|
dyne posted:There are a number of lenders providing loans specifically targeted towards residents/physicians with inferior rates/terms that we'll look at if we can't get a conventional mortgage. Seriously? It's not going to kill you to rent.
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2012 16:23
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 02:39 |
|
|
Dr. Kyle Farnsworth posted:I get kinda baffled by all the "Living in an apartment is like living in a Dickensian hovel" I see. Because the vast majority of them are nothing like what you just described, at least in my area. Appliances that are not builder grade and from the 80's are extremely uncommon, we looked at dozens of apartments a few years ago, it was hard enough to find a concrete building let alone new appliances as well. sanchez fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Feb 14, 2012 |
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2012 17:05
|
|
|
Wrote an offer last night for submission today. Neither my wife or I slept more than 4 hours last night. Fingers crossed.... Details: Marin county, CA. $650k, which is low for recent sales in the neighborhood. It sold in 2006 for $801k, then taken by the bank and sold for $400k last year. Owner (contractor) completely gutted it; new roof, floors, walls, fixtures, plumbing & electrical, appliances, landscaping, exterior paint. Hopefully the last place we'll buy. The local grade school abuts the backyard, and the middle school is 3 blocks down the street. We have a 2 year old who we'd like to have grow up there. Biggest drawback is that the street isn't quiet enough, so no playing out there for him, but adding a low fence in the yard would make me feel ok about having him play out front. Also, our dining table probably won't fit and we'll have to downgrade. And to preemptively answer your questions about can we afford it/is the time right/ do never buy, click the ? to see my other posts in the thread.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2012 17:19
|
|
|
Dr. Kyle Farnsworth posted:Just to back up your point. I've had a string of apartments in former condos turned into apartments in an attempt to salvage some kind of money from them, with all the high-end fixtures, the sunken tubs, the granite countertops, all that Flip My House poo poo people loved. And I never have to cut grass, shovel snow, replace an appliance, or DIY anything. One complex I looked at was even willing to paint the place for us if we wanted to customize.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2012 17:49
|
|
|
I live in the third hottest rental market in the country. You'd be amazed at how expensive the hovels are, especially compared to buying in similar locations.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2012 18:24
|
|
|
My wife keeps telling me about down payment / closing costs assistance / grants. I think they sound like scams, what's the deal she's the one that's been doing all the reading, real estate website browsing, etc. She says we'll probably get an FHA load or something with 3% down. Also I checked the 3 links in the OP for 'what can I afford' and got 2 similar and one quite different answer, one said $113k the other 2 said $213k-277k. Why so different? I want to spend under $200k (one house I like that she showed me was $179k.) Also a question on length of employments/incomes/etc I've been at my company 2+ years, my wife was at her previous company 3+ but just started a new job last month, and my mother in law is moving in with us, can we include her income (and 15+ years at her job, but lower/not great credit)? I personally think we are a year+ from buying, but she wants to go back home and be near friends/family and renting in that area is along the lines of $1500 a month for a 2 bedroom townhouse and $2000+ a month to rent a house.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2012 18:57
|
|
|
Cynode posted:my mother in law is moving in with us This is the only idea worst then buying a house.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2012 19:51
|
|
|
Elephanthead posted:This is the only idea worst then buying a house. Your in-laws are horrible and/or you don't have a baby/toddler.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2012 20:19
|
|
|
We are having a second tour of a house that we are very interested in in 18 hours, and we have a question. The house we want to buy has been on the market for nine months. The original asking price was too high at $75k. Last October they decreased the price to $50k. The house was built in 1901 and it very structurally sound, 4 bedrooms 1.5 baths. It's a fixer upper with outdated kitchen and bath and wood paneling in the bedrooms, but it is a really great find for that price and we are excited about fixing it up. We live in an area with generally lower housing costs, the neighboring houses in the last few years have sold anywhere from $70k to $110k. There is no natural gas hooked up to the house. I believe that the house has a fuel oil tank, but I don't remember seeing it the last time we toured. I have a bad feeling that it's an underground tank, which I know is bad news due to possible leaking and contamination and the huge clean up cost that would come with that. I also know that to initially get rid of it, it's expensive, but the City will reimburse you for something like 90% of the cost. They have only had one offer for $30k back when the house was listed for higher, and that offer was rejected. The main question: If the fuel oil tank is indeed underground, would it be reasonable to make an offer that if they get the tank removed and the house hooked up to natural gas, that we would then buy the house for the full $50k? If they aren't interested in doing that, we would make an offer for something like $40k? How would you go about dealing with the issue of the fuel oil tank? E: While researching, I've found suggestions about "taking the credit" and fixing the tank problem ourselves, but honestly I have no idea what that means. Help? Koivunen fucked around with this message at 03:38 on Feb 15, 2012 |
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 03:32
|
|
|
Short term I'd settle for pulling up the tank and replacing it with an above-ground unit. Long term you can think about gas, but you're not going to get them to pay for it and you'll have to replace the boiler (in addition to plumbing lines through the walls). At the very, very least make sure that tank isn't leaking. A cleanup could easily cost more than they're asking for the whole property. Diesel in the ground is bad news bears. A company I used to work for spilled between 15 and 50 gallons (we never really figured out for sure) and it cost a quarter million dollars to clean. And that was ABOVE ground, spotted right away!
