Real Estate: We closed and didn’t even have to give up our first born! |
- We closed and didn’t even have to give up our first born!
- Just had an offer accepted Below Appraisal
- Being a first time home buyer is a nightmare in Colorado...
- Does anyone have horror stories of an inspector missing a big issue? Were you stuck with the bill?
- How does one consider climate change when buying real estate? (Louisiana)
- Finally had an offer accepted!
- If you do this, I hate you.... Bought and relisted less than a month $100k more
- Borrowing money for when I sell house & Move?
- Billionaire real estate investor says housing is in a bubble
- What does buying down points mean
- Selling is so much less stressful in this market
- Big Thank You to This Community!
- Just bought a house, appliance allowance?
- avrg sale price is 25% higher than last year. a 400k home sold last year 2020 will sell 520k today! thats nuts
- Is this a good time to buy land?
- Should I sell my house?? Taxes??? HELP
- Seller asking to free “rent back” just prior to closing (CA)
- Refinance Question
- Mortgage Company Won't Remove PMI
- Will there ever be an end to this and some hope for young families or do we really need to move further away. (CA Rant)
- How does a homeowner use equity in one primary residence to purchase a new primary residence?
- Mortgage broker or credit union + (how much contact is expected?)
- Whats the average cost of beach property in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic?
- California home inventory
| We closed and didn’t even have to give up our first born! Posted: 17 Apr 2021 06:28 AM PDT A lot of doom and gloom in this market and in this sub so I wanted to share a positive experience. TL;DR at the end. It didn't start positively though. We put our house on the market in PA in January and started looking in FL. Since no one would entertain an offer contingent on the sale of another house, our realtor put in a loan contingency in our offers but never mentioned the pending sale up north. This didn't help. Our realtor was on it, going to see houses and FaceTiming us and putting in offers on houses same day. Offers of $10k over ask, $30k over, etc. got outbid by $50k-$80k cash no contingencies. It was a nightmare. Meanwhile our house was getting closer to closing and we had nowhere to go and interest rates started to go back up. We were desperate. We found an overpriced house and offered list price. Offer accepted! A miracle? No. After almost $1000 in inspections, turned out we wouldn't even be able to insure it because of all the work it needed. Back to searching. Saw pictures of a house we liked on Zillow and told the realtor to put in an offer $5k over asking. Somehow it was accepted. We did the inspection and asked for repairs. The sellers accepted and did them. The house appraised for $10k over offer. We packed our stuff and drove to FL. The final walkthrough was an hour before the closing and it was the first time we saw the house in person. Some of you will think this is insane. Maybe. But the pictures didn't do it justice. The house is perfect. It needs a little work. Some electrical stuff, some paint, some cosmetic things, some new fixtures, etc. but it ticks off all our boxes and then some. The sellers got us a home warranty, left us all the manuals, yard care stuff, and wrote a note with all the little things about the neighbors and tricks and tips, and their numbers in case we had any questions. Closing took 30 minutes. We got the keys and went home. TL;DR: we bought a house sight unseen in another state without waiving any contingencies or going over our budget or settling for something. [link] [comments] |
| Just had an offer accepted Below Appraisal Posted: 16 Apr 2021 12:19 PM PDT So my wife and I are recent grads and first time buyers. Indianapolis market has been hot just like the rest of the markets. We met an old woman who has owned an old house for 35 years close to downtown. We were competing with investors offering cash and as-is condition while ours was an offer only 10k above theirs we still reserved the right to inspections and various normal contingencies. She accepted our offer! Said that she can wait a month to receive funds and cash isn't the biggest deal for her, rather that the house goes to somebody who will care for it. Just want to share so that people can have a little faith that there is still hope out there! Now just to close.. [link] [comments] |
| Being a first time home buyer is a nightmare in Colorado... Posted: 17 Apr 2021 07:06 AM PDT Upfront warning that I'm venting and hoping for some advice or reassurance. If anything it helps to write it all down. When we (BFF,SO,I) decided to sign the lease for 5th year I our amazing rental home, I decided that the next year, we would buy our first forever home. I just got a promotion and started setting aside the extra $1k/mo for a house. SO did the same. We wouldn't have half a million dollars saved, but it should be enough to get something that's ours. After we signed the lease in question, I started doing the research. I called a handful of lenders and realtors, researched the first time home buyer programs that could help us out, read too many wiki and blog posts, and spent a lot of time getting unsolicited advice from family members. One of those realtors I spoke with maintained contact. None of the mortgage lenders followed up, so I contacted my bank and lenders recommended by our agent and friends/family. We got a grant (not a loan) that was too good to pass up (a credit towards down payment and another towards certain closing costs in addition to