List of closing fees - long

I'm in the process of shopping for a mortgage...so far I've spoken with WaMu, Wachovia, Chase, Teacher's and BFCU.

The list of bank fees that are charges such as application fee, recording fees, etc. is driving me crazy. You would think that there would be one standard Good Faith Estimate specifically tailored for the State of NYand that all the fees would be listed under the same name from bank to bank. But NOOOOOOO. That would be way too easy.

Chase and Wachovia's rates right now for a 30yr fixed is 5.75% - 0 pts, but Chase's closing costs are coming in $1,000 more than Wachovia. When I questioned them about this, they said they tend to over estimate the fees, where Wachovia may be underestimating their fees to make their deal seem more desirable.

I guess my problem is...what the heck do they mean 'overestimating'...haven't they done mortgages in Suffolk county before????? Don't they know how much these fees will be??????

Can someone whose closed recently please send me a list of fees you were charged. I just don't want to get ripped off. Also, did you try to negotiate any of these fees down?

Teacher's is competitive, but it takes them 2 weeks to approve a mortgage...I'm trying to close by 1/31. Every other bank can have you approved in 48-72 hours. So, I'm not sure if they will be a contender.

Re: List of closing fees - long

I haven't recently closed on a house in Suffolk but I can tell you that a good faith estimate is just that. No bank you go to will be exactly the same. Part of your closing costs are short term interest which changes depending on the day of the month that you are closing and could be different depending on the interest rate you get. Look at this first to see if these numbers are the same. Also banks have different fees for different things and charge different amounts. One bank may charge 11 for credit report another bank might charge 30 a person. One may have an application fee and another might waive it. Also it is always better to overestimate the last thing you want to do is find out two days before the closing is that you need more money then you thought--you want them to overestimate. Also a banks title fees are NEVER right they are missing alot of things or don't have the right amounts. Again you would think they would but they don't. This you will have to speak to your attorney about they should be able to give you an estimate of your charging for title agian though it will only be an estimate. Another difference might be escrows if they are taking them. One bank might be taking more months up front.

Re: List of closing fees - long

WOW that rate is AWESOME!!!

Re: List of closing fees - long

Yeah really, that's a great rate. You should lock that baby IN.

We were told numerous times that the GFE is just the estimate. So we planned for that - by a few thousand dollars over - and were glad we did.

We were able to negotiate the broker's fee but if you're going direct to the bank, you won't have that. And we negotiated because they screwed up a bunch of times.

The two other big fees were the buying of points to bring the rate down and the taxes/insurance escrow. I don't think you would be able to negotiate either of those.

We wound up having to come up with thousands more than we were originally told so please do yourself a favor and budget for that. To think that I could have lost our house, a 2 and a 1/2 month effort to buy it, because of $3000. still sickens me a little. I'm very glad we overestimated.

FTR, the reason we had to come up with the extra dough was because of a screwup with whether we had to escrow taxes & insurance or not. If you know you're doing that from the beginning, you shouldn't have the same problem.

It's really overwhelming, that GFE. But you'll get used to the idea. Good luck with everything!

Message edited 12/6/2007 7:42:21 AM.