Buying a House Advice Thread

[duggie]

I bought an empty shop and lived in part of it, setting up a little money spinner with the shop, so then the shop paid for itself, and then it eventually paid for a house, too.

 

[lexfurther]

We just bought a little studio , which we are planning to rent out in the future.
There are so many difficult things which need to be solved and one of them is a home insurance.
I am going to contact First Premier Home Warranty customer service by link and see what kind of deals they can offer first.

 

[sc00ter]

I had a friend who owned a small bike shop, Bio Cycles, and he had a little section in the back closed off. He built a tiny studio and lived in the shop!

 

[None]

I bought my house 20 years ago, found it while I was on my bike ride.
The seller had only sign a contract with realtor and yet to list the house on the market.
I ride in areas with preserved open spaces, close to national park, rail-to-trail access, or powerline areas; that way I know development for further residential & commercial would be limited.
Nowadays most housing development have monthly association cost, limited in how you can use the land that comes with your property.
I have about 1/3 acer of land, last year I put up a ground solar array that can easily charge my ebikes & handle my household usage.

I have less than 3 years left on my mortgage payments, been making extra payment every month for 20+ years.
I don't see my house value increase much, since the building itself is well over 50 years.
Over the last 20 years, I've replaced the water heater, fridge, well pump, washer & dryer, remodel the bathroom, I'd say in total about $40k investment into the house.

 

[sc00ter]

I've been reading a lot about these Mega-Investors buying up entire neighborhoods and making them permanent rentals. I always get calls and text from dummies asking if I'd like to sell my house. I tell them all the same thing, when i decide to sell it they can go thru my realtor. They then say "But we do cash offers, no closing, blah, blah, blah....". I'm a couple of years from paying off my house. The neighborhood has much improved since I bought it and I take good care of it. I don't have any kids so I have to find someone to will it to when I pass on. But real quick, about the "Cash Offer" guys!

I paid $135,000 for my little 2 bedroom/1 bath house with detached garage. Easy to care for small yard as well. It appraised at $180,000 last I looked, I never did any loans against it. The dumb investors offer me $100,000 cash! I usually mess with them, saying I just sold it and now paying $1500 in care free rent now that someone else is taking care of the everything. Those investors need to take a sub and go look at the Titanic!

 

[AHicks]

We have a 2nd place in Florida, our winter home. Things have gone fairly well for the value of that place since we bought in the middle of that depression a few years back, and the "buy" offers come at a rate of at least once a week. These buy offers aren't buy offers at all. They want to STEAL your property for pennies on the dollar, especially those that don't have a publicly listed mortgage against them. Scum is what they are.

Here's a note to ALL of them. You want my place? Then get off your butt, do some research/due diligence, and make me an offer I can't refuse! Otherwise, go pound dirt.....

 

[indianajo]

. But real quick, about the "Cash Offer" guys!
The dumb investors offer me $100,000 cash! I usually mess with them, saying I just sold it and now paying $1500 in care free rent now that someone else is taking care of the everything.

I keep a land line phone, that I use to call to pay bills with a few times a month. (since Western Union money orders blew away). I never answer it. When I do, forgot to unplug it, it is Rachel from accounting about problems with the credit card I cancelled in 1992, or free help from Microsoft with my computer problems, just help the tech to sign on, or the police union in another state, or some beggar offering me a pittance for my house. When I do get one of the beggars, or at the mailbox out of the window of cars, I tell them to stop begging and get a job. Real estate beggars haven't knocked on my door in 3 years, perhaps because 200 men were shot in this metroplex since January 1. Trash mail begging for my house arrives in my box 5 times a week, which goes in the same rolling bin the offers to replace my windows, doors, and bathtub go in. I buy windows, doors, bathtubs, at HD, Lowes, or 84 lumber, not from some contractor who could put a mechanic's lien against my house; If the job goes over the estimate.

 

[Gordon71]

What I did was buy a piece of land and then build a very bare bones house. Then over the next 35 years I added to it and finished parts of it whenever money and time became available. I never had a mortgage.

 

[AHicks]

What I did was buy a piece of land and then build a very bare bones house. Then over the next 35 years I added to it and finished parts of it whenever money and time became available. I never had a mortgage.

I did that once too. I had the place framed in with roof, siding, and windows installed to make it weatherproof, then did the rest myself, paying cash as I went. A lot of work, but awesome knowing I actually completed it. This place, located in northern lower Mi, was sold to pay for our place in Florida.

 

[rayray]

Our house had been on the market for 3 weeks before it received an 'asking price' offer, after just 4 viewings.

Within a week, we had found a property we liked, and have sorted the mortgage, Solicitors, Surveys and everything. We are basically good to go right now.

