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Yeah also you can rent a whole house if you want. Living in a single family detached house is not dependent on buying it. If there's a good chance you'll need to sell this thing in under six years, you will very likely lose so much on the transaction costs that you would have been better off renting.
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Feb 13, 2017 07:49
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No other Sydney goons in this thread?  lampey posted:You have to check out the financial health of the commonly owned property and to make sure that the rules do not conflict with your lifestyle. You mentioned that you are not planning on renovating but there are potentially many other rules. Rules about pets and parking are common. Good points. I should have mentioned that the strata inspection checked out fine (no legal or financial issues), though interestingly, I had trouble getting copies of the strata plan and by-laws. Basically, when I called up the strata company, they were like..."you're not an owner so we're not allowed to talk to you" which caused me to have a "..." reaction. As if anyone sane would buy into a strata property without a clear understanding of what is/is not common property (the extent of the answer I got was "anything attached to the outer walls is basically common property, including balconies/terraces") and the by-laws. Though to be honest, we're fairly easy going in terms of by-laws since we don't have a large pack of animals (just 1 cat - dogs seem to be where most problems/restrictions arise) and we're only looking at places with attached garages (i.e. not a common secured car park area like in most apartment buildings). The worst by-law I've seen is in my current property which forbids the installation of air conditioning (why, I have no idea  ), but it's not too bad because the place is well insulated and gets a good cross breeze with all windows open.All that aside, I'm leaning more and more towards not instantly dismissing a place just because it is part of a strata title. Even at fairly expensive levies of $700/quarter, if you can get it at a $300k discount on purchase price because it's a strata title instead of Torrens, you'd have to pay like 100 years of strata levies before you get to the same amount of cash outlay - not to mention that on a Torrens title property, you'd still have other (comparable) cash out flows in relation to maintenance, etc. Cash is king, and all that.
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Feb 13, 2017 13:00
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Is it a pretty good general rule that if you can't afford the 15 year mortgage you can't afford the 30? I see this tossed around a bit and figured I'd ask.
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Feb 13, 2017 13:21
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withoutclass posted:Is it a pretty good general rule that if you can't afford the 15 year mortgage you can't afford the 30? I see this tossed around a bit and figured I'd ask. It's a nice rule to follow for financial security. If the 15 year mortgage would just be a little uncomfortable, you're probably going to be fine, but if a 15 year would really be unaffordable, that may be a caution sign.
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Feb 13, 2017 14:19
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I'm looking at putting an offer in on a house we saw at an open house. We didn't have an agent at the time (normally I'd use an attorney instead of an agent, but the best RE attorney in town is very slow and I didn't think we'd be putting an offer in this early, so I didn't get the ball rolling with him yet), but a friend of a friend is licensed. She says her broker requires an exclusivity period (for any house we'd find, not just this one). I balked at that. She talked to her broker and they said she can put the offer in and "not include the buyer's agency at all, just a friend with a real estate license putting in an offer." I don't care if the agency is involved, but does that forfeit any protections or anything like that? Basically, should I care if the agency is involved or not? If this offer is accepted, I'll be giving this person a stupid easy commission. It would be hilarious to watch the Realtor system's greed get in the way of that if I didn't just want to get this done. Grumpwagon fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Feb 13, 2017 |
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Feb 13, 2017 16:12
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totalnewbie posted:So, I could save a lot more towards the house if I cut back on my 401k. But then, it's not earning anything. I suppose then it's weighing expected returns vs. chance of losing my job * 10%. The only thing I would add is that I think repairs are estimated at an annual 10% of the replacement cost of your home. Find a house for sale and call up your insurance agent to ask for a homeowners quote on it. Email them the MLS listing, but be prepared to answer questions like "does it have a granite countertop" and "how many bathrooms" regardless. Go ahead and figure that in, because when the roof goes, it must be repaired, and it's on the order of $25k to get started on that. Try saving the difference between your current total cost of keeping the roof over your head and your new one for 6 months, if it has 0 strain on your finances, use your new found savings to buy a house?
