All Encompassing Mortgage and Real Estate Thread

[tx 3 putt 76875]

damn interesting story Eastwood !!

hope you're doing good buddy 

[Murfdogg21 4412]

You’d think if it’s this rampant and at these high dollar amounts, the Feds would start putting pressure on the shit hole countries to prosecute their fraudsters receiving money there, or else the US put serious restrictions on all financial transactions to those countries. If Nigeria wants to embrace all their crown princes, fuck them. 

[Eastwood 4394]

20 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

damn interesting story Eastwood !!

hope you're doing good buddy 

Oh, I'm good. It wasn't me that was hit. I was in the corporate building when we found out someone else in the company was hit. Six figures is big loss up front for a title company and is absolutely devastating. Changes the entire direction the company wants to go that particular year. Also makes your underwriters particularly grumpy and can trigger some very uncomfortable provisions in an underwriting agreement.

 

[HookEm 2463]

Update on our situation:

They caught the scammer today! Some guy in New Jersey who had lost his job due to Covid. He had still not moved the money from the original wired location and it looks like they are going to recover all of it.

The buyer's bank was Chase and the scammer had them wire it to his Chase account. When it was discovered, Chase locked the scammer account down. The scammer was going into the bank today to convert it to cashier's checks and got nabbed by the FBI.

How can someone be smart enough to pull off a fraud like this, but stupid enough to not move the money quickly after he stole it? We're not talking about stealing $500. This is $100K+ in wire fraud investigated by the big boys. SMH.

So we are pushing our closing back by a few days. Looks like it still may go through. I honestly can't believe the buyers are going to recover their money. Major answered prayer and miracle.

[UT_OB1 2217]

We should start publicly executing them when we catch them. And I don’t mean a quick be heading, more Breaveheart style. Maybe that’d slow these assholes down a little. Sorry, but this is one of those things the just pisses me off 

 

Glad they got this guy and that it looks like things might still work out for you and the buyer Hookem. 

[Captainant 27639]

1 hour ago, HookEm said:

Update on our situation:

They caught the scammer today! Some guy in New Jersey who had lost his job due to Covid. He had still not moved the money from the original wired location and it looks like they are going to recover all of it.

The buyer's bank was Chase and the scammer had them wire it to his Chase account. When it was discovered, Chase locked the scammer account down. The scammer was going into the bank today to convert it to cashier's checks and got nabbed by the FBI.

How can someone be smart enough to pull off a fraud like this, but stupid enough to not move the money quickly after he stole it? We're not talking about stealing $500. This is $100K+ in wire fraud investigated by the big boys. SMH.

So we are pushing our closing back by a few days. Looks like it still may go through. I honestly can't believe the buyers are going to recover their money. Major answered prayer and miracle.

Holy shit, that's an incredible turnaround! Congrats and cheers to that poor fucking buyer - I can't imagine what the last week must've been like for them. If you find out anything on the mechanism for the fraud (hacked company, spoofed email, nigerian prince) I'd be curious to hear how they (almost) pulled it off

[UTPhil2006 3806]

12 hours ago, HookEm said:

Update on our situation:

They caught the scammer today! Some guy in New Jersey who had lost his job due to Covid. He had still not moved the money from the original wired location and it looks like they are going to recover all of it.

The buyer's bank was Chase and the scammer had them wire it to his Chase account. When it was discovered, Chase locked the scammer account down. The scammer was going into the bank today to convert it to cashier's checks and got nabbed by the FBI.

How can someone be smart enough to pull off a fraud like this, but stupid enough to not move the money quickly after he stole it? We're not talking about stealing $500. This is $100K+ in wire fraud investigated by the big boys. SMH.

So we are pushing our closing back by a few days. Looks like it still may go through. I honestly can't believe the buyers are going to recover their money. Major answered prayer and miracle.

Awesome to hear.  Wouldn't have guessed a random idiot in NJ.  But as you mentioned, the FBI definitely gets involved on these things. 

[UTPhil2006 3806]

So, UWM is rolling out a program today called Conventional Conquest, which has rates at or below 3.0% on conventional loans (currently, I'm assuming the program will morph as time/market changes).  I'm assuming there will be a learning curve on our end, but it looks like I can check by address for qualification purposes, and then allows for pricing if anyone wants me to run a quote/availability for them.

