Never thought this would be happening...

[BriBee]

FI and I are moving back in with parents!

It''s a REALLY long story, but basically we were in escrow to buy a home and we were supposed to close on May 30th. At the last minute Wells Fargo (that''s who the loan was through) came back and told our mortgage broker that he wasn''t eligible to do the loan with them (weird). SO, that was totally frustrating but we started over with a different broker putting his name on the loan so it would work. Finally, we were set to sign papers at 8:15am on Tuesday the 15th. We got a call Monday afternoon, and again Wells Fargo is having a problem. Apparantly they had our house listed as being in a different county, and they were now saying that we needed to come up with 10% more down to do the loan in the county where our house was located

.....SO FRUSTRATING!!!! Our address is in a zip code that spans two counties, and we are right on the border. We tried to to get them to make an exception, but they wouldn''t. Technically it''s a little shady and possibly illegal (red-lining) to discriminate according to county like this. Shouldn''t the loan be based on the merits of the buyers, the property, the appraisals etc....? We are well qualified and have great credit, this is heartbreaking! We were also already living in the home we were planning to buy, so now we have decided to move out. We feel like it''s not meant to be if it''s been this hard. We''re going to move home for about 6 months, save some more money (get that extra 10%) and then try again. We can''t really find another place to rent because we have 2 dogs, and it would be very hard to find a rental that would be cheap enough to allow us to save money.
OK, so I basically just wanted to vent and get some PS dust for luck finding a new place. Wouldn''t you know it that this is the best time to buy a home (price-wise) and yet the WORST time to try and get a loan! I''ve followed many of the other threads on PS about house hunting, and being out-bid etc.... Maybe we should start a support group

 

[shimmer]

OMG, FI and I are living with my parents for the summer while our house is being finished! We couldn't get a rental either with our dog. Weird, such a similar situation. It is worth it to save up money though! We are halfway through (hopefully), and it hasn't been that awful (except for the total lack of privacy...and the fact that I work and live with my parents now).

ETA: Sorry about the mortgage woes, wish I could help...things are still ok in Canada, in October there will be a crackdown though so hopefully the house will be done before that!

 

[joflier]

I would think that down-payment %''s would be the same county to county....I''ve not heard of that before. Makes me wonder if their just trying to find excuses to get out of doing the loan for whatever reason......Banks are really frustrating to deal with right now. Best of luck to you!

 

[BriBee]

Date: 7/18/2008 1:38:50 PM
Author: joflier
I would think that down-payment %''s would be the same county to county....I''ve not heard of that before. Makes me wonder if their just trying to find excuses to get out of doing the loan for whatever reason......Banks are really frustrating to deal with right now. Best of luck to you!

I know, we thought that was weird too. I thought maybe they just didn''t want to do the loan and were trying to come up with an excuse. There is something called "red-lining" in the mortgage industry (which is totally illegal) and the name comes from the idea that you take a map, and draw a red line around the areas where you won''t give loans. Maybe what Wells did wasn''t technically illegal since they said they''d give the loan but wanted 10% more down...still doesn''t seem right though. Basically the county we are in has had a higher rate of foreclosure, but I don''t see how that should affect us. LIke I said before, shouldn''t us getting the loan be based on our credit and our down payment and all that, and not on random county residents that have been foreclosed on????

 

[BriBee]

Date: 7/18/2008 1:37:59 PM
Author: shimmer
OMG, FI and I are living with my parents for the summer while our house is being finished! We couldn''t get a rental either with our dog. Weird, such a similar situation. It is worth it to save up money though! We are halfway through (hopefully), and it hasn''t been that awful (except for the total lack of privacy...and the fact that I work and live with my parents now).

ETA: Sorry about the mortgage woes, wish I could help...things are still ok in Canada, in October there will be a crackdown though so hopefully the house will be done before that!

Shimmer, I''m glad to hear that we''re not the only ones

It just seemed like such a big step back for us you know? Plus, I''m actually living with my parents and he''s living with his. The reason for this is that my mom didn''t want both my dogs (labs) to live at her house because she already has a lab and 2 maltese, so she felt like 3 labs would be too much. Not to mention that the dog FI is taking is still a puppy (in lab years at least) and she was pretty destructive last time my mom dog sat for us, so that left a bad taste in her mouth. I just really hope we can save more and find a new house before we get married. It would be REALLY weird to be married and living at our parents'' places. It''s also hard for us to break up our little family and separate the dogs too

 

[Hera]

It could be because the area you found has been declared a decining market. Areas like these require more of a downpayment. Sorry, for your house woes. I''m trying to buy right now and I think the short sales are going to be the death of me.

 

[fieryred33143]

We stayed with his parents until we waited to close on our place.

His mom ironed our sheets every night. I didn''t want to leave. LOL

 

[BriBee]

Date: 7/18/2008 2:12:56 PM
Author: heraanderson
It could be because the area you found has been declared a decining market. Areas like these require more of a downpayment. Sorry, for your house woes. I''m trying to buy right now and I think the short sales are going to be the death of me.

That''s possible, hadn''t thought of that. If this was the case, it would have been nice to find out just a *little* sooner than 18 hours before we were supposed to sign

fieryred: lucky! I don''t think we''ll be getting that treatment, probably good though, or FI might NEVER leave!

