Cleveland Real Estate News

I’ve had it easy the past few months, all my house closings have gone well. They all take a lot of oversight (making sure the lender gets the paperwork needed to the title company on time, and if there are loose ends, get them cleared up or call people who can). But all-in-all, I haven’t had serious issues arise regarding closings….until the past two weeks lol.

The first home is a bank-owned and my first time home buyer is as delightful a woman as you would want to meet. And so excited to have her first home! Had it been a normal process, she could have moved into her new home on May 1st. But this was not normal lol.  The listing agent was a sharp cookie and new her stuff, that made the entire process easier, but not shorter. This week it was really painful, with lender issues (paperwork requests that could and should have been handled a good three weeks ago). It was a lender I had never worked with before but my client wanted to use them.  Somehow we got the house to finally close but it was a few days of turmoil for everyone. Banks can take their time (a LOT of time) to make decisions, and then they want you to close in a week after they finally say yes.  Sounds like some personal relationships I’ve been in, but I digress lol. It makes me smile to hear the excitement in my clients voice. The house is in my neighborhood so I’m looking forward to staying in touch with her.

The second house was supposed to close this Monday. Due to appraisal issues not related to the house but the appraiser, the whole process is dragging. I keep trying to think zen thoughts (as is my buyer client), but it’s frustrating when everyone doesn’t feel the same way about doing a precise and timely job when needed.  Sigh. My client is getting an FHA loan and the house he chose is a double/two family. He will live in one unit and rent out the other.  I bring up the fact that it’s FHA because your inspection is different for FHA than a conventional loan appraisal inspection. FHA has requirements about things needing to be done before title transfers, and they have a whole sheet of items that have to be cleared by the appraiser before the loan can be signed off.  With a conventional loan, you need to know what types of repairs you might need to make when you buy a home, but you don’t have to have the work done before you move into it.

This home was a good candidate for an FHA loan. New siding, roof, electrical, and no peeling paint. Important issues to an FHA appraiser who is not going to ‘pass’ the house if these things are not satisfactory. Some of you may have purchased a home easily using an out of town lender, but in this case, it has created a few issues that are making it hard for my client to close when he wants to close on the house.  This house is in Old Brooklyn. He has lots of friends in the neighborhood and is looking forward to becoming a part of the community. I’m excited for him too.  And yes, he is also a first time home buyer.

 I have an open house at 1336 W. 54th St. tomorrow, which is a King’s Terrace town home and a really cool place to live in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood.  If you want to see it you can stop by from 2-5 pm (it’s a television open house so it’s one hour longer than a traditional open house).  For that matter, you can check it out on ABC at 10:30 am tomorrow morning.  That is, if you are in the NE Ohio television range. 

I’ll be doing some stats this week (we are at the end of another month omg where is the Summer going!) so if you have any neighborhood stat requests, let me know.  Otherwise I will be left to my own devices.  Peace Out – 3C