|
A MIRACLE posted:I think I may try to buy something in the greater LA area at the end of the year / early next year. I have good credit and about 50 grand in cash right now. Hoping to have substantially more at the end of the year so I have an emergency fund in addition to my down payment. May do a first time buyer program, not sure yet. $10k isn't an unreasonable buffer to think about. It should be less than that in the end. Sometimes as part of the deal the sellers cover some of the cost, and if desperate you can sell the lender points to get some credit.
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2020 21:16
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 03:40 |
|
|
I am under contract to inspect, negotiate, and buy a house.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2020 22:07
|
|
|
Deviant posted:I am under contract to inspect, negotiate, and buy a house. 
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2020 22:18
|
|
|
I'm getting prequalified now- waiting to hear back from the first lender I sent my info to, got a call scheduled tomorrow, etc the first people wouldn't give me a ballpark estimate of what they'd lend to me before I sent them proof I had a job. Is that normal?
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2020 22:43
|
|
|
What's a good way to get a rough estimate of how much it would cost to build a house on a bare lot without giving my information to people who will spam me and sell my information? I'm not seriously considering it right now since I assume it will be too expensive, but if total costs could come under say $400k for everything to make the house inhabitable, it could open up my options quite a bit. Obviously, a lot does depend on the lot...I'd assume things like grade, trees that might need clearing, and distance to power/sewer hookups can all increase costs. I'm just trying to get an idea if this is at all viable.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2020 22:50
|
|
|
gwrtheyrn posted:What's a good way to get a rough estimate of how much it would cost to build a house on a bare lot without giving my information to people who will spam me and sell my information? I'm not seriously considering it right now since I assume it will be too expensive, but if total costs could come under say $400k for everything to make the house inhabitable, it could open up my options quite a bit. My numbers are older, so take them with a grain of salt Not including the land, you can do a basic, and I mean basic, slab foundation house, in a lower COL area for around 80-90 dollars a square foot single story. That can easily double depending on the quality of materials and finishes you choose. If you're in a higher labor rate market, I don't even know. There's just so many variables. The General Contractor costs, the cost of your finishes, land clearing, water/sewer hookups or well/septic systems. The list goes on and on. The size of the house matters as well when you're quoting an average cost per sq ft.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2020 23:11
|
|
|
skipdogg posted:My numbers are older, so take them with a grain of salt I'm definitely in a higher COL/Labor area. Who would I even talk to get a SWAG on local costs? Just hit up a home construction company? Obviously there are a lot of factors that can't be covered by a general estimate, it'd just be good to know if it could even fall in my budget. I also have no idea how the financing for something like this would work, but I assume it would somehow work if it's actually something I could afford.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2020 23:27
|
|
|
gwrtheyrn posted:What's a good way to get a rough estimate of how much it would cost to build a house on a bare lot without giving my information to people who will spam me and sell my information? I'm not seriously considering it right now since I assume it will be too expensive, but if total costs could come under say $400k for everything to make the house inhabitable, it could open up my options quite a bit. GC's and such who are building whole houses aren't in the business of spamming you. I would ask around. If any of them hound you, fire them on the spot. They should be busy enough to not be ready to take on your project likely this year unless they literally had 1-2 COVID cancellations and their previous project is onto final punch list items / just closed out. It's a year+ project to build a house if you don't have plans yet, and especially if you need any kind of planning permission to build on your lot.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2020 23:42
|
|
|
H110Hawk posted:GC's and such who are building whole houses aren't in the business of spamming you. I would ask around. If any of them hound you, fire them on the spot. They should be busy enough to not be ready to take on your project likely this year unless they literally had 1-2 COVID cancellations and their previous project is onto final punch list items / just closed out. It's a year+ project to build a house if you don't have plans yet, and especially if you need any kind of planning permission to build on your lot. Is the normal process to do this before even looking at specific lots? I assume the 'pending feasibility' stage listings get to is the buyer/builder evaluating whether or not they can build the desired house on the lot, or am I wrong on this?
