[Former SD resident]

has anyone used goodmortgage.com? saw them on the mortgageprofessors.com website, so far they have the best rate of 3.99% with 4K credit, but they have mixed reviews online. trying to follow the advice of if sounds too good to be true it is, but then again HLS said it may be possible to get 3.875% no cost loan.

[Former SD resident]

Do you have to be a member of PenFed to get those rates? Also, tried calling Absolute Mortage and they are not licensed in NC. Does anyone have any names for me? Thanks

[Former SD resident]

Can anyone recommend their broker? I’m in North Carolina so I can’t use HLS.

[Former SD resident]

I didn’t know that. I’ll have to contact him to see if he can help us.

[Former SD resident]

Again, thank you HLS! We didn’t originally pick BAC, we went through a broker and that’s who we got. Right now I’m getting quotes from Mortgage Capital in LA and Quicken Loans. Do you know of a great broker/bank that will do loans in NC?

[Former SD resident]

1. 5.125% and 265K (with 20% equity)
2. We are pretty sure will only be here for a few more years at most. We are actively trying to get back to Socal, hubby just needs to get a job first. It was So much easier to get out of Calfornia then to get back (hind sight is 20/20).
3. Not really interested in an ARM. While we don’t think we’ll be here much longer you never know what can happen, a lot of things have happened in the last year that proves you can make all the plans you want but then life gets in the way. So we’d like to stick with a 30 yr (though we could easily afford a 15 yr). We don’t want to get in a situation where were stuck here and then our loan adjusts. I just think these interest rates are crazy and don’t know how they can last.

I really should have refi’d sooner, but we thought we’d be moving (a few times actually) and didn’t want to go through the hassle. It’s entirely possible that my husband could find a job in a few months and we’d move so I’m fine with taking a loan at a % a little higher than the best rate just to have no costs. I’m going to try to call our current mortgage servicer (BAC) again to see if they’ll adjust the rate. I’ve heard some banks will do that if they’ll lose the loan.

Thanks again for your input.

[Former SD resident]

Thanks HLS! Think I’ll look into this as we don’t really want to pay anything out of pocket and only plan to stay in our current home for a few more years.

[Former SD resident]

thanks

[Former SD resident]

[quote=AN][quote=enron_by_the_sea]Where will the new school be?[/quote]
Corner of Parkdale and Flanders, next to Maddox Park.[/quote]

WOW finally building something there. I grew up in MM and always thought that be a good spot for a school. Surprised that lot is still open (haven’t been by in almost 10 years).

[Former SD resident]

UCGal: thanks for your post. We are considering school districts and still have a lot of research to do, but it does seem like there is a lot more support for the suggested therapies in SoCal than NC. Also, as you stated,family being near by would be a huge plus. We never truly appreciated how difficult it would be raise a children so far from our support network. We’ve made friends here but it’s not the same as life long friends and family.

Flu: Thanks for your thoughtful post. and I’ll address your questions.
1) No we really can not afford 20-30K/year ongoing. We figure we can afford it for a few years by cutting our spending and tapping our savings, but then what? what happens if our second child needs something too.
2) a quick back of the envelope calculation would be out of pocket worst case senerio 24K and best around 15K. still a lot for us.
3) this is a big one for me. I’ve tried talking it over with my husband and have told him many many times that I want him to be happy and if he doesn’t want to take a lower level or paying job I’m ok with that and we’ll figure out a way to make it work. He’s response is always, he doesn’t want to talk about it and that we can have that discussion when/if he gets the job. But I don’t understand why he’d want to go through the hassle if he decides he doesn’t want to take the job. I know that he really wants to move back to CA too and has said it’s been a bruise to his ego that its taking so long, but he won’t really discuss jobs much more than that. I will say though that he is very unhappy at his current employer, he likes what he does, but not the people or politics he works with.
4) we’re not too concerned with that, but it would be nice if it worked out. we’ll also be selling a home in NC at a little lost (no where new CA levels), but it would be nice to buy where prices are down and while interest rates are low too. also, if we do get back to SoCal, I can’t imagine we’d ever leave again.

I’ll repeat what I said above to UCGal. Being closer to family is a huge motivating factor. Even before the dx we were hoping to move back, we just were not in a hurry, but with all this added stress it would be really nice to have our support network close. Even having a date night or help with the kids when one of us is sick would be huge. I know we have a lot to think about. I appreciate all your thoughts.

[Former SD resident]

Thanks for the reply profhoff. FYI my husbands current take home pay is 125K plus options, pension (and this is in NC) so it’d be a 15-30% pay cut. We feel we could live with the 15% cut, but not the 30%. We are originally from San Diego and have a lot of support there. It’s so hard to be across the country with no support, 2 little ones (27 months and 8 months) and one having special needs. Just trying to talk it out and wondering if we are the only ones who would consider such a drastic move. I will definitely research all our options before we make such a decision, but SD would be such an easy place to move back too. Every time we get off the plane for a visit it feels like home and is so hard to leave. Also, I do plan to go back to work in a few years and still have a lot of professional contacts in the area so it may be easier for me to find a job there too. Thanks again!

