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fknlo posted:Looked at a few houses today, one definitely has some potential. Needs a few updates, but it's well under my budget and in a really good place(West Plaza area for KC folks). My agent is going to try and find some comps, and I'm probably going to make an offer. West Plaza is the best. Good choice. I owned a condo at 46th and Roanoke for 3 years before moving to the west coast and would move back to the neighborhood in a second. I miss that area's home bang/buck.
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May 22, 2014 00:13
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My motherfucking credit score dropped 50 points in the last month because it happened to calculate when a couple cards were close to maxed - they weren't carrying any balance and they've been paid in full every month for the last forever, minus one month where a couple hundred carried to the next month and then was promptly paid off. How much is that going to gently caress us? It's in the 650's now. I could just wait it out til it ideally goes back up once everything updates if I had to, and just not use the stupid cards for a while. I tend to use them quite a bit to get the points and then just pay them off completely, which apparently is a stupid loving idea. We'd rather buy a house now though. I put in the mortgage application tonight, so I guess I'll find out soon how hosed I am from it.
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May 22, 2014 03:01
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sanchez posted:He said it was below 60 outside, the inspection company may have had a policy not to run units below that due to the possibility of damaging them. I'm not sure how likely that is, but our inspector did the same thing. FWIW the very experienced HVAC repairman I use always tells people the same thing when they get their HVAC serviced. To be safe he actually tells them do not run the AC under any circumstance if the outside temperature is below 70. Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 03:11 on May 22, 2014 |
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May 22, 2014 03:07
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shortspecialbus posted:My motherfucking credit score dropped 50 points in the last month because it happened to calculate when a couple cards were close to maxed - they weren't carrying any balance and they've been paid in full every month for the last forever, minus one month where a couple hundred carried to the next month and then was promptly paid off. Not advocating a video game score mentality, but a quick glance based on the information yove given suggests that you're credit limit may be really low. Also if those are your only sources of credit history, you may be doubly screwed over by a short history. Just keep your usage ratio as low as possible.
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May 22, 2014 03:26
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resident posted:West Plaza is the best. Good choice. I owned a condo at 46th and Roanoke for 3 years before moving to the west coast and would move back to the neighborhood in a second. I miss that area's home bang/buck. I really loved the location of that house, wish I had gotten it. There hasn't been much in my price range that has come up in the area. Still haven't heard back from the guy that's supposed to let us know if the other deal has fallen through. My agent made it sound like it was supposed to be over with today, I kind of expected to hear something.
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May 22, 2014 04:51
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shortspecialbus posted:I tend to use them quite a bit to get the points and then just pay them off completely, which apparently is a stupid loving idea. It's only a problem when doing that maxes out your cards. It's a bit late now, but you should request credit limit increases when your score isn't poo poo (any maybe sign up for another credit card or two)
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May 22, 2014 04:51
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Alternately you can open a new reward credit card when your credit is back to 700ish. Adding an extra account in good standing actually helped my credit score by like 5 measly points when I opened one last month despite the hard check, and the credit limit was nearly 3 times the limit of my existing card.
Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 14:27 on May 22, 2014 |
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May 22, 2014 14:04
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I'm signing on a house and in the purchase agreement it lists 2 properties: XXX Name Street and XXX A Name Street It looks like the plot used to be 100' frontage x 300', but the previous owner subdivided it into the 100' x 100' frontage and named the 100' x 200' behind it "A". He then built a detached 25' x 40' garage on a concrete slab. Is there anything I should look into or ask questions about on this? Why did he do it this way and was he required to? It's located in Virginia.
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May 22, 2014 14:14
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I have plenty of credit history, although it was fairly bad for a number of years and has been recovering nicely over the last 3. I don't have very high credit limit, only like 5-6 thousand over 3 cards, and occasionally I'll have about 2-3 thousand on them if I bought a lot of crap. I suppose I could just pay it off more frequently rather than once a month. We do have a 175k down payment here so I'm hoping it won't be a big deal - I guess I'll find out soon. I requested a 15 year FRM for a house between 200k and 325k.