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 00:01
|
|
|
gwrtheyrn posted:I'm definitely in a higher COL/Labor area. Who would I even talk to get a SWAG on local costs? Just hit up a home construction company? Obviously there are a lot of factors that can't be covered by a general estimate, it'd just be good to know if it could even fall in my budget. Local banks have construction loans available. You get approved for a construction loan, draw down on it during construction, and then it either turns into a mortgage, or you get a mortgage on the house and pay back the construction loan once it's completed. My parents were general contractors most of their lives before the '08 crash killed their business and they went in a different direction. GC's are busy people and don't have time to hound you trying to make a sale. The good ones like H110 said are going to be booked up far in advance. In fact I think if 400K is your budget you might have a hard time even finding a GC to do a custom/semi custom home at that price point. The higher end guys won't even talk to you unless your talking 1M+. I'm in Texas and there are a couple of build on your lot construction companies. Locally Tilson and DTH (design tech homes), are options that might work. They have a set of floorplans that are already approved by the engineers and archtitects, and they'll have relationships with subcontractors to get the home built. I've never used them so I'm not sure on their business model. My parents either did a flat rate management fee on builds, or a cost plus arrangement, depending on the house. It can't hurt to contact them and ask some questions though. All that being said, you should be able to get a very very rough ballpark estimate from a local GC. If you give them a general idea of what you're looking to build, they should give you a rough price per sq ft estimate of the house. Local word of mouth is going to be your best resource. Try a local app like Nextdoor or a local Facebook group and ask for some recommendations. Folks that built houses near your land are fantastic resources as well. My parents never had to advertise their business, it was all word of mouth gwrtheyrn posted:Is the normal process to do this before even looking at specific lots? I assume the 'pending feasibility' stage listings get to is the buyer/builder evaluating whether or not they can build the desired house on the lot, or am I wrong on this? Where are you at in the overall process? Do you own land and want to build a house? Are you looking for land and someone to build a house on it? Do you have a house plan already picked out?
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 00:05
|
|
|
If we're talking construction, I'm nowhere in the process other than trying to figure out if it's even worth pursuing with the amount of money I have available. I've been shopping for houses for a while, and there's only been one house that I've really wanted, largely due to location, but didn't get because my parents talked me out of offering because coronavirus. The rest, to me, have just been...fine but I have no financial pressure to move from where I am right now. I don't need to have a custom house if it's too expensive and I can find an existing model that is good--this is largely competing with construction from the 60-80s that for the most part are all very similar and probably are production houses. From a quick google, is this roughly equivalent to what Tilson/DTH that you mentioned?
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 01:26
|
|
|
gwrtheyrn posted:If we're talking construction, I'm nowhere in the process other than trying to figure out if it's even worth pursuing with the amount of money I have available. I've been shopping for houses for a while, and there's only been one house that I've really wanted, largely due to location, but didn't get because my parents talked me out of offering because coronavirus. The rest, to me, have just been...fine but I have no financial pressure to move from where I am right now. Start looking there, but building a house is a big commitment. Looking at their site it looks like their 4br/2ba 2270sqft house is $77-132/sqft depending on where it is. Those prices don't seem crazy. So look at what lots are available to you, take that price, add in a location dependent $/sqft, and pretend that's a mortgage. Is that what you want to spend? Do you have some slush fund money around 25% of that amount to keep the project moving while your bank nit picks your inspections and delays disbursements to your GC for a month because the person who handles that is on vacation? This doesn't appear to include landscaping, which is another expense presuming you don't want to do that yourself. It also doesn't include the time sink if your lot requires any kind of zoning/hearing/permission to build stuff. Now think back to those houses you only "wanted" not "really" wanted. Would taking that purchase price and adding the spread between that and your built-house cost net you a remodel that checks whatever boxes you have? Taking "good bones" and making it your own is often way easier, especially if you don't live in the house yet.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 02:18
|
|
|