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Feb 13, 2017 16:47
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totalnewbie posted:So, I could save a lot more towards the house if I cut back on my 401k. But then, it's not earning anything. I suppose then it's weighing expected returns vs. chance of losing my job * 10%. You are short here by about $500 a month between repairs and insurance on the monthly cost. You can probably "afford" this based on your income and a mortgage broker will generally do up to 5x your gross wages in the home price with 20% down if you have no debt. From a financial standpoint you have to consider how long you will stay in the same place, how much you will save in rent by buying, and if you really need a house and all that space. Between buying and selling a home you will pay 10% in closing costs and Realtors fees, and the first few years of a mortgage are almost entirely interest so you don't get much equity at first. If you have to move because of a change in jobs, or you get married, or any other reason, you can save a lot by renting. If you are moving in less than 7 to 10 years you will usually be better off renting. You should also budget 1% of the price of the house a year in maintenance, but the real number is closer to 2.5% for most homes over a long period of time. Most people do not save adequately and this is pretty much why house flipping exists, dealing with deferred maintenance in the cheapest way possible and then selling it quick so the next owners can fix all the expensive long term problems. In many areas you cannot buy a two bedroom house, so you are stuck buying a bugger and more expensive house than you need. Utilities and everything else on a bigger home are more expensive. From a purely financial point of view you can save money living in a studio, but even a three bedroom apartment will be much cheaper than a three bedroom house. You also have to maintain the yard with a house and you have to fix stuff when it breaks. It is not a lot of work but when you are renting someone else takes care of it. Homeownership comes with unexpected costs. You might have to replace a roof for 10k a few years before you planned, or any other expensive repairs. Your home value, and your income are both tied to the local job market. If you lose your job you can have a hard time selling if it is happening to many other people. You are taking out a loan and the home is leveraged, you put 20% down but if the home value drops 10% you will have to come up with extra money to sell the home.
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Feb 13, 2017 17:04
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Grumpwagon posted:I'm looking at putting an offer in on a house we saw at an open house. We didn't have an agent at the time (normally I'd use an attorney instead of an agent, but the best RE attorney in town is very slow and I didn't think we'd be putting an offer in this early, so I didn't get the ball rolling with him yet), but a friend of a friend is licensed. She says her broker requires an exclusivity period (for any house we'd find, not just this one). I balked at that. She talked to her broker and they said she can put the offer in and "not include the buyer's agency at all, just a friend with a real estate license putting in an offer." I don't care if the agency is involved, but does that forfeit any protections or anything like that? Basically, should I care if the agency is involved or not? Oh wow. Just got a message from her stating that she can't represent us at all without signing the agreement, and sent a form over stating we "acknowledge that she just helped us fill out forms, not representing us as a buyer's agent." Am I right in thinking I'm not asking for something unreasonable here? Should I be running far away from this deal, because that's my instinct right now.
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Feb 13, 2017 17:24
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BeastOfExmoor posted:TotalNewbie, where do you see your life going in the next decade? A single (apparently?) 31 year old may make lots of changes in their life. Career, location, relationship, kids, etc. all can result in wanting to sell the house, which could make it less financially advantageous to own rather than rent. Yeah, those are certainly other considerations that I need to think about. If it were 2009 then I might be more cavalier about buying a house (but hindsight...) but you're right and I'm definitely not going to forget about those things before I make any sort of decision. quote:Probably add twenty years to that and it's more of an accurate cross section of the USA, but it's a good sign that you think that. I know, and it makes me a bit sad that that's the case, but "an accurate cross section of the USA" also doesn't have enough to retire, so it's certainly not good to put myself on par with them. Sorry, average American Leperflesh posted:Yeah also you can rent a whole house if you want. Living in a single family detached house is not dependent on buying it. These are great points, especially the transaction costs. I definitely wasn't thinking about those! H110Hawk posted:The only thing I would add is that I think repairs are estimated at an annual 10% of the replacement cost of your home. Find a house for sale and call up your insurance agent to ask for a homeowners quote on it. Email them the MLS listing, but be prepared to answer questions like "does it have a granite countertop" and "how many bathrooms" regardless. Go ahead and figure that in, because when the roof goes, it must be repaired, and it's on the order of $25k to get started on that. I tried to include repair costs, but if I buy a new old house then initial repairs could be higher than expected. Though 10% seems high for an annual cost. Can't imagine you have to sink 10% of the value of your house into repairs every year. Probably better to never fix poo poo and raze/rebuild, at that point. For your second point, though, I could easily do that IF I scaled back on retirement savings, which I don't want to do unless I decide to buy a house. So that's at the core of the conundrum I feel like I'm in. I mean, all things considered, I think there's a lot more cons to buying a house than possibly renting one, or even just renting an apartment or condo or whatever. Especially, I don't really want to get a house I'm not happy with because then the illiquidy of house ownership really becomes a problem. Unless, I guess, I can find a house I really like that's also in great shape and super cheap. Let me also stop by the gas station and buy a bunch of lottery tickets while I'm waiting for that to happen... Thanks for all of the great points you guys have brought up.
