|
lol internet. posted:So is my agent a retard then and I should probably request a new one..? His exact words were .. He's not wrong. The contract you sign with the builder is going to be different (depending on your state) than what you'd find on the MLS sometimes. You also have to at least talk to their in house lender but a lot of times they'll give you pretty good rates. Before we bought our new home we went to 3 other lenders and no one came close to the rates NVR was willing to give us. That may not be true for all builders out there, but at least in our case it played out in our favor. The article is half right about approaching a builder with an outside lender offer. If they think that you're able to make it all the way to closing (which may be 4-6 months away) then yeah they'll give ground and let you have some of the incentives. In this day and age you should be able to get about 25% off all upgrades to your home if you push hard enough. It will depend on where you are and what the market is doing but stand your ground and see what they'll do. One thing you kind of shot yourself in the foot with is using an agent with a builder. If you go in on your own and know how to negotiate then you can usually negotiate another 3% off the price of the home somewhere because you aren't using one. If you weren't planning on negotiating then it doesn't matter either way. Just food for thought for anyone else reading. 
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2017 16:52
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 01:54 |
|
|
Any FHA loans closing soon that got bitten by this horseshit?quote:The first post-inaugural consequence: the new administration has put on indefinite hold the FHA’s reduction in mortgage insurance to have been effective January 27. Thousands of home purchases under contract are threatened. Note: today’s front-page WSJ story on FHA loans is a mixture of the reporter’s incompetence and WSJ hostility to anything government or mortgage, especially the two combined.
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2017 23:27
|
|
|
gently caress. I'm at a pretty huge crossroads. My rent just went up again and it is bordering on untenable. The house and location are okay but I wouldn't buy it (it's old as fug). My city got really expensive very quickly (Portland, OR) and my landlord has done his best to keep it reasonable for us. Proposed rent is $2100, average rent for a comparable house is $2400, and average house cost is about 400K. He's willing to put us on a 2 year lease and lock in the 2100 but I'm starting to get the itch that I need to buy something and get out of this race. Moving out of the city isn't an option right now. If we moved closer to my GFs work it would be more expensive and the only transfers my department offers is out of state. Her job is way better than mine so it gets priority. I work in government and they are freezing all hiring, so a good job I was in the running for has been suspended. Sorry, I'm kinda venting but I'm in a bit of a panic.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2017 23:21
|
|
|
$2100 in rent is cheaper than a $400k house will end up costing you - it will probably take many years of owning the same house before you get to a point where owning that house is cheaper than renting. If you work in government it sounds like you might be in for a wild ride - I probably wouldn't be too eager to buy a house right now in your situation. With that said, maybe your landlord can give you a $2100 two year lease but also add a clause that if you buy a house you can end the lease early as long as you give him 3 months notice. That would give you a 2 year window to really take your time and find a good house that you can be happy with for a long time.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2017 23:31
|
|
|
All valid points. He's a reasonable guy so I will float the clause idea by him.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 00:07
|
|
|
If rent getting upped a bit is so aggravating to you that you want to buy a house then you probably can't afford the house. I'm not sure what the exact number is, but if your monthly expenses changing by +/- $500 would have a huge impact on your lifestyle or mental well being then holy poo poo do NOT buy a house.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 18:44
|
|
|
Also, I'm not a local but I've visited Portland a lot, and as someone from the Bay Area, I'm always very confused by how adamant Portlanders are that it's impossible to live and work if you don't live like 20 minutes from downtown by car. We get house listings via Redfin for Portland and there are a lot of $300k houses available. They're just not in the desirable in-city neighborhoods. If you want to buy a sub-$300k house within commuting distance of downtown Portland you absolutely can still do that. You just need to adjust your standards for what is a "good neighborhood" and/or how far is a possible commute. For example:  This is a shot of Gresham without any filters applied. There are a number of sub$300k houses, typically 3/2 1200sq feet to 1500sq feet affairs, and there are both public transit and commute drive options from there into Portland that are, by SF Bay Area standards, conveniently short. 
Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 19:24 on Jan 24, 2017 |
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 19:16
|
|
|
300k is a lot when you are working part time at a coffeeshop and 29 miles is a long bike ride on your double decker fixie
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 19:58
|
|
|
Pryor on Fire posted:If rent getting upped a bit is so aggravating to you that you want to buy a house then you probably can't afford the house. I'm not sure what the exact number is, but if your monthly expenses changing by +/- $500 would have a huge impact on your lifestyle or mental well being then holy poo poo do NOT buy a house. What? If our mortgage went up by $500 that would be like, a 40% increase. What could realistically happen to a homeowner that would result in a new, unexpected, permanent $500 monthly bill?
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 20:22
|
|
|
Yeah, 500 dollars is a large swing, especially for those of us who don't live inside a tech bubble.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 20:25
|
|
|
He's saying when you rent, you know your monthly expenses (within reason. Depends if you or the landlord pay utilities). When you own a house, your mortgage/utilities are a floor for monthly expenses, not a ceiling. Case in point, on of our windows was broken last June. In a rental? Landlord fixes it, I pay nothing. Since I own the house, we ended up spending $1500 installed for a much nicer Anderson slider than the lovely vinyl window before. Even with interest-free financing so we could spread it out, that bumped our monthly "House" spend by a couple hundred bucks. Next month my furnace could die, water heater could start leaking, or the dishwasher could flood my kitchen. Can you handle that kind of expense, or are you blowing out your monthly budget on just mortgage/utilities? We put $500/month extra into our "house bills" checking account over and above an already-padded monthly average, and sometimes it seems like that isn't even enough. Edit: Referencing permanent expenses, ours mortgage has steadily crept up from ~$730 to $805 a month over the last three years. Mostly due to buying at the bottom of the market, and getting a pretty good deal on a foreclosure. We increased in "taxable market value" by about 40% in that time, and the city we live in passed a handful of school referendums that increased our tax bill. Insurance also tends to creep if you don't watch it, but that depends on your agent, company, and location. PitViper fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Jan 24, 2017 |
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 20:32
|
|
|
Economic Sinkhole posted:What? If our mortgage went up by $500 that would be like, a 40% increase. What could realistically happen to a homeowner that would result in a new, unexpected, permanent $500 monthly bill? It's not about it permanently going up, but rather that a $500 expense once or twice a year isn't all that uncommon for a homeowner, with some years being "free" and others sinking you for $10k. If a homeowner doesn't have the financial flexibility to deal with that, it doesn't bode well.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 20:37
|
|
|
My property taxes went up almost a thousand dollars in 2014. It will probably happen again.baquerd posted:It's not about it permanently going up, but rather that a $500 expense once or twice a year isn't all that uncommon for a homeowner You're responding to something no one ever said then.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 20:41
|
|
|
Someone I know bought a house, and when they were doing what was going to be a simple renovation of a bathroom they discovered a huge pooling of mercury in the walls/floor and had to evacuate their house and pay for professional removal and remediation. The end cost of the whole debacle was something like $50,000 because it turns out that having to have professional removal of a bunch of mercury is very expensive. Bonus: His insurance wouldn't pay for it, because the evidence was that the spill wasn't from the policy period, but left over from a previous renovation that someone had hosed up badly and not fixed at the time. So just keep in mind that you can buy a perfectly fine seeming house, have it pass all the normal inspections without a hitch, and then pull open a wall and discover tens of thousands of dollars worth of damages to deal with. Or, you know, just live with a bunch of mercury sliding around and hope it never vaporizes to kill you.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 20:48
|
|
|
what the hell? where do you even get a pool of mercury
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 20:50
|
|
|
Best guess is that it was from the original hot-water heating system when the house was built - these were gravity fed systems that had a mercury seal as part of them because people in the 1900s didn't give a poo poo about heavy metal poisoning. I belive it's actually all contained in the system and not actually a problem, but apparently when someone decided to take out the old system and replace it, they didn't know what they were doing and dumped all the mercury in the attic, where it came down the wall and ended up under the bathroom tiling. To be clear, it ended up being several cups worth of liquid mercury - it wasn't like some insane alchemists bathing pool, but a ton of mercury by residential cleanup standards.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 21:03
|
|
|
Ghostnuke posted:what the hell? where do you even get a pool of mercury Here's a first-hand account of a spill like that: https://www.jefftk.com/p/mercury-spill
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 21:04
|
|
|
