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Also, condos will have association fees. In one building I was looking at association fees were way more than what a mortgage payment would be. (And they don't allow pets? What the hell is that poo poo?)
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Sep 20, 2010 18:49
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FISHMANPET posted:Also, condos will have association fees. In one building I was looking at association fees were way more than what a mortgage payment would be. (And they don't allow pets? What the hell is that poo poo?) There is one floor that has a disproportionate number of dogs, and the carpet just gets trashed. I know that this is more bad owner than bad dog, but some times it's difficult to catch the owner.
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Sep 20, 2010 19:33
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diremonk posted:Thanks for the input guys. I think you ought to educate yourself on personal finance in general more before you tackle buying any kind of real estate. Making steady payments on a revolving debt does not help your credit score. The reason you have emergency savings is for emergencies like unanticipated dental work that insurance won't cover. It's so you can just not earn interest on the portion removed from the account instead of paying interest on a new debt. The next time this happens, if your employer offers an FSA and you can wait until the new FSA year starts, just choose to fund your FSA in the amount of the expense and pay for it with the FSA. That way instead of a credit account that charges interest you'll instead have effectively used an interest-free, tax-deductible loan with a repayment term of one year. This is what I did with the dental implant I had placed earlier this year.
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Sep 20, 2010 19:56
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gvibes posted:Eh, I live in a condo building that allows pets, and I think the pet thing is understandable. There is just always that rear end in a top hat owner whose dog shits in the elevator or whatever, and doesn't clean it up. I just want a catte  For a pet that would stay in the unit the whole time I'm not sure what the problem would be, or how they would find out, or what they could do to me if they did. What kind of punishment is there for breaking the rules in a housing association?
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Sep 20, 2010 20:12
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FISHMANPET posted:What kind of punishment is there for breaking the rules in a housing association? They can take your house if it goes far enough.
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Sep 20, 2010 20:35
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Alright, I'd like to throw myself out here and get some advice. I'm thinking about buying a new home due to some factors. 1) I hate living in an HOA area 2) New home is much larger, has more land, and is only 15 minutes away from work (currently I'm about 10 minutes from work). 3) I live in Charlotte and since the government has basically made it impossible for large banks to fail, our business is picking back up. 4) I'm getting married soon and we jointly make about 100K/year. Assets: ~$40K liquid, with another $3,500 in the Smartypig account for the wedding. We each put 10% of our income into our 401Ks, and have about $45K invested. We do not want to touch this money if we can avoid it. We have 3 cars, all paid for. I am probably going to sell one soon, it's worth about $5K. The problem? Selling our current home. I refinanced only a year ago and the closing costs have only recently been repaid, so while I'm at a good interest rate on a 15-year loan, I haven't paid long enough on it to be able to get what I owe currently. I owe $116K on the home, and Zillow puts it at 120K but a real-estate guy I talked to said that to sell it I'd need to price it at 99K. There's another home in our neighborhood (similar size, smaller garage, etc) that just sold so I'm waiting to see how accurate this is. I'm willing to try to sell the house on our own to save from paying a Realtor. The good thing is the new house should appraise more than it's 177K selling point. Another good thing is that my fiancee could probably get approved to buy the new home on her own. I'm the only one on my current house's loan. Looking at the current mortgage rates for a 15-year note (~4.3 APR) it seems like a good time to try and buy this home. If we can do it and lose less than $20K in the interim, I think it's a good idea. Any ideas?
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Sep 20, 2010 22:25
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Nocheez posted:I'm willing to try to sell the house on our own to save from paying a Realtor. Just a note on that, you would still have to pay the buyer's realtor his 3% unless you were planning on only advertising the homes to buyers without realtors. So for the extra $3K it is going to cost you I would probably list it with a realtor just to have someone looking out for you and handling all the bullshit that comes along with selling a house. You are going to eat that $20K now or over a period of time living in it so if you have the capability to move where you want to now there isn't much of a difference as long as you feel comfortable with how much savings you will have afterward.
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Sep 20, 2010 22:51
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God it kills me that my options are so limited for refinance due to owning a Co-Op. I'm in the process of refinancing my mortgage. After looking online at national banks I had to settle for the local credit union due to the fact that banks with no presence in NYC don't bother dealing with Co-Ops, and that the credit union seems to be the best choice of banks in the area. The base rate I can get is 4.625% (currently at 5.5%). My current monthly payment is $1217, which will drop to $1083 when the rate goes down. My question is this: The bank offers rates of 4.5% (1 point) and 4.375% (2 points). The monthly payment would go down to $1067 or $1052 respectively, however each point is going to cost $2100. Do you guys think it's worth the much larger up front cost for the fairly small savings? If I did my math right it will take 11 years to see savings from spending an extra $4200 now and going with the lowest rate. While I plan on living here for a while, and to try and eventually move out and rent it out, the miniscule amount of savings per month just doesn't seem that worthwhile. Thoughts?
