Real Estate: Do surveyors ever fudge setbacks to favor one party? |
- Do surveyors ever fudge setbacks to favor one party?
- HOA road abandonment
- How does changing jobs effect your chances of getting a favorable mortgage interest rate (MA) FTHB
- How Are Contingent Offers Viewed In Your Area?
- Thinking of trying to buy the house we rent...
- Homebuyer/open house rant
- Title - settlement or closing fee
- Can I refuse my buyer a third visit before closing the house in TN
- What would you do with 200k?
- Ownership of real estate
- Buying a New Builder Home
- Selling home with structural engineer letter attached. Is it a bad idea?
- 203K rehab loan for ADU, can I switch to 2 unit without lender approval?
- How to successfully buy in a very slow micro regional market?
- Best and Final Offer - Offer the highest comp?
- How to find parcels of land for sale with particular characteristics like lakefront?
- Realtor lie or make a $7,000 mistake
- Zillow Support is the worst in the business
- Could not having a buyers agent be used as leverage?
- Asking to Close sooner
- homestead exemption in Texas.
- Wood Rot on prospective house from sprinklers, how bad can this get?
- Bad realtors or expectations too high?
- Capital Gains on a mortgage application
| Do surveyors ever fudge setbacks to favor one party? Posted: 23 Aug 2020 07:50 AM PDT We're selling part of our rural property in Arkansas, and the survey shows a 20' setback on the buyer's parcel, whereas we have a 30' setback on ours. The surveyor swears up and down it has to be that way, but we can't figure out why. It's a parcel of land that was split into two parts, so the same codes should apply to both of them. Has anyone ever heard of surveyors doing something like that? I was under the impression that setbacks were determined by the government and that the surveyors weren't allowed to deviate from that. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Aug 2020 07:02 AM PDT Can my HOA legally sell an old cross road between properties to an adjoining property owner , if I have been using it as a secondary access to that side of my property for 18 years? [link] [comments] |
| How does changing jobs effect your chances of getting a favorable mortgage interest rate (MA) FTHB Posted: 23 Aug 2020 08:26 AM PDT Partner and I (25f) are saving for a down payment and working on our credit scores to buy our first home (probably a condo). I am looking at changes jobs within the next 3-4 months (lower pay but my passion, has been in the works for about a year). Partner has only just had his one year anniversary at current job, I've been at my current one for 2. I have excellent credit but we both want to be on the loan so working on building his. Actual buying is at least a year out. Any insight on how this employment situation may impact our interest rates? [link] [comments] |
| How Are Contingent Offers Viewed In Your Area? Posted: 23 Aug 2020 07:24 AM PDT We're two weeks away from getting our house to market (prep, repairs, Labor Day weekend, etc) and we are casually shopping around for a new home--we've been "shopping" for months, in all honesty. Well, lo and behold, we find a house we really like... So...we place a CONTINGENT OFFER $205,000.00 over asking of original listing price. Yes, you read that correctly. $205,000.00 over asking. While they get our offer in hand, they miraculously raise their listing price by $100,000. So, as we sit today, we are over asking by $105,000.00 with a contingency clause to sell our home. We even, verbally, told the sellers we would cover their "carrying costs" (mortgage, insurance, taxes, etc) for 60 days. No questions asked to incentivize them a bit more... Our offer expired yesterday at 5:00PM. Dead radio silence. How is a contingent offer viewed in your area? (We are in Los Angeles proper) What are the sellers thinking? Oh and PS We are talking in the range of several millions of dollars on both sides so, yes, I need the proceeds from my current home to buy the next home. So save your breath. [link] [comments] |
| Thinking of trying to buy the house we rent... Posted: 23 Aug 2020 09:26 AM PDT Hey all, I am in kind of a unique position and I would be interested in your thoughts. I rent in a very expensive market (Los Angeles Metro) and my house is in one of the more trendy areas, but there are some extenuating factors that I think could work in my favor to get a lower purchase price should I move forward with this, and I'd like to know if people on here agree and to what extent. About the house — it's a multi-unit rent-controlled property. There is a 2bed1bath in the front (that's us) and a 1bed1bath in the back. Combined rental income at the current rate is about $4.5k per month. The house has been sold twice since we moved in six years ago. The current landlord bought it in 2015 for about 750k, which was definitely under market value, in large part because our back house neighbor and us put on a united front about exercising our rights as rent-controlled tenants and the flippers who had bought it gave up and sold to a mom/pop landlord at a reduced price. The house is a fixer (it's 100 years old) but it's got good bones and we are mostly fine with it's current condition (more on that later). Redfin puts the current value of the property at 1.1million About my landlord — we have a friendly relationship. Here is some key information I know about his situation: 1) he is not working during the pandemic and his industry will not really come back this year 2) our rent does not cover his mortgage payments. He recently mentioned in a moment of frustration that he loses money on our house every month. 