Real Estate: PSA For Buyers: you can check the 911 calls |
- PSA For Buyers: you can check the 911 calls
- Husband and I are freaking out about selling and buying at the same time
- Is it better to buy property as soon as you can, or save up and wait to buy something better?
- Our realtors (buying) falsified information about the house we're purchasing
- Our home search has been halted due to losing an income. Same agent or new agent when we resume? Had some issues
- Sex worker friendly realtor
- Priced to rent quickly?
- Two winning bids and two inspections and still no house
- Home Buying and Appraisal Woes
- Tennessee Exams
- Property managers
- Feeling stressed looking for homes
- MLS Description Question
- Is It Worth Waiting for Real Estate Tax Relief?
- We need guidance on mortgage qualification.
- Best resources to find out more about OGM rights before hiring a lawyer?
- Why is the housing market on fire right now?
- My house is not selling. What should I do?
- How do I find out the value of my house?
- [AZ/Phoenix] Selling a house in this insane market. What to expect?
- Discovery of electrical system issues after closing WA state
- Buyer's Contract states that earnest money from two sources, Wire Transfer or Personal Check. Wire Transfer box is checked, not Personal Check box. Agent said to pay by personal check with Title Company app. Can seller back out based on technicality?
- quirky property reveals major liability or unique opportunity?
- How well insulated is a true log home?
| PSA For Buyers: you can check the 911 calls Posted: 06 Sep 2020 02:19 PM PDT I recently learned that, at least in California, you can go to the local police station where you are buying and ask for the call logs for your prospective address. This is handy for finding out if there are any neighbor issues or what kind of crime situation the neighborhood has. I wish we'd done it for my current house, we'd have found out about the crazy demon dog and firework psychopaths before experiencing them (which certainly would have influenced our decision). Hope this helps somebody! [link] [comments] |
| Husband and I are freaking out about selling and buying at the same time Posted: 07 Sep 2020 06:38 AM PDT So my husband and I (27MF) are selling my parent's double wide and almost 10 acres of property. None of it is in great condition but we have been living here since my parents passed because it's paid off. We both don't have great jobs and make slightly under 50K a year combined. We also don't have a ton of debt except a car payment and a small student loan. We've always been to afraid to leave here because it's always been safe even though we are miserable. When my mom died we put about 50K into restoring the house and it got us nowhere. I was too you g and grieving to realize I should have bought a house with it and sold this for whatever I could. Now with the market being good, we decided to get our property assessed and are trying to sell it for 100K however there's a lot of brush and junk we need to clear and my husband and I both work and go to school full time. We went to look at a few houses Saturns found one we really want for 107K that has been on the market for over 90 days. We are so anxious and stressed out now because we don't know how long our property will take to sell and we aren't sure if we can afford a mortgage. We are meeting with our financial advisor this week but are going stir crazy because we don't want to lose this other house but we also can't afford to sell our current property for much less than 100K. We have no family or anyone to help us so any help/advice would be much appreciated! Note: We live in Georgia USA and our property backs us to a river. [link] [comments] |
| Is it better to buy property as soon as you can, or save up and wait to buy something better? Posted: 07 Sep 2020 07:39 AM PDT As a first home owner, is it better to buy a property as soon as you can to get on the property ladder asap, even if it means that it's located in a less desirable suburb so you can afford it, or is it better to not buy and wait longer and save more so when you do buy your first property, it's nicer and in a more desirable suburb and likely to be a better investment. [link] [comments] |
| Our realtors (buying) falsified information about the house we're purchasing Posted: 06 Sep 2020 08:43 PM PDT Hello! Thanks for reading! We went with a two-person team of realtors to help us find a house in a Florida city. They were friendly and seemingly eager to help, so we took the trip down from KY to look at some houses we suggested to them. After walking through 3-4 houses, we found the perfect place. We've bought houses before, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The negotiations went as expected. The inspection went as expected. Everything was going well until finding insurance. The sellers disclosure didn't disclose it was in a flood plain, and according to the listing agent, the sellers didn't know... yet we found an elevation certificate showing they knew it when they bought it. I was able to have an insurance agent confirm that not only had there never been a flood claim, but the house actually has flood vents... so whatever. That's fine. So then, we knew that