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FCKGW posted:It's always worth it to buy a house outright if possible. I kinda disagree, actually. I mean, all of the salient points pointed out by others are relevant, but one should also consider opportunity cost. If you are buying a house you intend to live in forever, then for sure pay outright, because you're saving the interest and you'd have spent the principal eventually anyway, without really worrying about a return or resale value. However, you should not raid your retirement nest-egg just to pay cash for a house, if the alternative is to do something like pay 80% cash and get a shorter-term loan for the rest. Mortgage interest is at an all-time low; borrowing at 3 percent for five or ten years might be a good idea, if it means having cash for something else that is also important (like your retirement fund). That said: if you can save up the cash and have the money to direct to your other priorities, then your opportunity cost is low, and the upside is big; both in the saved interest, and also the advantage you have as a buyer with a cash offer.
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Nov 14, 2011 19:07
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Is there any way I, the buyer, can get a copy of the appraisal?
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Nov 14, 2011 21:04
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PoliSciGirl posted:Is there any way I, the buyer, can get a copy of the appraisal? Ask your lender, they will be happy to get a copy to you.
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Nov 14, 2011 21:14
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FCKGW posted:It's always worth it to buy a house outright if possible. Some will say that with interest rates this low you could make more money in the long run investing your funds elsewhere, but then again you can't foreclose on a paid off house. I've seen various parties try to foreclose on a paid off house. I remember it made national news a while back when a HOA started foreclosure proceedings for unpaid fines while the owner of the house was deployed to Iraq.
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Nov 14, 2011 23:45
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Konstantin posted:I've seen various parties try to foreclose on a paid off house. I remember it made national news a while back when a HOA started foreclosure proceedings for unpaid fines while the owner of the house was deployed to Iraq. You're really missing the point I was trying to make. In other news we bought a house has a couple cracked tiles in the roof, a broken gate, no windows screens, a busted shower valve in the upstairs bathroom and no garage door openers (the previous tenants took them and the bank screwed the doors to the tracks in the mean time). We asked for a measly $1k back at closing to address these and other concerns and they told us to go pound sand, if we don't like it we can walk. They foreclosed on the property at $867k and we bought it for $400k after they put in $25k of repairs so they aren't too keen on pouring one more cent into the property. DO NEVER BUY FCKGW fucked around with this message at 00:17 on Nov 15, 2011 |
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Nov 15, 2011 00:14
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Konstantin posted:I've seen various parties try to foreclose on a paid off house. I remember it made national news a while back when a HOA started foreclosure proceedings for unpaid fines while the owner of the house was deployed to Iraq. I happened to be at a Daily Show taping where they were doing a bit by John Oliver in which he interviewed a couple who owned their house outright and had BOA try to foreclose on them. They retaliated by trying to foreclose on the local BOA branch. He rightly said it was the best loving story ever.
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Nov 15, 2011 04:43
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senor punk posted:I happened to be at a Daily Show taping where they were doing a bit by John Oliver in which he interviewed a couple who owned their house outright and had BOA try to foreclose on them. They retaliated by trying to foreclose on the local BOA branch. He rightly said it was the best loving story ever. The whole thing was legit too. They'd won in court against BOA and the court ordered BOA to pay them some thousands of dollars, and they never did, so the sheriff went and loving foreclosed on the bank. They hired movers and haul poo poo out of the bank and everything.
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Nov 15, 2011 06:49
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FISHMANPET posted:The whole thing was legit too. They'd won in court against BOA and the court ordered BOA to pay them some thousands of dollars, and they never did, so the sheriff went and loving foreclosed on the bank. They hired movers and haul poo poo out of the bank and everything. http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-august-8-2011/the-forecloser
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Nov 15, 2011 17:36
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I am a first time home buyer and trying to narrow down a few properties that interest me. Does any one know if there is a Home History type report available anywhere? Something sort of like a Carfax report, but for homes. Does anyone have any experience with something like this and did you find it useful?
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Nov 16, 2011 17:03
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ArterialTool posted:I am a first time home buyer and trying to narrow down a few properties that interest me. Does any one know if there is a Home History type report available anywhere? Something sort of like a Carfax report, but for homes. Does anyone have any experience with something like this and did you find it useful?
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Nov 16, 2011 17:11
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gvibes posted:You can get the property identification number and visit your local recorder of deeds. Some also have that information available online, like ccrd.info. It appears this will only provided ownership history correct? What about insurance claims, construction permits, neighborhood foreclosure rates/info and other things of that nature?
