Offer #6 Costs

Well, as planned, I stopped by the loan officer's place and paid them the survey fee, and then stopped by my agent's office to resign the front page of the HUD contract. It turned out, all I needed to do was sign the front page, and not resign the whole contract - whew!

If anyone is wanting to go down the HUD route using conventional financing, I can attest that you will need to have some cash reserves beforehand. I had thought originally that I would be shelling out about $1,250 in upfront costs (note: upfront meaning before closing), but I have almost doubled that already. Here is my out-of-pocket expenses thus far (not counting gas, accounting, and time costs):

Earnest Money: $1,000 (required by HUD)
Inspection:    $  250 (will get someone cheaper next time)
Electric:      $   20 (for inspection)
Water:         $   50 (for inspection)
Appraisal:     $  325 (lender required it)
Survey:        $  433 (lender required it)
---------------------
Total          $2,078

Now, the appraisal and survey were originally written into the closing costs (and the earnest money will be credited at closing), so I can deduct them from the costs I'll need to bring at closing, but still, $2,000 is a lot more than I was expecting. It's also a lot more than the wife was expecting, and she is really starting to question my venture now. I just hope I can close by late April, get the repairs done in a day or two, and get this thing sold quickly, so I can have some cash reserves for the next one. Of course, after it is said and done, I will still probably come out a lot cheaper than going the Hard Money Lender route (and maybe even the PML route).

Just a heads-up for anyone thinking of HUD foreclosures and going the conventional route.