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H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Rotten Red Rod posted:

So, I have a question. We (my wife and I) are selling our house, and it's a situation where my father in law put 100k down on a house for us, which we would then pay the mortgage on. Seems great, right? Well, no, he made us sign a contract that says we start off with 1/3 share in the house (1/6 each) and he owns 2/3s. He's a laywer, and I've misunderstood a lot of the process and assumed this was a gift - it's not, he's invested and expecting to make money off it, and becomes angry and abusive at us when we expect him to help us out in any way. It's one of the reasons we want out of this deal - and also because the market is way, way up and I'm worried about it going down again and getting us stuck.

Jesus never do business with this man again. He is toxic and using his Esquire title to bully you. Demand an amortization table out of him. If you ever do decide to do business with him again, hire your own attorney paid for by you and representing your interests. You should hire an attorney to deal with closing out this contract to guarantee he doesn't still have an interest in your finances.

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H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

SlapActionJackson posted:

I refuse to believe a real lawyer wrote that. Who the hell styles what is effectively a partnership in a real property interest a "License Agreement"? Payments to equity are "royalty payments"? How do you use that many words describing the ownership re balancing and convey no meaning whatsoever? Is this the legal equivalent of an orthopedic surgeon trying his hand at a nose job?

Someone who likes to pretend they are a REIT.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Elephanthead posted:

Has anyone purchased a house with a relative or girl boy friend not ended in a pay day for some shady lawyer? I guess it keeps the posts coming to BFC at least. Does anyone know the realtor definition of a cellar? There is no picture but what makes it not a basement. House is old so that means the wood is magical or something.

:ohdear: My FIL is an attorney and he gifted us money to buy our house. Key word gifted, and he's not a psychopath.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

LargeHadron posted:

Did I screw myself over by applying to refinance $60k in student loans before closing on a mortgage? The mortgage has been approved and the appraisal has been ordered, but now that I've bothered to Google it, it looks like the lender can do another credit check prior to closing. I don't know what the $60k refinance will look like on their end, but I'm afraid they'll reject the loan after seeing it.

Sorry, first time purchasing a home and I'm very nervous something will go horribly wrong, because everything has gone incredibly well so far.

Yes this is bad, but not the end of the world as it should help your monthly debt load. You need to call your lender and tell them, mea culpa and all that. Surprises are bad, so you coming forward is better. Expect more paperwork. There is always more paperwork.

Someone along the way should have told you not to touch your credit while a mortgage is in flight, typically your lender and realtor. You should be mildly defensive if they try to scold you but accept it was a mistake.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

LargeHadron posted:

Ok, thanks. FWIW, I haven't yet *accepted* the refinance offer, only applied to refinance which involved a hard credit check by SoFi. I really have no idea what they'd see if/when they check my credit again.

Most of credit is being able to explain why things are the way they are to someone who deals with risk management. Shouldn't be a big deal.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:

So yesterday I was putting the paperwork together for an offer, but my wife suddenly went into a panic about how things were moving so fast and we hadn't looked at enough houses or considered other towns and so on. This morning she says she feels better and she's comfortable going forward but I guess the nerves have rubbed off on me.

On one hand, isn't this supposed to be a months-long, arduous process? Everything's been so smooth and easy and fast that, perversely, I feel like something's "wrong." On the other, I like this house a lot and I feel like I would regret it if I sat on my hands and missed my chance at it. Would I be wrong to trust my instinct and go ahead and make an offer?

You're about to make the single largest purchase in your life. A little bit of nerves is normal. We bought literally the first house we looked at, we had to force ourselves to look at a few others just to double check we weren't crazy. We went from "It will be a year before we can buy a house" to under contract in 4 weeks. 3 of those was double checking mortgage costs with lenders and getting pre-approval forms before looking at a single house. It was... nuts.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006
The gentleman our plumbers brought to trench 18"x12"x20' (~30ft^3?) had it done by noon, including cutting back brush. 4 hours by hand in dirt that is 50%+ rock by volume. :stare:

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Drunk Tomato posted:

Seller is requesting to move possession three days after closing so that they can have time to move into their new home. Should I charge rent for this, or is there anything else I need to do? Horror stories?

