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    Thursday, January 11, 2018

    Has anyone here bought a house for the maximum they were pre-qualified for? Real Estate

    Has anyone here bought a house for the maximum they were pre-qualified for? Real Estate


    Has anyone here bought a house for the maximum they were pre-qualified for?

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 05:44 PM PST

    I've seen the posts about people buying at the top of their budget. Wanted to see if someone went even more extreme. Saw a house that has all the wants, but it's at the top of my pre-qualification limit. 4.5x my yearly salary before taxes.

    How did it turn out? Regrets? Not able to keep up financially?

    submitted by /u/BigTime424
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    Have you had success with an "Offer to Purchase" Letter?

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 10:32 PM PST

    Edit: This is in California. I have heard about people writing letters to a seller explaining a bit about themselves in order to set their offer apart from others. Typically, I see this when there are a lot of bids or full price offers.

    I am in a situation where a property has been on the market for 100+ days and has no current offers. I'm not sure if there were prior offers. We are offering 15% less than the purchase price ($415k -- we are offering $350K with hopes of arriving in the $375k ballpark) and I'm not sure if an offer letter would be productive in this case.

    When we purchased our current home, we were told ours was not necessarily the highest offer but that the seller wanted it to go to a family instead of an investor, so I've seen the power of providing the seller with a bit of a story. I'm just not sure if in this case it will make us appear desperate. There is a TON of work that needs to be done, it's a major fixer-upper and the seller is the executor of the estate. I think if the seller knew our story, they may feel inclined to be more flexible on the numbers but I'd love advice on whether that could backfire.

    submitted by /u/pickle_cat_
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    Not too impressed with my agent.

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 07:27 AM PST

    Our house is currently listed for sale. Yesterday someone drove by, saw the sign, and called the number of our agent to set up a time to view the house.

    The time comes around and my agent calls me saying she forgot her key to let her in the little box on our door and can't get in, so I drive back over to let them in. No big deal I think, mistakes happen, and I was only 2 or 3 minutes away, so the potential buyers didn't have to wait long.

    As I get to my house the agent has two children, about 6 and 4, climbing out of her car. Perhaps she couldn't get a baby sitter, I understand. I leave and let them do their thing.

    Upon returning home I reviewed the security footage from when the buyers were in the house, mostly because I'm nosey, but also to gain some feedback about what they liked and what they didn't like. I could tell that the buyers were visibly uncomfortable.

    The agents children were wandering the house, getting in front of the buyers, standing in the way of things, and being annoying little brats. The buyers were stiff, said very little, and didn't spend much time looking around. I am certain we won't be hearing from these potential buyers again.

    I feel like a large part of this is due to the unprofessional behavior of our agent. If she had left her kids in the car with a movie on her phone for the 15 minutes they were in the house I could over look her other mistakes. Do I confront her about it? If so how? I haven't told her about the security footage and I like having it as leverage I can potentially use against a buyer.

    Southeast Idaho.

    submitted by /u/seacow42
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    California, how realistic is it to be a part time/weekend only realtor? Dad is an attorney who has broker's license.

    Posted: 11 Jan 2018 02:46 AM PST

    So my current industry is starting to wind down, and my dad offered to help me out with something part time. He's been a real estate broker part time for a few decades along side his practice, he mentioned that if I took the local 2 week program offered at the community college and got my real estate license he would just give me all of his clients, and give me all of his commission in addition to the industry standard pay.

    Is this something that's feasible? I'm not exactly a great salesman, I've just been kind of working with my hands since college. Mostly welding.

    submitted by /u/Lynch_king_1
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    Landlord [NYC] question - Warrant time?

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 07:52 PM PST

    Does anyone know about how long it takes in NYC for the eviction warrant to be "picked up" by the Marshal? I know it has to be submitted electronically after the judgement, etc, but is there any way to check on the status? like a queue. It's been about 14 days since it was submitted by my lawyer, and there was Christmas/New Year around that time also, so subtracting for those days leaves me at about 10 days waiting.

    submitted by /u/Zukkies
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    Worried. [WI, USA]

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 11:28 PM PST

    So, I need a bit of help. I'll try to make it short and sweet. My boyfriend and I were planning on moving into a house, about a week from the closing and a water pipe has leaked in the downstairs kitchen, the old ceiling is waterlogged aswell as the cabinets and countertops.

