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    Things you wish you knew or got from seller before close? Real Estate

    Things you wish you knew or got from seller before close? Real Estate


    Things you wish you knew or got from seller before close?

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 07:37 PM PDT

    I'm a first time buyer and want to know what to get from the seller before we close. Things like mailbox key, leftover paint or tiles, etc.

    submitted by /u/Svorax
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    Is it okay to give a realtor your preapproval letter?

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 05:54 PM PDT

    Sorry if this question sounds dumb but my hubby and I are newbies. This is our first time trying to buy/own a home. I saw a property today on Zillow and the realtor text and ask for me to send her the preapproval letter. Then she will let my hubby and I see the house. Is that standard procedure? Is it okay to show realtors our preapproval letter in general? I just don't want us to make rookie mistakes. Also any other advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

    submitted by /u/Anjel10520
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    What will happen to RE if COVID gets worse? (CA)

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 04:39 PM PDT

    I have a owner-occupied duplex in a desirable area just outside of San Francisco (Marin County). The place has appreciated about 30% since I bought it in 2015.

    I was happy living here for a while. Now I want to downsize/move to a cheaper COL area as I will be retiring in the next 5 years.

    Before COVID I was confident the best approach was keep the property, move out, and rent both units. I would be about $2k cash flow positive if I rented the units pre-COVID and hopefully enjoy further appreciation over a 10-15yr period.

    Now with COVID people are leaving SF in droves as many jobs have dried up. My tenants have started feeling me out about a possible rent decrease.

    Every day I read more bad news about COVID. Yet, it seems that RE is still strong in my area and houses are selling.

    I'm not an optimist. Thus, I'm starting to wonder if I should sell my place now while prices are still relatively strong rather than seeing what happens in 1, 2 years or longer.

    Is anyone else having similar thoughts? Or am I over-reacting?

    submitted by /u/Bootie_Mash
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    Bank appraisal estimate vs Redfin estimates

    Posted: 29 Jun 2020 03:54 AM PDT

    How different can be a bank appraisal estimate from a redfin estimate? I'm a first time home buyer, and want to understand how much more (than redfin estimates) can I bid for a house (appears to be a hot home on Redfin).

    Also what are the implications of bank appraisal being say 30k lower than my offer, (apart from the fact that bank wont cover this 30k in the loan amount) ?

    submitted by /u/The-Leaky-Cauldron
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    Things you wish you knew before purchasing your first home

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 09:54 PM PDT

    My partner and I have discussed potentially purchasing our first home together next spring and just looked at our finances. We both have quite a bit saved up and have discussed options of down payment, where we'd want to look, etc. Not a ton of details, since I know that once we get closer and look into getting a preapproval, then we have a better idea of what we can afford.

    I'm just curious to know what were some things that you wish you knew about BEFORE you started searching for a home or bought a home? Or what things should we look out for as a first-time homebuyer?

    submitted by /u/PM_ME_PUPPIES
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    Realtor trying to sell me a duplex to transform into 6plex... Need advice

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 08:15 PM PDT

    My realtor has sold me on a few different multi family homes before but I'm a little out of my depth on this new opportunity he pitched me and need some advice.

    He recently closed a deal in a superb neighborhood for 10 duplexes (tenant occupied) he put into his name. He says that each lot in the deal is approved by the township to be transformed into either a 4plex or 6plex and he also has architectural approval for everything.

    In short, as one of his customers he'd like to sell me a lot, hire the contractors to turn the duplex into a larger property, and flip it or I would add it to my collection of rentals.

    I guess what is really bothering me is not knowing the right questions to ask. Do I ask for proof of the town approval and architectural approval? Aside from putting up the money is it a challenge to add extensions to a property? What red flags do I look for?

    I have never been burned by this person in the past and have invested significantly with them but this would likely turn into the largest undertaking at this point in my real estate career.

    submitted by /u/rb1754
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    Can I use a first time buyer program to buy my dads house from him? Also if the house needs like 30k-50k worth of work what would be the best way to go about it?

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 07:56 PM PDT

    He owes 70k on it. If fixed up its probably worth 200-250k. Thats what similar houses have gone for in our neighborhood. I take care of him now hes paralyzed and hes on a fixed income

    submitted by /u/pizzaphile93
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    Advice for high debt, low income need to sell house situation

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 09:08 PM PDT

    Hi there, I'm kind of panicking so I'm hoping someone can help us out. Me and my fiance live in a historic 4 bedroom house in a nice part of Portland. It's worth something like $850k give or take 100k About 3 years ago, I proposed that we sell the house and buy a commercial space that we could run our business out of. He was super excited. We both wanted to have similar businesses for a very long time and it was a huge opportunity. We had income then, really good credit, and a really good feeling that with my background, master's degree and having run 4 businesses under my belt, I'd be able to swing it. At the time, it was a no brainer. I was positive I could do it. We figured if it didn't work out, we could rent the storefront and use it as income property. No big deal one way or the other.

