Your TV New Build Mortgage Experiences

[Swampy]

Hi All: Marsha and I are finally taking the plunge into the Frog Pond, and our closing on a new home in Fernandina is scheduled for July. Due to the fact that our home here up North is not yet sold, we are going to need a mortgage loan to supply the balance of our purchase price at our July closing. I'd appreciate hearing from other TVers that have within the last year gotten FL mortgages on new homes. Our financial qualification should not be an issue, but I am concerned about dealing with lenders with whom I am not familiar, reliability of meeting the closing date (and not trying to rip us off with some scam) being my main concerns.
Within 24 hours of signing our final papers and making our final pre-closing deposit with The Villages sales staff we received a call from Citizens First Wholesale Mortgage Co (CFWM) offering its services for our mortgage. As we all know, CFWM is a Morse entity, and is well known for reliable service. However, CFWM also charges very high origination, application and miscellaneous closing fees. Those same charges are not charged by many of the FL and National mortgage lending companies. The interest rates charged by CFWM are competitive with other lenders, but those costs and fees amount to a couple thousand dollars at settlement.
I'd appreciate hearing from fellow TVers with the identity of other mortgage lenders (other than CFWM) that delivered on time and for the prices promised.

Swampy

[patfla06]

We are in the same position and used Citizens.
Very professional and wonderful to work with.

Bank of America had lower rates but thought it was just easier to
deal with Citizens.

[BettyCrocked]

Have you considered a mortgage or refi on your home up north? We did this and found it much easier since we were dealing locally and could shop rates more conveniently. This way, when we decide to sell our home we just pay off the mortgage and move into our paid for home in tv.
We also wanted to avoid Citizens because of their higher rates and a couple of other bad experiences we'd heard about.

[keithwand]

Citizens did a very good job for us and you know the house will appraise and you will close on time.
Very professional and helpful.

[cgalloway6]

We did a refi on our home in IL to pay for the first house we bought in TV. When we sold the first TV house and built another, we used BB&T. Since we were several years from retirement and moving down full time, they suggested a 7 year ARM which had lower rates and gave us 7 years to sell our IL house and pay off the loan. CFWM called and quoted but BB&T was much lower. We also looked at Suntrust, Wells Fargo and Primelending. You can visit 4 or 5 right in a row on 466.

[Bavarian]

We used Suntrust. Got mortgage originated up North. Much cheaper then Citizens or others. No problems at all.

[janmcn]

We used Suntrust. Got mortgage originated up North. Much cheaper then Citizens or others. No problems at all.

I also used Suntrust when I bought my first house in The Villages back in 2000 and likewise had no problems at all. My second house I used Countrywide, which is no longer in business, with no problems at all.

Paperwork on closings are all handled electronically these days, so getting things done in a timely manner should not be a problem with any reputable lender.

My advice would be don't be coerced into paying more money for the same product you can buy cheaper elsewhere. It's just good common sense.

[Bonnevie]

and I'm closing this week with Citizens...they haven't been very timely and even say they can't give me the final dollar amount I'll need to bring until late in the day before the closing. They are doing so many closings, I think they are so behind.....I wish I could have used someone else but I had to close in 30 days though other places said they usually do it, they couldn't guarantee it.

[rp001]

My second home in the Villages..the first was financed through PNC and it was a horrific experience..Just sold that one and moved to a newer one and used Citizens. I bought it from a MLS realtor so the closing was outside the reservation..It was a very pleasant experience. In my life I've had 10 homes financed in Fl and this was the easiest by far.

[shotgun233]

I would consider a home equity loan on your current house. It is not a new mortgage, just line of credit loan against the equity in your present home. Cost should be very little, perhaps $500.00, since the bank only has to do an appraisal on your current home. Interest rate should be relatively low. If you have enough equity in your current house, you could pay cash for your TV house. When the �up north� house sells, you will be required to pay off the equity loan as well as any outstanding mortgage you have. In the mean time, the monthly payments on the home equity loan would only be 1 to 1-1/2 percent of the amount of the loan.

