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On Terra Firma posted:If you weren't pre-qualified (there's really no such thing is pre-approval now) by your agent before going out and looking at homes he dropped the ball big time. Are you referring specifically to something with respect to new construction? Or home buying in general? Because I'm in the process of buying a home right now, and we definitely got a preapproval.
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Apr 10, 2017 15:25
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MrYenko posted:If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, etc etc. H110Hawk posted:It is common for shady builders to try and bilk more money out of you. Try offering them 5% lower and see what happens. Your agent should be working to tell you if the house is correctly priced. If not, fire them. Halloween Jack posted:Looking at my arms, I can't tell at what point in this sentence I began gesticulating wildly. But yes, this seems shady because of all the reasons. Ashcans posted:Yea that whole sentence sounds really off to me, it makes it seem like the builder, lender, and your agent are all actually patting each other on the back here. It sounds like the agent brought this place to you and then recommended the lender? It's possible you're not getting screwed more than anyone else buying a house, but that all seems ripe for collusion. On Terra Firma posted:Most builders have a preferred lender and for whatever reason RESPA laws don't apply to them. Hell, Ryan Homes has their own lender (NVR finance) and they tie tons of poo poo to whether or not they use them. However the fact that they offered you a certain price, then raised it, is kind of shady as well as insanely stupid on the builders part. I highly doubt them sending over your financial information had anything to do with it though. We were not pre-qualified or pre-approved before looking, we only got pre-approved after we found the house we liked and decided to submit a bid. However, we're only looking at new construction. At this point the agent is leaving it up to us whether to agree to the higher price or not. He doesn't seem to think there's much room to negotiate in this market.
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Apr 10, 2017 18:31
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If they're brand new houses just being built and none have been sold yet, how could there be a "last year's price"? Pricing is not based on how much it cost to build, or its floorplan or whatever. Pricing is based on what the market will bear. That means the price should definitely float along with the current state of the market. However: this deal screams bullshit all over it and I would advise you to walk away from the builder, the house, the bank, and your agent. Put it this way: even if the builder and your agent are being 100% honest, do you really want to buy a home built by a company that is so incompetent that it would forget how much their house is supposed to cost? Attention to detail is important here. If they can gently caress up in this particular way, you should assume they will gently caress up in several other important ways too, from following code, to doing documentation correctly, to getting you through escrow and closing. Seattle's market is hot and it will feel bad walking away from a house you wanted, but it will feel a lot less bad than if your suspicions are realized and these people take you for tens of thousands of extra dollars. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Apr 10, 2017 |
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Apr 10, 2017 18:54
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Leperflesh posted:However: this deal screams bullshit all over it and I would advise you to walk away from the builder, the house, the bank, and your agent. I wouldn't be so annoyed if they had just straight up said "this market is hot and therefore we've raised the price because we think we can sell for more". But this stuff about "last year's prices" just seems weird.
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Apr 10, 2017 19:18
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NoDamage posted:Yeah, you're right and that's exactly what we're going to do. I would use honesty about your disappointment and motives for leaving the transaction. I would walk away from the builder, agent and financing all three. Be open about the fact that this kind of transaction is based on trust. Let them know that you've shared your story and will continue to do so. Open and honest communication is important to curb these unsavory practices.
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Apr 10, 2017 19:33
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About how far in advance did everyone receive their final number for closing costs? I close on Thursday and have only received estimates. I asked late last week and was told when we got closer I'd have it? Are they afraid I'm going to walk?
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Apr 10, 2017 20:00
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We didn't get them til the day before. There's a legal obligation to not be too far off the estimates here and there was written contract agreements on the exact numbers for realtor/lender/lawyer costs. But the final HUD really we didn't get until the end.
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Apr 10, 2017 20:04
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Maybe this should go in the Homeownership thread, but... Inspection is coming up on Friday, and we're starting to look seriously at furnishing the house. We're trying to think it terms of priorities, since we certainly won't be able to afford all the furnishings we want immediately. I keep thinking that there must be something important I'm forgetting. I'm sure a lot of it is down to preference, but we figured that we need to do paint/wallpaper first, because that will be a much much bigger pain in the rear end after we move in. (Christ, I hate repainting bathrooms.) So I'm thinking: Paint/wallpaper in living room, bedroom, loft, and den Shelving Chicken coop Outdoor shed Living room furniture Bedroom furniture (planning to upgrade to a king size bed and bedroom set) We're not planning to do any carpentry. Anyone want to weigh in on this?