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Nov 16, 2011 17:26
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ArterialTool posted:It appears this will only provided ownership history correct? What about insurance claims, construction permits, neighborhood foreclosure rates/info and other things of that nature? Insurance claims, no, as that would be between the previous owners and their insurance companies. Permits should be on file with the town clerk, but only if they actually pulled permits to do whatever work (hint: they usually don't). As for neighborhood foreclosures, you could ask your realtor, but that's a lot of work and not really relevant. In short, no, there isn't any type of Housefax. I wish there was, because I would have passed on my house if I had known the previous owner did everything without a permit (and to expected results: requiring a gut + renovate).
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Nov 16, 2011 17:29
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And every now and then you read about a (usually foreclosed on house) that had a horrible issue requiring the homeowners to walk away that the bank does not disclose when they sell it (the house infested with Snakes, or having highly toxic mold). Buyer beware!
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Nov 16, 2011 17:52
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Soo..apparently the government's HARP (Homeowners Assistance and Recovery Program) II is going to be rolled out December 1st, for you way underwater (ie FL, AZ, NV) Fannie/Freddie backed, non-ARM types with a good payment history. The last one required a 125% LTV to refinance, so if you were underwater beyond that you were screwed. This one has no cap. I haven't heard many details and googling seems to lead to mortgage brokers sites. Is it going to be too good to be true, the ability to re-fi any loan at today's rates? edit: https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/mha/mharefi/pdf/refinancefaqs.pdf CatchrNdRy fucked around with this message at 03:39 on Nov 17, 2011 |
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Nov 17, 2011 03:36
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CatchrNdRy posted:Soo..apparently the government's HARP (Homeowners Assistance and Recovery Program) II is going to be rolled out December 1st, for you way underwater (ie FL, AZ, NV) Fannie/Freddie backed, non-ARM types with a good payment history. The manually underwritten version of the products will be coming out soon, but the version that gets run through Fannie and Freddie's automated underwriting systems won't be available until sometime in March. You're only eligible to do the manually underwritten version through your current lender and not all lenders are participating in the program so you may be SOL for refinancing until the AUS updates roll out in March.
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Nov 17, 2011 06:50
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Captain Windex posted:The manually underwritten version of the products will be coming out soon, but the version that gets run through Fannie and Freddie's automated underwriting systems won't be available until sometime in March. You're only eligible to do the manually underwritten version through your current lender and not all lenders are participating in the program so you may be SOL for refinancing until the AUS updates roll out in March. Thanks for the update.
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Nov 17, 2011 17:31
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Everything is finalized and our loan was approved. We got 4.125 APR. We settle on Wednesday which happens to be the day before Turkey Day. Thanks everyone for all your answers to my multiple questions. I will recommend this thread to any homebuyer.
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Nov 18, 2011 02:51
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Thanks for all the responses so far. Heres what we know: We found out my girlfriend is the primary signer on a 30 year FHA mortgage at 6.5% (which seems very high). Her parents are both cosigners. The banker we talked to showed us a notarized copy with my girlfriend and her parents signatures, so she did sign the papers even if she didn't know about it. I have a couple of questions: 1) What consequence as cosigners do her parents face if they stop making the loan payments? 2) She is a coowner on the title along with her parents. Her dad refuses to sell the house since the property value has gone down since he bought it. Is there anything she can do as coowner to sell the house if the other coowners don't want to? 3) Is there anything she can do to get her name off of this loan, besides paying it off?
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Nov 18, 2011 06:47
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Thaumaturgic posted:Thanks for all the responses so far. 1) They get phone calls as to why the main person on the loan isn't paying. Their credit score takes a hit as well if the loan is defaulted on. 2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_(law) ? (Talk to a lawyer) 3) I think sue her parents or refi (and getting her name off in the process) would be the two main options. (Talk to a lawyer) In summary, a lawyer will be your gf's best bet in fixing this situation if it is possible.
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Nov 18, 2011 14:31
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I agree. Your girlfriend apparently signed loan documents without knowing it, which is definitely fraudulent. Proving it might be hard. She needs to talk to a lawyer to know what the options are. If the house is underwater, it will be difficult to sell (requires a short sale most likely). A real estate lawyer can advise about whether your sister can initiate a sale without the consent of the other owners. If anyone stops paying the loan, that will impact the credit rating and history of all co-signers on the loan. Nobody should stop making payments on a loan without speaking to a lawyer to fully understand what the repercussions will be. There is a running theme here and it's a lawyer, not (only) a thread on the internet (however awesome we might be).
