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Leperflesh
May 17, 2007

I think 5-7 years is a good minimum. I'd guess that, if inflation really does drive up interest rates (which people have been predicting based on government spending for the last 4 years, while it has yet to even begin to materialize), we won't see rates return to a favorable point for at least that length of time.

Of course, that's also a decent amount of time to plan for anyway, because unless you're making a really huge down payment, and/or housing prices suddenly surge upwards for no reason, flipping a house in 5 years is going to lose you money overall (because there are sunk costs when you buy and more when you sell).

I've chatted with people who seem to think that if your house goes up by 5%/year, you could buy and sell houses every couple years and be profitable. That's ignoring the fact that the seller has to pay the buyer and seller's agents' commissions, plus all the other costs (inspections, mortgage fees, insurance premium, escrow fees, taxes, etc.) of selling and buying a house. I think typical costs could easily eat all the extra value a house gained in two or three years, even if it did pretty well (5%/year or so).

Of course, it may well be that in some places, prices are super-artificially depressed and will come back up like crazy in 2012 or 2013, I don't know. I sure as hell wouldn't count on that though.

To return to the inflation thing, though: I hear that argument a hell of a lot. But I think we're a lot better at controlling inflation than we were in the early 80s, and I think inflation is virtually impossible as long as unemployment is still rising: consumers have been paying down debt instead of spending, and that keeps prices low and interest rates low. Institutional investors are buying bonds and t-bills, and that keeps bond prices high and thus yields low and thus interest rates low. The hole in the economy is gigantic, and even with the Fed churning out billions and billions of new dollars, I think we're a long, long way from any significant inflation.

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Dik Hz
Feb 22, 2004

Fun with Science

Uuudar posted:

I see people say this a decent amount, but what does "a long time" generally mean in terms of years?
Its a generic undefined term because it depends on a lot of factors. I have the number 10 years in my head, but other people have other numbers. Generally, its a circular definition. A long time is enough time to make buying a house a smart(er) financial decision, ignoring bubbles.

SuitcasePimp
Feb 27, 2005

Elendil004 posted:

Apparently I have to wait to get a mortgage on my home which I bought cash. I guess I have to wait 6 months from closing date, which is loving stupid. Any idea if this rule is everywhere or is my bank just being asinine?

I ran into the same issue a couple of months ago in VA. We were looking to pay cash to buy low/close fast and take a mortgage to fund the rehab. Everywhere we looked had a 6 month seasoning requirement for any type of loan.

dwoloz
Oct 20, 2004

Uh uh fool, step back
Been shopping for a multiunit property in North Oakland (north of MacArthur, West of 24). Market is surprisingly active, didn't expect that. Multiple and over the asking price bids seem to be the norm. Current market inventory has nose dived driving up a buyer frenzy for the remaining properties
I have two short sale properties I'd love to get but can't stomach a 6-8 month wait :smith:

dwoloz fucked around with this message at 07:52 on Dec 7, 2009

Leperflesh
May 17, 2007

Yeah, it's the traditional slow season and we noticed inventory dropping dramatically in the bay area around late October. I think a lot of banks anticipated the end of the credit and decided to hold inventory until they think sales will pick up in the spring, and now with low inventory on the market and the credit renewed, there's a lot of buyers. Plus the investors, and multiunit properties are especially attractive to investors.

If you have the patience, I might guess that inventory will pick up substantially in the early-mid spring. But on the other hand, maybe not: we got the first really good news on the employment front last week... if employment is about to turn around, then by spring we may see rising prices and rising interest rates.

Kerpal
Jul 20, 2003

Well that's weird.
Posting for a friend, not sure if this is the right thread. My friend already bought a house and he's in the first year of an FHA loan. Is there any way for him to renegotiate the interest rate? He has made all of his payments but he bought the place when the market was still up for around $280k, now the market value is around $200k. He's paying 6.5% interest but now he says he has seen loans for homes offered at around 4.5%, so we're wondering if it's possible to renegotiate a lower interest rate through any means.

