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Anti-Hero posted:Please someone tell me I'm in good shape, I haven't been sleeping well... That leaves me a whopping 15% for retirement, extra principle, entertainment, and emergency funds - which isn't that much. I really need to find myself a roommate, but I really don't want one with me going on a week vacation in a couple months.
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Apr 26, 2011 01:47
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Is it a bad idea to sell my home to my brother? I want to move, and I'd obviously need to sell my current place first. I'm concerned I may sell it for less than I would to a third party, but it would simplify the sale and I could sell it a lot faster. Has anyone dealt with selling a home to a family member? Should I work with realtor/agent? I assumed in sales they mostly dealt with showing the home and advertising, both things I wouldn't need if I sold to my brother. Schnozzberry fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Apr 26, 2011 |
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Apr 26, 2011 03:08
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Schnozzberry posted:Is it a bad idea to sell my home to my brother?
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Apr 26, 2011 05:10
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Skipping the agent saves you 6%, so yes, skip the agent.
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Apr 26, 2011 13:02
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TheShineNSB posted:Insurance agent here. If there is a large crack or a recessed concrete section, it's a trip hazard. Someone hits their toe on it, trips, breaks a knee, then helloooo liability claim. Oh yeah there are cracks. They're all way beyond the sidewalk and in front of my garage (in my backyard, think driveway that wraps around house). The front half of the driveway is new. If there was a person walking where the cracks are, I'd be greeting them with my shotgun. Regardless, unexpected to have to fix it within 2 months of receiving notice for an inspection that took place in June of last year.
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Apr 26, 2011 14:36
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An update: 9 days after we moved in, we had water coming up out of the floor drain in the laundry room while the washer was running. Thankfully, we were given a home warranty with our bid on the house. $60 for the plumber to come out and rod out the whole line, twice, all the way out to the main in the street. He chauked it up to old pipes and maybe a little too much TP. There wasn't anything wrong with our plumbing (thank god). Do. Never. Buy....but if you do ask for a home warranty.
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Apr 26, 2011 15:23
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Schnozzberry posted:Is it a bad idea to sell my home to my brother? If you are going to pay for an appraisal, get it through the lender your brother is going to use so he doesn't have to pay for one twice or once. They use some voodoo blind appraisal rules now to get rid of bank appraiser collusion.
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Apr 26, 2011 16:18
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Thwomp posted:
That's cheap as poo poo man what are you complaining about?
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Apr 26, 2011 20:59
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greasyhands posted:That's cheap as poo poo man what are you complaining about? It really is... I didn't think it was possible for a plumber to enter the door for less than a couple hundred.
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Apr 26, 2011 21:07
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It might be the home warranty deductible. Our drainage issue ended up being on the county side and was fixed for $0  It took a $110 callout from a drain cleaning guy to tell us that but I think we were lucky.
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Apr 26, 2011 21:31
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IANAL posted:Oh yeah there are cracks. They don't have to be a stranger to sue you.
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Apr 26, 2011 22:23
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sanchez posted:It might be the home warranty deductible. That's exactly what it was. And yes, it would've cost a few hundred to do what I had done. (Not complaining about the cost, just the fact that stuff can crop up literally right after you move in but such is home ownership)
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Apr 27, 2011 03:41
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Thwomp posted:$60 for the plumber to come out and rod out the whole line, twice, all the way out to the main in the street. He chauked it up to old pipes and maybe a little too much TP. There wasn't anything wrong with our plumbing (thank god). Home warranties are great for easy fix it jobs like this, but from what I've read they are a complete nightmare if you need something like a dishwasher replaced or some sort of major work done. I received a home warranty from the seller as well and so far haven't had to use it (knock on wood). I'm not sure if it's worth renewing if I'm going to have to fight to get any major done though.
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Apr 27, 2011 03:43
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Anyone have any tips for stuff to watch out for while the home is being built? We're out every weekend taking pictures, but I don't know if I should be looking at anything in particular.
