House-buying thread - Why is everyone involved in this process so deeply stupid?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > House-buying thread - Why is everyone involved in this process so deeply stupid?

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moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

process posted:

edit: Forgot to mention that they've accepted my offer on 6/30, nearly 4 months....

My mom put in an offer for a condo on a short sale and didn't hear back for 8 months, then it took another half a year to close, but I'm not sure when the appraisal was. It really depends on your lender and the bank that owns the mortgage already and how much they like to drag their feet. This seems like something you should ask your agent, since they probably have more experience with how quickly short sales take to finish. Why didn't you include closing before the rebate deadline as a condition in your offer?

# ¿ Oct 22, 2009 21:29

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 14:18

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Arguing over whether the house credit is a good thing should probably go in another BFC or D&D thread - I don't mind discussion about the ramifications for home buyers but I'd rather not have this devolve into a discussion about public policy since those always seem to end up as shitfests. You've made some good points but pure speculation about the stimulus' effect, good or bad, on the economy as a whole is not really what this thread is about.

edit: Now that I think about it, Dik Hz, that would be a really interesting thread and would probably draw out some new discussion from people who are not buying a house (and so aren't reading this thread). I heartily endorse the idea

moana fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Oct 26, 2009

# ¿ Oct 26, 2009 23:25

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

We had to send in the closing statement along with the HUD 1 form as proof of ownership. At least that's what our accountant asked for.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2009 17:23

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

It might be that the mortgage was broken up into pieces - for some of the houses we looked at, different lenders owned different shares of a mortgage. Some of that comes from owners refinancing with a different bank or taking out loans against the house or whatever. The 1991 sale might have been through family and they just had to put a purchase price down... that's the only thing I can think of why it would be so low.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2009 22:22

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Leperflesh posted:

Is there some nice hardwood under the carpet?

We keep seeing houses (we are looking at foreclosures, after all) with really nasty looking carpet, but gorgeous wood floors from the 1950s underneath. The plan is to just rip out the carpet and not replace it.

That's what we did - there is a good thread on refinishing floors in the DIY subforum: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3062994

# ¿ Oct 29, 2009 02:06

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

dwoloz posted:

1) Is 28% the established maximum percentage of monthly income a mortgage payment can be?

I think it depends from lender to lender - go and get pre-approved and you'll see what you qualify for.

quote:

2) How is monthly income verified for people who are self employed? Tax records? Do they check a certain number of years back?

For us, they needed the last 2 years of tax records, both individual and business.

quote:

3) Is projected income something they consider? ie is the income from renting out two bedrooms of the house considered? My research tells me I'd be looking at $600-$800 per month

Nope, and you probably shouldn't count on it either, just to be safe. What if you can't find any renters? What if your renters break poo poo in your house or steal things? You don't want your mortgage payment to depend on someone else's income.

quote:

4) Mortgage insurance is not something that I need because of my >20% down, correct?

Correct, but I'd double check with your lender to make sure.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2009 23:41

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

necrobobsledder posted:

As much as this is sound and all, it's exactly how commercial real estate and managed residential real estate works.

Oh, totally. My mom rents out a house and a condo that pay their own mortgage. However, I would never recommend that a first time homebuyer count on such income - it's just so variable that you really need to have a backup plan in case you can't find renters or else you can seriously gently caress yourself over.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2009 16:52

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

dwoloz posted:

Lenders that accept bank statements as proof of income would also be appreciated

I really don't think you're going to find anyone who does this anymore. Maybe 5 years ago. Why won't tax records suffice? Have you not been paying taxes on everything?

# ¿ Nov 11, 2009 16:52

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Leperflesh posted:

Moving your money around doesn't matter; they'll only ask for the most recent bank statements to show how much actual cash you have.

Once you apply for a loan for reals, though, it's a good idea not to move anything around because they need to track that movement and it can slow down the final process of getting the loan approved.