a low rate conventional loan). We also have a second pre-approval for a forgivable second loan to help with down payment and an ok rate. After all this, our budget settled on $450k with the stipulation that we can only cover an appraisal gap of $10k. Because our lease ends at the end of September, and we're well aware the market is awful for buyers, we started the hunt April 1st. Our requirements started as a single family house under $425k list price, over 1500 finished square feet, a garage, 2+ bedrooms, and 2+ 3/4 or full bathrooms in the eastern Denver metro area in or near Aurora. We quickly discovered that there are a couple areas we just don't want to live in after seeing the first few. I couldn't live with a truck yard visible from the back patio or in a neighborhood I didn't feel safe walking in alone. After seeing 3 terrible houses with features like painted-over wall paper and large holes in the walls, we saw one that was alright that our agent wanted us to see. It was small (1350) and a little farther east than preferred, but it was well maintained in a great neighborhood and met most of our requirements. Listed at $369k, we bid $385k, and didn't want to go higher due to the size. We were happy to accommodate the 60 day closing period and 60 day rent back the sellers needed. By Monday we learned that they received a cash offer for $440k, but took one a little lower because of the timeframe. $385k was apparently a sh*t offer, so we didn't even get close. That's okay, though; we didn't love it. The next week we saw 9 houses. I fell in love with one listed at $399,900. We bid $450k. Keep in mind that we have the stipulation that we can't cover more than a $10k appraisal gap. We lost it to someone bidding with cash higher who covered the whole appraisal gap. This one was more depressing to lose than the first. I didn't expect to be so bummed out, but we figured we'd try again next time. So we saw another 3 houses and fell in love with another one. This one was clearly well maintained, but everything about it was from the 70s. The carpet was ancient, and all the appliances were outdated. It would be a wonderful place to invest in over time and make our own. Listed at $380k, we bid $438k and offered to cover some smaller fees like the title transfer. This one sold for $452k cash. Yesterday we saw 7 houses and liked 2. The one we like most is listed at $399k, but the selling agent informed us they have 200 viewings requested and are getting called 20-30 times an hour from people wanting to see it. We would offer $450k on this one. The other one is listed at $379k, and we'd offer $420k. It feels like it's not even worth it, though. Someone out there is sitting on half a million dollars in cash, and we just can't beat that. I guess I'm having a little bit of a pity party for myself, but it just doesn't feel like we're going to find something. I lowered our requirements to under $400k listing price and 1400 square feet. There are plenty of houses, but too many buyers. It seems like the appraisal gap stipulation and lack of half a million dollars in cash is really hurting us, but these aren't things we can change. Is it worth it to keep trying until August? Do we give up and get a crappy cheap apartment for a year and try to save up more money in hopes that the market doesn't get worse? Where are people getting their cash, and why are they using it to buy the houses in our range instead of getting something better? Is there something else we're doing wrong? I've never been more discouraged about anything in my life, and we're only 3 rejections in. Multiple people, including our realtor and lender, have said the most rejections they've seen before something is accepted is 8. I'm betting we hit a new record. TL;DR We keep losing houses to cash offers. We're first time home buyers, and it feels like we should never have started trying in the hellish market that is Colorado real estate. [link] [comments] |
| Does anyone have horror stories of an inspector missing a big issue? Were you stuck with the bill? Posted: 17 Apr 2021 06:13 AM PDT |
| How does one consider climate change when buying real estate? (Louisiana) Posted: 17 Apr 2021 06:15 AM PDT Situation: Partner and I have a 2.5yo, we also have very specific jobs with relatively few sweet spots in the country we can successfully find work in. We're currently living north of New Orleans and the schools are so crappy here we're currently house-shopping to get our snugget into a better school district. This house would be for the long haul - like 15+ years should nothing miraculous happen career-wise. Everything would be awesome and perfect, but my state also had about 30 hurricanes last year, 5 making landfall. Our old house in Lake Charles ended up with someone else's roof on it. This year is predicted to be just as bad. In addition, when you look at projected climate change maps, Louisiana is mostly underwater. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but in the time I've lived here, weather seems to be getting crazier at a faster pace. I am definitely no expert in this subject, this is mostly coming from a few google searches and listening to news. So I guess my question is, is there anything specific I should do or not do in this situation. If you want to say I just need to chill out and go with it because we can't predict what is going to happen, I would also appreciate it. New Orleans and all the other markets around here are hopping and all the hurricane-destroyed areas are just like "whatev's" and rebuilding. Thanks in advance! [link] [comments] |
