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FCKGW posted:My coworker is trying to get a house in my neighborhood with no luck. He just put in an offer above list on a house that hit the market today sight unseen. Ugh, I'm running into this in Chicago's West Loop. I saw a place show up on MLS recently and it sold within the hour. My realtor said it reminded him of the previous bubble. Meanwhile the inventory is drying up because a lot of sellers are now thinking "hey maybe I should hold onto this one because the market is going up again."
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May 9, 2013 02:09
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My county assessor just raised my condo's property value from $95k to $133k Is this something I should/can fight? There has been no appreciable change to the property or my individual condo since I bought (for $130k in 2010) so I'm not sure what they are basing the raise on now of all times. If it makes a difference I'm about to list it so I hopefully won't be paying taxes on it next year.
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May 9, 2013 02:30
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Dik Hz posted:Zillow estimates are at best a fantasy and more likely complete fabrications. Don't base anything on them. What Zillow giveth, Zillow taketh away. A few months after we bought our first house, Zillow magically lowered its estimate by $100k for my home and every home in a ten block radius. The sales prices were steady though - it's still a mystery why Zillow suddenly decided to sink the neighborhood, but nobody paid any attention.
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May 9, 2013 02:37
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My fiancée and I were investigating purchasing a house (we will be married soon enough that I am not worried about getting a house before the wedding). However, it turns out that I am the primary hindrance due to lack of credit depth and due to my credit score getting a transient ding due to some late payment on a card where I am an authorized user. About 10 years ago when I was in college my parents opened some credit card and had me as an authorized user, but it was not a card any of us ever used (I never even had the card), then a few months ago my mom went somewhere that only accepted that card, paid for it, then promptly forgot about it. They only found out they even had the account when I told them it showed up in my credit report. It has been paid, but it was recommended from our loan person to get removed as an authorized user to remove it completely from my record. My credit score before that was 751, but it dropped my credit to 675 due to my lack of depth, but the financial person said with it off my record my credit should jump back. We thought we had two joint credit cards which we have been using the last 5 years for almost everything while paying it off on time, but it turns out I am not actually getting any credit benefit from them, so my only line of credit is a single card I have that I never use because I use either the shared credit cards or my debit card for everything. I started using my line of credit, and we are working on getting either myself added as a joint user for our shared cards or just abandoning them and getting some new joint cards to use for a while. I was told 3-6 months is when it would be sufficient depth. The loan we got approved for was for the maximum conventional loan, but we are in a high cost of living area and that puts us just on the threshold of being able to comfortably afford stuff in the area we are looking. To get a non-conventional loan, I was told they are much more strict, and that I will need the previously mentioned increased credit depth for us to be considered for it. They also mentioned that credit scores are not really averaged, they use the weakest link (me). My fiancée has tons of depth and a high 700's score so she does not need to do anything. I don't know anything about financial stuff, I assume there is no point in shopping around until everything has been addressed, or would different lenders have different criteria (while still waiting a month for the late payment thing to drop off)? We both have good incomes and a decent amount of money saved up, as well as unvested stocks in stable companies that are worth quite a bit but I am not counting them towards our liquid assets since they are stocks and who knows what will happen. We could afford something, but what we have been looking at is just 10% or so out of reach, and we don't want to spend every last penny on it. I would think we could get a bigger pre-approval than what we already have. Any suggestions, or was everything the loan person said true and I just need to wait a few more months before looking for real to build up my credit? Is the time frame of a month for the missed payment to drop off and then 3 months to build credit reasonable?
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May 9, 2013 03:34
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You are receiving this broadcast as a dream...We are transmitting from the year one nine... nine nine ...You are receiving this broadcast in order t
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resident posted:My county assessor just raised my condo's property value from $95k to $133k They have days when you can go argue where I live. Honestly though, if values are based on the market value...isn't it about right? Where I live that seems to be close to the way they value, but high end properties they just make poo poo up (house sells for 900k...valued at 300, house sells for 150, valued close to 150, almost every property I check). That is a pretty crazy percentage increase if they reappraise every other year like here.
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May 9, 2013 03:41
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Zillow is pretty accurate in my area (it's about 5% below the market prices, but it's fairly uniform). If you live in an area with Redfin, you can work up comps on your house with just a few clicks.
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May 9, 2013 04:30
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Mandals posted:Ugh, I'm running into this in Chicago's West Loop. I saw a place show up on MLS recently and it sold within the hour. My realtor said it reminded him of the previous bubble. Meanwhile the inventory is drying up because a lot of sellers are now thinking "hey maybe I should hold onto this one because the market is going up again." It's all totally nonsensical. I'm renting for a bit.
