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Getting a new agent at this point in the sale would be a problem, because his current agent has a claim on the agents' fees regardless. If he walks away, then yeah, but otherwise, most agents would balk at trying to horn in on someone else's fee.
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May 22, 2015 17:59
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Yeah, I was a dumbass and signed an exclusivity contract anyway. She was so nice though 
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May 22, 2015 18:33
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Sucks for you, but some advice to anyone about to start shopping: If your agent requires an exclusivity contract it means one of two things: They're bad at their job or they don't think you're serious about the purchase. Most of those exclusivity contracts give them a right to collect a fee for your next lease if you don't end up buying.
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May 22, 2015 20:03
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Andy Dufresne posted:Sucks for you, but some advice to anyone about to start shopping: If your agent requires an exclusivity contract it means one of two things: They're bad at their job or they don't think you're serious about the purchase. Most of those exclusivity contracts give them a right to collect a fee for your next lease if you don't end up buying. Or they work for a real estate office that requires them to get that signature. It's very common and you may find that if you refuse to sign exclusivity contracts you're significantly limiting the pool of agents who can work with you.
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May 22, 2015 20:27
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Limiting the agents you choose from to ones that actually find you houses you bye is probably not a bad idea.
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May 22, 2015 20:46
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My agent actually found me houses to buy. He worked for a company, and his company required a contract. I think the real lesson is not to sign an exclusivity contract with an agent you haven't already vetted, through multiple recommendations.
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May 22, 2015 20:49
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We didn't have to sign an agency agreement until we wanted to submit an offer, and it was required by the office. We are currently waiting on the appraisal and formal financing approval, which we should have wrapped up in the first few days of June. Our offer needs it done by the 10th, so we should be all right. The sellers didn't give their agent the correct info on the current tenant leaving, though, so we had to push our closing date back two weeks to July 1st 
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May 22, 2015 22:58
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With Redfin, I didn't sign an agency agreement until after mutual acceptance, inspection, and lawyer review, and it only applied to the property in question.
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May 23, 2015 01:13
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baquerd posted:Horrible exclusivity arrangements I had to sign a contact with Coldwell Banker that had a lot of crazy terms in order to work with them. I crossed out the baloney about paying them if I chose to lease instead, but I still regret it because having that contract is a hassle if you find a FSBO. They made it sound like we were legally required to sign an exclusive agreement to be shown houses and were shocked that we wanted to change the terms.
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May 23, 2015 01:54
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There are usually plenty of good agents around who won't require an exclusivity contract off the bat and a leasing fee if you don't buy anything is loving outrageous. Agree with what Andy said.
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May 23, 2015 02:05
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antiga posted:I had to sign a contact with Coldwell Banker that had a lot of crazy terms in order to work with them. I crossed out the baloney about paying them if I chose to lease instead, but I still regret it because having that contract is a hassle if you find a FSBO. They made it sound like we were legally required to sign an exclusive agreement to be shown houses and were shocked that we wanted to change the terms. We got lucky and managed to find a house with our CWB realtor. I'm a little worried what might have happened if the search had dragged on or we ended up thinking she wasn't any good (she was at least decent).
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May 23, 2015 02:43
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I would never work with an agent who made me sign anything beforehand as a buyer. Even if you did make that mistake just threaten to go all scorched earth on them with bad reviews online and they will always let you back out of it, I've heard about people doing that like a half dozen times to get out of agent contracts and it always seems to work.
