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House Search Status

I wanted to quickly update about the status of my housing search. If you’re a frequent reader to this blog, you shouldn’t be too surprise that there are still more obstacles to overcome.  Barriers are a constant presence in this home buying process.

My current mortgage company has concerns about the cooperative and may not approve the mortgage. Why me? I first thought. But after I spoke to my loan officer and received a copy of the building’s financials, I too became alarmed. My loan officer was concerned that the last two mortgage applications for the building were denied. The loan officer contacted the underwriter on both properties and found that there were concerns about how the cooperative was spending the monthly maintenance. Let’s just say 2011 was a dire year for this cooperative. 2012 was a lot better; however 2013 was not yet available for us to view. We all want to be reassured that this apartment purchase would be a wise investment. The loan officer has requested that the cooperative management complete the cooperative questionnaire, provide the last several months’ banks statements and a copy of the cooperative action plan to increase the amount of money in their reserves. The bank and so do I, believed that a complex of this magnate should have more cash in its reserves. Considering that the monthly maintenance is also pretty steep.

I have yet to complete my cooperative questionnaire package and that’s because I’m waiting to review the requested documents before getting to that process to copy my most recent pay stubs, bank statements, tax returns and W2's, personal letters of reference, etc. It seems foolish to complete the package when we might not move forward on the apartment. Plus the coop application alone costs nearly $500 not including the $125 that I will have to pay at closing. Wish me luck.

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