Leperflesh posted:Also, I'm not a local but I've visited Portland a lot, and as someone from the Bay Area, I'm always very confused by how adamant Portlanders are that it's impossible to live and work if you don't live like 20 minutes from downtown by car. Portland has had light rail transit for going on thirty years, but all I ever from people house hunting in Portland is how they need to live close to downtown. I'm not sure if it's just a strong cultural stigma associated with suburbs in the generation currently buying first homes or if there's more to it. Ghostnuke posted:what the hell? where do you even get a pool of mercury You want a pool of mercury? I can get you a pool of mercury, believe me. Hell, I can get you one by 3 o'clock this afternoon. Seriously though, I too am curious about what renovations resulted in mercury.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 21:07
|
|
|
BeastOfExmoor posted:I'm not sure if it's just a strong cultural stigma associated with suburbs in the generation currently buying first homes or if there's more to it. This is probably a big part of it - the generation that constantly made fun of their parents for living in the suburbs, experiencing one of the reasons why and not being happy about it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 21:13
|
|
|
Droo posted:This is probably a big part of it - the generation that constantly made fun of their parents for living in the suburbs, experiencing one of the reasons why and not being happy about it. Yond Cassius posted:Here's a first-hand account of a spill like that: https://www.jefftk.com/p/mercury-spill This just gave me the nice mental picture of a pair of young, urban parents who freak out if their child is given anything non-organic or in a container that might not be BPA-free, but made sure to buy a home in the cool neighborhood which just happens to have asbestos, lead paint, a buried oil tank that wasn't retired properly, and possibly a pool of mercury hiding somewhere.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 21:27
|
|
|
BeastOfExmoor posted:Portland has had light rail transit for going on thirty years, but all I ever from people house hunting in Portland is how they need to live close to downtown. I'm not sure if it's just a strong cultural stigma associated with suburbs in the generation currently buying first homes or if there's more to it. Yes, it's this. Some people have legitimate concerns, like how many areas farther out were later incorporated into Portland, so infrastructure and neighbourhood planning are sub-par (no/intermittent sidewalks, rough roads [though there are plenty of those in the "cool" neighbourhoods too], mixed zoning). But I think anytime there's an invisible line dividing a town, it has to do with cultural bias. Don't get me wrong, a lot of Gresham is suburban hell, but there are some areas on the outskirts that have unique homes that are cheap just because the address is Gresham.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 21:36
|
|
|
BeastOfExmoor posted:This just gave me the nice mental picture of a pair of young, urban parents who freak out if their child is given anything non-organic or in a container that might not be BPA-free, but made sure to buy a home in the cool neighborhood which just happens to have asbestos, lead paint, a buried oil tank that wasn't retired properly, and possibly a pool of mercury hiding somewhere. This literally happened last year in Portland http://www.opb.org/news/series/portland-oregon-air-pollution-glass/oregon-portland-deq-persistent-chromium-levels-bullseye/ http://www.opb.org/news/series/portland-oregon-air-pollution-glass/bullseye-health-authority-reports-selenium-spike/
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2017 21:55
|
|
|
The light rail system (MAX) in Portland is very cool and good. It services a growing portion of the city and is pretty reliable unless there is ice. Unfortunately, the MAX planning and real estate planning seem to be separate because the amount of quality apartments and condos around the main stops are slim. As for my previous post: I had a night to sleep on it and talked with my GF. We are going to explore some apartments and maybe some houses that are cheaper even if it cuts our square footage down. Our landlord is a very nice and responsive guy and I really do appreciate him trying to keep the rent under market. Our relationship is somewhat symbiotic because he's had nothing but awful tennents in the past and we keep his place spotless and pay rent in advance. Again, crossroads. Yes, a permanent +$500 increase is close to untenable for us. We are very good at saving our money but my GF has a lot of school debt. So even with her high income, her net worth is only a little above mine. If I could somehow get a decent job that lets me telework close to 100% of the time, virtually all of these issues melt away because we could live anywhere.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2017 01:28
|
|
|
Inzombiac, do you have a family or some other requirement forcing you into a more expensive/large rental or home? $2100 is a lot, even for a home rental in portland, and $400k will buy you a nice house close in or a very nice house farther out.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2017 04:08
|
|
|
Magicaljesus posted:Inzombiac, do you have a family or some other requirement forcing you into a more expensive/large rental or home? $2100 is a lot, even for a home rental in portland, and $400k will buy you a nice house close in or a very nice house farther out. No, we have caged pets that are okay in most places that don't allow cats and dogs. Part of our issue (and this is something we are working on) is that we both grew up poor. Her much more so. So, now that we are both working over full time and making okay money, we wanted to escape the crappy conditions we were used to. Our first place together was a tiny apartment managed by a do-nothing company and it made our relationship miserable. We're both very independent and really need space to be alone so a larger space keeps us more sane.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2017 04:31
|
|
|
I have an appraiser coming by in 2 days for our refinance. Is there anything in particular I should do aside from basic straightening up?
