|
I know I said it before, but holy poo poo home insurance quotes are all over the place. I've just been doing online ones before I start talking to actual agents, but they're just insane. My mortgage guy was "expecting" around $100/month but I've only had one quote even remotely close to that.
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2014 21:50
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 20:24 |
|
|
fknlo posted:I know I said it before, but holy poo poo home insurance quotes are all over the place. I've just been doing online ones before I start talking to actual agents, but they're just insane. My mortgage guy was "expecting" around $100/month but I've only had one quote even remotely close to that. Without flood insurance, I was able to get a $900/yr quote for decent insurance through USAA while everyone else's comparable quotes were at least a couple hundred more. My mortgage guy asked who I can only imagine is his friend for a quote and he responded with $1000/yr but with 3/5 the liability and medical payments. However, USAA's car insurance here is outrageous and at least an extra $100 a month for the same rate. I don't get it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2014 22:04
|
|
|
fknlo posted:I know I said it before, but holy poo poo home insurance quotes are all over the place. I've just been doing online ones before I start talking to actual agents, but they're just insane. My mortgage guy was "expecting" around $100/month but I've only had one quote even remotely close to that. I would recommend to stop doing this and talk to a local independent insurance agent. I pay 480 dollars a year for homeowners insurance from a local insurance company that only writes policies in Texas for newer construction homes... therefore it's almost half price from what I was paying Allstate before I switched. I know folks in our generation want to go to the internet for everything, but some things, like insurance are still better left to the professionals who have access to resources you don't. Another good resource is if your state department of insurance provides sample rates given certain criteria. For instance, I can go to the Texas website, plug in my county, zip, age of home, and other settings and get a list of sample rates. Then I know to reach out to the 3 or 4 cheapest companies. Farmers is the cheapest on the list, Allstate, USAA and State Farm are all towards the more expensive end of the spectrum.
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2014 22:16
|
|
|
Insurance companies have actuaries (bean counters) who want to expose the company only to a certain degree in different markets. Part of what you pay for your homeowner's insurance is just the normal relatively-random chance that your house will burn down, but part is based on your neighborhood/city/region - things like crime rates and income levels and so on. If Company A is looking to add more properties to their portfolio in your area while Company B already has a lot of properties in your area, Company A might offer a much better rate than Company B. Or at least, that's how it was explained to me by my broker. Also when comparing online, you may not be doing apples-to-apples comparisons of policies.
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2014 22:17
|
|
|
I switched from State Farm to American National when I bought my house. The car insurance is a good bit more, but the homeowners was a *lot* cheaper than what SF was quoting me, and that's with a million dollar umbrella tacked on (I have a pool). I've since sold our beater, so I think the gap has widened even more.
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2014 22:18
|
|
|
So we've had our offer accepted on this foreclosed home, very nice price and a pretty easy repair job overall (just flooring, painting, and drywall patching; all things that my wife and I are already good at). We've been working through a local bank to get our mortgage, but the bank that owns the foreclosure is also requiring that we get a prequal letter from the internal lending service, but after that we're free to go with whoever we want. However, if we go with them then the foreclosure-holding bank "can" pay up to $5k in closing costs and "can" pay for some or all of the lender-required repairs, so basiclaly they're suggesting that there may be an incentive (no guarantees) that I assume we'd negotiate later. I don't mind getting the prequal letter either way, but: A) What kind of repairs does a lender usually require? Are we talking about only major issues, like pipe replacement, roof replacement, etc. and not minor things like drywall patching? B) Does anyone have any experience with using the foreclosure-holding bank as a lender? Is this generally a good idea, bad idea, or what?
