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Seriously (repeating EAC), getting rid of the pool is a very, very valid option. Expensive, but hey, just add it to the house cost in your mind basically. To the down payment, really.
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Oct 9, 2013 21:48
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| # ? May 28, 2024 10:01 |
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If I lived anywhere where snow fell I would never consider a pool. The expense and effort to maintain a pool isn't worth it in my opinion unless you can swim it in 7-9 months out of the year.
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Oct 9, 2013 23:04
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canyoneer posted:If I lived anywhere where snow fell I would never consider a pool. The expense and effort to maintain a pool isn't worth it in my opinion unless you can swim it in 7-9 months out of the year. So yeah, CH, don't rule out pool delete mod.
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Oct 9, 2013 23:54
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DemonLlama posted:I considered buying a house with pool last year, reading up on them scared me away. Seriously, go to some pool maintenance forums and read up on keeping a pool clean. Its more work than you think! Also, there's a coating on some types of pools that eventually deteriorates. Its expensive to replace, maybe not as much for a smaller pool. Try to find out how old the pool is. Heh. I gave up on the pool and added goldfish, snails, turtles, and some aquatic plants. Edit: the reason I did that was I figured that I was spending about $1500 a year in pool maintenance. Chemicals, electricity, constantly refilling (stupid Texas). And, I swam maybe 10 times a year, so yeah, was kinda of absurd. cstine fucked around with this message at 14:00 on Oct 10, 2013 |
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Oct 10, 2013 00:44
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Comedy option: http://gardenpool.org/ Turn your pool into a greenhouse full of plants and fish/chicken turds.
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Oct 10, 2013 08:03
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canyoneer posted:Comedy option: http://gardenpool.org/ Comedy nothing, this legit rules, do this.
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Oct 10, 2013 13:09
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These are fun ideas but on a more serious note, we almost couldn't get our mortgage approved because the house has an uncovered, unusable pool (could not hold water). There is a rare lending rule that caught both of the real estate agents off-guard and we're just lucky our mortgage adviser was extremely competent and caught it during casual conversation right as he was going to send the appraiser. Even though we were already making plans to fill it in, turns out a pool like that is literally considered a safety hazard that makes it too risky to be lent to (conventional mortgage). The listing agent and seller had to sneak a lovely cover on it (that wasn't even attached) to basically hide how messed up it was and pretend it was a working pool (this was in winter when, if it was a functional pool, it would be covered anyway so no red flags). I panicked the whole time wondering if the appraiser would catch on. House-buying has made me despise pools. Do never buy pools.
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Oct 10, 2013 14:07
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:Comedy nothing, this legit rules, do this. That is actually really cool. I've heard of people just filling in their unused pools with dirt and turning them into a garden/landscaping project, but never anything like this. That would be a LOT of work though!
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Oct 10, 2013 16:07
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I'm buying! Shopping mortgages right now, trying to lock in a rate. I have two good faith estimates, one that has my A section at -1150, and the other has it at $0. The B sections are completely different. In the B section, the first one has my 4. Title services and lender’s title insurance at 275, while the second one has it at 2335. The first one has my 5. Owner’s title insurance at 1550 and the second has that at 250. I believe that section 4 is a set cost determined by the lender, and section 5 is something that I can choose who to use, and therefor I should ignore that number? Since 4. is the lender's title insurance and 5. is owner's title insurance? Or am I completely wrong?
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Oct 10, 2013 17:22
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:Comedy nothing, this legit rules, do this. It's only a comedy option in context of the owner. The guy is a survivalist/prepper type with all the weirdness that comes with the territory. I live about 20 minutes away, I wonder if he'd give me a tour and let me try on one of his gas masks  Ranma posted:I'm buying! Shopping mortgages right now, trying to lock in a rate. I have two good faith estimates, one that has my A section at -1150, and the other has it at $0. The B sections are completely different. In the B section, the first one has my 4. Title services and lender’s title insurance at 275, while the second one has it at 2335. The first one has my 5. Owner’s title insurance at 1550 and the second has that at 250. Those documents are somewhat hard to reconcile. The thread answered my questions really well when I put a scan up of mine with the personal info redacted.
