|
Hi everyone, thanks for the great thread with some great information. I've been reading through it the best I can and I am really jealous of everyone who is making more than me in an area with affordable housing. I just got pre-approved for a $135k FHA at 5.5% interest over 30 years. I live in the suburban Chicago area where housing prices and property taxes are through the roof. I've been looking in about 12 different cities and towns around me, and just getting into a place that isn't in "tear down" condition will start listing around $125,000 with an average property tax rate of $4,100. I gross about $42,000 a year and have $12,000 in savings - I'm looking at putting the minimum 3.5% down. This thread really has me in a bad mood because I've been so gung-ho about buying a house for the past few months, and even people who are in considerably better financial shape than I am AND in markets where housing is affordable are still worried, that leaves me pretty upset / jealous / what have you. My question is, I guess for anyone in areas where property taxes are high, why haven't property taxes gone down in conjunction with dropping home values? After looking at what people around the country are paying for property taxes, the $4,100 I'm looking at on a $126,000 house seems outrageous. Assuming home values decline, should I expect property tax rates to drop as well? I guess I could see the value in waiting it out while home prices drop some more, but I'd really like to take advantage of the $8,000 credit for my down payment. The Shep fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Jun 30, 2009 |
#
¿
Jun 30, 2009 22:53
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 21, 2024 17:53 |
|
|
Cheesemaster200 posted:Tax rates will most likely go up due to the assessed value of everyone's home going up. The city needs its money somehow. What pisses me off is that tax rate will probably stay up after home prices recover. So goes the cycle of increased dependency on government spending... This is what it says on my county assessors website: Township Assessor posted:We continue to receive calls from residents wondering whether their property taxes will be reduced in response to the downturn in the real estate market. Unfortunately, that most likely will not happen. Property taxes are driven by the spending of your local taxing bodies, such as schools, villages, libraries and park districts. If assessments were frozen or reduced, but spending by taxing bodies increased, taxes would still go up. So the $126,000 house I looked at today - which sold for $260,000 in 2005 with a tax rate of $4,180 is still the same and could go up. It's just mind boggingly outrageous to me that $350 of my mortgage payment would go to loving property taxes. I hate the chicago market. Literally 15% of my gross income towards property taxes. By the time I'm done paying income tax and property tax, I'm drat near 40% percent of my income for a 1000 square foot house that's a foreclosure and in bad shape to boot. 
The Shep fucked around with this message at 23:43 on Jul 1, 2009 |
|
#
¿
Jul 1, 2009 23:37
|
|
|
fatman1683 posted:What's considered a 'lowball' offer in real estate? The state of the market being what it is I want to get as good a price as possible, but I have no idea where to start with the negotiation process. You can always discuss it with your realtor as well, but from what I've read (and I'm just learning the whole house buying thing myself), your starting bid should be 8-10% below the list. AS far as I know, you can start your opening bid as low as you want and always come back with a higher bid up until you reach your limit. If your maximum limit is 90k and the house is 95k, you can come in with a bid for 85k and if it is rejected, go to 87k, and so on until you reach your maximum. Unless it's a short-sale type property, don't think it is since you mentioned bank owned, but those can take up to 4 months to hear back on your offer I've heard. I'm sure many more experienced and helpful people will chime in though.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 3, 2009 07:23
|
|
|
Rikes posted:From what I have looked at: I came to post exactly this. Wow, you must be looking in the Chicagoland area too? There are more townhomes in my price range than single family homes, and on top of that, the townhomes are generally cheaper, in better condition, and in nicer areas. So, my question to Fidgety Rat would be - who would look at a SFH over a townhome unless you are looking at homes greater than $200,000?? The Shep fucked around with this message at 07:11 on Jul 8, 2009 |
|
#
¿
Jul 8, 2009 07:08
|
|
|
peengers posted:Other than walking away, what options do I have? Should I go traditional mortgage, borrow into the equity, and just fix it that way without having to rush into repairs before even being able getting the FHA one? While I'm certainly no expert here - why can't you just put 20% down and go traditional? That way you won't have to meet any FHA inspection standards and can fix the stuff at your leisure.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 10, 2009 06:09
|
|
|
