|
What's the best way to pick a home inspector? What sorts of questions should one ask of them? The city I'm looking in (Toronto) has a very well-known and well-regarded firm (Carson-Dunlop), but I figure I should at least look around before committing to them. (I didn't see this in the OPs, apologies if I missed it.)
|
#
¿
Apr 13, 2016 16:08
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 14, 2024 08:23 |
|
|
alnilam posted:I talked to friends who had bought a house, asked them if they had any recommendations, and then I also asked my realtor for recommendations. There was one person in common between both lists, meaning he was good at explaining things to the buyer, and thorough enough to please the (more experienced with these kind of things) realtor. I was pretty happy with him too. Captain Cool posted:Well-regarded firm is a good option if they can fit your schedule. Otherwise you can look on places like Angie's List or get recommendations from people you know in the area. Compare their certifications and get a sample report from each. I would avoid anyone recommended by your realtor, especially if home inspectors aren't required to be licensed in your area. Thanks! The place I ended up buying yesterday (holy poo poo) had an existing inspection by the firm I wanted -- inspector was a professional engineer, and the firm even sells a warranty if I want it. It's only 7 years old, and the guy who built it lives next door in an mirror-image twin. A friend of mine who is getting licensed in another city said the report looked great, and that the firm was top-notch, so I went for it. Excited/happy/nervous/eek.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2016 10:10
|
|
|
If you just want it so that you can invoke the inspection condition to get out of the purchase, you might not default to giving it to the seller. The seller may not want it, either.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 20, 2016 23:30
|
|
|
chupacabraTERROR posted:So I finally found a realtor who is helpful and responsive, and we're going to look at our first house tonight. When I went through with my agent, she was pointing out weird things that probably hid a repair or damage, and she had a pen light we used to look in a crawl space. Getting into the attic is often a disruptive thing, kicking dust and debris loose, so I probably wouldn't go that far. My assumption was that for anything like damage I was going to want an inspector to go through it anyway, so crawling in an attic or poking under the porch wasn't worthwhile. Also: your agent should have good answers to that question!
|
|
#
¿
Apr 27, 2016 21:00
|
|
|
LogisticEarth posted:tape measure This is good advice. Also: what's the etiquette on taking photos?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 27, 2016 21:04
|
|
|
chupacabraTERROR posted:Cool, thanks for the responses guys. This house in particular has some rather obvious roof and stucco damage apparent in the pictures, so I'm hoping I can get a better look and assess the damage a little. Glad I won't look like a tool waving my flashlight around. I'm reminded, also, that my agent asked if I was OK having the selling agent present when I saw places. I said I was OK, but would prefer not, and she arranged to not have them there so we could be more candid and I wouldn't feel rushed or self-conscious about poking at things. (I think she only had to ask two agents, but we mostly saw places during the day.) Recommended if yours is willing to push on it a bit.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 27, 2016 21:58
|
|
|
Could you ask the seller to indemnify you for HOA fines related to his period of ownership, for the next year?
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2016 20:36
|
|
|
chupacabraTERROR posted:That may be the best result here. It still isn't perfect without some sort of holdback (which is just not going to happen in this market), so either way I have to sue them for reimbursement. At least it'd be spelled out in the docs that way. It gives him two reasonable choices: either he thinks you won't get fined in which case he shouldn't mind indemnifying, or he thinks you will in which case he should compensate you. You could also ask the seller to go to the HOA and take care of the formalities.
