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Mr. Powers posted:Start with a bunch of bedrooms and bathrooms, then make them larger than you think they need to be. I've seen a lot of houses with small bedrooms and bathrooms and I would much rather have a bigger house if it meant spacious bedrooms and bathrooms. Around here, the bigger houses in my price range are usually just diced up into more rooms of the same size that you'd find in a smaller house. Or a "finished" basement with cement floor you can roller skate around on. (Just uh be careful around the water heater)
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Jun 16, 2019 20:54
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Mr. Powers posted:Start with a bunch of bedrooms and bathrooms, then make them larger than you think they need to be. I've seen a lot of houses with small bedrooms and bathrooms and I would much rather have a bigger house if it meant spacious bedrooms and bathrooms. Around here, the bigger houses in my price range are usually just diced up into more rooms of the same size that you'd find in a smaller house.
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Jun 16, 2019 21:13
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Hoodwinker posted:See that's still weird to me because the bedrooms in my family's old house were not small, except the one on the ground floor. Personally, I'd rather have more rooms than larger ones. I agree to an extent. I am looking for a house for just me. I would rather have a 3 BR with bigger spaces like living room and maybe a family room or something than a 4 BR without.
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Jun 16, 2019 22:20
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I live in a 461sf apartment so any single-family home feels big to me. I've begun semi-looking for
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Jun 16, 2019 22:44
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Square Footage talk: Some of it depends on the layout and your personal preferences. We have a 1900 sqft 4 bedroom house with a "new" section that was built some time around 1890-1910. We're not big TV/sports folks so the lack of a media-focused room doesn't bother us. It's offset by a nice big farmhouse kitchen and a practical dining room that can fit a lot of guests. If you need multiple TVs for various family members, or have sports-focused parties where you need a screen at the center of attention, then our place would probably feel cramped.
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Jun 17, 2019 01:58
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Youth Decay posted:It was built in 2009 so it's likely made out of cardboard and foam as the builders were cutting their losses.
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Jun 17, 2019 02:28
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Dik Hz posted:If you can get an acre of farmable land in Iowa for $2500/acre, go for it. That poo poo normally goes for ~$20k/acre. Glad someone posted this, $2,500 an acre for arable land in Iowa is not a bad price.
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Jun 17, 2019 02:34
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I'm an experienced landlord in Boston with a couple of places I currently lease, and I'm looking to buy an additional 3-4 unit multifamily closer to work so that I can live in one of the units and rent the rest to cover it. The banks are now telling me I need to have a 20% down payment for a 3-unit, and 25% for a 4-unit. I can afford a 20-25% down payment... I just don't wanna cough it up if I can get away with 5% instead (because then I can pick up even more properties sooner in the future). The math seems to suggest that I'd still have a better return on investment paying PMI for a 5% down, but on Bankrate and such, I can't find any banks that will budge lower than 20%. 1) It seems like there's some kind of freddie mac / fannie mae guidelines that most of these banks are holding to. Are there supposed to be some more independent banks that can call their own shots on this stuff? 2) What happened to the FHA / HomePath programs? Seems like they completely gutted the incentives around 2014 so that they don't offer 5% down products anymore? edit: the term I'm forgetting was "cash on cash return". That's what I'm asking about maximizing, if anyone has any up-to-date advice. Zero VGS fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Jun 17, 2019 |
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Jun 17, 2019 05:03
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Pander posted:Let's say I have a $350k loan with 0% down. With a va loan the funding fee can be lower if you put more than zero down. With other loans the pmi is lower, or prepaid pmi. There can be better options than paying down your mortgage depending on your risk profile. Maxing your 401k and investing in low cost index funds has some risk but likely will return more
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Jun 17, 2019 05:15
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Hoodwinker posted:I just asked my parents how big their last house was - the one they moved out of a couple of years ago that we spent 20 years in. At one point we had 7 people living in that house. It always felt so massive. It was 3,100sqft. Who the gently caress needs 4,000? What do you even do with that extra space? In my case on the first floor you have a gigantic kitchen (because everyone ends up there anyway.....we can seat 14 with room to cook on either of two stoves), a formal dining room, a living room big enough for a bunch of people and a baby grand, a bar and another living room. This would be absolute insanity if not for entertaining, which is what we do. We have had 50 people here comfortably for apps/cocktails and hosted 23 for christmas dinner. We're the place to bring your strays (invited friends and family who have friends with no place to celebrate, etc). I lived below my means, saved, did well for work and was lucky after a couple of decades of grinding out consulting and startups: I'm gonna loving enjoy it now. It's absolutely extravagant, I get that. But it's not unused.