This is in California.

skipdogg
Nov 29, 2004
Resident SRT-4 Expert

Kerpal posted:

Posting for a friend, not sure if this is the right thread. My friend already bought a house and he's in the first year of an FHA loan. Is there any way for him to renegotiate the interest rate? He has made all of his payments but he bought the place when the market was still up for around $280k, now the market value is around $200k. He's paying 6.5% interest but now he says he has seen loans for homes offered at around 4.5%, so we're wondering if it's possible to renegotiate a lower interest rate through any means.

This is in California.

Probably not. The reason being he can't get an appraisal that will work with the loan because the house is probably underwater.

You might have him talk to a broker about an FHA Streamline, those don't (or didn't) need an appraisal and would have gotten him down to about 5% or so.

Those 4.5% advertisements are bullshit. That's paying all broker fees out of pocket, blah blah blah. You can get 4.5% but it's going to cost you a fortune up front. Or they might be 5/1 ARMS

AARP LARPer
Feb 19, 2005

THE DARK SIDE OF SCIENCE BREEDS A WEAPON OF WAR

Buglord
I've heard people state that they'd prefer to buy when interest rates are higher.

Their thinking is that as rates increase, housing prices should experience a corresponding drop (as mortgage rates increase, the offering price must fall to bring the total cost of ownership back into equilibrium).

The advantages are three fold:

1) lower property tax (due to lowering of home price)
2) your down payment becomes a higher percentage of the purchase price
3) increased interest payments offset by tax deductions

I don't know what to make of this theory since it assumes certain things that I don't necessarily know to be true: that home prices will fall proportionally to a rise in interest rates and that incomes remain steady as interest rates (and possibly inflation) rises.

GOOCHY
Sep 17, 2003

In an interstellar burst I'm back to save the universe!

skipdogg posted:

Probably not. The reason being he can't get an appraisal that will work with the loan because the house is probably underwater.

You might have him talk to a broker about an FHA Streamline, those don't (or didn't) need an appraisal and would have gotten him down to about 5% or so.

Those 4.5% advertisements are bullshit. That's paying all broker fees out of pocket, blah blah blah. You can get 4.5% but it's going to cost you a fortune up front. Or they might be 5/1 ARMS

My wife and I are in the process of a refinance and have a 4.75 rate on a 15 year note, but yes, it does cost a bit of cash up front. That's the idea, though, you don't want to be financing fees into your mortgage whether it's 15 years or 30 years.

Leperflesh
May 17, 2007

Got the title to my house today! It was a great feeling, standing in my living room and knowing it was mine.

(Well, the bank's, really. But I get to decide what to do with it.)

For informational purposes: I got an FHA loan, and with pretty good credit I was able to get 5% on a loan that funded today (locked in 5.125 about three weeks ago).

I don't believe there's anything inherent in an FHA loan that would prohibit you from re-financing; however, I don't believe you can escape the FHA insurance (assuming you paid less than 20% down) earlier by doing so (the rule is you must pay for 5 years, and then can end at any time you reach 22% equity). And refinancing costs almost as much as getting a new mortgage in the first place, so you have to decide if the interest savings will eventually offset the upfront costs. This is a calculation that depends on how much you owe on the loan, how much your interest rate changes, and how long you plan to keep the home before re-selling it.

Also, people often seem to treat the tax deduction for home loan interest as if it offsets the interest entirely; probably most of the people in this thread realize that's incorrect, but it's worth saying explicitly: unlike a tax "credit", a tax "deduction" means you lower your taxable income by that amount. The reduction in taxable income means you reduce the highest-bracket tax rate portion first, so that's nice, but even so: if your top income tax bracket is 25%, then the most you'll reduce your taxes is 25% of the interest you paid on your loan through the year.

And if your deduction is enough to 'cut off' the topmost bracket you're paying in, then the remainder will save you tax at the next-lower bracket, so you'll actually be saving less.

So if re-financing reduces your interest payments over the year by $400, and you would have been able to deduct all of that and your top bracket is 25%, then you are actually saving $300 for the year. If it costs you $6,000 to refinance, then it would only be worth doing if you were sure you'd stay in the house for at least 20 more years!

On the other hand, if you can save $1000 a year on interest and your top bracket is 15%, then you're actually saving $850 a year and a $6,000 re-fi will pay for itself in just over 7 years.

So tl:dr; the wisdom of refinancing is highly dependent on your circumstances and plans.

alreadybeen
Nov 24, 2009

Leperflesh posted:

(Well, the bank's, really. But I get to decide what to do with it.)

