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Holy poo poo, re-keying the locks on the house was stupid easy. All you new homeowners need to not be like me and just do it. Currently kicking myself for putting it off so long... Also now I have 1 key for all locks *gasp*
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Mar 28, 2014 02:33
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Any tips? I've got three keys at the moment and would like to have one. We've got ancient looking locks from what I'm guessing is 1938 (lol Chicago) that have so far convinced me that they can't be unified.
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Mar 28, 2014 03:07
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This may not help much for old locks, but I lucked out that all the existing locks in the house were Schlage brand except the sliding door on the back (It didn't have a lock). I bought a Schlange keyed lock cylinder for the slider and this rekey kit that came instructions and all the lock-specific tools I needed except a screwdriver. The hardest part was figuring out that I had to use the old key to unlock the knobs 1/4 a turn before the button would depress allowing me to take the knob off. The deadbolt was super easy. Basically once you get to the cylinder itself, it is like 5 minutes to put the color-coded pins in the right order and put it back together. It took me about an hour 15 to do 4 locks including about 30 minutes taking that first knob off.
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Mar 28, 2014 03:41
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Well, had our third party inspection on the brand new house yesterday. Very few issues found overall, but at this point the biggest problem is the CC+R's and the condo docs.
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Mar 28, 2014 14:26
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What the gently caress. Lender forgot to check a box on my TIL form, but I signed it. They caught their mistake, sent it back to me corrected, but now the APR jumped .25% on the new form. Can they go back to the first APR? What the poo poo is this?
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Mar 28, 2014 17:05
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I'd call them and ask "WTF"
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Mar 28, 2014 17:06
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Their correction was to include MMI which made the APR go up. I need MMI and PMI? I'm doing conventional, not FHA. Websites I'm reading say MMI is for FHA, PMI is for conventional. edit: Not needed, just another mistake I caught. They correctly added PMI which made the APR go up, and also had MMI checked for no reason. God drat are they purposely trying to get me to run away? See More Butts fucked around with this message at 17:45 on Mar 28, 2014 |
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Mar 28, 2014 17:18
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Bumming Your Scene posted:Their correction was to include MMI which made the APR go up. I need MMI and PMI? I'm doing conventional, not FHA. Websites I'm reading say MMI is for FHA, PMI is for conventional. I had an issue with this too. I had a 20% down conventional and my first TIL form had MMI selected and the rate was wrong because of the that. Then I emailed the dude, told him about the embarrassing mistake he made that almost cost his company my business and he sent me back a TIL with PMI selected! I sent the entire exchange along with the TIL forms to him and his supervisor explaining that I understand a mistake can happen once, but the lack of attention to detail makes me fear that they would screw something up that I didn't catch. I got a rate 0.25% lower at the next place I went so it worked out well, and hopefully that mortgage broker got a tongue lashing.
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Mar 28, 2014 18:52
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Nobody at the bank really gives much of a poo poo about a single mortgage. The guy doing the paperwork probably has 30 mortgages on his desk and just had a different one in mind. Errors are rampant and probably happen with almost every mortgage that goes across all the various desks. Blame the insanely ridiculous complexity and number of accumulated bits of paperwork that are required, and just understand that nobody in the process is going to be a quarter as vigilant as you are, so you must read every document carefully and double-check everyone else's work. When I signed for my mortgage it took three hours, because I went through every page (as quickly as I could, and I'm good at this because I'm a technical writer) and I caught a couple of minor errors in doing so.
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Mar 28, 2014 18:58
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Leperflesh posted:Nobody at the bank really gives much of a poo poo about a single mortgage. The guy doing the paperwork probably has 30 mortgages on his desk and just had a different one in mind. Errors are rampant and probably happen with almost every mortgage that goes across all the various desks.
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Mar 28, 2014 20:09
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loving HUD won't let me take the ridiculous death trap cover off of the pool so I can get a contractor to give me a repair quote that the bank is requiring. Awesome. The pool guy I talked to is the one who actually replaced the liner 2 years ago tho, so I'm not terrified of it being a huge insane money pit, he said about $2500 would be the most I'd get into it for, and that would be a new liner + flattening out the sand floor beneath the liner. e:  Why yes, that is treated lumber, garbage bag plastic and fencing sections. How am i even gonna get that thing off of the pool without killing myself, holy poo poo. PuTTY riot fucked around with this message at 00:42 on Mar 29, 2014 |
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Mar 29, 2014 00:36
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PuTTY riot posted:
Turn it into a garden, duh.
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Mar 29, 2014 01:47
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The question is, how do they keep this thing from not just popping out of the ground like everyone says will happen if I drain my pool?