Ophelia's Ashes posted:I am looking to spend about 38 - 40k on a new car however, everyone I talk to states I should apply for a mortgage before I buy the car because it will lower what a qualify for. Although I find it hard to believe you are really ready to drop almost 50% of your income on a new car, I'll just jump on the bandwagon and say please do not spend that kind of cash on a car. If I was making the poo poo ton of cash you are, I'd be worried about being the next on the chopping block as companies lay off workers. I know it's already been covered to an extent, but every additional debt obligation you have lowers the amount of money you can put toward a mortgage. If you go to get pre-qualified for a home loan, they will look at all your monthly payments and debt obligations, fortunately it looks like you don't have much, but I'd see a mortgage lender first and see what they'd give you now versus if you had a $500 a month car payment (which will also need to include insurance, fuel, and maintenance). I think in most cases they will still only lend you what you can pay with 1/3 your gross income, so you might be ok either way.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 15, 2009 21:08
|
|
|
Dumb question. I'm getting ready to put my first offer in on a house ever. I suggested coming in 10% under list, and the realtor said that is a good idea. Should I come in at EXACTLY 10% under list, or round up or down to the nearest round number? For instance, should my offer be $118756 or a flat $119000? Or does it even matter? I know I can ask the realtor this question but save me from looking like a dumbass.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 21, 2009 19:51
|
|
|
FidgetyRat posted:Personally, I think not rounding makes the offer sound retarded. I don't think the seller will mind losing $244 if you are already gouging him/her for 10%. It's bank owned, I'm not really gouging anyone I don't think. It has been on the market awhile so I'm sure they'd like to get rid of it. But thanks, I will round up for the offer. Going to talk to the Realtor tomorrow and put it in.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 21, 2009 20:05
|
|
|
ObsidianBeast posted:How often can you find home listings with the floor plan of the house listed as one of the pictures? I like to be able to see room sizes and the flow of the house without having to actually go there. To second what Moana said, the lack of floorplans really sucks. On top of that, the pictures are always small, grainy, from the worst angles, and don't paint an accurate image of what the house interior looks like. I'd have saved myself a handful of trips looking at houses if the pictures were decent enough for me to judge from my computer rather than wasting my time, the realtors time, and the sellers time.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 21, 2009 21:49
|
|
|
Leperflesh posted:My wife and I are buying a house in the SF Bay Area, which is daunting for several reasons; it's a weird and unusual market, we're shopping in the $250k and down range, which even now is still the low end of the market, and there is tremendous amounts of stupid investor activity making everything more difficult. Investor activity is really pissing me the gently caress off right now. You're absolutely right, they're running around throwing cash offers on all kinds of homes in my price range, and I've lost out on 3 offers so far to cash deals when all I have is FHA with 3.5% down. Leperflesh posted:My wife and I gross just under $100k a year. We have $5000 in cash. I don't know if I'm reading this correctly, but you make $100,000 a year and you only have $5,000 in savings on hand? If this is the case, you don't even have enough money for the MINIMUM down payment, let alone the closing costs on top of this. I'm not a financial expert, but I make $35k a year and I have $15,000 in savings, and I'm prepared to just about blow all of it on a down payment, closing costs, and up front maintenance and repair costs. Leperflesh posted:Between the two of us we have about $40k in student loans, all of which are federal loans, so they're at very good interest rates. I also owe about $13k in credit card debt, all at rates of 5% or lower (in the past three years, despite my car payment, I've reduce that from over $18k at its peak). My wife makes about enough to pay her student loans ($35k of the total $40k), her own personal expenses, and that's it... so basically I'm buying the house on my own income. All of this debt, combined with a very small amount of cash in savings, is adding up to paint a not very pretty picture. Just my opinion, I think you need to take some more time and focus on paying down debt and increasing your savings, I'm pretty sure this is the same type of basic advice anyone will give you in this thread. Leperflesh posted:To help cover closing costs, my parents are offering a few thousand - basically whatever we need to cover those costs and any gap in the down payment. 3.5% down on a $250k house is $8,750. Add in closing costs and FHA fees and I'd be willing to bet you're pushing $13,000 - $15,000 on closing costs. Are you willing to throw down your entire $5,000 in savings, and put your parents on the hook for potentially $10,000? Leperflesh posted:California real estate taxes are low - prop 13 sets the state taxes to 1% of the purchase price. There are local taxes that depend on the exact area, and we're casting a broad net, but I'm confident our property tax will be below 2% and probably more like 1.25%. I suppose that's one of the little joys in buying out in that market. The last offer I put in had a tax rate of 4.3%... Leperflesh posted:...banks are supposedly "holding on to inventory" - forclosing on houses but not putting them up for sale. The idea is that they're trickling them out to the market to avoid having too many properties up at once, which depresses