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Inferior Third Season posted:Just closed on my house. I just got back from my closing as well! What a fantastic feeling. We started searching in October 2008, saw like 75 houses, had 4 houses fall through, and almost lost this one. Phew. As for the rebate, I haven't looked at this yet but I thought you had to attach a copy of your HUD or something to prove you purchased it? I might be way off though. Daeus posted:I'm contemplating buying soon and while I'm not concerned so much about missing the $8000 credit, I am concerned about interest rates increasing. This was one of the huge reasons we bought this year. The difference in monthly cost for even just one point is crazy. For what it's worth though, I'm pretty sure house prices are somewhat inversely related to mortgage rates, but this is just something other people have told me, not hard facts.
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Oct 27, 2009 17:00
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Inferior Third Season posted:A quick question: I'm filling out the 1040X and 5405 for my $8000. It doesn't ask me anywhere to state the purchase price or provide proof of my having bought the house. Do I need to attach something to it when I send it in, or do they just trust me and all I need to send is the forms? This a million times. I'm pretty sure the form says nothing about what proof you have to provide and it pisses me off. I keep reading about people having the IRS kick back their amendment requesting proof of ownership. I also keep reading about people waiting over 6 months and some waiting only 3 weeks for their credit. It sounds like such a clusterfuck. I just want my money 
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Oct 27, 2009 17:12
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We had to send in the closing statement along with the HUD 1 form as proof of ownership. At least that's what our accountant asked for.
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Oct 27, 2009 17:23
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I filed for an extension and I e-filed my return in May and didn't have to send anything in. I typed in my closing date and cost of the home into TaxCut and 3 weeks later my money was direct deposited into my account. Didn't take very long at all but that is probably because I didn't amend. The accountant probably asked for proof so he didn't get himself in trouble filling out a false return because you could be lying.
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Oct 27, 2009 17:28
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I'm 95% sure I'm ok but... there's nothing wrong with waiting until I do 2009's taxes to take the credit, right? I cashed some old bonds this year to use as a down payment, and I thought it'd be a good idea to have the $8k credit help offset the extra income tax.
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Oct 27, 2009 17:35
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Bong Goblin posted:I'm 95% sure I'm ok but... there's nothing wrong with waiting until I do 2009's taxes to take the credit, right? I cashed some old bonds this year to use as a down payment, and I thought it'd be a good idea to have the $8k credit help offset the extra income tax. At the speed they're doing the 2008 amendments, waiting for 2009 taxes is likely going to be faster.
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Oct 27, 2009 17:40
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I think that the IRS hires tens of thousands of processors as we get close to April 15, and then lays them off in the summer/fall as tax season goes away. (Of course there's loads of tax filings all year long, but the surge in April is enormous). Based on that, I suspect that people who file for the credit with their normal tax return in the feb-april timeframe will get results faster... but if you're filing for an amended 2008 return, as they hire more staff the speed of those getting handled should get better too. I very much doubt anyone who files an amended 2008 return will still be waiting in March.
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Oct 27, 2009 18:51
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geetee posted:This a million times. I'm pretty sure the form says nothing about what proof you have to provide and it pisses me off. I keep reading about people having the IRS kick back their amendment requesting proof of ownership. I also keep reading about people waiting over 6 months and some waiting only 3 weeks for their credit. It sounds like such a clusterfuck. I closed 6/30, mailed in the paperwork on 7/6. I called IRS after a few months, they said call back 10/13. I called then, they said paper work had been filed, expect a check in 4 weeks. So, it looks like a 4 month process for me in total, assuming I do get the check in the coming weeks haha
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Oct 27, 2009 21:11
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My wife and I are possibly looking to buy a home. We want to buy a fixer upper, not so much for the price as the ability to make the changes to the house that we want. We found a place on craigslist that obviously is going to need a lot of work. It's being listed for $65k, which is too much to pay for it. I'm doing some detective work and on the web site BlockShopper I found the following: N/A on September 22, 2009 B: bank S: investment company $31,500 on September 22, 2009 B: investment company S: owner I took out the names and just put descriptions, not sure if that was necessary or not. Checking out the county records web site, the owners purchased the house in 1991 for $1! Can someone tell me what's going on here, since this does not appear to be a foreclosure? Was this sold for $31.5k and now they want to sell for $65k, or is this the balance of something? I'm vary confused. On the topic of foreclosures, I see a ton of sites that are selling memberships to view their list of foreclosed properties. Can I get that information without paying for access to those sites? I know some of the banks list them on web sites, but is there a more centralized guide?
