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Pollyanna posted:I viewed a house today that I’m going to try putting an offer in for. 4 days. It's only been 4 DAYS since Pollyanna posted:This is a good post. I think I need to seriously consider these, especially now that I’ve got a better idea of what selection I’ve got in the areas I’m targeting and what’s (currently) doable for me. I’ll admit there was some pressure early on to find a place quickly, but the more I looked, the less certain I became of what I wanted. I got a few things I need to do before getting back on it:
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Jun 4, 2022 22:07
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lol
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Jun 4, 2022 22:55
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Haha trust me I’m not actually going to win the bid. Besides, if it’s a fit then it’s a fit. I reserve the right to jump on something that’s rare and compelling enough to put snap feelers out for, especially because things go fast around here. I still hate that part of the market, though. Which reminds me to ask, the seller is requiring at least 24 hours after the buyer submits an offer for them to accept, and don’t want to have an offer expire before then. Is that a common practice of buyers? Cause it’s basically no different than “offers due Monday, decision on Tuesday” and I don’t see why they’re explicitly calling it out. Pollyanna fucked around with this message at 23:32 on Jun 4, 2022 |
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Jun 4, 2022 23:05
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Pollyanna posted:Haha trust me I’m not actually going to win the bid. Because they don’t want buyers to give them super limited response offers (this expires in 6 hours!) to try to pressure them into accepting early. Didn’t you take a course on this?
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Jun 4, 2022 23:49
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Ah ah ah no, don’t focus on me, focus on what I changed the conversation to 
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Jun 5, 2022 00:00
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Hey bat removal is expensive by the way. Removal, guano cleanup and mitigation is about $1200-1300 *minimum*. And you can't move them (at least in NC) from May-August. Just some general info. Kthx
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Jun 5, 2022 01:18
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Congratulations on your lost bid. It stops being A Thing soon and you can relax and gauge properties more dispassionately then. I remember the first time I found a house I really wanted. It was a short sale, but I put in an offer at list + 10k. The accepted offer was $150k more than that, all cash. Later I found out that not only was it a short sale, it had two foreclosed mortgages, both higher than the offer. The transaction took a while.
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Jun 5, 2022 10:02
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Hey guys. The landlord's raising the rent, significantly, and I'm starting to wonder if this is the time to buy something. I've avoided it before because I didn't really "need" to, I secured the rent at a good price, and traveled for work so it was like whatever. I'm not super serious yet or have to get something RIGHT NOW but it's probably prudent to re-evaluate the financial situation at this point. First of all, is there some sort of rule of thumb when renting or buying is better, purely financially? Like at what relative prices and interests rates. Or do I have to calculate the NPV, compound interest, opportunity costs and all that fun stuff manually? Also I checked the info in the OP but it's from the great recession so lol. The recommendation of financing only 2.5 annual income would let me buy, despite significantly above-average income, absolutely gently caress all. Still, I definitely want to minimize the money I park in housing. Being single is obviously a downside here, but there are some other things available
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Jun 5, 2022 16:28
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Just read at least the last few pages. It's one of the worst possible times to buy a home. Your rent went up because all housing prices have gone up, as well as all expenses associated with owning/maintaining housing. No, the "rules of thumb" on what is going to make your house poor have not changed. House poor is house poor. They re just vague starting points, so your income, savings and realistic price of the homes you're looking at are the bare minimum starting information to get anything useful out of this thread. Motronic fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Jun 5, 2022 |
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Jun 5, 2022 16:38
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Anyone have advice on evaluating water quality in a home you're moving into? There are a lot of test kit options. Any specifics that are the way to go? If you had lead or some other concerning material in the water are most people using filter water for drinking and cooking ie brita filter or refrigerator filter or doing some kind of whole home filtration ordeal? Thanks
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Jun 5, 2022 18:41
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My advice would be to figure out what your monthly housing budget is. What’s the max you want ti spend on either a mortgage or rent? Note that property taxes and insurance need to be factored in but there are ways to ballpark that once you figure out your budget. From there you can work backwards to figure out how big a mortgage you could afford with a given down payment and current rates and that tells you what your basic price point for a house is.
