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Thufir posted:Doing a home inspection right now and apparently the sewer line is part cast iron and then root-invaded ceramic out by the street. "You might have maybe a year before you start seeing major problems." So how would I go about deciding how much of a credit / reduction to ask the seller for on this? I think there's like 70 ft (or less?) of clay line. I had the inspector flag its path and it doesn't seem to go under or near any sidewalk or patio, but does go under the back fence and maybe slightly under the corner of the packaged heat/ac unit.
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May 27, 2016 16:24
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Call in one or two sewer people and get an estimate on replacement. It's gonna be $$$.
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May 27, 2016 16:41
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Thufir posted:So how would I go about deciding how much of a credit / reduction to ask the seller for on this? I think there's like 70 ft (or less?) of clay line. I had the inspector flag its path and it doesn't seem to go under or near any sidewalk or patio, but does go under the back fence and maybe slightly under the corner of the packaged heat/ac unit. Hard to say since quotes for that will be all over the place. And most of them high. Minimum you're looking at $2,500, but probably higher. Are the roots causing stoppages? Had the owner had to have a plumber sewer machine them out? Do you have a video of the sewer inspection? It's very likely you could control the roots cheaply with rootx. Although most plumbers hate the stuff because the sewer machine makes more money. Edit: For perspective, we had a client who needed 25-30' of sewer replaced. They got charged $8,000. Still the lowest bid, but everyone who gave them a quote smelled money. Sperg Victorious fucked around with this message at 16:47 on May 27, 2016 |
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May 27, 2016 16:43
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QuarkJets posted:I would rather pay PMI with 85% ltv than have absolutely no savings left. You shouldn't ever dump all of your savings unless you really have no choice, and a house purchase just doesn't qualify Also, it can be worth looking at lender paid pmi options when you start to get to the 85/90 LTV range. There are clear downsides to LPMI of course (typically a rate that is .25 percent higher) and it is not as good of an idea over the life of the loan, but LPMI costs do work for a lot of lenders based on your LTV. In the case of someone who is already looking at 15 or even 10% down, those costs can be fairly minimal (considering how good rates are in general, and that you may not live in this home for forever). 20% down is always a smart plan if it makes sense financially, but rates are really strong and I think some people probably over weigh the cons of LPMI in situations like these (especially in regards to rate vs savings)
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May 27, 2016 16:47
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Sperg Victorious posted:Hard to say since quotes for that will be all over the place. And most of them high. Minimum you're looking at $2,500, but probably higher. I do have a video of the inspection. No idea if they have been causing stoppages or not but my strong preference would be to get the (maybe from 1927?) clay stuff replaced while I can get someone else to pay for at least part of it and I'm not living in the house. The guy that scoped the line told me maybe $3500 but I think he was more of a drain-clearing minion than anything else so I wouldn't take that as gospel.
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May 27, 2016 16:52
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Thufir posted:I do have a video of the inspection. No idea if they have been causing stoppages or not but my strong preference would be to get the (maybe from 1927?) clay stuff replaced while I can get someone else to pay for at least part of it and I'm not living in the house. The guy that scoped the line told me maybe $3500 but I think he was more of a drain-clearing minion than anything else so I wouldn't take that as gospel. The clay stuff is really resilient. I haven't seen the video, so I don't know how bad it is, but I wouldn't be so quick to replace it. If only because the average person doing residential sewer work tends to be awful. Not careful about putting the stuff together, just as likely to put too much fall on the pipe as too little, bad backfilling, etc. Edit: derp Sperg Victorious fucked around with this message at 17:04 on May 27, 2016 |
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May 27, 2016 16:57
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legendof posted:Welp, we're under contract as of today. Excited to be really poor in a month or whatever. How do you manage to buy a house while also working full time? I'm fortunate that my employer is very forgiving about me needing to take conference calls with mortgage providers in the middle of the day / work remotely for an afternoon so I can go to a showing or inspection / not do any work for an hour because I have all this paperwork that needs doing NOW, how do people in less-flexible jobs even manage it? Weekend viewings and having a branch of my credit union in the building I work in. Gotta love Hooli-esque on-campus services.
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May 27, 2016 17:06
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RE: sewer chat. Is is feasible or possible to replace a line yourself if you have access to a small backhoe, or is some kind of license typically required? I'm assuming this depends on your locality but wasn't sure what the common situation is. I mean, as long as you get permits, and the pitch and size right, you're basically just dropping a pipe in a trench. If you can get the equipment and DIY, the only real cost would be the PVC itself.
