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Anonymous Zebra posted:My own biases are abound in this take, but my stance is that if you are in an apartment situation where you are happy, your next step should not be to dump that in order to sink a mortgage on a thing that's no bigger and also shittier for you financially. Like, just look for a better apartment if you have extra cash to burn on upgrading your living situation, but don't want to live in a bigger living space. Just my take. Yah that usually sounds good. My main goal for buying is to lock in the cost of housing for the long term. Otherwise rent keeps on the rise…
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Aug 19, 2021 21:57
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Crosby B. Alfred posted:Is there an easy way to do this just from the Redfin or Zillow listing? No. You need the association documents.
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Aug 19, 2021 22:01
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Ornery and Hornery posted:Yah that usually sounds good. STOP THROWING MONEY AWAY ON RENT!!
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Aug 19, 2021 22:24
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Crosby B. Alfred posted:Is there an easy way to do this just from the Redfin or Zillow listing? This would be nice, but as Motronic said nope. This is completely hidden typically until you are in a Document Review period or whatever it's called in your state. The seller is usually obligated to have the HOA provide their statements etc. to you for review. Sometimes you can suss out when things are suspect, such as if you have an old fuckoff huge condo building and your dues are like $100, they are probably under-funding the reserves for future expected capital expenditures. To really understand that, condo buildings should do a reserve study. Inner Light fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Aug 19, 2021 |
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Aug 19, 2021 22:54
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Ornery and Hornery posted:Yah that usually sounds good. But association dues and taxes never go up.... and you surely don't pay for the hot water heater when it fails....
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Aug 19, 2021 22:56
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Nybble posted:Half the reason we opted to drive across the country versus put everything in a truck and fly was to see the western US. it’s truly stunning and so varied. Spent more than half our time from SF to DC just hitting up a bunch of national parks on the way to Denver. Truly the one thing I’ll miss by moving back East, the Blue Ridge mountains are nice, but they don’t compare to having something like the Rockies or Sierras in your backyard. This is the best decision. We did that when we moved from Chicago to Seattle and saw a lot of country we might not have seen before. I highly recommend an old fashioned road trip. The western united States is super cool and varies from region to region. We had our stuff shipped and just drove ourselves without our belongings which made it very stress free.
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Aug 19, 2021 23:47
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Insurance question: construction here is incredibly expensive while personal belongings aren't really any more expensive unless you buy expensive things. The auto-generated values most places seem to use for personal belongings are based on dwelling coverage and sets it at 520k, which I think is comically high given that a far amount of what I own wouldn't be covered fully to begin with. Am I crazy for bumping personal property down to like $300k? I just don't see myself owning that much in the near future especially since I have no furniture or anything yet.
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Aug 19, 2021 23:50
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gwrtheyrn posted:Insurance question: construction here is incredibly expensive while personal belongings aren't really any more expensive unless you buy expensive things. The auto-generated values most places seem to use for personal belongings are based on dwelling coverage and sets it at 520k, which I think is comically high given that a far amount of what I own wouldn't be covered fully to begin with. Am I crazy for bumping personal property down to like $300k? I just don't see myself owning that much in the near future especially since I have no furniture or anything yet. The key is to go through all your poo poo and figure out if you had to replace it tomorrow how much it would cost you. Not waiting for good sales, not bargain shopping, buying at full whack for the stuff you need because you're trying to reestablish your life after a catastrophe and don't have the time for that. You'd be surprised how fast even just a basic, not fancy wardrobe and essential bedding and toiletries can run. You don't need to be buying gucci towels either. And then you get into furniture. I'd do some basic napkin math based on what you'd need to re-kit your living space and then pick your coverage amounts based on that.
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Aug 20, 2021 00:00
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spwrozek posted:But association dues and taxes never go up.... and you surely don't pay for the hot water heater when it fails.... Your point is well taken. I’m in one of the hottest markets in the country. Locking in a sustainable rent would be great because I want to live here forever, it’s the community I love.
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Aug 20, 2021 00:05
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spwrozek posted:But association dues and taxes never go up.... and you surely don't pay for the hot water heater when it fails.... Dues and taxes increase by 10%; like $100 a month. New water heater costs $2500 and lasts 10 years: like $21 a month. Rent increases by 10%: about $200 a month. Renting is not throwing your money away at all, it's really nice to have the flexibility and have someone else responsible for maintenance. But that mortgage amount won't change and it's nice to be paying 1800 a month when rent for a similar place is 2000 a month and rising every year.
