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We just looked at a short sale, loved at and want to make an offer. We've been working with an agent but didn't bother telling her we were going to this open house. It also turns out the agent selling this house went to school with my MIL and he gave us the VIP treatment while we were there. Do we make our offer directly to the agent selling the house and bypass our agent or do we keep her involved to act as an advocate? We signed nothing with anybody so far.
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Feb 27, 2022 20:44
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Get a real estate attorney and have them submit an offer on your behalf.
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Feb 27, 2022 21:26
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Renegret posted:We just looked at a short sale, loved at and want to make an offer. Just to double check you haven’t signed a representation agreement, right?
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Feb 27, 2022 21:51
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Upgrade posted:Just to double check you haven’t signed a representation agreement, right? No. We've signed nothing.
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Feb 27, 2022 22:16
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The seller just sent us an exclusivity contact to work with us as a dual agent so yeah Yeah I'm not super happy about signing that. I think the question has been answered for me. We're not super happy with our current agent but I also don't want to sign my freedom away. Renegret fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Feb 27, 2022 |
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Feb 27, 2022 22:22
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Are they intending to reduce their fee or are they just going to take both the seller and buyer agent fees? If it's the 2nd one I can't think of any reason why you wouldn'tMotronic posted:Get a real estate attorney and have them submit an offer on your behalf. Even if they did offer to reduce their rate the only way that helps you is if the sellers agree to drop their price as well so you see some of that value.
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Feb 28, 2022 01:12
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Real estate agents often have conflicts of interest with their clients (client wants best price, agent wants to close as fast as possible, sometimes these are in conflict) but dual agent is a super-conflict of interest and in my opinion nobody should ever do it. And yes, typically they get to have both agents' fees, they may reduce overall fee from 6% to 5% but that benefits the seller, who pays the entire commission anyway so there's little benefit to the buyer. For similar reasons, unless there's some kind of cost savings available to you, there's no point in cutting out your own agent. You don't pay your agent, the seller does. Who is going to negotiate this discount? An attorney, maybe, but negotiation of sale price may not be a thing your attorney wants to do... I think that's normally a thing your agent does. So... in conclusion, if you're willing to risk the inherent conflict of interest in the seller's agent also representing you, you should absolutely demand a discount or cash on the sale price of the home to compensate for you firing your agent, but that discount should be on the offer you already made and had accepted... did you already settle on a price? no? Then how do you know you're getting a discount at all...? ...and the last part is, this is a loving short sale. The bank has to approve or deny the sale price, all of the money is going to the bank, because the bank is (theoretically) accepting less than the outstanding loan. This will take a long time regardless, often multiple months, for approval. So I'm not sure a discount is even possible. Maybe the seller's agent takes the customary fee, plus the buyer's agent's fee, and then kicks some of that back to you in cash? Is that a possibility? I don't know? Last big red flag: how is someone underwater on a home in America in 2022? What did they do?
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Mar 1, 2022 03:43
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Leperflesh posted:Last big red flag: how is someone underwater on a home in America in 2022? What did they do? I was talking to my next door neighbor last week and we got on the topic of home prices, etc, then he casually mentioned that he's been living off his home's appreciation with HELOCs. He's owned his home 40 years and his monthly payment is higher than mine (owned for 6). That's how. Or they just stopped making payments for whatever reason. Didn't the foreclosure moratorium end last year?
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Mar 1, 2022 04:09
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Magicaljesus posted:I was talking to my next door neighbor last week and we got on the topic of home prices, etc, then he casually mentioned that he's been living off his home's appreciation with HELOCs. He's owned his home 40 years and his monthly payment is higher than mine (owned for 6). That's how. Or they just stopped making payments for whatever reason. Didn't the foreclosure moratorium end last year? Right. I think that's a big red flag. Someone who is living way beyond their means is not likely to keep up on maintenance. And the room for negotiation on price plummets. If you do an inspection and want to cut the price based on serious defects, can they (their bank) actually drop the price? Also, you can't get a HELOC for more than your remaining equity on the house (or even one that takes your equity to 0). If you're keeping up on payments, and max out your HELOC options, you should still in theory have some equity, however little, and therefore be able to make a conventional sale. So the house price must have also fallen, or perhaps someone (a jilted contractor?) has slapped the house with a hefty lien, or...? Short sales are fraught. There is a special certification available to NAR members, a "Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource" certificate, and buyers may want to specifically seek out a buyer's agent with this cert to help get them through the process.
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Mar 1, 2022 04:16
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Hey thread, here's a quick tip I'm not going to elaborate on: before you buy a house, taste the water.
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Mar 1, 2022 18:54
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GunnerJ posted:Hey thread, here's a quick tip I'm not going to elaborate on: before you buy a house, taste the water. Water test should be a standard inspection item for any home.
