Real Estate: Too good to be true |
- Too good to be true
- Buying a home right now is insane
- Offer accepted!
- Selling. What do I need to know?
- Thinking about backing out on the house I have under contract- what are my options?
- Aspiring Real Estate Agent in Ca
- (CA) Any Korean-American homeowners/real estate agents here? I have questions about getting a mortgage from a US-based Korean bank vs an American bank
- 30-year fixed or 7-arm? Worried about the 0.5% refinancing fee, how long will it stay?
- Can my neighbor force me to tear down and remove my structure/addition?
- Bought a house that was a previous rental property - the city wants to inspect previous violations. Do we have rights being owner occupied now?
- When to list house vs have showings??
- Inspection reveals leak and mold
- Can a buyer back out after inspection period lapse?
- Welcome Gift?
- Realtor asking for credit karma password
- First Time Home Buyer - Misleading Seller's Disclosure in NC
- Painting cabinets and resale value?
- Looking for input:preapproved VA, all docs submitted but one (waiting on seller signature), appraisal took forever to come back but came back this morning, initial closing date was supposed to be tomorrow
- Construction Loan Terms?
- Buyer expectations from seller when taking possession
- Appraisals
- Under contract with inspection contingency. Can we just walk without getting an inspection?
- Is it a good time to buy? First time buyer - San Diego native
- Selling A House With Termites and Other Much Needed Repairs. San Diego CA. How to Know If Repairing before Selling Is Worth It?
| Posted: 28 Sep 2020 03:44 AM PDT We've read so many crazy stories and experienced the insanity of this market (one house we viewed received 19 offers in 24 hours after listing), but now we're a month out from closing and it seems unreal. This is the story of how we got to this point. We'd been working with a realtor my husband had encountered years before we met, but she was slow to respond and when we asked about the first property we truly found interesting, she referred us to another realtor because it wasn't in her area. So I used Trulia to contact someone just to get some questions answered quickly and it put me in touch with the best possible buying agent we could have asked for. She was willing to show us anything in the state and after a few showings she admitted this was more a hobby to fund her nonprofit that cares for veterans, and she did it yet know my husband is a disabled combat veteran. Needless to say, her commitment to finding us the right place has been next level and we've become friends in the process. Now that we had the perfect agent, we happened upon a perfect place, a gem of a property in a very small neighborhood. Long story short, we put in an offer but it was not accepted. It was the first time we'd done this so it was a bit heart breaking, but we forged on looking at other places. But over the weeks, we just couldn't get over some of the benefits of that home and one morning I see another house in that neighborhood with a similar layout is on the market! Unfortunately, it's listed for 15k above our preapproval. I casually tell my realtor how much I'd love to see this place but we know it'd be a waste of time and she contacts the listing agent only to get back to me to say the sellers are in a hurry to move for a job and need an offer on their house to secure their next purchase, so it might be worth our time to see it. We go up that weekend and it's stunning, dream kitchen, well cared for, beautiful landscaping, 4600 sqft with a finished basement, we love it. So I wrote an offer letter explaining our situation, not only was this place a great fit for us, but it has a 9/10 rated k-12 for our kids and enough room to care for my retired father. We ask our lender for 10k more, which they approve, so we offer 5k under asking price and request 8k in closing costs as this is a VA loan and we anticipated zero down. They take the offer... with a contingency that they have 5 days to secure their housing. As we dropped off our earnest money, I admit that I assume they're going to find a way to break the contract and go with a better deal, but my realtor assure me they were moved by our letter and weren't planning to intentionally back out. The 5 days come and go and they secured their home and we're still in agreement. Then we get the inspection, we get a great guy our realtor knew and he's been doing it for 25 years with multiple degrees. He tells us most homes he sees are about a B, B- , but this house is an A. It's been so well maintained with solid upgrades over the last 20 years the owners had it, the only things he found were negligible, like a loud bathroom fan and garage door opener not working. While this is all taking place, our USAA lender is telling us the best he can do is 3.5% and we keep reading stories here about the 2's. So I mention to my realtor that we thought we'd find more competitive rates (2 other lenders we spoke with weren't significantly better), so she refers us to a local lender who loves doing VA Loans. We call her, tell her our situation with closing costs, and she gets us 2.5%! Yes, we'd be buying points but it's the sellers paying for them essentially. As of today, we are halfway through the process and we've been approved by underwriting. Now we're waiting for the appraisal, but everyone we've come in contact with assures us we're getting this place for a steal, so we assume there won't be issues there. But I am seriously waiting for the other shoe to drop, like are we really going to close on this place? Is this real life? Lol The scary part is breaking our rental lease, which has no clause for termination, but we'll deal with that fall out when it comes. My poor father can't believe this is happening, it's going to take him out of a miserable situation so I think the possibility of something not happening makes it too painful to hope it's real and that's rubbing off on me. I guess I wanted to share that all these good things can happen in this market and reassure myself that we're just in a waiting game to close but it is really happening. TLDR: Found the perfect buying agent and then a unicorn property, offered under asking, seller paying majority of closing costs, inspection went nearly perfect, waiting for something to go wrong lol [link] [comments] |
