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Zero VGS posted:The seller might be perfectly happy keeping the house and has set up a "make me move" price (read: I don't actually want to sell the house but if you reallllly wanna overpay I won't stop you). The sellers are retiring and have an offer on another property contingent on the sale of their current one. My head canon right now is that they were promised some number by their listing agent and want that amount or similar to cover their retirement home. I'm thinking about waiting a while and making an offer closer to what I think it's worth, but I have no clue how long to wait. Does their current contigency even put any pressure on them to sell? FWIW the listing is about 2 weeks old now, and well priced homes frequently sell that quickly here. It's that or I can just offer lower now and hope they come back to me later, but I don't see how that's better than just waiting.
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Feb 26, 2020 04:57
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gwrtheyrn posted:The sellers are retiring and have an offer on another property contingent on the sale of their current one. My head canon right now is that they were promised some number by their listing agent and want that amount or similar to cover their retirement home. I'm thinking about waiting a while and making an offer closer to what I think it's worth, but I have no clue how long to wait. Does their current contigency even put any pressure on them to sell? FWIW the listing is about 2 weeks old now, and well priced homes frequently sell that quickly here. Offer what you think it's worth and what you're willing to pay. The worst thing is they say yes. Make sure you have all the contingencies. Make your realtor figure out some other comps in the area and show you the adjustments. Does this town really only have 20 units at all in it? Being contingent does put pressure on them if they need the capital from this sale.
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Feb 26, 2020 05:02
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I received a windfall recently and suddenly have enough capital to make a substantial downpayment on a home. It's enough where we could put down a payment that would allow for us to take on an affordable 15 year mortgage on a pretty nice home in a fairly desirable area. Just for context... the downpayment I have access to is large relative to our annual income, at least in the short run. I could accomplish this and still have a significant cash emergency fund and some decent funds left over to invest towards retirement. I think I want a home for the right reasons. We're not moving any time soon, and kids could be in the relatively-near-future. What's keeping me back is I live in a pretty expensive, seller's market. Going totally on gut it seems like it has room to continue to fill in and grow but I could also be buying into a size-able bubble. That being said, I see the purchase as more of an investment in long term stability/predictability/freeing up future cash flow, not necessarily something I absolutely need to make money on. EDIT1: I researched some things and it seems like our metro area bottomed out on cyclical inventory, days on market, new listings, in 2017... All trending up now. Anyway. Should I do it? i just don't want to squander what i have received please help 
hobbez fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Feb 26, 2020 |
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Feb 26, 2020 05:27
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Zero VGS posted:But the seller's agent (I have her as a dual agent) is telling me there's one offer above mine at $680k, and that bidder would be willing to go up to $690k. You are basically at a poker table. Unless you've seen the competing offer--it is Schrodinger's offer. These folks are flipping. They want the maximum money. My cynical opinion? If the other offer was really better, you would have been told thanks for your offer but we've accepted another offer. Not coming back to squeeze you for more.
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Feb 26, 2020 06:15
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hobbez posted:I received a windfall recently and suddenly have enough capital to make a substantial downpayment on a home. It's enough where we could put down a payment that would allow for us to take on an affordable 15 year mortgage on a pretty nice home in a fairly desirable area. Just for context... the downpayment I have access to is large relative to our annual income, at least in the short run. I could accomplish this and still have a significant cash emergency fund and some decent funds left over to invest towards retirement. Don't do a 15 year when you can do a 30 year. The interest rates on 30 are so low that they're practically synced up with the average rate of inflation each year... it's effectively a 0% loan when you account for that, positive when you account for homes always appreciating over the long term. But the main thing with the 30 year is you have half the monthly payment you would have with a 15 year, so if you find yourself with less income (laid off, huge medical bill etc.) you're not nearly as hosed as you would have been. You can always pay off the mortgage extra, but that's saving you 3-ish% interest... nearly any other investment on the planet can do better. Hell, instead of paying off early there's bank CDs that will guarantee you 4%+ and you're already ahead. I know plenty of people go with 15-year but to me that seems like a charity to the bank who's champing at the bit to foreclose on your rear end the second you're late. HycoCam posted:I, personally, hate a dual agency situation. I don't know the MA laws on agency. In most states, dual agency means the agent has no fiduciary duty to either side and becomes a transactional agent. You mentioned having other properties so not your first rodeo. Sharing competitive offers is not a function of the agent in my state--the seller has to the authorize the sharing of offers. But since your agent is married to the seller--all that crap about fiduciary duty and impartial representative go out the window. I get the feeling like the other offer is really close. I don't think they're lying about it. They certainly CAN lie but the agent can lose her realtor license if caught doing that; she's still accountable to an actual agency. In fact she replied back to me and said like "We understand, we'll let you know if the other bidder falls through" so I think they were hoping I'd jack up my offer more but at the same time they don't sound desperate like I was calling their bluff. They'll probably go with the other people and it's too bad I'm back to the drawing board but it was right at the point where it's not worth an extra $100 a month in payments to me. I felt like I had ever so slightly overbid in the first place.
