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Still waiting on our appraisal to come back but we just scheduled closing for next Thursday Basically making GBS threads myself at this point
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Jul 17, 2020 16:13
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B-Nasty posted:Also, millennials (a huge cohort) now reaching their mid 30s and wanting to move out of their $2500+/m rent downtown apartment to have kids and corona/riots/protests stripping any and all fun of living in said downtown apt. If they still have a decent WFH job, that previous rent payment can be parlayed into a pretty decent sized mortgage. Being in north jersey theirs a lot of people leaving nyc and a lot of competition. Unfortunately I picked a bad time to look.
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Jul 17, 2020 16:17
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also i'm gonna rapid post because holy poo poo i am going to choke slam the next mortgage broker who calls me when my email clearly says "i cannot take phone calls right now, please e-mail" is it that you can't read? or that you don't listen? because neither one makes me want to work with you.
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Jul 17, 2020 16:26
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Deviant posted:well, why even buy a house, then?!
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Jul 17, 2020 16:26
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Deviant posted:also i'm gonna rapid post because holy poo poo i am going to choke slam the next mortgage broker who calls me when my email clearly says "i cannot take phone calls right now, please e-mail" You can be brusque with them on the phone. Make sure not to answer their questions or allow them to speak. "I said clearly in my email I can't take phone calls do I need to switch brokers to someone who can follow simple instructions? No? Great. Good day." click. Interrupt them as necessary.
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Jul 17, 2020 16:31
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H110Hawk posted:You can be brusque with them on the phone. Make sure not to answer their questions or allow them to speak. "I said clearly in my email I can't take phone calls do I need to switch brokers to someone who can follow simple instructions? No? Great. Good day." click. Interrupt them as necessary. Oh, I did exactly that, but if I can't complain about it here, where can I?
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Jul 17, 2020 16:34
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Deviant posted:Oh, I did exactly that, but if I can't complain about it here, where can I? Give me a call, let’s talk about it.
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Jul 17, 2020 16:50
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Deviant posted:Oh, I did exactly that, but if I can't complain about it here, where can I? Just checking, some people let themselves be tricked into answering the questions or are worried about seeming rude. 
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Jul 17, 2020 18:37
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joepinetree posted:I mean, that is essentially what I said in the rest of the post that you cut out. I think there's plenty of reasons to expect the Fed to lavish the big players with liquidity at all costs and leave the rest of us out to dry. They got away with a bunch of similar behavior last time, no reason for them not to turn it up to 11. I mean ffs, Steve Mnuchin made a fortune fraudulently foreclosing on millions of people in the last crisis, and now he runs the Treasury. edit: Seeing multiple personal anecdotes in the doomsday econ thread that many banks and credit unions are no longer issuing normal loans, even to people with high credit scores and 20% down payment. Anyone here seen that in the wild yet? bawfuls fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Jul 17, 2020 |
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Jul 17, 2020 18:52
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Is it bad etiquette to take measurements during the final walk through? I was thinking while I'm checking all the details, my SO could take some measurements so we can get a jumpstart on ordering the right appliances.
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Jul 18, 2020 01:42
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Absolutely not.
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Jul 18, 2020 01:47
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When I was going to showings I brought a laser measure to see how big rooms were, a ball bearing to see how wonky the floors were, and an outlet tester to see how screwed up the wiring was.
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Jul 18, 2020 01:51
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We went over to the house after the repairs generated by the inspection were completed and measured all the windows for treatments
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Jul 18, 2020 02:00
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You don't want to buy something from someone who's angry you're checking its quality.
Jenkl fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Jul 18, 2020 |
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Jul 18, 2020 02:04
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Fair points. I need to stop reading the latest news about interest rates. I'm locked in at 3.25, and I keep thinking I could have gotten a better rate if I waited. Even if that makes no sense at all.