    I've been given the go ahead to move into the upstairs before the repairs are done and there has been talk about closing when the repairs are completed. My question is if the loan people will freak out and withdraw since they are being alerted to the problem.

    submitted by /u/SuccPrincess
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    Any investors have any regrets about investing in real estate? (FL)

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 12:39 PM PST

    Anyone out there just wish they stayed in the stock market? Im asking because I have about 200k in the stock market, which can allow me to buy a decent investment property. When the stock market declines, the RE folks will be giddy, and vice versa when the market appreciates 15+%. I guess those that went belly up in '08 will have some regrets, and those that moved in at rock bottom prices will be happy.

    submitted by /u/blackvans1234
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    Should I move my property to an LLC because of new tax bill?

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 06:34 PM PST

    I live in CA but bought a rental property out of state that is managed by a property management company, just an investment property which nets me about $1200 a month after mortgage, insurance, taxes, utilities, and management.

    I purchased the property under my name, and didn't form an LLC. I saw there was a change dealing with real estate income pass through for LLCs in the new tax bill. The tax bill is already screwing me because of SALT but I am trying to scrape some back.

    Right now the mortgage and insurance(and my large umbrella policy) is under my name. Would I benefit tax wise by moving it to an LLC. It is my only investment property besides my primary residence. I make around 300 to 360k a year in income from my job if that affects the formula determining if it's worth getting an LLC.

    submitted by /u/CCB0x45
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    First Time Home Buyer, Have Questions [Ohio]

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 09:18 PM PST

    First off, I am new here only finding this sub after googling home buying info. I've posted on /r/PersonalFinance a few times but with how large that sub is, my posts often get buried and lack the response I hope to get. This sub however seems to be far better suited for answering the questions I have. I also want to point out that I have read the FAQ which was very helpful and will be saved for future referencing. Special thanks to whomever created the "What are the steps to buying a house?" section - this was what I've been looking for! This may be a bit long-winded but I hope you can bear with me during my ramblings to help me out with making this big step forward.

    Questions... Pretty basic and hoping some may be able to provide answers/advice to help me in my situation but I figure I should provide some background info. I'm 29 working in IT making a good income but unfortunately still stuck at home with the parents. I started at my position about 8 months ago after spending years making less than I needed to save/buy for a home which is why I haven't moved out yet. After spending the first few months after starting the new position, paying off credit card debt and living just a little bit, I started to stash as much as my budget would allow to save for a home. As of today I have about $6500 in cash set aside for a home - not as much as I would have liked to have had, but more than I started with. Budget-wise I figure I am right around the $135k mark given what my income after bills/expenses shows. I am looking to get into my own place sooner than later - while I love that my parents welcomed me to stay with them while I worked on paying down Student Loan debt and saving for my own place, I need to get out. It's just not working anymore.

    Firstly, with consideration to how much I have saved, do I need to wait to buy and keep saving or am I OK to proceed with pre-approval and buying with that much set aside? I realize at least $4500 will need to go towards the down payment, but my concerns are more so with the other fees/costs that I may not have enough saved to cover. I've spoken with friends and they recommended I look into rolling closing costs into the mortgage, which I am not opposed to in the interest of leaving more of that cash available for the inspections and inevitable small renovations/misc purchases that will be necessary to fully move in. That said my realtor advised against this. What be the advice of /r/realestate? Or more specifically, what is the best way to approach this situation?