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Apr 27, 2011 04:00
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Realjones posted:Home warranties are great for easy fix it jobs like this, but from what I've read they are a complete nightmare if you need something like a dishwasher replaced or some sort of major work done. I received a home warranty from the seller as well and so far haven't had to use it (knock on wood). I'm not sure if it's worth renewing if I'm going to have to fight to get any major done though. When I bought a few years ago, my agent talked the seller into paying for a $500 warranty from HMS. (I would have preferred just knocking $500 off the price, but that's that.) My dishwasher broke. I called HMS. They sent out a local general repair guy who I had to pay $75 to look at the machine. He declared it dead. A week later HMS called with the model number of a new dishwasher they were willing to provide. Their machine was bottom-of-the-line and I wanted a different color, so I opted to buy my own and submit a receipt. About two weeks later I got a check in the mail for the market value of the specific appliance HMS had offered me, about $400.
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Apr 27, 2011 04:06
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I've had really good luck with my home warranty. Had a leak that a plumber had to replace a lot of pipes for. Only thing it didn't cover was a dry wall ceiling that the leak ruined. Oh well, gotta learn to do dry wall myself eventually, I guess.
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Apr 27, 2011 04:11
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Slightly off topic - but the shoe Holmes Inspection has inspired my morbid curiosity. What is the most messed up, asbestos laden, moldy, should-be condemned problem that people have actually dealt with here?
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Apr 27, 2011 05:41
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Leperflesh posted:Actually... anything you don't fix now, you'll wind up fixing when the buyer demands they be fixed after inspections are done. Given the buyer's market that's likely to persist for the next couple of years, you'll either pay to fix things or pay via a lower sales price to compensate. It is probably best to talk to a professional about what repairs and fixes would improve the value of the house.
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Apr 27, 2011 11:23
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Bozart posted:Slightly off topic - but the shoe Holmes Inspection has inspired my morbid curiosity. What is the most messed up, asbestos laden, moldy, should-be condemned problem that people have actually dealt with here? Well, when I was shopping around last year, I did an inspection on one house that thankfully they rejected my bid on. I had offered 180k presuming it needed at least 100-125k of work. (ended up buying slightly larger in much better shape at 285k that wasn't a short sale). That one eventually sold for 225k (I have no idea how). Anyway, that one had: Roof in severe disrepair, had leaked the previous winter, and there was water damage in the master bedroom around the closet as well as spot issues in other parts of the house. The garage had been converted into an additional bedroom with a raised wooden floor and a laundry room. The sink in the laundry room was broken, with an ejector pump that was also broken. We ran some water through it, it went through the bottom and disappeared within a minute under the wooden floor. (hello mold). In addition to this, the electrical box was directly above the washing machine (and said leaky sink), and had been encased in wood for some unknown reason. Moderate to extensive wood rot to the exterior in a few spots. Also as part of that bonus room, they had removed the existing flooring in the garage and built a non-existent cover over the oil line between the oil tank and boiler. So for a period of what had to be at least 10-20 years, they were walking directly on the oil line feed. I pulled that bid pretty drat fast after doing the inspection, since in addition to that, all the flooring / carpets in the bedrooms and kitchen needed to be renovated. All the houses in the area (suburb outside Boston) are basically 1500ish sq. ft ranches built post WW2. They all feature: asbestos tiles (with glue with asbestos in them) directly on top of the foundation. Recommendations are that you just build a floor on top of them as need be and leave them be. Walls also tend to have lead paint, paint over it. Also the boiler and hot water heater (and usually washing machines) are located in the kitchen to save on plumbing. Most convert this away into the garage when the radiant heating system gives out (probably around 20-30 years ago for most of these places). E: Speaking of, bought at 285k, renovated an original kitchen and moved the boiler / washing machine from the kitchen to the garage and bonus room, as well as upgraded the electrical system. Hit so far: $35k, minus ~10k in mass save interest free loans. Do never buy~ Kalli fucked around with this message at 17:33 on Apr 27, 2011 |
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Apr 27, 2011 17:27
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Bozart posted:Slightly off topic - but the shoe Holmes Inspection has inspired my morbid curiosity. What is the most messed up, asbestos laden, moldy, should-be condemned problem that people have actually dealt with here?
