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The condo tour I was on was co-hosted by a mortgage broker who really tried to sell their whole service as the best way to go, although when asked questions she had to admit many banks/credit unions won't work with a broker and only sell directly to their clients. That and other than my credit union, all the banks here have famously horrible kafka-esq service. I'll see about getting pre-approved at my credit union, specially since after a bit of research it looks like they have the best rates and packages and I actually trust them. This is all still way too early because my wife is on a contract that will be ending soon. But once she actually finally gets a full-time non-contract job we can get serious about this poo poo. And with her career track she'll actually have a chance of making over $15 an hour. God I wish she was still making $24 at a union job and got bonuses and such. But we knew it wasn't going to last so we managed to squirrel away $40 grand in just over a year and a half. So close to our target $50k for a down-payment but I'm actually totally hapy living in a basement (Specially in the summer!) and part of me just wants to say gently caress it, we're saving up until we can pay in cash. I want to own a home, but man I have a comfortable place to live where I can do what ever I want, great landlord, and we're able to put away about 20 grand a year not even being frugal. I should really ride this train as far as it will go. Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Jun 22, 2012 |
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Jun 22, 2012 18:14
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Baronjutter posted:I want to own a home, but man I have a comfortable place to live where I can do what ever I want, great landlord, and we're able to put away about 20 grand a year not even being frugal. I should really ride this train as far as it will go. We like the price of renting right now and where our finances are but if we were a bit more frugal, we could put a way some serious money. I only worry that we'll miss these low interest rates and MIP is only getting higher. I'm afraid if we waited until we had 20%, either the housing market will have made more recovery or interest rates will have gone back up to around 8%. We're also looking at an area that's just outside of downtown that is getting new public transportation, a new shopping and restaurant pavilion, new parks, etc. Basically a major revitalization for what was once mostly warehouses. They just built a new soccer stadium too. I would hope that the values of that area would go up in the next 10 years. Just hard to take the plunge and commit to something that is going to be about $400 more a month over renting right now. Can't say that we could rent something like this place for that price though. We definitely want to get out of our complex though. Too many bros. Can't tell you how many times on a weeknight you can hear someone scream WOOOOO! at the top of their lungs on our block. I Might Be Adam fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Jun 22, 2012 |
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Jun 22, 2012 18:30
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Leperflesh posted:On the other hand, I heard on the radio yesterday that year-over-year home prices nationwide are actually up, volume of foreclosures are down, and home builders are starting to maybe think about possibly doing some construction soon. Local news in Denver had a story last night about how appropriately priced houses in the Denver market are selling in a matter of days with multiple offers from buyers. Being the local news, they didn't offer much in the way of actual data. But anecdotally, friends of ours who were moving back east sold their house in only two weeks and got full asking price. Certainly seems to be improving here, but as you say, that doesn't mean there won't be another (or more) dips in the coming years.
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Jun 22, 2012 18:43
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new home, old colors, same Arsenal
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I Might Be Adam posted:We like the price of renting right now and where our finances are but if we were a bit more frugal, we could put a way some serious money. I only worry that we'll miss these low interest rates and MIP is only getting higher. I'm afraid if we waited until we had 20%, either the housing market will have made more recovery or interest rates will have gone back up to around 8%. The chance of interest rates being jacked up to 8% or for the housing market to recover to where it was in 2005 or so is so slim that it's not worth bothering to consider. It is far more likely that the market will flatline for years at best, if not slide even further.
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Jun 22, 2012 18:47
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I don't know a whole lot about macro economics, but from what I've heard the Fed is interested primarily in keeping inflation low, not promoting growth, so they're just going to keep interest rates low for a long time.
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Jun 22, 2012 19:04
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House prices seem so regional. National trends are important to note, but I've never seen too much of a correlation between them and my local prices. The news can be going on and on about massive crashes, neighbouring towns can have people complaining about losing 20% or more of their value suddenly, and my stupid town will be flipping out that the condo they bought last year only went up in value 1%. We go up a bit more slowly in bubbles and stay stable in crashes. I guess it's safe for owners but I was really hoping for at least a minor reduction. Prices are back on track for going up again too, lot of new developing re-starting after a brief pause.
