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House Buying Thread

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 9:54 am
by NTP66
I thought mortgage rates weren't supposed to change on the weekend? I got a call Sunday from Better.com, but missed it. By the time I called back (and he was unavailable), the rate jumped up.
So apparently rates can change over the weekend. Mine went up, so I called Better and asked to be transferred to an east coast rep. Got somebody and asked them to shave a few bucks off the closing costs via a lender credit. He made the request, and whoever did it cut the points fee in half, so I locked the rate before the dude could even tell me to consider it. On top of the new rate being outstanding (2.375%), my appraisal fee is also apparently waived, so that's another $550 off the sheet. This has been a good start to the week.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 11:06 am
by NTP66
Should be closing in 2 weeks or so, which is crazy fast. Better’s online system is terrific, and at this point I’d recommend them. Rates dropped again this morning, for anyone looking. Better.com will at least show you the interest/APR without having to put in your info.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 11:40 am
by robbiestoupe
What were your closing costs, if you don't mind me asking?

House Buying Thread

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 11:42 am
by mac5155
My buddy claimed he jusy refid for 2.5%. Are rates really that freaking low?

House Buying Thread

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 11:43 am
by mac5155
Wow, jumped to a new page. Apparently they are.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 11:43 am
by NTP66
What were your closing costs, if you don't mind me asking?
I’m paying for half a point, so my closing costs are around $3300. 2.375% on a 15-year fixed. That may still come down a few more hundred at closing, especially since I know the loan payoff will be lower. The short of it is that I’ll be able to pay off the house a full year sooner (9 years from now), saving quite a bit in interest.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 11:50 am
by robbiestoupe
So no other fees? Not bad. I never thought I'd be refinancing my 3.5% interest loan, but here we are.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 11:55 am
by mac5155
I'm only 2 years into my 3.5 percent mortgage but it's a 15/1 ARM so refinancing is already on my mind.

I'm just not sure if I have 20% LTV. It will be extremely close depending on home values.

The whole reason for 15/1 ARM was the construction loan allowed us to only need 11% down. So I paid cash for a lot of the non-house related stuff we did when we built (e.g. Our 18k dollar sand mound)

House Buying Thread

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 12:22 pm
by mac5155
Just doing some napkin math, I could get a 20 year fixed for $100 more per month than current. So that shaves almost 7.5 years off the term.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 12:26 pm
by NTP66
So no other fees? Not bad. I never thought I'd be refinancing my 3.5% interest loan, but here we are.
My 20-year was 3.125%, and once I saw the numbers, I had no hesitation. And yeah, no fees outside of points and the usual bullshit title transfer taxes and recording fees.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 4:15 pm
by mac5155
is there a reason to be cautious of a huge mortgage company like that and not a smaller bank? My current mortgage is through a local bank and I was told that it will never be bought/sold.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 4:27 pm
by NTP66
is there a reason to be cautious of a huge mortgage company like that and not a smaller bank? My current mortgage is through a local bank and I was told that it will never be bought/sold.
That’s the only question mark for me. Most sell your mortgage right away. I’m with Mr. Cooper right now and have my been very pleased with them. Nice website, easy to make payments, etc. some are total garbage, like Wells Fargo (shocker). I’ve read that both Mr. Cooper and United Wholesale Mortgage both buy mortgages from better.com, and I’d be okay with either (UWM was my prior lender).

House Buying Thread

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 9:31 am
by NTP66
FWIW, mortgage rates dropped again this morning.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 9:45 am
by Beveridge
They will go up right about the time we look to build our home next spring.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:23 am
by MrKennethTKangaroo
is there a reason to be cautious of a huge mortgage company like that and not a smaller bank? My current mortgage is through a local bank and I was told that it will never be bought/sold.
That’s the only question mark for me. Most sell your mortgage right away. I’m with Mr. Cooper right now and have my been very pleased with them. Nice website, easy to make payments, etc. some are total garbage, like Wells Fargo (shocker). I’ve read that both Mr. Cooper and United Wholesale Mortgage both buy mortgages from better.com, and I’d be okay with either (UWM was my prior lender).
For what it is worth, Mr. Cooper used to be known as Nationstar mortgage and was among the crappiest of the crappy actors during the financial crisis.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:23 am
by DigitalGypsy66
We're paying 4.375% on a 30 year, with 20 years left. I really want to refi and possibly get some money for a screened in porch/kitchen remodel, but I have no idea how long we'll be in this house to get our money back. I'd love to move elsewhere, but I just don't like the prospects of job hunting in my profession right now...or in the next few years.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 2:26 pm
by robbiestoupe
We're paying 4.375% on a 30 year, with 20 years left. I really want to refi and possibly get some money for a screened in porch/kitchen remodel, but I have no idea how long we'll be in this house to get our money back. I'd love to move elsewhere, but I just don't like the prospects of job hunting in my profession right now...or in the next few years.
NTP's boys at better.com have a nice tool that will tell you the payback period. They figure in things like "what if you invested the money you otherwise used as a down payment/extra monthly payment" which I think is somewhat disingenuous because I know I won't be investing the extra cash in the stock market right now (they use 5% as the return). Otherwise, you could remove that investment assumption and still get a decent idea of payback period. It'll most likely be anywhere from 1 to 5 years, depending on length of loan.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 2:31 pm
by DigitalGypsy66
I started on that site, but once they wanted a SSN and phone number, I backed out. I don't want endless spam calls from them if we're not going to do anything.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 2:34 pm
by NTP66
FWIW, this is the mortgage calculator that I use and rely on: https://www.mtgprofessor.com//calculato ... tor2a.html

House Buying Thread

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 2:37 pm
by NTP66
I started on that site, but once they wanted a SSN and phone number, I backed out. I don't want endless spam calls from them if we're not going to do anything.
That's only if you want to move forward with getting an actual loan estimate. You can get rates based on some estimates right on the site without entering anything. When I did that, the rates I saw after entering my info were the same, so it's true to form.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 4:47 pm
by robbiestoupe
Looks like Better.com is charging a $1200 lender fee. Did you get that waived NTP?

House Buying Thread

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 5:00 pm
by NTP66
Looks like Better.com is charging a $1200 lender fee. Did you get that waived NTP?
Where are you seeing that? I have no such fee on my loan estimate. Are you sure you’re not looking at points? Better doesn’t have lender fees.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 5:04 pm
by robbiestoupe
Looks like Better.com is charging a $1200 lender fee. Did you get that waived NTP?
Where are you seeing that? I have no such fee on my loan estimate. Are you sure you’re not looking at points? Better doesn’t have lender fees.
I went on nerd wallet to look at other options. So they may not be showing the latest info.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 5:09 pm
by NTP66
Yeah, better doesn’t have lender fees. Did you check out the rates there to see an estimate? They don’t include closing costs or taxes, but you can get an idea of what you’ll be paying. Once I spoke with better initially over the phone, the rest of the communication has been email only unless I specifically request a call.

House Buying Thread

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 6:48 pm
by robbiestoupe
I may go through the official exercise soon. I need to nerd it up first and see if it really makes sense for me to refinance.

My plan before all this was to start paying more towards the principal to pay off the house in 15 or so years. I’m sure it will come out that it makes sense to refinance, but I like to run the numbers first.