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 04:22
|
|
|
Jorath posted:Wrote an offer last night for submission today. Neither my wife or I slept more You make $100K /yr and you're putting in a offer at $650K? Did you get loan pre-approval and if so, what bank is still doing loans that crazy so I can go short their stock?
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 05:05
|
|
|
Advent Horizon posted:At the very, very least make sure that tank isn't leaking. A cleanup could easily cost more than they're asking for the whole property. Diesel in the ground is bad news bears. Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. Do you think it would be reasonable to ask them to get the soil tested before we buy? Or should we be firm with having the tank removed, or at least officially abandoned? I've read that it's far better to get the whole tank dug up and rid of instead of abandoned, which means they close it up with sand or cement or whatnot. It's definitely cheaper to get it abandoned, but I don't know, I would feel better if the whole thing were gone.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 07:37
|
|
|
My best friend growing up had a septic tank like that (his parents house was hooked to city sewer after they bought it). The dirt it was filled with didn't hold up under a Bastille Day party. I think by the time the ground is tested you might as well dig the darn thing up. HOWEVER, if the tests come clean you could probably still get money off to have it dug up and do the work yourself. Rebuild it as an underground fort for your kids.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 09:02
|
|
|
Splizwarf posted:Your in-laws are horrible and/or you don't have a baby/toddler. I prefer Mary Poppins. I can fire her without hurt feelings.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 16:22
|
|
|
I didn't get the impression Cherry Poppins was ever any good at actual babysitting.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 17:01
|
|
|
SlapActionJackson posted:You make $100K /yr and you're putting in a offer at $650K? Did you get loan pre-approval and if so, what bank is still doing loans that crazy so I can go short their stock? Couldn't find where the poster said he makes 100k/yr, but I am guessing he and his wife combined make more than that. Previous post says something about making 100k on the sale of a house, but not how much he makes per year.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 17:16
|
|
|
SlapActionJackson posted:You make $100K /yr and you're putting in a offer at $650K? Did you get loan pre-approval and if so, what bank is still doing loans that crazy so I can go short their stock? My loan pre-approval (and our existing mortgage) are from Wells. They are making us jump though a bunch of hoops for this place, justifiably so. We will be %5 below their debt/income cap even while we have both, which will hopefully be only a few months, but we could handle financially it if it took longer. We are able to do this for 2 reasons: because my wife is a compulsive saver. We eat out twice a week (including lunches) and each get $100 a month 'fun' spending money. She frequently doesn't spend hers and puts it into savings. The other is that her parents are helping us with the downpayment, which is why we don't have to sell the existing place first. Our offer was accepted, so life has become a whirlwind of tasks.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 17:42
|
|
|
How did you go fromJorath posted:Just spent $4k on 3 new windows and a sliding glass door..... Jorath posted:Worst financial decision of my life- lost %100 of our downpayment. To Jorath posted:Wrote an offer last night for submission today....Marin county, CA. $650k
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 17:51
|
|
|
I don't get to make these decisions in a vacuum. We needed a place in the right neighborhood within the next 2 years, and the gift of the downpayment was enough to get us to start looking. The inside is %100 new construction, which gives us a lot of confidence. The price/sqft is less than the other 4 homes that have sold in the neighborhood in the past 6 months and that it's $150k less than it sold for at the peak. Plus, we aren't planning on selling it anytime soon, so holding it's value or not doesn't matter much.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 19:24
|
|
|
He lives in Marin, it's crazyland up there. Ok, that's not entirely fair, but lemme put it this way: Marin County is a very wealthy enclave that is nominally part of the SF Bay Area but really feels more like an enormous country club. If you live there, you're either rich, or surrounded by rich people and their ideas that make you feel like you're rich (and spend like you're rich). What makes Marin unique is that despite being very wealthy, it's also very liberal - not a combination you tend to find in most places in the US. It's gorgeous, has fantastic schools, is financially solvent, but from Marin your options for public transport into San Francisco are pretty limited (because they refused to pay for or get BART back in the 70s when it was being planned because that would encourage the poors to live there). If you want to drive into the City you have to go across golden gate bridge, which has the most expensive tolls in the bay area and puts you in the Presidio with no freeway access to anywhere from there, so you have to take surface streets to get to a freeway. All of this is not to knock Marin too much, but I will say that $650k is totally reasonable for a house in that area, albeit totally unreasonable for a house in terms of what anyone ought to pay for a house. Personally I'd have more problems abutting a primary school for the rest of my life - god, listening to the class bells, the kids screaming during recess, it'd drive me bonkers. Jorath, please tell me that you guys have toured the house on a weekday while school is in session, so you can get an idea of the noise?
