CAG home owner topic. Buying or selling a home? Have a maintance issue? Help is here!

Short sales are a nightmare. I'd avoid it if possible and don't get your heart set on anything.

Foreclosures are simple enough IF you know what you're getting into in terms of the condition of the place. The problem is banks are disorganized and they hire shitty realtors to sell their foreclosure properties, so the buying part of it is the biggest headache.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']Just took a look at that mortgage payment calculator again.... They say at 4.5% interest we could afford a $560k mortgage.... not a $560k house, a $560k mortgage. I guess the banks never learn.[/QUOTE]

I'm assuming its not taking into account your debt to income ratio there...when I was looking at houses you couldn't go over like 45%. You get that number by adding up stuff like mortgage on top of things like car payment, student loans, and your alimony to paco.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']Yeah we're looking into a suburb of Boston that still actually has the T subway line going into it. It's still not as affordable as Ohio, but it's still a fuck of a lot cheaper than Boston. We're north of Boston, but not very far. My job is in Boston, husband's is like maybe 10-15 miles north of Boston?[/QUOTE]

Andover? I know that area very well (my in-laws live about 30 minutes north of Boston off of 495). I'm not sure if you are planning on kids any time soon but if so your highest priority should be scouting the public schools and learning as much as you can (graduation rates, colleges kids get accepted to, etc.). I live where I live because the schools are fantastic - I could buy a much bigger house in another nearby town but I want my kids to have every opportunity to succeed. It is important to me at least.
 
[quote name='Javery'] I'm not sure if you are planning on kids any time soon but if so your highest priority should be scouting the public schools and learning as much as you can (graduation rates, colleges kids get accepted to, etc.). I live where I live because the schools are fantastic - I could buy a much bigger house in another nearby town but I want my kids to have every opportunity to succeed. It is important to me at least.[/QUOTE]

Second this. School systems also seem to have the most effect on your house going up or down in price. I'm in the same boat as Javery, we moved into a smaller house but in a much, much nicer town. The tradeoffs for the square footage are the amenities that the town provides.

On the flip side, if you aren't having about kids, towns with a great school district generally have much higher property taxes, so you would be essentially paying for everyone else's kids to go through the system. That's how it is in NJ anyway.
 
Definitely try to get pre-approved before contacting a realtor. They get alot of cold calls just wanting to browse so your straight to the top and they go the extra mile if they know you are serious.


For the folks mentioning they are looking to buy check into this:
http://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov/eligibility/welcomeAction.do?NavKey=home@1

It's 0 down with no PMI. The catch is you can't live in certain dense populated areas and has income limits (like 75-80K single here). You can type in the potential address or look at maps of the area to see what qualifies. Around here my realtor said they haven't really updated the area in awhile so maybe that's the case in alot of places. Alot of growth has taken place and I was able to move exactly where I wanted anyway.

Pretty good program I got a fixed 4.61% 30 year mortgage and super easy start to finish. I pre-approved and now closing the deal and moving in less than a month. Hell you even get your earnest, inspection and appraisal money back at closing that's my first payment right there (assuming the seller pays your closing). New or old construction, first time or vet home buyers. Next best deal FHA is 3.5% down and you pay PMI each month.



Also another very useful tool I found for figuring your payments and showing a full payment breakdown:
http://mlcalc.com/
 
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Your new kitchen looks almost exactly like mine. That's kind of weird.

I don't know about paint that dark with floors that dark, but aside from that we have similar taste. That's more than kind of weird.
 
[quote name='nasum']Your new kitchen looks almost exactly like mine. That's kind of weird.

I don't know about paint that dark with floors that dark, but aside from that we have similar taste. That's more than kind of weird.[/QUOTE]

My wife would agree with yojr tastes on the dark room...I'll have to paint it within the year as our son will move ou of our bedroom...she'll have her way soon enough.

You'd like the other bedroom then.
 
A/C Question:
My A/C unit that covers my upstairs isn't cooling the area when it is hot outside but during the night it does. The vents push out some cold air. It just is not stopping. Typical day around 3pm (i.e. height of day) my unit is set for 71 but the reading shows 80; outside has been mid 90s. The guy I had looked at it, chalked it up to a bad TXV value. Does this sound right?
 
I'll definitely check out that finance calculator. My fiance and I were recently pre-approved, but weren't told the interest rate. We were surprised that we didn't get more money in the pre-approval. We both have good jobs, good credit scores, and pay our bills on time. Perhaps it's the school loans we still have left to pay that brought it down.
 
