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mastershakeman posted:We got a ton more info today: Basically, the buyers were giving a whole list of things they wanted, like having everything repainted, siding put on to replace the totally fine wood, etc that the seller was getting upset by. We'd seen this place and were very interested at the open house, and the seller's agent contacted us yesterday at noon seeing if we were still interested; turns out at 5pm the buyers pulled out and now it's not under contract. Wait, do you mean to say you're thinking of buying this house, even though you're having a baby soon, don't have an agent, and haven't even investigated financing (gotten a pre-approval letter) yet? There are a lot of red flags here. The deal that just fell through very likely wasn't just "oh they wanted a bunch of unnecessary things," it's much more likely that the buyers had inspections, and the inspection identified issues, and the buyers weren't satisfied with the sellers' willingness to deal with them and used the inspection contingency to call off the deal. In all probability your own inspections will reveal the same problems. Unless the sellers are suddenly willing to make major concessions, you'll be in exactly the same situation as the previous buyers, and likewise looking at losing the money you put into inspections in order to walk away. It's also telling that the sellers' agent is calling people who merely attended the open house and expressed any kind of interest. In most markets in the US, any house that is even remotely reasonably priced is attracting multiple bids. They should have had other bidders to go back to. Why are you their next-best prospect? Are you shopping in slower market, like a really rural area or something? You are also making a really dumb move buying a house without knowing what your child care costs are going to be. Get your daycare lined up first, have a budget, and then you'll have a solid basis on which to decide what you can actually afford. Having a baby is super-stressful, and buying a house is super-stressful; don't do both simultaneously. Anyway you need an agent and a pre-approval letter. These are both pretty trivial to get. It does not matter what bank you get pre-approval from, you aren't under any obligation to use that bank for your actual financing. Just call up whatever bank you normally bank with and ask for a pre-approval letter. Your reason for not getting pre-approved doesn't make sense. Unless you're concerned that by showing a seller a pre-approval letter with a value higher than your bid, they'll think you're made of money and will be less likely to negotiate, but their agent should be familiar with the concept of preapprovals that are much higher than people's actual budgets, and in any case you can often get a pre-approval letter with a lower value on it if you want. The best way to get an agent is to have one recommended to you by someone you know and trust. Do you have any friends who bought houses in the area? Ask them if they had a good experience with their agent and if so, give their agent a call. Any agent will be ecstatic to work with a client who already has a house picked out. Actually you don't even need an agent in this situation: get a lawyer (as well or instead), do not let the sellers' agent represent you, and as part of your offer you can negotiate on how much of the buyers' agents' customary fee you're willing to concede to the sellers' agent and/or get back in cash or whatever. The sellers will probably be delighted to get to spend less than the customary 6% split between the two agents. If you're not comfortable working without an agent, that's fine though. My advice here though is to get your daycare lined up and have a budget before you buy a house, and be extremely skeptical of a deal where the sellers just blew a deal by not being willing to make enough concessions to a buyer who has already paid for inspections.
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Oct 10, 2015 18:41
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All good advice, I don't want to post too much personal stuff but our attorney actually advised us to use the seller's agent as our own. Good times (Im an attorney too but don't do much in this area). We've basically had this budgeted for for a while but there's still uncertainty. Unfortunately the housing market in this area sucks, and this area is where my in laws live so there really isn't much in the way of palatable options. I'm from the country so have minimal opinion on most of this, as getting 600 acres like I grew up with isn't exactly doable in Chicagoland. Anyways, another piece of advice I got from an acquaintance is to do a junior loan as a way to avoid PMI. I thought this was pretty much not done and am surprised it could work, because everyone would be doing it otherwise? mastershakeman fucked around with this message at 21:16 on Oct 10, 2015 |
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Oct 10, 2015 21:06
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mastershakeman posted:All good advice, I don't want to post too much personal stuff but our attorney actually advised us to use the seller's agent as our own. What the gently caress? That is not a good idea at all. Are you banging this attorney's spouse, or have you done something else that would cause them to give you such potentially ruinous advice? There is a huge conflict of interest in letting the selling agent "represent" you. Let me put it another way: you don't really have an agent in this situation. The selling agent will provide you with paperwork and poo poo but good luck getting any real advice or cooperation from them if you're a first-time homebuyer. I guess you could have your attorney acting as the buyer's agent by giving them all of your paperwork, but then it seems like you just have a really expensive buyer's agent (which was probably why they directed you to just use the selling agent; man, how does it feel to have so many people trying to gently caress you over?) quote:Anyways, another piece of advice I got from an acquaintance is to do a junior loan as a way to avoid PMI. I thought this was pretty much not done and am surprised it could work, because everyone would be doing it otherwise? That's sort of a gimmicky way to avoid PMI, yes. It's not necessarily true that they're a better deal, though. With something like an 80-10-10 you'll probably be paying the same per month, but possibly with the junior loan being interest only or carrying some other bullshit terms. You've got to look at the paperwork very carefully before jumping into this kind of thing. QuarkJets fucked around with this message at 02:02 on Oct 11, 2015 |
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Oct 11, 2015 01:59
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QuarkJets posted:That's sort of a gimmicky way to avoid PMI, yes. It's not necessarily true that they're a better deal, though. With something like an 80-10-10 you'll probably be paying the same per month, but possibly with the junior loan being interest only or carrying some other bullshit terms. You've got to look at the paperwork very carefully before jumping into this kind of thing. I can't imagine that this process provides anything better than just eating the PMI until you get up to the 20-22% equity you need to have the PMI cancelled, either. Just take the money you would have spent on the junior loan and put it back toward principal prepayment.