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Nov 20, 2011 01:18
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I think you're going to have a hell of a time proving in court that your girlfriend didn't know what she was signing. Just because she's telling you her side of the story and she's your girlfriend doesn't make it true. I find it just inconceivable that someone could sign as many documents as a home purchase requires, with a notary and lawyers in the same room, and not understand what was going on. I find it entirely more likely that she's playing dumb now because she realizes it was a mistake. That said, I seem to recall there being some question about her age when she signed the papers. If she was under 18, your best bet is to get a lawyer who will argue the contract is voidable, and even that's not a sure bet, since there are exceptions to the voidability doctrine where a contract is for necessities, e.g., housing. If she was over 18 at the time, I think she's definitely SOL.
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Nov 21, 2011 00:36
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daggerdragon posted:Insurance claims, no, as that would be between the previous owners and their insurance companies. Permits should be on file with the town clerk, but only if they actually pulled permits to do whatever work (hint: they usually don't). As for neighborhood foreclosures, you could ask your realtor, but that's a lot of work and not really relevant. I did manage to find a service that is similar to being a CarFax for homes, I thought I'd share it with you. http://www.homeclue.com/ The reports are very comprehensive and help me to compare multiple properties from a high level.
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Nov 21, 2011 17:20
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Just as I finished paying off my condo, I get a letter in the mail this week. A few months back I got a special assessment for $600 because oil prices rose so much and the last winter was so cold. Understandable, and I paid it immediately. Now the new letter is saying that of the 33 units, 11 people have not paid the original assessment. So, they are doing a new special assessment of $300 for all of us to pay the share that the deadbeats are refusing to pay, "so that the heat is not shut off". Now frankly, I have an electric blanket, and the oil causes these horrendous clanking radiator noises that keep me awake all night, and I'd hate to send the message to these deadbeats that I'll just cover their asses (one of the guys who hasn't paid owns four loving units). Do you think I'd be taking the moral high ground to tell the management company to gently caress off? Or would I just be passing the buck to the next dipshit. I'm conflicted about this one.
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Nov 24, 2011 04:05
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Zero VGS posted:Just as I finished paying off my condo, I get a letter in the mail this week. A few months back I got a special assessment for $600 because oil prices rose so much and the last winter was so cold. Understandable, and I paid it immediately. Now the new letter is saying that of the 33 units, 11 people have not paid the original assessment. So, they are doing a new special assessment of $300 for all of us to pay the share that the deadbeats are refusing to pay, "so that the heat is not shut off". Now frankly, I have an electric blanket, and the oil causes these horrendous clanking radiator noises that keep me awake all night, and I'd hate to send the message to these deadbeats that I'll just cover their asses (one of the guys who hasn't paid owns four loving units). Do you think I'd be taking the moral high ground to tell the management company to gently caress off? Or would I just be passing the buck to the next dipshit. I'm conflicted about this one. DO NEVER BUY (a condo)
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Nov 24, 2011 10:00
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Zero VGS posted:Just as I finished paying off my condo, I get a letter in the mail this week. A few months back I got a special assessment for $600 because oil prices rose so much and the last winter was so cold. Understandable, and I paid it immediately. Now the new letter is saying that of the 33 units, 11 people have not paid the original assessment. So, they are doing a new special assessment of $300 for all of us to pay the share that the deadbeats are refusing to pay, "so that the heat is not shut off". Now frankly, I have an electric blanket, and the oil causes these horrendous clanking radiator noises that keep me awake all night, and I'd hate to send the message to these deadbeats that I'll just cover their asses (one of the guys who hasn't paid owns four loving units). Do you think I'd be taking the moral high ground to tell the management company to gently caress off? Or would I just be passing the buck to the next dipshit. I'm conflicted about this one.
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Nov 25, 2011 17:06
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Zero VGS posted:Just as I finished paying off my condo, I get a letter in the mail this week. A few months back I got a special assessment for $600 because oil prices rose so much and the last winter was so cold. Understandable, and I paid it immediately. Now the new letter is saying that of the 33 units, 11 people have not paid the original assessment. So, they are doing a new special assessment of $300 for all of us to pay the share that the deadbeats are refusing to pay, "so that the heat is not shut off". Now frankly, I have an electric blanket, and the oil causes these horrendous clanking radiator noises that keep me awake all night, and I'd hate to send the message to these deadbeats that I'll just cover their asses (one of the guys who hasn't paid owns four loving units). Do you think I'd be taking the moral high ground to tell the management company to gently caress off? Or would I just be passing the buck to the next dipshit. I'm conflicted about this one. What sort of financial situation is the loving association in where instead of putting a lien on the deadbeats and waiting for them to pay up they're loving you harder?