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May 9, 2013 05:23
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Why do people list their property at a price where they get multiple offers within a day? Are sellers really willing to walk away from thousands of dollars just for the ability to pick and choose between offers and have extra negotiating leverage?
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May 9, 2013 08:32
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Konstantin posted:Why do people list their property at a price where they get multiple offers within a day? Are sellers really willing to walk away from thousands of dollars just for the ability to pick and choose between offers and have extra negotiating leverage? In some markets, I think that the seller and realtor may actually be reaching with their asking price in the first place but, since the market is SO hot, buyers (investors) are willing to pay almost anything and in go multiple offers, sight unseen. It's silly.
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May 9, 2013 12:15
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resident posted:My county assessor just raised my condo's property value from $95k to $133k But seriously, you're complaining that assessed value equals market value? Isn't that what it's supposed to be?
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May 9, 2013 12:23
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The way assessing is done around here is they go back two years. They are saying that in 2011 May he condo was worth that much. You can probably argue the 5k but since you paid 130 in 2012 that sounds reasonable...
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May 9, 2013 12:42
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I really don't care and won't make an issue of it based on the feedback here. I just assumed that if it were going to get raised to what I paid in 2010 it would have been done by now.
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May 9, 2013 15:00
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Konstantin posted:Why do people list their property at a price where they get multiple offers within a day? Are sellers really willing to walk away from thousands of dollars just for the ability to pick and choose between offers and have extra negotiating leverage? There's probably more appeal in a property that just came on the market and is priced right vs. one that has been sitting idle for several months and keeps dropping in price.
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May 9, 2013 15:14
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Has anyone used a land surveyor? Can you give me a rough ballpark of what you paid? We got some local recommendations from folks who said they paid about $200-$300. We just got quoted $1000-1200. Now it's possible that the lower quotes are for quarter acre suburb lots, we've got 1.27 acres. Is a grand roughly reasonable for a lot our size? Located in central WI.
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May 9, 2013 15:50
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Jealous Cow posted:We don't know for sure where we're going to land and are not sure how long we'll be living in the city we're in now. I'd love to buy, I've found some awesome stuff less than 200k but I don't want to buy if we end up leaving the area in 12 months. If you think you are going to move then rent. If you have a job where you could move within the next 12 months with little to no notice then rent (this does not apply to people in the military/government as they often have buyback things). My very successful grandparents rented apartments for my grandfather whole career as he moved on average every 18 months. The reason I would guess no here real has anything sub 200k is most people live in urbanish areas. There is nothing where I live under 150k unless you like living in a trailer park and nothing in a non-stabbing area for under 200k.
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May 9, 2013 15:55
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Konstantin posted:Why do people list their property at a price where they get multiple offers within a day? Are sellers really willing to walk away from thousands of dollars just for the ability to pick and choose between offers and have extra negotiating leverage? Triggering a bidding war can be very profitable for the seller.
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May 9, 2013 15:58
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sbaldrick posted:If you think you are going to move then rent. If you have a job where you could move within the next 12 months with little to no notice then rent (this does not apply to people in the military/government as they often have buyback things). My very successful grandparents rented apartments for my grandfather whole career as he moved on average every 18 months. I'm a consultant and just need to be near a decent airport, I work from home mostly. The other half may need to move for school next year. I need to talk her into not working so we can have separate summer and winter homes. That's what most of my coworkers do. So jealous.
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May 9, 2013 17:05
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daggerdragon posted:I don't think I've seen anyone in this thread looking for a house in the sub-80k range. Apparently everyone lives in NYC, Silicon Valley, or are trust fund babies. At least where I live, once you dip under 100k, you start looking at places that look like they were the backdrop for a Faces of Meth commercial. I'm in Montana, which isn't exactly leading the country in liveable wages, yet house prices are nuts.
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May 9, 2013 20:00
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alucinor posted:Has anyone used a land surveyor? Can you give me a rough ballpark of what you paid? We got some local recommendations from folks who said they paid about $200-$300. We just got quoted $1000-1200. Now it's possible that the lower quotes are for quarter acre suburb lots, we've got 1.27 acres. Is a grand roughly reasonable for a lot our size? Located in central WI. I have never used one but from what I understand the quote is pretty sensitive to what you want done and the quality and quantity of the surveyed markers around you. I wanted our lot line verified for a driveway I never wound up putting in, and while I don't remember the exact quote it was at least $1200, it may have even been $1600 and there was a caveat that it could go higher once the guy got out there. From a presumably reliable, established firm, not some random guy. Our deed literally said "the parcel starting at the street and the border of the land owned by the Johnson family, bordered on the northwest by the land owned by the Perkins" etc. Literally no reference to a fixed point. The surveyor said a lot of properties around us were similar, and he'd have to survey a couple lines to even get to our property from a reliable marker. Honestly I have no idea how that deed was legal, but whatever, we sold the house last year.