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2014 09:34
|
|
|
skipdogg posted:I would recommend to stop doing this and talk to a local independent insurance agent. I pay 480 dollars a year for homeowners insurance from a local insurance company that only writes policies in Texas for newer construction homes... therefore it's almost half price from what I was paying Allstate before I switched. Keep in mind that when you're talking to an insurance agent, he gets a pretty solid commission on your policy in perpetuity. You're paying for this in the premiums. They don't really add much value unless you have some insanely complicated life situation. When buying a home, many mortgage companies require A rated companies for a reason. Some cheap fly by night insurance company may decide to close up shop if a disaster hits a region they insure.
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2014 12:11
|
|
|
QuarkJets posted:So we've had our offer accepted on this foreclosed home, very nice price and a pretty easy repair job overall (just flooring, painting, and drywall patching; all things that my wife and I are already good at). We've been working through a local bank to get our mortgage, but the bank that owns the foreclosure is also requiring that we get a prequal letter from the internal lending service, but after that we're free to go with whoever we want. However, if we go with them then the foreclosure-holding bank "can" pay up to $5k in closing costs and "can" pay for some or all of the lender-required repairs, so basiclaly they're suggesting that there may be an incentive (no guarantees) that I assume we'd negotiate later. I don't mind getting the prequal letter either way, but: If this was an FHA foreclosure I'd be able to tell you more, but yeah, the stuff they required me to do was stuff like 'replace the 20 year old roof that's missing shingles and is falling apart, replace rotten screen door trim, T&P valve on water heater' stuff like that. We ended up doing a lot more than just what was required, but I think an FHA loan/foreclosure is going make you do more than a 'conventional' foreclosure.
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2014 15:19
|
|
|
Offer accepted! Holy poo poo we're buying a house.
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2014 23:47
|
|
|
HKR posted:Offer accepted! Holy poo poo we're buying a house. Has this thread taught you nothing?! But seriously, congrats.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 00:07
|
|
|
HOA docs for the house we want has rules for how many pets you can have. Well, that sounds reasonable, don't want people with like 15 cats that roam the property! Whats that? The limit is 2? Total? Huh, so what do I do with the 4 I already have?! Guess we might not buy this house after all! loving HOAs. Why are there so many HOAs in Palm Springs/Desert/Indio?!
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 02:13
|
|
|
So they want $150,000 and we offered $143 with them paying $3k in costs. They counter with $150,000 and $2k in costs..wtf Should I counter or just walk away? We want the house and the houses like it are all selling for $147k or so, and I don't want to tap out the amount of our loan just to get a house. Buying a house is loving stressful.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 02:46
|
|
|
fknlo posted:I know I said it before, but holy poo poo home insurance quotes are all over the place. I've just been doing online ones before I start talking to actual agents, but they're just insane. My mortgage guy was "expecting" around $100/month but I've only had one quote even remotely close to that. Insurance goon here to say that what another poster alluded to is right. Sometimes Company A is looking for more policies, sometimes Company B isn't so you'll get different rates. You also have to remember, a lot of the preferred carriers use credit to varying degrees based on the state you're in. If you're credit is terrible, you may get a great rate with certain companies over others. The difference is the companies tend to run the credit in the mean time and jack up the rates later-or they may not! Its a gamble! But if you're hitting the Big Companies, having a good credit score, solid insurance history, and few claims are going to help you a lot more than the type of house you're getting. How has your experience been so far?
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 02:50
|
|
|
Jastiger posted:So they want $150,000 and we offered $143 with them paying $3k in costs. They counter with $150,000 and $2k in costs..wtf If houses in the area are selling for 147K why the hell would they take your 140K(net) offer? That doesn't make sense or seem reasonable. It's a reasonable counter if houses are indeed selling for 147, expecting you to counter again. Offer 147 with 2K in closing cost assistance.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 03:11
|
|
|
skipdogg posted:If houses in the area are selling for 147K why the hell would they take your 140K(net) offer? That doesn't make sense or seem reasonable. It's a reasonable counter if houses are indeed selling for 147, expecting you to counter again. Offer 147 with 2K in closing cost assistance. That is exactly what we did. Well every other house on the block is bigger and sold for more in the last few years. The two story next door sold for $148K and it had a few hundred square feet more, and was about 6 years newer. I think the house is honestly worth about $145k. It assessed for $140 with the city and larger houses went for $145-$150. We'll see what they say.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 04:03
|
|
|
Jastiger posted:That is exactly what we did. Well every other house on the block is bigger and sold for more in the last few years. The two story next door sold for $148K and it had a few hundred square feet more, and was about 6 years newer. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me, giving up several hundred square feet for no appreciable change in cost?