3) despite these two factors, he has not listed the property and I don't know if he is interested in selling, but I imagine the thought has crossed his mind, given these two factors the likelihood of the longterm economic impact from Covid. About the market — despite Covid, the LA housing market doesn't appear to have slowed down much if at all. It's actually quite hot, as there are many people in LA with high incomes that have been waiting for the market to flatten, and they appear to be getting in bidding wars with each other. My realtor friend said his phone has been ringing off the hook all pandemic. About my "leverage" — so beyond knowing that he's losing money on the house and that his income has been reduced, were he to sell to me, I would be able to offer some unique things that I would hope would lower the purchase price (whether this is the case and how significant this could lower it is really where I'd love people to chime in): 1) no realtor fee — it's my understanding that the seller pays about 5% of the purchase price to realtors. This would not be necessary in our case, which would be at least 40k saved 2) no repairs necessary — as longterm tenants, we are pretty well aware of what the house needs. It's currently livable, but it will probably need a new roof in the next few years and we would want to rewire the electricity which would be a big job. However, if I can get a good deal from him, I would be totally fine taking care of these at my own expense and on my own timeline as the property owner 3) no rent control shenanigans — we know from the last time our house was sold that people are quite averse to buying a house with rent controlled tenants. If they want to do an owner occupancy eviction, it costs about 10k and then they have to wait a few months. They also can't legally rent the property for 2 years after, so this makes it non-viable as a rental property. If they sell to developers, then there are easy ways for us to delay our eviction for an entire year and then receive thousands in relocation fees. It's a huge hassle, which is why most people avoid it. Those are mostly it. I would only be interested in the house if it were well under the Redfin value because of the repairs and some additions we'd want to do, but I can pay more than his purchase price from 2015 (not going to go into specifics about my budget in the unlikely event that I've given enough identifying details and he's a redditor). Feel free to ask questions and I will add my answers in an edit to this post. Thanks in advance for your thoughts. TLDR: I'm a longterm rent-controlled tenant. Landlord is not working because of pandemic. Landlord who bought the house under market 5 years ago is losing money every month on the house (though I don't know how much). I do not know if he is interested in selling yet, though I suspect it has crossed his mind. House is a fixer with good bones in a very trendy area of LA with two units. Would buy it without a realtor and without needing him to do any repairs. Do I have any significant leverage for a below-market purchase price? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 22 Aug 2020 11:37 AM PDT Looking for our first home and running into unusual "because that's how it's done" issues that I wish the market would rethink. Millennials want different things and COVID has changed the buyer experience, likely for good. (1) Why not post floorplans? Especially if your house is bigger/has bigger rooms than older houses surrounding it? I hate driving 20 minutes to find out that your master bedroom is 8x8 cleverly photographed with a fisheye, and similarly I've probably avoided generous bigger houses or houses with lots of closets and storage because they are unfurnished and I'm not appreciating how big they really are. (2) Photograph ALL of the rooms, please. I can't tell you how many listings I've seen that say 4 bedrooms but only have one photographed. I have to assume by default that they are tiny and have mold growing up the walls. Conversely, it's always a nice surprise when there's an unphotographed lounge, dressing room, laundry room, mud room, walk-up attic, foyer, etc. Those things make the difference between a smaller home with a tight floorplan and a generous home with room for living in. I sell a ton on eBay and the #1 thing sellers need to do is take every possible picture. It takes almost no extra effort and it could make the difference between wanting to see your house and not. (3) SHOW ME YOUR BASEMENT. Show me photos. Put it on the floorplan. List the ceiling height in the description. My number one want right is a big basement and it has become the reason we put an offer on a house or write it off. I want storage. I want a workout area. I want a place for the litter boxes not in our living area. I want floor space to air dry my clothes on a rack. It may not be legal square footage but it is still valuable usable space. For some ranches it effectively doubles your space. 