Now that I Matched -> Any advice on lenders for mortgages?

chuck deli said:

In my preliminary calling around to banks/lenders it seems there is a variety of what I call "odd requirements" that lenders are asking for. One lender really wanted my residency contract (which I'm guessing I won't receive for several weeks, does anyone know????). Another had a rule that I could not close no closer than within 30 days of my official start day. Another needed definitive evidence that I could defer my loans for my entire residency (which is impossible given the ever-changing student loan regulations and the fact that economic deferment is an annual process). Have others run into similar mortgage requirements? How are you dealing with such issues?

Sorry, I'm new at this whole mortgage/home buying world

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I went with the Bank of America Doctor's Loan... We close in 36 hours... its been a long process! Let me know if there are any questions I can answer for you... while it is all fresh in my mind!

chuck deli said:

In my preliminary calling around to banks/lenders it seems there is a variety of what I call "odd requirements" that lenders are asking for. One lender really wanted my residency contract (which I'm guessing I won't receive for several weeks, does anyone know????). Another had a rule that I could not close no closer than within 30 days of my official start day. Another needed definitive evidence that I could defer my loans for my entire residency (which is impossible given the ever-changing student loan regulations and the fact that economic deferment is an annual process). Have others run into similar mortgage requirements? How are you dealing with such issues?

Sorry, I'm new at this whole mortgage/home buying world

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1. I too need to provide my residency contract for Bank of America. I asked them to provide a "dummy contract," which is the same contract, but only signed by myself and the program director. This is valid for the Bank, but not for the hospital. With BOA, they allow you to close 60 days from start day.

2. You can enter forbearance for 3 years, and you at least have 1 year of economic hardship deferment. Will they accept forbearance?

CorpusERdoc said:

1. I too need to provide my residency contract for Bank of America. I asked them to provide a "dummy contract," which is the same contract, but only signed by myself and the program director. This is valid for the Bank, but not for the hospital. With BOA, they allow you to close 60 days from start day.

2. You can enter forbearance for 3 years, and you at least have 1 year of economic hardship deferment. Will they accept forbearance?

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[sorry to impose on the EM mortgage thread...i'm gonna admit up front i'm not going into EM but you guys have such an informative thread that i felt bad about starting a new one in the surgery forum!]

I'm being dense probably but the 60 days --- is that 60 days before start day?

I have been calling banks and basically...the state i'm moving to isn't eligible for BOA cuz it's not on their list of states they do mortgage lending under the doctor's program. And the banks who do loan in that state that i've been in contact with are ok with having contract in hand -- but require that closing be at least one day *after* the start of my contract. Which makes things interesting from a moving perspective.

Is this just me being shafted by US Bank? Or does Suntrust and the other banks people have worked with also forced closing after start of contract?

XoQo said:

[sorry to impose on the EM mortgage thread...i'm gonna admit up front i'm not going into EM but you guys have such an informative thread that i felt bad about starting a new one in the surgery forum!]

I'm being dense probably but the 60 days --- is that 60 days before start day?

I have been calling banks and basically...the state i'm moving to isn't eligible for BOA cuz it's not on their list of states they do mortgage lending under the doctor's program. And the banks who do loan in that state that i've been in contact with are ok with having contract in hand -- but require that closing be at least one day *after* the start of my contract. Which makes things interesting from a moving perspective.

Is this just me being shafted by US Bank? Or does Suntrust and the other banks people have worked with also forced closing after start of contract?

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I was told I could close the month before residency starts. I start June 23, so they say I can close as early as May 1.

XoQo said:

Or does Suntrust and the other banks people have worked with also forced closing after start of contract?

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Suntrust let me close before the start of residency.

Shodddy18 said:

I went with the Bank of America Doctor's Loan... We close in 36 hours... its been a long process! Let me know if there are any questions I can answer for you... while it is all fresh in my mind!

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How in god's name did you pull that off? Did you apply in only one location or what?

How did you find a house that quick?

Are you guys planning on staying at your residency location when you're done? 4 years is typically the 'break even' point for buying vs renting, and that is assuming the property appreciates 3% each year. I would love to buy, but I would lose money after 3 years unless I am missing something....don't forget when you sell you pay 6% realtor's fees and you will pay closing costs on either the purchase or sale....

Bigbaitbigfish said:

Are you guys planning on staying at your residency location when you're done? 4 years is typically the 'break even' point for buying vs renting, and that is assuming the property appreciates 3% each year. I would love to buy, but I would lose money after 3 years unless I am missing something....don't forget when you sell you pay 6% realtor's fees and you will pay closing costs on either the purchase or sale....