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Sep 20, 2010 22:56
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Arzakon posted:Just a note on that, you would still have to pay the buyer's realtor his 3% unless you were planning on only advertising the homes to buyers without realtors. So for the extra $3K it is going to cost you I would probably list it with a realtor just to have someone looking out for you and handling all the bullshit that comes along with selling a house. I forgot that part. This home is owned by the builder, and they are selling it themselves. It was leased for a year, but the wife of the couple quit her job and could qualify for the loan to buy it.
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Sep 20, 2010 23:23
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Nocheez posted:I forgot that part. This home is owned by the builder, and they are selling it themselves. It was leased for a year, but the wife of the couple quit her job and could qualify for the loan to buy it. I meant the one you are living in now. I read that as you were trying to sell your home without a realtor.
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Sep 21, 2010 00:12
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Arzakon posted:I meant the one you are living in now. I read that as you were trying to sell your home without a realtor. OK, that's something I didn't realize. I thought it was more like 7%, not 3%. Can you explain a little more how the realtor thing works? I've only bought a house, never sold one.
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Sep 21, 2010 00:19
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Both the buyer's Realtor and seller's Realtor take a commission, probably around 3% each. So unless you sell it to somebody who isn't using a Realtor to buy, there will still be a 3% commission.
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Sep 21, 2010 00:20
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FISHMANPET posted:Both the buyer's Realtor and seller's Realtor take a commission, probably around 3% each. So unless you sell it to somebody who isn't using a Realtor to buy, there will still be a 3% commission. Thanks for explaining. Wanna buy my house?
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Sep 21, 2010 00:22
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FISHMANPET posted:Both the buyer's Realtor and seller's Realtor take a commission, probably around 3% each. So unless you sell it to somebody who isn't using a Realtor to buy, there will still be a 3% commission. So you can get around the 3% by selling on your own its just that 3% probably isn't worth it on a $100K house. Buying a house without the help of a realtor is only useful if the seller has no realtor as well, otherwise the selling agent will just demand all 6%. It looks like you already knew that though. Is anyone else mildly/majorly annoyed at Firefox saying realtor isn't a word because it isn't capitalized because of the stupid trademark?
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Sep 21, 2010 00:23
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Depending on how expensive houses are and how much money and time it takes to become a real estate agent in your state, it may be worth it become your own buyer's/seller's agent. A friend did this and I think netted a savings of more than $10k. House about $400,000, 3.5% commission on each side of transaction, only about $2000 to become a real estate agent. Hardest part would be locating a broker to hang your license at. This friend is very frugal and pragmatic.
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Sep 21, 2010 01:57
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FISHMANPET posted:Both the buyer's Realtor and seller's Realtor take a commission, probably around 3% each. So unless you sell it to somebody who isn't using a Realtor to buy, there will still be a 3% commission. The seller's agent would likely take both sides of the commission there
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Sep 21, 2010 05:28
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Maybe I'll post a new thread, but I am wondering about any little details while refinancing. I got a 30-year at 6.125% in 2005, and now I can get a 15-year mortgage at 3.75%. From what I can see, the monthly payment, with all strings attached, would go from ~$1200 to ~$750. I am going to double-triple check it, but all indications are that on reducing the term I will still only need to pay less. What I am wondering about is if there are any other factors I should consider that might give an even favorable rate. And beyond that how I should handle financing costs and such. My inclination is to just pay all those costs up front because I can. I also intend to switch to a biweekly payment rate and continue to pay at the $1200 monthly rate overall, in the hopes I can knock this thing out.
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Sep 21, 2010 16:46
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:Maybe I'll post a new thread, but I am wondering about any little details while refinancing. I got a 30-year at 6.125% in 2005, and now I can get a 15-year mortgage at 3.75%. From what I can see, the monthly payment, with all strings attached, would go from ~$1200 to ~$750. I am going to double-triple check it, but all indications are that on reducing the term I will still only need to pay less. I don't think you figured this out properly. Your monthly payment will still go up with that reduced rate.
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Sep 21, 2010 18:58
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Posting an update: Our second appraisal came back this past week, and it came in above our contract price, so we're all clear to move forward! We close in less than 2 weeks! 
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Sep 26, 2010 20:54
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We've been looking for about a month or so and found the first house we're ready to make an offer on. We had my parents take a look, and since they'd already seen one house we liked and helped find enough to make it an unfeasible proposition, they really liked this one. Not much that needs to be done right away other than the patch where the oil tank came out needs to be sodded over. It's dried-up red mud, nothing's going to grow there ever and it's probably too late to topsoil it and plant grass seeds. Really, that's it. The sellers are asking $325 but comps have sold in the low 300k range. We're making our first offer at 290 with up to 12k in seller's concessions so we don't have to pay too much cash out of hand for down payment and closing costs simultaneously. We've got enough to make 20% and beat PMI, which brings the closing costs from $16k to $8k. ... so has anyone else ever had the "oh my God, this is actually happening" vibe once they're in the right place and start making the moves and writing escrow checks?
