topic Re: 2015 New Construction Closings in Mortgage Loans

2015 New Construction Closings

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 20:23:15 GMT

Forgive me if there's another thread started, but I couldn't find one that fits...so I thought I'd start a new one

We started our credit repair in earnest just 2+ months ago...and just yesterday we received our pre-approval letter! However, it's a new construction home in a new community...so it will be a bit longer than an April/May close. So for all of you in a similar boat, join in. I'm sure it's going to be a bumpy, scary, stressful, fun, exciting ride!

Home Location: Puget Sound, WA

Purchase Price: $493k

Property: House - 2600 sf

Submitted Offer on: 3/13/15

Signed Contract on: 3/15/15

Ernest (Deposit) Money: $5k

Lender Name: Caliber Home Loans

Notes about Lender: fantastic to work with!!!

Type of Loan: VA

Inspection:

Purchase contract addendums:

Loan Rate: waiting to fix some credit items before lock, but somewhere between 3.75 and 4.125

Application submitted: Pre-approval received

Loan Processing:

Mortgage Commitment Letter:

Appraisal Ordered:

Appraisal Completed:

Went to underwriting:

Underwriting Complete:

Final Approval:

Construction Status: model and options selected; foundation in progress and lumber drop scheduled for late-May
Walk Through:

Closing Date: Scheduled for 8/13/15

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

frugalQ — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 20:26:52 GMT

congratulations!

it is so much fun to watch the home being built from the ground up. make sure to take a bunch of pictures along the way!!!

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

StrawberryIce — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 23:56:17 GMT

Home Location: Lawrenceville, GA

Purchase Price: $215,690k

Property: House - 3000 sf

Submitted Offer on: 4/16/15

Signed Contract on: 4/18/15

Ernest (Deposit) Money: $1k

Lender Name: Homebridge

Notes about Lender:Very fast

Type of Loan: FHA

Inspection:

Purchase contract addendums:

Loan Rate: have some contigencies

Application submitted: Pre-approval received

Loan Processing:

Mortgage Commitment Letter:

Appraisal Ordered:

Appraisal Completed:

Went to underwriting:

Underwriting Complete:

Final Approval:

Construction Status: model and options selected; house will be built in Phase 2
Walk Through:

Closing Date: Scheduled for 8/1/15

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

FroggieMom — Sat, 02 May 2015 22:24:41 GMT

Home Location: Gunter, TX

Purchase Price: $270,000

Property: House (2700+ sq ft) and 2.47 acres

Submitted Offer on: too long ago!

Signed Contract on: on land (Nov 2014), on house - 1st builder - 12/2014, 2nd builder - 1/22/15

Ernest (Deposit) Money: N/A

Lender Name: Construction lender - CFS, Permanent lender- Summit Funding

Notes about Lender: Unlike most construction lenders, CFS doesn't require an actual 20% down which works great for us VA loan peeps!

Type of Loan: VA 30 yr fixed

Inspection:

Purchase contract addendums:

Loan Rate: too early to lock

Application submitted: Nov 2014

Loan Processing: Dec 2014/Jan 2015

Mortgage Commitment Letter: 2/2/15

Appraisal Ordered: Build appraisal done Jan 2015

Appraisal Completed:

Went to underwriting: Dec/Jan

Underwriting Complete: Jan 29 2015

Final Approval:

Construction Status: Currently 12 weeks behind schedule Thanks to all the "spring" showers/ late winter we've had. Hope to have foundation in by Mid-May
Walk Through:

Closing Date: So far behind schedule its anyone's guess! We "NEED" to close by Aug 22.... not sure it will happen though

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

Anonymous — Sat, 02 May 2015 23:26:42 GMT

Welcome to the group, and looks like we're all hoping for August closings!

FroggieMom - hoping the weather improves so they can catch up!

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

StrawberryIce — Sat, 02 May 2015 23:55:14 GMT

Our lease ends on 6/14 and we just found a small townhouse to stay in. Gonna save an extra $500 a month.

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

FroggieMom — Sun, 03 May 2015 13:33:24 GMT

Thanks mxpx! I sure am hoping for a drier May. The forecast is saying 1st 10 days in May will be wet, but that's ok cause we're waiting on soil sample results to redesign foundation to a post tension slab to save $$. This is our 1st time building a "true" custom home, we've build in developed subdivisions before and we sure are learning alot! It definitely sucks having to pay interest payments on nothing....on top of all our other monthly bills.

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

ChrisinKC — Sun, 03 May 2015 14:35:11 GMT

Home Location: Lincoln, NE

Purchase Price: $270,000

Property: House (2700+ sq ft)

Submitted Offer on: April 6, 2015

Signed Contract on: April 6, 2015

Ernest (Deposit) Money: $6,000

Lender Name: Lincoln Federal (will be sold to someone else, probably Stonegate Mortgage)

Notes about Lender: Excellent loan officer (Ben Barrett)

Type of Loan: Conventional 30 yr fixed

Inspection:

Purchase contract addendums:

Loan Rate: The highest will be 3.75%, with a chance to lock at a lower rate if one becomes available before closing

Application submitted: May 1, 2015

Loan Processing:

Mortgage Commitment Letter: Supposed to receive on 5/4/2015

Appraisal Ordered: Have no idea when

Appraisal Completed:

Went to underwriting: May 1, 2015

Underwriting Complete: May 1, 2015

Final Approval:

Construction Status: Drywall is up, doing tile and wood floors now.
Walk Through:

Closing Date: June 30 is our expected closing date

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

Anonymous — Mon, 04 May 2015 15:22:06 GMT

Home Location: Dallas, TX

Purchase Price: $586K

Property: House - 4,900 sf

Submitted Offer on: 11/3/14

Signed Contract on: 11/3/14

Ernest (Deposit) Money: $9K + $12K @ option select

Lender Name: TBD, pre-approval via builder's mtg co.