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Jun 22, 2012 19:22
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Shipon posted:The chance of interest rates being jacked up to 8% or for the housing market to recover to where it was in 2005 or so is so slim that it's not worth bothering to consider. It is far more likely that the market will flatline for years at best, if not slide even further. Of course. I'm probably thinking in exaggerated terms. I am worried about the prices going up, though. When we started looking 4 months ago, everyone was telling me that it's a buyer's market. You'll find something in no time! You're really going to hold all the cards and it's easily an advantage for you! Maybe if we were buying in the suburbs but it seems like anything priced well and of good value goes pretty quick in the areas we're looking.
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Jun 22, 2012 19:28
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I Might Be Adam posted:When we started looking 4 months ago, everyone was telling me that it's a buyer's market. You'll find something in no time! You're really going to hold all the cards and it's easily an advantage for you! Maybe if we were buying in the suburbs but it seems like anything priced well and of good value goes pretty quick in the areas we're looking. This happened to us too and we gave up after a year of it (a slow-moving realtor was one of the issues). As far as we could tell, most of the people who say it's a buyer's market are either homeowners who wish they were in your position or realtors.
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Jun 22, 2012 19:41
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It's a buyer's market for exurban subdivisions, not so much for houses today's generation really want.
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Jun 22, 2012 19:48
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Oh, the $400,000 and up houses? Yeah, nope.
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Jun 22, 2012 19:51
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Splizwarf posted:This happened to us too and we gave up after a year of it (a slow-moving realtor was one of the issues). As far as we could tell, most of the people who say it's a buyer's market are either homeowners who wish they were in your position or realtors. Same happened here. Been almost 2 years of looking, and found nothing. Buyers market buyers market buyers market.... Sure it is. Tell me Mr Realtor, why the gently caress wont anyone accept any offers less than LIST loving PRICE? The house needs a $14,000 roof, and the entire deck replaced, but the house that has sat unoccupied on the market for the last 2 years and yet the owners will not accept anything even $1000 less. "It's a buyers market" is basically a buzzword that realtors are using to try to drum up business, at least in my area (Vermont).
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Jun 22, 2012 20:08
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Spermy Smurf posted:Same happened here. Been almost 2 years of looking, and found nothing. This problem will sort itself out soon when the stubborn sellers end up sitting on their asses with a property for several years...
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Jun 22, 2012 20:13
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Shipon posted:This problem will sort itself out soon when the stubborn sellers end up sitting on their asses with a property for several years... That is one of the problems with housing, people are reluctant, or can't sell below what they paid. Foreclosure doesn't even seem to solve the problem as the bank have no interest in selling since they get free money from the taxpayer. (Fannie and Freddie or the fed buying the bad paper for full price.)
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Jun 22, 2012 20:25
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Yeah same problem here. Real-estate industry pushed and marketed hard that for the first time ever prices were stable, maybe even coming DOWN but they'll go UP soon so buy buy buy now!! The side-effect is that everyone selling hears "going up soon" so they stay stubborn on their price. I mean who wants to sell low when it's going up soon? So people just aren't budging on their prices because they know if they just wait out this "buyers market" it will soon be a sellers market again! There's been a glut of over-priced condos though that really came down in price. But they went from "absolutely insane" to "totally unaffordable" so that doesn't help much.
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Jun 22, 2012 20:26
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FISHMANPET posted:It's a buyer's market for exurban subdivisions, not so much for houses today's generation really want. Yeah, we really want a house but it's hard to find anything above 1000sq ft in our price range that isn't falling down or located outside of our preferred area so we're looking at townhomes instead. I'd prefer to have a yard and a bit more privacy but a townhouse built only 6-7 years ago in a central location at a decent price is a bit more attractive especially seeing some of the neighborhoods that the houses we saw were located in. It's either condemned houses next door and empty lots with clunkers parked on them or a nice neighborhood that is an extra 15 - 20mins away from the city. Meanwhile, my brother is building a new McMansion a good hour outside of the city for the same price. What does he care though? He's never home and his entertainment consists of eating at Chili's and heading home to watch Swamp People and the new Larry the Cable Guy standup. I think it's anything but a buyer's market. Most of the new places that come on the market go into pending within a week with multiple offers. Maybe it's taking us longer to find something because I'm not looking into buying something that I plan on selling in 5 years. The days of buying a house and almost doubling your investment every 12 years that my parents experienced are over.
