locking in rates

everything depends on the rates and what you are looking for.

if the locked rate is better than the current rate on Nov 26th, you can extend this rate by paying a fee for a period of 15-30 days. if the cause of the delay is the bank, they will have to extend the rate free of charge.

currently, if you're using Chase, the commitment letter can take 45-60 days. this means that you will have to submit your board package and meeting with the board. then get your approval notice and close in a very tight deadline.

it typically takes 3 weeks for a major bank to be ready to close once the approval has been received.

Thanks AB. The mortgage guy was very nice and tried to get me to lock and said he thinks 90 days if fine. So I will wait until the lawyer gets back to me.

Also, the contract indicates that we have 40 days to get the commitment. You're saying even Chase might take 45-60 days (although the building is already in Chase's system as their list of approved buildings). If by day 40 Chase is still not ready, do sellers usually give an extension?

Thanks again!!

i am in this situation now with Chase. my buyer got the commitment letter past the 45 deadline, but not by much. unfortunately, it was not signed and the AZTEC forms came a few days later. they then realized that there was an error and now the whole process started all over again. it's been 2 1/2 weeks of waiting and frustration.

the people in Chase are overwhelmed with requests and cannot complete them fast enough. they are constantly making errors, like the one with my buyers, and causing extreme slowdowns in the process. my friend just had one of the Chase people send incorrect data to another bank that has stalled her refi by 2+ weeks.

with the Chase's mostly incompetent appraisers and the chronic errors, i would stay far far away from them.

darn... :( i've already paid the application fee.

but either way, if it's a few days late, the sellers can just take my deposit, right? (i have a loan contingency)

i had the opposite experience with chase. everything ran smoothly, we got the commitment letter about 8 days after going into contract (contract gave 30 days to get commitment) and closed about 2 weeks before the rate lock expired, and we only had a 60 day lock. good thing too, since we locked at 4.75%.

our contact at chase told us it took them on average 45 days from contract to close on a coop.

liulide, you were very lucky. the thing to remember is that it all depends on the person who is handling your file. if the person is incompetent, there's nothing you can do.

i know that on refi's they have missed every deadline and lock. i have friends and associates all of who locked with 4.65-4.75 and all closed 30-75 past their lock expiration due to mistakes made by Chase. fortunately, they did not have to pay anything.

downtown, your contract should give you your deposit back in case your bank fails to provide a commitment letter. in any case, you can probably negotiate with the seller to get an extension. in this down market, i imagine a seller would prefer to wait our a few more weeks for the commitment rather than starting the process over again.

ab, it really is a crap shoot. fwiw, my loan officer was based way out in arizona. don't know why, i just googled chase mortgage, called the first number i saw and got sent there. maybe that's the reason? given the market out there, maybe there're more chase employees twiddling their thumbs.