[Finallyfree]

We used citizens, one reason we could pay down the mortgage once our other house closed for $175.00 fee and NO refinance. You can do this once a year if you choose to. We had no issues and no higher closing costs on our new build than if we had gone elsewhere. We are very satisfied. In addition, they do not sell mortgages off, they hold and service them permanently.

[mickey100]

We found Citizens to have higher interest rates than other companies. We went with a bank we found online, and had no trouble closing by the required date.

[Blessed2BNTV]

We used BOA last August with a rate of 2.75%. Closed in 24 days.

Just sold our home in Atlanta (house on market for 48 hours before getting the first of our full price offer).

Close in 3 weeks and as Dave Ramsey says - we are debt free (including bond)!

Will be renting in Atlanta (we are not retired yet). We will be renting our TV home for January - March which will just about pay for our rent in Atlanta.

Plan is to be a FROG in 2 years.

Will be down in TV end of May for a week and counting the days!

[Schaumburger]

We used BOA last August with a rate of 2.75%. Closed in 24 days.

Just sold our home in Atlanta (house on market for 48 hours before getting the first of our full price offer).

Close in 3 weeks and as Dave Ramsey says - we are debt free (including bond)!

Will be renting in Atlanta (we are not retired yet). We will be renting our TV home for January - March which will just about pay for our rent in Atlanta.

Plan is to be a FROG in 2 years.

Will be down in TV end of May for a week and counting the days!

LillyD, Congratulations on the quick sale of your house. And enjoy your home in Duval. Before you know it you will be croaking... :wave:

[asianthree]

have used both BOA and Citizens better rates with BOA, less hassle with Citizens

[Skip]

Read all the fine print in the clauses that relate to closing date and time. I heard that there is a penalty if the bank doesn't have the money ready at closing time. That can be a costly problem, so just make sure you get your mortgager to agree (in writing) they will pay that penalty for you if they miss the boat.

Skip

[rjm1cc]

You might consider a margin account at your broker. You can take cash out. Be sure you have plenty of assets so you do not get a margin Call.

[tag460]

Compared 6 banks when we got here and found BB&T fit our needs, they had the best rates and fees were one of the lowest contact Justin Holloway at 352-314-3306.

[asianthree]

Read all the fine print in the clauses that relate to closing date and time. I heard that there is a penalty if the bank doesn't have the money ready at closing time. That can be a costly problem, so just make sure you get your mortgager to agree (in writing) they will pay that penalty for you if they miss the boat.

Skip

Yep cost us $488 for closing one day late....or should I say 14hours and 37 minutes late

[cgalloway6]

Yep cost us $488 for closing one day late....or should I say 14hours and 37 minutes late

Plus if TV is still offering discounts on new home sales, the discount is based on closing on time - read your contract. It could be a large penalty. Part of the push to use Citizens, if they are late, no problem. On the other hand most of the local banks/mortgage companies are aware of the situation and will meet your date.

[llaran]

Talk to George at trustco bank, near home depot, they hold there own mortages and charge no closing if keep 3 years, no escrow and very fast.

[Bonnevie]

just an fyi....using citizens who's big claim to fame is getting it done to meet the deadline...just got it finished but then the title company is soooo busy they can't give you the final number until the day before. In spite of telling them to call me on my cell so I could get a cashiers check, they left a message on my home phone answering machine at 230pm. Also, no email with the number. So I had to take the advice of the Citizens person and take out a very excessive amount just in case....and they will refund me the difference. Catastrophic, of course not, but not the level of competence I like to see in places I do business with. I have bought other houses, and I have always had the money figure in time to at least get to a bank before they closed.

[janmcn]

just an fyi....using citizens who's big claim to fame is getting it done to meet the deadline...just got it finished but then the title company is soooo busy they can't give you the final number until the day before. In spite of telling them to call me on my cell so I could get a cashiers check, they left a message on my home phone answering machine at 230pm. Also, no email with the number. So I had to take the advice of the Citizens person and take out a very excessive amount just in case....and they will refund me the difference. Catastrophic, of course not, but not the level of competence I like to see in places I do business with. I have bought other houses, and I have always had the money figure in time to at least get to a bank before they closed.

