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The house next door to the one I wanted to put an offer on just hit the market. Of course they did it on my Monday so that I can't really take a look at it right away. Hopefully it makes it through the weekend so I can see it.
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Apr 25, 2014 17:40
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Trabant posted:We're "interviewing" a Realtor here in Austin tomorrow. She comes highly recommended, but we'd like to make sure we don't pick someone on the basis of one recommendation without a juju check. I don't have questions to suggest, but I think there are two things that are really important. One, getting along with you & listening to/working with you well enough to understand to some extent what is and isn't important to you about houses. Two, the bigger (and harder to achieve) one is that they should not be trying to sell you on the houses you look at; they should be giving you reasons not to buy them. It's the seller's agent's job to be a salesperson; the buyer's agent should be focused on your best interests.
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Apr 25, 2014 19:43
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So we bought in an HOA, a new HOA, and are noticing people breaking the rules. Part of the reason I am against this is because it lowers property value, which is one of the biggest reasons to form an HOA(to keep up values). Can someone explain how one goes reporting it? I'm too passive agressive to go up to this person and say "hey, cut the poo poo". Is there usually an anonymous reporting process?
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Apr 25, 2014 21:05
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Zhentar posted:the buyer's agent should be focused on your best interests. They're compensated only if you buy a house, so they are not at all focused on your best interest. They also want to get you to buy a house with minimal time and effort on their part, so they're not your advocate AT ALL. Keep that in mind with all your interactions.
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Apr 25, 2014 21:22
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lord1234 posted:So we bought in an HOA, a new HOA, and are noticing people breaking the rules. Part of the reason I am against this is because it lowers property value, which is one of the biggest reasons to form an HOA(to keep up values). Can someone explain how one goes reporting it? I'm too passive agressive to go up to this person and say "hey, cut the poo poo". Is there usually an anonymous reporting process? Your HOA probably has a professional company managing it. You can call them or send an email if you must. If it's something small, the neighborly thing to do is to knock on their door and say something. Meet your neighbors. It could be that the house across the street has a few weeds in the yard because the owners have arthritis and it's difficult to do for them, so they let it stack up for a few weeks until there are enough weeds to hire someone to do it. Or they work nights or have a long commute and only have a day off every couple weeks to get to yardwork. Or their entire family has been sick on and off for the last 3 weeks. If it's something big and genuinely long-term negative to property value (painting their house bright green, car on cinderblocks in the yard, or installing a hideous landscaping feature) call the management. If you're unwilling to talk to your neighbors first and would rather call over every little thing, enjoy settling into your role as the reason why people hate HOAs.
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Apr 25, 2014 21:26
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canyoneer posted:Your HOA probably has a professional company managing it. You can call them or send an email if you must. You make a good point. The problem is that we have a cat lady. She has like 5 cats. We are specifically limited to 2 pets. They are all outdoor. They are going to piss off my dogs who will probably chew at my fence to get to them. On top of that the condo docs specifically state "Garage doors are to be kept closed at all times except when a vehicle is entering or leaving." She leaves her garage door propped open which makes it look like its broken. This will lower our value(people not maintaining their properties)...
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Apr 25, 2014 21:49
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Bloody Queef posted:They're compensated only if you buy a house, so they are not at all focused on your best interest. They also want to get you to buy a house with minimal time and effort on their part, so they're not your advocate AT ALL. That's how the financial incentives are aligned, but that doesn't mean it's how it always will be, or how it should be. A buyer's agent has a fiduciary duty to their client, which means they are legally obligated to put your best interests ahead of their own. If they aren't your advocate AT ALL, they are a terrible agent (and a bad person) and you should seek someone else.