| Buying a home right now is insane Posted: 27 Sep 2020 07:54 PM PDT None of this drama when I purchased my first home.. I recently had an offer accepted (out of attorney review as of last Wednesday). The sellers are insisting on a mortgage commitment by the 19th and a closing date of the 26th. No one thinks this can happen, but they also gave us the soft "we'll extend if needed." Promise - but nothing in the contract. We like the house so we're moving forward hoping the sellers aren't massive assholes. Lender sends me the application with errors left and right. I tell him I'm not signing as he left off a property's HOA and some other shit that I don't want to squabble over with the underwriters. I shit you not, this guy says "just sign it well fix it later." Lmfao. I tell him no. He says find another lender (basically). So I have another lender (who actually gave me a better rate) but I'm essentially starting over from square one .. hoping to get a commitment letter by the 19th. 😵 [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 27 Sep 2020 10:52 AM PDT We fired our inexperienced Zillow agent and went with a referral from my coworker who has 20+ years of experience. She was patient with us as we looked at a few places and when we found the right one she cancelled another appointment because she knew this property would sell quickly. We put in a strong offer, 20% down and will be paying all closing costs. Well, lo and behold the offer was accepted and we'll be under contract later this afternoon! My realtor even wrote a short note to the sellers about how we're a young family looking to buy their first home near family. I don't know if that made any difference, but it's the thought that counts! Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who gave some advice a few weeks back when we made an offer that wasn't accepted. Cheers! [link] [comments] |
| Selling. What do I need to know? Posted: 28 Sep 2020 09:08 AM PDT Were selling our house in Southern California (High Desert). We've had two realtors come by and another is coming by today. The firs two pretty much said all the same things. Market is crazy. You don't need to do much work if any. it will sell anyways. Put it up for slightly under value so we get a bunch of offers and can get people to out bid each other. Is this a common tactic? I just assumed, if its a sellers market, put it up for what you want over the value and just get that. But this is not my job. They said we could walk away with about $175,000 net. Assuming this next one says the same things. What's the difference? How do you decided who to go with? We are not planning on selling until next summer. They want to sell right now. We just wanted to see what we could get for it so we know what to look for as far as our next house. What else do I need to know? Things to look out for? What should I be thinking about? Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Thinking about backing out on the house I have under contract- what are my options? Posted: 28 Sep 2020 04:30 AM PDT I had an offer accepted on a home in the Bay Area that I found off market back in late July. The seller can't close until October 30th, but seemingly I got a good deal for the house and got to do full contingencies on the deal for the long close. Inspections went well and house appraised at the price I bought it for. I removed all contingencies and since then I've gotten cold feet. The house is super cute in Oakland, but I just don't think I want to stay in the Bay Area long enough for it to make it worth buying the house right now. With the new tenant protection laws in place in Oakland, renting it out isn't really worth the risk either. Considering I still have more than 5 weeks before I can even close, can the seller come after me for my deposit? Any advice for getting back my deposit would be great. I'd be happy to give him my inspection report so he could list it immediately. In this market, he should be able to sell it for higher than the price in paying by October 30th with a non contingent offer if he really wants to. [link] [comments] |
| Aspiring Real Estate Agent in Ca Posted: 28 Sep 2020 10:18 AM PDT I am a 20-somthing about to graduate with their BA. I wont be attending grad school till 2022 and wanted to try real estate in the mean time. I have read some posts that mention to breeze through the real estate course online and gather most of your information from the RE exam course preparation part. I am really good at taking exams/studying but don't really like to learn things that wont be applied in the field. Also For reference I am taking the exam in CA. My questions are:
