Closing costs (mortgages, loan, house)

[abmiku]

2%-3% of the loan amount.

[IMoveU]

[QUOTE=frenchieforme;3143344]Origination is 3% and we are not paying any transfer fees. Also, we were told that we had to use their title co. or they couldn't do the loan! This just gets more unbelievable every day![/quote]

Yikes!!! Sounds predatory to me

[Rick Lee]

Sounds like you need a new mortgage company.

FWIW, there is no such thing as "predatory lending". Predatory animals don't get their prey to voluntarily submit to being eaten. However, no one is ever forced into a loan. It's totally voluntary, not predatory. If you don't like the terms and/or closing costs, shop around and find a better deal. Since you're getting totally hosed by this lender, you're only enabling their dishonesty by giving them your business. Go elsewhere. Plenty of lenders are jonesing for new business, so you should have no problem find a better deal.

[Kevin Beasley]

Originally Posted by frenchieforme

Hi,

I am trying to buy a condo in the Scottsdale area and am wondering if anyone knows what the average closing costs should be? I have gotten a figure from my lender and it is A LOT higher than I was expecting!

Any help would be great! Thanks!

You better shop around. If you have decent credit you should no way have to pay that much, your realtor should have told you that. You may want to report that to the State Banking Agency, sounds like they are trying to put you in a trick bag.

[IMoveU]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Sounds like you need a new mortgage company.

FWIW, there is no such thing as "predatory lending". Predatory animals don't get their prey to voluntarily submit to being eaten. However, no one is ever forced into a loan. It's totally voluntary, not predatory. If you don't like the terms and/or closing costs, shop around and find a better deal. Since you're getting totally hosed by this lender, you're only enabling their dishonesty by giving them your business. Go elsewhere. Plenty of lenders are jonesing for new business, so you should have no problem find a better deal.

Predatory lending DOES EXIST and is a pejorative term used to describe practices of some lenders as a catch-all term for MANY specific illegal activities in the loan industry.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by IMoveU

Predatory lending DOES EXIST and is a pejorative term used to describe practices of some lenders as a catch-all term for MANY specific illegal activities in the loan industry.

I agree. Many mortgage brokers take advantage of first time buyers. For first time buyers, especially, the language and practices of the real estate industry can be dizzying. A first time buyer has no inkling that the real estate industry, particularly, the lending side is populated by double dealing mortgage brokers, banks, appraisers, real estate agents and home builders who are all feeding on kickbacks and cuts from bilking the inexperienced. The buyer just thinks that all is on the up and up and has no idea that they are being taken to the cleaners. It's like a trip to the car dealer or worse because the stakes are so much higher. You have to have done it once or twice to know the scams. Be skeptical!!!

[Rick Lee]

Ok, but in my years in the mortgage biz, I never once came across anyone who was forced to take out a mortgage. Maybe they're out there, but I've never heard of such a case. I've heard of countless cases where people didn't read or understand their loan terms or docs. That's not predatory lending and it's not even illegal to build in a few points of overage into the rate or closing costs. You may think it's unethical, but the onus is on the borrower to be educated. If you walk into ANY car dealership in the US and say, "I have this trade-in plus $20k cash and I want my payments to be no more than $400.", well you're asking to be taken to the cleaners. Salespeople make their money on such uneducated consumers to make up for the much lower commissions they get from consumers who show up knowing exactly what they want and what it should cost. The mere term "predatory lending" implies that no one is ever responsible for their own poor financial decisions. Why haven't I ever been the target of predatory lending? In fact, I don't believe any of my friends or family have been either. Why is that?

[IMoveU]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Ok, but in my years in the mortgage biz, I never once came across anyone who was forced to take out a mortgage. Maybe they're out there, but I've never heard of such a case. I've heard of countless cases where people didn't read or understand their loan terms or docs. That's not predatory lending and it's not even illegal to build in a few points of overage into the rate or closing costs. You may think it's unethical, but the onus is on the borrower to be educated. If you walk into ANY car dealership in the US and say, "I have this trade-in plus $20k cash and I want my payments to be no more than $400.", well you're asking to be taken to the cleaners. Salespeople make their money on such uneducated consumers to make up for the much lower commissions they get from consumers who show up knowing exactly what they want and what it should cost. The mere term "predatory lending" implies that no one is ever responsible for their own poor financial decisions. Why haven't I ever been the target of predatory lending? In fact, I don't believe any of my friends or family have been either. Why is that?

Good Lord!! I can only speak for myself as a Realtor but any agent worth their salt will abide by the NAR code of ethics which requires us to take VERY seriously our fiduciary responsibility to the client above all else...even if that means it works AGAINST us.

This is a great example of why loan officers should be licensed by the state (which the banks and lenders have resisted for years)...there are too many green-horns out there and more scams than you can shake a stick at and until a set of standards is in place to protect the innocent from the kind of dealings noted above, people will continue to get hurt.

I can't imagine what would happen to my referral business if I took what I think I could get because of someone's lack of sophistication in the process.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by IMoveU

Good Lord!! I can only speak for myself as a Realtor but any agent worth their salt will abide by the NAR code of ethics which requires us to take VERY seriously our fiduciary responsibility to the client above all else...even if that means it works AGAINST us.

This is a great example of why loan officers should be licensed by the state (which the banks and lenders have resisted for years)...there are too many green-horns out there and more scams than you can shake a stick at and until a set of standards is in place to protect the innocent from the kind of dealings noted above, people will continue to get hurt.

I can't imagine what would happen to my referral business if I took what I think I could get because of someone's lack of sophistication in the process.

So why is it that I'm regularly able to find realtors who will shave their commission or kick back 1-2% on either end of a deal, yet if I didn't ask for it, they'd charge a standard 6%?

And loan officers are perfectly within the law to charge a higher rate for harder deals. When I was working on a very difficult condo deal that was only a $60k sales price, why shouldn't I charge a higher rate for it? I knew no one else was willing to do the deal, as it required an exception from Fannie. For several times as much work and a fraction of the commission on a $300k house, why shouldn't I charge more for it? Borrowers have far more tools available at their fingertips now with Lending Tree and such. People charge what the market will bear. If couldn't get a deal in the door, then I'd probably have to cut my rate. By the same token, if the standard loan officer commission is 50 bps., they are also free to cut into that to get a deal in the door. It works both ways.

[markas214]

I'd pass on the deal. Tell them you'll be back in six months offering $40,000 less and wanting closing costs paid in full by the seller. In todays market you should be dictating the terms not the seller.