Qualifications - Primary/Secondary residence, couldn't have refinanced with UWM in the last 18 months (other lenders such as Caliber, Quicken, etc are eligible now),  no cash outs, conventional loan (conventional loan limit $510,400).  They offer anything from 8-30 years but it looks like the best pricing is for a 30 year.

My email is pdubord@prodigymbo.com if you want me to run things for you.

[Your Mom 4805]

Is my VA eligible for that?

[Captainant 27639]

7 minutes ago, UTPhil2006 said:

So, UWM is rolling out a program today called Conventional Conquest, which has rates at or below 3.0% on conventional loans (currently, I'm assuming the program will morph as time/market changes).  I'm assuming there will be a learning curve on our end, but it looks like I can check by address for qualification purposes, and then allows for pricing if anyone wants me to run a quote/availability for them.

Qualifications - Primary/Secondary residence, couldn't have refinanced with UWM in the last 18 months (other lenders such as Caliber, Quicken, etc are eligible now),  no cash outs, conventional loan (conventional loan limit $510,400).  They offer anything from 8-30 years but it looks like the best pricing is for a 30 year.

My email is pdubord@prodigymbo.com if you want me to run things for you.

And here I am sitting in my house thinking I should be happy with a 3.625. Ahhhh shit lol

[UTPhil2006 3806]

7 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

Is my VA eligible for that?

Tis not.  Only conventional loans.

[GottaB 594]

Tis not.  Only conventional loans.

What if it goes from a VA loan to conventional?

[UTPhil2006 3806]

Just now, GottaB said:

What if it goes from a VA loan to conventional?

Then yep

[UTGrad98 2271]

4 hours ago, UTPhil2006 said:

So, UWM is rolling out a program today called Conventional Conquest, which has rates at or below 3.0% on conventional loans (currently, I'm assuming the program will morph as time/market changes).  I'm assuming there will be a learning curve on our end, but it looks like I can check by address for qualification purposes, and then allows for pricing if anyone wants me to run a quote/availability for them.

Qualifications - Primary/Secondary residence, couldn't have refinanced with UWM in the last 18 months (other lenders such as Caliber, Quicken, etc are eligible now),  no cash outs, conventional loan (conventional loan limit $510,400).  They offer anything from 8-30 years but it looks like the best pricing is for a 30 year.

My email is pdubord@prodigymbo.com if you want me to run things for you.

I literally just saw this and emailed y'all before I came here. Thought it might not be real.  I don't think included you in the email though.  

[Storm the Field 5294]

 

[UTPhil2006 3806]

15 hours ago, UTGrad98 said:

I literally just saw this and emailed y'all before I came here. Thought it might not be real.  I don't think included you in the email though.  

Yep definitely real.  One thing to note from that is they say as low as 2.5% but that isn't exactly realistic pricing without buying 2+ points (we'd not only be doing it for free, we'd be losing money at that number).  2.99/3.0 is the more apt number as of current pricing models.

[KYHorn 17017]

Got an offer for a 15 year refi at 2.7 with closing costs of 3400 rolled in. Will probably be moving in 3-4 years, but months to recoup is about 17. Take it?

[UTPhil2006 3806]

On 5/13/2020 at 11:42 AM, KYHorn said:

Got an offer for a 15 year refi at 2.7 with closing costs of 3400 rolled in. Will probably be moving in 3-4 years, but months to recoup is about 17. Take it?

Pretty solid.  Especially if you stay towards the 4 year end of the spectrum

[Etexhorn13 3045]

Just wanted to throw Phil (and Thad and Danna) some compliments. As first time buyers we probably asked a ton of stupid questions, but he definitely kinda held our hand through the process and made sure we had all the information we needed, and then some. They were awesome protecting our interests against a seller that had some weird shit in the contract and getting us what we asked for pretty much every step of the way. Probably the most important thing to me, anyway, is that we kept waiting for this process to get stressful, and we didn’t have a single day where we were worried about anything. Seriously, if y’all are in Houston call this dude. 

