atlanta: sale, mortgage broker, loan)

[Arcadio]

Hi,

My wife and I have our closing date set May 30th for our new home in Atlanta. I am one of those people who like to make educated decisions and to kept informed about the mechanics of the process. This is because in transcations like home or car buying, there is little transparency for a purpose: to screw the buyer to the fullest extent! Anyway, let me summarize my issues and I will appreciate any advice.

The sale price for our house is 629K and the seller agreed to pay 18K for various items toward closing. We decided to use this money to pay the closing+1 year propety tax+buy points to lower our interest. I am getting a 30 year fixed loan for the chunk of the mortgage and a heloc in the amount of about 100K which I will pay off completely when I sell a property overseas (hopefully in the next 5-6 months).

The lender sent me a good faith estimate (GFE) three weeks ago and I locked the rates specified on that GFE at the time. He also sent me an email saying that there would be no closing costs on the heloc. Now, one week before the closing, he sent me a revised GFE where he uses 4K from the seller provided funds to lower our interest from 5.75 percent to 5.5 percent (this is fine because, I instructed him to do so). All the fees on the 30 year fixed loan stayed the same in the revised GFE, but all of a sudden, there is now a 1085 dollars closing costs for the 2nd mortgage (i.e. the heloc)! Also the monthly payment on the heloc has been increased by 30 dollars!! I am paying 4000 dollars to lower my monthly payment on the fixed morthage by 70 dollars but then he raises the monthly on the heloc by 30 dollars without any explanation!

Also I instructed him to pay 1 year property taxes from those funds. It appears like he did it. He also added 10 month of property tax to the escrow account. But in the total estimates for the monthly payment, he still has a monthly property tax appearing. But the whole reason for me asking for paying the property tax for 1 year is not to pay anything for a year. It seems like I am not paying 1 year+10 months into the escrow! The other issue is how they decide on the 10 months for the escrow account. Can't I choose to pay only 7 months for example?

Finally, since the closing date is May 30th, I thought I would pay for mortgage for only 1 day (i.e. May 31st), but he is charging me for 3 days!

I am scheduled to talk to him over the phone tomorrow morning. I cannot fire him because the closing is next week and we are already way into the process. I feel like he is trying to suck up as much as possible from the 18K that the seller is paying toward closing. Any suggestions about what I should do at this point?

Thanks,
Arcadio

[Limaro]

First of all, you could Definitely fire him if you wanted to! Call around to some other Mortgage companies and see who would be willing to Jump through some hoops to get it done in a week. A 600K Mortgage is a Prize in this market, and I think that you might be able to find someone else. I am not sure about your issues for the heloc, but the escrow account sounds legit. Basically, your monthly taxes will come out of that account when they are due. THe money is YOURS though, and you can remove it (or pay 7 months if you want to). YOu really need to ask some very detailed answers, because there may be reasons for all these changes. Your mortgage broker should (at least) be able to get some answers. Good Luck!