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Feb 26, 2020 06:25
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H110Hawk posted:Make your realtor figure out some other comps in the area and show you the adjustments. Does this town really only have 20 units at all in it? It's not difficult to find somewhat similar listings if you ignore the fact that it is on the water. I can tell you that if it was across the street, it would probably list in the high 600s or slightly lower if the seller wanted to move fast. The problem is assigning value to the water access and the right build a personal dock--there isn't really that much waterfront SFH development within 5 miles in either direction and most of the stuff in the area don't have listed sales in the last 10 years. Honestly if this was across the street and in the 600s I wouldn't be here second guessing myself. Ultimately quote:Yes, prices are made up, or rather something is worth what someone else is sucker enough to pay for. quote:Offer what you think it's worth and what you're willing to pay. The worst thing is they say yes. Make sure you have all the contingencies.
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Feb 26, 2020 07:24
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gwrtheyrn posted:It's not difficult to find somewhat similar listings if you ignore the fact that it is on the water. I can tell you that if it was across the street, it would probably list in the high 600s or slightly lower if the seller wanted to move fast. The problem is assigning value to the water access and the right build a personal dock--there isn't really that much waterfront SFH development within 5 miles in either direction and most of the stuff in the area don't have listed sales in the last 10 years. Honestly if this was across the street and in the 600s I wouldn't be here second guessing myself. Personally, I would value water access plus personal dock at the premium you're looking at, so I don't think you're off-base.
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Feb 26, 2020 12:23
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Zero VGS posted:Don't do a 15 year when you can do a 30 year. The interest rates on 30 are so low that they're practically synced up with the average rate of inflation each year... it's effectively a 0% loan when you account for that, positive when you account for homes always appreciating over the long term. A 30-year note has a monthly payment that is ~63% of a 15-year note at the same rate. ~75% if the rates are 100 basis points apart. Paying a 30-year note at the same rate as a 15-year note will necessitate paying an extra 2-3 years of your mortgage, given the interest rate difference. 30-year T-notes, the closest thing to sure money out there, are currently at 1.85%, so a guaranteed return of 3-4% is attractive compared to that. If you can afford the payment on a 15-year note, and investing in your property suits your investment portfolio, a 15-year note makes a lot of sense.
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Feb 26, 2020 12:39
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On the whole 15 vs 30 year debate. Do the 15 if you can. Dik Hz has it right. Putting numbers to it: 15 year rates are 2.75% and 30 year rates 3.375% If you borrow $250,000 @ 2.75% you'll pay about $1,700/mo and at the end of the 15 years you'll have paid about $55,000 in interest. If you borrow $250,000 @ 3.375% you'll pay about $1,100/mo and at the end of 30 years you'll have paid about $150,000 in interest. If you make the extra payment to pay off the 30year note fast, assuming you match the $1,700/mo--you'll pay off the 30 year loan just short of 16 years and pay about $75,000 in interest. Or $25,000 more than you would with a 15 year note. The 15 year note is a great thing for two reasons: You build equity in your home at a much faster rate and your giving the bank less of your money. The 15 year notes are the lowest any banker has seen. All the rates are at historically lows. If you've been on the fence about buying a home--now is a great time to get that loan. And if you already own a home, don't think you'll be moving in the next three years, and haven't refinanced--now is the time. People's jaws are literally dropping when they learn about their new rates.
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Feb 26, 2020 14:57
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I am firmly in the 30 year camp and pay extra if you want to pay less interest. It's purely risk mitigation on my side not absolute interest paid. I like the lower payment.
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Feb 26, 2020 17:14
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I dunno, I think having a significant down payment should necessitate a 15-year loan. I feel like the temptation to pay the minimum would be too much. If it's going to be a low monthly payment anyhow, just take the 15-year loan. But at the same time, with interest rates where they are it's probably a better idea to shuffle that extra cash to retirement/investments/etc. instead of paying down the mortgage. Locking in historically low mortgage interest rates for 30 years seems like a win.