Pryor on Fire fucked around with this message at 00:54 on May 24, 2015 |
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May 24, 2015 00:45
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I couldn't find the construction/DIY thread (I'm positive I saw one at some point), so I figured this was the next best thread to post my question in! I think there's some water leaking behind our upstairs bathroom wall, directly behind our bedroom bathroom toilet. A small puddle ( 2-3 ounces of water) gathers near the bottom of the floor molding, and the underside edge of the molding (the edge touching the floor) has an ever-so-slightly darker/grayer color, and is moist to the touch (not spongy, but it is covered in water/slick). Our bathroom backs up directly to the upstairs hallway bathroom (the shared wall is on the back of the guest bathroom sink/vanity, and the back of our toilet, if that makes sense). This is really my first venture into DIY'ing plumbing issues (I've taken apart 2-3 sinks to unclog them or replace damaged/leaking sections, but nothing with in-the-wall/hidden plumbing), and I want to know sort of what to expect going in. We bought the house in December 2013, and this is the only real issue we've had so far (knock on wood), so I haven't had to do much repair work yet (and have only done basic things in the past). I plan to just rip that piece of molding off and see what the bottom of the wall looks like there, then opening a 6" x 6" or so section of the wall nearest to the damage, maybe 6" up from where the water is gathering, then just inspecting it with a flashlight and seeing what I can access. I figure, if I end up having to call a plumber, they'd have to do this anyway, right? Couldn't hurt. Is there anything I need to do before getting to work? There's a vanity on the opposite side of the shared wall, so I expect there's electrical somewhere in the wall (lights above mirror). I have an electricity-line detector (it's part of a stud detector...is this a reliable enough indicator for electrical?). I assume it's easier to patch a wall if the hole is some distance from the bottom of the wall, right? If it were more a major leak (which I suppose it could be, not sure at this point), or the gathered pools were larger than they currently are (it takes a few days for them to gather, it seems), I'd probably just call in a plumber to fix it. My interest is really time and preventing any more water damage than is likely to have already occurred, but if it sounds like something I may be able to tackle, I'll get to it. Thanks in advance.
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May 24, 2015 09:39
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UGAmazing posted:I couldn't find the construction/DIY thread (I'm positive I saw one at some point), so I figured this was the next best thread to post my question in!
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May 24, 2015 12:44
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Well, after owning our first house for less than 2 years, we put it up on the market to sell today. Really wish we hadn't bought so quickly after moving to a new area. The average time on market around here is about 6 months, but our agent seems pretty confident it will sell quickly (relative to the average). I really hope she is right  Anyone want a house in central NY? 
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May 25, 2015 22:54
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Pryor on Fire posted:I would never work with an agent who made me sign anything beforehand as a buyer. Signing a buyer's agreement unambiguously establishes a fiduciary relationship in which the agent is legally obligated to represent your best interests. This is a very strong reason to consider working with an agent that wants you to sign something.
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May 26, 2015 16:15
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So we terminated the purchase agreement. The funny thing is, she almost had us - we'd agreed to accept the roof since the home warranty would cover it if something went wrong within a year, and we were emotionally drained, sick of the whole process, just ready to be done with the whole thing. It just so happened, though, that our mortgage approval came back the same day, with the caveat that we had to lower the seller's assist from 5% to 3%. We let her know that we'd drop the roof, and also would she please sign this addendum lowering the seller's assist and the purchase price to match (so she's still getting the same amount we agreed on before). She said no, she's putting too much money into repairs now (about 2k on radon remediation and chimney work), so she can't afford to lower the purchase price. Even though she'd already started on those repairs as soon as she received the inspection report, without us even asking for them. The difference in purchase price was only 1.5k, practically nothing over a 30 year mortgage - but it pissed me off enough to take another day to research the roof thing and realize we needed to walk away.
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May 26, 2015 17:15
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Don't rely on a home warranty for cover you for that year. If your roof gave you trouble during that first year, more than likely the repairs that get authorized to fix it will slap duct tape and some wood glue on it and call it a day. Home warranties are the worst and only worth it if you're not paying for it.
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May 26, 2015 18:43
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That's what I figured. Even assuming that home warranty repairs would be decent, what happens when the damage is internal and you don't notice it until it collapses 366 days after closing? As far as I'm concerned, the warranty is for poo poo that you don't already know is broken. I just couldn't believe she thought she could raise the price on us (effectively) after we were already letting so much poo poo slide. Now she has to put it back on the market with a sagging roof and termite damage on her disclosure.
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May 26, 2015 19:08
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As a Millennial I posted:That's what I figured. Even assuming that home warranty repairs would be decent, what happens when the damage is internal and you don't notice it until it collapses 366 days after closing? As far as I'm concerned, the warranty is for poo poo that you don't already know is broken. I guarantee the roof and termite damage never make it to the disclosure.
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May 26, 2015 19:10
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Citizen Tayne posted:I guarantee the roof and termite damage never make it to the disclosure. Which is illegal, but hey, why not.
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May 26, 2015 19:14
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I am past the home inspection and now waiting for closing (about 1.5 months away). I know that I need to select either a settlement agent or a real estate attorney for the closing. Any advice on which to pick, why I should go with one over the other, and things I need to ask either one before picking them?
