Home buying thread

Looks like they accepted our letters.. won't stop them from requesting more retarded information I'm sure.

One of the letters I had to write was the name of my position at an old job. The letter read:

"To whom it may concern,

My position at XXXX was YYYY.

Best Regards,
Andrew"

Vandyn_sl said:

Who the hell builds a downspout right on top of a roof? Roofs are usually the biggest haggling point when it comes to repairs because neither party wants to foot the bill. I'd ask them to do something with that downspout.

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I have a similar set-up on my roof. The water runs down the roof into a lower gutter. I don't see how it is much different than all the other water that runs down the roof when it rains. Just because it is concentrated and thus erodes more?

My inspector didn't seem to have any issue with it, but he did point out several other minor deficiencies with the gutters so I know he was paying attention to them.

Why not just extend that gutter to the ground? Seems like a simple fix, unless I'm missing something.

opiate82_sl said:

I have a similar set-up on my roof. The water runs down the roof into a lower gutter. I don't see how it is much different than all the other water that runs down the roof when it rains.Just because it is concentrated and thus erodes more?

My inspector didn't seem to have any issue with it, but he did point out several other minor deficiencies with the gutters so I know he was paying attention to them.

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That would be my concern. We have plenty of storms around here where I've seen my downspouts just pouring water by the hour. Constantly doing that on one spot on the roof, through all kinds of temp changes (especially cold) I would think erode then eventually leak. That sounds exactly like what happened in Lindz's case. I would at the very least extend it directly to the gutter.

lindz_sl said:

The roof is older than 10 years, it is the original (17 years) but has spot repairs from what I understand. The reason for the leak is a downspout that is pouring directly on a patch of the roof. With so much water constantly pouring on it, it eventually developed a leak in that spot. We will be asking them to fix the leak, perform any additional spot repairs as needed and have the roof 5 year certified. We'll also ask them to fix any damage caused by the leak.

This is the downspout causing the problem and the darker area directly beneath it is the leak.

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Did the inspector mention anything about where the wall meets the roof to the right of the downspout? Obviously it is hard to tell, but it does not look like there is any counter-flashing there, and looks like a good amount of water damage has occurred. No counter-flashing is pretty common in older homes, and homes that have had roof repairs. Any time you see a wall meet a roof like that, you can pretty much be guaranteed that you're going to have leaks eventually. This is probably why the higher gutter and downspout was put in to begin with, so definitely take a good look at it.

Also, the leak on the gutter is probably right under the downspout (before/at the curve) from leaking water that gets trapped there. I doubt you're seeing a leak from the area beneath the downspout, so extending it won't help. You need to put in a new downspout, and if you run it down to another gutter consider using a flexible pipe and not actual gutter spouts, as they will tend to leak through seams unless you have it constructed from a single sheet, which is more expensive.

Finally used my VA loan. Got this in a nice tree-lined neighborhood where all garages are on back streets for $320k. VA loan so nothing down, no PMI, 4.2% interest, 30 year. Had some money saved up for down payment but it didn't change rates much. So I now I'm 6 months ahead on payments. Gonna spend a few months just throwing money at principle, then repeat. If everything goes as planned I'm on a 10-year pay off plan. Hopefully ...








I've always rented or lived with the parents so I always wondered why people loved Home Depot and Lowes so much. Now I know.

The former owners did a bunch of custom work on it, so doesn't really need anything except maybe a hot tub. Entire house is either tile or wood floors. Zero carpet anywhere which I really like. Also plantation-style shutters on every window and door in the house. Oh, also hard-wired alarm sensors on every window and door and 3 hard-wired motion detectors installed when the house was built.

Maybe it has to do with a VA loan being 30 year only, but if you plan on paying it off in 10 years, why didn't you just get a 15 year mortgage?

Either way looks like a really nice house. Congrats!

What a beautiful house, I just love that style. Congrats Astral Projection!

I suppose it may just be personal preference that you'd rather get rid of a payment faster. Have you considered investing the amount you plan on paying extra per month instead?

Eyashusa_sl said:

Maybe it has to do with a VA loan being 30 year only, but if you plan on paying it off in 10 years, why didn't you just get a 15 year mortgage?

Either way looks like a really nice house. Congrats!

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Probably the same reason my wife and I have a 30 yr but a 15 yr pay-off plan. We are totally risk-averse. If something was to go wrong for us financially, we would be able to scale back our mortgage payments to the 30 yr rate.

LiquidDeath_sl said:

Probably the same reason my wife and I have a 30 yr but a 15 yr pay-off plan. We are totally risk-averse. If something was to go wrong for us financially, we would be able to scale back our mortgage payments to the 30 yr rate.

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Okay I understand from that perspective.

LiquidDeath_sl said:

Probably the same reason my wife and I have a 30 yr but a 15 yr pay-off plan. We are totally risk-averse. If something was to go wrong for us financially, we would be able to scale back our mortgage payments to the 30 yr rate.

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^ Exactly why we did it too. Payments are lower just in case. Paying it off early anyway so it shouldn't make much difference in total interest paid.

Anyway, for those who say invest instead hmm it is a close call imho. If I just throw in an extra $1000 a month, I pay it off 16 years and 3 months earlier and save $142,055.01 in interest over the life of the loan. Can easily do that in addition to maxing my IRA contribution every year.

Early Mortgage Payoff Calculator - online financial calculators


Yeah I could invest $1000 a month but there is risk if you want significantly more than 4.2%. Also I've been 100% debt-free for several years, so I kinda hate having payments now. Not sure if that is a good reason heh.

Thanks everyone btw. Pretty awesome feeling buying first house.

How did the inspection go today Noodle?

lindz_sl said:

How did the inspection go today Noodle?

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Meant to post about it but had a busy day and wasn't around. A story for another day lol..

About the inspection: We got to see pictures of the house from when it was first listed. It was evident to us that the house was completely gutted and rehabbed. This was confirmed by our inspector. Brand new roof, siding, insulation, drywall, appliances, entire kitchen, paint, bathrooms, furnace/burner ,oil tank, house completely rewired and re-piped (water, etc). He said it was apparent the seller spent probably $80,000 fixing the house up. Turns out it was a dude who bought the foreclosed home in order to fix it fast, ended up falling in love with the house and just kept going. We were told he made no profit.

Everything passed with flying colors except a couple small issues. The seller forgot to install a dryer vent. Not a huge issue for us as my brother in law does construction and said he could toss in a vent in a couple minutes - so we didn't even ask the seller to fix this. The other major issue was the seller didn't secure the dishwasher in, he kind of just plopped it right in. I think he didn't secure it because it had mounts on the top and you can't screw it into the granite. We've asked him to fix this. My brother in law said he could do it, but would prefer not to as it's a pain in the ass. There is also no exhaust in the upstairs bathroom so it's something for us to think about installing eventually.

Other than that no issues at all. The guy was there for 2 hours with us trying to find anything and that was all he could find. He said the guy did really good work, everything was up to code, everything looked good. So far, as long as nothing happens, we're in the clear to close in ~1 month.

Awesome, congrats! Are you guys going to do a year of new home warranty just in case? Our agent has mentioned she is happy to gift us a year and I think we'll probably take her up on it since there are a few little things we want to make sure don't cause a headache in that first year.

Our sellers approved of the repairs we asked for so we're officially in contract now. Close date is April 30th. Pretty excited.

There was no mention of a new home warranty, so not sure if it is applicable.

We signed our purchase and sales after the seller agreed to fix the dishwasher and install a dryer vent, so we're in contract too. We probably aren't moving into the new place until the following week though. Too much going on!