Sucks that you didn't report your income, though. Hopefully it won't make too much of a difference, but if it does you just need to suck it up and report honestly for the next couple of years before buying.

# ¿ Nov 11, 2009 20:33

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Daeus posted:

If I am willing to pay 220k, but think I can get it for 200k, why in the world would I bid 220k?

If you bid less than you're willing to pay someone else might get the property (for, say, $205k). Are you okay with that? Of course, you have no idea what other people are bidding, so you should bid whatever you are willing to pay. If you really want a good deal, then great, you're only willing to pay 200k and you should bid that. Some people don't want to make a dozen bids before getting a house for less than they think it's worth, they'd rather make a bid for what they want to pay. If you consistently underbid, you might never get an offer accepted or it might just take a really long time (and some people just can't or don't want to wait for that great deal).

GOOCHY posted:

With the current real estate market why are you bidding above asking price for any property whatsoever?

I'm assuming he was talking about a bank-owned property. Some of these are listed ridiculously low to promote more bids on the house and hopefully start a bidding war. A lot of the times after you make your initial bid, the bank will come back and ask you for your "highest and best" offer. If the other houses in the neighborhood are $250k and the asking was $110k, you are going to be bidding more than the asking price because the asking price was set artificially low to induce bids.

# ¿ Nov 18, 2009 03:43

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Thanks, added to the OP

# ¿ Nov 26, 2009 17:14

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

alreadybeen posted:

Ultimate, maybe you or others can enlighten me. What does it matter that type of loan the offers come with. You get the cash regardless so I don't understand.

For some types of loans (like FHA or VA loans), the appraisal process is more difficult to get through since you're borrowing a higher percentage of the value of the house and so there are more potential roadblocks during the closing process. For example, if there is a safety issue like a broken stairstep during the appraisal, VA loans will require that they be fixed before the loan can close.

Congrats Leperflesh!

# ¿ Dec 9, 2009 18:14

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Ultimate Mango posted:

Welp, looks like I get to eat ~5% of the sale on my house to get the deal done. We should be locked in by the end of the day.

Ouch. I'm glad you were able to work things out, even if you had to lower the sale price. Good luck with your new home and settling your family in!

# ¿ Dec 31, 2009 22:13

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Can you correlate it with the number of single moms versus single dads? That might go a long way towards explaining it. There might just be more single women with a family to keep in a house than single men.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2009 23:40

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Yeah, that's a big enough difference to make me pause. If you have enough saved up as an emergency, I would probably be leaning towards the 15 year just because of the better rate. How long would it take you to save up 6 months - 1 year of payments? Do you have parents who would pitch in if anything happened like one of you lost their job? Would you be able to make the 15 year payments on only one income?

# ¿ Jan 20, 2010 03:55

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

We set the closing date for the middle of the month. That way we were able to resand the floors and make a bunch of trips whenever we could instead of being forced to move in a couple of days. Moving is terrible, good luck with it all!

(our moving guys spilled a box containing my two gesso containers and it went everywhere all over the apartment steps so make sure you tell them when there is something fragile or spillable in a box so they're extra careful)

# ¿ Jan 23, 2010 17:25

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

You can go to zillow to find out what other houses in the neighborhood have recently sold for. They also have graphs for zip codes/states/etc so you can figure out what the highest point was from there.

You might piss people off with low bids (we did on a couple of occasions) but so what? If there's one that accepts, you get a deal. Waiting for a while longer isn't a terrible idea, and if you don't feel ready to buy right now I'd hold off until you are completely comfortable.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2010 17:02

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

PC LOAD LETTER posted:

Is this just hope or do you actually have some stuff that you can point to as positive for the real economy?

This argument is not within the scope of this thread; please take it elsewhere if you'd like to continue discussing it.

