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Looking at a house now. Found this warning in the electrical panel: Does anyone have any idea if this is a big deal? I'm trying to talk to an electrician but not having any luck.
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Jun 4, 2013 14:27
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As far as using the Zillow services for the mortgage, I too am wondering about people who might have used the Costco Services. They claim to limit the lender fees to $550, and then the other fees would be pretty standard, from what I understand. We sort of missed the sweet spot as far as APR goes to refinance, but we still might be looking to buy. Suppose we might want to buy, but aren't completely sure. Should we get pre-approved for whatever amount and just start looking? I assume there is no obligation to buy or sell if you're pre-approved, just that realtors will want you to be pre-approved so as not to waste their time?
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Jun 4, 2013 16:16
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Rick Rickshaw posted:Does anyone have any idea if this is a big deal? I'm trying to talk to an electrician but not having any luck. I'm not an electrician, but if I had to guess, this is saying that the neutral ground isn't wired to a ground rod like it should be, and is instead wired to the metal base of the electrical meter. While this situation should still provide a decent ground connection (since the metal base of the electrical meter is likely a pipe that goes into the ground), before any power company or electrician will do anything to it, the first thing they're going to want to do is (have you) install a proper ground rod. Luckily this isn't too hard to do. Unluckily you might need to be a licensed electrician to do it, depending on your local laws.
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Jun 4, 2013 16:27
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Wozbo posted:I found a house I like in a price range that's a little high for the area (Looking at CMA etc). The issue is that it looks pretty fresh on the market. I'd get an agent? The markets right now are incredibly seller-friendly and negotiating is harder than it has been in a long, long time. Where are you at? Some cities/areas are more competitive than others, but the 10% over average is a sign that things are tight for buyers.
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Jun 4, 2013 16:48
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johnny sack posted:Suppose we might want to buy, but aren't completely sure. Should we get pre-approved for whatever amount and just start looking? I assume there is no obligation to buy or sell if you're pre-approved, just that realtors will want you to be pre-approved so as not to waste their time? You don't need anything to look at houses. The pre-approval is really easy to get, I did one over the phone. Its just a statement by the bank that they would probably loan you a certain amount if everything you told them is true. The real mortgage app is later and is way more involved. The pre-approval is only good for a certain amount of time, like 3 months. It's very easy to get an updated one when you need it. You can get one from basically any bank. You do NOT have to get a mortgage with that particular bank, shop around when you are actually applying for the loan! Agents will probably pressure you to get preapproval. I think it's value is really for your own information. If a bank won't even pre-approve you for that amount, you have a big problem.
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Jun 4, 2013 17:25
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DemonLlama posted:The pre-approval is really easy to get, I did one over the phone. Its just a statement by the bank that they would probably loan you a certain amount if everything you told them is true. The real mortgage app is later and is way more involved. It will ding your credit very slightly, because they'll do a hard pull of your credit, so it wouldn't be a good idea to get pre-approval like 6 months before you actually want to buy if your credit is borderline. But part of the reason agents command such high fees is to make up for all the people that don't buy and are just looking. Watch out for exclusivity contracts with excessive terms (6 months+).
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Jun 4, 2013 17:38
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People are saying the housing market in my town is NOT due for a crash still. A condo built a few years ago that sold for 800k just sold for 550k. 250k reduction. I don't expect everything to fall the same percentage but man that's a big drop. At the same time I have some friends actually buying a higher-end condo saying now is the time to buy  No one can talk them out of it...
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Jun 4, 2013 17:45
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Baronjutter posted:People are saying the housing market in my town is NOT due for a crash still. A condo built a few years ago that sold for 800k just sold for 550k. 250k reduction. I don't expect everything to fall the same percentage but man that's a big drop. At the same time I have some friends actually buying a higher-end condo saying now is the time to buy Historically, it seems like not a bad time to buy. 20/20 hindsight and all your ducks in a row, you'd be buying 2 years ago, but the market can still go back up for a while before it comes down again.
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Jun 4, 2013 17:57
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[Edited] I was just being conversational but I was talking about a lot of things I don't know much about. I'll retract in an attempt not to upset or derail. 
root of all eval fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Jun 4, 2013 |
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Jun 4, 2013 18:21
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lord1234 posted:I called today and they *do* have a permit for the garage and room above the basement(which is called a loft). Honestly I don't think it's going to add much value. Unheated/cooled space not directly accessible from the main house? To 90% of buyers it's storage space. Unless you plan on insulating/and working out cooling and heating I wouldn't bother putting much, if any money into it. Maybe drywall/finish/primer at the very most, but without convenient access and more permanent heating/cooling solutions I don't think it would appeal to most buyers.
