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gvibes posted:Associations suck, but really small associations suck much worse. Why?
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Jan 19, 2012 20:50
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At least with a full or large association, you've got a group of people you can persuade to change/adopt new policies. With an association of two, you are totally attached to the opinions/desires of the guy next door. Anything you want that might affect the properties would have to go through him/her and vice-versa. If you get a cool neighbor, you'll be okay but neighbors change all the time.
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Jan 19, 2012 20:55
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Thwomp posted:At least with a full or large association, you've got a group of people you can persuade to change/adopt new policies. Right but, that's exactly what I was asking about in my original post (on the previous page). This will be a brand new HOA that I'm creating, the other house is not under contract yet so it's just me. So, I'll have some control over how it's set up. I'm wondering if it's possible to set one up that has basically no rules - no requirement to have your changes cleared by the other owner.
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Jan 19, 2012 21:14
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Your builder should being doing all this not you. Just make it so 100% of members have to approve new rules, then you can veto all rules by not voting. No rule HOA. You are going to have to charge fees as tax returns etc. will need to be filed until you can legally dissolve the HOA.
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Jan 19, 2012 22:03
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Elephanthead posted:until you can legally dissolve the HOA. Which he won't be able to do until the city allows the lot to be subdivided (possibly never). Remember, in this arrangement the land the houses are built on is community property, too. It's certainly possible to set up the HOA without any of the BS restrictive covenants they usually have, but this is still an odd situation where you will be legally bound at the hip with your neighbor.
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Jan 19, 2012 23:52
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Murgos posted:Can you help define what makes a 'great deal'? What qualifies as a good deal, to me, should be broken down into two categories. Category 1: the combination of interest, duration of loan, and down payment amount, with or without points. Category 2: everything else to do with originating the loan Category 1 is pretty formulaic, and what constitutes a good deal changes on a daily basis. Actually it changes several times a day, as different banks adjust what they're offering that day in reaction to both the movement of the market, and to whatever they want internally to adjust in their portfolio of loans vs. their current cash holdings. Because this changes rapidly, I recommend a mortgage broker who does the legwork for you. You don't have to pick a bank until the day you lock in a rate, and if you have the luxury of adjusting when exactly that day is (for example, when refinancing) you can ask your broker to watch the rates for a while and jump on one when you find an outlier compared to the average for the last few days or weeks. I haven't checked rates the last two months, but as of November I'd say a good deal would be a 30-year fixed mortgage for $250k with 3.5% down (FHA) and no points would be under 4%, for example. But that number changes with each of the other factors so it's impossible for me to just quote a good rate without knowing what your details are (and even then, I can't do it because I'm not a broker and so I don't have easy access to several dozen of today's advertised rates for banks in your area). Category 2 amounts to a bunch of costs related to getting the loan. Some are pretty standard, but many vary depending on the bank, and some banks like to throw in lots of bullshit nickel-and-dime fees that others don't charge. Because of this, you can't as easily compare two similar offers between two banks... well you can, but you can't just look at the advertised rate, you have to find out the details of what that particular bank likes to charge. This is another place where an experienced broker can help you out: they can get a feel for how much in fees various banks they frequently work with tend to charge, and steer you away from a deal that looks good based on Category 1 but is actually going to cost you an extra grand in fees and charges or whatever. Category 2 may also include other factors you could care about, such as the reputation of the bank or whether it's a giant megacorporation vs. a small local outfit, or whatever. But I bet you could tell your broker you prefer a small local outfit, or that you refuse to do business with Bank of America, or whatever, if that stuff matters to you... All told, I think the bigger your mortgage, the less a few fees matter compared to the stuff in Category 1. If you can lower your APR by .5%, that's going to matter more in terms of how much you spend over the life of your loan (assuming you pay it for the full term) than a few hundred dollars up front in fees. Even if you're only planning to own for (say) 10 years, it might be more significant. You gotta do the math to be sure of course. So all this boils down to my argument that a broker is a good idea. Some folks prefer to go with a single trusted bank (often their local credit union or something) on the basis that they've looked over the full details of the offer and it seems good, and maybe also because they really like the guy behind the desk at the local branch of the bank. That's a legitimate thing to do, of course - but if you do go this way, you should at least be aware that you might be missing out on a better rate, or lower costs, or even cash back against your costs, if you went with a broker that picked whatever best deal was out there the week you needed to lock in a rate. Edit: I should say that I have also heard that USAA is a good deal. I'm not qualified to use them so I've never bothered to look that deeply into it, though. Perhaps someone else can comment. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 02:34 on Jan 20, 2012 |
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Jan 20, 2012 02:31
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the nicker posted:HOA question: Run the gently caress away. If not because of the whole condo thing, do it because a builder that is loving up at that level cannot be trusted. If you've put money in the deal, you should talk to a lawyer if the builder even thinks about keeping it. the nicker posted:I'm wondering if it's possible to set one up that has basically no rules - no requirement to have your changes cleared by the other owner. Your home is on communal property in this situation, so unless you like your neighbor unilaterally bulldozing that fence or re-landscaping your property, you are going to want something a bit more ironclad. RUN.