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Oct 10, 2013 19:11
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Big images, so link to album: http://imgur.com/FcFLqJa,CN2rVhy Edit: Also, if I lock in a rate am I required to use that mortgage company? I am doing the inspection tomorrow but am worried about rates rising due to government shutdown stupidity, should I wait till after the inspection to lock in a rate? Thom Yorke raps fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Oct 10, 2013 |
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Oct 10, 2013 19:54
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Why the large discrepancies between the two GFE's when it comes to things like your escrow account and transfer taxes? GFE B seems like the better deal except for the transfer taxes being double.
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Oct 10, 2013 20:57
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Pool chat: if it's an above-ground pool, consider that they could be relatively easy to take down and sell the parts. Friend of mine bought a house with a pool with aluminum sides I think, took it down in a weekend and had people come pay him for stuff by listing the equipment on Craigslist. I believe a scrap company picked up the metal for free or paid for it. Coincidentally, this story is the only reason I now have an above-ground pool. When we were looking at houses I immediately discounted anything with a pool, but realizing I was at any point a weekend's worth of work away from not having a pool, we decided to take the plunge. On the downside, given it needed a liner and wall repair, it has cost me roughly $300 per swim so far. That, however, is somewhat independent from the house purchase decision. When I found out it needed repair, I could have decided to rip it down but chose to make it functional.
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Oct 10, 2013 21:02
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skipdogg posted:Why the large discrepancies between the two GFE's when it comes to things like your escrow account and transfer taxes?
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Oct 11, 2013 00:13
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adorai posted:The bank I work at estimates high for the appraisal and estimates the maximums for most escrow items. It's more of a CYA. The final HUD will likely work out identically either way. Yeah, on the initial GFEs it's not uncommon to pad out expenses as depending on the specific block of the GFE the lender you're going through is on the hook for paying you restitution if they at any point under disclose a cost to you on an initial or updated GFE. Deposit to escrow and initial interest are going to be fairly arbitrary since they depend on how much your taxes/insurance end up being and when in the month you fund, which particularly early in the process they may not know. Transfer taxes are set by the city/county/state so it should end up being the same with whatever lender you choose. Transfer taxes fall under the "cannot increase" set of tolerances per the RESPA rules, so if your true transfer taxes end up being $9600 (and all else being equal) you'd want to go with the lender that quoted you $4600 since they have to pay for the other half of that. Ranma posted:Edit: Also, if I lock in a rate am I required to use that mortgage company? I am doing the inspection tomorrow but am worried about rates rising due to government shutdown stupidity, should I wait till after the inspection to lock in a rate? Generally you can bail and go with another lender/broker, check what agreements you may have signed at application to confirm if you agreed to any lock commitment fees or anything like that. It can also vary a bit depending on if you go through a broker or a retail outfit. If you're through a broker (ex. you went to ABC Funding who has locked your loan with Wells Fargo) and rates drop a bunch, you can see if ABC Funding is willing to lock you with Chase instead since Chase is now hypothetically offering a better rate. The broker will take a hit in their relationship with Wells (and may have to pay a large fee), but depending on the severity of said hit it may be preferable to losing your business all together due to you dropping them entirely and going with XYZ Equity. Sticking with the same broker can also save some time since they already have your application, credit report, supporting docs, etc. Depending on how the lender operates and how your appraisal was ordered you may have to eat the cost of paying for a new appraisal if the lender refuses to transfer it and you bail after the 1st is ordered.
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Oct 11, 2013 06:39
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If I am just about to begin looking at houses with a buyer's agent, do I want to be preapproved or prequalified for a given amount?
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Oct 11, 2013 13:36
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Yes, get pre-approved for your max. I don't know what the market is like by you, but if you find a place that you like you want to be able to put an offer in quickly. Basically the longer you wait the more likely it is that someone else will put an offer in.
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Oct 11, 2013 13:41
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Preapproval doesn't mean anything anymore but you should know what your budget is. The new trend is staying the night in the place before you make an offer. I would do that. Pay for a profession inspector that you have found and talked to, don't use your agents guy. I wouldn't be in a rush to buy no matter what. Your agent will be in a rush for you to buy though.
