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Leperflesh posted:A smoked-in house is ruined in my opinion. I'd never buy one.
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Apr 2, 2015 00:05
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Ciaphas posted:Time for the old rent vs buy question! My lease on my current apartment is coming up December 2015, so I've got a ton of time to work this one out. Gonna post this while I read the OP and related posts, so maybe some of this will be answered along the way. Sorry if it is. You don't have cable/internet in your house estimate that is covered by your rental $100 technology fee.
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Apr 2, 2015 00:09
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moana posted:Wooooo got an offer for my house today, exactly $200k more than what I paid for it six years ago. It's FHA, so I'm crossing my fingers it goes through. Awesome! Which part of town is it in (I'm in PQ and if my wife doesn't get pregnant soon, this house is too big for us - we might sell).
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Apr 2, 2015 00:27
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adorai posted:Eh, I think that's overkill. Paint the walls and ceilings with a paint and primer in one, scrub the cabinets and counters with TSP and replace the floors. There may be a slight odor leftover for a while but it probably won't be very perceptible. That is a lot of work that should be considered when buying the house, and it certainly effects the value, but it's not ruined. It might go away if you do those things, or it might not. I've read too many horror stories to be sure, and when you buy a house, you don't want to be in the position of pouring two grand after two grand after two grand, just to embark on a voyage of discovery for the Fountain of Even just catching a whiff occasionally would be terrible for me personally, I detest the smell of cigarette residue, so I'm maybe not the same as everyone. But, I would rather be able to guesstimate how much money I need to put into a house to get it into livable condition, before I buy it, and I don't think anyone can reasonably do that with a smoked-in house. You just don't know how deep it goes or how much you'll have to do to eliminate the smell. As an aside, I feel the same way about a smoked-in car, only more so. A smoked-in car probably has to be taken down to the frame and restored frame-up to eliminate the smell.
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Apr 2, 2015 00:30
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PCjr sidecar posted:You don't have cable/internet in your house estimate that is covered by your rental $100 technology fee. There is also the ~$10k in transaction costs from a buy/sell cycle, amortized over the life of the loan.
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Apr 2, 2015 00:43
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PCjr sidecar posted:You don't have cable/internet in your house estimate that is covered by your rental $100 technology fee. Lmao I'm gonna be honest, Cox Communications prices being what they are, that's nearly torpedoed the whole drat thing in one go. gently caress me what an obvious thing to gloss over.  Sorry all, appears I've wasted your time. If I had accounted for that I'd have immediately known the margin was too small to even bother with. (Edit) But thanks for all the info nevertheless! Ciaphas fucked around with this message at 00:58 on Apr 2, 2015 |
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Apr 2, 2015 00:54
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Spamtron7000 posted:Awesome! Which part of town is it in (I'm in PQ and if my wife doesn't get pregnant soon, this house is too big for us - we might sell). Our buyer's agent right now is an old timer, which is nice because she knows the neighborhoods and most of the houses. But god drat, it is nice to work with someone young and tech-savvy who can do everything through email.
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Apr 2, 2015 01:14
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Wow seems like the smoking is going to be more of a hurdle than I imagined. Luckily its only 7 years old, with a lot more wood floors than carpet. Only one room has the smoke detector missing so hopefully that is where most of the smoking happened. I'll try to get something towards the cost of smoke damage removal from them.
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Apr 2, 2015 01:14
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Sound_man posted:Wow seems like the smoking is going to be more of a hurdle than I imagined. Luckily its only 7 years old, with a lot more wood floors than carpet. Only one room has the smoke detector missing so hopefully that is where most of the smoking happened. I'll try to get something towards the cost of smoke damage removal from them.
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Apr 2, 2015 01:16
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Ciaphas posted:If I'm honest, I hadn't put much thought in to this. I've lived in only two places since fleeing the nest, and in both my neighbors were not an issue at all (quite friendly at my last place, aloof at my current). I should know better than to think that streak will continue This is how I got stuck sharing a duplex with a pretty big-time drug dealer. I was always slightly on edge that he'd gently caress over someone in a drug deal and they'd pick the wrong half of the building to take their anger out on. He got robbed multiple times when I was living there as well. Since we both owned our units neither of us was going anywhere either.