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Jun 5, 2022 18:54
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Motronic posted:Just read at least the last few pages.  That said it seems that all the economic discussion is coming down to "nobody knows what the gently caress is going to happen, don't try to time the market". Which is what I've been going with for my investments anyway.It always seems to be a terrible time to buy a house. Housing has been increasing in price here consistently, and despite raises and promotions it's almost impossible to get ahead. I just somehow managed to negotiate somewhat below-market rent thanks to consistently good behavior and the owner being in another country (russia  ). The original owner died recently and someone else inherited the property so that might be the reason they started raising the price more aggressively.Cyrano4747 posted:My advice would be to figure out what your monthly housing budget is. What’s the max you want ti spend on either a mortgage or rent? Note that property taxes and insurance need to be factored in but there are ways to ballpark that once you figure out your budget. Or do you think this would be going about it the wrong way? _______________________________________________________________ My current rent + utilities (-electricity, internet) roughly: $900 A comparable apartment nearby: $500,000 (numbers are a bit approximated as I converted and rounded them here and there). It bills itself as a "luxury" development but it's literally five minutes walk away from here, nothing remarkable. There's as stinky pond outside. One bedroom, like 70m2 / 750 ft2.  Whatever, let's say a non-"luxury" one would be half of that at $250,000 (kind of doubt though). Plugging it into a calculator with about 10% down, 20 years @4% is $1,300 just mortgage. No utilities, garage, insurance, or tax deductions, etc. So rent $900 vs mortgage $1,500, if utilities are roughly the same. I'd notice the missing six hundred bucks and it'll eat into long-term investments but otherwise not a big deal, I won't starve. The question is really if it's a good idea that makes sense long-term. I think I'll just have to do the math homework and see how it works out...
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Jun 5, 2022 20:16
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If you can really rent where you are for 2/3rds of a comparable mortgage I'd 100% keep renting. That said, I suspect your rent is way below market rate unless it's like a 400sqft studio apartment with a shared bathroom in the hallway. Out of curiosity, what city or general market are you in? All this poo poo is always super market dependent. edit: personally, I would look at what it would cost to rent a different apartment near where you are, not what the current apartment you're renting costs even with the rate hike. It may well be that even after the rate hike you're getting a pretty crazy, below market deal. The risk with an apartment is always that the owner declines to renew your lease and you're stuck looking for a new place at whatever the prevailing market rate is.
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Jun 5, 2022 20:45
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mobby_6kl posted:Hey guys. The landlord's raising the rent, significantly, and I'm starting to wonder if this is the time to buy something. I've avoided it before because I didn't really "need" to, I secured the rent at a good price, and traveled for work so it was like whatever. I'm not super serious yet or have to get something RIGHT NOW but it's probably prudent to re-evaluate the financial situation at this point. You need to create a budget to figure out how much you can afford to spend per month on housing, then that will inform how much housing you can afford to buy. The first part you have to do yourself. The second part is a little easier, there are calculators that will show you the monthly mortgage payment as a function of purchase price, interest rate, and mortgage length, then you can add to that anything that may be missing (insurance, maintenance, taxes etc). You can ask the thread to help with any missing details but since you technically own a house (?) you are probably aware of these additional costs (?) Lenders will want to know about all of your debt. If you take loans against that other house or your other equity, that can be fine, it's just reducing how much you can borrow. Lenders are primarily interested in your ability to meet your obligations to them. You can bring your information to a mortgage broker to get more specific information on how much they'll be willing to lend you, and the terms
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Jun 5, 2022 20:51
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mobby_6kl posted:That said it seems that all the economic discussion is coming down to "nobody knows what the gently caress is going to happen, don't try to time the market". Which is what I've been going with for my investments anyway. This is generally correct, and even more correct now. Imagine all of the things you're talking about being the case about buying a house. Now add on to that the inventory being so low that people are skipping normal, customary and sane things like "inspecting the house" and "being able to get out of the deal if it turns out the house it a piece of poo poo that needs $300k worth of work" as well as creating bidding wars so almost nothing is going at or below list price in a lot of markets. Plus the bulk of the inventory available is either an instant bidding war that ends before you've even been able to tour the place (most of the people bidding's haven't either - that's how insane it is - buying houses sight unseen) and/or it's a D grade property being unloaded now because this is the time to sell pieces of poo poo. Doctor Party posted:Anyone have advice on evaluating water quality in a home you're moving into? There are a lot of test kit options. Any specifics that are the way to go? Find your local county ag extension for a list of certified laboratories and what types of testing should be done for residential water based on the common problems and hazards in your particular area.