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| Posted: 28 Sep 2020 10:04 AM PDT I'm a Korean-American self-employed business owner and my wife is a Korean (green card recent immigrant) self-employed business owner. We live in California and are looking to buy in California. Being business owners with young businesses makes things a bit more difficult in securing loans especially since our businesses are pretty young (5 years for me, 3 years for my wife) and banks see entrepreneurs with a shorter history as high-risk. Another thing is, I have great credit and am a citizen, my wife has no credit because she is a recent immigrant (with a green card). We're working to build her credit now with a credit card, car loan, phone loan, etc. I was going to use a friend of mine to be our realtor, but I'm afraid she'll have trouble securing a loan for us. She's caucasian and would go through "regular" banks. I've heard Korean realtors in the US have access to Korean banks based in the US who are more amenable to (1) giving loans to entrepreneurs since most 1st gen Koreans are self-employed, and (2) giving loans to recent immigrants with little US credit history since most immigrants don't have long credit history. If you've purchased a home as a self-employed Korean-American homeowner in the US, or are a Korean realtor based in the US, could you verify if what I said is true or inaccurate? Any other relevant information appreciated. I want to get a rough idea of this situation before I begin speaking to my realtor friend or korean realtors. Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| 30-year fixed or 7-arm? Worried about the 0.5% refinancing fee, how long will it stay? Posted: 28 Sep 2020 09:59 AM PDT Hi all, My offer is just accepted by the sellers and now I am in the process of the mortgage application. Previously I was planning to keep using 7-arm and keep refinancing at the 6 year, since 7-arm seems to be always lower than 30-year fixed by 0.75-1.0%. But there is going to be a 0.5% fee on refinancing (this article), I am worried about how long will this fee stay after it goes effective on Dec 1. If the fee will stay for over 7 years, then 7-arm is bad choice. [link] [comments] |
| Can my neighbor force me to tear down and remove my structure/addition? Posted: 28 Sep 2020 09:50 AM PDT Hello, I am in the process of closing on a house. For reference, this is located in chicago on a standard 30' wide lot split by partitioning fences on either end. In the rear of the structure, the current owner built an attachment (not permitted) that attaches the back of the building to the detached garage in the back now effectively making it attached via a 2 car tandem garage/shed enclosure. Sorry if that is confusing, they pretty much build a structure that goes from the back of the building to the alley, so it is narrow and can fit one care at a time but 2 can be stacked in it. The meat of my question is this, there is a fence that splits property lines one end. The way they built this extension/addition/shed is on 4x4 posts footed inside of the fence but the bottom plate of 2x4's starts about an inch about the fence. so when inside of this structure, you can see the fence boards, about two inches of open space into the other yard, and then the footing and plywood sheeting start going up. No there was not a permit when this was built, looking at google maps, it was built prior to 2011 (as far back as I can go in google maps), but after they added the plywood, water barrier, siding, it extends a couple inches over the fence in the neighbors "air space" if you will. Clearly they've been okay with it considering it's still standing after almost 10 years. But if I close on this place, what grounds does that neighbor have that would possibly result in my having to tear this entire thing down to where it's just the main structure of my multifamily and then a detached garage? I saw a couple articles about Adverse Possession and all but wanted to see what you guys had to say if anything at all? My offer weighed in the rent that are able to get from this structure ($300/m to a contractor that uses it as storage). So if they called the city and stated it was illegally built with no permits, will they force me to tear it down? Thank you! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 28 Sep 2020 06:00 AM PDT The city gave violations to the seller who was the landlord. The violations are small things like install smoke alarms, put a light fixture up, fix a window and other misc things. We don't want the city to come in to our home now that it is owner occupied. We're worried the city will just keep dinging stupid things as it's an older home and want to keep coming in. Has anyone ever had experience with something like this? I know every city is different but we're thinking since it's owner occupied now that it might be different. [link] [comments] |
| When to list house vs have showings?? Posted: 28 Sep 2020 05:59 AM PDT Selling our first house and our agent has been good so far at telling us what to do and now do, but now I'm looking for more information. Currently our house is listed as "coming soon" but only within their company/office so it is not on MLS. It's looking like all final touches will be finished on our house this week! So our realtor is wanting for us to have pictures taken Friday (during the day) so then pictures and listing will be live by the evening and then showings would begin Saturday and an open house Sunday. Then he is predicting we would be picking offers and under contract by Monday night. So basically everything would happen in a span of 72 hours. It seems really short! But my question is, would it be better for us to list it as coming soon over this weekend with the pictures and then do showings beginning in the evenings this week with open house over next weekend?? Obviously we want the most exposure and it just seems like posting the listing and giving buyers 48 hours to make an appointment to get in is a short time span. I know he has buyers interested but at the end of the day we want the best price for our house. Our realtor says we don't need to worry, yet I'm worried. Does it really not matter how long the listing is live?? Or are we essentially limiting our buyers by having such a short window? [link] [comments] |
