[Update] Contractor won't pay for damage, should I tell homeowner's insurance the work is complete? Real Estate |
- [Update] Contractor won't pay for damage, should I tell homeowner's insurance the work is complete?
- How many offers did you put in before buying your first house?
- Mid block multi family project? (California)
- Bank f&$@ed up and is now asking me (after appraisal) to raid my retirement to pay a higher downpayment.
- Average Rental Prices for U.S. & Canada Cities (Multiple Markets)
- [IL] Another update from "Letting an offer 'sit,' Follow Your Gut Edition!!
- Retracted offers on home -NJ
- Offering a Counter Vs. Accepting an Offer (Virginia)
- First Property in Durham NC, 50k/yr job
- [Thoughts] Should you ever put a large enough down payment to make a deal work?
- Neighbors who are tenants broke my property
- What should I expect from an agent before being shown homes?
- Got any financial advice on buying my first house? Not sure if I should..
- Closed on New Construction - Very Loud AC Coolant Vibration and Noise in a Bedroom... Options?
- How should I go about creating a lease to rent out spare rooms in my home?
- Home Selling Tips - $700k and up homes
- Closing on July 11th, agent wants to schedule final walkthrough for my purchase on July 5th- is this a normal process?(California)
- Joining a team
- Anyone notice a sharp decline in new inventory over the last two weeks?
- Laundry list of repairs following inspection [Massachusetts]
- Consolidating funds prior to closing
- What does ‘real estate investor’ job title mean?
- Interest rate vs down payment
- Buying house with parent's cash under Fannie Mae FirstLook: Is this possible?
| [Update] Contractor won't pay for damage, should I tell homeowner's insurance the work is complete? Posted: 03 Jul 2018 05:13 PM PDT Original thread here: https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/8s8kej/contractor_wont_pay_for_damage_should_i_tell/ So based on the advice in the thread, the first thing I did was email back the insurance company. The language I settled on was "in the course of completing the original scope of work, the contractor damaged the electrical line to our garage subpanel," without directly stating that the work was complete or incomplete, and asked if they had any suggestions for how to move forward. They promptly responded that they were deeply sorry about the situation and I do not have coverage for damage caused by a contractor (so to the comment about finding out the quality of my insurance company, I certainly did!). I then circled back with the contractor to let him know that the insurance company had reached out to confirm that the work was complete, and that we'd like to get the electrical issue resolved so I could authorize the insurance company to release depreciation. I think he missed the insinuation and responded as though we were both on Team "Get the insurance company to release depreciation" (like, "huh, that's weird, the insurance company shouldn't care about the electrical issue"). My husband followed up with a rather strongly worded email laying out our demand for full payment. The contractor called him right away and, after discussing at length the overall unfairness of the situation, offered to pay half, which was our original offer. We deposited his check yesterday. Thanks Reddit! [link] [comments]  |
| How many offers did you put in before buying your first house? Posted: 03 Jul 2018 05:35 AM PDT Just looking for some other people's experiences to help stave off the frustration! We're currently up to 4 here in NJ (NYC suburbs), with the 4th offer being declined this morning. 1st offer: bid 10% above asking; lost to a buyer who offered asking but was willing to pay cash. 2nd offer: bid $5k under asking because the house had been on the market for 2 months. sellers took a week trying to make up their minds, at which point we came back and offered asking but with the contingency that the sellers had to decide in 24 hours or we withdraw our bid. sellers accepted the new offer, signed the contract, but during the attorney review period, another buyer came in and offered $2k above asking... not sure if it was legit or they were trying to goad us into a fictitious bidding war, but we were beyond annoyed with the sellers already and walked away. 3rd offer: bid asking on a house that we should have offered more on, but my SO didn't like it nearly as much as I did, so maybe no harm done that we were outbid by $20k 4th offer: same story as the 1st... we bid $15k above asking ($385k on a house listed at $370k), but lost out to a comparable bidder who was able to offer cash. kinda starting to feel like home buying is just people who already own homes trading them back and forth, since trying to save up $400k while also paying rent isn't exactly a realistic option. [link] [comments]  |
