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Pfhreak posted:My mortgage broker wants statements from my bank (BECU) that are current. This may be a silly question, but is it typical for a bank to only issue one electronic statement a month? Why can't I just say, "Give me a statement from date X to date Y!"? Smaller banks/credit unions can have some unbelievably lovely technology. Edit: Big banks have unbelievably lovely technology too, ours just has a lot more poorly implemented features 
Captain Windex fucked around with this message at 07:20 on Jan 15, 2013 |
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Jan 15, 2013 07:16
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We signed today. That went way easier than I expected aside from having to learn how to sign my name with a middle initial. Oddly enough my wife didn't have to sign anything with her maiden name even though there's a page for your aliases. Apparently two and a half years is long enough for it to drop off a credit report. From the time we first stopped in to get pre-approved to the time we signed today, not a single extra piece of paper has been asked of us (not counting stuff they printed). Apparently reading here and elsewhere about the kinds of things they would want to see worked. Thanks, everybody! We get the keys tomorrow and I already have our truck completely full with the first load. The two hours I have to work tomorrow are going to be torture.
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Jan 15, 2013 07:48
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Pfhreak posted:My mortgage broker wants statements from my bank (BECU) that are current. This may be a silly question, but is it typical for a bank to only issue one electronic statement a month? Why can't I just say, "Give me a statement from date X to date Y!"? Things like interest are calculated by the statement period (generally a month, in some cases a quarter), and they have a general burden of producing timely statements every statement period, so no it is not normal to have an actual statment generated outside of the normal statement date. And your mortgage broker doesn't need anything other than the most current two months of statements. He may need a verification of deposit (VOD) if you are close to closing.
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Jan 15, 2013 08:23
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Captain Windex posted:Your bank is required to verbally verify you are still employed no more than 10 days prior to you signing your closing package. If they become aware subsequent to verifying that you no longer work there they can refuse to fund the loan if they have not already funded it. Thanks for the help, Captain Windex. I reached out to one of the lending options today and they confirmed that as long as I have one pay stub by closing that I would be fine. 
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Jan 15, 2013 20:10
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To Roullette, who wants to buy her grandmother's house. If you only need your credit score raised 15 points in a few months that should be doable. Go see a loan officer. See a couple. They will run all the numbers and give you advice on how to do this. I've never been a loan officer, so I can't give a lot of advice here. (I have worked with them.) I don't think they will count your boyfriend's income as anything because you two are not legally married. My evil mind always looks for ways around things so... 1.) What are the laws for common-law marriage in your state and do you qualify? Do some searches on that. Do some searches on "domestic partnership". Is there a form you fill out for that? 2.) Maybe get a rental agreement form off the internet or at an office supply store and have your ahem... roommate sign to sublet a room, thus paying you rent, thus increasing your income. 3.) Run all this past your least favorite bank loan officer, which I'm guessing would be BofA, and see what flies, then revise and go to your more favorite bank loan officer. 4.) Make sure you stay clearly on the right side of what is legal. You won't know where you stand until you talk to a loan officer.
