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IOwnCalculus posted:That's the escrow account for your mortgage - pays things like property taxes, homeowner's insurance, etc. The mortgages I've had with PMI also treat it as an every-month transaction into and out of escrow.
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Jul 12, 2021 23:50
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IOwnCalculus posted:That's the escrow account for your mortgage - pays things like property taxes, homeowner's insurance, etc. The mortgages I've had with PMI also treat it as an every-month transaction into and out of escrow. This makes the most sense, as our taxes and PMI are folded into the monthly payment. Dik Hz posted:Yup, all this. The Loan Estimate should spell out all the specifics if you kept a copy of it. I'm a paper hoarder (downsizing finally got me to shred my tax returns from the 90s and 00s), so I am certain I have this. I'll take a look. Thanks all!
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Jul 13, 2021 00:06
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Today, the person who was deeply stupid: Me, for selling a house. Also, who was deeply stupid: Whoever went to see the house, and tore the pull-chain out of my whole house fan. Then apparently left it run with the windows closed and the A/C on for I don't know how many hours until another realtor called my realtor and said "Hey I went to look at the house today and it looks like the whole house fan is on and there's a chain on the counter, I think it goes to it." I'm hours away, so I sent my dad over and, yep, somebody broke the gently caress out of it. He had to shut the breaker off to turn the fan off. My wife is angry enough that she said "I'm probably never going to say this again, but go on SomethingAwful and ask them who the gently caress is paying to fix that and how we start that process!" so . . . . I beseech thee, humble Goons . . . what recompense (if any?) is there if someone manages to break an appliance during a showing?  I'm guessing if it's under a given dollar value the answer is "go gently caress yourself" and it'd have to be expensive in order to be covered under Homeowner's Insurance, but . . . I don't know, so here I am! Edit: Looks like it was running for about 5 hours like that, give or take. 
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Jul 13, 2021 01:04
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Maggie Fletcher posted:This makes the most sense, as our taxes and PMI are folded into the monthly payment. Yup. My deeply stupid answer is "this is just a different escrow than the one you were thinking of." You can get rid of that maybe now, maybe need to wait to some future date. I've considered getting rid of mine just because the loan servicers are so deeply stupid that I'm more capable of paying my taxes and insurance than they are (they always wait until the last minute or more, you can't ever get a straight answer on the first call or email, etc).
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Jul 13, 2021 01:05
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You probably funded your escrow account during closing for several months property tax, and insurance. Check your closing docs
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Jul 13, 2021 01:37
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Zarin posted:Today, the person who was deeply stupid: Me, for selling a house.
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Jul 13, 2021 01:43
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lampey posted:Your realtor is supposed to check in on the house after a showing if you aren't in the area. You can ask whoever broke it to pay for the repairs, but what does reattaching a broken chain cost? Welp, all my realtor had to say to me was "I'm glad someone called and told me so it wasn't like that for a month. The realtor before her whose client broke it won't admit to it, because if they would they'd have called me and told me immediately." As for how much it costs, it sounds like it broke up inside the fan; there wasn't anything left to pull on to shut it off. If my dad wasn't handy, I assume the fix would involve calling an electrician. Hell, it still might, depending on how replaceable the pullchain switch is on the fan. I really don't know; I haven't ever tried to replace a pullchain on something before. My concern right now is if the whole thing is so comically broken that it'll require splicing a run for a wall-switch in at the junction box the fan is feeding from. THAT will be a royal pain in the rear end (climbing around in the attic, cutting drywall, etc.)
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Jul 13, 2021 01:51
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This is a minor issue and your seller agent sucks.
