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100 HOGS AGREE posted:How the hell do you ever get a response from a seller's agent? No one ever replies to me when I contact them myself and leave voicemails and emails and poo poo. I just dumped my buyer's agent because she was lovely but now I can't get any responses. Tell them you're unrepresented but looking for an agent? That's like throwing blood in the water though.
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Sep 9, 2015 17:58
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:How the hell do you ever get a response from a seller's agent? No one ever replies to me when I contact them myself and leave voicemails and emails and poo poo. I just dumped my buyer's agent because she was lovely but now I can't get any responses. Weird. All the sellers agents we contacted would fall over themselves trying to represent us too. ^^ ya that
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Sep 9, 2015 18:06
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Captain Windex posted:They won't catch anything your inspector won't A good appraiser will normally look at the property records, so they will catch things like illegal additions, a thing an inspector wouldn't normally look at. An illegal room or an illegal guest house won't be counted in the appraisal value, or at least that's the case where I live
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Sep 9, 2015 19:10
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Radbot posted:-Furnace: Furnace is a 70s era Bryant that is likely end-of-life, despite lighting quickly and blowing briskly. He was adamant that this thing was probably about to go, but it DID work even though it was filthy. I'm thinking $3k for a new one installed? $3k is pretty optimistic. I'd budget more like $5k, potentially more if you want to do better than 80% efficiency.
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Sep 9, 2015 20:44
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QuarkJets posted:A good appraiser  That's actually a good point but I wouldn't rely on an appraiser for it: once you're well on your way to buying a house, you should go down to your city's building and planning, environmental, and appraiser's offices to get whatever info you can about the house's past.
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Sep 9, 2015 21:52
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Zhentar posted:$3k is pretty optimistic. I'd budget more like $5k, potentially more if you want to do better than 80% efficiency. Really? I'm seeing gas furnaces with poor efficiency selling for as little as $1,200, with average installation in the $2k range. What would push it to $5k, just a nicer furnace? Also, getting the septic guys out tomorrow. They're charging me for a pump ($275) and inspection ($400) but that includes the use permit fee for my county. However, everything I've read says not to pump a system before inspection, even though these guys insisted on it. Is it legit? They said they will provide repair estimates as well (remember that this house was sold as having a failed septic system). I did verify that this company is on my county board of health's "approved" list, so there is that. Does this sound legit, though? Radbot fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Sep 9, 2015 |
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Sep 9, 2015 22:58
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I don't know where you read that, but everything I've heard has both the inspection and pumping done on the same go: http://www.vdwws.com/2013/05/what-happens-during-a-septic-system-inspection-part-ii/
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Sep 9, 2015 23:19
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moana posted:I don't know where you read that, but everything I've heard has both the inspection and pumping done on the same go: http://www.vdwws.com/2013/05/what-happens-during-a-septic-system-inspection-part-ii/ Yeah, I saw that link too and it does make me a bit more comfortable. I also read that what they're doing is much more extensive than a standard dye test, and that the inspection itself is only $300 while the permit is $100. I'll let y'all know how it goes! 
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Sep 9, 2015 23:22
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Radbot posted:Really? I'm seeing gas furnaces with poor efficiency selling for as little as $1,200, with average installation in the $2k range. What would push it to $5k, just a nicer furnace? Business overhead, warranty. A $3k incremental cost to add furnace replacement on to other major services (e.g. AC install) is fairly reasonable, but I'd be fairly surprised if you can get one installed by itself (by a non-shady company that will come back and fix issues) for that much. $275 is double what I pay for a septic pumping (but that's not in CO, so I don't know if it compares well). Seems pretty steep in combination with the inspection.
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Sep 9, 2015 23:57
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A new furnace often means new ducting, and may also mean new wiring/gas lines for the furnace. If you have A/C, it may be a combo unit (at least for the forced air part) so a lot of people would replace both at once. You can't just price out a unit with the BTUs you want and then assume nothing else has to be done. Maybe nothing else does have to be done, but a conservative estimate should assume additional work.