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Yes, I do think there is a possibility I will stay. I'm in a four year program, so even if I don't then I still have enough time in the property to break even unless things crash. I'm renting in a pretty stable market and I imagine home prices will be back up in four years, but that's anyone's guess. If they are not and I have to move then I might consider renting the place out. I'm OK with paying a premium to own because I hate renting so much.

agree with WaW as above, although financially-speaking buying may not be the smartest idea in the world, emotional factors outwayed financial factors. Renting sucks. Plus I'm sick of shared walls. But after this house I'll be making an attending salary, so the couple of thousand dollars of potential loss in this home can more easily be absorbed.

Yep, the emotional factor is a bid deal....after I said all that, I'd still love to buy, and just might. If we rent, it will be a house with a fenced yard, etc.

Just some more info...

Go to Bankrate.com, they will have the lowest mortgage rates listed against each other, and places that dont have B+M stores (so you would never know unless you looked).

After getting the top 3 lenders, call all three and make them compete for your money.

Its pretty basic, you really do need to state the following...
"is that the best interest rate you can give me?" then follow up with
"I'm going to call X and X banks, if they can beat that then I'll let you know and see if you will match or beat their offers"

My mortgage dropped 2% after doing that by email/voicemail.

I dated a girl whose mom owned a lending Co. Trust me, they have a TON of room to negotiate.

I personally went with compass bank, who doesn't have anything nearby. Did it all over the phone.

Lastly, there may be a complex that "all the residents live at" which you could probably buy from WITHOUT a realtor.

For example: In Charlotte, about 15 residents all have condos in the same complex (close to work, affordable, the right size), year after year, residents sell/buy here. In this instance its easy enough to look at the 5 or 10 condos on the market, and put a bid on it (plenty of people to ask about the area etc), plus most are sold via flyers sent out with the "incoming resident" packet.

If you are going to look all around a city, buy a larger house, etc, I'd use a realtor if you are not familiar with the city etc, as it is very easy to get cought up in bad places, investments etc.

Bigbaitbigfish said:

Yep, the emotional factor is a bid deal....after I said all that, I'd still love to buy, and just might. If we rent, it will be a house with a fenced yard, etc.

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Owning has a lot of other fringe benefits that I wonder if people take into account when they compare renting vs. buying: tax write offs, HELOCs, easier to get better rates on other credit, cheaper car insurance, checking/savings accounts benefits, etc. All that stuff adds up.

WallowaWanderer said:

Owning has a lot of other fringe benefits that I wonder if people take into account when they compare renting vs. buying: tax write offs, HELOCs, easier to get better rates on other credit, cheaper car insurance, checking/savings accounts benefits, etc. All that stuff adds up.

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....maintenance, pest control, plumbing, carpets, new a/c compressor, new roof

Don't ask me how I know....

An update on my mortgage search...

I called Compass Bank and on the phone they said I had to live in a state with a branch in order to get a mortgage. However, I guess that's not true. I just got an email from the famous Drew Daniels (if you read that old mortgage thread, you'll know about his fan club). If you contact him([email protected]), he said his no money down, 0 PMI doctor's loan is available in all 50 states. I don't know about rates because I haven't gotten that far in the process. I am just happy I finally found someone who will offer the doctor's loan in my state.

I found out about Drew Daniels through physicianlending.com (physician relocation services). I filled out their online application yesterday afternoon and was impressed with how quickly they responded. I got emails by 6 pm that same day. I filled out the online application for physicianloans.com a couple days ago and still haven't heard anything back. They claim a 24 hour response time. Yeah... right...

Here is a compiled list of doctor's loan websites I have tried or looked at:

www.physicianlending.com
www.physicianloans.com
www.physicianlender.com
www.mortgagesforphysicians.com (lists states where BofA offers doctor's loans)

Look carefully through the websites to see which states they are licenced in.

Also, if you have good credit scores (you should know yours first, myfico.com), the famous "Doctor Loans" are nothing really to look at. I had several loans from other companies that beat the "doctor loans". I know it has a comfortable name, but at the end of the day, you need several companies competing for your $, make them work.

Seriously, do NOT feel uncomfortable telling a loan officer the rates etc and that you want them to beat them, its the ONLY way you are going to get a "deal" when shopping for mortgages.