prices. I wouldn't put it past them. Banks are the loving worst when dealing with them from a real estate angle. Leperflesh posted:Another Don't worry, I have a suspicion that home sales are only SLIGHTLY up right now due to investor activity and 1st time buyers utilizing the 8k credit. Next year we will see the 8k credit fade and with that, even fewer first time buyers. Unemployment will still be high, people will still be foreclosing, and these investors will be sitting on houses they can't get rid of. It may work in our favor. gently caress investors. Nothing would make me happier than to put in a lowball offer on an investor-owned home and having them sell it to me because they have no other option. That would be a great "gently caress you" in my opinion. Leperflesh posted:neither is going to be happy about that situation because they'll have a fairly high chance of doing lots of legwork for us and then not making a dime on it when we go with something offered by the other agent. If the realtor isn't working for you, just a get a new one. If they treat you like more of an annoyance than a customer, forget about it. I lucked out and just picked a random realtor and she has been great to work with so far. The Shep fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Aug 19, 2009 |
|
#
¿
Aug 19, 2009 22:29
|
|
|
DerbyTime!!! posted:We had a good inspector and agent. After our inspection was done and a few medium-sized problems were identified, we were able to get the seller to lower the price by $10K from our already-accepted offer, and got our lender to keep the $10K in the loan so we'd have money available to get the work done. Can you make these types of negotiations when dealing with a bank-owned property? Everything in my price range is bank owned, foreclosure, or short sale, and it's my understanding that you make an offer and it's either accepted or rejected - no room for bargaining. Has anyone had a different experience with bank owned properties? Much to my surprise, and shock, I was told last week that the bank had accepted the offer I put in on a house and literally gave me 24 hours to sign off on the contract. My head was spinning from the whole ordeal, and I wasn't happy with the monthly payments after crunching the numbers, so I backed out of the deal. But I'm wondering if I should have had the inspection done anyways and tried to haggle on the sales price. It was a multiple-offer foreclosure (I think roughly 15 other offers), so I imagine if I tried to haggle they'd just go to the next buyer. I also learned an extremely important lesson. Don't bid on a house unless you are 100% sure you can afford it should your offer be accepted. In my defense, I viewed the home at 10am on a weekday and the bank wanted the offers in by noon the same day. I was in such a hurry to get a bid in that I forgot to take into account the tax rate on the property, which was 4.6% of the list price and priced me thoroughly out of my comfortable monthly payment range. I couldn't stomach paying more for property taxes on a house than I pay in rent for my entire apartment. The Shep fucked around with this message at 07:54 on Aug 24, 2009 |
|
#
¿
Aug 24, 2009 07:49
|
|
|
TasmanianX posted:Does anyone have any good ways of picking a decent Realtor? We've been doing a lot of good research and found some places that look nice, what else is a Realtor going to do for us really (other than place bids and poo poo) than we are doing ourselves, online and what not? I've only been using 1 realtor so far, and although she is nice, I don't really feel like she has much of a purpose other than showing up to a house to unlock it for me and handling paperwork when I bid on a house. I do all the legwork and research on my own, including what places to look at, what neighborhoods are good or bad, and what to offer on the house. I've tried to ask her questions about specific places we've looked at, but almost every question I ask is answered with "I can't really answer that due to state laws" or something, I guess realtors can't comment on the quality of the neighborhood, the types of neighbors, the quality of the school districts, etc. as it is against some law that doesn't want realtors affecting real estate value. At least, that's what I gathered. Luckily my parents are very knowledgeable with real estate, and my Mom was a realtor for 10 years, so I have plenty of support outside of my realtor.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 27, 2009 17:41
|
|
|
Sophia posted:Buying seemed like the natural fit for the situation, and most of my single coworkers that make the same amount as me own places in the $300 to $400K range. I guess I'm a little taken aback at the responses here because of that but I'll certainly think about what you're saying. Thanks again! You're in the Chicago market - most people on this forum aren't, so you're going to get responses from people who live in more affordable areas in terms of cheaper real estate, lower taxes, etc. 60% of take-home pay for housing sounds high, and it is, but it's about par for the course if you're buying in the Chicago area. All 3 of my friends who own places are between 50-60% take-home pay for their housing costs. Obviously these are single-income households, it would help if you are married or have a roommate. I just got a townhome in the suburbs that I'll be closing on the end of this month. The mortgage will be 58% of my takehome pay. Fortunately, I'll have a roommate so it will offset the cost. And this is one of the cheapest places I've found that is still livable and not in a lovely neighborhood. Another thing is taxes, which are skyhigh around here. 3.7% tax rate on the townhome I just bought and then I read about goons who enjoy 1-2% tax rates around the country. I'm not telling you to go out and buy that condo, honestly $325k for a condo sounds ridiculous to me, but I understand where you're coming from and why you'd feel taken aback by the responses here. I have a recession-proof job so I'm not worried in that regard, but it's something to consider yourself if you're willing to put that much money into housing. The Shep fucked around with this message at 23:56 on Sep 2, 2009 |