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Sep 10, 2015 00:02
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I signed papers on my place back in late August, and 2 weeks of repair work and painting later.... I'm still looking at 2 more weeks of work and painting. Do Never Buy.
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Sep 10, 2015 16:01
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Leperflesh posted:A new furnace often means new ducting, and may also mean new wiring/gas lines for the furnace. If you have A/C, it may be a combo unit (at least for the forced air part) so a lot of people would replace both at once. You really need to shop around. Many HVAC places charge double for the exact same unit and install. If the person giving you the quote is a salesman instead of the tin snip jockey, you have got to pay his salary and commission. I usually look for a terrible website in html from the 80s that lets you know it is an older guy that doesn't know what inflation should have done to his profits.
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Sep 10, 2015 16:49
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How does code/permitting work when a home is purchased by someone else? My inspector said that my deck likely wasn't permitted when it was built, due to it being stable and generally well constructed but overspanned. Can I get in trouble for this later?
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Sep 10, 2015 20:04
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Anyone here have experience in the NYC housing market? It seems pretty nuts but I'm probably going to buy something within the next two years and I'd like to start planning now. I hardly know where to start. I assume 20% down doesn't cut it here?
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Sep 10, 2015 22:22
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Radbot posted:How does code/permitting work when a home is purchased by someone else? My inspector said that my deck likely wasn't permitted when it was built, due to it being stable and generally well constructed but overspanned. Can I get in trouble for this later? First, check whether the deck is permitted. Those records are public. If it's permitted, then you don't have anything to worry about If it's not permitted, then an appraiser might not include it as part of your home's value. That's probably not going to change anything, assuming it's not some premier feature of your home. A buyer who reviews the permits might also notice the lack of a permit and could demand a concession or could walk completely for fear of the deck being worthless and/or dangerous
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Sep 11, 2015 02:57
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Yeah, I don't see anything about a permit for the deck in the property records. Guess that'll be another thing to beat them with. But the bigger issue right now is the septic. I had an inspector come out yesterday to look at the tank, and he immediately said it was completely hosed - I agree considering it looked full of dirt. The real problem is that the seepage pits that the tank flows into were homemade some time a LONG time ago and are completely collapsing. The inspector said that this would force us to create a traditional drainfield, which would be insane on this property - it's on a steep, rocky slope, so grading a loving drainfield out of it to be completely flat would likely require a massive retaining wall and who knows what else to break through the rock. He threw out $24k as a figure but said it was impossible to know without drilling the soil. I asked about using a new seepage pit, and he seemed adamant that it wouldn't be permitted, but I talked to the county board of health and they said seepage pits were still OK (I guess one of the perks of buying outside of a more environmentally friendly county). Regardless, he said he'd try to get an engineer out there by today or Saturday to give me a firmer answer. The selling agent told me, through my agent, to talk to the guy who provided the original $16k quote. I'm going to talk to him today and ask him why he thinks he's going to be able to repair the system without regrading a loving mountain. Feeling kinda depressed right now, these inspections are costing me a ton of money and now I'm finding out it may just be impossible to know how much it will cost to repair the system.
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Sep 11, 2015 16:56
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I would ask for the seller to pay for some of the inspections, or I wouldn't furnish any of the reports just general findings and a number you want when you speak with them. If they want to know more about it, they can pay for more of it.
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Sep 11, 2015 17:07
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No Butt Stuff posted:I would ask for the seller to pay for some of the inspections, or I wouldn't furnish any of the reports just general findings and a number you want when you speak with them. If they want to know more about it, they can pay for more of it. Sellers don't want to know about it, otherwise they have to disclose it.
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Sep 11, 2015 17:35
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That's a good idea, I just wonder how they're going to respond to an offer that is so low. The house was at $260k, down to $244k, then we'd want an extra $10k at a minimum to fix structural and water issues, and now another $8k (maybe?) to fix the septic even though they "know" it only costs $16k. So now we're coming in at $226k... That's a big fat discount that would give me heartburn as a seller to even look at. I guess we'll find out how much they want to sell.