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Feb 13, 2017 17:25
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Grumpwagon posted:Oh wow. Just got a message from her stating that she can't represent us at all without signing the agreement, and sent a form over stating we "acknowledge that she just helped us fill out forms, not representing us as a buyer's agent." Sorry for the self quotes here, this is all moving quickly. She has now stated she can modify the contract to specify for this house only (why didn't you say that before???). I'm back to being ok with that, but after getting jerked around here a bit, I'm skeptical of this person now. Is there something here I'm missing?
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Feb 13, 2017 17:49
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totalnewbie posted:I tried to include repair costs, but if I buy a new old house then initial repairs could be higher than expected. Though 10% seems high for an annual cost. Can't imagine you have to sink 10% of the value of your house into repairs every year. Probably better to never fix poo poo and raze/rebuild, at that point. For your second point, though, I could easily do that IF I scaled back on retirement savings, which I don't want to do unless I decide to buy a house. So that's at the core of the conundrum I feel like I'm in. 10% might be (very?) high, but it's not trying to account for the nickel and dime stuff. It's when you need a new roof ($25k+), new pipes ($10k), new stucco ($??), your driveway becomes undriviable ($5k?), etc. All that stuff you normally would call your landlord for are your problem. The big thing it's attempting to illustrate is you need to be able to still have a buffer and emergency fund. It's the replacement cost of the house, not your purchase price. Our $470k home has a ~$240k replacement cost.
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Feb 13, 2017 17:54
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H110Hawk posted:10% might be (very?) high, but it's not trying to account for the nickel and dime stuff. It's when you need a new roof ($25k+), new pipes ($10k), new stucco ($??), your driveway becomes undriviable ($5k?), etc. All that stuff you normally would call your landlord for are your problem. The big thing it's attempting to illustrate is you need to be able to still have a buffer and emergency fund. It's the replacement cost of the house, not your purchase price. Our $470k home has a ~$240k replacement cost. Yeah, stuff just happens. Often times you'll know going in what the risks are on certain items(we knew there was a chance we'd have to replace our heating and cooling sooner rather than later), but there are always going to be hidden surprises(our upstairs bath overflow leaking water through a downstairs light). If you count the new roof we are putting on(insurance paid, big hail storm) we will easily have done over 10% of our homes value in repairs/replacements in just over the first year.
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Feb 13, 2017 18:36
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I moved into a new house (rental) recently and the landlords don't appear to have done any yard work for at least a year. I've got a yard with more leaves and twigs than grass. I've already raked up the leaves from maybe a quarter of the back yard into a compost pile that's 3' x 3' x 2' high. Is there anything useful I can do with the rest of these leaves and twigs? I don't want to just send them to the dump as yard waste but I'm a bit overwhelmed by having a whole years worth of back-logged yard work to do at once and don't know what else to do with it. I've gathered most of the larger branches for kindling in case I ever want to have a fire but there's still tons of little stuff left.
