Monday, June 22, 2015
After Such a Long Absence...
Sunday, August 26, 2012
PCS Moves
This doesn't apply to every move. I have never done an international move, and I have heard that, due to increasing budget cuts, do-it-yourself moves are not as profitable as they used to be. But, here are my how-to's and two cents.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Quicken Loans: The Review
I am only reviewing the home mortgage process, I have no experience with their refinancing!
If you look back at my Wells Fargo review, that bank fell extremely short of my expectations. Quicken Loans, on the other hand, made things happen.
We worked with Brian Cook, and, in a one hour phone call, he accomplished more than Wells Fargo did in a month. At first, we just called in for some basic information on their fees and rates. It was the first of the three banks we spoke to that did not try to pressure us or make us feel guilty for shopping around. Brian's exact response was "do whatever's best for you."
The day after we got some quotes, we found out that our current banker at Wells Fargo had left for vacation and would be unavailable for two weeks. That was my last straw before asking my husband to just go through with switching mortgage companies.
Unlike Wells Fargo, Quicken Loans' Brian looked up multiple loans, gave us the rates, details, and explained everything clearly upfront. We made a decision on a type of loan and went forward that day.
Now, the most unsettling issue, though, was the upfront price. They requested $500 to get the process started, but the money was to be used for the total purchase price of the house. It made me uneasy, because we had only given Wells Fargo $11 before everything went downhill, and I was very concerned that having a larger sum of money upfront might kill Quicken Loans' motivation get things moving. I was also afraid that, if everything went sour, we didn't get our loan, or needed to change banks again, then we just lost $500. So, I asked for that fee to be added to my Chase Visa, because, I know from experience that, if there is a dispute, they are very good about getting to the bottom of things and refunding their card holder's money.
It turned out not to be a problem in the long wrong, but I would advise everyone to exercise the same level of caution, just in case. Within the same night, we had access to an online site called myql.com. There, we uploaded all the documents we needed for our application, and, within 48 hours, we were in underwriting. I really liked this online upload site, rather than having to email attachments, because, Wells Fargo would forward attachments around and they would end up lost or corrupted. At Quicken Loans, it was saved into their database so that everyone involved in the loan process went to the same place to get the same access to everything. After the loan closed, myql.com turned into our payment center - no knew accounts, no headaches.
What I also appreciated about Quicken Loans is that they outlined everything upfront. I had my loan number, locked in rate, house information, and everything, right there in myql.com. I could also see what part of the process that I was in, and how many more parts were left to complete before the loan was closed. That's really a great feature that other banks are idiots for not implementing a similar system themselves!
We did run into a problem, however, about two weeks into the process. Due to a lack of specific orders (due to the top secret nature of my husband's work), we were bounced to a specialist. The issue was, apparently, that, because we didn't have orders showing a specific date for relocation to this new state, the bank was unable to green light the loan. It was resolved, easily enough, with a letter from my husband's chain of command. Overall, this bump in the road only took three days to repair, as it were.
After that, it took about another month for the seller (Fannie Mae in this case) to send the title over for review. But, once that was logged, we had the paperwork in hand within a week. After that, we only had to notarize the document, have it returned to Quicken, and we were closed.
A major downside though, was that we were charged to get "points" to get an interest rate, which upped our closing costs by almost $2,000. I'm still not sure what that system is about, but it was a frustration to deal with. That was not likely a Quicken specific issue, but more so due to the fact of the type of loan that we were going with.
Now, I've heard from some reviews that mortgages are sold within three months to other banks, which is frustrating for many. I can't verify whether or not that's true for everyone, but I have not experienced a brokered mortgage thus far.
Overall, Quicken Loans was fast, easy, mostly hassle free, and they delivered on time. I would recommend them, and no, I am not being compensated for this review.
If you look back at my Wells Fargo review, that bank fell extremely short of my expectations. Quicken Loans, on the other hand, made things happen.