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May 22, 2014 14:17
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Adiabatic posted:I'm signing on a house and in the purchase agreement it lists 2 properties: My first thought is that it's probably related to some local zoning, building code, or permit funkyness. As in he couldn't build a new garage on an existing property without jumping through hoops or something, so it was easier to subdivide. We looked at a house a while ago where the previous owner had carved off the back of the lot to build a garage and office for a plumbing supply business.
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May 22, 2014 15:01
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shortspecialbus posted:I have plenty of credit history, although it was fairly bad for a number of years and has been recovering nicely over the last 3. I don't have very high credit limit, only like 5-6 thousand over 3 cards, and occasionally I'll have about 2-3 thousand on them if I bought a lot of crap. I suppose I could just pay it off more frequently rather than once a month. We do have a 175k down payment here so I'm hoping it won't be a big deal - I guess I'll find out soon. I requested a 15 year FRM for a house between 200k and 325k. For someone who is capable of saving up $175k in cash, a credit limit of $6k is ludicrously small. I have a hell of a lot less money than you, and my combined credit limit across my various cards is something on the order of $50k... and that's after I closed four or five accounts a few years ago. I think given you're putting $175k down on a $325k house, you won't have an issue qualifying.
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May 22, 2014 16:35
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Leperflesh posted:For someone who is capable of saving up $175k in cash, a credit limit of $6k is ludicrously small. I have a hell of a lot less money than you, and my combined credit limit across my various cards is something on the order of $50k... and that's after I closed four or five accounts a few years ago. Technically, I didn't say I saved the 175k, just that I have it. I should talk to Chase and see if they'll up my limit. Part of the problem here is I flirted with bankruptcy about 7 years ago due to medical bills and so forth. Didn't file, but came dangerously close and had to cancel a bunch of cards and negotiate with them for payment plans with 0% interest etc, plus I had some false credit hits from our cable company (gently caress those guys) that all combined to sort of make my credit a mess. It's been recovering quite well over the last 3 years since I got a stable job and health insurance. What I'm concerned about with increasing my limit on my Amazon card is that I'll take yet another credit check hit which will lower it even more. It's at $2500 right now and it's the main card that I use. What to do, what to do.
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May 22, 2014 17:25
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shortspecialbus posted:What to do, what to do.
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May 22, 2014 17:29
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Oh, you definitely should not open or extend credit or anything like that right when you are applying for a loan. That's a red flag. Was the $175k a gift from someone, or an inheritance? Because the lender will require you to document it, if so.
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May 22, 2014 17:30
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Leperflesh posted:Oh, you definitely should not open or extend credit or anything like that right when you are applying for a loan. That's a red flag. Early inheritance. It's fully documented and the bank was made aware of its source. And waiting to buy a house is impractical for a number of reasons that would take too long to explain. It makes financial and general sense for us to buy now. About the credit cards, I'm not carrying balances around, I'm paying them off in full each month. I just should apparently pay them in full every week, I guess. Edit: By bank, I mean credit union that I've been a member of for 15 years.
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May 22, 2014 17:39
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Anyone have any experience getting their county property tax adjusted? Last month, I bought a place for $260k and I'm being taxed by the county treasurer's office at $300k. I understand that when reselling, this works in my favor, and that this would be awesome were I selling in the next 6 months, but I'd rather not be paying the extra $1000 a year if I can help it. Now knowing that I need to provide evidence, I have the following stuff lined up to help me out: - Independent assessment @ the actual purchase price - Selling agency's price list for new units. - (Condo) Property owner's pricing breakdown for new units of similar layout. I am also curious if it's even worth it to be doing this, ~100 bucks a month isn't going to break the bank, but if I don't absolutely need to be spending that money, I'd rather not be. On top of that, with my city's real estate market being really stable, I can't honestly see myself making that much of a profit off this unit in the 5yr time span I expect to live in this city. Since, this is my first place, I'd really appreciate any input anyone might have.
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May 22, 2014 18:02
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Less than 24 hours to our delayed closing and no one knows what the gently caress is going on. Lender says it's still in "final underwriting" (underwriting for preapproval, underwriting once contract was submitted, and now more underwriting for some reason). Seller says they need at least 24 hours to review contract (Freddie Mac) but would prefer 72 hours. None of this comes out unless I send off terse emails copying everyone I've ever seen show up on a related email. Business as usual right?