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May 26, 2015 19:34
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As a Millennial I posted:Even assuming that home warranty repairs would be decent, what happens when the damage is internal and you don't notice it until it collapses 366 days after closing? What does your heart tell you?
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May 26, 2015 19:47
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How do you find information about a homeowner's association? I can't seem to find anything online....am I just supposed to go and ask potential neighbors what they think of it?
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May 26, 2015 20:02
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silvergoose posted:Which is illegal, but hey, why not. But very difficult to enforce with few parties motivated to do so.
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May 26, 2015 20:16
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Business posted:How do you find information about a homeowner's association? I can't seem to find anything online....am I just supposed to go and ask potential neighbors what they think of it? They're required to have some articles of incorporation filed with whatever municipality they're in so you can at least read the bylaws etc. and I would make availability of the financials/annual report etc from the seller a contingency item during the due diligence period.
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May 26, 2015 20:18
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QuarkJets posted:It's typical for an appraiser to come in just slightly above whatever your offer was. That keeps the bank happy, it keeps the buyer happy, and it keeps the seller happy. "Oh look at that, the house is worth approximately what someone was willing to offer for it! Weird!"
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May 26, 2015 20:48
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On a house with more than 10 above-list offers in a 24 hour period and no significant defects, my appraiser said the house was worth $900 under list price and the current market is "stable". We submitted a rebuttal but as far as I know they never even read or responded to it. It didn't change my mind about purchasing the house but it did change my opinion about the legitimacy of the industry.
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May 26, 2015 21:07
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I had the same thing during a refi. They appraised a house 3 down from mine at 10% higher than mine. The other house was smaller, less land, had no windows, and if you set a marble on the floor at one end it would break the sound barrier by the time it got to the other side because the floors were so slanted. Almost need crampons and an ice axe or at least a guide-wire to get from the kitchen to the bathroom. The random blue and green tarps covering where the windows used to be (and the fact that it didn't take away from the value of the house) was just insane. But I had a window from the 70's that was old, so that was a tick against me. Same appraiser, 3 months apart. Like the rest I called and asked what the gently caress, they shrugged and said they'd come take a closer look for another $400. loving crooks.
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May 27, 2015 12:56
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Anyone have any experience with not using a buyers agent in a sellers market? I'm in Columbus so it's not as crazy as Austin or Denver, but the houses in the areas I'm looking are moving rather quickly. I would still use a real estate lawyer of course. But I'm worried that offering a lower price with a 3% fee instead of the normal 6% is going to put me at a disadvantage.
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May 27, 2015 14:36
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Hashtag Banterzone posted:Anyone have any experience with not using a buyers agent in a sellers market? I'm in Columbus so it's not as crazy as Austin or Denver, but the houses in the areas I'm looking are moving rather quickly. I would still use a real estate lawyer of course. But I'm worried that offering a lower price with a 3% fee instead of the normal 6% is going to put me at a disadvantage. If there are two identical offers in terms of what the seller walks away with, I'd imagine that the Seller's agent pushes them to work with the person using another realtor with standard fees.
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May 27, 2015 14:50
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Also, due to the way the seller's contracts are written, it is probably up to the realtor to reduce the fee or not. And they're going to hate dealing with you.
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May 27, 2015 14:55
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No Butt Stuff posted:If there are two identical offers in terms of what the seller walks away with, I'd imagine that the Seller's agent pushes them to work with the person using another realtor with standard fees. That's sorta what I'm thinking too. But by not paying 3% to a buyers agent I do have some more wiggle room. I could offer the sellers agent 3.5% and I could offer a price that would get the seller a couple grand more than they would've at their list price and I would still come out ahead.
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May 27, 2015 15:08
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Hashtag Banterzone posted:That's sorta what I'm thinking too. But by not paying 3% to a buyers agent I do have some more wiggle room. I could offer the sellers agent 3.5% and I could offer a price that would get the seller a couple grand more than they would've at their list price and I would still come out ahead. The whole point is you don't control the commission so you can't offer the seller's agent anything. The seller's agent owns the commission in their contract with the seller.