95% of listings I see list basement in the listing spec but don't mention it or show it at all. WHY?! (4) Extend your open house hours. Everyone does 1-3pm on Sunday. Covid makes open houses take longer than usual. I show up to house number 1, wait while each couple goes in, sign covid form, then do my tour. By the time I'm done, it's 1:40pm, and if I'm looking at houses in different towns that means rushing over to the next and that's it. So really I can only see 2 open houses a week in that window, but I 100% show up to houses open at noon or until 4. Nobody's going to church right now, why not start earlier? (5) Update your listing if you're cancelling an open house, or at least leave a note. We showed up to a house last week and nobody was there, 30 min before ending. They are doing another this weekend, supposedly, but I'm not going to waste my precious window of time to see if maybe they're around this week. It's a dick move. (6) Why are realtors offended by this interaction? "Are you working with a buyer's agent?" "Yes." "Can you write down her name?" "Actually we're still finding ourselves and would prefer she wasn't contacted each time we see an open house." Let's go back to: I'm a millennial. I want different things from the service industry than my parents. I want to comparison shop and I don't want to be pressured to make a decision or field a bunch of calls. I want to be able to walk out of a house as soon as I've decided it's not the one without honoring a social contract of giving my realtor notes on what I like and what I don't. I don't want to drag my realtor to 20 houses only to realize they left off key details that are not standard to share (see above) and I certainly don't want every listing agent asking her if I'm interested when I'm clearly not. I'm trying to do her a favor. Why does every realtor view this as suspicious? What's a better way to look like serious buyers but uninterested in being contacted? [link] [comments] |
| Title - settlement or closing fee Posted: 23 Aug 2020 08:22 AM PDT CA buyers, my disclosures have almost $2k for this fee that is being paid to the escrow company. That is almost 4x what a friend of mine paid on the east coast. This is on a 575k loan. Is this fee reasonable? [link] [comments] |
| Can I refuse my buyer a third visit before closing the house in TN Posted: 22 Aug 2020 05:51 PM PDT I understand the buyer needs to see the house but this buyer is giving me bad vibes. After the first visit, the buyer asked to come to look at the house with three inspectors to which I accepted. Instead of 3 inspectors, they came with 15 to 20 people trying to sell it forward after closing. I think that because I am Hispanic they thought I didn't understand what they were talking about. These people were not inspectors!! They were having an open house with other potential buyers. Some weeks later they came to the house and asked me if they could come in for measurements. They didn't have any appointment for that day. I asked them to speak with my realtor. I asked my realtor to not give them anymore appointments but she says they have a right to visit. Is this correct? What can I do? What are my rights? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Aug 2020 09:51 AM PDT Hey guys, I'm from California. 27yrs old and looking to make my first big move as in move out from my current position. If you had 200k sitting and wanting to make a next move, would you buy a multiplex home in Cali? But a house in Nevada, rent it out and have that pay for an apartment to live in or around LA? Is it even the right time to buy rental property or any sort of housing? Thank you 😁 [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Aug 2020 09:46 AM PDT If two people with no legal relation go in together on a real estate property can you have different percent ownerships without a attorney? Would you need an attorney to say one person has more ownership than the other? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Aug 2020 06:29 AM PDT Anyone know of a good builder in Manor TX? I've looked at KB , Pacesetter, M/I, Ashton Woods, and Meritage homes. They all seem to have bad/mixed reviews so I'm not sure what to go with. Thank you. [link] [comments] |