[quote name='Pookymeister']I'm assuming its not taking into account your debt to income ratio there...when I was looking at houses you couldn't go over like 45%. You get that number by adding up stuff like mortgage on top of things like car payment, student loans, and your alimony to paco.[/QUOTE]

:rofl: Almost missed that last bit.

We have no debt so yeah...


[quote name='Javery']Andover? I know that area very well (my in-laws live about 30 minutes north of Boston off of 495). I'm not sure if you are planning on kids any time soon but if so your highest priority should be scouting the public schools and learning as much as you can (graduation rates, colleges kids get accepted to, etc.). I live where I live because the schools are fantastic - I could buy a much bigger house in another nearby town but I want my kids to have every opportunity to succeed. It is important to me at least.[/QUOTE]

Not Andover, a bit south of there.

Also, seriously, we don't plan on having kids right now and even if we do, they don't need a fucking amazing school system. Also, mediocre school system=lower prices.
 
School system is an important thing. There's a big correlation between school systems and college placement etc. And in an urban area you want to make sure your kids don't end up in a school that has a lot of problems with violence, drugs, gangs etc. So that's not something you want to go cheap on when picking a place to live.

if you don't plan on having kids anytime soon, then yeah, it's not a huge concern right now as you could always move down the road when you hopefully have more saved up and can afford a nicer area etc.
 
Well the one thing to consider is that houses in areas with good school districts move a bit faster. It means that even if you do not have kids its worth at least considering buying in an area with a good school system since your home will retain value better and sell faster. Then again a school district can go down hill in 5-20 years you live in a home ;)
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']:rofl: Almost missed that last bit.

We have no debt so yeah...

Also, seriously, we don't plan on having kids right now and even if we do, they don't need a fucking amazing school system. Also, mediocre school system=lower prices.[/QUOTE]

If you really have no loans or recurring debt, that loan amount might not really be unrealistic - assuming neither of you were to go without a job, of course. We borrowed pretty much borderline of what we were allowed to because of the debt ratio crap, but making the payments is easy and not a stretch at all.
We refinanced after a year, got a 1% lower rate, and got rid of PMI so it's even easier now. Prob not indicative of the market in general, but we put 10% down and when we refinanced and got appraised, we came in at having 21% equity in the house so that was nice too(im sure a new deck helped though). :lol:



[quote name='Mr Unoriginal']
On the flip side, if you aren't having about kids, towns with a great school district generally have much higher property taxes, so you would be essentially paying for everyone else's kids to go through the system. That's how it is in NJ anyway.[/QUOTE]

The school district nearby is the opposite. The taxes are super high and the schools are superbad. From what I heard though, it's in part due to embezzelment problems in the past.
 
I'm another first time buyer, I'm looking at a potential fix me upper. The inside is clean, could use some new carpeting, The siding and the Trim definitely need to be replaced and there is only this dinky 1 car garage thats attached to the house. Its got a good roof, large front and back patio and a yard, the yard is on a hill, I'm not a fan of it as it slops pretty steep. Its one of those houses for auction, the starting bid is at 9,000 and is assessed at 40,000. Its a corner house too 2 story yada yada.

What is this first time homeowners tax credit? Should I get a inspector or something, I'm not smart in this area of things.
 
[quote name='phantasyx']I'm another first time buyer, I'm looking at a potential fix me upper. The inside is clean, could use some new carpeting, The siding and the Trim definitely need to be replaced and there is only this dinky 1 car garage thats attached to the house. Its got a good roof, large front and back patio and a yard, the yard is on a hill, I'm not a fan of it as it slops pretty steep. Its one of those houses for auction, the starting bid is at 9,000 and is assessed at 40,000. Its a corner house too 2 story yada yada.

What is this first time homeowners tax credit? Should I get a inspector or something, I'm not smart in this area of things.[/QUOTE]

You need to get the home inspected.

Also, there is no more first time homeowners credit. That was only available in 08, 09, 10.
 
[quote name='Pookymeister']
The school district nearby is the opposite. The taxes are super high and the schools are superbad. From what I heard though, it's in part due to embezzelment problems in the past.[/QUOTE]

The town we're looking at has higher taxes than other places in MA, but I'm thinking it's because it has two T stops right in town. Which is why we are looking there in the first place. That and because despite moving a few towns over, my husband's commute to work won't be much different. It's basically the perfect location. From what I understand the schools are decent enough at least too.
 