Buyer of our house took a month to sort mortgage and supply Solicitor details to our Estate Agent. First time buyer. They have no property to sell, and have an urgency to seal the deal and move before the end of this year.

Fast forward to current time... there hasn't yet been a survey done on ours (this has been on the cards for the past 3 weeks, but seems to be taking forever to occur). Buyer hasn't been back to view the house (only viewed it once), and we almost pulled out of the deal due to a family event. Buyer insisted they really wanted the house so we hung about.

Currently, we are still waiting for the survey, which in turn will agree the value of the property and validate the mortgage. However despite both us, and apparently, the buyer being desperate to move, nothing much seems to be happening on the buyer's side.

Been out of this property market for a while, but is this usual to have this set of circumstance:
- First-time buyer viewed property only once
- Put in full asking price offer
- Haven't viewed property again
- Took a month to sort out Mortgage and Solicitor
- No movement for over 3 weeks

Obviously my reservations are that he hasn't paid anything out yet, so is delaying do so, or is simply just messing us around for whatever reason.

What are your thoughts?

I wouldn’t allow such a delay, but I don’t know how your sales contract is written. Typically, there are specific deadlines written into the agreement, sometimes with penalties for non-performance, and always giving both the seller and buyer the option of pulling out of the deal under certain circumstances. I suggest you read your agreement carefully, and speak with an attorney to get a clear understanding of your options.

If you have to take additional offers, I suggest you get proof of their financing capability (pre-approval letter from their lender) prior to accepting an offer. That’s standard procedure here.

Also, we always require a deposit of at least 1-2% of the sale price, to be put into escrow upon signing an offer. We once had a buyer back out for personal reasons at the last minute, and it cost them their deposit as a penalty.

If you’re worried about losing your new home, or are obligated to purchase it, you might consider a “bridge” loan (basically, an equity loan). We did this when we purchased our current home, and thus had a up to a year to get the other sold if necessary.

 

[Roamers]

What are your thoughts?

What country are you in?

If in US, find a new real estate agent.

 

[kevinmccune]

what I would do,if something happened to this one and I was single,find a small piece of land(without an easement through it,excavate a partial in ground foundation or basement walk out( superior walls) the upstairs would be the main kitchen day , probably 720 to 1000 sq ft each floor bedrooms on bottom,permanent metal roof low slope monoplane,southern exposure, insulation to fit geographical area( usually more is better) xeriscaped yard,carport and low maintenance, the less"arts and crafts" your structure is the less expense and keeping it up is easier( thats a few things I would do as a human critter,remember" chrome dont get you home" glitter attracts too many critters,"spice is nice,boring will keep you fed" the thing is we are all mortal and it does no good to enslave yourself for the few short years we are here(if you want me to pontificate a bit more just say so) sign me" Zoro platedo"

 

[sc00ter]

It sounds like the buyer of babycaptains house is one of those "forever renters". The main company has agents that find houses to turn into forever rentals and they get a cut for finding the house. The buyer doesn't have the money, the investment company does, and there might be a problem or argument that happened behind the scenes, stalling the closing. I know a few realtors and they hate the buyers for forever rentals, because forever rental buyers want to bypass realtors to maximize their profits.

What does the selling contract state? I'd go back over it with your realtor or, like mentioned above, find a new one. I purchased a house once and the seller ran into a problem he didn't foresee. He said it would take 2 weeks to correct and offered to pay for a decent motel for 2 weeks, and extra money for food and laundry. He gave me cash and I lived in my van for 2 weeks and pocketed the cash.

Keep us posted babycaptain on the outcome.

 

[kevinmccune]

It sounds like the buyer of babycaptains house is one of those "forever renters". The main company has agents that find houses to turn into forever rentals and they get a cut for finding the house. The buyer doesn't have the money, the investment company does, and there might be a problem or argument that happened behind the scenes, stalling the closing. I know a few realtors and they hate the buyers for forever rentals, because forever rental buyers want to bypass realtors to maximize their profits.

What does the selling contract state? I'd go back over it with your realtor or, like mentioned above, find a new one. I purchased a house once and the seller ran into a problem he didn't foresee. He said it would take 2 weeks to correct and offered to pay for a decent motel for 2 weeks, and extra money for food and laundry. He gave me cash and I lived in my van for 2 weeks and pocketed the cash.

Keep us posted babycaptain on the outcome.

posts like this keep us reading the comments!( we are here to learn and be a bit entertained)

 

[February]

Ex real estate guy here. Always use a realtor. They do more than you think on the legal and closing side of things. Having said that, never trust a realtor wit suggested listings. I knew guys who would throw potential listings in the garbage that might have been perfect for the buyer, but commission for buying agent was too low. This is common practice for a lot of realtors. When you are ready to buy, ask your realtor for a compete list of every home for sale in the area you are looking for. Most appraisers will do this for free.