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Jun 17, 2019 05:22
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I'm living in the SF Bay Area and looking to buy in Denver (between Denver and Boulder) in a couple of years. I'm looking at houses in Broomfield and Westminster and they're all about 400k, and I'm thinking "what is wrong with these houses????". Surely there's some kind of horrible trick. Also, is 20% down the norm? And is there some kind of first-time homebuyer discount / program in Colorado? I'm only just starting to familiarize myself with houses and the idea of buying one, now. This is all new to me.
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Jun 17, 2019 09:09
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https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/1140257766860296192 Speaking of hard to sell homes. Looking forward to picking up some Boomer-built mansion in the Blue Ridges at a foreclosure auction in 10 years.
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Jun 17, 2019 13:32
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That belongs in the happy thread imo
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Jun 17, 2019 14:23
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Jealous Cow posted:https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/1140257766860296192 I swear this came out a year or more ago. At least an almost identical article. It's not clear what you do with these gigantic "mountain retreat" style homes. They're too far away from anything to like.....commute to work and far too expensive for nearly anyone. The Kiawah ones are close enough to commute, but I can only imagine what the HOA/club fees are on a gated private island with half a dozen golf courses. And the serious lol of these are being constructed/laid out in a way that these decaying fossils can no longer operate in comfortably like....a few years after they build them. I'm not sure what happens with these places or who would want them. It's certainly a short list.
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Jun 17, 2019 14:34
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Re square footage generally, I grew up with seven in 1500 sq. ft., and it felt tight. We have seven of us in 3500 now, and I would like another bedroom up and and another bathroom up (we are going to get a quote on dormering that out over our garage). If I were paying to build something custom from scratch, it would probably in the 4k-4500 sq. ft. range, I think. BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:We just closed on 4100 square feet and frankly it feels cavernous. I know there are some people that just value space for having space but you are going to have to seriously ask yourself what a family of four is going to do with all that room. In this case it looks like a significant source of square footage is a 1500 ft+ empty featureless basement set up like a second living room with a second kitchen you are never going to use. Motronic posted:I swear this came out a year or more ago. At least an almost identical article. In the Chicago burbs, ex-urban mcmansions are getting pretty slammed. Regularly going for less than sales prices from a couple decades ago. I kind of joked to my wife that if this place drops below 1.4M, we'd buy it (I love the second floor layout). It was listed for 2.2M at the time. It's at 1.65M now. It sold for $2M in 2000. https://www.redfin.com/IL/Northbrook/40-Bridlewood-Ln-60062/home/13812284. Though WTF would I do with an indoor pool.
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Jun 17, 2019 17:01
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gvibes posted:I kind of joked to my wife that if this place drops below 1.4M, we'd buy it (I love the second floor layout). It was listed for 2.2M at the time. It's at 1.65M now. It sold for $2M in 2000. https://www.redfin.com/IL/Northbrook/40-Bridlewood-Ln-60062/home/13812284. Though WTF would I do with an indoor pool. You forgot to mention the best part of north chicago suburbs: YEAR PROPERTY TAXES 2017 $59,230(+6%)
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Jun 17, 2019 17:06
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Droo posted:You forgot to mention the best part of north chicago suburbs: So only like 45k in taxes. No biggie. I think Northbrook rates are roughly 2% of market value, so once it sells for 1.5M or whatever, it should drop to about 30k or so. Downright reasonable.
