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Well, my wife and I (currently 26 and 33) purchased our home through HUD in December of 2009. Reasons why we bought the home: -We were living apart and wanted to live together. -My wife and I both still believed that owning a home was better than renting. -We were buying a foreclosed home from HUD so it was obviously a DEAL! The tax value at the time was 155k and we were getting it for 140 A STEAL!!! -$8000 Pretty poor reasons for buying a home but we were ignorant. We're still happily married so no E/N issues to complain about. We've slowly realized that we're simply unhappy with the house and that we no longer wish to live here. We've made zero investments into the house and we haven't made any extra principal payments either. We're doing just OK financially I can post more detailed financial info if needed but here's just the basics: Since we've paid off both of our vehicles and our wedding. We will soon have 0 debt (Not including the mortgage) Together we earn about $60,000 annually. We've set aside $10000 into a money market fund to act as a personal safety net. Further savings will soon be going into investments. Here's my dilemma: We really don't want to keep the house but I think the market is just going to get worse. We also have to keep the home until 2013 or else we would lose the tax credit we received in 2010. Our home is currently about $10k under-water according to Zillow and I'm sure the home would actually sell for a much lower price. So here are the few options I have: 1. Stay here until the market recovers, continue to pay the minimum and simply wait for things to turn around. 2. Accept that I'm stuck in this home and try to make the best of it. I would start to pay additional principal and invest in the few home-improvements that will make the home more enjoyable. 3. Who gives a gently caress about $8000!? SELL SELL SELL 4. ??? You guys probably have better suggestions. I'm completely lost 
Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Oct 18, 2011 |
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Oct 18, 2011 22:23
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She really hasn't come to a decision about her maternity leave but she receives 1.5 months off and can take an additional 2 weeks without pay. Meh. If we stay here I doubt she would quit unless the daycare was killing us. I understand everything I'm about to say is speculative and isn't very well thought out, keep in mind I'm aware I need to flesh this all out: If I went back home today job prospects would be pretty bad. My best bet would to use my UPS connections to try and get a part time position there. The pay would be low but the benefits alone would make everything worthwhile. My father has several "side" businesses and is always in need of help. The work is HARD but the pay would be reliable and would be flexible with my work schedule. Not to mention he could always find me work through his other connections. Without going into too much detail I currently have wayyyyy too much job security and if I ever left I could easily generate income doing the same thing from home. I would like to start a business but because I would not be under my company's umbrella it would take considerable time to create a customer base. Our living space will be rent free or owned by us. No HOA fees. With our considerable savings and part time jobs I feel we could live very frugally back home, attend college and raise a child together. It will be hard but if we invest in ourselves we should be able to climb out of our situation. Income Breakdown: Wage1: $14.00, 40hpw, overtime possible, maximum prospected wage potential $20.00 Wage2: $14.85, 40hpw, no overtime possible, 2% annual raise. I would prefer to provide more details about our debt situation after we've made our final car payment. We actually have about $20k in savings but we're about to drop 8 of that on the car.
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Oct 18, 2011 22:59
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MrEnigma posted:
Not exactly, we would just be neighbors. It would be just like Everybody Loves Raymond :roll:
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Oct 19, 2011 16:26
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So, just because I want to know. What happens to someone that walks away from a mortgage? Wait.... http://moneywatch.bnet.com/economic-news/blog/make-money/what-happens-when-you-walk-away-from-a-mortgage-loan/261/ This sounds.... surprisingly easy...
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Nov 3, 2011 14:53
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And... apparently my state is a non-recourse state... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonrecourse_debt So... I could theoretically walk away from my home in a year without any financial liability (Beyond taking a hit to my credit score) even if the home is under-water...
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Nov 3, 2011 16:50
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Any recommendations on how to estimate how much a house may sell for? I'm currently basing the value of my home off of the Zestimate but I'm going to assume this is a bad idea. I'm not in any rush to sell the home if that matters.