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Feb 13, 2017 18:50
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I used a Toro Ultra Plus leaf blower/shredder vacuum to grind up all my leaves and small twigs into pre-compost, the shredding makes a big difference for turning a giant unmanageable pile of leaves and stuff into material you can work with. For anything too larger to put through the shredder vac I'd just yard waste 'em. I mean you can rent a shredder and make mulch but that doesn't seem worth it.
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Feb 13, 2017 18:56
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10% annually in maintenance costs is way too high for a home that isn't so bad it's close to being condemned. 1-2% annually is a much more reasonable budget for a reasonably modern and decent condition house. However, a one-time 10% charge is totally possible. The issue is, it's 1-2% annually on average for a properly maintained home made from normal materials and up to code, over the span of decades. You may go for many years only needing to do minor repairs and maintenance, and then have a year where you need a new roof, new sewer system, new driveway, or all three. As an aside, the cost of a roof replacement is highly dependent on the complexity of the roof. A 3000 square foot house with a very complex roof could easily cost $25k or more. My 1200 square foot house with a very simple roof would cost less than $10k. This is equally true of most other numbers you'll see. A simple run of 100 feet of wooden fence replacement by a local handyman with no permits needed might cost as little as $1k. 100 feet of nice new fencing on a sloped yard with three corners and a gate, done by a contractor, with permits required, could cost five times that. A simple sewer line that can easily be excavated and replaced could be done for maybe $5k. Or, as for my parents, a collapsing ceramic line below grade under a driveway that requires demo of the driveway and a segment of sidewalk and some of the street, engineering of a new line, replacement of the driveway and sidewalk piece and street, $30k is a possibility. The lesson here is that any "rule of thumb" about what percentage of home replacement cost or property value or whatever, is nearly useless. You need to pay attention to the age, condition, construction style, and particulars of any property and make a sober assessment of what the maintenance and repair costs are likely to be. When house hunting, focus less on the specific nice-to-have features you like (ooh this house has a double vanity in the master bath, but that house has a sink in the island in the kitchen) and more on the "bones" of the house and its situation (this house has drainage problems right next to the foundation, while that house has suspicious looking stains on the basement walls, and this third house was built in 1910 so it probably still has knob-and-tube wiring). For newer construction, look at the complexity of the roofline, how much fencing it has, how well the windows are holding up, whether the house is in a floodplain. It goes on and on. Your pre-purchase inspection is intended to identify specific deficiencies in the property, but it's not intended to inform you that your roof skylights and complex gutter configuration is nearly doubling the cost of the roof replacement you'll be needing in 10 years. This was one of the value-adds we got from our excellent realtor, by the way. There is a lot of anger in this thread directed at useless super expensive poo poo realtors, and deservedly so because it's a bad industry full of bad actors; but a really good realtor can help you out a lot if he or she bothers to point out features and issues you might not have noticed or considered, while house hunting. Ours taught us to notice things like sloping floors, steep yards that might erode or slump when its wet, finding the location of the sewer cleanout (if you can't find one, that's not a good sign), peeking into the main circuit panel to see if it's new or old, noticing if most of the outlets are grounded or not, noticing if you're stepping up a half inch when you go into the kitchen because it has three or four layers of different floorings layered on top of one another, all kinds of things like that that we weren't really looking at at first. So tl:dr, take any guess or rule of thumb about maintenance costs as being very, very flimsy. The specifics of a house's condition, age, construction, and the lot configuration massively overwhelm any general rule. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Feb 13, 2017 |
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Feb 13, 2017 19:19
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Leperflesh posted:10% annually in maintenance costs is way too high for a home that isn't so bad it's close to being condemned. 1-2% annually is a much more reasonable budget for a reasonably modern and decent condition house. Listen to this person they are smarter. H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 19:41 on Feb 13, 2017 |
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Feb 13, 2017 19:39
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Grumpwagon posted:Sorry for the self quotes here, this is all moving quickly. She has now stated she can modify the contract to specify for this house only (why didn't you say that before???). I'm back to being ok with that, but after getting jerked around here a bit, I'm skeptical of this person now. Is there something here I'm missing? I could be wrong but I don't think exclusivity contracts are that rare. I think we signed one but it was super lax, basically we were exclusive for some number of months but we could fire them at any point and change to someone else. I think they mainly want to a) be sure they are not wasting time with you while you are working with another agent and b) have a paper trail for their commission. That's not to say this person is or is not bad news, just not surprising that they would want some sort of paper trail.