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Jun 22, 2012 20:29
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It's a banker's market, no one else is making money.
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Jun 22, 2012 20:31
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Shipon posted:This problem will sort itself out soon when the stubborn sellers end up sitting on their asses with a property for several years... Yes, but by then nobody will want those properties at all. A house that needs a roof now and isn't being lived in is not going to be looking better in two years. So many of the properties we looked at were total losses because they'd been neglected while they were on the market. One of them, we really regretted not looking at it on when it came on the market (we were more That house was a heartache scenario that took a lot of the wind out of our sails near the end. Someone had obviously loved it. 
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Jun 22, 2012 20:33
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I've seen a few like that. People who inherited a house, don't even live in it, refuse to budge on the price and just let the house rot. One down the street from me they wanted a million for but after sitting on the market for a couple YEARS it sold for "only" about 600k and was promptly demolished to make way for two million+ homes. Was a really nice old house too but they let it totally rot. The new houses are ok but are both owned by horrible early 40's hummer driving d-bags with trophy wifes, fat spoiled kids and conservative political signs.
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Jun 22, 2012 20:40
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Baronjutter posted:Man I'm glad AC isn't really a thing here. Never hot in summer, never cold in winter. Eternal spring/fall! Great for heating/cooling costs really. Most condos too just have cheap ol base-board electric heaters so no big system to deal with. Where the hell do you live? I can only imagine it must be a coastal area.
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Jun 22, 2012 21:06
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I live on a little island in the pacific ocean, it's pretty underground, you've probably never heard of it. But yeah winters are at worst maybe -1 but usually never snow and summers rarely get above the mid 20's. It can get hot in the summer and there's always like a week when everyone swears they're getting AC but it's just not worth it. Even the hotels and such almost never have AC (american tourists flip their poo poo at this). I've never seen an AC in a house/condo yet. Sometimes restaurants and malls have them though. I'm sure some rich people have AC in their houses though, but it's like having a helicopter pad or something, not something normal people ever have. When I was a kid we had snow in the winter and sometimes 30+ in the summer. But in my life time alone climate change has resulted in our seasons just kinda loving off. Cool wet winters, warmish dry summers. We're lucky to get a few weeks of real summer weather now, it just stays spring forever. It's late june and it's 12c and pouring rain right now. Some people hate it, but I hate the heat so I'm cool with it. Baronjutter fucked around with this message at 21:17 on Jun 22, 2012 |
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Jun 22, 2012 21:13
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How do you all decide what to offer? We've been looking for about a week, and have seen a few coops (Wash D.C.) I could see myself living in. So far my top two seem like they've been on the market for quite a while with #1 never having had a price adjustment. DC market is kinda different from the rest of the country in that prices here saw very little dip. I'm thinking they won't budge on prices but #1 is very much on the upper end of our range, so I'd like to haggle. I guess this is something my realtor can help with since they would know the area market better, but I'm just looking for as much insight as possible. Also I'll be using a VA Loan but can still afford a decent downpayment. Is a downpayment reasonable? or should I take advantaged of the no PMI feature of VA loans. Kallikrates fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Jun 23, 2012 |
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Jun 23, 2012 01:32
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Take advantage of the no PMI. Think of the funding fee as essentially your down payment. The pricing on a government loan right now is a little better than conventional, so chances are you could get into a lower rate in terms of the costs than going conventional, and you'd be paying the pmi with FHA. On top of that, lets say you want to streamline in the future, the FHA isnt going to let you shorten term without saving (which is never going to be possible) whereas the VA will (if you decide you want to go that route) gtkor fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Jun 23, 2012 |
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Jun 23, 2012 01:56
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I guess I should have worded that better, I'm going VA Loan for sure; but should I still go ahead and throw down some cash anyways.
