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So, home warranty: yea or nay?
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May 1, 2013 15:40
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So a little 2br bungalow on my street was fixed up and mostly just cleaned and was put on the market for 680. After a few months it dropped to 660, then a month later it was 649. It's been 649 for 2 months now and still hasn't sold. Everyone in the know who isn't a realtor says housing prices are due for quite a nice "correction" so I've been watching this house and a few others in the area and they all keep going down before they sell. Well this week I was walking by and its 669 now. What??? When does this ever happen? A house that's been sitting on the market for months just went UP 20k ? I've never seen this happen, what are they thinking?
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May 1, 2013 15:53
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Baruch Obamawitz posted:So, home warranty: yea or nay? Consumer Reports posted:Bottom line. Peace of mind isn’t worth the price. For most people, it makes more sense to put money in a home-maintenance fund. The exception: someone who’s selling a house and wants to boost the buyer’s confidence. About 25 percent of sellers offered potential buyers a warranty over a 12-month period, according to a recent study from the National Association of Realtors. If you’re buying, be sure the warranty is paid in full; know the responsibilities, limitations, and exclusions; and check on the contractors the company uses. Also, thanks for the tips about the inspection from a couple of you. Our guy went up into the attic and found mold or mildew, but was pretty sure it was from an incident in 2004, and suspects it's been receding since. Also the 18 year old roof needs to be replaced. Home-ownership is starting off great!
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May 1, 2013 15:53
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Baruch Obamawitz posted:So, home warranty: yea or nay? We had a 1-year warranty one on the house we bought and for the buyers of the one we sold. Realtor made it sound more like something that is just commonly done. Protection for anything that the inspection missed or couldn't visually inspect. In my case it worked out great because I used it 4 times in the first month for a rash of plumbing issues. I did not bother renewing after the first year however. If I were buying another house I would absolutely ask the seller for a 1-year contract. It was only $400/500 or so.
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May 1, 2013 16:22
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Baruch Obamawitz posted:So, home warranty: yea or nay? We asked for the cash equivalent of the 1 year home warranty, which was $500. My friend who bought a house only used his home warranty once in the year that he had it. So yeah, his furnace repair only cost him $60, but it would have cost him less than $500 too without the warranty. It's basically a gamble. See how old the appliances are in the home, what exactly it covers (only repair, or a replacement?). Know that the warranty company is going to fight you on the warranty for any reason. Improperly installed AC Unit? They might not cover that for example if it breaks. canyonero posted:Also, thanks for the tips about the inspection from a couple of you. Our guy went up into the attic and found mold or mildew, but was pretty sure it was from an incident in 2004, and suspects it's been receding since. Also the 18 year old roof needs to be replaced. Home-ownership is starting off great! Great! Glad to hear they actually went into the attic!
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May 1, 2013 16:51
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Baronjutter posted:So a little 2br bungalow on my street was fixed up and mostly just cleaned and was put on the market for 680. After a few months it dropped to 660, then a month later it was 649. It's been 649 for 2 months now and still hasn't sold. Everyone in the know who isn't a realtor says housing prices are due for quite a nice "correction" so I've been watching this house and a few others in the area and they all keep going down before they sell. In both cases a very similar house came on the market nearby at a higher price than what the house that had been sitting was then priced at. So it looked like the owner or listing agent decided that they lowered the price too much and jacked it back up to be closer to the comp property. It's also worth noting that in both cases the price on the house in question ended up being lowered again past where it was when it was increased.
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May 1, 2013 18:29
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Baruch Obamawitz posted:So, home warranty: yea or nay? Just self insure. If you get one for "free" from the seller, great, but you're better off saving the money.
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May 1, 2013 21:14
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jackyl posted:Just self insure. If you get one for "free" from the seller, great, but you're better off saving the money. The only appliances that aren't brand new are the hot water heater, the furnace, and the coil/blower, and frankly, I'd prefer to buy a tankless heater than get a cheap replacement for that when it fails, and the furnace is whatever. I already have cash saved up to replace them both if they fail (what, like $3k each at most?), so gently caress it, right?
