Real Estate: CNBC: US home construction collapsed 22.3% in March |
- CNBC: US home construction collapsed 22.3% in March
- Adventures in Real Estate. This Really Happened!
- We sold our first home!
- Just want some advice
- Looking to purchase in a new development, they will not allow us to use our own agent
- Appraisal
- Chopping heads at Opendoor and Redfin - discount brokerage unsustainable
- First time house buyers - Input on Closing Costs
- My bf rescued a dog after I signed a new lease. I move into the place in a month and my bf roommates are all leaving. What can I do in terms of the lease??
- How can I make sure I’m not getting scammed if I can’t see the property?
- Closing Day! Just signed...now when do I get them keys?
- Best website to list an apartment building online?
- "Preview Fee"
- Question about first time home purchase
- If I want to check apartment market index, what should I check?
- First time home buyer in Denver. Pre-approved but not much Inventory on the market...
- Learning
- I am considering putting a manufactured home as a mother-in-law suite in the back yard of my home. This would be become a revenue generating rental, in theory.
- Bypassing a realtor for a house rental?
- Is it legal for a seller’s real estate agent to accept offers only from buyers within their same office/bank? What if the seller never saw my higher offer?
- In terms of fees, how much to buy a house from parents using all cash?
- First-time home buyer in NY: can I/should I negotiate a buyer's agent rebate?
| CNBC: US home construction collapsed 22.3% in March Posted: 16 Apr 2020 06:22 AM PDT |
| Adventures in Real Estate. This Really Happened! Posted: 16 Apr 2020 07:10 AM PDT Adventures in Real Estate. This Actually Happened! I'm a real estate agent. Sometimes in this business you find out that a house has a wild past. The following story really happened. I know this is on the longer side, but stick with me here... I listed a home in a more rural part of the state for an investor that I've worked with several times in the past. This home was a "flip" and pretty competitively priced, so I had a good amount of action on the home in terms of showings...but no offers. I decided to have an open house. As I'm arriving to the property the day of the open house the neighbor asks if she can come in and take a look. This isn't unusual and I have this happen a lot actually. Once inside she commented on the flooring. I agreed with her that the floors were great and encouraged her to check out the rest of the house as well. What she said next stopped me in my tracks. She said, "well, yes, the new floors are lovely but can you imagine if he new owner had just tried to clean those carpets? There would be no way to get all the blood out." The lady clearly saw the confusion all over my face so she proudly filled me in on the home's grim past. Apparently, a certifiably disturbed adult who was living in the home with his elderly mother had an episode and killed her. He is receiving the care that he needs in a facility, but (for good reason) the whole thing really rocked the community. I didn't know about this and my investor didn't know about this. All the flooring had been ripped out prior to him purchasing the home and in my state you don't have to disclose if a murder took place in a home unless it causes a defect. After she left I googled the events she had just told me about. While the articles didn't specifically give the address of the home there was enough info to put two and two together. I called my team leader and he was just as shocked as me. We decided to proceed with the open house and I went back to setting up. Get ready...things are about to get wild. The home has a mud room off the kitchen. That mud room has a door that leads out to the back yard. I decided to open the door from the kitchen to the mud room so that visitors to the open house wouldn't overlook this great feature. Now keep in mind there is no furniture in this home. I open the door to the mud room and there was a huge snake in the middle of the mud room. I shut the door and, once again, called my team leader. After some comments from him regarding how I was having a really tough day, we came up with a plan. I went around the back of the house and opened the back door that leads from the mud room to the back yard assuming that the snake would just go back to nature or something. Spoiler alert "or something" is what ended up happening. I wanted to make sure the rest of the home was safe so I searched room by room to make sure there was no other surprise wildlife. There's wasn't. At this point I had about 10 minutes until the open house was set officially start so I decided to check on my little snake situation. Again, the house has no furniture in it. So when I opened the door to the mud room and didn't see a snake I assumed my plan worked. I walked across the room to shut the back door. As I'm doing so the snake bolts out of the exposed dryer vent in an attempt for the door. I was in the way and it bit me! It bit me right on the ankle! Think Resident Evil when the snake comes out of the wall! I screamed, the snake slithered away into the backyard, and I slammed the door. I was bleeding, but not badly. It was a this moment that I decided the house won and there would be no open house. I, once again, called my team leader. He, obviously, supported my decision to abort the mission haha! I packed up my things, had my husband collect the open house signs, and that was that. I never ended up selling that house. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 16 Apr 2020 01:45 AM PDT Its been 45 days since we listed our home and many days under contract stressing about selling our house. But I'm happy to say we finally got everything signed today and the new owners received their keys. So glad to be over that hump of stress, now we get to close on our new home tomorrow evening! To everyone out there stressing over buying or selling, you're almost to the finish line, stay strong! Every single day i feared our buyers would be affected by COVID and im so glad they weren't 🙌🏽 anyone else closing this week? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 16 Apr 2020 08:49 AM PDT I want to purchase a home. Prefer a fixer upper so I can make it my own. 1. How would I locate possible foreclosures. 2. In your opinion what is lowest credit score that would be accepted for a home loan. I am in the state of Kentucky Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Looking to purchase in a new development, they will not allow us to use our own agent Posted: 16 Apr 2020 08:46 AM PDT First time home buyers in California, we found a home that is part of a new development that we're interested in putting in an offer on. The home we're interested in is their show home, so it's fully completed. We contacted a few lenders, including their preferred lender, and have our pre-approval letters. We contacted an agent in the area, and when she contacted the selling agent, we found out that they will not allow us to have our own outside representation. They require us to use their agent. I'm definitely not very familiar with this process (part of the reason we wanted an agent), but is this normal? From what I've found online it's not uncommon for a new development to push buyers to use their agents since it's cheaper in the end, but these guys absolutely will not budge. Though we haven't threatened to walk yet. I'm at a little bit of a loss as to what to do - is this standard? If so, how do we as buyers make sure we protect ourselves? The seller's agent is obviously part of their sales staff, and even though she's repeatedly told us she can work in both of our interest, I don't believe it for a second. Should we threaten to walk in hopes they let us bring in our own agent? Is it reasonable to hire someone (real estate attorney,etc) on our end to review the agreements and make sure we're not being taken advantage of? They did send us a draft copy of the purchase agreement to review, but again we're not really familiar with this process and I won't even pretend to know what I'm looking at, let alone know if anything is missing. We love the home, but are fully prepared to walk away if needed [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 16 Apr 2020 07:46 AM PDT Listed our home a week before the pandemic at 400k and our realtor was confident we'd get well over asking. Then BOOM covid happened and it slowed everything down, understandably. We finally accepted an offer of 415k from buyers who were willing to remove contingencies in exchange for a buyers credit of 8k towards cc. Then as corona virus started causing more panic that credit went up to 15k which was okay as we were fine with getting what we listed for and definitely did not want to test our luck with everything going on. Anyway my question is this. What if it doesn't appraise at the 415k being offered? Usually we'd go back to the negotiating table but because we're already crediting them 15k would that even matter? [link] [comments] |
| Chopping heads at Opendoor and Redfin - discount brokerage unsustainable Posted: 16 Apr 2020 05:31 AM PDT Redfin hacked over 40% of their agents last week https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/08/redfin-reduces-agents-by-nearly-half-cuts-total-workforce-by-7-percent/ AAAAAND Opendoor closed the door on over 30% of their team https://www.housingwire.com/articles/opendoor-lays-off-35-of-its-staff/ proving that razor-thin margins as a real estate business model can't possibly succeed unless transactions are abundant and confidence is high. Who's next? [link] [comments] |
| First time house buyers - Input on Closing Costs Posted: 16 Apr 2020 07:21 AM PDT My husband and I just put an offer in on a house in Pittsburgh, PA. A little back story - we started our home search/process from Washington, DC and just moved to Pittsburgh with the intention of looking/buying quickly. From DC, we found a Pittsburgh real estate agent that we liked/trust and he recommended a lender so we got started with her for a pre-approval on a VA Loan. Now I fully admit, we did not do our due diligence and research rates of multiple lenders (is it too late to do that??) We are curious if these estimated closing costs are average, high or low for our situation. Our real estate agent is highly recommended in the area and he recommended this mortgage broker. Details: - Offer: House is listed at $154,900 and we are offering $160K and asking $5K in seller assist for closing. It is a VA Loan (service disabled so VA funding fee is waived) so we are not required to put any money down - we are putting down a $1500 good faith deposit. 30 year loan at 3.5%. We both have Excellent/Good credit. Estimated Closing Costs submitted by the recommended mortgage broker: TOTAL: $5437 - Appraisal Fee- $450 We are going to schedule a call with the broker to discuss, but wanted to get some input on these fees beforehand. We know that some of the fees are fixed and cannot be reduced, but we were hoping to reduce it as close to $5000 as possible so that if seller accepts our offer, all closing costs would be covered. Is that unrealistic? Are we already getting a good deal? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 16 Apr 2020 09:41 AM PDT I'm hoping to get quite a few perspectives on this. I'm a college student who's new to renting and living on my own in general. So I signed a lease at a new apartment. Me and my bf weren't going to move in with each other for at least another year due to conservative parents and me not wanting to deal with my mothers wrath yet. Well my bf was asked to take in this dog that was rescued by a neighbor. He was being abused and my bf couldn't say no. So now me and him own a dog together. Now his roommates are all leaving at once. It was a domino effect. One roommate is moving in with her bf, another wants to live on his own, and the last one refuses to live with strangers again and is moving back home. If he didn't have the dog my bf could just move in with me but my new place doesn't allow dogs. I'm supposed to move in there in a month and a half. It says to give a 30 day heads up when terminating in the lease so I know if I do anything I need to act quick. My bf will not be able to afford a dog friendly place in our area on his own so I was thinking of terminating my lease or asking the landlord if she'd allow dogs. If me and my bf lived together, we'd be able to afford many more things for the dog. Neither sound like good options but our priority is the dog right now. I feel terrible for potentially even putting my landlord into this position and I want to know what your guys opinions are on it and what I could do to ease any burden on the landlord if I were to terminate or convince her to allow a dog. I know I could lose my security deposit and a couple months rent while the landlord searched for a new tenant and I'm prepared to face those consequences. The priority is the well being of the dog atm since [link] [comments] |
| How can I make sure I’m not getting scammed if I can’t see the property? Posted: 16 Apr 2020 09:32 AM PDT My roommate and I are in the process of finding a new place to move into once our lease is up. Unfortunately due to the COVID situation, we are unable to tour the unit we are trying to move into. Every realtor I have talked to has said they cannot give in person tours right now and they usually offer up a video instead. We are in the Boston area (Cambridge) and the city is pretty much shut down at this point, so this isn't surprising/unreasonable. I really want to move into this apartment and I would be okay committing to it without seeing it in person. I looked up the address online and found a listing on realtor.com for when the unit was sold in 2018. The pictures line up with the photos and video of the rental listing. I've seen the outside of the unit in person and it also matches the advertisement. I had talked to the landlord before he put me in contact with a realtor. I did some research on both of them they ~seem~ legit. I looked up the landlord in the registry of deeds and his name is on ~20 properties. I could not, however, find any documentation on this exact address (the address definitely exists, but their DB didn't have any info on it). The realtor is associated with an established realty group and I had actually texted back and forth with him (on the same phone number he is using to communicate with me now) briefly last year about a different apartment. I feel like it is legitimate but I don't have any guarantee without seeing the property in person. Are there any appropriate ways to get proof that the unit is what they are advertising it to be and these people are who they say they are/have the right to rent out this unit? Would it be unreasonable to try to get in contact with the current tenants? The unit requires first + last month/security/brokers. Is it reasonable to ask to only pay a small part of this and hold the rest until we are able to see the unit in person? I am concerned the realtor will think we are going to back out if seeing the unit in person doesn't meet our expectations, but really I just want proof that I'm not getting scammed and I don't know how to express that without being insulting (?). Please any advice on the matter is welcome! [link] [comments] |
| Closing Day! Just signed...now when do I get them keys? Posted: 16 Apr 2020 09:26 AM PDT Mobile notary just left with all of our signed closing documents and the county we purchased in does electronic recording. How long does it take to get the keys from this point? (I'm in CA by the way) [link] [comments] |
| Best website to list an apartment building online? Posted: 16 Apr 2020 09:20 AM PDT Hi Everyone! I am looking for some advice on the best website to list an apartment building for sale. We normally go through a friend with good connections for our sales but with the time and all I wanted to reach a larger number of people. Has anyone listed their apartment buildings online themselves? Or to get it online on the large websites do you have to go through an agent or real estate company? Thank you for the help! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 15 Apr 2020 06:51 PM PDT Ive been looking for a home in Durham, NC but the county is on lockdown meaning no physical showings of the homes. Some homes are going under contract by virtual tours alone. My agent reached out to me saying that the agents group (I don't know who the acting body is) came up with a preview fee. Basically, once you agree under contract you can give the sellers a couple of hundred dollars to be able to physically go into the house. If you continue the money will go towards the sale. But, if you walk, they keep it. This is in addition to a due diligence fee AND earnest money. Not to mention inspections, etc. Have you encountered this? Thoughts? [link] [comments] |
| Question about first time home purchase Posted: 16 Apr 2020 09:09 AM PDT Hello all, My wife and I want to purchase our first house at the end of this year. She is a government contractor making 88k a year. We are looking to buy in central Virginia. The issue is I stopped working a year ago and have been in a graduate program and am about to enter into professional school so I wont be working at that time either. We have a 10% down payment already. My credit score is 763 and hers is around 630. My question is, are we unrealistic in thinking that we can get a house in central Virginia while I am a student and she is the only one bringing in money? TIA [link] [comments] |
| If I want to check apartment market index, what should I check? Posted: 16 Apr 2020 09:00 AM PDT Sometimes I want to know if real estate(especially apartment market) is going up or down. Now I refer to " S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index" https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SPCS20RSA#0 Is it right? or If you know other good way, please let me know. Thanks in advance. [link] [comments] |