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Jun 4, 2013 18:33
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BossRighteous posted:Over 30 years I would bet a lot of the currently under-water homes will have at least broken even over full term. You wouldn't have 'won', but you would own a house and likely not at a disastrous loss. That might be true. However, it might also be true that someone who paid $600k for a house that is now worth $300k would be financially better off walking away, taking the huge credit hit, waiting 10 years, and then buying a house for $400k that they can afford. There are a lot of variables. I think we've established that the debate about the ethics of defaulting on a mortgage should not be in this thread. But the economics of defaulting on a mortgage are complex and must take into account each borrower's specific situation. quote:Every financed car is under-water. This is not remotely true, because down payments are a thing. I think what you might mean is, every car loses value over time, which is true, but has nothing to do with whether you paid cash or financed it. Your "loss" when financing is the interest you pay, compared to paying cash. Depreciation happens regardless of how you bought the vehicle. quote:There is a sense of utility, and an understanding of the idea that a car isn't a monetary investment vehicle. The bubble probably upset some assumptions of what kind of investment a house could be, but it's the same type of investment as a car. You are paying a premium to own an expensive utilitarian item you wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. There is a difference, though. Cars, unless hermetically sealed and never used, eventually depreciate to $0 value. Homes rarely do, at least on the scale of a human lifespan. Especially when the home includes a perpetual, transferable title to a piece of land. There are exceptions (there are homes and lots in Detroit that are worth essentially zero now) but they are rare, especially compared to cars. The other difference is that cars rarely appreciate in value. A very few cars achieve "collector" status and can go up in value; but unless you have a rare Ferrari or cobra or something, it's not likely. Many homes appreciate in value; the population of the US is continuing to rise, which implies increasing demand for housing. Housing development expands available housing, but it might be reasonable to say that most of the best locations for homes are already developed. This suggests that over a very long time scale, well-maintained existing homes are likely to appreciate in value. Obviously there are plenty of scenarios where they do not, and in shorter time scales (say, five to thirty years) there is plenty of risk that overall prices decline or at least fail to appreciate fast enough to keep pace with inflation. But compared to "investing" in cars, homes are probably better deal. I agree with your basic point, though: a home, like a car, has utility beyond its characteristics as an investment. This means purchasing decisions can include some amount of added value to account for that utility, which can convert what appears on the surface to be a sure money-loser into a net value gain. Or in other words: you can live in your expensive, illiquid, under-water home, but you can't live in your stock portfolio. So you shouldn't treat the two as the same when deciding where to put your money.
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Jun 4, 2013 18:54
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Noted, I am a new comer to the thread and the world of home buying so I shouldn't be so quick to make projections or qualitative assessments. The topic seemed to be moving to market fluctuations, timing and possible value losses so I was just trying to join in the discussion.
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Jun 4, 2013 19:08
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Leperflesh posted:Cars, unless hermetically sealed and never used, eventually depreciate to $0 value....cars rarely appreciate in value. A very few cars achieve "collector" status and can go up in value; but unless you have a rare Ferrari or cobra or something, it's not likely. Speak for yourself, the trans-am in my front yard is gonna be bitching as soon as I get it off the cinder blocks.
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Jun 4, 2013 19:11
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Land will always have value, except in the case of some places like Detroit. I'm not sure that we wouldn't all be better off if we did a better job of separating the value of the land from the value of the buildings on that land when buying and selling real estate. The land is an investment, the building is a consumable good that provides shelter.
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Jun 4, 2013 20:49
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DemonLlama posted:You don't need anything to look at houses. Okay, this is good information. Is it true that you're allowed a window of 60 days or something to shop around, where if several lenders pull your credit, it doesn't affect it?
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Jun 4, 2013 21:10
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johnny sack posted:Okay, this is good information. Is it true that you're allowed a window of 60 days or something to shop around, where if several lenders pull your credit, it doesn't affect it? I'm not an expert so I don't know what circumstances for a soft pull would be, but every time my credit was referenced for a pre-approval it negatively impacted my credit. It felt ridiculous, since as soon as I pulled it the second time the report now indicated "accessed credit multiple times within a short window." I ended up using the advice of a credit maximizing service that said to have very specific totals on all of my credit lines (I usually zero-out my credit cards every month). So I carried something like forty bucks on one card, 200 on another. I don't know why, but it worked like a charm and put me over the top so that I could get the best rate when I got the final pre-approval letter.
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Jun 4, 2013 21:23
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14 days is the magic number for FICO.
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Jun 4, 2013 21:29
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FISHMANPET posted:Land will always have value, except in the case of some places like Detroit. Floating houses like in Up.