Unless you've already foreclosed, you actually own it! You just owe the bank a large sum of money and the house is collateral.

Ultimate Mango
Jan 18, 2005

Well, our house has been on the market for eight days, and after strong interest all week we have four offers in hand (2 FHA, one VA, and one regular 20% down). We have one more well qualified, apparently desperate potential buyer seeing the house today. If the last minute buyer doesn't write on our house we will probably take the 20% and count our blessings.

We also were able to find a house we really like for our next home, and as soon as we open escrow we will be writing an offer. We are already pre-approved for our next loan, so its just a matter of getting all of our letters and proof into place and get the offer drawn up.

alreadybeen
Nov 24, 2009
Ultimate, maybe you or others can enlighten me. What does it matter that type of loan the offers come with. You get the cash regardless so I don't understand.

moana
Jun 18, 2005

one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

alreadybeen posted:

Ultimate, maybe you or others can enlighten me. What does it matter that type of loan the offers come with. You get the cash regardless so I don't understand.
For some types of loans (like FHA or VA loans), the appraisal process is more difficult to get through since you're borrowing a higher percentage of the value of the house and so there are more potential roadblocks during the closing process. For example, if there is a safety issue like a broken stairstep during the appraisal, VA loans will require that they be fixed before the loan can close.

Congrats Leperflesh!

Bong Goblin
Jul 2, 2009
Also, does anyone have an opinion/experience with being a seller and being the one that holds the loan/contract? By that I mean, you get a legal agreement written up and the buyer gives *you* the 20% down and makes the payments to you every month. So you're like the bank, you get all that sweet interest. And take on all the risk. I remember my mom saying that she had done this probably 25 years ago, and it worked out well for her... though it's certainly a different time now and it could have gone bad, I guess. Any thoughts?

skipdogg
Nov 29, 2004
Resident SRT-4 Expert

alreadybeen posted:

Ultimate, maybe you or others can enlighten me. What does it matter that type of loan the offers come with. You get the cash regardless so I don't understand.

In addition to what Moana said, A paper 20% down conventional loans tend to close faster. They can close in as little as 12 or 15 days, where a FHA or VA loan might need 30, 45, or even 60 days to close. So less hassle, quicker closing, and usually a smoother transaction.

Ultimate Mango
Jan 18, 2005

alreadybeen posted:

Ultimate, maybe you or others can enlighten me. What does it matter that type of loan the offers come with. You get the cash regardless so I don't understand.

To add to the other replies, there are apparently potential loopholes with FHA exceptions/exclusions. I heard of one go south in such a way that the seller had to pay the buyer's closing costs plus a year of insurance and some local tax because they were not specifically excluded in the FHA paperwork and the buyer was able to sneak them in.

In another hour or two I should either have another strong offer in hand or the one good offer signed with verbally agreed counter offer points.

If all goes well we should be able to write an offer on a house we love this week!

AARP LARPer
Feb 19, 2005

THE DARK SIDE OF SCIENCE BREEDS A WEAPON OF WAR

Buglord

alreadybeen posted:

Ultimate, maybe you or others can enlighten me. What does it matter that type of loan the offers come with. You get the cash regardless so I don't understand.

A seller wants as little hassle as possible. This is why an all-cash offer usually trumps all other offers, even if it's a bit less. It's a way faster closing, you don't need to bother with the whole appraisal process, no worries about obtaining a loan, etc.

FHA loans involved more stringent inspection guidelines and regulations. Coming with a sub-20% down increases the likelihood that the deal will fall through during escrow due to a myriad of reasons.

The seller wants a smooth escrow process, with no hassles over the contingencies and no problems with the seller's finances. Wouldn't you hate it if you, as a buyer, were in escrow and it fell out 25 days later due something on the seller's end?

Have Some Flowers!
Aug 27, 2004
Hey, I've got Navigate...

Uuudar posted:

I see people say this a decent amount, but what does "a long time" generally mean in terms of years?
In terms of national statistics, people change houses every 5-7 years on average.