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Jan 15, 2013 20:11
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ExplodingChef posted:Should we be freaking out, or should we just shop around for another insurer? Talked to our realtor, who said he can't see any reason that we should have a problem getting it insured. He gave us the number of his guy, and there's also the option to go back to Progressive's higher offer. Obviously whomever we go with will do their own inspection. Don't freak out, just shop around. Insurance companies have detailed and ever-changing profiles of the types and categories of things they want to put into their portfolio (and this includes all types of insurance: auto, home, life, etc.). It's quite normal for one company to decide they're over-exposed to a particular category or that they want to specialize in a particular set of categories where you don't fit in. For auto insurance this often materializes as the company overpricing the policy. Just shop around and don't get worried until you're being rejected by multiple companies. Actually, consider using an insurance broker to shop around on your behalf. They may be able to find you a better deal than you can doing one-at-a-time over the phone quotes or whatever. Pfhreak posted:My mortgage broker wants statements from my bank (BECU) that are current. This may be a silly question, but is it typical for a bank to only issue one electronic statement a month? Why can't I just say, "Give me a statement from date X to date Y!"? Banks suck, mortgage requirements suck, doing all this poo poo sucks, this is how it is. The entire process is rife with inefficiencies, idiotic requirements, bad processes, and plenty of cases where automation seems like it's be blindingly obvious and save tons of money but it's just not there despite this being the 21st loving century. The inability of a bank to instantaneously generate an up-to-the-minute official statement is just the tip of a really huge iceberg. e. removed reply to three as it's no longer relevant. nakedmolerat posted:I've never been a loan officer, so I can't give a lot of advice here. (I have worked with them.) I don't think they will count your boyfriend's income as anything because you two are not legally married. I believe that this is incorrect. There's no impediment to any two (or more) people buying a house together. You can be married, you can be siblings, you can be buddies, you can be total strangers. If you're both putting your names on the loan, you're jointly responsible and your incomes can both be considered. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Jan 15, 2013 |
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Jan 15, 2013 20:14
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We're in! The sellers left us a bunch of stuff (hot tub supplies, toilet paper, etc) and everything has a label. There's a shop vac in the garage with an 8.5x11" label saying SHOP VACUUM.. They also left a bouquet of flowers and the house blueprints on the kitchen table 
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Jan 15, 2013 23:38
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For Roulette and other people applying for mortgages: http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=13107770&page=2 http://realestate.msn.com/blogs/listed-loans.aspx?post=c71b7976-bdb3-4cb7-b09b-6e34b0ab528a http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/1252006_Homebuying_Marriage.asp http://realestate.msn.com/the-secret-life-of-your-mortgage-application http://realestate.msn.com/-buying-a-house-not-with-your-credit-score And for Cage: http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=22334217>1=35000#3
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Jan 16, 2013 00:12
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Advent Horizon posted:We're in! An extremely cynical person might say that this is a lot of evidence that you overpaid... 
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Jan 16, 2013 00:49
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That thought has popped up. We really didn't, though. I think a lot of that stuff is what was left over from the garage sale last weekend (we told them don't worry about getting stuff like that hauled away). On the flip side, if everyone acted like that the home buying experience would be so much better. The sellers are also moving thousands of miles away so hauling away the spare toilet paper wouldn't make sense.
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Jan 16, 2013 01:46
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The wife and I may end up moving to Florida after I graduate this May. I've been thinking about picking up a cheap as hell condo for 70k or so just to have an inexpensive place to live for a couple years, then either rent it out or just keep the thing if we move out or move away. Is this feasible? Are condos are cheap now as people keep telling me? Should I just rent instead?
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Jan 16, 2013 03:02
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gwarm01 posted:The wife and I may end up moving to Florida after I graduate this May. I've been thinking about picking up a cheap as hell condo for 70k or so just to have an inexpensive place to live for a couple years, then either rent it out or just keep the thing if we move out or move away. Is this feasible? Are condos are cheap now as people keep telling me? Should I just rent instead? Condos are a very mixed bag because of condo fees and how much power the condo board has over what you can do, how you can paint, and more. Also, the condo fees can skyrocket if something bad happens, like needing a new roof, or if people get foreclosed on and the building loses some occupancy. If the specific condo complex you're looking at has a long, stable history, high occupancy, and reasonable condo board then you're golden. There's potential for different things to go wrong than with a standalone property, though.
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Jan 16, 2013 18:27
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gwarm01 posted:The wife and I may end up moving to Florida after I graduate this May. I've been thinking about picking up a cheap as hell condo for 70k or so just to have an inexpensive place to live for a couple years, then either rent it out or just keep the thing if we move out or move away. Is this feasible? Are condos are cheap now as people keep telling me? Should I just rent instead? First of all, where in Florida? Also, how many square feet? How many bedrooms and bathrooms do you require? What amenities do you NEED? Near me, I saw one condo of approximately 840 square feet sell at auction for 12K. I looked at one (for a family member) that was priced at 20K and in good condition. (It had 1.5 baths, kitchenette, washer/dryer, loft bedroom, LR/DR and deck.) Condo fees will be a minimum of $200./month and up. This same Condo previously sold for 110K before the crash. (This is in northeastern FL.) There are MANY good deals still in Florida. In a lot of places you can get a condo for half that much. There also are many rentals. I suggest you move to Florida and rent for a while and look around and decide where you want to live and what you want to do. I know one person who lost their shirt on a condo around Miami, after fixing it up and renting it out to people who trashed it. If you do buy one, don't get taken for a ride. Log onto Zillow.com, sign up and look at the Foreclosures. Also look at Trulia.com. Click on COMPARABLES for both For Sale and Recently Bought. Know what things are selling for in the area you look at. Find out what things sold for recently in your building. Don't forget about the Condo Fees. If you decide to rent it out, don't manage it yourself while you are out-of-town. Get 3-4 property management firms to send you their contracts. Set up a spreadsheet and enter all their terms into it. Compare who has what. You definitely want one where it includes, for free, eviction services up to $600 (approx.) per tenant, with the Property Managment firms lawyer representing you in Court and serving the papers. Also be aware that in FL there is a hotel tax so if you rent something out for less than 7 months, you pay a very high tax on that income.