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May 9, 2013 20:14
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Yeah absolutely measure your exact lot lines. Because if you don't your neighbour might, and suddenly realize the fence is a inch too far onto his property and flip out and demand you move the fence. Or you'll find out your neighbour took like 3' of your property. That happened to my grandpa. This is a house in the city not some sprawling country estate so a few feet is a big deal. They acted like he was a crazy fussy neighbour for asking them to move the fence. OH also they surveyed their property before they built the fence so they absolutely knew what they were doing. Another famous local case, 2 neighbours have spent over 200k on legal fees regarding a fence one claims is a few inches onto his property. The properties are both huge like 20+ acre country deals and it's just insane pettiness.
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May 9, 2013 20:47
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So the windows on my house-to-be are broken. We've already got a "replace" clause as a result of the inspection. Issue: the current broken windows are 36"x38". The seller can only get 36"x36" windows on short notice. For 36"x38", he'd have to special order them, which means they wouldn't be installed for a few weeks. He can install the 36"x36" windows, though, with an inch of frame-out on the top and bottom to make the off-the-shelf windows fit. Closing's next Wednesday. I'm leaning towards just getting the smaller windows, but my wife isn't happy with it, because "she wants it done right". Am I being too giving?
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May 9, 2013 20:51
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Do you think it will look ok? Will there be any issues with adding the frameout? The answers to those questions are irrelevant, because your wife will hate the smaller windows until they go away so just do what she wants.
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May 9, 2013 20:56
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Dogen is very wise. Keep your wife happy.
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May 9, 2013 20:59
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Dogen posted:
+1 right here. I've been listening to my wife bitch about small issues like this for the 7 years we've been in our house. Just do what she wants, it could save your marriage. On the surveying front...my city has an ordinance that requires them to do lot surveys for the purpose of verifying boundaries for a fence for something like $25...but they don't employ someone qualified, presumably to get out of doing it since I imagine it would be a huge money loser.
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May 9, 2013 21:17
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alucinor posted:Has anyone used a land surveyor? Can you give me a rough ballpark of what you paid? We got some local recommendations from folks who said they paid about $200-$300. We just got quoted $1000-1200. Now it's possible that the lower quotes are for quarter acre suburb lots, we've got 1.27 acres. Is a grand roughly reasonable for a lot our size? Located in central WI. That price is probably right if you are not in a subdivision. They are putting in a new house next to me and since the guy already did a lot of the work in researching and locating that lot he is charging me $700 for mine. My lot is 1.3ish acres and square.
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May 9, 2013 21:37
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Just got word that our plans for the new home were approved with the county so the foundation work should start next week. I'm really excited to see things finally start to take shape. Hopefully they can stay on track for the September completion. We're still trying to figure out what we're going to do for temporary housing though. Our lease is up at the end of June and they won't extend it for us because they claim that July and August are the easiest months to rent a home out in because families want to move in before the school year starts. We may end up just doing an extended stay hotel and throwing most of our things in storage.
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May 9, 2013 21:56
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Dogen posted:Do you think it will look ok? Will there be any issues with adding the frameout? Found some proper-sized windows possibly at Home Depot... Gonna see if the seller will use them.
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May 9, 2013 22:14
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So, we closed today. It took about 2 hours. My wife and I are now the proud new owners of a townhouse in Amesbury, Ma. The owners gave us 11 copies of the keys!!
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May 9, 2013 22:16
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I am currently in the middle of a long home buying process. We entered escrow on 3/18 with a 6/3 close date (The sellers are moving out of state, I saw no problem with it.) About three weeks ago the bank appraisal was finished. I've been sitting here waiting to run the underwriting question gauntlet. Out of the blue Monday, I received an e-mail from my broker saying we are done with underwriting and are "clear to close". Is it normal to have an underwriting process where they ask zero questions? I'm kind of in shock here. I've already ordered the home owners insurance for the new place, so I'm not even sure at this point what I have left to do.
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May 9, 2013 22:27
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Baruch Obamawitz posted:Found some proper-sized windows possibly at Home Depot... Gonna see if the seller will use them. Would it make more sense to just figure out how much it would cost and have them give you that money so that you can do it right yourselves?
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May 9, 2013 22:38
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Pillowpants posted:So, we closed today. It took about 2 hours. Congratulations! If they gave you 11, imagine how many total sets there are out there (change your locks).