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Jul 13, 2021 02:23
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Motronic posted:This is a minor issue I figured. But it might be the only time in my life I got the blessing to go post . . . I suspect my dad will be able to fix it, but on the off chance that the problem gets expensive, I wanted to take the opportunity to see what typically would happen in the instance where a viewer hosed something major up. Motronic posted:and your seller agent sucks. Definitely coming around to that same thought. Haven't been real impressed with the guy. I'm pretty sure he listed it too high to start (although I DID get an offer 2 days after list, for over ask, but then it fell through because the buyer found out she can't WFH in my state. I did eventually see an email from the person's boss stating as much "we told her in error that [state] was a valid work from home state", and that was enough to trigger the financing to fall through, so the bank sent THAT letter and I was back on the market). We dropped the price back to where I think it probably should have been to start, and I think one of the buyer realtors has shown it to the same people 2 or 3 times now, so we're expecting an offer maybe as soon as tomorrow. So maybe it's too late to fire the guy. But then I'd have to find another one, ugh. *looks around apartment* Yeah, maybe there is something to this after all . . .
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Jul 13, 2021 02:56
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Question for the thread, how much shopping around different mortgage lenders can we do before we have a purchase agreement on a property? My impression is that all we need while putting in offers is a single pre-approval letter from one lender, and that after an offer of ours is accepted is when we can shop around and get loan estimates from various lenders. Our real estate agent is saying we can shop around and get loan estimates before we have a purchase agreement, and that ideally we’d have settled on a lender beforehand so it doesn’t change after the purchase agreement. This seems out of order from the various “steps to buy a house” linked in the OP, so I wanted to check.
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Jul 13, 2021 02:58
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Zarin posted:but then it fell through because the buyer found out she can't WFH in my state. I did eventually see an email from the person's boss stating as much "we told her in error that [state] was a valid work from home state", and that was enough to trigger the financing to fall through, so the bank sent THAT letter and I was back on the market). This is not the slightest bit of a valid reason in the standard contract in my state. I don't know what your states standard contracts looks like, but you need a real estate attorney and a different sellers agent.
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Jul 13, 2021 03:08
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Zarin posted:I figured. But it might be the only time in my life I got the blessing to go post . . . I suspect my dad will be able to fix it, but on the off chance that the problem gets expensive, I wanted to take the opportunity to see what typically would happen in the instance where a viewer hosed something major up. How much are you paying this guy in %? I'm turning into a Redfin shill but I have not been sold on the value of an agent on the buy or sell side, and especially on the sell side since Redfin has 1.5% selling fee. 1% if you buy with a Redfin agent within 1 year after sale.
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Jul 13, 2021 03:14
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cxp posted:Question for the thread, how much shopping around different mortgage lenders can we do before we have a purchase agreement on a property? My impression is that all we need while putting in offers is a single pre-approval letter from one lender, and that after an offer of ours is accepted is when we can shop around and get loan estimates from various lenders. Some people (dumb agents) give you a bit of side eye if you change lenders. It is 100% in your right to do it so just do it. You can shop around a bit before if you want as well.
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Jul 13, 2021 04:02
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Motronic posted:This is not the slightest bit of a valid reason in the standard contract in my state. I don't know what your states standard contracts looks like, but you need a real estate attorney and a different sellers agent. Sounds like they had a financing contingency. No more job=no more loan
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Jul 13, 2021 05:10
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So still no earnest money at the end of the day. Apparently, the buyers were told to submit a cashiers check or wire transfer and instead uploaded a personal check into the title company’s app or whatever. So the title company and the buyer hosed up, I told my agent we expect to be compensated for this gently caress up by someone since we’re a day past the due date now.
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Jul 13, 2021 05:35
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therobit posted:Sounds like they had a financing contingency. No more job=no more loan Not necessarily. I mean, probably, but it's not a foregone conclusion. All that said, I maintain that this is like the previous case ITT where some other goon got screwed by that: make them jump through the hoops. You can't just start firing off purchase offers in other states for unconfirmed jobs and then just go "lol my job fell through my b." You're entering a serious purchase contract for a high dollar transaction. Tanking that just because you couldn't be bothered to do your due diligence regarding your employment situation is a dick move and you're screwing sellers over.
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Jul 13, 2021 12:14
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I’m in the same boat at the moment; I was previously told I was allowed to be remote; we have an office in the city I’m moving to, and now my company reporting chain is waffling on it after I took them up on the offer.