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May 1, 2013 21:19
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Tankless water heater is probably going to be more than $3k unless you already have the more heavy duty gas line and exhaust/ venting needed.
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May 1, 2013 21:33
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Another problem with home warranties is that they will band-aid to avoid total replacement whenever possible.
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May 1, 2013 21:48
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sheri posted:Tankless water heater is probably going to be more than $3k unless you already have the more heavy duty gas line and exhaust/ venting needed. And a home warranty won't replace a standard tank with a tankless one. E: ^^^ so, yeah, gently caress it.
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May 1, 2013 22:08
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sheri posted:Tankless water heater is probably going to be more than $3k unless you already have the more heavy duty gas line and exhaust/ venting needed. I need to redo the vent anyway even if I replace the water heater because it's running out the furnace flue and the water heater isn't big enough to drive the flue now that the furnace has been moved.
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May 1, 2013 22:11
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You gotta sell a lot of meth to afford tankless.
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May 2, 2013 00:27
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Baronjutter posted:You gotta sell a lot of meth to afford tankless. Added bonus, you'll have plenty of time to maintain your crawlspace!
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May 2, 2013 00:53
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SlapActionJackson posted:Our refinance finally closed. The 2.5% rate (15 year) is great, the fact that it took 8 weeks from application to close was not. I probably shouldn't complain too much - the notary who closed with us said most refis he sees are more like 3 months, and some have taken as long as 6. Really? Everyone I've talked to recently has closed in 45-60 days. I've never heard of one going 6 months, but mostly my friends have good credit and work histories.
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May 2, 2013 15:54
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I let my freebie year of home warranty run out a few months ago. I used it twice in the that first year. Once for the dishwater door that in retrospect I could have fixed myself for way less than $100 aka the cost of the premium for anything/everything under the warranty. Second time was when our garbage disposal started leaking. Guy came out to look at it, and apparently it had had a crack in the base for a long time (longer than we owned the house), so it needed to be replaced. Another guy came out the next day and replaced it. Later that afternoon the warranty company called me to tell me they were denying the claim because of an "improper install" - I guess one of the base screws was missing or something. Well, that was interesting because the guy already installed a new one, so uh, how did they want to handle this? So they hemmed and hawed and called the plumbing company, who owned up to the mix up of essentially doing things too fast. I guess the plumbing company figured it wasn't worth it to try and fight for whatever the cost difference was (due to the denied claim), so they just agreed to accept things as is. Afterward I figured that if the warranty company was hoing to fight me on a cheap garbage disposal, you can be drat sure they're going to fight for paying for a hot water heater or AC unit. So I declined to renew a month or so later.
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May 2, 2013 16:02
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I've made 4 claims in the past 18 months and I've never had them question or deny anything. I've had the following things replaced: water heater, garage door opener, circuit board for my air handling unit (they had to replace with 3 different ones but they made sure it was fixed), thermostat, ignition unit for my gas stove. Considering the premium is $375/year and the deductible is $60 per visit I'm pretty happy with the service I've gotten and the money it's saved me. I probably would have spent more than $2000 without the warranty but have spent right around $9500 on the warranty. I use these guys: http://www.bpgwi.com/home-warranty
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May 2, 2013 17:09
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Is it normal for me as a buyer to have to do so much poo poo I feel like everyone else doing? Like why am I reminding my lender about mortgage contingency dates and telling them they need to file extensions? And why isn't my lawyer asking about meeting these deadlines as they approach to remind us? Also... we had a underwriting condition that the underwriter wanted to investigate dampness in the basement. Bank wastes 4 days by ordering a follow up appraisal, having the appraiser deny the request because it's out of his scope (he's an appraiser, not an inspector), forwarding the denied request to the underwriter hoping it clears the conditioning, only to then hear back that the underwriter still wants it investigated. My lender's solution to this is to see if upper management will just clear the condition, meanwhile I have to push to have the lender talk to the underwriter and find out what will allow him to clear the condition. Now her I am scheduling a follow up inspection which should have been done a week ago, and recommending a course of action to my lender and basically guiding them through which questions to ask the underwriter so that my inspector can do it right the first time. And because I can't talk to the underwriter, I cannot be 100% certain that this follow up inspection will for sure clear the condition. Like forward me some loving emails or something... it's my loan, why is this info so secretive? Seriously? Why am I responsible for taking the lead on all this stuff? What the gently caress are all these people getting paid for. Astro7x fucked around with this message at 17:10 on May 3, 2013 |
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May 3, 2013 17:07
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Astro7x posted:Is it normal for me as a buyer to have to do so much poo poo I feel like everyone else doing? Like why am I reminding my lender about mortgage contingency dates and telling them they need to file extensions? And why isn't my lawyer asking about meeting these deadlines as they approach to remind us?