between the time the house was sold 5 years ago until now, a ton of work had been done on the place. In the process, the owners created an apartment upstairs only accessible from the outside with a new set of steps not visible on the previous listing. Given the local laws, we wanted to ensure the work was permitted correctly. Our realtors said it had been, and that they had pulled the permits and everything looked good. Here's where the REAL problem comes in. We asked our realtors to see the permits they had pulled, and we got screenshots of permits from the county, when the city is the entity that would have those permits. Plus, the address has been cropped out of each photo. The permit number remained, so we looked them up ourselves, and it was for a completely different property. We notified our realtors that it was for a different property, and I immediately got a call from one of them saying the other one (who sent us the screenshots) was currently in New York and didn't know what she was talking about. We were then discouraged from calling the city to get the permits pulled, because you supposedly couldn't get them over the phone, and they had already requested hard copies. Well, we didn't believe them at this point, called the city, and of course they provided us with all permits on the property via email... and added in that nobody had requested permits for this property for at least the last year when we asked. Cool. When reviewing them, the permits showed none of the work done on the upstairs was permitted, and the work done on the rest of the house (including those flood vents) listed the current owners as the contractor. We checked, and the sellers are not licensed contractors in Florida. So we're getting ready to lawyer up to both get our earnest money back from the sellers for nondisclosure and go after our realtors for falsifying documents. My real question here is whether there's something else we should be doing. We know the sellers, their listing agent, the title company, and even our own realtors have lied about these permits and other things (i.e., the flood plain knowledge). And at this point, we already sold our house (we closed this week) in Kentucky because we were contingent.... so we're homeless with our stuff in storage and staying with family. Due to several delays with the appraisal, we're not supposed to close on the place down there until 9/18. Does anybody have any relevant course of action we should be considering? Maybe something Florida-specific since we're not quite as familiar? We're supposed to talk to the lawyer Tuesday, but hell, we're kind of scared they'll be just as slimy at this point. lol [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 07 Sep 2020 09:18 AM PDT I completely get that the market in our area has very little supply the last few months until now. That being said I have had a few issues with our agent. Approved for x amount. She had been sending homes over budget and houses that are less than 1000 square feet. I'm not sure if she was doing this because the market has so little or if it's to "push" us. The last place thankfully fell through. Lender required 20k in repairs the seller didn't have so the deal fell through. I tried to end that deal prior because of severe foundation issues. I signed the mutual release but then the seller said she'd fix it so the seller never signed it. I guess in order to back out of a deal it had to be mutual? Right or wrong? For now (like title says) we have suspended our search. I'm looking for advice and opinions on what you would do if it were you? This way when the time comes we will be more prepared and ready! Greatly appreciated. Any advice helps [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 07 Sep 2020 07:21 AM PDT Looking to buy my first home but nervous about coming out to a stranger about my job. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 07 Sep 2020 07:17 AM PDT Heh everyone. I've started my apartment hunting and I'm quite inexperienced. I found a place in my price range that is in a decent neighborhood. My only concern was that it said that it was priced to rent quickly. Does anyone know what that means? What kinds of questions should I ask when I go on the tour? For reference I am in New York City. Anything advice would be appreciated. Thank you. [link] [comments] |
| Two winning bids and two inspections and still no house Posted: 07 Sep 2020 09:55 AM PDT This is our second house with an accepting offer and our second inspection with issues. Is it just me? Or does everyone expect a certain level of quality at higher price ranges? The first home was advertised as having central AC and it wasn't working during the home inspection. The seller dragged their feet and we decided to walk away. The second house was very well kept. But then we found out that the roof was on the older side. We learn that we can't get home insurance if the roof was installed before the year 2000. Our inspector thinks the roof is from the mid 90's. So here we are. We are waiting for the homeowners to produce receipts. So far nothing. It's sad to think we have to walk away again! [link] [comments] |