By age group, younger people change more often and older people less often.

alreadybeen posted:


Ultimate, maybe you or others can enlighten me. What does it matter that type of loan the offers come with. You get the cash regardless so I don't understand.
As someone else mentioned, different loans have different approval processes which make some easier to work with, and others more difficult. FHA houses used to have very strict restrictions on which houses even qualified (and often Realtors wouldn't perform due diligence on that qualification until after an offer was in the works). Ridiculous.

Additionally, not all pre-approval letters are equal. If I see a pre-approval letter from an online mortgage broker for instance, I'm incredibly wary. They have a bad track record of dicking with their clients by upping interest rates at the last moment and kicking deals, or leaving the Buyer looking for another lender days before closing. They just don't care about their reputation so they keep up the shell games.

As a Seller, you combat this with a good agent who asks the right questions to the Buyer's lender during the offer process, or you do it yourself.

Additionally, it's a little weird but we always had tough luck with all-cash offers. The people with that kind of disposable money were always a little flakier or more demanding post-inspection. I can't explain it, but there was something about a 20% down offer, with the rest being financed by a local lender, that just beamed "CLOSING".

krispydude
Oct 21, 2008
We made out pretty well using a FHA loan. The house was listed for $95k. We bid 87k with them covering 4% closing costs. FHA appraisal comes back and they value the house at 80k. Since the seller didn't want to back out and try to find another buyer and start the whole process over again, we said we would drop our closings costs to 3% if they accept 80k. Since the majority of buyers right now in AZ seem to be using FHA (besides cash investors), they pretty much had no choice but to accept ours.

FHA = good for buyer, bad for seller

Have Some Flowers!
Aug 27, 2004
Hey, I've got Navigate...
I wouldn't say FHA loans are necessarily bad for the seller; conventional and VA loans have an appraisal process as well, and often the appraisal value comes in under the sales price. The Seller typically eats the difference and that's just the reality of selling a home in a down market (especially one of the worst markets in the country, Arizona.)

Think in the bigger scheme of things - those FHA loans opened up a whole other group of potential Buyers for that home, which certainly helped the Seller.

Untagged
Mar 29, 2004

Hey, does your planet have wiper fluid yet or you gonna freak out and start worshiping us?
This might not be the place to ask but does anyone have experience with prefabricated homes? I'm not talking like trailers, but houses built in a factory and shipped and assembled on location. I've seen some land here and there that I like, but living in the middle of nowhere there is no new construction. I've seen a couple of folks buying land and building prefabricated houses, but I don't know where to start or know anyone with any experience with them. From the looks of it, depending upon location and land, and selections, you could get a fairly nice house (middle of the road, starter home) for about the market price of a higher end home in the area - and of course on land where you want.

Ultimate Mango
Jan 18, 2005

Anyone here deal with a Fannie/Freddie 30 year product lately?

I am getting some heat from my lender by not extending the standard 17 day Loan Contingency on my offer (which went out today, YAY). Apparently there are some new regulations that mean they can't really get loan approval in 17 days, its much closer to 30 apparently.

I think we figured out that there is a bank only product that I can get formal approval for quickly to get me out of having to change my offer (especially since its been submitted, I don't want to appear weak), but that 17 day timeframe is a huge stress point.

Good news is we entered escrow on our sale yesterday, so even though we are contingent on the sale of this house, we are in progress. Home inspection is TODAY (yikes).

Oh, and we were able to make a 30% down offer, and I don't think there are any other offers on that house next, so we should look really good to the investment group who did the flip.

Have Some Flowers!
Aug 27, 2004
Hey, I've got Navigate...
Mango, quick question, did you guys do a pre-inspection before listing your home to sell?

Ultimate Mango
Jan 18, 2005

Have Some Flowers! posted:

Mango, quick question, did you guys do a pre-inspection before listing your home to sell?

Not with a formal, licensed inspector. Our agent did once over visually, and my wife and I know the ins and outs of everything pretty well, save for anything new under the house in the past 18 months (like a plumbing leak or something). They will probably ask about why the water heater is strapped the way it is, but other than that not much should come up.

Heck, we still have our inspection report from 8 years ago when we bought the house, and I think we took care of everything that they recommended save the water heater strap, but that isn't really possible because they want you to tie to two studs, and there is only one stud there.


Why do you ask?

Have Some Flowers!
Aug 27, 2004
Hey, I've got Navigate...