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Jun 17, 2019 17:10
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gvibes posted:Though WTF would I do with an indoor pool. "Features" like this are just time and money sinks. You either spend a bunch of cash and a ton of time with "your new hobby" (I'm not talking about "swimming", I'm talking "amateur pool maintenance guy") or metric assloads of cash to have someone come out to service it on a regular basis. Indoor pools may not need to be cleaned as much, but you have the relentless march of mold eating away the pool room, the nearly bespoke HVAC systems to keep the room at negative pressure so the rest of the house doesn't smell like a pool and the list just goes on and on. These are the same kind of houses that are likely to have vertical fossil movers (lovely little elevators) that will break constantly and require annual maintenance and inspection. And then just.....heating and cooling a cavern like that. And the acres of siding and roof and miles of gutters and all the landscaping......... My place is manageable, but it's just a regular house with a few extra rooms and all the rooms are a bit bigger. The only "oh woah, that's cool" feature I've got is a steam shower, which I assume will cause me to hemorrhage a few grand at some point. I can't imagine dealing with a tacky boomer mansion with ALL of the "features". Motronic fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Jun 17, 2019 |
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Jun 17, 2019 17:32
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I don't know why this is so difficult but the hardest part so far has been figuring out what the gently caress to buy for insurance. Everyone I've talked to agrees that for my it basically boils down to "renters" insurance for my townhome since the HOA has common insurance on the structure. I got this response from my lender when I asked them what their requirements were regarding amounts and approved insurers. Lender posted:The only insurance requirement is that we cover you loan amount of $268000. Once you decide who you will be using if you could just let us know and we will take it from there. But every quote I've seen online is just asking me for the amount of personal property coverage I want, which I've put as below $100k. I know I'll need liability for damage to another unit. But can anyone help me out what the lender is expecting here? Here is the only relevant section I could find in my HOA docs. HOA posted:The [BLANK] Townhome Association has insurance coverage for all the common elements of the building. This includes fire and other coverage as well as liability coverage. In addition, the Association has also taken an insurable interest in each townhome to cover events of a catastrophic nature. There is an extremely high deductible associated with this coverage which would become the responsibility of the affected owner(s) in the event of a claim. Owners should consider their own circumstances and the requirements of their lender when choosing their own townhome insurance. It is important for each unit to have insurance coverage to cover personal belongings and to cover liability for damage to another unit cause by something in your unit. Popete fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Jun 17, 2019 |
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Jun 17, 2019 17:43
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lol I got some flack yesterday for considering a 1250sqft house. "That's kinda big for one person." It's actually the nicest house I've seen yet and fits all my needs but is just expensive enough that I don't feel comfortable paying that much every month. 
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Jun 17, 2019 17:51
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It's moving day, goons. My old townhouse is getting packed up and my new house is simultaneously finishing up the paint job while trying to beat the movers' arrival. Paint ended up going way over budget at 10,600, but they did all my doors and trim, new door hardware, and some drywall repair. Full job under $3.50/sf so I ain't mad
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Jun 17, 2019 18:07
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Andy Dufresne posted:I had to double check the Iowa house to make sure it wasn't my uncle's. He built a gaudy custom home with an indoor pool about 15 years ago in Iowa and had it listed for about a year and a half last I heard. He owns a bunch of Tobacco hut stores That house is in Cedar Rapids and it's truly ghastly.
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Jun 17, 2019 18:09
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:It's moving day, goons. My old townhouse is getting packed up and my new house is simultaneously finishing up the paint job while trying to beat the movers' arrival. Congratulations on the glow-up, Chris!
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Jun 17, 2019 18:11
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Popete posted:I don't know why this is so difficult but the hardest part so far has been figuring out what the gently caress to buy for insurance. Everyone I've talked to agrees that for my it basically boils down to "renters" insurance for my townhome since the HOA has common insurance on the structure. You need H-06 insurance that covers the replacement cost for the portion of the home that is your responsibility if you are responsible for the interior. Or an H03 policy if you are responsible for the exterior. Not equal to the outstanding mortgage, or the offer price. You need to call your lender and ask if you need coverage for the replacement construction cost or for the mortgage cost, and if they say the mortgage cost tell them that is not what fannie mae requires on section b7-3-02 or any other section. With a townhome or condo this is usually lower than the purchase price. Are you responsible for the windows, water heater, flooring, roof, balconies, or is the hoa? Do you have builders grade interior finishes, or artistic drywall and built ins and other more expensive features? Your insurance co should have a calculator, or a chart to figure out the replacement cost based on what you know about the home. You should also get liability and personal property insurance. This protects you if you cause a leak or start a fire or your dog bites someone, or if your property is stolen or destroyed by a covered peril. Your liability coverage should be dependent on how much you expect to use it, how substantial you expect your liability to be and the cost. A rule of theumb that is close enough is to get a policy equal to your net worth. For personal property get coverage equal to the cost of your personal property. You probably want replacement value. Also understand the limits for different categories and get a rider for electronics or jewelry if you are over the limit. You should also get hoa loss assessment insurance that is compatible with the hoa master policy. For instance if you have 20k in loss assessment coverage and the hoa has a 25k special assessment because of fire damage, or a slip and fall, you would only have to pay 5k and the insurance would pay 20k. Depending on your state laws and the hoa master insurance this may not be needed. Flood and earthquake coverage is usually separate.
