Home buying thread
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Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!
Go here and give us your nominations!Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!
Cutlery
Kill All the White People
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Mostly because it's winter now, and the home search has been suspended. No one here wants to sell, nor move in the winter. We'll see what the spring brings.
She's already been through 2 realtors. How many more should you waste your time with before you just do your own research online (because you can) and just use your realtor for the paperwork and communication? You know better than anyone else does what you want in a house, cut out the middleman.
Hey, that's great that you had a good one. But if I ever sell my house (doubtful) and am looking for another one, I'll just find my own house, and simply be using a realtor to let me in to look at them. I don't need to waste my time with someone else trying to figure out what I want to see in a house. I can do all of that myself and save us both some time.
She's already been through 2 realtors. How many more should you waste your time with before you just do your own research online (because you can) and just use your realtor for the paperwork and communication? You know better than anyone else does what you want in a house, cut out the middleman.
Hey, that's great that you had a good one. But if I ever sell my house (doubtful) and am looking for another one, I'll just find my own house, and simply be using a realtor to let me in to look at them. I don't need to waste my time with someone else trying to figure out what I want to see in a house. I can do all of that myself and save us both some time.
Shonuff
Mr. Poopybutthole
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No one has talked about schools (in #2)? In general, the better the schools, the more the property values will increase (or in this case, hold their value). It's like when we lived in Atlanta, you could get a cheap home, but the schools sucked, crime level was high, and property values didn't do well. We recently sold our house (in Missouri), that was in the best school system in the area, at a profit, while other people we knew lost their asses selling.
It's going to cost more, but that's always the first criteria for us. Even if you don't have kids (or ever plan on having them), no one wants to put their kids in a shitty school system. The buyer behind us was willing to pay top dollar to be in the better school system, as they had three young children.
It's going to cost more, but that's always the first criteria for us. Even if you don't have kids (or ever plan on having them), no one wants to put their kids in a shitty school system. The buyer behind us was willing to pay top dollar to be in the better school system, as they had three young children.
Asshat Brando
Potato del Grande
- 5,346
- -478
Haven't checked this thread in a while, just some info to throw out:
Debt Ratios - FHA actually doesn't have a debt ratio requirement themselves, it's all based on what the lender you are using decides is their limit for risk. When I was at B of A you could get away with a 50% debt ratio, MetLife was 55% and now my current employer is a 50% again. For conventional you'll usually get a DU approve at 45% and below which any underwriter will do because Fannie Mae's own system is saying it's a loan they will buy. Up until the next Mortgagee Letter FHA doesn't have FICO score requirements either, in theory you could have a 500 FICO score with a 60% debt ratio and if you find the lender that will do it you can get a loan as crazy as it sounds. Front End Ratio's don't matter whatsoever anymore, no idea why guidelines even show them.
Websites - Zillow is fine for giving you an idea on value but all it does is compare sqft, bd/ba count and lot vs. all other sales in the last year within a certain radius. It can't tell the difference in quality of construction, views, street traffic, etc. Also most appraisers are instructed to only use sales in the last 90 days. Your area's MLS is a paid service that realtors use, sometimes you can look at the properties there as a guest but otherwise RedFin is probably the best way to go as a non-realtor.
Realtors - Cut always cracks me up with how simple everything is. I don't remember who handles closings in MN but here in CA we use an escrow company and they can very easily fuck up your day if they suck ass. There are multiple parties involved in any transaction unless you're paying cash. Having a realtor that can negotiate for you to insure that some shit heads aren't part of the transaction when it comes to escrow or title, knows the area and has a relationship with the other realtor as well as sets proper expectations and ties in with your lender just will make your life that much easier. Those 30 days from signed contract to closing (if your lucky it's 30 I guess) are just a rollercoaster of emotions. Deciding to take it all on yourself cause your a manly Nordic man just seems like more trouble than it's worth but more power to ya.
Debt Ratios - FHA actually doesn't have a debt ratio requirement themselves, it's all based on what the lender you are using decides is their limit for risk. When I was at B of A you could get away with a 50% debt ratio, MetLife was 55% and now my current employer is a 50% again. For conventional you'll usually get a DU approve at 45% and below which any underwriter will do because Fannie Mae's own system is saying it's a loan they will buy. Up until the next Mortgagee Letter FHA doesn't have FICO score requirements either, in theory you could have a 500 FICO score with a 60% debt ratio and if you find the lender that will do it you can get a loan as crazy as it sounds. Front End Ratio's don't matter whatsoever anymore, no idea why guidelines even show them.
