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I just accept that realtors have legislated their cartel and pay the price same as I expect people to pay for my legally protected industry.
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Jul 28, 2015 14:03
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Good points. I'm gonna use that site and find someone. I'm looking at pretty cheap houses so even if I do end up soaking a fee it's not going to be significant. I look forward to committing to the bad decision that is home ownership.
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Jul 28, 2015 16:02
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Has anyone gotten or looked into Difference In Conditions insurance, ie for landslide/mudflow/earthquake/flood? I'm shopping for insurance in CA and the property: - Isn't in a flood area (Zone X), but a creek isn't too far away, and this is going to be an El Nino winter - Is in a flat area, but a nearby town has landslides, and again El Nino - Is in an area that's pretty inexpensive for earthquake coverage, but they'll certainly happen too It's looking like coverage for all of these wouldn't be too far beyond what earthquake would cost on its own, so it's feeling like I may as well look into coverage for the set.
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Jul 28, 2015 18:47
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Elephanthead posted:Self employment income is always a pain to document. I don't know why underwriters think being an employee is somehow better. You can get fired in one day. That is why the loan is secured by an asset that can only increase in value, haha. Yeah, especially where I live in NC which is an at-will employment state, your boss could fire you tomorrow just because he has strong feelings about the kind of toothpaste you use, there is no job security at all unless you are like a tenured teacher or something. I have no idea why they think my income is some how more variable than anyone else's, other than like they don't really understand the law of large numbers despite being at a bank. Thanks for the advice everyone, just seems to confirm what I thought which is that all 3 loan people (two for a major bank, one who was a mortgage broekr) were just kinda idiots, I will try at a state credit union next time or other banks and see if anyone there is any better. Glad to know I can still actually use my rental income though if the person knows what they are doing.
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Jul 28, 2015 19:24
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SiGmA_X posted:Get quotes, and get a credit from the seller. You don't want them hiring a really bad contractor. Just had some experience with the FHA inspection thing. Sitting down with the bank to sign lots of stuff. She tells us it's our right to get an inspection, although we don't have to. But! if we tell her that we got one then she has to use it and we have to fix everything they say. She even told the story of the couple who were both contractors who planned to knock out a wall right after closing. They still had to pay someone else to fix the outlets in that wall before they could close. One of the forms we then sign says "we choose [] /choose not [] to have a home inspection," and that seems like the whole point of the form. She points to the sign spot, then flips the page. Of course my anal retentive german heritage makes me say wait, we don't have to mark a choice? She just kinda played dumb until we flip the page again. It's exciting navigating these murky waters involving 100s of thousands, where loopholes involve dotting that i but not crossing that t. Onward! Bring on the folly! ps, Poker guy, do you own everyone in negotiations?
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Jul 28, 2015 21:47
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When they send in that paperwork for underwriting, I'm assuming it'll get kicked back if you don't fill that out. In which case, you might as well go ahead and mark yes because you'll be getting an inspection of course. ... You will be getting an inspection, right?
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Jul 28, 2015 21:59
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Dik Hz posted:Ok, in theory....... Well, I think the "at worst" part may also include not getting a house you wanted, because the seller's agent peevishly steered their client away from a self-represented cartel-busting buyer. So you may break even financially, but you may also not get a house you'd otherwise have gotten. quote:But, we can all agree at least that real estate agents charging 6% between the two agents independent of work done or sale price is a tremendous drag on the transactional cost of buying or selling real estate. And that they have a perverse incentive against the be interests of both the buy and the seller. Right? Holy poo poo yes. There's been a persistent meme in this thread that says "agents are literally worthless" and I disagree with that. Agents provide services, and those services usually have some value. Many agents suck, there's lots of horror stories, but many agents also do not suck, and a lot of what they do isn't obvious to their clients. The way we pay agents is idiotic and creates direct conflicts of interest and I'm 100% in favor of changing that. But I don't get on board with the idea that literally everyone who comes into this thread would be best-advised to go without an agent.
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Jul 28, 2015 21:59
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OSU_Matthew posted:When they send in that paperwork for underwriting, I'm assuming it'll get kicked back if you don't fill that out. In which case, you might as well go ahead and mark yes because you'll be getting an inspection of course. FHA inspection is different from the regular inspection. Unless I'm misunderstanding and that form is about waiving the right to a regular inspection. You should do both, though. The horror story was horseshit. Fixing some outlets is trivial. More inspections is always better than less inspections and the FHA inspection is cheap.