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Jun 17, 2019 18:30
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LogisticEarth posted:Square Footage talk: Some of it depends on the layout and your personal preferences. We have a 1900 sqft 4 bedroom house with a "new" section that was built some time around 1890-1910. We're not big TV/sports folks so the lack of a media-focused room doesn't bother us. It's offset by a nice big farmhouse kitchen and a practical dining room that can fit a lot of guests. If you need multiple TVs for various family members, or have sports-focused parties where you need a screen at the center of attention, then our place would probably feel cramped. Hit the nail on the head with this one. I bought a much larger house last year than I originally intended, (3400+sq ft 6br/3bath) but we wanted a certain layout that would work best for us. We're super happy. We've had 10 family members visit to stay with us and have had plenty of space. It's the layout that is fantastic for us in our current phase of life though. We wanted a downstairs master and guest, but a second living area upstairs for the kids and their friends. I have a dedicated office since I WFH, and 2 guest rooms. I don't have a ton of wasted space like formal living or dining rooms that would never get used by us.
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Jun 17, 2019 18:48
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lampey posted:Insurance stuff Thank you for this, really appreciate the effort. It'll take me a bit to digest but should help when inputting stuff for quotes.
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Jun 17, 2019 19:28
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Popete posted:inputting stuff for quotes. You found a local independent insurance agent to deal with right? Insurance is still one of the few things is better left to the pros instead of trying to get a ton of online quotes yourself.
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Jun 17, 2019 19:35
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Okay, do not use Chase as your lender. I was sitting in the parking lot today, doing a conference call for work because the closing was scheduled to be far enough away and soon enough after the con-call was over I'd not have time to reach there. So here I am, sitting my car using a nearby Starbuck's wifi to see the screen share for the 2 hour conference call while I wait for word from Chase that the final numbers are in for the cashier's check needed for closing. About halfway through my call they send me an email with a total. I'm like great! Finally, I can grab it right after the call is over and then rush on up to the office for the close! About 30 minutes later they send another email saying cryptically "Please call or let me know a good time we can speak. We will not be able to close today due to compliance issue. I will be able to explain over a phone call." So here I am on this conference call that's scheduled for the next hour and I get this and I'm loving furious. We break for the con-call and I give them a call and ask what the gently caress is going on over there. Apparently they never received or integrated the amended inspection report from Thursday after the seller made the repairs requested by Chase into the final paperwork, and their quality control department said "what the heck are you doing saying you're good to close" after they sent the email saying we were good. So then we blow past another closing date thanks to this bank. So far that's two closing dates missed. Now the seller wants to close by 9am tomorrow someplace an hour away, and I have another 2 hour conference call for work at 10am. This is a loving nightmare.
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Jun 17, 2019 19:54
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Nitrousoxide posted:Okay, do not use Except most of us have no choice. They are ALL this bad.
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Jun 17, 2019 19:58
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Motronic posted:Except most of us have no choice. Indeed, I had similar experiences on multiple prior underwriting adventures. In my opinion it is a generally predictable consequence of the market incentives for mortgage lending: revenue completely related to volume and one-off customer service experiences.
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Jun 17, 2019 20:36
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skipdogg posted:You found a local independent insurance agent to deal with right? Insurance is still one of the few things is better left to the pros instead of trying to get a ton of online quotes yourself. I haven't yet as I've been trying to figure out what the lender requires first. Speaking of closing, when should I expect to know my final closing costs. Or at least a better estimate than the lender Loan Estimate?
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Jun 17, 2019 20:39
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Popete posted:I haven't yet as I've been trying to figure out what the lender requires first. Your broker will know the questions to ask. Conference them in on a call. 3 days prior to close, by law. This number will be wrong. Then the new number requires another 3 day period. Then you will close and some of it will be refunded to you a week later in the mountain of paper you get in the mail.
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Jun 17, 2019 20:57
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Popete posted:I haven't yet as I've been trying to figure out what the lender requires first. It's your time that you're wasting. Just google " <location> independent insurance agent" and call them. Pick one with good reviews. They've written hundreds of these policies. They know what you'll need. Tell them "I'm buying a town home and need to get insurance arranged before closing" They'll ask you for the pertinent information, and quote like 20 to 50 different companies at once. Some of them will be companies you haven't heard of before like Unified Woodsmen of the Pacific or some poo poo (probably not a real company). You just care about their rating. You want an A rated company. It's a 5 minute phone call. Call them. Don't fill out an online contact me form... dial a telephone number. Talk to the person. They'll need some time, they'll probably have to call you back or email you in a few hours once they get the quote. I'm really trying to avoid getting on some old man soapbox about young people who only want to do things online.