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Mar 1, 2022 19:01
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Motronic posted:Water test should be a standard inspection item for any home. Would you be surprised to learn that these tests will not tell you if the water in your home is half as salty as the ocean? I sure was!
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Mar 1, 2022 19:18
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GunnerJ posted:Would you be surprised to learn that these tests will not tell you if the water in your home is half as salty as the ocean? I sure was! I would be surprised to find out that an inspector would use a test that doesn't contain that kind of information. I would not be surprised to find out the inspector or prospective homeowner didn't know how to interpret such a test and didn't pony up for a lab that would give a proper explanation and opinion on the results.
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Mar 1, 2022 19:22
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Motronic posted:I would be surprised to find out that an inspector would use a test that doesn't contain that kind of information. I would not be surprised to find out the inspector or prospective homeowner didn't know how to interpret such a test and didn't pony up for a lab that would give a proper explanation and opinion on the results. We sent our water to a lab. The lab told us nothing about salt. I guess you could say that it wouldn't surprise you to learn I was too cheap or lazy to find the "right" lab or something else, but like, whatever. Interacting with you now is reminding me of the issue that I was catching poo poo for a year ago in the other thread, and it seems so quaint in hindsight. That was literally nothing, didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. The only thing that would have saved me from the nightmare I am living now is if I had tasted a bit of the water on the first tour, discovered how salty the water was, and crossed the house off our list. Now I'm just trying to help others who are looking to buy with what I have learned, friend, so no need for an attitude.
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Mar 1, 2022 19:29
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GunnerJ posted:Now I'm just trying to help others who are looking to buy with what I have learned, friend, so no need for an attitude. It's a correction, not an attitude. You start right out of the gate with completely incorrect information: that a water test won't tell you this. And because this thread is for trying to help people I'm correcting that misinformation and saying that one should be using a proper lab with a proper report that one can read and understand, or pay someone to write that opinion for you when using it as part of a decision making process on what is probably the most expensive thing you've ever bought. If what you are recalling is some other interaction you had with me where you felt I had an attitude you might want to look at your own posting and what kind of things you are putting where. Because if it was similar to this I'm 100% positive I reacted the same way.
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Mar 1, 2022 19:44
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We locked in at 3.75% last week and today our lender gave us the notification that we could float down to 3.625% (meaning that we could have locked in at 3.5 today, I think? Our float down contract says current rate plus 0.125%). But we only get one shot at a float down which requires me to predict if rates are going to continue to drop! This is stressful.
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Mar 1, 2022 19:53
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Rates are unlikely to drop. Take the lower rate and be happy. Core inflation is at like 7% or something silly.
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Mar 1, 2022 20:57
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DNK posted:Rates are unlikely to drop. Take the lower rate and be happy. Core inflation is at like 7% or something silly. 7.5% Next month might drop down slightly, but if this Ukraine business goes on for more than 60-90 days it's going to (and this is wild speculation on my part) drag inflation back up above 7% and keep it there through the fall
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Mar 1, 2022 22:27
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30-year mortgage rates are tied to 30-year mortgage backed security bond prices which are closely correlated to 30-year treasury yields unfortunately that's not always directly correlated to inflation, because if, say, the Fed hikes its short-term funds rates and slows economic activity or there's a war-induced global recession, the 30-year treasury yield may drop in a flight to safety. right now bond market volatility is the highest it's been in the past decade other than the 2020 covid crash (see: https://www.investing.com/indices/ice-bofaml-move ), so it's very risky to predict any particular move in mortgage rates. pmchem fucked around with this message at 23:37 on Mar 1, 2022 |
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Mar 1, 2022 23:35
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Motronic posted:It's a correction, not an attitude. You start right out of the gate with completely incorrect information: that a water test won't tell you this. OP is just suggesting to turn on a tap and taste the water, maybe there's a better hill to die on than this one
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Mar 2, 2022 09:50
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QuarkJets posted:OP is just suggesting to turn on a tap and taste the water, maybe there's a better hill to die on than this one Did you really miss the important bit: That's not a sufficient water test for a purchasing decision. If the water test you got didn't tell you this already you didn't sufficiently evaluate the home you are trying to buy. There are a lot worse things that can be wrong with the water that you absolutely can't taste. It's that simple. A basic item on the "how to buy a home without being taken for a ride" checklist. If you did all of this and then find "hey, my water is salty!" you missed a very important step on that list, and that step isn't "taste the tap water." Motronic fucked around with this message at 14:59 on Mar 2, 2022 |
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Mar 2, 2022 14:56
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Motronic posted:Did you really miss the important bit: That's not a sufficient water test for a purchasing decision. If the water test you got didn't tell you this already you didn't sufficiently evaluate the home you are trying to buy. There are a lot worse things that can be wrong with the water that you absolutely can't taste. What parts of a water test will indicate the taste of water being salty/chlorinated/etc? I remember renting a house in Wilmington NC where the water tasted fine, but any restaurant you went to in wrightville beach (across a small bay about 2 miles from my house) had water that tasted like chlorine. I rented so I obviously didn’t get a test there and wasn’t looking into the restaurants water source.