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Nov 25, 2011 23:28
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senor punk posted:What sort of financial situation is the loving association in where instead of putting a lien on the deadbeats and waiting for them to pay up they're loving you harder? Maybe the guy with the 4 units is on the board?
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Nov 26, 2011 04:09
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roadhead posted:Maybe the guy with the 4 units is on the board? True. My turn: Question for anybody familiar with the underwriting process, especially the goon who has posted here before who is an underwriter. As mentioned in previous posts by myself I am refinancing and have decided to try and pay down the mortgage to get to 20% equity in the newly assessed value. I'm a little worried that I either won't have enough cash on hand to do so, or that I will have enough but it will pretty much empty my bank accounts. More than half of my money is tied up in retirement accounts, and while I know it's a terrible idea to take money out of a 401k/Roth IRA I am in a pension plan and can take a loan out from the pension, which automatically gets repaid out of my paycheck and is at a low interest rate. I'm thinking about doing a pension loan just to make sure that I am able to close and have cash leftover. My question is as far as the underwriting process is concerned what risks come with this, should I inform the bank I'm doing it (and should I tell them before/after I do it), etc etc. I don't want to pull the trigger on this and then have it be something that ends up killing the loan in the approval process. Thanks
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Nov 27, 2011 02:17
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Captain Windex posted:The manually underwritten version of the products will be coming out soon, but the version that gets run through Fannie and Freddie's automated underwriting systems won't be available until sometime in March. You're only eligible to do the manually underwritten version through your current lender and not all lenders are participating in the program so you may be SOL for refinancing until the AUS updates roll out in March. Yep, this is me in a nutshell. loving Provident doesn't do HARP, and they're not even the cockholsters I actually opened my loan with. The 125% LTV cap is the only reason I didn't do HARP the first time around. Without that, a drop of ~2% interest rate means I'm itching to do it just about as soon as possible.
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Nov 27, 2011 08:52
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senor punk posted:401k/pension loans I'd say you should disclose that the 401k/pension loan is going to be an intended source of your down payment to your LO/processor when you start the application process, but before actually pulling the trigger on doing it. They can check with the bank for you how the lender treats those types of loans and whether it needs to be included in the debt ratios, if they don't already know. I've only run into loans where the borrower did that a couple times so your broker may not be overly familiar with them. Since the loan is secured against an asset (your 401k/pension) it is an eligible source of funds for conventional and I would imagine government as well, though since you mentioned 80% I assume you're planning to go Fannie/Freddie. The big question is whether you will have to include the payment on that loan in your debt ratios and, assuming you do, whether that will push your DTI too high for loan approval. Fannie Mae, for example, does not require that the payment on this type of loan be included in your ratios but a lot of lenders will include it anyway per their policies. I think Freddie is the same, but gently caress Freddie as previously mentioned. If your DTI is low either way then it doesn't really matter. Assuming you're good to go, you'll need to provide a statement for the 401k/pension account, terms of the loan, and proof of the loan being taken out and deposited into your checking/savings account. You'll also want to keep in mind that the value of the 401k/pension will be reduced accordingly if you also need to use the account as part of your financial reserves (see page 101 of the thread for  about assets). So if you have $100k in the account and you take a $40k loan, you'll have $60k as far as the bank is concerned which will then be hit with a 60% modifier for a total of $36k being usable to qualify as reserves.
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Nov 27, 2011 19:52
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Captain Windex posted:401k/pension loan Thanks, obviously you were who I was hoping would pop in... of course I also though this thread moved much faster than it does, and that your FAQ post 2 pages ago was already buried a dozen or more pages in.
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Nov 27, 2011 21:58
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Captain Windex posted:The manually underwritten version of the products will be coming out soon, but the version that gets run through Fannie and Freddie's automated underwriting systems won't be available until sometime in March. You're only eligible to do the manually underwritten version through your current lender and not all lenders are participating in the program so you may be SOL for refinancing until the AUS updates roll out in March. Fannie is still not going to be until March at this time. Not sure which investor holds your loan? Check out the tools located at: Fannie: http://www.fanniemae.com/loanlookup/ Freddie: https://ww3.freddiemac.com/corporate/ It looks like the loan cutoffs remain the same, so your existing loan had to have been sold to Fannie/Freddie prior to June 1st, 2009 to be eligible to refi under the new programs. The updated Freddie underwriting guidelines look less needlessly obnoxious as well, so  for me
Captain Windex fucked around with this message at 06:48 on Dec 2, 2011 |
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Nov 30, 2011 06:49
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Can someone explain to me why an appraiser needs your purchase contract to see the price you're wanting to buy the house for? Aren't they supposed to go out, do their measurements, take pictures, pull comps and give a price on the value of the house?
