S/O refi?

[noodleoo]

We're in the middle of a refi. We're supposed to have the appraisal tomorrow. We had asked a few weeks about if they needed to be in the house and they said yes. Well now I *really* don't want a stranger in our house and my daughter is sick. I send them an email but no reply yet. I can do a FaceTime tour or send lots of pics, whatever, but I *really* don't want them inside our house. Do I have any options?

I thought I saw another thread addressing this but I can't find it.

[farmvillelover]

I'm sure every lender/appraiser has a different policy, but my friend is in the middle of his refi in Los Angeles and had the same concern. They said they could postpone but that his rate lock expired when it expired and the lender wasn't giving extensions on it. So if the appraisal didn't happen in time, my friend had to bear the risk of losing his rate lock. I don't see how that is right, but he went ahead and had the appraiser come anyway. He was there 20 minutes.

[madisen]

noodleoo what kind of loan is it? Conv, FHA, Cash Out?

[madisen]

FNMA and FHLMC are giving some temporary relief on in-home appraisals but with specific requirements and caveats.

If your current lender isn't following those loosening of the guidelines, you can find another lender that is if you can lock in a comparable rate.

[farmvillelover]

Apr 1, 2020 15:14:12 GMT -5 madisen said:

If your current lender isn't following those loosening of the guidelines, you can find another lender that is if you can lock in a comparable rate.

That's the problem. My friend locked the same as me, a 2.625% rate. He's called a few places and they aren't coming at anything at or below 3% right now.

[madisen]

Apr 1, 2020 15:20:03 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

Apr 1, 2020 15:14:12 GMT -5 madisen said:

If your current lender isn't following those loosening of the guidelines, you can find another lender that is if you can lock in a comparable rate.

That's the problem. My friend locked the same as me, a 2.625% rate. He's called a few places and they aren't coming at anything at or below 3% right now.

Yeah, sounds like your friend did his due diligence on that. Not sure when Noodleoo locked or what her rate is though compared to current market.

[noodleoo]

Apr 1, 2020 15:36:59 GMT -5 madisen said:

Apr 1, 2020 15:20:03 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

That's the problem. My friend locked the same as me, a 2.625% rate. He's called a few places and they aren't coming at anything at or below 3% right now.

Yeah, sounds like your friend did his due diligence on that. Not sure when Noodleoo locked or what her rate is though compared to current market.

Yeah we locked in 2.75% on a 15 year right before the Covid19 craziness started. They wrote back and are seeing if we qualify for an exterior only inspection. We should since the loan is only 50% of the house’s current value, but they had said they couldn’t waive it initially. I don’t have masks (he doesn’t either, I already asked). We might just risk it, he said it would take 10 mins.

[marie]

I can see them requiring it if you close to the 80%, but that stinks that they will not waive it if you are at 50%. We are refinancing with the same bank and they waived ours. They did the appraisal on our house 7 or 8 years ago, so maybe that is why? Our loan is 54.5% of the value.

[noodleoo]

Update: they are requiring the interior appraisal. FUCK THEM. All the other lenders we looked at were willing to waive the appraisal entirely, but this bank was the only one I could get through to before they stopped taking new applications. They said it is required because they will be selling our loan. Oh well, he said if we open all the doors and turn all the lights on, he will be in and out in 10 mins. I mostly feel bad because my DD2 is sick with an ear infection and H was sick a few weeks ago and still has a lingering cough. I'm sure it is a regular cold as we've been isolated for almost 3 weeks now, but I feel like this irresponsible on behalf of the bank.

[marie]

noodleoo, That sucks :-( Are you planning to go through with it? I think I would still do it if they required it of me because I already know exactly how much we are saving through the life of the loan on a refi. I would ask him to come with gloves and wearing a mask. Also shoes off before stepping in the house. All open doors and lights on is a good point and will require less contact and touching.