Rentback is very common. Make sure you have a contract covering it. Everything in life is a risk. Call your homeowners insurance and ask them how that works. You probably need to get a binder from your sellers to show the 3 extra days of coverage, or include it in the rentback and buy it for them.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Leperflesh posted:

Is the three days of rent they pay you, taxable income? If it were me, I'd rather push closing back than go through the hassle of a rental agreement, insurance, any taxes, etc. for three days' occupancy.

This is why you typically do a rentback for your daily mortgage cost. This means your basis is the same as your income - a wash. Also have a tax professional do your taxes the year you buy a house. Don't lose the cover sheet (or any of the other mountain of docs) until you close out the tax year after selling the house.

Looking at our electricity usage the 2 days post insulation :stare: it appears to be a 60% reduction. (I am a big baby and keep the AC set at 75 away/73 home.)

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

QuarkJets posted:

Dude we're like 86 / 81. Do you wear a sweater all day or something?

I don't know about where you live but my thermometer hit 95°F today. With the thermostat set at 76°F it will run at 100% duty cycle above ~90 degrees. At 100+ it loses ground to the heat, so the interior temp on the thermostat will start reading 77, 78, etc. 30-40KWh/day in juice. Last two days have been ~9.5 and ~11.5 respectively.

The walls and ceiling would be hot to the touch. Now they are cool.

And I am a big baby who sweats inside at 76 regardless of clothing status.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

supercrooky posted:

Quotes are good not only for determining how much to ask for, but for getting a specialist expert opinion on a problem turned up by a general inspector. Especially for the termites, as the cost of those repairs are much more variable than the others.

I wouldn't get a concession out of them for termites, I would demand they repair it. Let them figure out how much it costs, including whatever hidden damage they find when they start ripping out wood.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

LogisticEarth posted:

It's a 120 year old house in PA. Some termite and powder post beetle damage is practically guaranteed. Not to mention the place was way overbuilt, as older homes tend to be. As there was no evidence of any structural problems or active infestation, and this is an estate sale, I'm not expecting any repairs to be done by the seller. It's more of a "ok, we see that termites were here at one point, can you prove/guarantee that it's been treated? If not, then we'd require a reduction in price to pay for treatment".

For what it's worth, the inspector said the house was in really great condition for its age, and he'd buy it in a heartbeat if he were in our shoes. This is the second house we've used him on, and he was very thorough both times. He spent about 5+ hours at each place.

Talk to your realtor, but in 100% of the anecdotal evidence I have the sellers solve termite issues while the buyers do other "improvements" like your radon system.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Jealous Cow posted:

Their agent is already taking half commission to try and get them to move. This is a cheap house. They're asking 85. I offered 70, they countered at 77 and said "but we can't go further we'd be losing money!!!!" And I'm trying to get 74 now.

Given the upgrades it needs you're looking at pouring ~25%+ back into it immediately @ $77k for HVAC and electrical redo, I assume it needs pipes as well. Is this really the house for you? Have you looked up what they actually bought it for on Zillow/Redfin? Is renting for a year a better option if your current housing is that bad? How many months would it take to makeup the $3k split you're asking?

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Erwin posted:

Scenario 2 - seller's assist
or buy strippers for your housewarming or whatever.


Jealous Cow posted:

To clarify, my wife and I are buying this for her mom.

I think we have the winning scenario. Good luck. You are very generous people. Make sure she has her estate in order and the house is held in trust.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Master Stur posted:

The OP seems a bit out of date and also (rightfully) opinionated on certain things so how loving dumb am I to be considering a 0-3% down mortgage? My fiance and I both got new jobs in a city one hour away so we're looking to move for commute reasons. Renting sucks because the monthly payments are equal to the monthly mortgage even at 0-3% down for the houses we're looking at with the house being 2-3x the size. We have two large dogs that really limit our available apartments to mostly "luxury" ones. We found a house we really like for 200k with the only issue being lack of savings for a decent down payment. If it matters, my only debt is about 12k left on student loans at 4.5% interest and our combined monthly income after tax is around 4750.

e: Also mostly been looking at 150-170k homes for the same range of down payment (5% tops) but this particular one checks off every box on our dream list and includes a very well done patio built out towards a river. It's officially listed as not in a flood zone as well.