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Apr 25, 2014 21:56
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lord1234 posted:You make a good point. The problem is that we have a cat lady. She has like 5 cats. We are specifically limited to 2 pets. They are all outdoor. They are going to piss off my dogs who will probably chew at my fence to get to them. On top of that the condo docs specifically state "Garage doors are to be kept closed at all times except when a vehicle is entering or leaving." She leaves her garage door propped open which makes it look like its broken. This will lower our value(people not maintaining their properties)... Uh, deal with the cats. Your dogs would go for them whether they're 2 or 5. The garage doors, yeah, it might be worth just knocking and asking; maybe it is broken and she's getting it fixed at some point! Maybe it's so her cats can get in and out until she can get a cat door! Or really, maybe you're exactly why people hate HOAs and one propped open garage door is not going to depress home values in any appreciable way.
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Apr 25, 2014 22:00
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silvergoose posted:Or really, maybe you're exactly why people hate HOAs and one propped open garage door is not going to depress home values in any appreciable way. This, plus if people feel comfortable leaving their garage doors open it must be a low-crime neigborhood. But yeah basically he is the reason I will never buy a house with a HOA.
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Apr 25, 2014 22:06
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If you don't close your garage door your home value just flows into the streets and into the drainage!
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Apr 25, 2014 22:08
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Guinness posted:But yeah basically he is the reason I will never buy a house with a HOA. This. gently caress HOA.
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Apr 25, 2014 22:09
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Christobevii3 posted:If you don't close your garage door your home value just flows into the streets and into the drainage! Home value really only matters when you buy or when you sell anyway. Worrying about your home value when you are living in it just sounds very stressful. Also someone earlier in this thread said they wished their house was worth less so that they pay less property taxes which I thought was a really brilliant way to wrap your head around the insanity that is real estate. Also, made me wish the same.
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Apr 25, 2014 22:16
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We dont have an HOA, but we live in a 'village' which is essentially the same except 1/3 of our property taxes go to them, 2/3 to the county. So far I haven't had any actual issues, but people are super anal. Luckily our direct neighbor is pretty chill about things. 1) I had to paint some concrete sealant onto one of the walls (side of the house at the front of the property, a 2x6 foot size patch. I put down the first coat, and this lady stops in the street and very politely asks me to come over to her car and tells me that its a 'beautiful' color but it isn't on the approved color palette. No poo poo lady, its bright flamingo pink - I am not putting it all over my house. I tried to explain what it was for but she didn't understand the words I was saying, and she kept repeating the same thing until I told her I would be painting over it once it cured. 2) We had our house tented for termites. They put the tarp over one of the hedges (10 foot section) because of whatever unavoidable reason, and the hedge is pretty dead looking now. Same lady drove by today while I was walking from my car and did the same 'come over here' deal and told me that its really unfortunate but we have to rip out the dead bushes and replace them. Oh such a shame she had to do it too when her place was tented. edit - tent came off wednesday, its friday. If its still dead in a couple weeks that may be a cause for alarm. We've been in the house for a month. The building inspector also came by as we were trucking out some rotten decking obviously trying to sniff out a code violation or missing permit. Jokes on you buddy the previous owner never pulled a permit for this deck. Or is that joke on me? I dont know - half expecting to get something in the mail from him. GanjamonII fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Apr 25, 2014 |
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Apr 25, 2014 22:34
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GanjamonII posted:We dont have an HOA, but we live in a 'village' which is essentially the same except 1/3 of our property taxes go to them, 2/3 to the county. That would drive me to killdozer style rage living where busy-bodies like that actually have legal power.
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Apr 25, 2014 22:48
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This just makes me recall that X Files episodes about the monster that went through a neighborhood killing people who violated HOA rules.
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Apr 25, 2014 22:55
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couldcareless posted:This just makes me recall that X Files episodes about the monster that went through a neighborhood killing people who violated HOA rules. Wait this existed? Maybe that's where that Fiasco scenario came from...
