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I don't understand all of that. I've tried to for many years to understand all the policies and money etc and I don't.
You need to find a home buyer's class in your area and take that. Then take it again if you still feel like you don't know enough to proceed. But you are clearly not ready to buy a home at this point.
are you buying the house for yourself by yourself or buy it with the husband that you talked about leaving ? just wondering and yes I don't think you are ready to buy a house if you don't understand all the finances involved and sometimes there are repairs to be made . How would you feel if you bought a house and something broke and you don't have the money to fix it or hire someone to fix it ? there are lots of things that can and do go wrong better rethink buying a home until you can understand it all or take a home buying class .
One of my best friends was a realtor. She sold us a house that had termites and assured us that they were gone. She ordered an inspection which showed that the house was clean because it had been treated, however, the garage had them and it was hidden from us by not inspecting the garage.
Fast forward a couple of years when we discovered a nice nest in the house again. There was an ongoing contract on the property that could have transferred over during the sale of the property for just the amount of the monthly contract. It cost us 2k because we had to start a new contract.
When we bought our house our attorney forgot to put a provision in the contract to cover the property taxes for the five months or so that didn't belong to us. We got stuck paying the taxes.
You have to do your research and find a good real estate attorney, and you don't sign a contract until your attorney approves it.
There are always going to be problems with real estate transactions and the bottom line is just buy right. That rental property with the termites has already paid for itself from the income, and it's worth more then what we have in it. We also got a great deal on our house so in the grand scheme of things that extra property tax bill was just chump change.
I guess the best advice I can give you is do your homework and know your target market. The rest will work itself out. You can suffer from analysis paralysis that could derail every sale, even the deal of the century.
Every time I speak to a realtor or a lender I feel like I'm being lied to and they are working in cahoots the screw us. Is this usually the case. Like the realtor told us she add a year long home warranty onto our agreement but could she be lying? The lender gave us a ball park figure of what our mortgage would be....could it be a lot more at closing?
You know, I've read all your posts, and the posts from others. But, truly, I'm just sorta sitting here shaking my head. There's nothing we can say that is going to convince you -- because you came to a real estate forum and you aren't going to believe the opinions of any of the real estate agents (many of whom offer their time and experience here to perfect strangers for free just because they love what they do and because they have a helping spirit.) You seem to have some sort of persecution complex, where you think everyone is out to get you.
As a good friend once noted, "People who always think people are out to get them are usually the kind of people who would s***w you over in a heartbeat." I have found that to be a pretty accurate statement. I honestly try to avoid working with clients such as yourself whenever possible. It's exhausting, and just not worth it. Life's too short. It's not my job to "make" you trust me. All I can do is show by my actions and my reputation that I am worthy of trust. Even normally sane, easygoing people get hyped up during a real estate transaction. THAT kind of temporary insanity I can deal with easily, and do it every day. But that deep-rooted suspicion that every single person is out to get you is one that touches every aspect of a transaction and is, quite frankly, insulting, annoying and tiresome.
Just sitting back and saying, "I don't understand finance and numbers" is such a victim mentality. If you truly aren't capable of understanding, then you have no business buying a house. If you are just too lazy to learn, then no one can teach you. But you have to learn how to take care of your own finances to be able to tell the difference between someone trying to help you and someone trying to hurt you. There are millions of websites that are devoted to helping home buyers understand the home buying process. There are a zillion lenders who are happy to explain the process to you in minute detail. If you don't trust your agent, get a new agent. If you don't trust your lender, get a new lender. If you don't trust your inspector, get a new inspector. Whatever. *shrug*
Based upon the plethora of posts from OP, I have to disagree. OP seems to know absolutely nothing about the process, yet finds herself in contract with a mortgage she can barely describe, asking the most "101" questions I've seen here in years.
Your information seems to be several years out of date. Yield spread no longer exists, therefore "jacking up the rate" is not legal, nor even possible. And regarding fees, lenders are now required, at the very beginning, to provide an iron-clad depiction of fees which cannot change (except prepaids).
I agree - need to do their homework.....
Many first time home buyers make the mistake finding the house before the lender. The first step is finding a lender so find out the buying power. Getting a prequal letter to show the seller they can get a loan.
The Realtor recommended he lender we are using so they could be working in cahoots.
10K closing cost? They told me it would be around 4K which the seller agreed to pay. Also I was told the earnest money is part of the down payment? Like a credit towards it?
Yes. If you use a title company or lender recommended by the agent, there's a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" thing going on. Watch the agent's face, when you say you'll be using another title co. or lender.
OTOH, they'll probably work to complete your paperwork asap, if they have a relationship with your agent.
As far as the contract, most laypersons wouldn't understand all the terms of a legal contract. If you need a lawyer to understand it, there's no need to also pay for an agent. Just buy the house yourself, and use your attorney to draw up the paperwork and explain the legalities to you. I don't know if you can view an MLS listed house w/o an agent, though. Possibly.
The Realtor recommended he lender we are using so they could be working in cahoots.
10K closing cost? They told me it would be around 4K which the seller agreed to pay. Also I was told the earnest money is part of the down payment? Like a credit towards it?
There are online calculators for closing costs for each state. Have you run the numbers through one of those?
I've been told that closing costs for a seller in my city and state run about 2% of sales price. The online calculator shows less than 1.5%. I didn't calculate for buyer's closing costs.
Closing costs are negotiable, too. The seller generally pays for some things, and the buyer pays for some things. But that can be somewhat changed, if agreed to. Just because someone puts a cost in your column doesn't mean it should be paid by you. Check and see if that's in your contract and whether that's a typical buyer's cost.
A good team can make the impossible happen... like when the 101 year old seller passes away on the day she was to sign.
Everything was set and all she needed to do was sign... she had a heart attack in the night and that was that.
It meant the buyer's loan docks would expired.. it meant the buyer family would have to scramble for at least temporary housing... it could have meant probate... in other words the sale could have been cancelled for a number of reasons.
The Listing Agent had a 25 year business relationship with the Escrow Officer... the Listing Agent knew the 101 year old for 45 years...
They all got together and the Title Company agreed to process the sale... with the signature of the only child and heir.
A good team is well worth the money and many buyers/sellers don't even realize it because of how good they perform... avoiding snafus is the bread and butter of completing transactions...
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