As long as you are considering the PITI payment and not just mortgage calculator payment you're fine. You should make sure that the mortgage calculators are including PMI, and that most of your 2.5% down is going to be sucked up as FHA PMI prepayment. Call your renters insurance people and ask for a quote on a sample house (send them a link on Zillow to one you like.) Call a few lenders and get pre-qualified. Eventually when you go to make an offer you will want to get a Good Faith Estimate which is a regulated item they must provide you.

http://www.consumerfinance.gov/askcfpb/146/what-is-a-good-faith-estimate-what-is-a-gfe.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_faith_estimate

Almost most importantly? Find a realtor you can trust. They should be guiding, not rushing, you through the process. Remember they're getting paid ~2-3% ($4-6k) of your purchase price for this service. They are there to represent your interest in the purchase so if they are being obnoxious fire them. Come to jesus talk optional depending on track record. (I know your budget is $200k max but here are a bunch of homes 25-50% over that, not helping you through the mortgage process, or downright on the sellers side on every single issue.)

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Master Stur posted:

Yeah we've factored PMI and property taxes into this already. The only rush is on our end: Current lease is up in June which severely limits the time we have to save up which is why I am even considering a 5% or less down payment since it is the only realistic option. I've lurked BFC in the past so I'm all set up tight with a budget. Mostly just wanted to make sure these type of mortgages weren't complete bad ideas regardless of any budget considerations. Unfortunately I would love time to save up but the idea of commuting 2hrs a day and rolling dice on car maintenance for another year or two is completely unappealing.

I would start talking to realtors and lenders now. Figure out what makes the most sense for you guys price wise and mortgage structure wise. As everyone else is saying your costs do go up owning even if the PITI payment is the same as your rent. You'll get a random supplemental tax bill, and you have to pay to have your waste hauled away (trash, sewer), etc. Unless there is a fundamental difference in your costs I would not put 100% of your savings into the down payment. 2.5% FHA vs. 5% FHA as I recall is not fundamentally different in price. You can always pay 2.5% extra principle later, but if you get hit with a burst water heater the day after you move in that's going on a credit card. Make sense?

Ask for amortization tables and for things to be filled out on HUD approved forms if you want to know the true cost of the house.

Get buyers title insurance. Don't let anyone talk you out of it. It's cheap for a reason, most people don't need it, but when you do it can save you the entire cost of your house. And you get to find out fun facts about the easements on your house!

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

pig slut lisa posted:

Should I wait until I get my full home inspection and radon report before going in to the bank to submit my mortgage application, or can I go in the same day as the inspection, even though the written reports won't be done yet?

Are you under contract without a rate-lock and mortgage in flight? Do you have a financing contingency on there I hope? Your underwriter does not need your inspection report to write your loan. Go ahead and bring in 12 months of pay stubs, your IRS tax report authorization, and copies of your bank statements.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

pig slut lisa posted:

Yes to being under contract with a financing contingency, no rate locked in yet, and what's a mortgage in flight?

We've got all our financial docs assembled, but when I was reviewing the application I saw there was a spot to list the cost of any repairs we might request. I figured I wouldn't know that number til after the report.

Yeah I would get that going. Best bet? Call your agent (realtor) and ask! Second best? Call your mortgage company and ask! Also get a second opinion on the mortgage. (2 Applications)

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

pig slut lisa posted:

Ugh, that sucks. Our loan officer is aware of the closing date and hasn't indicated any concerns so far, so uhhhhh hopefully that is still the case when we go in today!

Get that in writing. This is potentially the largest monetary transaction you do in your life. Everything is in writing. I don't know how the real estate market is where you are, but around here if you can't get a 30 day closing you may as well not bid. I told our lenders while the ink was still wet on the contract.

Edit: Assuming this is your first mortgage, that application is just the tip of the iceberg on paperwork. Your lender will sit on things unless you ride them like they owe you money. Get next steps expectations, timelines, etc out of them at every step of the way. And then underwriting will look at it and ask you a bunch of dumb questions you've already answered in the paperwork. The whole time your lender will complain about the new regulations that make it so hard to do business. They don't really care if your deal falls through.

