Yesterday morning I e-mailed the credit union to ask about prequalifying for a loan, should I decide to buy the house I’m presently coveting. Though my house is paid off and probably, when sold, will net enough to pay for the adored other house, which is on the market as a short sale, in the present conditions it could take quite a while to sell my house. So I’ll need a bridge loan to get into someplace else.
Forthwith an answer arrived in the mail. The lending overseer there suggested using their online form, but since it’s pretty generic and doesn’t allow me to explain that I will pay off the proposed loan quickly with principal from my sale of my present house, I e-mailed back and asked if we could meet. Once again she answered promptly—and she arranged a meeting with a loan officer at my convenience!
Can you imagine a bank doing anything at a customer’s convenience?
This is one of the reasons I do all my banking through a credit union: customer service is always primo. In fact, you’re regarded not as a “customer” (which in the banker’s mind seems to mean “mark”) but as a “member.” Unlike a bank, a credit union is a kind of co-op. It’s a nonprofit, operated by a board of volunteer directors elected by the members, whose purposes are to encourage thrift, provide loans at low rates, offer banking services to its members, and promote community development.
Credit unions offer the same products banks do—usually for lower costs or even no costs. I have never paid any fees at all for the use of my checking, savings, or money market accounts, for example, and credit unions don’t gouge you for the use of a debit card. Your money is insured by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), just as FDIC insures your deposits in a bank.
Although membership is theoretically restricted, in recent years requirements have become so broad that just about anyone can join a credit union. Here in Arizona, for example, the Desert Schools Credit Union will accept anyone who lives, worships, or attends schools in Gila, Maricopa, or Pinal Counties or who is a member of the immediate family of anyone who qualifies. Many credit unions accept people who work for or do business with certain entities—I joined the Arizona State Savings and Credit Union before I started working for the Great Desert University, because a freelance contract with the State of Arizona made me a vendor for the state. However, anyone who goes to a public school or college or who works for one is also eligible.
“Members” can also be businesses. My S-corporation has a corporate account with the credit union.
The NCUA has a credit union locator that makes it easy to find an institution near you. Credit unions take most of the hassle and grief out of banking, and by and large employees treat you like a human being, not like a cow waiting to be milked.
True, it can be a hassle to move your accounts out of a bank. However, so many Americans have gotten fed up with big banks that many credit unions now provide simple, step-by-step guides and tools for switching automatic deposits and withdrawals. It’s not very difficult, and the payback in better service and lower fees is so worth it!
Once you’ve done business with a credit union, you’ll wonder why anyone ever goes near a national bank.
The Stress-free Finances Series (A Work in Progress)
What Do You Want?
Cultivate Minimalism
The Budget
Bank at a Credit Union
Deposit and Pay Automatically
Oh the best of luck with the buying and the selling. Property is equally depressed here in Ireland but like you I’m sure, its a buyers market, so it will probably work to your advantage it the buying of the new house. The problem here in Dublin is that nothing is moving and people are finding it harder to get mortgages loans etc. Your present house does sound lovely with a swimming pool, nice garden and large rooms even if the area is a little depressed!
@ Ash: Things are about the same here, although foreclosed properties and short sales are moving briskly enough to spark some bidding wars. Ordinary sales, though, move slowly, because of course the owners would like to get something like a fair market price, and buyers know they don’t have to pay anything resembling that.
It’s very hard to get a mortgage, and I’d be surprised if I can get one despite having about $200,000 in equity, because I’m trapped with M’hijito in the upside-down house he and I stupidly copurchased when we imagined the market was about to bottom out. Our crystal ball had quite the bug in its software.
Hereabouts, them’s that’s got gets. If you have cash with which to buy a piece of property, some incredible deals are out there. But it you need a loan to buy one of those deals…ohhh well.
The result is that foreign investors are swarming into the area, especially Canadians, who know a good thing when they see it.
Really, buying that place would be taking quite a risk. There’s no way of knowing whether my present home would sell for enough to net the purchase price of the other house, unless the bank would come way down. I understand banks are no longer dropping the prices on short sales, but are holding out for an arbitrary price; when that doesn’t materialize, they simply foreclose on the former owner. The bankers apparently don’t care one way or the other.
Would it be possible to sell yor house, temporarily move into M’hijito’s house and then, when you are sitting pretty so to speak, use your cash and therefore your strong barganing power to ‘steal’ a foreclosure or other good deal?
@ Ash: Only if homicide is one of the options… There’s no way my son and I could share a domicile, unless it was one of those 12,000-square-foot McMansions that are now on the market for half-price. His house is about the size of a generous apartment.
The reasonable thing to do would be to sell my house, move into a rental, and then search for someplace I can afford where I’d like to live. One of my personality quirks, though, is that I don’t like to leap off a cliff unless I can see the rocks below. And another is that I’m very picky about where I’ll live. The risk that I’d never find anyplace I like as much as this place is enough to block me from selling this house without knowing where I’m going to land.
Also, the prospect of having to move twice is seriously aversive!!
As you say if you do ‘jump off the cliff’ and rent, with the property is so depressed, would it be possible to pick up something that would appeal to you quite reasonable? Are there many suitable places in your area for sale?
@ Ash: Some of the stuff on the market at fire-sale prices is just amazing! Including the house with the link above. That’s a $350,000 house, in normal market conditions (whatever those are…). Before the crash, I saw houses in that enclave selling for $400,000+, and they needed fix-up.
Meanwhile, mid-town apartments in upscale loft-ish high-rises that were going for $500,000 and up (and up and up) are selling in the low to mid 200s. It’s very probable that if I would sell and plan to settle into a rental until I find what I want, I could do OK.
LOL….on the other hand, Murphy’s Law says that one week after the sale of my house closes, the real estate market will undergo a massive, miraculous revival, and everything I would want to live in will instantly go beyond my reach. 😀
Possibly it’s my patriotic duty to sell!
Would it be a good idea to spend a few thousand on an ‘ expert’ to stage your property and/or go all out to get it spruced up and immaculate for a quick sale at a good price.
Ps I come from the land of ‘Murphy’ and believe me, he doesn’t move that quickly!!!
@ Ash: Some people still do that. I have no idea how effective it would be. A friend of ours tried that and it didn’t work; they were eventually foreclosed.
I think the best strategy is to freshen the paint (especially if your taste runs to creative color schemes: change it to bland neutrals); get rid of all your tchotchkes and assorted clutter; shovel out the closets and toss or store all unnecessary clothing and linens; tidy all the kitchen and bathroom cabinets and drawers; clean everything well and KEEP it immaculately clean every day, 24/7; and pray for the best.
The biggest mistake people around here make is to leave a lot of clutter and furniture in the house. You don’t want your junk confusing the buyer; you want the buyers to be able to imagine, easily, how their stuff will look in your house. Cleaning out closets and cabinetry makes them look bigger than they are, and getting rid of clutter and overmuch furnishings clears the buyer’s mind of static.
LOL! Our immigrant Murphy is a leprechaun and has magical powers!