We worked with Brian Cook, and, in a one hour phone call, he accomplished more than Wells Fargo did in a month. At first, we just called in for some basic information on their fees and rates. It was the first of the three banks we spoke to that did not try to pressure us or make us feel guilty for shopping around. Brian's exact response was "do whatever's best for you."
The day after we got some quotes, we found out that our current banker at Wells Fargo had left for vacation and would be unavailable for two weeks. That was my last straw before asking my husband to just go through with switching mortgage companies.
Unlike Wells Fargo, Quicken Loans' Brian looked up multiple loans, gave us the rates, details, and explained everything clearly upfront. We made a decision on a type of loan and went forward that day.
Now, the most unsettling issue, though, was the upfront price. They requested $500 to get the process started, but the money was to be used for the total purchase price of the house. It made me uneasy, because we had only given Wells Fargo $11 before everything went downhill, and I was very concerned that having a larger sum of money upfront might kill Quicken Loans' motivation get things moving. I was also afraid that, if everything went sour, we didn't get our loan, or needed to change banks again, then we just lost $500. So, I asked for that fee to be added to my Chase Visa, because, I know from experience that, if there is a dispute, they are very good about getting to the bottom of things and refunding their card holder's money.
It turned out not to be a problem in the long wrong, but I would advise everyone to exercise the same level of caution, just in case. Within the same night, we had access to an online site called myql.com. There, we uploaded all the documents we needed for our application, and, within 48 hours, we were in underwriting. I really liked this online upload site, rather than having to email attachments, because, Wells Fargo would forward attachments around and they would end up lost or corrupted. At Quicken Loans, it was saved into their database so that everyone involved in the loan process went to the same place to get the same access to everything. After the loan closed, myql.com turned into our payment center - no knew accounts, no headaches.
What I also appreciated about Quicken Loans is that they outlined everything upfront. I had my loan number, locked in rate, house information, and everything, right there in myql.com. I could also see what part of the process that I was in, and how many more parts were left to complete before the loan was closed. That's really a great feature that other banks are idiots for not implementing a similar system themselves!
We did run into a problem, however, about two weeks into the process. Due to a lack of specific orders (due to the top secret nature of my husband's work), we were bounced to a specialist. The issue was, apparently, that, because we didn't have orders showing a specific date for relocation to this new state, the bank was unable to green light the loan. It was resolved, easily enough, with a letter from my husband's chain of command. Overall, this bump in the road only took three days to repair, as it were.
After that, it took about another month for the seller (Fannie Mae in this case) to send the title over for review. But, once that was logged, we had the paperwork in hand within a week. After that, we only had to notarize the document, have it returned to Quicken, and we were closed.
A major downside though, was that we were charged to get "points" to get an interest rate, which upped our closing costs by almost $2,000. I'm still not sure what that system is about, but it was a frustration to deal with. That was not likely a Quicken specific issue, but more so due to the fact of the type of loan that we were going with.
Now, I've heard from some reviews that mortgages are sold within three months to other banks, which is frustrating for many. I can't verify whether or not that's true for everyone, but I have not experienced a brokered mortgage thus far.
Overall, Quicken Loans was fast, easy, mostly hassle free, and they delivered on time. I would recommend them, and no, I am not being compensated for this review.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Why I'm Glad to Leave Military Housing
You know you want to watch the drama that is this video. And now I can safely post it because I live a dozen states away from the psycho next door!
Sunday, August 12, 2012
A Real Live Prairie Dog
This is boring, but this was my little friendly neighborhood prairie dog when I lived on post. Cute little fella, I hope the next occupants let the hose faucet drip for him. Good luck li'l guy.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Positive Vloggitive
Through my tags online, I learned about Project Positive after posting this video. Not sure if it qualifies, but, eh, why not?
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Family Fueding
I think this video sums it all up, but, if you have nosy, busybody families, you can relate.
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