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Oct 11, 2015 02:04
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prussian advisor posted:I can't imagine that this process provides anything better than just eating the PMI until you get up to the 20-22% equity you need to have the PMI cancelled, either. Just take the money you would have spent on the junior loan and put it back toward principal prepayment. You'd be right, at least in my case. Back when my wife and I were considering buying with only 10% down, the numbers that our broker gave us showed that it was slightly less expensive to just eat PMI than to do an 80/10/10. But mortgage interest is probably going to be deductible forever whereas the PMI deduction is probably going away soon, so it might have been a wash overall in the event of that happening. Regardless, we chose to continue saving until we had 20% down because having any less than that is bad no matter what you do (the wisest answer financially would be to not buy at all, but we both wanted a big house and a yard and the rental market was giving us neither of those things, so gently caress it, time to burn a bunch of money!)
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Oct 11, 2015 03:53
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We finally have a closing date set, hooray! Tell me all your nightmares of what you missed on your final walk through so I can miss them as well! mastershakeman: what terrible Chicago suburb are you in with a terrible housing market, and why is your attorney not working in your best interest? You really need to cool your jets and step back from this situation and re-evaluate; as well as get a good buyer's agent and a better attorney. minivanmegafun fucked around with this message at 06:10 on Oct 11, 2015 |
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Oct 11, 2015 06:07
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minivanmegafun posted:Tell me all your nightmares of what you missed on your final walk through so I can miss them as well! There shouldn't be too many of these; if you asked for specific things to be repaired then you just need to check those and then make sure that the house is clean. The time to ask for repairs and poo poo passed a looooooong time ago if you're on your final walk through, unless something changed significantly since your inspection period then you're just poo poo out of luck.
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Oct 11, 2015 10:27
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mastershakeman, I used guaranteed rate, and thought they were good.
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Oct 12, 2015 14:21
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Using the sellers agent can mean the seller pays a significantly lower commission, which should allow them to take your lowball offer, and the agent has way more liability as you have agency with them where as using another agent the sellers agent owes you jack poo poo as far as honesty. Lawyers know they can sue when they have agency. I am pretty certain this thread has determined all realtors are useless scumbag leaches anyway so what does it matter which one you pick to fill out the preprinted offer sheet?
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Oct 12, 2015 14:28
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gvibes posted:mastershakeman, I used guaranteed rate, and thought they were good. Thanks man. And elephanthead, that's what we were banking on. We offered about 9% less than the prior contract that feel through, and got it accepted at about 6% less. I'm jumping at shadows, my wife is convinced we did things perfectly and that the dual agency helped since the agent can potentially kick in money to get the close.
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Oct 12, 2015 14:37
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Elephanthead posted:Using the sellers agent can mean the seller pays a significantly lower commission, which should allow them to take your lowball offer, and the agent has way more liability as you have agency with them where as using another agent the sellers agent owes you jack poo poo as far as honesty. Lawyers know they can sue when they have agency. I am pretty certain this thread has determined all realtors are useless scumbag leaches anyway so what does it matter which one you pick to fill out the preprinted offer sheet? I was under the assumption that if you use sellers agent in a purchase, they just double dip and get the full 6%
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Oct 12, 2015 16:48
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Do never buy. While we were at work Friday, our neighbors turned our private backyard from this: Into this:  They cut down two large screening trees on their property for what seems to be no reason. Now we have a lovely view of their ratty deck and hot tub.
