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joepinetree posted:Closing is tomorrow, and they are restricting closings to just essential personnel, so our realtor won't be able to be there, but has offered to do a video call while we do it. How important/helpful is it to be able to talk to the realtor during closing? Your realtor can be reached by phone if somehow they have hosed things up enough that you're about to torpedo the deal during closing. Or they could be useful and stand around at the house doing final walk through constantly. Ask if you can do a store pickup, call a plumber and ask if they will pickup the stuff from home depot, schlep it up stairs, and install it. They probably have a truck, or ask the store to throw in an hour of truck rental. They won't but you can ask.
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Apr 21, 2020 15:16
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Thanks for the replies. Meanwhile, just got the dreaded email for last day employment verification where they cant reach anyone at my university to verify it. Luckily they accepted talking to my dept head instead.
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Apr 21, 2020 16:27
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Dik Hz posted:It's really expensive to be poor. It's pretty wild. I'm paying slightly more on my mortgage for a 3 bedroom 1600 sqft townhome with a 2 car garage than I did for a 1 bedroom ~600 sqft apartment in the same city (different neighborhood). Owning a home is awesome and I do not miss renting one bit, it's really not a big month to month increase in expenses. The biggest hurdle is down payment and closing costs which is understandably a huge issue for most people.
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Apr 21, 2020 16:59
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Dik Hz posted:It's really expensive to be poor. I am a college professor and love my job and my job security. But if there is one big thing that is terrible about this life is that, being a poor grad student for so long, I was only able to afford to buy a home now. At my price range, had I been able to buy 10 years ago the amount I would have saved in rent and gained in equity would have easily passed 6 digits, even if I consider some pretty extensive maintenance expenditures. Granted, that is because I am in a "hot" area (the place I just paid 345 for went for 250 in 2010), but it is still incredible. In the same period, my rent nearly doubled. joepinetree fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Apr 21, 2020 |
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Apr 21, 2020 17:32
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joepinetree posted:I am a college professor and love my job and my job security. But if there is one big thing that is terrible about this life is that, being a poor grad student for so long, I was only able to afford to buy a home now. At my price range, had I been able to buy 10 years ago the amount I would have saved in rent and gained in equity would have easily passed 6 digits, even if I consider some pretty extensive maintenance expenditures. Granted, that is because I am in a "hot" area (the place I just paid 345 for went for 250 in 2010), but it is still incredibly. In the same period, my rent nearly doubled. It's sad but true, my boyfriend is a professor and the same age as me, I have no degree but make way more than him because I bought my first home dirt cheap in 2008 and just kept upgrading to a better house and compounding rental income from the previous ones. But don't forget that if you or I bought a place in 2007 we'd have gotten our poo poo wrecked. More risk, more reward. Job security has value too, however; the housing market is getting volatile right now, but my boyfriend is getting more grant money than ever now that people are taking disease research seriously again. Meanwhile in IT land we all got hit with a paycut to avoid layoffs.
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Apr 21, 2020 18:05
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Was asked to sign a "covid 19 attestation" form today
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Apr 21, 2020 19:16
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Popete posted:Owning a home is awesome and I do not miss renting one bit, it's really not a big month to month increase in expenses. The biggest hurdle is down payment and closing costs which is understandably a huge issue for most people.
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Apr 21, 2020 19:26
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:I agree, and not to be a downer but don’t let it slip your mind that things like roofs, furnaces, hot water heaters, driveways and sidewalks, and sometimes windows have a finite life span. Yeah that's definetly the flip side. My place is a townhome with an HOA so anything outside including roof is not directly coming out of my pocket (it's included in the fees obviously). When I bought this place last July the water heater and furnace are nearing the end of life so I'll have that to look forward to coming up soon but other than that I've not had any big issues so far. Small things that I've been able to fix myself and then there are the expenses of buying more expensive and permanent furniture, painting, tools for home repair etc. It's just when you sit down and think about it, I'm paying only slightly more per month to own this place than I was to rent an apartment 1/3 the size and which I was getting no equity. Popete fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Apr 21, 2020 |
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Apr 21, 2020 19:40
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Refinance chat: I found a lender (Sebonic) through Zillow on 3/24, had an appraiser come out the following week, did all my paperwork, and now I check their online portal every day for a closing update. Closing was originally scheduled for May 4 but it got moved to 4/27 when I signed my closing disclosure late last week. I'm now in the part of the deal where they don't say anything except requesting a final, random piece of paperwork that could torpedo the deal. Reading the past few pages of this thread was probably a bad idea. Interest rate is locked at 3.25 and coming from 4.875 it's a pretty significant savings a month. Also, for some reason in the documents I signed had the settlement agent 100 miles away but I don't know if that's where I have to go to sign stuff or if they're going to use Fedex or a local person. This is my first refinance and my first time using an online lender. 