    Secondly, I've read that it's good to shop lenders and I want to do my due diligence to ensure I get the best possible interest rate/terms. My realtor works closely with the Howard Hannah lending team and recommended I go through them as they are a lending broker and can shop my credit for the best offer. She's also mentioned that she's seen them very often beat what other Disclosure: my realtor is actually a former coworker and friend from my previous job who transitioned full time into real estate working with her husband, so I do tend to give her a bit more trust in this situation. This sounds great but should I shop myself outside of just them? For example, I was thinking about speaking to my credit union, along with my local bank whom I have my checking accounts through to get pre-approvals. Would this be a good idea or is simply sticking with the lending broker enough?

    If there's anything else I need to know about that wasn't directly touched on in the FAQ, especially something that my pertain more closely to my situation, I would be happy hear about it. Thank you for taking the time to sit through my ramblings and apologize for the short essay. Excited to get this moving!

    submitted by /u/freshmaker_phd
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    Cost to build a 2500sqft House in Maryland

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 12:44 PM PST

    Has anyone used a builder in Maryland in the past 5 years to build a home, and if so what was your $/sqft.

    I am trying to figure out how much it would cost after buying the land. Thinking 2000-2500sqft 4bed with a garage.

    submitted by /u/draxus11
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    Counter offer by bank above list price

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 08:13 PM PST

    Found a foreclosure in a nearby town that my girlfriend and I really liked. It needs work. There was apparently a burst pipe which led to water damage and mold in the basement which was taken care of by a mold remediation company on the banks dime. However the finished basement, where the mold was, required them to tear out the bottom 4ft of sheet rock all the way around and to pull up the tile floor. The upstairs hardwood in the bedrooms shows water (or dog pee) damage. The living room is missing 3-4 planks of hardwood. The front door and bathroom door were both kicked in, damaging the jambs and trim, and require replacing. The kitchen is outdated, and the bedrooms are small. There's a large tree growing through the center of the deck (not sure why someone built the deck around a tree that size, but it's there. Haven't done a well or septic test yet. Regardless, the home checked off all the boxes that we had on our wishlist and we welcomed the idea of doing the work to make it our own. The listing price is 209k. I intentionally lowballed the initial offer at 160k with the goal of meeting somewhere in the middle. I set 180k in my head as the highest I was willing to go on the house and wanted to see how desperately the bank wanted to let it go. It's been on the market for 2 months and I'm the first and only offer it's received. Submitted the offer yesterday and today the bank replied with a counter offer of 210k. Realtor says they were offended by my offer and are voicing it. My immediate response was a resounding fuck you, but the quieter side does still want the house and is still willing to go up to 180k on an offer. My realtor and I agreed to wait a few days before submitting 180 as my best and highest, but I'm curious to get some feedback. Anyone ever deal with this sort of thing? Felt really douchey that they wouldn't just say, "no thanks we are going to stick to our list price" as opposed to intentionally counter offering 1k higher than list.

    submitted by /u/kevrend
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    What does it mean to "Sell a Project" in real-estate development?

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 12:27 PM PST

    I am in discussions with a Real-Estate Development company. I asked them what their revenues were so I could get a grasp of how big they are. I was told they collect fees and typically sell X amount of Projects for Y amount of dollars per year. Basically they are developing (actually building) and then selling the building? I am in the US, I don't really want to give any additional location information.

    Thanks in advance!

    Edit: for whatever reason I cant seem to reply to anyone. Thank you all, I think I got it!

    submitted by /u/SlackCaw
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    I am relocating through Cartus and am locked in to using one of four mortgage lenders (Chase, Wells Fargo, Guarenteed Rate Affinity, and Premia Mortgage). Any feedback for working with any of these companies?

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 04:12 PM PST

    I've heard bad things about Wells Fargo and have already crossed them off the list (unless someone convinces me otherwise). I've never heard of Guarenteed Rate or Premia Mortgage. I've gotten preapproval letters from all 3 companies and they are all close. I don't have any other accounts with any of the above either. I'm leaning towards Chase just because I recognize the name, but I realize thats a silly reason. Anybody want to sway me one way or another. Thanks!

    submitted by /u/unknowneinstein
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    Is it an ok time to buy in Southern California?