And DON'Tfeel pressured, take your time and trust me, if you need the $ ASAP, they can have it to you realatively quick. Most closings take time as well, so its NOT a pressure situation, make them WORK for your $.

TysonCook said:

Also, if you have good credit scores (you should know yours first, myfico.com), the famous "Doctor Loans" are nothing really to look at. I had several loans from other companies that beat the "doctor loans". I know it has a comfortable name, but at the end of the day, you need several companies competing for your $, make them work.

Seriously, do NOT feel uncomfortable telling a loan officer the rates etc and that you want them to beat them, its the ONLY way you are going to get a "deal" when shopping for mortgages.

And DON'Tfeel pressured, take your time and trust me, if you need the $ ASAP, they can have it to you realatively quick. Most closings take time as well, so its NOT a pressure situation, make them WORK for your $.

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My spouse and I have excellent credit scores. The problem is that we don't have the extra cash for a downpayment (even though I am finishing residency), not to mention closing costs. All other lenders I've researched now require a minimum of a 3% downpayment and then they still make you pay PMI. That's why I'm looking at the doctor's loans.... not for the best rate... it's for the 0 down payment and 0 PMI. My other option is to rent while we save up and then move again... and I don't want to do that.

I totally agree that if you have the cash for downpayment, you should look at other options besides the doctor's loans. But, at least for my situation, the doctor's loan is better than renting.

I'm in the same situation- excellent credit (>750) but no cash for a downpayment. I'm shopping around for a 5/1 ARM with no down payment. We'll see what happens...

Mutt22 said:

My spouse and I have excellent credit scores. The problem is that we don't have the extra cash for a downpayment (even though I am finishing residency), not to mention closing costs. All other lenders I've researched now require a minimum of a 3% downpayment and then they still make you pay PMI. That's why I'm looking at the doctor's loans.... not for the best rate... it's for the 0 down payment and 0 PMI. My other option is to rent while we save up and then move again... and I don't want to do that.

I totally agree that if you have the cash for downpayment, you should look at other options besides the doctor's loans. But, at least for my situation, the doctor's loan is better than renting.

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XoQo said:

[sorry to impose on the EM mortgage thread...i'm gonna admit up front i'm not going into EM but you guys have such an informative thread that i felt bad about starting a new one in the surgery forum!]

I'm being dense probably but the 60 days --- is that 60 days before start day?

I have been calling banks and basically...the state i'm moving to isn't eligible for BOA cuz it's not on their list of states they do mortgage lending under the doctor's program. And the banks who do loan in that state that i've been in contact with are ok with having contract in hand -- but require that closing be at least one day *after* the start of my contract. Which makes things interesting from a moving perspective.

Is this just me being shafted by US Bank? Or does Suntrust and the other banks people have worked with also forced closing after start of contract?

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Yeah, BOA is 60 days prior to day 1.

Bigbaitbigfish said:

Are you guys planning on staying at your residency location when you're done? 4 years is typically the 'break even' point for buying vs renting, and that is assuming the property appreciates 3% each year. I would love to buy, but I would lose money after 3 years unless I am missing something....don't forget when you sell you pay 6% realtor's fees and you will pay closing costs on either the purchase or sale....

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Most doctor's loans have no down payment and allow the seller to pay the closing costs. I'm paying nothing upfront.

I live in an area that is easy to sell homes, but I'd like to stay here after I'm done...

CorpusERdoc said:

Most doctor's loans have no down payment and allow the seller to pay the closing costs. I'm paying nothing upfront.

I live in an area that is easy to sell homes, but I'd like to stay here after I'm done...

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I meant you'll lose closing costs on one side of it, not necessarily the purchase. If I were moving to the TX coast, you better believe I would be buying....

Just a word of caution. My experience was dramatically different from most people's in dealing with Compass Bank and Drew Daniels. This is a long story, but the short version is that I'm never using Compass Bank again.

Initially, I got great service, was very reassured by how quickly everything moved along, they were great. I was working more with his assistant Jennifer, but Drew had given me his cell phone number. We, too, were in a very narrow window for a closing date and Jennifer had given me a specific date we needed to have an offer accepted by in order to close and move in before residency started. That was helpful, and we got everything settled several days before. Because of the crappy housing market (this was two years ago) we were able to negotiate to have some money for improvements to the house and all closing costs paid for by the seller. We specified some percentage (4%? I forget now) and all extra money above and beyond the home improvement escrow fund + the closing costs was supposed to go into another escrow fund to cover the first year of property taxes. The seller was agreeable and we went into closing.