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Jun 23, 2012 02:19
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I have a similar question. If I have 20% down is there any reason to use the VA loan?
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Jun 23, 2012 04:54
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Your downpayment serves as insulation against becoming underwater if your property drops a little in resale value. If there is any chance that you could suddenly have to sell, having a loan with a payoff that is smaller than the amount you'll net (after 6% commission and any other transactional costs) from the sale can be a very good thing. Sudden sale scenarios often involve a financial crisis in your life (huge medical bills are a common reason) and the security of not being underwater might be really important to you in that situation. On the other hand, if you keep what you would have put as a down payment as cash instead, then you're functionally in the same place (but maybe it feels better not to have to dig into savings to fill the gap on an underwater loan). The other thing your down payment does is reduce the overall size of your loan. This means you can either make the same sized payments you would have otherwise (and therefore pay less in interest over the life of the loan) or take a shorter-term loan (and therefore pay less in interest over the life of the loan). However, in exchange for paying less in interest, you are tying up your cash, so there is an opportunity cost that you have to factor in. So my advice is, if you choose to make a very small down payment, you need to keep a larger chunk of money as cash or nearly-as-safe-as-cash savings (not invested in something risky or illiquid) to serve as a hedge against a drop in home value followed by a family or financial or legal crisis that forces you to sell. This might be a reasonable choice in particular if you're planning to sell in a few years anyway - why bother tying up a chunk of cash as equity if you're going to get whatever equity you have back out eventually anyway? On the other hand if your intention is to actually pay off the loan and own the house eventually, there's no reason not to make as large a down payment as you can reasonably afford. You'll pay less in interest, have lower minimum payments, and give you the option of meeting your ownership goal sooner (make extra payments or get a shorter-term loan). In this scenario, how much equity you have in the house isn't as important as how much the actual house winds up costing you (in principal plus interest), and a large down payment lowers that total payout. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 08:02 on Jun 23, 2012 |
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Jun 23, 2012 08:00
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Is it normal for a general contractor to ask me to sign a waiver stating that he does not have disclose a list of subcontractors used to build my house (as required by Texas Property Code 53.256)? Why are the subcontractors a secret? There are a few I don't want to use, like the one who's son I arrested for being a shithead cocaine dealer.
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Jun 23, 2012 16:23
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Citycop posted:Is it normal for a general contractor to ask me to sign a waiver stating that he does not have disclose a list of subcontractors used to build my house (as required by Texas Property Code 53.256)? Why are the subcontractors a secret? There are a few I don't want to use, like the one who's son I arrested for being a shithead cocaine dealer. I don't know anything about it, but you have to figure there's a reason why the state is requiring it. Sounds weird, maybe ask him why he wants it signed.
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Jun 23, 2012 19:24
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I have questions about the HARP 2.0 program. I've contacted a few banks, including my current lender and no one seems to be very enthusiastic about refinancing. My current lender(USAA) won't go above 105% LTV. What's the point of getting rid of the LTV limits if the banks enforce their own limits? Then when I called a few others, they all either said my loan was not sold to Fannie Mae although the lookup says it was. And I purchased my home in Nov 08. WTF is up with that? Or they said they'd look into things and never get back to me. Or they only refi their current customers. Is there a place that collects the various banks rules on using HARP? This HARP thing seems a lot more difficult to get than its being made out to be.
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Jun 23, 2012 19:46
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Citycop posted:Is it normal for a general contractor to ask me to sign a waiver stating that he does not have disclose a list of subcontractors used to build my house (as required by Texas Property Code 53.256)? Why are the subcontractors a secret? There are a few I don't want to use, like the one who's son I arrested for being a shithead cocaine dealer. If he's willing to circumvent such a basic law like declaring his subcontractors to a homeowner, imagine what he's going to do to your house. Fire him and hire a new one willing to play by the rules.