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Jan 20, 2012 06:09
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I just imagine you having endless trouble selling it when the time comes, because it's a regular house but the land is co-owned. That's going to scare away a lot of buyers. The builder really screwed up in this case.
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Jan 20, 2012 21:13
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SlapActionJackson posted:Which he won't be able to do until the city allows the lot to be subdivided (possibly never). Remember, in this arrangement the land the houses are built on is community property, too. Thanks for the responses everyone. SlapActionJackson was right on the money. I've received the HOA declaration documents and gone over them with a fine toothed comb. This is not a typical HOA - the only "common element" is literally the fence that separates the houses. Aside from a few minor quirks (which I'm having the lawyer remove as we speak), my house and my yard are mine to do with as I please.
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Jan 20, 2012 21:15
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the nicker posted:Thanks for the responses everyone. SlapActionJackson was right on the money.
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Jan 20, 2012 22:17
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gvibes posted:I think you are going to get absolutely slammed on resale. I hope you are at least getting a discount from the originally agreed price. Yeah, I've considered this as well. All it comes down to is the fact that land in east Austin is becoming very expensive because it's the hip place to be and there's no way I could afford it otherwise.
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Jan 20, 2012 22:37
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Elephanthead posted:4)Is Toronto not a huge bubble real estate market that has yet to burst? Yup. Also, I don't know much about toronto neighbourhoods, but isn't the lakeshore an expensive area? $150k seems pretty cheap for that, even if it's a studio. Also you have to price in the cost of a divorce because seriously who in the hell secretly buys a condo? Also what's his employment situation like given that he's going to move from NC to Toronto? EDIT: Oh, he's self-employed. big shtick energy fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Jan 21, 2012 |
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Jan 21, 2012 00:49
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Does Toronto have a housing bubble? Yep. Here is a tumblr about it with some listings.
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Jan 21, 2012 03:31
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the nicker posted:Yeah, I've considered this as well.
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Jan 21, 2012 04:50
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the nicker posted:Yeah, I've considered this as well. Have you talked to your mortgage company about this? There's a good chance they're not going to be happy with the new arrangement. You might find yourself with a lot of extra costs in the very near future and you're going to want to drive this price down. I just can't help but have the feeling that you're being massively conned here. I hope I'm wrong, but throw the brakes on and be absolutely sure. There is always another house.
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Jan 21, 2012 07:27
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Yeah the big problem I see with that situation is that even if it's totally legit, the discount that other other people will expect due to the HOA situation is going to be really, really hard to figure out. It means that there probably aren't any comparable sales nearby and that you've got a legal situation that's a bit like a cracked foundation. Unless you're willing and able to take the gamble (which is unlikely if this discount is the only way you can afford a house like this) it's not going to be worth it.