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Jul 13, 2021 13:45
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therobit posted:Sounds like they had a financing contingency. No more job=no more loan She would still have a job, she just has to show up for work. This has nothing to do with buying the house, so she can still get a loan. It's a bullshit reason that, even if it's not her fault, requires her to pay the penalty she agreed to for breaking the contract. This isn't hard.
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Jul 13, 2021 14:22
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Motronic posted:She would still have a job, she just has to show up for work. This has nothing to do with buying the house, so she can still get a loan. The impression I got is that the office she's (now) required to be present in is not within commuting distance of the house she agreed to purchase, and can not accommodate her working remotely from that state, despite having approved it previously. If the distance is great enough that she'd have to change employment in order to live in the house, that's 100% a financing killer. Now, if the house is in Cincinnati and the house is across the river in Covington, I agree it's probably a too-convenient excuse.
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Jul 13, 2021 15:03
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DaveSauce posted:All that said, I maintain that this is like the previous case ITT where some other goon got screwed by that: make them jump through the hoops. You can't just start firing off purchase offers in other states for unconfirmed jobs and then just go "lol my job fell through my b." I think the difference is that in that case, the change may or may not have been enough to tank financing and trigger any contingencies, but there was no confirmation from the bank - the question was whether he should insist on that confirmation given his moving timeline. With Zarin's previous offer, sounds like the bank confirmed in writing that financing was off. In my neighborhood, probably sufficient for the buyer to get their money back. Speaking of why we don't waive important contingencies, Motronic posted:You will pay for this, dearly.  Good info, thanks, and a solid contender for thread title. We ended up walking away from that one in time to cancel the appraisal and cut our losses. Shortly after, we found a new place that's 50k more expensive but seems 50k nicer, and managed to get our offer accepted, so hopefully we'll be happier for it.
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Jul 13, 2021 15:25
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DaveSauce posted:Not necessarily. I mean, probably, but it's not a foregone conclusion. I may be that other Goon, actually; this happened about 3 weeks ago and I was going to report back on it, but work has been, uh, wild. But yeah, that is basically how it was explained to me: "If I purchase this house and move into it, I will lose my job and then I can't pay the loan." "lol okay we're not financing you for this house then lmao" I was told that the bank cut a denial of financing letter which met the contractual obligations of the financing contingency, although I can't recall now if I saw the actual letter with my own eyes or not. I know that I did see the purported email from the employee's supervisor stating that situation was real. Earnest Money was $1500, and I figure that if I tried to chase it, attorney fees would eat at least $500. As nice as $1000 would be, I didn't want to drag the process out any longer - I figured my best bet was to just get the house back on the market as quickly as possible so I can get rid of it. Then it sat on the market for two weeks, getting about a showing a day, but no offers. So we dropped the price this past Thursday, and it sounds like there might be someone interested enough to throw in an offer. As for the fan issue, my dad was able to source a 3-speed switch and the whole-house fan is once again functional. Hopefully a 3-speed switch going into a spot where a 2-speed switch used to be will hurt the motor or anything 
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Jul 13, 2021 15:26
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Tricky Ed posted:The impression I got is that the office she's (now) required to be present in is not within commuting distance of the house she agreed to purchase, and can not accommodate her working remotely from that state, despite having approved it previously. If the distance is great enough that she'd have to change employment in order to live in the house, that's 100% a financing killer. Yeah, no, haha. The buyer was in Nevada and the house is in Illinois. I know my buddy who worked for a large insurance company was told "We have locations in these 5 states, so you can work from anywhere in those states. All other states are off limits." I'm not certain if it's because the company didn't want to gently caress with extra tax work for different states or what.
