Lawyer needs the money upon closing, no money means no deal and your deposit on the house can be forfeited or returned less all lawyer`s fees.

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I saw a house that i really love on the internet house listing from cps a legitimate company. but i don't live in the state where the house is located at. i just want to buy the house then 1 month later i will live there. but i'm afraid we have to meet in person the agent or whomever. i wish we can just do everything over the internet as long as i have to proof of fund from my bank account? i got a p.o. box where they can send me the mail paperwork or key to the new house or any item that they want me to have for the new house if i decided to buy the house and the transaction close. can everything be done through the internet or mail? thanks. i need your suggesstion...

Personally - you would be a fool to do the whole process by Internet. You should at least go there and do a once through to verify the house you are seeing on the internet is the actual house. Then of course, you will want to get an independent home inspection done. Don't be foolish and end up like so many people do, and get scammed, even by reputable companies, because their agents are independent and they have no direct control over what they do.

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Okay. my husband and i are freaking out. we bought a couch a few days ago with his paycheck. our bank account is at the same amount as when they checked it last week and we haven't touched our credit. will this effect us tomorrow when we close???!!! i don't see how because our credit was not touched and our funds in the bank are the same. we used his paycheck to buy food and gas and the couch. it was deposited into the account but we only used the paycheck amount. do they check the bank account one more time a few hours before closing? also, if all goes well as soon as we sign the paperwork, how soon can we finance on the rest of our furniture we would like to get? can we finance on the furniture as soon as we leave the title co? thanks in advance... no we were not aware of what would happen if we made one measly purchase until after we purchased it and met up with our mortgage lender to sign other papers and didn't bring it up to her attention. i personally do not think a couch was a stupid purchase. we are first time homebuyers unaware of the little things that would effect us before closing.

You are making me nervous!!!! LOL if I were your real estate agent I would spank you! :) Most likely you are ok. You should NOT have done that because yes the bank very well could check everything one more time! They probably won't. Ok, buying furniture.... once the home is recorded into your name, which will be by 5:00Pm on the day of closing in most cases. Then you are good to go. Make sure the escrow or title company has recording numbers. That means the home is recorded under your name. Please be careful with your credit now that you are homeowners. Congratulations on your new home but lets make sure you STAY in it ok? :)

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The house is for sale as is & we intend to pay the fulll asking price. are there any other contingecies we should think about? also i don't quite get what escrow is. $118,000 plus approximate amount added for closing costs. seller will contribute it twords closing. 75 day escrow approval within 30 days (from lender & chap) contingent upon chap & lender approval chap (clackamas homebuyers assistance program) -they give funds for closing or down payment. purchase contingent upon home inspection that is satisfactory to buyer. i was told chap & the lender need time to coordinate & work together thus the 75 day escrow. are you using an agent or are you and seller writing up something on your own? the seller & i would be writing it.

