Home buying thread

Palum · 2025-03-14T10:33:16-0400

Fucker said:
The fucked part is anywhere nice still has high demand from fuckwits moving in from the coasts. As you said, get what you can get, not what you want. This has been the way of things in the 3 different states I've lived in almost same number of years. Huge demand, interest rates be damned. Expensive houses going for 2-3x ask in some areas. I lost count of the number of houses where my bid wasn't even close, and they were fat bids. Nice houses are sold before lunch on listing day.

Building? Impossible now. here, 2 year wait, and good builders won't look at anything under $2MM. GF and I don't want a big house. 2500 SQft custom top to bottom. No one will even look at the plans. The other option for new are cheaply built houses on postage stamps. No thanks.

Renovating? DIY or fuck off. It wasn't that long ago that I had people lining up to work on the house where I used to live. Had many bids on exterior and interior paint, no end of choices for flooring companies, craftsmen to rebuild kitchen butler pantry. All done quickly and without flaw.

I walked into a flooring place a few years ago. 6+ women sitting at desks. Not a single person asked to help or if I wanted TO GIVE THEM MONEY. Same story at every flooring place I went to. The only option was trash like Lowe's. Nope! I wanted to build there. Same 2 year wait. I wanted new cabinets. Cabinet guy only built them. Paint? Hire a guy to do it. Install? Hire a guy to do it. Dispose of old cabinets? Hire a guy to do it. Worse yet? He couldn't give me any names of people to do it.

Here, there are flooring places, but 0 of them move furniture. No one available to move furniture at all. I hear a lot of "we don't do that". I wanted a new range hood installed and plumbed in. They'd sell me the hood, but had no names of people who would do the install.

The house I had redone? I left for 6 hours, and came back to new carpet, new flooring, and new cabinets. They moved all the furniture and put it back. Here, I can't even find a fucking plumber.

NO ONE WANTS MONEY. EVERYONE ARE NOW BILLIONAIRES AND DON'T NEED TO WORK.

Except the young couple who did the interior paint. Fucking excellent work and perfect price.

Ahh yes, let's talk about expansion. I moved to bumfuck nowhere. A year after I left, owner across the street sold all his acres, and now they are going to put 100 houses on it. I didn't plan on keeping this house, but I'd be pretty sore if I did.

My house out west was on the edge of town. Walk across the street into woods. Now it at the start of subdivisions, each with ever smaller lots. There was 4 miles of farm to the left of the road when I moved out there. It's all subdivisions now, each with tiny homes and tiny lots. Woman who bought my house says I wouldn't recognize the area now.

The problem with all this expansion everywhere? The roads can't support that much traffic. 100 extra cars on a tiny two lane road? Fuck that. Bumfuk nowhere but still traffic jams.

I need to build a time machine and zap myself to 1940.

Yea same issue, basically. My house is worth ~50% more than late 2021 when we moved in. I straight up do not want to afford those values at current interest rates. I also got bullshit insane quotes to do simple shit with cosmetic/interior painting and all that. 40k+ to just do like half the interior, and that was not including removing popcorn ceilings or other projects I wanted done as part of that refresh. So I'm doing it myself now, and I GC a few things I really want a professional to do (e.g. traditional oak hardwood).

I literally can't get anyone reasonable to do most things, or afford the unreasonable people, outside of personal connections I have with some trades. Guy who works with me just paid fucking 38k for a 3/4 bath renovation. Lmao what the fuck.

TomServo · 2025-03-14T10:35:39-0400

Fucker said:
The fucked part is anywhere nice still has high demand from fuckwits moving in from the coasts. As you said, get what you can get, not what you want. This has been the way of things in the 3 different states I've lived in almost same number of years. Huge demand, interest rates be damned. Expensive houses going for 2-3x ask in some areas. I lost count of the number of houses where my bid wasn't even close, and they were fat bids. Nice houses are sold before lunch on listing day.

Building? Impossible now. here, 2 year wait, and good builders won't look at anything under $2MM. GF and I don't want a big house. 2500 SQft custom top to bottom. No one will even look at the plans. The other option for new are cheaply built houses on postage stamps. No thanks.

Renovating? DIY or fuck off. It wasn't that long ago that I had people lining up to work on the house where I used to live. Had many bids on exterior and interior paint, no end of choices for flooring companies, craftsmen to rebuild kitchen butler pantry. All done quickly and without flaw.