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Oct 27, 2009 22:18
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It might be that the mortgage was broken up into pieces - for some of the houses we looked at, different lenders owned different shares of a mortgage. Some of that comes from owners refinancing with a different bank or taking out loans against the house or whatever. The 1991 sale might have been through family and they just had to put a purchase price down... that's the only thing I can think of why it would be so low.
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Oct 27, 2009 22:22
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Man, this poo poo just never ends. So after our fairly hellish process of the past two months, I thought things would be settled once we got the keys after closing. But we should up 8 hours later and they're still moving out. Their stuff is out of the house but still in the garage, and they're still moving. Not too big of a deal, but we go in and find a 2' x 4' piece of carpet missing in the bedroom which had been covered either by furniture or moving boxes. Then I notice all the curtain rods, curtains, and blinds are missing. I don't know about the curtains but I'm pretty sure everything else was supposed to stay, according to the P&S. Anyone else have similar issues?
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Oct 28, 2009 14:16
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Strict 9 posted:Man, this poo poo just never ends. Sort of, but we found out that they wanted a week to move a few days before closing. Ended up taking longer, but we just sucked it up because we weren't moving for a few weeks anyways. Good news is carpet is pretty cheap I guess! Curtains and blinds too. Seems weird for them to take the blinds.
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Oct 28, 2009 16:41
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Besides, using other people's old carpet is kind of  There is probably  mixed in.
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Oct 28, 2009 17:00
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Strict 9 posted:Man, this poo poo just never ends. Check your purchase agreement and talk to your realtor. Usually blinds and window treatments are a part of the home unless otherwise specified. Pretty much anything bolted down (above stove microwave, blinds, even home theatre speakers attached to the wall) should be part of the home unless otherwise specified.
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Oct 28, 2009 17:08
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skipdogg posted:Check your purchase agreement and talk to your realtor. Usually blinds and window treatments are a part of the home unless otherwise specified. Pretty much anything bolted down (above stove microwave, blinds, even home theatre speakers attached to the wall) should be part of the home unless otherwise specified. Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I'd love to replace the carpet, but according to costhelper.com that would run us one or two grand.
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Oct 28, 2009 18:49
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Strict 9 posted:Man, this poo poo just never ends. On our move-in day we discovered that the carpet in the two upstairs bedrooms was badly stained but beds and dressers had been covering it from sight during inspection. They already had all of their stuff moved out and we were coming from an apartment that we still had posession of for 2 weeks so we just demanded a $1000 credit for cleaning or towards replacement. I think she countered with $750 or something and we just took it because one more amendment to that whole process and I would have had a heart attack.
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Oct 28, 2009 19:13
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whaam posted:On our move-in day we discovered that the carpet in the two upstairs bedrooms was badly stained but beds and dressers had been covering it from sight during inspection. They already had all of their stuff moved out and we were coming from an apartment that we still had posession of for 2 weeks so we just demanded a $1000 credit for cleaning or towards replacement. I think she countered with $750 or something and we just took it because one more amendment to that whole process and I would have had a heart attack. That's good to hear. Yeah, I'm so done with this process I almost just want to forget it all, but we're looking at several hundred to repair that.
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Oct 28, 2009 21:19
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Is there some nice hardwood under the carpet? We keep seeing houses (we are looking at foreclosures, after all) with really nasty looking carpet, but gorgeous wood floors from the 1950s underneath. The plan is to just rip out the carpet and not replace it. Edit: Senate Democrats say have a deal on homebuyer credit. According to Reuters, they've reached an agreement among themselves (that is, the dems in the Senate Banking Committee): extend the 8000 credit through March (or June) and then a gradual phasing out (or not) and possibly a "modest expansion" of who can qualify in terms of prior homeownership. Or something. They don't want to expose the details yet I guess. There is some discussion of whether the deal will be an amendment to the jobless bill that's working through the senate, or some other bill, or offer it as a standalone bill. And then there's the House. Nonetheless there appears to be some momentum towards getting this bill passed before the Nov. 30 deadline. I imagine the uncertainty is going to have a lot of weird immediate effects on offers for the next 30 days, as pessimists scramble to get deals closed before the 30th and optimists choose to wait on the idea that prices will drop post-30th but they'll also get to claim the tax credit, thereby getting some cake and eating it as well. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Oct 28, 2009 |
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Oct 28, 2009 22:26
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the details are already readily available. http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/10/home-buyer-tax-credit-to-be-extended.html quote:The details: Big thing is that it is now for any home buyer - not just for first time home buyers. Right now under the current plan it is costing about $40,000 per home in taxpayer money for each house sale that meets the intended effect. Many people use the credit who would still have purchased a home anyway. So for only those cases on the margin where the credit actually played a role in encouraging a home sale, it is costing about $40,000 apiece all told. With this new credit the current rough estimate is that it'll be about $100,000 per home for each intended home sale. So yeah. Big government hand out to the real estate industry.