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 20:59
|
|
|
baquerd posted:That doesn't make a lot of sense to me, giving up several hundred square feet for no appreciable change in cost? They stuck to their guns and finally came down to $149K and offered 2.5k in closing costs, giving a net cost of $146.5k. Its totally doable but....our monthly expenses wouldn't go down as its slightly above our budget. We're paying about $1150 a month to rent, this place would cost $1179 to own. We really don't know what to do. We are really hesitant. We have an OK savings for contingents and are sure some stuff would be coming down due to the inspection. Should we spring for more house or wait out for another one? Jastiger fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Aug 8, 2014 |
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 21:52
|
|
|
PuTTY riot posted:If this was an FHA foreclosure I'd be able to tell you more, but yeah, the stuff they required me to do was stuff like 'replace the 20 year old roof that's missing shingles and is falling apart, replace rotten screen door trim, T&P valve on water heater' stuff like that. We ended up doing a lot more than just what was required, but I think an FHA loan/foreclosure is going make you do more than a 'conventional' foreclosure. I don't know if the foreclosure is FHA or conventional. We're taking out a conventional loan, is that what you mean?
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 22:11
|
|
|
Jastiger posted:They stuck to their guns and finally came down to $149K and offered 2.5k in closing costs, giving a net cost of $146.5k. How long has the home been on the market?
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 22:13
|
|
|
QuarkJets posted:I don't know if the foreclosure is FHA or conventional. We're taking out a conventional loan, is that what you mean? Yeah, I suppose so. The foreclosure we bought was a HUD owned home and we used an FHA loan.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 22:14
|
|
|
QuarkJets posted:I don't know if the foreclosure is FHA or conventional. We're taking out a conventional loan, is that what you mean? Foreclosures are foreclosures. If you were taking an FHA loan, there would be extra requirements for "habitability" of the house you are buying, including stuff like "must have basic appliances" and "can't have any exposed wiring" and stuff like that. Since foreclosures are bank-owned and banks tend to sell the house "as-is", it can be an obstacle at times. We still were able to buy a foreclosure with an FHA loan, mind you. But we saw a handful of houses that would not have passed FHA inspection. Jastiger posted:They stuck to their guns and finally came down to $149K and offered 2.5k in closing costs, giving a net cost of $146.5k. I feel like if your budget is so tight that an extra fifty bucks a month one way or another is a serious problem for you, then you are way overspending on your house. You should have like a few hundred bucks margin in your monthly budget, at least, just to cover unexpected home-ownership costs.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 22:16
|
|
|
Jastiger posted:They stuck to their guns and finally came down to $149K and offered 2.5k in closing costs, giving a net cost of $146.5k. Recall that rent is a cap and mortgage/escrow/insurance is a floor. For the increased risk you're taking you probably can't afford to buy a house just yet.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 22:39
|
|
|
Leperflesh posted:But we saw a handful of houses that would not have passed FHA inspection. This is one of the things a 203k loan is for. Huge pain though, about done with ours, thank god.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 22:41
|
|
|
bartkusa posted:How long has the home been on the market? A little over 3 months. Engineer Lenk posted:Recall that rent is a cap and mortgage/escrow/insurance is a floor. For the increased risk you're taking you probably can't afford to buy a house just yet. What do you mean by this? Leperflesh posted:Foreclosures are foreclosures. If you were taking an FHA loan, there would be extra requirements for "habitability" of the house you are buying, including stuff like "must have basic appliances" and "can't have any exposed wiring" and stuff like that. Since foreclosures are bank-owned and banks tend to sell the house "as-is", it can be an obstacle at times. It isn't a serious problem like "we won't be able to pay it" its more "we don't WANT to pay it". We make well beyond what we are budgetting for a monthly expense, we just want to save money, build equity, and be able to have some stability for our daughter. I'm aware that the extra costs come with a house, and I'm willing to pay them to get those intangibles. To offset that, we're willing to get a little less house than we can really afford.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 22:55