| Inspection reveals leak and mold Posted: 28 Sep 2020 08:50 AM PDT I'm under contract and the inspection revealed a leak in the water heater area with mold growth. The water heater closet shares a wall with the kitchen and there is slight water damage on the floors with the center isle also showing mold. The remediation company (rightfully) said over the phone that they won't know the extent of the damage until they inspect and check inside the wall. It's going to require them to destroy the kitchen floor as well. I don't know what the cost is. I've heard anywhere between $7k to potentially up to $20k. I'm already paying a premium for the house (SoCal area). Should I have the seller remediate the issue, should I just ask for a credit and handle it? Should I walk? It's a relatively new building (2005), and I wasn't expecting any major issues with the unit. Looking for comments/suggestions/words of advice. Thank you! [link] [comments] |
| Can a buyer back out after inspection period lapse? Posted: 28 Sep 2020 08:27 AM PDT All, The buyer had a home inspection on Saturday and the inspection period ends today, I haven't heard anything yet, is this common? Should I follow up? Can the buyer back out after the inspection period? Say the buyer qualify for finance and appraisal passes or are the obligated to purchase the property. The property is sold "As is". [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 27 Sep 2020 08:08 PM PDT We (sellers) are closing in a weeks time and was wondering what are some good welcome gifts to leave for the new buyers. They are buying their first home. FWIW, house sold for $32k over asking. Is it customary to give a welcome present? When we bought the house, the sellers at the time gave a succulent plant, ring doorbell from amazon and a shower squeegee (yes, really) [link] [comments] |
| Realtor asking for credit karma password Posted: 27 Sep 2020 05:21 PM PDT My dad is in the process of buying a house and the realtor asked him to give her the Credit Karma password to be able to check the credit. Is this normal? One of the main rules in security is to never share passwords[1] but at the same time besides the credit report there is little she could do with it. Is this a normal practice? [1] https://www.cisecurity.org/daily-tip/do-not-share-your-password/ [link] [comments] |
| First Time Home Buyer - Misleading Seller's Disclosure in NC Posted: 28 Sep 2020 07:59 AM PDT I submitted on offer on a home a couple of weeks ago in the Raleigh-Durham area. I received the seller's disclosures beforehand and it looked great at first glance. One feature of a home that I was desperately trying to avoid was polybutylene piping. It is something that I made abundantly clear to my agent as well. I thought I was in the clear since 'plastic' was marked as the material and polybutylene was right next to it on the disclosure. Fast forward to last Wednesday, we discover that the pipes are indeed polybutylene after the inspection. Is the seller liable at that point for not marking the correct material? I'd like to hope that they checked the wrong box unknowingly but I still have to question whether or not it was done on purpose. If not, what would be a reasonable concession to make since I now would have to plan on replacing those pipes in the near future since the home is 25 years old and I don't want to take any chances? I got in contact with a local plumber who told me that an easy way to get an idea of how much repiping would cost would be to quote $500 per fixture and $250 per hose. With that information, I summed up a total at $7750 for this particular home. I'd also like to add that the buyer does not know that I'm upset about the piping currently. The mortgage broker hasn't had the appraisal scheduled yet and due diligence ends on Friday. The agent is telling me that appraisers are slammed because of a hot market. So I'll be asking that they extend the due diligence period for one more week before bringing up the pipes so I can bide myself a little more time. I'm hoping that someone can help with a response or perhaps pointing me in the right direction. I don't think my agent has been forthcoming with me about this as well. My gut tells me that my agent may be in contact with the listing agent so that they can make the sale without any hangups. I've tried explaining my concession of asking for half of the repiping cost as a seller's credit but she keeps pushing back. I truly don't see this as a radical concession. At this point, I've made myself very clear and I can't figure out why she argues against everything I suggest and seems to be siding with the buyer. I could be wrong, but at this point, I'd like to take matters into my own hands to come up with a solution. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Painting cabinets and resale value? Posted: 28 Sep 2020 07:44 AM PDT As they are my cabinets are very high quality cabinets, I cannot afford to replace them. One 12 inch cabinet is $650. They however are a very ugly natural maple that the salesman told me will continue to yellow over the years. Ew. Everyone thinks they look really bad and they're very light color so any spills are starting to stain. I have kids and so someone spilling juice down the side is hard to remove the color. I was thinking of gel staining but I'm not sure about how well that turns out for most people. I'm very handy and my husband is very handy (tradesmen) so we aren't DIY morons. I think the gel staining has a high likelihood of going wrong. So now I'm thinking of painting. If I paint them a color that's not white, will that hurt my resale? Or is more of a "as long as it looks good" thing? I was thinking of blue or green as my kitchen walls are already white and my counters have blue green flecks. Painting seems to give better looking results than gel staining from what I've researched but I also really don't want to be a dummy and destroy my cabinets completely. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 28 Sep 2020 07:43 AM PDT Obviously, we will not make it to closing tomorrow even if a lot has been done for underwriting so far.... but... How long from appraisal coming back to closing, typically? If it appraises at cost? We have not seen the appraisal yet, as they have not sent us the report, but I am trying to get a game plan in place for either scenario. My husband already took leave for this weekend (he works night Thursday-Saturday) to be able to move this weekend so we were really hoping to close tomorrow or this week at least. Are we being too optimistic here? Most docs have been reviewed by underwriting and were accepted in the tracker and verbally by our loan officer. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 28 Sep 2020 07:35 AM PDT Hi everyone! Can someone break down how a construction loan works for me? I was talking to a friend who's building a house and he described it as a fixed "interest only" payment until the house is complete, at which point it converts into a traditional 30yr mortgage. I've been looking for a house for about 6 months and I may consider building. So, say I buy a lot for $150k by putting $75k down and financing the other $75k over 15 year mortgage (we'll use an even $500/month). Then I get a construction loan and build a house for $300k. Once it's built it turns into a 30yr at 3% (say $1,275/month) and my monthly notes are a combined $1,775 before taxes/fees/etc. How do they calculate the interest only payments while the construction is being built? Does it matter that I only have $75k cash into a house worth $450k (less than 20%)? Likewise, is there a cap to the construction total the bank will loan me? [link] [comments] |
| Buyer expectations from seller when taking possession Posted: 28 Sep 2020 02:51 AM PDT Virginia Is there a requirement for the sellers to provide things like keys to all of the doors or garage door remotes? Just took possession and they gave us a key to the front door and that's it. No keys for the storm door, sliding door, basement exterior door, and no garage door remotes (they did give us the code to the exterior keypad). We did a rent back, so I have a deposit. Before I speak to my realtor, I'm hoping everyone can provide some expectation management. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 28 Sep 2020 06:23 AM PDT With all these offers coming in over asking price, is anyone having issues with mortgage appraisals? How do the appraisers keep up with the rising prices with the market changing so fast? We have an offer accepted $5k over asking and now are concerned about comps in our neighborhood. [link] [comments] |
| Under contract with inspection contingency. Can we just walk without getting an inspection? Posted: 28 Sep 2020 03:57 AM PDT My husband and I put a contract on a home a few days ago. The sellers happily accepted as we offered full price and only asked for closing costs covered (home had been listed for just a few days). We added a contingency about having 12 days to do inspections. Our realtor wasn't able to set us up with an inspection until this coming Saturday, and in the meantime, I've started to have cold feet about the house. In this scenario, can we just walk without having the inspection? Like everywhere else, the buyers market here is really competitive. I'm worried we jumped on the first house that seemed promising (and not under contract!) without putting too much thought into it. That said, it's a super cute house but it's a little small. I have been comparing the house with everything else that sold relatively recently in the neighborhood. This house was built in '67 and probably last updated in '86. It's dated but well maintained. Beautiful yard and landscaping. I wish it had a finished basement. On the plus side, it's really affordable for us and has tons of storage in spite of being so small as far as actual living space (unfinished basement, attic, two car garage) Anyway, I've been comparing with houses in the same neighborhood that sold over the last year and so many of them seem MUCH nicer (completely updated), somewhat larger, and many sold for 10% less than this one! Updated kitchens and bathrooms, more space, some have in ground pools, etc. Even after Covid hit. Seems like these kinds of houses starting drying up in terms of availability starting in June/July. We've been through the ringer trying to find a house over the last few months and I feel like a jackass telling my realtor we're considering backing out. I guess I want to know at this point, can we do that without getting an inspection or are we legally required to do so at this point? If we do get an inspection and it doesn't find any issues, can we still back out? I feel so bad about all of this but I'm not sure it's smart for us to move forward on this one. Just wanted to add it's so damn depressing to finally have the money for a down payment after so many years only to find there is so little inventory to choose from. Looking at the "sold" listings on Zillow, and comparing what's out there now (or lack thereof) even from just a few months ago, is positively gutting. Is this all down to Covid? Should we just give up and stick it out where we are for another year or two? Ugh. Thanks in advance for any guidance! [link] [comments] |
| Is it a good time to buy? First time buyer - San Diego native Posted: 27 Sep 2020 06:41 PM PDT I really need to buy a home soon but I don't know if I should wait, I've waited way too long as it is. I am a San Diego native I grew up in Vista. My fiancé does work as a contractor in San Diego but we've considered moving. Do you think buying in San Diego is a good idea? Do you think buying a house right now in general is a good idea? Thank you so much for your advice! :) [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 27 Sep 2020 11:26 PM PDT |
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