Ultimate Mango posted:

Not with a formal, licensed inspector. Our agent did once over visually, and my wife and I know the ins and outs of everything pretty well, save for anything new under the house in the past 18 months (like a plumbing leak or something). They will probably ask about why the water heater is strapped the way it is, but other than that not much should come up.

Heck, we still have our inspection report from 8 years ago when we bought the house, and I think we took care of everything that they recommended save the water heater strap, but that isn't really possible because they want you to tie to two studs, and there is only one stud there.

Why do you ask?
I was just curious if you had - only about 3% of home sellers do this, but I would recommend it in almost any resale case for a few reasons. I know this is the home buying thread but home buying and selling are often related (like in your case).

  1. Peace of mind. You know exactly what their inspector will find.
  2. You can use the pre-inspection report as part of your marketing material. Agents and home buyers -love- pre-inspected homes. They just show safety to nervous buyers.
  3. If your inspector finds some small problems? DIY fix them and then make that note on the pre-inspection! Your agent should be able to help you figure out the ROI of doing repairs and improvements on the bigger things.
  4. Inspection surprises are one of the leading reasons why homes fall out of escrow. If the buyer is already experiencing buyer's remorse (and most do to some degree), seeing a laundry list of issues and problems (that all homes have, honestly) could kill the deal.
  5. Almost every Buyer is going to have an inspection - don't be scared to uncover problems with your home, because they're coming up regardless.
  6. Any repairs the Buyers find could cost you much more to fix now then if you had found them before you listed. Contractors will charge you more to work on a closing deadline, and you have less time to shop around and vet references. Of course this is all negotiable with the Buyer.

    Your current situation is a great example - you're already in the process of buying another home. Are you going to be in a great position to say "absolutely not" to the Buyer for your current home if they ask for some repairs? Probably not - you need it to sell to move on at this point.
  7. Almost every Buyer will attempt to negotiate the price down after their option/inspection period. Disclosing the home's issues ahead of the time saves you from having to negotiate them later when the Buyer has an inspection report in their hand and they're threatening to terminate their contract and leave you back on the market. If they come at you with those issues you disclosed initially? "You knew about those when you made your offer, as we clearly factored them into our price by disclosing them."

I think it's a $350-450 very well spent. Hell, sometimes you can make your listing agent pay for it by twisting his arm a little.

I mean, I understand that you feel like you know your house very well and you're probably right, but it's not something that a Buyer can accept or that a contract can respect. I guess my next request (if you're up for it!) is letting us know if they come at you with any repair requests.

belle of my ballz
Sep 14, 2007

by Tiny Fistpump
:canada: goons and Ontario goons in specific.

My parents are getting a divorce which has proved to be long and messy, they agreed in arbitration to gift me one of the homes that my father owns. I have my choice of two units, in the same neighbourhood, on the same street.

Unit 1 : 4BDRM townhouse, kind of cramped but liveable. Small backyard, all new appliances. 400$ condo fee that will be taken care of by my parents for the foreseeable future. You pay your own heat and electricity here.

Old parquet floor, cold storage, 2 bathrooms

However I haven't seen the house in ages, its been occupied by members of the Pakistani embassy who according to my dad are horrendous tenants and have 7 people living there instead of the allowed 5. No clue as to the wear and tear on the unit. I won't be able to inspect it before im expected to sign the papers.

If its trashed I have about 30k saved up that I wanted to use to buy a car/ travel this summer/pay for college if both my parents croak, that I could use to repair it. But this is pretty much all the money I have in the world.

100% paid off, worth 200k on a good day. Also if I lived here i'd be able to look in on my really old and lonely neighbour from when our family lived there. She was really nice to me and i'd like to be able to do this.



Unit 2: 2 bedroom apartment down the street, brand new floors, paint, closets, appliances, bathrooms. Basically everything, this unit has been occupied by his property managers adult daughter so its immaculate. The building has gym/sauna/salt water pool etc but comes with a hefty 790$ a month condo fee which covers everything from cable to gym membership to all utilities. This once again will be paid by my parents while im in college/till I get a real job. Heated secured underground parking ( even though I don't have a car)

The kicker here is that this place was refinanced to the tune of 40,000$ with a monthly mortgage payment of just shy of 700$. Don't know the rates or details, but im assured by my parents that they will make the note until the unit is paid off in full.