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Oct 12, 2015 16:55
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Is that an electricity pole? If so, it may have been the utility company
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Oct 12, 2015 17:31
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couldcareless posted:I was under the assumption that if you use sellers agent in a purchase, they just double dip and get the full 6% That's usually how it goes. The contracts are typically written that the selling agent gets 3% and the buyer's agent gets 3%. If those are the same person, they get both (maybe in two checks!) It's illegal in some states to do dual agency, because of the high potential to screw over one or both parties. As a seller, you want your agent to wring out the highest possible price from a buyer, even if it takes a couple months. As a buyer, you want your agent to get you the best value. A dual agent cannot simultaneously represent the interests of both of you, because making one party better off will make the other party worse off. But of course, they're probably more interested in making the seller better off (increases their commission) but more likely they just care about closing quickly and getting paid.
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Oct 12, 2015 18:45
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Yeah, from what I've read the "lower commission" thing is the rare exception rather than the norm, and the buyer has to negotiate pretty hard to get that.
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Oct 12, 2015 18:54
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canyoneer posted:But of course, they're probably more interested in making the seller better off (increases their commission) but more likely they just care about closing quickly and getting paid.
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Oct 12, 2015 18:54
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mastershakeman posted:
Just on the financing front, I started out with my local credit union (Telhio), and that was a complete nightmare. Lots of wasted time and trips, got told different things depending on the day, and even went into contract on a house only to be told their investor couldn't sign off on the pre-approved loan because I didn't have enough open credit cards (only ever had one and paid cash for craigslist cars). It was so bad I closed my six year old account there. I also have USAA, but didn't check there because I've heard pretty meh things about their mortgages, even though I love everything else I have through them. Wound up going with First Merit (never banked with them before) and had a really great experience there, very straightforward and helpful people. I'd recommend them in a heartbeat. None of that may be helpful for your area and situation, but just some perspective 
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Oct 12, 2015 19:12
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minivanmegafun posted:We finally have a closing date set, hooray! I didn't get a final walkthrough because when I went to do so an hour before closing (at my realtor's insistence) all their crap was still there because they didn't bother reading the contract and thought they had a full month to move out. Stupidly, I still went through with the deal and wound up giving them a extra week to move out. Apparently that wasn't enough time to move their used motor oil collection stored in empty cool whip containers, piles of junk in the garage, clean anything, bother giving me half the keys, etc etc etc. If you're not taking immediate possession, be sure to set up an escrow for repairs, and not do the inspection at the last minute Catatron Prime fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Oct 13, 2015 |
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Oct 13, 2015 01:39
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A duplex went on the market 10 days ago, I got an email update from saved search on Redfin that day, and I was out already so I drove by to check it out. As with almost all of these properties the seller requires an offer subject to interior inspection in order to see the inside. These offers are essentially useless pieces of paper since you can just not submit a real offer after you walk through. List was $679k, I offered $650k minus $5k from seller towards closing costs. Submitted the offer the day it got listed. The listing agent waited until the end of that first weekend and gathered up all offers, and I got a call the middle of the next week (~5 days after listing) telling me they had multiple offers and mine was too low, so they weren't interested in letting me in to see the property unless I submitted a revised offer closer to the competing offers. Resubmitted offer for $675k This past weekend (8 days after listing), we get to see the inside. We actually brought an inspector even though I didn't have an accepted offer, but it would help make my subsequent offer stronger (long story: I thought my agent offered to pay for the inspector, turns out I misunderstood and she hadn't offered, but she was willing to pay the $490 anyways). Inside is great, inspection is clean enough, no major repairs, and I'm confident the property is a bit underpriced (though hard to find comparables since not a lot of duplexes in the area) During the viewing I found out there were 4 total offers, and I don't believe anybody else had an inspection (understandably). Submitted an offer the day after viewing (9 days after listing) for $682k (couple grand over asking), inspection contingency waived, and conventional financing. Moving fast. Hope to hear tomorrow, but it's hard for me to imagine somebody beating that offer!
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Oct 13, 2015 04:52
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That entire scenario sounds like some sort of dystopian future city state where money is called 'credits'.
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Oct 14, 2015 08:56
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QuarkJets posted:Yeah, from what I've read the "lower commission" thing is the rare exception rather than the norm, and the buyer has to negotiate pretty hard to get that. Hmm, I didn't negotiate at all and I got 4.9% on the sale, and I pay only 2.9% if the listing agent gets both sides of the transaction. Probably depends on the market and relative price of the home to median price. This is with Remax so it isn't even with some shady internet only agency.