    Well, some family emergencies, job losses, a schizoaffective housemate who refused to leave for 6 months, chronic health issues, some hospitalizations and a variety of other hangups ensued. Life just kept happening, and happening hard. On top of that we got a home equity line of credit which was supposed to cover repairs and pay for storage and maybe rent so we could just empty the house, move somewhere temporarily and sell it. I thought it would take us 6 months.

    Well, it's 3 years later, we are something like 200k in debt, have almost zero income due to Covid and are way behind on things like yard maintenance. The house is a mess, it's full of clutter. Half of it is packed and in storage but now we have to pay that too. We can't really get help with all of it because of Covid and lack of money but we both have back issues that make all this moving really really hard to do. My original business is totally out and what I do for a living is squashed so our plan now is to sell this place and just downsize instead of buying a commercial space, so all of my financial plans are dead. The way I was making a living as a teacher is dead. I'm looking for a job and trying to keep my Etsy page afloat in the mean time but it's down to about $500 a month from that and I don't expect much more from it now that people are buying masks on Amazon from places that can use overseas, pennies an hour labor.

    We got some help, some of our credit cards let us not pay for a couple months, but it's just going to burn us later. Our HELOC lender is offering us a possible home equity loan which will have lower payments, but we still can't really afford to pay it. We don't qualify for a mortgage.

    I feel totally panicked. We basically have another couple months before we have no more money to pay off the loans, and since the loans are paying loans, the number just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Then property taxes are going to be due and that's another 10 grand. I was selling masks on Etsy for awhile but that sort of fizzled. I am looking at this enormous overwhelming task that we can't afford to pay anyone to help us with, even if they would go in someone's home. I try to pack boxes, go through stuff and do cleaning and my back starts to hurt horribly after about an hour or two and I have to stop and I can't seem to get anywhere with it. Lately I've been just packing stuff haphazardly so I can at least get things emptied out. We are trying to make it somewhat presentable, but it's taking time. My fiance is disabled, so he's having an even harder time doing anything. I'm basically trying to pack a low key hoarder house by myself with back pain while I push off panic attacks and severe depression, and deal with a severely disabled mother's care on top of it (thankfully she doesn't live with us.)

    Plus I'm wondering if people are even buying houses right now, and if they were, would they even be willing to look at one with people living in it? And if that were the case, would they look at a house that looked like this one?

    I have an RV I bought thinking we could temporarily live in that, but that turned out to be an extremely expensive and bad idea, as it was a lemon with hidden engine trouble. So I can't really use it, and I'm not sure if I can sell it, so we are out 8 grand on that too, plus it costs $100 a month to store the thing, and it's registration is expired, another $250. I basically have to sink money into it to get money back out of it, and in the mean time it's costing us. Dumbest thing I've ever done.

    What are our options? I know we are most likely going to sell as is, for the most part. I also know we can probably get some work done by contractors who get paid on the sale of the house, but do we have to put it up for sale in this condition to do that? Can we get some kind of bridge or emergency loan or something that indicates a trade to move into another place, knowing that the loan will be paid by the sale? Can we do anything to give us a little more breathing room so we can get to the point where we can sell? Should we just sell to flippers? Are there trade options? How do we leverage the equity we still have to keep us afloat and get us through this?

    I feel like since we have more equity in the house than we owe, we should be able to do SOMETHING but I'm feeling more and more hopeless.

    My fiance wants out of the city, so we may move somewhere far far cheaper and that will buy us a little time to find jobs and stabilize, totally rethink our life. I know we made some pretty dumb mistakes so you don't have to point that out, I'm just hoping we can look forward and make the right decisions moving forward and dig our way out of this hole.

    submitted by /u/percyjeandavenger
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    Question about escalation clauses

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 05:51 PM PDT

    Is there any reason to offer above asking price if you have an escalation clause? My realtor recommended a high initial bid because there's a lot of interest in the property.

    But I just can't figure out why... If my bid automatically increases to 1k above the next highest bid, why bother with a starting bid higher than asking?

    submitted by /u/fancybaton
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    Purchasing first real estate property

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 06:20 PM PDT

    Hello everyone,

    Disclaimer: I'm new to this sub and have no actual real estate experience.

