New Hampshire Home Mortgage

I am a first-time home buyer, and have begun the process by looking at properties, doing tons of research, talking to loan officers and mortgage brokers, and looking at FHA, various state grant programs, and specialized grants. Ideally I'd like to buy a home in New Hampshire and take advantage of the Rural Development Grant.
As I move along in this process, what kind of questions should I be asking, to myself and to the mortgage person / R.E. agent? The basics would be very helpful, thanks.

First things first. Affordability. Dont let the house mortgage be your master

2009-06-29 08:42:26 by johngreenink

I moved into my apartment 2/10. It started out wonderful, of course. Then all of a sudden, my landlord had to bring realtors through because he said he is trying to refinance the house, but can't without a valid offer on the house. So after he hires the new realtor, she's now scheduling tons of showings and open houses, forcing us to clean the house every other day. I even have to get rid of my cats while they are showing the house. (My landlord had told me originally I could have them, but then said they de-value the house for potential buyers, so they'd have to go. There is nothing in my lease about pets, but we had a verbal agreement on it being fine.) So I literally have to pack up my cats, hide all their stuff, and take them for a joyride for an hour. First, I've never heard of a mortgage company requiring bids on the house to refinance (although he swears he isn't selling the house, because he'd lose too much money). Second, this is becoming a HUGE inconvenience to myself and my roomate. Why should we have to leave our own home 2 or 3 times a week for hours at a time? Now, the realtor is scheduling showings while I'm at work. I can't get the cats out while I'm working! I don't know what to do, or what my rights are in this situation. All I know is that it is not fair.... Anything?
To Wildcat: There's nothing in the lease about pets. There was a verbal agreement that I could have cats. (He said, "Cats are fine, I have some of my own. They don't cause damage like dogs can. Having a dog would be against the insurance policy of the house. No dogs." I never had to hide the fact that I had cats, considering he originally told me it was fine. Although, he DID ask me to get rid of them as soon as he started having the realtor come in. He said cats de-value the house in the eyes of the buyer. So instead of getting RID of them, I've just been taking them out of the house every time there is a showing. (As well as any cat-related item I have..) If he is just re-financing, then it shouldn't be a problem. But I have a funny feeling that he isn't being honest...

I can't even tell you how many times i have refinanced property in my life time. I have NEVER once been asked to place the house on the market, I can't even think up a good reason they would do this, they need a valid appraisal, not an offer.

2010-06-30 11:40:33 by chickaroo10

Price: $9.95 $9.95

I was wondering how to get my ex -boyfriend off of the mobile home we bought together. It is an older home on it`s own land in New Hampshire.He basically left the moment we moved here. Now it is paid off by me and I want to get him off of the deed and in my name only. If anything were to happen to me I want our children to get it (most are over 18) and also for them to have a place to raise my 2 youngest, ages 15 & 16. I have paid all the mortgage payments and repairs , taxes etc. He is living in a half-way house and we wish to have no contact with him, although I do know the address. We are both on the deed with rights of survivorship. How do I go about getting him to sign a quit claim? Thanks in advance.

Well you already know you need a quit claim. You have to ask him.

2010-07-16 05:01:35 by wildpony

Price: $9.95 $9.95

I want to buy a 2nd home in New Hampshire for investment and vacation purposes. But, to afford it, I will need to cut back on future contributions to 401k and IRA. I am 40 years old, and currently contribute about $30,000 to retirement accounts per year. The way I figure it, if i get 7% on the $30K, retirement that's $2100. If I take that same $30K and use it for down payment and mortgage expense on a $200,000 house that returns 7% that's $14,000. Plus in this market I am losing 10% on retirement savings - my thought is go to cash for 6 months, save some $ for down payment and buy when RE market is very soft. Thoughts?

except 2 things...you're not going to get 7% over time on housing (as this current market should tell you). Historically, housing has run 5-6% returns while the stock market has returned 9-11%. Nor are you considering the interest of 7% that you would be paying on that loan. You're also not taking into consideration taxes and fees for selling or upkeep on the home in the interim. And most importantly you are not taking into consideration the possibility of an extreme down market (such as we are in) when you need to sell the house. Certainly you can wait for it to turn around but 1) the equity markets turn quicker than housing and 2) You can still draw small sums from the equity markets without killing your account. With half of your retirement in the real estate market you're risk exposure is HUGE because it's an all or nothing thing.

It's all about diversity my friend...and if you have to cut back on ANYTHING in order to buy that home then you are not diverse enough in your holdings. Think of it this way....when you're 65 would you put half of your retirement into a single stock? Likely not...then why do it here?

2008-07-07 14:51:52 by highlycaff

OK, just a few years ago, my wife and I both had FICOs in the high 700s. But then every member of our family ended up in the hospital for extended stays for different reasons in the same year. Even with major medical insurance, the MINIMUM monthly payments on our medical bills were about equal to a years' worth of mortgage payments. We had no choice but to file bankruptcy.
In the meantime, with both income earners being out of work for a while and our mortgage payments skyrocketing, we quickly realized that we couldn't keep up with the mortgage payments, even if we ignored the medical bills.
In an effort to save our home, we applied through Ditech / GMAC to have our loan modified, as President Obama was throwing billions of dollars at GMAC and other banks, and begging the banks to help homeowners just like us.
GMAC sat on our request for many months, taking no action. The only contact information for GMAC loan modification was a voicemail number where phone calls were never returned. Finally after over half a year of trying to get our loan modified, we got a letter stating that we were ineligible, as a VA loan (SUPPOSEDLY) could not be modified.
So I called the VA to see if they could help me, and I was told that they could indeed help me...if I'd applied for help just a few days ago...
Basically, GMAC stalled my loan modification request until it was too late for the VA to help me through a similar loan modification program. The bastards.
To add insult to injury, now we are getting threatening letters from GMAC stating that if we are having trouble paying our mortgage, we should consider applying to have our loan modified. That's about enough to throw me into a murderous rage...
But anyway, we are going to have to "walk away" from our home now, we have no choice in the matter. We can't afford the mortgage payment which has doubled in the last few years, much of it the "escrow" portion (local tax increases are killing us...and we aren't alone)

Meanwhile, before we bought our home, we (my wife and I together) rented for several years. We have excellent references from previous landlords, but we haven't rented since like the turn of the century.

Now I'm looking for apartments, and the only ones I would want to live in (read: not in high crime areas) require credit checks. After bankruptcy and walking away from our mortgage, I don't even want to KNOW what our credit report looks like. It's scary, I'm sure. I might consider taking just any old apartment at first, but we have a infant daughter now. I need to get into a good neighborhood to keep her safe, not to mention keeping my wife and myself safe.

So what's the best approach here? A "cosigner" is not an option...the only relative we know who would be willing to do it has worse credit than we do (believe it or not).

What we have going for us:
- Both employed now, earning more money (total) than we've ever earned.
- Good references from two previous landlords (but no RECENT rental history)
- We've been able to rebuild our savings to the point where we could pay a whole year in advance for rent, if necessary.

Will this be enough? We're looking in the Southern New Hampshire area, if it matters. Manchester/Merrimack/Nashua, roughly.

On a side note, any landlords in the area willing to help us, please speak up!

You poor people, that really sucks, you seem like really good people too, s**t always happens to the nice guys.
Well I think you have enough in those 3 points, what have you got to lose anyway? Best of luck.
Sorry about your home

2010-06-03 10:22:19 by Dave C.