You Want MORE Money?

I now interrupt the month of November posts to bring up a delightful update on the house buying shenanigans. 

When our loan was finally approved, we opted to pay a little extra a lock in our rate. It saves you money in the long run. But our lock was about to expire. Say what?

Well, apparently when they locked in the rate, they locked it in for 45 days assuming we would be done. We made our offer at the very end of September-ish. As of Oct 1st, new laws and regulations went into effect making the whole process a lot longer in an effort to protect the buyer. Whereas before if you were buying a regular home, you could be done in 30-45 days, now it is closer to 60 or more. So the fact that they locked it in for only 45 days was problematic on many fronts. 

First of all, they never told me how long they were locking it in. If they had, I would have insisted they do it for 60 days, even if it cost a little bit more. There was NO way we were going to be done that soon. It took them over a month just to get the power turned on so we could do inspections! So no, there was no chance that it was going to get done in 45 days. Because of this, I learned, we were going to have to pay a rate lock extension fee. And no, you can't just go with whatever rate it is that day - even if it is better than the one you locked in 44 days ago. It would cost less to do that than to pay the extension fee, but you would have to start the whole loan process over again. The fee was pretty hefty. 

I consider myself a calm and level headed person. I am, by nature, a peace maker. When I get angry, I am not a screamer. But I will definitely let you know how I feel. This conversation took place over phone and text and covered the space of a week or two. We did do a bunch of mad dash stuff to make it work - absolutely everything we could on our end that we were responsible for, but it still didn't happen.  The date neared and the conversation continued. A lot of it I processed, vented to Ryan, then texted back my response after I had decided what I wanted to say. When it became apparent that even after we had checked off all our boxes and done everything asked of us it wasn't going to be enough, I responded via text that I felt this was extremely dishonest of them and that the bank was gambling with our money. I got a returned phone call very quickly. Haha. I did NOT want to talk to her, but figured I better answer. She tried her best to apologize without apologizing. What I mean by that is that she was quick to defend the bank and say, "No, we aren't gambling with your money." But the truth of it is she never told us how long that rate lock was good for. She didn't. And any time I mentioned that she would respond, "We talked on the phone about what the rate would be and you agreed." 

"Yes, to the rate itself. But you didn't tell me how long it was going to be for. If you had told me, I would have opted for a longer rate lock. I guarantee it. That's where the gambling comes in. You didn't inform us of the length, nor the fees that we would incur if we had to extend that rate. Never once did you mention any of this."

"But you did agree to the rate lock."

Oh my heck. Anyway, we were angry. She spent 80% of that conversation talking about how hard she was working to make sure that we got in our home because she just wants us to be happy. Yes, again, that's your job. I'm not trying to be calloused. We were grateful for everything she did, but it was her job. Yes, she had made a few extra phone calls and rattled a few cages on the title agency end because they screwed up a lot of things too, but it was still just things that had to be done. And we always expressed our gratitude for her help. This whole rate lock extension thing would have been better if she had just apologized for not telling us how long it was for and what to expect. She absolutely refused to acknowledge that. And yes, I get it. No one wants to be at fault. And yes, I could take blame for not asking those questions. But to be fair, when a HUGE part of the conversation going into this loan process on both the real estate agent AND the loan agent part was about the new laws and how LONG everything was going to take - 60 days minimum, then why, WHY would you lock it in for 45 days when that was never a possibility? Yes, in THEORY if the inspection had taken place within a couple days like it was supposed to, and everything and everyone has their ducks in order, then maybe. MAYBE. But to EXPECT it? When the new laws say it won't happen? Unless you are super lucky. So yes, I maintain that it was a complete gamble on their end. And it was an expensive one for us. Big time. 

We had to pay it. There was no way to get around it. But we did not do it willingly. 

Ugh. Again, as much as some of this stuff was super frustrating, we never doubting that we would get in the house. We never doubted that we made the right decision. (Well, whether we used the right people... that was a different issue, but hey! Obviously it all worked out.) We knew that the Lord was mindful of us and that we would be okay. It would just be a matter or how long it would take and how much it would cost. 

Now, to our loan agent's credit, when it came down to the finish line, we were actually on the very edge of having to sign ANOTHER rate lock extension. As in, if it didn't happen on the day that we had scheduled we would be looking at another couple hundred dollars to extend. The actual signing was an adventure to be discussed further, but I will say that our agent pulled some strings to help us avoid getting slammed with it. It came down to the technicalities. And for that, I will forever be grateful. :) She really did have our best interest at hearts.