| Mid block multi family project? (California) Posted: 04 Jul 2018 01:17 AM PDT I recently received news that my commercial property is eligible for rezoning to high density mixed use and am considering undergoing the process. The property is a 3.4 acre parcel of vacant commercial land in the Inland Empire, in a city that has seen staggering demand for residential development. This parcel has around 300 feet of frontage off the city's main travel artery (65k CPD) and is surrounded by strong, anchor retail tenants. Additionally, zone changes from commercial to mixed use in this city are historically unheard of. I have inquired at City Hall a couple of times on my own and had my requests denied immediately by planning clerks. As a last ditch effort, I opted to recruit a well known local architect with city connections to negotiate on my behalf and received good news. The city agreed to the change, adding that they would process a development code amendment (DCA) in conjunction with my project's submittal to allow other mixed use projects along this artery as well. This, in my opinion, only makes the project all the more lucrative, as I will have the first movers advantage in a very busy area that was formerly a residential deadzone. My concern lies with potential difficulties tenants would have in physically accessing my proposed development. My parcel is on a direct mid-block: I do not have ingress/egress access from corner lots in either direction. This would result in a sort of "horseshoe" entrance and exit pattern, where tenants would enter into the property mid-block and exit mid-block. My question, for any experienced multi-family developers, is if this layout is an instant project kill, even if it is situated in an area with high demand. After further due diligence, if the project is viable, I intend only to entitle the property and sell it to residential developers. I have no intention in developing this property myself. It's also my hope to sit down with several local developers before I begin the entitlement process and after I do some more concrete research to see if the project garners any interest. Thoughts? Much obliged. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Jul 2018 06:25 PM PDT I live in Detroit and I'm buying my first house, mostly as an investment and to start saving money in a mortgage. I did A LOT of research: geographical, architectural, construction, real estate, and financial and came to the conclusion that my best bet would be to apply an FHA to a duplex. I found a good deal in a very promising area of the city. The bank approved the mortgage. I paid for an inspection and negotiated down, got a second mortgage at the reduced price approved. Signed all of the paperwork, put down the deposit with the bank on an appraisal. Then out of the blue the banker working on my mortgage asks me to send copies of my retirement account. It was odd given that I had already sent the pay stubs and bank account info twice for each mortgage approval. Today I get a call from the bankers working on my mortgage and they tell me that the property was listed as a single family unit in their system, even though I had asked explicitly whether an FHA would apply to the duplex. I got divorced 3 years ago and had to put my student loans on deferrement because my ex emptied our bank account. The bankers explained that when they updated the property in the system as a duplex, the loan deferrement threw a warning noting the deferrement that they cannot override and I need to put way more down than 5%. Then suggest I empty my retirement account. I told them that was an outrageous suggestion given the astronomical penalties I would incur. The call ended with me pretty angry and them muttering about having to calculate how much I'll have to put down to re-re-requalify. Ive put $1000 into an inspection and appraisal of a propeety that the bank said I was approved for. Can I recoup this cost? The lease on my place is up in 2 months and I don't want to lose this property. Does anyone here know if I have any recourse, legal or otherwise? Any help or suggestions would be really appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| Average Rental Prices for U.S. & Canada Cities (Multiple Markets) Posted: 03 Jul 2018 08:58 PM PDT This is a visual representation of Numbeo.com's rental index for U.S. and Canadian Cities (June 16, 2018). Indices are an excellent way to contrast and compare different locations. I like this dataset because it's broad enough that it includes cities that don't normally get much attention. A few notes:
Data Source: Numbeo.com's cost of living index (accessed June 16, 2018) [link] [comments]  |
| [IL] Another update from "Letting an offer 'sit,' Follow Your Gut Edition!! Posted: 03 Jul 2018 08:01 AM PDT Holy moly, the saga continues. As you may remember, I posted this yesterday, and this morning I just got this little tidbit. My sister in law is the assistant to a successful realtor in town (coincidentally the realtor who was representing the buyer we just turned down) and 2 weeks ago we were chatting about real estate as we often do. I asked her about a house that has infamously been sitting on the market for a long time, likely due to a less-than-desirable location (cute house, good price, bad location) that had been contingent, active, contingent, pending, and then back to active so I asked her what had happened with it. She said they got through the whole process, then hours before closing, the buyer changed their mind and decided not to go through with it. So they had to forfeit their earnest money and pay an agreed-to amount of $5,000 to the seller to void the contract. At which point I just say...keep your money, buy the house, then turn around and sell it... But anyway, those poor sellers, right? As you guys could probably guess, I found out this morning it was the buyer we just turned down. So thank you all so much for your input, I'm so glad I followed my instincts and told her to kick rocks. I couldn't imagine being in the position that poor family was put in. Real estate is a stressful biz, guys! Thanks again for everything! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Jul 2018 07:25 PM PDT A house I like has been on the market for over a month now. It's had four above asking offers (supposedly), all of which have been retracted. How can I find out why those offers were rescinded? I don't expect the seller's agent to give us a straight answer why. They could've been rejected for not being high enough for all I know. [link] [comments]  |