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Apr 10, 2017 20:27
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Someone just posted this on reddit:quote:Hello everyone. I will try to keep this brief. In November 2016, my GF bought an apartment that belonged to Remax. The Remax agent went with her to the apartment which was on 1st floor - Right. He opened her the door and gave her the key(the house was needing desperate renovation). Fast forward to April 2017, renovations completed, turns out, the house belongs to another person and that the house she really bought is the one on the 1st, floor - Left. The keys opened both doors, since apparently both doors had the same lock. How to proceed from here?
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Apr 10, 2017 20:32
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What sub is that in? I want to read it! Edit: Found it. https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/64lcsl/realtor_just_sold_my_gf_the_wrong_house_need/
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Apr 10, 2017 20:34
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Photex posted:About how far in advance did everyone receive their final number for closing costs? I close on Thursday and have only received estimates. I asked late last week and was told when we got closer I'd have it? Are they afraid I'm going to walk? About a month after when a check came for the difference both times. Halloween Jack posted:Maybe this should go in the Homeownership thread, but... Paint everything you want to paint before you bring anything to the house. Do anything that generates dust indoors before moving in so you can get it all gone.
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Apr 10, 2017 21:14
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Photex posted:About how far in advance did everyone receive their final number for closing costs? I close on Thursday and have only received estimates. I asked late last week and was told when we got closer I'd have it? Are they afraid I'm going to walk? The exact day of closing affects the final numbers, because there will be usually some number of days of interest on the loan before the next billing cycle, some amount of money the previous owner will owe on property taxes, some document fee might change because someone has to get something random notorized, etc. Since final signing can slip by a day or two or three, nobody wants to legally commit to final numbers until the day of closing is 100% certain. The final numbers will not be much different from your estimates. Maybe a couple hundred bucks plus or minus.
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Apr 10, 2017 21:24
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Does anyone have a good, general info-source they know of for selling a home? Didn't spot a selling-specific thread, so apologies if I'm a bit of an idiot and posting in the wrong place  I'm kind of referring to the whole process in changing-hands between owners (steps involved) as well as just good info for helping improve the house's value/"attractiveness" on the market. I somehow stumbled through the whole buying purchase without issues/hang-ups, but I'm still a total doofus on how this stuff works. I've been in the current one for ~3-4yrs and will probably be in it for a few more (going to move a long way away; this isn't a case of me regretting the home purchase). For now, I'm kind of kicking the tires and planning on things I should do for improving the value, to some degree (replacing ratty, 30yr old windows/glass, fix up interior, some general landscaping, etc). Geop fucked around with this message at 21:50 on Apr 10, 2017 |
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Apr 10, 2017 21:41
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Motronic posted:Depends on how much pipe is between the heater and that faucet. Was a new house so nothing to compare to. HEY NONG MAN posted:Yep that is how mine works. Strange enough the master bath hot water pressure is really low but the regular bathroom hot water pressure is high. The master bath is literally almost on top of the tankless heater system whereas the regular shower is on the other side of the house but 45 to 60 seconds sounds normal? Does anyone back east actually use this system? I can only imagine how much it would suck during winter.
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Apr 10, 2017 22:03
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lol internet. posted:Strange enough the master bath hot water pressure is really low but the regular bathroom hot water pressure is high. The master bath is literally almost on top of the tankless heater system whereas the regular shower is on the other side of the house but 45 to 60 seconds sounds normal? Does anyone back east actually use this system? I can only imagine how much it would suck during winter. In a decent sized house there can be like 2-4 gallons of water sitting in hot water pipes that have to get flushed out before you get to the actually hot water. You can install a hot water recirculator system, which is basically a small pump that circulates water from the end of the line back into the hot water heater to refresh the water that is in the pipes. Otherwise you could install a "point of service" (I think that's what they call it) small heater in your master bathroom somewhere, so there is less pipe to clean out. I've never had a tankless hot water heater, but I would be surprised if your problem was related to the hot water heater - there is probably just a lot of pipe in between. I have PVC in my house, and it is pretty shocking how fast the hot water loses its heat when sitting in the PVC. After about 40 minutes I would not call it hot at all, and I have my heater set to the second highest setting. A hot water recirculator that you run every other 15 minutes will probably cost like $10-$30 per month extra in natural gas, just FYI. Personally I hooked mine up to my home automation/security system so I can just hit a button when I want the pump to run for 10 minutes. Otherwise I turn on the bathtub hot faucet for like 10 seconds - it is a much bigger pipe so it doesn't take as long to flush out the pipes. Oh and yeah, if I just turn my shower on it takes about a full minute to get to hot water if I haven't turned on the pump for awhile.