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Apr 21, 2020 21:22
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Hadlock posted:Was asked to sign a "covid 19 attestation" form today I can only imagine how many people are just initialing every box of that without reading carefully
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Apr 21, 2020 21:31
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My gf is the only one on the mortgage.. she works in the hotel industry, very glad we didn't have one of these to fill out 20 days ago becuase we'd have needed to add me to the mortgage
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Apr 21, 2020 21:53
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Popete posted:Yeah that's definetly the flip side. My place is a townhome with an HOA so anything outside including roof is not directly coming out of my pocket (it's included in the fees obviously). When I bought this place last July the water heater and furnace are nearing the end of life so I'll have that to look forward to coming up soon but other than that I've not had any big issues so far. Small things that I've been able to fix myself and then there are the expenses of buying more expensive and permanent furniture, painting, tools for home repair etc. Did you investigate if your HOA has ever had special assessments? I never dealt with one in my 10 years of condo living, but they doubled fees from when I moved in to cover reroofing early (failed shingles) and to cover a paving project. The condo my grandparents lived in had several special assessments, but kept the fees lower. They had an issue under a foundation (sinkhole or something, I can't remember what the actual cause was) and causing a very expensive repair which hit every unit for a few thousand dollars. It's just something to keep in mind. I would imagine most HOAs have the power to levy special assessments for such situations. Paying the fee doesn't mean you're in the clear for some of this stuff.
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Apr 21, 2020 22:03
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rujasu posted:I can only imagine how many people are just initialing every box of that without reading carefully Took us three attempts to not check the red "do not initial this if everything is fine" line for both parties!
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Apr 21, 2020 22:05
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Mr. Powers posted:Did you investigate if your HOA has ever had special assessments? I never dealt with one in my 10 years of condo living, but they doubled fees from when I moved in to cover reroofing early (failed shingles) and to cover a paving project. They've never had a special assessment before. I reviewed the meeting minutes prior to purchase and there wasn't much there. There was an investigation into replacing the roof as it was nearing EOL. I inquired about this but there wasn't a lot of info. Shortly after moving in we had our annual meeting where it was discussed again and it's still being looked into, it's not an immediate need so they've been shopping around determining if they wanna go with the long term or short term options and hoping for more favourable material prices. Either option it sounds like there won't need to be a special assessment as the budget is looking pretty good.
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Apr 21, 2020 22:31
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Hadlock posted:Was asked to sign a "covid 19 attestation" form today I’d definitely mistakenly initial in that one spot I’m not supposed to.
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Apr 21, 2020 23:46
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It's also worded ambiguously. Should you initial the red line if A) you were not able to certify any of the ones above, e.g., you left all of them blank B) you were not able to certify any one of the ones above, e.g. you left one or more blank It's worded like A, but they almost definitely meant B. Probably.
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Apr 21, 2020 23:53
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Apparently they are working out how to get us the docs to sign tomorrow, so that's neat. Still assuming they're lying to me until that guy shows up and can fog glass, no timeline has been met yetPopete posted:Either option it sounds like there won't need to be a special assessment as the budget is looking pretty good. I'm new to this, but my general understanding is that if your HOA is ~60% funded or better, generally you don't need a special assessment ever, unless there's an earthquake that causes a fire in the elevator shaft, while the bottom stories also simultaneously get flooded My building has both a HOA and a COA (commerical owners association) as we have more than one street level retail, should be interesting if this goes through.
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Apr 22, 2020 00:18
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During our owners meeting they specifically addressed never having a special assessment in the past and they do not want to do it if it can be avoided because it scares buyers away if anyone is trying to sell.
