The value of a good inspector, and paying them as well as you need to. Real Estate |
- The value of a good inspector, and paying them as well as you need to.
- I want to get into Real Estate (help)
- Quicken loans bait and switch
- Selling older condo - breaker box hazard?
- If a hurricane damages a house while it's under contract, who repairs?
- Checklist for second walkthrough - pre-inspection
- How much property tax on new construction in NJ?
- Sell house with no realtors
- NBN FttP in street. Developer didn't install Telecommunications Conduit & claims Renter has to do it (NSW, Australia)
- How will zone change from residential to “light industry” impact my house value
- Lingering paint odor
- Structural issues, builder repaired, insurance options
- Earnest deposit when buying a home...bigger is better?
- Room rental deal
- Should FTHB be wary of a flip by large developer?
- Good neighbor next door & 203k loan
- Easiest to just offer cash too
- Appeal FHA appraisal? [NY]
- I made a few minor changes to my house on Zillow and the value on the Zestimate decreased 14K
- Real estate agents and appraisers, value inquiry.
- Selling my house. What's a reasonable level of cleanliness to leave the house?
- New Agent Help: Any samples on writing letters to buy houses?
- Can I file 1099 w income from SO to increase overall income and buy a house independently?
- EMV (estimated market value) effect on Zillow Zestimate?
| The value of a good inspector, and paying them as well as you need to. Posted: 24 Aug 2019 12:51 PM PDT In the buy process now on a home out of our area, relocating "back home" for a great job! Destination South NH. I have the fortune of having grown up with a man who started a home inspection business in the region. (not identified due to rules). His operation is first class, very professional. I have seen many of his social media posts about his services prior to using him, homeowner updates etc. I knew the quality was top notch, in addition to knowing the owner. The quality his company produced has saved me thousands already in the negotiations post inspection. An issue came up in inspection, and the seller got a conflicting opinion, however I was able to point to the professionalism and quality of my inspector and reports, vs. the conflicting opinion which was genuinely inferior... This allowed me to insist on the remedy we wanted as recommended by our expert. So pick your own inspection company of course... But also ask for a sample report from them, and ensure you receive quality you can stand behind. My guys were not cheap, but a few hundred extra for the high quality just saved me a few thousands! [link] [comments]  |
| I want to get into Real Estate (help) Posted: 24 Aug 2019 11:06 PM PDT Hey all! I'm interested in real estate, but I definitely don't want to work for anyone, at least not forever. I am 25 years old, Active duty Army on my way to Fort Lewis in Washington. Getting married soon as well. I know I want to take advantage of the free schooling, and the VA loan. Is there any classes that would benefit me in the long run, and any other benefits the military offers that I should take advantage of and looking into? Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Aug 2019 05:12 AM PDT I've been working to close on a home for over 50 days now with quicken loans. I was first scheduled to close 2 weeks ago but that closing was delayed due to a low appraisal. The seller lowered his price and our new closing date is set for this Thursday. Yesterday I was sent a new "redisclosure package" where the loan officer has added a new 5000$ in points as part of the closing cost. I don't have an additional $5000. There also doesn't seem to be any justification for the points. Since first being approved for the loan the FED has cut interest rates once and hinted future cuts are coming, I paid off my car loan and my credit score went up significantly. This really just seems like a bait and switch tactic by quicken. If this kills this deal I'm going to file a complaint with the CFPB. Edit I mistakenly thought interest rates had been cut more than once in the last two months, that was incorrect. Rates have been cut once and the FED has hinted more are coming soon. [link] [comments]  |
| Selling older condo - breaker box hazard? Posted: 25 Aug 2019 02:10 AM PDT Hello all, Five years ago I bought a condo that was built back in 79. Well, I need to move and I'm trying to sell. Today the buyer had an inspection and it came up that a safety hazard is that the breaker box is slightly jutting out from the wall. Said it fails to pass code as it is. Breaker box https://imgur.com/a/eAMLeSH I took some pictures and as you can see it only is slightly not flush with the wall. I don't recall this being an issue with the place when I bought it and I'm having no luck finding any sort of estimate on how I can even get the thing fixed or how much of a money sink this is going to be. I'm already taking the buyers offer at over $10,000 below my listing because I'd like to move soon. Has anyone ever seen this sort of thing before or have any idea as to how best handle it? [link] [comments]  |