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Jul 18, 2020 04:14
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Bioshuffle posted:Is it bad etiquette to take measurements during the final walk through? I was thinking while I'm checking all the details, my SO could take some measurements so we can get a jumpstart on ordering the right appliances. We bought this laser measurer for ~$30 and holy hell, saved me so much goddamned time. Everyone looking to buy a house, go buy one of these right loving now https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CG97GR2/   We generally brought graph paper and the laser measurer and would chart out the floor plan of any house we were seriously looking at buying, and draw it right then and there, one graph square per square foot, it's actually pretty fast to do. It's only the biggest purchase of your life. Might as well get it right
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Jul 18, 2020 05:08
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Hadlock posted:We bought this laser measurer for ~$30 and holy hell, saved me so much goddamned time. Everyone looking to buy a house, go buy one of these right loving now Do they make those except also acting as a level at the same time?
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Jul 18, 2020 05:25
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gwrtheyrn posted:Do they make those except also acting as a level at the same time? I got one with a bubble level built in a while back for $20, it was this brand but a more basic model: https://www.amazon.com/Tacklife-Classic-Measure-Distance-Pythagorean/dp/B01N9TCRJ4/
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Jul 18, 2020 08:56
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gwrtheyrn posted:Do they make those except also acting as a level at the same time? I also own one of these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GJ40TOM/ it will clamp on to most anything pretty quick and show you how much the floor slopes in whatever slowly-sinking swamp house you're looking at buying, or whatever. The laser sits on a dangly thing and auto-levels so long as gravity is working ok in your neighborhood.   Mostly I just use it to hang paintings, floating shelves etc though. They sell stick-on bubble levels if you're really serious If money were no object, I'd probably get the GLL75-40G if I had to do it over again, it has much larger 75' range; the 35' range is juuuust visible across very large rooms. Usually you can mount it to a bookshelf or whatever, but it's 20' away and then the laser lines fade to nothing on either side of the crosshair faster than I'd like. It's probably really good for painting your kid's nursery or hanging shelves in the garage but that extra 35' of range would really help, especially in brightly lit rooms. It is exactly double the price, though. Hadlock fucked around with this message at 10:43 on Jul 18, 2020 |
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Jul 18, 2020 10:39
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Oh God. This is how it starts, isn't it? I have to keep reminding myself to borrow most of my tools, so I don't end up with a garage crammed full of stuff that'll never see use. Scheduling contractors is more stressful than I thought it would be, but it feels good to be in the final stretch! All of you who closed recently, how is everything panning out?
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Jul 18, 2020 12:47
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Unsubscribe from all the home buying/improving threads right now if you want don't want to have tool envy on an almost daily basis. I don't have any tools with lasers and now I'm pretty sure I need all of them.
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Jul 18, 2020 14:27
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Having all the tools is so worth it.
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Jul 18, 2020 16:25
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I don't even own a house and I want to own All The Tools 
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Jul 18, 2020 17:04
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Also a corollary: buying tools just powerful enough for the current job but not top of the line always results in regret. I have an underpowered shop vac that I want to throw in a dumpster because it sucks at cleaning my car. My old underpowered drill died when I put an auger on it and used it to dig holes in my yard.
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Jul 18, 2020 17:14
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the laser measure is an incredible tool and my realtor was so surprised i had one
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Jul 18, 2020 17:19
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I can do without the laser, even if it sounds cool because my measuring tape will do just fine. It's things like the little roller you need to install window screens. Once I replace the window screens, what the hell do I do with that thing? Just keep it in a random toolbox in the off chance that I'll use it again 10 years down the line? Because that's probably what will happen.
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Jul 18, 2020 17:44
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Bioshuffle posted:I can do without the laser, even if it sounds cool because my measuring tape will do just fine. It's things like the little roller you need to install window screens. Once I replace the window screens, what the hell do I do with that thing? Just keep it in a random toolbox in the off chance that I'll use it again 10 years down the line? actually you'll loan it to a buddy of yours, forget about it, and in ten years you'll buy another one.
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Jul 18, 2020 17:48
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Bioshuffle posted:I can do without the laser, even if it sounds cool because my measuring tape will do just fine. It's things like the little roller you need to install window screens. Once I replace the window screens, what the hell do I do with that thing? Just keep it in a random toolbox in the off chance that I'll use it again 10 years down the line? Yes. I have an entire tool chest that is for nothing but "specialty tools". Most of those are car related, but yeah.....start out small, just have a separate box for all the crap.
