Lucy, my Mom listed her house in a small town in MN (even smaller than yours), so I've been looking at the RE listings in her area. I know exactly what you mean about slim pickings! Mom listed at $165K, and there are hardly any listings near that price. There are old/tiny houses for less than $100K, and there are lake properties for $300K+. I suggest you do one of two things: either keep renting, and save as much as you can (dump your car and student loan amounts into savings), or change your expectations. You might not find your dream house in your community right away, but can you find a house you could live with for 5 years? Another possibility is to buy property, but wait to build. If the property is paid for, it counts as equity when you go to build.

This is an interesting thread. JJfrisco, congratulations on finding your way through the labyrinth to a closing. I wish I did not know that your story was all too normal and accepted in this industry. The mortgage industry, like all businesses has more than its fair share of "get rich quick at the customer's expense" members. In the last five years there was a large influx of people into the mortgage marketplace because of the promise of quick easy big money. Many of these people attended no formal training and worked in environments where the quota of closes was more important than the long term quality of those transactions. Many less than prime credit customers are now feeling the impact of these closings. Who is to blame? There is not a simple answer to this question. Is it the fault of the Government who allowed 105% loans with no income documentation on investment property? Is it the fault of the Market, who bought up every sub-prime 100% stated negative amortization loan they could get because of the potential ROI? Is it the fault of the Lenders who continued to ease qualifications to get a loan so that a borrower in California could buy a million dollar home with no proof of income, no down payment, no closing costs, and run a 1% payment on a negative amortization loan for 5 years then walk away? Is it the fault of the brokers who provided loans, not consulting for their clients so they could make as much money as possible? Is it the fault of speculators who snapped up every home that came on the market for more and more money in order to take advantage of the value bubble they created? Is it the fault of the Loan Officers or Bankers themselves for taking advantage of the lax market rules to make six or seven figure incomes? Is it the fault of the customer for being so uninvolved in the process that they often close a loan without ever reading the loan documents they are signing? Yes. The current market is the result of all these things and many more. I have had the privilege to lead and grow some very fine sales people who are or were in the mortgage industry. I have been involved with Lenders and Brokers. I have written and executed the training for Bankers. I have run and do run a financial mortgage company where the customers true needs are examined first and then, if it makes sense, we look at a mortgage product. The consultation and discovery or development of a long term plan for home ownership, not home renter-ship is the driving force in what we do. That is not the norm, especially in a market like this where every potential customer could make or break your career. What I can tell you is: 1. Brokers or Lenders are for profit companies. The difference between lenders and brokers if that a broker must show you the Yield Spread Premium (YSP) on the closing documents; the lender does not. YSP is the premium that is being paid by the market based on the desirability of the loan. This is money paid to the lender or broker when the loan is securitized and is a portion of the money you will pay over the life of the loan. YSP is how you accomplish a no closing cost loan. The lender simply offsets the closing costs that can be paid by the lender (which ones can not be depends on the state rules) often times with a higher rate than you would get if you paid closing costs. In these loans you need to look at how long you intend on being in the home. Take the difference in payment between the standard loan and the no closing cost loan and determine how long you will make payments before you would have been better off to pay the closing costs. Brokers make their loans as the middle man. They create relationships with few or many lenders and are bound by the lenders rates and qualifications. The underwriting of your loan happens at the lender. Lenders make their loans based on guidelines established by the market that they are selling into for servicing and the rules on their lines of credit. In most cases a lender will not retain your loan for the life of the loan. They will sell it to another company to service the loan (receive the payments, interest and fees) so they can recover their cost of funds. Many times a lender will act like a broker by sending your loan to several other lenders who can provide servicing prior to closing. This is done to ensure they have a buyer for the loan before they grant the closing. Everything clear as mud now? Yes it is a very fine line between them. Having been involved with both I can clearly state that there are advantages and disadvantages to both. It comes down to who has the real deal for you. Both are worth looking at. As for lead sites, which took a good part of this thread in the middle, lead aggregators are all over the Internet. Do a search for get a loan. These sites seem to promise you delivery of a certain product or rate and then turn the information you place in their hands into a lead. This lead can be handled by the company itself or sold to the open market as a commodity (sometimes both). Brokers and Lenders buy these leads and then begin the process of trying to get in touch with you and take you out of the market before anyone else does. Some companies will tell you anything you want to hear to get you to say you will go with them. They count on the fact that once you get involved you will be too far down the line and too frustrated to change. This is not the right way to do business, but that does not stop many from doing it so they can get results. Some sites will tell you that up to four lenders will contact you, this turns into weeks, months maybe even years of calls as your information gets re-circulated through multiple sites as a new lead. This is not all sites, but some. 2. As a borrower you should take the time to make sure of whom you are dealing with. Who are they? How long have they been in the business? How do they conduct their business? Are they acting in a way that makes you feel that they are interested in your overall financial picture and a plan for the future or are they only interested in closing the loan? What is their rating on the State Department of Banking and Finance? If there is a blemish can they explain this to your satisfaction (after all not all complaints are justified, some are just venting). How did they deal with the complaint? Does that seem reasonable and professional? Just because the company is a known name does not mean that you are dealing with someone who knows the difference between a GFE and a credit authorization. I have dealt with many national banks where I wound up showing the loan officer how to use the computer system to determine a debt ratio (once I had to explain what a debt ratio was that deal was never done needless to say). 3. In this market the program requirements are changing almost hourly. Appraisals are now coming under heavy review for any potential of adjustments or depressed markets. Programs from Lenders and the Government are a moving target. Take a walk around the neighborhood (your if you are refinancing, the target if you are buying). How many homes are there? Are they all similar in size? How many homes are for sale? How long have they been for sale? Are there any foreclosures in the area (this will impact you!)? 4. Rates are pretty much where they have been for the last three years, for prime confirming borrowers (80% loan with full income documentation and credit above 680) between 5% and 7%. What is changing is who you have to be and what you have to prove to get those rates. Your profile is made up of your credit (score and history), the collateral (the property itself - value, comparables and likely time to sell if the lender has to eat the loan) and your capacity to pay (how much do you make a year, how long have you made it and how much do you have in liquid assets). So, please do your homework. Gather your bills, bank statements and pay stubs and really work out where you are before you start. Look at the person AND the company you are doing business with. Decide on a reasonable amount of profit that you are willing to pay for the service. Tell your service provider what that is up front and be willing to negotiate it based on great service. Decide if you are willing to pay for that service up front as a closing cost or over time in a higher payment. Remember that sometimes if it seems too good to be true, you may have found one of the rare individuals that is truly gifted in his or her craft and that they may have an insight that average loan officers may not care to find. As I have said, I have worked with a few very talented people in this industry and those who actually care about the customer, rather than the payday, are a jewel to be treasured. Poor service should be reported to the Department of Banking and Finance in that state. Other complaint data can be given to the BBB and posted on sites like this.

