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jwitko posted:My realtors trust him 100% and they are very close personal friends. I don't believe he has any part in this, it's straight from the bank's mouth. My realtor told me it would be this way for everyone/anyone (My credit rating of 755+ on all 3 credit ratings apparently doesn't help) Bolded what is a huge red flag for me. I trust my friends a lot. I trust them so much that I believe what they tell me, even if it seems a bit wrong. A quarter point isn't a whole lot compared to the cost of the house (especially if you're paying down principal as much as you can), but this is just one of the flaming hoops you're being asked to jump through. I fell in love with a house during my search. It had a gorgeous back yard which overlooked a nature preserve canyon, and across that canyon I could see my office. It was exactly the size and layout I wanted. The banks that owned it, however, decided to try to jerk me around to get more money (it'd been double mortgaged during the bubble and both of them would be taking a loss on the sale). After the third counter offer, I pulled out. A month later I found another house, and a month after that I had taken possession of that house. The house I was in love with sold a month after *that* for 80k more than I'd offered, and had to replace the windows and most of the landscaping due to damage while the house was bank-owned. So, yeah. I'd walk. There are other nice houses that won't make you pay an extra $6k and haven't been "fixed up" at great speed by the lowest bidder using the cheapest materials available.
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Apr 3, 2011 20:43
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Douchebag posted:My fear is that in 3 years the market will have improved to where we will never be able to afford homes in NJ any longer... This is old, but I want to reiterate that acting out of fear is absolutely the worst thing you can ever do in regards to a house. Housing bubbles are fueled by fear like this. Don't fall for it. Buy and sell on your terms and your terms alone.
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Aug 1, 2011 01:56
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Basically there are two types of renovations (IMO): polishing and refurbishing. Refurbishing is what most people think of when they think of renovating. Pull out the existing room down to the studs, build it into their  dream room with all the upgraded finishes and 'touches' they can think of.Polishing is what house flippers and stagers do. This means look at the entire house, and fix the worst things for the least amount of money. Refurbishing doesn't tend to pay off in increased selling price, especially since building your dream <room> tends to improve it beyond the neighborhood's standard. Polishing will pay off, because it's designed to do maximum bang for the buck. Fresh paint and carpets, some plantings, maybe a new front door, maybe replace the oldest kitchen appliance with something new and shiny. This stuff works. If you're renovating because you love the house and want to stay in it, go hog wild and refurbish to your heart's content. If you're renovating because you're going to move and you want to increase the value, you need to think polish. Save the Brazilian granite for your dream home, because the more you love something that's unique, the more likely prospective buyers are going to dislike it. The <$10000 of polishing I did when I moved in to my house (new paint over the smoke stains, replaced popcorn ceilings, replaced closet doors and door hardware, bathroom refresh) raised my house value by about $15000 (appraised at both ends). If I'd ripped out the kitchen and redone it floor to ceiling, I could have spent over $30k and not gotten nearly the same result.
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Aug 1, 2011 17:59
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Pram posted:I have a question. I'm in the process of buying a 2 room condo for 110k with a VA loan. The monthly payment for the mortgage+hoa+insurance+property tax is lower than the rent in similar locations (its gonna be around 900 a month, and the rent around here for 2 bedroom apartments is 900-1200) and rent seems to be steadily rising here in Austin. The seller has agreed to pay all the closing costs so I'm basically paying nothing since VA loans don't need a down payment. At 4.5% on a mortgage that starts next month, you'll have $10,000 in equity in November 2016. You'll get up to 20% equity in just over ten years. You'll have paid $45,311.21 in interest during that period. You'd better love this condo, because you won't be able to afford to move out of it, even if the market doesn't drop. Renting sucks, but if you can save any money at all you'll be way better off in the long run if you wait to buy until you can put down 20%.
