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basx posted:Is this a buyer's market? Yes. But your bargaining position hasn't just changed with regard to home prices. It's also changed with regards to what you pay a realtor, if you choose to do so (which, by the way, I heartily advise for any first-time buyer or seller). As a recent first-time home buyer, I whole-heartedly agree. Sure, it was a "buyers market," but that meant competition for any good property was absurd with dozens and dozens of offers immediately upon listing. I hit the jackpot with my agent, who was a personal friend. Sure, I had the Internet- but he would put in so much legwork that I just couldn't do with a full time job, and calm my nerves / help me strategize in a bidding war where I had no reference whatsoever. But he was probably the exception -- at one point we visited a property that had notably fewer offers, and he noticed that the property had only a 2% commission. Which in my case was an example of how open and honest he was, but maybe speaks to the point made above. So I guess my overall point is to agree with yours -- hour by hour? Maybe not worth 10,000 in labor. But like you said, value added for a first-time home buyer? Immeasurable.
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Jan 25, 2013 09:03
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Weinertron posted:This sounds like locally you have a booming housing market and it's a sellers market. Where I am rents are at all-time highs, housing inventory is very low and median home sale prices just broke above the previous 2006 peak. You're probably right, although its interesting to note that we often weren't necessarily outbid by that much. Usually it was us versus an equivalent all-cash offer, or a rental company buying the property that would let the owners rent for three more months. Intangibles that greatly reduce the risk for the seller compared to us, first-time buyers with a loan in this economy. And it was aggravating to deal with sellers agents that would tell us to our face "I'm not recommending your offer because you're a greater risk." Even if it was true... 
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Jan 25, 2013 22:00
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Leperflesh posted:You don't have to convince a lender that the property is worth what you are paying, but only a fool buys a house without getting an appraisal. What's $400 to $600, compared to how much money you're risking on this home? But you do have to get an appraisal as a condition of a bank loan, unless I misunderstand you? Because the house is collateral, the bank doesn't want to put 300k in loan risk unless the house is worth that, no?
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Feb 25, 2013 10:21
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Just a heads up for anyone who likes to look at listings on their phone or iPad, zillow just released version 6.0 of their app, and it's totally rad -- the app has a nice Facebook-style swiping interface between a map overview and a search filter page. It also now has mortgage rate and refinance calculators for back-of-the-envelope calculations. I found it really fun to use, and the filter especially is now far more intuitive.
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Apr 13, 2013 09:27
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PCjr sidecar posted:Got a pre-approval letter from local lender (w/ billions in assets)... in Comic Sans. Respond with a thank-you written in papyrus. Or, for greatest comedic effect, zapf dingbats.
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Apr 14, 2013 00:22
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gvibes posted:When I receive my REALTOR's e-mails an iOS device, there are fireballs next to his name. I didn't even know that was possible. Maybe your realtor's evolving into his final, super-saiyan form?
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Apr 15, 2013 17:02
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Baronjutter posted:You gotta sell a lot of meth to afford tankless. Added bonus, you'll have plenty of time to maintain your crawlspace!
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May 2, 2013 00:53
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Mandals posted:EDIT - Just got a call from my realtor. Habemus dealem! Congrats! Did white smoke come out of the chimney?
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May 17, 2013 20:07
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Leperflesh posted:Cars, unless hermetically sealed and never used, eventually depreciate to $0 value....cars rarely appreciate in value. A very few cars achieve "collector" status and can go up in value; but unless you have a rare Ferrari or cobra or something, it's not likely. Speak for yourself, the trans-am in my front yard is gonna be bitching as soon as I get it off the cinder blocks.
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Jun 4, 2013 19:11
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johnny sack posted:Okay, this is good information. Is it true that you're allowed a window of 60 days or something to shop around, where if several lenders pull your credit, it doesn't affect it? I'm not an expert so I don't know what circumstances for a soft pull would be, but every time my credit was referenced for a pre-approval it negatively impacted my credit. It felt ridiculous, since as soon as I pulled it the second time the report now indicated "accessed credit multiple times within a short window." I ended up using the advice of a credit maximizing service that said to have very specific totals on all of my credit lines (I usually zero-out my credit cards every month). So I carried something like forty bucks on one card, 200 on another. I don't know why, but it worked like a charm and put me over the top so that I could get the best rate when I got the final pre-approval letter.