| If a hurricane damages a house while it's under contract, who repairs? Posted: 24 Aug 2019 09:58 PM PDT I'm in Central Florida, currently have a house under contract that has a screened pool. There's a small chance of a hurricane in the next week or two, and I was just thinking to myself "what if the hurricane makes shit of the screens on the pool?" It's a remote possibility but curious, would we expect the current owners insurance to cover? If we pay to have it repaired while the owner is waiting for the claim to be paid, do we get reimbursed? How does this kind of thing work? [link] [comments]  |
| Checklist for second walkthrough - pre-inspection Posted: 24 Aug 2019 06:19 PM PDT So we're going back for a second walkthrough on a house that checked all the boxes on the first go-round. This time we're going without kids and are thinking we'll probably put an offer in afterwards. Obviously we'll have a professional inspection done if we get an offer accepted, but should we prepare in a particular way for this second showing? Things I'm thinking of are: - measuring tape to measure appliances and whatnot to see if they're standard - flashlight to check behind boxes around the basement walls (disclosures listed professionally-repaired cracks from a couple years ago) - disclosure also listed "insect" treatment but didn't specify. Should I bring a long screwdriver and poke around on beams? I assume I should probably instead insist on seeing the pest inspection report or have another done? What am I missing that would be valuable for us in a pre-inspection phase, but beyond "do we like it"? [link] [comments]  |
| How much property tax on new construction in NJ? Posted: 24 Aug 2019 06:13 PM PDT I am in the process of purchasing a new construction property in Fort Lee, NJ. The offer price is 917k. The previous owners originally bought the house at 702k, demolished it and built two attached townhouses. Fort Lee property tax is 2.23%, but when I look at the Borough of Fort Lee Tax Collector Department to look at the tax information, it shows the land value to be 360k. My question is, once I purchase this property at the new offer price of 917k, will I be paying 2.23% property tax on the newly set 917k value of the property, or 2.23% of the local assessed value of my property? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Aug 2019 11:35 PM PDT I was hoping someone here has done this before or knows what to do. We recently moved from Alabama to Michigan leaving our house behind (it did not sell in time before the move) with my father in law renting from us. We get nothing extra from the rent. He pays exactly what our mortgage is. We want to sell directly to him without having to hire a realtor. We will need an appraisal but he will bypass the inspection as he is a handy man and can fix it all himself if something were to come up. The reason why I do not want any realtors is because we are paying his closing costs and down payment as a favor to him with hopes that saving that extra 7% will get us close to breaking even for helping him. I don't know where to start. He's approved for the mortgage already. Who do I contact next? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Aug 2019 10:22 PM PDT Hi, Sorry if this is the wrong sub...please direct me to the correct one if its inappropriate. Recently moved into a 3 bedroom house that was built in 2016...and NBN FttP was installed in the street already at that time. The premises is on a subdivided block of land. The house in front has FttP connection but the developer didn't install any sort of telecommunications conduit when building this house even though its apparently a legal requirement? NBN is unable to connect the premises to the NBN until such a conduit is installed yet the Developer and the Real Estate are trying to claim that it is the renters responsibility. The NBN policy and federal government policies regarding it say that it is the developers responsibility to do this. Digging up the premises to install a telecommunications conduit would not be cheap....and then NBN will charge the person $600AUD as a co payment to connect NBN thru that conduit. I have submitted all the documents and policies to the Real Estate....and they advised that they passed it onto the Developer.....but all I am hearing is silence. My Question is where do i stand legally in all of this as the renter and how can I get some movement on this? I am very happy with the premises otherwise but am not keen on spending big for another persons home or pushing and having them skyrocket the rent for something that should have already been done. I am not comfortable spending thousands to get this installed and increase the value of the developers premises without renumeration....and with the possability of not having my 1 year lease renewed and thus throwing away money to do something the developer was required to do. Regards, B [link] [comments]  |