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Apr 2, 2015 02:13
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Sound_man posted:Wow seems like the smoking is going to be more of a hurdle than I imagined. Luckily its only 7 years old, with a lot more wood floors than carpet. Real wood that you can refinish, or laminate snap together 'wood' floors? Unsure it would matter for smoke smell, I have no experience with laminate and smoke but others might. Edit: It was $1800 to refinish (sanding included) the floors in my entire house. And then it smelled for a week even with all the windows open.
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Apr 2, 2015 02:45
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I bought my house from a heavy smoker. Like, rings around the pictures, tar circles above the bed and his recliner, sticky-to-the-touch curtains heavy. It had popcorn ceilings (with 2% asbestos, yay). They got scraped down and removed. All fiber surfaces were removed -- curtains, carpets, pads. We sprayed down every wall and the kitchen cabinets with goo-gone, rinsed it, let it dry, scrubbed down everything (walls, floors, ceiling) with TSP, let it dry again, and did that again. Primed every paintable surface with this stuff, and followed that with paint+primer. Had to replace the fridge and get the HVAC system cleaned out. I'm pretty sure all of that was enough, but I also replaced all of the light fixtures, vent grilles, and switches/outlets for other reasons. I'm allergic to smoke and that got it clean enough for me. It is possible to exorcise the demon, it just takes a lot of work.
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Apr 2, 2015 04:56
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Ciaphas posted:Sorry all, appears I've wasted your time. If I had accounted for that I'd have immediately known the margin was too small to even bother with. If you were married with kids or something like that, people would probably be telling you that it's OK to buy, since it sounds like your finances are in good shape/etc., but life circumstances change rapidly, and the transaction costs of buying/selling are huge.
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Apr 2, 2015 06:15
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To give you an idea on the smoking thing, when I was about 13, we moved into a new house. We'd admired the gold trim around the light fixtures and on the chandeliers and stuff when we were looking at the house. It was only when we started cleaning up to move in and paint that we found the gold coming off... ...and coming off... ...and coming off... The trim was actually silver. The gold was nicotine/tar/cigarette smoke. Layers and layers of it. 
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Apr 2, 2015 06:56
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Just imagine what that did to the inside of a person's lungs and organs. Jesus. Re: refinishing hardwood floors. Did that at my place before moving in (not for smoking reasons). What a huge pain in the rear end. Definitely something that I would contract out if I ever have to do it again. Super loud, messy, slow, and smelly... plus you have the constant uncertainty that you're going to gently caress up the floor really bad. Spring is upon us new home owners. My home proudly sports a dirt/weed patch for the front and back lawns. There is a sprinkler system in the yard that appears to have been operable at some point in the past, only now there are some random frayed wires and pipes sticking out of the ground in various places. I'm sure it wont' work, and in my experience reparing sprinkler systems probably tops refinishing hardwood floors in terms of laborious, frustrating tasks. Just going to buy a hose and keep grass to a minimum.
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Apr 2, 2015 15:25
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Looking at two places this weekend. Got preapproval from one lender already: 3.25% with no lender fees and a $5000 credit toward closing (30 year fixed VA loan with 0% down). That seems pretty good, any thoughts?
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Apr 2, 2015 15:32
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Tricky Ed posted:I bought my house from a heavy smoker. Like, rings around the pictures, tar circles above the bed and his recliner, sticky-to-the-touch curtains heavy. It had popcorn ceilings (with 2% asbestos, yay). They got scraped down and removed. Off topic, but did you scrape off the popcorn ceilings yourself or have a contractor do it? This is one of the projects I have lined up on my house... Thesaurus posted:Spring is upon us new home owners. My home proudly sports a dirt/weed patch for the front and back lawns. The previous owners mowed right before I took possession on Monday, and I'm spending this week debating on whether I want to buy my first mower or hire lawn service for a few weeks. It's not a big yard but I've got a lot of other stuff going on with the move.
