She’s a single mom with a 6 yr old son. The boy’s father has threatened to sue her for full custody if she takes the kid out of the school district that he’s in now (which I think is in this area). So I think the prime motivation is to not move the kid to a new school at this time.
Yup, she knows the area well. Unfortunately, it sounds like she’s not getting great advice from the realtor and she’s new to the home buying process. For example, he refused to show her any non-foreclosure properties. What’s up with that?
My instincts tell me that prices (like here) are going to decline even more. I think she’d probably be better off renting for one more year and getting better educated about the process vs. expecting her realtor to “take care of her”.
When I pressed her about things like what rate she locked in, who the title company was, what papers has she signed, escrow documents, etc. she didnt know. She said “the realtor has a 6 inch file and told me not to worry about anything.” She was supposed to close over a week ago. As of Friday, she was told “we’re working on it!”
The lender also wanted proof of her $500/mo child support payments and proof that she was her son’s mother.
She’s a first time buyer, trying to buy a home with no money down (FHA) and credit scores in the range of 660-700 (depending on the bureau).
My guess is that the realtor is trying to move this property for some reason (who knows maybe he’s an investor-owner), and cant find a lender to underwrite the loan. But I dont know all of the details.
I just wrote her and advised to try to get out of the purchase if she can. She put down $1500 to open escrow, which she thinks she will lose. I told her if she waits a year the same place may go down to $150K, and to consider the $1500 a lesson learned, sucky as that is.
Also told her to work on her credit scores so she gets the best rate.
I’m not sure she will heed my advice…but I didnt want to tell her that prices will go down if the LV market is diff than here. From what I see online, there is huge standing inventory of new, existing and foreclosures. No bueno, as my gardener says…