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Jul 13, 2021 15:28
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We're trying to buy a house and I want to die. We're in the northern Virginia/metro DC area, where $650,000 gets us an outdated 50 year old split-level single family home with issues. We recently found a property that suits our family of five and we're trying to work out a deal. Amazingly we are not competing with 10 other people and so far we are the only people to be pursuing it seriously as far as I know. This house is being sold by our realtor who is our buyer agent, so it's a strange path to navigate. It has the right amount of bedrooms, plus space for an office in the lower level, which is a new critical requirement. It didn't take long once in the hunt to realize we wouldn't get our dream home for a meager $650k so I am using the 80/20 rule of acceptability, where things are weighed heavily toward location and space. This house checks both those boxes. The space is adequate, and the neighborhood is nice and connected to a great school pyramid. There are some things I don't like: the master bathroom is tiny and ugly. I'll lose the gas stove in our current rental house, which I have come to love. There's a monstrosity of a McMansion around the corner, which thankfully isn't in my direct line of sight from the house but can be seen once I leave my yard. There's a huge weirdly shaped deck in the back painted yellow which is now peeling so we'll need to scrape that paint off and stain the deck. The fireplace is being sold as-is and the (deceased) owner's children don't know if it functions. It has gas logs anyway, which I would get rid of but it means we need to invest roughly $3k for a gas insert at some point. My wife doesn't like the kitchen but I do the cooking and it's acceptable to me for now (despite the electric stove). Fortunately my best friend is a master carpenter who specializes in super high-end kitchens and cabinets and he said he will hook me up at cost of materials, so we have that going for us. A kitchen renovation will be in the future, along with bathroom renovations. Yesterday we had a pre-offer inspection (technically called a "consultation") and it uncovered some significant things: The crawlspace has some sort of growth on the beams. It's not black mold, but rather some beige substance. So we need to get someone in to determine the type of mold, and do mitigation. I have no idea what this will cost. The water heater apparently broke recently. The pilot light was out yesterday and the inspector could not get it to light. It is about eleven years old, so it is due for replacement. This isn't a concern since the seller will need to replace it before we commit to anything. The fuse box needs attention. The inspector said it is "double tapped" and some of the wires are old cloth style and could use updating. There are a number of minor electrical issues aside from that, including the lack of a plug in the downstairs half-bath which we will need to pay for. The big thing though is the sewer line out of the house. It's cast iron and rusty on the outside. The neighborhood we currently rent in has this same issue with houses, and we have heard (and seen) what it takes to address this issue. It's an inevitable $15,000 repair and we don't want to foot that bill. We are working with our realtor to get someone to scope it to see how it looks inside. The sewer line is what worries me. What typically happens in cases like this? Do we offer less money than the asking price? Do we put it in the contract that somehow we want money back to repair the pipe and update the fuse box? To add to the stress of buying a house, we have 18 days before our current lease runs out so we need to figure out a path forward before that point. me your dad fucked around with this message at 16:07 on Jul 13, 2021 |
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Jul 13, 2021 16:04
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me your dad posted:
Hello fellow DC/NoVa goon. This depends a lot on what area you're moving to and how hot the market is. Maybe things cooled down a bit where you are and you can do things like ask for contingencies or make a below offer bid, but at least when we were buying last August it was already "hah gently caress you, no inspection contingency, as is, make your best and highest offer by noon tomorrow." Again, really dependent on location, though. If you're looking inside the beltway it's going to be a lot tougher than if you're out in Reston or Manassas. I would ask your realtor how competitive the local market is and if you can ask for concessions.
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Jul 13, 2021 16:19
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There's a lot to go over in that post, but I just want to say Yeah this poo poo is super stressful, but do not jump into a bad deal because you're under a time crunch. Even if you have to figure out some sort of living situation for 6 months, don't rush into a bad situation. The house being sold by your realtor, who is also your buyers agent is a huge red flag to me. This person is not looking out for your best interests. The fact it doesn't have a ton of interest in a very hot market is another red flag. I don't know what your financial situation is, but what are you planning to do with the house? Do you have the resources to buy the house, and then cover the expenses, deferred maintenance, and everything else that needs to be addressed in the house?
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Jul 13, 2021 16:22
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Motronic posted:She would still have a job, she just has to show up for work. This has nothing to do with buying the house, so she can still get a loan. Per the original post you were replying to, the bank had sent a denial letter. Lenders don’t lend if you don’t have WFH arrangement and they get wind that the new house is too far from your office to commute.