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Jun 17, 2019 21:10
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Zero VGS posted:I'm an experienced landlord in Boston with a couple of places I currently lease, and I'm looking to buy an additional 3-4 unit multifamily closer to work so that I can live in one of the units and rent the rest to cover it. I just got off the phone with two more banks that told me the same poo poo: "You can't get a 4-family for less than 25% down, Fannie/Freddie guidelines", then I called Wells Fargo and they're like "Actually it keeps confirming on my computer, you can get an FHA loan on a 4-family at 5% down plus PMI with us" and they sent me a quote. It is a little eye-watering though. All told if I pay a $200k downpayment, my monthly payments will be $4000/mo, but if I pay 5% down they'll be $5200/mo, on account of both the PMI, and the mortgage rate being higher. So I'd have to figure out if keeping $150k for future investment properties is worth the extra $1200/mo I'm tossing into the ether for 30 years. At least it's tax deductible?
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Jun 17, 2019 21:27
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Zero VGS posted:I just got off the phone with two more banks that told me the same poo poo: "You can't get a 4-family for less than 25% down, Fannie/Freddie guidelines", then I called Wells Fargo and they're like "Actually it keeps confirming on my computer, you can get an FHA loan on a 4-family at 5% down plus PMI with us" and they sent me a quote. It is a little eye-watering though. You have your answer: calculate cash-on-cash, cash+principal on cash, and total IRR under both lending scenarios and make your decision. Being 95% leveraged on investment property is pretty risky and you will probably have a good deal of trouble cash flowing on those terms, but on the other hand you will have $150,000 in operating cash behind.
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Jun 17, 2019 22:23
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I spent an hour on the phone with Navy Federal who said for a 2-family I could do 10% down with no PMI, which seems interesting, especially since the interest rates are still competitive. I asked what the catch is with no PMI and they're just like "oh, we stopped doing PMI a few years ago". To be exact they said I need 15% down if I get a 30-year, or 10% down if I get a 3/5 or 5/5 ARM. I've always avoided ARMs because I like the stability of fixed rates, but on the other hand, it's probably a safe assumption for Boston that if the interest rates are up, it's because the economy is good and therefore rents would be up as well to balance it out? BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:You have your answer: calculate cash-on-cash, cash+principal on cash, and total IRR under both lending scenarios and make your decision. Being 95% leveraged on investment property is pretty risky and you will probably have a good deal of trouble cash flowing on those terms, but on the other hand you will have $150,000 in operating cash behind. For me without the PMI, being 90% leveraged isn't risky at all. It's weird because every single bank I talk with gives me worse and worse terms as I got from single to 2 to 3 to 4, when in actuality there's less risk the more units I get because this is Boston and I've had people clawing each other's eyes out to rent from me just because I charge a non-gouged price.
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Jun 18, 2019 00:01
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It’s wack as hell that I can spend an hour waffling on shoes, but know I want to put down $shoes*5000 after a few minutes in a house.
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Jun 18, 2019 03:03
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Democratic Pirate posted:It’s wack as hell that I can spend an hour waffling on shoes, but know I want to put down $shoes*5000 after a few minutes in a house. I think there is a point where your brain just doesn't quite process how huge of a purchase it is. Else you'd drive yourself insane with second thinking. I remember the first week after I went under contract I felt like I was in a constant state of panic wondering if I just royally hosed up. But I've been under contract for so long now I'm just ready to get this done with and move in.
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Jun 18, 2019 05:48
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Yeah I would guess for most people a thing like “four hundred thousand dollars” doesn’t register as a real thing, but “eighty bucks” does.
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Jun 18, 2019 05:58
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Zero VGS posted:For me without the PMI, being 90% leveraged isn't risky at all. It's weird because every single bank I talk with gives me worse and worse terms as I got from single to 2 to 3 to 4, when in actuality there's less risk the more units I get because this is Boston and I've had people clawing each other's eyes out to rent from me just because I charge a non-gouged price. how are you calculating risk with regards to the fact that vacancy rates might not remain so incredibly historically low? it seem risky to assume that boomers are going to control the political process for the entire length of your decades-long loan
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Jun 18, 2019 06:16
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