Useless Conversation

[Lantyssa]

6% is a good rate if you're getting full financing on a 30 year.

[Merusk]

Absolutly.  Mine's 6 1/8 and I got that 5 years ago.  It's win.

[Sky]

Yeah, that's a rate cap lock-in. Could get better, but not worse. Best rate I've seen in almost two years from a local bank. I'd have to check my old pre-qual from three years ago, but it might be the best rate I've seen in a local bank, period. Lantyssa - it's 95%. I was going to finance 90%, but I'm not sure if it's long-term or not, so I'm keeping some pennies in the bank. 30 year fixed rate, monthly payments.

There was a product I was looking at, a one-time adjustable 7/23. I think it was 5.375 with a max adjust of +2% at the 7-year adjust point, with an option to buy down points at that time based on the current principal. Would definitely have been a good short-term thing, but after 10 years (going by the rates when I did the math) it would begin to diminish returns and end up costing more long-term.

The bank officer actually laughed at my 16% loan to debt ratio. Getting a second loan to renovate a few rooms shouldn't be a problem. But I like ~affordable~ things, so it doesn't kill my standard of living. Going to see Carlin in Kingston ran about $70 for gas/tolls/dinner, and the car got 30mpg and we ate at a cheap grubshack. So I need a low PITI, dernit. I can't imagine how people with big SUVs manage.

[Salamok]

Rates dropped a ton in late January unfortunately they didn't stick we were seeing 5.75 and below on a 30 year.  Unfortunately some of the more troubled wholesale lenders started mucking deals for no reason, so we also saw a lot of deals go bust in Feb.

[MrHat]

So, if we have a 6 1/4 fixed atm, should we see if we can refinance?  Might be worth it.

[Salamok]

So, if we have a 6 1/4 fixed atm, should we see if we can refinance?  Might be worth it.

no.

[Sky]

Fees'd kill ya. Depends on who you go through, though. I bet online lenders are nearing 5%, since they seem to trend almost a full percentage point below my local bank.

Just got word in though...the federal lender the bank uses for 30yr fixed doesn't make loans for one-bedroom houses.

Wtf?

[Salamok]

So, if we have a 6 1/4 fixed atm, should we see if we can refinance?  Might be worth it.

I suppose it also depends on loan balance.

Dropping a 1/2 in rate on a 130k loan balance for a cost of 3-4k in fees won't make near as much sense as doing the same thing with a 330k loan balance.  It all makes even less sense when you are looking at only a 1/4 drop in rate. 

True no cost refi's have pretty much disappeared over the last 3 years.  You can however still roll closing costs in so you have no cash out of pocket, you are however trading equity in your house for a lower payment/rate, this usually only makes sense if you plan on being there for 5+ years.

Best bet is probably to get your ducks in a row with a loan officer you trust and have him ready to act in the event that the market creates a favorable refi scenario for you.

[HaemishM]

Just got word in though...the federal lender the bank uses for 30yr fixed doesn't make loans for one-bedroom houses.

Wtf?

My guess is they don't believe they can resell a one-bedroom if you go tits up on the loan. We have the same problem down here with 2-bedrooms... few people want 2 bedrooms except for starter home buyers, and banks don't like them much either because of lack of credit history.

[Merusk]

Depends on what federal lender they were going to.  The feds have a lot of strictures on what a house has to be in regards to loans, not so much for the resale, but because they figure if you're using a federal loan you can't afford other bits related to a house.. like buying furniture.  Things you can normally do for a certificate of occupancy when building, like only putting in switched outlets, you can't do for a FHA loan.  You've got to have an actual light fixture and bulb. (Lord help me I can't recall all the rest right now.)

It's probably something stupid like, "Well if we let you buy a 1 bedroom we have to let EvERYONE, including that welfare family of 6 who'll all live in that single bedroom. Then we'll have the press corps saying the FHA supports slums!"

 

[Sky]

Thing is, the bank is the one using the federal lender, not me. I've got great credit and enough savings for down+close. I am the perfect buyer.

Fuck.

Worst part is, with $150 and an afternoon, it'd be a two-bedroom. Stud and drywall the half-wall to a full wall and slap in a door.

Fuck.

[Murgos]

Enlist in the Navy.  Navy Federal Credit Union is offering 5.5% APR on loans up to 417k.

[Salamok]

Thing is, the bank is the one using the federal lender, not me. I've got great credit and enough savings for down+close. I am the perfect buyer.

Fuck.

Worst part is, with $150 and an afternoon, it'd be a two-bedroom. Stud and drywall the half-wall to a full wall and slap in a door.

Fuck.

This is the problem when dealing with banks instead of brokers, they have limited programs and aren't allowed to do anything outside that box.  Good brokers generally have solid wholesale relationships with 30+ lenders and have many boxes to choose from.  Of course a loan officer at a bank doesn't have as much incentive to rape you as a loan officer working for a broker does so there is a trade off. 

I know a few really good loan officers if you want to shop your loan, not sure what state you are in though so they may not be able to help you (these guys are in TX but can do loans in about 15 states).

[Lantyssa]

Assuming you have a real estate agent, does she have any mortgage companies that she works with regularly?  I couldn't go through my credit union because it was a condo, so I got my loan through her sources and it was fine.  They'll probably pass it on like mine did, but as long as you make sure you can make no-fees excess payments to principle it won't be bad.