I walked into a flooring place a few years ago. 6+ women sitting at desks. Not a single person asked to help or if I wanted TO GIVE THEM MONEY. Same story at every flooring place I went to. The only option was trash like Lowe's. Nope! I wanted to build there. Same 2 year wait. I wanted new cabinets. Cabinet guy only built them. Paint? Hire a guy to do it. Install? Hire a guy to do it. Dispose of old cabinets? Hire a guy to do it. Worse yet? He couldn't give me any names of people to do it.

Here, there are flooring places, but 0 of them move furniture. No one available to move furniture at all. I hear a lot of "we don't do that". I wanted a new range hood installed and plumbed in. They'd sell me the hood, but had no names of people who would do the install.

The house I had redone? I left for 6 hours, and came back to new carpet, new flooring, and new cabinets. They moved all the furniture and put it back. Here, I can't even find a fucking plumber.

NO ONE WANTS MONEY. EVERYONE ARE NOW BILLIONAIRES AND DON'T NEED TO WORK.

Except the young couple who did the interior paint. Fucking excellent work and perfect price.

Ahh yes, let's talk about expansion. I moved to bumfuck nowhere. A year after I left, owner across the street sold all his acres, and now they are going to put 100 houses on it. I didn't plan on keeping this house, but I'd be pretty sore if I did.

My house out west was on the edge of town. Walk across the street into woods. Now it at the start of subdivisions, each with ever smaller lots. There was 4 miles of farm to the left of the road when I moved out there. It's all subdivisions now, each with tiny homes and tiny lots. Woman who bought my house says I wouldn't recognize the area now.

The problem with all this expansion everywhere? The roads can't support that much traffic. 100 extra cars on a tiny two lane road? Fuck that. Bumfuk nowhere but still traffic jams.

I need to build a time machine and zap myself to 1940.

It really does suck. In 2018 when I came to Florida I had my nose in the air over a 430k house with a typical 50 wide 120 deep lot.

Postage stamp. So I fucked around and covid bullshit and losing my job left me a very pragmatic man on 2023.

I found a good deal by today's standards and took that bitch, it's only 1850 and not that 2500 I wanted.

To the point I would rather spend 150k on the pool I want with all the bells and whistles.

This is my tomb and ima enjoy it while here

Jysin · 2025-03-14T11:12:29-0400

Asking for some clarification on those new "rules" for buyer's agents. Background, I have ZERO experience buying in the US. I have lived abroad for the last ~25 years. Moving my family back stateside and to Florida in the next year or two. I have already started looking for homes in the areas I am interested in. Got about 50% cash available and looking in a $600-$800k pricerange.

So, a month or so ago, a beautiful place came up. Literally across the street from the inlet connecting to the Gulf. All I could go by are the online photos, but my brother lives in the area. He was going to go take a look and video chat with me so I could ask questions. At least that was the plan... when I contacted the agent, all I got was sent a pile of paperwork which seemed to attempt to lock me into some buyer's fees. Again, with 0 experience in this process, I just ghosted the agent and moved on.

So, are you guys saying this is now standard practice? WTF am I signing fee agreements when I haven't even viewed the god damn property?? You'd think you start signing paperwork when you are ready to make offers.

Please explain it like I am 5.

Palum · 2025-03-14T11:15:51-0400

Jysin said:
Asking for some clarification on those new "rules" for buyer's agents. Background, I have ZERO experience buying in the US. I have lived abroad for the last ~25 years. Moving my family back stateside and to Florida in the next year or two. I have already started looking for homes in the areas I am interested in. Got about 50% cash available and looking in a $600-$800k pricerange.

So, a month or so ago, a beautiful place came up. Literally across the street from the inlet connecting to the Gulf. All I could go by are the online photos, but my brother lives in the area. He was going to go take a look and video chat with me so I could ask questions. At least that was the plan... when I contacted the agent, all I got was sent a pile of paperwork which seemed to attempt to lock me into some buyer's fees. Again, with 0 experience in this process, I just ghosted the agent and moved on.

So, are you guys saying this is now standard practice? WTF am I signing fee agreements when I haven't even viewed the god damn property?? You'd think you start signing paperwork when you are ready to make offers.

Please explain it like I am 5.

Correct. You must now sign an explicit contract for buyers fees, whereas before it was usually just a representation agreement and 'customary' for the seller to pay them, which meant the buyer's agent could steer you towards houses that listed a 3% share for them on MLS, versus say a house you liked and only shared a 2% or something.

