Now, I'm no naive person. I don't expect all processes involving buying and selling a home concurrently to go well. However, it seems that most aspects on both sides of this equation have been giving us headaches.
First it was the home search. Then it was the fire drill related to our home buyers almost backing out at the purchase and sale. Last week (and still ongoing) is mortgage problems.
I am not what you call an investment risk. Obviously, the climate for obtaining a mortgage today is a lot different than it was last time I purchased a home. So, I expected a few more hoops to jump through. What I did not expect was the complete obstacle course provided in order to apply for a mortgage. While that was hassle enough alone, I was absolutely not prepared for the roadblock that was hit last week.
Our original mortgage commitment deadline date was a week ago today. On that date, my mortgage broker was still requesting paperwork from me even though I had provided every single document requested within 24 hours of all previous requests, none of which I'd had in over one and a half week. I was also informed that my lawyer was requesting an extension of a week of that deadline (ie today) from the sellers. I was assured over and over that this extension request is VERY common in today's mortgage market. On Wednesday I got an email from my mortgage broker's assistant that was a little alarming in our status. However, after speaking with my mortgage broker that day, I was assured everything was a-okay.
Thursday morning, I came into my office and had received an email from my broker late the previous evening. Everything was not a-okay and I was indeed losing the mortgage we had applied for. Why? Not because I'm not a qualified lender, not because I don't have a good credit standing, not because I don't have all the finances necessary, but because my (apparently) incompetent mortgage broker didn't carefully read the parameters of the specific loan he applied me for that had outrageous reserve account requirements that we fell just a wee bit short of. Grrr!!!!
So, 2 days of phone calls, emails, research, scrambling and decision making later, our closing is now delayed by a couple of weeks. Why? Well, I either need to close on our current house first (there goes the nice 2 week window we had arranged for ourselves to get floors refinished in the new place and have a decent moving timeline) or wait for the new mortgage I started the processes on Friday afternoon (with a different broker) to get finalized. One way or the other, we'll be closing on the 30th. Doesn't closing on 2 houses and moving the same day sound like fun? Yeah, doesn't to me either.
Needless to say, I am furious at my original broker for costing me time, money (now we have to cover carrying costs of the buyer for the delay) and a good deal of stress. It's one things for closing delays to legitimately occur. I get it, it happens. We had padded ourselves fairly well between the closing dates of the two houses to give us some leeway for that. If I weren't a qualified lender then hey that would be my fault. But for a person that's supposed to be working on my team and whose job it is to get people a loan to be at the root of the problem, that's just unacceptable. I'm not sure which loan I'm going to take in the end. I will be receiving a mortgage commitment letter today from the original lender but am going forward with this new loan application. It depends which will cost me less in the long run which is yet to be determined. But, I will promise this, my mortgage broker won't be hearing from me again for any new business or referrals in the future!
The upside to all this is that our sellers are being really great about everything. Yes, they requested we pay the carrying costs of the house during the delay, but I would expect them to. However, with the snafu of closing times, they are being great about the floor refinishing situation. If we use their floor guy (the seller is a builder and has a relationship with this company), they will still allow us to have the floors refinished before we actually own the house. I feel like that's above and beyond expectations and appreciate it a lot! We may also be able to move in a day or two before closing, but that's not desirable for us as it presents a whole new set of liabilities and risks I'd rather not deal with. However, the logistics of 2 closings and moving in the same day....we might just need to be a little risky on that front.
So, though not a desirable development, we've accepted our options and are moving forward. I guess this means we have a little more time to pack!
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