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Mar 29, 2014 02:34
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Misogynist posted:When we went in to do my paperwork, they had us down for a 30-year instead of a 20-year, and this was with a close friend's family. This stuff is everywhere. We lucked out and had a great notary who was able to answer every question we had about the detailed paperwork. The seller's agent was worthless.
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Mar 29, 2014 08:28
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PuTTY riot posted:The question is, how do they keep this thing from not just popping out of the ground like everyone says will happen if I drain my pool? Living in Arizona.
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Mar 29, 2014 16:31
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I've been checking out houses in Redwood City, CA the last two weeks, there are some loving weird houses out there. I found this gem, this was in the *garage* And yes, I flushed it to be sure it actually worked. My theory is the husband took a nasty dump one day and the wife had enough, and a project was born. nebby fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Mar 30, 2014 |
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Mar 30, 2014 00:37
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Pool repair for $2500? I would get a second opinion. My parents pool is 45'x30' and the liner typically ran around $5000. It now has the metal walls rusted out from the ground being salty and caving in. A new pull would be $30k, but because you have to tear out the old concrete deck that is failing and the inside before making a new pool, $40k! They can't even water outside or fill the pool so it gets to just slowly cave in itself now...
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Mar 30, 2014 04:40
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Fill in the pool, it's quite literally going to be a money pit.
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Mar 30, 2014 15:28
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Christobevii3 posted:Pool repair for $2500? I would get a second opinion. My parents pool is 45'x30' and the liner typically ran around $5000. It now has the metal walls rusted out from the ground being salty and caving in. A new pull would be $30k, but because you have to tear out the old concrete deck that is failing and the inside before making a new pool, $40k! They can't even water outside or fill the pool so it gets to just slowly cave in itself now... The concrete deck is visible and appears to be in really good shape. The pool is also full, so I'd have to assume there's no major leaks. My pool isn't quite that big and is a standard rectangle shape, concrete walls and sand bottom. The home inspector and 203k consultant gave me the same replace the liner ballpark number. I live in Mississippi so labor costs are probably much cheaper too.
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Mar 30, 2014 16:03
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Rooster Brooster posted:Any tips? I've got three keys at the moment and would like to have one. We've got ancient looking locks from what I'm guessing is 1938 (lol Chicago) that have so far convinced me that they can't be unified. When I bought my place, I just removed all the knobs and deadbolts myself and took 'em to the locksmith down the street. I think it cost about $25 or so to have them all re-keyed to the same new key, including a few copies of said key. Of course, my condo was empty at the time, since I hadn't moved in yet, so leaving it unsecured for half an hour wasn't an issue; since you're in Chicago and presumably have stuff in your house, you might want to have a friend hang out in your place while you're gone. Or, if your locks really are that old, you might want to consider replacing them entirely with new hardware (which you could get keyed to the same key before you install it). Should be a really easy DIY project unless your current locks are a really strange size or design and you'd have to do a lot of cutting/patching/drilling to fit new ones.
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Mar 30, 2014 18:19
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PuTTY riot posted:The concrete deck is visible and appears to be in really good shape. The pool is also full, so I'd have to assume there's no major leaks. My pool isn't quite that big and is a standard rectangle shape, concrete walls and sand bottom. The home inspector and 203k consultant gave me the same replace the liner ballpark number. I live in Mississippi so labor costs are probably much cheaper too. My parents are in north texas that has a per capita income around $30k. If the pool has water and the pump is running great. If the pump isn't running then that can be $300-500 for the part. I'd just assume a minimum of $2000 to fix the pool to where you can swim in it and a higher figure of $5000-7000. Can you force them to clean up the pool in closing or something or ask for $5000 in pool cleanup and available for swimming costs?
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Mar 30, 2014 18:47
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It's a hud house, I can't really negotiate poo poo besides 'I found a thing gimme my earnest money back I'm walking' and that's only cause I'm bidding as owner occupant. I already am under contract but I'm low enough that I'm not too terribly worried about it. 5k worst case is doable. Looked up the pump on amazon and it's like $300 to replace, more if aux pump is bad too, but pumps have been replaced recently. Nothing is running, utilities are off. pool is a lovely shade of green, but more importantly, full, and hopefully properly winterized. Since I'm doing a 203k loan I'll have to pay cash on anything above $1500 that has to do with the pool. If the bank accepts the 'here's a quote for a new liner' as my expected repairs is it likely they'll force me to put the difference into escrow or something?
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Mar 30, 2014 19:04
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I have been stalking this thread for about a year, and have just got an offer accepted on a house  … this is where everything starts going terribly wrong, right? 