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Apr 27, 2011 18:01
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Dik Hz posted:This is terrible advice because there is no blanket answer. In order to get full price for fixing something, you'd have to know in advance what your future buyer wanted. This is easy in some cases and markets. But not in others. Keep in mind that I am specifically not discussing upgrades. A fix is a repair of something that is broken, doing the minimum necessary so that it's no longer broke. It's possible that in a sellers' market, you could get buyers to bid the same amount for a house with a broken thing than with that thing fixed, but this is not that sort of market. If something is broken that will turn up in an inspection, you can basically guarantee you'll either be fixing it then (in a 'emergency get it done right now' timeframe, which may increase the cost) or the buyers will be asking to discount the price by the estimated repair cost (which could be an underestimate if you're lucky or an overestimate if you're not). If you're thinking about "fixes" including stuff like remodeling a bad kitchen or re-landscaping a messy yard, that's a different category; you're actually upgrading the property in some way, and absolutely I agree that these may not pay for themselves when you sell. But leaking pipes? Dry rot? Dangerous wiring? Cracked pavement? Leaky roof? Hell yes, fix that poo poo, you're gonna wind up paying for it one way or the other.
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Apr 27, 2011 21:37
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Bozart posted:Slightly off topic - but the shoe Holmes Inspection has inspired my morbid curiosity. What is the most messed up, asbestos laden, moldy, should-be condemned problem that people have actually dealt with here? - they had drywall already put in, wrong-side out, under the paneling - there was no insulation in the walls - there was no framing around the windows, you could see sunlight through the cracks in the stucco around the windows - the outlets were all completely not up-to-code, basically extension cords running through the walls from the kitchen to the room - they had put the paneling in BEFORE the ceiling, so the paneling extended 6 inches up into the loving ceiling - the light fixtures were all hosed up and had bare wires touching the insulation in the ceiling It was a goddamn nightmare to fix and ended up costing 3x what we had expected. ~do never buy~
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Apr 27, 2011 22:07
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In college I lived with my parents in a Post & Pile foundation house where the only bathtub had sunk 3-5 inches, the tile had been taken off of the shower and not replaced, and the shower head was gone. There had been at least a year (maybe much more?) of water running down the wall, resulting in the wood that filled in the gap being completely rotted. The water was very hard, so there was massive iron staining down the wall, and the pressure was low, so the stream of water was just enough to get your hair wet. I think I showered there twice, and thereafter drove 20 minutes to my GF's dorm to shower instead. I have no idea why my parents didn't get it fixed- they were going through a bad separation at the time, but they still did tons of home improvements outside the house (new garden, built an in-law unit)
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Apr 28, 2011 00:06
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Leperflesh posted:Keep in mind that I am specifically not discussing upgrades. A fix is a repair of something that is broken, doing the minimum necessary so that it's no longer broke. It's possible that in a sellers' market, you could get buyers to bid the same amount for a house with a broken thing than with that thing fixed, but this is not that sort of market. If something is broken that will turn up in an inspection, you can basically guarantee you'll either be fixing it then (in a 'emergency get it done right now' timeframe, which may increase the cost) or the buyers will be asking to discount the price by the estimated repair cost (which could be an underestimate if you're lucky or an overestimate if you're not). Considering that the complaint that spawned this was leaky windows and doors that led to a mold spot that the poster wasn't going to fix (????), this advice is spot on. People will discount that kind of poo poo immediately because if someone is too lazy to take care of obvious structurally damaging issues, who knows what kind of other hidden worse poo poo is going on?
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Apr 28, 2011 00:50
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Some nightmare home problems posted:Oh, god To contribute my own - my father went to school for architecture and could do home improvement stuff (probably learned more from this old house than anything) and he would always try to do things right and have home improvement projects going. The only problem was he would get caught up in one thing, get it 50-80% done, then stop and start another. For most of my childhood we didn't have one of the bathrooms working, one of the bedrooms had no drywall, there were holes in some walls. Doing it right is great, but get it done before you start another. DNB.
