06/02/2021
THE 700 CLUB: "I'm officially a home owner! 🏡🎉 Can you tell in the picture how excited I was? 😆
I want to share some of my experiences through this process so sorry in advanced about the long post.
To start with, I was not the typical home buyer. My situation started 5 years ago, when we found out our neighbor across the street from us, where we were renting, was wanting to put her house up for sale and move back to her other house. It just so happened our lease was up and they were increasing the price of rent if we renewed,so We made an agreement with the neighbor to rent the house from her giving her a couple hundred more than the mortgage payment which is the same amount we currently paid in rent while we worked on getting our credit in order and save up the money needed to buy it. It was supposed to only be for about 3 years.
Unfortunately things don't always go according to plan. In 2018 my husband had CHF and eventually had to quit his job in 2019 because of his health.😱 So after a serious financial loss we had to make adjustments and it took a little longer than we hoped to apply for a loan.
I finally contacted a mortgage company in February 2020, and filled out the application. After March it was impossible to get the mortgage company to call me back and we weren't sure what was in store for the economy so we didn't push any further and decided to wait another year to save more money and work a little more on credit.
I was introduced to Mrs. Sereca Henderson and her Vault team! Everything changed. I will never forget you, my sister. When I wanted to give up, you wouldn't let me.
February 2021, Contacted a different mortgage company and I submitted my application. They contacted me and I sent the list of financial documents they needed. The only thing I had in debt on my credit was our car, which we owed roughly 4k at that time, and a couple of credit cards with minimum balances. My broker told me because I was buying the house purely on my income my DTI was too high. In order to qualify for the loan, the car will need to be paid off. 😖. It was disappointing but it was doable. He told me to not pay it off yet because they might not require me to do so. We would find out in the disclosure.
I let my broker find a closing attorney and I sent him my homeowners insurance quote ( I just used the same company I had for my vehicles which actually lowered my car insurance doing so). The appraiser came, was here about 20-30 minutes, measured length and width of buildings and porches. (FYI: They will take pictures of EVERY room, so make sure your beds are made if things like that embarrass you!😆)
I received a couple of different disclosures over the next few weeks before I received the final closing statement. 1 disclosure stated pay off car loan, 1 did not. So the day I received the last disclosure before the final, I called lawyer because on the disclosure it said closing was Monday, May 17th(this was on the Friday of the 14th and I hadn't even been given an appointment.) I asked the Paralegal that was working the case if it would be a good idea to go ahead and pay my car off and wire the money for closing to the escrow account because I would need to make an appointment at the bank if closing was Monday. She said she would recommend to do so. So I did. I went online and paid my car off,( making sure I printed proof of payment before logging off and so glad I did because next time I logged in it said there are no active accounts and there was no remnant of my transaction history) I made an appointment for that afternoon and wired my closing cost to the escrow account.
Monday came and left no calls. Tuesday, my broker calls and said everything was ready, last thing we were waiting on was a second visit from appraiser to verify some paint repairs which my husband had text me the guy came by right before the call ( I was at work)😄.
The following Friday I get an email from the lawyers office with final Settlement details and appointment set for 12pm Monday May 24th. Also stated in email highlighted in yellow ":Buyer must wire additional $5912 to escrow account."
My heart stops. 💔
I'm short 4k because I paid off the car. This is Friday at 5pm I see this email. (They sent it around 2 but I was working and didn't see it till I got home from work) I call the lawyers office. No answer so I leave a voicemail. I email my broker forwarding the lawyers email and asked him to call me because I had a question. He calls immediately and I ask him why are they asking for that much, did they get the 7k wire I sent last week? He said yes that's the car note and down payment. I said I paid car off last week. He did not know I had done that, which was my bad communicating. He tells me to go to the closing with proof of payoff and that should be OK.
Monday morning 8am the Paralegal returns my call and I tell her about the payoff and that my broker said that he's OK with not collecting the money for the car if I show proof of payoff. She tells me she will call me back she's gonna call him. She calls me back and asks me if I have the amount needed to close. I said no, not the amount listed without using accounts not approved by the lender. She asks me to send in what I have to show proof of payoff, so I emailed her what she requested. My broker calls and tells me the lawyer is requiring the car be removed from the settlement statement since its been paid off because of the way its written on the statement, the lawyer was to collect the payoff for the car in the final cash to close total. If I had been able to cover the $5912, they were going to have me pay it all and then they would just pay me back after, so instead it would have to be sent back to underwriter. He said they would try to get it fixed as quickly as possible but closing might not happen today.
I cried most of the day thinking my closing was not going to happen that day over one small bit of miscommunication, after taking the day off work and even my sister in law arranged her schedule to go with me and wouldn't be able to go any other day.
When I called Sereca, she was on her way to funeralize her mother. I was leaving a message of despair, but she answered and made a few calls through her tears. You took the time to help me in one of the darkest hours of your life. I will never forget you!!!!!!
At 5pm my broker calls. He tells me the paperwork has been fixed and the lawyer is willing to stay late for us to come in today and close that evening! I was elated!! The 5 year process was over!! He told me to bring a personal check for the down-payment and my ID. I met the seller there and we started at about 6:15pm, the seller was able to leave about 6:40 and I walked out about 7:00pm. Very smooth process.
I kept saying this house is MINE! Now, it really Is!"
😄