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Apr 2, 2015 15:39
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Andy Dufresne posted:Off topic, but did you scrape off the popcorn ceilings yourself or have a contractor do it? This is one of the projects I have lined up on my house... I just did this. Get a garden sprayer... One of those things you pump and then spray with a wand. A 6 or 9 inch putty knife is what you want, the stiffer the better in my case. Mist the ceiling, not too much water but enough to cover a 6x6 foot patch. Wait about 30 seconds. Start scraping. It's easy, but a pain in the rear end with all the poo poo falling on you. Goggles/safety glasses and breathing mask are needed.
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Apr 2, 2015 15:50
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Depending on the age of your house, you might want to test the popcorn for asbestos before you start.
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Apr 2, 2015 16:17
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Hashtag Banterzone posted:Depending on the age of your house, you might want to test the popcorn for asbestos before you start. He already said it contained 2% asbestos, which is one of the things that I had to deal with as well when I closed on my house. gently caress popcorn ceiling up the rear end. Was anybody else paralyzed with depression when buying an old home and researching that pretty much everything about it will give you cancer and kill you in your sleep?
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Apr 2, 2015 17:52
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Hashtag Banterzone posted:Depending on the age of your house, you might want to test the popcorn for asbestos before you start. Scrape, shovel and shut up. There is not enough asbestos in a popcorn ceiling of a residential home to cause anyone any long lasting harm.
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Apr 2, 2015 18:10
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Antifreeze Head posted:Scrape, shovel and shut up. There is not enough asbestos in a popcorn ceiling of a residential home to cause anyone any long lasting harm. Union Carbide exec spotted.
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Apr 2, 2015 18:32
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necrobobsledder posted:For those on the NFCU train or want to get on, I just talked to my loan officer, and what some people said earlier is confirmed, others are debunked (myself included): Thanks, this is really helpful. Sadly it looks like there aren't any branches near me, but a no-PMI conventional loan with less than 20% down sounds amazing 
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Apr 2, 2015 19:13
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Ciaphas posted:- Property taxes for the areas I'm interested in seem to average around 2%, though I will of course figure out the actuals if I continue forward with this in the coming months. Okay. Going by your numbers, which was a loan of $100k + $5k for closing, 5% down, 4% interest, and $2k/year in property insurance, mlcalc.com gives me an estimated payment of $685/mo. With $175/mo for HOA fees, that's $860/mo. That's $140 less than what you're paying in rent. You mentioned insurance, which was about $45 more expensive for the condo. Trash is a fee that you'll have to pay, so we'll assume that it negates the pet fee that you're currently paying. Your "technology" bill will certainly go up; in Vegas the price of electricity for a 2 BR apartment/condo is roughly $100/mo, with another $50/mo for cable, so that's a net difference of $50. Grand total, you'd be saving $50/month! Until something breaks; the rule of thumb is you should really be budgeting $100/month for upkeep. There go your savings. And don't forget that if you sell, you lose 6-8% right off the top. So you'd be spending about $50/month more for the same living situation but much greater financial risk. I think that you should continue renting. quote:- My retirement fund right now is at just over $100k, at 30 years old. I think I'm okay on that front. (I think I know the answer to this but I wanna make sure, taking a loan on the 401k portion of that to get a bigger down payment and avoid PMI would be seriously bad mojo, right?) This depends on the size of the 401k loan and your income (IE the rate at which you can comfortably pay it back). With 401k loans you pay the interest back into your own account, which means that you're really only incurring the opportunity cost of not leaving that money in the account to grow in other ways, usually at a rate that is much greater than the interest rate that you're paying yourself. Ideally, you want to pay down this loan as fast as possible because of that opportunity cost. If your income is sufficiently high, then it can make sense. At the same time, if your income is really that high then it might make as much sense to just build up a down payment. If you can take out a 401k loan and completely be rid of PMI, and you're looking at buying something right now, and you're comfortable with a short repayment plan (like maybe 5 years instead of the typically allowed 30), then I'd personally take out the 401k loan. quote:- I fully acknowledge that Renting != Flushing Money; it just seems like every time I run the numbers on housing prices out here for places similar to my apartment, even in the worst case I'm getting fleeced by at least $200 monthly, not counting the eventual building of equity, and interest deductions. Upkeep for a $100k condo is going to be at least $100/month (average). That's if you do the work yourself and don't gently caress anything up. Even assuming that $200/month were an accurate number for the price difference (which I'm not convinced that it is), you could view that extra that you pay in rent as a form of insurance. As a renter, you're not responsible for burst pipes, faulty wiring, a fire that burns down the entire complex, etc. As a renter, you're also not responsibility for fixing the smaller stuff: leaky pipes, non-working AC unit, drippy ceilings, etc. You don't have to ever loving paint an entire apartment, or deal with flooring, or deal with hosed up counters and cabinets, etc. quote:- In fact, that feeling of getting fleeced is just about the entire reason I'm considering this. Getting a wee bit closer to work would be a boon too, but it's not significant. I don't buy into the whole ~Pride of Ownership~ thing one bit, for example. Any extra money that you imagine yourself spending as a renter is the price of freedom. Having the ability to pack up all of your stuff and move wherever you want, whenever you want, is extremely liberating. If you have a lovely neighbor as a condo owner there's not really a lot that you can do about it. If you have a lovely neighbor as a renter then you can just loving leave and find better neighbors, at the cost of some pizza and beer for the friends that help you move.
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Apr 2, 2015 19:52
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QuarkJets posted:Thanks, this is really helpful. Sadly it looks like there aren't any branches near me, but a no-PMI conventional loan with less than 20% down sounds amazing Navy Federal doesn't really have a lot of physical branches. They mostly do stuff online or over the phone. It works well because most military members are all over the place and constantly moving around. Just call them up if you are interested in using them.
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Apr 2, 2015 19:53
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Eryxias posted:Navy Federal doesn't really have a lot of physical branches. They mostly do stuff online or over the phone. It works well because most military members are all over the place and constantly moving around. Just call them up if you are interested in using them. I might do that. I'm eligible for an account, we're kind of looking at houses but prices out here on a loving island are insane, so a 15% down conventional loan with no PMI would be oustanding
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Apr 2, 2015 19:55
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They may reserve the right to go "uh... nope, you need to pay up more, son" depending upon the market honestly. The rates that were on the site weren't what I just got offered However, for as low of a price I'm paying, .75% difference results in less than $100 / mo for me when the house payment will already be a bit less than 10% of my gross income. If I go nutso, I could pay this house off within a couple years.psydude posted:Looking at two places this weekend. Got preapproval from one lender already: 3.25% with no lender fees and a $5000 credit toward closing (30 year fixed VA loan with 0% down). That seems pretty good, any thoughts?  Goddamn, that's pretty good. Even Navy Federal goes down to 3.125% and 3.534% APR with 2 points on it for a VA loan. I thought I was doing swell with $1.4k back at closing from the lender. Negotiating a few grand more from the seller made it better too, but goddamn those VA loans are good for buyers (but not so great for the seller really).
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Apr 2, 2015 20:33
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Yeah I ran the numbers again this morning adding in cable etc and the whole thing did, indeed, fall apart. So buying is out for me right now. Close save  (Not that this applies to me right now, but I wish "renting == freedom to move" were as true as some here make it sound. Relative to ownership, maybe, but year long leases are still a long time to deal with a lovely neighbor or whatever)
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Apr 2, 2015 22:23
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necrobobsledder posted:They may reserve the right to go "uh... nope, you need to pay up more, son" depending upon the market honestly. The rates that were on the site weren't what I just got offered If you're paying a 0.75% rate penalty for a "no PMI" loan that's probably worse than just paying PMI
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Apr 2, 2015 22:24
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Any thoughts on title insurance? It seems like such a small cost to protect against what could be a major head ache but on the other hand the townhouse I am trying to by is only 7 years old and as far as I can tell this is the first time its been sold.
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Apr 2, 2015 23:13
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Sound_man posted:Any thoughts on title insurance? It seems like such a small cost to protect against what could be a major head ache but on the other hand the townhouse I am trying to by is only 7 years old and as far as I can tell this is the first time its been sold. How old is the land?