Websites - Zillow is fine for giving you an idea on value but all it does is compare sqft, bd/ba count and lot vs. all other sales in the last year within a certain radius. It can't tell the difference in quality of construction, views, street traffic, etc. Also most appraisers are instructed to only use sales in the last 90 days. Your area's MLS is a paid service that realtors use, sometimes you can look at the properties there as a guest but otherwise RedFin is probably the best way to go as a non-realtor.
Realtors - Cut always cracks me up with how simple everything is. I don't remember who handles closings in MN but here in CA we use an escrow company and they can very easily fuck up your day if they suck ass. There are multiple parties involved in any transaction unless you're paying cash. Having a realtor that can negotiate for you to insure that some shit heads aren't part of the transaction when it comes to escrow or title, knows the area and has a relationship with the other realtor as well as sets proper expectations and ties in with your lender just will make your life that much easier. Those 30 days from signed contract to closing (if your lucky it's 30 I guess) are just a rollercoaster of emotions. Deciding to take it all on yourself cause your a manly Nordic man just seems like more trouble than it's worth but more power to ya.
Shonuff
Mr. Poopybutthole
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I'm not sure what all the bagging is on Zillow, but as I've moved so much, it's helped me get a good feel on home prices. Hell, one time the Realtor tried to get me to pay way over what Zillow said, and it helped me negotiate. As with anything on the Internet, your mileage may vary.
Asshat Brando
Potato del Grande
- 5,346
- -478
You just have to take it as a starting point, there is nothing wrong with Zillow. Just what they use to determine value is not the same as what appraisers use. If there are plenty of other sales in the neighborhood it should be pretty accurate. My house for instance is not that accurate though as it's listing me below a recent sale as it has my bd/ba count wrong as well as my sqft without accounting for how I'm at the end of a cul-de-sac and the sale wasn't.
Cutlery
Kill All the White People
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You always crack me up with how simple everything is.
Zillow lists my house as worth 430k. It's never even sold for more than 310k.
FYI, I never once said don't get a realtor, I said don't assume your realtor is going to find a house. It's in the first post I made on the subject. Get a realtor to deal with the fucking paperwork for you, but don't rely on them to find your house for you. You have the tools available online to do it yourself now. Obviously you want someone to deal with the fucking paperwork and bullshit, but I never said that, did I?
Get off your fucking high horse. Just because you sell mortgages for a living doesn't mean you're the authority on the entire home buying process.
Arative
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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I just put my house up for sale and my agent put the house on a site called listingbook. It was the first I had heard of it but it seems the same as MLS. I still prefer zillow though for looking for homes.
Asshat Brando
Potato del Grande
- 5,346
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You're right Cut, I didn't point out the issues with Zillow earlier nor how it has my house way off as well. Didn't see nothing........
Asshat Brando
Potato del Grande
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- -478
Yeah, I didn't say starting point and said it should be taken as absolute fact. Were we neighbors back in MN and I don't realize it and my dog took shits on your parents lawn every day or something? The previous thread on FoH or Netz in regards to the home inspector was just ridiculous and now here we are again nit picking little bullshit.
Cutlery
Kill All the White People
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You can stop nitpicking any time you want. You're the fucking expert here, and you make sure everyone knows it too, and no one else can possibly have a different opinion than you.
Here, lets break down what "nitpicking" is to you.
I paid 245k for my house in 2009. It's worth probably 220k today.
The most my house has ever sold for was 310k in 2006.
Zillow lists my house's value as 430k.
I contend that the website is fucking useless and provides absolutely no measure of actual value whatsoever. You say that it's fine for giving you an idea on value. That's not accurate, and no matter how many qualifiers you want to put on it, it's never going to be. If you want to come into every home buying thread and pretend that you're the all knowing, all seeing deity for all home sale knowledge and then slap that down on the table, then you're gonna get called on it by people who disagree with you.
