Real Estate: I’m only looking at one house at a time. Is my realtor going to hate me? |
- I’m only looking at one house at a time. Is my realtor going to hate me?
- Are Current Lending Standards Really that Strict?
- People who have a pool in their backyard, is it worth it?
- Question about selling home as-is
- Mom's renting and her apartment just went into foreclosure?
- Renovating or purchasing a family home - what options do I have?
- Do not use Ally Home Loans
- How to choose the right offer knowing the offers will be higher than the appraisal price?
- Buying a house with solar panels
- Realtor suggested making offer contingent on inspection, but only looking at 'big issues'... is this great idea or sketch?
- People who live in lake houses seem to not stay long, sell and move frequently
- [NY] Why are buyers paying for inspections prior to being under contract?
- What all is usually included in closing cost?
- Closing Issues
- Appraisal approved! :D
- How long should a loan ReFi Take to close?
- Supply and Demand Dynamics Behind the Current Market
- Should I pay for owners title insurance
- Is getting into short term rentals better solo or with a partner?
- How much mortgage would I likely be approved for ?
- RealEstate License
- California home buyer
- looking for guidance on having a residential property re-zoned for commercial
- Certificate of Occupancy to Closing Timeline
| I’m only looking at one house at a time. Is my realtor going to hate me? Posted: 11 Mar 2021 06:06 AM PST I've just started looking about 2 weeks ago. I've seen 3 houses and I put an offer on one (didn't get it). The problem is that like most places, my city has a very low inventory of homes for sale right now. I know in the past, people used to look at ~5 homes on a Saturday afternoon. That doesn't seem possible in this market. I can't even pick out 3 houses for sale right now I seriously want to see. Instead, one will occasionally pop up and if I'm serious, I need to see it that afternoon. Otherwise, it's sold within a day or two. I've seen realtors online discuss their frustration with getting dragged out to see only one house at a time, and I want to be conscientious of my realtor's time. Is it a bad thing to keep seeing one or possible two houses at a time or is that expected in a market like this? [link] [comments] |
| Are Current Lending Standards Really that Strict? Posted: 11 Mar 2021 04:28 AM PST A couple decided to have a child three years ago. This forced them to move in with family for a period of three years. They paid approximately $400 dollars a month in rent. The couple both receive a 1099 instead of normal W-2 for employment. I had a conversation with the family member who housed the couple and he said they were unable to save for a down payment for a home until COVID. One of the individuals relayed to my wife that they maxed out credit cards while paying well below the market rent. They appeared to continue to have these money woes until one of the individuals were "laid off" and paid under the table while receiving full COVID unemployment benefits. Effectively committing UI fraud. They openly bragged about this. The family member that housed them went on to tell me that they only qualified for a FHA 5% down mortgage and that excess cash would be used to pay over the appraisal. They recently bought a home for 325k, 25k over the original asking price. So the couple was able to buy the home with cash accumulated from unemployment insurance fraud. If buyers like this are getting homes, I don't have the utmost confidence that lending standards are as "strict" as people claim. Aren't lending standards supposed to be stricter than this? Previously maxed out credit cards and unemployment (and fraud, while this being definitely unknown by the lender). And they purchase a home in this market? This just appears entirely off and a bit unfair given I'm following the law have better financial sense and I still sit in a rental due to the market craziness. [link] [comments] |
| People who have a pool in their backyard, is it worth it? Posted: 10 Mar 2021 05:12 PM PST How often do you use it? Is it a pain to maintain? Currently on a house hunt and really hoping to get one with a pool. But that means I'll probably have to compromise on yard space or get an older house. While reading a recent discussion about how novelty of owning vacation homes wears off, I'm wondering if the excitement of having a pool in the backyard will be short lived... [link] [comments] |
