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Just got my appraisal report: we appraised at $330k! That would put us at 33% equity, so we can definitely move forward with the refi. Woohoo!
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Jun 27, 2014 02:35
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Previous owner didn't let the primer cure in the rush to get the place ready to sell, so now we have to hand peel it off. Do Never Buy
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Jun 27, 2014 13:19
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Man, it's been a long time since I lived paycheck to paycheck and while I don't technically live paycheck to paycheck feeling like I do sucks. I can't wait for all of this to be over with.
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Jun 27, 2014 18:14
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We're going to go talk to a mortgage officer at a bank, and they've requested 2 pay stubs, 2 years of W-2s, 2 years of tax returns, etc. The only issue is that I got my new job a little over two years ago, and it pays a lot better than my old job did. So of my two tax returns, one is representative of my income situation and the other is about 2/3 of my current income, because for the first half of that year I was making a lot less. Will bringing the older tax return and pair of W-2s screw me? Should I wait another 6 months so that I can have 2 full years' worth of tax returns from a single high-paying job? QuarkJets fucked around with this message at 04:52 on Jun 28, 2014 |
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Jun 28, 2014 04:50
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They're going to dig deep enough into your financials that the fact you had a low paying job for an older W2 99.999% won't matter. If you get a weirdo loan officer or underwriter or whatever, and they flip out over it, find another place to get the mortgage. Also I closed yesterday. Home owner 
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Jun 28, 2014 06:02
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If you're using bonus/OT/commission to qualify it might cause an issue depending on your debt ratios, what the job/industry change was, and how picky the lender is. If you're just qualifying off your base salary/hourly rate your W2 and tax returns from a prior job 2 years ago aren't going to matter much compared to year to date earnings and the last year W2 outside of some weird edge cases.
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Jun 28, 2014 06:24
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I like turtles posted:Also I closed yesterday. Home owner Hello, fellow new home owner! I think making less in an old job will not end up making much difference. Anecdotal evidence: my wife and I were able to qualify when my previous job was being a graduate student. The two places we shopped for loans were both concerned about my wife working in sales and possibly earning commissions (which she doesn't), but did not give a drat about my job.
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Jun 28, 2014 07:08
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We're well on our way to home ownership now. All the mortgage papers are in, and we're almost through getting stuff fixed/negotiated from the home inspection. I'm a little nervous about making such a big life change, but we love the house and the total monthly is actually a little cheaper than our rent, hopefully offsetting a little bit of the extra costs of ownership.
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Jun 28, 2014 19:47
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Captain Windex posted:If you're using bonus/OT/commission to qualify it might cause an issue depending on your debt ratios, what the job/industry change was, and how picky the lender is. If you're just qualifying off your base salary/hourly rate your W2 and tax returns from a prior job 2 years ago aren't going to matter much compared to year to date earnings and the last year W2 outside of some weird edge cases. Yoked posted:Hello, fellow new home owner! Awesome, thanks guys. That's exactly what I wanted to know. We're meeting them in about an hour, hopefully things go well
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Jun 28, 2014 19:55
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My lease expires at my apartment this coming October. I'm ready to leave renting behind and start owning. I live very close to work and there's a really nice condo available that's within walking distance of my current apartment. The price is very reasonable, and I could easily make a 20% down payment and cover any closing costs. There's also a house available for the same price ($85,000 if you must know) within half a mile of my current apartment as well, but this place so far doesn't look as attractive as the condo, but I could still see myself living there. So distance is not a concern- both would be very close to where I work. If I were to go for the condo, my ultimate plan would be to live there for 5-10 years, move into a house, and then either rent out the condo or sell it. If I went for the house, I could see myself staying there indefinitely- easily 15-20 years or more. But just from looking at the ads online, I could already tell I would probably enjoy the condo more than the house. I haven't actually looked at either of the places. Is it completely bonkers for me to even consider a condo when I could get a house for the same price? Is it a crazy notion for me to think possibly renting out my condo would be a good idea? Is getting a condo even a good idea at all? I'm an absolute rookie at the home buying game.