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Jan 16, 2013 18:33
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How long after closing does the mortgage hit your credit report? I don't want to go apply for a propane account at Amerigas until I know for sure that the mortgage is completed. I figured it would show up today but I guess not.
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Jan 16, 2013 23:26
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If it's anything like a credit card or auto loan, up to 60 days.
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Jan 16, 2013 23:29
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So, we got preapproved for 280 today after I got sick of waiting for Wells Fargo to actually do something and went to someone else who had it done in 3 hours. I cannot believe how terrible WF is.
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Jan 17, 2013 02:12
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Our Realtor just called to let me know that the previous owners had called her in a panic because they just remembered that they'd left a jug of used motor oil in the shed. They've already contacted a neighbor to pick it up and have it properly disposed of, but they wanted our realtor to let us know so we don't think they're deadbeats for leaving it.
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Jan 17, 2013 02:25
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Longtime fan of the thread. Guess its my turn to step up to the plate. 49 k in savings 2 k in checking 11 k in Roth 6 k in HSA Take home is 4k/month Generally save 2k/month No debt Good credit Family has offered to help. We would rather not burden them if possible, but would consider them a backup emergency cushion that we could tap if need be after we are in the house until we build our savings back up a bit. We have lived in the area for 3 years and are positive that we want to stay here. I’ve been at my job for two years…wife switched after 2 years at one job to a new job that she has been at for 6 months. We’ve been monitoring the MLS for at least a year now. The houses/areas we’re comfortable with are between 200-285, though we’d rather not be at the higher end. Most likely looking at something between 250-270, which we should be able to put 20% down on. I’d rather not tap our IRA if at all possible, but I do know we could potentially pull 10k out of that with no penalty for a first time home purchase since that was the only way I could convince my wife to start one in the first place. How are we sitting on the Do Never Buy scale for starting to get serious within the next few months at the 250-285 range?
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Jan 17, 2013 07:07
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I don't think your in the do never buy camp, but a 270k house on your income might make you house poor. Not sure what property taxes are like where you live but 225K financed at 3.5% for 30 years is right around 1k. Throw on insurance, property taxes of 1 to 3% a year and your monthly payment will be closer to 1400 which eats up a big chunk of your income. Factor in increased utility costs, upkeep, etc. it gets expensive.
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Jan 17, 2013 07:24
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skipdogg posted:I don't think your in the do never buy camp, but a 270k house on your income might make you house poor. Not sure what property taxes are like where you live but 225K financed at 3.5% for 30 years is right around 1k. Throw on insurance, property taxes of 1 to 3% a year and your monthly payment will be closer to 1400 which eats up a big chunk of your income. Factor in increased utility costs, upkeep, etc. it gets expensive. Are you looking at their take-home pay or their monthly savings? $1400/month is only 35% of their take-home pay, leaving them with about $2500/month after mortgage, taxes, etc. That sounds like a pretty good buffer to me even if you slice off half of the remainder for upkeep; not house rich but not exactly house poor, either. JKicker, have you made up a solid budget and looked at what your monthly expenses generally are? This is a good idea even if you don't buy a house. You should definitely not pull from your IRA. Seriously, you need to explain to your wife that an IRA (Roth I hope?) is an amazing retirement tool no matter how you slice it. It may sound tempting to lower your interest payments with money from your IRA, but with interest rates so low it would make more sense to just leave your IRA money exactly where it is. It sounds like a 20% down payment is within reach without needing any help from the family, which is great.