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Apr 25, 2014 23:15
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HOAs make you angrier doing normal household tasks. Instead of "have to go pull the weeds because I own a house and want it to look nice" I feel like "got to pull the weeds before that dickhead board member who goes on 5 AM walks every morning with a clipboard catches me and sends a nasty letter" Yeah, that guy exists on my HOA board. Also, my HOA hasn't had any board member changes since it was incepted 10 years ago, because they can never get a quorum for votes. At least 10% of homeowners must mail in their ballot or none of the votes get counted. So we're stuck with the same jerks year after year. There's one guy on the board who is really cool and trying to get the grouchy old turds replaced with other cool neighbors like him, but we never get enough voters 
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Apr 25, 2014 23:19
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ExtrudeAlongCurve posted:Home value really only matters when you buy or when you sell anyway. Worrying about your home value when you are living in it just sounds very stressful. I bought a trailer on a piece of land because first $75k of property is tax exempt for this reason. $0 in taxes a year. I'm young so it will avoid a lot of expenses that mean nothing to me at this point in my life.
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Apr 26, 2014 00:08
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ExtrudeAlongCurve posted:Home value really only matters when you buy or when you sell anyway. Worrying about your home value when you are living in it just sounds very stressful. I agree generally, but home value also matters whenever you refinance, and it matters when your home is assessed for tax purposes. So maybe if that guy can make an arrangement with his neighbor to have the door wide open with plenty of stray cats when the city is assessing values for tax, but tightly closed with moggies inside when he's having an appraisal just before refinancing. I'm sure the plus-or-minus ten dollars that these factors have on his home value will make all the difference. quote:Also someone earlier in this thread said they wished their house was worth less so that they pay less property taxes which I thought was a really brilliant way to wrap your head around the insanity that is real estate. Also, made me wish the same. Hmm. That's a little bit like deciding to buy a less expensive TV on the basis that the 8% sales tax will be lower for the cheaper TV than for the expensive TV, and why pay more tax than you have to?
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Apr 26, 2014 00:31
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lord1234 posted:You make a good point. The problem is that we have a cat lady. She has like 5 cats. We are specifically limited to 2 pets. They are all outdoor. They are going to piss off my dogs who will probably chew at my fence to get to them. On top of that the condo docs specifically state "Garage doors are to be kept closed at all times except when a vehicle is entering or leaving." She leaves her garage door propped open which makes it look like its broken. This will lower our value(people not maintaining their properties)...
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Apr 26, 2014 00:53
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oops
radialright fucked around with this message at 21:46 on Feb 6, 2017 |
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Apr 26, 2014 01:20
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Leperflesh posted:Hmm. That's a little bit like deciding to buy a less expensive TV on the basis that the 8% sales tax will be lower for the cheaper TV than for the expensive TV, and why pay more tax than you have to? I meant more assessed for less. Also that analogy doesn't really work for a TV since it doesn't have annual taxes. If it did you can be sure people will be happy to put dings on their TV so that functionally, it's the same TV, but it will save them money on it every year. In this same analogy these people won't want to ever sell that TV either. I don't actually wish my house was worth less but I do dream about the town tax assessor thinking it is worth less. Moana posted a great link a while back about convincing tax assessors (who are fairly arbitrary since they have so many houses to go through) to lower your taxes through the power of Zillow Zestimate. Which, in itself, is fairly hand-wavey and only correspond somewhat to the actual sale price of houses. Real estate is silly yet serious business.
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Apr 26, 2014 02:21
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Zhentar posted:I don't have questions to suggest, but I think there are two things that are really important. One, getting along with you & listening to/working with you well enough to understand to some extent what is and isn't important to you about houses. Two, the bigger (and harder to achieve) one is that they should not be trying to sell you on the houses you look at; they should be giving you reasons not to buy them. It's the seller's agent's job to be a salesperson; the buyer's agent should be focused on your best interests. Thank you, will keep it in mind. But as noted by others in the thread -- people's motivations can be conflicting, to say the least. On another note, here's a place, expensive in every goddamn way, including:  
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Apr 26, 2014 05:31
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ExtrudeAlongCurve posted:I meant more assessed for less. Move to California then. Your house never gets reassessed for taxes so you get tons of baby boomers who refuse to move and are only paying $1800/yr on $600k houses and massive local housing bubbles. Also on the Zillow note, does anyone know how to send a correction on a house? Mine is listed twice in Zillow and they're nearly $200k apart in price. It's messing up my Mint net worth statement 
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Apr 26, 2014 07:16
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Taco Pirate posted:We saw a decently nice but imo overpriced home (needed new windows throughout and a few other minor things) in a suburban area with workable but not-super-great schools yesterday and it's already under contract today for more than asking price. Welcome to the DMV. We bought last summer and I think the areas with worse schools had newer, bigger houses. In Montgomery County I think people go in thinking that all the schools are good but there's a range. For a seller, they just get the benefit of many people thinking MoCo = great. Yes, walking to the metro is a draw. I live in MD and work in DC and the metro is walking distance. That's an extra $100+ per month I'm not paying for parking, which increases if you add on reserved parking or DC garage rates. Even a bit further out I was looking at a significant increase time increase to take a bus.
