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jackyl posted:do you understand how mortgage amortization works? If you do, throw every dollar at your house principal that you can, unless you have other debt. Early year house payments are basically all interest, so you gain nothing by only making payments- you are basically treading water (assuming a 30 year). Do you understand how inflation works? Paying year 2013 dollars to save year 2043 dollars is not necessarily a sound financial decision. Paying down early is not the tremendous financial win it appears to be if you just naively look at the amortization schedule. There are, of course, a lot of other factors that weigh into things (both for and against paying early); neither choice is obviously correct.
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Jun 20, 2013 19:46
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My understanding is that with the housing boom in the early 2000s, really cheap construction ("efficient") went into style, so you should use caution when looking at homes less than 15 years old (particularly in a cookie cutter subdivision). I know from first hand experience, one thing to watch out for in homes from the 70s or earlier is that their ductwork was not designed with air conditioning in mind. It can be quite expensive to get two stories evenly cooled.
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Jul 5, 2013 03:31
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Economic Sinkhole posted:We are making an offer on a house that sits on a private (not city or county owned) street. There's no HOA and there are only 4 houses on the street. Does anyone have any experience with private streets like this? It seems to be in good shape now but it is up to the homeowners, apparently, to maintain the street. My guess is that since there's nobody collecting any dues or anything, that this street will basically never see any maintenance. I don't have firsthand experience on that, but I have some second hand experience with other shared utility stuff... You're probably going to have to work together with your neighbors to get any maintenance done on the road. How hard this is will depend on the personalities of your neighbors, how long (and thus how expensive) the road is, and how much of it is shared by all four homes (agreeing on a way to pay for it that's not just evenly splitting the cost four ways can be nearly impossible, which may itself be hard to agree to if one home needs much more road than the other three).
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Jul 10, 2013 17:57
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Rekinom posted:Well, I look at it as an investment since when it's paid off, I plan on having her transfer ownership to my name. I'm not an accountant, but I strongly suspect that gifting your mother $140k and then having her gift you a house is an absolutely terrible idea tax wise.
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Jul 29, 2013 21:23
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Economic Sinkhole posted:He also didn't count the lowest level (tri-level house) as livable square footage since it's below grade. Only it isn't below grade in any sense. You can walk right out the sliding glass door and into the flat back yard. He docked us like $11k for that since there's a half bath down there too. Having looked into this very recently (the frickin main entrance to the home we're buying is technically below grade), the fact that any portion of the rooms are below grade automatically makes them not count as habitable space. The appraiser can, with justification, value the home's below grade space higher than the comparables' below grade space, but they cannot value it as highly as above-grade space. My appraisal came in $12K below the sale price though, so I can agree with the general sentiment not appreciating the process.
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Aug 6, 2013 20:44
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tiananman posted:Many (all?) lenders won't let you buy for more than the appraisal. It's great leverage for the buyer when the appraisal comes in low. AFAIK, they don't give a poo poo if you buy for more than the appraisal; they just aren't going to lend you more than 80% of the appraised value.
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Aug 8, 2013 21:38
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hypersober posted:Although I will be making the monthly payments, I would have no sole claim to the house. I really have no problem with this as we will still treat the house as if it's my Mom's - because it is. I know there would be family squabbles, but I'm confident that we will continue to be the type who would not put money over anything. I think the only other problem I foresee is if I get married in the future, but I'm assuming a pre-nup would take care of that. IANAL, but I think you want to look into putting it into a trust.
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Aug 13, 2013 18:41
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Bruce Hussein Daddy posted:e: It's really not the money, it's the whole RADON CANCER GAS. I mean, if it had come in at 3.5 would we be even talking about it? Have I been living in radon land of 20 all my life and not known about it? Is 4-6% actually a good thing? The internet is all over the place on this poo poo. Do you smoke? If you smoke, then there's strong evidence that radon can represent a significant risk of lung cancer; don't mess around and install a mitigation system. Even if you don't smoke, there's some evidence to support that reducing it from 4pCi/L to 2pCi/L would be cost-effective at $2,000. The risk is small (but not insignificant), but it's also a pretty small expenditure.
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Sep 26, 2013 19:42
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CornHolio posted:Which cabinet? The one above it? The one next to it, to make room for a 30" wide oven
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Oct 9, 2013 04:56
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The banks that you've never heard of, with the lowest rates on those sites, depend pretty much entirely on having the lowest rates to earn their business, rather other factors, such as word of mouth. Maintaining a profit while offering a lower price than anyone else means you need to have lower overhead than everyone else. With those two together... don't expect great customer service.
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Oct 17, 2013 23:03
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Economic Sinkhole posted:If you know anyone who is a contractor or used to work on houses or is at all handy even, ask them to come to the inspection with you so they can check it out. It is relatively easy to do the finish work like new paint, new laminate floors and new appliances. Many house flippers buy trash heap houses and slap up a coat of paint and cheap flooring and try to cash out, while leaving the rotted subfloors, leaking roof and broken furnace for the next schmuck who owns the place. Here's the thing about house flipping: increasing the resale value of a home by 90% of the cost of a home improvement project is a very good return. Actually making decent money on a flip (other than just through appreciation) means you've either got to be very savvy about what improvements to make for the best return, or you've got to make the improvements look like they're worth a lot more than they actually are (which means cutting corners like hell and papering over any serious problems).