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Feb 13, 2017 20:58
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Leperflesh posted:
Forget it, never buying a house, unbookmark. Quality advice, though. A+.
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Feb 13, 2017 22:03
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totalnewbie posted:Forget it, never buying a house, unbookmark. Same but not really. I'm now considering moving to Vancouver, WA because things are WAY cheaper over there and it's only 15 minutes away. It would make my taxes more difficult since I work in Oregon and The Couv is dogshit when it comes to walkability and culture. But... drat... those prices got me sprung.
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Feb 13, 2017 23:36
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I'm starting to dip my toes into the housing market, and as usual, I'm turning to the comedy site Something Awful's forums for serious life advice and guidance. The in depth guide by Michael Bluejay from the OP has been incredibly helpful, but I wonder if the advice in there is still relevant given that it was written in like Mikey Purp fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Feb 14, 2017 |
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Feb 14, 2017 16:27
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Mikey Purp posted:I'm starting to dip my toes into the housing market, and as usual, I'm turning to the comedy site Something Awful's forums for serious life advice and guidance. The in depth guide by Michael Bluejay from the OP has been incredibly helpful, but I wonder if the advice in there is still relevant given that it was written in like By and large buying a house hasn't changed much unless you're in a super hot market like Manhattan, SF, Vancouver, or the "cool" parts of Los Angeles. There are certainly more forms to sign because every time someone gets butthurt on a transaction they add one. I don't think you need an option fee given you should have a financing contingency which you can fail to meet by calling your lender and telling them you've unearthed a cursed monkey paw in the inspection. You will likely have earnest money. FHA has gotten appreciably worse for the buyer due to the additional upfront mortgage premium and inability to remove PMI ever without refinancing. It's still "worth it" if you can otherwise afford the house in my opinion, but you should be factoring that into your rates and anticipate refinancing. Do not be afraid to fire your realtor if they don't listen to you, they're making 3-6% of your sale price. On the flip side, be open and honest about your intentions with them. Get personal suggestions for an inspector. Don't be afraid to put a camera up their butt (well, sewer line.)
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Feb 14, 2017 17:42
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Thanks for the info, that's super helpful. We are in Denver, which isn't quite as bad as SF or or Manhattan, but it's certainly getting pretty nuts here and properties often don't stay on the market for more than a day or two. Regarding FHA loans, I'm aware of them as an option specifically created for first time home buyers, but is there any reason to go for that if we can qualify for a conventional FRM instead? It seems like in most cases the lower APR is completely offset by PMI, which as you said never goes away, and I'm not keen on paying money for the bank's benefit and peace of mind on top of the interest. E: Oh, and another question about financing I have is when does it make the most sense to shop for and get pre-approved for a mortgage? Right now we are pre-qualified with a lender and are in theory using that to submit offers (our agent said that was ok and that a pre-approval wasn't necessary?) so is it ok to keep using that for right now even if the terms aren't ideal, and then shop and get approved for a mortgage after an offer has been submitted/accepted? I've gotten the impression that there's a window for switching lenders even after an offer is accepted, but then again my agent says that she will need to contact our lender to set a close date if the offer is accepted, so I don't know what the right way is. Mikey Purp fucked around with this message at 18:15 on Feb 14, 2017 |
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Feb 14, 2017 17:55
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I asked my agent on Friday to draft an offer for a house I liked that had been on the market for awhile. I went out of town that afternoon and was going to go see the house again Saturday afternoon before signing the actual offer. Lo and behold the seller gets "a bunch of offers" immediately after and would now finish considering offers before I would be back. After thinking about it for a few hours, I backed out. I didn't want to commit any money to the house before I could get back to town or see it again. I apologized to my agent for wasting her time drafting the offer, but backing out when things change is probably the kind of thing they've seen a million times, right?