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2017 02:04
|
|
|
couldcareless posted:I have an appraiser coming by in 2 days for our refinance. Is there anything in particular I should do aside from basic straightening up? They don't care about your dinner plates on the table. They care about evidence of water damage or anything that wouldn't be fixed by giving a cleaning company $250.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2017 02:51
|
|
|
lol internet. posted:Any idea how pregnancy would affect mortgage/closing? When are you closing? If it is before she stops working, they can't even consider it so don't tell them. They will verify employment, however they are not allowed to ask about pregnancy, etc for fair lending reasons. They probably have a policy on maternity leave and it may depend on if her leave is paid or unpaid and how long it will be vs when payments begin on your mortgage. I don't work with purchase loans or securitized products, only portfolio money on equity products, but the place I work will include the income if they will go back to work before the first payment is due. If you haven't found a house yet, then you may have plenty of time. I would talk to your loan officer about it if you are closing during her mat leave. If you wind up waiting until AFTER the leave make sure that she explains that she took mat leave earlier in the year because when they verify income they will notice that the YTD wages are off.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 15:49
|
|
|
couldcareless posted:I have an appraiser coming by in 2 days for our refinance. Is there anything in particular I should do aside from basic straightening up? Only thing I can think of is making a list of all improvements you've done.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 16:58
|
|
|
couldcareless posted:I have an appraiser coming by in 2 days for our refinance. Is there anything in particular I should do aside from basic straightening up? Point out any improvements you've made since you bought the place. I also printed out some of my own comps but I don't know if he used them. Edit: Hashtag Banterzone posted:Only thing I can think of is making a list of all improvements you've done. Yeah, this is good. I did this as well since we had done quite a bit of cosmetic stuff.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 17:28
|
|
|
therobit posted:When are you closing? If it is before she stops working, they can't even consider it so don't tell them. They will verify employment, however they are not allowed to ask about pregnancy, etc for fair lending reasons. They probably have a policy on maternity leave and it may depend on if her leave is paid or unpaid and how long it will be vs when payments begin on your mortgage. I don't work with purchase loans or securitized products, only portfolio money on equity products, but the place I work will include the income if they will go back to work before the first payment is due. If you haven't found a house yet, then you may have plenty of time. I would talk to your loan officer about it if you are closing during her mat leave. If you wind up waiting until AFTER the leave make sure that she explains that she took mat leave earlier in the year because when they verify income they will notice that the YTD wages are off. To piggyback off this, if you're going conventional you can see what the Fannie Mae requirements are here: https://www.fanniemae.com/content/guide/selling/b3/3.1/09.html#Temporary.20Leave.20Income The gist of it is that if you obtain all the required documentation (listed above) and she returns to work before the first payment due date you can use her regular employment income to qualify. If she returns to work after the first payment date you can use the lesser of any temporary disability earnings she'll receive or her employment income (so $0 if she doesn't get any leave income). If the gap between her temp leave income and her employment income causes a qualification issue but you'll have plenty of money left over post closing you can qualify with it as supplemental income to bridge the gap. That said, as noted by therobit lenders are prohibited from asking about if you're intending to take leave in the future, so the only way they'll know is if you tell them, her employer discloses that she is on leave when they verbally verify, or if you turn in a paystub which indicates she's currently on leave. Also, if you're able to qualify without her income it may be easiest to just not qualify with it to avoid having to get the additional documentation/last minute delays.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 18:02
|
|
|
Hashtag Banterzone posted:Only thing I can think of is making a list of all improvements you've done. With costs too, footnoted for things like your labor/demo/materials. They may throw them out, but if you give them costs, you can point to the study I posted previously regarding contributory value impacts from improvements.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 20:17
|
|
|
Also make sure there are no insects around or mice by putting out lots of traps for both, and don't allow him into your closets at all. If possible play music very loud while he is going around. Can you put up lots of car air fresheners? If so put them in your basement and freezer. Unscrew light bulbs enough that they don't light up so that he doesn't leave them on and waste electricity. Overwater your lawn right before his visit so he thinks it will be very healthy.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 20:25