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Feb 26, 2020 17:55
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This is a pretty specific question.. I'm using the Redfin iPhone app and I can't for the life of me get it to stop showing completed/sold non-active listings on the map. I have it set to show only active listings, but it ignores the setting and completed listings still flood the map. Am I missing something? e: Nevermind, fixed it somehow. Still kinda buggy. Inner Light fucked around with this message at 18:34 on Feb 26, 2020 |
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Feb 26, 2020 18:31
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Why do people in this thread use Redfin for property searches over Realtor.com?
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Feb 26, 2020 18:41
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HycoCam posted:Why do people in this thread use I've used trulia, zillow, and redfin search at times, but the rest of my family has used redfin so it's easier to share things on that. They're all practically the same
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Feb 26, 2020 18:47
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Where is the difference coming from when looking up Mortgage rates, I find a handful of Online/Digital only ones that are as low as 3.2~% for 30 year, and then you get to normal mortgage companies/banks that are all the way up to 3.9%. Our mortgage broker seems to be lumping everything into the estimate and we are getting a 3.75% rate which compared to all the other places we have looked with physical locations, is better, but then you see those online offers and have to pause for a second. Is it because they only offer the Mortgage itself and nothing else, are going to sell you loan immediately once its closed, etc?
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Feb 26, 2020 18:54
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EdEddnEddy posted:Where is the difference coming from when looking up Mortgage rates, I find a handful of Online/Digital only ones that are as low as 3.2~% for 30 year, and then you get to normal mortgage companies/banks that are all the way up to 3.9%. I am also curious about this. I'm seeing the exact same thing, 3.75 for traditional or large online focused lenders (Bank of America and Guaranteed Rate, specifically), then ~3.2 for no-name online lenders. Is it worth it to go with the bigger guys? My gut feeling says yes.
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Feb 26, 2020 18:58
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H110Hawk posted:I am firmly in the 30 year camp and pay extra if you want to pay less interest. It's purely risk mitigation on my side not absolute interest paid. I like the lower payment. Yeah exactly. If in 10 years you decide to start a business you can start paying the 30 year rate. Or if you want to buy a boat, different car, lake house, pay for grad school, pay for kids private school etc. There's a bunch of luxuries that each cost about $1000/mo. Also gives you the option to work part time to help care for a sick spouse/parent etc run
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Feb 26, 2020 19:04
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Inner Light posted:I am also curious about this. I'm seeing the exact same thing, 3.75 for traditional or large online focused lenders (Bank of America and Guaranteed Rate, specifically), then ~3.2 for no-name online lenders. Is it worth it to go with the bigger guys? My gut feeling says yes. Also your gut feeling is based on what? You should not expect better service from the large banks vs. the online-only lenders. Nor should you expect either to actually hold your loan after you close, loans are more often sold to another bank than not. e. In the 15 vs. 30 year debate, it comes down to personal preference: you are deciding to pay more in interest in order to buy the convenience of a lower minimum payment. For some folks this is worth that money, for other folks it isn't. And that's the correct way to present it, rather than an absolute "you should do an x year loan or you're doing it wrong." Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Feb 26, 2020 |
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Feb 26, 2020 19:14
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Right and I think that was what the difference seemed to be. The more normal lenders appear to include loan cost, things like insurance, warranty, etc all in the loan paperwork, and the online only places didn't seem to give you either as much or weren't letting me see as much without signing up and running a check which I was hesitant to do. Outside of a "Feeling" is there anyone with more experience in this realm to inform us what the difference is?
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Feb 26, 2020 19:38
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HycoCam posted:Why do people in this thread use Redfin for property searches over Realtor.com? Because Redfin lets you set the HOA Fee filter to Zero. That's why.
