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Leperflesh posted:That's a fantastic rate. Do shop around to find out about closing costs, though. There's a good chance you can get the same rate with better costs. Oh, most definitely. We're very excited to show the proposed rate to our current credit union we bank with so we can say "hey convince us to stay with you guys for this." Negotiation is fun!
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Jun 6, 2012 00:21
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Being a mortgage loan originator, I actually disagree with this particular point to shop around. If you look at Wells Fargo's own website, that fixed interest rate is a full point higher. If you are getting a firm offer of credit for 2.75%, you realistically are not going to get a better offer. Assuming they have factored in any pricing adjustments to your loan already, basically all you did was take the lowest fixed interest on a 30 year ever and shop that around to market variance tomorrow. I would literally be calling your MLO at Wells every five minutes tomorrow to lock that rate before new pricing comes out.
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Jun 6, 2012 03:49
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gtkor posted:Being a mortgage loan originator, I actually disagree with this particular point to shop around. If you look at Wells Fargo's own website, that fixed interest rate is a full point higher. If you are getting a firm offer of credit for 2.75%, you realistically are not going to get a better offer. Yeah, if 2.750 is the final rate that's obscenely good. Lowest we're posting right now appears to be 3.375 and that's with a couple of points it looks like. I Might Be Adam posted:I think we may have to unexpectedly take on a 2nd car loan. I asked our lender if/how it would affect our buying power and he came back and factored it and said that the price range we are shopping in, we won't have any issues. He didn't mention anything about the interest rate (which we were pre-approved for 3.75 when we made an offer on a house that we lost about a month ago) but I'm wondering how taking on a new auto loan would affect the mortgage rate. I don't think my wife can handle another Texas summer without A/C and her car isn't worth the money we'd have to put into it to fix the A/C. I doubt that many banks are going to have pricing hits for your debt to income ratio directly. Fannie and Freddie definitely don't have agency hits for this, I doubt FHA/VA do either. Any hits to rate you take for a potential change in your DTI would be specific to that bank. The idea of arguing with LOs about my income calculation because it hits their pricing by .125....  If you do get the 2nd car, keep a copy of the note as your bank will want to see it to re-qualify your debts accordingly and for the love of god tell the bank asap if you do it. Undisclosed debt is the number one reason for repurchase requests from the agencies, a lot of banks are taking more hard line approaches to it. Over the last year we've shifted from an attitude of "well, as long as they still qualify...." to "gently caress that" when we discover large new debts that the borrower did not disclose.
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Jun 6, 2012 06:05
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ButWhatIf posted:Welp, after chatting with a mortgage specialist at Wells Fargo and showing off our reams of paper indicating our financial status, we were offered an interest rate of 2.75%. Fixed. For a 30-year. This is apparently what zero debt, a credit score in the 800's, and an imminent promotion gets you in this housing market. How the hell did you get that rate? I have zero debit, a credit score in the 800's and a decent job now and we are shopping for a construction / mortgage loan. (I really hope I don't have to wait till the house is built to lock in a rate.)
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Jun 6, 2012 06:13
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Citycop posted:How the hell did you get that rate? I have zero debit, a credit score in the 800's and a decent job now and we are shopping for a construction / mortgage loan. (I really hope I don't have to wait till the house is built to lock in a rate.) My parents have been telling me how lucky we are to be buying at such low rates and not building a new house. Apparently, when the last house I lived in with my parents was being built, they couldn't lock in the interest rate until the house reached a certain amount of completion. Right before they got to that point, interest rates jumped up to 9%. That really pissed them off. Captain Windex posted:I doubt that many banks are going to have pricing hits for your debt to income ratio directly. Fannie and Freddie definitely don't have agency hits for this, I doubt FHA/VA do either. Any hits to rate you take for a potential change in your DTI would be specific to that bank. The idea of arguing with LOs about my income calculation because it hits their pricing by .125.... Thanks, we've only been pre-qualified so far as we haven't gotten far enough in the process with a house for the lender start requiring all the hard information regarding our finances. I don't even know what interest rates will be by the time we do find a house. I think we're doing pretty well. We're not trying to buy more than we can afford, we only have a small small car loan and a student loan, and we're both in the 700s as far as credit scores go.
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Jun 6, 2012 15:39
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I closed on a house last week and decided to do some work to it. I didnt know painting a house interior is the worst thing since Hitler. Being that I'm 6ft even and have an 8 ft step ladder, let's just say that trimming the top of the wall by the 15 ft ceiling is just a little scary!
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Jun 8, 2012 13:21
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It's official. I own a home. A box of my stuff is currently inside of it. Now to move the rest of it.