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Aug 26, 2011 07:27
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Sellers like all cash offers because they close faster and the seller gets their money faster. It can save as much as a month's worth of dealing with banks for them. An all cash offer can make a lowball offer more attractive, especially if you're up against a bunch of FHA loans, but it really depends on the market. In a hot market you can maybe save a percent; in a slow market with a desperate seller it might go up higher. It's not the magic bullet it was a decade ago, that's for sure. My father talked about a ten or twelve percent discount for cash offers in the 80s, but when I was hunting in 2009 no one would even consider that much of a lowball. e:fb - shows the difference in markets.
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Sep 22, 2011 06:32
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the nicker posted:Yeah, I've considered this as well. Have you talked to your mortgage company about this? There's a good chance they're not going to be happy with the new arrangement. You might find yourself with a lot of extra costs in the very near future and you're going to want to drive this price down. I just can't help but have the feeling that you're being massively conned here. I hope I'm wrong, but throw the brakes on and be absolutely sure. There is always another house.
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Jan 21, 2012 07:27
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Gabriel Pope posted:I've been pretty happy renting an apartment up until now, but I'm wanting a bigger place and rents seem to get pretty high on larger places, so I'm starting to look into buying for the first time. No debt, ~21k savings, and I'm socking away about 1k a month, plus I have about 6k in IRA assets. It looks like getting the location and features I want would probably take somewhere in the $110-130k range--how much should I have piled up before I start seriously looking? You'll want $30k for downpayment and closing costs, plus at least another $10-$15k for various things you'll probably want to do (new paint and carpets for a 1000sf house will be somewhere in the $6k range). After that you'll want 3ish months of expenses still left over in savings. I had $18k left over after my down payment and spent more of that than I was comfortable on things I wasn't entirely anticipating. The popcorn ceiling contained asbestos - extra $1200. I have an electric dryer but there wasn't an outlet for it - extra $800. Doing the above delayed my move for a month - extra $1500. Even if you're super careful (I was), new houses just kind of steal money from you. Oh yeah, don't do what I did and open up a credit account at Home Depot for the sweet 10% off until after you take possession. The credit pull + increased utilitzation cost me .25% on my mortgage. 
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Mar 31, 2012 22:24
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Weinertron posted:I see new construction spoken of poorly throughout this thread, can someone tell me why the lead paint, poor insulation, and archaic floor plans make a 50s house on a tiny lot worth the same as a brand-new townhome right down the street? I may just have terrible taste, but I'm interested in hearing some reasons why older builds are preferable. My first impression is that those townhouses sure are shiny, have modern finishing materials, 10' ceilings, kitchen islands and stuff like that. Old construction is better than new construction because older homes were usually overbuilt in structural terms. They'll also usually be in better parts of town, in more established neighborhoods, and closer to city centers and services because they were built before everyone drove everywhere. Old houses were built by tradespeople who treated construction as a career and took pride in their work. They were built to last forever. You'll have a yard and a sidewalk that leads somewhere you want to go. You'll have a cozy fireplace and a formal living room. New construction is better than old construction because it follows modern building codes. You'll have outlets every six feet, laundry connections, a two car garage, cable in multiple rooms, and more than one light in any given room. You'll have a living room built with a TV in mind and a kitchen built with a microwave and dishwasher in mind. You'll have a media room rather than a formal living room. You'll have insulation in the walls and the ceiling, efficient appliances, a complete HVAC system, double-paned windows, and insulation-wrapped hot water pipes. You'll have bedrooms that fit king size beds, an eat-in kitchen, and a bathroom that's wider than a bathtub. You'll have special foundation reinforcement (where applicable) or storm-proof roofing. You won't have to worry about your roof for 20 years. Old construction is worse than new construction because the walls hide horrible problems, like support beams cut in half, old wiring, leaky pipes with lead solder, and asbestos-lined heating ducts. There are never enough outlets and if you use the hair dryer and the microwave at the same time you'll have a brownout. Your drainage to the sewer, if it's present, will be clay pipes full of roots. You'll have tiny rooms with low ceilings and a tiny kitchen that doesn't have a dishwasher. You'll have the most inefficient heating system possible, and if there's air conditioning it will triple your electrical expenses and drop the temperature by 5 degrees and drip water down the inside of your wall. You'll have single-pane aluminum windows and no insulation in the walls. Your roof will have three layers of shingles on it or will be leaking or both. New construction is worse than old construction because it was built by people hired that morning in a Home Depot parking lot, using the minimum amount of material in order to meet the too-lax building codes, designed to last through the three year warranty and not a day more. New construction sometimes employs new techniques in an incorrect manner, which often ends up trapping moisture somewhere in the walls and causing horrific mold or rot problems. New construction is all about the finishes and not about the structure or mechanicals. You'll get a yard that funnels water into your foundation covered in some sod and maybe a 2-year-old tree. Your brand new roof was flashed incorrectly and water's running underneath all of it. All of the above is true, simultaneously. Home ownership is awesome.