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Jan 17, 2013 08:15
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Don't touch the retirement funds is my advice. That means you have $49k in available cash. For a $250k house, you'd need about $50k 20% downpayment $12k Closing costs $12k Six month's expenses for emergencies Which is $74k. Does that help? Of course you can start playing tricks like taking PMI so you can have a lower down payment, or trying to roll some closing costs into the loan, but... Regarding the monthly budget, a mortgage payment around 30-35% of your take home pay (not gross pay) would probably be reasonably comfortable. 30-35% of your gross pay is too much in my opinion, even though a lender would still probably approve you for that. Of course, banking on two incomes to meet the mortgage makes the whole thing a bit riskier. Do you have any retirement savings through work? If not, you REALLY need to be maxing out the Roth IRA. Frankly you should be contributing to it anyway.
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Jan 17, 2013 14:49
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QuarkJets posted:Are you looking at their take-home pay or their monthly savings? $1400/month is only 35% of their take-home pay, leaving them with about $2500/month after mortgage, taxes, etc. That sounds like a pretty good buffer to me even if you slice off half of the remainder for upkeep; not house rich but not exactly house poor, either. He didn't paint a very clear financial picture, but the poster made it sound like they have 2K of expenses and 4K take home. Not sure how much of that is current housing costs, but I guess the point I'm trying to make is housing is expensive. Throw in a couple car payments, insurance, gas, groceries and all of a sudden there isn't much left over from 4K a month.
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Jan 17, 2013 16:42
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What is the difference between an open and closed mortgage? And let's say I get a five year closed mortgage at 5%. What happens after five years? *I'm a couple years away from even starting to look so I'm in no financial danger of doing something stupid, for another couple years anyway.
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Jan 17, 2013 17:05
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Thanks to everyone for their thoughts on this so far!QuarkJets posted:
Monthly Expense breakdown 1,055 in rent 500 in groceries/ eating out / entertainment 256 health insurance 150 in heat, water, and internet 100 gas 50 car insurance 60 cell 10 website hosting and newsgroups This leaves us with roughly $2k in savings each month. Property tax in this area is less than 1%. To give you an idea of the area's insurance and tax rates, I talked to a guy I work with this morning. He bought a 260k house with 60 down (200k loan) on a 30-year 4.75% rate a few years ago. He rolled all of his insurance and taxes into escrow and pays just under $13 k a month with wind and hail insurance added on as well. Factoring in a $1400/month escow payment to our current budget, it looks like we would still be able to save around $1500/month toward repairs (500), retirement (500), and a potential baby/car slush fund (500) once we have all of our financial ducks in a row to take that on. slap me silly posted:Don't touch the retirement funds is my advice. That means you have $49k in available cash. For a $250k house, you'd need about We'd definitely rather not pay PMI if we can at all avoid it...my hope is that we will be able to roll closing costs into the loan / get the seller to put some of them up so that we could avoid PMI. I realize we are just now skirting the line where we can pull off the 20% down payment. We'll probably need at least a couple months' worth of cushion before we can get through the closing without any financial roadblocks. Regarding the 12k expenses for emergencies - this is the way we are thinking we will use our families' offers of assistance. If we have an emergency, we will tap them, but otherwise we'll be able to build our cushion back up without having to borrow any money. We do not have any retirement savings through our employers, which is why I started the Roth IRA. I also feel very strongly that we should preserve that money. Another consideration is that I haven't contributed for 2012 yet, which means I would need to drop 5k into that before April to keep it maxed. slap me silly posted:
I'm starting to sense we may need to wait another 6 months of saving before we can do this comfortably, which kind of sucks because that will put us into summer. We live in a coastal area and real estate prices tend to jump up a good bit in the summer, but then fall nicely in the winter months. Right now, there are 4 houses for sale in our favorite neighborhood. We'd mainly just like to see the insides of them to really get a feel for the market in that neighborhood...but we need an agent to do that which means we'd need pre-approval and blah blah...Those are the main reasons we're thinking about starting this process now...we would probably not make any offers until the summer anyway, given how careful we'd want to be with making the biggest purchase of our lives... What do you guys think?
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Jan 17, 2013 20:47
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You're fine, you can afford a house. Replacing 1055 a mo in rent with 1400 for a mortgage shouldn't be a problem.
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Jan 17, 2013 20:57
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JKicker posted:
If they do open houses, you don't need an agent, although the listing agent will try to sign you up.