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Jun 23, 2012 20:36
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Velochis posted:I have a similar question. If I have 20% down is there any reason to use the VA loan? What is your loan size? Id argue on a smaller loan it might make sense to use VA because the funding fee, although pricy may be better than a conventional loan. On top of that, a really large loan maybe be able to go lower than a conventional for similar pricing, especially on a 30 year. A 3.75% interest rate on a government backed loan is a credit rate rate now (ie, you get something off your costs) whereas a conventional rate at 3.75 is a point rate (ie, you pay). For the guy doing a HARP 2.0 question...its a little funny to be like oh I cant believe lenders wont take my loan at over 100 percent ltv. Its going to be pretty tough to find over 125% ltv. It sucks, but that is inflated housing markets for you.
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Jun 24, 2012 00:18
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Citycop posted:Is it normal for a general contractor to ask me to sign a waiver stating that he does not have disclose a list of subcontractors used to build my house (as required by Texas Property Code 53.256)? Why are the subcontractors a secret? There are a few I don't want to use, like the one who's son I arrested for being a shithead cocaine dealer. Tell him to get bent, and even if he agrees to disclose subcontractors tell him to get bent anyways- he's a shady jackass, why bother?
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Jun 24, 2012 00:53
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Can anyone help with a bit of first time home buyer tax credit? My now wife purchased her condo and received the 8k credit. We are looking to move now into a house and her 3 years is up in September. Is there any issue with her co-signing with me on a new mortgage as long as its not her primary residence until her 3 years is up?
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Jun 24, 2012 02:30
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Citycop posted:Is it normal for a general contractor to ask me to sign a waiver stating that he does not have disclose a list of subcontractors used to build my house (as required by Texas Property Code 53.256)? Why are the subcontractors a secret? There are a few I don't want to use, like the one who's son I arrested for being a shithead cocaine dealer. Sounds shady to me, or he's going to do some of the work himself and charge you market rate for it and doesn't want you to know about it. When my folks were building custom homes they never had an issue telling the buyer who the subcontractors were, and they only used the best. This just sounds off lots of warning bells. I can think of a few scenarios. Unlicensed, or fly by night contractors, charging you market rate then having work done by family/friends/others and pocketing the difference. I've seen that scam a ton of times. Say you want tile in the kitchen and bathrooms. Contractor charges you 3500 bucks to do it, but then has his brother in law who does tile on the side and 2 high school kids come lay the tile for 1500 one weekend. They make a chunk of change for 2 days work, contractor pockets 2K, you get stuck with a lovely tile job. Might not look lovely at first, but after a year or two when things start cracking and becoming uneven you have no recourse. Or the A/C system gets put in by some guys doing a side gig... well 3 years down the road Lennox won't cover your warranty because it wasn't installed by professionals. There's a bunch of scenarios but ultimately inform your GC you're not comfortable with that, and if he doesn't relent find a new GC. streetlamp posted:Can anyone help with a bit of first time home buyer tax credit? My now wife purchased her condo and received the 8k credit. We are looking to move now into a house and her 3 years is up in September. Is there any issue with her co-signing with me on a new mortgage as long as its not her primary residence until her 3 years is up? I don't think there's an issue with her co-signing, but you're going to have a hell of a time proving that she signed a mortgage with her new husband and that house DIDN'T become the primary residence. In fact the mortgage paperwork is probably going to have an affidavit inside of it that it IS going to be her primary residence. Pretty sure I had to sign such a document when I bought my house.
