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What's the difference between offering a credit and just reducing the sales price? I guess it means the agents get more and there's a bigger transfer tax?
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Nov 17, 2023 03:46
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 05:59 |
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Unless of course you have insider information. But if you knew in advance what the Fed was going to do, and this was how you decided to profit off that information, then props to you for being astonishingly principled, frankly.
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Nov 17, 2023 18:01
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If it were me, I couldn't trust that there's not a million ticking time bombs in that house. You'd have to tear the entire thing open to properly inspect it, at which point it'd largely need to be rebuilt. So yeah, I'd walk away.
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Nov 18, 2023 05:43
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There's all kinds of really dangerously stupid things people have done to breaker panels. To name one off the top of my head, physically preventing a breaker from tripping, which is a massive fire hazard. You want to make sure none of that is going on.
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Nov 28, 2023 23:29
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Thoughts on houses that are pre-inspected with an inspection report pre-emptively made available to prospective buyers? I can see how that could streamline things, but I have concerns about the inspector (who presumably was hired by the current owner) being motivated to not find issues.
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Nov 29, 2023 19:26
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Arsenic Lupin posted:I've only seen that for houses where they're planning on having an auction when the bids close; no, you can't get your own inspection, because we'll have taken a bid by then. If there is time, absolutely get another inspector, and ideally not one recommended by the realtor. Y'know, that tracks with the house I was looking at. They announced it two weeks in advance of it going on the market, and it's clearly been thoroughly staged. So my guess is they're trying to get it to move quickly even though it's the off season. Thanks, y'all. I know I definitely wouldn't be comfortable relying entirely on a seller-supplied inspection.
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Nov 29, 2023 20:06
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I sent in an offer on a house yesterday. In PA that means I sent the completed paperwork for a purchase, and if the seller signs it then it's a done deal barring contingencies (which, yes, includes various independent inspections). The seller has until the end of today to respond, and so I get to spend the rest of the day being anxious and trying to think through the logistics of moving cross-country with an 11-year-old, 70-pound dog and a workshop's worth of heavy woodworking tools. Fun fact: the sale agreement includes a clause stating that I don't own any coal under the lot, and whoever does has the right to mine it and is not liable if the house is damaged by vibrations/settling. The house is in the middle of pretty dense suburbs, so I can't imagine that clause being relevant, but what the gently caress?
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Dec 23, 2023 14:47
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Oh poo poo, they accepted my offer. I hadn't planned this far 
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Dec 23, 2023 21:15
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QuarkJets posted:lol you're hosed now! Oh, I'm not that hosed  . Inspections are on Wednesday, I have financing lined up. Homeowners insurance is gonna need to be set up, but I have USAA, that shouldn't be a problem.It's more of an "oh poo poo, I'll be moving across the country" situation. And yeah, ideally don't do this during a holiday period, but it's when I'm in the neighborhood, so  .
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Dec 23, 2023 22:40
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Noted, thanks!
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Dec 23, 2023 22:48
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spwrozek posted:Let the mining begin! Yeah, giant potholes and massive earth subsidence are one of those things that I abstractly think are cool but would 100% not want to be anywhere near. Especially if the most expensive thing I own is involved But I very much doubt that anyone would dare mine coal in this neighborhood. Regardless of what the law says, it's just too densely-populated (read: suburbia of mostly 5-10k sqft lots) for the risks to be worth it.
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Dec 24, 2023 01:53
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Inspections have passed! We're committed now, folks. Hardest part of this, mentally anyway, is gonna be moving my 11-year-old, 70-pound puppy across the country. Way too big to fit in a carryon, which means he has to go in the cargo hold 
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Dec 28, 2023 15:28
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Inner Light posted:I’ve never done this with a doggo. Hope they allow some toys and treats to keep him comfortable ish. I don’t think he’ll mind a ton once he sees you on the other side. Would be curious on a trip report. I'll probably talk more about it in the dog-owners thread when the time comes. It's gonna be at least a month though, since the sale doesn't close until February. The main tricky thing is that the only airlines with direct flights are American and United, United doesn't allow large dogs at all, and American requires you to use "American Airlines Cargo", which I'm not super clear on. But as long as I'm on the same plane as Pavlov is, I think we'll be OK.
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Dec 28, 2023 18:36
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Pollyanna posted:Man gently caress that. I’d take a road trip. I considered it, but it's 42 hours of driving, it'd be in winter, I have no training for driving in snow, I'd have to rent a car (mine is an EV with a max range of 150 miles), and I have a back issue that makes sitting down for long periods a problem. Even so, I haven't ruled it out entirely...but I would much prefer to fly.
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Dec 28, 2023 18:53
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daslog posted:Rent a U haul and a trailer to tow your car. I assume you have to get your stuff out there somehow... God, gently caress packing and hauling all my stuff personally. Moving companies save so much effort. Not to mention I own too much crap to fit into a consumer-drivable truck. And I'd get anxiety over someone deciding to break into the U-Haul in the middle of the night. Plus the back thing. And bear in mind that between gas, car rental, and hotel fees, flying will be a lot cheaper. This is one of those situations where I actually spend the money I've been saving up. Let other people solve my problems for me, I'll be stressed enough as it is.
