Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Perils of new home buying
View Single Post
 
Old 12-11-2010, 11:23 PM
Pturner's Avatar
Pturner Pturner is offline
Sage
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 7,064
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hal :-) View Post
Yes, they quoted the rate and we can lock-in today at 5%. Bank of America was 4.62% and that would be $50/mo savings. But BofA said there's no way they can meet the closing date, especially now (holidays). At this point, I'd be afraid to go with anyone but Citizens since the contract penalties. are so harsh. That's the way they want it. We can still get out of the contract. If we do, we'll be looking at pre-owned. We really want to be here. We like new build and we'll probably look for nearly new. We're going to try one more time to get some kind of exception from penalties in the event someone else fails in their responsibility, but I'm not hopeful.

It's almost comical. The contract says if missing the closing date is caused by the seller they're responsible for actual incurred cost for lodging, one meal a day, and furniture storage. On the other hand if closing is delayed and not caused by the seller, the buyer will pay the seller for water, sewer, electrical, lawn and landscape, monthly amenity fees, interest on remaining balance (prime +1 1/12%), $250, and any Discount will be added back into Purchase price. Note that buyer accepts responsibility for any and all delays not caused by seller, that means Bank failures, delays in inspections, the appraiser gets hit by a beer truck, sudden surprise hurricane, or a stray meteor hits the Sales Center. It's hard to believe they demand we accept responsibility for the promptness of all their organizations. But that's the way it is.
And that is the way it will remain if people put up with it. If it were me, I think I'd walk while I could. The $50 a month difference in interest alone makes it a raw deal. If you have good credit at all, you could probably get better than 5 percent interest almost anywhere right now!* And you wouldn't be risking a huge loss if the appraiser gets hit by a beer truck. Resales are looking better all the time. Sorry to say this.

* Assuming apples-to-apples comparison. Surely Citizens isn't charging you any discount/closing points at 5% interest! If they are, it sounds like an absurdly uncompetitive interest rate! Did they estimate closing costs??