Preliminary Documents, Contract and the Sales Rep from Hell

I spoke with the new lender early this morning. He said everything is looking awesome.

My wife and the realtor met me over at the builder's model home/office to go over the contract and all of that preliminary stuff you have to go through. I asked a couple of questions that really fired up the sales rep.

I don't know what her damn problem was. She was very short and it was escalating so I snapped her back into line with a simple statement, "Look, we're just asking some questions." We hadn't seen a model of our house yet, and wouldn't for a few more days. In fact all we had seen was the office we were in with her and a few brochures that she had emailed to me. With a sample question of would we be able to add things like an extra plug outlet, she snapped "NO!". She was very defensive, abrupt and just right out rude.

I figured out some of it later on. She was upset that we had brought the realtor with us, she was using a PC, and her printer was giving her fits. I didn't care what her reasons were but she didn't have to be so rude.

Anyway, she was super fussy and in a hurry for us to sign. I had to get assurances from her that I would have more than the time in her office to read everything in the contract. She was sort of resistant with comments like take it or leave it. The realtor was able to intervene and get an answer that the contract would not be submitted to corporate until next week.

I pulled my wife and realtor aside so we could talk in private about the sales rep's overall attitude and the bad impression that she was giving us. We were encouraged to look passed the attitude she was displaying.

The realtor had to leave early to honor an appointment and my wife needed to get our son home for lunch. I stayed to finish the paperwork and try to warm that old lady up. In the end she had lightened up quite a bit.

The sales rep gave me a sold sign to stick in the yard. Here's a photo of that.

Enough on that! We have to go to decide on all of our color options by February 1. I booked an appointment with the place that provides that service for January 27.

I spent the late evening going through every document to read all of the applicable fine print. Everything seems to be ok. I have a question about a couple of small things. I just have to wonder if my questions will bring out the fangs again. Time will tell. Time will tell.

The Fat Plat

I contacted the home builder this morning to let her know that we are interested in one of the lots and we want to secure it as soon as possible pending it is facing the correct direction and is as appealing in reality.

The realtor wanted to meet everyone at the builder's site in the afternoon but I didn't want to wait that long. Then, we found out our builder POC has the next two days off. She did get back with me to let us know that since it's a corner lot we can face either street North-West or North. One other thing the realtor told us about was that this particular builder will put 1% of our base cost towards closing charges. They have an additional incentive today to add another 2% off the base cost of the house.

I told her we could wait to meet in a few days but I want to secure the lot today. She confirmed that we could do that. So, I drove home to pick up the wife and kid and we drove over to see the lot. I had Fiona get out and put a compass on it to be sure she was happy with the direction.

Everything worked out. We drove around the corner and placed a deposit to hold the corner plat that we like so much.

While we were there, we were given their preferred lender contact details. When I got back to work, I called this new lender for instructions and did the online application.

So, that plat is being held for us. I'm going to try to get at very least a pre-qualification letter from this new lender so that we'll be ready should we decide to get a contract down.

Now let me talk about this fat plat. I'm calling it that because the lots in the same area and same price are skinny. I used two methods for measuring the difference. The first was Zillow and I don't know how reliable it is. They claim our plat is 155% larger when compared to the surrounding plats. I did my own measurements from satellite photos and some geometry. I cam up with 187% larger when compared to the surrounding plats.

In either case, the extra space and it being a corner lot will make this plat very desirable in decades to come.

I am eager to see what rate this new lender can get for us, because the first lender seems to be high for our situation when compared to the average market rate.

House Hunting Begins this Weekend

With the holidays finished we can finally get an idea on where our bottom line is financially.

In previous months it looked like we would be financially ready to start house hunting mid first quarter 2015. However, when considering the amount of time it takes to find the right house and close on it, now seems like a good time to get the wheels rolling on the house hunt.

Our pre-qualification letter expired a few days ago. I just got back from the lender. I had to give them our most recent bank statements and pay stubs. They will email a new pre-qualification letter to us and the realtor in the next day or so.

Since the realtor is next door to the lender, I stopped by to put our names back on their radar.

We can continue to save until we close. Meanwhile, let the house hunting begin.

Pre-Qualification Letter, Disputing Credit, Additional Documentation

I wrote a letter of explanation on why I was out of work for a few months in 2012 and submitted that along with copies of my wife's ID to the lender as requested.

The lender sent us a pre-qualification letter and introduced us by email to a realtor. The realtor happens to be the wife of the realtor I spoke to in the beginning of our journey.

Additionally, today I set up an account with TransUnion, but didn't see a place to set up an account with Equifax or Experian. I opened disputes for an account that shows a zero balance but is still negatively affecting my credit score. I'm not disputing that it's mine, I'm disputing the balance, the validity, the lack of supporting documentation. Since their is nothing to collect, no one will pay to send someone to hunt down documentation on the collector's behalf. After they have neglected to respond within 30 days, it will have to be deleted. We shall see.