| How will zone change from residential to “light industry” impact my house value Posted: 24 Aug 2019 11:21 AM PDT Hi we just purchased a house we love in a pricier town and we're lucky to get into this town for the price we did IMO. We are directly across from a Highway exit ramp that gets a lot of traffic. But we have a nice backyard that is set back and secluded from the road. We have a wrap around driveway that you literally drive off the exit ramp and into our house driveway. Anyway we just got a notice that the town is considering rezoning our street from residential to "Light Industry" I'm curious how this will impact the value of our house. Hypothetically it would be an extremely good location for a business that wanted easy accessibility from the highway. But I've really no clue if this rezoning will help or hurt our home value. Can anyone explain what this could mean for us? Edit: I found the meeting minutes. This only is changing zoning on the west side of the highway. It's for condos and a restaurant. I don't think it will impact us much at all. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Aug 2019 09:36 PM PDT Hello, I bought a house 2 months ago and the cabinets still have a paint odor. The guy who sold it to us painted everything a week before closing. I've tried leaving all doors open all day for consecutive days, glade plug ins, vinegar on all surfaces and still the smell is present. Any other ideas of how I can get rid of the smell? [link] [comments]  |
| Structural issues, builder repaired, insurance options Posted: 24 Aug 2019 09:28 PM PDT A house we found meets all of our needs, and some "needs" we didn't know we had until we saw what the house had. We haven't made an offer, but we asked for the disclosures. In the documentation, on a line about "any damage to the flooring", they stated the floor sagging it referenced an additional report. This report was authored by the builder in response to what I describe as a massive structural repair caused by an improper support post. I don't want to provide the document, but it goes into great detail into the issue and the repairs. I showed the report to a structural engineer, and he basically said "run". The issue of this support post was created when the original owners discovered, during the build, that the staircase was not how they requested it be designed. Apparently the people on site realized the mistake and "fixed" thier error, but did not adjust the design change to accommodate the different load. I bring this up because if the rest of the building was built as designed, then there should be no other issues. The report describes jacking up a part of the house, replacing the improper support (single 2x6) with a 6x6 post, yeah wtf. They also found the footing was undersized, and tore up the slab and poured a new footing and then fixed the slab. They also replaced all the flooring, and fixed cracked walls, all related to the repairs. It seems like they also gave the owners a free Trex deck for the trouble, and then extended the structural warranty 5 years, to 2023. The engineer I had look at the report said it was 100k+ of work. It's listed at 645, I'd say comps (likely without these issues) put it at 615-630. I want this house, but I'd need to find a way to mitigate the risk of another structural issue being a financial hardship. Is there insurance that can cover structural issues and builder faults? I've searched around a ton...and I'm not finding anything. Even if this insurance exists, it would likely be expensive and I'd wonder if they would drop me after the first claim. Or do I just run away, regardless? [link] [comments]  |
| Earnest deposit when buying a home...bigger is better? Posted: 24 Aug 2019 08:47 PM PDT Should I try to put the largest earnest deposit down when buying a house? What are the downsides to doing so? Is there any way I can get screwed? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Aug 2019 05:59 PM PDT I'm a student looking for a room for the upcoming semester and need some advice as this is my first time leasing a room.
I haven't paid the security deposit yet but I'm going to sign a lease and pay the security deposit on Monday. I'm seeking advice as to whether or not this is legit. To me, it all seemed genuine until I found a second Craigslist ad that included a Roomster link. [link] [comments]  |
| Should FTHB be wary of a flip by large developer? Posted: 24 Aug 2019 09:07 AM PDT My wife & I are looking to buy a house in the metro area of a major US city. There is no shortage of shady landlords, developers, brokers, etc around here. We found a house that we'd like to make an offer on. It checks all our major boxes, including the most important one of keeping our kids in the same school district we've been renting in for 5 years. The house we want to make an offer on didn't raise any red flags initially, though it was very obviously a flip. However, in the course of discussions when the seller's agent said her client was one of the city's largest developers, it did give us pause. She wouldn't say who exactly, and all the records say it's owned by an address-specific LLC, e.g. "123 Lincoln St LLC" incorporated just for the flip. The address listed on the LLC incorporation document is the residence of a young woman who lives nearby. She has a very distinctive name... a name that's been in the news before for connections (possibly tenuous, possibly not) to a known scammer and predatory developer. Are we reading too much into things? Are LLCs like this pretty common? Even if so, why not have an office address listed? Why not be upfront about who's behind things? E.g. wouldn't it make more sense to say, "Our client is Big City Dev Inc and they do these flips every day, you can trust they know what they're doing and workmanship is top quality." Why the cloak-and-dagger? If we make an offer and it's accepted, is a good inspection enough to ward off any possible issues connected to buying from this person, or should we run? Even if everything is truly on the up-and-up and we're being too paranoid, should we be wary anyway of buying from a giant developer? [link] [comments]  |
