Looking for a jumbo mortgage

Go for the best rate and leave some cash for a rainy day. I like 12 months liquid cash, but brokers say 6 months (up from 3 months during the boom).

If you lose your job, 12 month liquid cash can go faster than you ever thought possible. We keep at least 2-3 years liquid cash.

Talk to Sunny Hong at Bofa. He/She posts on here a lot.

BTW, I didn't end up going with Sunny/Bofa for my recent jumbo refi, but it was very helpful to get her/his opinion.

Hi. nyc10023 I'm looking for a jumbo refi as well. I'll try Sunny at BofA, but would you recommend who you wound up refi'ing with? thx

I ended up refi-ing with my lender (Chase) but paperwork took a long time, which was fine for us as it was a refi. I also wanted to make sure that I didn't have to pay mtge tax.

BTW, Chase gives you 0.125% off the interest rate if you do automatic deductions from your checking. I know, I know. Stupid to try to save a mere 0.125%...

Btw, JJ, I think I know you IRL.

def'ly not stupid. I just can't find anyone competent at Chase to muscle the refi through. thx for the info

You want my contact at Chase? I can forward it to your partner.

She was great, actually. I was a bit lackadaisical since it wasn't high priority to be calling that much. But it still got done.

Lu Ann Bowers - lu.a.bowers@jpmorgan.com

try schwab

Sunny is a he, and has been doing a GREAT job on my first deal with him, a co-op purchase where the buyer found us both through this board. That's a one-bedroom, so it's a conforming not a jumbo, but if I were in your shoes I'd call him.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

Take out whatever mortgage you like. Interest rates should not even concern you. It seems that paying your monthly mortgage bill is passe - loke avocado green appliances. You should be able to hang on for at least two or more years at no cost. Beats renting. You can then make up some sob story, or even blame the greedy lenders - and find your story in the NY Times. Jumbo mortgage? - we don't need no stinking mortgage!

2-3 years of "liquid cash"?

Does that relate to the monthly carrying costs? Which in this case - with a $2M-$3M apartment - probably would be $10-15K+/mo... so he should have between $360K to $540k+ in cash just to satisfy the co-op board?

So in order to put down $1M he's going to have to have $1.4M-1.6M in cash?

Wow, those are some impressive numbers to buy a 2-3 bedroom...

2-3 years of liquid cash means you're either really loaded or really conservative.

About a 1 year liquid cash in case you lose your job is IMM about right. I mean do you really expect to be out of work for 2-3 years? I think there are other issues if that's a possibility.

2-3 years of liquid cash means you're either really loaded or really conservative.

I think we are very comfortable now because we have been conservative. We are older now (mid 50's) so even more conservative. Turned over 5 homes at a profit (including second homes) and never once did our primary home exceed 3X income with 20% down. So in OP's instance, we would never have bought more than $1.8 mm of home with $360,000 down. Would never,ever consider putting most of our liquid assets in a mortgage. And, would never have bought a 3 mm apt on a 600K income. In fact when our income first hit 600K we were living in a 400K apt that we later sold for more than 3X the original price. And our income at that point was mostly from investments even though we had good salaries (1990's $'s). We were lucky to have lived through some incredible times in the stock market and did very well after investing-- and even losing-- in bubble economies.

If OP bought a 2 bed well under 2 mill and put down 20% they would have 2-3 years of liquid assets for safe investments. And memito, it is not to satisfy co op board, it is to satisfy self. if you lose your job at that level, you don't want to take just any new job. If you go through a down time in economy, you might want to start your own business which might take 2-3 yrs. to get started. So, yes Chai, other issues just might mean global recession. There are plenty of talented execs right now who have been out of work close to 2 yrs in this recession.

And, btw, this conservative desperately wants to own again, but will only rent in this environment. (That is in NY. we own investment property in miami.)

Downtownrenter:

I'd recommend talking to a bank and a broker so that you can compare the range of possibilities for yourself. The "too big to fail" banks are competitive at the Fannie Mae loans ( < $730K) but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at what is possible outside that range with the banks that brokers have access to. The "TBTF" banks are not really that competitive in the Jumbo loan arena that you're seeking. Feel free to email me at nycmortgage@gmail.com if you'd like to get more information.

In my opinion the banks with the lowest rates for Jumbo loans for the Manhattan Condo/Coop market are not the Big ones like Citi, Chase or BofA but instead the regional Community / Savings Banks. You should shop around but their rates are typically 1 - 1.5% lower for comparable loans. Also typically they tend to hold onto their loans more often than the big lenders. However you need very good credit and liquidity. Some names are Astoria Financial, Ridgewood Savings and Community National Bank (Great Neck).

Also I second that point about 2-3 years of liquid cash. If theres one thing the last three years have taught us us how important liquidity is. We used to keep ~1 year of liquid assets but now are moving that up to 2 years (and will like to take it up even higher).

Thanks for all the advice -- much appreciated. BTW -- I don't like the prices I'm seeing much either, and the prospect of paying north of $2 million for a three-bedroom apartment with essentially no amenities (ie private space, good views, high ceilings) is infuriating. But a rental with any of those is equally hard to find for less than $9-10K downtown, despite what the I'll-never-buy-until-prices-fall-50-percent trolls say. And at that point, I'd be spending $100-120K on rent, which will cover the interest on a mighty big mortgage.

Also, I have frankly been stunned by the strength of the market since '08 -- if you'd told me then that prices would fall only 20 or so percent after the worst market/Wall Street crash in a generation and then recover a chunk of that, I would have said you were nuts. But that's what's happened. The only realistic conclusion is that a) people all over the world want to own in Manhattan and b) prices here are very, very closely tied to the health of the markets, especially the stock market. So I have reluctantly reached the conclusion that if I'm going to own equities and live with those gyrations, I might as well put most of the money into the place where my family lives.

One other point -- I wish we wanted to live uptown, especially on the UES. It's clear that prices there have fallen significantly further up there, to 04-05 levels. But the market is what it is, and clearly we're not the only ones who'd rather live downtown.

apt23, i wasn't implying that it was a bad thing to be conservative.

Your financials sound pretty solid so I can't disagree with 2-3 years cash. I just commented that way because most people think that I'm already pretty conservative with "just" 1 year liquid.

My strategy is that I'd like to carry 1 year liquid cash and if one person loses their job, i would most likely begin to sell stock for cash. But now that you mention it, i probably have 2-3 years cash currently because my stock portfolio isn't nearly fully invested. But the strategy is to have it allocated.

Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say 3 years' liquid cash is out of reach for many. If I went by that standard I would never have bought, and I've been a happy taxpaying owner in NYC for 14 years now.

Downtown renter, you're not the only ones who would rather live downtown, just about everyone does. (30_yrs, a frequent poster on this board who works with me, makes the point that there are now something like 25,000 real estate agents in the downtown market.)

Just remember that that's what you're paying for, and roughly every 10 blocks you can stand to move north, things get a little cheaper.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

downtownrenter, read the times' real estate section online and I think that they have a story about jumbo mortgages. Based on what I heard, you can perhaps get 5 handle rates. I was very happy with my citi mortgage (jumbo conforming though) so talk to them.
Yes agree with you on the UE comment. Terrible commute and way too stuffy people. Stay downtown and you will be happy. Good luck.