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Pryor on Fire posted:How current is zillow? Realtors are trying to tell me everything is like a month out of date on there but the info always matches their lovely websites so I'm skeptical. It depends entirely on geography.
Depending on where you are, some listings will never appear on Zillow. Other listings will appear days after they do on the MLS. I've seen homes near Lake Tahoe that were shown as "On Market: 52 days" on Zillow, and Redfin showed them as "On Market: 641 days". This home in Beverly Hills was listed for ~$6 million on the MLS in February 2014. For whatever reason, it was concurrently listed for ~$6.5 million on Zillow, which is a pretty hefty premium. Also note that Redfin shows the home was put up for sale again 3 weeks ago; Zillow thinks it's still off-market. Dik Hz posted:Can you think of any reason why a broker would put a listing on the MLS and not a publicly available free database, if they represent in the interests of the seller? It changes from MLS to MLS, but if you put bad data in the MLS, you can be penalized or fined. That's in the consumer's interest. I'm not sure Zillow even cares if the data on the site is bad. Their CEO seems to believe "a lead on a stale listing is still a good lead".
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Oct 24, 2014 00:16
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bartkusa posted:It changes from MLS to MLS, but if you put bad data in the MLS, you can be penalized or fined. That's in the consumer's interest.
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Oct 24, 2014 03:57
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Dik Hz posted:It's not in the consumer's interest if the consumer can't even see the data in the first place.
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Oct 24, 2014 05:40
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adorai posted:Who is the consumer of an MLS posting? I would say it is a realtor, and not a homebuyer. I'd argue the purpose of MLS was to give buyers more options when dealing with agents. Also, I can view all the listings in our area on our local MLS website.
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Oct 24, 2014 06:00
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edit because tl:dr if for some reason your bank can't tie you to your SSN trying to buy your credit report is quicker than filing a dispute with the bureaus and you get to talk to real people lesson learned
Queen Elizatits fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Oct 28, 2014 |
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Oct 24, 2014 20:23
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Queen Elizatits posted:I have a question about Credit Reports from TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. We have started mortgage loan paperwork twice. The first time we backed out of the sale during the options period after doing a home inspection. For that loan our lender was able to pull my credit scores and see a credit report which I know was mine because it had a loan that went to collections and then later was removed (or I guess partially removed I think there was a mention of needing a final piece of paperwork from the collections company). The one mortgage broker I work with that does credit counseling gets those disputes taken care of In about two or three weeks max. But he's not asking them to do it on their own. He does it for them. This is where individual mortgage brokers can be superior to loan officers at large banks or credit unions.
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Oct 24, 2014 22:36
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Mahoning posted:The one mortgage broker I work with that does credit counseling gets those disputes taken care of In about two or three weeks max. But he's not asking them to do it on their own. He does it for them. This is where individual mortgage brokers can be superior to loan officers at large banks or credit unions. Oh really? Awesome! Thank you so much for the reply, I don't think I have heard the term Mortgage Broker before but it looks like I can keep working with this bank and hire one. It turns out if you try and give the three credit bureaus money for your report and it won't process you get a number to speak to a real person so I have actually managed to talk to someone from each bureau today which felt like progress anyway. The time frame they gave me was 10 business days to fix the issue once they received my documentation and then another six to get the report mailed. Which is fine I don't actually care about getting the report I just need them to tie me to my SSN. But I will also speak to the Realtor about a mortgage broker no sense in not trying every avenue. Thanks again I really appreciate it.
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Oct 25, 2014 04:06
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Queen Elizatits posted:I have mailed all three credit bureaus a dispute along with verifying information (cancelled check, bank statement, military id, drivers license, green card, ssn). I sent these through the mail to all three and faxed it to Equifax as well since they were the only one that seems to take faxes. You may haven broken the law by photocopying your military id and mailing it to the credit bureaus. Photocopying military ids for unofficial purposes is punishable under Title 18, U.S. Code Part I, Chapter 33, Section 701 a. They can be copied by government offices or doctor's offices since it is essentially your insurance card, but the credit bureaus are commercial entities. It is extremely unlikely that anyone would ever prosecute you for this, but I have seen guys get non-judicial punishment and almost lose their security clearances because of this poo poo. My point is, don't make it a habit to send copies of your ID to verify your identity. Commercial establishments can ask to see your ID, but they can't make copies of it.
