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Alright, I'd like to throw myself out here and get some advice. I'm thinking about buying a new home due to some factors. 1) I hate living in an HOA area 2) New home is much larger, has more land, and is only 15 minutes away from work (currently I'm about 10 minutes from work). 3) I live in Charlotte and since the government has basically made it impossible for large banks to fail, our business is picking back up. 4) I'm getting married soon and we jointly make about 100K/year. Assets: ~$40K liquid, with another $3,500 in the Smartypig account for the wedding. We each put 10% of our income into our 401Ks, and have about $45K invested. We do not want to touch this money if we can avoid it. We have 3 cars, all paid for. I am probably going to sell one soon, it's worth about $5K. The problem? Selling our current home. I refinanced only a year ago and the closing costs have only recently been repaid, so while I'm at a good interest rate on a 15-year loan, I haven't paid long enough on it to be able to get what I owe currently. I owe $116K on the home, and Zillow puts it at 120K but a real-estate guy I talked to said that to sell it I'd need to price it at 99K. There's another home in our neighborhood (similar size, smaller garage, etc) that just sold so I'm waiting to see how accurate this is. I'm willing to try to sell the house on our own to save from paying a Realtor. The good thing is the new house should appraise more than it's 177K selling point. Another good thing is that my fiancee could probably get approved to buy the new home on her own. I'm the only one on my current house's loan. Looking at the current mortgage rates for a 15-year note (~4.3 APR) it seems like a good time to try and buy this home. If we can do it and lose less than $20K in the interim, I think it's a good idea. Any ideas?
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Sep 20, 2010 22:25
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Arzakon posted:Just a note on that, you would still have to pay the buyer's realtor his 3% unless you were planning on only advertising the homes to buyers without realtors. So for the extra $3K it is going to cost you I would probably list it with a realtor just to have someone looking out for you and handling all the bullshit that comes along with selling a house. I forgot that part. This home is owned by the builder, and they are selling it themselves. It was leased for a year, but the wife of the couple quit her job and could qualify for the loan to buy it.
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Sep 20, 2010 23:23
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Arzakon posted:I meant the one you are living in now. I read that as you were trying to sell your home without a realtor. OK, that's something I didn't realize. I thought it was more like 7%, not 3%. Can you explain a little more how the realtor thing works? I've only bought a house, never sold one.
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Sep 21, 2010 00:19
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FISHMANPET posted:Both the buyer's Realtor and seller's Realtor take a commission, probably around 3% each. So unless you sell it to somebody who isn't using a Realtor to buy, there will still be a 3% commission. Thanks for explaining. Wanna buy my house?
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Sep 21, 2010 00:22
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:Maybe I'll post a new thread, but I am wondering about any little details while refinancing. I got a 30-year at 6.125% in 2005, and now I can get a 15-year mortgage at 3.75%. From what I can see, the monthly payment, with all strings attached, would go from ~$1200 to ~$750. I am going to double-triple check it, but all indications are that on reducing the term I will still only need to pay less. I don't think you figured this out properly. Your monthly payment will still go up with that reduced rate.
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Sep 21, 2010 18:58
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Leperflesh posted:...then you'll have the massive relief from having gotten through this... combined with the massive post-buy apprehension that maybe it was all a really terrible decision that it's now too late to back out of. This was me 4 years ago, but that has been replaced by a horrible feeling now that my purchase isn't even worth what I owe on it and I've been paying on it for 4 years at a reasonable interest rate and I'm stuck here for at least 2 years if the economy doesn't get any worse. Thankfully I have savings and could still afford to live if I had to sell on short notice.
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Oct 8, 2010 13:32
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Dbhjed posted:I plan on being here until I die. I don't want to move again. I would like to be in the house I buy until I die as well.\ You keep saying this, but please realize that the first home you buy you will find things that drive you nuts about it. Mine is the layout, lack of a dining area and the small closets. I've found another house I'd like to buy, but it's further from work and grocery stores, etc. that we frequently go to now. I've been here 5 years. Guess what, I still am upside down because I refinanced about 2 years ago and the value of my home keeps dropping. I wish I had rented the house next door instead of buying mine.