Everybody is chiming in with tips on how to buy a house so I'll add tips on owning a house.

First thing with owning a house is the dirty secret no one ever tells you. Whether you buy new construction or existing: Something is always broken!

Second there are some basic tools that you must have: Hammer, Phillips & Flat head, Crescent wrenches/sockets. But the most important things are a large pipe wrench, both a cup and bell plungers, a snake, and a toilet auger (see examples here). These tools will save you headaches and loads of cash.

Plumbing is perhaps the least dangerous thing you can learn and is most likely to give you problems. Being able to handle it yourself is a great relief.
 
Just went to our local bank today and they still didn't prequal us on the spot... sucks having to wait. Just hope we have a prequal by next weekend so we can start looking.

[quote name='Muthafodder']What kind of sq. footage does that buy in MA?[/QUOTE]
For a $500k+ mortgage? Depends on where you look. The places we're looking at around in the mid-1000s square feet wise and are $250-350k total. Probably would get at least 2000, if not 2500+ square feet in the area for that price. If you're actually looking IN Boston though... might be lucky to get a 1 bedroom apartment for $500k.

Also, can someone go into detail about why short sales are nightmares? There's a nice-looking short sale in the area we're looking at that's at a reasonable price. Someone please steer me away from looking into it further.
 
I've been searching for this thread but couldn't find it and here it is.

This is gonna be a long post, so here goes:

Closed on my house on 6-15-11. It went smooth, no problems, they even gave us the lock box the realtor used to get into the place.

Specs: 1300 sq. ft. Got it for $52K less than what the last owner paid. It was a foreclosure. It's near shopping and everything. A movie theatre is within walking distance, as are many restaurants and book store, hardware store, etc. Target and Micro center are also within close proximity.

Had a shit ton of work to do. Before I could sleep at the house, my Dad and I and my Uncle had to put in an exhaust fan in the bathroom, we had to tear down the fence, fix an outlet outside. All that took us about 3 weeks. I'm moving in slowly. Everything is in place except decorating. I don't have to slog by with 1.5M DSL now, I've got Qwest/CenturyLink 20M for half the price for 6months, so that helps with demo DLs.

The basement is like a dungeon that would be perfect for BDSM parties, but I plan on making it a total game nerd cave with gameroom carpeting, blacklights, arcade and pinball, and all systems Dreamcast and older in there.

There's two bedrooms, one is my smaller bedroom, the other is a guest room with a northwoods/cabin motif. I have a big rug on the floor with bears and trees, and on the wall will be pictures my Dad took of his lakeplace.

The living room is modern, and for now has all of my modern systems hooked up.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']

Also, can someone go into detail about why short sales are nightmares? There's a nice-looking short sale in the area we're looking at that's at a reasonable price. Someone please steer me away from looking into it further.[/QUOTE]

My understanding is the sale has to be approved by the owner as well as the lender. It usually requires a decent amount of cash at closing (not a lot, but you do need to be approved and have a down payment) and it takes forever to close.

I was going to buy a 1 bedroom with $69,000 cash before the home buyers credit expired, but we couldn't get the sale approved in time. I just figured it was worth it, since I would have gotten $6,900 back from the credit. I could always live there a few years and dump it or keep it for a rental.
 
Short sales are a pain in the ass because of the money issue of how much you need down, and they can take several months to completely close on.

I'd never mess around with rentals or roomates. Too much bullshit to put up with. I put up with enough as it is. If it's a friend that needs a place to stay, that's one thing, but if it's a total stranger, forget it.
 
How much money do you need to put down on a short sale? More than 20%? And how long are we talking here on closing?

Folks, be a little more specific please. ;)
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']How much money do you need to put down on a short sale? More than 20%? And how long are we talking here on closing?

Folks, be a little more specific please. ;)[/QUOTE]

I think it varies by property/region. The one I was looking at was 25% and the estimate for closing was anywhere from 60 days to 180 days.
 
Just had to write my HOA because I got a violation letter about window treatments. Nevermind that they've been there since we moved in 2+ years ago and the rules about treatments were added 6 months ago. Douchenozzles.
 
[quote name='slowdive21']I think it varies by property/region. The one I was looking at was 25% and the estimate for closing was anywhere from 60 days to 180 days.[/QUOTE]

We got time to spare if it's a good enough house. Lease on our apt isn't up till May.... And at the price short sales are going for we can easily do 25% on it.

