condo buying report
Well I bought the place and I'm very glad I did, but geez what a nightmare!
I made my offer on July 28 and we settled on October 8.
We're talking a $300,000, thirty year commitment (I know, chicken feed for Mill Valley, but a big deal for me), so every morning of those ten weeks I'd wake up wondering if it would happen, my friends would ask and I would have to recount whatever the f--up of the moment was, when all I wanted to do was just say "YES, it happened!".
The first four weeks of this twilight zone were due to wierd condo rules and cantanerous absentee owners. About three weeks were just normal stuff, but the other three 1/2 weeks were my incredibly unhelpful, unsympathetic and almost incompetent lender, CitiMortage. I recommend to anybody within the sound of my voice to avoid these people. I followed bad advice and stuck with these bozos because I started with them, but if I had it to do over I would definitely do the Lending Tree thing and just go with the flow.
The lenders you get from the web are eager to please, ready to kiss your butt and do what it takes to get your business. Citimortage is your classic, too big for their own good, doing business like it's the 50's "f--- you, we're the bank and you're not" bank. I was there for their convenience rather than the other way around. I really don't like them, yet I am in a brand new 30-year relationship to them - until I re-fi.
aaaaaarrrhhhhgggg -- but it's over and I DID get the place :))))
I made my offer on July 28 and we settled on October 8.
We're talking a $300,000, thirty year commitment (I know, chicken feed for Mill Valley, but a big deal for me), so every morning of those ten weeks I'd wake up wondering if it would happen, my friends would ask and I would have to recount whatever the f--up of the moment was, when all I wanted to do was just say "YES, it happened!".
The first four weeks of this twilight zone were due to wierd condo rules and cantanerous absentee owners. About three weeks were just normal stuff, but the other three 1/2 weeks were my incredibly unhelpful, unsympathetic and almost incompetent lender, CitiMortage. I recommend to anybody within the sound of my voice to avoid these people. I followed bad advice and stuck with these bozos because I started with them, but if I had it to do over I would definitely do the Lending Tree thing and just go with the flow.
The lenders you get from the web are eager to please, ready to kiss your butt and do what it takes to get your business. Citimortage is your classic, too big for their own good, doing business like it's the 50's "f--- you, we're the bank and you're not" bank. I was there for their convenience rather than the other way around. I really don't like them, yet I am in a brand new 30-year relationship to them - until I re-fi.
aaaaaarrrhhhhgggg -- but it's over and I DID get the place :))))