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Sep 27, 2010 13:22
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MJP posted:... so has anyone else ever had the "oh my God, this is actually happening" vibe once they're in the right place and start making the moves and writing escrow checks? I think we probably all have, yeah. It's kind of a mindfuck. Good luck though!
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Sep 27, 2010 21:51
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MJP posted:... so has anyone else ever had the "oh my God, this is actually happening" vibe
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Sep 28, 2010 17:19
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After working on getting a house since February, we have set the close date for October 11th. Our contact expires on the 12th so I hope nothing goes wrong!
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Sep 28, 2010 20:16
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MJP posted:The sellers are asking $325 but comps have sold in the low 300k range. We're making our first offer at 290 with up to 12k in seller's concessions so we don't have to pay too much cash out of hand for down payment and closing costs simultaneously. How the hell did you make that work? Every time I offer under asking the seller says no and the place forecloses within 90 days. You'd think if they were in such dire straits they'd be willing to cut a few percent off the price.
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Sep 29, 2010 08:31
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Bastard Tetris posted:How the hell did you make that work? Every time I offer under asking the seller says no and the place forecloses within 90 days. You'd think if they were in such dire straits they'd be willing to cut a few percent off the price. He hasn't made it work yet, that was just his offer going in. A ton of owners these days owe what the home is worth or more, so going too low isn't possible if they can't come up with cash at the end of the deal. Say the guy selling the house quoted owes 290 on the mortgage, there's no way he will sell for 290 and 12K concessions + 6% Realtor fees. He would need to come up with almost 30K in cash to get out of the house. People that don't have 30K in cash just let it go to the bank eventually. The loving real estate agents cut on this deal is 18K. That's insane.
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Sep 29, 2010 17:37
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Bastard Tetris posted:How the hell did you make that work? Every time I offer under asking the seller says no and the place forecloses within 90 days. You'd think if they were in such dire straits they'd be willing to cut a few percent off the price. The sellers are retiring and don't have a place in mind yet, but it's listed and they seem serious about selling. We did get a counter-offer back. When our realtor dropped off the offer paperwork she mentioned that their realtor seemed to be a little bit blustery about the house holding its value at the 325k mark. The counteroffer was 328 - 320k net to seller and 8k seller's concession, which should cover closing costs. However, we'd still have to buy a fridge, sod the front lawn where the oil tank came out, stain the deck, and possibly regrout the tile floor in one of the bathrooms. It's dirty as hell between the tiles and I don't think anything short of an acid bath would clean it out. I'm talking to our realtor about possibly offering 308k with 300k net to seller. We do need that concession to cover closing costs; we have 80k cash and assets and plan to make 20%, which could be up to 65k depending on the final price. There's no doubt going to be costs that come up at the last second, so the more we hang on to our cash reserves, the better.
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Sep 30, 2010 18:28
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So I already I own a house, but I am interested in buying land, specifically for a potential future home/investment/cabin. How does the process differ if you already own a home? Does it even differ? Curious if anyone has bought land when they already own a home.
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Oct 1, 2010 00:45
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Spy posted:So I already I own a house, but I am interested in buying land, specifically for a potential future home/investment/cabin. How does the process differ if you already own a home? Does it even differ? Curious if anyone has bought land when they already own a home. I don't know if owing a home already will have any effect on it but buying unimproved land is a bit of a different animal. Your gonna have to look around for banks willing to do it and be ready to put a large amount as a down payment. In my experience banks are less willing to lend you money for land as its harder for the bank to get its money bank if you default. In my area when I looked into that exact type of thing the only place we found that would give any kind of loan for just land was http://www.farmcreditofvirginias.com/ Their whole deal is farm and rural land loans. The interest rates were higher than those for homes across the board and I think the absolute minimum they would take down regardless of the loan was 15% So looking for farm related lending institutions is probably a good place to start. Of course if your paying cash then its no thing, just make an offer and cut the check.
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Oct 1, 2010 14:02
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Does anyone know if there's any truth to FHA mortgages requiring: A) A PMI start-up cost even if you have 20% or more on hand and thus won't have to pay PMI B) A monthly fee for five years unless you refinance without FHA My realtor urged me to contact the mortgage broker affiliated with her office and he told me those, and if at all possible, to go conventional. Since my wife's credit score is only around 638, he said some manual underwriting could get us into a conventional mortgage. While he said that if we found a better deal elsewhere, by all means go with him, but I'm sensing a commission for both of them if this goes through. Should I be suspicious and shop a third mortgage lender for a conventional? Or is it worth going with the office's mortgage broker?