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Jul 13, 2021 16:24
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me your dad posted:
Would 18 days even be enough time to make an offer, get financing, and close? It sounds like you're going to have to find at least a month's worth of accommodation between now and then anyway, so I wouldn't put yourself under too much time pressure. Given all the other issues, what is it that makes you really want this house? Is this just good enough for you to make an offer, or is it a combination of factors that you really, really need like location/commute and schools etc?
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Jul 13, 2021 16:26
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Rasputin on the Ritz posted:Hello fellow DC/NoVa goon. It's outside the beltway, but not as far west as Manassas. skipdogg posted:There's a lot to go over in that post, but I just want to say We are planning on staying in the house for the foreseeable future. We may sell in 12 or so years once our kids could be out of the house. We believe there haven't been offers on this house because it was originally listed at $650k at the tail-end of the buying frenzy and it was covered in horrid wallpaper and bad carpet. She took it off the market to remove the wallpaper, paint, terrible carpet, and she updated all the outlets. Of course maybe there have been lowball offers that have been rejected; we don't know. $650k is the max of what we are comfortable spending but we can afford it. If the sewer line and electrical box can be addressed, I will be fine with this house. I don't believe we're going to find something that has been completely updated at this price in this market. Nicer looking homes priced at $650k are being escalated by $30k-70k and we don't want to spend that much. We can renew our current lease for six months at a time if needed. Cyrano4747 posted:Would 18 days even be enough time to make an offer, get financing, and close? It sounds like you're going to have to find at least a month's worth of accommodation between now and then anyway, so I wouldn't put yourself under too much time pressure. We have 18 days until the sixty day mark on our rental lease when we need to renew or decline renewal. The location is great and the schools are really good. Those are the big things. We have looked at a lot of houses and we are not finding gems at $650k. The majority have been very undesirable and in shoddy shape. We are not opposed to waiting another six months or a year if needed. I am worried with property values continuing to increase that we will be priced out of the homes we are currently looking at. me your dad fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Jul 13, 2021 |
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Jul 13, 2021 16:32
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therobit posted:Per the original post you were replying to, the bank had sent a denial letter. Lenders don’t lend if you don’t have WFH arrangement and they get wind that the new house is too far from your office to commute. We're WFH and our lender required a lot of explicit documentation that WFH was authorized during underwriting. A copy of company policy wasn't enough, they wanted something on letterhead from our direct supervisors stating that it was authorized and what, if any, pay adjustments were being made. They told us that our mortgage was dependent on it.
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Jul 13, 2021 17:29
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Loan all approved so nothing to do now but read all the documents and then sign everything next Tuesday. (then change a f-ton of addresses...weeeeeee)
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Jul 13, 2021 17:29
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spwrozek posted:Loan all approved so nothing to do now but read all the documents and then sign everything next Tuesday. (then change a f-ton of addresses...weeeeeee) Yeah, trying to remember all the various random places I need to change my address at is going to be fun. Obvious things like banks/credit cards/at the post office are one thing, but random subscriptions that renew once a year/etc. (that may not necessarily send physical products to my address) are going to be another thing entirely.
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Jul 13, 2021 17:35
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Yeah, trying to remember all the various random places I need to change my address at is going to be fun. While we closed back in March, we're not moving until next month because of reasons (construction, updates, etc.) so I haven't had to deal with this but it's going to be even more difficult because the new place is in the same zip code as the townhome we're leasing so credit card charges will still mostly go through even though the street address is incorrect. I've already had food delivered to the house instead of the townhome by accident once.
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Jul 13, 2021 17:39
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amethystbliss posted:We're WFH and our lender required a lot of explicit documentation that WFH was authorized during underwriting. A copy of company policy wasn't enough, they wanted something on letterhead from our direct supervisors stating that it was authorized and what, if any, pay adjustments were being made. They told us that our mortgage was dependent on it. Wow, I have never heard of anything like that. Does that mean like, you weren't able to give a company address when asked where your employer was located? My lender is fairly mainstream and they did not ask once where I regularly worked, if I WFH at all, or anything related. They did ask for an employer address though, I guess.