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Jan 21, 2012 17:08
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The mortgage company didn't care at all. Also my definition of "afford" is a very conservative one, I'm a bit of a tight rear end. Putting 75k down with a 15-year fixed, I don't like debt. Anyway, the HOA is $15/mo (which we can vote to not have when the other one sells), there are no restrictions, and the only shared property is the fence between us. The docs are very specific about establishing ownership. I really can't see the big issue here? You see these two-house-on-one-lot things all the time in this area. What's the real danger? There are zero HOA rules in place, and the only way to implement any is to have a vote pass 100%, which means there will never be any. It doesn't matter if the neighbor ends up being a dick any more than it matters if the guy on the other side is. Am I missing something? I have the means and it's an awesome house in a very cool neighborhood. I also don't want to do something colossally stupid so I want to understand exactly what your concerns would be. Lyesh, I don't understand what you mean about the discount the other people will expect? Why would I care? e: I should also through in that this a reputable builder that's been doing homes in this area for years. (most of them being single homes, not condos) CheddarGoblin fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Jan 21, 2012 |
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Jan 21, 2012 17:48
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If it's common in the neighborhood than that's something else. In that case you want to look at the prices other homes in a similar situation sold for versus houses on their own lot. Just to get a sense of how much being in a tiny HOA affects value. This is important because if you ever sell the house it's going to affect the sales price (potentially a lot), but it's not nearly as big a deal as it would be if that were an uncommon arrangement in your area.
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Jan 21, 2012 17:57
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Lyesh posted:In that case you want to look at the prices other homes in a similar situation sold for versus houses on their own lot. Good idea, I'll have my realtor check that. The price as it is is only slightly less than the normal houses around it, but I don't know about the other condos.
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Jan 21, 2012 18:04
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the nicker posted:The mortgage company didn't care at all. Also my definition of "afford" is a very conservative one, I'm a bit of a tight rear end. Putting 75k down with a 15-year fixed, I don't like debt. Yes yes whatever. But who owns the land the two houses are on? That's the major issue here. It sounds like you dont own anything but the structure and that means it will be harder to sell in the future as the propery has additional encumbrances you don't generally see.
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Jan 21, 2012 20:31
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cstine posted:Yes yes whatever. But who owns the land the two houses are on? the nicker posted:Good idea, I'll have my realtor check that. The price as it is is only slightly less than the normal houses around it, but I don't know about the other condos. Tricky Ed posted:I just can't help but have the feeling that you're being massively conned here. I hope I'm wrong, but throw the brakes on and be absolutely sure. gvibes fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Jan 21, 2012 |
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Jan 21, 2012 22:04
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My wife and I are getting things together to buy our first house using a FHA loan in Texas. My credit is ok and in the 700 range and we have about 15,000 saved up. However my wife has charge-off from about 6 years ago. I'm wondering how big of an issue this will be. Should we try and settle or can we get a loan without settling the debt?
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Jan 22, 2012 00:53
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protmind posted:My wife and I are getting things together to buy our first house using a FHA loan in Texas. My credit is ok and in the 700 range and we have about 15,000 saved up. However my wife has charge-off from about 6 years ago. I'm wondering how big of an issue this will be. Should we try and settle or can we get a loan without settling the debt? It won't matter at all. As long as her scores are in the 640+ range you'll be automatically approved by the computers more than likely.
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Jan 22, 2012 19:26
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protmind posted:My wife and I are getting things together to buy our first house using a FHA loan in Texas. My credit is ok and in the 700 range and we have about 15,000 saved up. However my wife has charge-off from about 6 years ago. I'm wondering how big of an issue this will be. Should we try and settle or can we get a loan without settling the debt?
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Jan 22, 2012 19:26
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My Dad just got turned down for a home loan because he's a cosigner on my brother's car loan and he had to prove that my brother was in fact making those payments and not him. The thing is my brother lives with me and we had an arrangement for the last 9 months that we'd pool our money for bills in a single account and his car payments came out of that. The account is in my name and so technically I'm paying it and not my brother. Is there any way around this? Because otherwise my Dad has to wait another year for my brother to make car payments through his own account. I had the idea that if that issue falls through me and my brother could move in and our Dad could collect rent from us and count that toward his income.