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Apr 2, 2015 23:55
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All of the other parties to the transaction expect that you'll get title insurance. I dunno if a lender will balk if you refuse, but it's not that expensive. I viewed it as an annoying and probably bullshit minor expense as part of the whole deal and just didn't worry about it too much. I think my title insurance was like two hundred dollars? I forget exactly but something in that range, or less.
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Apr 3, 2015 00:32
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Just locked a 30 year fixed rate at 3.375. VA is good for something.
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Apr 3, 2015 00:34
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Sound_man posted:Any thoughts on title insurance? It seems like such a small cost to protect against what could be a major head ache but on the other hand the townhouse I am trying to by is only 7 years old and as far as I can tell this is the first time its been sold.
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Apr 3, 2015 00:44
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Leperflesh posted:All of the other parties to the transaction expect that you'll get title insurance. I dunno if a lender will balk if you refuse, but it's not that expensive. I viewed it as an annoying and probably bullshit minor expense as part of the whole deal and just didn't worry about it too much. I think my title insurance was like two hundred dollars? I forget exactly but something in that range, or less. gvibes posted:Are you paying cash? I'm not sure a mortgage company would permit a purchase without title insurance. When you get title insurance with mortgage financing there are 2 policies purchased, one covers the owner (buyer) and the other covers the lender. I can't think of a good reason why a lender would care if the borrower declined to purchase the owner's policy, but you'll still be required to pay for the lender's policy. Also - depending on your market the owner's policy may be normally accepted as a seller paid cost at closing, so if that's the case unless you negotiate a reduction in purchase price in return for them not paying for the coverage you're not saving anything by not getting owner's coverage anyway.
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Apr 3, 2015 00:49
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You have to have title insurance, it's not an option unless you're paying cash. You can shop around for it, though. E: ^^^ what he said, although some attorneys will refuse closing service if you for some reason insist on not buying title insurance BEHOLD: MY CAPE fucked around with this message at 00:56 on Apr 3, 2015 |
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Apr 3, 2015 00:51
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Captain Windex posted:When you get title insurance with mortgage financing there are 2 policies purchased, one covers the owner (buyer) and the other covers the lender. I can't think of a good reason why a lender would care if the borrower declined to purchase the owner's policy, but you'll still be required to pay for the lender's policy. Also - depending on your market the owner's policy may be normally accepted as a seller paid cost at closing, so if that's the case unless you negotiate a reduction in purchase price in return for them not paying for the coverage you're not saving anything by not getting owner's coverage anyway. I picked up the closing costs to gain some other things, and yes I have buy the lenders policy. If it's only $200 that is not a big deal I thought I saw it being much higher than that.
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Apr 3, 2015 00:52
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OK, out of curiosity, I dug up my files and I was off a bit: our title insurance was $500. That was for coverage of the full price of the house: $240,800. This was in December 2009, and we were buying a foreclosure, so I would not have waived it even if I'd known that was an option, which I didn't.
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Apr 3, 2015 01:21
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Yay! A brand new problem just came up! So here we are, offer accepted, inspection done(no big issues, amazing!), loan paperwork all done and right on track. Appraiser from the bank calls our agent and says that the house is right on the inside edge of a FEMA designated 100 year flood zone(and possibly other zone designations, my brain started to melt during the phone call) and may cause an issue with extra insurance that is needed. Apparently I should have researched the area a bit more. I knew it was a bit worse weather wise, and a bit out of the way, but not too bad. This particular county is the 2nd most flood prone portion of the state and the #1 repetitive loss area of the region. So now I've got my agent looking into getting an elevation certificate or some other exemption among other things, which may cut down on the amount we'd have to pay to insurance. Who knows, may have to start house hunting from scratch again. 
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Apr 3, 2015 01:50
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The nice thing about flood zones is all the insurance is federally subsidized, it's like welfare basically. When I lived in one of those FEMA 100 year flood zones in the most flood prone area in Colorado in was like an extra $10 a month in insurance the loan agent required and that was it.
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Apr 3, 2015 02:10
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