The night before the closing, we went to do the walkthrough and my realtor says, "The title company hasn't gotten anything from your mortgage company, and I don't know if the deal will go through." And I said, "No, no. They've been so on top of everything, I'm sure it's a mistake." So I get a phone call in the morning saying that the closing is still scheduled for 9 am or whatever, but no paperwork from Compass Bank and no MONEY for the seller. So we debate: should we get another lender, go through the whole process again, and close during the first month of my internship, or should we just try to make it work, however crappily, with Compass Bank? And we decided that we couldn't wait, possibly lose this house and have to search again, and then move during internship. I e-mailed Jennifer, I called her office number, nothing. So I called Drew Daniels on his cell phone number and he answered immediately, said he'd get everything straightened out. We went to the closing, waiting for about an hour and the documents came through, but still no money. We started signing documents, and my husband notices that there are all these mistakes in our contract that Compass Bank drew up, including giving back $1300 to the seller because they left out the part about the escrow for property taxes. They also didn't include a realistic property tax estimate on our monthly payment (our house was a new build, and the payment was based on the property taxes for the land, not the selling price of the house that the township was going to use). We didn't have time to fix anything and had to just sign or lose the whole deal.

In the aftermath, I called Drew Daniels to explain the situation and that we had lost $1300 because of mistakes. He understood that they had messed up and suggested that I ask the seller to just give me the money (this is illegal). My realtor spoke with him also, and talked him into giving us a gift card for $250. So, whatever, we lost a thousand dollars, we had a house we liked, we learned a lot, we're never using Compass Bank again, and we're not going to ever make those mistakes again.

But we still had unreasonable payments, which did not take into account the real property taxes. Our payments were something like $875/month, which was way too low (but nice!). I called Compass Bank in December to point out the discrepancy and the person who helped me was very nice, and reassured us that the payments were adjusted yearly and should not change much, if at all. I remember asking her, doesn't $875/month for a $130K+ house seem unreasonable? And she said there shouldn't be a big change. So I shrug my shoulders and say okay. In June, when we get our next mortgage payment book, it turns out we paid a total of $70 the entire year to our property taxes and now we have to make up $4500 in taxes over the next year plus pay this year's real tax rate so...our mortgage doubled to $1680 for a year. And that sucked. We bought less house than we could afford, and if we had gotten a house 2-3 times our combined salary we would probably have had to foreclose. This June the payments will change to $1200 or so (we think) and that's what it should have been all along.

So, sorry for the long story, but I'd think twice about Compass Bank.

sarahinromania said:

So, sorry for the long story, but I'd think twice about Compass Bank.

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http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6424171&postcount=23

n=2

sarahinromania said:

Just a word of caution. My experience was dramatically different from most people's in dealing with Compass Bank and Drew Daniels. This is a long story, but the short version is that I'm never using Compass Bank again.

So, sorry for the long story, but I'd think twice about Compass Bank.

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Thanks for the warning. I had a similar experience with Physicianlender's Tom Schultz 3 years ago. However, thus far, if I get a doctor's loan, I have to choose between Compass and Physicianlender... Do two negatives equal a postive?... (lame... I know)

The moral of the story... As buyer's, I think it's important to realize that these lenders are extremely busy, especially between now and June (post match). We have to be the ones "to dot the t's and cross the i's." We are the only ones truly looking out for ourselves. Make sure you look over the loan documents carefully before you sign. These guys are human and they make mistakes... quite often it seems.

The Bank of America Doctor Loan program is good, however be aware that in "declining markets" as defined by Fannie May, BoA will not give you the 0% down deal. I'm moving to Vegas, and they would only give me a 5% down mortgage. It's still not bad though, as most lenders will make you pay PMI or will do a 5/15/80 loan, where the 15% is an additional loan that you pay at a higher rate of interest.

I thinkt that the good thing is that if you use ANY bank, you MUST be on top of the #'s, time frames and as I stated above (I know it sucks), YOU MUST BE WILLING TO WALK AWAY, always have the GFE and let them know you are willing to walk away.

If you have the paperwork in hand, GFE, your research done before, there isn't a whole lot that can change.

If you have 2-3 lenders that you've been negotiating with, you can use that to leverage both the rates etc, but also minimize the BS when it comes down to push/shove and you're getting the runaround. Things change quickly when you state "I don't know whats going on, but this is what I expect, and it needs to be like this in x amount of time, if not, I'm going with lender B"

People delay closings all the time for the BS that was pulled in ^^^^, don't sweat it, and don't let them screw you.