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Apr 28, 2011 05:25
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My first house was a fixer upper. Somehow it must have been built by someone who ran a concrete sand and gravel company. Built in the 20's, it was on a concrete slab with cinder block walls. All the walls, inside and out, were cinder block, with chicken wire and plaster for finish. The only wood in the house was in the ceiling, and the trusses for the attic, and 1x8 tongue and groove for the sub-roof. The previous owner was an old woman who passed away, and had lived there alone for a long time. The walls were stained with dirt, like a smoker lived there, but there was no smoke smell. There was, however, cat piss smell. She had just let a cat use the corner of the living room as a litter box. Also, the attic had no insulation in it, just a four inch deep layer of gravel between the roof joists, and she let the cat up there too. The entire attic was a cat box. Fortunately it didn't stink after we scooped out all the turds with a kitchen strainer. The inspector rated it R4 so that our attic blanket would bring it up to code. The plumbing was all laid down on the slab, and then a 4 inch layer of concrete was poured over it. So for my water heater, it was just a pair of copper pipes sticking out of a concrete floor. The carpet was all 40 years old and pumpkin colored, worn down to the weave in the traffic areas. There was one wall mounted gas furnace in the living room, and it had steel frame windows with single glass panes. There was a flower box built with cinder block, against the house, right outside the front main window. The cinder blocks were not sealed well, so watering the plants for 80 years had seeped in and caused the rebar to rust, popping the plaster off the inside living room wall. There was a roof leak over the 2nd bedroom, so it was moldy, musty, stinky, and had mushrooms growing in it. We put rennovations on a credit card and busted our asses for three years on this shithole. We paid a roofer to redo the roof, and he lost his rear end on the job because not only was there 3 layers of composition, but a 1-1/4" thick layer of concrete over the 1x8 boards. The original roof was concrete, and previous owners put shingles over it. Normally a house my size would generate 3 tons of waste. He had to pay to dispose of fourteen tons. He didn't charge me more, but he sure didn't make any money on the job. We had the entire house re-carpeted. Of course when they did the carpet near the water heater they bumped the pipes coming out of the floor. I woke up one morning as we were trying to sell, to a fully soaked and saturated bedroom. That meant pulling up the carpet, jackhammering into the floor to replace the copper pipe, and then laying new concrete over it. And we paid to have the carpet dried out and all that. The jackhammering caused a second leak to appear 10 days later. This one was caused by whoever laid the pipe decades prior. They apparently ran out of elbows so they decided to bend the pipe over their knee before laying it in the floor. So it was kinked, and the jackhammer cracked it at the weak spot. The bathroom had no fan or vent so it was super moldy, that never quite went away. Roots had killed the sewer pipe, we had to have that all snaked out, on and on and on. Doing all that work netted us about a $12,000 profit when we sold it. The increase in monthly bills, interest, and PMI for 3 years over my apartment was about $30,000. As in, it cost almost $1000 a month more to own that house than to rent. I didn't realize until about a decade later (recently) that I lost 18 grand, the whole time I was thinking I profited. The only nice things about that house were that it was cool in the summer and quiet as gently caress, due to its retarded construction method. Do. Never. Buy. LloydDobler fucked around with this message at 07:56 on Apr 28, 2011 |
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Apr 28, 2011 07:47
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My realtor just sent me this: "Attached are a few houses I thought looked promising and you will notice there is a wide range in price points. Your price range has gotten very competitive as of late, especially with lender owned properties. I say we start getting really aggressive with your offers on lender owned properties from here on out. Everything we bid on last week went under contract with an offer higher than ours with the exception of the insanely high priced flip. Let me know if you like any of these for our next appointment. " Is this a reasonable thing to say or is trying to get a commission check??
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Apr 28, 2011 08:29
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jwitko posted:My realtor just sent me this: Unless you're heartbroken over the homes you're missing out on by having other bids go higher than yours, I would continue to bid LOW and stay low. I came in 7% below the asking price on a bank owned foreclosed townhouse (which was already over 30% lower than non foreclosed units in the subdivision), against the advice of my realtor. She pressed me hard to go up on the bid, saying "this will be a multi-offer and you want to be more aggressive." Sure enough, I got a call from my realtor the next day telling me the bank had multiple offers and needed my "best and highest" offer by the end of the day. Again, much to the dismay of my realtor, I stayed at my original offer for two reasons. One, I was already at my maximum comfortable limit (and I still sometimes think I went too high, I pay 46% of my net income per month to my mortgage), and two, because I was gambling that the other offers were even lower than mine or the bank was bluffing. The realtor called me another day later, shocked, to tell me the bank had accepted my offer. I think my realtor and I had different ideas of "aggressive". Do. Never. Buy. But if you do, bid low, stay low.
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Apr 28, 2011 08:44
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Cmdr. Shepard posted:(and I still sometimes think I went too high, I pay 46% of my net income per month to my mortgage) Holy poo poo yes you went too high. That is ridiculous.