| Good neighbor next door & 203k loan Posted: 24 Aug 2019 11:45 AM PDT Hello, I'm currently looking to bid on a good neighbor next door home in my community. I'm wondering what my mortgage options are. the broker (who is one that was emailed to me with the listing as a recommendation) says I need to use a 203k loan in order to bid on the house... Well, he actually said the program (GNND) manager said I need a 203k loan. This seems like a real hassle and I would rather use cash to repair the house as well as do the work myself for the most part. There is not much info on HUD.gov for mortgages with this program other than in the FAQ section where it says conventional mortgages can be used. Does anyone have experience with this and able to shed some light? [link] [comments]  |
| Easiest to just offer cash too Posted: 24 Aug 2019 05:26 PM PDT Im talking actual cash for a house. And before you law abiding typewriter warriors go on your, thats illegal tirades, i dont trust banks, i pulled it all out in 2008. I still have just 14k in there but rest in cash, who are the easiest sellers to bring a briefcase too? I want out of renting before i get a murder charge [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Aug 2019 11:20 AM PDT Looking for any advice... I am currently under contract to purchase a duplex (to live in as well as rent out) with an FHA mortgage. The FHA appraisal turned up two issues; one being some chipped paint and the other being a crawl space that is less than 18". While the paint is not a big deal, the crawl space is proving to be a nightmare. The only thing within the crawl space is some copper water lines which are easily accessible from several other points within the house. A contractor looking at it even suggested that it wasn't ever intended to be a crawl space as it's barely open wider than the water lines. We were told that we had to either widen the crawl space or move the water lines out in order to satisfy FHA guidelines and get approval. The homeowner does not want either done before closing. My real estate agent and the buyers agent both tried to speak with the appraiser about waiving the guideline but he said he would/could not. I'm entirely unfamiliar with the whole process as this is my first experience so I understand he's likely just doing his job. However, I'm frustrated since there's absolutely no need to use the crawl space to access the lines. Is there any process to appeal such a thing? Any way around it? We said we would get a notarized letter from a licensed plumber but the mortgage broker said it wouldn't help. I have a hard time believing that one single person is the final word in whether or not I can get this mortgage. I understand that for most people, the simple answer is to move on and find another house or to switch to a conventional mortgage. I understand why but in this case I am only seeking to figure out if there's anything that can be done so that this house may still qualify for this mortgage. I would respectfully ask that any answers might reflect that. Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| I made a few minor changes to my house on Zillow and the value on the Zestimate decreased 14K Posted: 24 Aug 2019 11:44 AM PDT So I logged into Zillow and edited the facts on my house. I made a few minor positive changes like adding oven, washer, dryer. Then when I saved the changes the zestimate went from ~269K to ~255K. I was livid when I saw this and then I went and reverted my changes and it stayed at 255K. Does anyone know why this happened? I tried seeing is someone else had this issue on this sub but couldn't find anything. Is it possible there are more unique house facts that may have been removed that I can't add back? For example, I see similar homes to mine state that they have Master Bathroom: Double Sinks, Full Bth Master Bdrm, Cook Top Elec, etc. But I do not have these options to add on the Edit facts section. I wonder if it removed the things that the previous lister had on Zillow. Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| Real estate agents and appraisers, value inquiry. Posted: 24 Aug 2019 11:21 AM PDT Please direct me to the appropriate sub if there's a better one for it. Got this in an interior design sub too. I have approx 12 foot unfinished concrete ceilings painted white in all of the 1100sqft of my condo. Value-wise, would taking about a foot off the ceiling height and finishing it lose value for the lost height, or Gaines value from the finishing. Crown moldings, trim and wainscoting in the plan. [link] [comments]  |