Thank you for taking the time to dig up some graphs and things to help clarify understanding. Line by line arguments are terrible and nobody else bothers to read them so I'd suggest not doing that in the future so that your argument can be heard by the whole thread and not just the poster you're responding to.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2010 22:48

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

TheWevel posted:

I've been seeing a lot of foreclosures in my area and most of them say "No Seller's disclosure, sold as-is." This really doesn't matter much if I get my own home inspector right?

This is what happened with us. There are some things an inspector won't catch that might have been in the disclosure, but if you get a good inspection you should be fine. In our case, we didn't know if the hot tub was working or not and it was impossible for an inspector to tell (short of filling it up with water, turning on the gas, etc), so a disclosure would have been nice for that sort of thing. Just make sure you get a reliable inspector and you should be fine.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2010 01:51

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Happydayz posted:

I am thinking of living in it for 3-5 years then renting it out. Right now it could rent for $1700/mo. 5 years from now it could go for $1900-2000. Let's say $1900.

Rent prices are going down, not up. This is a terribly presumptive thing to assume.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2010 04:46

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

shadow puppet of a posted:

YOU want to cry? Sheesh I think we'll be putting an offer (we are seeing the place for the second time on Wednesday) for a 1 bedroom at $895,000. I feel like an rear end saying that here, having seen the other prices (after reading 90%+ of the thread), but that what poo poo costs in prime Manhattan. And gently caress it, we can afford it.

Manhattan is crazy insane. I remember going to visit one of my friends up around 100th St and her apartment was seriously a 8x8ft cubicle with a tiny bathroom attached. How big is your place?

Some of my college friends bought houses in PA and it was next to nothing for a mansion. Southern California is bad, but now I guess I can always feel good I don't live in NYC anymore :3:

Congrats jassi!

# ¿ Mar 1, 2010 22:07

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Heterocentrism aside, I'll agree it's a good rule of thumb to follow. Everybody thinks they'll be the exception to the rule. Like long distance relationships, or wearing a fedora.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2010 23:23

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Maybe the chicken comes with the house. Free eggs, plus you get to choose what kind of new flooring you want :3:

# ¿ Mar 11, 2010 05:36

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Ophelia's Ashes posted:

I lost out on $350 but whatever. Tomorrow is a new day.

That amount is peanuts compared to what you're going to be spending on your house anyway. Make sure you're happy with what you're getting into and leave yourself some wiggle room if (when) something goes wrong.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2010 21:20

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Speculation on what the housing market may or may not do in the future is not within the scope of this thread. I know it's been a while, so maybe you forgot. Feel free to make your own thread about what will happen since real estate as an investment isn't what this thread is about.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2010 02:02

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

filo posted:

Would it be a big mistake to consider this house?

If it really is the most expensive house in the area, then yes, a hundred times. It's almost always better to get a lovely house in a nice neighborhood than the other way around.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2010 21:40

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

frankdiabetes posted:

We don't want to buy a lovely house as we are not very handy people and wouldn't be capable of doing any major improvements.

For an extra $195k, you can buy a hell of a lot of improvements without having to hammer a nail.

It sounds like you're in love with the place and you're trying to justify a purchase, but if it's really double the price of all the other houses in the neighborhood, that's just insane. Check out the area on Zillow and Trulia, see what the comparables are, and make a reasoned decision. But if it's the only house that price in the neighborhood, consider it likely that you'll quickly be upside down on your mortgage and you won't build any equity at all in the ten years (or whatever) that you live there.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2010 00:48

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

greasyhands posted:

Why do people always act like this in these threads whenever someone presents their reasoning behind considering it in the first place.