[Catpfish 618]

On 5/9/2020 at 10:22 PM, Wulaw Horn said:

We literally tell all of our buyers multiple times in writing and over the phone not to ever send a wire. We have them sign a disclosure. So does title. I had one get

ripped for $5,000 and I’ve had about a dozen almost fall for it. Very frustrating. 

But isn't/wasn't there a big issue with fraudulent cashier's checks that led to the mass proliferation of wiring for closing.  I seem to recall that (could be erroneous) banks were even placing holds of up to 5-7 days for cashier's checks to clear before they would release the funds and that made them fairly useless for closings that have about 3 days lead times with amounts.

[Wulaw Horn 19068]

1 hour ago, Catpfish said:

But isn't/wasn't there a big issue with fraudulent cashier's checks that led to the mass proliferation of wiring for closing.  I seem to recall that (could be erroneous) banks were even placing holds of up to 5-7 days for cashier's checks to clear before they would release the funds and that made them fairly useless for closings that have about 3 days lead times with amounts.

Maybe?  That's not the issue now. Strictly convenience/worry about carrying a check for a lot of money or hassle for having to go to the bank.  I believe that's where it sits currently, anyway. 

 

[drt 638]

You can have a cashier's check overnighted to your title company for $20, at least if you have Capital One, not sure about other banks.  Seems like a no-brainer.  No need to go into the bank to even get one made out, entire process is online.

[HookEm 2463]

Not sure I mentioned, but my wife is the realtor / broker for our house sale.  We are cleared to close in 2 days, so hopefully it goes through.  Still amazed given where we were a week ago.

Because of the wire fraud, my wife has been talking to all of her co-workers and any other agents she comes across about the issue.  An agent for another firm said that her clients had JUST narrowly avoided a similar scam attempt...

The scammer had mocked up an email exchange between the agent and the title company discussing wiring of closing funds.  The scammer pretended to be the title company and said that there is a lot of confusion about the wire account and that they had received the wrong one and forward the long mocked up correspondence with the "realtor" where they were "arguing" about the specifics.

The client called the realtor and said "I'm tired of all the bickering between you and the title company. The title company says one thing and then another and then you say another. Can y'all please get your shit together?"  The client completely bought that all of the dialog was legit and was close to wiring the funds to the scammer account.

Bottom line is that these guys are VERY good at this.

Also we have learned from the FBI that it is likely the buyers emails that are getting hacked. The thought is that they have thousands of hacked emails from accounts all over the country.  Then they have bots that look for key words like "contract" and "closing" to narrow it down to potential marks.  They strongly advised my wife to stop using words like that in any email correspondence and to keep the titles generic and not real-estate specific.  Not because she could get hacked, but because the recipient might be hacked.

Anyway, food for thought.

[Captainant 27639]

40 minutes ago, HookEm said:

Not sure I mentioned, but my wife is the realtor / broker for our house sale.  We are cleared to close in 2 days, so hopefully it goes through.  Still amazed given where we were a week ago.

Because of the wire fraud, my wife has been talking to all of her co-workers and any other agents she comes across about the issue.  An agent for another firm said that her clients had JUST narrowly avoided a similar scam attempt...

The scammer had mocked up an email exchange between the agent and the title company discussing wiring of closing funds.  The scammer pretended to be the title company and said that there is a lot of confusion about the wire account and that they had received the wrong one and forward the long mocked up correspondence with the "realtor" where they were "arguing" about the specifics.

The client called the realtor and said "I'm tired of all the bickering between you and the title company. The title company says one thing and then another and then you say another. Can y'all please get your shit together?"  The client completely bought that all of the dialog was legit and was close to wiring the funds to the scammer account.

Bottom line is that these guys are VERY good at this.

Also we have learned from the FBI that it is likely the buyers emails that are getting hacked. The thought is that they have thousands of hacked emails from accounts all over the country.  Then they have bots that look for key words like "contract" and "closing" to narrow it down to potential marks.  They strongly advised my wife to stop using words like that in any email correspondence and to keep the titles generic and not real-estate specific.  Not because she could get hacked, but because the recipient might be hacked.

Anyway, food for thought.