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Dec 28, 2023 19:09
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There's a very specific series of layers of materials you're supposed to use when building a wall. This gets especially tricky if the wall incorporates an exterior insulation like EIFS...which is often used with stucco as the outermost layer. Get the order of materials wrong, or skip a layer, or put a layer in facing the wrong way, and you can have water getting stuck in the wall and causing damage.
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Dec 28, 2023 23:14
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To be clear, stucco as a siding material is fine, good even. It's durable, fire-resistant, pretty easy to paint, and IMO attractive. Stucco on top of fancy cutting-edge materials that are easy to install incorrectly? That's a different matter.
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Dec 29, 2023 16:35
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Pollyanna posted:I would appreciate one. My family is reaching that age. Maybe I’ll start it. If you do, please link it here so those of us that only browse the forums via bookmarks have a chance to find it.
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Dec 31, 2023 16:14
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My real estate agent has been telling me about how weird and behind-the-times the seller's agency is:quote:For the second deposit, sellers broker doesn't handle wires So first off, is this anything I need to be worried about? My mother used the same buying agent, so I feel like odds of this being a scam vector are pretty low, but it is pretty weird. Second, does anyone have a clue what they're talking about when it comes to apps? Is this another one of those weird, sketchy banking apps, like the one that wanted my logon information so it could log into my bank's website on my behalf?
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Jan 3, 2024 02:18
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. It's bonkers. They have some other system I'm not familiar with, with an app - not gonna have you and your deposit be the experiment though. Either title company or my brokerage can hold it and seller agent is OK with that.
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Hadlock posted:Are you trying to avoid an escrow fee or what Not at all, I'd rather do this by the book as much as possible. And to the extent that I understand the book, that means me sending a wire transfer or cashier's cheque to the intermediary. But understanding the process is a big part of what real estate agents get paid for, right?
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Jan 3, 2024 02:41
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Hadlock posted:Your offer should include the title company and the escrow company in writing and how/when/why it'll be released. Oh yeah, the title company is SQS Settlements, I completely forgot about reading that  This is what I get for reading all the legal docs during vacation while I have a head cold.
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Jan 3, 2024 23:54
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Uthor posted:I've paid three months of my mortgage so far, paid an extra 1.5 months on top of what I owe, and cut like six months off my mortgage. So those dollars are effectively worth 4x right now. Careful with this logic, because it can be taken too far. Money you spend paying down a loan early is money that you can't invest. If the interest rate is, say, 4%, and the average return on the stock market is 7%, then you're missing out on 3% of the potential value of your money by spending it early to reduce your interest rate payments. Of course, the higher the interest rate gets, the less sense this makes, and there can potentially be a point where your priority is paying down the loan ASAP. I don't know that we'll ever have interest rates that high again though. Contrariwise, when interest rates are lower, there's even less of a reason to pay off loans early. Back in 2011, I got a 15-year mortgage with a 3% interest rate, and I really should have gotten a 30-year mortgage with a 3.2% interest rate instead.
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Jan 8, 2024 18:38
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Cyrano4747 posted:This is correct but you also have to make sure you're making the correct comparisons. Namely, that hypothetical 4% on your mortgage is guaranteed. You should be comparing it to the most conservative types of investments, because that's what your 4% mortgage fallback essentially is. If your mortgage is 4% and you can get a two year CD at 5.5%? No brainer, pay the minimum on your mortgage, buy a CD, and enjoy the extra 1.5% But if the CDs are yielding the same as your mortgage and the point of comparison is the stock market you need to think much more carefully about what your particular situation is and what your risk tolerance is like, because expecting perpetual 7% returns on the stock market is how you become a California public employee pension with solvency issues. Yes, good correction. In particular, while the stock market has pretty consistent returns over the very long term, your actual returns will depend very heavily on when specifically you need to withdraw. So you shouldn't be putting money into the stock market that you expect to need to withdraw under any amount of time pressure. My main thesis, earlier, was just to recognize that there is an opportunity cost to spending your money on paying down debt.
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Jan 8, 2024 19:01
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I spoke with my next-door neighbor, and she has a son who might be interested in buying my house. Man, sure would be nice to save that 6% realtor fee. But I'd need someone to walk me through the process, provide the contract, etc etc etc.
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Jan 13, 2024 00:03
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Cyrano4747 posted:Make sure you do comps with what else is going on in your neighborhood to make sure you're actually getting full value. For sure, and conveniently, my house is part of a 1950's development where they built like 500 identical houses, so comps are super easy to find. daslog posted:My opinion is that more often than not this doesn't work out. If you choose to go forward, then I would suggest a real estate attorney. Noted, thanks.
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Jan 13, 2024 00:31
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Has anyone here used full-service movers that they'd recommend? Especially for a cross-country move.