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Apr 10, 2017 22:12
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Geop posted:Does anyone have a good, general info-source they know of for selling a home? Didn't spot a selling-specific thread, so apologies if I'm a bit of an idiot and posting in the wrong place There is very little outside of a brand new roof or a totally renovated kitchen/bathroom that will add value you'll see when you sell the home compared to what you put into it. Most of the time it's not even worth going through the trouble of fixing everything up unless there's something obviously wrong with the property. Get an agent to do a CMA and pull comps before you do anything else.
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Apr 10, 2017 22:38
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On Terra Firma posted:There is very little outside of a brand new roof or a totally renovated kitchen/bathroom that will add value you'll see when you sell the home compared to what you put into it. Most of the time it's not even worth going through the trouble of fixing everything up unless there's something obviously wrong with the property. I agree with this but will also add: curb appeal. If you have a lovely cracked up driveway, overgrown yard, etc it's going to make it a lot harder to sell because of basic human emotions. Make the first impression good.
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Apr 11, 2017 00:42
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On Terra Firma posted:There is very little outside of a brand new roof or a totally renovated kitchen/bathroom that will add value you'll see when you sell the home compared to what you put into it. Most of the time it's not even worth going through the trouble of fixing everything up unless there's something obviously wrong with the property. This may be a little off topic for this thread but on topic for the conversation. Where does the real $ and sweat equity come from flipping houses? Like 20,30,40, 50k in profit between house cost, improvements, and what you get for selling it? Is it having the time, energy, and money to do the work yourself or resources to do it at cost? Is the real money for people who look to do this actually in keeping it and renting out the house? It must just be doing it as cheap as possible and renting it and lowering your standards as a landlord and homeowner because I was looking at a house the other day with my dad as a potential investment opportunity and it was for 250k, probably needed 100k worth of work in my eyes but just knowing the neighborhood I can't imagine it would be worth anything above 250k
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Apr 11, 2017 01:12
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5 RING SHRIMP posted:Where does the real $ and sweat equity come from flipping houses? Like 20,30,40, 50k in profit between house cost, improvements, and what you get for selling it? There are a lot of different areas where people can make money, I imagine it's a combination of a few. 1. Find an undervalued property. The MLS is a barrier to entry for a lot of people, so if you have good access you can find houses early or make lots of lowball contingent-free offers. I bet this is the vast majority of the potential profit (seeing potential value based on some cheap improvements to a crappy/underpriced house). 2. Use cheap materials and do cosmetic fixes instead of good quality fixes. It seems like even if you aren't shady, you can use the cheapest crap to make the place look nice. Cheap overstock granite is less than half of what a homeowner might pick out to install for themselves but can still look pretty nice to buyers - go with the 2cm slab instead of the 3cm slab and most people won't care. Give the house a nice paint job with cheap paint and you can make it look a lot nicer without spending much - buy the cheapest stainless appliances you can, etc. 3. If you run a contracting company or partner with a contractor, it seems like a decent way to always keep your guys busy even if you don't have a job that day - just send them to work on the flip house. I would think most flippers try to buy a run down place for less than market, do some cheap fixes and probably cut a few corners, and then paint and stage the house for sale fast. The new homeowners will end up with low end appliances and craftsmanship, and if the contractor is shady they could hide all sorts of huge problems (sure just knock down this wall it's fine). I can't imagine it being a good thing to try unless you are somehow in the construction/real estate industry already. And I would never buy a house from a flipper. If you live in a good market (e.g. rents compared to house prices are favorable) I think buying and renting would be a much better strategy for most people who want to get involved in real estate somehow.