| Finally had an offer accepted! Posted: 17 Apr 2021 12:33 AM PDT I'm located in WA near Seattle. I've bid on two houses before this, one at $60k over and one at $100k over. For both of those I wasn't even close to the winning bid. I found this great house, 2200 sqft, large lot, somewhat of a fixer. Listed for 450k. I bid 550 with an escalation of up to 630k and got it at 589k! We are super excited and can't wait to move in. I had to waive inspection and financing to be competitive, and our closing date was only 3 weeks from the offer. I honestly didn't think we would get it, as most homes at that size in that area usually go for 650k+. We get the appraisal back Monday, so wish us luck! ETA: there were over 20 other offers on the house and review was four days after it hit the market. Most bids were $550k, including an all cash offer. [link] [comments] |
| If you do this, I hate you.... Bought and relisted less than a month $100k more Posted: 16 Apr 2021 03:22 PM PDT So a perfectly nice house with no upgrades. Slap a new coat of paint inside and out and relisted for $350k up from $250k. I mean I would be OK if it was a first time homebuyer and they found a great house, but the greed is killing me. I feel like the appropriate answer to this market is seppuku. This is in the Tampa market. [link] [comments] |
| Borrowing money for when I sell house & Move? Posted: 17 Apr 2021 05:32 AM PDT I have a lot of equity in my current home. I want to borrow as much money as I need for all my moving costs and living expenses and for buying a new car and for fixing the old house, and then pay nothing back at all until I have finished selling the old house and I have the cash in my bank account, and then just pay everything back in one lump sum. How can I do this? What kind of loan? What's required? I never sold a house and moved to a new one before. [link] [comments] |
| Billionaire real estate investor says housing is in a bubble Posted: 16 Apr 2021 03:48 PM PDT I'm not posting this because I agree with him, because I don't. I'd call this market frothy. And I'm certainly not posting this to start up the debate again because we're all tired of that by now. There are a few interesting data tidbits however. [link] [comments] |
| What does buying down points mean Posted: 17 Apr 2021 09:52 AM PDT Anyone out there that can put this in super simple terms? I've heard people talk about it. Does it make sense to do in this market with rates already low? Considering putting 15% down on a home ($80k) with an interest rate of 3.12 apr. [link] [comments] |
| Selling is so much less stressful in this market Posted: 16 Apr 2021 06:02 PM PDT I just moved into my new home last weekend. I've been moving, and moving, and moving stuff from my old place. I've been slowly setting up my new place. While all this was happening this last week, I also started on the sale of my prior home. Things are going FAST in this market. Cleaners came in on Tuesday. My agent took pictures on Wednesday. The house was listed on MLS late last night. My realtor called at 2:00, there were already 20 showings by then and 3 offers. The highest at 15 over. OMG. I still have the landscaping people scheduled to go in tomorrow to prettify the place and I still need to haul a huge load of trash in the garage to the dump. Oh yeah, the place though livable, needs a lot of work. I tried to sell the place about 10 years ago and it sat for three months before I pulled it! [link] [comments] |
| Big Thank You to This Community! Posted: 16 Apr 2021 06:38 PM PDT Just wanted to say how much I appreciate the people posting and replying daily. My fiancé and I are first time home buyers like a lot of people in here. Our Realtor has been very helpful in guiding us, but just by getting sucked into these RealEstate Reddit posts for hours on end I feel a lot more knowledgeable about the process. Learning more and more each day, we actually just submitted our first ever offer so hopefully this is not one out of fifty with this crazy market. 15k above asking price and 60 day rent free. I can't wait to post again when I lost due to being outbid by 90k xD Thank you again everyone. [link] [comments] |
| Just bought a house, appliance allowance? Posted: 17 Apr 2021 04:46 AM PDT Okay! So we currently contingent on a home. We offered roughly 10k over asking, just got our inspection done. Currently waiting for appraisal. My question is, the appliances in the house are pretty old/trashed. My main focus is the microwave(cracked, yellowed, falling apart) and oven(assuming it's literally never been cleaned, caked and burnt inside). We will replace them as soon as we move in otherwise, but I'm curious if it's worth it to see if we can get a credit for them. Can someone explain how exactly that works and our chances of actually accomplishing it? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 16 Apr 2021 12:23 PM PDT This market does not make any financial sense, it is all FOMO [link] [comments] |
| Is this a good time to buy land? Posted: 16 Apr 2021 11:38 PM PDT My husband and I are in love with New Hampshire. His family lives there, and I hope to get a job there eventually. Right now all of our savings are in the stock market, so I'm looking to diversify with real estate. We've been looking at land in NH, but I'm a little afraid this real estate bubble will burst and prices of land will drop too, just after I buy. Should I just wait it out? [link] [comments] |