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Jan 23, 2012 02:03
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I'm sure you're all sick of "will I get a loan" posts, but I'm seriously wondering what my chances are. I make 60-70k/year, but I have 160k in student loan debt ( I pay 1k per month). I know my credit rating is ~830 from when Sprint ran a credit check on me. I will have no debt other than my student loans in a few weeks. What are my chances of being approved for a loan of up to 80K?
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Jan 23, 2012 02:18
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lizardman posted:My Dad just got turned down for a home loan because he's a cosigner on my brother's car loan and he had to prove that my brother was in fact making those payments and not him. The thing is my brother lives with me and we had an arrangement for the last 9 months that we'd pool our money for bills in a single account and his car payments came out of that. The account is in my name and so technically I'm paying it and not my brother. Can you guys figure out a way to pay off the car? If not, maybe refinance it so it's only in your brother's name.
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Jan 23, 2012 04:55
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the nicker posted:Good idea, I'll have my realtor check that. The price as it is is only slightly less than the normal houses around it, but I don't know about the other condos.
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Jan 23, 2012 05:32
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lizardman posted:My Dad just got turned down for a home loan because he's a cosigner on my brother's car loan and he had to prove that my brother was in fact making those payments and not him. The thing is my brother lives with me and we had an arrangement for the last 9 months that we'd pool our money for bills in a single account and his car payments came out of that. The account is in my name and so technically I'm paying it and not my brother. The agency requirement for excluding a debt on this basis is evidence that 1) a third party has made the payments for the last 12 months and 2) said party is legally obligated on the debt. Short of waiting out 12 months of your brother paying the debt out of his own account your only other option would be to pay off the car loan in full and document the source of funds/transfer to the creditor. This assumes it's a traditional car loan, if it's actually an auto lease then you're basically screwed without a 12 month history. Lapse's suggestion of refinancing the car loan into just your brother's name would work as well I suppose, but I've never seen anyone actually refi a car loan. Xeus posted:I'm sure you're all sick of "will I get a loan" posts, but I'm seriously wondering what my chances are. I make 60-70k/year, but I have 160k in student loan debt ( I pay 1k per month). I know my credit rating is ~830 from when Sprint ran a credit check on me. I will have no debt other than my student loans in a few weeks. What are my chances of being approved for a loan of up to 80K? Looking at it just in terms of debt percentage, ideally you want to be below 45% for a conventional loan and FHA generally will cap out at 55% in a best case situation. Assuming $60k/year of usable income, you're looking at $5,000 x .45 or .55 = $2250 or $3025 a month in debt to meet general conventional/government requirements respectively. There is some wiggle room here depending on whether you can be run through the AUS or have to be manually underwritten, credit score, etc but it gives you a rough idea. Given the terms you've outlined, you have some room since you've got $1k of student debt and, assuming a 4% 30yr fixed, a $382/month principal & interest payment. Throw in a few hundred a month for taxes, insurance, and HOA possibly and you probably still fall under the maximum allowed ratios. Since you're only going for an $80k loan I assume it's not a tremendously expensive house so the taxes/insurance/HOA are probably not a huge figure. If you're seriously interested in buying, talk to some brokers to get an idea if you have a viable scenario. It's not just your debt ratios obviously, so even if you qualify on that basis there's a hundred other things that could knock you out of eligibility. For the most part you will only get charged for the cost of a credit report ($15-30) for just the preliminary stuff. If you choose to get an appraisal and title report the fees that you actually pay will obviously go up, but hopefully by that point you have a pretty good idea if it's worth the money. For the most part your loan officer and associated parties really only get paid if your loan closes.