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Jun 29, 2014 03:10
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Do never buy... If you want a condo, it's ok to buy a condo. Just go into it with your eyes open - the costs, rules, risks are different in ways you wouldn't necessarily realize at first glance (condo associations ahoy). The market is different. The maintenance is different. Poke around earlier in the thread if you have the patience for it, some of that stuff has been discussed before. Maybe most important is to not get too attached to the one condo that has pretty pictures and is really convenient to where you are now. You need to be able to drop the idea like a hot rock if the condo association is in arrears or some other such thing - and it's tougher to make good decisions about that stuff if you're already sold on it emotionally. Same thing applies to houses though. slap me silly fucked around with this message at 03:43 on Jun 29, 2014 |
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Jun 29, 2014 03:40
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I closed on my house on Monday! Or course I had a series of work emergencies that lasted until late Friday that prevented me from getting in there to install new appliances and get prepping for paint, but today I spent a poo poo ton of time trying to get it up to speed. Met several neighbors, one of which helped me with an old dishwasher water line problem that was stalling me, so already, score! gently caress being anti-social, get to know and love your neighbors, they are in the best position of all to become your Default Friends when everything else shifts around.
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Jun 29, 2014 03:50
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Also do never buy because stainless appliances, granite, paint, and other sundries cost a metric gently caress ton. Not to mention the how much an assing removing wall-paper ahead of painting is.
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Jun 29, 2014 03:51
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Turnquiet posted:Also do never buy because stainless appliances, granite, paint, and other sundries cost a metric gently caress ton. Not to mention the how much an assing removing wall-paper ahead of painting is. One of the lessons in that is Do Never Wallpaper because it's basically always ugly as gently caress.
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Jun 30, 2014 17:11
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slap me silly posted:Do never buy... If you want a condo, it's ok to buy a condo. No it's not. All the negatives of home ownership (stuck and can't move if market takes a dive, have to pay for your own repairs and maintenance which can be wildly expensive if they affect the outside of the unit at all, etc.) and very few of the positives - if there's a party one floor up or across the hall, you're hearing it even if you're not invited. Oh and peoples' pipes bursting above you at 2 AM is fun too. It doesn't matter if you take good care of your plumbing, because if your neighbors don't, you get some nice water damage and good luck figuring out who they were and getting them to pay for your drywall repairs. Never buy a condo.
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Jun 30, 2014 17:44
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Vinny the Shark posted:My lease expires at my apartment this coming October. I'm ready to leave renting behind and start owning. I live very close to work and there's a really nice condo available that's within walking distance of my current apartment. The price is very reasonable, and I could easily make a 20% down payment and cover any closing costs. There's also a house available for the same price ($85,000 if you must know) within half a mile of my current apartment as well, but this place so far doesn't look as attractive as the condo, but I could still see myself living there. So distance is not a concern- both would be very close to where I work. Consider all the angles of condo ownership. I lived in my girlfriend's condo for a year and a half before she could sell it and we bought a house. To me, a condo seemed like all the worst things about owning a house combined with all the worst things about living in an apartment, with an extra layer of bullshit spread thick on top in the form of the HOA. Every situation is different and a lot of people are very happy with their condos, but I could not wait to get the hell out of there. Living is a condo is a lot like living in an apartment. Parking, shared amenities, landscaping, etc. Also you're right on top of your rear end in a top hat neighbors and their lovely barking dogs, their disgusting smoking, loud-rear end TVs, car door slamming parties, etc. Unlike an apartment though, you can't just move when your lease is up. Also you can't complain to the manager but you can complain to the HOA. If you're lucky, your board will be full of empathetic, responsive folks who take their positions seriously. Chances are though, the board is made up of petty, useless, and uncaring folks who have nothing better going on in their lives than the HOA. Ours was made up of apathetic do-nothings. They spent a year (a whole year!) putting together a list of owners and phone numbers in a 36 unit complex. So complaints about rules violations never went anywhere. Your idiot board is in charge of finances. Inspect the most recent reserve study and run screaming if they don't have one. Many boards either won't or can't increase dues to keep up reserves, so the owners get hit with huge special assessments when the complex needs new siding, pavement, pool equipment, roofs. Another crappy thing is even if the board appears to be in good shape now, all that can go to poo poo when the sitting members keel over and die and new members replace them. That is, if you can even get a quorum to elect a new member in the first place. In apartment living, I put up with all the bullshit, minus the HOA stuff, because I had the perks of being a renter. My water heater broke and I called maintenance. My stinky loud neighbors wouldn't shut up so I just moved. In a condo, you're stuck with what you get. Our board got involved in a lawsuit, suing the developer for underfunding the HOA. It spent something like 6 years in the court system, during which time nobody could sell, since banks don't want to lend on condos with pending litigation. My point here is that so much stuff is beyond your control in a condo living situation that just isn't a factor with a house. I don't mean to convince you not to buy a condo, just consider the details. If the idea of buying an apartment is OK with you, go for it. No yard to keep up, probably no major maintenance expenses, you get a pool or whatever to use. But in a house, you can hire someone to cut the grass, save monthly for major expenses (no association fees!) and swim at the Y.