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May 22, 2014 18:33
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handbanana125 posted:Anyone have any experience getting their county property tax adjusted? Last month, I bought a place for $260k and I'm being taxed by the county treasurer's office at $300k. I understand that when reselling, this works in my favor, and that this would be awesome were I selling in the next 6 months, but I'd rather not be paying the extra $1000 a year if I can help it. Not only will an excessive property tax valuation NOT help you when reselling, it will actually hurt. There is absolutely no reason to pay more property tax than required. Your closing HUD-1 establishing the sales price and the fact that it was an arm's-length transaction should be all the evidence you need to get it knocked down to your sales price, but having those additional docs won't hurt.
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May 22, 2014 19:08
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Jealous Cow posted:Less than 24 hours to our delayed closing and no one knows what the gently caress is going on. Lender says it's still in "final underwriting" (underwriting for preapproval, underwriting once contract was submitted, and now more underwriting for some reason). Seller says they need at least 24 hours to review contract (Freddie Mac) but would prefer 72 hours. None of this comes out unless I send off terse emails copying everyone I've ever seen show up on a related email. Closing here in 5 business days and I've just been informed that my realtor (who is also acting as my escrow agent) hasn't sent a copy of my deposit check to the lender. I'm working with a husband/wife team with 40+ years of experience, except they are on vacation or something in the loving mountains with no reception. Their kid (also a realtor) is unable to find the check in their study and can't get a hold of them. It's the only remaining thing the processor is asking for at this point. The whole thing has been going so smoothly, too... At least the office I am buying insurance through is interesting. I called up to get a quote and a real character is on the line, cursing like a sailor. They really know their poo poo, though. Here's a random email I received from the guy today after we were clarifying some small details: "As an agent have access to a State of Florida monthly news letter called agent’s insights and the last chapter is devoted to agents that have broken the law and what the punishment is..each month there is at least seven pages of assholes who do some incredibly stupid things..get caught ,and the punishment is listed ,jail time suspended licenses, banishment forever .. It makes for some interesting reading!!" Incredulous Dylan fucked around with this message at 19:16 on May 22, 2014 |
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May 22, 2014 19:14
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SlapActionJackson posted:Not only will an excessive property tax valuation NOT help you when reselling, it will actually hurt. There is absolutely no reason to pay more property tax than required. Hey thanks for that, I'll be sure to bring that along!
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May 22, 2014 19:19
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Update: Looks like we've been pre-approved for up to a $325k home, which is good news. That's on a 15 year FRM. Need to figure out some more details, and then it's time to go house shopping!
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May 22, 2014 20:36
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Just got clear to close. Yay? Ugh.
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May 22, 2014 20:45
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shortspecialbus posted:Update: Looks like we've been pre-approved for up to a $325k home, which is good news. That's on a 15 year FRM. Need to figure out some more details, and then it's time to go house shopping! Was there a significant rate difference between your 15-year fixed and a 30?
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May 22, 2014 20:59
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Jealous Cow posted:Just got clear to close. I remember buying our first house 5 years ago and the whole process was a rollercoaster of positive and negative emotions. I always though closing should feel great, but that time it ended up just being a relief - which kind of sours the whole process.
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May 22, 2014 21:00
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OneWhoKnows posted:Was there a significant rate difference between your 15-year fixed and a 30? I'll have that info when I speak to her at 4. When I met with her yesterday to compare rates, the interest paid on the 30 year was around 93k, versus 40k for the 15 year. The monthly payment difference for the 15 was 300/mo more than the 30 year. It seems crazy to go with a 30 year if we can afford the 15.
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May 22, 2014 21:06
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Yeah but if you're planning on paying it off in 15 or less, the top interest number for the 30k is waaaaaaay smaller. If being able to pay $300 less in a given month could save your bacon sometime (random emergency torps your emergency fund and you don't have enough without liquidating some investments but can hang on with a lower mortgage payment for a couple months), then it might be worth a bit of extra interest for the flexibility. That's what we did, at least, and don't regret it; probably paying it off in less than 10 years, but just having the flexibility is...nice.