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Feb 26, 2020 20:02
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What kind of rates are you seeing at Chase? https://www.chase.com/personal/mortgage/mortgage-rates I'm in North Carolina and seeing 3.375% for 30yr and 2.875% for 15yr. The first few home purchases--dealing with getting the loan, getting through underwriting, and understanding the myriad of charges associated with a loan is indeed daunting. A few years ago, we got a new Federal law in the USA called the Truth in Lending Act--or TILA for short. The purpose of the law was to make easier for the average consumer to shop for a loan. In theory you should be able to contact multiple lenders, apply for a loan, go through a short interview process, and a day or so later get a TILA document from the lender. What goes into the TILA document is a pretty long list. I don't have a form in front of me--but some of the highlights: The biggie: The loan amount, the interest rate, payment period, and monthly payment. The part that rocks everyone's world, the closing costs: The biggest charge typically either going to be the loan origination charge or unpaid taxes. For some reason walking into a bank and asking to speak to a loan officer scares the poo poo out of so many people when they are buying their first home. That loan origination fee is why the bank officer jumps out of their chair to shake your hand when you enter their office! Loan officers want to do everything they can to get you a loan--it is how they get paid! To clear a properties title--all back taxes will need to be paid. Plus all taxes have to be figured out. If the tax bill has been paid for the year and you are moving at the end of the year--you're going to owe the seller some money. Conversely, if the seller has been living there for the first few months before the bill is due--the seller gives up some money at closing. There will also be interest charges to make sure the bank doesn't miss a single day of interest. And there will be escrow charges if your lender wants to pay your insurance and taxes. Also, if you're down payment isn't large enough there will be a PMI (mortgage insurance for the bank) line item. There will be some estimated charges if there are things like fuel/propane tanks on the property--someone will figure out how much fuel remains and that will be a line item. I'm probably missing a few things... Oh I know--attorney fees for closing the loan, title insurance, a fee to record the deed, and another fee for overnight mail/courier. The big charges: Mortgage origination fee, taxes, escrow items & PMI, and the attorney fees. e: Forgot the appraisal fee and the credit report fee! The appraisal fee--because the bank wants to know what your house is worth--around $500. The credit report fee is typically about $25. Lots of times the credit report fee will covered by a loan application fee, if the lender charges a fee. HycoCam fucked around with this message at 20:41 on Feb 26, 2020 |
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Feb 26, 2020 20:20
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Huh, I just realized the summer place I bought a couple years ago has property taxes about twice as high as I thought. Most have only been looking at taxes for one of the three PINs. I am smart.
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Feb 26, 2020 20:41
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I did a 20 year. Seemed like a happy medium between the lower interest of 15yr, and lower monthly payment of 30yr. I think it's real easy to tell yourself you're going to take the 30yr and pay extra when you can afford it and then just not follow through on that.
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Feb 26, 2020 20:46
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Interesting thoughts on the 15 v 30 yr debate. I think it's ultimately true it comes down to personal preference and situation. Really my question was if my reasoning for buying a home was sound. I was never expecting to be able to get into a mortgage at this point in life and am just looking for some perspective if it makes sense to make this move (especially in a hot, expensive, sellers market) as an investment in equity and long term familial stability.
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Feb 26, 2020 21:59
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What's a good way to track down crime statistics for a neighborhood? My wife has heard some scary anecdotes from neighbors, but she works, and we therefor live, on the more crimey side of Houston. Anywhere less than an hour from her work is going to have at least the national average of yearly crimes, so it's not about finding a good town, but finding a less bad part of town. Areavibes has a pretty crime heat map (click on the heat map link to the side, it won't let me link directly to it). That appears to be just a sum of all crime reports in a given area, not normalized in any way so she doesn't feel like it provides enough information to make a decision. The neighborhood looks nice and there's no bars on the windows. Most of the houses do have aftermarket security cameras and the subdivision is only 2 years old.
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Feb 26, 2020 22:11
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Meant to post this here:crazypeltast52 posted:The 15 vs 30 year amortization debate also shows up in investment property.
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Feb 26, 2020 22:14
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crazypeltast52 posted:Meant to post this here:
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Feb 26, 2020 23:36
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If I get a mortgage on a piece of land with a cement anchored prefabricated home on it, in doing the mortgage deal could selling the pre-existing prefab and then putting in a new one be part of the sum? I'm trying to wrap my head around what's possible with the purchase of a mostly vacant lot with a manufactured home on it already. This FAQ makes me think yes? https://singlefamily.fanniemae.com/faq-manufactured-housing
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Feb 26, 2020 23:54
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wolfs posted:If I get a mortgage on a piece of land with a cement anchored prefabricated home on it, in doing the mortgage deal could selling the pre-existing prefab and then putting in a new one be part of the sum? The FAQ you linked indicates that it's possible at all to get a mortgage on a manufactured home, and that's correct. However. A mortgage is a secured loan. The security is the home and land, and the lender is assuming that the home and land will continue to secure the loan in the future. If you intentionally devalue the property, such as by demolishing the home that is sitting on your land, you have just undermined the security, and the bank tends to frown on that sort of thing! BUT! You can totally get a mortgage that includes an intention to build something like a home, and borrow money to build that home and roll it into the mortgage. Typically you have to already have a builder lined up, and the lender typically pays money directly to the builder, and monitors the whole process to ensure that the end result is a property that is worth enough to still adequately secure your loan. This is called a "construction loan." AND there's a particular type of construction loan in which you just borrow money to pay for construction yourself, and then essentially refinance at the end to get a single loan that covers your whole new property and pays off the first loan. See: https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/construction-loans-explained/ I think what you'd be trying to do might be difficult to finance with a single construction loan because of the complication of it being manufactured housing, but it can't hurt to ask some banks and see what they can do for you. I imagine people have done this in the past, so it has to be possible, it's just a question of how many banks will want to bother doing this with a single person (rather than, say, a developer), and how much they'll charge you/what kind of rate you can get to do it.