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Mar 30, 2014 23:49
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lumbergill posted:I have been stalking this thread for about a year, and have just got an offer accepted on a house Oh my yes. Will it be wiring? Will it be neighbors? Property line dispute? Shady bank deal? The fun is only starting! (PS congrats)
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Mar 30, 2014 23:52
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You just crossed the event horizon and you're about to be sucked into the black hole of being house-poor. Congrats!
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Mar 30, 2014 23:52
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Stultus Maximus posted:Oh my yes. Will it be wiring? Will it be neighbors? Property line dispute? Shady bank deal? The fun is only starting! Roll the wheel on the lovely house lottery! I think wiring shouldn't be too terrible - 1960s is a bit late for knob and tube, right? - but I'm paranoid about the roof and foundation. I know it's probably a bit early to be mentally renovating but does anyone have any experience knocking through an interior wall to join two rooms (either getting rid of the wall entirely, or putting in a wide arch)? The house is fine as is, but would be amazing with the two disconnected living areas connected.
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Mar 31, 2014 00:52
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lumbergill posted:Roll the wheel on the lovely house lottery! I think wiring shouldn't be too terrible - 1960s is a bit late for knob and tube, right? - but I'm paranoid about the roof and foundation. You should be safe from K&T, but if the breaker panel says "Stab-Lok", then you should run away. As for knocking down walls, there's no way to answer that over the Internet. It could be as simple as going at it with a sledgehammer, or it could be a massive project if the wall is load-bearing or has vital wiring/plumbing inside. Put it down as something to ask your home inspector about while they're there.
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Mar 31, 2014 02:09
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I'm in the tri-cities area of Washington state. I've found an excellent place I'm very interested in, and made an offer, got a counter back today. They're very attached to their washer and dryer for some reason, but whatever. Where I'd like independent advice is the following: It is, of course, the end of March. The seller's new place won't be available for closing until June 28th. I'm not 100% sure what the deal is with the seller's new place, my realtor said she thought they were building or something. My lender has said they can guarantee rates for 45 days. My closing date is tentatively May 13th. We'd be doing a weekly delayed possession rental agreement on the place up to, at latest, July 8th. Other than verifying with my lender that these dates line up, and that the ~60 day window is legit for purchasing as an owner/occupant according to that lone, what should I be doing here? Does it make sense to: Try to delay so that I can actually close on 7/8/14, with whatever happens with rates being a total unknown between now and ~May 26th? See if I can purchase a rate guarantee out 90-ish days instead of the available 45? I mean, if I can do it for a few hundred bucks or something, that seems like a good way to alleviate headaches associated with delayed possession. Just do the delayed possession rental? Do something else? Edit: It occurs to me that since they're committing to basically pay me rent to stay there the ~2 months they'd need to move out, if I can pay less than that to lock my rate, I can take that off the top of my offer. Every little bit helps, seems like a potentially pretty good investment if they lock isn't a huge cost. I like turtles fucked around with this message at 03:10 on Mar 31, 2014 |
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Mar 31, 2014 02:44
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Got the seller response to my request for repairs. They aren't going to replace the insulation (current stuff resembles sawdust), nor upgrade outlets in the bedrooms to grounded outlets. The outlets are kind of a stickler for me because I'm wary of running a 1kW+ computer on an ungrounded outlet. If I go to the house with a screwdriver, can I look behind a faceplate and determine if the box is grounded or am I going to need an electrician to check if ground wires have to be fished through walls or drywall smashed through? If that's the case, just walk away? I don't really care too much about the insulation, but is upgrading that eligible for an efficiency tax credit?
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Mar 31, 2014 18:16
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I'm starting to think about purchasing a home in the next 2-3 years. Have a nice down payment saved up, it's only going to get bigger, everything seems to be going well in my research except for one question: How full of poo poo are the 'home affordability' calculators out there? From looking around, the answer seems to range from moderately to severely. For the sake of argument, let's say I live in San Jose, CA (I do), make 150k a year, have 50k saved up for a down payment and $500/mo in debt (I don't). After plugging these numbers into various calculators, the Zillow one gleefully tells me that I could afford a home around $655k. CNN tells me a 'Conservative' limit is $695k. The Redfin calculator think that's far too conservative and tells me that anywhere from $660k-$863k would fit within that budget. How the gently caress can any online calculator justify a home price that's almost six times the yearly income that was input as being 'affordable'?! I understand that sites like this have a vested interest in getting people pumped up about purchasing a home and that this should be considered an upper limit, but this is ridiculous. Is there anything at all to be gained from using these tools or am I better off just trying to use excel and figuring out my own affordability formula? Daremyth fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Mar 31, 2014 |
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Mar 31, 2014 18:25
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Ultimately it's going to be down your own personal budgeting and comfort level, as well as your local real estate market. I just punched some numbers into the Zillow calculator and it doesn't look to unreasonable to me, but my local real estate market (Seattle) is kind of wacky and might have skewed what I perceive as "normal" and "affordable". Zillow says that on 100k/yr, no debts, and with a $80-100k down payment that you can afford a little over 500k which puts you pretty squarely in the "not a shitheap but still a starter house" category in Seattle, which is about what I came up with on my own and is about what I'll be shopping for in a year or two.