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Oct 18, 2013 18:35
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Weinertron posted:What owning gets you is a very highly leveraged speculative investment, and the ability to make changes to the property. And a lot of responsibility to go with it. Having just bought a house... I am so glad I wasn't responsible for one when I was 23.
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Oct 24, 2013 15:25
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Knyteguy posted:Would it be financially dumb to just to come up with the 3.5% and try to secure an FHA instead, considering our high rent? My sister lives with us now, but she won't be in another few months; at this point our rent goes up to $1,500 (we needed the room with her and her 2 kids with us, but now when she leaves). It will go up even higher if we don't commit to another 1-year lease, and even higher if we go month-to-month. Buying a house with almost nothing down because you're worried about a rent increase is a great recipe for financial disaster (especially combined with the fairly new job/income).
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Nov 18, 2013 21:28
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My realtor's advice was that escalation clauses are bullshit. I'm inclined to agree. Telling them "Well I'm willing to pay $550K but I only want to pay $500K" doesn't exactly put you in a strong bargaining position.
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Nov 25, 2013 20:17
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That's not true everywhere (is it even true anywhere? My googling didn't find evidence to support it). I know my property taxes are in no way related to any sort of mortgage appraisal.
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Dec 3, 2013 22:04
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The DIY fix it fast thread had some tips there a few days ago: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2734407&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=230#post423697474
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Jan 8, 2014 23:39
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QuarkJets posted:We're concerned about the age. If an inspector says that things are fine, is there anything else to worry about, or Do Never Buy an old house? Even very good inspectors (which are rare) can miss serious problems that are hidden away in inaccessible places. Old houses have a lot of extra opportunities for these.
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Jan 13, 2014 06:20
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QuarkJets posted:So what should the plan here be, hire like 3 different inspectors and hope for the best or just walk away whistling? 1: Don't buy any house, of any age, if you can't afford to take the hit of a repair that costs 5-10% of the home's value. I'm not saying you need to have that much cash on hand, but if an unplanned $10,000 expense spells financial ruin, you probably aren't ready for homeownership. 2: If you find certain risks unacceptable, such as the possibility of lead paint, asbestos, or knob & tube wiring, don't buy an old house (inspection can help detect these, but it's no guarantee) 3: Recognize that older houses will have a higher TCO, through both maintenance and inefficiency, and weigh that in when evaluating the price of the home. (Edit: your own handiness is a significant factor here; if you have to hire someone to do everything, it will get expensive fast, and you'll be left putting up with a lot more problems than if you can do most of the work yourself) Zhentar fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Jan 13, 2014 |
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Jan 13, 2014 20:08
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Just don't tell them what it appraises at?
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Jan 19, 2014 17:37
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And also just plain luck. No matter how good at screening you are, some problems are unpredictable. My rental story: One of my parents' tenants paid his rent 5 years late. They'd taken him to small claims court, and got a lien on his car... but they couldn't exercise the lien without going to real court (and thus spending lawyer $$$). Some years later they were contacted out of the blue and finally got paid because he needed to clear lien.
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Jan 20, 2014 20:16
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If you want a more selfish point of view, it could also be a matter of pride; they want the new owner to see what excellent responsible homeowners they were and that they keep their things in good condition. Probably the vet thing though, I hear that's a pretty big deal to a lot of people.
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Jan 24, 2014 06:38
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I paid something like $50 to waive escrow. Probably still enough to exceed the interest I might earn, but avoiding dealing with the bank if the escrow gets screwed up somehow is still easily worth it to me.
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Jan 24, 2014 20:25
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^^^^^ Would someone seriously give a counteroffer removing the inspection contingency? Talk about a red flag...couldcareless posted:This is our first home purchase ever, so is there any good general advice for getting a thorough inspection out of this? Make sure you're present for the inspection, so you actually see what the inspector is checking out. I'd think this is obvious, but apparently not everyone does it.
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Feb 11, 2014 23:36
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I bought a house custom built for someone who's day job is in commercial construction. All of the quality construction, none of the work managing it myself 
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Feb 24, 2014 04:50
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Good-Natured Filth posted:my wife is now worried that we're moving into the murder capital of the world or something. Anyone have advice on calming her down? Use the power of the internet to see if it's actually the murder capital of the world. Google suggests http://www.city-data.com/ or http://www.crimereports.com/ lumbergill posted:but I'm trying not to think about what I could have bought for the money if I was still living in the midwest. For me, the answer was a rather private 2 acre wooded lot with a 10 minute commute
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Apr 17, 2014 23:24
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Trabant posted:We're "interviewing" a Realtor here in Austin tomorrow. She comes highly recommended, but we'd like to make sure we don't pick someone on the basis of one recommendation without a juju check. I don't have questions to suggest, but I think there are two things that are really important. One, getting along with you & listening to/working with you well enough to understand to some extent what is and isn't important to you about houses. Two, the bigger (and harder to achieve) one is that they should not be trying to sell you on the houses you look at; they should be giving you reasons not to buy them. It's the seller's agent's job to be a salesperson; the buyer's agent should be focused on your best interests.
