November 21st, 2007 Categories: Buying, Keller Williams, Reston
In today’s ”buyers” real estate market it’s a wonder why I had to pull out all the stops to get my buyers to the closing table.
After ratifying the contract and with a settlement date set for 5 weeks out, USAA offers my client a great conventional fixed rate mortgage at 100% financing. They appraise the place at $1,000.00 over contract price and with 6 days left before the scheduled closing USAA calls the buyer. USAA insists the values of this local real estate market (Reston, VA) had dropped in the past two weeks enough that in order to fund the loan they would need a whopping $17,000.00 cash down from the buyer in order to settle the deal. Needless to say my buyers calls me to solve the problem!
Fortunately, I had a top notch mortgage broker on my team (Nations Home Funding- Debbie Mullan 703-481-2291 ext 117) who was able to help the buyer with 100% financing and only raised the interest rate 3/8 of a point- She even took the application on a Sunday afternoon and had it through underwriting and submitted to the settlement attorney with 2 days to spare. Ironically Debbie’s appraisal STILL HAD THE UNIT APPRAISING FOR $1,000.00 over contract price. I guess Reston’s real estate hadn’t really dropped in value as USAA described!
Sadly this doesn’t seem to be an uncommon story these days. I suggest another contributor to our stagnant market is attributed back to the mortgage types that the buying community is able to get, versus all of the interest only and deferred payment options offered a few years back - seems some of the new lending restrictions and “Free-to-Do whatever they want” spirit may have forced a lot of folks who were once in the market right back out!
BUYER BEWARE and don’t underestimate a lenders ability to change the name of the game at any time before the closing table!
Share This
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Buying, Keller Williams, Reston.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
TrackBack URI
Keller Williams Arlington is fortunate to have a well versed Realtor in a buyer beware market!
Comment by Port Orange Juice — November 22, 2007 #
[…] over at The Real Estate Post gives a compelling example of why buyers should use a local mortgage professional. I can certainly relate to Scott’s story. For you Dothan home buyers out there…read […]
Pingback by The Best on The Vine, week of November 18 — November 23, 2007 #
We have had lender (mortgage) issues fallout after closing the deal, infact there are many proeprty sale issue that come accross in Turkey for instance; a lawyer you would take a client for legal services like a legal check and ownership acclications soforth… does infact make impact on the buyer to either use a favored real estate agent or another property with a cheaper deal to close. And perhaps an new instance vs. the buyer falls out after a contract burning 10,000 euros deposit. You never know whats up beyond the name of the game in Real Estate.
Comment by Turkey Real Estate Agent — November 23, 2007 #
Great article, Man! You hit the nail right on the head, you really have to be careful when dealing with lenders. Actually, the thing that really hacks me of is the fact that everyone has their hand out and nobody seems to do their job right. Anyway, great and informative post.
ELMO
Comment by Expert Realtor — November 25, 2007 #