Buying a house

[mrwicked]

1 hour ago, GOPSnowflakesHateCezero said:

Yeah. The good thing for me is that I really do want to get a house, but if I can't find one that I really think is a great deal for me where I am in life, then I'm fine with walking away. 

I know most people say a great neighborhood is most important, but the Good Neighbor Next Door program is something that's always in the back of my mind, too. 

Well, incentivized programs like that can be great too. Because then the "impossible to change the other (ie neighborhood quality)" doesn't quite hold, since you are now part of group explicitly coming in with the intention on changing a neighborhood. This was the case when my buddy purchased in Harlem - they wanted to gentrify the area so state said if you buy in these certain area codes then property taxes will be only $16 a year. So he and a bunch of other people bought and the property values jumped way up in very short order. So it can work out!

[Adam]

I just bought a summer home in Damascus for the same reasons. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

39 minutes ago, mrwicked said:

Well, incentivized programs like that can be great too. Because then the "impossible to change the other (ie neighborhood quality)" doesn't quite hold, since you are now part of group explicitly coming in with the intention on changing a neighborhood. This was the case when my buddy purchased in Harlem - they wanted to gentrify the area so state said if you buy in these certain area codes then property taxes will be only $16 a year. So he and a bunch of other people bought and the property values jumped way up in very short order. So it can work out!

Then spike lee tweeted tbeir address out.

[nate]

@GOPSnowflakesHateCezero don't go with Quicken.  They are shady as fuck.

[cez]

2 hours ago, nate said:

@GOPSnowflakesHateCezero don't go with Quicken.  They are shady as fuck.

if i do buy, i'll probably be through navy federal credit union

[cez]

went with a buying agent to look at properties for the first time today.

he started with just homes at my lower end price point, and we'll move up tomorrow. 

so far so good. i feel like i learned a lot today. 

[cez]

two houses that i really liked accepted offers before we got back to his office for me to make an offer, both at list price. 

i just got finished making my first offer. here we go. 

[mrwicked]

cez are you putting in an offer on this place? only $16,000,000.

one of the best pieces of residential property in california. definitely my favorite great room.

http://www.ninahatvany.com/3500-Jackson-Street

[ABC]

On 7/10/2017 at 1:52 PM, ten ocho recon scout said:

Honestly Cez, there really isnt all that much to it. My realtor is really cool, she gives half her commision back after closing, so thats huge. But even she will tell you her job is pretty frealin easy. The buyer (you) says i want this house, ill pay this. She delivers the message, and if theyl seller accepts, she populates a few forms that are templates on her computer, and she walks away with a few grand. 

I get its intimidating, but id at least reach out to a few listers and see what they say.

That sounds like a crappy realtor. A realtor who describes their role as above is not providing a good service. It's a red flag anytime a realtor gives away their pay, especially half?! They tend to be the worst realtors so they have to give away tons of cash to get and keep clients. They also end up being realtors for redfin, etc. 

A realtor who just delivers a message and paperwork is adding nothing of value. A good realtor makes your offer look strong, you look likeable, advises you on market, gets your offer accepted, gets the escrow closed, limits your chances of getting sued, etc. 

I've learned 99% of agents are clueless. That "paperwork" can cost you tens of thousands of dollars when the boxes aren't checked in the right places and at the right times. A good realtor protects their client and makes sure that they don't step on a minefield left by the opposing realtor who understands the contracts and how to get the upper hand in negotiations, control of escrow, limiting damages, and a hundred other important items.  That paperwork are real and actionable contracts.

[ABC]

On 7/16/2017 at 11:14 AM, GOPSnowflakesHateCezero said:

two houses that i really liked accepted offers before we got back to his office for me to make an offer, both at list price. 

i just got finished making my first offer. here we go. 

Before you even see the house your agent needs to know the status of the property, offers and timing. The moment you want the house he needs to call the LA to give him a heads up that your offer is coming within the hour. He should also find out how many other offers are in, when they are being presented and find out what the sellers want to see in the offer beyond price (timing for escrow and contingenices, who pays for what, etc.) 

If your agent is personable and not afraid to ask he might get an idea what the other offers are coming in at. Looks like yours did. Good luck, mang.

There's tons more but that's the point of having an agent who knows their shit and is proactive. 

[ABC]

On 7/10/2017 at 1:13 PM, ten ocho recon scout said:

Fwiw, a buddy of mine has done pretty well contacting the listing agents direct, and telling them they can get both commisions if they got him a deal. He did it twice and did pretty well (but maybe he just got lucky)

It's definitely a tactic that works but it isn't ideal most of the time. I just had to do this last month to acquire a house that we are flipping in Redondo Beach. Going direct was our last resort.