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Oct 14, 2015 15:41
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QuarkJets posted:Yeah, from what I've read the "lower commission" thing is the rare exception rather than the norm, and the buyer has to negotiate pretty hard to get that. He might have better luck asking for a "buyers rebate" than asking for a lower commission. "Since I wouldn't be able to use all of your services due to dual agency regulations, would you be willing to offer me a buyers rebate?" If they say no you can always find another agent. I'm currently working with an agent who agreed to give me a buyers rebate for 30% of his fee. I like him a lot and he's been really helpful. He just doesn't have the name recognition of the big name brokers in the city, so he offers a buyers rebate to attract customers. I also sold my home last year with a discount broker for a 1% fee instead of the normal 3%. You can save money when dealing with agents, but you have to do your homework and shop around.
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Oct 14, 2015 16:09
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Wanted to bounce this off of housegoons before I pursue it further... I purchased a condo for ~$245,000 two and a half years ago, with a loan that includes PMI. I can get it removed if I get an appraisal that demonstrates my loan value is <75% of my equity within the first five years. My neighbors across the hall are selling their unit (with a much worse view) for ~$345,000 and have at least one offer. My current loan value is about $230,000. It seems dumb not to get an appraisal to remove the PMI, right? With that, should I wait for my neighbor's unit to sell, or should I just pull the trigger since their market value is relevant without it selling?
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Oct 14, 2015 16:25
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ETB posted:Wanted to bounce this off of housegoons before I pursue it further...
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Oct 14, 2015 16:27
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SiGmA_X posted:Wait for it to sell. They won't use non sold listings as comps. They'll use recent sales. Listings actually can be included on the appraisal, but they're given little to no weight compared to actually sold comps in determining value. Wait for it to sell.
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Oct 14, 2015 17:18
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Just to keep the thread updated since everyone else does, the house I bought in march had a clogged drain from the air conditioning causing a soaked closet and mass confusion for 2 weeks, but I was able to fix that on my own by disconnecting the pipe and blowing it out with runner lungs. Now the toilet in my master bath is leaking water from a corroded bolt connecting the tank to the base, so I'll be learning how to install a toilet instead of doing something fun Saturday afternoon. Still happy I bought but none of this stuff happened in 12 years of apartments.
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Oct 15, 2015 15:16
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So I was going to get my air ducts cleaned yesterday at 2pm. At 11am, the company's technician calls me at work and asks me via voicemail if he can come clean now - no, my wife isn't home yet and I don't let people in my house when we're not there. I tried to call him back, and his voicemail box is full, so I call the owner. This slimy sounding mafia dude tells me his technician "really needs to pick up his kid" and tells me if I don't like it, I should cancel. I've learned that dealing with folks that don't want the job is a bad idea, so I told him to cancel. My wife stays down in the city at the old house, since the appointment is canceled. We get up there later that evening, and immediately notice things are off. There are small items on the floor (a piece of thread, a nightlight) that look like they were pulled up from the duct system. Mouse poison blocks had been laid, even though we don't use poison. I found some safety glasses on our deck, and then I found one of our window screens had been broken. This window doesn't lock closed (we're working on that, it's our first week in the house), and we finally work out that the duct tech has been in the house and climbed in through the window, breaking the screen. We also noticed some of my wife's medical marijuana missing. (Colorado, so y'know). Incensed, I call the owner and he explains that his techs don't have cellphone service in my area and that "no one does" (the fact that I'm calling him from the house notwithstanding). He then sighs, and, very magnanimous sounding, says he will give me a $100 discount. For an appointment I canceled, and after his techs broke my window screen. My wife rips the phone out of my hand and starts reading this fuckhole the riot act in the nicest way possible, explaining that we're not going to pay for a service we didn't ask for. He then said his techs were justified because "the house looks vacant" (no, we're moving in, there's a $800 clothes washer still in its packaging inside) and because "there was drug paraphernalia" that "made it look like squatters were looking there" (this being a glass bong my wife uses, and once again, we're in loving Colorado - bongs and weed are legal, period, for everybody). My wife finally, after about 20 minutes, gets him to relent and he "feels fine not getting paid for the work we've done". The work was poo poo, by the way - I had initially requested a furnace cleaning and it was filthy. Both of us have just felt like poo poo after this - even though nothing's gone, we literally had our house broken into in the first week we were here, and they tried to bill us for it. Now I'm afraid this scummy sounding owner or his tech are going to retaliate somehow, and I don't know if I should file a police report. Do. Never. Buy.