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Jul 13, 2021 17:40
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Inner Light posted:Wow, I have never heard of anything like that. Does that mean like, you weren't able to give a company address when asked where your employer was located? We moved across the country, so that may have something to do with it. They wanted to confirm we had employment in the new location and when we said we were WFH with the same jobs, they said they'd need the documentation from our supervisors that this was authorized. The house is in both of our names, but we ended up just going with my husband's income for mortgage verification since that made the process more streamlined, but it was a big headache for him since HR weren't used to such a request. I think they were hesitant to put the location payscale in writing but ended up providing it. We used the same address as the company's San Francisco headquarters which is where he worked in person before the pandemic. This was with Better Mortgage.
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Jul 13, 2021 18:03
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Closed about a week ago; still running into deeply stupid per the thread title. Condo complex has a move-in/move-out fee. Whatever; paid that at closing. Need to schedule move-in date because of condo moving policies, so I e-mailed the building manager. Got a response back that said basically "we need to meet so you can sign some papers. here's my number". Except that wasn't their number. Lease on my current place has two more months on it, so no rush on moving, but that's a hurdle I wasn't really expecting to have to jump over.
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Jul 13, 2021 18:17
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Glumwheels posted:So still no earnest money at the end of the day. Apparently, the buyers were told to submit a cashiers check or wire transfer and instead uploaded a personal check into the title company’s app or whatever. So the title company and the buyer hosed up, I told my agent we expect to be compensated for this gently caress up by someone since we’re a day past the due date now. I don't think you addressed this when it came up the first time - are those funds supposed to be released directly to you, or held in escrow until closing? You did say Glumwheels posted:In WA because the market is ridiculous, buyers typically provide 5-6% in earnest money immediately once under contract. Within 2 days after the contract is signed. but that's very different from you getting to pocket it in that timeframe. What happens if you spend it and the deal falls through? If it's going to be held in escrow until closing... it really doesn't change anything, does it? It'll clear by then.
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Jul 13, 2021 18:30
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I don't think you get the whole "seattle area market" thing. The earnest money still goes through the title company or whatever, but the contract is written such that the funds are released to the seller 1-2 days after it's received.Yond Cassius posted:What happens if you spend it and the deal falls through? Sucks to be the buyer.
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Jul 13, 2021 19:13
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gwrtheyrn posted:I don't think you get the whole "seattle area market" thing. The earnest money still goes through the title company or whatever, but the contract is written such that the funds are released to the seller 1-2 days after it's received. I guess I would never buy a house there because there is no way I would give you 5% ($50K on a $1M home) that wouldn't have appraisal, inspection, and financial back outs. Seattle sounds terrible. E: isn't 5% EM ridiculously high as well? I have always seen 1-1.5% spwrozek fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Jul 13, 2021 |
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Jul 13, 2021 19:52
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therobit posted:Per the original post you were replying to, the bank had sent a denial letter. Lenders don’t lend if you don’t have WFH arrangement and they get wind that the new house is too far from your office to commute. If the bank sent a denial letter, fine. But people buy homes they don't intend to move into all the time, so it's a bullshit way of abusing a finance contingency. It's not the seller's fault, and they have real damages from something like this. Doesn't sound like it was necessarily the buyer's fault either, but that's neither here nor there because they're the ones who started the chain of events leading to them being under contract. FYI, thread, this is why you can't compete with cash offers, even ones that are for less than you are offering.
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Jul 13, 2021 19:56
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Yond Cassius posted:I don't think you addressed this when it came up the first time - are those funds supposed to be released directly to you, or held in escrow until closing? You did say The money is released to me, in my bank account, immediately. They’ve waved all contingencies so if the deal falls through it’s mine regardless. They can try to negotiate for it back but I don’t have to give them a dime. It’s not going into escrow until closing and I’m going to use it to pay off the balance for the earnest money I put down on our new house to avoid interest fees. Every market is different, this is not a normal process by any means but is how the Seattle market works for sellers. We went through the same process three weeks ago when we went under contract on our new place only I had the earnest money wired like I was supposed to do.
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Jul 13, 2021 20:02
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