[farmvillelover]

Apr 2, 2020 10:08:10 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Update: they are requiring the interior appraisal. FUCK THEM. All the other lenders we looked at were willing to waive the appraisal entirely, but this bank was the only one I could get through to before they stopped taking new applications. They said it is required because they will be selling our loan. Oh well, he said if we open all the doors and turn all the lights on, he will be in and out in 10 mins. I mostly feel bad because my DD2 is sick with an ear infection and H was sick a few weeks ago and still has a lingering cough. I'm sure it is a regular cold as we've been isolated for almost 3 weeks now, but I feel like this irresponsible on behalf of the bank.

You may want to see if the appraiser is willing to let you facetime with him as YOU walk through your house, and you can take direction from him as to what he/she wants to see etc. My neighbor just did this. I'm not sure it's legit for them to do that but for everyone's sake I feel like this would be safest. I wouldn't want to be going into a house with sick kids and folks (nothing personal) both for the appraiser's sake and your family's.

[noodleoo]

marie, yes, we're going to just do it. This refi will take 3 years off our mortgage, so it is a big deal. We asked but he doesn't have any masks and neither do we. Hopefully it is fast.

farmvillelover, I offered FaceTime or to provide pictures of everything, but he said he is required to do it himself. I think that is nuts and I definitely worded it as for his own safety, but no dice.

Now I'm wondering how we are going to sign all the paperwork with the lawyer when we get to that point. We have 2 kids and I think we both have to sign. There is no way we are taking the kids into their offices. We will see what they say when we get there. Maybe we can take turns while the kids sit in the car.

[hw77]

Awesome that you got 2.75! agree i cant find anyone now even doing 3% so we just were too slow in early march when this all happened!

[farmvillelover]

Apr 2, 2020 12:59:05 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Now I'm wondering how we are going to sign all the paperwork with the lawyer when we get to that point. We have 2 kids and I think we both have to sign. There is no way we are taking the kids into their offices. We will see what they say when we get there. Maybe we can take turns while the kids sit in the car.

Here in CA notaries come to you. I had her drop the documents off and she had us sign her notary book (she put it on the table in our garage and we signed it and gave it back to her). We signed all of the docs and she actually left and came back when we were done. She checked all the docs in her car and called me and said all was good.  So, I'm not sure if this setup is possible for you. Even with me and H signing efficiently it took literally 45min to sign everything. My kids would've been breaking out of the car if I tried to have them wait that long, hopefully you have better luck or can work something easier out.

[mplsmom23]

We’re in MN and closed on a refi last week. The notary came to us. We set up a table outside, he stood more than 6 feet away and walked us through what to sign, and used his hand sanitizer before and after. He checked all the paperwork in the car and let us know we were good to go. It took about 30 minutes. I was nervous but willing to do it for 2.5% on a 15 year!

We did not need an appraisal.

[madisen]

Needing to have an attorney present at signing is state specific. Mobile/traveling notaries are more accommodating to the current situation. Not sure how the attorney states are doing actually.

[broadsheet]

We are closing next week on our refi and are doing it via Zoom! I am picking up the packet (curbside) ahead of time then my H and I will sign everything from home while Zooming with the title company. Crazy but I appreciate it.

[lessel]

Apr 2, 2020 12:59:05 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

marie , yes, we're going to just do it. This refi will take 3 years off our mortgage, so it is a big deal. We asked but he doesn't have any masks and neither do we. Hopefully it is fast.

farmvillelover , I offered FaceTime or to provide pictures of everything, but he said he is required to do it himself. I think that is nuts and I definitely worded it as for his own safety, but no dice.

Now I'm wondering how we are going to sign all the paperwork with the lawyer when we get to that point. We have 2 kids and I think we both have to sign. There is no way we are taking the kids into their offices. We will see what they say when we get there. Maybe we can take turns while the kids sit in the car.

We just had this issue last week. DH signed a limited POA for me to sign all the refi docs. The notary came to our house, next door neighbor witnessed--all on our front porch, everyone brought their own pens.

Then I went to the attorney's office to sign all the paperwork. Just me and the attorney in his office, we kept our distance, brought my own pen, he had hand sanitizer everywhere and had clearly just cleaned off the table where I signed.