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Apr 28, 2011 12:38
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Leperflesh posted:Keep in mind that I am specifically not discussing upgrades. A fix is a repair of something that is broken, doing the minimum necessary so that it's no longer broke. It's possible that in a sellers' market, you could get buyers to bid the same amount for a house with a broken thing than with that thing fixed, but this is not that sort of market. If something is broken that will turn up in an inspection, you can basically guarantee you'll either be fixing it then (in a 'emergency get it done right now' timeframe, which may increase the cost) or the buyers will be asking to discount the price by the estimated repair cost (which could be an underestimate if you're lucky or an overestimate if you're not). For example, a family member bought a house in which the family room had had damaged flooring. The homeowners replaced the flooring with builder-grade carpet at their own expense before selling the house. The first thing my brother did was rip out that carpet and put in his own preference of flooring. The sellers wasted that time and money. I'm not saying fix nothing before you sell. I'm saying that the attitude of "Fix everything! You're going to have to anyway." can cost you a lot of money for little gain. I'm also saying know your market. Obviously people looking for a house in a subdivision will have different expectations than people looking for a house down a country lane. If I were contemplating selling a house that needed a bit of work done, the first thing I'd do is call the real estate agent I planned to use to sell it and ask their advice on what to fix. Or a home-builder I trusted.
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Apr 28, 2011 16:36
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jwitko posted:My realtor just sent me this: This really is all about how in love you are with a house. It shouldn't be about getting the bid accepted especially when you haven't found "that" house yet. That is the realtor trying to get you to close on a deal soon (not that that's a bad thing but I'd watch it). If you see a place you love, put your bid in and stay reasonably low. If it gets multiple offers, put in your "best" bid depending on how much you like the house. If you really love it, go aggressive. If you only just love it but aren't MUST HAVE, put something competitive in but not over the top (around asking, maybe slightly above). Moral is: Only bid when you feel like you'd be okay with the seller accepting your lowball offer and don't feel pressure from the realtor to buy now (unless you absolutely love the place, at which point, go slightly aggressive).
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Apr 28, 2011 17:32
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Chin Strap posted:Holy poo poo yes you went too high. That is ridiculous. 46% of net is more or less 30% of gross depending on what his income actually is. So no, it's not really all that ridiculous.
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Apr 28, 2011 20:49
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greasyhands posted:46% of net is more or less 30% of gross depending on what his income actually is. So no, it's not really all that ridiculous. I've always heard it as 30% of net income. To ship off basically half of my take home pay every month for a mortgage (and then still have to worry about maintenance property taxes etc) would make me really sad. And 46% of net being 30% of gross implies an effective tax rate of almost 35% which is impossible unless you are making millions. At a generous 46% of net being 35% of gross you are still looking at a 24% effective rate which is 150k per year (which he probably isn't).
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Apr 28, 2011 21:11
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If you live in the Bay Area, unless you're wealthy, you are probably paying at least 40%, and maybe as much as 60%, of your income, on housing. On the other hand, your income is probably high enough that the remainder of your income, after paying for housing, is still a reasonable sum to live on. So basically, that 30% guideline is not applicable in some markets.
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Apr 28, 2011 21:22
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Dik Hz posted:Why yes, for some arbitrary definition of fix, you're absolutely right. I don't think my definition is arbitrary, but whatever. quote:For example, a family member bought a house in which the family room had had damaged flooring. The homeowners replaced the flooring with builder-grade carpet at their own expense before selling the house. The first thing my brother did was rip out that carpet and put in his own preference of flooring. The sellers wasted that time and money. The thing here is, the sellers did not have to discount the selling price due to damaged floors. Your brother may have made a different choice, but he had to pay for that choice himself. So the sellers certainly did make back the money they spent on the flooring. If they'd left the flooring damaged, your brother would have demanded a discount. Unless they spent more than necessary to "fix" the bad flooring. In which case, they weren't just doing a fix - they were going beyond that and doing an upgrade. Upgrades often don't pay for themselves. Broken windows and cracked countertops absolutely do cost the seller money. A lovely looking house in disrepair will not sell for as much. In fact, the cost of replacing a pane of glass is probably far less than the degradation in the selling price for a house that appears to have been neglected.