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Jun 4, 2013 21:23
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Robo-Pope posted:Soft credit pulls get score only. They're near-useless for a mortgage lender, who needs far more detailed information. Who does soft credit pulls? Job applications? I guess those services that give you your score once a year?
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Jun 4, 2013 23:07
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drat Bananas posted:Oh god, one month in from moving day and Mint is giving that ever-friendly reminder to do never buy (or at least save WAY more than the down payment amount): Mint.com is awesome. We just checked our Home Depot / Lowes tallies and came up with a similar figure. It adds up fast, but it's like being in an adult candy store. "Hey, maybe we DO need the ultra quality stain?"
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Sep 3, 2013 21:18
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Drewski posted:edit: My friends and I are gamers and now that I'm in a stable living situation I'm more comfortable buying good furniture. I've put a deposit on http://www.geekchichq.com/the-emissary-gaming-table.html. Very excited for it to arrive. I remember seeing this company on Shark Tank. That is crazy expensive (although what the hell do I know about furniture). If you amortize the cost of that table over 500 game nights, it's still 25 dollars a night. Jesus. Cocoa Ninja fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Dec 11, 2013 |
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Dec 11, 2013 03:09
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uwaeve posted:Where did you learn math Oh hahaha, I was looking at the Sultan. That's 13,000 dollars!
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Dec 11, 2013 03:26
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Rurutia posted:Really high quality furniture is worth it. I honestly don't find these prices shocking at all for high end furniture. I feel like there's a difference between buying quality that lasts and running D&D with the prince of Monaco.
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Dec 11, 2013 05:57
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Drewski posted:It's more than just a D&D table; that's an oversimplification. The top comes off and you can use the recessed area inside for all kinds of other games. You can put your board games in there and instead of cleaning everything up to make way for dinner you just put the leaves back on and finish up when dinner is over. You can set it up as a kind of craps table for a casino night. We used it for Warhammer at my friend's house; he loved not having to pick up terrain that he'd made. We also utilized the terrain as islands in our Dystopian Wars naval scenarios. I just rewatched the Shark Tank episode to see how the "Geek Chic" furniture guy made out. Looks like he was actually operating at a small loss on 2 million in income (partly due to lack of efficiency of scale) and his new business partner (Robert, if any of you watch the show) said that his strategy was to hit the geek niché market hard and raise prices across the board. Although I think the emissary table that you're buying was the same price before Geek Chic went on the show (3000-3500). And with the backlog there's clearly a big demand out there for these things. Enjoy!
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Dec 17, 2013 02:07
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Stultus Maximus posted:So the sellers and I just signed a contract. How long before my pulse rate returns to normal and I stop wondering if I just made a huge mistake? After your signing-related coronary the doctors usually put you on some powerful meds to stabilize your heart.
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Jan 10, 2014 02:41
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I don't mind my condo because I'm on the HOA board. My various tyrannical abuses of power include having a reserve study done and getting multiple quotes for a roof repair. MWAH HAHA TREMBLE BEFORE ME, MORTALS. THERE WILL BE FREE COOKIES AT THE NEXT MEETING
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Mar 5, 2014 04:39
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baquerd posted:Look at this abuser of power, literally getting fat off of HOA dues. Today cookies, tomorrow ice swan banquets. I think the association will appreciate the erotic ice sculpture I commissioned of myself. The likeness is uncanny.
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Mar 6, 2014 22:26
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Leperflesh posted:As someone who is regularly exposed to the Art World, I assure you that having, being interested in, commissioning, or making nude erotic art sculptures are definitely not proof that someone is not an uptight jerk. Listen Leperflesh, I gave you a fair chance at the bidding process, but your concept art for the my titan-sized ice schlong simply failed to do it justice. I'd appreciate some professional courtesy in not badmouthing me here. Let's stay on topic — erotic ice sculptures.
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Mar 7, 2014 00:53
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Misogynist posted:When we went in to do my paperwork, they had us down for a 30-year instead of a 20-year, and this was with a close friend's family. This stuff is everywhere. We lucked out and had a great notary who was able to answer every question we had about the detailed paperwork. The seller's agent was worthless.
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Mar 29, 2014 08:28
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