    I'm interested in getting into real estate and want to know what the experience will be like purchasing my first property.

    I intend on purchasing an empty parcel of land and building everything on it from the ground up. I have created a few different budget scenarios, blueprints, and payback ratios depending on how much I'd potentially be spending.

    I guess my question is, how was it like purchasing your first property? What were the biggest issues that you ran into? And what advice you give to someone just starting out?

    Thanks!

    submitted by /u/1A9D6
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    My realtor is suggesting an offer deadline only 4 days after going on market. Does it make sense to do?

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 07:22 PM PDT

    Hi, Reddit newbie here.

    I am selling my 1br condo in central Washington, DC. I'm in a desirable location - established neighborhood, close to Metro, etc.

    I did some nice/impactful renovations to my unit and while I'm in an older building, my unit has a lot of style and visual appeal and photographed well. However, it is a smaller than average 1br and while it has big windows/lots of light, I don't have a view.

    It went on market Friday and I had six showings today, none on Saturday.

    My realtor said he heard from several buyers' agents asking if there is an offer deadline. He suggests we establish an offer deadline of THIS Tuesday. Apparently one agent said her client was likely to submit an offer. I asked what other feedback he's gotten but haven't heard yet.

    Is this a good move? I know the market here is pretty hot but feel like six showings in one weekend without seeing how the rest of the week pans out doesn't quite justify setting an offer deadline SO early. I'm also cognizant that next weekend is a holiday so not sure what traffic will be like.

    Part of me feels like maybe my realtor just wants to sell it quickly and be done with it...don't get me wrong I'd love to have multiple offers but I don't have evidence yet that that will be the case.

    Is it too early to set offer deadline? Does it even make sense to do one?

    submitted by /u/newseller1023
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    Cold Market With the Holiday?

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 07:57 PM PDT

    Just wondering from some agents. With the Fourth of July being Saturday, would the market cool a bit from the weekend before until after the holiday because of the short week? I'm asking because we are listing in a hot market. DOM has been about 6 days before an acceptance of an offer. We listed on Wednesday and have had one showing and an open house on Saturday with a single visitor. Would the fact that someone could go away on vacation from this past Friday until next Monday on four days vacation cool the market a bit? Should we hang onto our price for a week after the holiday to see what happens? Our realtor is pushing for a $10,000 price reduction already, which puts us at the neighbors price they just sold at. Their finished footage is 350 feet more, but we have an 800 sq foot basement that's unfinished giving us 500 sq foot more total space. Another in the neighborhood accepted an offer $80,000 over our list for 100 sq ft more finished with an unfinished basement. The higher sale is our same home with 100 sq ft above grade increase and maybe 200 sq ft total space additional. Thanks!

    ETA: Grand Rapids, MI market and vacation spots north have people going there because everything is basically open.

    submitted by /u/fitzpats9980
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    Very high homeowners insurance premium? (CO)

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 04:41 PM PDT

    First time home buyer here trying to gauge what is reasonable for an annual premium for homeowners insurance. I've been shopping around and am consistently being quoted ~$4000 per year for policies with replacement costs between $650-750k. The premiums seem to be not so dependent on deductible. For example, Progressive's quote has a $1000 deductible and State Farm has $7500. Personal liability is the same on all policies ($300k), medical is the same ($100k). Personal property varies a lot because some insurance providers require a minimum of 75% of the real property replacement cost (which is much, much higher than I need), but some others allow me to choose the coverage I want. If it matters, I have excellent credit and I'm in Colorado. Not sure what else might be causing such high premiums here. I keep seeing averages even in high CoL states at being between $1k and $2k.

    submitted by /u/OpticaScientiae
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    Setting a 2% Buying Agent Commission Split in Southern CA

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 06:39 PM PDT

    I am selling 2 properties in Southern CA (2 different counties). Both are ~1M sales price. 2 different selling agents.

    I agreed to the following commission splits -

    Agent #1 - 1.75% listing + 2.25% buying agent commission.

    Agent #2 - 1.5% listing + 2.25% buying agent commission.

    Here is the interesting part. I received 4 offers in under a week for property #1. My agent informs me that he "accidentally" set the commission structure to 2% listing and 2% buying agent commission (Ultimately, my fault for e-signing so quickly). He mentions that since it still adds up to 4%, I am paying the same amount. However, I can't help but think I might have lost some offers due to the low BAC rate.

    At the same time, I am talking to Agent #2 and then based on what is going on with Property #1 and the few offers I have already received, I ask if I should just set the BAC to 2% (listing still 1.5%). He discourages this as he thinks it will hinder some agents from presenting offers. He also mentioned he has tried this in the past and multiple buying agents have asked for .25%-.5% more to present their client's offer.