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Jul 18, 2020 17:51
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Bioshuffle posted:I can do without the laser, even if it sounds cool because my measuring tape will do just fine. It's things like the little roller you need to install window screens. Once I replace the window screens, what the hell do I do with that thing? Just keep it in a random toolbox in the off chance that I'll use it again 10 years down the line? The big advantage of the laser measurer, is that if you're measuring something big, like a room bigger than a half bathroom, you don't need a second person to hold the floppy end of the tape measurer. Usually the wife is busy gawkig at the view or neighbor's dog or whatever, not helping measure The other big advantage is that it's A LOT faster. You can measure every bedroom, every bathroom, living room, kitchen, front porch width etc etc in about 90 seconds, as you just walk into the room, tap the button, set it on the same wall but rotate the device 90 degrees with your wrist, tap button again, move on to the next room Until we started measuring each room, as well as the ceiling, we really didn't get a good feel for what we might be buying. Like, one room might seem "small", but what the hell does that mean? For us 10x10 was the absolute smallest we wanted for our second bedroom. The master bedroom in our old apartment was 13x17 and all our furniture fit, so we wanted to know that the house we were going to buy, my giant dresser and the kind size bed would fit with a night stand on each size etc etc The other thing is you'll quickly realize that some rooms feel more spacious than others, knowing if the room is 8, or 8'11" or 9 or 10 or 12 helps a lot. With a house you can adjust a window during a remodel or get rid of drapes, but your can't raise the ceiling of a 1960s house with 8'0" ceilings I learned a lot being able to measure loving everything. Turns out kitchen counter depths vary widely. To make our kitchen feel bigger, the longest counter is only 24" deep. That extra 6 inches makes a huge difference! Most appliances are about 12" deep, and you don't want to set anything on the counter within 3" of the edge so it doesn't fall off, and keep a 2" distance from the appliance which gives you 7" of work surface. Making bread in 7" of counter space loving sucks. And it's hard to eyeball 24 vs 30 inches TL;DR measuring is way way faster with a laser, you'll measure more things, more often, and you'll be a more informed buyer. Every house is different, but at least you'll be confident if the kitchen/bathroom/bedroom is on the small side
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Jul 18, 2020 19:49
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Andy Dufresne posted:Also a corollary: buying tools just powerful enough for the current job but not top of the line always results in regret. I have an underpowered shop vac that I want to throw in a dumpster because it sucks at cleaning my car. My old underpowered drill died when I put an auger on it and used it to dig holes in my yard. On the other hand, don’t go too far in the other direction. I feature checklisted myself up to an unwieldy oversized shopvac from amazon, and most of the features included (the built in water pump) is worthless and it’s a pain to work with. Great at clearing stuck drains with an adapter, though.
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Jul 18, 2020 20:38
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So I'm ridiculously far ahead on my loan and if all goes well and according to plan I'll have my mortgage fully paid off by early 2022. What are the general laws regarding prepayment penalties? Maybe I missed it because there's a lot of paperwork, but I looked over all my loan documents and I was unable to find anything about it. I checked the coupon booklet they gave me for mail payments (which went completely unused) my monthly statements and everything else I could think of and found nothing about it. A google search revealed that in general, prepayment penalties only apply if the loan is paid off within 3 to 5 years, which is highly unlikely to happen. I'm calling my bank on Monday to make sure, but I should be fine if I pay off my loan early since I couldn't find any provisions stating otherwise? My 15 year mortgage began in December 2016. I live in Michigan and my lender is PNC Bank, if it's relevant.
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Jul 18, 2020 22:35
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Vinny the Shark posted:So I'm ridiculously far ahead on my loan and if all goes well and according to plan I'll have my mortgage fully paid off by early 2022. What are the general laws regarding prepayment penalties? Maybe I missed it because there's a lot of paperwork, but I looked over all my loan documents and I was unable to find anything about it. I checked the coupon booklet they gave me for mail payments (which went completely unused) my monthly statements and everything else I could think of and found nothing about it. A google search revealed that in general, prepayment penalties only apply if the loan is paid off within 3 to 5 years, which is highly unlikely to happen. I'm calling my bank on Monday to make sure, but I should be fine if I pay off my loan early since I couldn't find any provisions stating otherwise? My 15 year mortgage began in December 2016. I live in Michigan and my lender is PNC Bank, if it's relevant. Your closing disclosures have a checkbox. That is the sole source of truth. Have you been paying "extra payments" or "extra principle" - the distinction is key. If your bills say your due date is like years in the future you need to call them and fix this problem ASAP.