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Jun 8, 2012 16:42
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Do you need some cardboard boxes cause I have left overs... lots of leftovers.
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Jun 8, 2012 16:57
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Molybdenum posted:Do you need some cardboard boxes cause I have left overs... lots of leftovers. Try giving them away on Craigslist. That's how I found all the boxes I needed for my move. An ice-cream vendor was offering his boxes (oh god, so many boxes) and they were perfectly sized for not putting a lot of things in one box so that the boxes wouldn't become a black hole of heavy. My friends thanked me on moving day.  As I unpack, I've been giving the boxes to a friend who's also going to be moving to a new house soon. DO NEVER PAY for ridiculously-priced moving boxes!
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Jun 8, 2012 17:37
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I had to buy boxes but we got a ton of them from Home Depot. The prices there are a bit less ridiculous than most places. We also got a bunch of leftovers from our neighborhood grocer. Little food store, we knew the owner a bit, just asked him to save boxes that weren't wet or full of spilled food and in one day he had like 20 for us.
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Jun 8, 2012 23:22
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Can anyone help me decode the location of this property? The seller of this house has 2 parcels with it. The first one lists a subdivision plot which I figured out, but the second one I can't get. Here is the tax page: http://www.cass.mi.govern.com/parcelquery.php?a=goto&m=r&id=14-100-025-021-00 The property Description: quote:361B COM N 168.2 FT FRM SW COR SEC, TH N 100.53 FT, S 84 DEG 6'E 727.2 FT, S 100.53 FT, N 84 DEG 6'W 727.F FT TO BEG. SEC 25 1.7 A. M/L
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Jun 9, 2012 02:42
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Can anyone give me some advice on building a house? My Google fu is usually strong but I am having difficulty figuring out the process. I have a parcel of land that I am interested in. Do I buy the land first and then find a contractor? Find a contractor first and then buy the land? If it is already zoned for residential use do I need to pay impact fees? I am so confused  Fake edit - I'm in Pinellas County, Florida if that makes any difference. St. Pete, to be exact.
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Jun 9, 2012 02:58
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mcwalbucks posted:Can anyone give me some advice on building a house? My Google fu is usually strong but I am having difficulty figuring out the process. I have a parcel of land that I am interested in. Do I buy the land first and then find a contractor? Find a contractor first and then buy the land? If it is already zoned for residential use do I need to pay impact fees? It can't hurt to have a contracter before hand, but that would assume some previous relationship. Once you have land and a plan (and zoning approval from whatever the local authority is, probably the county in your case) you can get bids from contractors.
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Jun 9, 2012 03:44
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Lt Moose posted:Can anyone help me decode the location of this property? The seller of this house has 2 parcels with it. The first one lists a subdivision plot which I figured out, but the second one I can't get. Here is the tax page: http://www.cass.mi.govern.com/parcelquery.php?a=goto&m=r&id=14-100-025-021-00 Beginning at a point 168.2ft north from the southwest corner of Section 25, then north 100.53 feet, then south 84 degrees 6 minutes east 727.2ft, then south 100.53 feet, then north 84 degrees 6 minutes west 727.2 feet to point of beginning, containing 1.7 acres, more or less. In short, it's a slightly rhomboid rectangle of land (100.53 feet wide; 727.2 feet long) that contains about 1.7 acres.
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Jun 9, 2012 05:32
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Ah ok, thanks. There is no way I would have figured that out.
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Jun 9, 2012 23:32
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Well the house inspection basically said "hell no." Looking for another house now 
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Jun 10, 2012 06:19
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Errant Gin Monks posted:Well the house inspection basically said "hell no." How bad was it? I'm still getting things fixed up in my house. I finally have a toilet installed, and water running in the bathtub. BUT... still no hot water. The bathroom sink is disconnected (Dad tried to hook it back up and it started leaking), no hot water from the bathtub as that water shutoff is leaking, and the kitchen sink is leaking. Dad can do a lot of basic plumbing, so I expect to have hot water sometime TODAY as I am moving in! Eep!
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Jun 10, 2012 14:24
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I've decided to sell my condo (Edmonton, Alberta). The wife and I want to live in St. Albert for family reasons, but we also want to get out of the unit because there's an engineers report coming in a couple months and most likely a levy shortly after. The problem is I bought in January 2007 at 192k, and am listing for 174k, after having put in 15k in renovations (some necessary, some cosmetic). I'll be coming out with about $9,000 in equity, but it still hurts. By my calculations, if I had rented since 2007, I would be worth $30,000 more. What a waste of 5 1/2 years. The only way I can see to come out of this better would be to keep the place and rent it out, but the risk of two monthly payments (this mortgage and rent) is too high to consider.
