Starting next week, I will be mortgage hunting. I have 2 banks in Ariel to talk to, Leumi, Beinleumi, Mizrahi Tefachot (gave me initial approval) and Discount.
Then comes all the paperwork stuff - transfer of ownership paperwork, etc. I was told that the bank would send me on a scavenger hunt once they approve me for a mortgage. Weeee.
Oh, and I get to go furniture shopping. Did some research and found out that there are sales during the 3 weeks. As long as we steer clear of the 9 days we should be fine.
Friday, April 12, 2013
I hate lawyers.
While we were paying the sellers, we also payed the lawyer and the realtor.
G e-mailed me to say that the realtor's check had bounced. Not because of funds, but because the signature didn't match. S hasn't changed his signature in years. She called the bank and they told her they'd override it. Realtor goes to cash check again, and it bounces again. Each time this happens, they take 20 NIS from each side. Apparently G had to be on the phone at the same time that E was trying to cash the check.
Next week I will be going in there to get my money back or changing accounts.
A week later I get an e-mail from my lawyer, apparently their lawyer is looking to collect late fees because we took so long getting them the initial payment. Considering my lawyer told us that a verbal agreement for 2 weeks and a post dated check for one week was fine, not so happy with him right now.
In the end, we made an agreement - this time on paper - that if we paid the next payment early, they'd drop the other thing.
Which brings us to today.
My dad sent over the next batch a few days ago, so it would arrive either yesterday or today. It arrived today. The seller called me this morning - since we're going into Yom Haatzmaut territory, their bank is closed on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday so they need the money today to cover something. Fine with me. I went online to transfer it, and it said I didn't have the right permissions.
I called up Poalim (my branch). They insisted that I come in to sign. I argued that my MIL had been able to do this over the phone with the other manager, and the manager today said that she didn't know about that arrangement - it's like we're dealing with the mob. We have to make arrangements with specific people? I don't think so. I'll be going in there to sort out the bounced check issue next week. I have 2 things to hold over their heads. First, my account. I am happy to move somewhere else. Also, I am about to go mortgage shopping and will threaten to exclude them from consideration. Lastly, I brought a bunch of anglos with me to that bank and they have that on record. I can also threaten to blacklist them with future olim.
S went up to the bank to do the transfer. They tried to explain that it was a security thing that we had to keep coming in, but didn't have an answer as to why some managers let you do it over the phone and some won't.
On a good note, spoke with sellers today - I am going to go and measure their house one afternoon or evening so I can start furniture shopping.
G e-mailed me to say that the realtor's check had bounced. Not because of funds, but because the signature didn't match. S hasn't changed his signature in years. She called the bank and they told her they'd override it. Realtor goes to cash check again, and it bounces again. Each time this happens, they take 20 NIS from each side. Apparently G had to be on the phone at the same time that E was trying to cash the check.
Next week I will be going in there to get my money back or changing accounts.
A week later I get an e-mail from my lawyer, apparently their lawyer is looking to collect late fees because we took so long getting them the initial payment. Considering my lawyer told us that a verbal agreement for 2 weeks and a post dated check for one week was fine, not so happy with him right now.
In the end, we made an agreement - this time on paper - that if we paid the next payment early, they'd drop the other thing.
Which brings us to today.
My dad sent over the next batch a few days ago, so it would arrive either yesterday or today. It arrived today. The seller called me this morning - since we're going into Yom Haatzmaut territory, their bank is closed on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday so they need the money today to cover something. Fine with me. I went online to transfer it, and it said I didn't have the right permissions.
I called up Poalim (my branch). They insisted that I come in to sign. I argued that my MIL had been able to do this over the phone with the other manager, and the manager today said that she didn't know about that arrangement - it's like we're dealing with the mob. We have to make arrangements with specific people? I don't think so. I'll be going in there to sort out the bounced check issue next week. I have 2 things to hold over their heads. First, my account. I am happy to move somewhere else. Also, I am about to go mortgage shopping and will threaten to exclude them from consideration. Lastly, I brought a bunch of anglos with me to that bank and they have that on record. I can also threaten to blacklist them with future olim.