It doesn't matter who you use that much, as long as you have all the legal PAPERWORK, (GFE) etc in hand and make them work.

GeneralVeers said:

The Bank of America Doctor Loan program is good, however be aware that in "declining markets" as defined by Fannie May, BoA will not give you the 0% down deal. I'm moving to Vegas, and they would only give me a 5% down mortgage. It's still not bad though, as most lenders will make you pay PMI or will do a 5/15/80 loan, where the 15% is an additional loan that you pay at a higher rate of interest.

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BoA gave me the 0% down deal in Corpus Christi, TX.

sarahinromania said:

But we still had unreasonable payments, which did not take into account the real property taxes. Our payments were something like $875/month, which was way too low (but nice!). I called Compass Bank in December to point out the discrepancy and the person who helped me was very nice, and reassured us that the payments were adjusted yearly and should not change much, if at all. I remember asking her, doesn't $875/month for a $130K+ house seem unreasonable? And she said there shouldn't be a big change. So I shrug my shoulders and say okay. In June, when we get our next mortgage payment book, it turns out we paid a total of $70 the entire year to our property taxes and now we have to make up $4500 in taxes over the next year plus pay this year's real tax rate so...our mortgage doubled to $1680 for a year. And that sucked. We bought less house than we could afford, and if we had gotten a house 2-3 times our combined salary we would probably have had to foreclose. This June the payments will change to $1200 or so (we think) and that's what it should have been all along.

So, sorry for the long story, but I'd think twice about Compass Bank.

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Yeah you have to be really careful with new builds. I built my house 3 years ago. Similar situation. However, our mortgage documents were drawn up correctly requesting that I pay escrow based on true estimated property taxes. Needless to say, they still only charged me for the raw land taxes during the first year. However, I calculated what my payment should be based on the tax rate in my area (you can easily calculate this). I then sent in my full estimated payment each month and had the extra placed in my escrow. As a result, when the true tax bill came due at the end of the year, my escrow was not short even though my lender kept indicating I had an overage and wanted to send me a check. In the end my mortgage adjusted to the proper payment at the beginning of the year and did not increase. So, if your initial requested payments are lower than you expect, SEND IN THE EXTRA or hang on to it!!!

CorpusERdoc said:

BoA gave me the 0% down deal in Corpus Christi, TX.

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The market in Texas is behind that of other states. Likely it will drop too if the economy remains bad. Get that 0% loan while you can. I live in CC, and the house prices have gone down, but not as much as elsewhere.

I spent the weekend house hunting in Colorado and put in an offer today!

Dr.McNinja said:

I've spent the last 2 weeks dealing with BoA, RBC Centura, Well's Fargo, and a whole host from Bankrate and LendingTree. As such, the best overall for me ended up being BofA, with their physician's loan. Ended up with 5.125%, 0 down, no PMI. Not sure how they're doing it, but they have won my business. Their closing costs are still very competitive.
Having a credit score of 765 helps.

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I've had several referrals to several different BoA mortgage officers (among a few others). I'd like to get them to compete but I'm wondering if the several BoA folks are really offering the same thing in the end. They're from different regions of the country.

I used National City, they made it very easy, happened in about 2 weeks. Also, if you think about buying vs. paying rent you still come out on top. Even if you sell for a loss you end up living in a nicer place (house vs. apt) for the same amount of money you would have spent anyway.

dowiattp said:

I've had several referrals to several different BoA mortgage officers (among a few others). I'd like to get them to compete but I'm wondering if the several BoA folks are really offering the same thing in the end. They're from different regions of the country.

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My experience with BoA was that they blew everyone out of the water from the start. Yes they all the BoA loan officers are selling the same product. I doubt that you are going to get 2 loan officers from the same company to compete against each other. They might even know each other. \

But hey, why not try? If you tick one of them off, there's a million others you could use.

The property that I put an offer on has had 4 other offers in. We offered over the selling price, but are still worried we won't get it. In theory we will find out tomorrow. Send positive thoughts my way!

WallowaWanderer said:

My experience with BoA was that they blew everyone out of the water from the start. Yes they all the BoA loan officers are selling the same product. I doubt that you are going to get 2 loan officers from the same company to compete against each other. They might even know each other. \

But hey, why not try? If you tick one of them off, there's a million others you could use.