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2016 21:44
|
|
|
dalstrs posted:So we are doing a terrible thing and buying a house. My lender offers a .125% discount if I take a HUD-approved pre-purchase education or counseling. They sent the letter offering a course for $75. Being the cheapskate I am, does anyone know of a course that I could get for free or less money? A quick search for "hud pre-purchase counseling course" doesn't turn up any that are cheaper, but a couple of places recommend getting the lender to give you equivalent credit on closing costs.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 7, 2016 20:11
|
|
|
Appraisers shouldn't be told the sale price. Some bullshit there.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 16, 2016 15:15
|
|
|
E: elided, not related to houses. Sorry.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 18, 2016 15:05
|
|
|
Post-sale (well, post-agreement, we're still pre-close) my agent has been helping me with things like getting electrician quotes for an EV charger and so forth, since I'm out of the area until the close. A unicorn, perhaps.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 30, 2016 14:04
|
|
|
BeastOfExmoor posted:a quick googling revealed they both either worked, or had recently worked for an organization that we had protested That's creepy, just FYI.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 29, 2016 22:15
|
|
|
Dik Hz posted:It's one of the biggest transactions of your life and and you're not going to find out what's publicly available about the other party? Why not? It's a financial transaction. When I sold my house I told the agent I didn't want to know the names on the offers, because I wanted to avoid implicit bias. Just the number and closing parameters and conditions. Nothing I could find out from a Google or other search should have any bearing on the transaction.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 30, 2016 12:54
|
|
|
Subjunctive posted:Do it if you want, just admit that you're being creepy for financial gain. Subjunctive fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Aug 1, 2016 |
|
#
¿
Jul 30, 2016 21:21
|
|
|
LogisticEarth posted:Is an interview, resume, and background check when making a new hire "creepy"? No, because there are relevant qualifications for being hired, and they will be acting as an agent of the company. It does too often introduce implicit bias, but it's hard to blind that process well enough to avoid it. It's not the case with a house purchase or sale; it's very easy to protect yourself from bias given how little personal information is necessary for the transaction, and that there is an agent who can be a blinding intermediary. But if you want to make sure that you're not selling to an ex-felon, or someone with a past bankruptcy, or someone with unpopular political beliefs, that's your choice. I know I have biases and I don't think they should interfere with someone buying a home if they meet the financial requirements. I didn't let either of my agents send in a letter of introduction on my behalf either.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 30, 2016 21:55
|
|
|
balancedbias posted:So are you actually going to address the practical points of a Google and public records check (information relevant to the condition of a major financial purchase) or continue with your initial less related point? My point is that personal information about the other party, such as their employer or ethnicity, will turn up in an indiscriminate search and doesn't belong in the transaction. What does Googling the person tell you about permits, anyway? If it's all new work, ask your agent to get copies of the permits. If you care if the seller is a business, tell your agent that it's part of your criteria. The original example was Googling the buyer of a house. How is that due diligence? What could you find out that way which should legitimately affect the terms of the sale?
|
|
#
¿
Jul 31, 2016 01:01
|
|
|
Yeah, just don't accept offers that are conditional on financing if that's what you're worried about (more than keeping the earnest money and relisting). Don't fool yourself into believing you can actually fairly compare prospective buyers' credit-worthiness based on what Google turns up. There's a reason banks don't use that method for qualifying borrowers.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 31, 2016 01:43
|
|
|
QuarkJets posted:If you don't think that you're able to make an unbiased decision when faced with details like a person's race or gender, then feel free to not use Google, that's fine, but don't accuse others of being creepy just because they're taking a personal interest in a life-altering financial transaction. Implicit bias is a thing, and not a good thing.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 31, 2016 02:54
|
|
|
QuarkJets posted:Yes, neither you nor forums poster Subjunctive understand implicit bias if you think that "just don't tell me anything about the other party" is enough to overcome it. It's not enough to overcome it. It is enough to reduce the impact of implicit bias, just like blinding names on résumés does in the hiring context, even when there are other ethnicity or gender clues in the text. This is well-understood in the literature, if I remember my readings correctly. The point of implicit bias is sort of that you can't overcome it, so you need to work to minimize, counter, and be aware of it.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 31, 2016 06:22
|
|
|
I think you should investigate the house, not the people. (I don't know what a home inspection would reveal about the people, but I may not be being creative enough, or maybe the inspection reports I've read haven't been detailed enough.) Viewing a house or even knowing where it is can reveal things about the seller, certainly. I'm not saying that you should eliminate all knowledge of the other party at all cost. Their name will be on the P&S before you sign, for example. I believe you should *minimize* knowledge of the other party because it *reduces* the impact of bias. This means you shouldn't creep on them specifically to learn more about them as people. WRT cash-only offers: both times I've bought houses and the time I sold one were with no contingencies, because of a competitive environment; it will depend on the market, no doubt. The buyers of our house ran into trouble with their financing and we worked it out, but if we hadn't we'd have kept the earnest money and relisted. If we sold it once, odds are we could sell it again.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 31, 2016 07:00