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Jan 23, 2012 05:47
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10-8 posted:This is the problem. It appears that the FMV is not discounted to account for the crazy HOA setup you've got going on. But the next owner -- the person you try to sell to down the road -- is going to want that discount, which means that you're overpaying. Yes, unless you're planning on staying in that house until you die and it's someone else's problem, you're going to have to resell that house. You're going a harder time doing that, and the price you pay now needs to reflect that, along with all of the HOA bullshit.
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Jan 23, 2012 06:47
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Just looking to get a gut-check from the mortgage professionals lurking in the thread. I bought my home in June of last year and am about to do an FHA streamline refinance. My current rate is 4.375 on a 30yr, and the proposed rate is 3.75. Is this a good rate, or is it a bit high? The 15 year was quoted at 3.25, which both of these rates sound competitive to me, but not plugged into the daily movements. It looks like the only downside (aside from kicking my mortgage out 6-7 months from original date, although I have a plan to pay it off in 8 years regardless) is that I have increased my mortgage balance by about $800 due to the up front MIP. I am willing to accept that for the savings. Appreciate any feedback, thanks!
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Jan 26, 2012 02:22
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Apologize if this has been answered elsewhere, but how far out from wanting to buy a home should I get in contact with a real-estate agent? After I have my amassed deposit? After I get approved for a loan? Whenever I feel like house shopping? I'm not really aware of the actual ins-and-outs of how that works.
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Jan 26, 2012 17:20
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Captain Windex posted:The agency requirement for excluding a debt on this basis is evidence that 1) a third party has made the payments for the last 12 months and 2) said party is legally obligated on the debt. Short of waiting out 12 months of your brother paying the debt out of his own account your only other option would be to pay off the car loan in full and document the source of funds/transfer to the creditor. This assumes it's a traditional car loan, if it's actually an auto lease then you're basically screwed without a 12 month history. Lapse's suggestion of refinancing the car loan into just your brother's name would work as well I suppose, but I've never seen anyone actually refi a car loan. Does it matter in this case that the third party the loan is for and the third party paying the loan (both of which are not the poster's dad) are not the same person? If the intent is to prove that the poster's dad isn't paying for the loan, shouldn't the proof that the poster's bank account is making those payments be sufficient?
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Jan 26, 2012 19:01
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US Foreign Policy posted:Apologize if this has been answered elsewhere, but how far out from wanting to buy a home should I get in contact with a real-estate agent? After I have my amassed deposit? After I get approved for a loan? Whenever I feel like house shopping? I'm not really aware of the actual ins-and-outs of how that works. It would make sense to get loan amount approval from the bank before looking at homes.
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Jan 26, 2012 19:08
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TraderStav posted:Just looking to get a gut-check from the mortgage professionals lurking in the thread. I bought my home in June of last year and am about to do an FHA streamline refinance. My current rate is 4.375 on a 30yr, and the proposed rate is 3.75. Is this a good rate, or is it a bit high? The 15 year was quoted at 3.25, which both of these rates sound competitive to me, but not plugged into the daily movements. That 30-year rate is exactly what I got with my FHA streamline refi in November. I got a ton of credit to cover costs from the lender (I used a mortgage broker to find the lender). You'll get a pro-rated credit on your original up-front MIP which will partially offset the new up-front MIP. Be aware that FHA loan month-to-month MIPs stop when you hit 22% equity, but, they also have a minimum time period (I think it's 5 years? 7?) so even though you intend to pay off the loan much faster, you'll be paying that MIP anyway. Consequently, if you can afford it, it might be worth exploring non-FHA refinances if you can get a deal where the MIP goes away as soon as you hit 20% equity with no minimum period. Do the math and figure out if that saves you a significant amount or not. Obviously the drawback is that non-streamline means you have to do (and pay for) a new appraisal, and the upfront costs could potentially be higher.
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Jan 26, 2012 20:13
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Guacala posted:It would make sense to get loan amount approval from the bank before looking at homes. I would get started now, if you don't want to bother an agent just go to open houses. Most agents won't mind you looking a long time as long as you are upfront with the fact that you will want to look at a ton of places before you buy. I have never though gee I wish I would have looked at less options and spent less time before I decided on the most expensive thing I will ever buy.