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Jul 28, 2015 22:02
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OSU_Matthew posted:When they send in that paperwork for underwriting, I'm assuming it'll get kicked back if you don't fill that out. In which case, you might as well go ahead and mark yes because you'll be getting an inspection of course. Hmmm, if you are right then why would they wait? Why would she not say to mark it when I asked? Like, what was the point of her telling that story? Anyway yes the inspection is done and the repair amendment already negotiated and signed.
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Jul 28, 2015 22:26
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Leperflesh posted:Holy poo poo yes. I think the meme in this thread is that "agents are literally scum of the earth". They're somewhat useful, you just have to keep in mind that they're looking after their own best interests, not yours. These interests don't always align
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Jul 28, 2015 22:27
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So our attorney pointed out that we might have a cap on closing credits from the seller imposed by our lender. Checked, and yep, 3%. House needs at least $15k worth and work and that covers barely half. We don't have enough liquid cash to cover the rest immediately upon closing, so this deal is sunk. The repairs in question need to get done for the home to be habitable. Realtor's suggesting we let the seller fix things with a contingency that they present us with evidence of receipts, permits, as well as sending our inspector through again, but uh nah, probably not. I doubt they'd bite on that anyhow. There's ~$1k in due diligence and hours of time and weeks of stress I'll never get back. Do never buy.
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Jul 28, 2015 22:38
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QuarkJets posted:I think the meme in this thread is that "agents are literally scum of the earth". They're somewhat useful, you just have to keep in mind that they're looking after their own best interests, not yours. These interests don't always align I find all realtors, including ours, to be slimy and awful, but there's no way I'd want to do this without one. We tossed around putting in an offer on an FSBO, and the sellers wanted us to go without a realtor too. God that would have been a nightmare.
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Jul 28, 2015 22:49
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minivanmegafun posted:Realtor's suggesting we let the seller fix things with a contingency that they present us with evidence of receipts, permits, as well as sending our inspector through again, but uh nah, probably not. I doubt they'd bite on that anyhow. This is pretty common in my area. Makes no financial difference to the seller and gets you the repairs. Obviously not the ideal situation for you since they have a financial incentive to make the repairs cheaply, but theoretically they'll be accomplished with a modicum of skill if they use a licensed contractor. We did this exact thing when we bought our place. The inspectors determined that a new furnace was required. We didn't have the cash to do that as well as the other work the house needed so we asked the seller to replace it with one that was at least as efficient as the previous one. They actually replaced it with a more efficient furnace (95% -> 97%). Same with a sewer lateral line repair.
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Jul 28, 2015 23:31
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I live in a rent controlled apartment in SF for ~$2k/month but I'm considering buying into this partially bubbled market. I'd be a first time home buyer. At best, I'd be able to afford a $700k 1b/ba condo... I probably shouldn't do this, should I?
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Jul 29, 2015 01:02
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Nobody can say without a lot more information. Is seven hundred thousand dollars easily affordable to you? Are you including condo fees of (probably) several hundred a month? Are you married, kids, plans to? What's your near and medium-term career prospects like? Why do you want to own instead of rent? How hard would it be for you to live outside the city limits? SF has the most expensive housing in the country. It's a nice city, if you can afford it, but most people can't, and some people think that's not sustainable. Purely as a financial investment, I'd advise against it. As a lifestyle? Maybe it'd suit you. e. Also you can get a lot more than a 1b/1ba condo for $700k, even in SF. Are you restricting your search to just downtown luxury housing?
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Jul 29, 2015 01:27
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Epitope posted:I find all realtors, including ours, to be slimy and awful, but there's no way I'd want to do this without one. We tossed around putting in an offer on an FSBO, and the sellers wanted us to go without a realtor too. God that would have been a nightmare. I hope not all realtors are slimy and awful, but sadly a lot are. I bought my house 7 years ago and during the buying process I spent a lot of time looking at FSBO's thinking that this would be an ideal world where we would meet in the middle and I would save some and they would save some. This was in 2007 - 2008. I don't know if it would be the case now, but the market peaked in 2005 here and almost without exception all the sellers were trying to get the same price their neighbor got in 2005. The house that I ended up buying was $460,000, but in 2006 it was on the market for $850,000 by owner. As the market dropped they dropped too, but never enough. After about 2 years of that they gave up and listed it with an agent. Had they just gone with an agent when they wanted to sell it, listed it for a reasonable price based on real analysis and not emotion and a sense that they deserved a certain price they probably would have gotten at least $150K more out of the property.