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Jan 17, 2013 21:38
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jackyl posted:If they do open houses, you don't need an agent, although the listing agent will try to sign you up.
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Jan 17, 2013 21:54
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So I'm a longtime lurker in this thread, but I'm just now coming into a situation where I might want to buy a house after years of property management/caretaking and it's weighing on my mind. The house itself is a historic victorian, 4 bed 1 bath, on a triple lot just a bit out from the center of town. On the same lot is a separate one car garage and a studio apartment. It belonged to the mother of a friend of mine, who let it get completely out of hand. It was being occupied by a group of squatters and my friend asked me for help clearing it out. So I did, and now the junkies are gone and the house is buttoned up. The problem is that at least one of them was a hoarder and the house is full of hoarder-type objects. (of course.) The main historic part of the house is intact, with the original victorian plastering and plate rail, etc. Unfortunately it also has original victorian knob and tube wiring, which will all have to be replaced- however, it still works, or did before I turned off the power. The kitchen and bathroom, which are in an expansion off the main house (i.e. not covered under the historic property easement) will need to be restored from the framing up. The professional estimates for remodeling (I've gotten three, including one from the guy who built my parents house and who I trust implicitly) have ranged from 50 to 75 grand to get it to rentable quality, with 125-150 to get it to be "showroom quality" which is sort of where I'd like to be. The mother in law unit is trashed much worse. Would probably be starting from the floorboards up there, but it's not a historic property. The garage is watertight but will need gutter work and a new roof in two or three years. So, obviously Do Never Buy x10 right here. But here's the kicker: they're offering me the whole property, title (which is clear, I've checked) and deed to the whole place for $53,500 at 3.5% interest, with a seller carryback so payments don't start until I finish restoring the main house to rentable condition. I make 65 grand a year and have a free place to live 6 months out of the year. I've been saving about 2 grand a month and paying down my student loans, of which I have about 8 thousand. My plan for this winter was to pay them off, but then this opportunity came up and I've been saving since. I've got about 10 grand right now in checking and 4 in savings, no retirement yet. I'm 26, unmarried, fully insured, no pets. Has anyone ever done anything like this? I'm torn between "too good to be true" and "chew my own arm off to escape" right now.
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Jan 17, 2013 23:38
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So, we got preapproved finally, and we might be making an offer next week or the week after on a house listed at 240, for 200 (our real estate guy did comps and said that's what it's worth. I'm terrified and excited all at the same time. How do I figure out closing costs?
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Jan 17, 2013 23:50
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spider bethlehem posted:So I'm a longtime lurker in this thread, but I'm just now coming into a situation where I might want to buy a house after years of property management/caretaking and it's weighing on my mind. What would the property be worth fully restored? Honestly my gut instinct says RUN LIKE HELL. Too many issues with bringing old construction up to code. Lead paint, wiring, plumbing, it's a loving nightmare and you don't have 150K sitting in the bank to throw at this. It's a terrible loving idea. My parents were in construction for 30 years and have rehabbed several houses in the last 10 years profitably and I'm pretty sure they would walk away from this unless they could double their money.
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Jan 18, 2013 00:03
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skipdogg posted:What would the property be worth fully restored? The property is worth about 100,000 right now, if I bulldozed the house and built an apartment complex. This why they are selling it to me- anyone else who has offered to buy it has planned to demolish the house and put in some pseudo victorian condos. That's how much one of the builders said he was willing to offer for it if I didn't take the deal (he doesn't know how about the terms that have been offered me.). Honestly, that's my gut instinct as well- restoring a house is a nightmare. But I work from home and do property management and caretaking gigs as a second career, and I have to say that old houses are sort of a passion for me- having lived in so many utterly poo poo 80s and 90s fly-by-night developments, the cut to fit floors and custom plaster and yep, that's definitely lead paint, in the parlor/dining room at least, exerts an almost magical draw. I'm just trying to get advice before I commit (or worse, stealth-commit by falling in love with the idea.). I respect the instinct that says FLEEEEEE because I feel it too.