First off, "escrow" is often a hard one for most since the word can apply to two totally different things. One kind of escrow acct is collected for your taxes and insurance and is held by your lender (or servicer). Your monthly payment usually contains PITI (principal + interest + taxes + insurance = mthly pmt) The lender separates the taxes and insurance and puts them in a separate account so that when your taxes and insurance are due, they have enough money to pay them on your behalf. The other kind of escrow also holds money (savings account would probably be easier to understand) but it is money for the actual transaction execution. The number of days "in escrow" refers to how long everyone agrees to complete the transaction by (or how long the money will be held for). At the end of (in this case) the 75 days, either the money changes hand, or, if the transaction is canceled, goes back to the appropriate parties. If everyone is agreeable, the 75 days can be extended if needed. I also think 75 days is a bit long, but I'll guess there's a reason? Any loan that deals with a Down Payment Assistance program will need more time to get approved and ready for closing since there are more steps to the approval...for both the 1st loan and DPA program...but I think 75 days is a bit much too. Any other reason for the long escrow? Pending the sale of another property? Seller needing time to find a new home? These contingencies seem to be in line. Also, it sounds like Realitym...is either in a bad mood, a pessimistic or bitter. If you should buy property right now or not really depends on your situation and the deal. Truly, no one can predict how long housing prices will fall and when they will start going back up...nor how long you will have your house so he can't accurately state that your housing values will not go up...or depreciate for that matter. I know of very wealthy people taking millions and buying homes right now. Buy low, sell high, right? Closing costs and taxes being "stupidly high" also isn't accurate. I'm a broker (out of CO) and my closing costs are lower now than they were a couple of years ago. ..then again, buy property in CA or NY and you'll have "stupidly high" closing costs. Taxes are based on where you live and property value, so if you live in Hawaii, yup, you'll have "stupidly high" taxes...if you live in a rural area in Kansas, your taxes will be "stupidly" low. It has nothing to do with the current housing crisis. In regards to "banks...failing", yes, there are some banks and lenders going under. They're afraid of foreclosure so they are pickier about who they lend to, making it more difficult to get a loan, but even if your lender goes under, once you have the loan, the bank/lender can go under and you'll still have your mortgage (as long as you keep up on the payments). All loans are sold anyhow; banks and lenders are only a means to an end. Don't let Realitym...get you down. If no one buys houses, this crisis will continue to get worse. If you have a good deal and can truly afford it (on a stable loan product), I say buy, buy, buy. Good luck and congrats.

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Having

I did this exactly one year ago. Same income, same amount of savings, same rate of savings too! My upper limit was 190K but I ended up buying for 201K in Boston, MA. Remember that upper limit and stick with it. Get a free credit report with https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp. You don't get a score but you'll know what's in your report. If you want to purchase the score, make sure it's from all three bureaus. Sign up for redfin.com. You can look at what's on the market now where you want to buy (if they are available in your area). They can also show you houses. Depending on where you are looking, it may take 6 months before you find a deal that goes through. I started on Feb 14 and closed on Sep 29. The issue is that there are a lot of short sales out there and they take forever to close or they just don't go through so you have to start over. Redfin doesn't do short sale so if you don't mind the wait, you'll have to see a seller's agent. Don't count on your raise. This economy is too volatile. Now is a good time to look online and go to open houses. You may choose a Redfin realtor or get a buyer's agent. If I had to do it all over, I would go with Redfin. Whatever you do, however much money you put down, make sure that you have at least 3 months of your house expenses (taxes, PMI, mortgage, car payment, student loans etc...) saved up. I ended up leaving work after 3 months of buying and managed to have 10 months of my household expenses saved. Now I'm in no rush to start working while I'm going to grad school... the only rush is that I'd like to start saving again. Depending on where you are, consider buying a duplex or two family house. There may be some work needed but it can be good rental opportunity for which you don't pay more than what you'd pay for a condo/house of your own. Buy something with at least 2 bedrooms and preferably 1.5-2 baths. It will be good for you if you want to take a roommate (which I did). I hope this helps. And definitely wait to see when and how the $15K thing is going to take effect. I wish I could get that instead of the $7,500. It would go a long way. P.S. Start looking at getting pre-approved for the lowest interest rate you can find. I was foolish and was loyal to the bank I got. The minute rates went down, I was too close to closing to find anything else and the bank wouldn't lower my rate. Get a pre-approval letter but keep looking for better rates as you get closer to picking a place. Don't feel bad about leaving the pre-approval broker. Good luck!