| Question about selling home as-is Posted: 11 Mar 2021 06:34 AM PST I bought a house 5 years ago and about 18 months in I realized there was a pretty major issue with the foundation. I hired a lawyer and sued both the home inspector and seller of the home. I settled out of court with both, but its not enough money to fix the problem. I want to sell the house as-is, but the realtor I talked to said I needed to fix it first, then pay the contractors from the proceeds of the sale so I wouldn't have to pay out of pocket. She said this is the only way to avoid future liability so that I don't end up getting sued in court later by the new owner. The house was built in 1946 and does not have a basement. It appears as though they just set up one row of foundation block and built the house on top of that. I live in Wisconsin, so I guess the foundation is supposed to go 4-feet deep, below the frost line. The contractors want to lift the house up and install a proper crawl space and build the foundation. The cost of this is $70k. I purchased the house for $93k in 2016 and owe $83k. The property is assessed at $123k (the land alone is assessed at $50k). The Zillow estimate is $165k, and the realtor thought I could get $150 for it if it was fixed properly. I am 54F, divorced and work as a secretary. I don't have the means or the desire to fix this place. I am in way over my head, feeling incredibly overwhelmed and I just want to get rid of this place. As it stands now, I can't use my shower stall because there are cracks in the mortar due to the house continuing to "settle" and moisture is getting in there. I hired a guy to caulk it for me and he wouldn't do it because he said it would make things worse (by trapping moisture between the walls I guess?) How do I get myself out of this? Is there a way to draw up a contract so that the buyer bears all responsibility and can't come after me later if I sell as-is? Can I do this transaction without a realtor and use a real estate lawyer instead? I'm actually thinking about not paying my mortgage anymore and just letting it foreclose but I have great credit and don't want to ruin it. I've never felt so trapped before, so any advice would be appreciated. Please direct me to another sub if you think there is one better suited to answer my questions. Thank you!! Also posted in r/homeowners and r/legaladvice [link] [comments] |
| Mom's renting and her apartment just went into foreclosure? Posted: 11 Mar 2021 08:22 AM PST I hope this is the right sub... My mother is renting an apartment, her lease is up in June but she was planning to stay there another year. Well, she just got a notice in the mail that the property went into foreclosure. She's been paying rent to the landlord the whole time, and he's just been pocketing it. What can she do??? Anything? She can't afford a down payment or a security deposit right now... does anyone have any advice? I financially can't help her as I am barely scraping by myself and I live in a tiny studio... any help, direction, etc. Is greatly appreciated. Thank you. [link] [comments] |
| Renovating or purchasing a family home - what options do I have? Posted: 11 Mar 2021 09:00 AM PST So some background on my situation. I have been living in a house that needs major renovations and upgrades. This is in Western, NY. It is my parents house that sits on 20 acers of land. 4 or 5 years ago my fiancé and I paid off their mortgage (~30K) and have been paying the taxes and planning to upgrade here and there, not realizing the extent of the issues the house has (the house is old, with the main part built in the 1860s, and then added on in 1930s and 60s), my parents have owned the house and land for about 28 years now. We recently had an inspection done and found out there are foundation issues, all of the electric and plumbing needs to get redone, new roof and siding, and a new furnace are the major issues. In addition cosmetic issues that can't get fixed until the foundation issues are addressed ( new flooring, cracks in walls etc). The house has an awkward layout, including an in-law apartment. We would like to reconfigure and make one house, eliminating the in-law. We obviously cannot pay of all of this out of pocket. I have been trying to figure out the best way to finance the situation. One suggestion that my dad had was to "purchase" the house and land from him and then he would use that money to help us fix up the house and we would be able to pay off the mortgage and rope the taxes into that. I am weary about that, one for legal complications, and two because my dad has always been one to take the cheap road, and I feel like he will control too much of the process in order to save money and take the cheapest option possible. Honestly, that is the reason the house has so many issues. Ideally, I would actually just like to knock the house down and build new. I have no attachment to the house, the reason that I stay here is because we LOVE having all the land. However, I don't know how to go about doing that either when the land is in my dads name and not mine. Also I am not sure we could get a loan for all of that. Our finances - combined we make about $115K per year (we are planning on getting married this summer with a small wedding). I have a car loan for $6K that I can get paid off by the end of the year and a student loan for about $35K. He has no loans currently (he has paid off his car loan) both of us have good credit. What should we do - or really realistically what are some of our options. I think so many times about just having my dad sell off the property and using the money we do have saved up to purchase something else, but I know that I will most likely never get this amount of land again and that is what I love about the property. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 10 Mar 2021 02:59 PM PST As if buying your first home wasn't stressful enough... Ally home loans is the least personable and pain in the ass lender to deal with. They send you 15 tasks every 3 days and if you don't finish them 14 seconds after they send them then they send you a snarky comment. There are about 10 people on my "team" and I've talked to 2 people on the phone. I live in Austin and when the storm was happening and we didn't have power or internet for 6 days they followed up by phone after I explicitly said I did not have power via email. There's no names attached to their snarky comments either. So no way to attach them to the messages. There's also no where for me to write this review on google. I bank with Ally so thought that this would be a good idea. The bank side is great - I will never use them as a lender again. Horrible company that has lost touch with what a friendly human connection looks like. [link] [comments] |
| How to choose the right offer knowing the offers will be higher than the appraisal price? Posted: 11 Mar 2021 05:23 AM PST When selecting between offers you believe are higher than what the appraisal price will come in, is the most important thing to pay attention to from the buyers situation how much money they can put down without needing a lender? Scenario House we think will appraise for 250,000 Bob puts an offer of 270,000 and 20,000 down payment OR Ricky puts an offer at 275,000 and 20,000 down payment [link] [comments] |
| Buying a house with solar panels Posted: 11 Mar 2021 09:07 AM PST Hey all, Last week I got an offer accepted (finally) on a house that has a full solar panel system installed already. A few years ago I did some research on how to install and do the math to calculate your efficiently for the total draw of your house, but I'm not familiar with the actual "owning" part of solar panels. It appears to be tied into the grid, we had the preliminary inspection done this morning and the panels feed into a box from the electric company rather than just powering some part of the house or feeding into a battery. Can anyone recommend some resources for learning about maintaining and living with these panels? The previous homeowner put a large investment into these and I want to take good care of them. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 11 Mar 2021 07:57 AM PST Realtor says we can still back out of deal if major issue with house. Is this a terrible idea likely to screw me over or is this smart in current market? [link] [comments] |
| People who live in lake houses seem to not stay long, sell and move frequently Posted: 10 Mar 2021 02:11 PM PST I've owned and lived in houses all over the Seattle area. I've noticed in low end, mid end and high end areas, people seem to live in the same house for decades. My neighbors had all been there for decades... I bought a lake house a year ago and have noticed about half of my neighbors have lived here for 1-3 years. I even saw a house further down the block sell last summer. Even the people I bought this house from had not lived in it for very long after purchase, they rented it out with frequent turnover for a few years after moving out before selling it to me. I'm trying to figure out why people would give up the lake view, access (no bank private lake front) and move so often while normal houses people stay for a long time? [link] [comments] |
| [NY] Why are buyers paying for inspections prior to being under contract? Posted: 11 Mar 2021 05:46 AM PST I see in most other states buyers pay the inspection to be done after they are under contract. That makes more sense to me for a lot of reasons 1) In ny we are risking a buyer loosing their inspection money finding the seller chose another offer 2) In ny we are also risking the inspector mess something up in the house and the seller has no money under contract (earnest money other states call it) to hold that buyer responsible for to fix to cover damage [link] [comments] |
| What all is usually included in closing cost? Posted: 11 Mar 2021 08:50 AM PST |
| Posted: 11 Mar 2021 04:02 AM PST We are building a new home in a community owned by a builder. The home is almost complete and the closing date is set for tomorrow. The are a few errors with this home that the builder has to fix as long as we catch them within a year of closing (the garage door frame is broke and needs to be replaced). Nothing huge. The builder still hasn't gotten the Certificate of Occupancy back from our county in Florida. The lender is saying they won't fund the loan without the CO. The builder tried to threaten us (my SO and I) that we would be in default on the home if we don't close tomorrow. This is our first home purchase and we are panicking. Like what can we do? No lender will fund without the CO. Wouldn't it be on the builder and not us? If the CO doesn't come today does that mean closing date would get pushed? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 10 Mar 2021 10:33 PM PST So recently after 110 days on the market I got a full price offer on my house. Today I found out that the appraisal was approved. (Was holding my breath until then! lol) Unlikely anything will stop the close at this point.