| Selling my house. What's a reasonable level of cleanliness to leave the house? Posted: 24 Aug 2019 07:29 AM PDT In my renting days it was a given that a cleaner would go in after all my stuff was out. Before closing should I get a cleaner/give the place a deep clean? When we got keys on the place it wasn't dirty but it definitely wasn't cleaner level clean - needed to be mopped, windows needed to be cleaned, bathroom needed love etc - so I don't know if I have a skewed frame of reference. Edit: to be 100% clear, our house is under contract and I'm asking about the cleaning the day of/before buyer takes keys. [link] [comments]  |
| New Agent Help: Any samples on writing letters to buy houses? Posted: 24 Aug 2019 08:57 AM PDT So basically, I just became an agent so I can do my own deals, I am only in it for me, no clients— with the exception of some family— and, for the first time I am looking to write a letter to ask if I can buy a house. There is a really nice rental area nearby, I went to see a house to potentially make it a rental and when I showed up, someone mowing the lawn across the street came up and talked to me. He owns the house that I was going to see, but he was mowing the lawn for his neighbor who just (last week) went into assisted living after a fall. I'm not trying to gouge her or anything, I'll give a fair price— and the guy who was mowing the lawn mentioned that he wants to move away, that's why his house is for sale, so I know he's just being neighborly— but does anyone have any information on how I can write a letter to ask her if she is willing to sell her house? From what the lawn guy said, she has 100% of her mind, but her body is going— and I looked it up, she owns the property, she is not a renter. [link] [comments]  |
| Can I file 1099 w income from SO to increase overall income and buy a house independently? Posted: 24 Aug 2019 10:49 AM PDT Ok so I hope this is the right place for this question. Here is my situation. My significant other and I live in California. We make a little over $85k a year, which is essentially poor here. We make too much money to qualify for any assistance other than medi-cal. My credit is ok, it's 680 now and will get better (I took a few months without working to have a longer maternity leave and so I used my credit cards to supplement us, never late or missed payments. I'm working again now and paying them off). His credit is absolutely awful, it's under 500 from collections he got around 3-4years ago when he stupidly financed two cars for his brother and wife who had just moved to the US and did not yet have a SSN, his brother had both cars repossessed. We don't talk to him anymore. I have begged and pleaded with him to work on his credit for years, this is the one reason we have not gotten married actually and even though he has not collected any new debt he doesn't want to try paying off the old. We don't have a lot of expendable income to go towards his debt for payments anyway, his debt is around $15k in collections which are all marked as closed/charged off and not pursuing him and a bankruptcy lawyer I contacted said how wouldn't qualify for a ch 7 because they want his debt to be half his annual salary and he makes around $50k. So, one of my biggest fears is literally becoming homeless if our current rental ever decides we need to move. My income alone $35k is not enough to afford most rentals here (we need 3x the rent). Most rentals want you to have good credit as well. And I do not make enough to purchase a home by myself. Literally mobile homes here are going for upward of 200k. I will also add, we have two little girls and so it's not realistic to get like a tiny house or something. Finally my question: I started thinking maybe I could have him send me money every two weeks and I could file a 1099 at the end of the year claiming I worked for him as a personal assistant. I work as an office manager currently and have previously worked as an admin assistant so it wouldn't be outside my regular type of work. I would even actually do this type of work for him (I basically do now anyway). My credit cards would be paid off by then. I'm thinking I can make $35k at my day job and $24k as a 1099 contractor. File like this for 2 years and buy a house? Is this illegal? I can't find any information about this kind of thing. I would imagine it's not illegal to work for your significant other. Would a lender be willing to work with me if in two years I tried to buy like this? Sorry for the long post! [link] [comments]  |
| EMV (estimated market value) effect on Zillow Zestimate? Posted: 24 Aug 2019 02:25 PM PDT My home's EMV is suddenly going up 35% at the start of 2020, based on the county tax assessor assessment of my neighborhood. My property taxes of course will go up too, sigh. I plan to sell my house in < 2 years. Curious how pros here think the rise in EMV might affect my home's "zestimate" on Zillow? Will I see a significant rise in zillow value once zillow's bots spider the county tax records at the start of the year? I even spoke with the county tax assessor about the jump in EMV in the neighborhood and he said the homes had been too long undervalued but finally the county is getting around to giving them the correct tax valuations; and he told me sit down when I open the new property tax bill come 2020, sigh. I won't like the rise in property taxes, but if it leads to a much higher sale value of my house it might be worth the extra property tax valuation. [link] [comments]  |
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