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Apr 26, 2014 14:43
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Is being walking distance to Metro that much of a draw even in the extremely suburby suburbs? This is in the DC area.
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WeaselWeaz posted:Welcome to the DMV. We bought last summer and I think the areas with worse schools had newer, bigger houses. In Montgomery County I think people go in thinking that all the schools are good but there's a range. For a seller, they just get the benefit of many people thinking MoCo = great. I'm in a similar situation. I don't have to pay for parking, my company contributes to my metro card, and I'm walking distance from the metro. This allows us to also only have one car, rather than two. Two would have benefits but really those benefits wouldn't justify the cost and we can roll that opportunity cost into our rent/mortgage and live in a nicer place. Totally worth the trade off.
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Apr 26, 2014 16:37
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Forgive me if this is super obvious but I have a mortgage question. I am married but we only have one income. Does my wife have to be included on a mortgage application since she doesn't have an income?
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Apr 26, 2014 17:02
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ge.hale posted:Forgive me if this is super obvious but I have a mortgage question. I am married but we only have one income. Does my wife have to be included on a mortgage application since she doesn't have an income? No. They only care about the credit scores of the applicant (that is, you). Don't put her down if you don't want them to take into account her credit score and ability to repay.
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Apr 26, 2014 17:32
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WeaselWeaz posted:Welcome to the DMV. We bought last summer and I think the areas with worse schools had newer, bigger houses. In Montgomery County I think people go in thinking that all the schools are good but there's a range. For a seller, they just get the benefit of many people thinking MoCo = great. Another one in that same neighborhood sold for above asking today (although, I think the asking price was somewhat low so I'm not surprised). I'm guessing it went for close to 400, no contingencies. Wahh. Anyway, we saw one in a nearby neighborhood which was kinda junky and may not be so competitive as a result, that we might put in an offer on but it would be near top of our budget and it needs work. You could move in, but yeah, it does need work beyond just a fresh coat of paint. So we'll see.
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Apr 26, 2014 20:34
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Taco Pirate posted:Another one in that same neighborhood sold for above asking today (although, I think the asking price was somewhat low so I'm not surprised). I'm guessing it went for close to 400, no contingencies. Wahh. Anyway, we saw one in a nearby neighborhood which was kinda junky and may not be so competitive as a result, that we might put in an offer on but it would be near top of our budget and it needs work. You could move in, but yeah, it does need work beyond just a fresh coat of paint. So we'll see. Most will need some work. I was looking in the mid 300s in Silver Spring and Rockville and saw houses with visible mold in their basements. Sellers know they don't have to fix those issues because someone will buy it anyway. My house is in good shape but wound up being smaller than we planned and still has work to do. Most of the work is stuff I can do myself and isn't urgent. Spent Monday removing unnecessary caulk from the storm window panes so I could clean and repaint, but it was my own labor.
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Apr 26, 2014 23:43
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Taco Pirate posted:Another one in that same neighborhood sold for above asking today (although, I think the asking price was somewhat low so I'm not surprised). I'm guessing it went for close to 400, no contingencies. Wahh. Anyway, we saw one in a nearby neighborhood which was kinda junky and may not be so competitive as a result, that we might put in an offer on but it would be near top of our budget and it needs work. You could move in, but yeah, it does need work beyond just a fresh coat of paint. So we'll see. What size are you looking for? Doing a lot of research into Montgomery County and wondering if the homes/condos in the value range I've seen are all just obviously lemons.