|
|
|
Jastiger posted:What do you mean by this? I think he means when you're renting, your rent is a fixed monthly cost. When you own, your mortgage payment is a minimum that you will spend, because of things like appliances that break, landscaping that dies, pipes that burst, wiring to replace, etc. You don't have to spend extra to maintain a rental property (and if you were, you were doing something wrong). When I rented and stuff broke, even if I "paid" to fix it, it got taken off my rent that I paid to the landlord, because it saved him the trip to fix it. Now that I own, if something breaks I've got to pay for it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 23:11
|
|
|
quote:What do you mean by this? It means that rent is the maximum you need to pay every month (landlord is responsible for the furnace exploding, roof leaking, etc). House payment is the minimum you need to pay every month. You're responsible for the stuff that goes wrong, and regular maintenance and stuff that goes wrong happens with every house. I've heard 0.5% to 1.5% of the house price annually is a good thing to plan for, depending on the age of your big ticket items and I'm sure the cost of living in your area/how "luxury" your house is and your desire to keep up appearances (landscaping, paint, driveway sealing etc.). Once you buy a house, everything is slowly and inexorably wearing out. You will eventually replace (if you have the following) the roof, boiler/furnace, hot water heater, we'll pump, A/C, appliances, windows, paint, driveway. That's the minimum, not accounting for any improvements you want to make or other things that will wear out but aren't life or death (you can live with lovely carpet or scratched up hardwood and old furniture, for example). That's what the monthly expense is for, either fixing what breaks or saving for big-ticket items. You should know the rough replacement cost of all the essentials, their approximate life, and their age before going into a house. Then plan to spend that over maybe 5, 10, 15, 20 years (unless everything has just been replaced). If you don't have the monthly budget for that, you are going in at significant risk. Sorry to be the harbinger of sorrow, it's cool when you can pull it off but just don't go in with blinders on thinking your principal, interest, taxes, and insurance is going to be your fixed housing cost. Building equity is a terrible reason to buy a house IMO.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2014 23:12
|
|
|
uwaeve posted:It means that rent is the maximum you need to pay every month (landlord is responsible for the furnace exploding, roof leaking, etc). House payment is the minimum you need to pay every month. You're responsible for the stuff that goes wrong, and regular maintenance and stuff that goes wrong happens with every house. Ah yeah ok that makes sense. I guess I kind of knew that in a sense. Yeah we had calculated all of that out. We pay about $1150 or so in rent and can afford probably $1350 if need be, more so once the wife starts working full time in earnest. Our goal was to take that extra $200 (at LEAST, will increase over time as other bills are paid) and put it into a savings account in a separate bank to be used only for house repairs and upkeep. The roof is new, the furnace will need to be replaced in probably 3 to 5 years, and everything else was put in pretty new within the last few years so we think that plan will work for us going forward. I didn't know that the 1.5% was a good rule, and we were going to end up right in there. Its tough we are picky on what we want, and the houses we want are either too old, in a terrible neighborhood, or have something otherwise wrong with them. We finally find one we like and bam, the sellers won't budge. We don't know whether to go for it, and take a bit higher cost, or bank on getting the extra VA military grants to lower the price...or go in as is and have a higher payment. Or to go back and wait, and possibly mess up our moving plans by forcing us to renew the lease:(
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2014 00:03
|
|
|
You used the phrase "build equity", so I will point out that you are only "building equity" if the amount you pay to principal each month exceeds the amount you spend on upkeep. You are expecting to spend $200/month on upkeep, but with a 30 year $118k loan at 3.7% you are only putting $180 or so to principal at first. You won't even start "building equity" until year 3. And that's assuming the market value of the house doesn't change. Just putting things in perspective a little bit.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2014 02:32