|
#
¿
Sep 2, 2009 23:44
|
|
|
Strict 9 posted:Our 10 day inspection contingency expires in two days and we're rushing to get everything done by Friday. I don't know how people manage to do this in the standard 7 days. The "standard" must be different from state to state. In Illinois we have a 5 day inspection period, and it was a lot of rushing to get the inspection done, the place de-winterized, etc... Do you get a longer inspection period if it's not bank owned? I wonder if that's the case since I'm buying a foreclosure.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 18, 2009 02:41
|
|
|
Hey guys, I have a question about getting my money back from the bank, here is the quick rundown. I purchased a house with an FHA loan and began the financing process with BoA and was charged a $475 origination or start-up fee. I wait for BoA to process my loan. Soon enough, the date that I am to have acquired financing by passes, leaving me in breach of contract. The seller (foreclosure bank owned) agrees to extend my financing date by a week. During this time, BoA finally decides to check if the property will be FHA approved and it turns out it is not (due to some random stipulation in the HOA). I don't have enough money to do a conventional loan so again I breach contract by not obtaining financing and the deal falls through. At this point I'm still out the attorney fees, the inspection fees, de-winterization fee, and BoA origination fee. I am waiting to hear back on what the loan officer will say, but is it typical to expect (or worth fighting with the bank) to have any or all of that original fee refunded since the deal fell through?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 19, 2009 04:46
|
|
|
Johnny Longtorso posted:I don't know what it's like where you live, but here the smallest townhouses that are being built are 1,500 square foot, 3-bedroom units. Same here. I just wish they'd start building more apartments, I'm so sick of apartment hunting... My friend bought a house for over $100,000 less than what it was worth in 2007, and yet I haven't found a single apartment to rent that doesn't cost just as much if not more than it did in 2007. I know this isn't the Home Renting thread, but renting really sucks in this economy. When my friends are paying mortgages on 3 bedroom houses at a fairly equivalent amount to what it would cost for me to rent a 1 bedroom apartment, something is wrong.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 27, 2010 10:25
|
|
|
I have a 401k from previous job that I rolled over into an IRA. Can I borrow from the IRA toward my down payment as a first time home buyer without any penalty? A google search tells me I can because of some tax breaks enacted in 1997 but I'm really dumb with this stuff and won't get to talk to my lender until next week.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 15, 2011 06:55
|
|
|
I recently put an offer in on a foreclosed townhome and the bank accepted the offer. A really upsetting thing happened. Being a foreclosure, the bank actually went ahead and did some work on the place to clean it up. New carpeting throughout (cheap, but new and clean looking), and fresh neutral painting throughout. The place was spotless and move-in ready except for the normal foreclosure things (needs appliances, bathroom dirty, etc). Fast forward a week, the offer has been accepted, and I show up for the inspection. The place is a loving mess. It appeared as though a contractor had up and left in the middle of a project... Painting rugs/cloths were covering the carpets and floors, plaster was smeared everywhere in an attempt to "repair" walls that were perfectly fine and freshly painted a week ago. Holes were cut in the wall for seemingly no reason at all, and the inspector could not find any wiring or even hardware installed to accept wiring into these small rectangular holes cut into the walls. What the gently caress happened? My realtor and I were in shock at the state the home was in and took pictures to send to both the listing agent and my attorney. The speculation from my realtor is that the contractor hired by the bank to do work had shown up and, upon finding no work to do, started "making work" by cutting holes and fixing them, plastering and repainting, etc... Has anyone heard of this ever happening? This is purely cosmetic, but it was still disheartening to see such a nice place turned into an unfinished mess of holes and plastering. I'm not kidding when I'm telling you that walls were literally SMEARED with plaster. I don't know what my options are at this point as I won't speak with my attorney/realtor until Monday, but my realtor mentioned that she'll have my attorney demand the property be put back to its original condition prior to the sale. Just curious to see if anyone has had or known of an experience like this?
