Last Friday I closed a home for another 1st Time HomeBuyer family and it sure was a happy ending after everything that happened. This family is a prime example on why who you choose as your lender and agent can make or break your chance for a dream to come true....
A neighbor had called me and stated he would love to hire me to be his agent because I come highly recommended and seem to be very knowledgeable in my line of work. Blush, blush. He let me know he had spoken to a lender and I responded as I always do by saying, "That's great your pre-approved. I recommend to all of my clients to always look into more than 1 lender because Lenders and companies do different things as well as how they differ in the way they handle the transaction. After the conversation, he reached out to a couple that are on my website and after speaking to one of them, chose to go with the original lender he found.
Fast forward....
We find "THE" house. When we 1st submitted an offer, we submitted one with an escalation clause. The next day, the listing agent reached out and said 4 more offers came in after mine, all with escalation clauses. Seller requested we all resubmit our highest and best offer. After re-submitting, we still had higher offers than ours, however, I landed them the contract!!! Best news ever! Not the highest, but the best.
After going Under Contract, I sent the Contract to Buy to the Lender. Bad news!!! He stated that he couldn't do the deal. 1st he blamed my buyer stating he opened accounts and charged credit, which I found hard to believe for good reason. Turns out, the lender that told him he could get approved for $500k, gave him a Lender Letter for $400K, didn't do a thorough credit check and told my client he was approved when he wasn't.
At this point, I don't take no for an answer. I immediately tell my client to reach out to another lender and see if we can get this to happen.
He reaches out to Jordan Dalby, with Cross Country Mortgage and part of my team "The Denver Southwest Team". After maneuvering numbers and the suggestion I made with going with CHFA, we were not only able to stick in the deal, but still with a Conventional Loan.
Then.....
Appraisal comes back...$20k under. Sometimes this can be excellent news, but in this case, it was not. Seller's would only lower $5K and Buyers couldn't bring another $10K to the table. Due to this, and the fact the appraiser really did a horrible job on the report, I spent an afternoon writing a testimony and providing comps to the appraiser to challenge it and get that price back up.
And....
It worked!!! Appraised at UC price! Deal proceeds.
This deal is a prime example on who you choose as your agent and lender are VERY important. Lenders who give false letters and agents who accept the word "no" are not the ones you want on your team...especially as a 1st time home buyer. This is a difficult task. Yes, there are many bumps in the road, the question is, can you team handle it? Or will they pass the buck or just let your home fall through your fingers?