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Oct 26, 2014 00:25
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Delizin posted:You may haven broken the law by photocopying your military id and mailing it to the credit bureaus. Photocopying military ids for unofficial purposes is punishable under Title 18, U.S. Code Part I, Chapter 33, Section 701 a. They can be copied by government offices or doctor's offices since it is essentially your insurance card, but the credit bureaus are commercial entities. It is extremely unlikely that anyone would ever prosecute you for this, but I have seen guys get non-judicial punishment and almost lose their security clearances because of this poo poo. It's a dependent card but I totally see your point. I'm surprised they asked for it if it was against the law but then again these are the people who somehow disassociated my identity from my SSN in the span of the month so maybe I shouldn't be. Thank you for the heads up!
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Oct 27, 2014 05:46
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Some guy built a house from scratch and blogged every step of the way, I was totally engrossed by it, its good reading: http://www.ahousebythepark.com/journal/archive/2007/10/ My previous plan of offering 100k under asking on a house actually, amazingly worked. "worked". BUT it fell through because the sellers wanted to stay there for 3 months, rent free. Not happening. Found a new place, offer in tomorrow, needs some sprucing up but hopefully this one works out!
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Oct 27, 2014 07:02
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Delizin posted:
Is this just military IDs? Banks and credit unions are doing electronic signature basically all the time now and every loan they require a scan of your passport/drivers license.
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Oct 27, 2014 13:53
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Spermy Smurf posted:Is this just military IDs? Banks and credit unions are doing electronic signature basically all the time now and every loan they require a scan of your passport/drivers license. Yeah. I occasionally have to send a scan of my ID when I buy ammo online at a new place too, amongst other things. I don't think it's particularly uncommon.
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Oct 27, 2014 14:06
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Spermy Smurf posted:Is this just military IDs? It is military IDs, including dependent IDs, federal badges, Common Access Cards, etc. The idea behind it is terrorists or other ne'er-do-wells could get a copy of military ID pictures and use them to create authentic enough looking forgeries to gain access to secure locations. Government offices and doctors' offices are generally okay to photocopy them, but you really shouldn't let any commercial establishment do it. You can photocopy your driver's licenses and passports and give them to whoever you want.
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Oct 27, 2014 16:06
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I wonder if the military arrests me they can figure out how to tie me to my SSN  That's really interesting though, I've had a pharmacy ask for a copy of my military id as well so it's good knowledge to have. edit if anyone else was curious It's under 18 U.S.C. 701 quote:§701. Official badges, identification cards, other insignia Queen Elizatits fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Oct 28, 2014 |
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Oct 28, 2014 01:27
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Hello I am looking to buy a house. The house is nice in a nice neighborhood and is priced reasonably in relation to other houses in the neighborhood (130,000). HOWEVER, on JAN 2014 this self-same house was sold for less than half the current asking price. I am going to post a conversation between me and my Realtor regarding this situation that you can analyze if you'd like: -------- REALTOR I did pull the tax records, and it looks like at one point there was notice of foreclosure, but it never went into foreclosure. What that means is that the owner was late on payments and the lender sent notice there would be a foreclosure if he/she didn't pay, but the owner then paid the debt on the property. It was sold in a regular sale in 2002 for $120,000 and in the beginning of 2014, also a regular sale for $55,000. ME Yeah I was searching around and kept running into that $55000 number, and thought it was a mistake. How is that possible that they would buy it at approximately 1/3 to 1/2 the value its now listed at? Could you explain to your best guess the situation? Specifically I don't understand what you mean when you write "What that means is that the owner was late on payments and the lender sent notice there would be a foreclosure if he/she didn't pay, but the owner then paid the debt on the property." So they paid off the last $55000 of their mortgage by selling it to a new person? Wow, they must have been very distressed home owners indeed! Right, or wrong? The person that owns the house now is a person, not a bank, correct? Not being difficult I am just honestly a little bit confused by this situation. REALTOR The seller could have been very motivated and wanted to get rid of it quickly, so did a quick sale. It was never listed in the Multiple Listing Service, so it could've been a sale to a friend/family member and that could be why the price was lower. January was a very different market than now, so values were lower at that point in time as well. With the case of a foreclosure notice, the bank would have notified the home owner that he/she needed to catch up on their payments, not pay in full. If the owner had a few months of non-payment, he/she would just need to pay that back to not have the property foreclosed upon. The $55,000 sale was not a foreclosure based on what the tax record shows. The person that owns the house now is not a bank, it's a woman who just moved out of the property a week or so prior to it going on the market. She probably wanted to find somewhere new before putting this unit on the market. ------------ What do you all think, is my realtor's analysis reasonable or is there something afoot here? Was the house wrecked in January and slap-dash remodeled to hide it? Or did someone really just say gently caress this property I'm out for half its value...