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May 27, 2016 18:07
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Should be fine, yeah, if you have enough knowledge to get the slope and the connections right, and enough skill to dig it up without destroying your foundation or something. Love how hours of backbreaking manual labor isn't a real cost though 
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May 27, 2016 18:35
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slap me silly posted:Love how hours of backbreaking manual labor isn't a real cost though Well, if you're using a backhoe or mini hardly any of it is actually "backbreaking". Now roofing, THAT sucks. I guess it depends on what the labor cost of a contracted line replacement typically is. vvvv Edit: Great post. I used to do construction management and engineering inspection, amongst other things, for an environmental consultant I also have (currently partially expired) HAZWOPER training. So all the trenching, environmental hazards, utility issues, etc aren't super off-putting. Sounds like it really will depend on the locality. LogisticEarth fucked around with this message at 18:53 on May 27, 2016 |
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May 27, 2016 18:43
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LogisticEarth posted:RE: sewer chat. Is is feasible or possible to replace a line yourself if you have access to a small backhoe, or is some kind of license typically required? I'm assuming this depends on your locality but wasn't sure what the common situation is. You will have to get a permit for replacing the pipe and possibly an additional excavation permit for digging in the city right of way depending on your local laws. You may have to schedule an inspection of the finished project. (In MI pipe is usually laid with the writing up so the inspector can read it, if not you will waste a bunch of time) Each city will have different bedding and installation requirements. If you are in a city with requirements for sewer inspections like the Alameda there are a lot of requirements for the new sewer lines and the permit that make it impractical to DIY. In some cities you are responsible for the line from your home to the sewer main and in some you are only responsible to where the city easement ends, usually 3-6 feet from the main. Depending on the depth of the trench you will need bracing. Anything over 4' has a greater risk of collapse. If anyone is working inside you need a ladder or ramp or someone could die. If it is clay/terracotta pipe, or if there are any leaks you are digging up urine and poo soiled dirt. There are some health and safety risks with this. You will have to connect the new pipe to the old pipe, and to the city side. If this is not done right the inspector should catch it, or they might not and you could have problems with roots, or poo in the city drinking water. If the slope/grade is not right you will have problems later. If the heavy equipment operator is not careful you can damage the city owned pipe, a neighbors, or your property. You should add a cleanout if there is not one already to ease future maintenance. After you will have to resod/replant the lawn and possibly repair the pavement or sidewalk. It is best to shut the water off and not use any toilets while the line is being repaired. For practical reasons it is better to have this done all in one day. If you have a long line trenchless cured in is the way to go. The difference in cost between 10' and 75' is pretty small and the machine just ads another section of lining. For the traditional method pipe is relatively cheap but it takes a lot of time to dig a long trench. Get three itemized quotes before you consider doing it yourself.
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May 27, 2016 18:44
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FYI, this thread has made me put off buying a house for a couple of years(For all the right reasons mind you!) So thank you House Buying Thread!
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May 28, 2016 03:17
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Congratulations! Your wallet may outlast your lifetime, yet.
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May 28, 2016 03:28
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Property bubble, what property bubble?  This is a house we looked at, but didn't even bid on. I honestly didn't think it was worth what they were asking given the location (Nothing special about the neighborhood, backed up to power lines, within earshot of a popular gun range). I kind of suspect that people moving into the area are being told that you should only move into one of two or three school districts, when the actual difference is probably not all that significant, especially if you have parents that emphasize the importance of education.
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May 28, 2016 03:50
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To me, the value of living in a good school district is less about making sure my kids get a good education and more about making sure my kids don't get stabbed by some meth-addled poor kid. I agree with you about parents being the primary factor there. Even bad school districts have good teachers. Good vs bad and standardized testing scores seem to have more to do with socioeconomics.
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May 28, 2016 06:11
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Wish I'd found this thread about two months ago! I plan on reading a good deal of it. So far everything has gone well with our buying process, as far as the home itself, the lending, etc. But I wanted to see if anyone in this thread has dealt with a bad realtor, either on their side or their sellers', as we are running into a bit of a snag with our sellers' realtor. She is fairly new to the process and does not quite understand all of the terms and conditions involved. She mixes up terms and timelines and tends to do things off the books (via in-person conversations and not via signed documents). She is actually currently getting frustrated by the number of times she has had to ask her sellers to sign things. (We are just trying to get her sellers to verify that they're not going to do any repairs or pay for any repairs, instead of attempting the 2-3 things that they flirted with doing before we actually negotiated repairs in writing.) We feel like we have made every possible concession to these sellers and this realtor (we're not sure who's pulling the strings). We came up from our initial offer price to the list price, reversed our ask for closing cost credits, added rent back provisions (and then removed them), and now a few hundred dollars for repairs is still too much for them to do, and they aren't even stating that fact properly. We don't have much leverage (we aren't going to back out, even after all this), but we want to figure out if there is anything we can do to keep from being jerked around, because the next 30 days (and beyond) are going to be miserable if we aren't all on the same page. Thanks, thread, in advance!