The biggest issue is exclusivity. If you sign an exclusive contract (usually for some period like 3-12 months) you are fucked and if they find out you bought a house from someone else or private sale or whatever, they could come after you for commission legally.

Burnem Wizfyre · 2025-03-14T11:34:53-0400

Palum said:
Yea same issue, basically. My house is worth ~50% more than late 2021 when we moved in. I straight up do not want to afford those values at current interest rates. I also got bullshit insane quotes to do simple shit with cosmetic/interior painting and all that. 40k+ to just do like half the interior, and that was not including removing popcorn ceilings or other projects I wanted done as part of that refresh. So I'm doing it myself now, and I GC a few things I really want a professional to do (e.g. traditional oak hardwood).

I literally can't get anyone reasonable to do most things, or afford the unreasonable people, outside of personal connections I have with some trades. Guy who works with me just paid fucking 38k for a 3/4 bath renovation. Lmao what the fuck.

We just got quoted 9,500 to paint the inside of our house. Just did the math on the material, the paint is like $450 bucks. Shits crazy, we’re going to DIY it and use the man cave in the garage to test the waters to see if we’re not to retarded to paint.

Gravel · 2025-03-14T11:35:13-0400

Palum said:
Correct. You must now sign an explicit contract for buyers fees, whereas before it was usually just a representation agreement and 'customary' for the seller to pay them, which meant the buyer's agent could steer you towards houses that listed a 3% share for them on MLS, versus say a house you liked and only shared a 2% or something.

The biggest issue is exclusivity. If you sign an exclusive contract (usually for some period like 3-12 months) you are fucked and if they find out you bought a house from someone else or private sale or whatever, they could come after you for commission legally.

This somehow seems worse for consumers.

Like when we bought here, we went to some agency and they assigned us whoever was "on call" (can't remember the name they used), but basically the person assigned to walk ins. Which just so happened to be some dumb bitch who was fucking terrible at it. We lost a house because she couldn't be bothered to get the paperwork in on time.

So we said fuck her and found someone else. Now, apparently, we'd be stuck with the shitty agent just cause they were the first to snag us?

Palum · 2025-03-14T11:42:52-0400

Gravel said:
This somehow seems worse for consumers.

Like when we bought here, we went to some agency and they assigned us whoever was "on call" (can't remember the name they used), but basically the person assigned to walk ins. Which just so happened to be some dumb bitch who was fucking terrible at it. We lost a house because she couldn't be bothered to get the paperwork in on time.

So we said fuck her and found someone else. Now, apparently, we'd be stuck with the shitty agent just cause they were the first to snag us?

Well you can get a non exclusive contract that specifies you only pay commission for the house they show/sell. Guess what isn't boilerplate though?

Fucker · 2025-03-14T11:51:47-0400

Burnem Wizfyre said:
We just got quoted 9,500 to paint the inside of our house. Just did the math on the material, the paint is like $450 bucks. Shits crazy, we’re going to DIY it and use the man cave in the garage to test the waters to see if we’re not to retarded to paint.

Was $5k for 3200 sq feet here. Had walls and ceilings done. $6k for 3200sq ft other place a few years ago.

The couple that did this place were awesome. Lots of fiddly little cut in work and very tall entrance. Took them one week. Showed up every day 10AM sharp and left 5PM sharp.

I painted the interior of a 1100 sq ft rental I had. Between cleaning, repairing walls, replacing shit, three coats of paint including Killz, took me 3 weeks, part time. Never again.

Jysin · 2025-03-14T11:56:05-0400

Palum said:
Correct. You must now sign an explicit contract for buyers fees, whereas before it was usually just a representation agreement and 'customary' for the seller to pay them, which meant the buyer's agent could steer you towards houses that listed a 3% share for them on MLS, versus say a house you liked and only shared a 2% or something.

The biggest issue is exclusivity. If you sign an exclusive contract (usually for some period like 3-12 months) you are fucked and if they find out you bought a house from someone else or private sale or whatever, they could come after you for commission legally.

Right, that was the other part of the paperwork that seemed egregious. They were trying to lock me in to some kind of exclusivity agreement with them.

Tell me how this makes any sense? I just want to view a property. I don't know this agent from Adam, so why the fuck am I signing exclusivity for X months when all I want to do is view a property?

This is just standard process now? How is this any good for consumers?

Palum · 2025-03-14T12:11:05-0400

Jysin said:
Right, that was the other part of the paperwork that seemed egregious. They were trying to lock me in to some kind of exclusivity agreement with them.