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May 4, 2013 01:07
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Astro7x posted:Is it normal for me as a buyer to have to do so much poo poo I feel like everyone else doing? Like why am I reminding my lender about mortgage contingency dates and telling them they need to file extensions? And why isn't my lawyer asking about meeting these deadlines as they approach to remind us? Yes, My mortgage person is loving terrible. We're buying a townhouse in Amesbury, MA after renting in Lawrence for half a decade) and we're closing on Thursday. A month ago, our mortgage company got a copy of the master insurance and said that because of the coverage on that specific policy, we didn't need unit insurance. YESTERDAY, our mortgage representative contacted us to say that she "misread" the insurance and we need to get Unit Insurance before Thursday or we won't get the mortgage. While we were looking for houses, I kept asking her for an estimate of interest rates so I could do the math myself when I looked at numbers but she absolutely refused to give me the information and then had the gall to act annoyed when I'd call her after seeing a house we liked to ask. This is after abandoning Wells Fargo for taking two weeks to give us a preapproval. Buying a house requires you to assemble a team of "superheroes" and the mortgage person is clearly the weakest link on the time. I'm glad I have a good lawyer and realtor.
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May 4, 2013 01:29
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My mortgage broker is a loving superstar (MA as well, btw, if anyone needs his contact info) and my favorite member of our "team." He gets back to me within a few hours usually with very detailed answers to any questions and has been speedy as gently caress getting our process rolling. I found him through http://www.upfrontmortgagebrokers.org/ and other people I have been very satisfied with (like insurance and inspector) I vetted through Angie's List. No one will care as much as you do, but researching around can definitely get you really good people you feel like are actually working for your interests.
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May 4, 2013 05:05
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The mortgage broker I like to work with (Austin TX) is totally awesome. She personally calls and talks with each individual seller involved, guaranteeing the buyer's pre-approval and personally reviewing their ability to pay with the seller. It's awesome and she is incredibly involved along the way, and is especially great when my buyers don't have an amazing down payment available and sellers start to get antsy. Having a lender personally step in to reassure and calm the seller is a huge boon in many cases. It really does depend.
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May 4, 2013 05:41
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What do you do when a house you're interested in is grossly overpriced? Based on everything that's sold in the past few weeks/months, this house is overpriced by a good 10-13%. But I've read in this thread about people getting extremely offended if you offer much loser than asking, so I'm just not sure if we should even bother with this house. It's been on the market for over 2 months when houses are being snatched up within a few days of coming on the market too.
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May 6, 2013 16:42
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Rurutia posted:What do you do when a house you're interested in is grossly overpriced? Based on everything that's sold in the past few weeks/months, this house is overpriced by a good 10-13%. But I've read in this thread about people getting extremely offended if you offer much loser than asking, so I'm just not sure if we should even bother with this house. It's been on the market for over 2 months when houses are being snatched up within a few days of coming on the market too. Make your highest best offer. But consult your realtor's opinion obviously
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May 6, 2013 16:48
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If the alternative is to not bother, then I don't see why it would hurt to put the number you're comfortable with and they can take it or leave it. If they are offended then whatever.
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May 6, 2013 16:48
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The market in my area has been just nuts - every decent home in my price range has multiple offers the same day listed. I went to one this weekend that had 17 offers after one day (great deal, though). Most annoying thing I have ran into so far is a realtor team that purposefully lists low, only to basically state they are running things auction-style and that they think the house is worth much more than listed. I'll specifically never deal with a property they are representing again. You waste enough time driving out to view homes and going through the stress without nonsense like that.