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Sep 11, 2015 17:39
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Keep in mind if you are bringing these issues to light with them, they will be legally bound to disclose them to future offers, so they will likely be in the same boat in the future. Their options now are play ball with you or hope someone very dumb comes along. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of dumb people.
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Sep 11, 2015 18:34
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An option to consider is to ask for work to be done instead of asking for cash. Be careful though because they'll go with the cheapest option. But if you require the work to be done by a contractor and with a permit, you can mitigate a lot of that concern.
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Sep 11, 2015 18:43
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Yeah, you could even specify the contractor.
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Sep 11, 2015 20:05
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They said "as is, no repairs". Maybe I'll give them the option to repair though to make it seem like I'm not just trying to wring cash out of them.
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Sep 11, 2015 20:13
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Like, just now? I'd offer them 200k and tell them their poo poo is hosed and if they don't wanna talk about it, then you don't need to talk about it. And go ahead and furnish their realtor the inspection stuff after they refused so they have to disclose it.
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Sep 11, 2015 20:52
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Radbot posted:Feeling kinda depressed right now, these inspections are costing me a ton of money and now I'm finding out it may just be impossible to know how much it will cost to repair the system. I don't have an opinion on your situation but just remember any inspection money is gone and isn't coming back so try not to let it influence your future decisions. Sunk cost fallacy is a bitch to ignore sometimes.
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Sep 11, 2015 22:19
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I like to look at it as you purchased a piece of mind that you're not buying into a money pit completely blind and having to face several times the cost in necessary fixes
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Sep 12, 2015 02:03
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It's better to lose a little bit of inspection money than to lose a whole lot of money repairing things later. And the worst case is to inspect, learn there's poo poo that's expensive to fix, and then ignore that and pay for it yourself later. Don't be afraid to walk away
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Sep 12, 2015 02:07
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True, but if you don't inspect and just buy it blind and everything is absolutely perfect, then you could be ahead up to like, $400!
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Sep 12, 2015 03:32
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QuarkJets posted:It's better to lose a little bit of inspection money than to lose a whole lot of money repairing things later. And the worst case is to inspect, learn there's poo poo that's expensive to fix, and then ignore that and pay for it yourself later. Don't be afraid to walk away I think we all need to read the threads title again. Everything is expensive to fix. Everything is broken or will be broken shortly. Any contractor you hire will be an incompetent high school drop out and probably convicted felon.
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Sep 14, 2015 14:32
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Inspections are piece of mind for tons of little things imo and let you know how well the house was maintained. They can't and won't spot a lot of major expenses, but if there's 2 sprinkler heads out, a running toilet, and rotten siding you can bet that the furnace was fixed with duct tape.
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Sep 14, 2015 15:02
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Elephanthead posted:I think we all need to read the threads title again. Everything is expensive to fix. Everything is broken or will be broken shortly. Any contractor you hire will be an incompetent high school drop out and probably convicted felon. Keep in mind that I'm the one who came up with that title. No one is suggesting that things don't break. The point of an inspection is to try and find things that are currently broken, and then make the seller pay for them. You're going to be shelling out plenty of money in repairs down the road, there's no reason to frontload that with additional repairs that the seller should be paying for (unless it's just small poo poo; anything worth more than a hundred dollars is worth complaining about, at the very least) QuarkJets fucked around with this message at 15:11 on Sep 14, 2015 |
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Sep 14, 2015 15:07
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I know this question(s) might be a little unorthodox for this thread but I'm at a point where I can't really turn to people I know just yet, so I'm hoping to find some answers here. Quick backstory. My wife and I have been married just a hair under a year. We had been clearing debts and helping her rebuild her credit since she had a bankruptcy. In August, we found a good home at a comfortable price of $410,500. Since we both make ok money (me $70K a year and her $80K a year), we were poised for a comfortable life until yesterday when the marriage fell apart (I won't go into that here). Possession date is October 2. We've signed all the mortgage documents. All the paperwork is at the lawyers. I haven't put the entire downpayment of $57,000 in but I have given the sellers the $10000 deposit. Can I afford this house on my own? Probably. I take home about $4000/month. We got a really great interest rate at 2.09% fixed over two years. But still after payments, taxes and utilities and insurance I'm still going to be $2100-2200 a month, and I'm scared that I'll be house poor and if anything bad comes my way, I'll be dead in the water. At this point, can I still get out of buying this house? I know my deposit would be gone for sure but I'm going to assume I would also have to pay for our realtor and obviously I'd have to pay for the lawyer's time. Or am I stuck and will just have to grin and bear it until I can sell it and not take a bath or, maybe even rent it out. Renting a room isn't an option due to the set up of the house but I might be able to find a cheap place to live and rent the whole place out. Just really don't know what I should do at this point. Any advice would be appreciated, even if it's not what I want to hear.