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May 22, 2014 21:11
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silvergoose posted:Yeah but if you're planning on paying it off in 15 or less, the top interest number for the 30k is waaaaaaay smaller. If being able to pay $300 less in a given month could save your bacon sometime (random emergency torps your emergency fund and you don't have enough without liquidating some investments but can hang on with a lower mortgage payment for a couple months), then it might be worth a bit of extra interest for the flexibility. Nah, we should be OK. We're able to afford the payments quite easily solely on a single income, so if one of us loses a job, we're still very clear. Including escrow for insurance/tax stuff, the monthly payment is $1400/mo give or take if we buy a house for the full $325k. There's no PMI with the huge down payment. Right now, we're easily able to afford rent of $1400/mo on just my income, so even with the extra utility costs I'm not expecting trouble on a single income. Plus, unless something goes horribly wrong, we'll have a second income that we're basically throwing into the bank for a rainy day. Edit: of course there are still risks, but they're unlikely, and honestly we have another safety net if we absolutely need it. ssb fucked around with this message at 21:18 on May 22, 2014 |
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May 22, 2014 21:16
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silvergoose posted:Yeah but if you're planning on paying it off in 15 or less, the top interest number for the 30k is waaaaaaay smaller. If being able to pay $300 less in a given month could save your bacon sometime (random emergency torps your emergency fund and you don't have enough without liquidating some investments but can hang on with a lower mortgage payment for a couple months), then it might be worth a bit of extra interest for the flexibility. I had planned on doing a 15 year, but my mortgage broker pretty much talked me out of it in one phone call for the reasons you mentioned. Update on the house that was possibly going back on the market: The buyer got the financing taken care of and they close today! 
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May 22, 2014 21:17
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No real reason to go with the 30 year, then; I'm on one (good) income and while we have a ton saved away, invested, sitting around...still wanted the extra flexibility and with tax writeoffs of the slight bit of extra interest, decided on the 30 year.
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May 22, 2014 21:18
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silvergoose posted:No real reason to go with the 30 year, then; I'm on one (good) income and while we have a ton saved away, invested, sitting around...still wanted the extra flexibility and with tax writeoffs of the slight bit of extra interest, decided on the 30 year. What would be the benefit of going on the 30 year and just making higher payments? The percentages look worse ( http://www.uwcu.org/HomeLoans/Default.aspx ) and I see little benefit unless we have a big setback. Edit: Explain it to me like I don't know anything. It's not accurate but it'll make sure I understand clearly. ssb fucked around with this message at 21:22 on May 22, 2014 |
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May 22, 2014 21:20
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Again, the flexibility of paying less in a given month or stretch is the only upside. If you don't see that as enough of an upside to justify the small rate increase (seriously, if you're paying it off in the same time, you're really not paying much more interest), that's completely your decision and it sounds like you can make that decision quite comfortably. It's definitely not a one-size-fits-all, to be sure.
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May 22, 2014 21:23
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That's precisely it. You have a slightly higher interest rate but a lot more flexibility.
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May 22, 2014 21:24
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silvergoose posted:Again, the flexibility of paying less in a given month or stretch is the only upside. If you don't see that as enough of an upside to justify the small rate increase (seriously, if you're paying it off in the same time, you're really not paying much more interest), that's completely your decision and it sounds like you can make that decision quite comfortably. Oh, ok. I thought there was something else here that I wasn't thinking of. A full point and the safety net we have in the worst case, poo poo hit the fan scenario means I think I'd like to stick with the 15 year. I really value hearing other options that I may not have understood though, so thank you for explaining it. I'd rather look stupid and ask too many questions than think I know everything when there's no loving way that I do.
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May 22, 2014 21:24
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No worries whatsoever! It's a very valid question, and for a lot of people, the flexibility is worth the rate increase, especially when planning on paying it off in 15 years or less. And for some, it's totally not worth it. Either way, valuable discussion to have.
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May 22, 2014 21:26
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And it's also worth noting that while the total interest paid sounds crazy thinking in 2014 dollars, it won't seem like such a big deal in worthless 2044 dollars (or in other words, inflation is likely to cancel out a large part of the interest costs).