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Aug 20, 2021 00:11
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Cyrano4747 posted:The key is to go through all your poo poo and figure out if you had to replace it tomorrow how much it would cost you. Not waiting for good sales, not bargain shopping, buying at full whack for the stuff you need because you're trying to reestablish your life after a catastrophe and don't have the time for that. Here's the thing. The most expensive things I own are generally only truly covered under separate policies, you know things like collectibles and firearms. Short of adding those in and a car that I don't have right now, all of which aren't covered by homeowners insurance, I'm just not seeing it, at least any time soon. Most/all of my clothes and poo poo are from costco or are free tshirts from 8 years ago that I don't wear anymore. My living space right now is just one room that is a bed, a desk, a computer, a cheap dresser, and clothes from costco. Like being very generous, I have maybe 100k worth of stuff that could be covered, but that doesn't include a bunch of stuff I have to get like dishes/tableware and furniture. Like I've estimated what I own now and it's not thaaaat much, it's mostly a question of what I will end up with, and whether $300k in belongings is probably going to be too low when I don't have particularly expensive tastes. I have no clue on what amount of poo poo people start amassing once they actually own a house
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Aug 20, 2021 00:12
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gwrtheyrn posted:Here's the thing. The most expensive things I own are generally only truly covered under separate policies, you know things like collectibles and firearms. I have a bunch of firearms as well as a concert grand steinway, as well as a barn with equipment worth more than the cars I own (two of the actual moveable equipment like tractors and stuff are covered separately but not for policy limit reasons, it's for liability when they are not on my property where their homeowners in insurance coverage would go "poof!" including getting hit by a car while I am turning around in the road in front of my house to plow out my own driveway). None of this exceeded policy limits where I needed to add a rider or have a separate policy. Insurance varies a lot state by state, you dwelling coverage matters a lot in how they calculate contents, etc. I'm not sure you can get much good information unless it's from people in your exact area in similar home and in similar situations. Motronic fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Aug 20, 2021 |
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Aug 20, 2021 00:20
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CongoJack posted:Dues and taxes increase by 10%; like $100 a month. Yeah, my thoughts exactly.
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Aug 20, 2021 00:21
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Motronic posted:I have a bunch of firearms as well as a concert grand steinway, as well as a barn with equipment worth more than the cars I own. None of this exceeded policy limits where I needed to add a rider or have a separate policy. At least here, you need extra coverage unless you think you'll only lose like $2500 at a time for things like firearms, jewelry, furs, bullion, etc. Seems like the most likely form of theft is stealing the entire safe (if you have one and use it), so I mean it's kinda covered?
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Aug 20, 2021 00:23
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Inner Light posted:This would be nice, but as Motronic said nope. This is completely hidden typically until you are in a Document Review period or whatever it's called in your state. The seller is usually obligated to have the HOA provide their statements etc. to you for review. What the hell? How complicated is that process? It seems crazy to me that, I have to get this process before I know if the whole HOA is underwater.
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Aug 20, 2021 00:33
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Crosby B. Alfred posted:What the hell? How complicated is that process? It seems crazy to me that, I have to get this process before I know if the whole HOA is underwater. I put in my offers that it is contingent on an hoa review. The seller sends over the hoa documents and you can look at them yourself or pay someone to review them for you who may know what to look for or at least condense what could be many pages down to just a summary. It sucks to have to go that far to get that information but they usually can get it to you pretty quick and you can also back out quick if it looks bad.
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Aug 20, 2021 00:38
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My relatives north of Denver have already given up on their FSBO dreams and gotten a new real estate agent.
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Aug 20, 2021 01:12
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Sirotan posted:My relatives north of Denver have already given up on their FSBO dreams and gotten a new real estate agent. FSBO sounds great until you realize dealing with all those idiot buyers' agents you fired when you were buying and people just like you eschewing agents entirely is loving annoying. I still don't think re agents have that hard of a job, but it's also not something I'd want to try to learn to do while selling the largest asset I will ever own.
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Aug 20, 2021 02:30
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Here's something thats fun: I've spoken to a few lawyers about doing the lease buyout offer and they're all 100% scumbugs who are saying "low ball them as much as possible!" "look for ways to break the lease!" "we do tons of evictions!" Wonderful!