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Apr 28, 2011 21:26
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My friend and I are buying a house together. The house is in Los Angeles where I live and he lives in NY. He is interested in the purchase as an investment. My half of the mortgage payment would be the same as the rent that I'm currently paying. One problem is however that I quit my job last year and went to grad school so I don't have any income. I do have substantial savings though and my future income potential is good. Once the house is bought, my roommates and I plan on moving in. According to the loan officer, they can only offer the loan to my friend and not jointly because of my lack of income + current rental expense. The house will be under both of our names however. My concern is whether I can get the tax benefits of paying a mortgage, if that loan is not under my name. Also, do you think we got a good deal? The house was 380k and the bank which we got the loan from has just appraised it at 430k. My friend got approved for a 30 year loan at 4.75%. With property tax and insurance, the monthly payment is 2066$. The house is in a desirable neighborhood and would easily rent for 2500$. I know this because the house is one of about 8 identical houses in a row. My roommates and I rent one of them for 2500$ a month and there was another one rented for 2900$ (it was fully furnished and had really nice carpets and stuff).
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Apr 28, 2011 21:53
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Boxbot posted:My friend and I are buying a house together. That is a terrible idea! quote:The house is in Los Angeles where I live and he lives in NY. Even worse! quote:He is interested in the purchase as an investment. Is he retarded? Residential housing is a terrible, terrible investment! quote:My half of the mortgage payment would be the same as the rent that I'm currently paying. One problem is however that I quit my job last year and went to grad school so I don't have any income. Jesus christ. Do not buy a house when you have no income! If your friend decides to stop paying for any reason, you will be responsible for the whole house. If you have no income right now, you cannot qualify for a loan, anyway. Don't blow all your savings on LA real estate! quote:I do have substantial savings though and my future income potential is good. Once the house is bought, my roommates and I plan on moving in. If your future income potential is good, then you should wait until you actually have that future income, and then decide if it's time to buy a house (it isn't). quote:According to the loan officer, they can only offer the loan to my friend and not jointly because of my lack of income + current rental expense. The house will be under both of our names however. Your friend is a moron for agreeing to such an arrangement. If you fail to make payments, he'll be stuck with the whole house! Which he doesn't live in and isn't even in his own state! quote:My concern is whether I can get the tax benefits of paying a mortgage, if that loan is not under my name. What tax benefit? There's no tax benefit for people with no income! You have no income! quote:Also, do you think we got a good deal? The house was 380k and the bank which we got the loan from has just appraised it at 430k. My friend got approved for a 30 year loan at 4.75%. With property tax and insurance, the monthly payment is 2066$. The house is in a desirable neighborhood and would easily rent for 2500$. I know this because the house is one of about 8 identical houses in a row. My roommates and I rent one of them for 2500$ a month and there was another one rented for 2900$ (it was fully furnished and had really nice carpets and stuff). LA area real estate may still be wildly inflated. Your friend got a good rate approved, but pre-approval is not the same thing as an actual loan offer. He should just buy the house without you on the title, anyway - buying with a friend is an awful idea. The mortgage payment is not the whole cost of ownership by a long shot. To it you must add PMI, insurance, tax, maintenance, and utilities, at a minimum. He should also buy earthquake insurance, which is very expensive where you live. He has less than $500 a month margin, looks like, to cover all of those things. Maintenance on a house rented out to a bunch of dudes is probably higher than normal. If you bail on him, your friend will have to hire a manager, since he doesn't live near the property. He will not be able to deduct interest from his taxes, since he doesn't live in the house. And rents are currently high in part because of the huge drop in home ownership during the last 3+ years from the financial crisis. People were foreclosed on and lost their homes, and they all had to go find a place to rent. I would expect rents to fall dramatically within the 7 to 10 year timeframe that is the minimum anyone should consider when buying a house for resale (unless you are flipping in something like 2 months, which is its own complicated and risky business entirely divorced from what you are contemplating). This whole arrangement sounds incredibly stupid to me. I hope you do not feel insulted by my assessment but I predict that everyone else in the thread is going to be with me on this one. I'll leave you with this: historically, over the last century, residential real estate has appreciated by an average of around 3 to 5%. Given the illiquidity, massive transactional costs, and high risks, it is a terrible investment. People should buy houses to live in because it is a quality of life change that they want; not because they hope to make money on it. I suggest your friend should buy some mutual funds and you should rent until you are sure you're ready to settle down for at least 10 years in your area, you won't be making any major life changes (marriage, kids, new job) for 10+ years, you have at least 2 years of continuous employment with the same employer, and you can afford to pay for the entire house yourself. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Apr 28, 2011 |
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Apr 28, 2011 22:07
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Leperflesh posted:The thing here is, the sellers did not have to discount the selling price due to damaged floors. Your brother may have made a different choice, but he had to pay for that choice himself. So the sellers certainly did make back the money they spent on the flooring. If they'd left the flooring damaged, your brother would have demanded a discount. Leperflesh posted:Unless they spent more than necessary to "fix" the bad flooring. In which case, they weren't just doing a fix - they were going beyond that and doing an upgrade. Upgrades often don't pay for themselves. Leperflesh posted:Broken windows and cracked countertops absolutely do cost the seller money. A lovely looking house in disrepair will not sell for as much. In fact, the cost of replacing a pane of glass is probably far less than the degradation in the selling price for a house that appears to have been neglected. There's a lot of room between "House that needs fixes" and "House that has been totally neglected" And I think buyers these days are much more educated and realize that.
