Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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Home buying thread
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Crone
Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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So after starting the process of getting approved for a loan, and starting to get them my bank statements, etc, I've done a 180 in thinking, and feel like renting might be a better option.
Re-locating to a brand new city, from Phoenix to San Antonio. I know nothing of the city, about where is good to live, versus where is bad. Could rent for 6 months, and go through this buying process later if I want.
Owning a home is damn expensive, and while I completely understand the limitations of renting, I don't even know if I'll be in San Antonio longer than 2 years before moving again.
It's the American dream to own a home, and we already do own our home now in Phoenix. It's our first home, and was a big learning experience that I do not regret. I'm just not sure it's the right thing again, but feel so wrong to say I'm going to rent versus own. Society in general has done a great job in making you feel like a dirty loser if you don't own a home.
Re-locating to a brand new city, from Phoenix to San Antonio. I know nothing of the city, about where is good to live, versus where is bad. Could rent for 6 months, and go through this buying process later if I want.
Owning a home is damn expensive, and while I completely understand the limitations of renting, I don't even know if I'll be in San Antonio longer than 2 years before moving again.
It's the American dream to own a home, and we already do own our home now in Phoenix. It's our first home, and was a big learning experience that I do not regret. I'm just not sure it's the right thing again, but feel so wrong to say I'm going to rent versus own. Society in general has done a great job in making you feel like a dirty loser if you don't own a home.
Crone
Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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I agree. I was afraid of house prices popping up drastically in those 6 months, but it doesn't look like San Antonio is doing that. I'd be mad if I did that and then had to pay 30-50k more for the same house just because I had waited.
I'll have to compare rents, to mortgage rates. Not having the responsibility of taking care of everything in the house almost sounds relieving. lol
Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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lindz
#DDs
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They can be insufferable shit heads no matter where you live. Worse when you own I would expect, since you can't just leave at the end of your lease.
Although not having a landlord seems like heaven! I have a great landlord this time round and I still get crazy stressed when we have our walk through every 6 months.
Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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Ours never walks through until we leave, thank god... they would be mortified.
Checked out about 20 houses so far. Not sure if this is the standard, but after checking out each house within a day they're already being put into agreement or accepted an offer. It's really stressful and I already hate the process.
Also I got hungover last weekend and puked in one of the yards of a house we were looking at. We just left.
Checked out about 20 houses so far. Not sure if this is the standard, but after checking out each house within a day they're already being put into agreement or accepted an offer. It's really stressful and I already hate the process.
Also I got hungover last weekend and puked in one of the yards of a house we were looking at. We just left.
lindz
#DDs
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Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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I hope you don't mind me constantly posting in this thread with noob questions bro. My hope is maybe it will help someone else too.
Here's one I've got today. We're looking into houses at a town that has a power plant. In around 3 years time the power plant is closing permanently. My agent tells me this will affect taxes negatively, and although he doesn't know for sure, he thinks the housing tax will double. Is that legally possible? This is in MA if that matters.
Here's one I've got today. We're looking into houses at a town that has a power plant. In around 3 years time the power plant is closing permanently. My agent tells me this will affect taxes negatively, and although he doesn't know for sure, he thinks the housing tax will double. Is that legally possible? This is in MA if that matters.
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If they can't tax the business, they're going to tax homeowners instead. Not sure why you think there's some legality to the matter. A lot of counties and towns depend heavily on business taxes. My dad lives out in the country, has half the land I do but 50% more taxes because corporate taxes.
meStevo
I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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How common is it to borrow against your existing home equity to purchase another home (with the intention of immediately selling the original, repaying back the home equity loan) ?
Our mortgage is down to less than $130k, Zillow values up over $170k (FWIW, realtor says Zillow numbers in our area are fairly lowballed), home with an identical layout sold for $190k last month but was probably an investor or something because 2 weeks later it's available for rent.
We don't have much saved, working on paying down debts, hoping to move late summer/fall or otherwise we'll probably wait and do it next year. 2nd child coming this month, so don't have my hopes pinned on doing anything quickly but had been meaning to post this question.
Our mortgage is down to less than $130k, Zillow values up over $170k (FWIW, realtor says Zillow numbers in our area are fairly lowballed), home with an identical layout sold for $190k last month but was probably an investor or something because 2 weeks later it's available for rent.
We don't have much saved, working on paying down debts, hoping to move late summer/fall or otherwise we'll probably wait and do it next year. 2nd child coming this month, so don't have my hopes pinned on doing anything quickly but had been meaning to post this question.
Asshat wormie
2023 Asshat Award Winner
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Why not sell the first house and then buy the other? Why would you want all to pay additional fees that come with taking out another loan?
meStevo
I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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That's the goal. Selling/buying simultaneously isn't something I've ever done and the idea of something temporary in between with wife, 2 kids/dogs/cats and all our crap is scary. So point of it is to use the equity to do it sooner rather than later.
Asshat wormie
2023 Asshat Award Winner
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So when you look for a purchaser for your property, negotiate post closing possession so you can stay in the house until you buy the new one. Its not easy to coordinate everything to happen within a day or two, but its fairly simple to coordinate everything to happen within a week or two. Its done all the time.
Asshat Brando
Potato del Grande
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You enter into contract on your new house with a contingency for the sale of your old house. You don't remove your contingency until your house is actually sold. Living in a hotel for a week or two may be cheaper than a rent back, just need to work our the numbers.
Joeboo
Molten Core Raider
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You would probably have trouble even getting a home equity loan from a lot of the big lenders with that little equity in your home. BofA for example won't even consider you unless your existing morgage + the new home equity loan still dont push you over about ~85% of the value of your home. And their minimum home equity loan is like 25K. So the math wouldn't work, you don't really have a lot of wiggle room to play with unless you can get your house appraised for a LOT more than 170k.
I'm sure there are banks and credit unions out there that could work with you, but you might be better off sticking to more local/regional banks and CUs than the big national ones. They have pretty strict requirements anymore.
Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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Right I get that much. My question really is can they do that in a single year? Someone told me they could only raise taxes 2.5% in a single year. So if this power plant closes can they raise taxes by 100% instantly? It's a concern as that's going from $3000 to $6000 a year
AladainAF
Best Rabbit
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I don't know exactly what the market in SA is but it can't be more expensive than Austin, the most expensive place to buy a house in TX. And in Austin -- buying a home is still cheaper than renting.
I had a $615 *15 year* mortgage (97k purchase, 83k mortgage) interest + principal only, not taxes/ins on my first house. We paid it off, and I'm currently renting it out for $1,300 a month. The house we bought after is 3,700 sq. feet, 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom on a 16,000 square feet lot with hill country views, and we pay $1,550 a month for it(~360k mortgage, ~439k purchase), taxes and insurance not included.
Renting is far more expensive, though it has its advantages if you're just moving to a new place.
Khane
Got something right about marriage
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You're completely ignoring every other financial aspect of owning a home and even going as far as to compare mortgage without taxes, insurance and escrow to just a rent payment. You need to take everything into account when you consider the cost of rent vs own and not just wildly claim renting is "far more expensive". What about property upkeep and maintenance on top of the taxes and insurance you are conveniently pretending don't factor in? It might still be cheaper own than rent but it is not nearly as skewed as you are claiming. The real benefit to owning is the equity you are building.