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Apr 11, 2017 01:29
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Motronic posted:I agree with this but will also add: curb appeal. If you have a lovely cracked up driveway, overgrown yard, etc it's going to make it a lot harder to sell because of basic human emotions. Make the first impression good. Also all of the existing home systems and appliances (everything from plumbing to fridge to garage door) should be in working order. A fresh coat of paint and some landscaping is probably the best "upgrade" you can make though.
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Apr 11, 2017 01:30
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5 RING SHRIMP posted:This may be a little off topic for this thread but on topic for the conversation. General rule of thumb :"You make your money when you buy." The idea is to purchase the house way below its current value so you will have a substantial equity gain after all of the renovations are done. Selling it at that point with the new appraised price should be much easier and you keep the final proceeds. If the final numbers support holding it and renting for positive cash flow, you can do that and keep the forced appreciation as an added bonus (maybe a cash out refinance later, if you're looking to stay in real estate and buy another property without adding any of your personal money). The situation you described, if you're gauging it correctly, is a bad deal because you're looking to buy for what the house will remain at in that particular market. Flippers look for obvious fixer-uppers in decent markets for that reason. You can force it to be a "good deal" by lowballing an offer at a number that produces a profit for you. Obviously if you have the knowledge and experience to do any of the renovation points yourself, you can save money. But talk to people that have done this type of investing and contracting before; don't approach it like those HGTV shows  e:fb but seriously, if you want to be an investor in good standing, don't be a slumlord and/or scummy flipper. Word travels fast and it will be tougher for you in the long run. It's not a hard standard to meet. balancedbias fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Apr 11, 2017 |
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Apr 11, 2017 01:31
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Geop posted:I've been in the current one for ~3-4yrs and will probably be in it for a few more (going to move a long way away; this isn't a case of me regretting the home purchase). For now, I'm kind of kicking the tires and planning on things I should do for improving the value, to some degree (replacing ratty, 30yr old windows/glass, fix up interior, some general landscaping, etc). If you are planning to stay for 3-4 more years, you shouldn't really be thinking about the value added by doing various things. I mean, don't do anything weird (like buying copper colored appliances), make the improvements that you personally want, and you will be fine. When you actually go to sell, don't bother with anything expensive - like the others said, declutter the house, maybe put some fresh paint on some walls, and hire a landscaper to neatly trim everything outside. Stage your furniture so every room has a purpose, and open up all the drapes and stuff so it's as bright as possible inside. Most people have way too much crap everywhere when they try and sell their house, and it makes it seem small and dark and crowded inside.
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Apr 11, 2017 01:43
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HEY NONG MAN posted:Yep that is how mine works. Then what is the point of a tankless water heater?
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Apr 11, 2017 01:45
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Sab0921 posted:Then what is the point of a tankless water heater? In my opinion? Supplement for high volume systems (you have a massive waterflow shower, etc) and/or pair it with a sotrage tank and recirc system. They also make for great hydronic heating systems. As your only DHW source they are pretty lovely to live with in most cases.
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Apr 11, 2017 01:54
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Sab0921 posted:Then what is the point of a tankless water heater? In theory it is more efficient because you only heat the water once instead of continuously for X hours while it sits in the tank waiting to be used. There is also no giant tank full of hot water waiting to corrode and leak all over your house. You also don't have to worry about getting a tank big enough to fill a bathtub, or wait 2 hours for the water to heat up after 3 people all take a shower. And the way the guy describes it really does sound like just clearing water in the pipes throughout the house and not a tankless specific problem - from some cursory research it seems like 10 seconds is about the ramp up time for a tankless heater, not a full minute.
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Apr 11, 2017 01:57
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Home insurance time. Is there a good way to comparison shop for home insurance? We contacted the agent we use for auto/renters insurance. However, they said they can only insure for the value listed by the county appraisal department (which is less than what was paid). Last real step I need to take!
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Apr 11, 2017 05:05
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Motronic posted:I agree with this but will also add: curb appeal. If you have a lovely cracked up driveway, overgrown yard, etc it's going to make it a lot harder to sell because of basic human emotions. Make the first impression good. Yeah that's one thing but a lot of home owners say things to me like "Oh I need to repaint this beige bathroom to a light blue" and assume that will net them a couple thousand or something when it won't. If your neighbors have a cracked driveway and an overgrown yard then it may as well be your home that has it as well too, so don't go overboard is what I'm saying.