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Mar 2, 2022 16:12
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nwin posted:What parts of a water test will indicate the taste of water being salty/chlorinated/etc? A water test that comes back with high TDS (total dissolved solids) indicates the need for further testing (i.e.: now tell me what solids are in there). Some labs/test request will automatically trigger this continued testing, some will test for these things based on the area the sample came from (i.e, areas that have known issues). https://extension.psu.edu/how-to-interpret-a-water-analysis-report One of those solids could obviously be sodium chloride. It could be from the water source, or it could be from the tap. If it's just from the tap that most likely indicates a broken water softener. That's why proper tests are more than a single sample and from multiple locations and at multiple times (i.e., a "first draw" test from an inside faucet which is a sample taken in the morning when no water has been run for many hours to see if there is anything nasty leaching out of the pipes). Motronic fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Mar 2, 2022 |
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Mar 2, 2022 17:44
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nwin posted:What parts of a water test will indicate the taste of water being salty/chlorinated/etc? conductance and chloramines respectively
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Mar 2, 2022 19:11
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my wife and i have been looking for the past 3 months. not a lot of offers made but some, usually 25-40k over asking (which tbh is outside our budget but whatever) and always get outbid. This is in Sacramento CA. literally looking at poorly maintained starter homes in questionable areas that need 20-60k of work and improvements and are asking 375k and selling for 410+. it is absolute insanity and i keep begging my wife to let it be, we have a decent apartment with a low locked rent, but i get her concern that if not now, never. I personally dont believe the market will undergo a necessary strong correction (aka crash), the state government wont allow it. stabilization outside our price range perhaps but nothing to take us to financial security plus a home. its a bummer. we have 2 stable decent jobs, have 80k to put down and are basically entirely priced out. i pray all the bay area remote migrants get mandated to return to the office and have to sell but i dont see it happening. feels bad man.
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Mar 2, 2022 21:00
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Well after 3 months, 25 showings and 8 rejections we finally got accepted on a house. Oddly enough the one we landed on checked most all of our boxes, is in our ideal location and came in only a little bit over our original budget when we first started. They chose us over an all cash, waived inspection offer at a higher price from an LLC so score one for the little guys I guess. A little worried about the appraisal coming in low but we got the price $2.5k over ask so I'm hoping we will be ok there. Also stumbled rear end backwards into 3.75% rate when I thought I'd be stuck well above 4%. House is a bit of a fixer-upper so I'm looking forward to graduating to the home ownership thread and shoveling money into a pit.
Shats Basoon fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Mar 2, 2022 |
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Mar 2, 2022 21:04
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Ammanas posted:my wife and i have been looking for the past 3 months. not a lot of offers made but some, usually 25-40k over asking (which tbh is outside our budget but whatever) and always get outbid. This is in Sacramento CA. literally looking at poorly maintained starter homes in questionable areas that need 20-60k of work and improvements and are asking 375k and selling for 410+. It's much the same story in new york right now. The first house we looked at was this dinky little thing with no dining room and a living room so small you couldn't even use some of the space for a table. They were asking $385 and it ended up selling for $450. Another house we looked at was huge but needed a poo poo ton of work. Asking $425, went for $510. It's bonkers. According to everyone I've spoken to, the supply just isn't there. We're in the same boat, two professionals with pretty good jobs. I have no idea how people less fortunate than us are supposed to do this.
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Mar 2, 2022 23:19
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I was originally looking to get a multifamily so I could have my mom in one unit, myself in another, and a third to rent out. A combination of this market being insane and my due diligence resulting in the discovery of tons of mold in two different places that I won the bid on has persuaded me that I'm not cut out for even small time landlording. I give too much of a poo poo.
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Mar 2, 2022 23:54
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GunnerJ posted:Now I'm just trying to help others who are looking to buy with what I have learned, friend, so no need for an attitude.
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Mar 3, 2022 00:12
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Ammanas posted:its a bummer. we have 2 stable decent jobs, have 80k to put down and are basically entirely priced out. i pray all the bay area remote migrants get mandated to return to the office and have to sell but i dont see it happening. they will commute back (and pay for hotel rooms for overnights) or be standing room only on the Amtrak Cap Corridor train.