Unless you've found some magical unicorn lender, in which case are they licensed in the California?

H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 18:14 on Nov 10, 2016

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Leperflesh posted:

Spend $300 to $400 for a full appraisal, and find out what your actual remaining principle is on the loan. If you have at least 80% Loan-to-Value or better, you almost definitely should stop paying PMI, which you can probably do without refinancing. With an appraisal in hand you can go to Wells Fargo and prove you're LTV is below their limit and get rid of that PMI.

I was wondering this myself. Do banks not require you to use their appraiser? I assumed if I had my house appraised to re-fi it then it was just money they were going to make me pay again.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Fuckin Trump Riot posted:

Yeah, requesting a PMI get lifted is definitely gonna happen. That seems like something I could quickly do for cheap and have a huge potential payoff.

Refinancing, ehn. The wife and I are looking to move to San Bernadino (ish) within a year or two so it's not worth it.

Thanks everybody! :)

Sup burbs buddy.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Vinny the Shark posted:

I've been moving on buying a townhouse over the past week. I had the place inspected and everything went well with no major defects. Well, except for one thing. The master bathroom's toilet had a "do not flush" note taped to the top of the lid. The inspector wouldn't flush it because of that. All the other pipes and plumbing worked properly, including the half bathroom's toilet on the ground floor. The inspectors said this was most likely a "local blockage." This note was even on the toilet in the pics when the advertisement went up about a month ago, so there's a good chance it's been unusable for months now.

My agent tells me the current owner is moving into an apartment next month. I'm under a pretty strong impression he just wants to sell this place and leave without much effort and as quickly as possible. I'm willing to buy the place "as is" if he makes a concession on the asking price. Agreed on price so far is $83000, I would like him to drop it to an even $80000.

Now, here's my question- would I be better off asking him to fix this problem before moving in, or stay with my original plan and request a price drop? How much would the plumber's bill be for removing a local blockage? This could be as simple as sending a snake down the pipe and breaking up the blockage, or it could be as serious as requiring a whole new plumbing structure and toilet replacement. I have no idea. I don't think it's the latter, since all the other pipes are working properly.

A basic snaking is $100. A major repair is likely $1000. It scales pretty linearly inside there. I would ask them why the note is there and get the price drop.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:

So has anyone dealt with buying a house while having a pending I-751 application? They send you a notice saying your residency is being extended "for one year" when they receive the application but you actual have status indefinitely until they make a decision regarding your application. But as you might imagine the lender isn't really familiar with this process and is asking me to provide proof that we've extended my wife's residence another year, which isn't actually possible to do. I guess you can get a stamp for your passport and maybe that's what we'll end up needing to do. Ugh.

Are you a citizen? Do you qualify for the mortgage without your spouse? It might be easier to remove her from the application altogether. Otherwise you may need to come up with a way to prove you will keep paying the loan when your spouse is deported by Trump.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Jealous Cow posted:

What exactly does this mean?

They don't have a realtor. This means the sellers agent (realtor) doesn't have to split the commission. The theory is the extra 2-3% payday for them will encourage them to see your offer as the best offer.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

baquerd posted:

I love how the best outcome is that the person they're trusting to give them a deal has to be crooked to let it bias them.

Being a buyers agent means getting paid by negotiating a split of the sellers fee, which is a % of the house sale price. Even if you hire an agent they are deep down inside, just a little bit, looking out for the sellers price. I assume this is part of the reason that concessions on sale price are less common than rebates on closing costs. It's the same money, but I assume the agents get a few more dollars. I haven't looked at the contracts though so I don't know for sure. We have only bought so far.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Alereon posted:

Sorry to interrupt your argument about ethics but :dance:IT HAPPENED I HAVE KEYS TO MY HOUSE:dance: Now I get to start working down the laundry list of fixes and improvements.

Congrats! Now comes the expensive part!

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

BraveUlysses posted:

I have no intent of using the credit card after it's paid off but i want to know how long my credit report will be impacted by the balance I was carrying, since it will probably factor somewhat into my refinance.