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Oct 28, 2009 23:03
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What? Where is that $40k figure coming from? How can an $8000 tax credit cost the taxpayer $40k. Edit oh I see what you're saying. If only one in five credit claimants are (supposedly) "meeting the credit's intended effect" then that means the taxpayer is paying $40k for each "extra" home that otherwise wouldn't have been sold. Except that 20% figure is impossible to arrive at in an objective manner, so it's a bullshit statistic. It also seems to have been lost on the argument, that essentially all owner-occupy mortgages are already subsidized by the government (because the interest on the mortgage is tax deductable) - so if you pay 20% income tax, then 20% of your mortgage interest is paid for by the taxpayer (using the same logic that the $8000 credit is "paid for" by the taxpayer). I was, and had, stopped engaging in this threadshitting fight about whether or not the tax credit is a good thing, but I'm still seeing the editorializing going on so I'm going to respond. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 23:25 on Oct 28, 2009 |
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Oct 28, 2009 23:18
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quote:# Income eligibility for first-time home buyers stays at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples. Lame. I guess they really don't want single people to buy homes in high cost of living areas. At least the move up buyers will increase the inventory on the lower levels which will keep prices from spiking too much.
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Oct 29, 2009 00:20
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This is cool. I won't close until mid January on our home, so I wasn't counting on the free cash, but hey, I'll take it.
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Oct 29, 2009 00:28
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quote:Except that 20% figure is impossible to arrive at in an objective manner, so it's a bullshit statistic. http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/17/real_estate/homebuyer_tax_credit_claims_soaring/ claimed by 1.4 million families. The loving National Association of Realtors, an incredibly biased source, itself only predicts that it will generate an extra 350,000 sales. Independent estimates are almost half that. So, let's say that 200,000 sales were generated by the tax credit that would not otherwise have been. That gives us a 1:7 ratio. So for every $8,000 tax credit that properly incentivized home buying, we would $56,000 in essentially waste. Actually, worse than waste. Since the tax credit is a boon to homeowners of all stripes by artificially keeping prices up - this is in effect wealth distribution downward away from renters and toward homeowners. Leperflesh posted:I was, and had, stopped engaging in this threadshitting fight about whether or not the tax credit is a good thing, but I'm still seeing the editorializing going on so I'm going to respond. Let me guess, you are a realtor, mortgage broker, or otherwise in the business. quote:This is cool. I won't close until mid January on our home, so I wasn't counting on the free cash, but hey, I'll take it. it looks like it is now being debated again. So it could still change. quote:Lame. I guess they really don't want single people to buy homes in high cost of living areas. At least the move up buyers will increase the inventory on the lower levels which will keep prices from spiking too much. well no. It is not supposed to be a straight government hand out just because you want a home. It is supposed to keep a floor on the most volatile aspects of the market.
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Oct 29, 2009 00:51
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Can we please keep this on-topic and stop meandering into pedantic arguing about government waste and whether or not housing subsidies are beneficial? Wait, why am I asking? STOP THE MEANINGLESS DEBATE.
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Oct 29, 2009 01:58
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Leperflesh posted:Is there some nice hardwood under the carpet?
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Oct 29, 2009 02:06
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Happydayz posted:Let me guess, you are a realtor, mortgage broker, or otherwise in the business. No. I write software manuals for a living. Neither I, nor any of my immediate friends or family, are involved in the business in any way. Toby, thank you. I apologize for my part in persisting the meaningless debate. moana posted:That's what we did - there is a good thread on refinishing floors in the DIY subforum: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3062994 Hey, that's pretty awesome! Thanks man, I'll definitely check that thread out. I am thinking I'll probably wind up taking a week or two off work once I buy a house, to get it cleaned up and any repairs done before we move in. If the floors need any work I'll want to do it before all our poo poo is in the house. I'm pretty handy so I think I can do this level of repair myself without too much trouble.
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Oct 29, 2009 02:19
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Leperflesh posted:Is there some nice hardwood under the carpet? Sadly, no. We're going to try to work around it though by placing our furniture on top of it. Right now I'm more confused after having gone back tonight and finding they removed several hundred dollars worth of window treatments, not just one or two blinds and curtain rods.
