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I Love You! posted:They have some value in that they are important for establishing some trends and sometimes there is no other data readily available, but a good appraisal of value is not going to be based off them so much as the value of land + improvements ASSUMING there are no really applicable recent comparables. And even that can be hard when land itself is becoming scarce with so many builders trying to keep up with the sudden demand. Thanks for your advice on this. My realtor is absolutely no help in this situation and always seems to give very wishy-washy "You never know heh heh" answers when it comes to basically every step of the home buying process. I meet with my broker this week and will hopefully look to lock in a rate in a week or two. The people selling the home asked for a June closing date since they are moving out of state, so hopefully a few more weeks with the market on this upswing will only help my appraisal chances.
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Mar 25, 2013 17:02
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Get a better realtor
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Mar 25, 2013 17:13
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If I have 20% that I can comfortably put down, is there any reason to even consider an FHA loan?
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Mar 25, 2013 17:14
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Weinertron posted:If I have 20% that I can comfortably put down, is there any reason to even consider an FHA loan? You should definitely look at your options. Especially if you are looking to take out a large loan, FHA loans may not cover it, and the upfront fees/monthly premiums can be an additional cost that you may not want to take on. Generally the larger the downpayment the more attractive options you will have access to. One of the lenders in this thread can probably give you better specifics in this regard. Vilkata posted:Thanks for your advice on this. My realtor is absolutely no help in this situation and always seems to give very wishy-washy "You never know heh heh" answers when it comes to basically every step of the home buying process. I meet with my broker this week and will hopefully look to lock in a rate in a week or two. The people selling the home asked for a June closing date since they are moving out of state, so hopefully a few more weeks with the market on this upswing will only help my appraisal chances. Get a better realtor, you have choices, this person is responsible for SO MUCH OF YOUR MONEY Are you under a buyer's rep contract with this person? Because while your agent is basically not allowed to tell you what he thinks a home is worth or what your bid should be, "WHO KNOWS" is almost always the result of being super lazy and/or too inexperienced to know how to pull up the right data. And if they aren't sitting you down to educate you about the home buying process, that's also kind of a bad thing especially if you're new to the process. It's certainly possible that there just won't be any good comparables for a specific property - in fact, it happens pretty often - but you can still piece together SOMETHING from similar neighborhoods or market trends or just the value of the improvements vs. the land cost. It takes time and energy and knowledge but there's always something you can do. I Love You! fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Mar 25, 2013 |
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Mar 25, 2013 18:39
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We made an offer yesterday on a beautiful condo. They accepted today and when they filled out the condo questionnaire it was revealed the condo was under litigation. Someone slipped and fell and sued. My real estate guy and mortgage broker are trying to figure things out with this, but i figured I could ask here: are my chances at actually getting this place dead due to litigation?
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Mar 25, 2013 19:52
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You should probably wait. If some idiot manages to sue the building for 5 million medical costs plus 50 trillion emotional distress after he by his own falt tripped on some walkway you as a owner will be footing your share of the bill. Unless they have good insurance. Will their insurance be covering it? Either way wait till the dust settles.
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Mar 25, 2013 19:57
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Pillowpants posted:We made an offer yesterday on a beautiful condo. Talking to a real estate lawyer is probably a really good idea. Like, quickly. Even if you get it, there could be some serious issues that crop up with who owes this guy settlement money and all that fun stuff. Only a real estate lawyer can tell you what your risks are in this case - in fact, your agent cannot legally give you advice other than to say "there might be a problem, you should talk to a lawyer to find out." I Love You! fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Mar 25, 2013 |
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Mar 25, 2013 19:57
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http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2927-Santee-Rd-Bethlehem-PA-18020/10139597_zpid/ Pending another look at the basement wall (which has a single warped panel), I am about to make a $185,000 offer on this house. Speak now or forever hold your penises, goons.
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Mar 25, 2013 20:04
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Insane Totoro posted:http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2927-Santee-Rd-Bethlehem-PA-18020/10139597_zpid/ That's a cutthroat price - considering the sale price from 2004. You expecting a counter?
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Mar 26, 2013 04:42
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If I was asking $209,000 and you offered me $185,000 I would probably tell you to go gently caress yourself and not even bother with a counter.
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Mar 26, 2013 12:45
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I paid 108k for an asking price of 124k on my house last year, so it's not outside of the realm of possibility. They had been trying to sell the place for almost 2 years, had several buyers fall through for various reasons, and were a little desperate to sell, so my situation may have been different. But it happens.