| Offering a Counter Vs. Accepting an Offer (Virginia) Posted: 03 Jul 2018 06:12 PM PDT I am currently selling my home in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I received an offer and provided a counter. I had another thought after signing the counter, about giving a different couple the chance to realign their bid. The first couple I countered, accepted my counter. My realtor is telling me that I'm locked in, even though the documents haven't been ratified. I must come off the market, cannot do any more showings, and cannot accept other bids. This doesn't sound right to me. As the owner, do I not have the ability to extend a counter to another bidder, after extending a counter to a different bidder if the documents haven't been ratified? I can, and will provide further details to those that prove real estate savvy in Virginia law. Thank you in advance. [link] [comments]  |
| First Property in Durham NC, 50k/yr job Posted: 03 Jul 2018 04:38 PM PDT I am looking to buy a single family home in Durham, NC. I'm a freelancer making between 50k-60k a year and have been quoted for a 210k budget, but not officially pre-approved yet. I want a 3/2 ideally, but could be happy with a 2/2, and plan on renting at least one room full time. I'm not in a rush to buy, but it's on to do list. My questions are: How much should I put down? I was thinking 10% (and have that saved) I'm antsy about buying too much house for a freelancer. Is 210k a good amount for my income? Does anyone live in Durham and have a good resource for local real estate tips, reviews? I'm new to the area- only been here a few weeks. Best areas to buy in for up and coming, local resources and communities would be welcome. [link] [comments]  |
| [Thoughts] Should you ever put a large enough down payment to make a deal work? Posted: 03 Jul 2018 12:51 PM PDT I've been talking with a friend who have relatives that have "old money" and "mom/pops" money and they argue that there isn't a problem with buying these recently luxury condos developed in NYC, particularly in LIC (which has been getting hot in the recent years). My speculations is that they are opting into putting that type of money down because they are making a lot of money now and it's sort of a blanket investment where they can park their money and hopefully bank on appreciation while forcefully able to make it cash flow. For example:
At this rate, it would take about 33 years to break even from the initial downpayment without factoring potential appreciation. I gave a similar example to my friend and he says that it doesn't matter, because the goal in mind is to: 1.) Park the money 2.) Bank on apprectiation 3.) Wealth preservation (not growing wealth because his family already does that working in the food industry). I said that I understand that his points makes sense if he prioritizes wealth preservation. I argue that there's opportunity cost tied within this purchase but he says it doesn't matter since they're making enough cash to live a comfortable life style that they deem is "good", and they aren't actively looking to optimize each dollar. He also states that the goal isn't prioritizing real estate, but growing their restaurant business which is their bread and butter. With the situation the way it is, would that really be a viable way to go approach real estate, especially in NYC. I'm well aware of your basic rule of thumbs/strategies/approaches that work elsewhere doesn't really work in irrational markets such as LA, SF, & NYC. [link] [comments]  |
| Neighbors who are tenants broke my property Posted: 03 Jul 2018 12:44 PM PDT My current neighbors are renting the house next to me. They somehow broke something on my property. Is this something I can complain to the tenant about? These neighbors are generally a bit annoying. [link] [comments]  |
| What should I expect from an agent before being shown homes? Posted: 03 Jul 2018 03:23 PM PDT Our agent seems very interested in what we want but doesn't seem to ask for much input prior to showings. I'm not even sure what's been planned aside from the first home we meet up at. Is this normal? I mentioned lots of homes that seem promising but he sometimes shows me something completely unrelated. I suppose the neighborhoods are spread out and he probably doesn't want to drive around in traffic jumping between them, but at this point we've already lost the chance to snatch a great short sale. It's almost as though he's too busy for us but we feel a loyalty to him since he helped us with our first home, but that was in the city. Since the auto-moderator may complain.. I should also mention my search is in Illinois. [link] [comments]  |
| Got any financial advice on buying my first house? Not sure if I should.. Posted: 03 Jul 2018 02:58 PM PDT I'll keep this short(ish). So I'm in the army,married. Me and my wife just got orders to a place we weren't expecting. All was fine but after looking at how terrible the on base and surrounding rental housing is we are thinking of buying. We've found some wonderful houses for sale in the area and we would be spending as much(or less) on buying as we would on renting. Except we aren't necessarily prepared to buy...but I feel like it may be better to just take the risk and buy considering we would have to seriously downsize our lives to live on the 200 year old housing on post(and not worth what they charge) Our problem is that we only have about 6k saved up. Were planning on using a VA loan with 0 down and biting the bullet on the long term affects of interest on that. Were looking in the 150 to 200k range and we've found a dream home we would keep forever for 200k. A quick breakdown of our finances: Total Monthly income:$7300 Total expendatures:(including the little we put into an investment and our Roth ira. As well as our spending and Bill's but not including any current rent or utilities):$3850 So essentially we will have about $3450 a month after it's all said a done but not including a new mortgage and Bill's etc. Were only 23 so I'm a little hesitant and uncomfortable buying a house but it's what we really think is best based on our situation. What do any of you more experienced people think? Have any of you bought a house kind of on a whim and regretted it?not regretted it? [link] [comments]  |