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Jan 30, 2011 22:05
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TraderStav posted:Cause c'mon, everyone needs cars, right? They do, but they don't need/want the poo poo that the American car companies were putting out for 30 years.
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Jan 31, 2011 03:17
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I figure that I've spent over $55,000 in the past 5 years for the "privilege" of owning a home, and it's not even worth what I owe. Bought for 125k, refinanced to 15-year loan about 20 months ago. I currently owe 114k, and it's worth around 107k. Do never buy.
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Jan 31, 2011 15:15
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Calculon: I don't foresee her even getting the loan when her debt to income ratio is likely to be so bad.
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Mar 29, 2011 20:51
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gvibes posted:The though of a mortgage of 2x household income terrifies me. Hopefully he means take-home pay...
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Apr 12, 2011 17:09
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I bought my home when I was making much less than I am now, and didn't have a fiancee who contributes. I borrowed 3.68 times what I was making yearly, and was able to make the payments just fine. I would not recommend this, however. I put zero down and I'm still likely upside-down on my loan.
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Apr 12, 2011 19:01
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Those nasty storms that came through North Carolina the last couple of weeks tore up my roof. Today an adjuster gave me a check for $2,400 with another $3,200 on the way to get it all fixed. I hope I'll be able to get it done for much cheaper than that, but we'll see. DO BUY INSURANCE.
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Apr 24, 2011 02:49
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whaam posted:I have insurance and after a few years of windstorms my roof was missing 8 or so shingles. The other shingles were all damaged and lifting but after a few roofers came out they all said it wasn't enough to get a full roof through insurance, and my deductible was $500, more than fixing the 8 shingles would cost out of pocket. So I ended up paying $7000 for a new roof with no help from insurance. I was missing 2 full shingles and bits and pieces broken off of another dozen. This was enough for my adjuster to total the roof. I was surprised that they totaled it that easily. It was worth the call to have them come check it out, at least.
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Apr 25, 2011 13:27
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Konstantin posted:If you have certain 'vicious' breeds like pit bulls (which are no more likely to attack humans than any other dog)
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May 6, 2011 14:02
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Mutar posted:Thats not really a fair comparison at all now is it? You could compare APBTs to something like a GSD or a retriever of some sort and make a better point. That said, I'd probably lean toward having to chose the pit, simply because they are as a rule much less likely to be aggressive to people, and are usually pretty easy to calm down. I didn't want to start this argument here, because people somehow don't want to understand the physiological differences between breeds.
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May 6, 2011 15:12
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I bought a relatively new house and they cheaped out on everything you can imagine. Luckily a neighbor was an HVAC tech and offered to refill my A/C refrigerant for cheap, otherwise I could have easily worn out the unit and had to replace it all. My roof is also needing replacement, and the nickel and dime stuff that crops up here and there. 3% a year sounds high, but not unreasonable.
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May 13, 2011 16:35
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Throatwarbler posted:The worst houses are those built during a housing boom. It was built in 1998, I bought in 2006. I understand and agree with what you're saying, though.
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May 13, 2011 18:29
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daslog posted:One guy I work with just wrote a check for $9,000 to sell his house after owning it for 3 years. This is me, right here. I bought in 2006, 2 years before the bubble burst, and in 2009 I refinanced to a 15-year loan. I still would have to write a 5-figure check if I sold my house right now at a reasonable price. Do never buy, especially if you are putting less than 15-20% down.
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May 23, 2011 13:01
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Realjones posted:Everyone I talked to said I'd be nuts not to lock in a sub 5% rate for 30 years, especially since I have deductions that all my mortgage interest is deductible. Maybe I'm wrong here, but isn't having money in your pocket (or paid off as principal) much better than paying it out as interest and getting a measly 28% back on your tax returns?
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Jun 7, 2011 14:27
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DJCobol posted:That sucks. I don't know if a week and a half of homeowner-ship is really a good viewpoint to look from. Wait until the honeymoon phase is over.
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Jul 6, 2011 14:54
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Are there any good resources for trying to sell a home on my own? I'd rather save the 7% and am willing to do the legwork for myself. A bonus is that I can basically leave work at short notice to show the house if someone is interested. I thought about starting my own thread about this, and can branch off if it sparks enough conversation.
