If you are waiting to close on your mortgage to purchase or refinance your home, weather might be delaying or affecting your closing date.New York has severe storms a few weeks ago which did damage to many homes in the area.If your home is in an area which is affected by flooding, your lender will want to know if there was any damage to their security prior to closing. We now have to do a re-inspection to the home before the closing.Fair, but you pay for it. I assume it should be around $125.

“The head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced thatfederal disaster aid has been made available for the State of New York to help individuals recover from the effects of severe storms, Inland and Coastal flooding during the period of April, 14-18, 2007.FEMA Director R. David Paulison said the assistance was authorized under a major disaster declaration issued for the state by President Bush.

The following counties have been declared designated for Individual Assistance:
Orange, Rockland and Westchester

Any property located in the above listed counties with an appraisal dated prior to April 18, 2007 must be re-inspected prior to loan funding.An external inspection with photograph is required.

Assistance can included grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals recover from the effects of the disaster.”

If you think your mortgage clsoing might be delayed, please call your loan officer to follow up with the bank.

– Dale Siegel