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Jun 4, 2013 21:39
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Cocoa Ninja posted:I'm not an expert so I don't know what circumstances for a soft pull would be, but every time my credit was referenced for a pre-approval it negatively impacted my credit. Soft credit pulls get score only. They're near-useless for a mortgage lender, who needs far more detailed information. Robo-Pope fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Jun 4, 2013 |
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Jun 4, 2013 22:29
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Robo-Pope posted:Soft credit pulls get score only. They're near-useless for a mortgage lender, who needs far more detailed information. Who does soft credit pulls? Job applications? I guess those services that give you your score once a year?
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Jun 4, 2013 23:07
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Cocoa Ninja posted:Who does soft credit pulls? Job applications? I guess those services that give you your score once a year? I thought insurance companies did soft pulls.
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Jun 4, 2013 23:49
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Cocoa Ninja posted:Who does soft credit pulls? Job applications? I guess those services that give you your score once a year? First of all, my statement might not have been accurate. I need to do more research. With that said, soft pulls are typically done for things like preapproved credit card offers (mail offers) or background checks--things that cannot directly result in a credit account being opened. What's odd is that mortgage preapprovals should fall into that category, but companies are using hard pulls. I'm not sure why. Also using soft pulls: credit reports you get from the internet, rental applications, utility companies when starting service... Robo-Pope fucked around with this message at 16:27 on Jun 5, 2013 |
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Jun 5, 2013 16:25
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Robo-Pope posted:First of all, my statement might not have been accurate. I need to do more research. Because softpulls gives no information other than that the customer fits a profile. Hard pulls gives specific information like your score, if you have foreclosures, bankruptcies, have had lates and with who, etc. If I'm going to give you a pre-approval for 200,000 dollar loan, I need to know if you have a bankruptcy or a foreclosure. I need to know if your late on credit cards or if you have defaulted against me in the past. If you want to lower or prevent soft pulls, go to this website. https://www.optoutprescreen.com You can stop preapproval offers and help raise your credit score a small amount.
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Jun 6, 2013 03:19
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Looking at selling our apartment and building a house here in Finland, been looking at houses for a while now and I really like this model. It's called a "large element" house, prefabricated major parts essentially like walls and whatnot, that are put up on site, all the major work is supposedly done, then you can hire someone to continue building or you can try your hand at it yourself. I will probably want a package where we have to do as little ourselves as possible. Hoping to keep it under 200k euros in total, might be difficult.  2 floors, 1453 sq.feet living area, looks pretty cozy. Hydronic floor heating is what they come with and the most popular and well liked option in this part of the world. This is usually coupled with a ground source heat pump and is said to be the by far most optimal solution for energy efficient heating so that's we're going with. Combine that with a modern masonry heater in the house to keep the heating requirements down for the cold winter days when it gets below -15C or more. I'm asking multiple firms for offers right now though I am getting ahead of myself, I need to do some small repairs and sell our current apartment, we should hopefully make a small profit on that after the loan is paid off that we can use to buy a lot. I don't see actual construction starting until 2014.
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Jun 6, 2013 10:56
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His Divine Shadow posted:
Beautiful, do you have any pictures of the floorplans or anything?
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Jun 6, 2013 18:40
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I got the house! And I got it at a price better than what I priced it at with some really good hard negotiating (facilitated in part by my awesome penny pinching family). I can't even brain right now I'm that giddy.
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Jun 7, 2013 02:29
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Robo-Pope posted:First of all, my statement might not have been accurate. I need to do more research. Some rental apps generate hard pulls. Make sure to ask if you're concerned about it when applying.
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Jun 7, 2013 02:30
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Wozbo posted:I got the house! And I got it at a price better than what I priced it at with some really good hard negotiating (facilitated in part by my awesome penny pinching family). I can't even brain right now I'm that giddy. Congrats!  We are pending inspection and appraisal on a "dream home" as far as starters go, I haven't been able to process the feeling of walking in and changing the locks and knowing that not even police can enter without my approval (or a signed warrant).
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Jun 7, 2013 05:56
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dreesemonkey posted:Beautiful, do you have any pictures of the floorplans or anything? Sure, here they are: Ground floor:  Top floor:  The ground floor living room is gigantic, I would want to change it and add a room on the left side so the house would have 5 rooms + kitchen/toilets/etc.
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Jun 7, 2013 07:42
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Is there any reason why I shouldn't put down more than 20% on a home purchase? I am thinking about buying a condo as my monthly mortgage payments would actually be less than renting for the type of place I want, after utilities, assessments, and taxes. Plus, this particular market has a strong rental history for when I inevitably move in 2-3 years. I own two condos I rent already so I am well aware of the landlord thing. I could put about 40% of the total condo cost at a maximum, more if I wanted to wipe out my emergency funds. Is that unwise and should I stick to 20% at a maximum for a downpayment?