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Jul 18, 2020 22:41
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Prepayment penalties used to be fairly common on mortgages, but these days the're extremely rare. As H110Hawk says, what matters is what's in your loan documentation. You can also just call the lender to verify, but like 99% chance you don't have one.
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Jul 18, 2020 22:45
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I haven't been making extra payments. I've been adding additional money towards the principal with each monthly payment. I think I should be fine.
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Jul 18, 2020 22:53
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Vinny the Shark posted:I haven't been making extra payments. I've been adding additional money towards the principal with each monthly payment. I think I should be fine. You fill out the field that says "extra principle" or "principle curtailment" or you write them larger checks blindly? It's dumb but matters.
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Jul 18, 2020 23:27
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So there’s a house I like that was listed on the market pre-covid very briefly. was de-listed for 3 months, and its back but 25k cheaper. I was interested at the original price even assuming I’d have to pay up for some improvements, and had assumed it sold, so I’m real intersected now. BUT in the disclosures it mentions knob & tube. The house is 125 years old so that was not surprising. I know that’s bad, but like... how bad can it be? What I mean is, I figure the 25k difference would more than cover a full replacement of the electrical (1550sft , 3 floors). so if the original price was reasonable, then taking out a home improvement loan on top of the mortgage to cover the cost of the rewiring seems like an acceptable option - still probably comes in under the original list price (which was within budget, though toward the top end). Tell me why I’m wrong. Tell me why this is a bad idea. My default position is that buying a house is just a terrible idea in general. yet I keep saving up to buy one, and this is the most serious it’s gotten.
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Jul 19, 2020 07:03
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Get an inspection, bring an electrician. If you do a whole home rewire then knob and tube isn't worrysome. If there is another reason it's -25k then you can hopefully find out.
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Jul 19, 2020 07:06
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If the house is otherwise sound and is a good fit for you and your situation and you get that lowered price, seems worthwhile to pursue. It would definitely be worth having an electrician come in and inspect in detail and quote for rewiring. If the knob and tube is modified/spliced/degraded/has fuse box/etc, plan to rewire ASAP, but if it’s in good, unadulterated condition and there are other newer circuits available and a modern breaker box (the case with our house), then there is less to worry about for the time being. Knob and tube is generally fine until it gets tampered with and overloaded and deteriorated - the problem is that it’s extremely easy to tamper with and overload, and given that it’s always old, there’s a high chance of deterioration and generations of previous owners having hosed with it. Our rewiring quote was 17k for a 3k square foot three story house four of you count the basement). We are holding off until we get around to renovating so we don’t end up having to rewire a bunch of the same poo poo twice as we redo stuff like the kitchen and figure out what we want to do in the basement.
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Jul 19, 2020 07:35
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H110Hawk posted:You fill out the field that says "extra principle" or "principle curtailment" or you write them larger checks blindly? It's dumb but matters. Every month I transfer funds from one of my accounts to my mortgage. The "Monthly Payment Due" option is selected by default. Underneath that there's a box that says "Additional Principal" that I enter the extra amount into. So both the monthly payment and the extra are applied every month. And no, the payment due dates aren't dated years into the future- my next payment is due Aug 1 2020.
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Jul 19, 2020 11:33
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Vinny the Shark posted:Every month I transfer funds from one of my accounts to my mortgage. The "Monthly Payment Due" option is selected by default. Underneath that there's a box that says "Additional Principal" that I enter the extra amount into. So both the monthly payment and the extra are applied every month. And no, the payment due dates aren't dated years into the future- my next payment is due Aug 1 2020.  I've seen enough horror stories on reddit about this to verify. Banks are shady as hell and would happily screw you over on that.
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Jul 19, 2020 16:41
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