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Jul 29, 2015 02:02
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When my best friend's parents were selling their house around the same time, I watched them make basically exactly the same mistake (although they actually had an agent). Insisting on getting the price from 6 months ago consistently for almost two years before finally selling for probably $150k or so less than they could have gotten in the first place. Then my friend's dad got super pissed at having to fix stuff like dryrot, termite damage, cracks in the chimney, etc. The worst part is, his mom was an accountant. I'm pretty sure it was all his dad's fault.
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Jul 29, 2015 02:14
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OSU_Matthew posted:When they send in that paperwork for underwriting, I'm assuming it'll get kicked back if you don't fill that out. In which case, you might as well go ahead and mark yes because you'll be getting an inspection of course. There is no disclosure that requires you to answer if you are getting an inspection or not. If you are given one either don't complete it or find a different bank. FHA requires a disclosure is given to buyers titled For Your Protection Get a Home Inspection, but there is no signature line on it. If they make you sign it leave, because they obviously don't know what they are talking in about. Back to the Redfin discussion a few pages back, since they are not commission they will always give you a credit from the commission. It's either 1% or 1.5%. You can also say you don't want it as a credit but as reimbursement, where they cut you a check after the closing. This becomes huge when you're already getting other credits from the seller or lender and so the additional credit ends up wasted since total credits can't exceed total closing costs (except in certain situations that even if they apply you will not get your lender to follow)
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Jul 29, 2015 02:35
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Leperflesh posted:Nobody can say without a lot more information. Is seven hundred thousand dollars easily affordable to you? Are you including condo fees of (probably) several hundred a month? Are you married, kids, plans to? What's your near and medium-term career prospects like? Why do you want to own instead of rent? How hard would it be for you to live outside the city limits? Great questions... My impetus for this thinking is I've been in this apartment for 5 years and ready for a change. Moving to another rental now it's pretty much impossible though; something equivalent to what I have now will be 3.5-4k/mo. 700k would be a stretch. 600k would be much easier. I'm making ~125k/yr right now but I have a stock options for a down payment. I work at a big tech company with safe career. Single with g/f, neither of us want kids. I'd prefer to be closer to downtown than out in the avenues even though that'd be cheaper. Been looking around at various options more centrally located and the cheap places are significantly under priced to get into bidding wars. I just transferred my work location to inside the city and lessened my commute by 1.5hrs each way; moving beyond oakland is a non-starter. Fake edit: Yeah this is a bad idea. Ignore.
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Jul 29, 2015 02:57
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Jesus Christ when I was making that I couldn't imagine spending 600k on a house. What do you mean "stock options for a down payment"? As in you could exercise and sell them right now?
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Jul 29, 2015 03:17
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Right? I'm making just a hair less than that right now and we've capped at $300k in Chicago. I work for a startup but my stock options are 100% not on the table as anything regarding a home purchase. (also this is why I ignore all recruiters from the Bay Area, though they tend to get a "man you at least contacted me at the right time for me to consider this!" when they email me in February) minivanmegafun fucked around with this message at 03:24 on Jul 29, 2015 |
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Jul 29, 2015 03:22
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To be fair SF is loving crazy but on that income I'd be getting a one bed in outer sunset or outer mission and save up for a nice home up the coast somewhere for the weekends. At 125k there you're netting like $5.5-6k a month right? Don't put more than 2-2.5k toward housing. Edit: I have an office in SF but refuse to move there because, despite loving the city, I refuse to participate in that shitshow of a real estate market. Jealous Cow fucked around with this message at 03:31 on Jul 29, 2015 |
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Jul 29, 2015 03:28
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climboutonalimb posted:I live in a rent controlled apartment in SF for ~$2k/month but I'm considering buying into this partially bubbled market. I'd be a first time home buyer. At best, I'd be able to afford a $700k 1b/ba condo... I probably shouldn't do this, should I? It would cost you around 4k a month for hoa+taxes+mortgage+interest+insurance to borrow $540,000 putting 10% down on a $600,000 condo. It would be difficult to make a competitive offer in this market using an FHA loan with 3.5% down but it is possible if you find a condo that went back on the market after a sale falling through. If you can get 20% down you can get a lower interest rate and not have to pay pmi, but there is a large opportunity cost to put that much down. San francisco has strict rent control laws which can make the decision to rent more difficult if you decide to move later. If you do rent it out and then want to sell, it could make a big difference in the price. I would keep renting for as long as possible at that price.