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Jun 30, 2014 18:11
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Found three dead bats in the past two days in my new house. Saturday afternoon, found one while moving stuff in. It was dead on the floor in the mudroom right next to an outside door. Moved in Saturday night so all the doors were open for a couple hours. Sunday (yesterday) afternoon found two behind poo poo I moved in and sat on the floor on Friday. Same wall, adjoining room. The attic has mesh on the apex vents and there were no sign of them in the inspection. Also heard nothing last night, which was the first night I slept in the house. Do bats die that quickly? What's the likelihood they came in while I was moving in? There were a shitload of bugs on the interior ceiling lamps that night and no sign of dead bugs yesterday morning.
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Jun 30, 2014 18:24
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Sounds like you might be living in... bat country.
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Jun 30, 2014 23:50
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Economic Sinkhole posted:Consider all the angles of condo ownership. I lived in my girlfriend's condo for a year and a half before she could sell it and we bought a house. To me, a condo seemed like all the worst things about owning a house combined with all the worst things about living in an apartment, with an extra layer of bullshit spread thick on top in the form of the HOA. Every situation is different and a lot of people are very happy with their condos, but I could not wait to get the hell out of there. I couldn't have said this better if I wanted to. This should be stickied at the top of the thread and referenced anyone even thinks about buying a condo. No one should buy a condo.
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Jul 1, 2014 00:01
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skipdogg posted:I couldn't have said this better if I wanted to. This should be stickied at the top of the thread and referenced anyone even thinks about buying a condo. Buying a condo is like leasing a car. In all but the most edge cases it's a lovely financial decision, yet it appeals to many people.
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Jul 1, 2014 02:17
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Bloody Queef posted:Buying a condo is like leasing a car. In all but the most edge cases it's a lovely financial decision, yet it appeals to many people. Look, I just really want the freedom to do thing like paint the walls without having to paint them back or pay a fine when I move out, replace the appliances when they break out of my own pocket, install fixtures loving *everywhere*, and participate in my own LARP of Lord of the Flies as realized by the HOA board, and that somehow makes me bad with money? Maybe I don't want to be good with money then!
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Jul 1, 2014 07:53
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The only time when condos make sense is if you really want to live in an extremely desirable and high-density area for a long time. You're not buying anything other than a condo in downtown Seattle unless you're very rich, and the rental market in areas like that can be extremely unstable, especially since you may be outright kicked out when your lease expires if the landlord's neighbor's son decides he wants your apartment.
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Jul 1, 2014 11:02
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baquerd posted:Look, I just really want the freedom to do thing like paint the walls without having to paint them back or pay a fine when I move out, replace the appliances when they break out of my own pocket, install fixtures loving *everywhere*, and participate in my own LARP of Lord of the Flies as realized by the HOA board, and that somehow makes me bad with money? Maybe I don't want to be good with money then! The fine for painting is going to be cheaper than paying bullshit fees and doing your own maintenance. In fact the security deposit hit for most of that poo poo isn't going to be a thing. And if you want to buy appliances, the apartment will probably let you. Why the hell would you though? Personally I hate everything about condos except maybe downtown in large cities. Otherwise what the guy above said nailed it.
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Jul 1, 2014 12:29
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Condos make sense for people that aren't looking for the things most homebuyers tend to want (privacy, control of dwelling, lower long term costs). Otherwise, you're more or less forced into the situation just due to sheer lack of housing supply that can work for your living standards. I'd rather spend the pain and frustration that'd go into dealing with an HOA into something more productive or enjoyable than to buy a place with an HOA out of the bullshit excuse of playing for convenience, so to speak. Only if you get supremely lucky with a condo is the experience positive while most detached SFH owners aren't typically stressed out and such over the mere management of their place. The crazy thing about vacation condos is that you may be better off buying a timeshare for the same place instead. A lot of what (showy) rich people's habits are to throw away money as an indicator of how plentiful it is for them. You have almost no reason to be reading about whether it's ok to buy vacation condos if you're rich enough for dumping money into buying one alongside your two other houses. skipdogg posted:I couldn't have said this better if I wanted to. This should be stickied at the top of the thread and referenced anyone even thinks about buying a condo.