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Jun 7, 2013 10:34
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If you think you can beat your mortgage rate in the market, then keep the money and invest it. If not, there is nothing wrong with putting as much down as you can afford. That said, rates are still pretty low historically. I say that as someone who just put down as much as possible on a 15 year loan, though, so take it with a grain of salt.
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Jun 7, 2013 10:59
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You could use the low rates to your advantage any buy two adjacent condos putting 20% down on each and rent the other out. Normally wouldn't suggest something like that but since you already have experience being a landlord and apparently don't hate it..
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Jun 7, 2013 11:41
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Belldandy posted:Is there any reason why I shouldn't put down more than 20% on a home purchase? I am thinking about buying a condo as my monthly mortgage payments would actually be less than renting for the type of place I want, after utilities, assessments, and taxes. Plus, this particular market has a strong rental history for when I inevitably move in 2-3 years. I own two condos I rent already so I am well aware of the landlord thing. I could put about 40% of the total condo cost at a maximum, more if I wanted to wipe out my emergency funds. Is that unwise and should I stick to 20% at a maximum for a downpayment? You can always put down 20% now, and then (considering you're allowed to) pay the additional 20% later as an advanced payment and essentially have the same effect, but do it after you've built up a bigger emergency fund instead of using all of it and not having any.
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Jun 7, 2013 13:17
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His Divine Shadow posted:Sure, here they are: Looks great. Did you put the dimensions in feet on there or is that some sort practice in architecture in Euroland? At least I assume they are in feet, seems like what they should approximate to anyway. What is the room with the second door on the porch that looks to go into little room disconnected from the rest of the house for? ntd fucked around with this message at 14:44 on Jun 7, 2013 |
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Jun 7, 2013 14:40
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Do the two bedrooms upstairs not have closets?
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Jun 7, 2013 14:49
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Belldandy posted:I am thinking about buying a condo as my monthly mortgage payments would actually be less than renting for the type of place I want, after utilities, assessments, and taxes. Plus, this particular market has a strong rental history for when I inevitably move in 2-3 years. I own two condos I rent already so I am well aware of the landlord thing. I could put about 40% of the total condo cost at a maximum, more if I wanted to wipe out my emergency funds. Is that unwise and should I stick to 20% at a maximum for a downpayment? This isn't directed at you specifically, but comparing rent costs to mortgage payments doesn't really yield any useful information. First of all, a mortgage is only a fraction of what you pay for the house. The monthly payment figure you should be looking at is the PITI (Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance). This is the number your lender uses when qualifying you for your loan, and it is an accurate reflection of what you pay each month. Some people will use other terms when quoting you numbers that don't include everything that PITI does, so be sure to ask what the number includes if they don't specifically say it is PITI. Second, even if your PITI is less than what you'd pay in rent, that still isn't a reason to buy. You still need a significant amount of savings to pay for major repairs, even right after you drop a lot of cash on down payment, furniture, and improvements when buying. With rent, you are paying a fixed amount and not assuming that risk. Third, you have to consider your long-term plans. Buying essentially locks you into your house for many years, with huge losses if you need to sell early. Of course, renting means that you can move out or the landlord can kick you out when the lease is up. The length of commitment you want is a very important decision, and you shouldn't sign up for more commitment then you're ready for in order to save a few bucks.
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Jun 7, 2013 15:47
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I put down 50% because I couldn't afford the payments at 20%
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Jun 7, 2013 15:48
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If you are in it for the long haul, consider that property tax as well as mortgage interest is tax deductible. It can really add up over time, assuming you can beat the standard deduction. (It's certainly easy in Oregon with our high property taxes.)
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Jun 7, 2013 15:50
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ntd posted:What is the room with the second door on the porch that looks to go into little room disconnected from the rest of the house for? Just a guess, but furnace, water heater, electrical panel?
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Jun 7, 2013 15:51
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Belldandy posted:Is there any reason why I shouldn't put down more than 20% on a home purchase? I am thinking about buying a condo as my monthly mortgage payments would actually be less than renting for the type of place I want, after utilities, assessments, and taxes. Plus, this particular market has a strong rental history for when I inevitably move in 2-3 years. I own two condos I rent already so I am well aware of the landlord thing. I could put about 40% of the total condo cost at a maximum, more if I wanted to wipe out my emergency funds. Is that unwise and should I stick to 20% at a maximum for a downpayment? "Emergency funds" is a good thing to have - especially if you have kids. I wouldn't wipe mine out.
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Jun 7, 2013 16:42
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