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Mar 26, 2013 14:05
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Realtor and I found comps for similar houses in the Lehigh Valley area for that price. Either it is worth market value in the area or something else is up. I don't think the offer was unfair. Also the seller included the finished basement in the total square footage which I think is bull. $185k for 1100 square feet in this area in an okay not fantastic neighborhood sounds good to me
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Mar 26, 2013 14:07
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Double post
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Mar 26, 2013 14:07
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Thinking about buying a house. The basement had one corner where the concrete was discolored, probably roughly 9 inches up the corner and 9 inches out each way from the corner. My obvious concerns are moisture/water issues. At the same time, the discoloration does not go very far up the wall or very far laterally along the wall. So I don't want to panic and just say no to something that might have been a one time sump pump issue, etc. At the same time, no way in hell am I going to trust a seller to tell me what really happened, and most importantly, whether there is some longer term problem. How would you focus on this? Just hope that your inspector can figure out what is going on (and most importantly, if he doesn't have the skillset to know what's going on, that he will tell you rather than saying, "Yep, looks okay, not a problem")? Hire some separate contractor to take a look (and if so, what type and how do you find a good one)?
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Mar 26, 2013 14:14
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SlyFrog posted:Thinking about buying a house. The basement had one corner where the concrete was discolored, probably roughly 9 inches up the corner and 9 inches out each way from the corner.
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Mar 26, 2013 14:20
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Inspectors don't know anything. If you really want to know if something is wrong you need an engineer. Make sure you include a contingency in the offer and adjust your offer considering the cost of the structural inspection. That said most basements that are not built on a hill have water issues of some sort as the builders usually take shortcuts on things you can't see.
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Mar 26, 2013 16:12
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Elephanthead posted:Inspectors don't know anything. If you really want to know if something is wrong you need an engineer. Make sure you include a contingency in the offer and adjust your offer considering the cost of the structural inspection. That said most basements that are not built on a hill have water issues of some sort as the builders usually take shortcuts on things you can't see. How does one hire an "engineer?" I'm on Angie's List and seeing several basement/foundation contractors who have good ratings - would one of them work? I'm being serious, as there really aren't a lot of listings for "engineers" to come inspect a home presale (checking both google and Angie's List for the area). I'm not sure that I want to do this for something that at this point is a (relatively) small stain I noticed on a corner of the block wall. I've never heard of people using structural engineers for their pre-sale inspection, so I also don't want to go nuclear on this thing without cause.
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Mar 26, 2013 17:11
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SlyFrog posted:How does one hire an "engineer?" I'm on Angie's List and seeing several basement/foundation contractors who have good ratings - would one of them work? If I had a structural concern, I wouldn't hesitate to bring an engineer in for an inspection.
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Mar 26, 2013 17:20
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gvibes posted:They would appear in Angie's list under the structural engineering category. Yes, I saw that. There are next to none of them in my area (or at least none with any actual ratings). If people are hiring these guys, they certainly aren't rating them like they rate other contractors. Part of the problem here is that I'm not sure if I actually have a structural concern. I do not see any crumbling, cracking, stains on wood, or anything similar. Nothing smells musty, and nothing appears sunken or otherwise out of order. I do not see any current signs of moisture or dampness. Just a stain (that is quite dry and old) in the bottom corner of the block concrete. I also do not want to have an engineer do the sole inspection, as I am fairly sure they are not going to look at electrical, the roof, etc. So I will still need an inspector as well. I understand that it is easy to say, "It's a big purchase, pay the $300-500 extra to have the engineer come out." At the same time, it is easy to make a home purchase even more expensive by going overkill on things like this. Seller has disclosed nothing (I am following up with them to specifically ask them what's going on with the stain). EDIT: Well, I picked one of the few structural engineering firms that actually has any rating at all and gave them a call. Someone is supposed to call me back, so I will see what they say. SlyFrog fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Mar 26, 2013 |
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Mar 26, 2013 17:29
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It's going to be your house, your call. Another Angie's list category may be "foundation repair" - they do a lot of waterproofing stuff that does not require structural engineering knowledge.
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Mar 26, 2013 17:44
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gvibes posted:It's going to be your house, your call. Yes. Right now I'm leaning toward two stage - getting the inspection first, followed by a potential consult with an engineer or foundation guy, depending on my feelings after the initial inspection.
