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I'm in the process of my first purchase, and it bugged me a lot to find out that the buyer is expected to front earnest money in case of a breach, but that the seller can pretty much do whatever and force legal action. Seems like it could be more fair that way, but I'm sure buyers backing out is the much more common case.
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Aug 30, 2012 18:37
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 22:02 |
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This may be the dumbest question in the world, but Rurounny's situation made me think of it again. If you owe on a mortgage for a house/condo, and the lender doesn't want to refinance, why can't you seek out another lender to start a new mortgage that includes paying off the old one (assuming no prepay penalties)? Essentially buy the house from yourself? I guess this could run into issues with down payments and such, but given the vulturesque nature of lenders, I'd assume they'd be all about stealing revenue from someone else in this way.
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Sep 18, 2012 17:38
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emocrat posted:Because no one will loan you $180,000 when your collateral is only worth 130,000. Didn't stop 'em the first time  Yeah, that does make sense. So if one weren't underwater it'd be possible?
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Sep 18, 2012 18:58
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ZentraediElite posted:Can someone help me out with understanding the workflow for buying a house? I just bought a place and both me and the missus had parental help of much less than 10% and our lender knew and gave no shits. Maybe your mortgage broker thinks your dad wants to co-sign or something? Either way, they can't prevent your dad from giving you money, and yes you'll generally cut a big check or get a direct fund transfer from one account at closing.
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Nov 19, 2012 21:20
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I know this is totally unimportant, but your agent should really be buying you lunch not the other way around.
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Nov 30, 2012 23:18
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When looking to buy recently I ran the numbers in as much detail as I could to see the difference between renting and buying. Assuming rent would be a bit cheaper than an equivalent mortgage, factoring in the transaction fees, taxes, association fees, insurance, and lost interest on extra savings from renting... let's just say that people who give the 5-7 year range are really stretching the definition of "break even". For me, at a 20 year mortgage @ current rates with 20% down and property values stable or slightly rising, I could come out ahead/even in 7 years. Otherwise if you've got a higher rate, longer mortgage, or are paying PMI, you actually come out worse than if you were "throwing money away" renting + saving the excess. Of course, every area is different, maybe renting is somehow more expensive than a mortgage in some places, but everyone should really dig into their particular numbers beyond, "Wow, that mortgage payment seems so low!" And remember you're paying to fix everything yourself now, as well. Including the washing machine. Basically, we should all live in boxes.
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Dec 6, 2012 22:52
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I believe you can get tax-free gifts from family up to 13k, so there is that. This is only federal, I'm not sure if any states have gift taxes. 27k for a downpayment on a minimum of 200k means you're looking at PMI/FHA/whatever else. This means, generally, a higher interest rate and monthly payment along with a longer loan term in order for it to remain affordable for you. I'm far too lazy to crunch the numbers for you, but I'm guessing once you add in HoA fees, property taxes, and maintenance on your condo that you're not going to be saving much if anything by buying instead of renting. But you should do this math yourself to be sure. Most of the differences between houses and condos have to do with the associations and the building integrity. You need to have the building inspected as well as your unit, and you want to make sure the association is well-funded and takes care of the property. You can have special assessments imposed by the association for emergency repairs, so having a small monthly fee isn't always a good thing compared to a higher fee and lots of money in reserve. I'd advise you to look for a better apartment with more sunlight and keep saving, especially since you have to wipe out your whole account to get any sort of downpayment (no emergency reserve = bad bad bad).
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Jan 3, 2013 17:37
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Can't you just play with the calculator and change the "adding extra to your monthly payment" option until it's done on your schedule? But yes, that number looks right to me.
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Jan 29, 2013 17:11
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Spamtron7000 posted:Hopefully this isn't off-topic but does anyone know how to "opt out" of all the garbage mailings? For every legitimate piece of mail I receive there are literally 50+ pieces of garbage in my mailbox. It's a crime against nature and it means I have to check my mail every other day instead of every week like I'd prefer. If you have a smart phone you can look into PaperKarma, but it won't stop them from coming, only from coming a second time (maybe, possibly). I've heard rumors that it's the post office that sells your info to some companies when you file a change of address form, but I don't know that for sure. I'm sure it could just as easily be the fact that you have to, you know, file public papers to buy a house.
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Jul 3, 2013 19:02
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You have it right by my understanding as well. If the seller owes 100k and you offer 75k, the bank would take the whole 75k and write off 25k. Unless their counter is over 100k (taking them out of a short sale) the actual number wouldn't matter to the seller at all. Our agent told us to expect any short-sale offer to be accepted quickly by the seller, but then for a long wait before the bank made any decisions or counters.
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Nov 8, 2013 19:08
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Having seen the mysterious voodoo calculation of a bank-run escrow account cause extremely odd changes and fluctuations, if you are at all capable/responsible of budgeting and saving money on your own you should absolutely manage the property taxes yourself.
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Jan 24, 2014 15:59
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FrozenVent posted:Also keep in mind that you're only "paying yourself" after HOA fees, mortgage interest, broker commission, closing costs, taxes, maintenance... Somebody here said it best: the amount you spend on rent is a maximum, the amount you spend on your mortgage+taxes+HOA is a minimum.
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Feb 17, 2014 17:47
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To counter all the negative condo talk, my anecdote: we found a very nice condo in Chicago that met all our requirements at an okay price in a good location, with a friendly, knowledgeable board that promptly addresses problems while keeping dues at reasonable levels. It's smaller, 16 units, and sound can be a problem wince it's ancient construction, but since everyone here is over 30 no one is throwing keggers every weekend or anything. So worthwhile condos/associations do exist, but it can be very hard to tell the difference from the outside. I'd definitely advise asking for association meeting notes and financials and even talking to the board president if they'll agree before buying one.