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Feb 28, 2012 14:15
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So I've probably mentioned this before but my parents have offered me an acre if my wife and I were to ever to decide to move home. I don't know the first thing about building a house and I was wondering if you guys could point me in the right direction? Are there any books or websites you recommend? Has there been an excellent post somewhere in this thread you could point me to? It's going to be about seven more months before we are able to begin selling our current home and it will obviously take time to sell. So this gives me plenty of time to start figuring out what we want and how to go about making it happen.
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May 14, 2012 16:42
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Well the major benefit is that the majority of my family all live very close to one another and the land is next to my parents. Which would help A LOT when we have kids. Also my family built (framed, installed plumbing, some wiring and a few other things) their last home so I could probably get the price down quite a bit by cutting out a lot of labor costs.
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May 14, 2012 17:23
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Heh, I just realized that since I don't want to keep my house in the long term it might be a good idea to refinance my home so I pay less each month. Mint keeps recommending to go through Quicken Loans (Do they run your credit?) but like all things I figured I would ask the goons first. On paper I think my home is worth exactly how much I owe. Any advice?
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Jan 18, 2013 01:10
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Yeah I remembered after posting that with refinancing they usually want you to make a bit of a down-payment; I'm just not sure how much. It depends. I would like to sell it when I've found a really good deal for another home and only if I'm going to break even and not owe anything after it's sold. I've accepted that I could be stuck here for awhile based on those conditions.
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Jan 18, 2013 16:16
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Heh, my wife's aunts came over last night and told us she is planning on stopping her mortgage payments and squatting for as long as possible in the home until she's kicked out, this way she can save money for her planned move in a couple years. She was under the impression that in many cases the banks want people to remain in the home so they can maintain the property. Honestly, this doesn't bother me but she seems to have the idea that she can stay there for up to two years before the banks finally kick her to the curb. Now, I've heard about people doing this before, like in Florida they were so backed up after the housing collapse that it took the banks a couple years before they finally got to the home and they would even offer money ($5000) to get people to leave the home peacefully if they found squatters. What I told her was that while she probably could get away with squatting there for a little bit but there was no guarantee that she would be able to get away with it for over a year, or even a few months. I also told her that if she really was considering walking away then she should seek the advice of an expert and to have a plan B if it doesn't work out. Anything I left out? She's not concerned about her credit for some reason. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 17:26 on Jan 22, 2013 |
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Jan 22, 2013 15:12
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Yeah, we're in a non-recourse state and Sophia pretty much nailed the ethics part of it. She actually can afford to make her payments but she isn't able to save very much afterwards. I know to some people she might sound like a lovely person for wanting to squat and bail on her debt but she's actually a really great lady who's just going through a rough patch at the moment. Personally I have no qualms with people flipping off the banks, especially when she bought the home back when every "expert" was screaming "the value of your home can only go up up up!!!!" to the uneducated masses. Although I'm considering another option. I've been thinking of proposing to her that we take over her mortgage payments and move into her house which will save the wife and I $300 a month (probably more as utilities would be cheaper) after we get out of our house. She can stay there for as long as she wants until she's ready to move and I would only ask that she pay half the utilities and pay for her food. After she moves my wife and I would be allowed to continue to stay there and pay just the price of the mortgage for a set amount of time and then after that she can choose to rent to someone else at a higher price or sell the home. I haven't talked about this to the wife and I just now thought of it but this seems like a pretty good idea to me, especially since my wife and I really hate our house and even though her aunt's is smaller it's much nicer. edit: Wife thinks it's a great idea and she's usually very skeptical/conservative about my Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Jan 22, 2013 |
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Jan 22, 2013 17:14