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May 27, 2015 16:38
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:The whole point is you don't control the commission so you can't offer the seller's agent anything. The seller's agent owns the commission in their contract with the seller. My understanding is that it's all negotiable, realtors just want you to think that everything is set in stone. But I guess a selling agent could refuse and insist on getting the full 6% since I don't have a buyers agent. But if I offer 3.5%, the selling agent would be making more than normal and would have no reason to refuse my offer, especially if I'm using a real estate lawyer. Another option I'm hearing about is hiring a buying agent by the hour. ~$100 an hour and they refund you the difference between the total and their commission from the sale.
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May 27, 2015 16:52
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Hashtag Banterzone posted:Another option I'm hearing about is hiring a buying agent by the hour. ~$100 an hour and they refund you the difference between the total and their commission from the sale. Maybe I'm an idiot, but that option sounds terrible.
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May 27, 2015 17:23
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Huh. Never though to check the forums to see if there was a thread about house buying. My wife is a doctor finishing residency next month. She has accepted a position in a small town in the south, population ~ 4,500 in a county of about ~ 28,000 people. The rental market is basically non-existent, so we were probably going to have to rent in a bigger town between 45 minutes to an hour away depending on location. Houses were between $1,200 - $1,600 per month for stuff that fit our needs. We found out about physician mortgage programs, looked into it, and decided to buy instead. We're getting a zero-down mortgage for a $115,000 home (hooray for small town prices/buyers' markets) 3 bed, 2 bath, 1 acre lot, built in 2005. Interest rate sucks (4.5%) since (a) we're putting zero down, and (b) her middle credit score was below the threshold for the program & zero-down and we got an exception. But the home is only 64% of what her annual salary ($180k) when she starts in August, and if we want to we can pay it off in as little as 3 years without interfering with saving 10% for retirement every month and saving up a 6 month's expenses emergency fund in a couple of months. No prepayment penalties or anything like that. Our monthly payment for 30 year fixed will be ~ $580. Apparently the default rate on these loans is something like 0.5%, hence the willingness to throw money at doctors with low or no down payment. The lender would have given us a loan for up to ~$600,000 if we wanted it/were insane people. We just needed enough in the bank to show we could pay the mortgage + insurance and taxes for 5 months. For this home, a little less than $4k, and we have a little more than $5k in the bank. We're supposed to close on June 5, last we heard from lenders was from a "Senior Processor" on May 15 who was submitting the loan to underwriting. Also on that same day they asked for an address correction on one of the forms we signed/submitted. I already called and got a home insurance quote from Farm bureau who happens to have a local office in this small town. I was thinking about calling the mortgage company today just to make sure everything is still moving along on schedule. Should I worry about not having heard about the final approval from underwriting a little more than a week out??? I don't have to pack up and move everything until June 26th so I guess we have a bit of a buffer. Any other doctors or their spouses here who have done one of these mortgages?
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May 27, 2015 17:57
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Hashtag Banterzone, everything you're saying is theoretically possible but will be really hard to pull off. There's no commission line item when you're submitting an offer to the seller. They've already entered into a contract with their agent that stipulates the full commission (probably 6%) and sometimes a lower commission in the event of dual agency (3.5%?). For your plan to work the seller and seller's agent will both need to agree and change their contract for literally no reason other than to save you money. It's a huge hassle for no reward. What's a lot more likely to happen if you try to submit that offer is the seller's agent will try to keep the full commission and the seller will just see it as a poo poo offer and reject it. Andy Dufresne fucked around with this message at 18:13 on May 27, 2015 |
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May 27, 2015 18:11
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Hashtag Banterzone posted:My understanding is that it's all negotiable, realtors just want you to think that everything is set in stone. But I guess a selling agent could refuse and insist on getting the full 6% since I don't have a buyers agent. But if I offer 3.5%, the selling agent would be making more than normal and would have no reason to refuse my offer, especially if I'm using a real estate lawyer. Their reason to refuse your offer would be that they could just take the 6%, or bring their own buyer and take 6%. They don't want to deal with an unrepresented buyer plus their own client for 3.5%. If you are some kind of experienced cash buyer who clearly knows what they're doing you might have a better shot at talking them off of commission to your advantage in price.
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May 27, 2015 18:13
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Chris Christie posted:Huh. Never though to check the forums to see if there was a thread about house buying. I'm a doctor with a house but I took traditional financing instead of taking the crappy interest rate. You're basically just paying PMI rolled into your interest rate on these loans. If I were you I'd be calling and emailing for status updates from your lender every day until you are cleared to close with the paperwork received at the closing attorney's office.
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May 27, 2015 18:18
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