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Jan 26, 2012 21:18
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Leperflesh posted:That 30-year rate is exactly what I got with my FHA streamline refi in November. I got a ton of credit to cover costs from the lender (I used a mortgage broker to find the lender). Thanks for the feedback. The math completely works out. I'm not sure I'll have the 78% LTV in 60 months so I am not concerned with the fact that window kicks out a little longer. The bulk of my 8-9 year paydown plan is in the backhalf. I crunched the numbers and on top of all of this, I'll receive my Escrow balance of $3k from my current lender. I could drop that on the loan to get rid of the increased MIP, or use it to pay down other shorter term debt. I find it insane that by increasing my mortgage balance by $800, kicking out the term by 8 months I am being handed a lower rate and $3,000 for the price of what I would already be writing a check for in March. No wonder this country is hosed.
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Jan 26, 2012 21:23
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Elephanthead posted:I would get started now, if you don't want to bother an agent just go to open houses. Most agents won't mind you looking a long time as long as you are upfront with the fact that you will want to look at a ton of places before you buy. I have never though gee I wish I would have looked at less options and spent less time before I decided on the most expensive thing I will ever buy. If you don't know what you're qualified for, then why waste time in looking at properties you won't be able to purchase? I went looking at homes in the $130-160k range, ended up loving a place at $155k, but couldn't pursue because later I was only prequalified $120k. I agree looking at all the available options is good, but you should know your prequalified amount beforehand. We had to present a letter of prequalification from our lender when we made the offer, so it's nice to have that handy when presenting it.
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Jan 26, 2012 22:26
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IOwnCalculus posted:Does it matter in this case that the third party the loan is for and the third party paying the loan (both of which are not the poster's dad) are not the same person? If the intent is to prove that the poster's dad isn't paying for the loan, shouldn't the proof that the poster's bank account is making those payments be sufficient? Based on Lizardman's original post, it sounds like he solely was on the account that was paying for the auto loan and that he and the brother both pooled money into it. If both he and his brother are actually listed as account owners then yeah you would be able to exclude since it's the brother making the payments (or close enough for underwriting purposes at least). If it's just Lizardman and he's not the one on the car loan you can't exclude even if you document the brother depositing his funds into the account, unless your bank/underwriter has extraordinarily lax (insane) standards for approving loans. The relevant guideline from Fannie's selling guide states: Fannie Mae posted:Co-Signed Loans It used to be you could get away with just documenting that any 3rd party was making the payments and as long as you had a documented history most people would overlook/ignore the whole "primary obligor" bit. Credit standards have obviously tightened over the last few years and letting that sort of thing go is now frowned upon/audit worthy/potential grounds for a repurchase demand. 5-6 years ago that probably would have been fine, but any bank that would do that now I'd be leery of.
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Jan 27, 2012 03:43
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US Foreign Policy posted:Apologize if this has been answered elsewhere, but how far out from wanting to buy a home should I get in contact with a real-estate agent? After I have my amassed deposit? After I get approved for a loan? Whenever I feel like house shopping? I'm not really aware of the actual ins-and-outs of how that works. I still talk to my real-estate agent I found last year before I realized then was not the time to buy a house, she send me housing updates and still talk to her on a normal basis. While I am still not ready to buy yet we are developing a good relationship, which I am hoping when it is time (next year maybe) it will make it easier. The good thing was last year I was pre-approved (with a good amount of debt that I no longer have) and I am still looking in that range even though I am making a decent chunk more now than I was last year, and I can only imagine that story will be the same for next year. The other good thing of looking around before you want to buy is you know how long the house has been around and gives you a good idea of what houses cost in an area. I've have seen many houses come and go in the last year and I have seen some stay on the market for a while, the good thing is you can usually figure out why it stays there (either price or something wrong). On the same note, the future wife and I have really narrowed down the area and what we want in a house as well after seeing so many.
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Jan 27, 2012 04:49
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