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Oct 15, 2015 16:25
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Radbot posted:Both of us have just felt like poo poo after this - even though nothing's gone, we literally had our house broken into in the first week we were here, and they tried to bill us for it. Now I'm afraid this scummy sounding owner or his tech are going to retaliate somehow, and I don't know if I should file a police report. Didn't you say that they stole some of your wife's prescription medicine (marijuana)? That warrants a police report. Also, breaking-and-entering. If I had someone scheduled to do work at my house and suddenly couldn't be home for it, I would expect that they'd ring the doorbell and leave when no one answered. Not say, "Well, they asked me to be here. I'm going to break in and do the job." I would most certainly call the local PD after that. Good-Natured Filth fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Oct 15, 2015 |
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Oct 15, 2015 16:58
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I'm just a coward baby and I'm scared about pissing off folks this slimy, especially when I'm not going to be around a lot for a few weeks as we move in. Guess I need to buck up and call the Sheriff's office.
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Oct 15, 2015 17:07
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Duct cleaning is also generally a scam. Almost nobody needs their ducts cleaned. Having your furnace cleaned out is maybe more justifiable. The correct response to someone entering your home without your permission is to call the police.
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Oct 15, 2015 17:30
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CALL. THE. POLICE.
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Oct 15, 2015 17:56
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Someone broke into your house and stole your things and you didn't call the police right away?
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Oct 15, 2015 18:27
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I'll be calling a deputy over tonight when I'm off work.
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Oct 15, 2015 18:31
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Radbot posted:I'm just a coward baby and I'm scared about pissing off folks this slimy, especially when I'm not going to be around a lot for a few weeks as we move in. Guess I need to buck up and call the Sheriff's office. There's a huge difference between the populations of "rear end in a top hat toughguys" and "rear end in a top hat toughguys who will actually murder you".
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Oct 15, 2015 19:21
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Radbot posted:I'll be calling a deputy over tonight when I'm off work. Definitely file a PR. And go on Yelp, too.
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Oct 15, 2015 20:16
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Radbot posted:I'll be calling a deputy over tonight when I'm off work. Call them now, explain what happened, it'll take time to get someone out. Get the process started now.
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Oct 15, 2015 20:33
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Radbot posted:So I was going to get my air ducts cleaned yesterday at 2pm. At 11am, the company's technician calls me at work and asks me via voicemail if he can come clean now - no, my wife isn't home yet and I don't let people in my house when we're not there. I tried to call him back, and his voicemail box is full, so I call the owner. This slimy sounding mafia dude tells me his technician "really needs to pick up his kid" and tells me if I don't like it, I should cancel. I've learned that dealing with folks that don't want the job is a bad idea, so I told him to cancel. My wife stays down in the city at the old house, since the appointment is canceled. lol what company? I live in CO and got my ducts cleaned. All of those companies seemed shady as gently caress. This one was going to check the furnace too and clean it for an extra $60 or so. At the house the tech told me he'd clean it but that if I made a separate check out to him he'd do it for half price and tell his boss it didn't need to cleaned. I agreed, but drat that doesn't reflect well on your operations. At least they put cameras in the vents to show the progress and the tons of really nasty stuff they had sucked out. The furnace had been running without a filter for years, the floors had been refinished, etc Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Oct 16, 2015 |
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Oct 16, 2015 04:10
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Thesaurus posted:lol what company? I live in CO and got my ducts cleaned. All of those companies seemed shady as gently caress. This one was going to check the furnace too and clean it for an extra $60 or so. At the house the tech told me he'd clean it but that if I made a separate check out to him he'd do it for half price and tell his boss it didn't need to cleaned. Not a duct cleaner, but previously as 1099 employee for a "roadside assistance" company, I'd end up doing shady deals. The call center reps told customer that it was x price. When I get there, they don't want to pay the previously agreed on price. I had already driven there and being that I was paid per job rather than hourly or salary, I told them I'd do it for half price if they'd just pay me now, every person always agreed. Makes your company look bad if you'll do the service for half price? Sure, but I didn't really care. I was actually getting paid more(by about 5 bucks) this way.
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Oct 16, 2015 04:36
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Nifty posted:A duplex went on the market 10 days ago, I got an email update from saved search on Redfin that day, and I was out already so I drove by to check it out. After all this, I ended up getting beat and the seller chose some other offer. Really curious what the terms (probably cash) and price were. drat!
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Oct 16, 2015 05:19
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So the house I'm almost certainly buying has a 30 year old a/c compressor, 25 year old furnace and 15 year old water heater. Is a home warranty going to be useful at all in case these fail the first year (or 2 if I go for that?)
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Oct 19, 2015 14:03
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