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Zeta Taskforce posted:I don’t know what it means that she can make the payment but she can’t save much money. If that means she is struggling, she has cut everything out and there is zero margin in her life, then she probably needs to get out of the house. But if she is going on vacations, leasing cars, going to starbucks every morning, and that’s part of the reason she can’t save money, then it’s a different issue. She's legit struggling, I don't think I need to go into her whole personal life but I would hate to be in her situation and I don't think it's necessarily her fault. She's a really good person and under normal circumstances she would probably never consider doing something like this. Yeah, like others have said I don't feel like defaulting on a loan is unethical. I agree that squatting is unethical but less so than deducting the cost of a dancing horse from one's taxes as a medical expense, subprime mortgage loans or commodity speculation as well as a host of other things that are perfectly legal but highly unethical. Where's the outrage in BFC for a person investing in oil and therefore inflating the price of gasoline on everyone else? Should we discourage people from trying to legally deduct as much as they can from their taxes? Should I sell my home to a person I suspect isn't aware that he can't afford the amount of debt he's taking on? Zeta Taskforce posted:You can do what you want, but if it’s me there is no way I am intertwining my life with your wife’s aunt’s life. If you like the house that much then go to your bank and get your own loan and buy it from her. Otherwise you are in this open ended deal with no clear cut end where there is one way everything works out fine and multitudes of ways it ends in disaster with family taking sides about who screwed over who. The problem with getting a loan and buying it from her is that I won't get the special low mortgage rate that she managed to get through a refinance/loan modification a long time ago, it also doesn't help her (A close family member) save money for her planned move. I'll definitely think this over a lot and yes, my primary concern is any potential family drama you mentioned. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Jan 23, 2013 |
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Jan 22, 2013 23:59
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edit: eh I'm tired of this derail, people have already spoken their minds about strategic defaults and we've already established that it's a bad idea to try and squat, either for ethical or the obvious practical concerns, your choice. Originally my intent of asking was to see if I left out any practical reasons why squatting would be a bad idea in my conversation with her last night and I received some answers, thanks.
Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Jan 23, 2013 |
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Jan 23, 2013 05:44
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quote:I've already said that this is not a derail, and I don't know why you equate strategic defaults with investing in oil or taking legal tax deductions. Because a strategic default is perfectly legal, just like commodity speculation. The argument I keep seeing from some is that even though a strategic default is perfectly legal it's unethical because it harms society, it harms the banks and it can potentially harm my neighbors. Well, commodity speculation perfectly legal but is harmful to society as well because it inflates the prices of commodities, which negatively impacts everyone especially the poor. Should we then debate the ethics of commodity speculation every time someone mentions they're considering investing in commodities in the stock picking thread? quote:I don’t believe in some mysterious karma bank where the world gives you back exactly what you put in. That said, just as I’ve said that giving money away benefits you as the donor because by thinking of others you carry yourself differently and you are more attractive to people and the opportunities they bring, playing fast and loose, and thinking you are going to get ahead by playing the system makes you repulsive to people. Even if they don’t know what you are doing on the side. I wish this was true but it just isn't. You and I may find them repulsive but I'm fairly confident that the majority of American's do not. 49% of our voting population recently almost voted in a guy that kept a portion of his money hidden away in the Cayman's, bragged about firing people, said 47% of Americans were freeloaders, somehow managed to get 100 mil into an IRA and paid a significantly lower tax rate than the majority of working American's by deducting such things as a dancing horse (as a medical expense) from his taxes. Most Americans are not disgusted by that. Americans are instead more disgusted with a poor person getting medicaid for their kids than a person cheating on their taxes or finding other ways to cheat the system for their own benefit. quote:I don’t know if we convinced you that your wife’s aunt makes poor decisions with money in spite of being a really sweet woman and that being her landlord is a crappy idea, but if we haven’t, I hope it works out well for you. Once again it wasn't a decision. She just said she was considering it and I told her squatting was a bad idea, then I asked BFC if there were any other reasons why doing so would be a bad idea in order to convince her not to do it. Like I said though I appreciate the advice you gave me about living with her and will take it into consideration. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Jan 23, 2013 |
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Jan 23, 2013 17:57