H110Hawk posted:Start looking there, but building a house is a big commitment. Looking at their site it looks like their 4br/2ba 2270sqft house is $77-132/sqft depending on where it is. Those prices don't seem crazy. So look at what lots are available to you, take that price, add in a location dependent $/sqft, and pretend that's a mortgage. Is that what you want to spend? Do you have some slush fund money around 25% of that amount to keep the project moving while your bank nit picks your inspections and delays disbursements to your GC for a month because the person who handles that is on vacation? There are lots in reasonable locations around 450k requiring varying degrees of work to make them buildable. Add about 220k for the average model on that site for washington, assuming that's the full price and not the bare shell price. 160k or less if you use something with comparable sqft to most houses here. Adding those two numbers up is easily about 100k less than the average house I'm looking at right now in a similar location and almost 200k less that my current max. My worry is that non-included things like utility hookups, permit costs, site prep, and as you mentioned landscaping would eat away at that margin until it's gone and then some. As for slush fund, I could have enough to buy the lot in cash if I sold company stock, but I wouldn't have enough to cover that and 25% of construction on top of that. Comparing to buying+remodel, it's not really an issue of major remodeling. Most houses I've seen I wouldn't do that much, it's just that most houses in the area I'm looking at are <1.4k sqft ramblers or ~1.8k sqft split-entry houses that all look the same so it's not all that exciting
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 02:51
|
|
|
You guys want to help me pick apart this place I’m going to go see tomorrow? https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/...source=txtshare this checks a ton of boxes for us. Two car garage, big yard, useable kitchen, lots of natural lighting, walk in closet. Lots of natural lighting. Broadly speaking, it’s, a really good location for both our commutes, with some nearby trails and open space. Seems like a nice neighborhood. Not excessively big for just me and my girlfriend but room to grow if need be. It is at the top of our price range, however, and the cabinetry, counter tops, and appliances look a little dated. Seems like a lot to pay when we may want those expensive upgrades.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 02:51
|
|
|
gwrtheyrn posted:There are lots in reasonable locations around 450k requiring varying degrees of work to make them buildable. You would want to finance the lot. I imagine it's finished cost with "average" finishes. You would have to call and ask. You also have sites which sell just stamped plans which are then yours to take to a gc to work with building.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 03:14
|
|
|
Yeah, I think I'm going to look into this more, it seems like it could be an option to get a perfectly serviceable house that is possibly much larger than anything else I'm looking at now.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 03:44
|
|
|
I am thinking there are a lot of costs not included in the price they list. If new construction were that much cheaper than buying someone else's lovely house, then more people would be taking that route, even with all the bullshit that building requires you to deal with.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 03:55
|
|
|
Mr. Powers posted:I am thinking there are a lot of costs not included in the price they list. If new construction were that much cheaper than buying someone else's lovely house, then more people would be taking that route, even with all the bullshit that building requires you to deal with. Oh I'm sure there there are, but most people who opt to build are usually tearing down and rebuilding because that's the only way you're getting a great location. That and it's easier to find an existing house roughly where you want it than an empty lot that is actually possible to build on in the same area. I'm mostly curious how much those extra costs would be, and I probably can't do that without talking to people here
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 04:13
|
|
|
hobbez posted:You guys want to help me pick apart this place I’m going to go see tomorrow? Basically agree with your assessment. My concerns would be around the roof: Is it flashed correctly, how much life is left, is there enough insulation, but yeah. It's a builder-grade box that I don't see anything obviously wrong with. The landscaping's nice and appears to all drain away from the foundation. Fence will need replacing soon if it hasn't been maintained. The cabinets and kitchen appliances are old but probably work fine, and the layout is good enough to re-use when you have the cash to do a kitchen reno. At that point you'll probably want to open up the wall between the kitchen and dining space, and while I bet it's load bearing it's not a super huge span. Can you close off the master bath from the bedroom? If not is there adequate ventilation? The living room looks like it's a bit awkward to watch TV as currently set up but there's room to fix it with better furniture placement. I don't see anything that's telling me to run.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 09:01
|
|
|
skipdogg posted:My parents were general contractors most of their lives before the '08 crash killed their business and they went in a different direction. GC's are busy people and don't have time to hound you trying to make a sale. The good ones like H110 said are going to be booked up far in advance. Super random question but who are the preferred GC in the Yosimite, CA area, if anyone knows/can speculate
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 11:48
|
|
|
hobbez posted:You guys want to help me pick apart this place I’m going to go see tomorrow? Looks basic and serviceable, generally. I would recommend bringing a tape measure to see what the actual dimensions are of the '2-car' garage. This is a classic gotcha in many newer homes where it looks spacious enough, but when you actually pull in 2 modern cars, you can't get out of one side or the doors bang into each other. Personal opinion: the kitchen has very little counter/cabinet space. I would definitely explore re-configuring the layout or at the least, buying a freestanding island (technically a cart/table) if it fits in the center. It looks like exactly what it is: the owners have not upgraded a single thing from the base-level builder-grade stuff the house came with 20 years ago. It looks in decent condition, but HDR can lie. If you plan on upgrading anyway, that could be a good thing, because Handy Andy hasn't gone in and done anything stupid since it was built.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 15:49
