We continue to review documents for refinancing our home loan. What caught my eye are the number of forms and the amount of paperwork required. Here is a list of documents that need to be reviewed or signed and returned:
* Notice of Incompleteness (NOI)
* Good Faith Estimate
* Definition of Truth-in-Lending Terms
* Home Counseling Providers List
* HUD Settlement Cost Booklet
Please sign and return the following documents:
* HUD/V.A. Addendum to Uniform Residential Loan Application
* Acknowledgement of Intent to Proceed
* Acknowledgement of Receipt of Good Faith Estimate
* Federal Truth-in-Lending Disclosure Statement
* Itemization of Amount Financed
* IRS 4506T – Request for Transcript of Tax Return
* Borrower’s Certification & Authorization
* Borrower’s Certification & Authorization
* Social Security Administration Authorization
* Social Security Number Certification
* Servicing Disclosure Statement
* Affiliated Business Disclosure
* Credit Card Authorization
* Appraisal Report for Lender’s Use Disclosure (Dodd-Frank)
* Notice of Right to Receive Copy of Written Appraisal/Valuation
* Notice to Right to Copy of Appraisal
* Credit Score Disclosure
* USA Patriot Act Information Disclosure
* Equal Credit Opportunity Act Notice
* Fair Credit Reporting Act
* Hazard Insurance Authorization, Requirements and Disclosure
* Home-Ownership Counseling Acknowledgment
* Mortgage Fraud is Investigated by the FBI
* Notice of Furnishing Negative Information
* Re-Verification Warning to Borrowers
* Settlement Service List of Providers
* FHA Important Notice to Homebuyers
* FHA Informed Consumer Choice Disclosure Notice
* FHA Notice to Homeowner
* FHA/V.A. Notice to Applicants
* Occupancy and Financial Statement
* CO Third Party Fees Disclosure
* Refinance Certification
* CO First Lien Refinance Notice
* CO Lock-In Disclosure Form
* CO Right to Choose Insurance Provider
* CO Tangible Net Benefit Disclosure
That is 38 forms to sign plus another 5 to review. It might be worth it to save about $250.00 per month on the mortgage payment, but it takes a few months savings to make up for the closing costs which are roughly $1,400.00. Then we need to pay off a second mortgage, another $4,000+. And…it turns out we need to get an “engineering statement,” not required when we bought the place, to further the paperwork. Price for this is about $350.00. All the engineering statement does is certify the house, which is a manufactured home, is tied down adequately to meet HUD requirements. The statement is required for this FHA loan refinance. The first 8 months of monthly mortgage savings would cover the closing and engineering statement costs, not exactly a bargain, then the second mortgage would have to come out of savings (originally targeted for the well drilling at Sanderling). The process continues. High finance – Warren Buffet we are not.
The weather remains in the news. We have another rainy weekend and next weekend’s forecast is about the same. It is supposed to be nice in the middle of the week for all the good that does us! I mowed the lawn 3 time last week (Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday) to try and keep the lawn from turning into a pasture. Our iris plants look better than they ever have and other flowers (columbine, peonies, and flax) are doing well. The lilies are growing but don’t show signs of flower buds yet. Tulips and lilacs are done but morning glories are just starting to show tiny leaves as they begin to sprout. All this rain is at least good for the plants, I guess. Fire danger is low too.
Front flower bed
I will mention that KitKat, the young semi-feral turned outdoor cat, is getting friendlier. She will allow herself to be petted at feeding time and this morning, for the first time, she wound around Pam’s legs asking to be fed. It would be nice if KitKat became a bit more friendly toward humans. (For some reason, she gets along fine with the dogs.)
KitKat, May 17th
Otherwise the weekend routine continues. I try to get in my two walks a day plus do yard work between storms. Grocery shopping got done, and this week was “gasoline week” which happens every other week or so. We save up our promotional fuel point discounts offered by our local food store chain, King Supers, and buy gasoline at a discount. Our discount hit 80 cents per gallon this past week so I took my extra fuel cans and filled up to our maximum allowed purchase of 35 gallons, a savings of $28.00. With the car full up the extra will let us run another couple of weeks before we have to buy more fuel. A typical week will see us using 22 – 25 gallons of gasoline, more if I am operating the truck. I paid $1.72 per gallon after the discount for regular unleaded.
Reserve gas cans
The extra fuel is stored in gas cans lined up along the wall of the garage. I can store up to 42 extra gallons this way, but rarely have that much at any one time. One can is generally reserved for premium fuel to be used in the ATV and motorcycle, neither of which has seen much use in the past few weeks due to the rain.
We continue to monitor Craig and Dianne’s home construction photos in Wisconsin’s North Woods. Most of the cement work is done and the in-floor heating coils for the main house are in place. It looks like walls will start going up shortly…the entire process is moving along well!
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Two Cents Worth:
I detest working with money lenders. You’d think they would be grateful that we, the general public, bailed out their sorry industry after they threw this county into recession. But no, as a group they are as greedy and money grabbing as ever. Their motto is screw the customer, then screw them again. I had to laugh (sardonically) – the broker we’re working with said our credit score is the highest she’s ever seen. Did it get us a better interest rate? Did it cancel the mortgage insurance requirement? No and no. I begin to think a high credit score is vastly overrated. G-r-r-r-r-r. Very frustrating.
Happy Trails.
that refinance list gives me a crazy headache just looking at it, ugh!! justin can feel your pain–he’s about to burn down the bank he’s working with to take over the river house himself (had co-owned it before) they have been going to close for 6 weeks now–for which he has waited around instead of traveling. today was the most recent close date though he had an email last night (not a call!) saying they needed a copy of the ‘wall agreement’–the president of the association has never heard of such a thing and at this point i wonder if they are just making up documents
glad it’s not me!
when i lived on the farm i was contacted by my mortgage company with a refinance offer–no fees
what?
scam i thought
they sent the paperwork and i just had to sign a few places and fax it back
that’s it!!!!!!!!!!!!
and it really happened
and it was free!!
bet i’ll never see the likes of that again
glad kitkat is coming around–she’s very pretty!
yard and flowers look beautiful!
we’re in the rain game too and our yard could use a follow up with a baler!
freezing cold this week
not the exciting summer kick off memorial weekend is supposed to bring
i watched dessa’s softball game last night in my stocking hat, winter coat–hood up–gloves and 3 blankets
had i more time i would have brought and electric blanket with my portable battery jump
brr
i hate being cold!
oh, and…
great deal on the gas!
thought it gives me worries of some sort of explosion looming, lol
Acknowledgements of acknowledgements, and authorizations of authorizations – no doubt I could go on a bit of a rant, but most of the paperwork was brought on by privacy laws and the recent housing crisis.
Business as usual — the consumer ends of paying in paperwork and $’s for things outside their individual control.
‘wish we could “reboot” government periodically, tossing the unnecessary and archaic, while consolidating to a minimum.
Strangely enough, it reminds me of doctors and prescriptions later in life — pills piled on top of pills, rather than a complete reevaluation prior to each (new) prescription…
In the doctor’s case, it’s “easier” to treat each symptom (rather than finding the cause). In government — once something’s established, it’s difficult to get rid of. People would lose jobs if (we) got rid of the unnecessary, so we pay people to send, review, and file rather than cut costs and make things more efficient…