| Home Buying and Appraisal Woes Posted: 07 Sep 2020 09:33 AM PDT A few weeks ago my wife and I found a home we really liked and put in an offer. The sellers accepted the offer of $15k less than asking price. Even then our agent thought the home was a little over priced. Fast forward to inspections and lending. The lender ordered an appraisal and we find out the appraised value is $31k off of the sales price! That's a $46k difference between the appraisal and list price. Our agent kind of expected a dependency but not this large. Sellers wouldn't budge on price and we didn't love the home enough to cough up the extra money so we decided to walk away. We recently found another home and again, our agent thinks the sellers home may appraise at a lower value than the list price. We put in an offer but had a contingency to appraise before moving forward with lending and inspection. We also made sure the sellers are willing to negotiate if the appraisal does come in low again. We have more hope this one will appraise at the sales price or at least not as big of a difference. We are still kind of nervous about the whole situation. Has anyone dealt with this during the past few months? I read that because interest rates are so low, homes are being overvalued by sellers. We feel like we might be stuck in a never ending cycle of finding a home we really want but sellers asking way more than what the home is worth. Our agent told us that having an appraisal come in lower than sales price is not very common but it does happen and we shouldn't let it discourage us from shopping. If this second home doesn't work out, I feel like we will just be wasting our time and money if we continue to shop with all our current requirements. Some background, we are searching for homes in the Central Florida market and we are looking to put down 20% maximum on a 30yr conventional to avoid PMI. Good move-in ready listings within our area, price, and desired size around here only seem to last a no more than 7 days before they go "Pending". [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 07 Sep 2020 09:13 AM PDT Hello everybody. I am preparing to take my affiliate broker exam in Tennessee. I've never held any kind of real estate license. I am hoping someone here can clarify why the pass rate for the exam is so low. Here in tennessee a minimum score of 70% is required to pass the affiliate broker exams. But, despite that, I've read that nearly half of the people that take the exam don't pass. Does anybody know why the affiliate broker exams have such a high fail rate? Thanks very much. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 07 Sep 2020 08:38 AM PDT Can someone provide me with a sample contract between the homeowner and a property management company. Thanks in advance. [link] [comments] |
| Feeling stressed looking for homes Posted: 06 Sep 2020 08:41 PM PDT I've been wanting to own a home for a few years now and we are finally in a good spot where we have enough saved to put 20% down, I have no debt and my husband is a year or two from paying off his own, and of course interest rates are so low. We have been house hunting and I have found out I am very, VERY picky. I don't think it's a bad thing... I like where we rent and the rent is cheap so it's not a big deal to wait. I do not want to budge on location because I love being able to walk to the park near me, and the lake nearby, my gym, the library, etc. I also love old homes with the old home charm... built ins, decorative trim, etc. However I do feel a bit of a rush worrying about if interest rates go up again I may not be able to afford a home I like. Then, I feel like people (my family) are all pressuring me to think like them and I don't know if I'm going about it wrong. My sister encourages me to look outside my desired neighborhood.. it's true, we can get a house in a neighborhood 10 to 15 minutes away that is much cheaper and much nicer than what we can get here. But I really love living here and have no desire. Then my Mom who loves everything brand new and nice keeps bugging me that I either need a fixer upper I can get for cheap to upgrade (I have NO desire to do that, however she keeps insisting it's "fun") or buy a home that is upgraded without the old home charm. I see where she's coming from, but I just really love that stuff. My Dad surprisingly is the one who is least pushy, other than reiterating now is a great time to buy. We went on showings today and I brought my Mom and Dad, mostly to be nice for my Mom who never got to go home shopping. The experience ended up being so stressful.. when we were looking at a house that my mom and realtor loved but for whatever reason I just didn't like it. It had a lot of great things but I wasn't a fan of the layout and also all the carpeting was nasty and would need to be taken out and all the walls were painted weird colors we would have to repaint. It had a huge beautiful yard but... my husband and I don't need a huge yard. it didn't seem like a reason for me to buy a house. We saw one house I absolutely adored that was near the top of the price range but needs a new roof and has old windows that we would want to replace eventually. Everyone just kept saying it was overpriced (the location is amazing) and needs updating when the others do not, etc etc. I feel so frustrated... but at the same time, I don't know if I'm maybe in the wrong and just going about it the wrong way. I want to buy a house we will stay in "forever" or at least a very long time. Sure I can buy a "nicer" home that is updated and doesn't have some of those old features I love, but my home having character and feeling like it has history is important to me... My husband .. he is kind of "indifferent". He will have an opinion on what he likes or wants, and then if I share a differing opinion he often times will completely change his mind lol so he isn't a ton of help to get input from. I think he just cares most that I'm happy with it and making sure we don't put ourselves in financial trouble. Sorry for the rambling .. just wanted to vent and maybe get advice. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 07 Sep 2020 08:00 AM PDT We are currently in contract to purchase a home and just had the inspection. The home inspector said that the woodstove insert is not certified and will have to removed per State law. Our agent says they will have to remove it but not replace it. He doesn't think its a big deal but I don't understand what we ar supposed to do with a 4 foot hole in the wall. The MLS listed a wood burning stove. Wouldn't that be part of the contract? I think our agent is worried about us tanking the deal in this market but we are already 25k over listing and there are other deffered maintenance issues that will have to be addressed day one. [link] [comments] |
| Is It Worth Waiting for Real Estate Tax Relief? Posted: 07 Sep 2020 07:01 AM PDT One candidate mentioned a tax relief for homebuyers. I think there was something similar in 2009 or 2010 (?). Is it worth it to wait 6 months to see if anything happens? Can anyone give advice for what happened 10 years ago from a real estate buying perspective? My concerns -> I know that in the past, some homebuyers jumped in and bought a home with the first tax credit re-payment relief. Other homebuyers waited until the federal government cancelled the repayment requirement. In the next 30 days, my financial situation is changing significantly via court order and I'll be seriously looking at buying a home. I have looked earlier this year and was under contract, but it just didn't work out. I'm fine with waiting 6 months for any potential tax relief but I also know that home will be more expensive. For example, 3% increase on a $300K home would be $9K. So, there is a 'cost' to waiting on relief. [link] [comments] |
| We need guidance on mortgage qualification. Posted: 07 Sep 2020 06:12 AM PDT I am a US citizen and my fiancé is a diplomat with the Australian government and not a US citizen. We would like to buy a house together and wondering if it's possible for both of us qualify for a mortgage. Obviously I know I could on my own, but we prefer if both of us were on the loan. Any banks out their willing to give a mortgage loan to non-US citizens. Thanks in advance. [link] [comments] |
| Best resources to find out more about OGM rights before hiring a lawyer? Posted: 07 Sep 2020 05:50 AM PDT We are considering buying a house and current seller says a gas company previously had a lease with them. They have no docs or additional info about this. I've checked county records, and can't find any old (or current) lease. I've also contacted the gas company about "owner relations" and am waiting for a response. In the meantime I thought I'd ask if anyone on here has had any luck finding out more info in other ways? [link] [comments] |
| Why is the housing market on fire right now? Posted: 06 Sep 2020 04:02 PM PDT |
| My house is not selling. What should I do? Posted: 06 Sep 2020 08:20 PM PDT My house has been on the market for about 40 days now. The property is is relatively desirable and somewhat hot market in LA suburb, specifically South Bay area. I think the house shows well. It's younger in age compared to other houses in the area. Most of houses in South Bay area were built in 1950s or 1960s. Yes, my property is a condo so I would assume that it will be less demanding than single houses especially given the current circumstances. I see a trend that many of condos and townhouses are on the market quite a while before they become contingent or pending. It may not mean much but the house has more than 100 favorites designation from potential buyers and it's priced lower than other condos/townhouses in the area. What do I do now as my property is becoming an old listing at this point? Any suggestions? [link] [comments] |
| How do I find out the value of my house? Posted: 07 Sep 2020 04:27 AM PDT Zillow states in my area it's valued at 460,000 roughly. How do I find out what the value of my house really is? This property is maybe 2 blocks away from the bus stop that goes straight to New York City. [link] [comments] |