That's the beauty of the internet, dickbag. It's okay to have different opinions on shit. You can continue to jerk off to Zillow all day, and people who know it's complete bullshit can come here and say so, and at the end of the day, the people reading it get to decide whether you know what you're talking about and their house is in fact worth a half a million dollars, or they can decide that particular website is useless as a source of any kind of relevant data at all. There are many different ways to gauge a home's value, and in my experience, Zillow is right up there with the Magic 8 Ball for reliable information.
Here, lets break down what "nitpicking" is to you.
I paid 245k for my house in 2009. It's worth probably 220k today.
The most my house has ever sold for was 310k in 2006.
Zillow lists my house's value as 430k.
I contend that the website is fucking useless and provides absolutely no measure of actual value whatsoever. You say that it's fine for giving you an idea on value. That's not accurate, and no matter how many qualifiers you want to put on it, it's never going to be. If you want to come into every home buying thread and pretend that you're the all knowing, all seeing deity for all home sale knowledge and then slap that down on the table, then you're gonna get called on it by people who disagree with you.
That's the beauty of the internet, dickbag. It's okay to have different opinions on shit. You can continue to jerk off to Zillow all day, and people who know it's complete bullshit can come here and say so, and at the end of the day, the people reading it get to decide whether you know what you're talking about and their house is in fact worth a half a million dollars, or they can decide that particular website is useless as a source of any kind of relevant data at all. There are many different ways to gauge a home's value, and in my experience, Zillow is right up there with the Magic 8 Ball for reliable information.
OneofOne
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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The one good thing I did like about Zillow and used for every property we looked at was looking at property lines. Sometimes just looking at Google maps wasn't enough, and Zillow did help. That and links to school rating sites is all the props I'll give that site /shrug
Asshat Brando
Potato del Grande
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- -478
Pretty sure I've never claimed to be a home buying/selling expert. I've made a living for 13 years now financing and at times building them but that's about it. Zillow is pulling the information from public records and recent sales in your area. It conveniently has a link that shows those sales and listings when looking at the property in question. That is the starting point I'm talking about as recent sales and how they are different from the property in question is going to dictate sales price and appraised value. But I suppose instead of taking the actual data and interpreting it we'll just say it's all fucking worthless.
Shonuff
Mr. Poopybutthole
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Zillow has always been a great starting point. I've had a few realtors that tried to get me to pay way more than I wanted to - News Flash at 11. In my area, in the last few years, large homes have cratered. You could literally find some of those homes for 40%. And what does your realtor do, that is supposed to be working on your behalf? Tell you to pay full price. One time, I had a realtor tell me I needed to pay 450k for a house worth 300k. All of her comps were conveniently in other neighborhoods with homes that were priced too high. I used Zillow to tell, that based on the rest of the neighborhood, that she was nuts. The home ended up selling for the price I thought it was worth like two years later. At least with Zillow, I can tell the historical values and not get ripped off.
As long as you don't take it as the gospel, you are good. Another time, I had a realtor show me her comps, and show me that Zillow was 8% higher than reality. It's just a good starting point for the conversation.
Remember that a large determinant of who is wealthy (and who isn't) is based on information asymmetry.
My realtor has a site that emails me any new matches on my criteria (zip code/neighborhood, price, br/ba etc) and they can get a printout of any time the house has been listed and what it was listed/sold for every time we've gone to actually look at a house. Is that not a thing everywhere else?
Shonuff
Mr. Poopybutthole
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I've moved around a lot, and some realtors want to share 0 data. In retrospect, any realtor that won't share their data should be fired.
Falstaff
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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It is, and this is what I was talking about when I said getting info from the MLS that your realtor sends directly to you
Falstaff
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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So our closing was scheduled for this Saturday, the 9th. We requested that it be moved up to the 8th to accommodate a scheduling conflict. We made this request a week ago and just got a response from the seller that not only can she not move closing a day earlier, which is fine, but she can't even close on the 9th anymore. She, or her attorney, wouldn't tell us why. Her realtor told our realtor that the seller still has to "throw stuff away" (even though the house was empty... wtf?) and that she hasn't even scheduled any of the agreed upon repairs until this Saturday, the original date of closing which she agreed to and knew for a month now.
Luckily the bank has agreed to extend my rate guarantee until Wednesday but fuck, I guess nothing works out perfectly. Anyone else deal with something like this?
Luckily the bank has agreed to extend my rate guarantee until Wednesday but fuck, I guess nothing works out perfectly. Anyone else deal with something like this?
Tmac
Adventurer
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