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Oct 28, 2014 05:01
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Unless that Realtor has any first hand knowledge of how or why that house sold for that price, don't listen to them because they're just guessing or talking out their rear end. Get the property disclosure statement, that should tell you if the house was poo poo in January and was fixed up. If it wasn't, just proceed with caution. Maybe get a title attorney to look into it and make sure there's nothing crazy going on with any liens or other poo poo (there shouldn't be if the title transferred 9 months ago, but I've seen stranger poo poo happen). Tax records are often wrong at the county level depending on the relative competence of your county auditor's office, so don't discount that as an explanation. If you like the house, proceed with caution. Do your due diligence. And never trust the Realtor unless they're giving you definitive answers from first hand sources. Any good Realtor is going to defer questions that they don't know the answer to to experts in a specific field (home inspectors, contractors, title attorneys, etc) and not bullshit you.
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Oct 28, 2014 06:05
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Ya I figured as much, and were definitely doing the due diligence to absurd levels with this. We've already secured the HOA disclosure and seller's disclosure and nothings amiss, its really a very nice house in a nice neighborhood and I was willing to buy it at $110-$120 until I dug up the sales records and was like, wtf is this now. My uncle is a contractor that's basically coming in with a spoon to tap the walls tomorrow to see if there's some sketchy stuff going on but I doubt it. The real problem is I have no idea how hard to lowball the seller now. I was going off of the average price index for comparable houses in comparable neighborhoods but lol I could offer them 60 below asking and still give them 20 grand profit, ugh 
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Oct 28, 2014 08:51
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Alas Boobylon posted:REALTOR While the other bits are educated guesses, this is truly stupid. There isn't anywhere that ins't an inflation hell-hole that sees the same house increase to 236% of its value in 10 months. Or if you do happen to be in one of those special places, leave. If it passes whatever tests to have in store for it, your approach for the initial offer doesn't change from what you planned on doing in the first place. That's what comparable homes are worth, so that is what that one is worth.
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Oct 28, 2014 14:28
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Alas Boobylon posted:Ya I figured as much, and were definitely doing the due diligence to absurd levels with this. We've already secured the HOA disclosure and seller's disclosure and nothings amiss, its really a very nice house in a nice neighborhood and I was willing to buy it at $110-$120 until I dug up the sales records and was like, wtf is this now. My uncle is a contractor that's basically coming in with a spoon to tap the walls tomorrow to see if there's some sketchy stuff going on but I doubt it. To echo what was just said above, don't let what that person may or may not have paid for the house affect your offer. Offer what you are willing to pay for the home based on comparable sales and that is also reasonable compared to the asking price. Home buyers often drive themselves nuts wondering if they could've gotten a home for substantially cheaper but it is almost never the case so its just wasting energy worrying about nothing.
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Oct 28, 2014 17:42
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Just had a home inspection for a nice little home that was built around 2000. It has county sewer, solar hot water, and a bunch of trees (palms, mango, and either lime or lemon, not totally sure). The inspector didn't find any major issues, so we're in the process of ordering an appraisal Thread: is it worth investing in additional specialized inspectors on a somewhat newer home? I don't have any reason to suspect that there are issues
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Oct 28, 2014 19:26
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I would have a sewer scope done on a house built last week. We had our HVAC systems inspected and ended up needing to replace the furnace due to a defect that was discovered (leaking manifold). We had the roof inspected by a roofing company and that was a joke- they told us everything would be OK once they did ~$400 in repairs, yet I found a leak during the first heavy rain after we moved in.
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Oct 28, 2014 20:18
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QuarkJets posted:Just had a home inspection for a nice little home that was built around 2000. It has county sewer, solar hot water, and a bunch of trees (palms, mango, and either lime or lemon, not totally sure). The inspector didn't find any major issues, so we're in the process of ordering an appraisal The inspector didn't recommend any specialized inspectors? Ours specifically told us we needed to get an HVAC person.
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Oct 28, 2014 20:35
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QuarkJets posted:Just had a home inspection for a nice little home that was built around 2000. It has county sewer, solar hot water, and a bunch of trees (palms, mango, and either lime or lemon, not totally sure). The inspector didn't find any major issues, so we're in the process of ordering an appraisal Was right at the end of my inspections on a full gut and remodel house that was just 6 months old. Video pipe inspection found a busted sewer line under the slab. Always do video pipe inspection.