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Feb 18, 2013 23:30
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Aggg. Just got my refinance and as I start planning what I want to do with an addition, a gremlin pops up and says, "Wouldn't it be easier to just buy a bigger house with another bathroom?" BAD GREMLIN. NO. DO NEVER BUY (AGAIN). Edit: Oh wow, that one has a pool... Tricky Ed fucked around with this message at 06:44 on Jun 3, 2013 |
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Jun 3, 2013 06:33
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As a random internet stranger, I'd never advise buying a house if you have other debt. You need a lot of money to put down a good down payment and a little more in case something horrible happens. I can't blame you for wanting to stop renting but oh man do you need to be ahead of the money curve when you sign up for a mortgage. It's really easy to spend a lot of money even if you don't have an emergency. Once you're in the position where you can sink the same amount you were putting into your loans into your mortgage, you'll be golden.
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Sep 27, 2013 08:47
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Go to a big furniture store to get an idea of the difference between new high quality stuff and new cheap stuff, then go to consignment stores and get high quality stuff for about half the price. Also look around your area for swap meets. I've found an unbelievable amount of artwork for less than the cost of the frame at my local swap meets. As long as you're patient and don't need to buy everything today, you can find everything you need eventually. Really the biggest secret I can pass on is to never buy anything unless you've seen it before. Every purchase I've regretted came from walking into a store and buying something without doing any comparisons.
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Nov 18, 2013 18:56
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Cranbe posted:What are the things you should be conscious of when looking at older homes, built ca. 1930 to 1950 (edit: or even 1900)? I suppose the obvious one is to make sure the foundation is solid, but what are the less obvious concerns? Lead paint. Lots of it. Insulation (just kidding, there won't be any). One bathroom, and it's tiny. Wiring. Could be knob and tube, could be aluminum, almost certainly isn't up to the task of a modern home unless someone else has upgraded the service. Depending on your climate, HVAC might range from "not there" to "Victorian" to "Purchased at and installed by Sears in 1972." Single-paned, leaky windows. Be very wary of any previous renovations or additions. For some reason, people tend to think of structural beams as optional extras and just saw right through them to add another toilet or to move a wall vent. Look for ceilings and walls that are out of square, signs of cracking or shifting, stuff like that. Plumbing may be wonky. Did the area it's in have sewer service when it was built? Are cleanouts accessible? Asbestos. If you do find one that hasn't been messed with , you'll have a solid structure that you can renovate into a modern layout with a lot of charm. If someone hasn't gutted it recently, though, you may need to be prepared to do it yourself or live with its shortcomings.