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Oct 1, 2010 15:41
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I'd at least give the office's mortgage broker a try. It's nice when there is already a relationship established between the realtor and mortgage broker - if something is taking too long or going wrong, they know how to deal with each other from past experience. You might be able to find a better rate elsewhere, and if you can you should go with it, but in my experience the realtor's mortgage broker had a rate (conventional) that was just as good as everyone else. My understanding of current FHA rules on MI (they seem to change depending on who you ask, so really you need to talk to the mortgage broker to verify this): no MI on 15 year loans, and 5 years of MI on 30 year loans regardless of equity.
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Oct 1, 2010 16:30
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FHA loans charge a monthly fee that is instead of conventional PMI on a conventional loan. It's substantially cheaper than PMI would be if you are putting down less than like 10%, and if you're in the 10-20% range you may or may not save money on that cost. The FHA insurance does carry a minimum time you have to pay it, even if you go over 20% equity; but on most loans where you're paying less than 10% down, unless you make extra payments over your payment schedule, it'll be more than 5 years before you get there anyway. If you have 20% down you are probably better off with a conventional loan. If your credit sucks, you will have a hard time qualifying for any loan: FHA loans are not particularly special in that regard, they still require a private bank to decide to loan you the money, and in today's environment, you'll be hard pressed to get a loan on any appreciable amount of money with bad credit. Refinancing is a way to get out of the mandatory insurance on an FHA loan. But, you should be cautious about assuming you'll be able to refinance in five years or something: if interest rates rise (and they're hardly going to fall, they're incredibly low right now) then you might face a situation where refinancing to get out of a year or two's insurance payments will cost you a lot more on the compound interest, making it not be worth it. So my advice is to definitely contact that broker. It should not cost you any money at all and they can advise you as to what loans they're likely to be able to get for you, once you give them all your personal financial details.
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Oct 1, 2010 19:17
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WOO HOO!!!! Cleared to close Friday morning 
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Oct 5, 2010 20:09
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Congrats, FB! I've been following your tales of jumping through unbelieveable hoops for a little while, and I'm excited to see that you're finally there! 
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Oct 5, 2010 20:15
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Everyone in my family warned me about out of town lenders, but given some of their other viewpoints in life, I dismissed it as bullshit. Turns out the local lender got it done and turned the whole thing around in about 3 weeks.
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Oct 5, 2010 20:21
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Oh my God it's actually going to happen. Got the HUD-1 form signed off on this morning and my cash to close is about 2k less than what I thought it was going to be. Closing tomorrow morning.
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Oct 7, 2010 23:59
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August 16:Leperflesh posted:Congrats, FB. You're nearly there, and there's not much that'd likely sink it at this point. Well you almost made a liar out of me! (Ok I was definitely wrong) but I'm super glad you've made it through the crucible. Looks like you're gonna be ready to move pretty soon and then you'll have the massive relief from having gotten through this... combined with the massive post-buy apprehension that maybe it was all a really terrible decision that it's now too late to back out of. 
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Oct 8, 2010 00:07
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We got our HUD-1 yesterday, wired the money for closing today, and plan on closing Monday. Oh poo poo.
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Oct 8, 2010 01:33
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Leperflesh posted:...then you'll have the massive relief from having gotten through this... combined with the massive post-buy apprehension that maybe it was all a really terrible decision that it's now too late to back out of. This was me 4 years ago, but that has been replaced by a horrible feeling now that my purchase isn't even worth what I owe on it and I've been paying on it for 4 years at a reasonable interest rate and I'm stuck here for at least 2 years if the economy doesn't get any worse. Thankfully I have savings and could still afford to live if I had to sell on short notice.
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Oct 8, 2010 13:32
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Leperflesh posted:... combined with the massive post-buy apprehension that maybe it was all a really terrible decision that it's now too late to back out of. Heh, I closed back in January and still feel this way at least weekly.
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Oct 8, 2010 16:31
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Haha yeah. It's great isn't it. Got an excited call from my parents today; they're re-financing at 4% and think I should too. I'm gonna call my broker and get details (we used the same guy as my folks) but I'm skeptical since my loan is already at 5%. The costs will have to be quite low for it to be worthwhile I think. My outstanding balance is $233,543.22, I have 350 payments left. At 5% my mortgage payments (excluding taxes & insurance going into escrow) is $1269.25 According to calculators, at 4% my payments would be $1131.52. So I'd be saving $137.73/mo. What's a reasonable time period of payback before a re-fi makes sense? Maybe 5 years? So if total costs is less than $8200 or so then I guess it'll be worth it.
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Oct 8, 2010 18:19
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