|
|
|
slap me silly posted:You used the phrase "build equity", so I will point out that you are only "building equity" if the amount you pay to principal each month exceeds the amount you spend on upkeep. You are expecting to spend $200/month on upkeep, but with a 30 year $118k loan at 3.7% you are only putting $180 or so to principal at first. You won't even start "building equity" until year 3. And that's assuming the market value of the house doesn't change. Just putting things in perspective a little bit. Good point, good point. We sat down and did a budget and it would save us money over the long term, but would absolutely be a bigger commitment. Our costs will be about the same, but we'll have a much higher sanity value for both of us.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2014 03:43
|
|
|
I bought a house and I'm not sorry, but it has definitely cost me $thousands per year more than I expected to spend when I bought it. So have a good buffer zone.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2014 03:49
|
|
|
slap me silly posted:I bought a house and I'm not sorry, but it has definitely cost me $thousands per year more than I expected to spend when I bought it. So have a good buffer zone. Yeah, that is the only thing I'm going to focus on. We make enough money to have a good buffer now, once the wife is working full time it'll be gravy.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2014 04:34
|
|
|
There is always another house. I bought in a very hot market, and it took a few houses that I loved getting bought out from under me by cash offers before I could accept that. Looking back, I'm really glad I didn't get some of those houses that I was so sure I loved before. You're actually in an even better position. This house has been on the market for 3 months. You can walk away for a while and time will do the bargaining for you. If they get a sucker to take their price in the meantime, well, that guy's a sucker and you aren't. Tricky Ed fucked around with this message at 10:10 on Aug 9, 2014 |
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2014 10:08
|
|
|
Well. We were ready to walk away so we threw out an offer at 148k with 2.5k n closing. Closing costs for us will be about 1.8k. Well....they accepted it. So poo poo. I guess we got the house for an end cost of 145.5. Ok then.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2014 01:47
|
|
|
Jastiger posted:an end cost Heh. The costs never end. I already feel jaded and I just went through this entire process last month. On a positive note, got a second quote from a master plumber with 30 years experience who quoted me $400 parts and labor to replace the leaky pipes I posted about. A lot better than $1,200 "TODAY" (gently caress you, Precision plumbing) or $12,000 for a whole-house re-plumb. So I'll be out about $400, but have the peace of mind some lovely pipes are getting taken care of, and not down more than a grand. 
ex post facho fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Aug 11, 2014 |
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2014 18:38
|
|
|
Yeah, that sounds more like it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2014 19:20
|
|
|
I bought my house in Nov 2011 and by my back of the envelope calculations I've spent around $600/mo in general repairs and upgrades since then.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2014 19:25
|
|
|
Pfft. I've spent over 600 bucks this year just on my grass. GRASS!
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2014 01:14
|
|
|
Stop you're scaring me.
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2014 03:43
|
|
|
a shameful boehner posted:Heh. The costs never end. I already feel jaded and I just went through this entire process last month. The Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department arrested a local man for taking advantage of an elderly woman by charging her almost $8K for a plumbing job that took four hours to complete. http://oxfordeagle.com/2014/08/plumber-plunges-out-8k-from-elderly-woman/
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2014 03:52
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 20:24 |
|
|
couldcareless posted:Me and my fiance bought our house at 27. Guess we are in the clear I left the first house buying until this year and I'm 38. However starting my business was more important to me than a house. It's only really in the past year that a lot of the uncertainty has disappeared.
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2014 04:19
|
|