Because they don't provide their initial reasoning to start with (and it's usually not important anyway), so the interaction goes like this:

"Should I buy a Ferrari with gold rims?"
"No, it is too expensive and you can't afford it and the gold will get chipped."
"Really? Because my girlfriend really likes it and it's my uncle selling it so I think it's a good deal, and the gold matches my cell phone, is it really such a bad idea?"
" :ughh:

"

Like, if there is important information we should know about the house, you should give it beforehand. And if, for example, being able to bike to work is such an important thing that you're willing to overpay for a house for it by X amount, that's important information that we need in order to give advice. Otherwise it just sounds like trying to justify an unwise decision (and sometimes it is). I don't think it's being a dick to point out when someone's not evaluating the finances of something rationally, although house purchases tend to be much more emotionally charged and so it seems harsher when you're in love with a place that's overpriced. I fell in love with an overpriced place, and oof it hurt to walk away, but in the end it was the right decision.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2010 16:38

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Sure, but make sure you're really elevating your standard of living. You might be able to rent a kickass apartment without having to worry about things like roofs needing to be redone, water heaters breaking, etc, etc. Also you wouldn't have to worry about selling the house (if you plan on staying a while, it's okay, but less than 5 years and you have a good chance of being upside down on your mortgage). If you're happy with what you can afford and know you plan on staying for a while, then I don't see any problem with buying now. We knew that prices in San Diego might continue to drop, but we liked the house we bought and plan on living in it for quite a while so it didn't matter.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2010 17:09

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Arkane posted:

While I'm posting here, anyone had any experience with mortgages based on self-employment income? I'm pre-approved and don't foresee any major problems with getting approved, but am apprehensive about what my rate will be compared to someone with W-2s at the same income level.

We were half and half since my boyfriend is self-employed, and they just wanted to see all of our tax stuff for the past 2 years and make sure our income was what we said it was. We also had 20% down and good credit. I don't think the rate had anything to do with type of employment though - he plays poker for a living and the only questions we got from the loan officers about that was when they were curious about it personally.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2010 16:07

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Our agent told us not to mess around with short sales, because a lot of the time you can end up waiting months only to find out that your offer wasn't accepted. My mom bought a condo like that, and it took her 8 months to hear back from the bank that she had been accepted. If you can accept that it's going to be a very very long timeline, then great. If not, then you might want to avoid them specifically for that reason. It sounds like you're super anxious about waiting, and so you might just want to stick to regular purchases or bank owned houses which will give you a shorter timeline.

In the meantime, read up on home improvement, how to fix basic plumbing and the like. It'll pass the time and get you more prepared for what's ahead :3:

# ¿ Apr 25, 2010 16:44

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

jassi007 posted:

Hopefully this isn't against any forum rules, thought I'd link to my post in what did you just buy with a picture of the house we bought. This thread helped a lot in navigating the maze that is buying a home.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2496772&pagenumber=184#post376149217

That house looks loving badass. You better go all out haunted house style for halloween.

Wow, it's already been a year since we moved in. It went by so quickly! I felt bad that we weren't making fixes fast enough but my mom said her rule was two rooms a year, any more and we'd burn out on home repairs. I'm going to see if I can fix up a list of estimated costs for all of the stuff we did just to give people an idea of what to expect financially in the first year of owning a home.

# ¿ May 1, 2010 15:09

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Okay, added up the costs of approximately everything we bought in the first year of owning a home. The results may surprise you (not really)!

- washer and dryer - $1k
- termite tenting - $2k
- various home improvement things (gardening stuff, installing dripline system, paint for rooms) - $1k
- renting a sander and redoing all of the floors - $500
- furnishing three extra rooms - $2k
- hot water heater - $400
- fridge - $500
- roof - $6k
- front yard everything getting removed/mulched - $1300
- remodeling back half of house, adding patio: $20k and counting

This is all estimation and I'm sure I've forgotten some stuff, but drat, that is like $35k in addition to the mortgage and insurance payments. Hey, at least we are not throwing away money by renting!

The contractors asked us to pick a color to paint the back room and gave us a color sample thingy to pick from. I have been trying unsuccessfully to convince my boyfriend that of all the shades of off-white, "Pearl Necklace" is the perfect color. I don't think I am mature enough to be a homeowner :gizz:

# ¿ May 6, 2010 05:18

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Wait until things break and then fix them? Make sure you're cleaning thoroughly. Apart from that, a new coat of paint on makes everything look so much better and is the cheapest remodeling you can do. But don't worry, you will find things to do right away.