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Jun 11, 2012 14:31
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rainbow kittens posted:How bad was it? let me give you the high light reel.. Termites CHECK Carpenter Ants CHECK Slipping Foundation CHECK Leaks under house CHECK No working AC CHECK Holes in ducts in attic CHECK Water heater not working CHECK Improper grading of lot making water run under house CHECK Inoperable windows CHECK Roof repair needed CHECK Deck repair needed CHECK And on and on. I knew I was looking at a crap shoot, but i wanted at least the structure, plumbing and electrical close to decent. Having them all be lovely broke the deal. If I had another 100k in the bank to do proper repairs on the house I would go ahead, but I dont. This is why you get an inspection people. edit: Also one of the reasons I love my home inspector, and im paraphrasing me: What kind of insulation is in the attc? him: about 2 inches of fiberglass and 2 inches of dead rats and rat poo poo. I dont know the R rating on dead rats, but Im guessing around 2. Also, dont mind the smell. I think there was a mouse in the oven when I turned it on. Totally loved that guy. Errant Gin Monks fucked around with this message at 21:38 on Jun 11, 2012 |
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Jun 11, 2012 21:35
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Actually, given these:Errant Gin Monks posted:Termites CHECK I'd say that this: quote:If I had another 100k in the bank to do proper repairs on the house I would go ahead, but I dont. Would be a bad idea for anyone, even someone pretty wealthy. That house sounds like it's very nearly at the point where it's cheaper to tear it down, re-grade the lot and start over fresh with a new house. And either way, unless it was literally free, or houses in your area are really expensive, it's unlikely that it'd be worth it compared to just buying a house in reasonable condition. Of course a lot depends on exactly how extensive the termite/carpenter ant damage is, but "slipping foundation" is really bad news and "improperly graded lot" is even worse. Throw in the bad roof and the other stuff and the sky's the limit in terms of cost of proper repair. e. wait is it this house? Errant Gin Monks posted:Welp.... Finally bit the bullet. The wife and I have been wanting and old house for years. Just got an offer accepted on an american craftsman style house from the early 30s. ASBESTOS HERE I COME!!! What happened to "foundation leveled" and "new roof"? Yeah I'm gonna say that in San Antonio, spending $100k+ to fix that house would be a big waste of money. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Jun 11, 2012 |
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Jun 11, 2012 22:34
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He was getting a renovated place for under $100k, not shocking that it was just lipstick on a pig like so many of those are.
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Jun 11, 2012 22:40
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Kalli posted:He was getting a renovated place for under $100k, not shocking that it was just lipstick on a pig like so many of those are. I'm doing the same...you just have to make sure it's the size of a shoe box.
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Jun 11, 2012 22:54
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Errant Gin Monks posted:edit: Also one of the reasons I love my home inspector, and im paraphrasing Haha stay away from places with rats. Bad news bears!
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Jun 12, 2012 03:01
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Yeah it was the house listed as "foundation repaired" and "roof less than 5 years old" There was hail damage on the roof and separation between the new roof and older metal roof. The foundation had shown signs of new work but there was another beam slipping off a pier. The inspector said it could have happened during the recent rains given the bad grading on the lot. It was definitely a lipstick on a pig job represented as a renovation. Not worth the money. Not even close. We put an offer on a house 6 years old right up the street from where we currently live which was our second choice. The old house was a "too good to be true" thing. Too bad but I'm glad I knew before I went any further.
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Jun 12, 2012 03:05
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So now that I own a home, where does the Home Improvement megathread live?
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Jun 13, 2012 00:05
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Bucket Joneses posted:So now that I own a home, where does the Home Improvement megathread live?
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Jun 13, 2012 00:11
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Is it still a thing that people can wrap closing costs into the mortgage or did that go out with the financial crisis?
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Jun 13, 2012 00:28
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Thanks. I didn't even realize we had a whole forum for DIY. I now realize that SA and Reddit are really competing for the same userbase.
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Jun 13, 2012 00:48
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Bucket Joneses posted:I now realize that SA and Reddit are really competing for the same userbase. It'd be a stretch to say that SA is competing for any userbase. I honestly don't think it cares enough. Pillowpants posted:Is it still a thing that people can wrap closing costs into the mortgage or did that go out with the financial crisis? You can but whether or not you should is another question. If you're running such a slim margin that you're worrying about it, the chances are you're probably not ready to buy yet.
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Jun 13, 2012 02:04
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Pillowpants posted:Is it still a thing that people can wrap closing costs into the mortgage or did that go out with the financial crisis? I did this and along with my VA loan, I got my house for a whopping $800.