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Apr 27, 2014 00:28
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My realtor is working on an offer right now. The house is nicer than the one next door that I was interested in. Starting off with asking price and they cover closing. Things are moving too fast to mess around. The house on the other side is a bright color, hopefully that won't depress my property values  edit: My agent said that there are 2 other offers going in as well. Went on the market yesterday. Glad I got to see it today. fknlo fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Apr 27, 2014 |
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Apr 27, 2014 00:33
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Hoas own. Keep living in filth and attract similarly filthy neighbors if you dont like em.
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Apr 27, 2014 04:03
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anne frank fanfic posted:Hoas own. Keep living in filth and attract similarly filthy neighbors if you dont like em. Reported for using improper TLA capitalization. Please make a better effort us keep up the values of posts in this thread.
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Apr 27, 2014 06:18
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anne frank fanfic posted:Hoas own. Keep living in filth and attract similarly filthy neighbors if you dont like em. Avatar too flashy, this will be brought up in the next board meeting.
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Apr 27, 2014 07:17
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anne frank fanfic posted:Hoas own. Keep living in filth and attract similarly filthy neighbors if you dont like em. I am glad you have acknowledged that the thread HOA owns you. Regretfully, as a responsible owner, the HOA must now act to preserve the thread's post values. Fellow posters and board members "iv46vi" and "couldcareless" have already approached you about issues with your most recent post, but you have not responded in nearly 4 hours. You are expected to address issues promptly and have failed in your responsibilities. I therefore am forced to now deliver official notice of your violations. You neglected to use a comma when you joined your independent clauses with a conjunction. The board has decided to deliver a warning for your violation. This will be your only warning, and next time it will be a $500 fine. An item that cannot be overlooked is your use of a contraction without an apostrophe. Firstly, this is not the sort of thread where you can just throw contractions around haphazardly. Secondly, forgoing the apostrophe is frankly shocking to us, and calls into question your ability to abide by HOA rules. You are hereby fined $1,000. Your use of the slang term "em" has resulted in a $10,000 fine. This matter has been raised with the police. Disparaging the HOA via improper TLA capitalization is a capital offense. Please make available funds for the aforementioned fines and then notify us when you are ready to be executed. As a friendly reminder, failure to pay will result in a lien being placed on your account and we are authorized to liquidate any posts you have made in the thread. Cordially, The Thread HOA baquerd fucked around with this message at 08:08 on Apr 27, 2014 |
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Apr 27, 2014 08:06
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No luck on the house for me. They accepted another offer even after I upped mine to a couple thousand over asking. At least I tried? Time to keep searching. I'm really hoping that at some point more than one decent house at a time will pop up on the market.
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Apr 28, 2014 00:22
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fknlo posted:No luck on the house for me. They accepted another offer even after I upped mine to a couple thousand over asking. At least I tried? Time to keep searching. I'm really hoping that at some point more than one decent house at a time will pop up on the market. It gets easier after the first one. I found taking that initial step of making the first offer the hardest part. Also, I like to think of it as one fewer potential buyer (and in particular, one fewer potential buyer who is willing to over-bid) in the competition. (Also, it's possible the first-place offer will fall through -- this happened with the first house I put an offer in on. The prospective buyer backed out because the house number added up to 10, which is apparently unlucky.)
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Apr 28, 2014 00:35
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We go to closing on our first house in just under 19 hours. Can't wait to be completely overwhelmed with house ownership.
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Apr 28, 2014 03:05
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fknlo posted:No luck on the house for me. They accepted another offer even after I upped mine to a couple thousand over asking. At least I tried? Time to keep searching. I'm really hoping that at some point more than one decent house at a time will pop up on the market. Just curious, where was this one located? Still waldo/brookside?
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