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Aug 20, 2021 16:44
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yeah its business all the way down coach. seems nobody is just trying to get four walls and adobe slabs for their girls
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Aug 20, 2021 17:08
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is anyone involved with home purchasing businesses not a total scumbag? agents are scumbags. appraisers are scumbags. mortgage people are scumbags. real estate lawyers are scumbags.
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Aug 20, 2021 17:12
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my realtor is friends and family only, so if she screws me everyone we know will be mad at her. has always seemed like the most trust/best recourse we could muster.
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Aug 20, 2021 17:20
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Upgrade posted:is anyone involved with home purchasing businesses not a total scumbag? agents are scumbags. appraisers are scumbags. mortgage people are scumbags. real estate lawyers are scumbags. Lucrative compensation combined with low barrier of entry (except for the lawyer part), there's no secret why certain people are attracted to the business.
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Aug 20, 2021 17:40
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My agent let the plumber in for a bathroom repair job (I was at work) and paid for it after closing. She also gave me cookies and a home depot gift card. Edit; I think she felt bad, I feel like I was the easiest client she has ever worked with and it didn't take very long for me to find a place I wanted. CongoJack fucked around with this message at 17:45 on Aug 20, 2021 |
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Aug 20, 2021 17:41
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Upgrade posted:is anyone involved with home purchasing businesses not a total scumbag? agents are scumbags. appraisers are scumbags. mortgage people are scumbags. real estate lawyers are scumbags. The permit guy for my county down at city hall was a real helpful chap, great attitude, very helpful. So I guess there's at least one non-scumbag out there.
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Aug 20, 2021 17:48
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Mine spent a lot of time looking at tons of places with us over 6 months. He would let me know when a place was a walk away or worth seeing through the work needed. He brought in his favorite inspector who gave us the most in depth inspection I've ever seen which helped us avoid a money pit house that we walked away on. He has great relationships with other agents and got a lot of details from selling agents regarding offers on the table/number of offers/what they're looking for etc. When we finally bought our house, he gave us a nice welcome basket of whiskey, wine and some home stuff. Overall I had a great experience but maybe it's because he's a friend that I've played hockey with for years and our relationship may have affected the buyer/agent dynamic a bit. The lender was also super cool and easy to work with by the recommendation of our agent. Anytime something came up it was easy to deal with and well explained, never had any WTF issues unless it was on the sellers side. I really felt like my wife and I got lucky with our duo. Hearing the stories from everybody else in my life, our buying process was tough because Seattle, but our team was surprisingly awesome and I can't imagine going through the process with lovely agents/lenders.
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Aug 20, 2021 17:56
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I mean, I like our agent. She's very good at negotiation, has good connections, has shown us a lot of places and written a lot of offers. For the house we're under contract with she knew the seller's agent and they had a good conversation which helped guide us with our offer. But she is also being paid very well for this, so my appreciation only goes so far. We're working with a lender and they're very helpful and easy to work with too. But also because they're making a bunch of money off this. I feel like the bar is so low that "doing your job adequately with a smile" is seen as good when in any other industry that's just... the standard expectation.
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Aug 20, 2021 19:44
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Welp, guess as of noon today, I'm no longer a homeowner.  Now I guess I just have to hope that none of the appliances break before noon tomorrow or whatever (iirc they have 24h to complain that something doesn't work), and I'm done? I just need to finish calling the utilities and let them know that it's not my bill anymore, and then . . . there is no "and then", I guess. It all feels very anti-climactic. Maybe part of that is because I signed everything remotely and mailed it in earlier this week.
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Aug 20, 2021 20:07
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Anti Climatic is a good thing.
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Aug 20, 2021 20:11
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skipdogg posted:Anti Climatic is a good thing. Very much this. Fireworks of any kind at closing are a bad deal.
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Aug 20, 2021 23:33
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In Denver airport after visiting the house in person, in Thornton. I loving love it and am over the moon. Inspector thinks they used to grow weed because of weird electrical stuff, agent says we can get them to fix it. Everything else is pretty minor so the house looks good. Seeing it in person, I'm blown away by how great it all is. The agent mentioned that he thinks we're not very picky about small things like carpet wear and tear compared to others. The park 20 seconds walk away is amazing too. I cannot loving wait to move in, in a month or so. The deal is not done yet though so who knows what will happen.
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Aug 21, 2021 01:18
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redreader posted:Inspector thinks they used to grow weed because of weird electrical stuff, agent says we can get them to fix it. That’s a feature.
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Aug 21, 2021 02:07
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Beef Of Ages posted:Very much this. Fireworks of any kind at closing are a bad deal. I don't disagree! It just feels weird haha.