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Mar 31, 2014 18:38
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All those calculators are bullshit because they're based on Gross Income and tend to 'forget' about things like Hazard Insurance, Property Taxes, etc. They don't take into account that a single person earning 150K a year in California is going to be paying 40K a year in income taxes, take another 15K out for pre/post tax benefits, 401k, etc and now your take home pay is in the 90 to 95K ballpark or 7900 a month or so. ( I ball parked the poo poo out of those numbers) Now lets look at the numbers on a 675K house. You put 50K down, finance 625K @ 4.25% over 30 years. Principal &Interest will be about 3100 Taxes will be about 570 Hazard Ins I'm ballparking at 125 a month for a total monthly mortgage of 3800 dollars. Doable for sure, but about half your take home is going to housing. In summary they're all bullshit and you should take the time to educate yourself about your local real estate costs (taxes, insurance, etc.) and make your own budget. When we bought our house in Texas all the calculators were spitting out 180 to 200K. We bought at 160 and that was plenty expensive enough for us. skipdogg fucked around with this message at 18:48 on Mar 31, 2014 |
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Mar 31, 2014 18:41
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What's the deal with short sales and flexibility in the asking price? Is there any chance of throwing out a number that's like 20-30k under the list price and having the bank go for it just to close the books on the loan? Or do they tend to hold out like normal sellers?
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Mar 31, 2014 18:58
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If you adjust your withholding allowances, you can get more take home money instead of a fat refund once per year, right? That is how I look at absorbing some of the shock of a $500 increase over my rent.
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Mar 31, 2014 19:02
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I like turtles posted:I'm in the tri-cities area of Washington state. I've found an excellent place I'm very interested in, and made an offer, got a counter back today. They're very attached to their washer and dryer for some reason, but whatever. If your current living situation allows it, I'd go for the rent back agreement. Close as soon as you can not only to get your rate but to prevent any shenanigans on their end while they wait for their house to be built or whatever. Push for a high rent from them and pocket the cash. I'd also word it so that they have to commit to a specific number of days to rent from you and rent is payable in full up front. At the very least, make sure you have an upper limit on how many days you'll rent, Check with your insurer about additional coverage during the rental period to protect yourself.
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Mar 31, 2014 19:03
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I wouldn't want my total mortgage payments (including tax and PMI) over 30% of take home. 25% is better.
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Mar 31, 2014 19:50
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Economic Sinkhole posted:If your current living situation allows it, I'd go for the rent back agreement. Close as soon as you can not only to get your rate but to prevent any shenanigans on their end while they wait for their house to be built or whatever. Also, just to state the obvious: (I assume) that rental income is taxable, so be sure to account for taxes of whatever your bracket is.
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Mar 31, 2014 20:02
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My credit union offers a deal for certain professions where you can put 5% down and not pay PMI, for a slightly higher interest rate (I guess it's technically a loan for the other 15%?). They've offered me 4.5% on a 30 year loan with 5% down, or 4.35% with 20% down. I could pay 20% down, but along with closing costs it would use up most of my savings, making me think I should take the 5% option. Does this seem sensible? I haven't really shopped around yet, I might be able to do better than 4.35% with 20% down.
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Mar 31, 2014 21:38
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Cranbe posted:Also, just to state the obvious: (I assume) that rental income is taxable, so be sure to account for taxes of whatever your bracket is. Also check with your homeowners insurance to make sure you would be covered (or how much additional it will cost to get that coverage and adjust your "rent" accordingly) if they burn the place down or whatever while you are in this rental period...
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Mar 31, 2014 21:43
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We want to upgrade windows to hurricane proof (south florida, yay) and we were sent a letter about PACE - Property Assessed Clean Energy. At first I thought it was some scam, but it looks like a legit program. You don't pay anything up front, the city pays the bill to get your windows installed by a contractor of your choosing. You then pay that off over ~20 years in property taxes. However if you sell the house, the next owner takes over the remaining payments in their property taxes. I don't like going into debt much, and we would also be eating a little too far into our savings right now to pay 15k out of pocket for it. I don't know what interest rate it is or anything like that, but the fact that its a legit state program kind of piqued my interest. Has anyone done this or have any thoughts on it? If you were buying a house and it had 10 years of ~$80-100 month repayments on top of your existing property taxes (4-5k/year) would that dissuade you from purchasing it?
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Mar 31, 2014 22:29
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