 

[joflier]

Date: 7/18/2008 1:46:50 PM
Author: BriBee

I know, we thought that was weird too. I thought maybe they just didn''t want to do the loan and were trying to come up with an excuse. There is something called ''red-lining'' in the mortgage industry (which is totally illegal) and the name comes from the idea that you take a map, and draw a red line around the areas where you won''t give loans. Maybe what Wells did wasn''t technically illegal since they said they''d give the loan but wanted 10% more down...still doesn''t seem right though. Basically the county we are in has had a higher rate of foreclosure, but I don''t see how that should affect us. LIke I said before, shouldn''t us getting the loan be based on our credit and our down payment and all that, and not on random county residents that have been foreclosed on????

I would certainly think so. That just seems lousy....would going with a different lender be an option?

 

[BriBee]

Date: 7/18/2008 2:56:34 PM
Author: joflier

Date: 7/18/2008 1:46:50 PM
Author: BriBee

I know, we thought that was weird too. I thought maybe they just didn''t want to do the loan and were trying to come up with an excuse. There is something called ''red-lining'' in the mortgage industry (which is totally illegal) and the name comes from the idea that you take a map, and draw a red line around the areas where you won''t give loans. Maybe what Wells did wasn''t technically illegal since they said they''d give the loan but wanted 10% more down...still doesn''t seem right though. Basically the county we are in has had a higher rate of foreclosure, but I don''t see how that should affect us. LIke I said before, shouldn''t us getting the loan be based on our credit and our down payment and all that, and not on random county residents that have been foreclosed on????

I would certainly think so. That just seems lousy....would going with a different lender be an option?

It could have been an option, but I think we''re both just kinda "over it." I don''t really want to start all over AGAIN. Also, we believe that everything happens for a reason, and this deal has fallen through twice now. We sat down and talked and realized that while we LOVE LOVE LOVE the house, the location isn''t 100% for us. The house also sat on nearly 3 acres, and that kind of land requires CONSTANT upkeep which isn''t really my cup of tea. We also had a plan to probably only be in the house for 5 years or less before trying to sell and move to the location that we really desire. After talking, we think that with prices the way they are, we should just try to buy something in our dream location now, even though it won''t really be the dream house. The idea behind this is that maybe we can find something with remodel potential or we can at least just get our foot in the door in the location that we know we want to stay in. The house we were going to buy was great, but I know that the area won''t appreciate as fast as our dream location, so we figure better to downsize the house and lot size and be in a great location where the market will likely come back a little faster. I''m learning that it''s really true what they say "location location location!"

 

[joflier]

Date: 7/18/2008 3:02:58 PM
Author: BriBee

It could have been an option, but I think we''re both just kinda ''over it.'' I don''t really want to start all over AGAIN. Also, we believe that everything happens for a reason, and this deal has fallen through twice now. We sat down and talked and realized that while we LOVE LOVE LOVE the house, the location isn''t 100% for us. The house also sat on nearly 3 acres, and that kind of land requires CONSTANT upkeep which isn''t really my cup of tea. We also had a plan to probably only be in the house for 5 years or less before trying to sell and move to the location that we really desire. After talking, we think that with prices the way they are, we should just try to buy something in our dream location now, even though it won''t really be the dream house. The idea behind this is that maybe we can find something with remodel potential or we can at least just get our foot in the door in the location that we know we want to stay in. The house we were going to buy was great, but I know that the area won''t appreciate as fast as our dream location, so we figure better to downsize the house and lot size and be in a great location where the market will likely come back a little faster. I''m learning that it''s really true what they say ''location location location!''

Haha, this just made me laugh. My mom is a realtor and uses this phrase far too often. Well, I hope you find something that fits the bill perfectly for you both. If you''ve reached a mindset point to where your over it, more or less, than I''d say run with that. Perhaps now, you may have a better idea of what your looking for so it won''t take too much time.....and maybe get it in the "good" county.

 

[TravelingGal]

I hope this is a blessing in disguise for you...I think you will find a better house for less. The housing market has not bottomed out yet.

Sorry for all of this...sounds like one huge bummer!

 

[Miranda]

Sorry about your turn of fate. It will work out in the end. I''ve found that even when things don''t go as planned they wind out working out even better in the long run!

Good luck living with the parents! We did that for 2 months when the completion of our new home was delayed due to rain. Argh...It was soooo hard. The good news is that we all lived and still speak to each other.

 

[BriBee]

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement. I agree that this is probably a blessing in disguise, and especially with what TGal said about the market not being bottomed out yet. If I''m being totally honest with myself, I think there was always a shadow of doubt in my mind about this place, and I always wondered if we shouldn''t be looking for a better deal in this kind of market. Thanks again to everyone and hopefully I''ll be able to come back with a fun house hunting thread

 

[Dee*Jay]

Date: 7/18/2008 2:12:56 PM
Author: heraanderson
It could be because the area you found has been declared a decining market. Areas like these require more of a downpayment. Sorry, for your house woes. I''m trying to buy right now and I think the short sales are going to be the death of me.

This is probably exactly what''s going on. It may vary from lender to lender though; for instance in Chicago (my market) some lenders classify the entire city as a declining market, others classify zip code by zip code.

Regardless, I wish you the very best and I hope to see a post from you soon about your wonderful new home!