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May 6, 2013 16:55
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MockTurtle posted:If the alternative is to not bother, then I don't see why it would hurt to put the number you're comfortable with and they can take it or leave it. If they are offended then whatever. The odds are good if it hasn't sold in a good high demand area that the seller is open to lowering the price if you make a serious offer
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May 6, 2013 16:59
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God drat it this little 2br bungalow that was listed at about 670 4 months ago, then dropped to 649, then jumped up to 669 a few weeks ago, now it's 689. Maybe if they keep raising the price it will finally sell!
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May 6, 2013 17:07
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Incredulous Dylan posted:The market in my area has been just nuts - every decent home in my price range has multiple offers the same day listed. I went to one this weekend that had 17 offers after one day (great deal, though). Most annoying thing I have ran into so far is a realtor team that purposefully lists low, only to basically state they are running things auction-style and that they think the house is worth much more than listed. I'll specifically never deal with a property they are representing again. You waste enough time driving out to view homes and going through the stress without nonsense like that. Same here, we have realtors going door to door just asking homeowners if they want to sell or not. The one that stopped by my house said he could get me $100k over what I paid 18 months ago but I doubt that. My neighbor had an open house for their short sale last weekend. I've never seen an open house with a line out the door. FCKGW fucked around with this message at 18:50 on May 6, 2013 |
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May 6, 2013 18:46
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MockTurtle posted:If the alternative is to not bother, then I don't see why it would hurt to put the number you're comfortable with and they can take it or leave it. If they are offended then whatever. Some guy terrorized my mom when he thought she gave a lowball offer (she didn't, his realtor gave him the wrong number). So I'm kind of hesitant about it if only because there's no expectation of decency from the other party. This house is really a mixed bag. There's some parts of it I love (2 separate vanities in the bathroom, a incredibly large bonus room in a small-medium sized house that would be perfect for a 2 person office, and a huge island in the kitchen). But there's some parts of it I'm really not happy with, for example I would want to redo all the counter tops and replace the sink and most of the appliances in the kitchen. I'm just trying to weigh through the pros and cons and figure out what the best move is.
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May 6, 2013 19:11
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Rurutia posted:Some guy terrorized my mom when he thought she gave a lowball offer (she didn't, his realtor gave him the wrong number). So I'm kind of hesitant about it if only because there's no expectation of decency from the other party. Considering the amount of money involved, now is the time to be completely picky. What I mean is, I would never ever make an offer on a home unless I was completely in love with it. Don't be that guy with buyer's remorse on a 30 year mortgage. And don't worry about the seller's feelings. You'll never have to face him/her. The house will sell for what it's worth.
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May 6, 2013 19:16
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Remember houses are easily changed. You love the dual vanity in the master bath, which isn't that expensive to accomplish if you find a house that only has one. It's a weekend project and maybe 1000 bucks in materials depending on how fancy you get. Counter tops and kitchen appliances can run up to the 10K mark to retrofit new stuff in. I guess what I'm getting at is don't fall in love with the little stuff, make sure the big stuff is taken care of and you can make the little changes yourself later on. Same poo poo with the color of the paint, window treaments, etc. All the little poo poo is easy to change.