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May 22, 2014 21:27
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silvergoose posted:No worries whatsoever! It's a very valid question, and for a lot of people, the flexibility is worth the rate increase, especially when planning on paying it off in 15 years or less. And for some, it's totally not worth it. Either way, valuable discussion to have. I'll discuss it with the credit union when I call them in a half hour to get their take on it. Flexibility is something, even if it's only $300/mo, and it's worth solid consideration. Honestly, we had ruled out buying a house until a year after my wife starts her new job to make sure it works out and everything, but with the trouble we're having finding an apartment that'll let us have 3 pets (they either hang up on us or charge us a ludicrous monthly fee and double/triple damage deposit for having a miniature schnauzer and 2 declawed cats, which is bullshit) and the fact that we can put such a massive down payment in makes buying look very attractive so long as we can do the payments comfortably on a single (my) income. PMI would probably have made that scenario uncomfortable, but we won't need it, so... It's still very overwhelming and rushed feeling to me, but considering the scenario, I think it's a calculated risk for us to buy. Plus, $325k is more than we're planning on spending. We've seen a number of promising houses in the 275k range, which means we'll be taking a $100k mortgage rather than a $150k mortgage, which makes it even easier. Edit: /\/\/\ is a good point, but I'm not about to start speculating on dollar values, because if I count on it then we'll have some sort of anti-inflation thing done where it's completely backwards from that. Never mind that it's not possible. Edit 2: I talked to the credit union. There's no real benefit to going with the 30 year over the 15 year, aside from the aforementioned flexibility, and the downside is that extra point of interest. We'll stick with the 15 year I think. Also, our rate isn't locked until we have an accepted offer, as they need an address to lock it, but it'll lock to whatever it says on the website that I linked above. The credit rating didn't matter with the down payment size that we have, as it turned out. Still irritating though. All in all, we look good, and now it's time to find a house! I'm simultaneously super excited and also super horrified about this whole thing. ssb fucked around with this message at 22:17 on May 22, 2014 |
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May 22, 2014 21:31
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So how bad are foundation issues? Near every house I've looked at in the Dallas area has had cracks above window/door frames or worse. It's reasonable not to want to buy a house that immediately needs foundation work right?
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May 23, 2014 05:20
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SpartanIV posted:So how bad are foundation issues? Near every house I've looked at in the Dallas area has had cracks above window/door frames or worse. It's reasonable not to want to buy a house that immediately needs foundation work right? Depends. One big thing is how old the house is. Lots of older houses will have a thin crack here or there because the foundation has settled a bit over the last 50+ years, and that doesn't necessarily mean there's a foundation problem. Big cracks, floors that noticeably slope towards one edge/corner, door frames that appear to be out of true/doors that won't open or close, those are all bigger warning signs. But yes, if the foundation is in bad shape, you don't want to get involved. Foundation work isn't always horrifyingly expensive, but it can be, and is often enough for it to generally not be worth it.
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May 23, 2014 08:56
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House update: So after originally stating we'd want a retainer to supplement the cost of the roof repairs, the vendor came back with a insignificant amount of £1,500 to be withheld. This makes no sense since the quoted roof costs he got was like £7,000. If anything, we're worried the guy won't repair the roof at all and banking on the legal costs of sueing him wouldn't be worth it. Also that £7k quote to fix the roof was some random cash in hand guy. Now I'm going with a roofer I found (credible and good reviews) and going to the property to do a realistic assessment of the roof. Going to go into the loft as well and check out the timbers (if the roof was poo poo before, I want to see what kind of state the timbers are in). I'm going to take the home buyers report in and show the roofer the areas highlighted and see what he says. The roofer said he'd do a free estimate but I'm tempted to just pay the guy £50 to do a through job so I know where I stand. Anything else I should consider/bring?
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May 23, 2014 12:20
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So I just received my loan commitment letter and everything is approved  . I also received confirmation that the underwriter has approved the insurance I will be purchasing Tuesday since I sent over the wind mitigation report ahead of time. I've forwarded the quote and confirmation from the insurance agency over to the closing department to give them a head start. Tomorrow I am going on my Memorial Day trip up to the family lakehouse, which was the same trip last year where I received a phone call letting me know I wouldn't be getting the home I was under contract for. Funny how stuff works!
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May 23, 2014 19:57
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