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quote:It is not a victimless crime. Not a crime. quote:A strategic default is when someone can make the payments but they don’t feel like it anymore, and that drives up the cost of my rate, your rate, the fees on my checking account, causes the banks to lay people off and me to be on hold for an hour when I need to call. Well, not everyone just decides to strategic default because "they don't feel like it anymore", I think giving people the option to do so discourages banks from predatory lending and other anti-social practices. quote:I can speak only for myself, not 49% of Americans. Again, speaking for myself, my tenants sometimes pay me cash and it would be the easiest thing in the world to not report it as rental income. I do anyway. Others will approach it differently. I'm glad you did the right thing, I would do the same thing because I don't mind my earnings being taxed progressively to benefit society. fakeedit: back to work. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Jan 24, 2013 |
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Jan 23, 2013 18:35
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I brought up Romney in response to Zeta making some kind of philosophical assumption that financially ethical people succeed and financially unethical people do not, which I simply find untrue and Romney is a perfect example of that. If we're going to talk about the ethics of strategic defaults I really don't get why you wouldn't expect a political discussion to evolve out of that considering the 2008 financial collapse that people are still feeling the affects of. I'm wondering how you guys feel about all those people that strategically defaulted on their homes after the collapse. Should we have forced them to stay in homes with mortgage rates they couldn't afford or what? Also didn't the banks force strategic defaults on a lot of home-owners that had only been behind one or fewer payments? Strategic defaults are legal because it should discourage banks from predatory lending. If we're going to question strategic defaults shouldn't we also discuss the ethics of bankruptcy for both individuals and businesses? Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 19:41 on Jan 23, 2013 |
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Jan 23, 2013 19:34
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cstine posted:This is the most logical thing posted in this whole debate; you signed a civil contract stating you'd pay or they'd throw you out. If you stop paying, you can just wait until they exercise their option and throw you out. This was essentially her plan, sounds better the way you put it though. Spamtron7000 posted:Right. Because 51% of this country believes its citizens are lemmings - incapable of independent thought and reasoning and need to be protected from their bad decisions by their big brother. It's completely unreasonable for a poor citizen to actually have to read and understand how a loan works to accept funding for their $500,000 property. Banks are obviously the bad guys here because they lend money to people who otherwise would be unable to afford to buy homes. They are so evil they EVEN MAKE MONEY FROM IT! It is unreasonable if you consider the landscape prior to 2008 when even the "experts" (the people Americans were convinced to be experts) believed that housing prices would continue to skyrocket forever and home ownership was preached to everyone, especially to the least fortunate among us as a way to escape poverty. I really don't see how the ignorant poor could resist the temptation to enter the middle class especially when everyone (maybe even a lot of you) agreed that housing was an excellent investment. quote: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 really don't see how it's unAmerican, our country was far more protectionist and by today's standards socialistic throughout the majority of the 20th century, particularly during the industrial revolution.  Spamtron7000 posted:For my part, I appreciate the feedback. I sometimes overlook the fact that the banks have recourse inasmuch as they own the house when loans are defaulted. However, I do strongly feel that many American borrowers are smart enough to recognize how the laws that protect them can be abused to either default or sell short out of perfectly good and fair loans and that it's a problem. All the market risk is now passed on to the bank. Sometimes it's a fine line to draw between righteousness and fraud. Many Americans just don't care about that fine line - they're selfish and feel entitled to poo poo all over the same bank who lent them the money to help fulfill the dream of home ownership. That's what I don't like about the system. Yeah, I'm sorry but this isn't a good reason to be high and mighty about anything. I'm glad you got out of that debt but you can't say that everyone can do it just because you were able to. I managed to pay off all of my debts (except my mortgage, which isn't under-water) a couple of years ago but I can't assume everyone else with an equivalent amount of debt would be able to do the same. Not everyone is as financially educated as me, has a well paying job or has an army of goons willing to drop financial wisdom simply out of goodwill. Dik Hz posted:I'm late to the party, but my parting shot: Neither is asking the federal government for a bailout after their predatory lending schemes finally caught up to them. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 06:13 on Jan 24, 2013 |
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Jan 24, 2013 01:21
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kjh
Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 12:34 on Aug 1, 2015 |
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Jan 24, 2013 05:57
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Can anyone recommend a book or some other guide for people that have never sold a home before? All this talk about avoiding realtors has peaked my interest. I don't need to sell my home in a hurry and I want to break even so avoiding a realtor would definitely help with that. The only experience I've ever had with a realtor (This was before I was a penny pinching tightwad with a degree at BFC university) was the guy my wife used to buy the home in the first place. It didn't take us very long to figure out he was somewhat incompetent but we had to use a realtor in order to bid on a foreclosed home (through HUD) and to visit the property. On one occasion my wife and I needed to see if the HVAC and heating still worked so we had to spent a little money to get the electricity turned with the gas. My wife and I had to work and we were told that the circuit breakers all needed to be turned off in the house or they couldn't turn on the power. We called the realtor and he said he went to the house and turned them all off. Well it turned out he lied to me and they couldn't turn on the power so they had to come back another day. We forced him to pay the bill but I couldn't help but be further annoyed when I saw how much he was paid just to unlock the door, make the bid and turn the power on. Ridiculous. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Jan 25, 2013 |
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Jan 25, 2013 17:32
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Yeah, I've never really looked into what a realtor does and assumed they did stuff besides just finding the home and I suppose negotiating the price for the client. I'm definitely going to start reading up.
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Jan 25, 2013 18:20
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Fire Storm posted:Paying off your bills feels great. Knowing you don't have to pay $1000 a month for a mortgage is loving wonderful and so liberating. As much as I want to put the majority of my savings away for retirement I can't help but shake the feeling that owning a home outright is far more valuable. The monthly savings would be great but I'm far more concerned about the financial security it provides as a whole. I've known far too many people in my life who had everything but lost it all because they lost their jobs and the mortgage payment (along with other debts) ate away everything they had. What I like about the Roth IRA is that you can save for retirement and if a good deal on a house comes along I can take out the principal without consequence. I probably won't do this but at least the door is open if I were to get lucky.\ edit: Just for the record if your interest rate is low enough you can probably do better long term by mortgaging. Ex: Your home interest rate is 3% but since you earned 10% on the stock market (with money that could have bought your home, over the course of the mortgage) then you actually profited from the mortgage in the end. Peace of mind is just more important to mean than that 6-7% and what I will be doing when I'm too old to care about my portfolio. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 19:50 on Jan 30, 2013 |
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Jan 30, 2013 19:47
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sanchez posted:I'm not so sure it is. Your savings can pay for a roof over your head, or medical care, or a new winnebago. Your home takes care of the first item but the second two require paying interest on a home equity loan or a reverse mortgage. Confused, I know the mortgage interest deduction is a popular tax deduction but why is it required for me to get a car or medical care?
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Jan 31, 2013 01:46
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Yeah, I agree. Using the funds you would use to pay off a mortgage as investment funds means you're more likely to have a secure retirement if you can (which is very likely) beat your mortgage interest rate year after year. I'm just not that concerned about retirement; I guess I'm concerned about 65-79 but I just don't care about my life after 80. Every 80 year old I know is miserable, dying or dead, even the rich ones. I can't even guarantee I'll make it to 60, I've been lucky so far but I can be mowed down on the highway tomorrow if I chance across a bad driver on my way to work. Paying down a house means I can enjoy my life a little bit more now and worry less. It also means I don't have to work as hard to maintain my lifestyle; if my wife and I were to both lose our jobs we could get full time minimum wage jobs and still pay the bills/make our retirement contributions until we got better paying jobs. Knowing that brings me a lot of peace of mind. To each his own I guess. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Jan 31, 2013 |
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Jan 31, 2013 03:04
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That's a good point but I guess it boils down to how debt averse each individual is respectively. My mottos are "gently caress Debt" and "Pay your taxes" so I have a hard time believing future bankruptcy is a risk for me. I suppose there's always a small risk though, my wife and I would have to lose our jobs, have significantly higher bills (from kids maybe?) and be completely unable to find work for a long period of time in order for it to happen.