Several posters on this forum have missed their closing date because of the incompetence of Citizens. One frequent poster even missed out on the homestead exemption because his closing was moved from Dec to Jan.

These posters were probably not charged several hundred dollars in fines, but Citizen's claim to fame of never missing a closing is bogus.

[billethkid]

we used Bank One because they have been our home bank for years.We were told by the sales rep as well as others in the loop they like to work with Citizens because they know how to work together.

Citizen was 1.2 % higher than any of the other options I had. I told the sales rep if Citizens wanted my business they would have to be competitive. They told me if I wanted it done "right" I would find the difference in the rate to be worth it.

I politely said no thanx....and like many other banks that close on mortgages every day of the year, it was done on time. The funny part of the story is ALL the Bank One paperwork was in the title companies hands 4 days prior to the closing. The title company and TV were bringing in documents to be signed as they were being printed.....during the closing.

Get the best mortgage financing you can regardless where they are located....like anywhere else in the USA it will work just fine.

btk

[Swampy]

I'm very grateful to everyone for their comments, please keep them coming as my situation has gotten a little more complicated. We now have our PA home under agreement of sale for a closing 7/15, but there are several contingencies which, if the worst happens, will cause the sale to be cancelled. If all worked perfect, we'd close on our PA house 7/15 and then take our net proceeds to our BUT, because of the contingencies on the closing of our PA house, we better to prepared with a loan for the TV home "just in case". What we need to do is to get a commitment for a mortgage loan to cover the TV home, that we can cancel at the last minute if the closing on our PA home comes through on time. AND where the cancelled TV mortgage will not have cost us much up-front money that will wind up being wasted when the mortgage is cancelled. Also, we must consider the possibility that the PA closing gets cancelled, and then we have to use the loan with mortgage on the TV home to buy the TV home, and then will wind up paying off that TV mortgage within months when the PA home (which will have gone back onto the market) finally sells and closes with a new Buyer. I know that in PA there cannot legally be any penalty for paying off a mortgage early, but I suspect that is not the case in FL?

[Bonnevie]

even Citizens lets you prepay without penalty...I checked on that...

btw...despite my trepidations and regrets at not looking at other mortgage companies, I will say the closing went well. Largely because the sellers were just two of the nicest, funniest people you want to meet. We laughed thru the whole thing. I told them I was sorry they were not going to be my neighbors. They bought a new larger house south of 466A.
You are getting a great couple, all you who live down there.

[Yucatan2]

Swampy, we had a similar problem recently. We had our home in Virginia on the market and wanted to buy a re-sale in TV. Got an offer on our VA house in January, and the buyers were going through the process of home inspections, repairs, etc. The TV house we were watching went off the market, then back on at a lower price. We came down with a trailer load of stuff for storage and met with the realtor, made an offer for 10K less that night (before her open house the next day!) It was accepted. We go back to VA, and 3 days later OUR buyer's financing fell through! Luckily our VA house is paid for, but we still needed a mortgage for TV because we already had an equity loan. We used Sun Trust in an effort to avoid Citizens. I thought the loan process was a royal pain compared to our other home purchases, all pre-crisis. We have excellent credit, good income, very low debt and still were raked over the coals so to speak. Especially on the point of whether FL was to be our primary residence. The lenders have gone from giving anyone who breathes a loan, to being incredibly over-cautious. More than once we had wished we had sold our house first and paid cash down here. Closing was on time but as mentioned earlier, the title company barely came up with the cash to close amount in time for us to get to a bank for the cashier's check. Our home in VA is STILL for sale, hope we get another offer soon! I'm so glad the lending process is over and we are enjoying TV!

[Bonnevie]

that's similar to my story. I haven't dealt with a mortgage in years. I, too, have excellent credit, really no debt, a great income and still the stuff I had to produce was crazy. They even run another employment and credit check on the day of the closing...makes me worried that no one will be able to buy my home so I can move permanently up there.

[Swampy]

We are now going through the home inspection for the sale on our PA home, and. as we all know, until that is completed anything can happen. So we need to be ready with a FL mortgage just in case ..... but if we cancel it at the last minute, we don't want that cancellation to cost us a lot of money.

Swampy