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 19:30
|
|
|
Leperflesh posted:Personally I'd have more problems abutting a primary school for the rest of my life - god, listening to the class bells, the kids screaming during recess, it'd drive me bonkers. Jorath, please tell me that you guys have toured the house on a weekday while school is in session, so you can get an idea of the noise? I had an apartment behind a high school for a few years... the only bad time was during the weekends when they had school functions really early in the morning. NEVER AGAIN will I live near a school.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 19:33
|
|
|
Jorath posted:I don't get to make these decisions in a vacuum. We needed a place in the right neighborhood within the next 2 years, and the gift of the downpayment was enough to get us to start looking. 100% new is actually probably worse than it being a few years old (unless you can watch it being built). there are plenty of major issues that the house could have that won't show up for a few years.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 19:50
|
|
|
Lyesh posted:100% new is actually probably worse than it being a few years old (unless you can watch it being built). there are plenty of major issues that the house could have that won't show up for a few years. 100% new is also usually always covered by a warranty to address any issues that arise in the first couple years.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 19:58
|
|
|
TheWevel posted:I had an apartment behind a high school for a few years... the only bad time was during the weekends when they had school functions really early in the morning. NEVER AGAIN will I live near a school. When they have marching band practice every day at 6 AM you can hear the drums from inside houses blocks away... through earplugs!
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 20:00
|
|
|
cyrn posted:When they have marching band practice every day at 6 AM you can hear the drums from inside houses blocks away... through earplugs! That's no problem, though; from blocks away they can't spot a sniper! Shooting the drum, of course. What? Seriously, no school band will pay to replace an instrument more than twice in a single season, and often not even once. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 20:25
|
|
|
Agreed, it is crazyland here. The only 'upside' (if you can call it that) is that the crash didn't hit as hard because there's still a ton of demand and the supply didn't really go up during the boom, as most places where homes could be built were built on by 1980. There are some town where fully half of the homes are on lots that have 100 feet or more of vertical change under the house and average $700k. I take the Ferry to work, or the bus. Driving+parking would be more than $25 a day + gas. There was a time when I got by without a car, but then the county took over the bus lines and, surprise, surprise, they changed the routes/times so that there was no longer a bus that ran to/from the ferry. The school that the house backs up to is at the top of a 20 foot hill and has a the back of a building 10 feet from the other side of the fence, so I think that the sound won't be a big issue. I'm more concerned about kids throwing things over the fence. There's a chance that weekend soccer games could be audible- we've been on a weekday around 3PM and both days of the weekend so far without issue. Thursday I'll be there most of the day, which should give me an idea of what it's really like. There are certainly concerns about the construction being new. The bank is requiring 2 appraisals, and we are getting more inspections than are likely necessary. The owner is a contracting company, which could be good or bad. I think I'm posting too must about this, mostly because it's all I can think about. I'm going to try to relax, as I don't think typing lots about it is helping that. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2012 20:33
|
|
|
Jorath posted:Yes, and my wife makes almost that much as well. That's quite different. Your post history has you claiming 2x a guy with $48K in household income, but you really have 4x or close to it. $650K on $200K gross income is reasonable. Not so on $100K. Did Wells not give you a hard time on your lack of equity in your other house? When my wife and I bought our house without selling the previous ones, they wanted to see 30% equity in every other property we owned.