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Apr 22, 2020 00:24
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I'm in escrow right now to buy and the COVID stuff has definitely made it difficult in CA. At first, I just had to sign a form stating only 2 + my agent in the house. Now I guess the seller has to sign this form as well for any entry. So, any inspector has to sign this form as well as the sellers. It's a huge bummer (albeit understandable) because I have a handful of kids that are super excited about our new house, but can only see pictures of it. The listing agent made the mistake of telling my agent that the sellers can't afford 2 payments at once 
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Apr 22, 2020 22:43
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Our notary arrived today Apparently you can't just wire five/six figures worth of funds without warning over the phone! Who knew So pro tip, if you are planning on wiring money, and all the banks in your city are shut down due to shelter in place, plan on scheduling a meeting to up your maximum "remote wire" to slightly more than you're planning to wire, rather than waiting an extra day to go into the bank Apparently one doc did not get signed and it requires a "wet signature" and nobody in TYOOL 2020 has a printer at home so a courier is coming by for us to sign a 2 page document
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Apr 22, 2020 23:54
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Hadlock posted:Apparently you can't just wire five/six figures worth of funds without warning over the phone! Who knew Huh, I am planning to do just this within a month. Thanks. Although, my bank is an online bank and I call them to wire anyway.
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Apr 23, 2020 00:09
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Closed today. Sellers signed a different day, it was just us and the closing attorney, with our realtor conference called in. Closing costs were about 4k under what we expected. We own for the first time in our lives.
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Apr 23, 2020 02:40
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Congrats! Now the pain begins... all the moving and unpacking poo poo. Then the superpain. Word of advice, of you want to paint or need some kind of repairwork done (new flooring, maybe a feature wall in the living room, ceiling fan swapped out), now's the time to do it. If you don't already know, learn some basic electrical and plumbing skills. Comes in real handy. VvV 
FilthyImp fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Apr 23, 2020 |
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Apr 23, 2020 02:50
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Give your garage floor a Rustoleum epoxy coating before you stack all your boxes and poo poo in there!
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Apr 23, 2020 04:19
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It's a condo, so a lot of those concerns are out of my hands. My wife wants to do some pretty extensive bathroom and kitchen renovations some day, but it will be a while before we can afford it. So for now it's just getting new appliances (except maybe the wall over, which we might fix because it is a weird dimension and I don't want to have to worry about cutting to fit a new one right now.
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Apr 23, 2020 05:42
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joepinetree posted:It's a condo, so a lot of those concerns are out of my hands. My wife wants to do some pretty extensive bathroom and kitchen renovations some day, but it will be a while before we can afford it. So for now it's just getting new appliances (except maybe the wall over, which we might fix because it is a weird dimension and I don't want to have to worry about cutting to fit a new one right now.
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Apr 23, 2020 08:09
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I'm going to get about $300,000 dollars from the sale of my house that I won't need to immediately spend. Am I better off with a Wire or a check from the buyers Title company?
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Apr 23, 2020 15:20
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Dik Hz posted:Prediction: You will do the renovations in order to sell your condo at the advice of your real estate agent. You will pay for it, but never use it. We've been told this several times, so she's already telling me this wont fly.
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Apr 23, 2020 18:11
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If we wanted to find someone to help us figure out how much house we can afford, help us navigate all the different first time homebuyer programs that are available, direct us to good lenders in our area, etc. would an exclusive buyers agent be the route to go? We're finally getting to a good point where we're thinking we're in a good position to finally buy within the next year, but have absolutely no idea where to begin. Like, if we needed someone to hold our hands through the whole process and has our best interest in mind, would that be an exclusive buyers agent?
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Apr 23, 2020 18:45
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BAE OF PIGS posted:If we wanted to find someone to help us figure out how much house we can afford, help us navigate all the different first time homebuyer programs that are available, direct us to good lenders in our area, etc. would an exclusive buyers agent be the route to go? A real estate agent and a loan officer will be happy to hold your hand and explain your options. If you're asking who will help you make responsible choices, I don't know. The bank and the real estate agent might very well encourage you to make irresponsible or even reckless decisions. Maybe some are better than others in that regard. I bet you could find out by asking the right questions when you interview them.
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Apr 23, 2020 18:53
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Find a nonprofit near you that has first time home buyer classes. In NH, we have NHHFA and CATCH that offer these sorts of classes for free. They do not have a financial interest in you spending as much money as possible.