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Jan 9, 2014 10:17
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I know it's cliche to say, but if you've never owned a home watch a bunch of Holmes on Homes, Income Property, and/or Property Brothers before you start buying. You'll see the following happen a ton: 1. Getting too tied to a specific location or feature and overpaying for it 2. Stretching the budget to afford the better location/bigger house and there's a $10,000 problem behind a wall 3. Waiving inspections or ignoring red flags to put in the "best offer" 4. Falling in love with a house and ignoring obvious problems or overpaying 5. Trusting the wrong people and not getting things in writing 6. Underestimating the total cost of ownership 7. Choosing the cheapest way to do X 8. Overreacting to cosmetics (paint colors, fixtures) and ignoring structure Yeah, each show's shtick gets old eventually, but seeing people come across problems and deal with them is good. You might even catch yourself spotting problems you wouldn't have known to look for before.
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Jan 14, 2014 06:35
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Cyrezar posted:To follow up on my post from last night, I decided this morning to cancel the closing scheduled for today. The house was not ready, although most of the problems were cosmetic and the house is 99% good. I would bring a builder's square as a gift when you give them the bad news.
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Feb 22, 2014 05:54
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I had a "drive-by" inspection from State Farm before they insured my house in CA. I wasn't able to be there so they didn't have access to the inside but they seemed fine with that. Chances are you'll be fine with a new insurer if you fix those problems. Different places have different crazy robot rules about what they can and can not cover. As long as it isn't a structural issue (like poor eave designs in fire territory or no roof strapping in hurricane territory) there should be someone who wants your business.
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Apr 23, 2014 09:03
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fruition posted:Any tips for getting the smell of smoke out of our house? The previous owner was, among other things, a chain-smoker and no matter what we do the smell still lingers. I bought my home from a heavy heavy smoker and here's what I did: 1. Rip out everything that is absorbent or circulated air. All carpet, carpet padding, curtains, air filters, etc. Replace fridge. 2. Remove the popcorn ceiling. 3. Have the air ducts cleaned and the HVAC serviced. 4. Scrub down all surfaces (floor, ceiling, walls, cabinets) with TSP-based cleaning products. Goo-gone on cabinetry to make sure the tar is gone. 5. Unscented febreze-coat every surface. 6. Retexture ceilings. 7. Prime paintable surfaces with Kilz. 8. Re-paint ceiling and walls. 9. New carpet pad and carpeting. I'm allergic to smoke and that worked for me. But when I say everything in my house was replaced or scrubbed, I mean everything. If I had to guess I'd suspect the carpet pads/carpet. I did my absolute best to deodorize the carpet that was here and nothing worked including steam cleaning, but once both the carpet and pad were replaced it was fine. I don't have hardwood floors, so I don't know if they will respond to TSP/Goo Gone or if you just can't get cleaning products in between all the boards. Good luck.
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May 3, 2014 07:02
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House Hunters starts filming the episode when the buyers already have a house under contract, then they try to find two other houses that they can pretend they were also looking at. It's got as much real drama as, say, Unwrapped. Still, the renovation shows do good jobs of showing you how nothing behind the wall is what you expect, so that's good. I handled my home renovation process way better having seen so many people royally mess things up by buying older homes at their upper budget limit.
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Aug 2, 2014 07:48
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There is always another house. I bought in a very hot market, and it took a few houses that I loved getting bought out from under me by cash offers before I could accept that. Looking back, I'm really glad I didn't get some of those houses that I was so sure I loved before. You're actually in an even better position. This house has been on the market for 3 months. You can walk away for a while and time will do the bargaining for you. If they get a sucker to take their price in the meantime, well, that guy's a sucker and you aren't. Tricky Ed fucked around with this message at 10:10 on Aug 9, 2014 |
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Aug 9, 2014 10:08
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Dilbert As gently caress posted:How do you build up credit faster? Seriously, buying a BMW with my dad as a co-signer was hard enough; I'd rather avoid any co-signing or third party interaction. There are better people in this thread to answer than me, but here's how I built credit after being debit-only for 7 years: * Got a credit card. It was a terrible card with an annual fee and a $500 limit, but it was the only one I could get. * Put monthly bills on that card and paid them off every month. * Asked for limit upgrades starting at six months. * At 11 months, went in the bank to talk about other cards. Was able to get a better one. Transferred regular bills to that one and closed the original before having to pay the annual fee again. * Pestered for limit increases on the new card after 6 months. That, plus my high down payment (25%) was enough for me to get a mortgage just over 2 years after getting that first card. If you're making regular payments on your car, that's a good help as well. Oh, and don't go debit-only like I did. Keeping a card and not using it at all is infinitely better than having no card.
