Bucnasti posted:

Some of them won't even schedule a viewing without you first making an offer

El Mero Mero posted:

Also, family house that sold under a ridiculous offer of a 14 day close, surprisingly, did not close today (the 14th day) and got punted to Monday.

Big McHuge posted:

We've been pretty skittish towards the idea of doing an appraisal guarantee. As first time buyers, it's a bit uncomfortable having to look at putting less down on a mortgage. And while we're not buying as an investment, I still feel like it's putting a potentially large chunk of money out there that isn't going directly into equity. Our REA, whom we can't fire, is starting to get a little annoyed with us and sent us the following text this afternoon:


I feel like that whole renting vs buying myth has been debunked in this thread before, but am I so out of line in not wanting to offer an unlimited appraisal guarantee even in this market? Is his friend just not a good financial advisor? Are *we* the baddies?

On Terra Firma posted:

With inspectors it's to the agents benefit to hire someone that knows what they're doing to avoid situations like I described in the original post. Some in here think we want an inspector that will ignore problems and move the transaction along and that could not be further from the truth no matter how bad of an agent you are. It's terrible misguided advice. I guess they could ask friends and family who they used, or go and read reviews of people who have used the inspector outside of a real estate transaction. This is just a case of the devil your agent knows vs the devil nobody knows.

skipdogg posted:

Dude just be happy the house sold and you can move into your next home.

GoGoGadgetChris posted:

Bay Area goons, come buy my house!!! Seriously hurry, property taxes are due soon!!

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/26201-Catharine-Ct-Los-Altos-Hills-CA-94022/19527541_zpid/

I did an open house and it was a huge mistake. Wall-to-wall packed, and of course some lady tripped on my front steps and made a big scene about getting my realtor's information I'm sure I'll get a fun letter from her soon

This state sucks rear end!

Anonymous Zebra posted:

The schools my girls are currently going to are rated as 5 or 6 (out of 10) when compared to California schools. That makes them average schools when compared to the outcomes of all CA schools. Yet somehow they have so few teachers that multiple grades are in the same classroom, horrible buildings with decades of deferred maintenance, administrators shared between three different schools so they aren't even reachable for over half the week, no "specials" classes like PE, art, music, etc. etc. The 1 & 2 schools are far worse, but we're talking about the average school here, and it's unacceptable in any other place I've ever lived before.

You can go to great schools in CA (the schools up the hill that serve the gated communities are 9&10s), but you need to pay out the rear end, and basically be the thing that I've basically hated for most of my adult life.

Anonymous Zebra posted:

my daughters are telling me their stories, and I can clearly see an objective difference between what they should be learning and what they are learning

Ornery and Hornery posted:

*sitting in a rocking chair on a saloon porch*

Any day now the housing market will crash and I’ll be able to afford a home.

Any day now.

*more rocking*

Hadlock posted:

Oh wow, we're still doing the rent vs buy argument, even in the era of full thread search

Thanks for linking to the rent vs buy calculator, I've literally never heard of that before

i say swears online posted:

hattersmad posted:

Not wrong, and I’ve replaced a disposal before. It’s more that I want to take a bit of a break by having someone else do something. Maybe I get motivated and DIY that, too.

DaveSauce posted:

Yeah, you have literally no idea if the buyers are credit-worthy or not. Unless they're submitting a pre-approval letter with the offer, they could be wildly unqualified and not even know it.

BonerGhost posted:

You don't want to co-own a house with a couple, let alone an unmarried couple. What happens if they break up or move for work? You'll have to buy them out, and if you don't have the cash, you'll have to sell the house to get it. You'd need a lawyer to work out each person's share of ownership and equity.

No one can even speculate on whether you can maybe afford it unless they know your income.

Owning a house is horrible. You'll pay in money, and in time and frustration. Don't do it unless it's something you want to do, and especially don't do it with someone you're not married to. Divorce is a built in asset divider. Breakups and falling outs don't have that.

Saint Celestine posted:

We waived during the offer because our realtor advised that if we had an inspection contingency, we would most likely lose out to someone who waived it.

Then during approval, we reviewed all the inspection reports done during construction, one of which was a plumbing sign off. Our realtor advised that if we wanted to do an inspection, best time would be a few months before the warranty expired.

I just didn't anticipate this shitshow, both literally and figuratively.