| Selling home with structural engineer letter attached. Is it a bad idea? Posted: 23 Aug 2020 03:35 AM PDT We are closing on another house and prepping to sell our current house. Long story short the original inspector for our current house 5 years ago missed some signs of moisture issues in the crawl space. 30k later and downspouts, gutters and French drain around house later plus 8k roof amending/ added framing support we are preparing to sell. I had the engineer come out years later during this ordeal as we'd been talking for 3-4 years while I addressed everything. While there appears to still be some puddles during very very heavy rain periods the report he wrote states that all repairs have been completed as recommended and no further repairs are needed at this time. Basically says during the first visit there was localized large amounts of puddling and after his last visit years later there was minimal water. We also have a pvc pipe sticking out under our foundation into the crawl space to catch water that wants to creep in within that area and move it away from the house. No sump needed according to him. He said he didn't notice any mold down there on the framing and the framing was in accpetable condition. House built in 1962 so this was probably happening for many years without issue. We also spoke to a separate Civil engineer that said given the house has been standing since 62 it's unlikely to have significant issues given how long the conditions have likely existed without my remediation. Also redid landscaping for grading and prettying it up a bit. So realtors what's your experience selling a home with these sorts of situations? Is this going to be incredibly hard or can I expect it to sell reasonably quickly without too much trouble I'm in Tacoma. My agent recommends we post it up front. [link] [comments] |
| 203K rehab loan for ADU, can I switch to 2 unit without lender approval? Posted: 23 Aug 2020 04:54 AM PDT I bought a house with extra funds built in to create loft apartment above garage. Everything was slated as an ADU but now I have the opportunity to switch to a 2 unit and the city seems to be fine with it, pending approval and payment of the larger impact fee. Do I need to talk to the mortgage company before doing this with the city? The apartment should be completed in 3 weeks at which point I'm thinking of refinancing. The interest rate is high based on cash credits and type of loan. I had been advised that it makes sense to reclassify as two unit and then refinance. Does it matter or make a difference in the equation if I go through current lender or not? [link] [comments] |
| How to successfully buy in a very slow micro regional market? Posted: 23 Aug 2020 09:54 AM PDT Hello all! I have a somewhat unusual market where I'm trying to buy and am looking for advice on how to close a deal. Context: This market is a rural destination lake where homes typically stay CDOM around 250+ days to 5 to 15 years before selling and sell at 80% or lower below their original asking prices, often 50% of original asking price and sometimes even 30% of original asking price. Comparables are really difficult because all the homes are really different and all the lots are really different, in everything from the acreage to the amount of shoreline to whether they are in a very desirable part of the lake or even whether they are in a very desirable part of the individual bay. Prices vary from $300,000 for a very small cabin, 1 bedroom or no bedroom, 500 sq ft or less, on a smaller lot to $2 million for nice properties to $15 million for large properties with large homes and lots of shoreline or a private island. On this lake, our extended family (parents, grandparents, cousins, etc.) own collectively 6 different homes/islands...it's where our family lives so we are at the point in our life where we would like to buy our home there as well. The problem is that the homes are all listed at prices that they won't sell for, so sellers just very slowly reduce asking price over a course of 2 to 15 years until they do sell. We have even offered full asking price but the properties don't appraise anywhere near the asking price so the deal(s) multiple fall apart. Thanks in advance, [link] [comments] |
| Best and Final Offer - Offer the highest comp? Posted: 23 Aug 2020 05:52 AM PDT After a good amount of searching for single family homes on the north side of Chicago, Friday night we got a notification that a house meeting every point on our checklist (and more, including an extra bedroom) came on the market. The listing price is about $140k less than our max budget so that made it very exciting. Went to see it Saturday early afternoon, it looked great (recent flip, so it's completely upgraded). After our showing we decided to put in an offer at asking. An hour later, our realtor advised us there were going to be multiple offers and so that we could make an initial offer but the seller will likely do a "best and final" and this could all be worked out on Monday. We've been advised to pay what we think the house are worth. Comps are $720k-$800k. There is a house on next block with almost the exact same floor plan, 20 yr old finishes, a smaller yard down the street from this home, asking is $155k MORE than this house (it's been sitting on the market too because the seller is ridiculous). We really want this place, but best and final is really scaring us. Our offer doesn't have a selling contingency (though we do need a mortgage) and we have a lot of wiggle room on price. We're prequalified for conventional and a jumbo loan (which type we use depends on the selling pros of the house). Other factors... inventory in this school district is kinda limited, there are only 2 other homes in our price range available. The market here is super hot, places are gone within days and one place got $50k over asking at a best and final. Am I crazy to offer the highest comp price at $799k? [link] [comments] |