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May 9, 2013 22:38
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Under contract on a house as of today, and the owner doesn't occupy the house. The owner fancied himself a few years ago as a savvy real-estate investor, and bought a house (mortgaged) to rent it out and become rich. The rich thing hasn't worked out, and he discovered he hates being a landlord (like almost everyone else who tries) So he has tenants living there, and they are sort of douche-y. They made it difficult for realtors to show the house to buyers by being unavailable, and are requiring incredibly long notice from the landlord before he can boot them so I can close and move in. They started with 60 days, and have now negotiated to 30 days. We have it written in the contract that the seller is responsible to have the house completely clean and free of the tenants' trash before close of escrow and possession (we're not doing pre- or post-possession, because we aren't insane). Our close date is set for June 11th, and I'm concerned that we're going to have trouble getting the inspection and appraisal done in a timely manner with The Douche Family living there. Will they still be able to do their thing properly and access the right areas with a whole family's worth of junk in the house? They are planning on moving out only a matter of days before we're supposed to close. I'm also concerned that they will leave the house in a condition unacceptable to me (dirty or with abandoned clutter left behind.) This would require battling the owner to get it done on incredibly short notice, pushing out the close/move-in date, or cleaning it myself (gross) Has anyone had any experience with that? Are my fears justified? canyoneer fucked around with this message at 22:41 on May 9, 2013 |
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May 9, 2013 22:38
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Enjoy your filthy house full of tons of cosmetic damage that was hiding behind the renter's gross furniture? I've seen situations were owners will purposefully move their furniture around to hide stuff like broken outlets and holes/dents in walls or even damaged floors. Man, I'd have a hard time buying a house if I couldn't see it totally or at least mostly empty. You can actually get more money on your house when you show it that way, a lot of people here will move all their poo poo to a storage facility and rent a place for a month in order to sell their house faster and higher. You'd be amazed at the difference trying to sell a house full of ratty furniture and personal crap is vs one that's totally empty and freshly painted to look brand new. Although in your situation as long as you have it in writing it should be ok. Worst comes to worst you just force them to hire an actual cleaner. Then again "forcing" means legal battles and uhg.
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May 9, 2013 22:54
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Spamtron7000 posted:Congratulations! Haha yeah, we went out and bought replacements last night.
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May 9, 2013 23:15
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FISHMANPET posted:Would it make more sense to just figure out how much it would cost and have them give you that money so that you can do it right yourselves? Considering it's a reno flip by a guy with a work crew, not really. I mean, if I'm worried about him installing the windows correctly, I'd have a lot more to worry about with this house.
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May 9, 2013 23:55
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I meant "right" as in "whatever makes your wife happy" but if it's a construction crew I'd bet they can do it cheaper themselves then giving you the cash, so they wouldn't even accept that offer.
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May 10, 2013 00:14
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Baronjutter posted:Enjoy your filthy house full of tons of cosmetic damage that was hiding behind the renter's gross furniture? Totally empty can be pretty weird; it's hard to get a sense of the size of rooms without any furniture. Getting rid of 2/3 of your crap and staging works well, though.
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May 10, 2013 00:23
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FISHMANPET posted:I meant "right" as in "whatever makes your wife happy" but if it's a construction crew I'd bet they can do it cheaper themselves then giving you the cash, so they wouldn't even accept that offer. Yeah, I wouldn't mind getting custom windows in a few weeks and getting some cash from the seller in exchange except one of the windows is broken such that you can just push a pane in, and I'm none to thrilled with moving into a place like that. Anyway, I found 36"x38" windows at Home Depot, so I'm seeing if those work for him.
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May 10, 2013 00:24
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Vilkata posted:I am currently in the middle of a long home buying process. We entered escrow on 3/18 with a 6/3 close date (The sellers are moving out of state, I saw no problem with it.) About three weeks ago the bank appraisal was finished. I've been sitting here waiting to run the underwriting question gauntlet. Out of the blue Monday, I received an e-mail from my broker saying we are done with underwriting and are "clear to close". Is it normal to have an underwriting process where they ask zero questions? I'm kind of in shock here. I've already ordered the home owners insurance for the new place, so I'm not even sure at this point what I have left to do. If your processor is competent and anticipates underwriting issues before they actually submit the loan it's certainly possible to sail through underwriting without any conditions from the bank, or none that involve getting more documentation from the borrower at least. I've had a few loans where I sent them straight to clear to close, and others where we just had to verify employment or wait for your 4506t results or something minor like that which typically doesn't require any updates with you. You may also just have a lovely underwriter who didn't catch the massive defects in your credit profile 
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May 10, 2013 01:04
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alucinor posted:Has anyone used a land surveyor? Can you give me a rough ballpark of what you paid? We got some local recommendations from folks who said they paid about $200-$300. We just got quoted $1000-1200. Now it's possible that the lower quotes are for quarter acre suburb lots, we've got 1.27 acres. Is a grand roughly reasonable for a lot our size? Located in central WI.
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May 10, 2013 01:54
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