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Sep 27, 2014 10:46
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You, er, win. I hope that insulation's all installed now (or you aren't living there yet).
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Nov 2, 2014 07:33
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moana posted:What was that awesome post somebody made in this thread: don't buy an old house because X, Y, Z, don't buy a new house because of A, B, C? This one? Tricky Ed posted:Old construction is better than new construction because older homes were usually overbuilt in structural terms. They'll also usually be in better parts of town, in more established neighborhoods, and closer to city centers and services because they were built before everyone drove everywhere. Old houses were built by tradespeople who treated construction as a career and took pride in their work. They were built to last forever. You'll have a yard and a sidewalk that leads somewhere you want to go. You'll have a cozy fireplace and a formal living room. Tricky Ed fucked around with this message at 07:53 on Nov 3, 2014 |
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Nov 3, 2014 07:49
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mtr posted:What is the etiquette on attending open houses without the intent to buy? I'm still renting but will likely enter the market as a first time buyer in the next couple of years. I'd like to check out some houses in an area I'm interested in to get an idea of what's available and price ranges. Just be honest. Say "I'm still renting but will likely enter the market as a first time buyer in the next couple of years. I'd like to check out some houses in an area I'm interested in to get an idea of what's available and price ranges," and then don't give them contact information. Take their card, be polite, and decide if you might want to work with them in the future. Or throw the card away when you get home. Lots of people go to open houses even if they're not planning to buy/sell soon.
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Nov 11, 2014 00:21
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nebby posted:Welp, wife and I just managed to score a lot in the bay area for a surprisingly reasonable price. We got ridiculously loving lucky. We're going to be building a prefab on it, probably a bluhome. Will do a trip report along the way. Mind sharing the other manufacturers you considered? I spent a few nights looking in to prefab builders and never found anything close to as nice as Blu.
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Dec 2, 2014 11:53
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Peanut and the Gang posted:Google says you shouldn't make big purchases right before the closing date. From what I understand, that's because you get new debt from it and they check your credit report again on closing day. What if you take the money straight out of your account via a debit card payment or whatever? That wouldn't incur any new debt since you're paying it all upfront. Would doing that cause any problems with the rear end in a top hat mortgage people? I think this is mostly important with regards to purchases on credit cards, as that decreases the amount of free credit you have available. Also don't make requests for more credit with anyone. For instance, if you were to sign up for a Home Depot credit card for that sweet 10% discount on your first purchase, and then the bank were to check your credit and find not only a new line of credit (which means a recent pull), but one that's maxed out (since you want to get the most out of that first purchase discount), you might find yourself with a worse rate on your pending home loan that dwarfs the savings on that Home Depot card. That would be a bad thing and I would never do it again.
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Jan 13, 2015 13:50
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KnucklePuckMe posted:One week later (this week) we get another hard rain. I come home to a kitchen counter covered in water. At this point I'm so whelmed I just stick a trashcan under it and go sit on the couch to eat. 10 minutes later a drop of water hits me on the back of the neck. FUUUUUCK Now that deck is leaking directly under the rails on either side, which is where everyone says decks that sit on roofs leak because the pilings break the roof barrier. My parents had a house with a deck over a flat roof for 12 years. The entire deck and roof were replaced four separate times and the roof still leaked. I don't know that there isn't a solution for certain, but my parents spent more than you have to try to resolve the issue before giving up. I say rip out the deck and be done unless you can find a way to support it without piercing the roof below in any location.