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Jan 31, 2013 14:30
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I agree with that sentiment completely but just make sure the house itself is worth the investment. Does the home have equity or are you under-water? If so by how much? Is it your dream house? You should also evaluate how long you plan on living in the area. It makes sense to try and completely own a home outright if you plan on living in the area for a long time or until you retire but not if you have a job where you could possibly be forced to commute in a down market. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 17:45 on Jan 31, 2013 |
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Jan 31, 2013 17:37
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edit: Thanks nm.
Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Jan 31, 2013 |
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Jan 31, 2013 17:58
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If they don't take your offer then let it go.
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Feb 7, 2013 14:54
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Any advice for a guy that's interested in building/buying a small efficient house? My parents have a piece of land they offered me that I could build a house or something on (I could probably fit a few) and I I've realized from living in my own home (1600 sqaure feet) that I really wasn't making use of even half the space. The other benefit I see to living in less space (besides the cheaper utility bills) would be that a smaller home would probably be easier to rent if we decided to move or build something bigger in the future. That said, I'm really not sure where to start. I get the impression building a home from scratch would be expensive even if the home is small but I've heard good things about prefabricated homes. Any thoughts?
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Apr 10, 2013 17:23
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Trying to figure out if I should even try to sell my home or not. Zillow/Trulia estimate my house to be between 120,000(T) and 134,000(Z) and the last time I checked on my mortgage I owe $134,000. There are also much better cheaper/foreclosed homes in my area. I suppose talking to a realtor is completely free until they sell the home and get their commission right? Any advice would be appreciated but it always seems like walking away is the best option. edit: Hmm things look better in the neighborhood since I last checked. There's a home with 500 less square feet than my house "pending" for 130k which is 11k over the Zestimate. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 17:05 on May 29, 2013 |
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May 29, 2013 17:03
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Yeah, I thought as much, I guess I need to start looking for someone to do an appraisal. Thanks.
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May 29, 2013 17:33
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So what would happen if I paid an additional $12,000 (a years payment) on the mortgage this year? Would that mean I could live payment free for 12 months or would the monthly payment simply adjust and I would have to start paying that month to month? Even if it's not the latter I already realize it's a bad idea but I just kinda what to know what would happen.
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Jun 17, 2013 17:32
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Probably a dumb question for a BFC regular to make but can someone explain to me why people care so much about the property value of their primary home? I mean if prices go down it doesn't matter because the price of other homes went down as well. If prices go up it doesn't matter because the next house you buy will likely be priced higher as well. I guess it would make sense if you moved from a place where property values went up to a place where they went down or if you found a way to renovate the property cheaply.
