Buying a house

S

Smurfette

500+ Posts
LHF 68 and I are finally buying a house.

We're still in our option period right now, but we don't anticipate anything coming up that would be a deal breaker.

But I'm scared to death of the financing. With the market so unstable, I just don't know what kind of curves to expect.

I heard from a friend that bought over the summer that there were numerous times that they got the "we need this paperwork and we need it now" that left them scambling.

Any advice for us? Any paperwork/ documentation that snuck up on you? I'd much rather have a list of things they might want to go ahead and compile just in case.

Thanks!
 
Things I was asked for in March this year.

6 month pay stubs
2 years W2 info, copy of submitted W2
bank (checking and savings) statements 6 months
401k statement
all other investment statements
something else but i cant remember

They also called my office and ask to verify employment a few days before funding.
 
add to that your last 12 or 24 months cancelled rent checks if renting from a private party or a verification of rental history if renting from an apartment complex. cash and money orders are usually not acceptable.

if more than 25% of your income is commission or you are self employed, have your 07 and 08 tax returns and all schedules ready.

have these things and the ones above and you shouldn't have to scramble for much.

and collect paystubs and bank statements and cancelled checks after your provide them, because you may have to update them if your transaction takes a month or two.

happy hunting.
 
I am in the process of selling a place in Houston, but here is my recent experience.

We were supposed to close Friday of last week, the lendor's appraisal goes in 4 days earlier and does not appraise the house for anything close to what we agreed on, resulting in the buyers not getting the loan amount they originally were approved for. We don't know if it was because the loan they were getting (100% financing, which both had me and my relater nervous about the entire time) or whats going on with banks and the economy.

At the time that we signed the contract, we asked for a letter from the bank that approved the loan amount to cover the original costs, but once the appraiser came in the week of it caused a mess for the buyers (and only frustrated me), they already hired movers, broke their lease twice - closing was already delayed a week due to the effects of Hurricane Ike and the back log with the lendor and title company.

Fortunately, we figured out a way to get it done with the bank's figure with me getting back what was originally agreed on, but we've had the closing date change three times on us. I kept telling myself, its not a "done deal" until the papers were signed and I had my money, but with a week left I started to feel better about it, then that happened. Just my luck. Hope it goes better for you.
 
just bought our first home and it was not a good experience. we were running around, doing this, doing that, jumping through this hoop and that hoop.
we as buyers had everything in order and did everything that was asked. then the underwriter had a hiccup and the ball went rolling from there.
i must also throw in that we were trying to get this done asap.
after its all said and done we are in our new house now, but it was a week of high stress leading up to this point.
be prepared and enjoy the ride.
 
Isn't this part of your real estate agent's job? Ours held our hand throughout the entire process and made sure we had everything we needed at closing.
 
Our agent has been awesome so far, even taking a cut in her fee so that the seller would accept our deal.

The lending company we're using has been really upfront, and the loan officer is really good about returning emails, even after normal business hours. The lending company sent us a check list of everything they might need, and checked off what we needed to get.

I'm scared of the appraisal and underwriting...
 
I'm scared of the appraisal and underwriting...

this is where it gets tricky- the one we had was very anal and a whack job who screwed up. hopefully you dont have to go through that. it delayed our closing by 2 weeks. that being said, we are closed.
 
Just bought my first house. From a loan perspective, it couldn't have been easier. Asked for last two W2's, last paystub, and last checking and savings account statement. That's it.

I wanted to show him a complete financial picture, but he just wanted to make sure i had enough cash on hand for the down payment. This on a ~300K conventional with no points and a low rate. Through underwriting in less than 2 days - I was amazed how easy it was.
 
wow. that's exactly the kind of **** I'm scared of. The place we're buying is new construction. Technically, it's a condo, but it is completely detached and has a yard. The price per square foot is in the higher range for the area, but that's because the area is mostly much older homes. It's a nervous process.

sorry to your about your place though. Knock on some wood for us
smile.gif
 
does your loan officer know that this is a condo? different rules apply, depending on the kind of loan you are getting. may need to have a condo questionnaire completed by the condo association (sometimes a PITA) and sometimes they charge up front for it.
 
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