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Jul 1, 2014 13:46
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necrobobsledder posted:Otherwise, you're more or less forced into the situation just due to sheer lack of housing supply that can work for your living standards. I'm going to keep rolling with my car lease analogy. If you can't afford to buy an S class Mercedes, you don't lease it, you go buy a Honda or maybe the new CLA class. Same thing with housing in a high end area. If you can't afford a house that you want in a nice area, change the area or go smaller. If you have to buy a condo to be where you want and the size of house you want, you can't afford it and should reassess.
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Jul 1, 2014 14:18
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necrobobsledder posted:Pretty sure my rant about HOAs in general in the OP is sufficient of a warning. I'd suggest that people won't connect HOAs and Condos necessarily and may not relate the two, so I think it'd be pretty good to have there.
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Jul 1, 2014 14:39
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Bloody Queef posted:If you have to buy a condo to be where you want and the size of house you want, you can't afford it and should reassess. This is going a bit far. Condos are a perfectly reasonable way to get to live in a particular neighborhood of a city you like if single family homes in that neighborhood are too expensive, while also getting to build equity that you wouldn't get living in an apartment. I'm not saying all the red flags and warnings that are being mentioned aren't valid, only that there are good buildings with good HOAs in good neighborhoods. It's not as simple as HOUSE OR NOTHING.
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Jul 1, 2014 15:53
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Rooster Brooster posted:build equity I agree with what you're saying overall but "build equity", haha, unlikely. Condos are generally too expensive for the break-even time vs renting to be short enough to claim that one.
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Jul 1, 2014 15:56
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slap me silly posted:I agree with what you're saying overall but "build equity", haha, unlikely. Condos are generally too expensive for the break-even time vs renting to be short enough to claim that one. I think it's hard to generalize much about condos across the country, but sure, looking at buying a condo as an investment is probably not wise. The longer you stay after buying the better the math works out, which is probably the most important thing to be aware of.
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Jul 1, 2014 16:04
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gently caress carpet tack strips, especially those with 3" long nails going into otherwise gorgeous hard wood.
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Jul 1, 2014 16:17
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I like turtles posted:gently caress carpet tack strips, especially those with 3" long nails going into otherwise gorgeous hard wood. I've been there, bro. Just make sure you have a good crowbar. Consider yourself lucky that the old owners weren't like the ones who owned this place, who glued carpet to linoleum floor. Ripping that up was some of the most exhausting work of my life.
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Jul 1, 2014 17:43
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It seems like once every few months this thread goes through a phase where there's a chain of posts saying why they would never buy a condo and then from there onto why no one else should ever buy one. Blanket advice like that is usually shortsighted as not everyone lives in the same area/market or is in the same situation or has the same wants/needs. Research your situation very carefully when you're making the largest purchase of your life and then make a well thought out decision from there. There are different potential pitfalls and risks in a condo opposed to a SFH - very true - and warning people of those risks is a good thing. The condo I purchased was an perfect fit for me and my situation and also made a lot of sense financially, but the same won't be true for everyone else.
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Jul 1, 2014 21:09
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The advice of "never buy a condo ever" also scares the crap out of me because we can't have viable urban areas without multi-family housing, and America keeps pushing the idea of owning your domicile as a path to financial sustainability. This is a macro-economics discussion that doesn't really fit here, but it's kind of terrifying for the future of humanity if we think everybody should live in a SFH. I can't look at something like Chicago and say that the world would be better off if all of those people sprawled into the suburbs and lived in SFHs and drove everywhere etc etc.
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Jul 1, 2014 21:48
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The other option you skipped was people renting in those dense environments rather than owning. Another option that I personal think would be better is if our society, development practices, etc. made massive improvements in how condos work. Multifamily living would be a lot more tolerable if there were mandatory sound insulation levels that meant you didn't have to hear your neighbors constantly, if condo boards/HOAs were better regulated and had a lot less power to dick people over, more financial oversight, etc., and weren't allowed to do bullshit like disallow people from changing the oil in their car while parked in their spot. Many of the drawbacks of condo ownership are unnecessary and could be fixed. We absolutely do need to learn to love density if we are going to reduce our dependence on freeway commuting as a way of life, and stop paving over all our best farmland with housing developments. Setting that aside, though, a big part of the Do Never Buy housing thread is to warn people who have gotten wrong ideas (usually rose-tinted glasses) about home ownership in general. There is an endless parade of new posters who don't understand all the costs, risks, and drawbacks and are eager to buy (or buy way more than they can realistically afford) due to what amounts to a relentless propaganda campaign boosting home ownership as a financial panacea. The biggest warning sign for that viewpoint is the "throwing away money on rent"/"build equity" thing. So if it seems like folks are being really down on condo ownership, well, keep that in context: to some degree we're really down on just buying in general, just to try to counter this big like that so many people are fed about how owning a home is the ultimate goal in life, the key to a financially secure future, and a fundamental factor in achieving the American Dream. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Jul 1, 2014 |
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Jul 1, 2014 22:11
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Renting is good, but as you say, the "American Dream" pushes us all towards home ownership. I'm 100% behind getting rid of things like the mortgage interest deduction to level the playing field, but as it stands now the federal government wants you to own your home, whatever form that may take. Change needs to happen in some way, but right now we seem to be in this weird state where owning your home is encouraged but in a lot of environments owning your home is an absolutely stupid thing to do.
