First Home Style

Today, I got news that I've been waiting for for several months.  I finally got a mortgage commitment letter!  When I got the congratulatory email today there was this sense of I don't know, joy and sadness at the same time. I wanted to scream from the rooftop and then I wanted to cry. I'm excited but past experience has made me extremely cautious. I have always said that I don't want to focus on the negative but there is this part of me that is feeling uncertain and doubtful. A lot has happened over the last several months and it would be heartbreaking to get this far and have to be disappointed. On the other hand, it appears that everything is coming together. Yeah, finally some good news.  We have a tentative closing date of October 1, 2013. But before we get to closing I will need to be interviewed by the coop board. Thankfully I had completed my coop application package in June and the only missing document was the commitment letter, which I imm...

I’m feeling extremely anxious.   I’m nervous waiting for a mortgage commitment letter from my new lender.   I guess it’s a case of once bitten twice shy but I can’t shake this feeling. I’ve felt a lot of emotions since I started this home buying journey, but this feeling is very different to any I’ve had before. It’s a type of nervousness that comes with nausea and a slight headache. I’m physically ill thinking about whether or not I will be approved for a mortgage.   And the humidity here in New York isn’t helping either. Yesterday I paid $445 for the property to be appraised (though the appraisal has not yet been scheduled). I also paid $12 for a credit check. Today I fax signed disclosure documents to the lender and now all I have to do is wait.   I’m exhausted. I don’t think I’ve had a full night’s rest since the first application was denied. My loan officer believes that we will hear something back as soon as this week. My loan offers knows of my history ...

Yesterday, I received a telephone call from my attorney, who informed me that the sellers are requesting information regarding the mortgage commitment. Apparently he's getting a lot of push back from the sellers attorney. I explained that I haven't heard  from HSBC in the past week. In fact, my five telephone calls to the loan officer went unanswered. My attorney suggested that I send an email to the loan officer letting her know the urgency. I called the loan officer and to my surprise she actually answered the phone. I relied the information regarding the urgency of the matter and she agreed that my frustrations were warranted, However she says, my file was no longer with HSBC but with the underwriter. She suggested that I write an email detailing the urgency, which she would then forward to the underwriter. I wrote the email and sent it to the loan officer, copying it to my attorney. At about 8:49 pm, I received a letter from the loan officer stating that the information was...

On Saturday July 20,  I received a letter from my HSBC loan officer stating that I needed to provide more documents in order for them to process my loan application.  The letter stated that all these items needed to be addressed or else they couldn't move forward on my loan. The document had outline a 22 item request list, some of which I had already submitted weeks earlier.  Another of which, I hadn't received the relevant document from the loan officer to complete. One question asked me to verify that 15% of my current home was not being used as a home business.  I was confused. Why is my loan officer requesting information that she already received or not provided to me? Furthermore why is she asking me questions regarding a home business that doesn’t exist? I thought at first that she may have gotten my file confused with someone else’s. I quickly wrote her an email asking for her to explain. Of course, I got no response. To her credit, it was Saturday. On...

One of the reasons that I haven’t posted in a while is because I didn't want to have to write the words, I’m still waiting for mortgage commitment from HSBC. Seeing those words written, as you can probably imaging, is disheartening. I am so emotionally attached to the property and exhausted that we've been in contract for two months and yet haven’t been able to secure a mortgage.  I have decorated in my mind, chosen colors for the living room and entry hallway. Perhaps it’s a tiny bit crazy, but I strongly believed that this would have been a shorter process.   I am a first time home buyer so I didn't know what I didn't know.   I didn't think that I had unrealistic expectations either. I had already compromise on the ideal neighborhood. I compromise on the cost. I compromise on having a kitchen full of updated cabinets and stainless steel appliances. I compromise on having an updated bathroom. I have watched hours of televisions shows were two weeks after making...