Our original closing date was August 15, 2012. We did not
close until December 7, 2012. A variety of issues contributed to this delay.
The first delay was on our part. The original contractor
that we wished to use did not meet all of the bank’s requirements and was also
hesitant of the 203(k) process, with all of its rules and regulations.
Therefore, after submitting all of the paperwork and forms for this contractor,
we wound up having to repeat the process with another contractor.
The next delays were due to the homeowners. The two-family
home had been owned by the same family for decades, and the title was in the
names of an older gentleman and his mother. Unfortunately, both were not in
good health. The mother had been sick for a while, apparently suffering from
dementia, and was in a nursing home. The son had recently been diagnosed with
an terminal illness but had deteriorated quickly; soon after we signed a
contract, he was also placed in a medical facility.
This house was a two-family home, and we soon learned that a
third, unrelated party was living in one of the units. We also soon learned
that this man had no intention of vacating the property. After all, why should
he? He was living for free, had no lease, and the owner of the home was
indisposed at another location.
To make a long story short, after applying a lot of
pressure, threatening to back out due to breach of contract (which stated there
were no tenants), we were assured that the man was vacating. However, he
refused to leave until he secured a lease elsewhere in the city. On top of
this, forget the “broom clean” clause in the contract, the owners of the home
left a considerable amount of junk and debris behind.
In the end, it worked out. The “tenant” vacated and we
closed on the home. Thanks to our lawyer (thankfully we chose a great lawyer
for closing) the homeowners had signed an agreement to pay us if certain
conditions weren’t met. For example, daily charges if someone was still living
there after closing, money held in escrow to ensure the place was cleaned out,
etc. As they hadn’t cleaned out the place, we were able to get a bit more money
from them. Additionally, we were demolition the place – after we picked out
some semi-interesting “treasures” from the junk left behind, we planned to have
the rest removed with demolition.
In a way, I’m not sure what was more difficult – the closing
process, or paying for the closing….
Should I state the obvious? New York City is expensive. For
a reason that sometimes only we understand, we pay more for just about
everything (except property taxes!) so it is no surprise that closing costs are
a significant expense to factor in when buying or selling a home.
One of the key reasons that closing costs are higher is the
higher price of real estate. To give you an idea, our closing costs were 3.1%
of the sale price of the home (excluding the cost of renovations). The NYS
Mortgage Tax/Transfer Tax was 68% of this alone. In addition to this, there
was, of course, the downpayment to the bank. Despite being an FHA loan, which
typically requires a very low downpayment, we actually paid around 20% down
because of the size of our loan including the renovation costs. The downpayment
wasn’t too painful at closing since we had already been required to put down
10% when we went into contract, which is customary in NYC.
The other additional cost was that of our lawyer. I’ve heard
prices quoted from friends outside of the city that are a fraction of what we
paid, and I’ve also heard of the bank actually providing a lawyer at
closing. This was not the case for us,
but we were very happy with our lawyer and would definitely recommend him. It
was more expensive than we originally anticipated, but that original
expectation was based on a closing date in August. Since we took four months
longer and there were some road bumps along the way (illegal tenant, anyone?),
the price was understandable.
While the cost of closing was high, we were prepared for it,
and I give credit to our bank in that regard. Wells Fargo’s “Good Faith
Estimate” was well aligned with the costs incurred at closing, and everything
was well explained. In any case, it is always important to do your due
diligence and read everything twice (or ten times). For example, we were
refunded a small chunk of change after closing from insurance that had been
pre-paid at closing; since we obtained our own insurance independently and
showed proof of this, this pre-payment was swiftly returned to us.
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