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Jul 11, 2011 20:18
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TraderStav posted:If you're not in a rush, it may be worth a shot seeing if a sign out front or a craigslist ad will get some traffic. However, MLS is a POWERFUL tool that will drive traffic into any half-way decent home. As much as that 6ish% is tough to swallow, one could argue you will make up for it alone in effort/experience/resources and potentially command a higher price for the home to offset the fee, assuming it appraises. When I was shopping for a home, I would see FSBO and think, sweet, I can negotiate at least 5% off that price... That's basically what I was hoping for. My house is worth around $110K, I'd be very happy to sell for $105K. I'd like that more than getting $110K for my home and having to cut a check to a realtor. A year ago I was thinking about buying another home, but was concerned with depleting my savings to make it happen. That same house is still for sale and has dropped in price by $20K. I'm fairly certain I could get it for 5-10K less than the listing price, since it's owned by the builder. They had a lease-to-own person live there for a year but they weren't able to buy, so they moved out. I got married last month and my wife and I have managed to put away an extra $25K, so I would like to sell my current home and not take too bad of a beating on it.
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Jul 11, 2011 20:56
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To add to the above comment: over a year ago I looked at a house that was a fantastic buy ($180K) for my area. My current home was slightly under water, and I would have had to liquidate most of my savings to move. I decided to wait, knowing that it would either be there later or another house would be come around. Now I'm married and we've saved over $20K in the past year. We've also paid off more of our current home and the value has risen slightly (according to Zillow and comps in the area), and that same home I wanted is still for sale at $160K. Patience is a virtue. If I had rushed out to buy that home I would've shot myself in the foot to the tune of $30K. Nocheez fucked around with this message at 13:46 on Aug 1, 2011 |
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Aug 1, 2011 02:38
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I made extra payments to my mortgage (around $11k in the past couple months) and finally I owe less than 6 figures. I owe exactly $99,999.99 but dammit, it's not 6 figures.
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Aug 18, 2011 15:30
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Back when I had an 80/20 loan, the two loans were transferred back and forth quite regularly. I remember updating my online bill pay every couple of months, and it was quite annoying. I refinanced a few years ago into a 15-year loan and Chase has held that loan the entire time. 
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Aug 20, 2011 15:15
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LloydDobler posted:If you have great credit you can do an 80/20 split but the money you save in mortgage insurance will be spent on a higher interest rate for the second mortgage. I don't think they offer 80/20 loans after the housing crash. I had one in 2006 and when I refinanced a couple years ago they told me they don't offer them anymore.
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Sep 1, 2011 14:57
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I did a lot of good things for my home this week. I finally got my roofer to get up there and do the job that he's been putting off for 2 months (a total tearoff and reshingle) at a cost of $6,000. I also replaced my old kitchen appliances with updated middle of the road stuff to the tune of $1,030. It's nice to have all matching items now, and a micro-hood has cleared up my counter space as well. Since I'm handy with a toolbox I installed it all myself and saved a few hundred dollars. I used my dad's minivan to transport it all, saving some more. All in all, I was happy even though my bank account is going to feel the hurt. I was outside tonight watching some nasty weather roll in an noticed a loud screeching noise coming from an A/C unit. Of course, it had to be mine, so I shut it down and will be enjoying hot, humid North Carolina air until it is fixed. I hope it's just the fan, but it may need an entire new unit. DO. NEVER. BUY.
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Sep 6, 2011 03:15
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Renting is cheaper than buying, especially in the short term. Homes are serious money sinks, and there's no guarantee that you prices will go up. Every time you move you will have a ton of very expensive costs, as well. There are a lot of hidden costs and downsides to owning a home. Yard work, breaking appliances, foundations cracking, roofs leaking, bad electricity, etc. all add up. I personally have spent around 8K in the past couple of months on necessary repairs/improvements. That money isn't going to come back, it didn't raise my home value by any amount.
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Sep 25, 2011 14:08
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Fire Storm posted:Remember, you will be in that house for possibly DECADES. Pick a place you will be happy with and will accommodate whatever changes you see happening to you in that time. I never expected to be in my home for as long as I will be there. I bought it as a young bachelor, with a nice big living room but no dining area. That was what was important to me 6 years ago, but now that I'm married things have changed. Now my computer/hobby room is going to need some renovation to make it more usable to me and my wife. We almost bought a new place, but I'm glad we didn't because the cost to move is extremely high.