# ¿ May 10, 2010 17:47

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

jassi007 posted:

I could keep going, but at my conservative estimate this list is probably about 5 years worth of work, saving and spending.

My mom told me to do two rooms each year so I didn't feel overwhelmed by it all. Then she laughed and told me I'd never be finished fixing up my house because as soon as all the rooms are done you'll think of ten new major things you want to do to make it awesomer.

I also did the sanding/staining before moving in so I wouldn't have to deal with the sawdust, much like Leperflesh (great minds think alike). If you want to garden, I would suggest doing that as soon as you can since planting season is right now and you don't want to miss out on being able to grow tomatoes this summer

# ¿ May 10, 2010 22:57

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

I don't know the answer to that but the people over at the income tax thread will probably be able to help you out if you want to crosspost: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2649574

# ¿ Jun 3, 2010 04:10

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

You should talk to an estate/trust attorney about this (if possible, the one who helped your mother with her will). They'll know the state laws about what you can and can't do. The only thing you might want to do yourself is having all the locks changed if you don't know who else has keys to the house, just in case. Are you the executor of the estate?

My condolences on your mom's death. It's always hard to deal with minutiae after the passing of a loved one. Get help from your family and your attorney, and don't try to do it all alone.
:sympathy:

# ¿ Jun 4, 2010 16:34

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

I Wish I Was posted:

Are they expecting to get list this early on, given the already huge discount, or would offering something like $140,000 pretty much guarantee us an acceptance? Would offering something like $125,000 or even $100,000 just make them not take us seriously? Do banks even negotiate, or are they just "this is our price, take it or leave it" and there's no back-and-forth?

This is how it worked with all of the foreclosures we bid on (in California): We'd make an offer. It didn't matter what the offer was, but after a few days or weeks (or probably months for some other people) we would get notice from the bank asking us to make our "highest and best" offer and then we'd send in the final amount we wanted to bid for. There was no negotiation involved here - it was just like bidding at an auction with a bunch of other people where you only get to bid once. We saw houses that started at $150k end up selling for $300k because the price was set artificially low to attract interest. One house we put a bid on had like 45 other bids. It's crazy.

I'm sure it's different in other areas, so just be prepared for anything! I wouldn't get attached to one house - it seems kind of like that in your post. If it's a great deal, expect other people to be bidding up the price. Don't be sad if you lose your first bid, that is just what happens sometimes. You'll find another one.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2010 16:02

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

I Wish I Was posted:

This house isn't up for any sort of bidding; it's just listed in MLS by a normal realtor. I've seen some listings that talk about bidding but this one doesn't. I just assumes that the offer process would work like any other house purchase, just you're negotiating with a bank and not an individual homeowner.

Of course it will depend, but there isn't usually anything listed special about those foreclosures or the bidding process involved. Our agent was very knowledgeable and told us beforehand that that is how most of the bidding process works in our area even if it's not mentioned in the listing. Short sales on the other hand are a pain in the rear end.

Check the agreement - it should say whether you've agreed to have your realtor be your buyer's agent for all houses. I would venture to guess that if you just ask any other real estate agent, they'll be happy to let you know if you can fire your old one!

And if anybody is in the San Diego market and wants a good agent, ours was awesome.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2010 01:40

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 14:18

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

Why don't you just scrimp for a couple of months and knock out that CC debt? It's ridiculous to pay interest on so low a sum when you really could easily knock it out.

And yeah, agreeing that you don't have enough saved for a down payment (unless you're like 30 years old and have $2 million in your 401k, but I'm guessing that's not the case).

# ¿ Sep 20, 2010 16:21

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > House-buying thread - Why is everyone involved in this process so deeply stupid?

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