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Jan 15, 2015 07:12
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When I was looking for homes in 2008/2009, I ran in to a lot of people who were listing below market. They do this in hot markets because they know people are stupid. They fall in love with a house, or get sick of the process of searching, or get panicky about a rising market or whatever, and then they'll offer way more than they should because they know they're competing with a lot of other people. So they put in an offer that is reasonable, and the seller's agent can say "There are 8 other offers on the house," without mentioning that 5 of them are at list price, and ask for counter offers. Now everyone in on that house is already committed, and thinking "If I don't get this house I can never own a house," so they offer the moon. Granted, this process rarely results in prices that are demonstrably better than they would be if they had listed at what they actually wanted, but getting those extra bids from people who have no shot at actually buying the house is a method to squeeze all the money they can from the people who are willing to go higher. There was one house I saw that ended up selling for more than $110k over the list price, but even that wasn't really out of line for what the house was -- they had just listed it crazy-low to get as many people involved as possible. I think they ended up with over 30 offers. The real sad part about that house is that it was a bank-owned property and that $110k wasn't enough to push it over half of what was owed on it (the previous owner had double-refinanced it for close to a million dollars), but that's how we had a recession!
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Mar 22, 2015 19:16
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I bought my house from a heavy smoker. Like, rings around the pictures, tar circles above the bed and his recliner, sticky-to-the-touch curtains heavy. It had popcorn ceilings (with 2% asbestos, yay). They got scraped down and removed. All fiber surfaces were removed -- curtains, carpets, pads. We sprayed down every wall and the kitchen cabinets with goo-gone, rinsed it, let it dry, scrubbed down everything (walls, floors, ceiling) with TSP, let it dry again, and did that again. Primed every paintable surface with this stuff, and followed that with paint+primer. Had to replace the fridge and get the HVAC system cleaned out. I'm pretty sure all of that was enough, but I also replaced all of the light fixtures, vent grilles, and switches/outlets for other reasons. I'm allergic to smoke and that got it clean enough for me. It is possible to exorcise the demon, it just takes a lot of work.
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Apr 2, 2015 04:56
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Andy Dufresne posted:Off topic, but did you scrape off the popcorn ceilings yourself or have a contractor do it? This is one of the projects I have lined up on my house... I had it remediated by a professional environmental company. It's likely safe to do yourself if you wet everything down, wear a ventilator, and have eye protection, but I have met people with mesothelioma and it's terrifying juju so I didn't risk it. Also I had a $1000 credit that needed to be applied to work done to the home, so that made up the difference for me. I did the test myself, though. Saved like $150 or something ridiculous by just looking up a place and taking a ziploc bag in to a lab rather than have them come test it.
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Apr 3, 2015 07:36
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In the context of the super-rich (or maybe just really-rich), keeping a mortgage is a great thing when rates are this low. In the US you get a tax break on that interest you pay, and because you're really rich you have access to really great investment vehicles that can almost certainly outperform your super-low rate. Between the tax breaks and the low interest, your mortgage is more or less 'free' when compared to inflation. If something happens and values fall or you need to sell, you likely have the means to pay off the rest of the mortgage whenever you want. I'm guessing this isn't your situation. Paying down your mortgage gives you equity in your primary residence. Whenever you sell, the more equity you have the better position you're in. And, of course, paying the principal down early means you get the maximum benefit form the interest savings, especially since you know you have that interest rate jump coming up. Just remember that while you're technically 'making' money by paying your mortgage principal, you don't get to have that money back until you sell, and it is possible for home values to drop. I suppose what I'm saying is do what you want, just don't go crazy and sink extra money into your mortgage that should be keeping up an emergency fund and retirement accounts.
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Apr 7, 2015 17:44
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I stand by my quote in the OP regarding old builds vs. new builds, but if the choice was between a 50s house that hasn't been messed with before and a new spec home in a new project, I'd take the old house and customize it. The old house will take a lot of work to bring up to modernity, but it's likely to have huge advantages in location, trim, and lot that can't be found in new construction. Plus, if a house has gone 60 years without renovation, it was probably built solidly. If I had no budget to renovate, new house for sure.