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I made an offer on an reo house, the selling agent we've been working with came back and said there's another offer and we're going to do a better and best. now, i don't know for sure if there really is another offer, for many reasons i won't go into. okay, so we made a second offer. the mortgage broker said it was a good offer and the agent acted as though it was good too, so i feel confident. the mortgage person said we should know in a couple of days. okay, our offer has one contingency, we want the furnace to be put in. when i mentioned this in my first question, everyone tore it down and flooded me with negativity. well, it is a house code violation and the bank knows they won't get their money, so it is fair to ask for this. anyways, the bank says they will put the furnace in if we can prove that our funds will be available. so the mortgage company wrote a letter to the bank stating that if the bank puts the furnace in before or one day after the closing date, we will recieve funding. okay, so my question finally is...how does this sound? have you been in this situation? i'm fairly confident this is going to happen and we want it very badly. it's so stressful but its been fun too. also, we did this yesterday, i'm thinking that if we don't hear from the agent by tomorrow afternoon, we're going to contact her and get some information. this couldn't hurt, right? either she will know or she won't. so, please don't talk to me about the bank taking their time, they've been pretty quick so far. please don't flood me with a bunch of negativity again either. i don't want to sound rude, but i would really just like some honest feedback about what you think. thanks for answering :) sure, daeve. i hope you come back to check this... we were told to make a second offer because there's another bidder and their offer was close to ours so the bank wants to see who's is best. this, i believe, was a trick to get more money out of us. and i am still not convinced that there is another bidder. there is no furnace and no other heating in the house. it must be fixed. also, to the first answer, i'm sorry i forgot the name...i'm not saying the bank is obligated. but they know they nobody will recieve funding if the house is without a furnace, and in michigans economy, nobody is going to put in a furnace and risk eating it if something goes wrong. so, sure they're not obligated, but they know its something that has to be done if they want the sale. so, thats why we're sticking to our guns on that part. thanks so much everybody, these are the kinds of answers i was hoping for =) oh and lizzie, the leverage is they won't get their money and the deal will fall through. and i have a lawyer that is willing to look all of this over for me.

Loss mitigation departments and asset management agencies are not unreasonable people, they know that the house has to have a furnace to receive financing, and I don't think that you hurt your offer with that contingency. Since there seems to be agreement that if you produce a pre-approval for financing that they will replace the furnace, you are in a good position. Lenders are pretty slow on short sales, but I am finding with REO's, some are really good about getting it done. If you have been receiving quick responses so far, I suspect you should hear something soon. By all means, keep in touch with your agent. Good luck and sending positive thoughts your way.

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I can't qualify for a loan. i have buyers for the house i currently own. they have been pr-approved for the loan, we still don't have a closing date. there is enough equity from the sale of that house to buy another one cash. can i use the purchase agreement from the house i'm currently selling as proof of income or some other document in order to sign a contract on the house i want to buy. the house i want to buy is a foreclosure and requires proof of funds or pre- approval in order to submit a contract.

A contract to purchase will not be accepted as any sort of proof of funds OR of a pre-approval. The reason ? Your contract to purchase is not guaranteed in any way. Your buyers could fail to complete the contract. You will need to find a way to provide what the selling bank wants for that foreclosure.

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My fiance and i are getting married in september. but since the market is so great for first time home buyers in michigan we are also semi-actively looking to buy a house. we don't have the kind of cash for a downpayment or closing costs, since it's all in the wedding fund. should we just wait, or is there assistance that we could find?

I am a Michigan Finance Broker and have been for 14 years. There are many programs out there for 1st time home buyers and many with no down payment and also sellers can pay all your closing costs. I am very good at what I do and many times my buyers bring zero to the closing or even sometimes get money back. If you would like to ask me more questions or get you pre-approved I would be glad to assist you. All my clients always come back to me for my honesty and because I explain everything in full detail, never leaving my clients in the dark on what is happening. you may contact me via email.

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My husband and i are trying to buy a hud home hmbi owns the house the house of corse is being sold 'as is' so we will be having to pay for any repairs to be made on the house .we did the inspection and the repairs we all minor adding up to around 1,000 our lending is requiring us to have this amount put in a seperate escrow account at closing to prove we have the funds to fix the house and that the repairs will be made if we don't do this they will not loan us the money.the problem is this the bank that owns the home hmbi does not want us (the buyers)to to bring the 1,000 to closing they want the lender to bring the escrow money to closing our lender says again that this is not possible and thats not the way its done that hmbi has let buyers bring the escrow to closing before so does anyone now if the rules have changed and what is the big problem if we bring the money to closing anyone hade this experiance with buying a hud home in north carolina?

are you absolutely sure the seller (hmbi) is requiring your new lender to provide the $1,000 escrow? I work for a real estate title company and it sounds as though someone may be misunderstanding something. I can't imagine the seller worrying about where the money is coming from as long as the money is there... in the end, if the $1,000 escrow is showing up on your "settlement statement" at the closing table, hmbi is not going to know where it came from. You should check with them again and have your loan officer contact hmbi directly to hash this out.