|
|
|
hobbez posted:You guys want to help me pick apart this place I’m going to go see tomorrow? Tricky Ed posted:Basically agree with your assessment. My concerns would be around the roof: Is it flashed correctly, how much life is left, is there enough insulation, but yeah. It's a builder-grade box that I don't see anything obviously wrong with. The landscaping's nice and appears to all drain away from the foundation. Fence will need replacing soon if it hasn't been maintained. Maybe the climate is dry enough for this not to matter. If everything is original and there is no visible water damage, then that trumps all.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 15:55
|
|
|
B-Nasty posted:Looks basic and serviceable, generally. I would recommend bringing a tape measure to see what the actual dimensions are of the '2-car' garage. This is a classic gotcha in many newer homes where it looks spacious enough, but when you actually pull in 2 modern cars, you can't get out of one side or the doors bang into each other. Personal opinion: the kitchen has very little counter/cabinet space. I would definitely explore re-configuring the layout or at the least, buying a freestanding island (technically a cart/table) if it fits in the center. I bought the Bosch GLM 42 (which does laser distance measurements, area calculations, is a level, etc.) and it has been super useful while looking at houses and yards because I can run measurements in large area without needing someone to hold the other end of a tape measure. Something I hadn't considered about garages before I moved into the place I'm renting (and which prompted the purchase of the laser measurement gear) is that a lot of them aren't deep enough for some vehicles. My garage is shallow enough that you couldn't park my old minivan in it and actually open the door leading into the townhouse. Most garages are 6-12 inches shallower in depth than the length of my current vehicle. Even if that's not a deal-breaker for you, being able to point to things like that can help with negotiating prices if you're not in a bidding war and long vehicles are common. The last offer I submitted (fell through because of surprise fire damage found by the inspector) mentioned that most trucks won't fit in the garage which is going to limit the number of prospective buyers, since this is giant pickup territory, and I'm sure the seller had a, "Oh... drat it," moment when reading that.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 16:20
|
|
|
hobbez posted:You guys want to help me pick apart this place I’m going to go see tomorrow? Echoing what others have said, this is a really nice deck. The house itself is full of builder grade poo poo. My god, that vanity....I've seen it in a million other houses. This builder grade poo poo does not age well, and it's all 20 years old now. You know the roof and mechanicals are too. The house itself (layout, etc) is entirely unspectacular. The kitchen is poorly laid out. It's full of tan rental apartment grade carpet - except for where they've put down cheap pre-finished hardwood. If this is at the top of your price range I'd look elsewhere because you're likely to want or need to immediately do a bunch of stuff. Motronic fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Jun 25, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 16:53
|
|
|
ow my money 
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 18:26
|
|
|
The first floor feels very cramped (the wide angle shots in the photos are deceiving). I would think that the house would be better as a 3-2 instead of a 4-3 personally.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2020 20:22
|
|
|
If the county assessor isn't counting square footage of a finished basement in the total (and it was assessed this year), does that mean someone didn't pull a permit when they finished it? Would they necessarily have to? If this is an issue with a VA loan, how is that usually handled?
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2020 00:35
|
|
|
It depends on county jurisdiction but a lot of counties do not count basement as sqft.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2020 00:37
|
|
|
first magic surprise: property tax increase. ugh. within what i budgeted for, but more than i actually expected.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2020 00:51
|
|
|
Deviant posted:first magic surprise: property tax increase. Florida moves fast. It took me about 6 months after close to have this identical experience.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2020 01:21
|
|
|
I got the inspection results back from a foundation elevation survey and I found out one section of the kitchen is about one inch higher than the rest of the house. There's also a crack at the floor of the kitchen where the concrete finish has been chipped off. The home inspector recommended that I patch the crack as it was most likely due to the house settling and just keep an eye on it. A few of the windows were sticky, and they said that was most likely due to the house settling as well. Should I hire a structural engineer to take a look? It's a two story home built in the 80s, so it's making me nervous.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2020 04:00
|
|
|
