Buying a house together

[rebeccajo 14]

Your lender is a numskull and probably isn't bothering to ask the attorney who will close the loan if you can be in title. Social Security number or not - you can be. Maybe you can't be on the loan, but you can be in title. Even if his investor is saying they won't buy the mortgage, that's bogus. Tell them to find it in the FNMA (Federal National Mortgage Association) guidelines where you can't be in title. They won't be able to find it.

Anytime you have questions about Social Security, research the posts of the member I Quit.

[zyggy 9]

Agreed... after the mortgage and deed has been recorded, your wife can add you to the title through a quit claim deed. You can either get an attorney to assist you with this, but it is a relatively easy document and you could draft it yourself with a little research.

[Darren&Laura 3]

Right, just got back after a grueling day running about all over the place trying to get this sorted. At least now I now my options.

Firstly, I went to the SS office and got them to print and sign a letter stating that my SSN was processed and correct. The SS office did say it often can take over 6 months for financial institutions, etc. to have access to my SSN as the system was very slow in propagating around every it could be needed. I then went to the bank and handed this letter in to the guy who's been dealing with our mortgage application. I couldn't wait while he reapplying and processed everything as I had to get the car in to the garage to get the balancing sorted as my wife hit a kerb the other day and I wanted to get it sorted out before any excess wear on the tires occurred.

A couple of hours later I went back to the bank who had already drawn up documents now INCLUDING me on the mortgage application. At this point I was totally happy..... however - the original mortgage was drawn up under a scheme which gave a lower interest rate to people that had never owned land before, (http://www.wyomingcda.com/), as my wife has owned a house but it was on her parents land she qualified. HOWEVER, I DO NOT, as I owned a house in the UK within their 3 three year disqualification from the scheme time period. <Sigh>

Thus we have two options:

1. My wife can be the sole mortgage applicant and sole holder of the title to our new home, (it is not possible for me to be added at a later date while the mortgage is still active under the lower interest rate scheme.) We could possibly refinance in several years time under a different company or scheme at the standard going interest rate, (which would cost several thousand in refinancing costs, etc. as we'd have to pay all the fees, surveys and certifications again), and have me added then, or if we decided to move in several years once my permanent residency is sorted then we could apply together no problems.

2. We can apply together now on a standard mortgage at an exchange rate of 6.625% rather than the 6.00% she is applicable to under the above scheme by applying on her own, meaning our monthly payments would be around $120 higher.

Either way isn't ideal, but at least I know my options now. I'll decide over the weekend now whether it will be worth it to pay the extra each month for the peace of mind in having a claim to the property in any bad case scenario, (Laura's death, etc. Sounds really crappy having to think about such cases, but I have to plan ahead for our daughters.) Of course, as someone suggested above, we will both make wills soon, ensuring in either case we will keep our home in event on the death of the other, (we're both in our 30's, it seems strange and morbid having to plan for these eventualities.) I already have Laura named on my life insurance, but Laura is also going to take out a policy naming me soon too.

I can honestly say I never even comprehended that such a situation would be so complicated, but at least now we know the directions we can move forward in. I just hope with all the delays that our dream house doesn't sell in the meantime as we've been househunting every day off we've had together for weeks and totally fell in love with this place as a home to raise our baby girls.

Just as an aside - if we were to take a 30 year mortgage at a fixed rate of 6.625%, how does this compare to previous years? I have no experience of US interest rates, so don't know whether this is a reasonable deal over such a period. I don't want to take on such a long commitment if the interest rates are unnaturally high at the moment and likely to spend most of the 30 years below the fixed rate! any advice is appreciated!

Anyway, I hope my experience can prove of at least some use to people in a similar predicament in the future on VJ.

[Darren&Laura 3]

Agreed... after the mortgage and deed has been recorded, your wife can add you to the title through a quit claim deed. You can either get an attorney to assist you with this, but it is a relatively easy document and you could draft it yourself with a little research.

Unfortunately as you will probably see from my long post we would be up for fraud if my wife took the cheaper interest rate option through WCDA and then tried to add me to the property title through a quit claim deed in this case. Sorry i didn't have all the facts when I posted for help but I've spent all day today trying to get the lowdown on what our options are and how things work over here. Everything is totally different to the UK and I feel so dumb sometimes. I considered myself pretty streetwise in the UK, and now feel utterly stupid not knowing how things work here. I never even heard of the WCDA before so this didn't strike me as significant when referenced on the multitude of forms. Thanks so much for trying to help though, it's really appreciated.

I've just run through all the figures again and noticed that our lender has massively overestimated on the taxes applicable, plus screwed up a couple of other figures, so the difference between us taking the mortgage out together and the lenders original figures is only $40 per month, granted it's still much higher if the lender had correct figures on his quote to us, but from a psychological point of view we were already mentally prepared to pay similar. So, I may consider paying the extra and being on the title from the start, after all we'd save a cost per month on Laura having to have life insurance then, (probably around $25 per month saved0, and I would be off the mark in building a credit history too. I dunno... at least now I'm stuck until Monday so have a few days to weigh up the pros and cons of which way to proceed.

[desert_fox 32]

Agreed... after the mortgage and deed has been recorded, your wife can add you to the title through a quit claim deed. You can either get an attorney to assist you with this, but it is a relatively easy document and you could draft it yourself with a little research.

A quit claim does not add anyone to the title...its the last thing you would ever want to file. As the name sez, you QUIT any claim that you may have had on the title in favor of some other person who is already on the title. Its an easy way to transfer title to an ex-wife for example, if you were previous both on the title and you have agreed to transfer title in her name only.

Use a transfer deed or something of that sort. Im not sure about Wyoming, but she may be signing a Trust deed which will be held by a trustee until the mortgage is paid. You cannot change the holders on that title without permission of the mortgage holder, and the bank charges for that service.