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Jun 5, 2022 20:54
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Doctor Party posted:Anyone have advice on evaluating water quality in a home you're moving into? There are a lot of test kit options. Any specifics that are the way to go? We just asked our realtor if she knew a place for water testing, and then she went ahead and did it for us. I looked up the lab she took the water sample to, and they seemed reputable.
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Jun 5, 2022 21:44
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Cyrano4747 posted:If you can really rent where you are for 2/3rds of a comparable mortgage I'd 100% keep renting. This is in Prague. It's getting pretty bad  while in some villages you can still find affordable housing, well, you're in some village with gently caress all to do. While $250k isn't much for the US, here that's more than 10 average gross incomes. Other than Bulgaria it's the poorest country in the left half of the chart so also the remaining disposable income isn't that much. Motronic posted:This is generally correct, and even more correct now. QuarkJets posted:You need to create a budget to figure out how much you can afford to spend per month on housing, then that will inform how much housing you can afford to buy. The first part you have to do yourself. The second part is a little easier, there are calculators that will show you the monthly mortgage payment as a function of purchase price, interest rate, and mortgage length, then you can add to that anything that may be missing (insurance, maintenance, taxes etc). You can ask the thread to help with any missing details but since you technically own a house (?) you are probably aware of these additional costs (?) Yep I "technically" own a house, in that the paperwork is under my name. But my parents bought, live in it, and maintain it. From what I've seen, property taxes are negligible and maintenance has been minimal so far, just painted the facade recently, chimney inspections, and whatever maintaining a lawn costs. Most of this wouldn't apply in an apartment or get rolled into the "utilities". I'm not opposed to a house but it'd be even more  in the city.No other debt other than whatever's making me money on the credit card. I drive a 20 year old miata. There are no loans against that other house, what I wanted to see if I can use that house to improve the terms on a new mortgage for this hypothetical house. I could just stop by the bank and ask them though Doctor Party posted:Anyone have advice on evaluating water quality in a home you're moving into? There are a lot of test kit options. Any specifics that are the way to go?
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Jun 5, 2022 21:56
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You're buying in The Czech Republic, and that was incredibly essential information that basically invalidates everything people previously said to you in the thread, lol. The details of lending, the laws around mortgages and foreclosures, your national and local economy, taxation, vacancy laws, costs of maintenance and repair and renovation, all of these things will be different than in the US and they all feed back into what you're trying to ask. None of us Americans can give you anything more than vague advice about not spending too much of your income on a house, without risking steering you the wrong way, because any detail in the above nonexhaustive list of factors we don't know about could be critical.
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Jun 5, 2022 23:18
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Leperflesh posted:You're buying in The Czech Republic, and that was incredibly essential information that basically invalidates everything people previously said to you in the thread, lol. Sorry, I said in the first post it wasn't in the US  I realize of course the laws and market conditions are different (though not that different it seems), which is why I approached it more generally in terms of what to consider when renting vs buying and so on. Even that might be too much, yeah. Unfortunately I don't have anyone locally who isn't all BUY BUY BUY (which is how we got here)
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Jun 5, 2022 23:34
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nobody can give you any advice because none of us know anything about the market conditions in your country real estate is lent general, it’s specific - at least country specific (really state and even city)
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Jun 6, 2022 00:34
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Yeah, you're not going to get CZR-relevant advice on housing out of this thread. Like 90% of us aren't even on the right continent, let alone in your country. Sorry, dude. 