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Mar 26, 2013 17:54
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Vilkata posted:So my question is: How much influence do comp sales from when the market wasn't going as strong have in the appraisal process? I would hate for our appraisal to come back low and mess up anything with our mortgage. I'm not sure if it makes any difference at all, but when I did a home insurance quote with Liberty Mutual, the coverage amount they determined based off square footing, age of roof, pool, etc came back at right around our purchase price. I tried to buy a home in Chandler last year, and I was represented by The World's Worst Realtor (TM) I put in an offer at 1k below asking price on a Homepath property (that the agent's buddy was selling, wouldn't you know?), total of $161k. The offer was accepted, and during the inspection period, my realtor finally decided to run comps on the neighborhood. He found the exact same house sold three doors down three weeks previous for $130k. Fortunately, I was able to run away screaming from the deal without being out any money. I told him that he was terrible, and that there was no way the home would appraise for that much. The home was ~25 years old, hadn't had the asphalt shingle roof replaced yet (any day now), and had a few other problems/broken things/vandalism to boot. The home appraised for exactly what the next offer was ($161k, but from a non-Homepath lender so they initially gave priority to me), and some chump bought it weeks later for that price.  Do never buy.
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Mar 26, 2013 18:11
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Rockzilla posted:Does anyone have any experience being on a strata council or HOA? After buying a condo in June, my wife and I were pretty disappointed when we discovered how poorly our neighbours treated the building, how often the parking garage and mailboxes were being broken into and how indifferent the strata council was to do anything about it. I'm facing a similar experience. Our previous board was basically incompetent and put our property under management that we could not afford while handing them our checkbook. Of course they started billing like a lawyer and calling it an hour for every singe email received from an owner or renter which led to depleted reserves. We've had almost 100% board turnover this year so I'm feeling more optimistic about making real progress instead of seeing the absolute bare minimum done but there's going to be growing pains as we deal with the financial mess the previous board left. This entails raising HOA dues by 20-30% which of course is causing the owners that are real estate "investors" to get all up in arms. Today we got this fantastic email from one of these investors... "I own 2 units at the X and am actively trying to sell both now. I fully understand the importance of building up the reserves and fixing things that have been neglected. On the other hand, to increase fees 30% will produce severe hardship on many investors and residents who own properties there. Most units which are rented out will not cash flow as it is, let alone what more in dues will cause. I would propose 10 to 15% increase in year one and more the next. 30% at once is simply too much to bear." *worlds smallest violin plays* E; The HOA dues are very reasonable for the complexity of our property. We've supposedly got the largest private pool in the midwest or something so the fees that go into keeping that looking decent are astounding but worth it if you actually live there Another positive of owning a condo in a popular part of the city is that I get to see the delusions of pre-bubble real estate investors first hand so it reiterates how terrible of an investment real estate can be on a daily basis. resident fucked around with this message at 15:02 on Mar 27, 2013 |
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Mar 27, 2013 14:49
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So there is this property that we have been farming on. There is an old giant house on the property that looks like this: A closeup of the hole:  A few years ago apparently a back hoe hit the back corner of the place while moving dirt. This is the result. Now we figured we would have to tear the house down. However, I have a friend who says that the house is perfectly fine save for this one corner. She went in and looked at all the floors and said everything was still level. She said 30k in repairs would have it back in good working shape. How completely crazy is she? Can it possibly be repairable in that condition?
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Mar 27, 2013 15:12
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Chin Strap posted:So there is this property that we have been farming on. There is an old giant house on the property that looks like this: You've come to the right place since this is the structural engineering thread. Hire a professional if you really want to know the answer. Nobody on the Internet can answer this for you based on two pictures
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Mar 27, 2013 15:36
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Chin Strap posted:Now we figured we would have to tear the house down. However, I have a friend who says that the house is perfectly fine save for this one corner. She went in and looked at all the floors and said everything was still level. She said 30k in repairs would have it back in good working shape. How completely crazy is she? Can it possibly be repairable in that condition?
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Mar 27, 2013 16:04
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gvibes posted:Yeah, hire someone, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was savable. This is the sort of thing I was wondering. Of course we would hire someone to look at it first, but I was wondering if that could even be in the realm of possibility. I just immediately figured it was a lost cause guaranteed.
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Mar 27, 2013 16:06
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Well it's been sitting like that for a few years, if there was going to be irreparable damage the house probably would have collapsed by now. I'm not familiar with how brick homes are structurally, it appears that the inner workings are supported by wood and not the outer brick walls.
