VnL House Hunt: Letter to the Underwriter

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Even though I share a lot on my blog, I’m actually a pretty private person, I never want to share too much. Especially house hunting I feel like if I share too much and things fall through I don’t want to look like a failure. But I’m writing this series to share our journey and possibly give insight to people who are beginning the journey/want to start their own journey and to look back one day on our own journey. I've also come to realize that it’s not us failing if things fall through, it’s just not the right one (I need to nail that in my head), the right one will come.

With that said, I’m going to let you in on a secret, we put an offer in on a house we LOVE. If this one is rejected the hubbs and I will be pretty bummed (to say the least). We are now waiting to hear if they accepted our offer. This stage of the game is not good for the heart. My heart won’t stop pounding, all I can think about is the house, what the seller is thinking, how we would decorate, when would escrow close, what if they say no and the list goes on and on. I feel like an elephant is sitting on top of my chest, but when I sit back and think about everything we’ve been doing to get to this point I smile, because you know what? I’m proud of the hubbs and I. We’re doing big kid things to set up a great thing for our little girls. Make sense? Am I rambling? I sure feel like it.

letter to the loan underwriter:

Along the way we were already approved for the loan amount we decided on day 1. The underwriting process was completed and that was that. After learning our way around the market, seeing house flippers come in left and right paying cash for homes on the spot and finding out that on every house we put an offer on so did at least 6 other families we went back to the drawing board. The hubbs and I reviewed our budget and decided we were good to go over what we originally planned to insure we get the house of our dreams and at least are able to offer enough to be on the top of the 6(ish) other offers. Since we had a loan approved already our lender advised that we write a letter to the underwriter explaining why we’re now asking for a higher loan. She said to make the letter personal and to the point. I didn’t know where to start so I went to Google of course lol. I really didn’t find too much. What I did find got the ball rolling and I went from there. I then sent it to my mom (thanks again Mama!) who proof read it, made a few tweaks, the hubbs and I signed it and off it went. We then got this response back from our lender a few hours later:

“Your letter is AWESOME!!!!  I already sent it to my manager and was advised you are qualified to purchase a home with a Sales Price up to [….].  WOW!!!!

So you are GOOD to go!!!!”

Ok I took out the amount number…remember me saying I like to keep some things private? They offered more than we even requested and more than we even want to spend, but that’s got to mean our letter worked :).

Below is a copy of our letter in case you or someone you know is looking for an example to write one of your own. I did take out our personal information but you get the gist. I hope this helps!

Date: 

To: Underwriting Dept.

From: [your name]

Re: Request to Increase Home Loan Amount

Dear Underwriting Team [if you know the underwriter’s name throw it in and make it personal!],

We are writing to request an increase on our home loan from [first amount approved for here] to [new amount you’re requesting]. Since becoming more familiar with the house market and reviewing our budget, we now see that we can afford a higher mortgage and the home of our dreams.We have both been very diligent at maintaining our good credit together [add personal examples with how you’re doing good with your credit].

Here I added a paragraph about our income and showed examples of the length of our jobs and pay increases. The more examples the better. 

We are in a position financially to finally become homeowners rather than renters. With our monthly expenses and our budget of [enter your new requested amount here] we are a responsible family and will undeniably make the monthly mortgage payments with ease. We are looking forward to living the American Dream of becoming homeowners [make it cheesy and pull on their heart strings!] and truly hope that you can see we are capable of living that dream. My family and I look forward to working together with you as our Mortgage Lender and would be pleased if you allowed this lifetime opportunity for us. If you would like a reference letters from our employer we would be happy to provide those as well.

Thank you for considering and replying to our request.

Sincerely,

Mr and Mrs. [your name] and Family

I hope this will help someone somewhere! 
-LL

VnL House Hunt: Rejection.

TGIF! Seriously. This week has been such an emotional roller coaster. I just realized "emo" is from emotional. lol slow much? =|. 

Anyway, I wrote the post below on Tuesday morning. It's super sappy but exactly how I felt that morning. People don't kid around when they say that house hunting is not simple and you really do need patience when looking. Gotta work on my patience.

11/6/12

They said, don’t get attached.

             Don’t look with your heart.

             Don’t take it personal, they said.

How?! How are you not supposed to get attached when you’re almost 100% positive you just put an offer on your dream home? You sat there decorating it for hours in your head and imagined your kids playing in that beautifully landscaped yard. How are you supposed to take the rejection of your offer when you see the sale pending sign and you know it’s not for you. That sale is not yours and that’s how it’s going to be.

I did everything they told me not to do. This heartache hurts. All I can hope for is that our real dream home is still out there and we will meet it soon. Till then I will have to do my best and be positive while we’re looking. Not sure if my heart can handle this much rejection L. 

        I'm happy to say we have turned a new leaf. We have found a few homes that have spiked our interest since Tuesday (the market moves freakishly fast on this side). Nothing I can comment to as far as thee home, but at least we can see that there are other homes out there and when it's meant to be it will happen. I also feel like I've become a little cold and stone faced since the first offer fell through. Crazy to say, but I think I needed that. I needed to go through that process at least once (praying it was our first and only) to experience it and know...yep, you really can't lead with your heart till you get that key in your hand. This is me positive till the next rejection haha. 

-LL

Past house hunt posts: 

VnL House Hunt: So it Begins! 
VnL House Hunt: Bargain-Basement Shopping 

VnL House Hunt: Bargain-basement shopping.

Lori in front of our NOT future home. one of many we've snooped in.

When we got the green light to begin our house hunt we were off with a running start. Now, not so much. It went from a sprint to a stroll through the neighborhood.  Better yet, a complete stand still. Talk about a test of patience. I may or may not have Googled "patience when home searching". It was either that or refresh the Redfin site and that option has become just depressing. Google-ing (yes, that's a word.) ridiculous stuff sometimes calms the nerves and shows your articles like this one. See, go crazy on Google! 

"What's out there is what's out there," said Greer Tan Swiston, a real estate agent with Century 21 in Wellesley. 

"It's a little like bargain-basement shopping. You just have to have the patience to look for it."

That's exactly it! What's on the market right now is not what we want. And when something does go on the market you better act fast because everyone else and their mom are watching and waiting too. So I have to stick to my guns, have patience and be in the basement when that offer for our first home pops up. Well you get it. 

-LL