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Apr 25, 2014 19:43
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Bloody Queef posted:They're compensated only if you buy a house, so they are not at all focused on your best interest. They also want to get you to buy a house with minimal time and effort on their part, so they're not your advocate AT ALL. That's how the financial incentives are aligned, but that doesn't mean it's how it always will be, or how it should be. A buyer's agent has a fiduciary duty to their client, which means they are legally obligated to put your best interests ahead of their own. If they aren't your advocate AT ALL, they are a terrible agent (and a bad person) and you should seek someone else.
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Apr 25, 2014 21:56
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mindphlux posted:anyone have any good resources for DIY home security projects? (camera reviews, repurposing preexisting security panels, etc) There's a thread in the DIY forum: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3462976
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Apr 29, 2014 20:46
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Walked posted:Basically: for a $1700 repair, you're probably SOL, I would disagree on this point, although it's still going to be a huge pain in the rear end without any guarantee of success. $1700 is small enough that you should be able to pursue it in small claims court, which will minimize the amount of lawyer time you have to pay for.
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May 22, 2014 00:06
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shortspecialbus posted:I tend to use them quite a bit to get the points and then just pay them off completely, which apparently is a stupid loving idea. It's only a problem when doing that maxes out your cards. It's a bit late now, but you should request credit limit increases when your score isn't poo poo (any maybe sign up for another credit card or two)
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May 22, 2014 04:51
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And it's also worth noting that while the total interest paid sounds crazy thinking in 2014 dollars, it won't seem like such a big deal in worthless 2044 dollars (or in other words, inflation is likely to cancel out a large part of the interest costs).
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May 22, 2014 21:27
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Dik Hz posted:I'm pretty sure that falls under the severability clause that's in pretty much every contract. The clause doesn't even need to be in the contract, because that's generally how contract law works by default anyway.
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May 24, 2014 01:52
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Leperflesh posted:If it isn't, it might still be under warranty from the original installer, so definitely get that info from the sellers if you can. I would advise against assuming that the warranty transfers to a new owner. It often does not. As for the issue, I am no HVAC technician, but I wouldn't be too worried about it cooling too much, since doing that requires most of the parts be in working order.
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May 29, 2014 19:46
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Satellite is totally unusable for anything latency sensitive, which generally makes it even worse thanks dial up for most remote work needs. 4G internet service is probably viable (even if reception is poor you can easily triple the range with a good roof antenna), but you're likely to need to pay several hundred dollars a month for adequate bandwidth.
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May 30, 2014 21:56
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SiGmA_X posted:That sounds super annoying. My house had acceptable internet when I moved in. Then they oversold, and it went to poo poo (playing Diablo 3 at peak hours, my ping was never lower than 600-700ms and often jumped into the 2-3s range). They wouldn't tell me anything about when it might be fixed, and wouldn't give me anything more than a $5/mo discount (because my speed tests fell one tier lower than what I was paying for). And of course, there isn't anyone else I can switch to aside from the rather expensive 4G plans (even more painful because the apartment I moved out of could get 100mb cable). It finally got worked out after about 4 months, but really sucked while I waited.
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May 31, 2014 03:03
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Lowness 72 posted:I'm in NYC. I've had the itemized deduction for a few years despite not having anything really out of the ordinary. I think it's because of high state and city taxes? Hopefully turbo tax isn't loving me. Yeah, state income taxes can pretty easily cover the entire standard deduction (as can property taxes, for that matter, once you've bought the house).
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Jun 3, 2014 00:38
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spencer for hire posted:After having an inspection done on a house and checking out the attic I'm a little puzzled. It's a walk up attic with insulation "paneled in" to the roof with lovely 70s looking cardboard fake wood siding. There is no ridge vent or any other venting in the attic so where would the air even go from the whole house fan unless you open a gable window? It's a finished (or at least semi-finished) attic with a whole house fan and a bathroom fan exhausting into it? That's... interesting. Neither would be particularly expensive to fix, but it really calls into question the quality of the attic work... Exhausting a bathroom into the attic, ventilated or not, is bad news and can easily cause serious mold problems.
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Jun 4, 2014 01:10
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fknlo posted:I just don't want to piss the owner off by going in with an offer that's $20k under their asking right off the bat to negotiate up to where I feel comfortable with the price. On the other hand, a lowball offer now followed by a month of no bites could shake their confidence and cause them to accept something significantly lower than they would have otherwise.
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Jun 6, 2014 17:02
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Sataere posted:So most people are dumbasses? Got it. To be fair to most people (even though they probably are dumbasses), they don't have the benefit of this thread advising them on HOA selection. They're just listening to their realtor, who generally has little interest in recommending additional work that reduces the chance of earning the commission.
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Jun 10, 2014 17:01
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Lixer posted:just put some of my savings towards the water heater and furnace. You should be prepared to pay for replacing either when you're buying a house, regardless of how old they are. Even if they're brand new and under warranty, the warranty may not transfer to you anyway.
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Jun 19, 2014 19:23
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