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Aug 21, 2021 03:49
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redreader posted:In Denver airport after visiting the house in person, in Thornton. I loving love it and am over the moon. Inspector thinks they used to grow weed because of weird electrical stuff, agent says we can get them to fix it. Everything else is pretty minor so the house looks good. Seeing it in person, I'm blown away by how great it all is. The agent mentioned that he thinks we're not very picky about small things like carpet wear and tear compared to others. The park 20 seconds walk away is amazing too. I cannot loving wait to move in, in a month or so. The deal is not done yet though so who knows what will happen. Or just leave the electrical…. 
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Aug 21, 2021 03:51
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redreader posted:The agent mentioned that he thinks we're not very picky about small things like carpet wear and tear compared to others. Haha this was us as fixer upper buyers. poo poo like old/ugly/gross carpet or painted shut windows didn't faze us, even though I got the sense they could be very off-putting for other buyers. PS: a couple years in we are still rocking the gross carpet the house came with. eddiewalker posted:That’s a feature. Yeah for sure. What if you wanted to grow weed yourself? Or basil or something? Personally I'd go for a nice setup for various herbs and year-round fancy peppers.
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Aug 21, 2021 03:54
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Queen Victorian posted:Haha this was us as fixer upper buyers. poo poo like old/ugly/gross carpet or painted shut windows didn't faze us, even though I got the sense they could be very off-putting for other buyers. Yeah, just don't give that away to sellers  I'm the same way. But I know this requires a discount.Queen Victorian posted:Or basil or something? lol
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Aug 21, 2021 04:20
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I would be ok with bad flooring knowing I would rip it out, but windows that don’t open would faze me. Reason being I’m not skilled enough to know if it’s literally paint that needs to be sanded away, or if it’s bigger problems with the windows that need replacement. But I guess people still buy properties that need window replacements, clearly it’s small beans when you’re throwing 6 figs, but it’s nice to avoid spending thousands more.
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Aug 21, 2021 04:25
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Crosby B. Alfred posted:What the hell? How complicated is that process? It seems crazy to me that, I have to get this process before I know if the whole HOA is underwater. The document review process is also clearly designed to help lenders evaluate risk and not buyers. I just filled out one this past week and it was like a 1 page form that wanted to know: 1) If we were insured (and the limits) 2) If there was pending litigation 3) What the HOA dues were. 4) If there were any special assessments being collected 5) Who the officers were I honestly think if you're going to buy into a HOA you should knock on some random doors and get a couple of opinions (in addition to the HOA CC&R and meeting notes review). Especially if you share a wall. Unless it's a mass-sell-off-assessment situation folks will be overly honest. This is an area where I think co-op models are much better for everyone as they usually have to approve a sale and so everyone ends up knowing everyone else better before any sale closes.
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Aug 21, 2021 04:40
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Motronic posted:Yeah, just don't give that away to sellers We pretended to be all horrified over the knob and tube, but it was an excuse to haggle down closing costs. We were going to buy the house as-is (lol gently caress letting the cheapshit seller further poo poo things up) all along, but we didn't tell. quote:lol Oh good I'm glad someone got the reference. Inner Light posted:I would be ok with bad flooring knowing I would rip it out, but windows that don’t open would faze me. Reason being I’m not skilled enough to know if it’s literally paint that needs to be sanded away, or if it’s bigger problems with the windows that need replacement. But I guess people still buy properties that need window replacements, clearly it’s small beans when you’re throwing 6 figs, but it’s nice to avoid spending thousands more. Prewar wood windows, which are often the type you see getting painted shut out of cheapness/laziness/ignorance, are surprisingly easy to do basic fixes on. Thirty minutes of YouTube instruction and a trip to the hardware store had us able to free stuck windows and get them operable again. All you need to get started is a boxcutter (to cut/score the paint) and a crowbar. I mean, we will need to do more extensive restoration in the future (and eventually replace some rotten sashes and jambs), but for the time being, the old windows are operable.
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Aug 21, 2021 05:54
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I saw this on the inspection report "Although grand-fathered due to age of home, TREC requires licensed inspectors to report the lack of arc circuit breakers at every 15-20 amp breaker that are not tied into a GFCI circuit breaker as a Deficiency." Can someone explain this to me like I'm deeply stupid? (I am). Not sure if this is an easy fix or major wiring poo poo? Thanks!
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Aug 21, 2021 17:25
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