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Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

closingwtf.com

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Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#111

Post by nijave »

293984j29384 wrote: post #9
kojeovo wrote: post #2

The privacy and security part is not inspiring confidence. Scrolling to the next section got me thinking "Don't get scammed at closing, get scammed before closing after uploading your mortgage documents to a random website." Cool idea though.

What sensitive data do you think is on a loan estimate? I've received a dozen over the years and it's literally just your name and the address of the property you want to buy. Both of which are public information if you do purchase the property.

As others have mentioned, title fraud. My recent closing disclosure has buyer, seller, agent, and title company. It'd be pretty easy to call the buyer claiming to be the title company and request a wire for exactly the right amount to a fraudulent location.

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#112

Post by happyopossum »

jogjayr wrote: post #102
gsharma wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The deal isn’t always about the price. For example, a $1M house bought with $100K down and $900K mortgage is a worse deal for the seller as compared to $500K down and $500K financed. Assumption here is that it is more likely to get a $500K loan irrespective of the appraised value of the house. A lower all cash offer (say $975K) is likely a better offer for the seller because it reduces the risk for them and closes th…

> a $1M house bought with $100K down and $900K mortgage is a worse deal for the seller as compared to $500K down and $500K financed. Do sellers in the US know how large your down payment is? AFAIK that's not a thing in Canada. Offers either have a financing condition, or don't. If the offer doesn't have a financing condition, the buyer might be paying cash. But they could just be trying to present an offer with bette…

Yup, the seller is (at least should be) made aware of the financing structure, as it’s part of the offer.

Every time I’ve sold a house it’s been a factor in deciding which offer(s) to pick or counter.

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#113

Post by mgaunard »

aaln wrote: post #5
kojeovo wrote: post #2

The privacy and security part is not inspiring confidence. Scrolling to the next section got me thinking "Don't get scammed at closing, get scammed before closing after uploading your mortgage documents to a random website." Cool idea though.

Hey, Aaron the builder here. The scamming that happens to homebuyers is not even comparable to the risk in uploading docs to a website which promises they won't share user data with anyone. This is genuinely a pro buyer tool with no association with any 3rd party. The tool has already helped many people negotiate and get a better deal on their mortgage. Please before judging understand that 70% of buyers overpay in t…

How can you get scammed on a mortgage? They're typically standard products from nationwide banks.

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#114

Post by Onavo »

aaln wrote: post #107
Onavo wrote: post #49

What's the PDF parsing like?

Extract all the text from the PDF, turn the pdf into images, send the text for each page along with the image to an LLM with a desired output strucutre.

You are not doing any of the fancy table extractor stuff?

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#115

Post by doctorpangloss »

aaln wrote: post #32
WaitWaitWha wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allow me to expound on @kojeovo's remark. Please take this as a constructive criticism to improve your success potential. Much of it is from a quick glance, and am sure there are many other facets to improve. A business is not just about the product. Your Privacy Policy. There is no default way to download it (see 9.), and since it is window-ed cannot print entire doc. That means I cannot keep a copy of it for myself…

Thanks for the constructive feedback. I just added a way to easily download the entire privacy policy and terms of service, also quickly added an about page with some info about me - https://closing.wtf/about Eventually I'm going to get a certification and will keep your other points in mind.

I think based on your responses so far, it’s disappointing, but people should not upload these docs.

There isn’t anything actionable in them. It seems like you are running some kind of scheme to collect these documents. And it’s not clear why you need them at all: you could provide the same advise to everyone regardless of their contents, which is to compare options, or to ask for more lender refunds.

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#116

Post by davchana »

zie wrote: post #80
AntiRush wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most common scams around home buying are wire fraud - contact the buyer pretending to be the title company and steal their money. The data in a mortgage is exactly what you need to enable these scams and you're getting people to hand it to you and at the same time tell you they are about to wire money.

Wire Transfers are not undoable and instant, much like Zelle. So I always recommend people send $10 first, and confirm everything works, before sending real money. When doing the confirmation, try using a different channel of communication, to ensure you are getting the right person. i.e. call them directly from known good phone numbers or something. Yes many banks charge $30 or more for a wire transfer, but I'd rath…

Is it too paranoid that even for first time Zelle (with people I know in real life) I send a $ and ask them to see if they received it, before sending anything else?

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#117

Post by stevebmark »

aaln wrote: post #5
kojeovo wrote: post #2

The privacy and security part is not inspiring confidence. Scrolling to the next section got me thinking "Don't get scammed at closing, get scammed before closing after uploading your mortgage documents to a random website." Cool idea though.

Hey, Aaron the builder here. The scamming that happens to homebuyers is not even comparable to the risk in uploading docs to a website which promises they won't share user data with anyone. This is genuinely a pro buyer tool with no association with any 3rd party. The tool has already helped many people negotiate and get a better deal on their mortgage. Please before judging understand that 70% of buyers overpay in t…

Your response is a lighthouse sized red flashing light to never use your tool.

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#119

Post by [deleted] »

nijave wrote: post #105
SoftTalker wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never done a wire transfer at a residential closing. I come to the closing at the title company office with a cashier's check from my bank for the amount they told me to bring.

Cashier's check was only accepted for amounts less than $10k at our closing by our title company. This seems common to require wire. The title company contracted with a 3rd party escrow service so the money was required into the title company's account at the escrow service. I assume a cashier's check would need to be mailed to the escrow company

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#120

Post by KPGv2 »

happyopossum wrote: post #112
jogjayr wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a $1M house bought with $100K down and $900K mortgage is a worse deal for the seller as compared to $500K down and $500K financed. Do sellers in the US know how large your down payment is? AFAIK that's not a thing in Canada. Offers either have a financing condition, or don't. If the offer doesn't have a financing condition, the buyer might be paying cash. But they could just be trying to present an offer with bette…

Yup, the seller is (at least should be) made aware of the financing structure, as it’s part of the offer. Every time I’ve sold a house it’s been a factor in deciding which offer(s) to pick or counter.

That's interesting. My last house was $$$ and I had no RE agent. Negotiated with the seller's agent myself. Never once disclosed financing info.
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