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Feb 14, 2017 18:21
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Wouldn't worry about it.
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Feb 14, 2017 19:09
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Rolo posted:I asked my agent on Friday to draft an offer for a house I liked that had been on the market for awhile. I went out of town that afternoon and was going to go see the house again Saturday afternoon before signing the actual offer. Lo and behold the seller gets "a bunch of offers" immediately after and would now finish considering offers before I would be back. After thinking about it for a few hours, I backed out. I didn't want to commit any money to the house before I could get back to town or see it again. That's absolutely hilarious if the other offers didn't actually exist.
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Feb 14, 2017 20:40
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Mikey Purp posted:Thanks for the info, that's super helpful. We are in Denver, which isn't quite as bad as SF or or Manhattan, but it's certainly getting pretty nuts here and properties often don't stay on the market for more than a day or two. FHA is your last resort. If you have 3.5% down they will lend to you if you meet a laundry list of criteria. If there are comparable non-FHA offers on the table they will win. PMI isn't the end of the world, and you can do lender paid PMI by selling them points. If you are itemizing your tax returns with the mortgage interest and have no way to hit 78-80% LTV in the next ~5 years it's something to consider. Then instead of PMI you pay interest which nets you a deduction on your taxes, discounting the cost by your marginal tax rate. The bank always gets its pound of flesh, it's just an accounting difference how it is paid. It is also never, ever, their fault when something goes wrong. Accept this into your heart unless you have 20% down. Make sure you talk to your realtor about which lenders can actually close on time. In our area 30 day closings are very common which rules out the usual big banks (Citi, BofA, etc.) This is fine as they are almost always more expensive to boot. Chat with your lender about the process. Be prepared for them to ask you a dumb question halfway through which they totally could have asked you for weeks prior but your loan is apparently special and they've never done this before ever. They will also complain about all the post recession regulations they have to comply with, shut that down. Start compiling documents now. 12 months of bank statements for any account from which you intend to have money flow. Is it in a savings account at Bank A but you will be paying form Bank B? 24 statements. Get pay stubs back to your last W-2, and then couple years of W-2's. Sort it all on your computer with easy names like Mikey-Purp-BankA-Jan-2016.pdf. Get pre-qual'd at two places and talk to them about the process. Be upfront that you are shopping your loan around and you will only accept offers on "Loan Estimate" forms. If one is better than the other, ask about it. "Hey in Section A you are having me pay $5000 but this other place has only $2000 in Section A for the same X.XX% APR. Can you help me out?" - Sometimes they literally just add juice there because they can. You can easily switch lenders for around the first week after going under contract if I recall correctly. When you start making offers you should have a very good idea on the Loan Estimate forms what you're going to be paying.
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Feb 14, 2017 21:00
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Rolo posted:I asked my agent on Friday to draft an offer for a house I liked that had been on the market for awhile. I went out of town that afternoon and was going to go see the house again Saturday afternoon before signing the actual offer. Lo and behold the seller gets "a bunch of offers" immediately after and would now finish considering offers before I would be back. After thinking about it for a few hours, I backed out. I didn't want to commit any money to the house before I could get back to town or see it again. The other offers didn't exist and that was a fantastic gently caress You to the agent for trying their normal tactics. Great work, I laughed.
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Feb 14, 2017 21:07
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Real estate agents are, largely, predictable, childish scum.
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Feb 14, 2017 21:12
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Rolo posted:I asked my agent on Friday to draft an offer for a house I liked that had been on the market for awhile. I went out of town that afternoon and was going to go see the house again Saturday afternoon before signing the actual offer. Lo and behold the seller gets "a bunch of offers" immediately after and would now finish considering offers before I would be back. After thinking about it for a few hours, I backed out. I didn't want to commit any money to the house before I could get back to town or see it again. Wait two weeks and submit another offer for 5k less. It isn't every day you get to own somebody this hard.
