Questions on home buying

We are in contract on a home in Seaford. We were just approved for the mortgage and now are waiting for the appraisal. How long after the appraisal is our closing date approx? I am trying to figure out if we should be in the house by Thanksgiving.

Re: Questions on home buying

After the appraisal, assuming your mortgage application is complete, your lender will issue you a mortgage commitment. How fast they do that depends on the lender, the particular underwriter, and whether you have everything in that they need. But if the appraisal is the last thing they were waiting on, you should be able to get your commitment within a week or so of the appraisal. It may take the appraiser a few days to get the report into the bank, and then the underwriter needs to review it.

Once you have a mortgage commitment, your bank still needs to give you the "clear to close." They may give you a conditional commitment, meaning there are conditions that need to be met/things that need to be done before you can close.

Make sure your attorney knows you want to close asap and is ordering the title report (and a survey, if he wants one) because that can hold things up at the last minute. Also, are all COs in place that need to be obtained to close?

Finally, what was discussed in terms of closing date with the sellers during negotiations, and what is the on or about date in the contract? That really governs. If the on or about date is Dec. 1, then the sellers don't need to close before then if they can't or don't want to... you are probably looking at closing in the Dec. 1 to Dec. 30 period. But if they want to close asap, too, then it's probably not an issue, and they will likely agree, even if the on or about date is later.

I have had plenty of sales close within 30 days of contract, but that is when I am working with my recommended lender who moves quickly, and when the attorneys cooperate and the seller is on board. Whether or not it's possible in your case really depends on those factors.

Good luck!

Questions on home buying

I received the mortgage commitment yesterday, which was done before the appraisal? I am doing a VA loan so i assume there maybe a hang up (stairs need guardrails). The closing date on my contract is November 15th and I am friendly with my lawyer so he does know we want to move quickly. I noticed in my mortgage commitment it stated if closing isn't completed by October 28th then its not valid. I am confused on that. I put a call into my mortgage broker because there were certain fee's on the commitment paper I didn't understand. Commitment fee was one of them. Thank you for your help!