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2012 05:24
|
|
|
The joys of buying a foreclosure. Bank: We know we have to fix the HVAC before you can get it inspected, so we're going to take as long as possible to do that, forcing you to apply for extended due diligence not once, but twice! But we also want to close a lot faster than we said at first, by the end of this month actually, and we can't imagine how that might be a problem  Me: 
|
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2012 19:09
|
|
|
Hah, we faced exactly the same problem (the heater didn't work, couldn't get an FHA inspection until it did, Fannie May had one repair company they work with for the entire SF Bay Area) and we had to extend our contingency twice as well. And yet yes, we need to hurry up and close because there's some goddamn huge rush. This is likely one of those cases of one hand not knowing the other.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2012 17:46
|
|
|
From my experience, it's all "hurry up and wait". This is pretty much how it went: You: Hey, I like this house. I wanna buy it! Realtor: Okay, sign here, here, and here! You: Yay! Seller: I accept your offer. You: Yay! Hey, bank, I can has mortgage? Bank: ... You: ... Bank: ... You: *poke* Bank? Bank: WHY HAVE YOU NOT GOTTEN AN INSPECTION?!?  You: Er, okay. Inspector: Wots all dis, den?  You: Hey, bank, here's the inspection results. Can I have the mortgage? Bank: ... You: Baaaank? Bank: WHY DO YOU NOT HAVE HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE?!! YOU SHOULD HAVE HAD HOMEOWNER'S INSURANCE BEFORE YOU EVEN CONTACTED US! You: Er, okay. Allstate: Jackpot!  You: Hey, bank, here's proof of insurance. Can I have the mortgage now? Bank: ... You: ... Bank. Bank: ... You: ... Bank: ... Bank: ... Bank: ... Bank: ... Bank: WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, THE SIGNING IS TODAY IN 10 MINUTES! You: 
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2012 19:15
|
|
|
Signed a contract with a seemingly respectable home builder, just got financing and lawyer approval and now we're a-go-go! Thanks to SlapActionJackson for the help earlier in the thread. Super scary, super exciting! The builder had incentives for up to 8k off, we managed to negotiate 13k off in total, final price 269k down from 282k with all the upgrades we wanted. Best of all, when the lot inquiry came back it turned out that the maximum garage width wasn't 18'4" as previously thought, but actually 19'10"! We also signed shortly after a change went into effect that forces them to use thicker insulation, 2x6 walls instead of 2x4, a 92% efficiency furnace and 90% efficient hot water tank at no extra cost to us. Everything has been pretty transparent so far, the worst surprise was when I saw the lawyer uses the Jokerman font for his name on the retainer. Here's a pic of what of what it will look like (except no awful red brick): http://i.imgur.com/ZNEVl.jpg Wheee!
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2012 05:29
|
|
|
Congrats Seik! That home looks sharp. What are they doing in place of the brick, vinyl? I like it. :/ We just made an offer on a new house. I was kind of in an out-of-body state while writing it up, and kind of can't believe we actually moved on it (in a good way). My wife and I are both 24 and make about $65k each annually. We offered $175k w/ up to $6k in closing/prepaids on a place currently listed at $179.9k, down from $189k back in May. Here's to hoping they bite!
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2012 05:37
|
|
|
Dead Pressed posted:Congrats Seik! That home looks sharp. What are they doing in place of the brick, vinyl? I like it. :/ Thanks! It'll still be brick, we're just selecting a different exterior package. We've got a pretty big hate on red bricks. This is the one we've chosen: http://imgur.com/K8SJm Dead Pressed posted:We just made an offer on a new house. I was kind of in an out-of-body state while writing it up, and kind of can't believe we actually moved on it (in a good way). My wife and I are both 24 and make about $65k each annually. We offered $175k w/ up to $6k in closing/prepaids on a place currently listed at $179.9k, down from $189k back in May. And good luck with your offer! My wife and I the same age as you two, but your financial situation is much nicer. Jealous! We live pretty modest lifestyles though so here's to hoping our budget doesn't fall apart immediately (it totally will). This thread needs more house porn, don't be shy to post some when you have it!
