USAA Mover's Advantage Program Review Part 4: Closing, Moving In and My Recommendation

Read Part 1 here: Part 1: First Contact
Read Part 2 here: Part 2: Update
Read Part 3 here: Part 3: The Offer and The Loan


To recap so far, we initially used USAA's Mover's Advantage Program and were considering a USAA Mortgage.  After some initial communication hiccups with the Mover's Program we were assigned a USAA-sponsored realtor and we put an offer down on a house.  After going through the logistics of me coming back from Korea and taking leave before traveling to my new assignment and several unresolved communication problems, we decided not to go with a USAA Mortgage and chose a local mortgage company.


On December 16th, we closed on the house using a local notary, a service the local mortgage company offered and USAA did not.  One of the problems I had was with trying to communicate the whole process over e-mail.  I asked the mortgage company if a personal check for the down payment and final closing costs would suffice and they said yes, but really meant that a wire transfer or cashier's check would have to be used.  I used USAA's wire transfer service but had to pay a $20 wire transfer fee.


After leave and a week in TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility) waiting for our household goods to be delivered, we finally moved in.  All in all, it was a much smoother process than I thought.  There are quite a bit of expenses that are normal to moving and purchasing a new house.  Here are some that you should consider.

• 1 year of homeowner's insurance due at closing
• VA Funding Fee due at closing (based on amount of loan)
• Closing Costs (ours was paid by our seller)
• Utility set up costs

In summary, I RECOMMEND USAA's Mover's Advantage Program so they can assign you a realtor that deals with the uniqueness of military moves and at this time I do NOT RECOMMEND USAA's Mortgage's company for people with unique military moves.  I'm disappointed that a bank that deals almost solely with military members is not set up to handle unique military moves like mine with me being stationed in Korea and my wife doing the house hunting.  The initial communication and customer service problems were inconsistent with other USAA products and services.