Should I wait a month or two after paying it off before I refinance? I'm hoping to take advantage of current rates before they go up or trump decides to gently caress this country up.

You can just give them a statement showing the $0 balance to counteract any balance on your credit report.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

BraveUlysses posted:

My FICO score is just under 800

I wouldn't sweat this detail. Call a lender and ask them. My credit report made it look like I was drowning in credit card debt, but at 795 avg credit score they really didn't care. You just need to talk to underwriting and explain things plainly when they ask you. You can already afford your current mortgage, a no money out refi that extends the term is only going to improve that. They are unlikely to even ask you about the credit card debt. "Yeah it's a 0% promo card that I'm paying off in 11 equal payments to never get hit with the accrued interest."

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Rated PG-34 posted:

Cool, thanks. We got 3.375 percent for 30 yrs as we are only doing 10% down, but at least there's no mortgage insurance. I think Wells Fargo is the only bank that does 10% down with such a low rate.

I need to talk to Wells Fargo apparently. Where in the country are you?

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Pryor on Fire posted:

It's a bit too late to talk to the right person at Wells Fargo, the lowest fee mortgages 30 yrs are at ~4.125% now, congrats to everyone who locked in below 4.0, something tells me we're not going to see that again for a loooooooong time.

Yeah but I'm living in a bubble and SHUT UP. :downsgun:

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

MrYenko posted:

I knew it was going to be a lot of work, but I really thought I'd feel like I was accomplishing something. Right now, it just feels like I've broken a lot of stuff.

:shepface:

My first day in our house I managed to convert $1 in plumbing parts to cover the ice maker outlet in the cold water supply (cap, teflon tape) into a $400+ plumber bill. I slipped off the cap and broke the hose for the sink integrated sprayer faucet. It rapidly exceeded what I knew how to fix. Most of the bill was for a new faucet setup.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

weas posted:

Had a guy knock on my door who claimed to have known the previous owners and had worked out some hypothetical plans for them to split my lot. He says he works with a local builder in town, and was wondering if I'd be interested in exploring splitting the lot. He said I could clear 100-150K so I am interested, but I don't really trust guys who knock on my door. He said I should look into it with the city and he'd stop by in a couple weeks. It actually would not be that inconvenient for me to lose that side of the lot (especially for 150K), but I have literally no idea where to start on something like this.

I have 0.4 acres with the last land-only assessment at $155K, and the split probably wouldn't be in half, more like 60/40. Is this something I should seriously consider or will it be an enormous pain in the rear end? Any advice?

Are they a GC? Because you should look at this like a business venture. You will need a lawyer to handle the contracts. I would include the plans in the contract for the sale so you get to dictate exactly what happens. If the "clearing price" is $100k then that guy is looking to make at least that much.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Cardboard Fox posted:

I've finally got a big boy job and have thought about possibly purchasing a condo in the next few years. Rent prices in South Florida are hitting criminal levels and it looks like I will be paying a minimum of $1500 a month for a 1/br.

However, the interesting thing about my state is that sometimes we have dirt cheap condos in the $100K range. Some of the ones I've looked at have pretty low condo HOA maintenance(less than $300 a month) and really low taxes.

There's got to be a catch. Based on my calculations of a 30 year mortgage, I would pay $700 a month for the mortgage+maintenance+taxes. This is looking very lucrative and I'm wondering what the main drawbacks to going this route are. I already know that there is a chance the maintenance fees will go up, and I may not be able to sell the condo fast if I decide to move to another state, but what else would I be getting myself into?

So even if I count high, it's looking like $800 a month for something that will gain equity, or $1500 a month for an apartment that won't.

This is all new to me, so please consider me a complete fool.

Even if it is worthless when you leave it should net out cheaper. The only problem comes if you can't unload it and must leave town. Then you might be stuck paying for it or bringing a pile of cash to the table to get the mortgage closed out. Make sure you read the HOA rules, look at their books, and actually verify their insurance/bank accounts/maintenance contracts/etc actually exist. Remember that if the roof leaks and rots out half of the frame you will be assessed the repair cost if their war chest doesn't cover it. HOA fees can be too low.