|
|
#
¿
Feb 20, 2011 09:04
|
|
|
sanchez posted:Today I did some laundry and water started backing up into all the bathtubs. A man is coming tomorrow to take a bunch of money from me. Thread title confirmed! Turned the AC on a few days ago and no cold air came out. A man is coming next week to take a bunch of money from me. Post confirmed.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2011 23:19
|
|
|
jwitko posted:My realtor just sent me this: Unless you're heartbroken over the homes you're missing out on by having other bids go higher than yours, I would continue to bid LOW and stay low. I came in 7% below the asking price on a bank owned foreclosed townhouse (which was already over 30% lower than non foreclosed units in the subdivision), against the advice of my realtor. She pressed me hard to go up on the bid, saying "this will be a multi-offer and you want to be more aggressive." Sure enough, I got a call from my realtor the next day telling me the bank had multiple offers and needed my "best and highest" offer by the end of the day. Again, much to the dismay of my realtor, I stayed at my original offer for two reasons. One, I was already at my maximum comfortable limit (and I still sometimes think I went too high, I pay 46% of my net income per month to my mortgage), and two, because I was gambling that the other offers were even lower than mine or the bank was bluffing. The realtor called me another day later, shocked, to tell me the bank had accepted my offer. I think my realtor and I had different ideas of "aggressive".  Do. Never. Buy. But if you do, bid low, stay low.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 28, 2011 08:44
|
|
|
Chin Strap posted:And 46% of net being 30% of gross implies an effective tax rate of almost 35% which is impossible unless you are making millions. At a generous 46% of net being 35% of gross you are still looking at a 24% effective rate which is 150k per year (which he probably isn't). I'm using a different gross income definition though. My net income represents about ~71% of my gross income, which does not imply that my effective tax rate is 29% because you have to factor in other deductions like insurance and retirement accounts. The generic rule for housing is that it should not exceed 1/3 your gross income. My yearly gross income is about 36k, my mortgage ($981/month and over half of that is HOA and property tax) would be $11,772 per year and roughly 33% of my gross income. I'm not saying the 1/3 rule is right for you, it's just what banks will generally look at as a starting point. Consider yourself lucky if you live in an area where you can afford any housing at less than 1/3 of your gross income. I am living dirt cheap for the Chicagoland area, trust me. edit-more poo poo, and cleaned up to sound less dickish. The Shep fucked around with this message at 05:43 on Apr 29, 2011 |
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2011 00:30
|
|
|
Rusty Shackelford posted:With no down payment, the P&I on a $220,000 30-year mortgage at 5% would be $1181 per month. With a $70,000 down payment, he's looking at a monthly payment of $805. Property taxes and HOA could easily be upwards of $800 - $1200/mo though on a condo in that price range depending on where it's located. We are talking about a condo here right? My townhome HOA and property taxes combined are more than my P&I, P&I is about 42% of my total monthly payment. Leperflesh posted:Woaaah. You're talking about an enormous increase in what you're paying for your home, over $1350. Even for that $220k house, you're going to increase your costs substantially. With a sizable down payment like the above poster mentioned, he could be looking at ~$800 for P%I, maybe a $300 HOA payment, and possibly ~$450/mo property taxes (conservative 2.5% estimate) - $1550, and I would consider this a best case scenario. The real question is if you're going to consider buying a condo, why not just rent? Hell it's like the same thing minus the headaches of home-ownership. The Shep fucked around with this message at 01:12 on May 3, 2011 |
|
#
¿
May 3, 2011 01:03
|
|
|
Shipon posted:To interject - California's general property taxes are capped at 1%, and even with additional bond payments, the average property tax rate is most likely around 1.2-1.4%. Holy jeez... Well that's great for you guys, but I guess it only helps balance out the property costs? Taxes on my townhome are over 4%, and I'm on the low end for my area (Chicago burbs). I've seen tax rates as high as 5.5% on some properties, and it's usually because when property values plummeted over the past two years, tax rates (taxable value?) stayed the same. I've talked to the assessor, they won't do jack poo poo about it, so welp. And earlier, I was talking about HOA fees PLUS taxes, not just HOA fees. I would consider $300 a typical HOA Condo fee, that's probably not as regionally affected as property tax rates.