[Former SD resident]

[quote=sdrealtor][quote=dd123][quote=sdrealtor]Exactly! People in other parts of the country truly get to enjoy playing golf all year, driving to the mountains for great skiing, world class surfing, mountain biking, hiking, weekends in vegas/palm desert/napa etc. We have none of that here to enjoy;)[/quote]

I get your sarcasm:-)
But reality is: People here work to pay off mortgage not to live/enjoy making double income family a necessity[/quote]

That is your reality not everyone’s here. You paint a broad brush….too broad.

Life is about trade offs. Texas has lousy weather, much higher real estate taxes, an under current of prejudice (no just racial but against them damn yankees) and limited access to high quality recreational pursuits. Carolina has much of that and other issues. I have lived other less expensive places and am willing to make the trade offs to live here. If you dont value what you get here, its probably not the right place for you and there are other places you might enjoy more. No wrongs or rights…just different strokes for different folks.[/quote]

I agree sdr and have experince with the Carolina’a. My husband and I grew up in SD and left 4 years ago for a “better” quality of life in North Carolina. At first it was ok but after having 2 kids being so far away from Family, Friends and everything we knew it has gotten to us. There really is no place like SD and we are actively trying to get home. While the homes are cheap, relatively speaking, and there is plenty to do, not nearly as much as SD, the long summers SUCK, tons of bugs, we are so ready to be back in SD. Now that prices are down we look forward to buying a home in SD when we make it back there.

[Former SD resident]

[quote=LAAFTERHOURS]I have used Upack on two cross country moves bc we were not paid moving expenses on either occasion. I dont know if i would use it now (more stuff and nicer stuff) but it worked well for what it was.

Upack drops a truck (without the cab) in front of your home. You have a set amount of time to have it packed and you put up a lockable partition once you are finished. They pick it up, pack the rest of the truck with freight going to your destination area (this contributes to the lower cost) and move it across the country. You unpack it when it gets there.

We packed the home ourselves and hired professional movers to move all our stuff out of the home, pack the truck and unpack it on the other end.

In two moves, we lost only one vase and has scratches on one piece of furniture. We put tarps over top of everything to protect our stuff just in case.

Sounds like a lot of hassel but it went smoothly on both occasions and usually saves a lot of money. Picked up movers via emove i believe.[/quote]

Thanks! I already got an instant quote from them and they definitely seem resonable if that’s really their price($4500 Coast-Coast w/o loading which I figure is an extra $1K on each end). Still have more to check out, but they seem promising.

[Former SD resident]

[quote=LAAFTERHOURS]I have used Upack on two cross country moves bc we were not paid moving expenses on either occasion. I dont know if i would use it now (more stuff and nicer stuff) but it worked well for what it was.

Upack drops a truck (without the cab) in front of your home. You have a set amount of time to have it packed and you put up a lockable partition once you are finished. They pick it up, pack the rest of the truck with freight going to your destination area (this contributes to the lower cost) and move it across the country. You unpack it when it gets there.

We packed the home ourselves and hired professional movers to move all our stuff out of the home, pack the truck and unpack it on the other end.

In two moves, we lost only one vase and has scratches on one piece of furniture. We put tarps over top of everything to protect our stuff just in case.

Sounds like a lot of hassel but it went smoothly on both occasions and usually saves a lot of money. Picked up movers via emove i believe.[/quote]

Thanks! I already got an instant quote from them and they definitely seem resonable if that’s really their price($4500 Coast-Coast w/o loading which I figure is an extra $1K on each end). Still have more to check out, but they seem promising.

[Former SD resident]

[quote=LAAFTERHOURS]I have used Upack on two cross country moves bc we were not paid moving expenses on either occasion. I dont know if i would use it now (more stuff and nicer stuff) but it worked well for what it was.

Upack drops a truck (without the cab) in front of your home. You have a set amount of time to have it packed and you put up a lockable partition once you are finished. They pick it up, pack the rest of the truck with freight going to your destination area (this contributes to the lower cost) and move it across the country. You unpack it when it gets there.

We packed the home ourselves and hired professional movers to move all our stuff out of the home, pack the truck and unpack it on the other end.

In two moves, we lost only one vase and has scratches on one piece of furniture. We put tarps over top of everything to protect our stuff just in case.

Sounds like a lot of hassel but it went smoothly on both occasions and usually saves a lot of money. Picked up movers via emove i believe.[/quote]

Thanks! I already got an instant quote from them and they definitely seem resonable if that’s really their price($4500 Coast-Coast w/o loading which I figure is an extra $1K on each end). Still have more to check out, but they seem promising.

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