The place is worth roughly 210-220k

Also the building is 70% seniors and im a (kinda) loud college aged male.

Also goons is there any way this could gently caress me over, financially or otherwise. All the arrangements are being drawn up for the end of the month.

belle of my ballz fucked around with this message at 06:59 on Dec 14, 2009

Leperflesh
May 17, 2007

Of course you won't be hosed over. Really?

Your parents are giving you property. They're promising, verbally, to pay for the monthly fees and costs.

What's the worst case scenario? At some point in the future they suddenly can't or won't continue to make payments, and/or you are hit with a large tax for the property (I have no idea what Canadian gift taxes/property taxes might be like), at which point you can sell the property. And have $100k+ money from selling the property.

Are you sure you didn't just drop in here to brag about your wealthy parents giving their college-aged kid your pick between two free loving houses?

OKAY, okay there is some danger if you don't do your research and it turns out the house you get is actually encumbered by massive mortgages and has lost value and is severely underwater or something (which means your parents were lying to you) at which point you might have to somehow sue them or be destitute or something, but really that seems kind of a remote possibility (and it shouldn't cost you much to do a title report to discover any liens).

Icii
Aug 30, 2009

by Ozma
Are you stupid. Take the apartment.

Ultimate Mango
Jan 18, 2005

UPDATE:

While we haven't received the repair letter from the buyers, the inspection went well. The major items that came up were:
  • Gate to pool equipment has broken latch
  • Not all rain gutters have screens on them
  • When it rains, some moisture can get under the house through a vent (raised foundation here)
  • Roof has some leaves on it (he may have said leaf build-up)
  • Some power outlets near the pool tested incorrectly for GFCI

I might be missing a few, but there was nothing unexpected, and I think the inspector was kind of a joke.

Given the fact that we have a huge 70 year old tree in our front yard which is losing its leaves due to the season, stating that we have leaf build up is like saying 'fire is hot.' Sure, having long term leaf build up may decrease the lifespan of a composite roof, I get it, but really?

Gutter screens aren't required in this area, and I put them on the gutters which tended to get clogged to make my life easier.

As for the moisture, it was raining when he was here, and water coming off the roof and landing on the ground can splash about. Water is wet!

As for the GFCI, well he himself stated that the suspect outlets were covered anyways.

Even if I had to take care of all those things, its pretty minor.

P.S.: Mr Home Inspector: If you track dog poo poo into my house (I don't even have a dog), please don't get angry at me if I ask you to take off your shoes. You didn't even offer to help clean it up, and I am going to have to steam clean the carpets to get it out in some places. Oh, and that nice inside doormat you used to scrape off most of it (there was a doormat outside, too, meant for getting stuff on, by the way) is totally ruined, and I will have to go buy a new one now. Thanks for not noticing the things that I know aren't up to code, and extra thanks for ignoring the fact that some pretty major stuff needs replacing which would cost me at least $15,000 if you noticed it. rear end in a top hat.


Edit: Update part 2:
We also have countersigned acceptance on what we hope is our next home. Inspection there is on Wednesday, and it should be pretty interesting. Even though it was nicely remodeled, there were some obvious issues, like the water heater not being strapped or braced to anything.

Ultimate Mango fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Dec 14, 2009

Have Some Flowers!
Aug 27, 2004
Hey, I've got Navigate...

Ultimate Mango posted:

I get it, but really?

Sounds like things went pretty well, all in all. There's nothing gained from taking the home inspection personally, though. He noticed leaves on your roof - you may feel he's pointing out the obvious, but he's liable if something happens to that roof and he missed the reason why. Leaves on the roof will collect moisture and attract pests. Now the new Buyers recognize it.

If he was a bad home inspector, it's going to catch up to him (financially) very quickly. But that's good for you at this point.

If you feel like he ruined your indoor mat, you can make that complaint to your agent (who can pass it along to the Buyer's agent). I bet they will cover the cost.

Sounds like things are going well, though!

Ultimate Mango
Jan 18, 2005

Have Some Flowers! posted:

Sounds like things went pretty well, all in all. There's nothing gained from taking the home inspection personally, though. He noticed leaves on your roof - you may feel he's pointing out the obvious, but he's liable if something happens to that roof and he missed the reason why. Leaves on the roof will collect moisture and attract pests. Now the new Buyers recognize it.