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May 28, 2016 07:51
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Spamtron7000 posted:To me, the value of living in a good school district is less about making sure my kids get a good education and more about making sure my kids don't get stabbed by some meth-addled poor kid. I agree with you about parents being the primary factor there. Even bad school districts have good teachers. Good vs bad and standardized testing scores seem to have more to do with socioeconomics. Yep. Same exact situation with Private schools - quite aside from any better teaching & resources, the biggest benefit is that your kids friends will all be from rich families who care about education.
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May 28, 2016 11:32
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Cup of Hemlock posted:We feel like we have made every possible concession to these sellers and this realtor (we're not sure who's pulling the strings). We came up from our initial offer price to the list price, reversed our ask for closing cost credits, added rent back provisions (and then removed them), and now a few hundred dollars for repairs is still too much for them to do, and they aren't even stating that fact properly. The is a bad situation and you should probably stand firm on what you want and be prepared to back out. You're clearly over invested and have worked against yourself up to this point. You can file a complaint about the other realtor with your state's licensing body. But I gotta ask: where's your realtor in all this?
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May 28, 2016 13:11
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My offer was accepted. Pray for me... So I'm getting the house inspected in a few days. The house looked in pristine condition when I walked thru it, so I don't anticipate the inspection turning up anything serious. I literally saw nothing that looked in the slightest of disrepair, not so much as even a burned out light bulb. But, I realize looks can be deceiving. I went with my agent's recommendation company. I checked them out online and they look good. Any tips on what to ask the inspector and how to tell if he did a good job? Also, is the home inspection considered part of the closing costs? The seller agreed to cover up to $3000 in closing costs. And yes, I threw in an inspection contingency, so I'm not screwed if it turns out the foundation is made of cheese or the roof is ready to cave in with the next snowfall.
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May 28, 2016 21:26
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Vinny the Shark posted:My offer was accepted. Pray for me... No, home inspection is not part of the closing costs. Closing is when you'll sign all the final papers, hand over a bunch of money (minus 3k), and the house becomes yours.
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May 28, 2016 21:34
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novamute posted:and the house becomes yours. I'd like to emphasize that the house is not YOURS until you have the key in your hand after said hand is sore signing your name 500,000 times. Do not buy anything for the house until you have the key, and even then, as soon as you have the key, head over to Lowe's Depot and buy new locks.
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May 29, 2016 01:23
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Cup of Hemlock posted:Wish I'd found this thread about two months ago! I plan on reading a good deal of it. Might not help but I had my selling agent try to rip me off by selling to her daughter in law via an LLC to the tune of ~60k.
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May 29, 2016 01:57
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Kirios posted:I'd like some honest opinions from people who have way more experience with this than myself. I've done a good amount of research online but I tend to value personal opinions and experiences over general articles online...some quick bullet points: A little late, but a couple thoughts on this. Is their anything contingent on the 10% number or is it just a personal goal? IE, are you applying for a loan that requires 10% down? If so, I'd encourage you to save 11-12%. In a hyper competitive market you may find yourself getting outbid on houses and it will be very frustrating to not be able to compete if you find something that's much better and is just slightly out of your price range. I somewhat suspect the market will cool off in the next few years, but interest rates may also rise which could nullify any difference in sale price.
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May 29, 2016 02:28
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Vinny the Shark posted:My offer was accepted. Pray for me... How many inspections are you getting, just the general one? Now is the time to consider whether or not you want to get more than one. I'd recommend also getting a plumbing/sewer inspection and a wood destroying insects inspection, at the very least. If your general inspector recommends more, then get those too. Did your agent give you a list of companies, or did they give one to you? It's a bad idea to go with your realtor's recommendation; it might be an innocent suggestion, but it could also be someone who will ignore poo poo in order to push the sale forward. For questions, you should be asking about everything that you can think of. Getting details about how often things need to be maintained / replaced is a good start. The inspectors that I've worked with have all been happy to answer questions about home maintenance / repair and will even stick around longer doing extra stuff if you either ask nicely or just seem like a nice person. Show up and be cool, express a sincere interest in the house and that should help. Your closing costs are probably going to be much greater than $3k so no worries there. Usually inspectors are paid by you directly, but there are situations where you can have the inspectors send a bill to the escrow company, at which point it'll get lumped in as a closing cost.