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Oct 28, 2014 21:06
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Our inspector didn't recommend any additional inspections. Since there were several trees in the back yard, I actually asked about a video pipe inspection, but he said that I probably shouldn't bother since the house was less than 20 years old, hooked up to county sewer at the time of construction, and the trees are on the opposite side of the house from where the sewer line would come in. I probably won't bother with it, since he was so certain that it was unnecessary We are also getting a Termite inspection, but the seller is supposed to schedule it
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Oct 29, 2014 02:52
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QuarkJets posted:Since there were several trees in the back yard, I actually asked about a video pipe inspection, but he said that I probably shouldn't bother since the house was less than 20 years old, hooked up to county sewer at the time of construction, and the trees are on the opposite side of the house from where the sewer line would come in. I probably won't bother with it, since he was so certain that it was unnecessary I hope he had access to side sewer maps to verify that. ~$300 for a scope could save you from dropping $10k (or more) for replacement.
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Oct 29, 2014 04:42
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QuarkJets posted:We are also getting a Termite inspection, but the seller is supposed to schedule it Why is the seller scheduling it? Did they pick the pest control inspection too?
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Oct 29, 2014 14:13
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QuarkJets posted:Our inspector didn't recommend any additional inspections. Since there were several trees in the back yard, I actually asked about a video pipe inspection, but he said that I probably shouldn't bother since the house was less than 20 years old, hooked up to county sewer at the time of construction, and the trees are on the opposite side of the house from where the sewer line would come in. I probably won't bother with it, since he was so certain that it was unnecessary You should do what you feel is right. Our house is 23 years old and a sewer scope saved us $2500. Roots were growing into the lateral line where ours meets the county pipes. When it was built, they didn't use the right adhesive (or none at all). The blockage was located 6' under the driveway and repairs involved demo of one quarter of the concrete driveway, excavation, fixing the pipe, then backfilling and pouring a new section of concrete. The inspection cost us $125 to perform. If we had not done it, the blockage would have backed up sewage into our laundry room and family room, causing us to have to replace the brand new carpet, drywall, furniture, etc. And pay for emergency plumbing repairs. I think that age has no bearing on whether a buyer should have a scope performed. It is your chance to take a look as something vitally important that you otherwise can't see, and have any issues addressed by the seller. It isn't just root intrusion you're looking for. If the pipes were never built correctly to begin with, you'd never otherwise know until a turd floats past your ankles in your basement.
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Oct 29, 2014 16:52
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Chiming in too even though I obviously don't know that much. If we hadn't done a full inspection on the 1st home we planned to buy we would have been out thousands and thousands of dollars in repairs that were not apparent. This was in Texas and there was a home disclosure and an inspection performed by I guess a foundation expert both of which said the home was great blah blah blah. Then the next inspection found so many issues I wish I had kept the report. The inspection put a summary at the end of needed repairs and it was three pages long. You really should get the inspections done is my point why wouldn't you? You are going to live there for years the cost is basically nothing.
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Oct 29, 2014 17:20
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Queen Elizatits posted:You really should get the inspections done is my point why wouldn't you? You are going to live there for years the cost is basically nothing. Yeah, I don't get it. This is one of the largest purchase you are going to make in your life and you are going to cheap out on a fraction of a percent on the purchase price to find out if a vital part of the home is functioning properly? That is like buying a car without even turning it on. MickeyFinn fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Oct 29, 2014 |
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Oct 29, 2014 17:43
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QuarkJets posted:Our inspector didn't recommend any additional inspections. Since there were several trees in the back yard, I actually asked about a video pipe inspection, but he said that I probably shouldn't bother since the house was less than 20 years old, hooked up to county sewer at the time of construction, and the trees are on the opposite side of the house from where the sewer line would come in. I probably won't bother with it, since he was so certain that it was unnecessary Was your general inspector recommended by the realtor by any chance? I would disregard his opinion and get it done. As everyone says, it's worth it for piece of mind and the cost to get anything like this fixed is crazy expensive.
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Oct 29, 2014 17:47
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I've decided to go ahead and call a sewer line inspection, just to be safeWeaselWeaz posted:Why is the seller scheduling it? Did they pick the pest control inspection too? We picked the company, seller is supposed to schedule and pay for it, presumably so that the inspection can occur on a day that is convenient for the seller. Queen Elizatits posted:Chiming in too even though I obviously don't know that much. If we hadn't done a full inspection on the 1st home we planned to buy we would have been out thousands and thousands of dollars in repairs that were not apparent. This was in Texas and there was a home disclosure and an inspection performed by I guess a foundation expert both of which said the home was great blah blah blah. Then the next inspection found so many issues I wish I had kept the report. The inspection put a summary at the end of needed repairs and it was three pages long. What other inspections did you get? For instance, I'm not sure what an foundation inspector can even do for a house on a concrete slab, is this something that I should look into?