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Sep 28, 2011 14:19
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Carooe posted:My house would be far, far cheaper to buy than rent, even including taxes, insurance, etc. I'm paying 1395 a month rent, and I think it'd be about 900 on the mortgage. If I paid what they were asking. Which I wouldn't. That's just the cost of rent vs. the cost of a mortgage. Add in repairs/appliances/maintenance and it's a whole new ballgame. A new roof will likely cost $6,000, which is 50% of the yearly mortgage for instance. Nocheez fucked around with this message at 15:13 on Oct 3, 2011 |
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Oct 3, 2011 15:09
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Pillowpants posted:
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Oct 3, 2011 21:19
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Leperflesh posted:By the way - I urge any of you who do get a new roof, to get a white one. My HOA forbids this, and it would be pretty ugly besides. I'd do it if I could, and hopefully a prospective buyer wouldn't be put off by it.
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Oct 3, 2011 21:32
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Molybdenum posted:dark roofs/siding lose more heat than they gain in the winter. Not to mention that they'll be covered in snow a good portion of the time.
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Oct 4, 2011 13:27
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Orange_Lazarus posted:And... apparently my state is a non-recourse state... I think you still owe taxes on the difference between the amount of the debt left to be repaid and the amount they get for selling the house.
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Nov 3, 2011 17:40
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gtkor posted:It also might be worth noting that if you are late on payment for any reason, the lender is not necessarily obligated to cancel PMI at 80%. PMI does not automatically get terminated until 78% LTV assuming good payment history. Is this across the board? I am around $1,000 away from 78% LTV, based on my 2008 refinance appraisal. If PMI automatically gets canceled at that point I think I need to write a check today.
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Nov 6, 2011 15:49
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gtkor posted:The homeowners protection act or HPA does do that across the board according to my S.A.F.E. act book. I do not think you would have to get a new appraisal. Q. What is the Homeowner's Protection Act of 1998? A. The Homeowner's Protection Act of 1998 provides for the termination of Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) on single family, single unit, owner occupied dwellings, when the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio reaches 78% based on the initial amortization schedule if loan payments are current. The Act applies only to loans that originated on or after July 29, 1999 (post the rule). The Act permits termination of PMI before reaching this 78% LTV under some circumstances. It looks like I have to send a letter to them once my payment clears and I'm at 78% LTV. This will save me a couple hundred bucks a year. Thanks! Nocheez fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Nov 6, 2011 |
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Nov 6, 2011 19:28
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gtkor posted:Usually with a conventional loan you can pay more every month an reach 20 percent equity and have your PMI fall off sooner rather than later yes. This is true, look up the Homeowners Protection Act of 1998. I just invoked this to get my PMI dropped from my mortgage, saving me around $25/month. Yay!
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Jul 5, 2012 17:52
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Spamtron7000 posted:I know what you're saying is accurate but it's a completely unAmerican idea. Seriously - what the gently caress is wrong with the world. Predatory lending is a term made up by people trying to further their socialist political agenda. "Don't worry about the banks or any of your other fiduciary responsibilities. Your government will protect you from your own incompetence." I totally disagree. When buying my home, the lender was trying their best to get me to borrow more, to lower my payments by doing an interest-only, 50-year loan with a 5-year balloon. If I had done that, I would probably be hosed right now. I am definitely the minority in those that knew what I could really afford, and stuck with a 30-year loan. I've still lost over 25% on the value of my home, and just barely have any equity on it. I bought in 2006, and 7 years later (after switching to a 15-year loan a few years ago) I still am just barely keeping up with the loss of my home's value. That's even with putting an extra $10k on principle a couple years back. gently caress the banks, and gently caress the predatory mortgage brokers. They misled people by promising them free money and low-payment loans. People are terrible decision makers at the best of times. How many people do you know have fallen for any time of get-rich-quick scheme? I can name 5 without even thinking hard about it.
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Jan 23, 2013 20:39
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 08:33 |
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Final remarks: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/business-economy-financial-crisis/untouchables/fraud-was-the-f-bomb/
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Jan 23, 2013 21:57
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