| Should I sell my house?? Taxes??? HELP Posted: 17 Apr 2021 08:12 AM PDT Hi Guys, I have a house that I inherited 9 years ago that I use as a rental property in PA. I have been thinking about selling the property and using the money to buy a house in NJ. However, I recently graduated and started a good-paying job that is base + commission. I'm expecting to be making 55-66k this year. From what I read on other posts, I would need to have 12 months' worth of paystubs to show a consistent stream of income to the lender because of the commission aspect of my pay. Regardless, I have a tenant living currently on the property so I think I would have to wait a few months anyways to sell. Because I was still going to school, I was working part-time and did not make more than 35k last year. I heard that I would not have to pay any taxes on the property since I made so little, or that if I did have to pay taxes I had a 45-day window to buy a new house and not pay any taxes on the money that I received on the first house. If I have a time limit to buy a new house, I would have to wait until I meet the lender's requirements. I have buyers sending me letters making all-cash offers on the property even though it hasn't even been listed... So my question is: Should I wait to sell the house until I am able to buy my second? Or should I sell now? Should I even sell at all, would it be better to sit on the property for another 10 years and save up for the down payment instead? Thanks in advance [link] [comments] |
| Seller asking to free “rent back” just prior to closing (CA) Posted: 17 Apr 2021 12:20 AM PDT Hi internet strangers, Looking for some advice here (or commiseration) :( Location: California Background: (attempting to be) first time home buyer. Offer (with possible rent back) on home made above asking price and accepted. Seller also signed and agreed to terms of repairs request + possible rent back and agreed to pay rent. We're on track to close soon when this week seller starts to make requests:
Currently: Seller's asking for free rent back for a shorter duration (pending my response) Communication through agents has alluded to possible financial difficulty and difficulty finding a new home in the current market. I've been trying to empathize with their situation which is why I offered to extend the rent back duration. I'm starting to feel like they just don't want to pay and they're trying to take advantage of me (or be unreasonable?) I was told legally i'm in a strong position to proceed as agreed but I'm starting to worry that they'll delay closing escrow, the seller won't leave, they'll damage the property or it'll turn into a huge legal battle. Any thoughts on the pros and cons of: 1. Ignoring their request (what happens if the seller delays closing or refuses to sign the deed transfer? is there any recourse through escrow?) 2. Agree to "rent back" for free (and hope they leave on the agreed upon date and don't damage the property?) 3. possible third or fourth options? Also, how can I best protect myself at this point? I do really like the property and don't want to back out (also because I think they'd want the deposit...) but I'm not really sure how to make this process go smoothly, if that's even possible anymore. I feel like I give an inch and they want a mile. Thanks for listening, and who knew buying a home was so difficult? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 17 Apr 2021 07:49 AM PDT I have an investment property currently worth about $185K. I owe $110K on it. I have a loan with a 4.125% rate that has about 12 years remaining on it. Before I spend a bunch of time chasing different lenders around to see what's possible, I thought I'd check in with this community. I'd like to refinance to a better rate and a shorter timeframe. I'm quite sure that's not possible with the loan as-is, but I'm potentially willing to put some cash in to knock the principal down to a better debt-to-value ratio if that would make a difference. Is that feasible to do, and can anyone suggest a good lender for that sort of thing? [link] [comments] |
| Mortgage Company Won't Remove PMI Posted: 17 Apr 2021 07:44 AM PDT My loan officer locked me in at a ~2.6% 30 year mortgage back in August. I had an appraisal done through them and came back at $5000 more than what I paid for. I put down what I THOUGHT was 20% but when I closed the title lawyer thought it was strange that I was still being charged PMI. I went back to my loan officer, after everything had closed, and he said he forgot to mention that part of getting the lower rate was that I would be charged PMI for 2 or 3 months and then I could request for PMI to be removed. Fine, not a big deal. A little irked I wasn't notified. I called the loan support after I made my first payment and they told me who to contact to get the PMI removed. I sent an e-mail a few days after my second payment to remove the PMI, this was November 3, 2020. I didn't get a response until mid-January and they basically said that I needed to pay for a Full Appraisal ($325) through them or an Interior BPO ($150). The total cost of the PMI until when it would be "automatically" removed in December 2021 is about $350 (PMI is about 22$ a month) for a loan that reaches 78% LTV, way beyond my 20% down. They also won't remove it even if I pay it off to 78% right now (f'ing bs??). They also do everything only by mail, no number or anything. I sent back my appraisal documents from August and a few other details from my loan officer and they basically responded telling me that my appraisal is worthless after 4 months and that I have to purchase an appraisal through them. I shared the letter to my loan officer and he responded that he was surprised at how inflexible they are being and offered to send me $350 via venmo. I thought that was a very nice gesture, and while $22/month isn't going to kill me, this PMI department has pissed me off so much. I don't want to take the money from my loan officer, I want the loan company to stop PMI and return the money to me from December 2020 on. Is there anything that I can do about this or do I just have to sit with this? Their last response was written by their "Executive Resolution Specialist" as a way to shut me up. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 17 Apr 2021 07:41 AM PDT I'm literally crying right now. I just saw a house pop up on redfin in our desired location. And noticed the house sold February 2020 for 625k and is now listed at close to 900k. Our price goal has been 750k and now this tells me we're officially priced out. we now have to find a different area to buy but feels like this is true for all areas here. We're well earning professionals living in a small doublex with our two young kids (2yr and 7month) in a community with below average rated schools. The plan was to live here before they have to go to school, save money and buy a bigger house in a better area. Now I feel the prices are going up much faster than our saving rate. I truly feel depressed... We're stuck. Or find something much smaller than what we hoped in our desired area. we kinda don't have a choice to move out of state with our jobs (unless we both try to find new jobs) since our jobs are location based (although we're working from home). And to be honest, we don't want to... All of our families are here. In fact, our desired area is where my family lives. The highest we can go is $840k but that also doesn't make us competitive buyers since we don't have much down for that and our Debt to income ratio would be uncomfortably tight. doable, but tight. Is there going to be an end to this? Or should we just start looking at other areas? [link] [comments] |
| How does a homeowner use equity in one primary residence to purchase a new primary residence? Posted: 16 Apr 2021 05:37 PM PDT I was originally going to post this to r/explainlikeimfive, but upon closer inspection it was against their rules, so I'm asking you fine folks. We bought our condo years ago, and have built up some decent equity. We are now thinking about upgrading to a house. However, I need the equity from our condo for the down payment on any house we're looking at, but the idea of selling our condo, then moving to a temporary place while we look for a house sounds silly, and that can't be how people do this. So please, explain it to me like I'm 5 - how do adults sell a home and buy a new more expensive one using equity from their first house? Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Mortgage broker or credit union + (how much contact is expected?) Posted: 17 Apr 2021 07:06 AM PDT I'm looking to buy a home with 20% down. Two family members have their mortgages with a local credit union so I got a preapproval with them. The loan officer ( I just realized that her signature says 'member advisor' not LO) I was assigned to has answered questions but seems pretty standoffish and hasn't provided any roadmap or whatever. In our updated preapproval email ( we've been looking since nov) there was this.... "I will be your point of contact up until you have an executed purchase agreement with no contingencies. We do not lock rates at this time, but you can check todays rates .... Once we have a complete agreement then you will be assigned to a mortgage loan officer who will facilitate the rest of the mortgage process and lock the rate." Yesterday when looking at a house, my realtor said that she tried to call my 'member advisor' and that she seems 'not part of the team' and her email says not to call her after 3pm. Her email doesn't even list a phone number (I've seen folks on here say they text their LO all the time?!). Anyway, my realtor said she has a mortgage broker she works with all the time and is going to give me her info. She said that it is gross but everything is a bit incestuous and she has had offers declined because the sellers agent didn't 'know' the LO and trust them to close efficiently. I like the idea of the credit union because it is local and holds mortgages but now she has me a bit worried that my LO (member advisor) isn't a team player ( frankly, I have felt a little in the dark but thought maybe that is just because we hadn't made an offer on anything yet and then the contact increases?). The only contact I have had with anyone since submitting my applications online is this one LO (member advisor) so I don't even know if she is just like this or if it is normal or what. Is it crucial to have a LO to get an offer accepted? Is the LO contact mostly after an executed purchase agreement? [link] [comments] |
| Whats the average cost of beach property in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic? Posted: 17 Apr 2021 06:16 AM PDT I understand this will vary greatly based on the land in question but I was curious if someone had an actual average cost/acre or cost/m2. My family has owned a significant chunk of land there for a century(ies). My family is very hush-hush about our land but I was bored and curious what things go for out there. I've been able to find land for sale but can't really see an average number for land. The land is mostly beach, with some mountain of some sort (So I'm told) and completely untouched land. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 17 Apr 2021 05:59 AM PDT I noticed last week a influx of homes on the market compared to previous. [link] [comments] |
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