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Jun 6, 2022 02:30
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I ended up not putting in an offer. As much as I like the house, it’s still not exactly what I was hoping to live in for multiple years. That’d be acceptable if the market was more reasonable or if I had extenuating circumstances to buy (family/need for space, closer to work, etc.), and if things were different I’d be far more incensed to put my name in. But as much as I see myself living in a SFH for the rest of my adulthood, I just can’t justify it right now - I’m a single person with one cat. There’s no reason a condo or even renting a nicer apartment won’t accomplish the same thing, and with less hassle. I also think I rushed into this decision based on wanting to get into the market sooner than later, and from egging on from parents to use up their down payment offering. Leperflesh and Motronic are still right, there’s a lot of questions that still need to be answered and I’m still showing signs of doubt and hesitation. Plus I’m pushing forward without really being certain about it, and that’s a red flag. The market is whatever, there’s never a good time to buy and you’ll get hosed no matter what. But that presupposes you MUST buy, because of kids or dogs or family moving in or something. That’s not the case with me. I don’t have to buy, or at least I don’t have to buy more than I truly need. I want to buy when/if it’s truly necessary, and for very good reasons other than “I probably should I guess”. I do want to buy, I want to have a nice little house I can settle in long term and turn into something I truly love and enjoy, but now is just not the right time for it. I just need to actually stick to that instead of constant tilt second-guessing myself or getting hyped into FOMO (Here’s a weird part of it all: I am inspired by and want to stick to a philosophy influenced by the virtues of Buddhism and Taoism, and striving for a SFH right now feels wasteful or like swimming against the tide. I want a large purchase like a house to not just be a clear choice, I want it to be a natural choice that follows the flow. If a decision feels odd or non-obvious, it’s usually a sign that it’s not a good one.) So scratch that post about the house. The property itself is nice, but I let myself get swept up by the impetus to jump on something in a time of scarcity and uncertainty, and that’s no way to handle the largest purchase of your life.
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Jun 6, 2022 13:09
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Any Canadians in this thread? We bought our first house and we're just deciding between fixed and variable. The best rates we got were 3.75% for the fixed and Prime - .84% for the variable (both for 5 years). Prime is currently 3.7%. So the current difference is about 0.89%. The BoC is warning that rates could go up another 1.5% or more. Generally the advice has been that variable has historically outperformed fixed, and of course variable gives more flexibility etc. but that fixed rate is looking tempting, given the direction the rates are heading. Overall we're pretty financially comfortable, putting down ~35%, and have plenty of savings left over, if any of that matters. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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Jun 6, 2022 21:50
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Fixed 100% just so you don’t need to worry about it. Maybe you pay a little bit more (MAYBE), but certainty has its own value and I appreciate not being captive to the whimsies of fate.
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Jun 6, 2022 21:58
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submitted an offer on a house on Monday. it's been on the market for 3 weeks but only had the first showings this past weekend when we saw it (because of "repairs"). Our realtor talked to the listing agent and all signs point to our offer being accepted except the sellers are dragging their feet because they were hoping for more action. But buddy, you listed the house but didn't let anyone see it for 3 weeks! the market has slowed down! just accept our offer and we can both be done with it. the wait is killing me
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Jun 8, 2022 18:14
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DNK posted:Fixed 100% just so you don’t need to worry about it. Maybe you pay a little bit more (MAYBE), but certainty has its own value and I appreciate not being captive to the whimsies of fate. Yeah, if you have the choice go fixed. Rates are historically low right now. Variable might outperform fixed when you take into account decades where the rates actually went up and down, but from where we are right now the only direction they can realistically go is up. The only caveat to this is if you're sure you're going to be moving out of the house in the next 5-10 years. If the back end of a 30Y mortgage isn't something you are expecting to see then the higher rates there aren't as big of an issue. The word "expecting" is doing a LOT of heavy lifting in that sentence, though, and the world is full of people who got hosed on their mortgages when the rate went up and they hadn't moved yet.