| Closed on New Construction - Very Loud AC Coolant Vibration and Noise in a Bedroom... Options? Posted: 03 Jul 2018 05:43 PM PDT So last week we closed on new construction. Unfortunately hvac wasn't installed and working until the day of closing, but we saw that it was working and cool air was being pumped throughout the house. On that walk-through we simply inspected the items that had been noticed on the previous full walk-through then proceeded to closing. Afterwards, keys in hand, we went back to the house and upon entering the bedroom next to the hvac closet (both upstairs) we could hear an annoying high pitched noise coming from the wall. Turning the furnace/ac off stopped the noise. It wasn't rushing air noise, which would have been expected, it sounded mechanical. Today I had an independent hvac technician come and inspect the furnace and ac and he was very unimpressed with the installation. He actually said he didn't understand how it could have passed inspection. He unbent the furnace frame so the doors would close and seal correctly, removed some poor quality tape from the ducting and retaped, and even bolted some ducting that had only been taped (there are a couple legit deficiencies he didn't have the equipment to fix on hand and suggested I notify the builder). The normal operating noise was actually reduced, which was great. However, the high pitched metallic grate/whine heard through the wall in the adjoining bedroom wasn't affected. The technician believes "nearly 100%" that it's the ac's refrigerant line making noise and vibrating against studs and/or the furnace's gas line. The noise in the bedroom is loud, metallic sounding, and in our opinion makes the room unusable as a bedroom. The technician agreed that it would drive him crazy. So the question... is this something I could reasonably make a claim about on the 1 year builder's warranty? We would completely understand normal air whooshing furnace noise, but this seems obnoxious. We've essentially been sold a new house that has a major nuisance factor in one of the bedrooms. It doesn't seem right. Thanks for any insight or suggestions on what to do about this. Just pretty upset that they felt this was OK. (Edit: This is in Colorado.) [link] [comments]  |
| How should I go about creating a lease to rent out spare rooms in my home? Posted: 03 Jul 2018 05:33 PM PDT Sorry if this is the wrong sub, but I recently bought a home and I have a few friends that want to rent out the extra rooms I have. Now I told them they would have to actually sign leases with me and none of this "on your honor" crap. How should I go about writing up the documents, and what should I put in them, to ensure both parties are protected? Edit: I'm in Peyton Colorado. [link] [comments]  |
| Home Selling Tips - $700k and up homes Posted: 03 Jul 2018 08:41 AM PDT I am planning on selling my home next spring, and I'd like to start getting things ready for next Spring. So far, I am planning to do the following: (1) De-clutter the house (2) Get a home inspection -> I'm not sure if the pro outweighs the cons, since I know I will have to disclose the issues to prospective buyers. (3) Fix Inspection Issues (3) Phase 1 Improvements -> Remove wallpapers, update the backsplash (4) If I don't get any reasonable offers, then do Phase 2 improvements -> Paint kitchen cabinets, paint the entire house with typical white/gray color In our neighborhood, I notice some homes go pending quick, while others linger for months, even a year. If you can share your experience and tips on how to get a home sold quick, I'd love to hear from you. I'm in North Georgia, 40 mins from ATL. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Jul 2018 10:30 AM PDT The current owners will be living in the home until July 14, and I feel like the home could be damage between my final walkthrough and the time they move out? Is there anything that can be done if I already sign the walkthrough? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Jul 2018 12:13 PM PDT Recently licensed and have a job with a reputable brokerage. Is it ok to interview for a position on a team not affiliated with my brokerage? Cause I'm doing that on Friday, and sincerely unclear whether or not it's acceptable practice. [link] [comments]  |
| Anyone notice a sharp decline in new inventory over the last two weeks? Posted: 03 Jul 2018 05:42 AM PDT Curious if it's just my area or a more widespread seasonal trend. Seems like not much new has come on the market in a few weeks. I'm in Northern NJ [link] [comments]  |
| Laundry list of repairs following inspection [Massachusetts] Posted: 03 Jul 2018 02:55 PM PDT Below is the list of things I'm requesting the seller fix before closing. Some things I won't budge on (see #1). Some things I've added but would be fine not to have (see #6.2). What do you think I'm being particularly crazy about? The list seems long and troublesome but there are dozens of legitimate things the inspector pointed out that I haven't even included (and won't).