| [AZ/Phoenix] Selling a house in this insane market. What to expect? Posted: 06 Sep 2020 09:11 PM PDT I'm about to list a house similiar to a neighbors that was listed for 290k, but his Zillow listing was edited a day later saying they were taking bids. Apparently they got absolutely flooded with offers. It still lists it as being sold at 290k, but im sure they never bothered to update to the actual price. Is there any way to prepare for that when I sell mine? I know the market is bonkers here. My dad's neighbor just sold his for twice what he bought it for a year ago with 0 work done. His is in a bit better area though. Should I even bother with an agent? It seems like a waste when I can just hire a title company and lawyer to do the paperwork for me. It doesn't seem like advertising with an agent is really needed. [link] [comments] |
| Discovery of electrical system issues after closing WA state Posted: 07 Sep 2020 12:39 AM PDT My wife and I recently closed on a home in Washington state. The home was a flip by the previous owner who claims they did all of the work themselves, as they are a "contractor". After moving in, we soon found many issues with the electric. We were told by the inspector that the house used non-metalic sheethed cables. This was after speaking with him and raising my concerns with their maybe being knot and tube wiring in the house. I later discovered knot and tube wiring in the attic and crawlspaces where he had inspected, and am dumbfounded that he somehow missed all of it. It was very evident. After moving in, we found that 99% of the outlets were bootleg grounded, and we have neautral-ground double taps on the panels. It was later confirmed by an electrician that all of the wiring is still knot and tube, except for the bit of non-metalic sheethed cable used in the basement. This is a big fire and electrical hazard, especially considering that the attic is insulated. On the disclosure form, the seller claimed there were "No" defects with the electrical system. My wife and I intend to go after the inspector and seller if possible. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Are we SOL? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 06 Sep 2020 06:33 PM PDT I recently agreed to buy a house and seller agreed to sell. Contracts were signed. In the 'earnest money' section, it has three boxes for payment method: personal check, wire transfer, other. The 'Wire Transfer' box is selected with x. My agent instructed me to pay earnest money by personal check with the Title Company's proprietary phone app. Since the earnest money was actually paid by a personal check and not the 'wire transfer' method, can the seller technically back out of the deal? The payment was confirmed by the title company and the 48 hour deadline was made. [link] [comments] |
| quirky property reveals major liability or unique opportunity? Posted: 07 Sep 2020 12:30 AM PDT we bought our home in early 2018 and knew it was very unique for a number of reasons. built in 1898 as a farm house, it's historically significant to the area/neighborhood we live in. it was the first house in the current neighborhood as it used to all be one huge stock farm that was owned by a well known historical figure to the county. for a period of roughly 2-3 years some of the land was used to create one of the first golf courses in the region and is unofficially the oldest golf clubhouse that is still standing as the original structure. after that, the farmland was sold off in parcels to create the neighborhood around us which is very unique in its own right. one of the neighborhood's realtors/developers moved in here at the start of the project and even used this house to store the property records and land deeds for a number of years before they were transferred to the county. the property also has old features like a windmill which was used to power a water well pump (both still remain but in non-working condition of course), an old milking shed, and carriage house that was converted to a garage at some point. the property itself is a bit unique as it is one of, if not the only residential property which has an easement on our side of the sidewalk. usually the easement is found between the sidewalk and the street if one exists but the sidewalk on our street is right up next to the road. homes were all built to be 30 ft from the sidewalk with the edge of the sidewalk being the property line. however, our house was here literally before the streets and property lines were. now, I don't know if it's how the street was mapped or something to do with the parcels or what, but for whatever reason the first 10 ft of our front yard from the sidewalk is not our property. it's an easement. even though it's the same sidewalk as our neighbors which represents their property line, it does not represent our line. this ten feet is a small but steep incline that pretty much runs the distance from the inside of our driveway along the sidewalk until about 15 ft before our neighbor's yard. that's where it begins tapering off and leveling out and becomes flat ground. because our house and actually most of the neighborhood was built on a large hill and our street which was literally the first street in the neighborhood was sort of carved into the hill so that it gives our house an elevation raise that other homes don't have. our parcel is basically on a small plateau while our neighbors on both sides and everywhere else are on the same elevation as the road. so that little steep incline serves as the "face" of the plateau and the whole face is an easement. our property line runs along the top of the incline where