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Oct 11, 2013 15:04
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Elephanthead posted:Preapproval doesn't mean anything anymore but you should know what your budget is. The new trend is staying the night in the place before you make an offer. I would do that. Pay for a profession inspector that you have found and talked to, don't use your agents guy. I wouldn't be in a rush to buy no matter what. Your agent will be in a rush for you to buy though. Um... I don't know when or where you bought a house last, but this advice is terrible in a competitive market. I can only imagine that you are kidding because of the comment about staying overnight in the place? We just bought a house in a moderately competitive market (nothing going for over asking price) and the good houses were all under contract within 2 or 3 days of coming on the market. When you submit the offer letter in a market like that, you will need to accompany it with a pre-approval letter for the offer price. We lost out on several properties because we were too slow, and "too slow" in this case was only a day or two. I'm not saying to be in a rush, I'm saying to be ready to buy what you like, when you see it. If other people are looking in the same area and price range you are, they will like the same houses you like.
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Oct 11, 2013 15:20
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Yeah, I just bought in a very competitive market, and no seller would even entertain letting a prospective buyer (not even an offer submitted) spend a night in the house.
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Oct 11, 2013 19:20
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That sort of advice was used during the recession frequently to get buyers on the fence to "think things over" more. In fact, my agent recommended it given how tough of a market I was in to try to sell back in 2010 and get people to buy a short sale partly because demand was just so bad despite all the pros of the place in general. Now, when I bought said same place, I had to come in with an offer within two days of it coming to market because people would literally be walking in and signing on the spot. I wound up beating out a couple by one hour that was coming in with the same down as me and heard there were three others following in the evening hoping I'd back out or something in the event of triggering a contingency. So basically real estate markets are super sensitive to their competitiveness around the world and any advice doled out without taking into account said market isn't advice.
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Oct 11, 2013 19:38
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Super competitive market has got to be a sign that the bubble is filling up at maximum speed. Do never buy. It is some mass hysteria that can't be stopped.
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Oct 11, 2013 19:41
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Elephanthead posted:Super competitive market has got to be a sign that the bubble is filling up at maximum speed. Not necessarily. It could be irrational demand. It could be skittish supply. Or both.
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Oct 11, 2013 19:55
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Elephanthead posted:Super competitive market has got to be a sign that the bubble is filling up at maximum speed. Do never buy. It is some mass hysteria that can't be stopped. Or just a lovely economy has suppressed demand further than it should have been and is now (quickly) returning to something more reasonable.
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Oct 11, 2013 20:35
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bartkusa posted:Not necessarily. You could just also be in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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Oct 11, 2013 22:45
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Or the long term appreciation curve is just recovering to what it should be after all the poor people who used ARMs to buy more than they could afford have either sold short or been foreclosed on.
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Oct 11, 2013 22:46
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Elephanthead posted:Super competitive market has got to be a sign that the bubble is filling up at maximum speed. Do never buy. It is some mass hysteria that can't be stopped.
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Oct 11, 2013 23:51
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Buying a new construction house, appraisal came in today, way less than purchase price. Agent is going to try and find some comps to help w/ the appraisal value, but am I just utterly hosed?  
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Oct 12, 2013 02:45
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ntan1 posted:You could just also be in the San Francisco Bay Area. ... uh *hi* Yeah, my house even appraised for more than the sale value.
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Oct 12, 2013 05:03
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Do never buy! Moved in less than 3 months ago, and I officially have nowhere safe to bathe in a house with a shower/tub combo upstairs, and a separate tub and shower downstairs. The sellers disclosure (of course) said there was literally nothing wrong with the house at all, ever, (despite us finding out they made an insurance claim on their roof earlier that year that was never resolved), but all 3 bathing stations are officially leaking. The home inspector informed us of just the cracks in the separate tub downstairs, and after moving I discovered cracks in the tub upstairs (we hadn't used it). Today I found a huge leak/mold in the kitchen cabinets behind the separate shower.  It's of course in the cabinet I almost never get into (holds appliances like waffle iron, mixer, blender, etc) so I didn't notice until today. And my Magic Bullet box is all wet and moldy too. Advice?  Edit: I do have a large emergency fund as well as some savings I was hoping to use on a sprinkler system. More looking for advice on actual actions to take. Do home warranties tend to cover this kind of stuff? I need to find my paperwork. Damn Bananas fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Oct 12, 2013 |
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Oct 12, 2013 19:03
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JPrime posted:Buying a new construction house, appraisal came in today, way less than purchase price. Agent is going to try and find some comps to help w/ the appraisal value, but am I just utterly hosed? No, the builder is.