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Nov 30, 2011 17:29
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Gothmog1065 posted:Can someone explain to me why an appraiser needs your purchase contract to see the price you're wanting to buy the house for? Aren't they supposed to go out, do their measurements, take pictures, pull comps and give a price on the value of the house? It's a complete joke.
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Nov 30, 2011 17:38
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Gothmog1065 posted:Can someone explain to me why an appraiser needs your purchase contract to see the price you're wanting to buy the house for? Aren't they supposed to go out, do their measurements, take pictures, pull comps and give a price on the value of the house? Appraisal reports are in a fairly standardized format that requires this information on purchases, and the USPAP standards require them to review it. They're not just looking at the purchase price. Sales concessions and some clauses in contracts are considered to have an impact on the value of the home. There may also be information disclosed in the contract regarding the condition of the house that would not be obvious/normally observable to an appraiser that impacts the salability/quality/condition of the home which can have a significant impact on the value (mold or termites in hard to reach places, lead paint on the walls, the septic tank is filled with explosives, etc.). A fair number of appraisals do come in conveniently close to the purchase price in the contract but how many of those are lazy appraisers versus buyers/sellers that did a good job of scoping out the neighborhood and setting a realistic price is hard to say. Plenty of appraisals come in much higher (rarely) or lower (frequently) so it's not something that occurs on every report. Lenders also often used Automated Valuation Models (AVMs) that give a secondary opinion of value based on recent sales - they're a lot more basic analysis (mainly just room count, square footage, and a few other factors) but they can help show when value is being pushed a lot by the appraiser.
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Nov 30, 2011 18:11
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Reminds me of a trick that different co-op/condo buildings were (or are) doing here to keep the value of the units in the building from appearing to have gone down. The buy price would reflect the notion that prices haven't declined, and then the seller would give the buyer huge concessions to make up the difference. An unbiased appraiser would want to catch that and realize that the price is intentionally being inflated.
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Nov 30, 2011 18:58
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In theory, when a seller puts an item up for auction and awaits bids, when they finally accept the high bid, that constitutes a pretty strong piece of evidence that the item in question is "worth" exactly that amount of money. It's the amount that both the buyer and the seller have agreed upon, which is generally how the prices of things are set! Since houses are (usually) unique, no matter how many comparable sales you look at, you can't ever really expect to predict, precisely, what that winning bid number "ought" to be. Obviously, this assumes a perfectly efficient market, which never exists in real life but especially isn't the case for real estate. But it's still the starting point since the buyer and seller are (presumably) the only people putting real money where their mouth is, as regards to the value of this particular piece of real estate. So, I think it's completely reasonable to start with the winning bid as the default assumption of what the house is worth. Comps and sales data and trends and etc. are all then used to either verify, or contest, that starting number. If there's enough evidence either way, then the appraiser has enough to be convincing that the winning bid number was either higher, or lower, than it ought to have been (in a fair market). So no it's not a "complete joke". Many appraisers are lazy, yes, and that is a complete joke; if they don't do their job with the part of the appraisal that actually requires effort, and just fall back on the sale price regardless, then the entire point of the process has been defeated. Totally agree there. But it'd be idiotic to try to appraise the value of a thing while ignoring someone standing right there offering a specific, measurable amount of money for that very thing, which the seller has also already decided to accept as a fair price for their thing. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Nov 30, 2011 |
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Nov 30, 2011 23:36
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Just put an offer on a house and the listing agent is saying that the sellers wont be looking at offers until the day after the scheduled open house this coming Sunday. Are we at a disadvantage for putting in an offer so soon before they undoubtedly get more on Sunday? Can the listing agent tell people browsing the open house that they already got an offer of "this much" and that they'd have to offer more?
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Dec 1, 2011 20:31
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Well your agent should have put a short expiration on your offer. I would suggest you rescind your offer and lower it 20k to show the listing agent you don't like bullshit.
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Dec 1, 2011 20:35
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Elephanthead posted:Well your agent should have put a short expiration on your offer. I would suggest you rescind your offer and lower it 20k to show the listing agent you don't like bullshit. Problem is that the property is priced to sell which recently has been rare in this area and they have to know that they'll get offers close to asking price on Sunday. If we did that, they could probably just tell us to gently caress off.
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Dec 1, 2011 20:55
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