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Mar 27, 2013 18:50
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Chin Strap posted:A closeup of the hole: Not a structural engineer, but an architectural historian. Looks like brick veneer to me, meaning the brick itself isn't structural, but rather the wood framing behind it is. It does look like there would need to be foundation repair though. Assuming the wood framing behind isn't damaged (substantially), repairing the brick veneer wouldn't be that expensive. Since the hole is beneath one of the interior chimneys though, that may complicate things structurally. My advice would be to find a structural engineer/contractor who has worked on historic homes. Many structural engineers who have no experience with old houses would take one look at it and say tear it down. Whereas someone experienced may have a completely different (and more relevant) take on it.
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Mar 27, 2013 19:18
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new home, old colors, same Arsenal
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pimpslap posted:Not a structural engineer, but an architectural historian. Looks like brick veneer to me, meaning the brick itself isn't structural, but rather the wood framing behind it is. It does look like there would need to be foundation repair though. Assuming the wood framing behind isn't damaged (substantially), repairing the brick veneer wouldn't be that expensive. Since the hole is beneath one of the interior chimneys though, that may complicate things structurally. Thanks! We live in Pittsburgh so there are tons of old houses. We'll definitely get someone to look at it, I'm just happy to hear it could be possible.
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Mar 27, 2013 23:47
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Looks like you got a good start on a walkout basement! What is holding that chimney up? I don't see brick down to the ground? Is it supported by timber? Interesting.
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Mar 28, 2013 15:11
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Elephanthead posted:Looks like you got a good start on a walkout basement! What is holding that chimney up? I don't see brick down to the ground? Is it supported by timber? Interesting. I have no idea but it will be fun to find out! Given that it was a rental, I'm guessing they aren't currently even functional (every landlord here seems to just shut the fireplaces down).
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Mar 28, 2013 16:23
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Elephanthead posted:Looks like you got a good start on a walkout basement! What is holding that chimney up? I don't see brick down to the ground? Is it supported by timber? Interesting. That's not uncommon. I've been under my own house and my chimney is supported the same way. Which is good, because in California you need your poo poo to be able to move a little during an earthquake, or it'll collapse.
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Mar 28, 2013 17:59
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Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask since there doesn't seem to be a dedicated discussion to renting anywhere, but is there anything I should do to find a modest home for my fiancée and I besides checking the classified section in the local paper(s) and striking out on local Craigslist ads? I'm new to this whole thing, and after reading through some of the OP, I think we are better off sticking to renting right now until we build up our finances some more. Also, I've heard people talking about "renting-to-own" a home and a few people putting $0 down. Fact or fiction?
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Mar 28, 2013 19:12
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Charles Martel posted:Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask since there doesn't seem to be a dedicated discussion to renting anywhere, but is there anything I should do to find a modest home for my fiancée and I besides checking the classified section in the local paper(s) and striking out on local Craigslist ads? I'm new to this whole thing, and after reading through some of the OP, I think we are better off sticking to renting right now until we build up our finances some more. I've used rent.com and hotpads.com in the past. Hotpads is slicker. I've gotten incentives just by using rent.com too - I think I got $500 off my first month's rent or something. Been a couple of years. Similarly you can use redfin.com, zillow.com and trulia.com (probably others too) to window shop if you want to buy. They're plugged right into the MLS and all have the same info just presented differently. I preferred redfin but a buddy of mine from high school is one of the Trulia guys so I wanted to plug his solution too.
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Mar 28, 2013 19:23
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Charles Martel posted:Also, I've heard people talking about "renting-to-own" a home and a few people putting $0 down. Fact or fiction? Rent to own: You can rent-to-own a sofa or a saxaphone, but renting-to-own a house is kind of not a great idea. It's basically a lease, with an option to purchase at some point. Long-term leases are not great for individuals (typical rental agreements are for a 1-year lease). One of the biggest advantages of renting is your ability to decide to move without a huge financial cost to doing so; a long-term lease removes that option. I mean, if you have a very particular financial situation where you've got a house you want to rent, and you know you'll probably want to buy it in 6 years or whatever, but for some reason don't want to buy it now, but are willing to pay extra money over and above what it would normally cost to rent that house in order to purchase the option to purchase it in the future? I guess it's conceivable this could be a good arrangement for somebody, but probably not for you. And the number of property owners that would want to enter into such an arrangement with you are surely very limited, which will limit your housing options a lot. Down payments: It is possible to purchase a house with $0 down payment, under certain restrictive circumstances (mostly special programs for government employees/teachers, rural areas that need people, stuff like that) but it is a terrible idea because, due to the costs of selling, you are instantly underwater. And assuming you only make your scheduled payments, you'll still have almost no equity after making 8 years of payments. It also does not speak well of your ability to save, if you cannot afford any down payment. Even if a bank or special program qualifies you (which suggests they think you can afford it), having the ability to save cash is an important aspect of financially secure home ownership. Because you must save money to cover unforseen (and forseen) maintenance and repair expenses, many of which run into the multiple thousands of dollars. The best position is to put a full 20% down, so you can avoid paying mortgage insurance. It's reasonable in some cases to do less, and some of us did a lot less - FHA minimum is 3.5%, which is the least I would ever suggest to anyone (and I think considerably lower than the consensus suggested down payment in this thread).