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Apr 11, 2017 06:26
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minivanmegafun posted:lol, really? What state are you in? My appraisal in Illinois is less than half of my purchase price. uh, well, I was wrong. It's even less. 
minivanmegafun fucked around with this message at 03:21 on Apr 12, 2017 |
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Apr 11, 2017 13:15
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Sab0921 posted:Home insurance time. I think the easiest way is to find a local independant agent and have them give you quotes for every company they work with. Though for some reason "Independant Insurance Agent Near Me" doesn't seem to give many hits on google, so I had to search for "Insurance Agent" and then ignore all of the Allstate/Statefarm/etc reps
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Apr 11, 2017 13:47
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minivanmegafun posted:lol, really? What state are you in? My appraisal in Illinois is less than half of my purchase price. Texas - it is a very stupid requirement from AAA. Same issue with me and the appraisal being much lower than the actual cost.
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Apr 11, 2017 14:20
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Sab0921 posted:Texas - it is a very stupid requirement from AAA. Same issue with me and the appraisal being much lower than the actual cost. What was the bank's appraisal?
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Apr 11, 2017 15:31
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Sab0921 posted:Home insurance time. Do you really need purchase price coverage? This is supposed to insure your property for replacement value, which is surely less than what you paid for land+home. If you have some exceptionally valuable contents those are usually put on a rider (camera equipment, art, etc).
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Apr 11, 2017 15:31
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Motronic posted:Do you really need purchase price coverage? This is supposed to insure your property for replacement value, which is surely less than what you paid for land+home. If you have some exceptionally valuable contents those are usually put on a rider (camera equipment, art, etc). Also, it's pretty difficult to damage the land, even if the house burns to a pile of ash, and the land is likely a major component of the value. As long as you can pay to clean up the site and rebuild the structure, and repurchase your belongings, you should be fine.
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Apr 11, 2017 15:37
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I found a piece of property that is possibly undervalued. It's just under 3 acres with a 40'x16' storage shed converted into a living space. It's got a septic system, water well and city electric. The price on the property is about what it would cost if the land was completely undeveloped. My question is this: If I purchase this property and fix it to sell, will a potential buyer still be able to get a home loan? I suspect inspections will not go well since the "home" is just a storage shed that has been finished out. It reminds me a lot of the 'tiny homes' you see popping up everywhere. But is that a problem? I'm in north Texas. Comatoast fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Apr 11, 2017 |
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Apr 11, 2017 17:14
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minivanmegafun posted:lol, really? What state are you in? My appraisal in Illinois is less than half of my purchase price. How on earth does that work? You just get a deal on your property taxes while everybody else gets screwed? Appraisal tracks pretty closely with real market value here in Texas.
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Apr 11, 2017 17:49
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Twerk from Home posted:How on earth does that work? You just get a deal on your property taxes while everybody else gets screwed? Appraisal tracks pretty closely with real market value here in Texas. In PA the tax assessment is typically way lower than the actual purchase price as well. It's not so much that "everyone else gets screwed", since you're all paying on the same low amount. There's a difference between the appraisal that your bank does at the time of sale, and your tax assessment, if that's where the confusion lies.
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Apr 11, 2017 17:58
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LogisticEarth posted:In PA the tax assessment is typically way lower than the actual purchase price as well. It's not so much that "everyone else gets screwed", since you're all paying on the same low amount. How is that number calculated? What's it's relevance if it's not supposed to represent actual value?
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Apr 11, 2017 18:02
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Yeah, my tax appraisal (Ontario) is about 30% lower than my purchase price and bank appraisal.Twerk from Home posted:How is that number calculated? What's it's relevance if it's not supposed to represent actual value? It's supposed to converge on market prices slowly, to avoid massive sticker shock for existing owners when the market around them blows up 50% in one year.
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Apr 11, 2017 18:06
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The question is why is it so much lower.
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Apr 11, 2017 18:08
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Evil Robot posted:The question is why is it so much lower. Because it hasn't caught up to increases in property prices over the last several years, if I had to guess. In my city prices are up 33% in the last year, but if people's assessments and taxes went up that much there would be open revolt. I'm totally in favour of resetting assessment to price when a property is sold, though.
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Apr 11, 2017 18:14
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