    For Property #1, my agent tells me this issue hasn't come up. I have 4 offers so it's hard to tell if he is lying.

    What's the general consensus out there? Since it's very market dependent, I'm mainly looking for SoCal data points.

    submitted by /u/clippersfan81
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    Fair credit with one bill in collections, impact on lending?

    Posted: 29 Jun 2020 02:30 AM PDT

    I have fair credit, around 690. There is one item in collections for 2k. Some Googling says I should wait another year or so for statute of limitations to expire for it in California, so I'm hoping to wait that out.

    Even with the item in collections, my credit isn't total garbage. Would a lender overlook that one ding on my credit? Or would it significantly affect qualifying for a loan with a decent rate? Does it help that it's only 2k?

    I'm really hoping to be able to wait for the ding to pass the statute of limitations before I reach out to the collections peeps.

    Thanks!

    Not related to real estate but story of the ding: The ding is a medical bill that I wasn't aware of for a long time. Had a procedure that was supposed to be all covered by insurance except for the stupid effing anesthesiologist that put me under wasn't covered?! But everyone and everything else was?! Anyway lesson learned. By the time I realized that was on my plate, it was already sold to collections and I just didn't want to deal with them.

    submitted by /u/dragonzaur
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    How to vet potential renters?

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 08:22 PM PDT

    I'm about to be in the hunt for good tenants again for 3 units again in a middling cost of living area. With COVID I'm wondering what else people are doing to filter out the high risk tenants.

    How have you been vetting renters, what does your process look like?

    What are "the little things" that I can do to increase my chances of getting good tenants? This is my strategy:

    - Create listings with a 650+ credit score requirement, background check (NO criminal activity)
    - Determine whether their job industry is at risk because of COVID
    - Meet the tenant, see if I get a good character vibe from them. Also bring my sister who s a property manager and usually is a good judge of character.
    ^ Has relying on your judgment of character actually worked for you?

    submitted by /u/jacove
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    Withdraw our offer before they accept?

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 09:17 AM PDT

    We have an offer on a house that had a verbal agreement to the terms. We submitted on Wednesday and the sellers agent said we should have it signed next day. It's been 4 days, we haven't heard from the sellers. We suspect they might be getting cold feet and just can't pull the trigger.

    Now there's other properties popping up that we want to look at and this one is leaving a sour taste in our mouth. Can we safely withdraw our offer? How do we know if they haven't signed it and are just sitting on it? Our agent can't get in touch with their agent.

    submitted by /u/ewormafive
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    Living on a busy street, worth it?

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 02:31 PM PDT

    I'm potentially interested in buying a house on a busy street. It is parallel to the Main Street. The house overall is nice and has most of the features me and my partner want. However, we wanted to find something on a quite street. In MA, houses have been so limited so we don't know if we'll find something else within our price budget, for this house we know we will have to bid potentially 15-20k more to even have a chance to secure it. For those of you who live on a busy street was it worth it or would you have preferred to keep looking?

    submitted by /u/RoseGoldIcePrincess
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    [25/USA, self employed with 70k] I want to buy land with a mobile home already on it slightly outside the suburbs so I can live cheap and not have to work a ton. Am I delusional..?

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 10:46 AM PDT

    Hello. I am 25 yrs old, live in central Florida in a medium cost of living area and am owner/operator of small, reputable cleaning company. I have been in business coming up on 2 yrs. I have 68k to my name, 45k in a ROTH IRA & SOLO 401k (this is for my retirement. I'm not going to touch it.) and the rest, 23k is in a high interest bank acc (ALLY).

    I make approx 2-8k per month (depends on if slow or busy season). I netted 36k my first yr in business (grossed 55k). This yr due to covid I am probably going to make the same, more or less. I just finished a 3k job on Friday that took 5 days and have about another 6k worth of work scheduled for July, so I do decent for not having a college education. I live with my dad.

    I am very frugal, have no desire to have kids or get married. Really, I just want to live a simple life. Work 3-4 days a week, enjoy hobbies, workout, play video games, and not have to work till I'm 65 yrs old. Would like to retire by 50-55.

    Rent here is approx 1200 for a studio apartment (not including utilities). To buy a 2 bed/1 bath or 3 bed/2 bath it is about 150-200k. In the next town over (about 15 minute drive) houses are a little cheaper but they don't look as nice. Really though I don't need all that sq footage and don't really want to live in a neighborhood. I literally just need a box that is big enough to sleep in that I can cook, eat, shower, and have internet in. would like to live at least near the suburbs and not super rural though because I need to work in the burbs where everyone has money.

