My Mortgage Journal (formerly: Would I qualify for an FHA Mortgage in ME?)

[StartingOver10]

Congratulations on getting the offer accepted! Yea!

You have done an outstanding job of preparing before you went shopping for a home. Your mortgage process should be smooth - based on what you have posted about your LO so far.  Just so you know, most purchases go very smooth. The posts we see here where there were bumps in the road are the exception and not the rule. You will be fine

[Lemmus]

Slow down, you move too fast

Got to make the morning last

                                 Simon & Garfunkle

Breath sloooooooooooooooow and deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep eh

Its all gonna work out ...really 

So you gonna give us some details or just leave us hanging until you to get back from the ER? 

Its like SO10 said, you've done your homework ...this is the easy part.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for this reply - it really helped to put me at ease!  Honestly, I was amazed that we got the offer accepted on the first shot, especially with two other offers already in!  Our Realtor asked me to write a personal letter to accompany the offer, and she's convinced that it's what won us the deal.  The house is amazing - only a year old, energy efficient, and very large for this area.  Best of all, the price is fantastic at $230k; right around the average for the area, but that's usually for a 50+ year old house with little to no updates.  We totally scored on this!  3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, large dry basement with all modern goodies, granite countertops, solid wood floors, fenced back yard, and a gigantic farmer's porch on the front.  

EDIT:  I keep hitting the "Post" button pre-maturely!

It's also in a fantastic neighborhood, within walking distance to downtown, and only a 1 minute drive to the highway.  The location is fantastic - only 5 minutes from my wife's doctoral program, and 25 minutes from my office.  All the little "would likes" and "need to haves" are already done, including a radon system in the basement, natural gas throughout, tankless H/W heater...

[StartingOver10]

I agree with your Realtor about the personal letter.  I have had my buyers write them and we have won in multiple offer situations as a result too. In fact, in one case we lost to a cash buyer, but a week later the cash buyer got cold feet and pulled out. The seller instructed the seller's agent to contact us rather than put it back on the market because of the letter! So ultimately the buyer won the bid due to the letter.

So, congrats!

Your new place sounds wonderful and we are expecting pics when you close

[Anonymous]

Our Realtor told me to really sap it up, and you better believe I went as far as to say how even the windows would be perfect for our three-legged rescue cat to sit in and enjoy.  LOL!  Here's the full text for anyone who would like to use my letter as a reference in the future:

---

May 31st 2015

Dear <homeowner>,

Thank you so much for your generosity in opening your home to me and my wife today. Having lived in downtown Boston for a number of years where apartment showings are common, we certainly understand just how difficult it can be to have strangers entering and wandering about your home. I know that if someone was asking to purchase my family’s home, I would want to know a few things about them, and so I am writing you this note to tell you a little bit about us, and to ask you for your blessing.

My beautiful wife and I are newlyweds looking to buy our first, and hopefully forever home together. I am a new transplant to Maine, having recently left my position with the US Navy to join my new bride, a Maine native and a current doctoral student.  We visited roughly ten homes today, and I can honestly say that nine of them were just houses. Only one felt like a “home” to us – yours. As silly as it may sound, upon entering your home, we both nearly started to cry – partly due to the exhaustion of the day, but mostly out of relief that we had found “the one”! Everything about your home is perfect exactly the way it is – from the kitchen where I envision cooking many meals in the years to come, to the living room where I imagine our future babies will rabidly tear into their Christmas gifts, to the beautiful backyard where we hope to roast many marshmallows and get fat off S’Mores together. Even the windows were perfect, and just the right height for our three-legged cat, Handsome, to access and enjoy!

We truly loved your home, and as such would like to make you the following commitments: First, we promise to be the easiest buyers you’ll encounter. If you ever have any problems, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us – we want to make this easy, painless, and perfect. Second, we promise to love, respect, and care for your home for as long as we own it. Your home will never be any less loved.

Thank you again for your time today and for the time you are taking to consider our offer and read this letter. We truly hope that you will grant us the honor and the privilege of moving into the absolutely perfect home; not only for us, but our future family.

My wife and I are truly honored to have this opportunity,

SunknLiner

[StartingOver10]

omg,...I have tears in my eyes. No wonder they chose you and your family. That is truly a wonderful, heartfelt letter. I can even see you and your family loving this new home.

[Lemmus]

...wow ...this is going into my templates collection 

[frugalQ]

First, congratulations on your preapproval and contract!!!

Secondly, I thought "Bamaguy" and "frustrated" would be the only people to make me tear up....then, you come along with this letter.  

That was really an awesome letter....I would have chosen your offer, too!

[Anonymous]

Wow.. Congrats!!

[Anonymous]

 UPDATE:

Signed Purchase & Sale Agreement has been received; earnest money ($1,000) has been paid; and my life story has been shipped off to the mortgage broker.

I'm still absolutely petrified though - mainly because the two months of bank statements aren't "impressive".  We have enough to cover any uncovered closing expenses and prepaids, but thats about it - maybe an extra thousand as a cushion, with a little more saved by closing.  I know USDA RD doesn't require cash reserves, but I'm still worried.  *I* know that we're fine; I just hope a lender agrees.