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Jun 13, 2012 02:29
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I did by having the seller pay closing costs, but only so I could out the money towards a higher interest car loan instead.
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Jun 13, 2012 03:01
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Whats the consensus on the future of house values? I'm assuming most people assume they will begin to if they haven't already start to rise up, yes? Any major chances of housing values to stagnate in price or even decrease further?
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Jun 13, 2012 04:55
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Kneel Before Zog posted:Any major chances of housing values to stagnate in price or even decrease further? Maybe if Europe decides to crash and burn.
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Jun 13, 2012 04:57
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Kneel Before Zog posted:Whats the consensus on the future of house values? I'm assuming most people assume they will begin to if they haven't already start to rise up, yes? Any major chances of housing values to stagnate in price or even decrease further? It really depends on what part of the country you're talking about.
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Jun 13, 2012 05:02
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Bucket Joneses posted:It really depends on what part of the country you're talking about. South East U.S. I'm thinking now is an opportune time , if you had enough money and a steady income, to buy houses to rent?
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Jun 13, 2012 05:05
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Kneel Before Zog posted:South East U.S. I'm thinking now is an opportune time , if you had enough money and a steady income, to buy houses to rent? You should be asking about each house individually and not asking about an entire region.
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Jun 13, 2012 12:20
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Higgy posted:It'd be a stretch to say that SA is competing for any userbase. I honestly don't think it cares enough. I'm not really worried about it, I'm just looking at ways to get out of my area sooner than originally planned due to all the break ins/arson/shootings recently.
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Jun 13, 2012 17:00
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I think the words "consensus opinion" are problematic, too. If you ask the National Association of Realtors, the answer might be quite different than if you ask a Chicago-school economist, or a Keynesian economist, or any of a number of groups who have an opinion. The press gets a lot of its information from the NAR, including both (fairly accurate) statistics on current home prices, and (highly biased) quotes and opinions about the future of home prices. Frankly, consensus opinion taken at its broadest interpretation is pretty worthless. You should definitely concern yourself first and foremost with specific local markets, because house prices are clearly more sensitive to local conditions than the national trend (hence, even after such a huge dive in prices nationally, there are markets in the US that suffered almost no drop in values, while others that suffered far more severe drops than the average... and before that, there were markets that were hyper-bubbled and others that were not bubbles at all). Beyond that, I don't want to get into specifics because it's been a bad derail in this thread in the past (this thread being more about the process and wisdom of house buying, rather than a discussion of current and future economic conditions). I will say however that the consensus opinion in this thread seems to be that real estate is a lovely investment for the small-time guy. Yes, there are some billionaires who made their fortunes in real estate, but the game they are playing is completely different from the one us small people have access to. It is very difficult to make a good income from investing in one or two individual properties as rental properties. It clearly is either very expensive (hire a manager) or very time-consuming (manage yourself) or both, carries high levels of financial risk (repairs, damage from tenants, vacancy, tax exposure, insurance), and can easily become financially disastrous. If you want to "invest" in real estate without exposing yourself to the illiquidity, huge transactional costs, and tenant-management headaches (at least not directly), you can always open an investment account and buy REITs. I wouldn't recommend it (I don't recommend any investment specifically, aside from a general recommendation that one's retirement savings should be invested in a tax-sheltered broadly diversified portfolio of both domestic and international stocks and bonds) but it's probably a much better option than buying a house and hoping to rent it for profit.
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Jun 13, 2012 17:52
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Kneel Before Zog posted:South East U.S. I'm thinking now is an opportune time , if you had enough money and a steady income, to buy houses to rent? Rental houses are all about cash flow. Do never count on appreciation to make the deal work.
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Jun 13, 2012 18:35
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Leperflesh posted:It is very difficult to make a good income from investing in one or two individual properties as rental properties. It clearly is either very expensive (hire a manager) or very time-consuming (manage yourself) or both, carries high levels of financial risk (repairs, damage from tenants, vacancy, tax exposure, insurance), and can easily become financially disastrous. Counterpoint: buy cheap condos near campuses, strip them, put in cheap rear end laminate and craigslist appliances, then go hog wild with mommy/daddy as a co-signer for your tenants. Good times based on what I've seen... Counterpoint to my counterpoint: what I've seen applies to a buddy killing it with those in Lexington, KY. I'm looking for the equivalent. He went from 1 condo to almost half in the complex in four years. His cash flow on the first was like $20, but he kept going and has a solid go of it now. let it mellow fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Jun 14, 2012 |
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Jun 14, 2012 03:33
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