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Jun 8, 2022 18:36
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Canada mortgages are not American mortgages. I can offer no advice on Canadian mortgages other than - they're not American mortgages. US Variable vs Fixed 30yr: Variable Rates: You get a discount for assuming some market risk from the bank, in theory this saves money. In practice, in the US, you can & will refi if rates drop, functionally the delta of refi vs variable in this situation is at most a few thousand $ over the life of the loan. You have no good opportunity to drop PMI, and as we're seeing today, some lenders are straight up ignoring price appreciation in PMI calculations (which they are allowed to do) - so your few thousand $ saved disappears to extra PMI from 20-22% (it's removed at 22% original LTV repayment, 10 years iirc) For assuming a large amount of risk - if rates do rise to 10% you're looking at 6 figures more in payments on a $350k loan. Fixed Rates: You pay a premium for a guaranteed ceiling. Rates go up to 15%? That's fine, you're locked at X for 30 years. Rates go down to 2%? You can refi, with life of loan lock and get the benefits of lower rates for a nominal refi charge (a few thousand $). Refi is an easy time to remove PMI. History: Technically var 30yr in the US isn't a scam product. It was introduced in 1980 when rates were 16%+. It actually made sense for the 80's - rates were at all time highs and could really only go down. There was a lot of valid concern that housing prices would drift down with rates when rates finally started to drop again. In that situation a refi could actually hurt you - making PMI more difficult to remove in a refi, combined with higher refi costs (in a falling house price scenario). 30 year variable makes sense here. Today with rates well below 10% they're mostly being pushed to spread lender/mbs risk to the consumer.
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Jun 8, 2022 20:52
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Thanks for the replies Looks like there are some significant differences in mortgages between Canada and the US. Up here, the term of the mortgage is different from the amortization period. 5 year terms are typical, even though the amortization is typically 25 years. At the end of the 5 year period you negotiate a new mortgage (same or different bank) or pay off what's remaining. With fixed rates, there are also some more restrictions: there are penalties for paying off the mortgage before the (5 year) term is up (not a thing with variable). With the mortgage we're looking at you can pay off up to 20% of the principle per year without penalty. Anyway, based on the rates we were quoted we decided to go with fixed. It's anyone's guess what happens to interest rates after this year but it's virtually guarenteed they go up by .75 by the end of the year and likely more after that. Any increase over .89 and the fixed is better for us. So best case scenario for variable is saving a bit over the 5 year term, worst case scenario is.. much worse than that, so yeah, sticking with fixed.
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Jun 8, 2022 21:35
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Yeah Canada does not have fixed rate mortgages as Americans understand them. Canadian "fixed rate" is still potentially a good deal, especially in a rising rate environment, but it's nothing like the deal Americans get with a locked-in rate for 30 years.
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Jun 9, 2022 00:29
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I'm in the UK and looking to buy my first property up in Edinburgh, Scotland. It's funny to look around and see so many people talking about it being a bad time to buy! Seriously, except for right after a market crash -- which nobody can reliably predict -- when is it a good time? Property prices in Edinburgh, where I'm looking -- seem to be slowly but conistently rising fast enough that it's eroding buying power for most people: Average Asking Prices By Type in Edinburgh (£000's)  Green - Detached house Red - Semi-detached house Blue - Terraced house Yellow - Apartment Purple - Market average I don't think I can save significantly faster than the price of property is rising. So, despite it being a 'bad time' due to the economy, I think sooner will still be better than later. Thoughts?
