Sticker Shock
Nov. 19th, 2013 09:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
howeirdAfter signing/initialing each page in a 2"-high stack of papers for the escrow people, some of them saying what stuff I am not responsible for and others saying what dire consequences may befall, out came the loan papers.
The loan offer I had accepted was for a 5-year loan at 5.x percent interest. I had declined, I thought, an offer from the same lender for 15 years at 8.x percent.
Turns out the offer was actually for 20 years: the first 5 years at 5.x and the next 15 years at 8.x.
So two shocks:
1. I will not be done paying after 5 years
2. The monthly payment after 5 years increases by $100 or so.
I almost canceled.
But even with the increase, I'm still looking at close to $1k a month less rent+mortgage than my current rent. And there is already 30% equity in the place, maybe a reverse mortgage can be had before the price goes up. There is no penalty for paying it off early, but the whole point of this exercise was to pay less rent.
So I signed. And more rudeness ensued. My rep was supposed to tell me to bring "my checkbook" which I don't have one of, but I could have brought three checks. I had printed three this morning, but only brought one, just in case the asst mfg rep was right and there was another wire fee to pay.
She was wrong, but they needed one check for the direct debit, one for the $5 fee to join the CU which is issuing the loan, and one for the $5 fee for the required 1-year membership in a mobile home owner's association, the one they chose was FOBA in San Antonio. Some shady deal here, because as far as I can tell from their web site and their newsletter, they are useless.
So I had to drive all the way home from San Jose, print two checks, and drive all the way back. As if that wasn't enough, escrow lady said I needed to call the CU tomorrow for an interview/confirmation of the things I had just signed. Crap. Today was supposed to be closure, dammit.
One good thing is the office building has a 2nd Harvest donation barrel in the lobby, so I was able to bring some items for that. (We don't have one at work this year)
And then back to work.
There wasn't much time left to do any actual work, and I was pretty depressed.
The lab babe had set up a new system which is supposed to replace the high-speed cable from the lab to each desk which we use for playing/testing HD video without having to sit in the hot/noisy/overcrowded lab. Instead of a cable to each desk, there is now a cable to a device mounted on the ceiling, which shoots data on a laser beam to a receiver on top of each cubicle wall, and a cable from there to the desk computer.
When I left to sign the papers, we had done a torture test, and it failed. My connection kept crapping out. Lab babe said she would also be back around 3, and would check in again. But she didn't. And I had no connection at all.
I shouldn't call her Lab babe. It's just that she is shaped like Barbie and dresses to make sure there is no doubt about that, has a bright, cheerful smile, and had her job description changed from being one of the engineers who troubleshot customer-reported issues which tech support escalated, to doing legacy testing and helping with special projects in the lab. During my first stint at Moto, she was a team-mate, loaned to us from Moto's St. Petersburg Russia video test lab. At the time I thought she was really sent to us as the final exam for the sexual harassment education class. She was laid off a little before I was, and we had both interviewed for our old jobs back at the same time, but while I got my old job back, she didn't, but was later hired by the lab manager. I think we were both up for both jobs, actually.
But I digress.
I forgot to mention yesterday a miracle happened, and as I was watching football, both cats were on my lap. Domino parked herself on my left thigh, and after she had been there a while Kaan jumped up and I steered him to the right side where he curled up. Domino growled at him a little, but petting her and pointing his head the other way allowed them to coexist for about half an hour.
I was expecting to hear from the Humane Society by now about bringing him back, but so far no. My drop dead date is 12/2.
In other escrow news, I had been planing on sending flowers to the mfg rep when the sale was final, but she got so many things wrong, especially the loan information, that this is no longer a plan. According to the paperwork, she makes $1800 on this deal.
Been listening to The Scarlet Letter in the car on the iPod. I love Hawthorne's style, I would have enjoyed reading it in school. It is read by a woman, which seems wrong as it is obviously being told by a man. She mispronounces words from time to time. How can you get "clandestine" wrong? Could be the British pronunciation, she has a British accent, which is also wrong, the story being written well into the Tyler presidency.
It looks like I will be hauling out my trumpet Sunday for an afternoon with TACO, the Terrible Adult Chamber Orchestra. It's as much a knitting circle as a musical organization. Like Ye Olde Town Band, it's Los Altos based. One of our tuba players may join me.
Plans for tomorrow:
Work
Call the CU
1-on-1
The loan offer I had accepted was for a 5-year loan at 5.x percent interest. I had declined, I thought, an offer from the same lender for 15 years at 8.x percent.