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Jul 8, 2015 17:20
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notlibber posted:Has anyone done a new kitchen with ikea cabinets? I am 99% sure I will be and wanted some personal accounts. I have a friend who did his new kitchen with IKEA. If you are able to beat their prices for assembly and installation with a competent handyperson/contractor/laborer/robot, they're pretty much exactly as you describe. You order, they deliver a few weeks later when they feel like it, there will be missing/extra pieces that you'll have to deal with. If you get a countertop from them, too, you will have to be 100% done with the cabinet install before they will come to measure for that, and the final counter install will be another week plus. With my friend and his cousin doing the installation, the price was unbeatable and because they were careful and took their time the only misalignment comes from where they didn't realize they had an extra-tall refrigerator. If you get them to install the cabinets, most of the savings disappear. If you do a decent job on the install the price and quality is unbeatable.
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Jul 23, 2015 04:49
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Obviously consult with a real estate attorney and I'm not one, but if you buy something zoned for multiple units, keep it that way if you can, even if you plan on occupying the place as one unit. It's often way harder to get re-zoned for multiple units later, and the property will generally be more valuable with that zoning in place.
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Aug 5, 2015 08:50
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moana posted:How bad is a huge plate glass window? Should I be thinking of replacing it immediately? You're in NorCal, right? If it's not leaking it's not likely to be worth replacing just for efficiency. Maybe an IR/UV coating if it lets too much sunlight in. Be very wary if there's an irascible little kid running around with his own theme music, though. Guaranteed he'll hit a baseball through it by season two.
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Aug 27, 2015 08:15
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Not to pile on, but no home is perfect when you buy it, either. There are ALWAYS extra expenses. If you don't have 25% saved you're going to want that money when it turns out that the new place needs new carpet/AC/wiring/stair insulation/ghost busting.
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Sep 28, 2015 17:42
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Just here to mention that if you can possibly work out how to pay for your taxes and insurance on your own, you're way better off not using an escrow account. I've heard too many stories of escrow companies underpaying for taxes and/or insurance and causing problems to ever want to trust them. That said, call your loan people. Your check just may not have been opened and processed yet. Or your payment wasn't due until the end of the month rather than the first. That distinction didn't enter my mind when I first signed my mortgage, and I panicked when I realized I didn't have a bill or anything and it was the first of the month oh god and I looked up some address on the internet and mailed them a check and a letter apologizing/yelling about how I didn't know where or when to send the money and please don't kick me out of my house. Turns out I just didn't owe a payment yet. On the plus side, I started out with a full payment's worth of equity...
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Aug 2, 2016 09:13
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Vinny the Shark posted:Is this a good plan? Or is it totally harebrained and I should leave this idea to a handyman/flipper? Have you ever renovated a house before? If you don't know who will do the work and how much it will cost, this is a terrible plan. If you are looking at the house as an investment first, this probably isn't a good plan. You should make sure you can check all the boxes for homeownership:
If you want this house to be your primary residence, and it's undervalued for the area because it needs some work, and the price for the land is fair, and you know who will do the work, and you have a strong estimate for the costs, and you're going to be okay living through the renovation process (the kitchen will be in your bedroom for 6 weeks), and you've got enough money to spare after all that, fixing up your house might be a good way to increase your equity down the line. Just don't think of it as an investment if it's your residence. I'm currently renovating a house that I plan to rent out. I'm now expecting the final costs to be about 3 times my initial estimate, due to many issues found during construction and some I didn't think would be problems. I'll still come out ahead eventually, but the lesson is to be very aware that your costs will probably increase as soon as you put a hole in a wall.
