Mary's house buying journey

[jcrsmom]

I love reading everyone's updates so figured maybe mine could help someone else.  

Prequal application submitted: 4/25

Pre-Approval came a few days later.

We will be doing a 100% 5/5 ARM loan through Navy Federal. 

I contacted our Agent 5/2 to let her know we wanted to start looking.  We looked at a house that was close to my parent's house but I didn't have the "it's the one" feeling. Also looked at another that had a large property (10 ac) but the house was way too small and the property was too wet and rocky for us. (We wanted the kids to be able to ride their quads there)

5/17 We looked at 2 more houses.  One was a foreclosure in a great school district.  We walked in and OMG, it was awful.  There were holes in the wall and it just needed so much work.  We didn't mind doing some work since hubby is a contractor, but this was just nuts. So we knew right away it was a no go, even though it was on a nice, quiet street.

The next one in pictures appeared to be everything we wanted but it sat on a main road which I wasn't sure would work (it was in great condition and we could walk in and not have to do a thing).  I almost didn't go see it but decided to in the end.  Well, guess what?  We are going back on Wed. to see it and put an offer in!  The area is more country so the road doesn't seem that busy.  The back yard is so peaceful and you would never know that there is a road on the other side of the house.  There is a deck on the second level that runs the length of the house, half is screened in.  There is a built in house generator too which is a great asset in that area.  The realtor did have a concern about one part of the back end of the yard.  There was some grass that was taller which was not mowed so she thought that maybe that was where the septic was and maybe it might need to be upgraded.  If we decide to get this house, the inspector will be able to  confirm or deny it.  We are not willing to pay for it, so unless the seller would, we will walk away.  The thing that is nerveracking is the house is price 20K more than we want to pay.  We are going to put an offer in and if they take it, great.  If not, we will walk away I guess.  So keep your fingers crossed for us please :-)  

July 17th: Offer Accepted

July 21st: Signed contract sent to mortgage guy (didn't get it on the 18th, so had to resend)

July 21st: Spoke with Mortgage guy and he is ordering the appraisal.  Told me to go ahead and get homeowners insurance and send him the contract showing it.  He siad to expect the approval letter Wed or Thurs this week.  Need to print, sign and email papers back to him.

July 22nd: Received email with a ton of docs to sign and fax as well as our mortgage approval (woohoo)  I am waiting to hear what the house appraised at.  Need to contact sellers about getting downstairs fireplace inspected/fixed due to inspection report.

August 2nd?: Sellers agree to have the FIreplace inspected and cleaned

August 4th: Surveryor went to property to take pictures and document that he does not see why the property is considered flood zone.  

August 7th: Submitted to Fema 

Where we are right now:  The proprty is shown on a the Fema Map (zone A) but the problem is there is no reason for it to be even considered.  The surveyor said that the cause for it (what Fema says is the cause) is a pond from an old mill to the left of the property.  He said there is an old stone house that has a spring under it and a large pond he was standing in with 0 water in it.  It's overgrown with flowers and grass.  There is also a 10 ft stone damn on that property so there is just no way for the water to reach the property.  He said we should hear back in 2-4 WEEK or up to 60 days if Fema is backed up.  I am freaking out with school starting Sept. 2nd.  Should Fema not amend the map, we will walk away.   

I am going to go ahead and register the kids for school up there and if we don't hear back by the start of the school year, we will move in with my parents who are in that school district.  The bus will pick the kids up there.  Not my ideal situation but it's an option at least.  Hopefully we hear back sooner rather than later so we can just move on either way.  

September 11th: It's been awhile since I've updated.  We finally heard back frm Fema 5 weeks after we submitted the LOMC to amend the flood map. (On Sept. 11th)  The great news is we got the approval and it has been removed from the map.  

September 18th: Did the walkthrough since our agent is going away on the 19th.  

September 24th: Settlement 

[jcrsmom]

Update:

I got cold feet with the house we liked and we never put an offer in.  I got an email a few days later saying it was now pending.  I got that, "OMG did we make a huge mistake" feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I finally just let it go and was curious what it would sell for.