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Feb 27, 2020 00:12
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Alarbus posted:Because Redfin lets you set the HOA Fee filter to Zero. That's why. Redfin lets me filter by multifamilies at X bathrooms or more, and if units are actively rented it tells you the actual rent amounts on page. It also lets me put together an accurate monthly PITI (it's property taxes/insurance are very accurate to reality). Once in a while there might be condo fees they don't catch so you still have to double check but it's better than anything else I've used. Speaking of multifamilies, I was condering an FHA loan... their guidelines state that they can allow 5% down on a 4-unit, but when I called Wells Fargo they said (yes that's the FHA guideline, but we have an additional layer of our own guidance which is stricter so you need 20%). It's incredibly hard to search online to see if anyone has an FHA product that honors the 5%; most numbers on BankRate etc seem like entirely bait-and-switch fabrications.
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Feb 27, 2020 01:06
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Zero VGS posted:Hell, instead of paying off early there's bank CDs that will guarantee you 4%+ and you're already ahead. I'm going to need a link to a CD paying 4%+. The whole invest vs. mortgage debate hinges on your risk tolerance. Getting antsy and pulling money out of the market during drops (cough, the last 3 days) could end up costing you much more than paying down a mortgage. Most investors just don't have the stomach for buy-and-hold when the market takes a dump, so it's not always a purely numbers discussion.
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Feb 27, 2020 01:26
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My fiancée and I are in the process of buying a house owned by my parents. Hayden home built in Bend Oregon in 2017. Hoping Appraisal comes in at $374,000 but realistically it could be $360,000. Parents will give gift of equity to $290,000 which they will keep as net profit as that is what they paid for the house in 2017 when it was built. My mortgage lender is only offering a 4.125% 30 year conventional but I keep reading about people getting under 4%. Is it because he’s using my lowest FICO score at 689 so I’m not able to obtain the lowest rate? I haven’t locked in yet because I’m hoping rates keep falling by end of next week. Planning on closing March 31st.
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Feb 27, 2020 18:02
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SabinBlitz posted:My fiancée and I are in the process of buying a house owned by my parents. Hayden home built in Bend Oregon in 2017. Hoping Appraisal comes in at $374,000 but realistically it could be $360,000. Parents will give gift of equity to $290,000 which they will keep as net profit as that is what they paid for the house in 2017 when it was built.
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Feb 27, 2020 21:11
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Well, we had a plumber come out to check the water heater. The sediment issue was so bad that not even the pressure release was working. Obviously we replaced it right away. He thankfully cut us a great deal and had it done in about an hour. Also, this is next to it. In the basement in the laundry room and I think I'm too stupid to know what it is. I'm not going to open it unless I know. 
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Feb 27, 2020 22:38
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I'd say most probably a sewer cleanout. Possibly a well, sump, or access to a septic system?
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Feb 28, 2020 01:17
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Hmmm, there used to be an old septic tank that got removed a while ago. Unless I can see differently, I'll go with that.
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Feb 28, 2020 01:33
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^^^ It's probably a soil line or drain tile clean out access if it's in the basement floor. It could be as simple as a capped off floor drain also. It wouldn't be the first one capped off because it's almost never used so the trap dries out and it starts stinking, so somebody "smart" decided to pull it up and cap it rather than to fill the trap with mineral oil........
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Feb 28, 2020 01:33
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Soooo... I shouldn't use it as a floor drain out of sheer laziness. Hmm, I must meditate on what I've learned.
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Feb 28, 2020 02:37
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Inzombiac posted:Soooo... I shouldn't use it as a floor drain out of sheer laziness. I mean - you could check and see if it has a trap under there and/or have it scoped to figure out what/where it goes, but nah, don't just assume. If it's a drain tile clean out you'd be duping water into your foundation/sump pit for example.....
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Feb 28, 2020 12:25
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Borescope cameras are awesome. And they are cheap now too. Sub-$40 gets a cheapo you'll love to have when you need to look somewhere weird in your house. https://smile.amazon.com/NIDAGE-Automotive-Inspection-Semi-Rigid-Smartphones/dp/B07C9C6P5D The difference between the $1,000 plumber borescopes and the $40 Amazon deals starts with the stiffness. (Better lighting, fancier cameras, different ends all make them cost more.  ) But that is the #1 issue with a $40 scope over a pro scope--stuffing what is basically a long, wet noodle though a trap and down a plumbing line is a challenge.
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Feb 28, 2020 18:00
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