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Jun 9, 2022 11:06
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Upgrade posted:nobody can give you any advice because none of us know anything about the market conditions in your country Eh, this is a bit overly obtuse. I think regardless of your environment there are still the classics:
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Jun 9, 2022 12:26
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El Mero Mero posted:Eh, this is a bit overly obtuse. I think regardless of your environment there are still the classics: This is a very good post.
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Jun 9, 2022 13:12
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Mouko posted:I'm in the UK and looking to buy my first property up in Edinburgh, Scotland. People talking about it being a bad time to buy are not exclusively talking about pricing and mortgage rates. I don't know what your particular market looks like, but when a typical transaction involves bidding wars, buying poo poo sight unseen and waiving contingencies all due to very low inventory it's a bad time to buy regardless of prices and rates.
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Jun 9, 2022 14:31
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Motronic posted:People talking about it being a bad time to buy are not exclusively talking about pricing and mortgage rates. Yeah, that makes sense. There's a lot of wisdom in this thread which I've tried to soak up. You really need to know what you can afford, what you need (which is different to what you might want), and understand the benefits and risks of any commitment you make.
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Jun 9, 2022 14:39
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Mouko posted:I don't think I can save significantly faster than the price of property is rising. So, despite it being a 'bad time' due to the economy, I think sooner will still be better than later. Repeating again - FTHB is a lifestyle choice more than an investment. Do your own budgeting at a monthly level. What can you actually afford? How secure is your job, savings after, etc. I do not personally think it's a horrible time to die in the US. I agree with your assessment that prices are, and will continue to rise faster than people can save: -Inflation is way up, housing prices should be growing at an accelerated pace to match. -Covid was primarily a fear, not economic (poor use of the word) downward force on housing prices. 2022 pricing should accelerate to make up for it. -Supply chain issues are preventing new build, repair/restoration, etc which is further upward housing pressure. -Wage inequality has seen strong wage growth among top earners. Politics aside, this is a rational, solid upward force on housing prices. -Life expectancy continues to grow, old people aren't selling into retirement as quickly, lack of supply, upward pricing pressure. -2007 had a new housing build boom like crazy. There is currently no new housing build boom. -2007 media was screaming "free money, never a better time to buy". Today media is saying "crash coming" citing the same few studies that show up at most a 20% decline in a couple cities. Goons are notoriously pessimistic. There's also a whole lotta home owners ITT - with great advice - but who already own a home, and so the risk of being priced out for 10 more years is academic to them. This is all from a US perspective, UK isn't the US.
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Jun 9, 2022 16:26
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El Mero Mero posted:
These two are very important. Don’t buy just because:
I’m guilty of more than one of these and it’s caused me to be hesitant in property hunting. Things would be different if I had a family or a need for a whole lot of space, but as a single person with one cat and no real need for more than maybe a 2br, there aren’t a lot of non-moneyshit reasons to buy.
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Jun 9, 2022 16:30
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1st_Panzer_Div. posted:I do not personally think it's a horrible time to die in the US. Also I am so not going to let this get buried, it’s amazing.
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Jun 9, 2022 16:31
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Pollyanna posted:Also I am so not going to let this get buried, it’s amazing. God that's a a loving perfect freudian typo
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Jun 9, 2022 16:37
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I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Waived contingencies for houses on fire of off i17. I watched beams split in the dark near the Gated Communities rent a cop hut. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears on a home warranty. Time to die.
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Jun 9, 2022 16:50
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BigPaddy posted:I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Waived contingencies for houses on fire of off i17. I watched beams split in the dark near the Gated Communities rent a cop hut. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears on a home warranty. Time to die. You're in a desert walking along in the sand when all of a sudden you look down, and you see a realtor. It's crawling towards you. You reach down, you flip the realtor over on its back. The realtor lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can't, not without waiving the inspection contingency. But you're not waiving it. Why is that?
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Jun 9, 2022 17:04
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