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Apr 23, 2020 19:20
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Yeah, that's something we plan on doing, both for the help we need with figuring out what to do, and also as it's a precondition for most programs that I'm noticed.
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Apr 23, 2020 19:29
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Mr. Powers posted:Find a nonprofit near you that has first time home buyer classes. In NH, we have NHHFA and CATCH that offer these sorts of classes for free. They do not have a financial interest in you spending as much money as possible. Not that you shouldn't take the class, but don't expect it to fully equip you. The one here they said "oh the seller pays all the realtor fees, so that's free to you, yay!" Which is not a very responsible way to portray that part of the deal.
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Apr 23, 2020 20:33
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Epitope posted:Not that you shouldn't take the class, but don't expect it to fully equip you. The one here they said "oh the seller pays all the realtor fees, so that's free to you, yay!" Which is not a very responsible way to portray that part of the deal. That's true. I never took the class, I just knew someone at the organization so I was familiar with the availability of the classes. They will still do a better job giving you the tools to figure out what you should spend, compared to pretty much anyone else in the process that has a vested interest in you spending as much as possible (or more!).
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Apr 23, 2020 20:57
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daslog posted:I'm going to get about $300,000 dollars from the sale of my house that I won't need to immediately spend. Am I better off with a Wire or a check from the buyers Title company?
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Apr 23, 2020 21:10
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Is the standard for that kind of money not small unmarked bills?
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Apr 23, 2020 21:13
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We wired our money this morning, everyone said it would take at least a day for wire to complete. We both wired before 11am and the escrow company confirmed the wire well before 1pm so who the hell knows why it would take a day or more. I haven't gotten a straight answer from anyone except the price of the property, and even that had a magic 0.5% neighborhood redevelopment fee that wasn't disclosed for the first two weeks. Real estate people either don't like answering the same 20 questions, or they are the least detail oriented people I've ever met. If they don't like answering the same 20 questions maybe put out a FAQ or tracker or whatever. Seems like there are the real estate paper pushers, and then there's the lawyers who handle the details, and nary the two should ever meet. My takeaway from all this is that there are no hidden details, it's just that the people doing all these loans are super non-technical, they are not detail oriented, and their eyes glaze over at the thought of actually reading through all of the documents, and would rather call them "hidden" or "undisclosed" rather than do their jobs. There's no reason why this process needs to be so drat convoluted. Most of the closing stuff I've read are terrible buzzfeed articles by starving journalism students in school with no direct insight to the process, regurgitating the same "top 10 hints to closing" or whatever. I'm looking forward to filtering through all my emails and condensing down the actual events and posting it online as a sort of road map for others. 99% of our stuff was through email, the other 1% was text messages with the buyers agent. Hopefully this will make the process look slightly less opaque. At no point in the last 60 days did anyone take any time or make any attempt to make this process look less opaque despite continuous (polite) demands for clarity. Oh, and we totally waived our buyer's title insurance. It is new construction on top of an old railroad yard with only one previous owner, who has been unmarried (that I can tell) the entire time he owned the property, and he's still alive, with no kids. I don't think the railroad company is gonna come after us on the title to a condo in a larger building after 16 years. Gonna roll that $3000 towards a new couch, reef aquarium, or whatever. Hadlock fucked around with this message at 23:36 on Apr 23, 2020 |
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Apr 23, 2020 23:31
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realtors are car salesman who are smarter than car salesman at conning you.
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Apr 24, 2020 00:47
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BAE OF PIGS posted:If we wanted to find someone to help us figure out how much house we can afford Thinking about this more, do you mean like a financial planner? Someone who will sit down with you and your partner and discuss your goals and budget and retirement plan etc? A realtor or loan officer is for sure not a good option there. Like ^^^^ that guys says, they're just gonna get you in a house, whether it's good for your goals or not.
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Apr 24, 2020 02:17
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Yeah, the difficult thing is you say "i pay 1800 for rent, I could do 2100 for a mortgagehouse!" And then you remember you're now on the hook for water (or an HOA fee), or the roof needs replacement in 8 years, or you need a washing machine now, or you forgot the sale triggers a reassessment of the tax rate so there's a "surprise" $3500 you need to cover or insurance doesn't include earthquake and. . . You definitely need more in savings than what you're putting for the down, and trying to square that with what you expect to pay can be tough.
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Apr 24, 2020 03:33
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