S went up to the bank to do the transfer. They tried to explain that it was a security thing that we had to keep coming in, but didn't have an answer as to why some managers let you do it over the phone and some won't.
On a good note, spoke with sellers today - I am going to go and measure their house one afternoon or evening so I can start furniture shopping.
Signing, banks, aaaaahhhhhh
Sorry it's been a while - we were away.
We signed on the house a month ago, but since the money still hadn't come in from the US, we made an arrangement with them to get them the 15% due with signing within 2 weeks.
We flew to America 6 hours later.
First of all, I cannot thank my MIL, G, enough for her help with this. We gave her temporary power of attorney while we were away so that she could deal with stuff if anything came up.
The initial transfer.
As soon as I knew that we were going to be signing, I called my bank manager (father) in the US and requested that the send over 10% of the cost. I went to my bank and got the wiring information and sent it onto him. Unfortunately, I was so tired when I sent it that I mistyped the Swift Code and he realized that it didn't have enough digits. He then looked it up online to send the money.
2 days later, money isn't in my account and Vanguard, where it was supposed to be coming from, doesn't know where it is. The day we signed I went up to the bank and set it up so that I would be able to transfer money online once it came in. I also explained to them what had happened with the wire, and as it turns out, my dad sent it to Great Britian.
I called him with the correct swift code and he called Vanguard who said they could redirect it.
He also wired over the other 5%.
2 more days pass, no money.
4 more days.
A week after the signing, the sellers are getting anxious and G gets a call from my lawyer wanting to know where the money is.
Father called Vanguard and asked them for a record of the transfer and they don't have one.
A day later they "found" it, but there is no record of my dad redirecting the money.
After several long and loud conversations, the money is apparently on its way back to the US. Great. He tells them to send the money to another bank Wells Fargo who will to the transfer. (Grandfather had a guy he worked with for years who is very responsible.)
In the meantime, Vanguard issued us a new account manager. We'll see who we get.
It seems like Wells Fargo has a 3 step process to international transfers, so they take a while to get started.
By this point, it's erev chag. I accessed my account and saw that the money that vangard had said they were sending back (the 10%) was sitting in my Israeli account. I called G and found out that the 15% that had been sent over with WF was also sitting there.
G called the bank, transferred the money, all good, right?
We signed on the house a month ago, but since the money still hadn't come in from the US, we made an arrangement with them to get them the 15% due with signing within 2 weeks.
We flew to America 6 hours later.
First of all, I cannot thank my MIL, G, enough for her help with this. We gave her temporary power of attorney while we were away so that she could deal with stuff if anything came up.
The initial transfer.
As soon as I knew that we were going to be signing, I called my bank manager (father) in the US and requested that the send over 10% of the cost. I went to my bank and got the wiring information and sent it onto him. Unfortunately, I was so tired when I sent it that I mistyped the Swift Code and he realized that it didn't have enough digits. He then looked it up online to send the money.
2 days later, money isn't in my account and Vanguard, where it was supposed to be coming from, doesn't know where it is. The day we signed I went up to the bank and set it up so that I would be able to transfer money online once it came in. I also explained to them what had happened with the wire, and as it turns out, my dad sent it to Great Britian.
I called him with the correct swift code and he called Vanguard who said they could redirect it.
He also wired over the other 5%.
2 more days pass, no money.
4 more days.
A week after the signing, the sellers are getting anxious and G gets a call from my lawyer wanting to know where the money is.
Father called Vanguard and asked them for a record of the transfer and they don't have one.
A day later they "found" it, but there is no record of my dad redirecting the money.
After several long and loud conversations, the money is apparently on its way back to the US. Great. He tells them to send the money to another bank Wells Fargo who will to the transfer. (Grandfather had a guy he worked with for years who is very responsible.)
In the meantime, Vanguard issued us a new account manager. We'll see who we get.
It seems like Wells Fargo has a 3 step process to international transfers, so they take a while to get started.
By this point, it's erev chag. I accessed my account and saw that the money that vangard had said they were sending back (the 10%) was sitting in my Israeli account. I called G and found out that the 15% that had been sent over with WF was also sitting there.
G called the bank, transferred the money, all good, right?
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