Depends on where it's located Soil type number/type of trees corner flat/corner hill/regular lot/hilly lot etc Is there a creek nearby etc etc In Dallas the soil is this spongey black clay that can contract/expand 20%. We had a rental property in Dallas where the previous tenants left and had stopped watering the front lawn. There was a crack in the soil that I could fit my entire foot/leg inside, and I'm above average height Other areas have mostly stable "sandy loam" which is pretty stable One inch of change across the whole house on a foundation that's been there 30 years is probably ok, but wouldn't hurt to get a structural eng to look at it
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2020 04:10
|
|
|
BonerGhost posted:If the county assessor isn't counting square footage of a finished basement in the total (and it was assessed this year), does that mean someone didn't pull a permit when they finished it? Would they necessarily have to? Typically they're looking at above grade gross living area, basements are kinda by definition not above grade so they probably aren't counting it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2020 04:10
|
|
|
Dumb Lowtax posted:I just read our mortgage terms. Although there's no pre-payment penalty, it sounds like there's no advantage either--our truth in lending statement says that our "finance charge" for loaning the 6 figure amount is almost as big as the amount was, and cannot be reduced even if the mortgage is paid off early! There's a little checkbox for that and it's checked. gvibes posted:Are you sure about the "cannot be reduced even if the mortgage is paid off early" piece? I thought that was just how much you would pay in interest if you did not pay things off early. I didn't think mortgages these days commonly have anything like what you describe. H110Hawk posted:Can you crop out a photo of your disclosure to show non-personal information and post it here? Don't blur or black out, just crop it smaller. (Harder to make mistakes doing that.)   Am I understanding the bottom image correctly? That the amount of $269,769.79, which we are to pay eventually as extra money beyond the principal that we borrowed, is something that we're going to have to pay them no matter what--even if we were to immediately pay back the full amount that we borrowed for the house?
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2020 05:17
|
|
|
Dumb Lowtax posted:
From https://www.pingmortgage.com/til.htm#:~:text=States%20that%20if%20you%20pay,already%20paid%20are%20not%20refundable. - it sounds like that's talking about refunding interest already paid.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2020 05:24
|
|
|
BonerGhost posted:If the county assessor isn't counting square footage of a finished basement in the total (and it was assessed this year), does that mean someone didn't pull a permit when they finished it? Would they necessarily have to? I just bought a multi-family with a finished basement unit (tenants happily occupying at the time and still), the square footage and layout were identical to all the other floors, but they appraised it at 25% of the value of all the other floors. I asked them what's up with that and they basically said "below-grade and garages are always considered way less valuable even if you're not on a floodplain". tumblr hype man posted:Typically they're looking at above grade gross living area, basements are kinda by definition not above grade so they probably aren't counting it. Like he said, no matter how fancy it is, the assessors just go off their guidelines. Sucks because it hosed me into paying an extra $100k on the downpayment, but at least my payments are low now..
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2020 05:35
|
|
|
Rabidbunnylover posted:From https://www.pingmortgage.com/til.htm#:~:text=States%20that%20if%20you%20pay,already%20paid%20are%20not%20refundable. - it sounds like that's talking about refunding interest already paid. Ah good, thanks edit: Holy poo poo, how did you do that to the end of the URL? I never knew that trick!! https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3131399&pagenumber=754#lastpost%23:~:text=house Happy Thread fucked around with this message at 09:42 on Jun 26, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2020 09:38
|
|
|
Dumb Lowtax posted:Ah good, thanks The highlighting is a Chrome-specific feature, not universal yet, so be aware that not everyone will be able to see what's going on.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2020 10:44
|
|
|
What's the current refi advice? Our current 30-year is at 3.625%, and we're a little over 4 years in. 30 year rates are in the low 3s, with 20-year rates a tad lower. Saw a 20 year rate at like 2.75 like 2 weeks ago, but was only glancing at stuff so we weren't ready to jump on it. The prospect of saving tens of thousands in interest is pretty enticing, and we can afford the cash flow right now to increase our payments by a bit. I mean, we could probably do a 15-year, but we don't want to put that much of a strain on our cash flow. Our credit union is offering 3.375% on a 30-year, and says points are available (but won't disclose costs without applying). Our experience when we bought was that their closing costs were pretty high, so not sure that's a good move. Is there a place we should go to monitor this? We could also check back with our original broker, might be good to enlist him to monitor things and be able to reach out when rates get lower. As bad of an experience we had with him (not really that bad), he got us a dirt cheap rate with low costs. But since this would be a refi, it should be way less stressful of a process so their gently caress-ups and last-minute BS won't be as big of a deal.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2020 14:13
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 03:40 |
|
|
Hadlock posted:Depends on where it's located I just saw some cracks in the brick mortar and started to get terrified. But apparently that's a perfectly normal thing that happens to brick homes and is as easy as patching it in with some filler? I had no idea.
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2020 16:55
|
|