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Mar 28, 2013 20:49
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The only situation I've ever encountered where Rent-To-Own type situations made any sense for my client (and the term itself is a misnomer as commonly used today) was one time when a client had completely fallen in love with a home and wanted to lock it down until a later time when their credit improved because they were convinced it would sell immediately. Except they eventually ended up realizing there were other homes they could fall in love with too and decided not to do that because yeah. It's not the best idea to sign super-long-term leases when your financial situation is already rocky just because MUST HAVE HOUSE.
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Mar 28, 2013 22:04
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Thanks for the advice guys. Really don't want to get locked into a lease or into buying a home just yet. I guess I'm pursuing the right avenues, but this area just loving sucks. Nothing in rent.com, hotpads.com, the local papers, or Craigslist. Ugh. Probably a stupid question: Is consulting a realtor for rental properties or do they mostly deal in selling homes?
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Mar 29, 2013 00:34
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Charles Martel posted:Thanks for the advice guys. Really don't want to get locked into a lease or into buying a home just yet. I guess I'm pursuing the right avenues, but this area just loving sucks. Nothing in rent.com, hotpads.com, the local papers, or Craigslist. Ugh. Apartment locators and Realtors who do rental properties is definitely a thing. They can be very helpful but also some of them will not help out with non-MLS properties since these often will not pay a commission. It's a good avenue to take in addition to what you are doing since they can help arrange a series of walk-throughs without you having to do a bunch of work. They can also be really helpful with house rentals if that is a thing you are working with. If you are having trouble finding people in the area that do rentals, drop me a line and I'll see if I can help you find someone. Also, with regards to the $0 down, pretty much what leperfish said, though some states/cities also have First Time Homebuyers programs that help out with down payment assistance and such that make this a slightly more advantageous situation (though often very hard to qualify). While it is always a good idea to have as much of a down payment as possible to avoid PMI and also to have some sort of proof of concept that you can afford to own a home, there are of course cases where someone is suddenly thrust into a higher income bracket or has recently liquidated funds but has a firm, consistent income that makes the purchase of the home less of a risk - especially if they are going to be paying off less than the monthly minimum. While the most important consideration is "can you afford this home", not "can i make my monthly payment" (a lot of people get this wrong), it is still very important what you can pay on a monthly basis and if you can pay more than the minimum amount - a 15-year loan is a WHOLE lot cheaper than a 30 year loan, for example. If you're making money hand over fist, it's more important in most cases to pay off that house quickly than it is to save a bigger nest egg - if you are forced to sell, that equity you have in the house from paying off a large percentage early is going to be worth more than the money you have sitting in the bank, because your house accumulates interest a lot faster than your bank account accumulates pennies. This isn't the case 100% of the time, but for the most part getting that interest down early is an amazing thing. It's one reason a lot of younger people now rent out part of their home for the first several years of ownership - being able to pay off large chunks of it very early helps you build equity fast and can be a key to actually gaining value on the house. I have a friend who bought a house and rented out 2/3 of it for the first 7 years, made way over his monthly payment with mostly just the rental money, and now owns over 50% equity in the house using very little of own money past the down payment. However, he made a relatively large cash down payment and has been aggressive about paying off more than the minimum, and has very moderate savings, so it's important to understand how this kind of lifestyle would impact you. I Love You! fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Mar 29, 2013 |
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Mar 29, 2013 01:01
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Jose Valasquez posted:If I was asking $209,000 and you offered me $185,000 I would probably tell you to go gently caress yourself and not even bother with a counter. My wife and I offered about the same on a percentage discount, and after some haggling (post-inspection) we got it - in addition to other concessions. It depends on the seller, and how urgently they want or need to sell the place.
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Mar 29, 2013 02:07
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