H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Dec 17, 2016

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Vinny the Shark posted:

My agent and I did our final walkthrough before closing. Everything was alright with the property, but I'm still kind of nervous seeing as the guy who lives there has a hell of a lot of packing left to do and he's slated to be out by the 22nd. Maybe he's just a huge procrastinator and he'll haul rear end out of there, but I fear this will become a problem with the holiday coming up. Especially since I have to be out of my apartment by the 31st. I really don't like depending on this guy.

I don't know how much is a hell of a lot, but our home was the same way where we take possession COE+2 or +3. They were gone, though they missed a lot of little nickel and dime stuff. Most of it we gave back, like their $48 ugly hanger: https://www.anthropologie.com/shop/eight-arms-hook?category=hardware-hooks&color=102 . They still had a whole wooden play equipment thing to disassemble, the cabinets were full, etc. They did not hire movers, I do not know how they did it all.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Kase Im Licht posted:

That quote is not the only one we received in that amount, though we have not done a full exploration of options. We also don't want to cheap out and end up with whatever kind of jackass did this thing in the first place and find ourselves in the same position down the road.

Can you post a picture of this unicorn shower? $10k to R&R a shower should be a lot of allowances for hidden damages or upgrading fixtures. If it's truly the basin leaking you should only need to demo out the basin and maybe one row of tile.

Is it because they don't want to work over Christmas?

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Droo posted:

If the house is that gross, you might want to steam clean the carpeting and TSP the walls before you put all your furniture and stuff in its new place. And congrats!

Paying a house keeper to "deep clean" the house before we moved in was the best thing ever. I think she charged us $150 to do it knowing we would be keeping her on if we liked her, wrote her a check for $200 when she finished. All the dog hair, cabinet crud, and miscellany were gone, plus the toilets, showers, oven, etc were nice and shiny clean.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

On Terra Firma posted:

I actually thought about doing this for clients down the line as a way of saying thank you for the business. $150 is nothing in the grand scheme of things when it can mean so much to someone trying to get settled in.

We actually hired our real estate agents housekeeper. He sends around ~$200 in gift cards to local businesses and subscription to the local weekly rag. I would suggest you to friends if you offered to clean my house for me after purchase, though that is a deep well if you wind up with a dog piss jungle where it soaked through the carpet into the hardwood and 18" up the drywall. Gift cards are safe and still endearing to someone I indirectly paid $10k.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Team_q posted:

I'm on week 2 of exercising the previous owners from our lovely bungalow.

You should really let them go, I know smoking is bad but you can't force someone to exercise. :ohdear:

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Hydronium posted:

I've been tormenting myself about whether or not I'm ready to buy a house. At this point, I think I need someone other than my coworkers ("BUY NOW BUY BUY BUY") or my parents ("I don't know, sweetie, do whatever you think is best") to bounce my anxieties off of.

My situation:
Base Income: 3976/mo net
Performance bonuses: steadily at 12,000/year net. Half paid in July and December. Could change for better or worse.
Rent: 975/mo
Food and Household Supplies: 200/mo (on a strict cash-based budget here, as this category is the easiest to get out of control for me)
Pet Supplies: 225/mo (one cat has asthma and requires expensive dust-free litter. Good thing I love the little poo poo)
Car + Rental Insurance: 132/mo
Utilities/Internet: Roughly 100/mo in winter, 50/mo in summer
Gas: 100/mo
Spotify: 10/mo
Net income after expenses: 2234/mo. Of this, I save $1640 towards a down payment and $300 towards “fun” savings. The remaining $~300 usually gets eaten up in non-routine expenses (lots of vet bills, ugh) and entertainment

I have 55k saved up. When I do buy a house, I would like to keep back 10k for emergencies, leaving me with 45k currently. My boyfriend will live with me and pay rent, but I’m doing all my calculations assuming I have to carry the mortgage alone (as the bank will do the same, ha)

I wasn’t planning to buy a house for another year, when after my routine savings, bonuses, and an expected windfall of $10k I’d have about 85k for the down payment available.

However, I am 1) a data analyst and 2) living in one of the hottest housing markets in the country. The median home in my city (Portland OR) is about 400k right now. Prices increased 14% in 2016, and are expected to do 5-10% in 2017. Interest rates, of course, are also expected to rise.

