H110Hawk posted:

That is the value you're placing on living alone, more or less.

LLSix posted:

A roommate/renter would bring in 84k over 10 years assuming the same rent you're currently paying. Looks like the main cost here is wanting to live alone. I guess it depends on how much value you place on that.

I'm not familiar with that calc, but remember that as a home owner you're accepting a lot of risk and will be paying for repairs and upgrades.

Pollyanna posted:

I'm looking at the NY calculator and trying to figure out at what point renting makes less sense than buying. I set the calculator to say this:



which is roughly what my apartments have been monthly so far. Does that mean this is the equivalent home price I'm paying for infinitely, and that's the price of the house I might as well have bought?



I'm trying to wrap my head around how all this poo poo works, and it's not really sticking so far.

Pollyanna posted:

I think so? That's basically what I'm doing. But I don't think that's actually correct.

Most apartments around my area are 2k~2.2k per month to rent. According to NYT, that is equivalent to a 15-year mortgage on a $710,000 house. That sounds wildly incorrect to me: $2200 / month * 12 months/year * 15 years = $396,000. Not even slightly close to $710k.

Pollyanna posted:

But my goal isn't to use the house as a financial vehicle or investment, it's to have a place to live in where I don't have to worry about constantly paying rent and not having to depend on dipshits to make repairs or let me keep just one cat. I've heard all sorts of horror stories about people using houses as a way to make money and then getting beefed circa 2008 (e.g. my parents, to an extent). If I'm just trying to live, am I opening myself up to that same bullshit?

WithoutTheFezOn posted:

The high yield savings accounts people are talking about are (almost?) always online-only banks with no retail locations. The two most famous are Ally (formerly GMAC) and Marcus (Goldman Sachs).

The advantage is you earn roughly 1.6% interest vs less than 0.05%. The disadvantage is it usually takes 2-5 days to withdraw money, and you’re limited to six withdrawals per month before paying fees. Ally also offers a checking account so theoretically all your money can be instantly accessible.

So if it’s “emergency funds” but you don’t think you’ll need the money within a week or so, there’s not much reason to leave them in your local bank.

Pook Good Mook posted:

Read as much of this topic as I could, put in my first offer on a home today. Wish this lurker luck.

H110Hawk posted:

Elevator phone contracts are a life safety thing, so it's the 24/7 monitoring that ostensibly drives the cost up. You're supposed to test them all the time as well. Plus it's a specialty thing, so they're probably getting taken for a bit of a ride.


Low HOA fees are generally a bad sign. You want a well funded and well run HOA to prevent special assessments when things break. You want them to be able to afford to do all the things Hadlock mentioned in their post. Large buildings will have full time staff, plus you need service contracts on all the major equipment (HVAC and Elevator are 2 examples.) You want them to be able to afford to replace the high traffic flooring with new high traffic rated flooring, or a new roof when the time comes.

The HOA fee should have a downward effect on price, but if it's been well run over the years it's all "priced in" so to say and likely a net positive to the actual TCO of owning the place. You will pay a 10% discount compared to your "low hoa" neighbor, but you will also sell it for a 10% discount so who cares? Your low hoa neighbor is playing a game of hot potato with deferred maintenance.

Zero VGS posted:

This is so stupid... bank offering me 3.5% rate at 30 years, with 10% down if I borrow 900k and fuckin 5% down if I can get it under 550ish so it's not a jumbo.

Just a shame that it's extremely slim pickins in the middle of winter here in Boston. Investment companies are snapping up everything from the looks of it.

Zero VGS posted:

Sorry I meant stupidly good compared to what I'm used to hearing. The 5/10% down is insanely good for me as I own 4 units already and this will probably be a duplex that I'll partially rent to try and break even on the mortgage.

But also stupid because the mortgage offer is so great but the selection here is so poor.

Zero VGS posted:

Ah, I was getting confused because I thought that was what he was asking me about.

So you're thinking of forgoing the 2/2 condo and just getting a duplex instead?

If you can afford a duplex with the 600k, the underwriter will probably want to see that you can afford it if half the place remains vacant. My rental incomes are considered but that's because I've had them all for at least a year so they show on my tax returns.

In practice you'll need to be sure that you can afford having half vacant for a long stretch without going bankrupt. You'll need some reserves in case of an expensive repair like a leaky roof, or if you math it out and decide renovating the kitchen or bathroom would be a good ROI. In my area the houses have pre-existing lead which is a huge pain in the rear end only if you rent to a family with kids under 6 and they decide to gently caress you on it.