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May 29, 2016 03:11
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Vinny the Shark posted:My offer was accepted. Pray for me...
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May 29, 2016 12:43
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Buying a house in Toronto: mortaging your soul for a house. My wife and I are both high school teachers in York region, and pull in about 140k a year combined. We're both savers, live well within our means, and have no debt aside from a mortgage on our 1 + den condo, which my wife bought before we got married. Currently it is about 200k, with an expected sell value of 335k. Great location, and it suits us perfectly... Until now, as we have a baby on the way, due mid-august. So, we're looking for a larger place, preferably 3+ bedrooms as we plan on two kids. We started by looking at townhouses, but they were not great, and maintenance fees effectively add 100k to the mortgage for every $400 per month at current rates. So we started looking at houses a few months ago. What a clusterfuck. See a house you like at 650k. Then one a few blocks away sold asking 518k and selling for 830k. We offer 750k, it goes for 850k. We try looking at another place. It's nice, so we book a second showing to show the inlaws. Turns out that as we were seeing it, it sold to a bully offer, and our agent didn't find out until she was preparing the offer. We look at a much smaller place, asking 580k. We check comparables, and see that nothing similar has gone for more than 690k, so we offer 715k to be safe. Lost to 735k. Might I add that all bidding wars had 12+ offers? So, now we've found a bigger place that we really like, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, finished basement apartment. Place is about 30 to 35 years old, good condition, but not updated, so that might make it less attractive. The front is covered in ivy, but no damage to brick or mortar yet. If we take it off, we'd have to redo the paint. Good school near by, which is important to us. Asking price is 720k, but given current market conditions, it will go for more. Our original budget was 750k. Potential income from renting the basement is $1000 a month, which we are considering as a potential reason to up our offer. We are close to York university, so it should be easy enough to find someone. Down payment of 180k, leaving us with 60k in TFSAs, accessible in the case of emergency. We're both math teachers, so we made an extensive budget, taking into account my wife's reduced income in her year of maternity leave, and the need for daycare after that (~$1200, although with Trudeau, hopefully this will be fixed). Savings and misc baby expenses were also taken into account. At about 810k, we'd be at net zero, although this doesn't include any rental income. Other notes: - we have a good public pension plan if we make it to the end (2% per year worked), and thus have minimal amounts going to RRSPs, as TFSAs are tax free rather than tax deferment. - the Toronto housing market is inflating rapidly, due to low supply, high demand, and foreign investment. I don't know if it will pop or plateau, but prices are at the edge of our budget for something decent, and we don't want to be priced out of the market completely. We are preapproved for 800k although that was based on a down payment of 160k, so presumedly we could get more with 180k down. - Currently most houses are selling without conditions, including home inspection clauses. We don't have time to get one before the offer date anyway, and the place appears to be dry and maintained. I did a minimal inspection myself testing drains, hot water, checking for signs of water damage or mold, and all seems ok. So... How much should we offer on the house? Also, are we being idiots for jumping on top of a bubble/not getting a preinspection? What are the thoughts of the hive mind? I look forward to many comparisons to Zaurg et al. Also should this have been a separate thread?
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May 30, 2016 18:31
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Rent a larger home while also renting out your condo to save a substantially larger down payment and/or wait for the market to crash? Why do you need to own?
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May 30, 2016 18:38
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Jealous Cow posted:Rent a larger home while also renting out your condo to save a substantially larger down payment and/or wait for the market to crash? We've definitely considered renting, and looked for places that would suit our needs. However, it's non-ideal for a few reasons. First of all, in the sentimental arena, I'm starting a family with my wife, and we want to have a place to call our own for our kids. Secondly, based on current rates and salaries, we could save between 10 to 15 thousand a year over having a mortgage. House prices are outpacing this by a lot, which ties into the last point. Finally, waiting for a crash might see us permanently out of the market, as it may plateau or dip in 3-5 years, instead of a crash. I don't think these current growth rates are in any way sustainable, but the future direction of the market is anyone's guess. The trend has been generally upward, however. For example, the house we first bid on sold for 418k 5 years ago, and 850k last month. My in-laws house has tripled in value in the past 15 years. So, basically worry over being frozen out of the market forever.
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May 30, 2016 23:58
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The Kestrel posted:We've definitely considered renting, and looked for places that would suit our needs. However, it's non-ideal for a few reasons. I wouldn't take rent payment-house payment=savings as a given. You'll own whatever poo poo you end up with due to the frenzied no-inspection-contingencies market. Regarding the drastic increase in value--I don't see how it can even plateau and stay where it is if real wages aren't climbing to support it. It has to crash, particularly if the government starts regulating foreign real estate investment of single family/multi family homes or all residential real property. Which I really hope happens down here as its hosed New York as much as inflated Bay Area wages have hosed San Francisco.