If he was a bad home inspector, it's going to catch up to him (financially) very quickly. But that's good for you at this point.

If you feel like he ruined your indoor mat, you can make that complaint to your agent (who can pass it along to the Buyer's agent). I bet they will cover the cost.

Sounds like things are going well, though!

I guess it was more than the inspector was an rear end, and that rubbed me the wrong way.

I am pleased with the results, and all signs point to the sale transaction going smoothly. The buyer and their agent had even offered to get their contingencies removed early to pave the way for a smoother purchase on our next house.

My lender isn't happy about accepting a 30 day escrow what with the holidays, but I think they are already pushing hard to get stuff moving fast.

When we listed our house, we were hoping to maybe move in March. Now it looks like we might actually be able to move in January!

MrMidnight
Aug 3, 2006

I've got a quick question for you all.

I bought my home in July of this year. I just got my original owner policy of title insurance in the mail last week from my title company. In the cover letter, it says that "its my responsibility to have the property assessed in your name for the upcoming year, with all the applicable taxing authorities".

What does this mean exactly and what do I have to do (if anything)?

Inferior Third Season
Jan 15, 2005

Called up the IRS today to check on the status of my $8000 credit. Turns out they processed it and sent it to me a few weeks ago, but it got returned to them as undeliverable. The reason? They sent it to my old address.

But don't worry, they tried to remedy the situation by sending me a letter stating that the check had been returned to them as undeliverable. This letter was also sent to my previous address. :eng99:

limegrnxj
Apr 24, 2004
I just wanted to say that the home warranty that I didn't care about when I bought the house saved me ~$400 this weekend on a furnace repair. Get the warranty and don't forget you have it, like I did!

Ultimate Mango
Jan 18, 2005

limegrnxj posted:

I just wanted to say that the home warranty that I didn't care about when I bought the house saved me ~$400 this weekend on a furnace repair. Get the warranty and don't forget you have it, like I did!

Also if you are selling your house, you may be able to get seller's coverage to kick in to cover anything that breaks while you are in escrow trying to sell it!

I am glad to know that I am covered should anything break while I get through the sale of this house, and the coverage is something like $0.92 per day.

ndPunkOne
Aug 5, 2002

Well poo poo. If you purchased a home after 11/07/09 you will be required to use a revised IRS form 5405 to get the $8000. The form hasn't even been released yet. I'm not in dire need of the money, but I definitely wanted to get it in the works. :(

Niklas Kronwall 2.0
May 15, 2009
Is there any significant difference in lenders? I'm looking for conventional 30 year fixed and have talked to lots of banks and it looks like I'm going to get 5.15-5.25 interest and 800-1100 in bank-related closing costs. The banks are estimating 3000-3500 in all closing costs in addition to inspection, for a 165000 home with 20% down.

Have Some Flowers!
Aug 27, 2004
Hey, I've got Navigate...

Niklas Kronwall 2.0 posted:

Is there any significant difference in lenders? I'm looking for conventional 30 year fixed and have talked to lots of banks and it looks like I'm going to get 5.15-5.25 interest and 800-1100 in bank-related closing costs. The banks are estimating 3000-3500 in all closing costs in addition to inspection, for a 165000 home with 20% down.
There is a HUGE difference in lenders. I recommend "Homebuyer's Beware" by Carolyn Warren. You can read it in one night and it will probably do more for you then any other resource in the process.

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skipdogg
Nov 29, 2004
Resident SRT-4 Expert

Niklas Kronwall 2.0 posted:

Is there any significant difference in lenders? I'm looking for conventional 30 year fixed and have talked to lots of banks and it looks like I'm going to get 5.15-5.25 interest and 800-1100 in bank-related closing costs. The banks are estimating 3000-3500 in all closing costs in addition to inspection, for a 165000 home with 20% down.

Like Flowers said, HUGE difference. Who are you getting your mortgage through? If your credit is good, find a broker that friends or family have recommended. 5 1/4 right now is paying 2 points on the back end, plus whatever you're paying up front. You decide if 4K is too much money for them to make on this deal.

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