Good shit, thanks for the update. Email is a pretty insecure messaging format by default, it's crazy how much it's still used and treated as secure. Granted, it CAN be more secure if you use PGP signing or some other authentication method, but emails are still sent in the clear and can theoretically be intercepted and/or modified by a savvy attacker. Or as you mention, you could just get into the email account that probably has an easy to guess I'd already pwned password. 

If y'all don't already, you should absolutely use a second factor of authentication like a yubikey or RSA/gemalto token (NOT text messages) for signing into your email and other sensitive services 

[Dbeasy 15042]

I spoke with our local Keller Williams office and there was an incident that was caught just in time. Don’t know the specifics.

[UTPhil2006 3806]

On 5/18/2020 at 3:43 PM, HookEm said:

Not sure I mentioned, but my wife is the realtor / broker for our house sale.  We are cleared to close in 2 days, so hopefully it goes through.  Still amazed given where we were a week ago.

Because of the wire fraud, my wife has been talking to all of her co-workers and any other agents she comes across about the issue.  An agent for another firm said that her clients had JUST narrowly avoided a similar scam attempt...

The scammer had mocked up an email exchange between the agent and the title company discussing wiring of closing funds.  The scammer pretended to be the title company and said that there is a lot of confusion about the wire account and that they had received the wrong one and forward the long mocked up correspondence with the "realtor" where they were "arguing" about the specifics.

The client called the realtor and said "I'm tired of all the bickering between you and the title company. The title company says one thing and then another and then you say another. Can y'all please get your shit together?"  The client completely bought that all of the dialog was legit and was close to wiring the funds to the scammer account.

Bottom line is that these guys are VERY good at this.

Also we have learned from the FBI that it is likely the buyers emails that are getting hacked. The thought is that they have thousands of hacked emails from accounts all over the country.  Then they have bots that look for key words like "contract" and "closing" to narrow it down to potential marks.  They strongly advised my wife to stop using words like that in any email correspondence and to keep the titles generic and not real-estate specific.  Not because she could get hacked, but because the recipient might be hacked.

Anyway, food for thought.

Good luck today.  Sounds like all of this should finally be over for you in the next few hours

[UTPhil2006 3806]

On 5/12/2020 at 3:03 PM, UTPhil2006 said:

So, UWM is rolling out a program today called Conventional Conquest, which has rates at or below 3.0% on conventional loans (currently, I'm assuming the program will morph as time/market changes).  I'm assuming there will be a learning curve on our end, but it looks like I can check by address for qualification purposes, and then allows for pricing if anyone wants me to run a quote/availability for them.

Qualifications - Primary/Secondary residence, couldn't have refinanced with UWM in the last 18 months (other lenders such as Caliber, Quicken, etc are eligible now),  no cash outs, conventional loan (conventional loan limit $510,400).  They offer anything from 8-30 years but it looks like the best pricing is for a 30 year.

My email is pdubord@prodigymbo.com if you want me to run things for you.

Just wanted to bump this again since so many of you have emailed/taken advantage of this program. 

[Hefeweizen 5310]

If there is ever a jumbo program like this I would be interested.  For any that haven’t tried Phil and Thad, do it.  They are great to work with.

[whoopspat 1]

So what’s the scoop with jumbos right now? Talked to a friend and it sounds like he ran into some resistance when he was thinking about an offer a week ago. What’s the rate spread between them and conventionals right now?

[Horns99 155]

Closed on our new house on Friday, did a cashiers check made out to the title company, that I got 30 min before our close from my bank. No issues with it at all. Our jumbo was a 30 yr @ 3.45%, w/ no points. Yes,most brokers & others banks can’t do them / are over 5% in the current mkt. I know the company ( regional bank) is still around that rate. PM me if you want the contact info


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hornian 5210]

MAY be in the market for a mortgage if a house in the only neighborhood I’d consider moving for is willing to accept a lowball offer. 
 

I can’t afford it without selling my current home and getting the equity out, but I don’t think a contingent offer will get it done. I’d like to be able to make a “cash offer” and then sell my current house after the purchase of the new one, and then take out a mortgage when I have about 35-40% of the down payment (from my proceeds of sale or current home) so that I could avoid a jumbo loan if I just go with traditional 20% down (humblebrag?).