[Merusk]

Also, since it's the bank doing the fed loan it's really all about the property and not the shlub living in it.  You could kick-off or walk-away and leave them with a property to sell.

[Sky]

It's difficult to talk about in any detail. Notice all the deleted posts from me in this thread. Lawyers are involved, may become involved again.

I've got backup lending available, as I said, I'm a perfect buyer. I just prefer the local bank, and it's only this one product they're fucking me on. We'll see where it goes.

[Signe]

One bedroom?  Geez.  Why?

[Yegolev]

He's only engaged.

[Sky]

One bedroom?  Geez.  Why?

[Murgos]

Apropos of nothing, I thought being interviewed sucks but now I know interviewing people sucks as well.  I'm interviewing contractors who are supposedly experts in their fields.  Do they just randomly put stuff on their resume and hope not to get asked about it? 

HINT: If you put that you have worked on functionally testing a design for an SDRAM controller you should at least know what CAS latency is.

[Merusk]

Apropos of nothing, I thought being interviewed sucks but now I know interviewing people sucks as well.  I'm interviewing contractors who are supposedly experts in their fields.  Do they just randomly put stuff on their resume and hope not to get asked about it? 

HINT: If you put that you have worked on functionally testing a design for an SDRAM controller you should at least know what CAS latency is.

Yes, they do.  We've discussed this in years past. People are dirty, dirty liars when it comes to resumes.  So much so I often feel I'm fucking myself by not lying on mine.

[stray]

Umm... What happened to making phone calls for employer/reference checks? Too much of a hassle? I would think it'd be less of a hassle than making appointments for these people.

Then again, in Murgos' case, it's IT... I suppose you couldn't even make a phone call to 90% of the companies out there. Since they don't exist.

[Samwise]

Welcome to my hell, Murgos.  I've been here long enough that I have to be involved in pretty much every job interview in my department.  And the overwhelming majority of interviewees lie on their resumes and don't even have the decency to look ashamed when caught.

What's really upsetting is that most other interviewers, here and elsewhere, apparently don't consider this to be a disqualifying move.

Umm... What happened to making phone calls for employer/reference checks? Too much of a hassle? I would think it'd be less of a hassle than making appointments for these people.

We do check the references, but they frequently either don't know the candidate well enough to verify all of the claims on their resume, or are happy to lie on their behalf, or both.  It's not even worth the effort IMO.

[Sauced]

Most of the IT consulting firms here do the lying for the candidate, and trump up the resumes based on the job posting.  Which has made some of the interviews I've done recently hilarious wastes of time.

[Yegolev]

We even had a guy come in and actually get hired before the interviewees figured out he didn't know basic UNIX principles, and we had already given him the root password.  After that, my team had one of us sit in on the intervews.  I did a couple myself and it was a near-UO-level revelation in how ethically unclean most people are.  It's not like I have never exaggerated in an interview, but saying you have five years of AIX experience when you clearly wouldn't be able to pass the admin cert test is something else.

As for contractors... ho-lee shit.

[Signe]

As long as there is an internet, anyone can be an IT consultant.  Even me.

[Samwise]

it was a near-UO-level revelation in how ethically unclean most people are. 

Lol, true dat.

If you have any faith whatsoever in humanity, you have to put it aside when interviewing people for jobs.

[Cheddar]

One of the first things I did when getting out of the military was go to a IT consulting firm.  They patted my back, took my resume, and got me the most embarassing interview ever.

I never saw the resume they sent off - evidently they added advance SQL programming to my otherwise stellar resume.  Needless to say I was mortified when they asked for examples of my code. 

[stray]

That must be what happened to me recently. On a whim, I submitted a resume to one of those places for sysadmin shit, but I also had some design exp on my resume. They must have boosted my Flash skills, because I got a call a few weeks back not about IT but about Flash development. And when they listed the salary, I was like "Wtf?" I wish I could have taken it.

[Cheddar]

That must be what happened to me recently. On a whim, I submitted a resume to one of those places for sysadmin shit, but I also had some design exp on my resume. They must have boosted my Flash skills, because I got a call a few weeks back not about IT but about Flash development. And when they listed the salary, I was like "Wtf?" I wish I could have taken it.

Where do you live again, Stray?

[stray]

San Antonio.

[Salamok]

is it in Austin, my flash skills are teh aw3som3

http://216.201.187.102/1.htm

[WayAbvPar]

I just got out of another interview. Someone please take this job so  I don't have to keep covering it while doing my own work, kthx.

[stray]

is it in Austin, my flash skills are teh aw3som3

http://216.201.187.102/1.htm

Nope. If it was in Austin, they'd probably already know you before getting hired.

[Murgos]

Of course we check references but at these kind of positions most companies refuse to say more than, "Yes, he/she worked here." or "Never heard of em."  If you say any more than that for a reference at my company you will get walked out the door.  Such is the state of things in torte happy America.

It's was just such a stupid thing.  We have an ASIC under development, it has a memory controller interface, we have a resume, it says, "I am expert at memory controller interfaces.  I build one for xyz multinational that is used everyday in thousands of products."  And then you get to brass tacks and they are like, "LOL wat?"

Meh.