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2012 06:09
|
|
|
Just had someone say a week before closing they can't afford to close and I had to cancel all of my arrangements and try to get my apartment lease back. Awesome. Now they're in breach of contract.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2012 17:25
|
|
|
Why the gently caress would you get that far if you can't afford to close? Did they lose a job?
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2012 21:07
|
|
|
The Noble Nobbler posted:Just had someone say a week before closing they can't afford to close and I had to cancel all of my arrangements and try to get my apartment lease back. Awesome. Now they're in breach of contract. Have them lower the cost of the house and offer to help them pay? I know it is an odd thing to do but if I really wanted a house and something like that happened I might think about it, but you would really have to LOVE the house. On second thought it might not be able to work that way at all! Interesting they didn't have money for close people need to fight (this is for the guy who bailed on you), lower your bid, ask for concessions, roll closing into the mortgage, sell some crap, ask family for help. (not that the middle two are good ideas) Sounds like the dude got cold feet. What happens if the seller breaches contract? I know if the buyer does it is serious crap. Thanks for adding another thing on my list of worries when house times comes for me.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2012 05:39
|
|
|
Murgos posted:Seriously? It's not going to kill you to rent. In addition to (likely) being cheaper, my wife and I very much enjoy being able to do whatever we'd like to the property. We've essentially renovated our entire current house to make it just as we'd like it and would like to be able to do that again. Anywho, we've spoken with several other banks and they don't really have much of a problem approving us for a conventional or FHA mortgage. From one lender we're pre-appoved up to $110k with my current loan payments, and that would increase if we put my student loans into forbearance for 1 year.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2012 15:09
|
|
|
dyne posted:It probably wouldn't, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me to not buy when the mortgage with taxes and monthly rent cost about the same. How much is rent in your area to make it equal? I figure interest on the loan, 6% to give to the realtor when you sell, maintenance, moving costs, cost that the house might sit empty if you have to move, closing cost (twice once of this and another for the next), and what happens if the house value goes down in the next few years? Also if you don't have 20% you have to pay PMI (at least .51%) or FHA makes you pay I think 1.2% yearly of the house value for at least 5 years for insurance, make sure you count that in. I mean rent would have to be $2,000 a month compared to $700 dollars monthly mortgage for all that to equal out (not big math behind that just averaging) Also what will happen if something happens to your car (big repair or need a new one), or if you get sick? It seems you are just going to be making it as is. Then next year when you loans come up again? It seems like your way better off renting and paying off those loans a bit more, include in your calculations that extra year of interest having this loan will add 200K is not laughing matter. Side Note: Are you looking to move to Rochester, NY? Based on your last post the cost of the house and property tax sounds about right for that area. Someone told me this just recently and I thought it would be worth quoting here: Owning a house is a privilege, not a right. I am sure a lot of people forget that often. The banks don't want to risk a bad loan just a much as people don't want to rent. Dbhjed fucked around with this message at 05:46 on Feb 20, 2012 |
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2012 05:11
|
|
|
Advent Horizon posted:Why the gently caress would you get that far if you can't afford to close? I can only relate what he said (which I'm not 100% convinced is true): he couldn't secure financing to pay the remainder of his mortgage off. This would have been a good thing to figure out BEFORE selling a house let alone 1 week before closing. With real estate flipped upside down and so many people underwater, there is a real need for sellers to be able to show they can AFFORD to sell their house.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2012 16:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 02:39 |
|
|
Dbhjed posted:How much is rent in your area to make it equal? quote:Also what will happen if something happens to your car (big repair or need a new one), or if you get sick? It seems you are just going to be making it as is. Then next year when you loans come up again? Regarding paying for it - I'll have a take home pay of about $3400/mo, plus about $800/mo from renting out my current house (already factoring in known and unforeseen costs). I have a $400 car payment for my wife's car for a couple more years, and my student loan payment will be somewhere between $5-800/mo after consolidation. I think we're pretty good about managing money - we don't get cable, we don't eat out much, we pay $30/mo for cell phone plans, etc., so I wouldn't think we'd need more than the $1-1.5k a month we currently live on. quote:Side Note: Are you looking to move to Rochester, NY? Based on your last post the cost of the house and property tax sounds about right for that area.  quote:Someone told me this just recently and I thought it would be worth quoting here: dyne fucked around with this message at 02:20 on Feb 21, 2012 |
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2012 02:18
|
|