What do y’all think about these types of services:

https://www.homelight.com/cash-close

https://www.homeward.com/for-agents

[LCHorn 2615]

I don’t think they pay fair market value for your existing residence.  That’s where they make their money (that and a shit ton of fees).  

[MrBig 5385]

Question for realtors in TX.

An old man dies inside his house, presumably of natural causes, but he was dead inside for over a week before he was found. The investigators came inside with hazmat suits (due to potential COVID-19) but the family wanted no autopsy to be done so the death certificate attributes it to natural causes. Does this have to be disclosed to potential buyers?

My understanding is that in Texas, it does NOT have to be disclosed if the death was due to natural causes. 

 

Edited May 24, 2020 by MrBig

[BevoSwag 272]

34 minutes ago, MrBig said:

Question for realtors in TX.

An old man dies inside his house, presumably of natural causes, but he was dead inside for over a week before he was found. The investigators came inside with hazmat suits (due to potential COVID-19) but the family wanted no autopsy to be done so the death certificate attributes it to natural causes. Does this have to be disclosed to potential buyers?

My understanding is that in Texas, it does NOT have to be disclosed if the death was due to natural causes. 

 

It will be disclosed by the neighbors.  After they have moved in

[HRSchenker 2268]

Does anyone have the specific bill number passed by the state last year that relates to property taxes and budget growth? The one where the 3.5% cap is introduced?

[Wulaw Horn 19068]

18 hours ago, Horns99 said:

Closed on our new house on Friday, did a cashiers check made out to the title company, that I got 30 min before our close from my bank. No issues with it at all. Our jumbo was a 30 yr @ 3.45%, w/ no points. Yes,most brokers & others banks can’t do them / are over 5% in the current mkt. I know the company ( regional bank) is still around that rate. PM me if you want the contact info


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That’s an awesome deal. I’ve got one option that’s at like 3.75% which is pretty good in broker world- but that’s fantastic. 

[bluto 4914]

Does anyone have the specific bill number passed by the state last year that relates to property taxes and budget growth? The one where the 3.5% cap is introduced?

It was senate bill 2. Interesting read on it

https://thetexan.news/republican-leaders-oppose-disaster-property-tax-increases-say-loophole-doesnt-apply-to-coronavirus-related-damage/

[UT_OB1 2217]

7 hours ago, hornian said:

MAY be in the market for a mortgage if a house in the only neighborhood I’d consider moving for is willing to accept a lowball offer. 
 

I can’t afford it without selling my current home and getting the equity out, but I don’t think a contingent offer will get it done. I’d like to be able to make a “cash offer” and then sell my current house after the purchase of the new one, and then take out a mortgage when I have about 35-40% of the down payment (from my proceeds of sale or current home) so that I could avoid a jumbo loan if I just go with traditional 20% down (humblebrag?).

What do y’all think about these types of services:

https://www.homelight.com/cash-close

https://www.homeward.com/for-agents

 

4 hours ago, LCHorn said:

I don’t think they pay fair market value for your existing residence.  That’s where they make their money (that and a shit ton of fees).  

According to the website your house gets listed as normal and you get the “excess” above their initial cash loan if it sells for more. They probably make most of their money by fees (And id assume it’s not cheap), but I’d pay close attention to how long they allow the house to be listed before they say “sorry” and you’d don’t get the full value for your old home.

[Dbeasy 15042]

MAY be in the market for a mortgage if a house in the only neighborhood I’d consider moving for is willing to accept a lowball offer. 
 
I can’t afford it without selling my current home and getting the equity out, but I don’t think a contingent offer will get it done. I’d like to be able to make a “cash offer” and then sell my current house after the purchase of the new one, and then take out a mortgage when I have about 35-40% of the down payment (from my proceeds of sale or current home) so that I could avoid a jumbo loan if I just go with traditional 20% down (humblebrag?).
What do y’all think about these types of services:
https://www.homelight.com/cash-close
https://www.homeward.com/for-agents

I know Tim the founder. It’s a legit business, but you have to run the numbers to make sure it works. High price homes might be a challenge.