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Jul 29, 2015 03:33
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Stefan Prodan posted:Yeah, especially where I live in NC which is an at-will employment state, your boss could fire you tomorrow just because he has strong feelings about the kind of toothpaste you use, there is no job security at all unless you are like a tenured teacher or something. I have no idea why they think my income is some how more variable than anyone else's, other than like they don't really understand the law of large numbers despite being at a bank. Every state is at-will employment, but in practice most employees' incomes are fairly stable
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Jul 29, 2015 03:50
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climboutonalimb posted:Great questions... From another goon elsewhere on SA, looking in frisco (lol): " the wife and I were literally pre-approved up to $1m for a place and we couldn't find anything in the city you'd actually want to live in. 600ft 1bd/1bas list $790k were getting bids over $900k. no parking."
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Jul 29, 2015 04:04
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Series DD Funding posted:Every state is at-will employment, but in practice most employees' incomes are fairly stable Hm ok, for some reason I had the impression that most states have to give you notice that they're firing you ahead of time and you have to give notice ahead of time that you're quitting whereas here you can do either the same day, but I guess I was mistaken I also got the impression that in this economy recently most people's jobs weren't that stable but again that's just the impression that I got from the general attitude people seem to have recently about jobs/employment
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Jul 29, 2015 04:09
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minivanmegafun posted:Right? I'm making just a hair less than that right now and we've capped at $300k in Chicago. I work for a startup but my stock options are 100% not on the table as anything regarding a home purchase. You make a little less than $125k and you're capped at $300k in Chicago? I'm looking at $200k in the near west suburbs (Oak Park, Forest Part), and I make half that.
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Jul 29, 2015 04:09
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Kakairo posted:You make a little less than $125k and you're capped at $300k in Chicago? I'm looking at $200k in the near west suburbs (Oak Park, Forest Part), and I make half that. Priorities I'd imagine. I make a little less than double that and my next place will be less than 200k. I don't need good schools, I like earning my mortgage payment in a few days of work, and I want to easily afford a vacation home/travel/retire into indie consulting before 50.
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Jul 29, 2015 04:18
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Jealous Cow posted:Priorities I'd imagine. I make a little less than double that and my next place will be less than 200k. I don't need good schools, I like earning my mortgage payment in a few days of work, and I want to easily afford a vacation home/travel/retire into indie consulting before 50. Pretty much all of the above. We're a ways from adopting children and my partner is a teacher and plans to put them through CPS on principle; want to try to swing a 20 year note, and still want to afford vacations as we'd like them. We're also dead set on living in the city proper, I grew up in the north burbs and have zero interest in subjecting anyone to that punishment.
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Jul 29, 2015 04:35
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minivanmegafun posted:Pretty much all of the above. We're a ways from adopting children and my partner is a teacher and plans to put them through CPS on principle; want to try to swing a 20 year note, and still want to afford vacations as we'd like them. Yeah, we're moving back to Cleveland where my spouse's family lives. I'm a city boy who grew up in LA so I'm pretty insistent on living in the "old burbs" that have the turn of the century stuff. Which in Cleveland actually means pretty drat cheap houses. Can you buy a single family in Chicago proper for 300? Or are you looking at apartments?
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Jul 29, 2015 04:45
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Jealous Cow posted:
Chicago is geographically huge. There's a 17-bedroom 12-bath ex-rectory for sale in Auburn-Gresham for under $300, and if you want to get in some really sketchy neighborhoods you can buy a SFH for less than $50k. And yeah, there are plenty of houses for sale in other nice neighborhoods under the $300k mark. There's a bunch of crazies up on the north side spending way too much money but deals galore if you're south of Roosevelt.