|
|
|
My wife and I are moving from CT to OH in 6-9 months and are thinking of buying a house. There's a good chance we only stay 3 years so we weren't sure it made sense, but I've been reading up and I'm kind of confused in a is-this-really-true way. Is the NYT rent or buy calculator legit? Looking at apartments.com and supposedly equivalent houses at Zillow, it looks like we could get a nice 2BR/1BA apartment or a giant 4BR house (and I don't mean that in a "there was one cheap one" sense, but rather getting an idea of the prices in the entire neighborhood we're looking at). Are the renting/buying markets not as coupled as one might think or is this just the way it always is? Also, I didn't realize how much it matters where you're money is coming from, although I guess it makes sense. We'll both be starting new jobs; does that mean we'll need to wait for a few months of pay stubs? We also just had a big payday from what are essentially gambling winnings. I netted $18k in 2016 and already up $95k in 2017. Reading the stuff in the OP; are we even allowed to use this as a down payment? We obviously don't want to rely on this to determine what size of mortgage we could afford (even though I think I'm a long-term winner, there's no hope of consistency) but didn't think there would be an issue with a down payment. We also have student loans, but apparently not enough that it really matters for anything. Once you start looking at buying a house, all these numbers like interest saved by paying the student loans early, start looking very small. SurgicalOntologist fucked around with this message at 17:04 on Jan 28, 2017 |
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2017 17:02
|
|
|
SurgicalOntologist posted:My wife and I are moving from CT to OH in 6-9 months and are thinking of buying a house. There's a good chance we only stay 3 years so we weren't sure it made sense, but I've been reading up and I'm kind of confused in a is-this-really-true way. Is the NYT rent or buy calculator legit? Looking at apartments.com and supposedly equivalent houses at Zillow, it looks like we could get a nice 2BR/1BA apartment or a giant 4BR house (and I don't mean that in a "there was one cheap one" sense, but rather getting an idea of the prices in the entire neighborhood we're looking at). Are the renting/buying markets not as coupled as one might think or is this just the way it always is? Are you making sure to set the correct numbers for the locale such as property tax? Some houses may be paying less tax than you will be for various reasons (senior discounts, caps on assessments except on sale, etc.). Other modifications I would make to their calc: Set mortgage rate to your actual anticipated rate Set rent and home price growth to the same number. Increase investment return rate to 6-7% Ensure marginal tax bracket is set correctly
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2017 17:08
|
|
|
We are finally closing on the 31st 
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2017 17:15
|
|
|
Rated PG-34 posted:We are finally closing on the 31st Sorry for your loss
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2017 23:28
|
|
|
QuarkJets posted:Sorry for your loss It should really be called opening.... as in opening pandroa's box
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2017 03:48
|
|
|
devicenull posted:It should really be called opening.... as in opening pandroa's box Put your hand in the box, young Paul Atreides.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2017 05:40
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 01:54 |
|
|
SurgicalOntologist posted:My wife and I are moving from CT to OH in 6-9 months and are thinking of buying a house. There's a good chance we only stay 3 years so we weren't sure it made sense, but I've been reading up and I'm kind of confused in a is-this-really-true way. Is the NYT rent or buy calculator legit? Looking at apartments.com and supposedly equivalent houses at Zillow, it looks like we could get a nice 2BR/1BA apartment or a giant 4BR house (and I don't mean that in a "there was one cheap one" sense, but rather getting an idea of the prices in the entire neighborhood we're looking at). Are the renting/buying markets not as coupled as one might think or is this just the way it always is? A lot of different things to point out, but yes, money needs to be seasoned for x months before you can use it for a mortgage application. Also, you need to have worked at your current job for minimum two years to count it as income for a mortgage application. I don't know where in Ohio you're moving, but a lot of Columbus is pretty expensive to rent, interestingly enough it's currently the busiest rental market on the nation. Housing can still be had cheap, but to another point, it rarely ever makes sense to buy if you're not planning on living somewhere more than 5-7 years because of all the transaction fees involved and the fact that you're paying mostly interest on your loan for the first several years anyways. All that being said, my mortgage is half what I used to pay in rent, so it works out great for me.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2017 05:44
|
|