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Sep 24, 2016 21:22
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atomicthumbs posted:howdy all. I've previously posted about my dad's efforts to buy a house, and now he is very close to buying a house. You need to get a septic company in to check out that system. A pumping costs $300-$500, a new leach field can cost $3000 or more, and a new tank to modern CA standards can be $10k or more. It's worth it to pay someone to find out which one of those is happening. As with the building inspector, you need to identify the problems, get a rough estimate of the cost involved to fix the issue, and then go to the seller with those estimates. The best thing to do is to ask for a lower price, since that lets you be in charge of the fixes (even if they ultimately cost more). Banks sometimes will play ball with this and sometimes they won't -- it depends on if they want a dollar figure and are willing to wait or if they want the asset gone now. Even though your dad's paying cash, you may have leverage if there are severe problems, since banks won't finance a property with a bad septic system or a collapsed porch. Once those red flags have been identified, it's now cash only and they've shrunk their pool of buyers. If they want the asset gone now, threatening to walk might work. If they want the dollars and there are other cash offers, it'll be tough to get concessions for that sort of thing. Good luck!
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Sep 29, 2016 02:54
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On the other hand, if that $9k represents a significant percentage (say, a third or more) of your total credit available, it can impact your refi. I've told this story here before, but my first mortgage jumped a half point due to my brand new Home Depot card being maxed in its first month. It was only a $500 limit, but since I had so little revolving credit at the time (about $2k) it tripped some usage warning and raised my rate significantly. Now that I have way more credit available to me it wouldn't get noticed, but everything is relative. Also don't apply for more credit while you're applying for a mortgage. That is also a reason why that card was a bad idea.
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Nov 17, 2016 20:27
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particle9 posted:Is there a reason not to put a large down payment on a house? If you could throw 50% down is there a financial reason not to? Reason 1: Asset liquidity. All the money you put in as a down payment is unavailable to you until you sell the property or refinance, whereas other investments (Stocks, bonds, REITs) could be shifted easily if you needed the money for something else. Reason 2: Opportunity cost. At least in the US right now, mortgages are ridiculously cheap, barely outpacing inflation and in most cases tracking below inflation + appreciation. In theory, investing extra cash in something with a reasonable return would generate more money than you'd save over the course of the mortgage with a larger down payment. Reason 3: Asset diversification. Buying a home means you naturally have a larger--than-optimal exposure to your local real estate market's whims. A housing bubble burst or natural disaster puts all of that investment at risk. By spreading your money out as much as possible you take less of a hit if one sector drops more than the others. That said, it's a house and houses are best treated as an expense rather than an investment, so if the large down payment gives you an advantage you like, it's not the worst thing to do in the world.
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Feb 20, 2017 10:20
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Twerk from Home posted:It sounds like I'm not completely off base in the areas we're looking, what do I really have to lose by hopping straight into a house instead of renting first? I want to avoid the pain / expense of moving twice, and a year in an apartment or rental seems like it would be pretty expensive compared to just going ahead and buying. Mainly you're making a permanent decision on where you want to be before you've had a chance to learn what the area's really like. Renting first lets you get to know your work schedule, where people you like are, where the stuff you like to do is, where the stores and restaurants you like are, and maybe get a better idea of what you want vs. what people are paying. The second thing is that when you've got a deadline to close on a house you might be tempted to overlook some things or talk yourself into an area you don't like. In other words, if you aren't willing to walk away from any house you put an offer on, you aren't as detached from the process as you could be, and that can cause you to buy the wrong place. I would consider a short term furnished rental (2-3 months). It'll cost more for those few months and be a hassle to have most of your stuff in storage, but it'll let you get a good feel for the area and lessen the pressure on you to BUY RIGHT NOW. Since you're essentially going in with a cash offer you'll have an advantage in that competitive market, and you'll have some time to be sure you like where you're buying. Fake edit: You can rent a house Dolly Parton owns for like 11 grand a month if you want.
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Mar 9, 2017 06:10
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