| First time home buyer in Denver. Pre-approved but not much Inventory on the market... Posted: 15 Apr 2020 06:21 PM PDT Boyfriend and I are pre approved and are trying to look in the Denver area but since showings are suspended there's not many houses even listed for sale. Where do we go from here? Our apartment lease is up July 1 and was wondering if anyone has any guidance on what to do. Anyone else in the same spot? Do you think everything will open and have more inventory after the stay at home order ends at the end of this month?! Thanks in advance. All advice is appreciated. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 16 Apr 2020 08:14 AM PDT I'm new into all of this and i'm trying to do actually something useful while being stuck in quarantine. How do i get into real estate business and investing or if i could say how do i start learning how to do it? If somebody with more experience could share some tips with me i'd be grateful [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 16 Apr 2020 04:13 AM PDT I have a nice home in an Austin suburb. Half an acre, in a nice neighborhood. 1996 build, ~1300 square feet, .5 acre. No HOA. The neighborhood is a bit older, but nice none the less. Besides the 10 houses on my block, the other 500 homes are on .125 acres. My neighbor has a trailer in her back yard she rents out to a college student. In talks with different people, I'm getting conflicting advice. On one hand, it's revenue generating. I plan on staying for a long time in this home. It would cut down my monthly payment, and allow me to put money straight into principal. On the other hand, I'm being told this will not add value to house, but potentially decrease the value. I go from equity to under water with the fwap of a pen. Where as a modular home would increase value. The problem is a manufactured home cost $50k. It looks comparable to a modular home but the modular costs $125k. The numbers wouldnt make sense for me to go modular now, but it seems over time, manufactured would be a bad decision. Would a 2020 manufactured home really decrease the value? Thanks in advanced. Sorry if you see multiple edits, I plan on adding helpful info as I go along. Help? Edit: To change this around a bit, I'm probably looking at doing a Home Kit. It would be more of a value add. It really comes down to zoning and cost at this point. I am in a district that seems to allow mother-in-law suites. The city is Pflugerville TX. this just in from my city zoning:
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| Bypassing a realtor for a house rental? Posted: 16 Apr 2020 07:45 AM PDT SO and I are looking at house rentals (looking to get in ASAP). We've found a few gems that are listed by realtors, and, despite my research, I cannot find a decent explanation to whether or not bypassing a realtor to deal directly with the seller would be of benefit. Our thoughts are that we can negotiate the price down more effectively if we're dealing with the homeowner directly. Any thoughts? Would love to hear from both realtors and homeowners. Thanks in advance! Edit to add that we've only ever rented from sellers directly so any additional tips on how to deal with a realtor are much appreciated! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 16 Apr 2020 07:41 AM PDT I submitted a $490,000 (with 25% down) offer for a house that was listed for $450,000. But it turns out the house was sold for $470,000 to someone from within the office the seller's real estate agent works for. Now I'm wondering if the seller even saw my offer, like why would the seller accept a lower offer? I'm assuming there's nothing I can do at this point. But is this legal? Is this common practice? I'm in Los Angeles, CA. [link] [comments] |
| In terms of fees, how much to buy a house from parents using all cash? Posted: 16 Apr 2020 07:41 AM PDT No mortgage or agent fees, and I assume no title fees. So just recording fee with the county? Do I need a lawyer or can I use cookie cutter forms (and if so, where do I get these forms)? Thanks [link] [comments] |
| First-time home buyer in NY: can I/should I negotiate a buyer's agent rebate? Posted: 16 Apr 2020 06:10 AM PDT Despite the general gloomy forecast in the housing market, my wife and I are looking at houses in a hot market outside NYC. We've been following the market for a while and attractive houses are often swooped in a matter of days. I say this only to give background context. Here's my question: we found a place we both like. It is for sale by owner but the owner told us that her mother is a real estate agent and is helping to advise her. The listing terms state that a 3% commission will be paid to the buyer's agent; or, if no agent is used, the price is 3% less. As first-time home buyers, we would be more comfortable using an agent, especially because we expect the marketing and sale process to move extremely quickly given the factors noted above. We have a relationship with a broker who has showed us a small handful of houses on a few previous occasions. He's a nice guy and we trust him. That said, we found this home on our own, and the offered 3% price reduction is very attractive (especially because we understand closing costs can be very high in NY, between the general up-charge on everything and the absurd property taxes). However, since we'd ultimately be more comfortable using an agent, I was wondering whether we could possibly ask this agent to rebate part of his fee to us (so that he is getting, say, 1.5% or 2%, and refunds the remainder to us). Or perhaps we could even ask him to accept that reduced fee upfront, and we'd see if the seller would lower the sale price accordingly. Is this a reasonable or even feasible thought? And even if so, would it be an unfair thing to ask of the agent? I don't think he's worth 3% of the sale value, but as I said, he has put in some work and is a nice guy. Any input would be appreciated and thanks in advance! [link] [comments] |
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