Brian-Foley.net

I called the M/I Homes lender today to see if she had any idea as to what time frame we are looking at for closing, as well as to inquire about having the loan setup without an escrow. Last time I spoke with her was Feb 2nd and we were looking at 6% interest on the 80% mortgage (we’re financing 100% using 80/20 split). Apparently for whatever reason, she did not lock that rate at that time. In order for her to do a lock, she needs approval from the builder, which they did not grant. So today she tells me that the rate went to 5.875%. I told her to do the lock now, as I guess the builder has us confirmed for the “March time frame”. I was all excited over this news, until she called me back 10 minutes later to tell me that she quoted me the wrong rates for my type of loan, they’re actually at 6.3%, a $94/mo increase in payments. Not a good thing.

She was able to set the loan up without the escrow, which is good. I would rather take the extra money each month and keep it in a savings account accrueing interest. I wanted to do this with the mortgage on my first home, but Regions Mortgage won’t let me remove the escrow once the mortgage is setup. So they have $1000 of my money right now that does nothing for me. I could use ING DIRECT earning 2.6% APY, or even my newly opened Emigrant Direct savings earning 3.0% APY. I’d like to use Emigrant and get a higher rate, but I can’t figure out how to transfer money back and forth between my checking account. ING can set it up to be automatic. If you’re looking to stash some money someplace, these are the best deals around for money market accounts with no minimums (ok, well $1).

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