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Feb 14, 2017 21:23
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Mikey Purp posted:I'm starting to dip my toes into the housing market, and as usual, I'm turning to the comedy site Something Awful's forums for serious life advice and guidance. The in depth guide by Michael Bluejay from the OP has been incredibly helpful, but I wonder if the advice in there is still relevant given that it was written in like In a hot market the sellers will expect you to put down 3% earnest money instead of 1%, close within 30 days instead of 45/60, and there will be pressure to waive your financing and inspection contingencies. Rent back is more common. The split between the different closing costs varies a little from area to area, but the buyers will pay more of them in a hot market. FHA loans are less common, there are often repairs required and the sellers will just take the next offer. There are some new laws that went into affect oct 2015 hat add a few days to the closing process if your lender is not on top of it. Your lender has to give you three days at the start and end of the process to review the loan info. Also the lender is responsible for errors now.
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Feb 14, 2017 21:25
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novamute posted:Wait two weeks and submit another offer for 5k less. It isn't every day you get to own somebody this hard. This is awesome. Do it.
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Feb 15, 2017 02:06
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Rolo posted:I asked my agent on Friday to draft an offer for a house I liked that had been on the market for awhile. I went out of town that afternoon and was going to go see the house again Saturday afternoon before signing the actual offer. Lo and behold the seller gets "a bunch of offers" immediately after and would now finish considering offers before I would be back. After thinking about it for a few hours, I backed out. I didn't want to commit any money to the house before I could get back to town or see it again. Our agent ended up putting together offers on a few places before we got one accepted, and to me it looked like it was just a standard form where he changed the address and the price and the date, so not really that much work to draft.
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Feb 15, 2017 03:08
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Re: poster freaking about exclusivity contract with buyer's agent, that's super common in my experience. My buyer's agent sets up all my visits and drafts all my paperwork, he should get the money at the end of the transaction. Not sure why it's a problem? You can fire then whenever and work with someone else if they suck. And fwiw in the market I'm in, if you didn't submit within 24 hrs of the open house, they are in negotiations with a buyer already that showed up with an agent. Also get a well reviewed agent instead of a friend of a friend.
marchantia fucked around with this message at 05:36 on Feb 15, 2017 |
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Feb 15, 2017 05:29
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I think that, as noted repeatedly, even on this page, agents are scum. If one of these chaps is particularly bad and they try to screw you it's nice to just be able to walk the gently caress away instead of possibly having to sue said scum in order to buy a house. You really shouldn't sign away your rights for no reason, particularly when it's easy to find agents who don't make you sign said contracts.
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Feb 15, 2017 05:35
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In some states exclusive buying agreements are actually required, just fyi. That's the case in CO, but here the terms are pretty toothless and just amount to "if you end up buying this house with another agent, you are on the hook for my commission" and "tell me in writing with 48 hours notice if you want to work with a different agent." E: VVVV sorry you're right and I'm a dummy Mikey Purp fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Feb 15, 2017 |
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Feb 15, 2017 05:46
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Nope, that's a bullshit myth from the agent broker industry, I have bought and sold several homes in Colorado using amazing agents without signing said contracts. Again, don't sign away your rights for no loving reason.
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Feb 15, 2017 05:57
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baquerd posted:That's absolutely hilarious if the other offers didn't actually exist. I'll keep you guys posted on that! Can I trust an inspector brought in by a buyers agent? As said, I'm looking at cosmetic fixer uppers in older neighborhoods and I seriously need to not get screwed by a bad foundation or roof.
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Feb 15, 2017 06:41
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Rolo posted:Can I trust an inspector brought in by a buyers agent? As said, I'm looking at cosmetic fixer uppers in older neighborhoods and I seriously need to not get screwed by a bad foundation or roof. Nope!
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Feb 15, 2017 07:29
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Never trust agents to tell you the whole truth unless they're your agent (and even then...). We had an agent tell us there was an all cash offer on a place as the reason for which our offer was rejected, but then the property went back on the market a few months later. Turns out the buyer had trouble obtaining a mortgage.
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Feb 15, 2017 07:37
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b0lt posted:Nope! Sooo just shop around online for a building inspector, call three and use whichever I like?
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Feb 15, 2017 07:39
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