Project homeownership hit an unexpected snag shortly before New Year’s Day, when our loan broker (conventional 30 year, preapproval still valid) informed us that, because the house we’re trying to buy is listed as being in a “declining market,” the bank wanted another 5% on top of our planned downpayment. Needless to say, if we had another 5% we would have offered it upfront; we don’t and so we said farewell to that loan and our hopes of buying the house.
We spent a blissfully quiet next few days. On Jan. 2, we called our realtor to follow up on the email I’d sent telling her the news, and she asked if we were interested in pursuing FHA funding. Since we were still interested in the house, we gave her the go-ahead to talk with her broker; in the interim, I drove M. and his parents out to the Indian casinos of northern San Diego County. Some business was conducted by M. on our cellphones while I drove, and we spent the first two (of seven) hours at Harrah’s standing outside the entrance in the cold trying to talk with/send documents to the broker, all using M.’s useful PDA-style cellphone. We even went over the Good Faith Estimate pdf on the microscopic screen (although it helped that my Dad was back at home doing a comparison of the new GFE and the old one from the previous loan).
So, at present, we’re waiting to find out if the house will appraise (AGAIN) for more, less, or equal to our price. If it’s above or equal, we should be able to move on to settlement; if it appraises for less, we’re back up a creek.
It’s funny. All I read is that the government wants people buying homes again; yet, the current climate is such that if you qualify for the most direct loan, chances are you already have a home and don’t need another one. The same could be said, I think, for people trying to refinance. The time, we’re told, is ripe; but what they don’t mention is that you have to qualify for the lower rates, and the reasons you may not might have nothing to do with your financial behavior and everything to do with banks that are trying to find ways to weasel out of stupid mistakes they made (my brother’s situation).