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Jul 29, 2015 14:17
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minivanmegafun posted:Chicago is geographically huge. There's a 17-bedroom 12-bath ex-rectory for sale in Auburn-Gresham for under $300, and if you want to get in some really sketchy neighborhoods you can buy a SFH for less than $50k. Chicago is strange because it's one of the most segregated cities in the nation with about a 33%/33%/33% split of white/black/Hispanic. Almost anyone white will live in the city then flee to a border city when they have children because of the reputation (undeserved) that Chicago public schools have. The problem now is the back to city movement with jobs, so the suburban areas in walking distance of a train are incredibly expensive. And to make matters worse, the fact that whites won't move near blacks makes minority areas "sketchy" or whatever other term is used to avoid being called a racist. Also, the final straw is that the nicest areas in town for detached homes have lost more housing units in the last decade than the blighted ones. Billionaires are knocking down ten lots to create mansions and forcing out the millionaires. But despite its size, Chicago isn't a destination for yupsters like Seattle, Portland, Austin, Denver, bay area or NYC and it's much more affordable overall. Plus I bet every winter half the population tries to find work somewhere warm. mastershakeman fucked around with this message at 14:38 on Jul 29, 2015 |
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Jul 29, 2015 14:31
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lampey posted:It would cost you around 4k a month for hoa+taxes+mortgage+interest+insurance to borrow $540,000 putting 10% down on a $600,000 condo. It would be difficult to make a competitive offer in this market using an FHA loan with 3.5% down but it is possible if you find a condo that went back on the market after a sale falling through. If you can get 20% down you can get a lower interest rate and not have to pay pmi, but there is a large opportunity cost to put that much down. San francisco has strict rent control laws which can make the decision to rent more difficult if you decide to move later. If you do rent it out and then want to sell, it could make a big difference in the price. SF is a high cost area so the maximum loan limit for FHA or conventional is 625,500.
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Jul 29, 2015 15:26
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I'm in that dead period of closing where I don't have to do anything...and it's very strange. All documents are in to my lender (and have been for a week), inspection is done and repairs signed off on, occupancy agreement signed by both parties. Appraisal is scheduled for this week as well, and our closing date isn't until August 20th. This is going to be a long three weeks. Anyone else been in this position?
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Jul 29, 2015 15:34
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Omne posted:I'm in that dead period of closing where I don't have to do anything...and it's very strange. All documents are in to my lender (and have been for a week), inspection is done and repairs signed off on, occupancy agreement signed by both parties. Appraisal is scheduled for this week as well, and our closing date isn't until August 20th. This is going to be a long three weeks. Anyone else been in this position? Yes, and then the week we were supposed to close got stretched into 3 more weeks for no good reason. Have fun!
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Jul 29, 2015 16:11
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Just because your lender has the documents doesn't mean they'll have anyone actually underwrite the loan until 6pm the day of closing and you'd better hope a title company is still open or guess what, all the figures have to be refigured for one less day of interest and the occupancy agreement has to be fixed and blah-de-loving blah. If you get a good broker, never let him go.
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Jul 29, 2015 16:26
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Omne posted:I'm in that dead period of closing where I don't have to do anything...and it's very strange. All documents are in to my lender (and have been for a week), inspection is done and repairs signed off on, occupancy agreement signed by both parties. Appraisal is scheduled for this week as well, and our closing date isn't until August 20th. This is going to be a long three weeks. Anyone else been in this position? I'm in the same boat for the most part. Just need to actually buy home insurance and transfer utilities, but everything is lined up for a quick phone call. We close on the 14th.
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Jul 29, 2015 17:01
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Got estimates for some basic contractor and electrical work, and while the estimate for a couple stair railings is about what I expected, hoo-boy, what I would think is basic electrical work is more expensive than I thought. Here's the estimate:  $1400 for what is mostly replacing outlets?! Seems insane...GFCIs are what, $15 a pop? Maybe $20? I could replace them myself if not for my town's crazy permitting BS. At any rate, we had to get back to the seller with what we wanted done, and we just said $2500 in credit, but that was before this estimate was in. We were under the gun and had to respond, and I wasn't expecting it to even be $1k. That still covers both estimates, but leaves very little for some of the smaller things around the home, or if the estimates go over...which I'm inclined to believe they always do.
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Jul 29, 2015 19:13
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You need inspected permits to change the receptacle hardware with no wiring changes?
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Jul 29, 2015 19:19
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DrBouvenstein posted:Got estimates for some basic contractor and electrical work, and while the estimate for a couple stair railings is about what I expected, hoo-boy, what I would think is basic electrical work is more expensive than I thought. If you already asked for and got approved for a $2500 credit, I would just leave it at that. It sounds like all the big stuff, roof, foundation, plumbing is all accounted for. Even if the smaller stuff goes over you still have control of the work and the bulk of it will still be covered for. That estimate sounds high, you can get another one but unless I am missing something, we are talking a few hundred bucks either way, and compared to everything else that is a rounding error.
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Jul 29, 2015 19:32
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