That $1000 warranty request may be a red herring to get seller's focus off the *big* stuff, or it may be a greedy buyer who has unreasonable expectations of how much he can squeeze out of a seller. For $1000, a buyer can load up a *service agreement* (these things aren't warranties, since they don't warrant anything, they just provide for repair or replacement of non-functioning systems & appliances at builder grade) with all kinds of coverages that drive up the cost & don't add much value. You can add fridges, washing machines, clothes dryers, etc, but the fees for adding them are high in relation to the amount the buyer would get for the appliance, so people usually don't ask for or offer those coverages. & ncreguy has a point: asking *your* agent to 'chip in' to appease a greedy buyer is tacky... plus it means that you aren't doing your 'seller's job' of working out the negotiations, plus it's counter-productive. The more you appease a buyer on something like this, the harder a position the buyer (in my experience) is likely to take. If things struggle to an impasse & any agent needs to 'chip in', let the buyer's agent think about that. I wish you the best.

During a poor response despite multiple showings and price reductions, a buyer made an offer on 5/8/15 and insisted on 5/29 closing, giving us just three weeks to move contents of our house in NJ to a couple of new town homes in Blaine WA, one primarily to use as storage while we build a new home nearby; we had to pay extra to the moving company to expedite the move, three day packing and two day load ending on 5/28. The sale contract had a mortgage contingency however in "Sufficient Assets" section there was mention that buyer will need funds from his home sale, that was under contract and the contract was verified by my realtor however there was no contingency clause in our contract for his home sale. Buyer's mortgage was approved shortly, which was only for $100k since he expected to use entire proceeds of his home sale to purchase mine. Then one week prior to scheduled closing date, my realtor informed me the buyer's buyer walked and that my buyer signed release to his buyer (God only knows why). My realtor prepared an extention to the contract since the buyer had capacity to take an additional loan which would need around three weeks and his mortgage company agreed to the loan, subject to underwriting. In the meantime I also agreed to make allowances to fix the driveway and had a couple of other things fixed which were reported in inspection, whilst the painful home contents move occured. This morning the realtor called me to say the buyer is not interested in purchasing the home (no reasons given) and sent me a release form to sign (I have not signed), so $10,000 ernest money may be released to the buyer. I'm at loss if I should fight for a piece of $10k or just let it go. Other complications and inconveniences due to an earlier 5/29 move is that I had to move to WA in April since my client insisted I start; my wife stayed behind to deal with the movers and to wait on her business sale closing, scheduled around 6/13. She is so stressed out, is currently staying in a hotel, whilst the home is empty and devoid of any furniture, all of which would have been tolerable had the home sale gone through. I think this is the biggest screwup we've been involved in, since I moved to the US some 18 years ago. I can't believe it happened to us. Can't wait for her to join me on 6/20. I think we'll spend the following weekend in Vegas just to help release her stress; at this time I really could not care about much else. All this, to be closer to our daughter and her family especially a granddaughter and second one on the way; yeah a silver lining to a cloud.