Closing on mortgage?

Question

So we have the house, a commitment letter, the rate locked in and a closing date set. We still need the appraisal. Our loan officer assures us nothing can go wrong now, but I am still nervous as we are 1st time home buyers. Can anything still go wrong? And no, we will not lose our jobs in the next week.

We are in a rent to own situation so we already had the inspection when we moved in.

Answer 1

Cassie - you've got most of the major hurdles out of the way. A couple of things you need to watch for -but not lose too much sleep over- are your appraisal valuation and getting a house inspection done.

The appraisal process is pretty straight forward. The appraiser will look at past sales history of similar style homes in the area and judge your home against them. The mortgage lender wants to make sure you're not paying too much for the home and that it will have some built in equity should the ever have to foreclose on it (heaven forbid).

Secondly, while you didn't mention it in your question, I strongly suggest getting a home inspection done on the property. Ask your real estate agent to recommend a couple of good inspectors in your area.

This is time and money well spent and it may uncover something that isn't apparent to the untrained eye. A good inspector will check all the major mechanical components of the house like the condition of the roof, hot water heater, furnace, A/C, and major appliances. They will also tell you if you have a pest problem (rodents, insects, etc) as well as point out some general maintenance issues.

Speaking from experience I negated a potential home purchase based on the results of the inspection. Our inspector found a significant crack in the foundation that had done some serious structural damage.

Our purchase and sales agreement had language in it to protect us against such events and we ended up not buying the home. The repairs were in excess of $25k and would have been a budget breaker, so the few hundred you'll spend is well worth it.

Congratulations and good luck!

Answer 2

Nothing can go wrong? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Sweetie, the wheels can still fall off the cart at any time until you sit down and close. First off, your loan officer never should have set a closing date, because not only is the appraisal not done, the file has not been underwritten by the bank. So, therefore, it doesn't matter what kind of ratelock you have, it can still change, the bank can still decline on the loan, the loan can take a whole lot longer to get done, and on top of that, the appraisal can come back lower than the purchase price, which means an addendum to the purchase agreement, more paperwork, more underwriting, another possible rate change, and probably another extension of the closing date. That's why I always make sure the client knows that whatever date I tell them is a tentative date that we're working towards, and that there are plenty of things that can happen along the way.

Answer 3

Togas reply is bound to make you more nervous because he is looking at what COULD happen worst case, not what probably will happen. You should get a home inspection as the other poster said, but as long as all that goes well most likely things are going to go smoothly.

I am in the proccessing of buying a home now, and the first thing my parents and others have told me from experience is not to get your heart dead set on anything until it closes. That wait it cant get broker. There are plenty of homes and plenty of loan offers to go around, so even on the rare chance that this one falls though-- you will still be able to work something out.

Answer 4

Jay-o is right on the process and what you have done so far...but I will remind everyone....a deal is not a done deal until the bank approves the loan...thats why settlement/closing comes the day of or after the bank approves it. All your chicks in a line helps ...they just know from past experience that the deal should close ....but in the end it depends on the word from the bank.