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Jan 16, 2024 00:02
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Sundae posted:Atlas did my corporate relocations and they were phenomenal, but I don't know if that's just luck or if it's that they take extra care with big companies vs what's available to individuals. They handled a move from Pennsylvania to California and it was fabulous. They also did New York to Connecticut, but in fairness all I owned at the time was a beanbag and a box of textbooks, so even Joe Schmoe's Discount ConMen could've done that. Thanks for the recommendation! Amusingly enough, I'm going CA->PA I'm just one person, but I do have a fair amount of stuff, including a carpentry shop full of tools, and some custom furniture I built for myself. I'm not really up for packing up everything myself, and I'd rather it all be transported by people who know what they're doing.
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Jan 16, 2024 17:42
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I just spoke with a customer service rep at American Airlines Cargo, about shipping my dog Pavlov across the country. They have planes that have heated cargo bays, so dogs in approved crates can be moved that way. Problem: I want to do SFO -> PHL, and the plane that does that route can't take animals. In fact, Pavlov is a big enough dog that he can only be shipped in wide-body planes, and American Airlines, at least, shuffles their widebody planes around depending on the season. Right at this moment, they could do LAX -> PHL, but they can't guarantee that that would still be the case in a month or two, when I'd actually be ready to move. And LAX is like an eight-hour drive from where I live. The only other airline that does nonstop flights from SFO to PHL is United, and as far as I can tell, they only allow pets if those pets are small enough to fit into a carrier that goes underneath the seats inside the cabin. poo poo.
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Jan 16, 2024 21:35
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Baddog posted:what the hell, how big is this dog? His relevant measurements, from this page, are A: 32 inches, B: 12 inches, C: 9 inches, D: 27 inches. Basically they want a crate big enough for the animal to stand up, lie down without having to curl up, and turn around. That means that he gets an "extra large" or "giant" sized crate. He's a fairly large dog, at 72 pounds, but he's certainly not what I would consider to be a giant breed. I really don't love the idea of driving cross-country in late February / early March. It'd simplify a lot of logistics, but man, what a pain in the rear end. oh yeah, y'all deserve some photos.   
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Jan 16, 2024 21:48
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Muir posted:There are companies that specialize in driving pets across country. My in-laws did that for their two cats when they moved out here 6 years ago. Ah, thanks, I didn't think of that option. I don't suppose you have recommendations? I found Pet Van Lines from a quick online search, but no clue if they're any good.
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Jan 16, 2024 22:05
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rjmccall posted:Did you try SFO to Dulles, Newark, or even JFK? Any of those would be a lot closer to Philly than LA is from SF. That's a fair point. Alaska Airlines does SFO->EWR (Newark) as a direct flight, for example, and claims to support shipping live animals with no restrictions on crate size. Thanks for the suggestion!
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Jan 17, 2024 01:58
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Spoke with a rep from a moving company, who said that they'd need 1 day to pack and 1 day to load. Is that typical? It makes things messier for me, since that's an extra day that I need to be around to give access to the house / supervise things.
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Jan 20, 2024 20:51
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Shifty Pony posted:For the love of god go to this website before you do any mortgage related credit pulls: https://www.optoutprescreen.com Can confirm, I'm still getting the occasional spam text from when I applied to a couple places back in August.
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Jan 24, 2024 04:39
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Hadlock posted:It's fine to fall in love with a home, just don't let emotions get in the way of viewing the inspection report unbiased or make bad financial deciding. The only way to not get emotionally attached to a home is to repeatedly get your offers rejected and become numb to the process, IMO you can also just be dead inside
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Jan 25, 2024 01:55
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I now own two houses. poo poo. Three weeks to go before I can traipse across the country and start prepping the old one to be sold!
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Jan 31, 2024 21:40
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Oh, the road quality doesn't matter, because there's so many cars and such frequent intersections that you're rarely doing better than 15MPH anyway.
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Jan 31, 2024 23:02
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You might also ask the BFC Newbies thread. I wouldn't take option C in any case, since you'd have to pay taxes on the income from selling the stocks. Low interest rate debt is generally preferable, so long as you can handle the payments.
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Feb 3, 2024 03:24
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Hadlock posted:B looks like the least bad option (I would not recommend making a serious bet on when exactly the Fed will change interest rates. They're probably going to drop them sometime in the next year, but you never know...)
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Feb 3, 2024 05:26
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Realistically, if there's active K&T in the attic, then there's active K&T in the walls too. The attic is the easy place to run new wires, you'd run romex up there if you had the option. And if some prior owner paid to rewire the house, they'd do the walls and the attic, not just the walls. But yeah, my understanding is that K&T is just fine so long as you don't touch it. Whether the insurance company agrees is a different matter, of course.
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Feb 6, 2024 23:30
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 05:59 |
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Re: building from scratch, my understanding is that this is also substantially more expensive than buying an existing house. I asked a similar question awhile back in one of these threads (probably Fix It Fast), and IIRC the rule of thumb thrown at me was $500-1000/sqft for a finished residence. And that was just for the labor and materials, not the land, not convincing the utilities to run service out to your address, not any major landscaping needed to make the site buildable, all that stuff.
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Feb 12, 2024 21:15
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