Wish me luck!

[AZRedhawk44]

I just applied for my first home mortgage.

Gulp.

[vaskidmark]

Gah!  Another one I'm going to have to bail out.

This time I'm moving in - I want AC, my own cable with premium channels, a minifridge, a private bathroom )you might wannt to consider high-power ventilation, but that's your choice), and room for the gun safe and ammo shelf.  No kids allowed.  Keep your vehicles in the garage or on the driveway.  No cats.  If I step in dog poop I'm tracking in through the front room.  Other than that, I'm easy to get along with.

What time is dinner - I'll be late anyway?

stay safe.

skidmark

[Leatherneck]

  ^^^^^

TC

[Standing Wolf]

Best of success to you, eh?

[erictank]

I just applied for my first home mortgage.

Gulp.

You too? 

My wife and I just filed our paperwork (for the actual mortgage - we'd been pre-approved, or pre-qualified, or whatever, several weeks back - and didn't get the rates locked in until they'd started back up .  House is under contract already, and all that jazz).  My first home purchase, but her second, so we won't be able to get The One's muchly-vaunted first-time-homeowner's tax credit, and I'm gawdawful-tired of hearing about it on the local radio stations.  That's okay, though, because we're the Evil Rich , making a whopping $110K in the DC-suburbs area.  Looking forward to being an actual homeowner, though - up till now, I've been living in "HER place", while the place we're buying will be "OUR place" (not that she ever made me feel like it wasn't my home or anything, mind you - but it'll feel better to me, anyways).

Good luck to us both!

VASkidmark - mortgage payments will be due on the first of every month, and the kids will be keeping you in line on the rest of it.  Watch out - they're both about to go for their black belts in Tae Kwon Do.  And we'll be expecting you to cook and clean, too.  No slacking off!

[Grandpa Shooter]

You heading back to the East side Red?

[K Frame]

Hey Eric, who did you get your financing with?

[AZRedhawk44]

Yep, Gpa-  Getting out of my nice little rental house in Glendale and headed back to Chandler/Mesa/Tempe area.

I got preapproved for a non-FHA at $150K with 5% down payment, or I can continue and try for a 3.5% down FHA at a peak of $200K.  They messed up though:  I put down that I wanted a 20 year term, and they gave me a 30 year instead. 

Houses in the area I want are running about $160-$170K for your typical 3br/2ba/2ga/1700sq.ft Arizona starter home.  I can move out to BumFrack Egypt (Apache Junction, Gold Canyon, Maricopa, Buckeye, Anthem, etc) and get 2000 square feet for $140-$150K, but I despise commuting with a passion.  I work from home, but I hate having an hour drive across town just to visit someone.  I never visit any of my friends in the east valley right now as a result, because it turns into an all day affair.  Road trips are great, but driving Phoenix highways doesn't count.  It just sucks because it eats up your whole day.

I'd like to get preapproved for an FHA @ 200K, but I'm hearing stories that the approval process is pickier for the particular house you choose.  If it's deemed too "luxurious" for whatever reason, you can be turned down.  Things like a tiled bedroom instead of carpeted.  Srsly.

I just want a nice little house in the east valley 'burbs similar to the one I'm living in now.

Hopefully decreasing the loan term will coax them into increasing the loan value a bit so I can actually live in town proper.

I also have another couple grand coming to me to boost my down payment, so we'll see if that helps a bit.

[Jamisjockey]

Ignore whatever you're hearing, unless its directly from a mortgage broker.  Lots of odd rumors out there.
Were you able to cash in on the 8k first time buyers thing?

[erictank]

Mike, we ended up with Bank Of America.  Our rate's locked in at 5.00% with a point and a half, for $305K. 

Our appraisal on the purchase property came back a couple of days ago (we're still waiting on the report for the sale of our townhouse, which appraisal was done a week prior to the house we're buying... :|), at $530K, $10K below contracted sale price, and we JUST found out that the sellers don't want to come down to appraised value.  They MIGHT be willing to split the difference, though, so we're trying that, and since we'll be putting down around $235K, from what I understand the bank shouldn't give us a hard time (our L-to-V won't be dramatically different, and will still be below 60%).

Sure would be nice to know what our townhouse appraised at, though - although, come to think of it, since our buyer there is doing a VA loan and financing 95%, it seems possible that "no news is good news", as VA and FHA appraisers are reputed to be VERY tough on appraisals.  If we haven't gotten a proposal to drop our sale price a week and a half after completion of the appraisal, with less than two weeks to go until closing, that strikes me as justification for mild, cautious optimism.

But then, like I said, I've never done this before.