Hullo from the "there be dragons here" area of MA

[eclecticcottage]

Title Insurance is completely different than Home Owners Insurance.

Title Insurance covers you in case there's a title defect not discovered in a search (or in my case since I was buying an REO there wasn't a search-just insurance in case there is a defect). So, say, 20 years ago Great Aunt Helen owned the house and scribbled something that said that Cousin Harry got part ownership-but he never claimed it when she died. Now he has decided he wants to. Title Insurance kicks in. What happens-well, that's for the courts to decide, but you should be covered for the purchase price of the property (I'm not sure about improvements now that I'm typing-I should check on that lol). Check on this one with your lawyer.

Home Owners covers you for loss on the property, belongings, someone falling on your porch, etc.

[Lily left the valley]

I am aware of the difference, but thank you for taking the time to explain in case I wasn't.

[eclecticcottage]

Sorry, lol. I thought when you mentioned shopping around right after someone else mentioned title insurance maybe you didn't.

[eclecticcottage]

Hey, found the pictures! Cute house!

[Lily left the valley]

Ok, so we are further along with things than we were five hours ago, but I still don't know with any certainty what the fall out will be about the taxes. The biggest disappointment was apparently the 1-800 number the IRS has is "seasonal", so we can't get any help from it right now. There's only so much info on the government site as far as what we should be doing now, and we don't know if contacting a tax person is going to help. We also tried a few tax places locally only to find out they are seasonal as well. We've never had a problem like this before, so we're clueless. I'm still trying to find out if there is a form we can send in electronically somehow, but what I'm finding so far isn't going to help us in this situation since we didn't ask for an extension.

This is driving me crazy right now that one moving time mistake might cost us the house. Both of us, really, are having that awful sinking stomach feeling that this oversight will upend the purchase of the home. Our mortgage guy didn't say outright that we had doomed ourselves, but how much his tone changed when I gave him our closing date is bothering me. He's never sounded the slightest bit negative about anything in all the communications we've had. I know our mortgage guy is trying to make the best of a less than ideal situation, but I also know his hands will be tied in certain ways where the bank is concerned. I'm trying very hard now to hope for the best while bracing for the worst.

I did read over the first time home buyer's handbook we got. The handbook is very clear about various possible closing costs--much more so than what I've found on many websites. They had an example sheet you could look at, and it was the first time I'd seen such a document.

Sorry, lol. I thought when you mentioned shopping around right after someone else mentioned title insurance maybe you didn't.

I mentioned needing to get moving on both in the same paragraph, which probably didn't help. I write stream of thought style a lot when I'm stressed, and today, I'm definitely feeling that strain.

Thanks! I think it's our just right house in almost all ways.

[Don M]

I hope it works out - my Mother always said things generally work out for the best. I have found this often to be true.

[Lily left the valley]

I hope it works out - my Mother always said things generally work out for the best. I have found this often to be true.

We really appreciate the positive thoughts.

I think we're feeling so negative because we both feel like idiots--how hard can it be to put an envelope in the mail? I was shuffling a lot of management paperwork in April as I organized what needed to be handed over to the property owner. I think that's when it got buried in a "can wait" pile, and packed in a box.

One good thing I did read on the IRS site is that because we were due a small refund, that will pay for the late charges. So right now, the only hold up will be the time it takes to get it to them via mail, then processing on the fed's end. I have a few more IRS links to check to make sure we don't need any additional forms before sending it off in the A.M.

[eclecticcottage]

Could you try calling a CPA in you area, vs a tax prep company? Just a thought.

[springmoon33]

Once filed you can check with IRS office in Fitchburg, you can make an appt via phone and get whatever copy of what you need.

I hope it works out - my Mother always said things generally work out for the best. I have found this often to be true.

We really appreciate the positive thoughts.

I think we're feeling so negative because we both feel like idiots--how hard can it be to put an envelope in the mail? I was shuffling a lot of management paperwork in April as I organized what needed to be handed over to the property owner. I think that's when it got buried in a "can wait" pile, and packed in a box.

One good thing I did read on the IRS site is that because we were due a small refund, that will pay for the late charges. So right now, the only hold up will be the time it takes to get it to them via mail, then processing on the fed's end. I have a few more IRS links to check to make sure we don't need any additional forms before sending it off in the A.M.

[Lily left the valley]

The IRS website says if you're late, just mail it as soon as possible to avoid further interest (if you owe, which we don't) and to get the processing started. They only said to send a letter of explanation for reasonable cause if there was any to avoid the one time late fee. Forgetfulness doesn't seem reasonable cause, so we didn't ask for that. We sent it to get things moving forward since the processing timeline appears to be the issue that needs to be resolved, and doing what the site said to do seemed the best recourse since we can't seem to reach human beings to check with on this matter (more on that below).

We did chat briefly with our mortgage guy today, and he said this won't hurt us as to the mortgage itself. It's really the likely appraisal scheduling, and meeting closing date on time issues that he is concerned about. So that was some relief to hear at least--and right now we'll take it! I originally thought the appraisal would be ordered once he had the signed P&S, but that's not how it works.

EC, we are a bit baffled at how difficult it is to get a hold of a human being that deals with taxes right now whether at the government, business or private practice level. We keep getting computerized phone operators that sent us on endless loops that seem to end with "this service is not available now, see our website", or "to make an appointment for further assistance, contact X" and then when we do call that number, we get sent back into another broken cycle. When we tried to call individuals, then we got voicemail saying the person we're trying to contact is away on vacation/unavailable and have not gotten call backs. We realized we'd lost a week trying to talk to a human, and we didn't want to lose anymore time.

springmoon, we tried called the Worcester office today as per our mortgage guy's advice, and that was another frustrating loop that went nowhere. (One of the ones where you have to call back on a certain number, get sent through even more menus, and then it ultimately hangs up on you for no apparent reason whatsoever. )

Because spouse has been starting work at 6am, he's been getting home earlier than usual Xmas rush time. We almost drove down to Worcester today just to see if we could find a human being to talk to, but realized we wouldn't get there before the offices would be closed. I didn't know there was an office in Fitchburg.

I just told spouse about it, and he's going to take a copy of our paperwork there directly after work tomorrow to see what he can find out. Thanks for the info!