Signing loan documents can be intimidating even for the most seasoned real estate professional. But things are even worse today because most Title Companies offer their clients the convenience of having a mobile notary bring the loan documents to their homes to get signed. That means the Escrow Officer is nowhere to be seen and most notaries dont know enough to properly answer peoples' questions. Without any way of getting clear answers, the signing process has become even more frightening than before.
As usual, a little knowledge goes a long way to reduce the fear factor. Certain forms are more important that others and an educated borrower can quickly establish if the documents meet their expectations or not. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon for Mortgage Brokers to change little (and sometimes not so little) things right at the end of the process and many people end up with surprises when it's clearly too late to make changes.
So let's look at the specifics. There are two forms in California loan packages that are more important than all the others; the Estimated Closing Statement and the Note itself. If everything's right on those two forms, the rest of the package will probably be fine as well.
The Estimated Closing Statement is usually at the top of the stack. It's compiled by the Title Company and has their contact information on the top of the page. It's usually on legal-sized paper and details all the costs and fees associated with the transaction. In most cases, there will be two columns going down the right-hand side of the page; one for debits and the other for credits.
You can think of the far right-hand column as the 'source of funds' and the left column as the 'use of funds'. So your new loan amounts will be listed on the right-hand side, along with any deposits or credits issued along the way. On the left-hand side, it will show either the old loans being paid off (for a refinance) or the money going to the seller of the property (for purchase transactions).
The left-hand column will also list all the fees of the transaction. These fees should closely correspond to the fees listed on the original Good Faith Estimate provided by your Mortgage Broker. You should immediately look at these fees to see if there's something there you didn't expect. Keep in mind that this list is the most recent and most reliable estimation of the final closing figures, and there are often unforeseen details that only pop up at this final stage. Some of those details come up through the title report. If there are delinquent property taxes on record, for example, they'll have to get paid. There may be another lien on the property or the next tax installment might be due. These examples are unavoidable but there are others that may have been added at the last minute to boost profitability for the Mortgage Broker or the Title Company. These are the things you need to be wary of.
The Estimated Closing Statement will usually be broken down into two main sections; lender fees and title & escrow fees. All of the fees charged by OR through the lender will be listed in the first section. This is where you want to look out for the agreed upon origination fees and any points you decided to purchase. You also want to look out for inflated processing fees or other unexpected "junk fees" like administration fees or application fees that you didn't agree to at the beginning.
This first section will also list the prepaid items being collected by the lender. Examples of these items would include prepaid interest as well as reserve funds for an impound account. An impound account is where your property taxes and insurance are collected WITH your monthly mortgage payment. The advantage is that you don't have any unexpected bills during the year. But the downside is that you have to bring in some extra funds to the closing to setup the "reserve account". This reserve account ensures there will always be enough money available to pay these bills at the time they are due, plus some extra just in case.
These reserves can add up to a significant chunk of change so the decision to have impounds can significantly affect the amount of cash you have to bring to the Title Company. Also, if you requested NO impounds and the Mortgage Broker put them in anyway, you'll see it right away because the prepaid items will be much higher than previously disclosed. Keep in mind that some A-paper lenders offer modest pricing improvements for loans WITH impounds so some Mortgage Brokers try to sneak them in as a way of improving the loans profitability.
The second section details all the fees paid to OR through the Title or Escrow Company. These would include the title insurance, escrow fees, recording, courier, endorsements, notary and any liens or delinquent taxes listed on the title report. Although the signing is often too late for negotiation, both the title insurance AND the escrow fee may have some flexibility so it never hurts to request a discount.
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