Turns out the offer was actually for 20 years: the first 5 years at 5.x and the next 15 years at 8.x.
So two shocks:
1. I will not be done paying after 5 years
2. The monthly payment after 5 years increases by $100 or so.
I almost canceled.
But even with the increase, I'm still looking at close to $1k a month less rent+mortgage than my current rent. And there is already 30% equity in the place, maybe a reverse mortgage can be had before the price goes up. There is no penalty for paying it off early, but the whole point of this exercise was to pay less rent.
So I signed. And more rudeness ensued. My rep was supposed to tell me to bring "my checkbook" which I don't have one of, but I could have brought three checks. I had printed three this morning, but only brought one, just in case the asst mfg rep was right and there was another wire fee to pay.
She was wrong, but they needed one check for the direct debit, one for the $5 fee to join the CU which is issuing the loan, and one for the $5 fee for the required 1-year membership in a mobile home owner's association, the one they chose was FOBA in San Antonio. Some shady deal here, because as far as I can tell from their web site and their newsletter, they are useless.
So I had to drive all the way home from San Jose, print two checks, and drive all the way back. As if that wasn't enough, escrow lady said I needed to call the CU tomorrow for an interview/confirmation of the things I had just signed. Crap. Today was supposed to be closure, dammit.
One good thing is the office building has a 2nd Harvest donation barrel in the lobby, so I was able to bring some items for that. (We don't have one at work this year)
And then back to work.
There wasn't much time left to do any actual work, and I was pretty depressed.
The lab babe had set up a new system which is supposed to replace the high-speed cable from the lab to each desk which we use for playing/testing HD video without having to sit in the hot/noisy/overcrowded lab. Instead of a cable to each desk, there is now a cable to a device mounted on the ceiling, which shoots data on a laser beam to a receiver on top of each cubicle wall, and a cable from there to the desk computer.
When I left to sign the papers, we had done a torture test, and it failed. My connection kept crapping out. Lab babe said she would also be back around 3, and would check in again. But she didn't. And I had no connection at all.
I shouldn't call her Lab babe. It's just that she is shaped like Barbie and dresses to make sure there is no doubt about that, has a bright, cheerful smile, and had her job description changed from being one of the engineers who troubleshot customer-reported issues which tech support escalated, to doing legacy testing and helping with special projects in the lab. During my first stint at Moto, she was a team-mate, loaned to us from Moto's St. Petersburg Russia video test lab. At the time I thought she was really sent to us as the final exam for the sexual harassment education class. She was laid off a little before I was, and we had both interviewed for our old jobs back at the same time, but while I got my old job back, she didn't, but was later hired by the lab manager. I think we were both up for both jobs, actually.
But I digress.
I forgot to mention yesterday a miracle happened, and as I was watching football, both cats were on my lap. Domino parked herself on my left thigh, and after she had been there a while Kaan jumped up and I steered him to the right side where he curled up. Domino growled at him a little, but petting her and pointing his head the other way allowed them to coexist for about half an hour.
I was expecting to hear from the Humane Society by now about bringing him back, but so far no. My drop dead date is 12/2.
In other escrow news, I had been planing on sending flowers to the mfg rep when the sale was final, but she got so many things wrong, especially the loan information, that this is no longer a plan. According to the paperwork, she makes $1800 on this deal.
Been listening to The Scarlet Letter in the car on the iPod. I love Hawthorne's style, I would have enjoyed reading it in school. It is read by a woman, which seems wrong as it is obviously being told by a man. She mispronounces words from time to time. How can you get "clandestine" wrong? Could be the British pronunciation, she has a British accent, which is also wrong, the story being written well into the Tyler presidency.
It looks like I will be hauling out my trumpet Sunday for an afternoon with TACO, the Terrible Adult Chamber Orchestra. It's as much a knitting circle as a musical organization. Like Ye Olde Town Band, it's Los Altos based. One of our tuba players may join me.
Plans for tomorrow:
Work
Call the CU
1-on-1
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Date: 2013-11-20 06:38 am (UTC)Having looked into it myself, if you should be able to do that, consult the advice of a good attorney with expertise in both estate law and real estate law, who has helped with reverse mortgages and can advise you on the ins and outs of choosing a lender, estate planning, etc. One of the issues for me: if I were to do my RM at 62 and die when there is still a positive balance after the sale of the property, I would like to see that money go somewhere other than to the bank.