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Oct 29, 2014 20:59
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One more thing, our inspection period is ending in a couple of days, but it looks like the purchase contract has a provision for "later discovered information" that can "directly, substantially, and adversely affect the value of the property", at which point the Seller has to give us an amended disclosure statement, which we can use to rescind the purchase contract. I assume that this is the normal way that people use inspections that take place after the normal inspection period? So we would have no recourse for small poo poo (a non-working light fixture) but we could walk out if a specific inspection reveals a major value-affecting issue (major blockages in the sewer line, cracked foundation, electrical system uses gum wrappers instead of wire, etc) I'm not opposed to getting more specialized inspections, I really just don't know who to hire and what to look for. couldcareless posted:Was your general inspector recommended by the realtor by any chance? The realtor gave us a list of every general inspector in our area (we compared to the Yellow Pages), and we picked one who lived nearby with a good Yelp rating. So, I'm calling around for sewer inspectors. Anything else that I should look at?
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Oct 29, 2014 21:16
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Honestly, the standard fare is usually general, sewer, and Termite. General inspector in most cases told us if we should get a specialist to look at something closer (we have EIFS on the exterior of our home so ours recommended a stucco inspector to look at that). Termite is required to go to closing as a cleared wood destroying insect report is needed by the lender. This might differ by area, not sure. Sewer/pipe is just a very easy cheap thing that could alert you to a very big and scary problem that could really be lurking anywhere, trees or no trees. As has already been mentioned, this is a small cost for reassurance on the biggest purchase you will ever make.
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Oct 29, 2014 21:22
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couldcareless posted:Honestly, the standard fare is usually general, sewer, and Termite. General inspector in most cases told us if we should get a specialist to look at something closer (we have EIFS on the exterior of our home so ours recommended a stucco inspector to look at that). Makes total sense to me. Termite inspections are a big thing out here, since they're actually a pretty common nuisance and tons of houses get tented. We've worked with a specific company before (on another home purchase that fell through for other reasons) and were really happy with the service that we received, so we're pretty certain that we can trust the termite inspection report. The general inspection went really well, the inspector showed us some small issues and told us how to fix them, but nothing major was uncovered. The biggest thing is probably the attic fan not working, but he recommended a guy who could fix it.
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Oct 29, 2014 21:32
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Any websites that are useful for finding a reliable total inspector, in the event I want to have someone not connected to my Realtor do my inspections? (probably in addition to their own inspector actually)
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Oct 29, 2014 22:27
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Alas Boobylon posted:Any websites that are useful for finding a reliable total inspector, in the event I want to have someone not connected to my Realtor do my inspections? (probably in addition to their own inspector actually) We checked the yellow pages and then compared to Yelp reviews, if they were on Yelp. If your realtor gave you every inspector in your area, like ours did, then you're just going to have to roll the dice
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Oct 29, 2014 22:39
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I've also had good experiences with just cruising Yelp for contractors. Inspectors aren't going to pitch anything they just inspect for their fee and tell it like it is usually.
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Oct 29, 2014 23:32
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Okay, I'm going to meet a plumber at the house later today for a sewer line inspection + general plumbing inspection. Thanks for the advice, thread.
QuarkJets fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Oct 30, 2014 |
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Oct 30, 2014 00:10
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I just want to warn everyone to make sure any advice you take from this thread is relevant to your area/state. In all my years, I've never even heard of anyone getting or even recommending a sewer inspection, nor have I had a home that had evidence of termites or wood destroying insects. But that's just my area of Northeast Ohio that I can speak for. Moisture in basements is a HUGE problem here because of the type of soil and the amount of rainfall we get here. So maybe everyone could be more helpful when they're giving advice by just mentioning what area of the country or what state you're speaking about. Real estate laws and practices are wildly different from one area to another. I'll try to do the same obviously.
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Oct 30, 2014 00:56
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bartkusa posted:It depends entirely on geography. A couple things to add, first is that MLS itself is frequently out of date as it depends upon realtors updating their listings. One thing for instance that you will frequently encounter is property under contract where the selling agent hasn't bothered to update the listing. You are also correct that Zillow does not care much at all about the data on their site as long as it is enticing enough to get customers in contact with realtors. They make their money by selling realtor advertisements and are uninvolved in any transaction past that point.
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Oct 30, 2014 01:13
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