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Apr 28, 2011 22:08
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God I hate getting into these back-and-forths, but I think this is an important issue, and we seem to be on opposite poles, so I'm going to keep going anyway.Dik Hz posted:He did demand the exact same discount he would have if the floor had been left in its previous state. Either way had the same value to him. That's... kinda crazy. The seller agreed to that? Like, your brother said "hey I see you put in carpeting but I'd rather have hardwood. I demand you take $2k off the price" and the seller didn't tell him to take a hike? That's really weird. If your brother didn't want carpeting that's his business, but you can't go around looking at houses and telling the owners they should lower the price because you don't like a feature of the house. "Hey, you put in a lawn, but I want a cactus garden! Gimme a discount!" quote:A single dollar was more than was necessary in this case. Often times what you're defining as a "fix" still requires making a stylistic choice. Not very many people are going to care about the color of shingles with which you fix a leaky roof. But a lot of people do care about the efficiency vs. capacity of a hot water heater, and will have differing demands. That is certainly true. However, if you buy an inexpensive but reasonable water heater and have it installed, its very unlikely that you're wasting your money vs. leaving a broken water heater in place. Either the buyer will be fine with your choice, or they can pay to upgrade it, but they have no grounds to demand a reduction in the price of the house over your choice of water heater. quote:A friend of mine bought a house that had been flipped. One window was cracked. All the windows in the house were single pane old medal windows that badly needed replacing. Should the contractor have replaced all the windows before selling? Only the one? Not in this case. My friend has particular tastes in windows; she would have been unhappy with the windows the contractor preferred. Well, our discussion of course is in the context of what long-term homeowners should fix before trying to sell; not house flipping, which is its own thing. But for a long-term owner, I would say that paying $150 to have the broken pane replaced is well worth it. Showing a house that is clearly maintained is worth a lot more than the potential $150 savings in not having it fixed. And if your friend doesn't like the windows in a house she is considering, again, that's not grounds for a discount; it just means she either needs to pick a different house, or, be prepared to spend the money out of her own pocket. You don't get to dictate to sellers what you want the house to be. You can dicker over repairs quite a bit, though, since you have an inspection contingency and can walk away from an offer over anything that fails inspection. quote:There's a lot of room between "House that needs fixes" and "House that has been totally neglected" And I think buyers these days are much more educated and realize that. If a house was clearly in very nice shape, but just had one single issue, yeah, I'd generally agree. But I strongly feel that people feel attracted to nice houses, and that all manner of small details are what add up to that attraction. Any real estate agent can tell you that simply pulling weeds out from the yard before showing a house can mean the difference between an attractive offer, and the people passing it up entirely. There's a reason that some people actually pay to have their house "arranged" with rented furnishings for open houses, sometimes for a couple thousand dollars: it's very effective. So, for "invisible" stuff that will get caught in inspection, I say fix it because you're going to pay to fix it anyway, but you can do it on your own time and often save money that way. For visible stuff, even if it's minor, fix it because it shows the house better as well, which can mean thousands more in the final bidding.
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Apr 28, 2011 22:21
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Schnozzberry posted:Is it a bad idea to sell my home to my brother? Basically my entire family just went through a round of "musical houses" wherein we ended up with all of the same houses as before just with different people in them, plus a couple of extras. In every case there was a bit of a "family discount" but they didn't use realtors or agents and it saved them a lot of money and hassle. There's also a lot to be said for knowing who was in the house before you were. However, my family is also really close and trusts one another, so there was no worry about a contentious "hey, this was supposed to be fixed you rear end in a top hat" conversation at the next family gathering. Bear that in mind when doing family transactions...
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Apr 28, 2011 22:28
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