I have been looking high and low for something in our price range.  We are in the burbs north of Philly and our area is so expensive so it's not so easy with a 225K budget.  we went to some open houses on Sunday, July 13th. One was way too small, one was so pretty but whoever did the work, you could tell it was shoddy work and made you wonder what shortcuts were taken with what couldn't be seen.  Another was owned by an old lady and needed serious updating. The basement also would need to be waterproofed.  That day I felt so defeated and went home depressed that nothing could be found that day.  I told my husband that I needed to stop looking for a bit, it was stressing me out too much. (Trying to get in a new home before school starts so kids could be settled.  Also they go to Catholic school so I'd have to buy new uniforms if we stayed and didn't want to invest in those and then move)  

The next morning I logged on the computer to see how much the house we like sold for since my realtor said that was the day it would be updated online.  I was flabbergasted to see that it said Active again.  I freaked..I texted my husband, messaged my mom and emailed the realtor to see what the story was.  Turns out the buyers backed out a week before settlement.  They had gone through all inspections etc.  I truly beliece in fate and just knew this house was meant for us.  So we scheduled an appt for the next day to just see the house now that all furniture etc was moved out. That night we put in an offer knowing that they might not accept or someone might come in and outbid us.  It would be all or nothing for us since our max was 225K with sellers paying closing costs and the asking price was 245K.   The house had been back on the market for a day and the seller's agent said there was another offer that was supposed to be presented.  We put that we wanted a response by the next day.  I went about my day not hearing anything from my agent other than another offer was supposed to be coming in.  She finally called around 5 pm and asked if I believed in fate because the house was ours.  I was so overcome with emotions.  We were not expecting them to accept our offer, although we hoped they would.  Then the rush of emotions of leaving our current home and neighbors who we love so dearly.  This is the house I grew up in, so out of the 11 houses on the street, 5 of the neighbors have been here since my family moved in 30 years ago.  The newer neighbors have been here 14 years.  

Anyway, long story short, we are excited but it will be a huge change since we are moving 40 mins away to new schools, new life, new everything  I will be updating my journey as it goes along with the process of closing etc.  

I meant to add that I did write a nice personal letter to the sellers, so I am not sure if that's why they accepted our offer. 

[jcrsmom]

July 17th: Offer Accepted

July 21st: Signed contract sent to mortgage guy (didn't get it on the 18th, so had to resend)

July 21st: Spoke with Mortgage guy and he is ordering the appraisal.  Told me to go ahead and get homeowners insurance and send him the contract showing it.  He siad to expect the approval letter Wed or Thurs this week.  Need to print, sign and email papers back to him.

July 22nd: Received email with a ton of docs to sign and fax as well as our mortgage approval (woohoo)  I am waiting to hear what the house appraised at.  Need to contact sellers about getting downstairs fireplace inspected/fixed due to inspection report.

[AGingrich]

Here's the fun part, Mary! Loan approval. I'm sure you'll be more than fine, but it's so nervewracking.

Good luck on your home!

[jcrsmom]

Thank you..I believe it was fate we got this house

[iamkeithj]

I also have a pre-approval for Navy 5/5 Arm loan. Just curious, any reason why you went with the ARM versus 30yr fixed? The ARM gave me a better rate and 0% percent which is why I went with it.

[Anonymous]

That is the greatest happy ending. I lost a home I wanted due to one mortgage brokers bad bad advice and it sold to someone else that I've been told couldn't be happier with the home.

I still look for it hoping they'd sell but its too late for me as I am commited to a different home now. I had checked constantly to see if maybe it would be back on the market but no. Its now over 1 1/2 years later and the owners are happy. Sighs.

Fantasic that miracles do happen and thank you for posting this.

[Anonymous]

You might want to be careful with the ARM, chances are that the payments will go up in 5 years 

[jcrsmom]

My LO said the hard part is over since he has all of our information.  We have only paid down more debt since we did the pre-approval, so hopefully there are no hiccups.

[jcrsmom]

With the fixed, there was a fee attached to  it, with the arm there was not.  With the ARM starting at just below 4%, we figured in 5-10 years, we would be at the fixed rate that we would have started out with.   

What is the 0% you got?