Notes about Lender: -

Type of Loan: 90% LTV jumbo, no PMI

Inspection: Pre-drywall 3P inspection completed

Purchase contract addendums: -

Loan Rate: wTBD, 7/1 ARMs hovering at 3.5% APR

Application submitted: Pre-approval received

Loan Processing:

Mortgage Commitment Letter:

Appraisal Ordered:

Appraisal Completed:

Went to underwriting:

Underwriting Complete:

Final Approval:

Construction Status: Pre-drywall inspections in progress
Walk Through:

Closing Date: TBD (Aug. likely)

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

Anonymous — Tue, 05 May 2015 00:18:20 GMT

Congrats to all of you new construction home owners ! I will be picking my lot and signing contract papers within the next month.

Did any of you all negotiate the price of the home or the cost of upgrades? If so what did you say to back up you wanting a lower price?

I have no buyers agent (didn't have one the first time I saw the property), so I want to make sure I am not missing out on any discounts.

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

Anonymous — Tue, 05 May 2015 06:40:09 GMT

Beezy - our builder was offering a $5k bonus toward closing, and then we also negotiated for another $2,500 in options/upgrades plus a reduced deposit on upgrades (typically 35% and we are doing 20%). However, the builder wouldn't negotiate on the base price of the house. I'd say it really depends on your builder, the market, etc. Good luck!!

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

frugalQ — Tue, 05 May 2015 13:54:32 GMT

builders are usually hesitant to reduce to the base price of the house because that would impact the future appraised home values of the community.

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

Anonymous — Tue, 05 May 2015 14:43:08 GMT

Yes, builder's will almost never discount the base price bc of adverse effects to comps, esp. in this market where there's no need to in most areas of the country. You have a better shot at requesting more options allowance and/or closing costs incentives (though, you'll have to use their lender for most of those closing incentives).

The market in Dallas is red hot, so all we could get from the builder was their standard offering of $25K allowance towards options. Of course, w options pricing as overpriced as they are w builders + a large house, we ended up going spending an addt'l $40K when all was said and done. It was worth it to us though bc interest rates are so low -- it would take us at least 2 yrs of savings/cash to try and put in a lot of the stuff after closing.

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

Anonymous — Tue, 05 May 2015 14:58:29 GMT

Thank you all for your help. How did you all negotiate the free options, or discounted options?

What exactly did you say? "I would like my options to be half off?" I am just not sure how to go about the negotiation with a home builder.

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

frugalQ — Tue, 05 May 2015 15:09:23 GMT

we used a realtor.

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

StrawberryIce — Tue, 05 May 2015 15:56:29 GMT

Same for me, I used a realtor. They already had an option for $5000 that I could use on upgrades or closing costs. I chose closings cost then when I was ready to sign the contract, they increased it to $6500. They also reduced my Earnest money to $1000. It was $2000. I am using the preferred lender.

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

frugalQ — Tue, 05 May 2015 16:04:07 GMT

our realtor was able to negotiate us using our own lender and still receiving the closing costs incentive.

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

Anonymous — Tue, 05 May 2015 18:08:19 GMT

Hello everyone,

I have a couple questions, we want to build our log home here in Tennessee. We have owner financed 16 acres of ground last year, paying monthly payments. We started looking into financing and have really became taken back by the amount of money they require down. I have read all your posts and congradulations on breaking ground .

Initatilly we were going to purchase a new doublewide and place on the property for a couple years, then build but we have been advised not to do this because our land will be tied up with the doublewide, and until it is paid off we won't be able to construct our home, and then we were told the doublewide will be attached to the property so we shouldn't do this, because the land won't quailfy for another home.

My questions is how much deposit money do you need to have to start this process?

My husband is a builder and will be doing all of the labor, so we will save here, but we have been told by Farm Credit we need 15-20% down. Does this sound correct??

Feeling disappointed at this point, been trying to get all our credit starightened out and our scores are in the mid 600's now, we are not sure where to turn, Not sure of financing in Tennessee, Can anyone offer any insight?

Thanks in advance

Susan

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

Anonymous — Tue, 05 May 2015 18:08:31 GMT

We used a realtor as well, but you could make the argument that they are potentially saving some money since you don't have a buyer's agent. Do your research on what other developers/builders are offering nearby for concessions. And it can't hurt to ask and meet in the middle if they say no. We elected to use our own lender, but they are matching a credit offered by the preferred lender. Instead of $3k to go to blinds, our lender is giving us up to $3k toward closing costs, fees, buy-down, etc. If the lots are selling like hotcakes, you don't have as much room to negotiate. But if they want the first few sales, or if the lot is almost done, there might be more incentive to get it sold.

Re: 2015 New Construction Closings

Anonymous — Tue, 05 May 2015 18:21:31 GMT

The builder is giving between 13K-15K closing cost using their lender. They also want 5K at signing of the contract then an additional 10K deposit 30 days later. I am going to try to negoitiate the deposit cost also.

I am pretty sure I am going to go with the realtor argument, because the first time I went to the community 8 months ago I wasn't even house shopping I just was curious what they looked like.