our yard levels off. basically, the land that my house and our neighbor's homes to either side of us are on the same elevation, but the street is uphill and reaches the top of the hill where I said the incline tapers off. and even though our house was built 30 ft from the sidewalk just like every other house was, this all means that our house is only 20 ft from the property line. now, we're "grandfathered in" as they say, but if something were to happen to the house and we had to rebuild, we'd have to move back 10 ft. if our front porch fails (it's a screened in porch about 15 years younger than the house and is slipping out from under itself) we cannot legally rebuild it. another interesting feature that even our township's board was unaware of until just a couple weeks ago is that on this easement they own, there is an old but very useful and necessary set of steps built into the steep incline which serves as access to our front door from the sidewalk. it's a public right-of-way. it also serves simply as our front steps. we really only use it when we walk to our daughter's bus stop right at the bottom and it's only 6 or 7 steps. but it's still "our" home's front steps, yet it's not ours to repair or maintain. legally. no one will touch it. we've asked. it's the township's responsibility. however, our home insurance company doesn't like the fact that it has no railing and they're giving us issues about it. like they're threatening to drop us over having no railing which would then be known by other insurance companies too. but we can't get a permit to fix it, and now we've been told by the township road commissioner that he doesn't want to put in a railing. he said they'd "go in 50/50" by them repairing the bottom step if we put in the railing. I know, he's ridiculous. but what I find even more insulting than him not just taking ownership (literally) of the issue is him actually thinking I'm naive or stupid enough to make that repair. if we put in a railing and someone slipped and got injured, then we assume legal responsibility for it even though our insurance company who started all this would say "nope, it's not on your property so we aren't covering it." but we already know from our real estate attorney that it doesn't matter what his attorney says about the township's authority to interpret ordinances and blah blah blah. I'm not worried about being able to make them put in a railing. it's law. it's public safety. it's clearly out of compliance to basic standards. heck, we even have an autistic child which puts this whole thing under ADA. and it's clearly not on our property. but I'm wondering if instead I make it my responsibility. I'll explain. obviously there's a liability here that we as the owners, the insurance company, the township and our respective attorneys all recognize. and that liability is not going anywhere. it has to fall on someone. so instead of fighting for months and possibly going to litigation over this just to have the township pull some bureaucratic move like choosing to remove the steps completely or putting in some god awful zig zagging wheelchair ramp along the length of my front yard, maybe I should suggest the township just sell me the easement for a miniscule amount like a dollar. that way they get rid of the liability and the cost to repair and maintain this quirky residential right-of-way for just a buck. then the property is all mine up to the sidewalk. I have my 30 ft setback in case my front porch slips away at some point in the future, and I can bring the steps up to code however I want. best of all, I leave the liability in the lap of the insurance company that decided to give us a hard time about something that isn't even our responsibility to begin with. so what's the smartest option? [link] [comments] |
| How well insulated is a true log home? Posted: 06 Sep 2020 01:50 PM PDT I'm looking to build a year-round true log home in climate zone 5/6. Average lows are around 20F at night in winter, with highs at around 80F during the day in summer. I was wondering what experience people have had with insulation in a true log home (not a 2x4 build with aesthetic logs over it). I've read online that log homes insulate at around R1.0 - R1.5 per inch of wood, and I would be using 9" diameter logs. I would have standard insulation under the roof and floor. I've done plenty of 2x4 builds before in this climate and would typically use R21 insulation in the walls. Logs will clearly not provide anything near that in terms of a printed R-value, but I have also read that their thermal mass releases heat back into the home at night. How much of a difference does the thermal mass make? Essentially, I want to avoid pouring a ton of money / time into a true log build only to find it doesn't insulate well enough and I should have gone with a 2x4 build. Trying to be environmentally conscious so I don't want to be unnecessarily wasting heat/AC to maintain a comfortable temperature. I was also wondering what impact not maintaining a consistent internal temperature may have on the logs (there may be month-long periods of time the home is vacant in the winter) Thank you for any advice! [link] [comments] |
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