In this market most agents want to sell their own listings, meaning representing both the seller and buyer...because inventory is low. Things can get dicey with ethics and that leads to lawsuits from buyer and sellers. The contracts get updated and revised all of the time by the Realtor Assoc to help mitigate risk. 

[cez]

8 hours ago, #CF8x said:

Before you even see the house your agent needs to know the status of the property, offers and timing. The moment you want the house he needs to call the LA to give him a heads up that your offer is coming within the hour. He should also find out how many other offers are in, when they are being presented and find out what the sellers want to see in the offer beyond price (timing for escrow and contingenices, who pays for what, etc.) 

If your agent is personable and not afraid to ask he might get an idea what the other offers are coming in at. Looks like yours did. Good luck, mang.

There's tons more but that's the point of having an agent who knows their shit and is proactive. 

to be clear, both of the houses i was considering putting offers in for had just been listed that day. 

anything good at my price point is going under contract within 24 hours of listing.

my agent has been great. i know all he cares about is his commission, but he hasn't tried to push me at all.  for the first place i put in an offer for, he showed me the text of the listing agent saying they had a few offers already, and would be reviewing them at 5 PM that night. it fell through, but there's always another house. 

waiting on a response for another offer i put in. should find out within the next few hours. 

[OCAngelsNotLAA]

42 minutes ago, GOPSnowflakesHateCezero said:

to be clear, both of the houses i was considering putting offers in for had just been listed that day. 

anything good at my price point is going under contract within 24 hours of listing.

my agent has been great. i know all he cares about is his commission, but he hasn't tried to push me at all.  for the first place i put in an offer for, he showed me the text of the listing agent saying they had a few offers already, and would be reviewing them at 5 PM that night. it fell through, but there's always another house. 

waiting on a response for another offer i put in. should find out within the next few hours. 

When I was buying my first place in 2010 I was only approved for 180K so everything in my price range was selling for over the list price and fast.  It was so frustrating seeing offer after offer not being accepted even when I was offering at list or 5K over. This went on for 6 months with 50+ offers submitted.  We finally got contacted buy a listing agent of the 3rd condo I had put an offer in on.  Their original buyer fell through so they were contacting me to see if I was still interested.  Worked out well for me.  So when a listing agent says they will take your offer as a back up it might work out for you in the end.  Hang in there.

[cez]

thanks, OC.

i'm reluctant to offer over list price because my loan type (VA) requires an appraisal, and if it comes in under list price, i'd have to ask the seller to lower their asking price or i could pay the difference in cash which i probably won't do. 

nothing is every easy. 

 

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

My standard loan required an appraisal as did my friend who used an FHA loan.  I would assume an appraisal is required in most cases when getting a loan because lenders don't want to see a situation like they did when the market crashed - people owing 500K on a house that's now worth 300K who are then more likely to walk away.  The appraisal on my place came back lower than what I offered and the seller ended up lowering the price.  The tricky thing was it was a fast moving market when I bought as it was on the rebound and most everything was going over asking while getting multiple offers at asking or above.  In that situation the recent sales method is a lagging indicator (not indicative of what's happening right then but they can't use places that have yet to close for comparables) for appraisals and the seller could have refused to lower the price but they could have faced the same situation with the next buyer.

[ABC]

1 hour ago, GOPSnowflakesHateCezero said:

thanks, OC.

i'm reluctant to offer over list price because my loan type (VA) requires an appraisal, and if it comes in under list price, i'd have to ask the seller to lower their asking price or i could pay the difference in cash which i probably won't do. 

nothing is every easy. 

 

The appraisal will likely come in over list. Appraisals take into account market trends. A solid LA will make sure that the appraiser has all of the info they need to support the price. If you see a house you like, be aggressive and make a strong offer. 

You might have to bid a bit higher than another buyer who is buying cash or with a conventional loan. Don't get stuck on paying a couple grand more than another. The longer you wait the more likely you are getting priced out of neighborhoods and homes because prices must be rising there giving the activity. 

Have your agent ask the seller if the current owner needs an extra 30 days after close of escrow to move out. Offer them a 30-day leaseback for $1.