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May 6, 2013 19:19
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Rurutia posted:Some guy terrorized my mom when he thought she gave a lowball offer (she didn't, his realtor gave him the wrong number). So I'm kind of hesitant about it if only because there's no expectation of decency from the other party. That has to be an incredibly unusual circumstance, and in any case the correct response would be to involve the police. You should not be afraid to make an offer on a property you want to buy. It costs you nothing but an hour of your realtor's time, which you are already going to pay for when you buy. The most likely result is that they say no or make a counter-offer. You really can't ever tell how firm a seller is with their list price. Even if they say things like "we absolutely will not budge from this price," people can be really weird. Some sellers will bend over backwards for you, some will make ridiculous demands. Some sellers are desperate and will take the first offer even if they went into the process telling themselves that they'd hold out. Some sellers are happy to have their vacant property sit on the market for 9 months rather than take $5k less than what they want, even though they're probably spending far more than that renting another place to live while they wait for this home to sell. You just never know. Offer what you're willing to pay, if they don't accept, no big deal; move on. There are always more houses. Spamtron7000 posted:Considering the amount of money involved, now is the time to be completely picky. What I mean is, I would never ever make an offer on a home unless I was completely in love with it. Don't be that guy with buyer's remorse on a 30 year mortgage. I think what you're generally saying here is fine, but I would counter that you should not "fall in love" with any property. Or at least, try to resist that as much as possible. Why? Because, as they say, "love is blind". Too many buyers fall in love with a property and their love blinds them to serious shortcomings in the building, neighborhood, or whatever. People fall in love with a gorgeous garden and kitchen and rationalize a purchase of a house with a cracked foundation, or termites, or with a back yard that is adjacent to a tire factory, or whatever. It's not easy to do, but I think the right attitude to bring when buying a house is intense skepticism. Grudgingly accept that some features are, OK, nice and what you want, but still assume every house has loads of flaws and meticulously seek them out. Accept that no house is perfect but do not accept imperfections that exceed your reasonable tolerance for spending thousands of dollars fixing things. And of course remember that you can demolish the house to the foundation and rebuild it, but you probably can't do anything about your neighborhood, school district, property tax levels, the local climate, your immediate neighbors, your utility companies, the availability of on-street parking, or your proximity to public transportation. So be uncompromising on those unchangable aspects above all. So don't fall in love if you can possibly avoid it; but don't buy a house you're not satisfied with, just because you feel some kind of time pressure. You're going to spend years living in this house: if it takes months or even a year to find the right one, that's still on balance a worthwhile investment of time and effort.
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May 6, 2013 20:59
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Our mortgage person contacted us today to tell us we are all set for closing on Thursday and that my attorney should be contacting us soon with final numbers. She said the final credit pull was done, but still said "do so at your own risk" when I asked about spending the money on furniture. If they've already pulled our credit, I don't see what the problem would be. Am I missing something?
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May 6, 2013 22:18
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Can you really not wait 3 more days to buy furniture? Why tempt it?
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May 6, 2013 22:31
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Pillowpants posted:Our mortgage person contacted us today to tell us we are all set for closing on Thursday and that my attorney should be contacting us soon with final numbers. If by "already" you mean "when you were getting approved", they'll pull it again right before closing.
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May 6, 2013 22:35
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Just don't take the drat chance. Sign your papers, close, and then go buy your furniture. Not sure why you're in such a hurry, you can't move it in until you actually close on the house. I had 14 days of overlap between closing on my house and having to leave my apartment. I hope you have at least 7 days.
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May 6, 2013 22:44
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Dogen posted:If by "already" you mean "when you were getting approved", they'll pull it again right before closing. They said they did the before closing credit pull today. It's not that we can't wait, but its going to take a few weeks to get it delivered. We are closing in the 9th and moving on the 18th but we probably won't be able to get the bed and sectional couch until the end of the month. I was just trying to make it happen sooner, since we are really excited about owning a townhouse and getting out of Lawrence, Ma.
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May 6, 2013 23:03
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Pillowpants posted:Our mortgage person contacted us today to tell us we are all set for closing on Thursday and that my attorney should be contacting us soon with final numbers. The house is not yours until you have the keys in your hand. You do not get the keys until all the paperwork is signed, your credit pulled, checks verified as legit, etc etc. As soon as you have keys in your hand, your first job is to go to Home Depot and buy a new lock for every single door on your house. Now you may drive to your new house and install these locks, then throw away the old key they gave you. Then, and only then, may you begin buying things for the house. NOT. BEFORE.
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May 6, 2013 23:06
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daggerdragon posted:The house is not yours until you have the keys in your hand. You do not get the keys until all the paperwork is signed, your credit pulled, checks verified as legit, etc etc. This is so desperately true that it deserves being quoted and reiterated. The deal can fall through at the last minute. Even leaving aside the potential for your large furniture purchases to gently caress your mortgage (and seriously, why would you risk that?) there are other ways the sale could fall through, up to and including the seller simply changing their mind. Don't buy furniture till you take physical possession of the house.
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May 6, 2013 23:26
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