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Jan 10, 2014 15:09
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So my wife and I are going to go look at a town house tomorrow. The pictures on Zillow look good and it's basically what we want. A small 1b/1b that we could probably pay off completely in less than a year (for freedom) with a decent downpayment. The HOA is about $1404 a year so 1044 more than we already pay, for nothing. Any advice? It seems like the owners still live there if that helps. I've never lived in a town house before but the few I've visited always seem nice. It's in an area both my wife and I like and will actually be closer to our jobs. The school system out there is great as well if we ever have kids. The only issue is the current house we live in. Based on Zillow/Trulia we have about 5k-10k in equity and most realtors have told us that houses in my area are easy to sell. We both have jobs, an emergency fund and other sources of money we could use if we end up getting stuck with the mortgage on our current house a little while as we try and sell it. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Feb 8, 2014 |
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Feb 8, 2014 02:31
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adorai posted:Trash, snow removal, grass and landscaping, roof, siding, etc.. are not nothing. Yeah, what I meant was for $360 py they do nothing at my current HOA other than keep the pool clean, which I never use. I'm assuming (I'll definitely check) that they cut the grass and stuff at the town house since I'm paying a little over $1k more. I wasn't aware of the shared responsibilities. So if one neighbor's roof caves in wouldn't his insurance just cover it? Why would I be affected? The kids are the main reason I'm iffy. Even though I'm already living in a 1600 sqft home my wife and I really only use 2 rooms and the kitchen. Our living room, downstairs bath, guest room, and another bedroom are completely unused. I'd say we probably spend the majority of our time in 500-600 out of the 1600 total square feet. I figure we could move into that house, live cheap, have a kid and if it turns out we need a bigger place we'll just move. It seems like it would be really easy to resell. If it's too small my wife will just shake her head no after we check the place out tomorrow. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Feb 8, 2014 |
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Feb 8, 2014 03:36
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So you had to pay for some of that damage out of pocket or are you just saying that it affected your property value? Yeah apparently the HOA for this place has one master HOA and then an HOA underneath that one. I suppose it's because it's a big area so I'm going through a lot of legal speak hoa pdfs atm. I'll speak to a few of the neighbors if I can. edit: Also, a plus is that this town house is at the end of the building so I'll only have one wall to wall neighbor. It's a single floor and there's no one above me. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 05:12 on Feb 8, 2014 |
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Feb 8, 2014 04:11
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Well we went and looked at the place and were pleasantly surprised. The place was roomier than we expected and yeah it needs some work which would explain why the house is priced so low. I would be happy just getting the carpet thrown out and the wall repainted. The only reason the place looked bad in the pictures was because the renter has so much crap stored there. My wife also likes the patio if we get it pressure washed and fenced in a little bit for our dogs. Our realtor suggested after we get preapproved we probably should offer a bit low (like 10%) less and then let them counter offer. I walked around the neighborhood a bit and talked to some people that lived there and they all seemed happy, many were renting so it makes it sound like it'll be easy to rent once we get it paid for. We also like the area because it's across the state line and we'll be moving into an area with lower taxes/better schools. Apparently the next step is we need to get pre-approved for the loan which should be easy but my wife wants to see if we can get a lower interest rate at our credit union. The only problem is that I see they only offer 15 year fixed rates and not 30. Personally I'd rather get a 30 to act as a hedge and pay additional principal. Just yell at me if any of the above sounds really stupid 
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Feb 8, 2014 17:43
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Yeah, with a 30 year I feel like it'll save me some money if an emergency were to happen. Either way you can just pay more principal right? I don't think my credit union offers 30 year fixed rate mortgages and BOA said there won't be an early payment penalty if I decide to pay off the home. oxbrain posted:Would the agent have access to that information already or would I have to contact the HOA directly? I've been talking to neighbors when I can and reading the HOA pdfs on their website. edit: slap me silly posted:Yeah, I'm loving my 3 1/8 interest rate on a 30 year mortgage right now. Prepay, don't prepay, who gives a poo poo. How does that work SmS? Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 14:28 on Feb 9, 2014 |
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Feb 9, 2014 14:25
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My guess is I should get this place inspected before I start negotiating price? For some reason I remember negotiating the price last time and then having the place inspected but I could be wrong. I haven't pulled a Zaurg and put any money down or anything like that yet. edit: Oh I think I'm starting to remember now that we have the inspection done before the closing. Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Feb 9, 2014 |
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Feb 9, 2014 15:30
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heh I managed to figure out the name of the owners and it looks like they still haven't paid their 2013 taxes and have a 10% penalty fee. I guess that means they could be desperate. They live up in NY and own two properties in my area. I guess it would be a no no to contact them directly and try to work something out. I guess I'll wait and see what the realtor says. oxbrain posted:edit: well one of them does and it's got 5 links to flood information and articles on how deteriorated the levees in the area are. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEKkJHSO8A0 Sephiroth_IRA fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Feb 9, 2014 |
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Feb 9, 2014 16:41
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