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Jan 18, 2013 00:13
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spider bethlehem posted:The property is worth about 100,000 right now, if I bulldozed the house and built an apartment complex. This why they are selling it to me- anyone else who has offered to buy it has planned to demolish the house and put in some pseudo victorian condos. That's how much one of the builders said he was willing to offer for it if I didn't take the deal (he doesn't know how about the terms that have been offered me.). Speaking not from a financial/real estate standpoint, but from a historic preservation one (I am a professional)... residential renovations are tough to come out ahead financially, it really has to be a labor of love on some level. Having said that, some states do offer tax credits for residential rehabilitations (federal tax credits are for income-producing properties only) that can help offset some of the costs. If I were you, I'd call someone at your state historic preservation office or state non-profit preservation organization to find out what tax incentives are available to you. A couple of other points... You mentioned an easement... is that a for certain, legal easement? Or is it what you think is there based on the house being National Register listed? The former are fairly uncommon and are usually held by historical societies/non-profit organizations. There may be some tax advantages there as well, so if there is one you should look into that. If you are just saying "historic property easement" because it is listed on the National or State Register of Historic Places, there's no such thing. NRHP listing does not restrict what property owners can or cannot do, but it is often required if you are trying to capitalize on tax credits or other financial incentives. Feel free to PM me if you want more info. edit: just saw that you'd likely use it as a rental property, in which case you could also take advantage of federal tax credits as it would be an income-producing property. pimpslap fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Jan 18, 2013 |
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Jan 18, 2013 00:37
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new home, old colors, same Arsenal
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Heh, I just realized that since I don't want to keep my house in the long term it might be a good idea to refinance my home so I pay less each month. Mint keeps recommending to go through Quicken Loans (Do they run your credit?) but like all things I figured I would ask the goons first. On paper I think my home is worth exactly how much I owe. Any advice?
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Jan 18, 2013 01:10
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pimpslap posted:Speaking not from a financial/real estate standpoint, but from a historic preservation one (I am a professional)... residential renovations are tough to come out ahead financially, it really has to be a labor of love on some level. Having said that, some states do offer tax credits for residential rehabilitations (federal tax credits are for income-producing properties only) that can help offset some of the costs. If I were you, I'd call someone at your state historic preservation office or state non-profit preservation organization to find out what tax incentives are available to you. It's a for-real, legal easement, held through a historical preservation society. I live in a small town on the northern california coast that is intensely interested in its own history. As for renting it out- definitely the mother in law unit, probably the main house as well. The studio will go for 600 when it's remodeled, slightly less because I have some people in mind who would be good tenants, the main house probably 11-1300 a month depending. My payment will be about 600 a month for the property + paying down whatever costs I incur remodeling, which will be substantial. Pimpslap, I will definitely get in touch with you. Still getting used to the idea of actually posting as opposed to lurking, but sounds like you'd be just the right person to talk to.
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Jan 18, 2013 01:34
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Me and the Mrs are looking at buying a place of our own over the coming year so I was hoping to throw some quick numbers at you guys and see how insane we are. All figures are in GBP £, and obviously this in Britain so it'll only ever be rough but I'll try and provide context. Potential houses are on the market for 85,000 - 100,000. Most in the 90-95,000 range (one we really like is 95k, through social connections we know the reasons for sale and ongoing desperation of the seller so we feel they would be very willing to negotiate). Our current finances; Monthly income - 2,800 (with a bit of luck mine should be rising soon which would take us to around 3,500 but not really counting this yet) all after tax and pension deductions. Renting for us would be in the range of 550-600. We have ~8-10,000 saved. We currently put away maybe 500 a month give or take. Expenses on the property would list; Tax - 100 Utilities - 150-300 Replacing\fixing poo poo - 100 (Seriously no idea?) Mortgage, between 450 - 600 depending on interest rates, over here they are generally fixed for 3-5 years then move to variable, 600 would be at 6%~ interest. Our other expenses that are non-negotiable would sit something like, Debt - 120 Car running costs - 200 Food - 200 Add in - 200 of money that you always end up needing to spend. Other Travel - 40 This runs out around. Expenses - 760 House - 800 - 1,100 Call its 1,800. +500 stashing away +500 entertainment\child based costs\other crap =2,800 2,800 Income. Clearly if we move forward we really need to start nailing down figures but at first glance is this a run the hell away and save more\earn more money or not? Might be worth adding her dad is fairly rich, rather odd, unique situation in that he can go work for a week or two and take home 20,000 from that. We really don't want to lean on him, but if poo poo hits the fan he would help out, he has also offered to act as guarantor for a mortgage if it makes a difference (seems to with some banks).