I put together a spreadsheet to calculate my expected mortage+taxes+insurance+possible PMI. I’ve got it set up so that you can enter the expected rise in interest rates and home prices as well as the down payment you’ll have available each month. Assuming rates and home prices rise linearly throughout the year, you can then see your expected total monthly payment.

Per those calculations, if home prices rise 15% and interest goes up 1%, I’ll be paying about $500/mo more in a year than I would if I bought a comparable house today. If home prices rise 10%, I’d be paying $50/mo more. If home prices rise 5%, I’d be paying only $70/mo less.

Obviously, there are huge assumptions in all these numbers. However, they give the feel that if I buy now with less down, I’ll be paying about the same or possibly less than if I waited a year and had to deal with higher prices and interest.

I just want some advice to people who aren’t all caught up in this. I feel that at 25 with only 45k down, I’m a little young and immature to buy a house. I’m worried about major unexpected expenses. I’m worried about how much of a pinch I’ll feel about paying roughly $2k/mo on housing when my monthly net is only $4k. However, I’m also worried about the market moving out from under me and continuing to rent in a terrible market with awful, loud neighbors living above me.

What say you? Should I start approaching a lender and real estate agents, or should I wait until I have more down and feel a little less anxious?

I would start by asking around and figuring out who a good agent is to use, because some are amazing and others are awful. Call them up and have a discussion about your thoughts on a budget of $x-$y. They will likely immediately get you into an MLS search. Look through it and see if it's something you want and can afford.

50% of your take home on housing a very high number. You will get some of that back annually on your tax refund, but that money is generally just oh right the house needs a new sewer line money. Expect your utilities to roughly double. It's not that your electric bill will double (it might, more sq ft, draftier windows, that hole you didn't know about behind the cabinet), but you also have to pay someone for water to drink, haul away your trash, accept your sewer waste, etc.

The bank will approve you for a oh-thats-why-the-housing-crisis-happened amount of money. They are OK with you eating rice and beans. Call someone up and say you want to know what the pre-approval amount would be without a hard credit pull. When you do get an actual pre-approval give that piece of paper to your agent but otherwise tell them your actual budget. If your agent doesn't respect your wishes, fire them.

That being said, you are saving at an amazing clip. Keep it up. Maybe see if there is a place where you could rent out a bedroom? Even at 50% average occupancy that might bring it down into a very manageable space.

Go ahead and make a folder on your laptop with a sub-folder called "finances." Go to your bank(s) and download the last several months of statements, start saving pay stubs into this folder, etc. Give them friendly names like "BofA-Statement-Oct-2016.pdf". Keep this up monthly if you're serious about buying. You'll thank me later when your lender starts asking for it all.

H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Jan 1, 2017

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H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

QuarkJets posted:

10k is probably not enough as an emergency fund

e: Well, it's a gamble. $10k might be fine, or you might move in and then have to replace the roof the next week. Standard advice is to budget 10% of the buying cost for routine annual maintenance, and that's meant to average out over several years. Your first year might go fine, or you might suddenly have huge medical bills and an exploding water heater

Do you mean replacement cost? For example, our home was $470k but the replacement cost is half that. I assume that works out much more normally in places without hilariously overpriced homes. $47,000/year is a lot. $20k/year is still a lot. At that rate I could have a whole new house every 10 years.

Since you're a math nerd, it's realistically a few grand a year in actual out of pocket maintenance costs plus the amortized risk of failure of every individual component of the house plus what it can take out with it. For example are the pipes 60 year old galvanized? You're on borrowed time, but if they've been copper repiped you get ~50 years since install. Next is the sewer side, electrical, roof, random wood rot, it goes on and on. It's all risk.

I would suggest saving at your amazing rate right now and re-evaluate in a years time while keeping an MLS search going. Then when the time is right you have everyone lined up and ready to go. Be up front with people about your plans. Anyone who snears at you never call them again. If they don't value that you value their time, they can gently caress right off. One day you might have a bag of money to give them, and right now you have word of mouth.

H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 02:21 on Jan 1, 2017

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