| How to find parcels of land for sale with particular characteristics like lakefront? Posted: 23 Aug 2020 09:22 AM PDT How does one find raw land for sale that has for example lake front property or is inclusive of a pond or streams/rivers/etc? [link] [comments] |
| Realtor lie or make a $7,000 mistake Posted: 23 Aug 2020 09:14 AM PDT The realtor show me a house with a large front porch and we decided for that model of house. We choose the lot, color of the house, color inside the house, everything. Also my best friend choose his lot and everything right NEXT to my lot so that way we are going to be next to each other, that's awesome! So they start building our houses, the first week they do the frame and I noticed that the frame look smaller than what realtor show me. I text her "Hey, I'm in the lot right now, the frame of the porch is small and the house you show me the porch is bigger" she text me back "The framing never looks like the actual size. It will definitely be like the one you saw." So..... a few week later we talk and she say the only thing she can do is giving me $2,000 in closing costs. I'm so upset about it, first time home owner. I don't know what to do, we really what the house, closing date is in 3 weeks and I already noticed I'm leaving my apartment. [link] [comments] |
| Zillow Support is the worst in the business Posted: 23 Aug 2020 08:40 AM PDT I have been trying to get my account working correctly now for over 3 years. They promise to fix it, say they fixed it, and yet any time I try to edit anything I get an Error 500 Message. Now they just ignore my emails. Also, a lot of information they post is inaccurate. [link] [comments] |
| Could not having a buyers agent be used as leverage? Posted: 23 Aug 2020 08:13 AM PDT Was just thinking about this recently. Is it normal to offer a lower price if you are not using a buying agent. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Aug 2020 07:27 AM PDT I am in the process of closing come October as the sellers are in process of closing on a new home. I asked my agent if we could close sooner if the sellers situation is available to do so. She did ask if I would be open for the family to close sooner but they would remain on property until the close date. I would be open for this. The question here is, legally what do I need to do to protect the home and any additionally issue if something between now and then happens? Would simply enabling my home insurance cover this? Anyone with experience please chime in. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 23 Aug 2020 07:10 AM PDT Married and buying home and our closing set for next month. One of my parents is going to be on the title. They are living with us, and also I claim them on my income tax as a dependent. They both collect social security and are over 65. Can they apply for homestead exemption in Jan 2021? Texas, Frisco. Not trying to pay tax but trying to save money. [link] [comments] |
| Wood Rot on prospective house from sprinklers, how bad can this get? Posted: 23 Aug 2020 06:50 AM PDT Wood rot noticed on a house I'm in escrow with. Seems like a sprinkler may be the culprit. Is there anyway to tell how deep the damage is? My inspection contingency is to be removed in 2 days and I'm concerned how deep the damage this may be more internally, necessitating more repair. Can this spread very deep and be extremely costly? We were unable to really get behind the wood during inspection. Please refer to link Thanks :) [link] [comments] |
| Bad realtors or expectations too high? Posted: 23 Aug 2020 02:53 AM PDT Here's something I find absolutely maddening about realtors, maybe someone here can explain it to me, or help me gain some perspective or something. If I come to you, and say, "Hey, I'm looking for a house with central air, a 3-car garage, and an in-ground swimming pool," and you start showing me a house with central air, no garage at all, and a vinyl blow-up kiddie pool, I'm supposed to think "Hey, one out of three features I told this person were must-haves. That's not bad!" Really? I don't think so. If I say I want a 5-bedroom river-front house, and you show me an apartment with three bedrooms on the opposite side of town to the river, I'm so frustrated I want to kick someone's gonads up somewhere around their nostrils. So, before I give someone an undeserved hard time, what's up with that??? [link] [comments] |
| Capital Gains on a mortgage application Posted: 23 Aug 2020 05:58 AM PDT Let's say I made 80k in income from my job last year- but was fortunate to own a separate stock portfolio that did very well and grew from a value of 200k to 600k last year. Does that 400k stock portfolio increase help me at all when applying for a mortgage? [link] [comments] |
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