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May 31, 2016 01:18
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Jealous Cow posted:It has to crash, particularly if the government starts regulating foreign real estate investment of single family/multi family homes or all residential real property. Would be nice, but there's no signs of that happening any time soon; the government seems to think this foreign money flowing into the real estate market leads to income tax gains/new business/etc, while instead it often leads to empty houses or a student living in a 2 million dollar home.
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May 31, 2016 02:29
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Regarding rentals, a quick search seems to show that the going rate for the top two floors of a house, 3 bedroom, is about $2100-2500 per month. The mortgage payment + maintenance savings + taxes would be about $3000 per month. However, about $1200 of that is going towards the principal. So, a saving of 'lost' money of $300-600 per month, sinking $1200 into a long term, possibly volatile (in the case of a crash) investment. Plus, the option of renting the basement for $1000, or simply using it. Am I missing something?
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May 31, 2016 05:08
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I can't imagine a ~600k mortgage turning into property + taxes + maintenance = $3000 per month. What kind of wonky mortgage structure are you looking at? What is your property tax amount? I had a 392k 15 year fixed rate mortgage at 2.99% with low property taxes and just the mortgage and property tax tipped over 3k a month.
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May 31, 2016 06:18
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Isn't Toronto one of the cities where renting is ridiculously cheap compared to buying? Also the idea of not renting because of the potential increase in housing prices seems a bit silly to me. But I get the rest of your argument. My only other concern is that it sounds like you are shopping with a firm deadline thats fast approaching. That's dangerous.
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May 31, 2016 14:09
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The P and I on a 600k mortgage is 4000 even at 2.5%. It is doable on 140k a year. As long as you are OK with staying there 15 years your won't be too badly burned. I assume your benefits are very generous from your jobs. The market is the market even when it is insane. Hasn't cheap oil cause the economy to crash back down? Elephanthead fucked around with this message at 14:23 on May 31, 2016 |
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May 31, 2016 14:20
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Elephanthead posted:The P and I on a 600k mortgage is 4000 even at 2.5%. It is doable on 140k a year. As long as you are OK with staying there 15 years your won't be too badly burned. I assume your benefits are very generous from your jobs. How is that "doable" for a $140k income? I thought the conventional wisdom was to not spend more than 2.5 years gross pay on a mortgage, or more than like 25-30% of take home pay on housing. Ballpark numbers, but someone with $140k gross is probably taking home...$8500 a month? If P&I is $4000, plus property tax an maintenance, you're bumping up against 50% of your income going to housing.
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May 31, 2016 14:36
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Elephanthead posted:The P and I on a 600k mortgage is 4000 even at 2.5%. It is doable on 140k a year. As long as you are OK with staying there 15 years your won't be too badly burned. I assume your benefits are very generous from your jobs. Principle and Interest on 600k at 3.5% for 30 years is $2,694 / month.
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May 31, 2016 15:07
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LogisticEarth posted:How is that "doable" for a $140k income? I thought the conventional wisdom was to not spend more than 2.5 years gross pay on a mortgage, or more than like 25-30% of take home pay on housing. Ballpark numbers, but someone with $140k gross is probably taking home...$8500 a month? If P&I is $4000, plus property tax an maintenance, you're bumping up against 50% of your income going to housing. The number is 25-33% of pre-tax income, but it's also not set in stone, depending on spending habits. No car? You can spend way more on housing. No health care costs, children, or other expenditures means more of your income can be tied to house.
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May 31, 2016 15:14
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emocrat posted:Principle and Interest on 600k at 3.5% for 30 years is $2,694 / month. For some reason I think most people on this page are talking 15 year loans which very few people do 
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May 31, 2016 15:17
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Nail Rat posted:For some reason I think most people on this page are talking 15 year loans which very few people do Isn't it more common in Canada to do a 15 year loan, I only lived there a short time but still have friends up there and they all have 15 year loans and think my 30 year loans I've had are crazy.
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May 31, 2016 15:19
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Even in the US you would require a jumbo loan for that amount which are currently around 3.875% for a 30 year mortgage. Canadian banks don't really seem to deal with long term mortgages - for example, RBC currently lists a 25 year mortgage at 8.76% and most sites don't even list terms longer than 10 year. That's why I assume the OP is looking at some goofy 5 year ARM type mortgage and thinking they can make it work.
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May 31, 2016 15:48
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