One of my places has a smaller first floor apt, with the second floor having a finished attic that has 3 more beds and a second bath. That lets me rent the upper half for enough that it almost breaks even on my mortgage. I had it rented for a year straight but suddenly I'm having trouble getting it rerented (been vacant 6 months months now, I turned down a really shady family that was willing and the rest have been lookey-loos). If you'd be sweating bullets losing over 3k / month then it might not be the plan for you. You might also check to see if the basement can be finished. Even if it is only zoned for 2 units, you could finish the basement, live in that yourself or use as an "in-law apartment" so you're not ratted out and can earn extra rental income in a pinch.

edit:

Where it gets real sweet is after you've been renting the duplex for a couple years, you can buy a second house and keep renting the first, using the historic income and expected income from the soon to be vacant second unit in order to qualify for the next place you buy. That's how I'm doing it, Monopoly Style.

EdEddnEddy posted:

Where is the difference coming from when looking up Mortgage rates, I find a handful of Online/Digital only ones that are as low as 3.2~% for 30 year, and then you get to normal mortgage companies/banks that are all the way up to 3.9%.

Our mortgage broker seems to be lumping everything into the estimate and we are getting a 3.75% rate which compared to all the other places we have looked with physical locations, is better, but then you see those online offers and have to pause for a second. Is it because they only offer the Mortgage itself and nothing else, are going to sell you loan immediately once its closed, etc?

Sundae posted:

Fun of the day:

8 Bed, 7 Bath, $1.43M. (Bay area, sounds too good to be true. Outside my price range, but I can smell a trainwreck from a mile away now so I'm checking this out.)

Top floor is a 2BR unit, which is the part the buyer gets to live in. Where are the other six? They're divided among five different apartments on the first and second floors, four of which are occupied. Oh good, you have tenants paying your mortgage! Investment! Free money! Get in and buy now now now!

*checks photos.* Top floor looks nice. Others look shady. *checks tenants* All are college students. Not ideal, but hey.

Last line of the MLS comments: Note: Property is recorded as SFH with the county. Subdivisions may not be up to code or permitted. Buyer to verify all permits after purchasing.

Theeeere it is, the inevitable disasterpiece of any hilariously under-market listing. Illegal tenants in unpermitted apartments that the owner probably can't force out, but who could (if they know the apartments are illegal) make his life a living hell all the same. SIGN ME THE gently caress UP. *pays more than most people's lifetime earnings*

H110Hawk posted:

They should have signed you up for some awful MLS automailer with daily updates.

Sundae posted:

(In the disclosures, multiple members of the family had died of natural causes in various rooms of the house. Not like "built on top of their graves" or anything, but still.)

Zero VGS posted:

You're saying higher condo fee is better to you?

silvergoose posted:

We had that...maybe not salt water though? No idea. We priced "demolish the inground pool" into our offer. gently caress pools.

Dik Hz posted:

I think the most important thing is to not buy insurance from a company's who's biggest expense is advertising. GEICO had good customer service but was very stingy. Progressive sucked poo poo in every way possible. Terrible company. I've been with Amica for a decade for car, homeowner's, and renter's, and they've been great. I'd totally do USAA if I could qualify for their good tiers.

Bi-la kaifa posted:

My partner did a 180 after her father poked around the neighbourhood and said he didn't like all the low income housing, so we're not looking at it anymore.

Andy Dufresne posted:

WithoutTheFezOn posted:

... people irrigate their lawns with potable city water? I’ve never seen that, it’s always been from a dedicated well or a retention pond. Not that my sample size is very big.

Hadlock posted:

Side note, Soylent is awesome, food is boring and a waste of time I get a case delivered every month, it's my lunch most days. I get chocolate flavor, I can't stand regular

Motronic posted:

That is standard "we'll beat any price" bullshit where Best Buy/Lowes/Home Depot/etc have their own model made so there's never anything to beat. So no, it's not really concerning. It's been the game for 20 years.

Dik Hz posted:

Normally a 30-year and a 15-year are a full point apart. If you can get a 30-year for only 30 basis points more, you should probably do that.

GoGoGadgetChris posted:

drat I'm jealous. Does putting too much down hurt your rates? I wanted to put 50% down and the 2.5% rate came with 0.79 points. Also in the Almost-850-Range but I am pretty sure they don't care if you're over 760

pmchem posted:

I mean, why wait (assuming USA). Have you SEEN 30-year fixed mortgage rates? COVID isn't gonna tank the economy for 30 years. Or even three.

Tunicate posted:

just got a telemarketer trying to buy my house for cash so SOMEONE is trying to buy in this market

Summit posted:

It’s not fraud if you decide to be a bro and pay them back for that help they provided on your down payment years ago. As long as that decision is your own and it was not expected, it’s allowed. There just can’t be any expectation whatsoever that you’ll pay back that gift. If you decide to do so anyway that’s allowed.

quote:

You may be wondering if you can repay a mortgage gift. The answer is no. That’s because the gift letter needs to explicitly state that the donor will not accept any repayment. Again, it’s to ensure the legitimacy of the monetary gift.

pointsofdata posted:

I did a bunch of research into this and most of it was pointless if you're expecting to stay more than a few years, as by far the most important factor becomes house price growth (much more than stock market growth, as you're so leveredged). It's almost impossible to predict so have fun!