Being as I am going to take a loss on selling my condo - a loss my selling realtor and I are going to try to minimize as best is possible - it's highly likely I'm going to need some help on the other side. I've been with the same mortgage company here in MI since I bought my condo, so the thought was to contact that company and see what the people there might be able to do for me. Don't suppose it would be possible to transfer the balance of whatever I can't afford to pay off on my condo's mortgage from selling it into my new mortgage for whatever house I buy? No, of course not. I can only borrow up to what the home I decide to buy is appraised to be worth. But what else might be able to be done?

I went to the mortgage website for my mortgage company, ABN AMRO, to see what I could find out. (Not linking to it because I don't recommend it.) Eventually I found myself calling in for help because all the website did was deal with new mortgages independent of your history with the bank. I briefly explained to the representative that answered that I have a mortgage with them, that I want to sell and buy a new home, and keep them as my mortgage company, and was wondering what they could do for me? The woman politely said I should be talking to new mortgages, not existing mortgages as I had called, and transfered me. To the next representative I talked to, I explained the above again, adding I might need some help as I'd be selling at a loss. He asked me what stage of this all I was in, and after my answer told me I should go to the website. He said I could apply for pre-approval there and research what mortgages are available, and after I was approved I'd be assigned a mortgage representative like him. I thanked him, hung up, and grumbled. That was no help at all! If I just wanted to get a new mortgage without any help I wouldn't have called in.

Next up I checked out the good people at LendingTree.com, but they wanted my social security number before doing anything and I'm just not ready to give out that number yet. If I had decided I was definitely going to use them or they could have told me about some option I definitely wanted to try to get, then I would have. But to give it to them just to get up to five banks to contact me was not the kind of risk I was willing to take with my governmental information and my credit just yet.

I decided to try walking into the local branch of LaSalle Bank, the bank that not too recently bought my mortgage company, and see if I could get any better service. It's always nicer, and usually better, to deal with a real person. I dressed more professionally than I do for work, just to be sure to make a good impression. The mortgage representative was not there when I arrived, but another representative helped me and took my information to put me in touch with the mortgage specialist. Later that day I got a call from the specialist. We talked through all my specifics and she gave me some options. She explained out everything, stuff I asked about and reasons I was or wasn't able to do something. This route was so much better than trying the website or calling in.

First off, they will let me borrow 100% of what I pay for a home in Ann Arbor. Yay! That means I can spend the down payment I've saved to cover losses I take in selling my condo without risking buying a house. The mortgage specialist said my interest rate would be about a quarter percent (0.25%) higher if I borrowed 100%, but that's not awful. She warned me I have to have at least $500 of my own money to show, but other than that I can get an other money I need for closing costs from family or wherever. No problem! Keeping from spending $500 of the money I already have saved for a down payment shouldn't be hard. Because my credit rating is so good (scores average just under 800) she even gave me an option that would allow me to not pay PMI on the mortgage for the house I would buy in Ann Arbor and still borrow up to 100% for it! Good stuff! The only catch is that it is all contingent on selling my condo.

As for closing costs, she told me about things that can be done on the buying side outside of the mortgage, like the seller can gift money to me, or give me a concession for closing costs at the time of sale. She told me a realtor should know the ways that stuff works. She also recommended I look at Ameridream and Neighborhood Gold. FYI - Buyer's Fund has discontinued its assistance program, and the other Neighborhood Gold program I found is only for FHA loans.

This was all last Tuesday. The mortgage specialist took all my information and said she'd send it in for pre-approval, which should only take a day or two. She also said they'd have to do underwriting for it due to the circumstances. I haven't heard back yet. So note to self: Need to call broker to find out status of my pre-approval and all.

Labels: Home Buying