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| Consolidating funds prior to closing Posted: 03 Jul 2018 02:54 PM PDT First time buyers in GA. My wife and I are on contract on a house with a quick closing. Our funds for the down payment are scattered between three different bank/investment accounts. I want to consolidate all into one bank account to be able to do one wire transfer at closing. Will this bank account activity cause issues with the underwriters? [link] [comments]  |
| What does ‘real estate investor’ job title mean? Posted: 03 Jul 2018 08:46 AM PDT From what I know, investing in real estate doesn't create a income. You buy and hold for a few years and sell. How do people make a full time living from this? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Jul 2018 02:20 PM PDT First time home buyer in GA. In talking with my lender, I was notified that I can potentially get a better rate with 25% down vs 20% down. This was news to me as I thought 20% is the magic number which unlocks the best rates and that's been my savings goal. The lender claimed 20, 25, and 40% down are each thresholds to a better rate. Is this correct? For talking purposes assume conventional loan with perfect credit. [link] [comments]  |
| Buying house with parent's cash under Fannie Mae FirstLook: Is this possible? Posted: 03 Jul 2018 09:42 AM PDT Some background: I'm house shopping, my parents have bought and sold many houses for investments and such and have tons of experience with this. My father is also a contractor with 30+ years of experience. I also have a great agent who has an excellent idea of what I'm looking for in a house. My parents just downsized to a much smaller house and sold their vacation house, so they have a decent amount of cash on hand. Since my dad and I both have experience in the construction industry and can do tons of work ourselves/know good contractors to hire when we need to, my parents suggested that I look at foreclosed homes that need some work. Since these homes aren't easy to mortgage, they said they'd buy it with cash, let me fix the house up (both myself, with my dad, and by hiring a contractor) and that I could buy it from them with a mortgage for the purchase price + price of repairs when the house was habitable and would pass a lender's inspection. We set a budget, I got preapproved for what I wanted to spend after repairs and we set about searching. We were also excited to learn that because of the area we are looking in, the price I'd end up paying for the house would be way lower than its appraised value, and that my parents would give me a "gift of equity" so I could avoid PMI. All in all, a great situation so far, everyone involved is pretty pumped about this. Fast forward a few weeks (this is the part with the question): We find the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood. It's a foreclosure that needs a roof and a kitchen, agent says after he looked at comps in the neighborhood, it would likely appraise at about 30% more than I'd end up spending after repairs, which is awesome. The issue is that this home is under Fannie Mae FirstLook as it just went on the market. This means that only an owner occupant can bid on it in the first 2 weeks. Since technically, my parents are buying it and selling it to me, they are investors in the eyes of Fannie Mae. We hope the house will still be available in 2 weeks, but it's pretty nice so I don't know. Right now, my agent and I are looking into having my parents and I be co-owners when they buy the house, so that I'd be an owner occupant, and then I'd buy them out when the house could pass a lender's inspection. Has anyone else done anything like this/have experience with this kind of situation? Side note: I know this is more of a question for a professional and I do have my agent and my parent's real estate attorney looking into it, I just wanted to see if anyone had done this before. TLDR: Parents are buying a fixer upper for me that I will buy off them when it's mortgageable. If I'm put on the title when they buy the house initially, will I count as an owner-occupant so we can bid under FirstLook period? [link] [comments]  |
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