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Jan 18, 2013 02:05
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Should I keep my condo or sell it before the property value drops too much? I have a condo near gastown in Vancouver, BC. It's in a great area which is why I bought it two years ago. Close to lots of restaurants, bars, cinemas, live music, stadiums etc. I had planned on living here for a long time but the building has been having a lot of insurance claims lately. Our strata deductible our personal insurance currently sits at 100,000 dollars which is insanely high. A few weeks ago there was another flood in which 94 units were flooded. My fear is that with all of these new claims on top of the previous claims the strata deductible might shoot up to 150,000 dollars. At this level it's impossible to get fully insured as the most any company will insure you for is a 100,000 dollar deductible. If I sell now and break out of my mortgage term early I will lose a total of $16,800 in penalties and realtor fees. If it wasn't for this issue with the insurance I would most definitely be staying in the condo for some years to come. The floods have been due to a mixture of human follies and the latest one was a burst pipe inside an unoccupied unit. The alternative is that I continue living here paying down my mortgage. Hoping for the best with the insurance issue and maybe sell the unit 6-7 years down the line when market starts turning around again.
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Jan 18, 2013 02:09
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spider bethlehem posted:It's a for-real, legal easement, held through a historical preservation society. I live in a small town on the northern california coast that is intensely interested in its own history. I don't believe that CA has a state tax credit. If you are definitely going to rent out the main house (and that's the historic property) then you would qualify for the federal tax credit. It is up to 20% of qualified rehabilitation costs. The property has to be National Register listed and the rehab has to follow the federal rehabilitation standards and guidelines (not really that onerous). The State Historic Preservation Office is the contact for federal tax credit projects and would "certify" the work in the planning and completion stages. California does have a historic property tax abatement program that's administered by local governments. If your town is as into historic properties as you say, they probably do have it (it's called the Mills Act, for reference). The historic easement could possibly give you some additional tax incentives. It depends on the state whether the tax benefits of such easements apply only to the owner who granted the easement or carry over to subsequent owners. You'd definitely want to consult with a tax attorney on that (or check with the historical society that holds the easement). The historical society should be your first call regardless, since the easement may include renovating the non-historic additions in a way that is sympathetic to the historic portion. Heres some relevant links: http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=24626 CA OHP Incentives website http://www.nps.gov/tps/tax-incentives.htm Federal Tax Credit info page http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=21410 CA also has alternate building codes for historic buildings pimpslap fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Jan 21, 2013 |
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Jan 18, 2013 02:34
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reflex posted:What is the difference between an open and closed mortgage? And let's say I get a five year closed mortgage at 5%. What happens after five years? Open end mortgages are basically lines of credit that you can draw on whenever, if you draw on it you then make payments on the drawn balance at whatever terms the loan calls for. Closed end mortgages are normal loans, basically "Here's $100k, give us $1k a month for 20 years" or whatever. Do you mean a 5 year ARM (adjustable rate mortgage)? Unless you've got a weird portfolio mortgage or you're doing something commercial no one does 5 year fixed loans. 5 year ARMs are semi common, basically for the first 5 years your interest rate stays the same and after that it can adjust based on market conditions, usually annually with various caps on how much it can adjust each year. With current interest rates being what they are you probably want to look at a fixed loan unless you're in a few specific fringe scenarios and based on the question I doubt those scenarios would apply here.
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Jan 18, 2013 07:28
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Orange_Lazarus posted:Heh, I just realized that since I don't want to keep my house in the long term it might be a good idea to refinance my home so I pay less each month. Mint keeps recommending to go through Quicken Loans (Do they run your credit?) but like all things I figured I would ask the goons first. You have it backwards. Refinances have significant up-front costs that are only worth it if you keep the house long enough. How soon are you trying to sell this house? aimloan.com has better rates than Quicken Loans and you can get a rate quote and closing costs estimate on their website without a credit pull.
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Jan 18, 2013 16:01
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Yeah I remembered after posting that with refinancing they usually want you to make a bit of a down-payment; I'm just not sure how much. It depends. I would like to sell it when I've found a really good deal for another home and only if I'm going to break even and not owe anything after it's sold. I've accepted that I could be stuck here for awhile based on those conditions.
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Jan 18, 2013 16:16
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