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Mar 2, 2014 20:04
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Any tips? I've got three keys at the moment and would like to have one. We've got ancient looking locks from what I'm guessing is 1938 (lol Chicago) that have so far convinced me that they can't be unified.
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Mar 28, 2014 03:07
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Bloody Queef posted:If you have to buy a condo to be where you want and the size of house you want, you can't afford it and should reassess. This is going a bit far. Condos are a perfectly reasonable way to get to live in a particular neighborhood of a city you like if single family homes in that neighborhood are too expensive, while also getting to build equity that you wouldn't get living in an apartment. I'm not saying all the red flags and warnings that are being mentioned aren't valid, only that there are good buildings with good HOAs in good neighborhoods. It's not as simple as HOUSE OR NOTHING.
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Jul 1, 2014 15:53
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slap me silly posted:I agree with what you're saying overall but "build equity", haha, unlikely. Condos are generally too expensive for the break-even time vs renting to be short enough to claim that one. I think it's hard to generalize much about condos across the country, but sure, looking at buying a condo as an investment is probably not wise. The longer you stay after buying the better the math works out, which is probably the most important thing to be aware of.
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Jul 1, 2014 16:04
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mastershakeman posted:No, it's a 90 year old building that has a $500/mo assessment (Evanston, IL; 24 units). I'm not in any rush to make an offer but it seems like a ton of effort to be figuring out condo financials vs just looking elsewhere. I'm pretty much trying to build a case of 'never buy a condo' with my wife since a ~250k condo w/ $450ish assessment is pretty much the same monthly payment as a ~350k house (albeit the house would need more maintenance budgeted for). Hi. I live in Edgewater in a 90 year old building with 20 units and am on the HOA board. $500/month is crazy high for this area unless the building has a swimming pool, gym, elevators, and doorman (or the condo is a top-floor penthouse that's 10x the size of all the others - assessments are usually divided by square footage). I have heard of the escrow'd special assessment thing happening, for roof repairs, even, especially if the property has been on the market a while. That's not crazy, just part of the negotiation. Other people are right in that a special assessment can indicate finance problems - as would having over-high assessments (they're trying to catch up on low reserves). The rule of thumb around here is 2k per unit in reserve, barring recent big repairs like the roof or major tuck-pointing. I'm not as down as some people are on condos, but I'm betting you could find a better deal out there in this area if that is the direction you decide to go. Edit to add: blarzgh posted:[snip rarg condos] A lot of the bad things you posted are dependent on the HOA. So people definitely need to check the bylaws before buying, but shouldn't assume all condos are going to be like that right out of the gate. Rooster Brooster fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Feb 10, 2015 |
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Feb 10, 2015 16:44
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Absolutely. I'd add that it's a good plan for younger people if know they don't want kids and know they'll stay in the area for a time. They do seem to think, "It'll be like renting, but I get equity!", but after all is said and done you wind up in the hole from taxes, repairs, fees, agents' percentages, and closing costs.
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Feb 10, 2015 17:27
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Assuming no prepayment penalties on the 30-year, you do lose some flexibility if something "goes wrong" with a 15. If you're on a 30 and something bad happens financially you're in less of a bind month-to-month. But if you're in a stable spot the better rate on the 15 would probably be worth it. Ninja edit: dang, 2 seconds too slow Double edit: Also, there are 20 year mortgages if you want to try to split the difference in security vs interest rate.
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Feb 10, 2015 20:51
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LabyaMynora posted:30mins later, she calls me and is pretty pissed, which is confusing, because I remember reading that a Buyer's Agent is supposed to be the calm voice of reason while the buyers are freaking out. No matter what else is actually going on, this is 100% true. Your agent shouldn't be flipping out at all, and should be explaining to you how things work in your area, but ultimately doing things how you want if you disagree in the end. Not going over your max price is at least something, even if you got caught in a fake bidding war.
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Feb 17, 2015 18:14
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What Leperflesh said is dead on. If you put a low $ down and pay mostly interest for the first few years, you can wind up wanting to sell within 10 years and needing to bring a giant pile of money to the table to make it happen. That'll greatly skew your rent vs buy calculations. Only other thing I'd add on what other people have said is that good condo buildings generally don't let you rent out your unit without any conditions. This is to prevent the building becoming occupied only by renters, and driving down property values. Banks also sometimes don't like to give you loans for condos in mostly-rental buildings. Here in Chicago I was told 20% was a good limit, but in other places it ccould vary. This is both something you should ask about when buying, and something you need to think about as an owner. A building that has strict renting rules is better for your resale, but a bigger pain in the rear end as far as your flexibility.
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Apr 1, 2015 21:20
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Also, changing the rules usually* requires submitting the change to the whole HOA for approval, since it's a by-law update. *depending on the rules in your local governing area or whatever
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Jun 16, 2015 17:34
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QuarkJets posted:[...]did you remember to include taxes, insurance, hoa, maintenance, and all of the other major expenses associated with home ownership? Like closing costs! Make sure to factor in the thousands of dollars you're just throwing away right at the start! And then again at the end! I did a spreadsheet of all the costs and related items I could come up and did a check into the future, assuming what I would've saved monthly renting went into a basic savings account, and it barely made sense for me to buy assuming I'd stay 8 years, much less 5 - even with rent money being a "black hole". That doesn't include quality of life bits, like changing your place versus not having to worry about poo poo breaking. I highly recommend setting something like that up before buying. You can also lose money on a house - it can depreciate in value. That does happen.
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Sep 16, 2015 15:52
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 22:02 |
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Hughlander posted:I just pack and refresh my email for whatever goes wrong next. new thread title, plz
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May 6, 2016 21:57
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