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 12:01 PM PST

    The title pretty much. Real estate agents are telling us yes, everyone else is telling us to wait. What should we do? Would it be wise to wait?

    submitted by /u/C6H12o6ohhoneyhoney
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    ABS real estate in Union NJ

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 07:24 PM PST

    does anyone know someone that works there that can help me out.. I'll pm you thank you

    submitted by /u/netsfan549
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    Inherited a rental property.. HELP!

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 09:27 AM PST

    I just inherited a rental apartment in Tampa, Florida. It is paid off, and being rented out for roughly $1,000 a month. I have no idea what to do, any advice or suggestions are welcome!

    Edit: The property is still tied up in court, waiting for it to be released to everyone.. Do I wait to contact people until that's done? It hasn't even been moved to my name yet.

    submitted by /u/eapentz
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    California - Could use some expert advice on whether to refinance or just sell?

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 12:45 PM PST

    We want to move, no question about that, but we have a lot of debt. If we sold our home we would be able to pay off everything we owe and still have a good down payment for our next home. My question is, would it be better to sell first, pay off debt and then buy another home a couple months down the road or could we refinance now, pay off all the debt, then put the house on the market? Would we have a problem qualifying for a new loan if we just refinanced the current one?

    submitted by /u/msstarlite
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    How can we get the most for our one acre of land?

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 12:16 PM PST

    My sister and I co own an acre of land that has a condemned house on it. The house is right next door to a reality company. I have asked if the reality company if they would sell it for us. They called back and made us an offer to buy it. They said that a 1.5 acre lot near by has just sold for 75K and would give us 50K for the lot. It seems to me that if they are willing to give us 50K for the lot out right that the lot might be worth more. The question is how much more and how to find out. The lot is grown up and is in bad shape. It is in the county but it is right next to the city limit line. There are a few new commercial properties near by.

    submitted by /u/figshooting
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    Agent has not giving us the keys to our new house despite signing escrow papers 7 days ago and money already transferred out of my bank account (Southern California). No word from the agent either. What’s going on?

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 08:00 AM PST

    This is just so bizarre to me. This is the second house I bought and with my first house I had keys in hand 2 days after signing escrow. I have not heard anything from my agent either despite a text and phone call.

    Update: Called the agent. She states the contract we signed states we wouldn't be taking possession of the house until January 14th. I asked why the notary/loan agent stated when we signed escrow a week ago that our closing date/possession had been moved up.She said she didn't know why we were told that and said they knew about our terms in the contract. I explained our 12k has already been transferred from our account and we don't have keys so she better figure it out. She then told me again about the contract. I firmly responded that the contract also said closing of escrow would be the 13th but that happened Jan 3rd so figure out what is going on.

    submitted by /u/DeadLannister
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    Any advice for my mom on appraisal snafu?

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 04:15 PM PST

    So, my mom has been trying to sell her house for awhile. It's kind of a funky, older, smaller home and it's way out in the country, but it has a good deal of charm, and she's taken good care of it.

    2 years ago when she was first planning on listing her house, she got it appraised and it can back as being worth about $135,000. Since then she has put additional work into it, including fresh paint in all the rooms & central air.

    She has found a couple that want to buy her house, and they had negotiated to 129,000. Lower than my mom was hoping for, obviously, but still enough for her to get out some hefty debt and have lots leftover to invest in her new life.

    The couple is getting their loan through a program with the USDA, and so the loan company's appraiser came out and re-appraised her house. This time she was told $113,000, if she does additional repairs, including painting the metal roof (not likely to be easy or cheap). This is over 4,000 less than she paid for the house in 2004.

    She's pretty devastated at this point, and she and the couple are asking if it's possible to get a second opinion from another appraiser. I want to help, but I've only ever rented, so I am completely clueless when it comes to buying and selling houses.

    Does anyone have any advice or ideas of what my mom could do?

    Thanks!

    Edit: The house in question is in one of the rural areas surrounding Blacksburg, VA. Currently neither my mom or the potential buyers have agents. The buyers are friends of a friend of my mom, and are willing to pay $129k if they get the loan for it.

    submitted by /u/lilblu3
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    Arkansas - How to get a Real Estate License?