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Oct 29, 2009 02:43
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Cool, I didn't even know we had a DIY sub-forum!
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Oct 29, 2009 13:57
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Sort of related. I bought a house cash, and want to pull money out with a mortgage. I will 99.9% for sure be selling this house in 3-5 years. Is there any reason not to go with a low 5 year fixed variable APR mortgage that might jump up in 5 years if I'm going to be out by then? Is there a pitfall I'm not seeing?
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Oct 29, 2009 15:38
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Elendil004 posted:Sort of related. I bought a house cash, and want to pull money out with a mortgage. I will 99.9% for sure be selling this house in 3-5 years. Is there any reason not to go with a low 5 year fixed variable APR mortgage that might jump up in 5 years if I'm going to be out by then? Is there a pitfall I'm not seeing? Plans in life changing and you not being out in 5 years. Interest rates are retarded low right now, just get a 15 or 30 year fixed
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Oct 29, 2009 17:20
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skipdogg posted:Plans in life changing and you not being out in 5 years. That and yield curves are very flat right now. It may only cost you 25-50 bp to get a 30 year fixed compared to a 5/1 ARM, and that gives you increased financial flexibility.
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Oct 29, 2009 17:36
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Elendil004 posted:Sort of related. I bought a house cash, and want to pull money out with a mortgage. I will 99.9% for sure be selling this house in 3-5 years. Is there any reason not to go with a low 5 year fixed variable APR mortgage that might jump up in 5 years if I'm going to be out by then? Is there a pitfall I'm not seeing? Daeus posted:Cool, I didn't even know we had a DIY sub-forum!
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Oct 29, 2009 18:16
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Dik Hz posted:I honestly thought it got deleted. It used be a subforum of Ask/Tell. Jesus, so did I! I was following the Massey Harris electric drive tractor thread and one day it just disappeared. I thought they did away with the DIY forum. Thanks for the heads up. I just finished reading all the updates of that thread.  I think putting it way down in CC is a bad idea, myself.
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Oct 29, 2009 20:18
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nm. useless derail.
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Oct 29, 2009 20:35
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What's BP? Why can't I just refinance in 5 years in that .01% that I do stay here?
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Oct 30, 2009 00:15
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Elendil004 posted:What's BP? Why can't I just refinance in 5 years in that .01% that I do stay here? Because interest rates are at an historic low. 5 years from now, you may find you cannot get a competitive interest rate. Also, it costs money to get a mortgage and it costs money to refinance. If the amount you spend refinancing is as much or more as the amount you saved in lower interest for the prior 5 years, then it wasn't worth it. bp is "basis points" which is a retarded way of saying a fraction of a percent. 100 basis points is 1 percent. For many types of mortgage, you can pay "points" (that is, an up-front fee) in exchange for a lower interest rate on the mortgage. What SlapActionJackson is suggesting is that at the moment, it may cost you a fee of only .25% to .5% to 'buy' a 15- or 30-year fixed rate mortgage with a rate that is just as low as the introductory rate on your 5-year ARM. That fee might be worth paying, if it buys you the flexibility to wait for the right moment to sell, rather than having a looming deadline.
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Oct 30, 2009 00:27
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Well the wedding gifts of cash money for the down payment on a home have started to come in and currently we are sitting on $2150 worth of cheques. What is the best way to get the most out of this money? We probably won't use it for 4 -5 more months (we are waiting to get completely out of debt). We looked into putting into a savings account, but the interest is garbage and doesn't really seem worth it. Any suggestions?
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Nov 3, 2009 04:55
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Once you have all the cash together, you could look into buying a 6-month CD or something? Many CDs require a substantially larger minimum buy, but if you can wait 6 months before going for your house, they pay a bit better interest and are very low-risk. Failing that, a money-market account gives you the liquidity you want and pays a little better interest than a plain-jane savings account. Really though, without risking the money, you're not going to make substantial interest on $2-$4k in just 4 or 5 months.
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Nov 3, 2009 09:44
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Ophelia's Ashes posted:Well the wedding gifts of cash money for the down payment on a home have started to come in and currently we are sitting on $2150 worth of cheques.
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Nov 3, 2009 14:29
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Got an offer accepted today. Bank-owned house, we are FHA. What are the odds we can close by Nov. 30? Our finance guy says it's unlikely, but he knows a couple of banks that tend to be fastest and will "see what he can do". We offered exactly what the seller was asking, so it seems more likely that it'll appraise, and when we saw the house, it appeared to be in pretty good condition. We didn't see anything that an FHA inspector would likely balk at.
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Nov 3, 2009 22:06
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