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Mar 3, 2022 01:24
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Keyser_Soze posted:they will commute back (and pay for hotel rooms for overnights) or be standing room only on the Amtrak Cap Corridor train. that 3 hour commute is no joke. i gotta think if remote work is removed (doubt it will be) they'll head back.
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Mar 3, 2022 06:23
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Given California's insane property tax laws capping increases at 2%/year + inflation at 7+% (Russia not helping that number over the next six months) + financed at ~2.5-3.25% (basically at or below inflation for the next 1+ years) they would be insane to not rent the homes they own and rent a flat closer to the office. I don't see them selling. At least if you buy in now you're locked in to the market. This is kind of (mostly) how we arrived at the decision to buy in two years ago. As always it depends on your own situation and career trajectory. If you can get any home within 2 hours of the bay area for under $450 you're doing pretty good IMO. California municipalities are always making it extremely difficult to build new housing so maybe reevaluate what your wife is saying. Good luck
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Mar 3, 2022 06:32
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Motronic posted:Did you really miss the important bit: That's not a sufficient water test for a purchasing decision. If the water test you got didn't tell you this already you didn't sufficiently evaluate the home you are trying to buy. There are a lot worse things that can be wrong with the water that you absolutely can't taste. This gets at the heart of most problems in home purchasing, that buyers are almost always amateurs who are relying on trust to some extent to get them through the process, because the alternative is insane. It puts way too much onus on the buyer to understand technical details that many people don't have the education to understand. If someone is buying a house and they get a water report, that poo poo should come back with a huge red flag on the page if the water is salty. If it doesn't communicate that properly, then it shouldn't be an acceptable water report for a home inspection. The burden should not be on the homebuyer to decide which loving line items in a water report they need to scrutinize. That is some elitist bullshit, quite frankly.
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Mar 3, 2022 09:47
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This is one of the biggest purchases of your life, you really didn't conduct a metastudy of 10 different water reports? You didn't even hire an analyst to help interpret the results???
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Mar 3, 2022 10:43
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If you're unable or unwilling to educate yourself then you better pick the right home inspector and ask questions. The right inspector is rarely one recommended by your realtor. Again, this is the "someone to interpret things you don't understand". Or is the suggestion that there's no way to do this right and everyone should just throw their hands up in the air and take what the get?
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Mar 3, 2022 13:30
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Motronic posted:If you're unable or unwilling to educate yourself then you better pick the right home inspector and ask questions. The right inspector is rarely one recommended by your realtor. Dude, does the phrase "don't know what you don't know" mean anything to you? Just because you know every single little thing you're supposed to check before buying a house doesn't mean that this is common knowledge. OP tried to do the right thing by getting a water test done in the first place... that's not something everyone does. How were they supposed to know that they got the wrong water test? Or that maybe they didn't interpret it quite right? And with regards to this particular post, how is someone supposed to know that they got the "wrong inspector?" Sure, don't use the one your realtor recommends, but what then? There's a million out there with 4-5 star google reviews, and I guarantee you at least half of those are undeserved. It's a crapshoot and you know it. Cool that you're trying to help, but you don't need to condescend to everyone when they make mistakes after doing what they thought they were supposed to do.
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Mar 3, 2022 14:05
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Motronic posted:Or is the suggestion that there's no way to do this right and everyone should just throw their hands up in the air and take what the get? You have a lot of knowledge and it's easy for you to (accidentally or otherwise) insult people who don't have that domain knowledge or can't acquire it easily. But I think it's important to acknowledge that for most people it's not a lack of will or effort when things go wrong. It's that this is a convoluted, opaque, deeply stupid process that is hard to get through in a thousand different ways. Not being able to interpret a water lab report is not the same as, say, buying a cat piss house.
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Mar 3, 2022 16:55
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Basically the OP tried to be helpful. "Hey guys, take a swig of that water when you check out a place." Then we went down a completely bullshit tangent about the "right lab and inspector". It is no different than ALLLLLLLLLL the stuff your inspector is going to miss (most inspections are bullshit). This has just been an unhelpful conversation that will shy people away from sharing stuff like this so others can learn. E: In Denver you can look up every house and see if they have a lead pipe connection. You want to guess how many people have any idea about that? Even better how many realtors would even tell their clients? spwrozek fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Mar 3, 2022 |
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Mar 3, 2022 17:21
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Also a good lesson learned to taste the water before buying a house. Costs you nothing and while it isn't a definitive guarantee of anything, it might top you off to a problem. e: what spwrozek said
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Mar 3, 2022 17:22
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I am a water treatment operator and the ol eyeball & sniff test is indeed our first line of defense before more intricate tests become involved.
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Mar 3, 2022 17:31
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