Motronic posted:

If you're unable or unwilling to educate yourself then you better pick the right home inspector and ask questions. The right inspector is rarely one recommended by your realtor.

jaffyjaffy posted:

This is my big fear with buying a non-SFH.
Also I'm seriously considering the intangibles of actually buying in this market where in most cases my PITI would be a few hundred above what I'm currently paying at an already expensive apartment. I know the usual rule is a mortgage (+/- HoA) should be cheaper than rent for it to be feasible, but my current place is basically offering me $50ish more than I'm paying now if I resign for next year and it is very very tempting, especially considering my sister's place in a different state upped her rent a few hundred this year. Not to mention the future with work from home and whatnot with work and general job security in what is likely going to be a recession soon (ie: if I got laid off I might just move closer to family a few hours away, out of state).

Effectively I need to think about what my reasons for wanting to buy are, since its definitely not a "need". As a single dude with no kids an apartment suits me just fine.

I also get that this isn't really a problem that anyone can give concrete advice on since its mostly just me venting, but still.

El Mero Mero posted:

Eh, this is a bit overly obtuse. I think regardless of your environment there are still the classics:

• Understand why you want to buy first and foremost. If the answer is "to make money" or "to not miss the market" then you need to stop.
  
• Consider the FULL cost of ownership when buying, not just financing costs and taxes. Repairs, transaction costs, insurance, utilities, etc etc. The top of your range should be inclusive of these costs, otherwise you can end up in a house you can't afford to maintain.
  
• Don't look at how much house you can buy, or can be qualified by a bank to buy, but rather how much house you need.
  
• Houses tie you to a local job market and a geography. If that market changes and you get laid off will you still be okay (don't assume you can sell at a profit and move)?
  
• Don't time the market (read that post 3-4 pages back.)
  
• You may discover that every single professional involved in the transaction seems deeply stupid, misrepresents, doesn't fully disclose, makes mistakes and is disorganized. Yes. You're the only one that ultimately has to live with the consequences.
  

kreeningsons posted:

The agent (our agent) said it would run 10k. Which I thought was a really low estimate.

I would definitely want to make those changes before selling. And (at this point, but that could change) I don't anticipate owning the place for more than 15 years, so I would probably want to sell in the future.

slurm posted:

Fuckin closing tomorrow and the zestimate dropped some today, ugh. I hope I didn't FOMO in at peak, I didn't really need to change my living situation, I just wanted a house for house's sake

quote:

Good afternoon!

We are very excited to move into the neighborhood right behind you at -snip-

I wanted to reach out personally to you to talk about two things

1. -Some general maintenance stuff, blah blah blah we have a dog-

2. If at any point you are considering moving or selling this home, we would be extremely interested in buying it as is and with minimal hassle on your part. Our goal is to own an adjacent lot to expand and have a place for my parents to move into. It would be a dream scenario and we are willing to do whatever is required to make it happen including

a. Covering closing costs

b A clean, all cash, non-contingent above market offer

c. Saving you the work of cleaning, staging and marketing the home

d. Giving you the timeframe and flexibility you need to make any arrangements. We would be flexible in whatever ways are helpful.

If this piques your interest at all, please let me know. Even if it's something that could happen years down the line, we would love for you to keep us in mind. Most importantly: We look forward to meeting you in person about the neighborhood. Keep an eye out for our dog, -snip-, -snip- and -snip-. They are little trouble makers.

Hotel Kpro posted:

42 days on the market and 25% off the list price but finally got an offer on my house. Probably gonna go back to renting for a bit

Dik Hz posted:

I would let one 14 year old use a table saw. I would not let a pack of 20 14-year olds use a table saw.

Promontory posted:

I was looking to buy an apartment (within an HOA) and had an offer accepted for 5k under the list price. The inspection revealed that the bathroom was not up to code (having been "updated" without any approvals by a previous owner) and would have to be fixed. I wasn't willing to deal with that and walked.

Now, however, the realtor contacted me saying that the seller is offering to have the renovation done in exchange for list price. They supposedly have contacts in construction and could get a buddy price. The realtor is describing this as a bathroom renovation at a discount but I am feeling skeptical. My concern is that even if the repairs would be approved and overseen by the HOA, the result would be a bare-minimum job to close the deal.

Could this actually be a good offer or should I listen to my gut?