[quote name='Pookymeister']Just had to write my HOA because I got a violation letter about window treatments. Nevermind that they've been there since we moved in 2+ years ago and the rules about treatments were added 6 months ago. Douchenozzles.[/QUOTE]

This is why I am so glad HOAs aren't too common in MA because a lot of the neighborhoods are older and the houses are at least 50-100+ years old. What is "wrong" with your window treatments?
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']We got time to spare if it's a good enough house. Lease on our apt isn't up till May.... And at the price short sales are going for we can easily do 25% on it.



This is why I am so glad HOAs aren't too common in MA because a lot of the neighborhoods are older and the houses are at least 50-100+ years old. What is "wrong" with your window treatments?[/QUOTE]

The rule says they have to be white on exterior side. The front facing windows are like that, but the 3 rear facing(that you would only see if walking on path behind house) are orange.
We had them drawn in while we were on vacation last week, so I guess someone who cares enough to report it did...which i'm sure is this old retired guy a few houses down who is the type to be like that.
 
[quote name='slowdive21']I think it varies by property/region. The one I was looking at was 25% and the estimate for closing was anywhere from 60 days to 180 days.[/QUOTE]

I don't think its necessarily true that short sales all have higher down payment requirements. It depends on the seller's bank's approval requirements and who else is putting offers on the property. If you put a lot down and aren't tied up in approval for government assistance to buy the place, everything is going to go faster and the seller's lender is going to get paid and wash their hands of the deal faster, so they may approve your offer over someone else.

But closing will take forever on short sales and foreclosures - banks are disorganized and they don't have a clue what the real estate agents they hire are doing, and they're not inclined to check up on their agents. Not to mention all the internal paper pushing at the banks that has to happen. Good luck finding a bank's real estate agent that's going to get on the bank to make anything happen.

I've encountered real estate agents who try to sink perfectly good foreclosure deals because they're trying to get together their own financing or a family member's financing to offer on the property. If you call owner-bank directly and they won't even talk to you. What are you going to do about the agent then? Report them to the state real estate board? That won't get your deal closed any faster or at all.

Whether foreclosure or short sale, just expect anything and everything to go wrong through the transaction - and then expect everything inside the place to break or be broken as soon as you take possession. These things require so much patience.
 
Any tips when it comes to having a realtor?

My fiance and I had been using a guy that contacted us via the site we were using to find possible house listings. However, he's only taken us to two houses in the last 3 weeks or so. I email him with possible listings we've found and would like to check out, but it's going on 3 days now and I've heard no contact back.

Any tips with these types of situations? We haven't signed anything with him or anything like that, so I guess we could just go find another. We just weren't sure what the proper "etiquette" was with these types of situations.
 
[quote name='GetWhatYaGive']Any tips when it comes to having a realtor?

My fiance and I had been using a guy that contacted us via the site we were using to find possible house listings. However, he's only taken us to two houses in the last 3 weeks or so. I email him with possible listings we've found and would like to check out, but it's going on 3 days now and I've heard no contact back.

Any tips with these types of situations? We haven't signed anything with him or anything like that, so I guess we could just go find another. We just weren't sure what the proper "etiquette" was with these types of situations.[/QUOTE]

Tell them you are no longer using them via a phone call.

A good realtor will show you options based on what you can afford/what you asked for without you even having to give them possible listings. At the same time, they should take you to the listings you might found/request to see. There should be consistency in your search i.e. every Sat 8-12. Each search/tour should get you visiting at least 4 houses.
 
[quote name='GetWhatYaGive']Any tips when it comes to having a realtor?

My fiance and I had been using a guy that contacted us via the site we were using to find possible house listings. However, he's only taken us to two houses in the last 3 weeks or so. I email him with possible listings we've found and would like to check out, but it's going on 3 days now and I've heard no contact back.

Any tips with these types of situations? We haven't signed anything with him or anything like that, so I guess we could just go find another. We just weren't sure what the proper "etiquette" was with these types of situations.[/QUOTE]

As long as you didn't enter into any kind of contract with this guy, tell him you're moving on and then ask around for a more reputable realtor. Realtors should want to take you places so they can get their commish to make their nut.
 
Hmm. Perhaps I could ask here about my leaking basement?

Leak is in the foundation only comes in when it rains; can't identify any clear cracks, and I'm not sure what kind of professional to call and look at it.

Happy to provide more detail as needed.
 