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Jul 1, 2014 22:28
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Boola posted:It seems like once every few months this thread goes through a phase where there's a chain of posts saying why they would never buy a condo and then from there onto why no one else should ever buy one. Blanket advice like that is usually shortsighted as not everyone lives in the same area/market or is in the same situation or has the same wants/needs. Yeah, the mantra that all the anti-condo guys keep repeating is "all the drawbacks of home ownership AND renting". I've responded with detailed counter arguments a few times in this thread, till I got tired of doing it. It's not all drawbacks. You also get some of the benefits of owning while keeping some of the benefits of renting. But yeah, "do never buy" still applies. It took me 6 years but I finally got my brand-new-in-2008 A/C to work two years in a row. When I go to replace my furnace that contractor is getting the business.
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Jul 1, 2014 22:41
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Never buy a condo is kind of a blanket statement in this thread geared at the SA Audience (younger adults in the 18 to 25 age range usually), who want to buy something because their entire lives adults have been telling them 'renting is throwing money away'. If someone comes into this thread and says I'm 40 years old and a working professional in Seattle and I want to buy a condo. I'm not married and I don't plan on having any kids. I do enjoy living in an urban area and it matches my lifestyle.... almost everyone would recommend that person buy a condo. What some folks in this thread say are doing is coming in here and saying "I'm 25 and just got my first good job, I'm tired of throwing money away on rent so I'm going to buy a 2 bedroom 1 bath condo, without taking into account how much someones life changes between the ages of 25 and 35. You get married, you have kids, you move for work, whatever. Being tied down to a piece of property, especially a condo is a dumb rear end idea. I don't recommend people in this situation buy a SFH either for the record.
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Jul 1, 2014 22:46
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FISHMANPET posted:The advice of "never buy a condo ever" also scares the crap out of me because we can't have viable urban areas without multi-family housing, and America keeps pushing the idea of owning your domicile as a path to financial sustainability. This is a macro-economics discussion that doesn't really fit here, but it's kind of terrifying for the future of humanity if we think everybody should live in a SFH. I can't look at something like Chicago and say that the world would be better off if all of those people sprawled into the suburbs and lived in SFHs and drove everywhere etc etc. Of my friends in Chicago (average age ~30) that have bought or are about to buy, all but one are going for condos. They buy into the 'pay myself rent' and 'I'll sell it in a few years and make money' traps, but with constant rent increases, it's hard to convince them to just keep renting. The only people who seem happy renting are those who are in horrible places that are extremely cheap.
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Jul 1, 2014 22:46
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I'm still not sure if I live in a townhouse or a condo. The entrance says "X Condominiums" but my understanding is that if I don't have anyone living above or below me (just one person to the side) then I live in a townhouse. Anyway, I haven't regretted it once since the move. The neighbors are nicer, my house and the entire neighborhood is well shaded so not only do I actually enjoy walking outside on a hot summer day but I don't have to use my AC as much. The walls are thick and I haven't heard a sound from the neighbors despite having two young kids and they haven't heard anything from me despite having two dogs. The only issue right now is getting my wife to throw things away or find better ways to organize her stuff. We'll get there eventually.
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Jul 1, 2014 22:53
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mastershakeman posted:The only people who seem happy renting are those who are in horrible places that are extremely cheap. My landlord practically shat himself when I told him I finally had a closing date, since it means he can start marketing the place early with a 20% increase and see if anyone bites before he starts dropping the price. I'm sure he'll get it too, things are already priced above $500/sqft in this building.
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Jul 1, 2014 22:55
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