|
|
#
¿
May 3, 2011 02:57
|
|
|
greasyhands posted:I live in Texas and I handle the absurd property taxes with my own savings account- it works pretty well for me. Every list I've looked at doesn't even show Texas in the top 10 for property taxes in the nation. What is considered absurd down there?
|
|
#
¿
May 4, 2011 05:58
|
|
|
greasyhands posted:Words... As a percentage of median home value (a more meaningful measure in my opinion) Thanks for the good information guys, I didn't realize the differences in measurements for taxes (median home value, household income, etc.) These state rankings still don't do justice for those people with extremely high costs of living. My state of Illinois for instance, the entire Chicagoland area is almost a whole other world compared to "downstate". I'm still bitter that my yearly tax rate on my sub-$100k home is about $4,320. Property taxes are 47% of my monthly mortgage. This is on top of high sales taxes (10% in cook county), and a 5% state income tax. But when the rest of the state is basically farmland, it really skews the results. The Shep fucked around with this message at 08:11 on May 4, 2011 |
|
#
¿
May 4, 2011 08:06
|
|
|
jerkstore77 posted:This just another reminder to people to NEVER buy a condo and that HOAs loving suck. I can do you one better... Before I moved in to my townhome, I read the regulations packet they sent me which had a section on leasing. However, once I closed on the property and moved in, I was finally sent the updated regulations packet which banned all leasing/renting back in 2008 and requires the unit owner to reside in the place. ALWAYS call the HOA and make sure you have the most up-to-date rules and regulations before closing.
|
|
#
¿
May 19, 2011 22:17
|
|
|
Cmdr. Shepard posted:Turned the AC on a few days ago and no cold air came out. A man is coming next week to take a bunch of money from me. Post confirmed. Had my freon filled up and the HVAC tech told me it would probably leak out again but he could not estimate when it would all go but if I was lucky it would last me the summer. Service charge: $220 Not even 2 weeks later, my A/C is completely gone again. Now I'm looking at a $2,600 repair/replacement. Do. Never. Buy.
|
|
#
¿
May 27, 2011 05:08
|
|
|
Edit - Disregard, answered my question
The Shep fucked around with this message at 08:39 on Jun 1, 2011 |
|
#
¿
Jun 1, 2011 08:34
|
|
|
UrbanFarmer posted:4. I don't care if the price of the house drops 10 or 20 or 30%. I really don't. In fact, that'd be great as it would mean lower property taxes. Not always... Where I live, they assess values based on the prior 3 years of sales and comparable figures. In 2011, I paid $95k for my house. My home was last sold in 2010 for $185,000, and prior to that in 2007 for $208,000. My assessed taxable value is $186,000 and I was told to go pound sand when I filed an appeal. I'm literally paying taxes on a home value worth twice what I paid. However, at the low price, relative to your income, that you're buying at the taxes really won't matter at all. It's like pocket change for you. The Shep fucked around with this message at 06:22 on Jun 4, 2011 |
|
#
¿
Jun 4, 2011 06:19
|
|
|
Clint Howard posted:I don't know if I can stand living in lovely one bedroom apartments anymore... This is starting to wear on me pretty bad... separation of work, sleep, and relaxation areas is my primary motivator for buying right now. I'll just add that this is pretty much why I decided to buy and although I've had some unfortunate and costly things come up with the house, I think it's a drat good reason to buy I was sharing a 2 bedroom apartment with a roommate and after 3 years I was starting to lose my mind. Now I have a 2 floor, 3 bedroom town-home all to myself. Just having some loving room to spread out is worth it alone. And, in my case, being able to do whatever I want (within reason) at anytime of the day without worrying about a roommate sleeping or something is the tits. My biggest mistake was not having enough of an emergency fund after buying the house, because I pretty much put my entire savings into the down payment. I kept $4,000 on hand after buying the townhome and then poo poo started breaking right off the bat. Within 2 months of owning I've had to replace appliances, my central air conditioning unit, the garage door opener, plumbing issues, and all kinds of little things here and there that I didn't anticipate. I now have less than $1,000 to my name and I'm living paycheck to paycheck trying to make ends meet. If it wasn't for help from my parents, I'd have gone bankrupt within those two months. Keeping $15k on hand is a lot better than where I was, but plan on EVERYTHING going wrong when you buy a place.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 6, 2011 20:13
|
|
|
Bovine Delight posted:Just checked out my house that is being built. Realized there are smaller HVAC returns in all 3 of the bedrooms and in the laundry room, but no main return that services the living/dining/kitchen/breakfast area. Poked my head in a few other houses and they all have a large rectangular return in the hallway ceiling near the entrance. Cannot wait to see how long this is going to take to rectify. Are the bedrooms upstairs? If so, why would you want a return on the lower level of the house?
