Chris Corica's Q&A

In New York State there is a mortgage tax as part of the closing costs. This is not even mentioned in zillow's numbers. In some counties this tax is more then 2% of the loan amount. Take a $500,000 mortgage and zillow is leaving out $10,000 in mortgage tax. That is no small error and I do not want to pay for any contact that calls me with the assumption they will be paying a minimum of $10,000 less then what they are basing their decision on. It is bad enough I have to continually explain why your basic info is completely inaccurate and now this. You are making our jobs more difficult and misinforming the site users. Does zillow consider itself mortgage professionals or a platform to bring professional's and consumers together? Pick a path and stick to it. At this rate it won't be long before you just quote the rates yourself too and call it a day.

Getting a HELOC with your credit score would be very difficult. Add the fact that you can not document your income and this is why you are not getting any quotes

You are going to need an FHA loan. Most lenders now require a minimum credit score of 620. This is likely why you are not receiving any quotes.

You should contact Clay Branch He is a local guy with quality reviews and gives excellent feed back on the threads. I'm sure he will help determine the best option for your loan scenario. Best of luck!

Stephen Ching - Who ever said they were looking for an FHA loan or FHA was the best product for their situation? Start the whole process over....Terrible advice!Am appraisal can still be disputed with a conventional loan. While Stephen is correct the lender can not have direct contact with the appraiser they can address their concerns with the AMC who placed the order.  Have your loan originator contact the appraisal management company with your concerns and see what can be done. Best of luck.

Ray - you are giving way too much credit to the accuracy of the zillow estimates. I would say they should be used for entertainment purposes only and play no roll in determining eligibility for loan qualification.

sen - the property would be a primary residence with the borrower moving in at a later date. I believe it would still qualify. This is how it reads regarding who is eligible;First-time home buyers purchasing any kind of home new or resale are eligible for the tax credit. To qualify for the tax credit, a home purchase must occur on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009. For the purposes of the tax credit, the purchase date is the date when closing occurs and the title to the property transfers to the home owner. A limited exception exists for certain contract for deed purchases and installment sale purchases.This is all a moot point if the borrower is not a first time home buyer.

Another suggestion would be to close before the date mentioned and lease back the property to the seller until the can officially move out. You can lock in an excellent rate now and depending what the seller is currently paying to live there, could be a win/win for everyone involved. It is worth looking into. Best of luck!

Wold you be more upset if you locked and rates went down further or if you don't lock and they go up leaving you with a higher rate? From there it is an easy decision. Your never going to pick the bottom and if you like the rate you have, lock. Have you figured out how much each .125% in rate change affects your monthly payment? Depending on the loan size you may be stressing over small change.

Ray - Find the quote for them. Using the loan amount, transaction type, property type...etc... Narrow down the search and you will find the original request. I make a point to put the quote request ID on every application I take. Seems to work well.