I'm so happy I could just cackle, lol. [link] [comments] |
| How long should a loan ReFi Take to close? Posted: 11 Mar 2021 07:17 AM PST Hey y'all, I have a central texas SFH that I am refinancing. The loan is now past 30 days and counting on closing and it feels like I am being taken for a ride. What are my options, cut my losses and find a new lender? Wait it out? How long does this take typically? Edit - thanks for the replies. I am rate locked as far as I know. Sounds like 2 months is not out of the question, I'm going to hold out I think. [link] [comments] |
| Supply and Demand Dynamics Behind the Current Market Posted: 10 Mar 2021 11:06 AM PST I'm a real estate investor whose done a couple of flip deals in the past few years, and I'm also an attorney that works with distressed properties. Like many of you, I've been thinking hard about the state of the market, its causes, and where it's going. Every market has its own dynamics, but it does appear that there is a broad, nationwide (even global, at least among developed countries) rise in real estate prices. Here are my thoughts, broken down by both demand and supply factors, and finally predictions: Demand Factors Low interest rates allow buyers to pay more for houses than they otherwise would. The math on low interest rates is compelling; a buyer's monthly payment can remain the same while paying for considerably more house. A common objection is that buyers still have to put together a large down-payment, but I think that objection fails to take into account the disproportionate # of folks using FHA/USDA/VA and low-down payment conventional loans. Also, consumer cash-on-hand is at generational highs due to COVID behavioral changes, so I don't think down payments are quite the obstacle for a large # of homebuyers. Some folks argue that property tax increases will dampen demand. Maybe in the future, but not now. Property assessments are always backward looking b/c the present property tax is calculated based upon an assessment that happened in the past. Most jurisdictions won't reassess for a few years, and even then homestead credits, yearly % increase caps, and a variety of other statutory measures will prevent property taxes from increasing quickly in most jurisdictions. Most importantly, most SFH underwriters don't consider potential property tax increases (beyond a typical 1% annual rise) when underwriting loans, so this doesn't impose an impediment to lending. Low interest rates are also driving financial flows out of bonds and into equities and other higher-return assets. That includes real estate. It's hard to quantify exactly how large this effect is, but I suspect it's considerable, and it may explain why many of you are experiencing a large amount of cash offers (i.e., those cash offers are financed by hard money loans, portfolio loans, HELOCs with low interest rates). WFH Revolution. The WFH revolution is a thing, but it is hard to pin down exactly what the effect of it is. I suspect many are fleeing expensive apartments in HCOL areas and buying SFH with more space. If that's true, we should see apartment rents dropping and SFH prices rising--which is exactly what's happening. Many question the wisdom of making a big move when it's unclear if WFH will be permanent. I agree that any one job may not remain WFH, but I also think it's obvious that the pool of potential WFH jobs will be large even once the pandemic ends, so perhaps people are assuming that they will always have a WFH job, even if it's not the one they have now. Just speculation, but I've done it and it doesn't seem like a crazy guess. One-Time Generational Homebuying Event. Eh, maybe. Demographically, the millennials have hit their homebuying years. That's not really a compelling explanation b/c it was also true in 2019. But coupled with low interest rates, it's possible we've hit a tipping point where millennials are getting into real estate en masse. The closest analogy I can think of would be when all the vets came home from WWII and got busy makin' babies. A lot of pend up demand was released (heh) all at one time, and maybe that's what's happening here. Supply Factors Distressed Property Bottleneck. I see this mentioned a lot, but I have more detail I'd like to share since I follow this closely in my jurisdiction. At any given time prior to the pandemic, in my jurisdiction, there were approximately 500-700 notices of default (document that starts the foreclosure process) published. That's been consistent for about a decade. Now, there are about 100. And of those 100, a higher proportion than normal are delayed/cancelled. Also, tax foreclosures have been completely cancelled. In short, I believe approximately 90% of distressed properties have been bottlenecked in my jurisdiction. And they won't come on-line anytime soon. I suspect the moratoriums will last until late summer, and then with the regular timelines those houses won't be auctioned until the last quarter of 2021, which means most of those houses won't be resold until spring 2022. Stranger-Danger. I think it's very likely many people do not want strangers in their homes during the pandemic. I certainly do not. It's hard to guess at how large this effect is, but on the margin it matters. Lumber Prices. It's hard to tell if high lumber prices are a result of high demand for lumber or supply bottlenecks in lumber itself. At the beginning of the pandemic, I know there were true supply issues getting OSB from abroad, but I don't know if that pressure has eased. Predictions Interest rates will rise this summer, perhaps alarmingly. I think that will be the first point to puncture the market. Still, given the summer we're about to have, I think the buying frenzy will continue and prices will remain strong. But going into 2022 I think the combination of higher interest rates, vaccinations, and distressed property turnover will end price appreciation in many (most?) markets. There's one primary assumption in real estate: price appreciation will outpace inflation. That's been true for like 150 years, in general. I suspect that rule might be broken over the next 3-5 years. [link] [comments] |