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Oct 13, 2013 05:05
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SlapActionJackson posted:No, the builder is. Eh?
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Oct 13, 2013 05:07
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OK, I'm assuming you're buying from builder's inventory (this isn't a spec house built from the beginning for you) and that your contract at least resembles a typical purchase contract. If so, the low appraisal will give you one or more ways to back out of the deal entirely. You can use this as leverage against the builder to make this his problem. Either he can lower the price to the appraised value, or he can figure out how to get a better appraisal that will satisfy the bank at the higher price, or he can let you walk (and then he has two problems - finding another buyer AND dealing with the appraisal issue when it comes up with the new buyer). It's only if you're so in love with this house that you must have it at any cost that you might be utterly hosed. Can you bring enough cash to closing to make up the difference in sales price vs appraisal price?
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Oct 13, 2013 05:53
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No, this was a new build for us, not a spec home. We can just walk away and lose our earnest money, we may have the option of cutting some of the unfinished/delivered options to lower the price some. Waiting to hear back from our agent next week.
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Oct 13, 2013 06:04
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JPrime posted:No, this was a new build for us, not a spec home. We can just walk away and lose our earnest money, we may have the option of cutting some of the unfinished/delivered options to lower the price some. Waiting to hear back from our agent next week. Are you sure the appraiser took into account that the unfinished and undelivered options would be in the house? That doesn't sound like something they would do.
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Oct 13, 2013 16:29
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baquerd posted:Are you sure the appraiser took into account that the unfinished and undelivered options would be in the house? That doesn't sound like something they would do. On new construction that hasn't been completed yet it's standard for the appraiser to also review the plans/specs of the property and give a value based what the property will be when it's complete. The lender will then normally require a final inspection where the same appraiser goes back out to the property after it's completed and they will confirm that the completed property matches the plans/specs that they were provided and that the initial value is still accurate. On appraisal form 1004 look at the bottom of page 2 of 6, the 2nd box stating "subject to completion per plans and specifications on the basis of a hypothetical condition that the improvements have been completed" is probably checked which would indicate that.
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Oct 13, 2013 20:25
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We just bought a home that needs a lot of work, we're planning on doing pretty much a full remodel although very little of it will be structural. Where do I go to look for good appliance recommendations? We have 6 months left on the lease for our rental place so we won't be moving in until next spring but we are hoping to have our General Contractor start doing work starting in November. The first thing I want to figure out is what we're going to do as far as a furnace. We just had the seller decommission/remove a leaking oil tank and I'm thinking with winter fast approaching we'll probably want to get a gas line run and a gas furnace put in place in short order. Is this the wrong thread to be asking in? Is there a better place I should be looking?
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Oct 14, 2013 23:21
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MMD3 posted:appliance recommendations? This comes up with some frequency in the Fix it fast thread. A lot of the regulars there are contractors, and have a good idea of what reasonable rates are (in most of the US) for the kind of work you're suggesting.
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Oct 15, 2013 00:39
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If you are going with gas, look at gas-pack or split systems.
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Oct 15, 2013 02:10
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Who can tell me anything about walking away from a house? We have ~15k equity in a 105k ranch that may have a collapsed sewer line. This is my first house, and was a huge mistake, and we are house-poor with $300 savings. A new line should run anywhere from 10 to 20k and will require three yards to be bulldozed. We were done with owning and wanted to rent for 7-10 years anyways in concert with a relocation to Denver. This is the only option taht I can see, besides hand-digging and replacing the line in the dark so the inspectors don't catch us, while making GBS threads in buckets and taking sponge baths for three months. Any input?
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Oct 16, 2013 20:52
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