 

 

[Brandon]

every purchase or refinance requires an appraisal because the lender wants to insure the home is worth x before giving that borrower x should they default or foreclose. while appraisers aren't inspectors, they are also a safety net for the condition of the property......towards the bottom of one of the first pages there are two boxes where the appraiser notes whether the value is based "as-is", meaning the property is good as is, or if the other box is checked it means the property's value is good barring x where x usually is a note about something major that needs to be fixed.

market conditions change all the time which is why appraisal are generally only good for 90 days.

the only time an appraisal isn't required is on VA IRRRL loans and FHA Streamlines.......both simple VA to VA or FHA to FHA loans where they just use the previous value. Both loan products are simple rate reduction refi's  So an appraisal isn't required since the value is moot.

generally when you submit an offer it's contingent upon the appraisal coming in so that the buyer doesn't get screwed. 

[cez]

2 offers where I offered list price and asked for about half of closing costs. Rejected. 

Yeesh.

The latest place I was trying for is in the 240 range, and sold for 185 in 2014.  contingencies were pretty standard, inspection/financing/appraisal. i actually felt like i should've asked for an interest rate rider for the financing contingency, and i chose not to. offered to put up earnest money up to 5K, which is how much the VA funding fee is.  

It started feeling just a little too absurd for me, and I'm not smart enough with this to wade too much deeper.  

I'm going to wait and see if this little bubble bursts when residential construction catches up here in a few years. 

 

[ABC]

Just overbid and enjoy a new house. Don't quit (like Dipoto.)

Don't ever ask for an APR rider. Get rid of your closing costs. And pay more than another buyer. Is your agent getting word on why your offer lost? 

[cez]

Not worth it for me at this point. Just signed an apartment lease, and invested the extra $15K I would've paid for closing costs/mortgage payments for the remainder of the year. 

I woke up feeling nothing but relief the night after I made my decision.

Thanks for all the help, though. 

 

 

[mrwicked]

2 hours ago, GOPSnowflakesHateCezero said:

Not worth it for me at this point. Just signed an apartment lease, and invested the extra $15K I would've paid for closing costs/mortgage payments for the remainder of the year. 

I woke up feeling nothing but relief the night after I made my decision.

Thanks for all the help, though. 

 

 

that's the smart move when renting.

do that for foreseeable future and you'll have a nice big pile you can go buy whatever house you want (or just keep growing the pile!)

[Don]

Made an offer on another place today. Just got listed this afternoon. Was one of several offers.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Im the wrong guy to ask, maybe brandon has better info, but a few friends of mine who are into this stuff are saying to hold off buying right now because theyre expecting home prices to drop again in the next 2 years. Not 2008ish, but notable. 

I have no clue if thats true or not, but my house is currently estimated well above the highest its ever been. Maybe it holds, but i wouldnt be suprised to check again within a year and see ibe dropped 50K or something depressing.

[cez]

i live in what a lot of real estate people say is the hottest market outside of sanfran/vallejo and a couple of others. 

there's 1/5th the amount of properties available right now as there were a couple of years ago, and nobody is doing any residential building because of permits and such that i don't pretend to understand. 

nobody i've talked to who knows real estate around here thinks it's going to change for at least another 2 years, and that's exactly how long i feel like i am from even thinking about looking again. by then, i'll be making about $17K more per year if everything i have planned goes right, but i guess we'll see. 

[Brandon]

12 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Im the wrong guy to ask, maybe brandon has better info, but a few friends of mine who are into this stuff are saying to hold off buying right now because theyre expecting home prices to drop again in the next 2 years. Not 2008ish, but notable. 

I have no clue if thats true or not, but my house is currently estimated well above the highest its ever been. Maybe it holds, but i wouldnt be suprised to check again within a year and see ibe dropped 50K or something depressing.

not much, I have been on the real estate side in close to15 years and don't deal with purchases.

what little info I can add is simple opinion, for whatever that's worth. I do see some kind of bubble or just something fishy that seems off. doing primarily cash-out refinances (because of the market) depending on where people live they are gaining a shitload of equity in a short time frame which means the appraisals are coming in higher due to comps in the area which means properties are selling high.

there just seems to be an overall rebound from the market crash and maybe a lack of inventory. I think the economy has picked up dramatically (look at the stock market) and people are dropping more on homes. with the regulation changes it's not like before where I could call up a buddy and say I need x amount for value which inflated the market in the early 2000's when homes were selling for way more than they were worth. so I can't pinpoint it.

I do see that as the economy has improved some lending guidelines are relaxing....fannie mae just did a big update last Saturday. I see certain things and trends, but can't pinpoint why values are up quite a bit in certain areas.