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Jun 24, 2012 03:35
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Alright so since or first house we bid on fell through on inspection we put offers on two other houses, the second house was declined, the third they said yes on. Sale price is 113900 for a (this time for real) full renovation. Already passed inspection and good to go, closing is july 23rd. Finally
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Jun 24, 2012 19:50
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Hope someone here could answer a timeframe question. How long could you expect it to take to sell your house in Houston and buy one in Dallas? I understand it can vary quite a lot, but we're trying to set a fair ultimatum for a couch surfer we have. Tldr: My boyfriend's brother lost his job in Houston last May and has been working at his/my BF's parents' family business in Dallas ever since. He drives up and stays with us for ~4 days every week/every other week. It's been over a year. I wanted to help the guy out since his parents let me live with them while my boyfriend and I saved up some money after college. We moved out of their house last May into an apartment, and the guy asked to stay with us (BF&Bro's parents smoke in the house so bro won't stay with them) in May as well. So me & BF have never technically lived together alone, and we're almost engaged. As I understand it, this whole year has been Bro trying to convince his stay-at-home wife to move to Dallas at all. It's none of my business, but I'm tired of having an unagreed upon roommate who doesn't pay rent/bills in a 1-bed/1-bath apartment. I want to give a firm but fair ultimatum - thinking Halloween, or New Years if needed. (Fakeedit: Not to mention the guy puts all his travel expenses on the business credit card, which probably eventually impacts my boyfriend's pay in some way!) Sorry to go all e/n but ugh.
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Jun 25, 2012 04:31
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drat Bananas posted:Hope someone here could answer a timeframe question. How long could you expect it to take to sell your house in Houston and buy one in Dallas? I understand it can vary quite a lot, but we're trying to set a fair ultimatum for a couch surfer we have. Would really depend on how motivated he is to sell the house and where his house is located in Houston. I search the Houston listings pretty often and see a sea of listings on the outskirts of the city so he might have some issues with selling his house if he isn't willing to be agressive. What part of Houston?
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Jun 25, 2012 04:41
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He's in Spring, and looking in Southlake, to be more specific. E: And I hope super motivated, because once you have an ultimatum it's the choice between buying quickly or finding a hotel (and I personally don't care which, I just want to be fair). At one time he talked about building new but gently caress that, I'm not waiting another year! Damn Bananas fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Jun 25, 2012 |
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Jun 25, 2012 04:50
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[EDIT] I found this article - what horrible timing on this deal. We're a week from closing on a home in the US and the title company has stated that the Canadian sellers haven't filed for a tax id number. The title company president stated that a 'FIRPTA' law was just enacted this past Friday (June 22, 2012) and stated, "had we closed the week before, we wouldn't have had to worry about them getting a tax id number." Apparently, the sellers just vacation and don't work here, so they haven't had a need for such. Title company also stated something along the lines of Canadian sellers withhold 30% of proceeds (held at the title company) until the IRS gives them approval to release remaining amount to sellers. We're afraid the sellers might back out of selling in lieu of this and we're distraught with the title company being short of notice. Is the title company full of poo poo or are they being honest? Here's info regarding FIRPTA, but I fail to see how it was enacted 06/22/12. Guacala fucked around with this message at 06:36 on Jun 25, 2012 |
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Jun 25, 2012 06:32
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drat Bananas posted:He's in Spring, and looking in Southlake, to be more specific. Well, a friend of mine put his house on the market and within 48hrs had an offer that he accepted. I think he was out of the house with signed papers within 6 weeks or so. He was probably between Spring and downtown but you never know depending on the house/location/etc.
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Jun 25, 2012 15:35
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Baronjutter posted:This is all still way too early because my wife is on a contract that will be ending soon. But once she actually finally gets a full-time non-contract job we can get serious about this poo poo. And with her career track she'll actually have a chance of making over $15 an hour. God I wish she was still making $24 at a union job and got bonuses and such. But we knew it wasn't going to last so we managed to squirrel away $40 grand in just over a year and a half. So close to our target $50k for a down-payment but I'm actually totally hapy living in a basement (Specially in the summer!) and part of me just wants to say gently caress it, we're saving up until we can pay in cash. It's awesome that you can live really cheap and squirrel away money, I very much recommend doing that at the very least until you know what's going to happen with your wife's employment. It's been said before but for living in a fairly expensive area, $15/hr jobs kinda suck. Yea, money isn't the end all be all but it certainly helps when you don't have to worry about how to pay your bills.
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Jun 25, 2012 16:11
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