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I've found that the second BoA officer I spoke with seemed to be much more familiar with working with health professionals and putting together 100% financing. The first one I spoke with pretty much wrote it off as impossible (nothing is impossible, right?!). I've also had a good response with someone my family has done lots of business with (aka they've made lots of money from us).

It just seems like it's gonna be tough to get the right amount of money for the market I'm looking in. Most people have tossed 200-225K around but that doesn't go too far in DC.

Originally, I thought I was going to go with Tower Mortgage because they had the better rate. They wrote me a lender/pre-approval letter (it was unprofessionally written with some typos). Several days ago, Tower backed out. They said it was because they couldn't gaurantee our closing (it would be in 3 weeks if our offer is accepted), but we think it was because our realtor asked for a copy of his CO license and they wouldn't/couldn't comply

The seller for the property we want has 4 other offers, and told us today that what's holding us back is that we don't have a local lender. They saw our lender letter from Tower and thought it was sketchy. So we switched to Wells Fargo

Just some words of caution. I originally thought mortgages were a commodity, but I'm pretty convinced now that there's value added for good service. Wells Fargo was able to write me an offer letter in 15 minutes, whereas it took days for Tower to do it. Tower backed out when we asked them for a copy of their Colorado license. You can use the no name lender to negotiate with the legitimate companies, but I strongly suggest you go with a well known local entity or a national company with local branches/officers.

The seller will scrutinize your lender letter. Even if you have the best offer, they would rather the funding be through a big reputable bank than through some no name doctor loan guy in Ohio. After all, no-one is happy until closing.

Dr.McNinja said:

I've spent the last 2 weeks dealing with BoA, RBC Centura, Well's Fargo, and a whole host from Bankrate and LendingTree. As such, the best overall for me ended up being BofA, with their physician's loan. Ended up with 5.125%, 0 down, no PMI. Not sure how they're doing it, but they have won my business. Their closing costs are still very competitive.
Having a credit score of 765 helps.

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How in the world did you manage that rate? I have a similar credit score and they quoted me a rate of 6.2 with 0 down and no PMI.

I emailed the agent McNinja talked to... definitely lower rates (right around 5.15%), but her closing costs were about 3-4k more. Probably how she gives the good interest rate... I'll have to figure it out to see what the difference is 3 years down the road

Our offer was accepted today!!! Going for the inspection this afternoon!!

I spoke with the agent McNinja used, and he was very non-BS and informative, which is a refreshing change. Offered 5% with 1 point and 5.5% with no points. closing costs sounded in the area of 8 grand, which is what we expected. we do have to put down 5% because Philadelphia is a declining market or something, but it will save us quite a bit down the road. BOA does require you to get an account through them though, which is fine since PA doesn't have wells fargo.

now, anyone know how we can find 5% to put down? my husband might not be able to get a loan against his state retirement fund unless we get the mortgage through them. we don't have rich parents or anyone who can help us financially. should I do a relocation loan for it? this crap is so confusing.

we're still in the first stages since my husband hasn't found a job yet, i don't have my contract and we haven't started looking for a house yet.

that dr. jack said:

I spoke with the agent McNinja used, and he was very non-BS and informative, which is a refreshing change. Offered 5% with 1 point and 5.5% with no points. closing costs sounded in the area of 8 grand, which is what we expected. we do have to put down 5% because Philadelphia is a declining market or something, but it will save us quite a bit down the road. BOA does require you to get an account through them though, which is fine since PA doesn't have wells fargo.

now, anyone know how we can find 5% to put down? my husband might not be able to get a loan against his state retirement fund unless we get the mortgage through them. we don't have rich parents or anyone who can help us financially. should I do a relocation loan for it? this crap is so confusing.

we're still in the first stages since my husband hasn't found a job yet, i don't have my contract and we haven't started looking for a house yet.

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You should be able to pull out of any state retirement fund with no penalty for a home purchase, but I'm not positive.

The agent should be able to get you a 2nd mortgage for the down payment, that's easy to do in any market.

If you're paying much of any closing costs in this market, you're getting royally screwed.....

The state I am moving to does not have BoA branches and therefore I will not be going with that company. I have found that some of the smaller, local banks have "doctor mortgage programs" and are competitive not only with interest rate but in closing costs with the large national chains. Being a smaller bank I found their customer service to be above average as well. Smaller banks also worry me less that my paperwork will fall through the cracks. The only negative that I have found is many of these banks do charge some PMI. I just thought I would pass along to the thread to also consider the smaller banks in your search.