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 03:52 PM PST

    I don't have a school within an hour drive of me. How can I get a real estate license and is it possible to get it online?

    submitted by /u/BowserTurtle
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    Saved search alerts for new properties—Zillow, Realtor.com, or...

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 12:03 PM PST

    I'm starting a long-term project to get a feel for the types of properties, prices, and neighborhoods of the Monterey Bay area (California), and to do this, i'm trying to set up an efficient series of Saved Search email alerts.

    I've tried Zillow before, and they send a lot of garbage updates on a lot of properties. My goal is to get a daily list of properties newly listed to the market, with price changes, and recent sales.

    Zillow works pretty good, but hoping for additional suggestions or advice. I've found that the region is too large for a single saved search, and it helps to segment by region via a series geofenced map search; stiill, i've noticed i've missed some properties that have been listed, or those that have sold (important for gauging market price trends).

    Any help or suggestions on alerternatives would be appreciated! (Also, is it true that not all homes that hit the public market are even listed on Zillow?)

    submitted by /u/agmatine2
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    Real estate agent asking us to sign a buyers agreement. Thoughts?

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 11:45 AM PST

    Hello,

    My husband and I are looking for our first home (condo) in the GTA area. We have been working with a real estate agent who we like and so far has been sending us and has taken us to a few properties. We have been working with him for about 3 weeks now and he has asked us to sign a buyers agreement. Should we sign this agreement? He explained the document to us. What are the pros and cons of sign a buyers agreement with a real estate agent?

    submitted by /u/Sarahfromtheblock
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    USDA RD Short Sale in Louisiana (house is in a flood zone/almost flooded in 2016) - to sell or not to sell?

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 09:25 AM PST

    Edit - USDA Designated Loan (Serviced by SWBC, which suck btw - don't ever deal with them) -- I'm in active foreclosure without a sale date as of yet (haven't been served yet) - due to sporadic unemployment... I NOW have a FT job and could afford the $1200/month mortgage if approved for a loan mod (working with an agent/mortgage help co. assures me I can get it restructured). But do I want to proceed with a loan mod on this property or just get rid of it via short sale? I was told about the relocation incentive of $3k min. up to $6k paid by the lender to move, but in a USDA RD loan, is this still the case? The house is on a street that flooded, and it came up to my door and stopped, thankfully. Definitely in a flood zone -- the reason I bought it is because it has a pool/spa combo with sunroom and garage - not a combo you see too often in Baton Rouge in the under $200k price range. I bought it for $177k, owe $174k or so, but I'm not attached to the home that much. I do love it, but the pool pump broke down a year after purchase, I've never had enough extra money to replace it, so the pool is a pond, the backyard landscaping has gone to shit, but the interior and front is great - new roof, stainless appliances, 3 BR, 2 BA, white tile floor in living and bathrooms, engineered hardwood in bedrooms, a beige-ish tile in the sunroom. When it comes down to it, it's so hard to make a decision because I want to move out of state soon, but I could keep the home and rent it out for profit, though it's been 2.5 years since I bought it, no equity in it due to the flood, and I still haven't been able to make any changes/repairs to minor things a renter would probably care about (I would). The way they configured the electricity in the house is so weird (i.e. master bath light controls garage motion light, and so on)... so... help!

    submitted by /u/kitkatgur1
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    Best CRM?

    Posted: 10 Jan 2018 10:58 AM PST

    A year and a half into my career, I've realized that that the number one way to keep the pipeline flowing and referrals coming is to keep in touch with a few 5 minute phone calls each day to former clients, old friends, acquaintances, etc. Focusing on this has changed the game for me, but I don't have an actual CRM, just a series of white boards with contact names, date of last contact and type of interaction.

    I can't seem to find a CRM that is very simple, loads quickly and automatically keeps notes on my interactions through Apple and social media (specifically Facebook). Anyone have a CRM that actually fits that description?

    submitted by /u/Dewman88
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