topic Re: Beginning the house hunting process in Mortgage Loans

Beginning the house hunting process

Horseshoez — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 13:57:56 GMT

Hello folks, not sure if this is the right topic for this thread, but here goes...

My wife and I downsized from a nice home to a tiny apartment back in 2013 when our financial world collapsed and required the both of us to file for bankruptcy, her a Chapter 7 and me a Chapter 13; both bankruptcies are now off our records and we're looking to buy something within the next several months. With this in mind we joined NFCU yesterday as they seem to have interest rates which are at or near mortgage industry lows, but I'd be interested to hear of some lenders can beat their rates.

As part of this move, our daughter, who recently relocated to Maryland just outside of DC wants us to move down there from New Hampshire, so that's going to sting a bit due to needing to pay sales tax and income tax (something I haven't needed to pay for over 20 years). Needless to say, lots of moving parts will need to be sorted before we can make an actual move. I know lots of folks would advise against buying within this timeframe due to the potential of falling home prices, we want to get down near our daughter but I really don't want to move twice, so either we pick up a rental for a year or two, or we buy now and trust the resale value of whatever we buy doesn't drop too far.

Circling back to NFCU, I'd like to stage my down payment with them so when the time comes to go for a mortgage that money is already on hand, however, I see the interest rates they pay for non-Certificate savings pretty much stink compared to current HYSAs out there. Do any of y'all know if I park the money in say, a 12-month certificate and then use that money as a down payment on a mortgage from NFCU, would they waive the early withdrawal penalty?

Re: Beginning the house hunting process

VAMortgageGuy — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 19:39:05 GMT

Put your down payment money where ever it's going to earn you the best ROI. When it comes time to apply for your mortgage, you just have to show an account statement showing you have the money.

Side note, do you have a source of income in MD?

Re: Beginning the house hunting process

Horseshoez — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 20:41:15 GMT

@VAMortgageGuy wrote:
Put your down payment money where ever it's going to earn you the best ROI. When it comes time to apply for your mortgage, you just have to show an account statement showing you have the money.
Side note, do you have a source of income in MD?

More or less, as least much as I do here in New Hamster; my job only requires me to live relatively close to a major airport.

I will admit, the specter of moving to a state which hits individuals with both state income tax and sales tax is not high on my list of things I want to do, but hey, happy wife (and daughter), happy life.

Re: Beginning the house hunting process

VAMortgageGuy — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 21:46:32 GMT

@Horseshoez wrote:
@VAMortgageGuy wrote:
Put your down payment money where ever it's going to earn you the best ROI. When it comes time to apply for your mortgage, you just have to show an account statement showing you have the money.
Side note, do you have a source of income in MD?
More or less, as least much as I do here in New Hamster; my job only requires me to live relatively close to a major airport.

I will admit, the specter of moving to a state which hits individuals with both state income tax and sales tax is not high on my list of things I want to do, but hey, happy wife (and daughter), happy life.

That certainly makes moving to a new state easier.

Yeah, I hear you. I left CO and moved to TX and love not paying income tax or ridiculous registration fees every year on my vehicles.

Re: Beginning the house hunting process

OpenBook55 — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 16:02:38 GMT

Hey,

I can provide my personal experience with that as I also was in the exact scenario over the past couple months. I have banked with NFCU and USAA for the past 7-10 yrs. I opened a HYSA with Cap one @ 5% and transferred my saving to them as the interest rate with NFCU was horrible. This is the important part to take away from here. It was much easier and seemless to wire my funds from Cap 1 to the title company whenever I needed to and it was usually confirned received by them within 2 hrs. (done by logging in their online portal) NFCU wiring process takes anywhere 1-2 business days. I didn't get my final settlement sheet with my cash to close figures until the morning of closing and if those funds were in NFCU i dont know how that would have turned out. I closed yesterday.

Re: Beginning the house hunting process

Horseshoez — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 16:07:46 GMT

@OpenBook55 wrote:
Hey,

I can provide my personal experience with that as I also was in the exact scenario over the past couple months. I have banked with NFCU and USAA for the past 7-10 yrs. I opened a HYSA with Cap one @ 5% and transferred my saving to them as the interest rate with NFCU was horrible. This is the important part to take away from here. It was much easier and seemless to wire my funds from Cap 1 to the title company whenever I needed to and it was usually confirned received by them within 2 hrs. (done by logging in their online portal) NFCU wiring process takes anywhere 1-2 business days. I didn't get my final settlement sheet with my cash to close figures until the morning of closing and if those funds were in NFCU i dont know how that would have turned out. I closed yesterday.

Awesome, thanks so much! Wouldn't you know it, my money is in fact sitting right now in a CapOne HYSA, and for the very reason you mentioned.