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Sep 14, 2015 15:43
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I wouldn't buy the house under any circumstances. See how much money you can get back, but focus your attention on the divorce instead of creating another problem for yourself.
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Sep 14, 2015 15:49
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There are plenty of houses in the sea, don't bother with this one.
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Sep 14, 2015 15:54
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SiliconX posted:I know this question(s) might be a little unorthodox for this thread but I'm at a point where I can't really turn to people I know just yet, so I'm hoping to find some answers here. You'll probably be out your deposit but you won't owe commission if the sale doesn't close. You might buy it and get a roommate or something, consider your options but yes you'll be pretty hard up floating 55% of your take home on the mortgage payment.
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Sep 14, 2015 16:02
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You can't afford it. Back out, don't give any more down payment, and don't sign any more loan or closing stuff. You'll lose your deposit, but that's not the end of the world. e: You probably have a financing contingency. Once you tell the bank that you're getting a divorce and only going to make 70k a year, they may deny the financing, especially when you say you have no down payment. This may let you get your deposit back too. See what you can do.
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Sep 14, 2015 17:50
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Another update! We had a septic contractor come out to the property on Sunday. Seemed like a real nice old guy, has been in the business since he was a kid. Based on my Degree in Septic Systems granted by YouTube University, he sounded like he knew what he was talking about. The big question came down to whether they'd be able to use the front lawn for a drainfield (would be ridiculously easier) or the steep, rocky slope behind the house (the first time in my life I've heard the phrase "we may have to use explosives" in regards to home improvement). He's going to get back to us tomorrow to let us know if the front lawn area is big enough (and set back enough from property lines), but he said he was "confident we could do this for $25k." Well gently caress, sir, that's $9k more than we were planning on spending and cash is a bit tight considering we're putting 20% down and already have $16k in reserve for the original septic quote. Apparently we'd definitely need a pump, a dosing system, and imported sand. And the radon test came back at 4 picocuries/L. loving fantastic. This should be cheap-ish ($1,200-1,500) though and honestly I shouldn't be surprised sitting on a huge hunk of granite will produce that.
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Sep 14, 2015 19:02
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Radbot posted:(the first time in my life I've heard the phrase "we may have to use explosives" in regards to home improvement). Think of how satisfying it would be taking a dump that you dynamited out a hole to store it in.
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Sep 14, 2015 20:14
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No Butt Stuff posted:You can't afford it. Back out, don't give any more down payment, and don't sign any more loan or closing stuff. This is good advice, thank you. This is very likely what I'm going to do.
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Sep 14, 2015 20:39
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SiliconX posted:I know this question(s) might be a little unorthodox for this thread but I'm at a point where I can't really turn to people I know just yet, so I'm hoping to find some answers here. I would not buy a home at all considering the circumstances. Your realtor will pressure you into continuing with the sale. Don't buy a house when you might move for any number of reasons very soon. Depending on your contract you may still get your deposit back minus inspection and appraisal fees. Check your contract to see if there is a financing contingency or if there is anything else that would apply.
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Sep 14, 2015 20:46
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