|
|
#
¿
Jun 20, 2011 00:59
|
|
|
entr0py posted:we don't really have a desire to live like college students. What does this even mean? Not spending an arm and a leg on housing isn't just for college students.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 22, 2011 00:10
|
|
|
slowfoot posted:We actually don't have an attorney, just my cousin (who is a practicing attorney) giving us advice. The price of hiring an attorney to consult with and be with you at closing is a tiny, tiny cost in comparison to the peace of mind of having someone trained and well versed in all the hosed-up real estate law there is. Would you consult a foot doctor on a heart transplant?
|
|
#
¿
Jun 29, 2011 00:16
|
|
|
FISHMANPET posted:I lived with two other guys for three years after meeting them in college (one was my roommate, another lived in my hall) and now they're both in my wedding (the roommate being my best man). There's a huge difference between living with people right off the bat, having never been friends in the past, and moving in with friends you've known for a long time. I can't believe anyone would even consider beyond a split-second thought BUYING a place with a friend...
|
|
#
¿
Jul 5, 2011 23:47
|
|
|
Leperflesh posted:Don't forget your property taxes, utilities, insurance, and maintenance costs. And the $300+ monthly "special assessment" to repair the roof/pool/clubhouse/parking lot that the HOA enacts the month after you move in.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2011 03:16
|
|
|
coyo7e posted:Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the $8k tax credit sunsetted as of April of this year, correct? There wasn't another one and it wasn't extended or anything, right? Mostly for curiosity's sake. It expired in 2010, not this year. The Shep fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Aug 11, 2011 |
|
#
¿
Aug 11, 2011 21:58
|
|
|
Cascadia Pirate posted:We just finished our inspection No underfloor insulation, hot water tank is shot, galvanized plumbing near the end of its life, half-assed repairs to the garage roof, and no state seal on the electric panel. Lots of fun projects to look forward to. Someone didn't read the thread title. (or the thread)
|
|
#
¿
Sep 22, 2011 00:02
|
|
|
quote:Would it be possible to afford a 30 year mortgage on $100,000 house making $612.50 gross a week (I get paid 1099 so have to pay own taxes) without living paycheck to paycheck while having money to afford utilities? At a yearly gross of $31,850, you can *ideally* spend 33% of that on housing. That leaves you at $875 a month as your absolute maximum for monthly housing costs. With 20% down, a decent rate (4.5%), and an extremely low property tax (under 2%), I came up with about $716 - $746 as your monthly mortgage payment. This doesn't include utilities. Add in electric, gas, water, garbage, sewer, internet, television and you're going to easily be up over $875. We haven't even gotten into maintenance and repairs yet... See the problem? If you got the best rate possible, even better than 20% down payment, low taxes, and skipped out on cable tv, you could probably do it. I did (93k house on a 35k income)... But I don't recommend it and thus, do never buy. Edit - nevermind all the above, I tried to justify it a bit for you but... no, just don't do it.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 27, 2011 06:13
|
|
|
Speaking about refinancing, can anyone recommend some good resources or calculators for figuring out if it's worth it? I don't know anything about it but I am being pushed by my parents to refinance on the place I just bought. For some background, I closed in March of this year and I have an approximately $74k mortgage at 5.25%. Is it a good idea to even consider refinancing after such a short period of time? What are "general" guidelines for refinancing costs I should take into consideration?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 14, 2011 08:34
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 21, 2024 17:53 |
|
|
Recently received my new property assessment from the county and the assessment went way down, which should hopefully lower my tax bill. If I have an escrow account setup to take care of tax payments, will my escrow account automagically adjust itself to reflect the lower tax payments? I checked online and my next statement still shows the same monthly payment I've been making but maybe it just takes time.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 15, 2011 09:41
|
|