    I get that buying vacant land and putting a mobile home on it isn't as cheap as one would think because you need to put in utilities (plumbing/sewage, electric) and a new mobile home depreciates like crazy so ideally I think buying land with a mobile home and utilities already on it would be my best bet?

    Your guys' thoughts? Thank you!

    submitted by /u/PHILWILD1
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    Is this inspection bad enough that we should back out?

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 05:09 PM PDT

    My husband and I are first time home buyers.

    We had an offer accepted last Sunday for $10K over the asking price. The house was only on the market for 2-3 days. It is a 1,400 square foot ranch that was built in 1961.

    The house was attractive to us, as it seemed like everything was extremely well taken care of. In addition, there were many new updates throughout the home.

    We had our inspection yesterday, and we are feeling defeated. If nothing else, the inspection was $800, and it stinks that it could have been for nothing.

    The inspector found numerous issues. The largest ones being:

    1. Most of the 3 prong outlets on the ground floor were not grounded.

    2. There is no ceiling vent installed in the master bathroom.

    3. The insulation in the attic was poorly/incorrectly done.

    4. The furnace short cycles- turning off and on more often than it should.

    5. Numerous spots on the finished basement walls showed high moisture levels of ~20%. We are not able to see behind the paneling for mold, damage, etc.. We think this is caused by poor grading in the back of the house under the deck (which we were planning on redoing anyways).

    5 is the one we are the most worried about, as everything else can probably be fixed for a total of $5K or so. We got quotes from waterproofing companies, and they are saying that it will be about $10K to waterproof the whole basement.

    We are going to try to figure something out with the seller, but who knows if they will bite. I imagine the moisture in the basement will scare off any other potential buyers though, so we will see.

    Any advice? Are there pretty common issues? Should we walk away unless the seller is willing to cover the waterproofing?

    submitted by /u/alexakmoeller
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    Would it be a bad idea to buy a second home now?

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 11:03 PM PDT

    Currently live in San Francisco CA in my childhood home with $400K left on the mortgage. Work is 5 minutes away via driving. I'm wanting second home (around $350K) in a lower cost of living area in Sacramento CA as a weekend resort and retirement home. Thing is, it seems like some people here in SF and neighboring cities in the bay area are migrating there as well and I fear I'll be missing out when their home prices will go higher. Plus rates are about 3.5% right now (recently refinanced current home). I see more pending sales in that area than here. On the other hand, unemployment is very high as well as mortgage forbearance so I dont know if people in already lower cost of living area in CA will end up selling and moving out to lower cost of living states or if they'll simply stay and see what happens to the economy. I dont want to buy at all time highs then people suddenly start selling and moving out and supply becomes higher than demand within the next half year.

    I also dont want to leave CA simply because I grew up here and have family and friends here and moving into a new state will just make me homesick. Happened to dozens of my friends who went out of state for a few years and ended up moving back here.

    submitted by /u/bonfireascetics
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    My Apartment complex says I can’t renew my lease because they are full

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 05:51 PM PDT

    I am a student living in a college town at an apartment complex. I began my lease in January 2020 and my lease is now ending July 31st. Since May I have been receiving spam emails with deals to renew my lease and in June someone contacted me about renewing my lease. I wrote back saying YES I would like renew my lease. The next day he sent me a link to renew my lease. He sent me the renewal on June 10th. (Yes I procrastinated a little on signing). On June 24th someone from my apartment leasing office contacted me and said I cannot renew my lease because they have someone moving in to my apartment and it was a mix up because the office is being outsourced because of COVID so they messed up. She told me the only option I have is to hope someone will move into a smaller unit or if they have a smaller unit available I can move there. Do they have a right to deny my renewal? I haven't done anything wrong to make them not want to.

    submitted by /u/PlantsnSun7
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    When do you reinspect the house after repairs ? Tips for the final walk-through?

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 09:35 PM PDT

    Is this done during the final walk through? Does this generally require having the home inspector come back?

    Anything I should know about for the final walk-through?

    submitted by /u/littlehamsterz
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    Preforeclosure/shreiff's sale house

    Posted: 28 Jun 2020 05:07 PM PDT

    Hello! There's a house in my town that's supposedly in preforeclosure or shreiff's sale per my realtor. The owner isn't interested in letting my realtor setup a tour. I'd like to explore the possibility of buying this house but I don't know what to do. Do you folks have any suggestions? This is in the San Francisco area if it matters.

    submitted by /u/aerosteed
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