You need to fire that realtor and get one who wants to make a sale. I contacted my realtor and she was wanting to show me properties I liked that night or next day. Emailed her links to a few I liked and the next day we visited about 10 places and she had more lined up for next day including return visits to day one houses. I ended up buying one she found which wasn't even online anywhere yet as for sale since original buyer backed out because of finances.

Definitely get a more motivated realtor and enjoy the ride! Mine still keeps in contact making sure all my questions are covered before I even have any lol.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Hmm. Perhaps I could ask here about my leaking basement?

Leak is in the foundation only comes in when it rains; can't identify any clear cracks, and I'm not sure what kind of professional to call and look at it.

Happy to provide more detail as needed.[/QUOTE]

Most basement companies will provide free estimates. I would start with one of them, even if it ends up not being a problem for them it was free to have them come out and they may be able to suggest the proper people to call.
 
[quote name='Pookymeister']if through the floor, sounds like you might need a sump pump installed.[/QUOTE]

Probably, yep. Any idea what the cost for purchase and installation might be?

I live in a row home, so there's no chance of digging up/french drain/etc.

Thanks for the heads up. A few people have mentioned sump pump thus far.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Probably, yep. Any idea what the cost for purchase and installation might be?

I live in a row home, so there's no chance of digging up/french drain/etc.

Thanks for the heads up. A few people have mentioned sump pump thus far.[/QUOTE]

I don't think a sump pump really does anything without a french drain or trench. The drain will bring the water from the whole basement to one spot where the pump it. I guess it could help in the one area, but chances are the water is under the rest of the floor.
 
I know you can do internal french drains. My friend had one done in his house. Since yours is a row house, not sure if you would only have to worry about it on external facing walls or not(or if able to do at all).
Bought my house with sump pump already installed, so not sure on the cost. Haven't heard it turn on since living there, so that's good for me.
I did have water come in through walls initially and had to have a guy come in to drill some holes where water was coming in and fill them with some expanding junk.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Probably, yep. Any idea what the cost for purchase and installation might be?

I live in a row home, so there's no chance of digging up/french drain/etc.

Thanks for the heads up. A few people have mentioned sump pump thus far.[/QUOTE]

You are going through the same thing I did a few pages back. We had to put in a sump pump, plaster the walls, put in pipes all sorts of crap. The estimates ranged from $6,000(which pretty much was just a sump pump)all the way up to $13,000. In the end the most reasonable quote we got that seemed like it would fix the problem was $8,100.

Sorry to hear about your problem I know how much this freaking sucks!
 
[quote name='Zoglog']Just bought a house last year in California... lovely
In good measure stuff started breaking already :D[/QUOTE]

Trade you for the before mentioned $8,000 basement problem. We were not even 6 months in to home ownership when it popped up ;(
 
[quote name='hostyl1']Everybody is chiming in with tips on how to buy a house so I'll add tips on owning a house.

First thing with owning a house is the dirty secret no one ever tells you. Whether you buy new construction or existing: Something is always broken!

Second there are some basic tools that you must have: Hammer, Phillips & Flat head, Crescent wrenches/sockets. But the most important things are a large pipe wrench, both a cup and bell plungers, a snake, and a toilet auger (see examples here). These tools will save you headaches and loads of cash.

Plumbing is perhaps the least dangerous thing you can learn and is most likely to give you problems. Being able to handle it yourself is a great relief.[/QUOTE]

Take this man's advice. I was a pipefitter for 3 years and I can tell you that it's definitely worth it. I was actually just talking to my cousin about the plumber that came over to his place. He charged $300 for something that could have cost my cousin about $40 in parts and about 2 hours to do. Trust me, don't get ripped off, read up on plumbing a little.
 
Mortgage companies are slower than fuck with preapprovals.... first they said "same day." Then it was "1-2 days." Now for one company, they're saying a week... maybe. We did get one preapproval, but their employee was a complete dick to my husband over the phone, so we aren't using them and are instead waiting on 2 other companies. However, at least we'll have a letter if necessary when we look at houses this weekend.
 
I'm in the market for a new lawn mower and am wondering if a cordless electric is worth it. I'm looking in the long term, and don't want to fuck around with maintenance or gas. I intend on using it at least 10 years or however long it lasts. Another advantage I've read with an electric is that it's quiet so you can mow early in the morning. I realize the econess of it isn't viable because of battery disposal, but that isn't a consideration to me - I don't care.

What do you have to consider when buying an electric vs. gas? I'm not interested in using a corded one - it would feel too much like vaccumming my lawn. What price can I expect to pay? Menerds has one for $300 that's normally $400.
 
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