Tell me how this makes any sense? I just want to view a property. I don't know this agent from Adam, so why the fuck am I signing exclusivity for X months when all I want to do is view a property?

This is just standard process now? How is this any good for consumers?

I haven't been on the market since this took effect so honestly no idea how hard it will be to find buyer's agents with reasonable terms. I guess that's just all you can do. Alternatively, call the listing agent and ask for a single house agreement if the seller is ok with a same agent situation and you are going to do your own due dilligence. I just wouldn't bother if it wasn't something you were already pretty set on because its a lot of back and forth. It also might just not happen if its a hot area where you are buying because if they can list and show to 30 people in a weekend, no need to bother.

Khane · 2025-03-14T12:12:09-0400

The bigger issue was the "iron wall" around MLS listings that forced you into agreements with realtors just so you could even see available properties as they came onto the market. I thought NAR had gotten sued over that as well but I guess they skirted around having to change that?

If you live near the area you want to buy you can sort of skirt around this issue by driving around neighborhoods, looking for properties with for sale signage posted and then contacting the selling agent to schedule viewings. But a lot of times they wouldn't even agree to show if you didn't already have an agent or try to force you into contract with their own teams before showing.

TL;DR Realtors are aware how fucking useless the "services" they provide are because people, in general, can do all of this without them, so they've created a walled garden to protect their careers at the cost of.... everyone else.

Palum · 2025-03-14T12:16:11-0400

Khane said:
The bigger issue was the "iron wall" around MLS listings that forced you into agreements with realtors just so you could even see available properties as they came onto the market. I thought NAR had gotten sued over that as well but I guess they skirted around having to change that?

If you live near the area you want to buy you can sort of skirt around this issue by driving around neighborhoods, looking for properties with for sale signage posted and then contacting the selling agent to schedule viewings. But a lot of times they wouldn't even agree to show if you didn't already have an agent or try to force you into contract with their own teams before showing.

TL;DR Realtors are aware how fucking useless the "services" they provide are because people, in general, can do all of this without them, so they've created a walled garden to protect their careers at the cost of.... everyone else.

Well so far as I can tell the MLS thing for basic listing info isn't an issue with redfin/zillow/etc. anymore. When we were looking basically everything was up on there. The local realtor did have the skinny on some stuff that would be coming to the market, but that really shouldn't matter in most normal markets by this point.

To your point though, to get all the disclosures and deets beyond the basic listing information, no agent = get fucked. Though to be honest, I'm not sure how much that matters since you can tell a lot by google earth/driving through the area/ driving by the house/ etc. to see how much on the level the photos are to give an interest level before you begin going down the path.

Burnem Wizfyre · 2025-03-14T12:26:22-0400

Khane said:
The bigger issue was the "iron wall" around MLS listings that forced you into agreements with realtors just so you could even see available properties as they came onto the market. I thought NAR had gotten sued over that as well but I guess they skirted around having to change that?

If you live near the area you want to buy you can sort of skirt around this issue by driving around neighborhoods, looking for properties with for sale signage posted and then contacting the selling agent to schedule viewings. But a lot of times they wouldn't even agree to show if you didn't already have an agent or try to force you into contract with their own teams before showing.

TL;DR Realtors are aware how fucking useless the "services" they provide are because people, in general, can do all of this without them, so they've created a walled garden to protect their careers at the cost of.... everyone else.

Only speaking from experience, we couldn’t get shown a house by anyone until I had a preapproval from a bank before an agent would even agree to show me a house. My agent ended up being a guy who was selling the first house we looked at but went another direction, I liked the guy and he was ok with what I told him.

“I’m going to buy a house, for the price I want, you make offers based on what I tell you, in negotiations you are only a go between, I’m going to make offers that you consider low balling, I don’t care what you think it’s my money and you get paid more based on what I spend, you have an incentive for me to pay more. Other than getting me in doors I don’t know what you are good for but maybe you can show me that while we undergo this process so if you’re ok with that then I’ll stick with you and keep you as my agent.”

Guy ended up being great and showed me all what he did to earn his commission, he was extremely helpful and I talk to him today still, he invites me to parties and his wife and my wife are friends now. He later admitted he didn’t like what I told him but he knew we were buying a house and it was free money, he now tells me that he gets better reviews and more referrals by being better and tougher negotiating lower prices for his client because they know he makes less money.

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