| Should I pay for owners title insurance Posted: 11 Mar 2021 06:47 AM PST I'm buying a property from a older lady who has lived there for about 20 years. My closing cost details gives me the option to buy owners title insurance? The cost is $1000 and I'm wondering if it should be bought? The packet says it's optional. What does it protect me from? Isn't the title deemed clear and transferred to me at closing? [link] [comments] |
| Is getting into short term rentals better solo or with a partner? Posted: 11 Mar 2021 10:02 AM PST So I'm very new to this idea of short term rentals, but it is also very appealing to me and I have decided that I would like to get into it. My question is if owning the properties solo or with a partner (my brother) would be better in the long term. In my head I believe obviously I would get more profit to myself initially with going solo, but purchasing properties with someone else I would have access to more income to buy more properties and also would have someone to help me manage more properties to increase efficiency. I'll take any opinions or advice. Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| How much mortgage would I likely be approved for ? Posted: 11 Mar 2021 09:53 AM PST I make $160,000 base and $20,000 bonus and I have $471,000 in IRAs and brokerage. Credit score 796. Thank you [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 11 Mar 2021 09:45 AM PST Hi! I am interested in becoming a realtor in the state of Florida. Trying to see if anyone has any recommendations on where to start with retaining my license for realestate. ANY advice would be amazing. Such as, a good online course? Any advice on good areas and etc… Thank you in advance! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 11 Mar 2021 09:22 AM PST The SoCal housing market is very hot. All of these homes are being snapped up in 2-7 days. I've been actively home buying for only about a month but I know what I want. I'm a single guy and have decided to shoot for smaller homes now around 1000 sf with 2 beds and 2 baths being comfortably in my price range. I see one that I like that is very turn key for 425,000. The last two offers I did I over bid 5k and the one after 12k. For a smaller home that people may have more wiggle room to negotiate, should I just bid up 25k to have a better shot? I really didn't want to pay that much per sf but smaller homes are always like that. I'm just wondering if bidding 450k on a 425k house would probably do it? They said they're including all of the appliances and I could use them so should I leave that in the contract? I'm also waiving the appraisal but i do want a home inspection for piece of mind. Sorry for long post. [link] [comments] |
| looking for guidance on having a residential property re-zoned for commercial Posted: 11 Mar 2021 09:19 AM PST for some background: we live in pa, in a suburb right outside of city limits. the road we live (lets call it main st) on is a secondary road which is heavily trafficked as most people use it as an alternate route to the interstate. we have a major grocery store, strip mall, and dr offices with 1/4mi of our house. 1/2 mile up the road they are starting to build an open mall with apartments and a hotel. we have a 1.5 acre property that sits on main st that is lined with pine trees. there is a neighborhood behind us but due to the landscape, they cannot even see my property. we bought this house for next to nothing from my grandparents knowing that we are sitting on a gold mine for commercial real estate when the time comes. we are basically in the last little strip of houses on main st that have not gone commercial. it has been 5 years, and we are ready to get out of here. the area is still being developed heavily, theres plans to widen the road to 5 lanes in front of my house to accommodate the increase in traffic. we know that the 6 other houses in the same position as us are willing to sell. the issue is apparently the people who live behind all of us on the other side of the giant pine trees as well as the houses behind them who cannot even see the main road from their house. my husband spoke with the zoning officer who said there is no plans to rezone our strip of the road because the neighbors (who cant see the road or shopping areas) behind have been complaining too much about the area being built up. an area that has been being built up and added to for 30 years. its a little absurd to me that the zoning officer is aware of everyone against it , but has not questioned the people who's properties would be directly affected should this happen. my husband wants to rent our house and just move. i think we should speak with a lawyer about what can be done. what would be the correct course of action to get this property re-zoned? or would it be less of a hassle to fix some things, rent and take on another mortgage? [link] [comments] |
| Certificate of Occupancy to Closing Timeline Posted: 11 Mar 2021 03:20 AM PST We're finally nearing the finish line of closing on our new construction home, we signed the PA in May with an original estimated closing date for mid December. Due to COVID related delays, we're in March and finally seeing the light at the end of this tunnel. So we received our Certificate of Occupancy on the first of March and since then, they've been preparing the house for the walkthrough (could be this Friday or next week). They also mentioned that the closing could be 2 weeks after the walkthrough. Do these time lines seem correct? We're simply concerned about our rate lock expiring by the end of the month. Any insight regarding how many days in advance did they schedule the walkthrough and how many days it took to close after the walkthrough you experienced would be appreciated! [link] [comments] |
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