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Welcome back to the final installment of the series. Read on to see insights to other Millennials’ experiences.
As frustrating as the actual mortgage process was, due to all the complexity, the back and forth with the loan processor and the loan officer, and attempting to get all the explanations of everything that was unfamiliar to me, I’ve been in my house for almost 2 months, and I wouldn’t change a thing. Granted, I may now be looking at the entire process through rose-tinted glasses, but all the stress, panic, and restless nights truly do seem like a distant memory.
And, even though I am now responsible for every little thing that happens (like suffering for 4 days without hot water because we needed to turn up the hot water heater…), I really feel much more at ease living in my house than I did renting my condo. In fact, according to a recent survey, 93% of people are happier owning than they were when renting. This can be linked to having an ‘emotional equity’ associated with owning a house, as opposed to past generations who saw homeownership as the financial benefit available to all who were living the ‘American Dream.’
Some other interesting facts about recent homebuyers:
-69% said they should have saved more for down payment
-33% did not take closing costs into account when purchasing
Now, these stats are all nice to know and interesting to read, but how does it affect homebuyers going through the process now? I decided to ask one of my friends what happened during their process, and I think their responses will shock you.
My one friend purchased a home in the Pennsylvania suburbs in early 2019. She used a realtor, and also used the Zillow app to look for homes and test out the budgeting tool. She agreed that the budgeting tool was very close to what she actually ended up paying. Her and her fiancé bought a townhome and were surprised how ‘hot’ the market was. So ‘hot’, in fact, that they would see new listings daily, and by the time they reached out to the realtor to get a showing, the house was already off the market.
When it came to the mortgage process, they hit a few hiccups. Both have student loans, and both were told to improve their credit score. My friend paid off a portion of her car loan to increase her score, but her fiancé’s credit score being tied to their loan still pushed them down in qualifications. To get pre-approved took longer than they anticipated, and because she had to pay off part of her car loan, they were not able to put as much down on the house as they initially intended.
A different friend of mine has a hysterical and awkward story about how they had to submit their Venmo account statement as proof of income. Yes, you read that correctly, the app that allows people to pay you back for movie tickets, concerts, splitting meals and buying drinks was needed as proof of income. Complete with all the ‘descriptions’ Venmo makes you input, so, you can just imagine how embarrassing it must have been for them to explain to their loan officer or processor that a certain string of emojis means, “Thanks for buying me two tacos last night.”
This is all a far cry from when my parents, part of the Baby Boomer generation, decided to buy a house. The short, short, version is that my dad drove by a neighborhood, saw a model home, and put a deposit on the house. I’d like to believe he is joking, but that’s essentially how they bought their house. No apps, no research, just drove by and went, “Hey, let’s look at that one.”
So now that you’ve all journeyed with me during this home buying experience, what do you think? Do you think future generations have it ‘easier’ with apps and technology? Do you think the process is ‘better’ or ‘faster’ because of improvements to the industry? Did you enjoy the narrative of a twenty-something-year-old-first-time-homebuyer-insert-every-buzzword-descriptor-here? I hope you did, and I hope that some other first-time homebuyer reads these blogs and takes it as a warning of the thrill-ride they are about to jump into.
Please share your comments below, and thank you for following the Millennial Mortgage Process!
Miss a post? Check out the rest of the series below:
Part 5: Emotional Closure on Initial Disclosure
Part 4: Start Your (Pricing) Engines…
Part 3: There’s an App for That!
Part 2: Credit Scored
Part 1: The Mythical Millennial
When I bought my home 17 years ago there wasn’t nearly the information available then that there is now. I had the internet and that was pretty much it. I still managed to find something pretty much on my own. I think I would suffer from information overload were I looking today.
Sadly, your tales are common. No wonder mortgage lender customer satisfaction numbers rank near moving vans or dental visits for a root canal. As a baby boomer with multiple home purchases in multiple states the paperwork has grown while the application process is static. Glad, I don’t have a Venmo app. Until the back office becomes seamless with no bottlenecks the stories will keep repeating. .