|
|
|
I would like to apologize for this derail.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 31, 2016 18:20
|
|
|
Mid-madonna can be ok in some jurisdictions.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 2, 2016 02:39
|
|
|
BeastOfExmoor posted:That said, in a market where everything decent is selling within the first ten days (often for over asking), potential buyers may not even pay attention to older houses. We were looking at only houses that had just listed after our first couple weeks of looking. Yeah, I'm a little surprised they let the listing sit for 90 days, rather than relisting periodically to stay in those searches.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 10, 2016 22:56
|
|
|
Jealous Cow posted:Let's not talk about property taxes. Holy poo poo. Mine are 0.7%.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 31, 2016 21:08
|
|
|
People who can actually predict market peaks to useful granularity are too busy washing their space yachts to post on this forum.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 27, 2016 20:28
|
|
|
Rotten Red Rod posted:Out of curiosity, what major expenses other than rent/home prices are less there? Gas? Food? Etc? Sales/income/property taxes. Insurance rates. Utilities (price and how often you have to heat/cool). Child care if/when appropriate. I'd caution against putting too much weight on average house prices, since mixes of property types vary and you may not want to buy the average house. A realtor should be able to give you some exemplars from different neighborhoods of 2 bedroom detached with a garage, or whatever you're interested in.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 27, 2016 22:45
|
|
|
Rotten Red Rod posted:Well, again, I DO NOT want to buy. I'll be renting for the foreseeable future. Sure, I more meant if you're using house prices as a proxy for affordability. You sound like you're all set, though.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 27, 2016 22:57
|
|
|
Hughlander posted:That was the best part of the last nightmare of a purchase I made. We aim high in this thread.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 2, 2016 16:33
|
|
|
I think generally you should prefer to get money over having it repaired, because the outgoing owner isn't really motivated to spend a bit more and have it done properly.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 13, 2016 15:12
|
|
|
Team_q posted:Saw a house yesterday, showed it to my wife that night. opted to put in an offer this morning, found out there was another offer, had an open house and brought most of our families through for the hell of it, goosed up our offer by 15k, +10k more then asking, ended up with a winning offer because it was an estate sale and we were cool with a turbo quick closing date. I'd be interested to know about some properties you declined to bid on.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 21, 2016 21:21
|
|
|
Team_q posted:Edit: the bar is part of the house, it's a wet bar in the family room. Not a literal bar. Ah. I was thinking some live/work setup.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 21, 2016 22:35
|
|
|
I'm getting my place appraised soon, 3 months after I closed (7 after it was priced). Quite curious as to where they end up.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 22, 2016 19:49
|
|
|
My appraiser is the bank's for a HELOC (don't plan to use it, but would like it available in case), so I don't know what their motivation is. I'm expecting them to come in 25K above my purchase price, I guess.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 22, 2016 20:01
|
|
|
When I sold my last place, the bank's appraiser came in $60K under the purchase price. Caused some drama. (I agreed with the appraiser, really.)
|
|
#
¿
Nov 23, 2016 00:15
|
|
|
Leperflesh posted:I don't blame you for not reading back pages in a 475 page thread, I'm just quoting myself to save time. If you offer $500K with a financing contingency, and I offer $400K with no contingencies, and the seller accepts my offer, should the appraiser find that the house is worth $500K or $400K? I don't know how that's supposed to work, my guy didn't ask about other offers or elements of the sale (paying less in exchange for a better closing date, etc).
|
|
#
¿
Dec 8, 2016 02:45
|
|
|
Yeah, I was just making up numbers, though I've heard of 5-10% swings in offers due to favorable terms. Thanks for the thoughtful reply.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 9, 2016 20:47
|
|
|
The original closing date for my house was a statutory holiday. In my defense, it wasn't a holiday in the country I was moving from. No other party to the transaction enjoyed that defense.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 13, 2016 22:46
|
|
|
Glass of Milk posted:What to do when a house is vastly overpriced? It's an estate sale, but the price is...$200k or so over what it's worth. Interior is all original from when it was built a in the early 70s and the deck needs to be replaced. Absolutely can't hurt, just make sure it's really lowball enough that you don't regret it when it's accepted.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 23, 2016 15:13
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 14, 2024 08:23 |
|
|
On Terra Firma posted:Gift cards seem too easy to me. I feel like moving and getting settled is such a huge hassle, and that doing something to alleviate that would go a long way. Anyway I'll end the derail there. Just looking to help my clients out in any way that I can. Moving sucks! My agent arranged my house and car insurance (I was moving from another country), got multiple quotes on a car charger and scheduled the install, let various handypeople in and out, and gave me a Big Green Egg. Made me want to buy another house. E: she also, and this might have been the best part, had good recommendations for me on various tradespeople, cleaners, insurance agent, local restaurants and such. Since I didn't know the area, it was a real help getting settled smoothly.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 30, 2016 20:32
|
|