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My husband and i are hoping to buy a home soon. we've been pre-qualified for a loan, and we've gone out with a realtor and alone to some open houses to scope out homes in our price range. we have enough in savings right now for a 20% down payment on a house in our desired price range. however, that leaves us with nothing left for closing costs, repairs/furniture/renovations, and an emergency fund. so realistically, we have about a 12-15% down payment in savings right now (accounting for the money left over for the other stuff). it'll take us about 4-6 months to bulk up the savings where we have the 20% plus the extra money for the other stuff. we're in a living situation right now that i am not at all happy with, and that i've been unhappy with for a long time. i would rather just put down under 15% on a house right now and do an fha loan and deal with the extra fees that come along with it. my husband is strongly against that, and prefers to deal with our current crappy situation for the next 4-6 months (and that's assuming that we don't have any major financial setbacks in that time period) so that we can put down the full 20%. i agree with him for wanting to be responsible. he is the product of two parents who never saved money and wasted it on stupid stuff (which is the reason why we're in this "crappy situation" today). i can appreciate that he doesn't want to re-live a childhood where they were living paycheck to paycheck, and living beyond their means. however, i am not his mother or father, and neither is he. and i am the type of person who feels that, in the end, it's just money, and money isn't worth sacrificing one's happiness. he, however, feels like we should just deal with a bad situation now (even if we can fix it by sacrificing a bit of financial security) and then it'll pay off in the future. this current situation has us arguing a lot and has led to a lot of frustrating fights and days where we just feel like crap. i don't feel like all this is worth it just to be able to put down 20%. we have several friends who've put down less (some of them, way less) than 20% on their homes, and they seem to be doing all right ... money isn't as plentiful as it was before they bought their houses, but it's not like they're eating ramen noodles every day. so, is it really so awful to only put down 10-12% on a house? is it worth it for us to put up with 4-6 more months (at least) of bullcrap just to make things financially easier on ourselves? how much harder would our monthly payments really be if we only put down 10-12%?

No, it's not awful. His concerns and your concerns are extremely valid. Liquidity is a wonderful thing, particularly in an emergency. You are right to worry about running out of cash, plus, many lenders will require that you have a few months of mortgage payments in reserve before they give you a mortgage loan. The problem with putting down less than 20% is it will cost you more because you will have to pay for mortgage insurance, and this may add to your monthly cost. But wait!! .... in this case you can have your cake and eat it, too: One solution is a blended double loan, 80% for the first mortgage, 8% for the second mortgage. The second mortgage will cost you more, but you can pay it off more aggressively, and in a few years or less, you will have only the first mortgage left, at the price of a 20% down mortgage. There are many lenders in the area who do these loans. Winter is a great time to buy. Waiting til Spring may put you in competition with many other buyers, and cost you in the end. Most financial decisions come down to eating well vs. sleeping well, looks like you're choosing eating well and he's choosing sleeping well.. bests, -rsr- Ron Rothenberg Exclusive Buyer Broker Belmont, MA

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I have two questions. 1)i am buying a house, under the deal the the seller will be paying up to $3500 of my closing costs. i have the exact down payment in savings, but i don't have the money for the inspection and initial closing fees which is around $800 without dipping into my down payment fund. since the seller is paying these fees in the end, does this matter? or do i actually need the my down payment + $800, just to be reimbursed for the fees at settlement? 2) if i need to come up with both funds in the short term, can i do a cash advance or charge these fees until the close date when i get the money back?

get an advance on a credit card and pay for the inspections with cash