[Gil Bang 25922]

Question for realtors in TX.

An old man dies inside his house, presumably of natural causes, but he was dead inside for over a week before he was found. The investigators came inside with hazmat suits (due to potential COVID-19) but the family wanted no autopsy to be done so the death certificate attributes it to natural causes. Does this have to be disclosed to potential buyers?

My understanding is that in Texas, it does NOT have to be disclosed if the death was due to natural causes. 

 

I’m not in Texas, however, I urge you to disclose the death. It’s unethical to fail to do so.

[BabaYaga 15289]

Anyone purchased or known a buyer of a cabin(s) in Broken Bow, OK?  Live in N.Texas/DFW area.  Seriously considering as a 2nd home/rental option.  Be curious to hear any feedback:  good and bad?  

[UTPhil2006 3806]

On 5/23/2020 at 8:45 PM, Horns99 said:

Closed on our new house on Friday, did a cashiers check made out to the title company, that I got 30 min before our close from my bank. No issues with it at all. Our jumbo was a 30 yr @ 3.45%, w/ no points. Yes,most brokers & others banks can’t do them / are over 5% in the current mkt. I know the company ( regional bank) is still around that rate. PM me if you want the contact info


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We finally found one that is playing ball on Jumbo's.  We're around 3.5-3.6 depending on LTV and such.

[Gil Bang 25922]

Vic's been playing ball with Jumbos.

[UTGrad98 2271]

Wanted to say thanks to Phil Thad and Danna. Signed the refi closing paperwork tonight. Final totals. 30 year conventional. 2.99% no points. Previously at 4.5%. Cost me about 4k which we rolled into the new loan. I'm saving around 300 a month with my mortgage payments now. Damn once we switched to UWM it went really quick. A sincere thanks to each of you. 

Edited June 2, 2020 by UTGrad98
30 year

[BevoSwag 272]

3 minutes ago, UTGrad98 said:

Wanted to say thanks to Phil Thad and Danna. Signed the refi closing paperwork tonight. Final totals. 2.99% no points. Previously at 4.5%. Cost me about 4k which we rolled into the new loan. I'm saving around 300 a month with my mortgage payments now. Damn once we switched to UWM it went really quick. A sincere thanks to each of you. 

Surly delivers

[Elmer_Fudd 22204]

Closing on our refinance this Friday.  15 year @ 2.75 interest rate locked in.  Bought our house 6 years ago on a 30 year mortgage and refinanced it about 4 years ago so in total have knocked off 9 years.  Unless the wife ( no pics ) is still in the buying a new house mood in a few years.  Perfect world is we stay here and when I retire in almost 15 years house is payed off.

[UTPhil2006 3806]

15 hours ago, UTGrad98 said:

Wanted to say thanks to Phil Thad and Danna. Signed the refi closing paperwork tonight. Final totals. 30 year conventional. 2.99% no points. Previously at 4.5%. Cost me about 4k which we rolled into the new loan. I'm saving around 300 a month with my mortgage payments now. Damn once we switched to UWM it went really quick. A sincere thanks to each of you. 

Yeah UWM flew through that one.  Thanks for the kind words.

[El Tri 412]

56 minutes ago, UTPhil2006 said:

Yeah UWM flew through that one.  Thanks for the kind words.

Thanks for all the help Phil and Thad

[Captainant 27639]

Question for the gang - while closing I looked up the assesed tax value for my house and it was roughly 50% of what its value is, and had been for the last two years. I just got a letter last week from the county that it's taxable value is now what it actually is - which is fair lol

Do I need to contact my title company/escrow servicer and get numbers updated for tax purposes? Or is that something they do for us?

[UTPhil2006 3806]

4 hours ago, Captainant said:

Question for the gang - while closing I looked up the assesed tax value for my house and it was roughly 50% of what its value is, and had been for the last two years. I just got a letter last week from the county that it's taxable value is now what it actually is - which is fair lol

Do I need to contact my title company/escrow servicer and get numbers updated for tax purposes? Or is that something they do for us?

Call the escrow servicer just to be safe so you aren't left with a shortfall.