Home buying thread

I don"t think anyone can tell you what you have a shot at in this market. The sky is the limit from your perspective, unless you are worried about pissing a seller off with an offer.

I purchased new, my friend who shopped the bank owned properties had to go through looking at a few more places, making offers, and getting outbid etc. before he landed the right place. It just takes a little thicker skin when you are dealing with distressed properties, slightly shadier element.

You should be able to find the right place at the right price if you take your time. I wouldnt feel pressed to make a purchase until that yummy $8K tax credit was about to expire.

Well, I"m trying to find something by the time my lease expires at the end of June. That should be plenty of time to find something, I"ll just have to be thorough in the search.

Depending on my grades this semester and a few other factors I may be getting a house sometime this summer. How early should I begin looking into the market around me? Does propriety around the beach (I go to school in Norfolk, looking to live pretty close to oceanfront VA Beach) fluctuate with the seasons?

Start looking now. It was 3 years ago when I lived down there (up in DC now) but back then I know that property was hard to come by near the beach in an area you would want to live in.

Plus, the more places you look at the more you will get a feel for what prices in the area should be for what kind of property. You will want to be able to look at the properties objectively, without realtor input, and make an approximation on what you think it is realistically worth.

For anyone looking for a home that might be getting some type of down payment assistance, here"s a trap I"ve just fallen into you"ll want to avoid.

My grandfather was providing me with a supplement to the down payment I"ve got saved up. He"s an old timey guy, and refused to write me a check. He absolutely insisted I go to the bank with him, we withdraw cash, and go immediately to my bank and deposit it. It seemed like an unnecessary hassle, but I went ahead.

Well, my loan officer called me this morning. Turns out, large cash deposits raise red flags with FHA and they won"t approve my loan without proof of where the money came from. They"re very particular about who provides down payment assistance to prevent fraud and abuse. Since cash deposits don" leave any evidence of where it came from, I"m SOL.

There are ways to fix this, but they"re all a hassle. I can withdraw the money and he can cut me a check, but that shows up as irregular activity and raises a flag. Alternatively, he can provide a bank statement showing the withdrawal, but being an 88 year old man he"s paranoid about sharing that sort of information.

Basically, my only option is to wait. If I wait to submit the loan with a bank statement that shows the money already there, rather than a deposit from that month, then it goes through smoothly. So, I"ll have to move my potential closing dates back about 3 weeks. It"s also going to limit what I can look at, since many foreclosures won"t consider an offer that isn"t pre-approved.

Just one more hurdle to overcome...

Heylel Teomim said:

I"ve found a place I"m considering making an offer on, but I"m not sure if it"s really worth my time. The home is listed at 185k. My personal limit I"ve set is 150k, and obviously I want to start lower than that... so I was thinking of offering 140 - 142k. It"s a short sell property that claims to have already received lender approval (I assume that means it"s approved at the list price, however).

140 is about 22% under list price. 20% under list is 148.5, which is within my limit. Do I stand a chance in hell of having a bid 20% under list accepted? The home has been on the market for exactly one year.

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The problem with short sales is 1) they take forever (like 5-6 months at times) and 2) they require lender approval, sometimes multiple lender approval.

When we were looking, we found a property that actually wasn"t too bad but needed alot of work. Turns out it was a short sale. Basically from what our agent told us as well as doing my own research, the house is basically in pre-forclosure and the seller is trying to prevent that by selling the house at a certain price point and hoping the lender will forgive the debt, since in most cases in a short sale the seller actually owes more than what they are trying to sell it for.

So when a buyer puts in a offer, it"s up to the lender (or multiple lenders) to decide if thats enough to forgive the loan. Obviously they are only willing to do what"s in their best interest. They don"t want the house to forclose but they don"t want to lose a ton of money in the process doing it. The seller doesn"t want to have a forclosure on their credit plus they want out of the debt.

In this scenario, since a short sale is already listing at a lower price then what the house is truly worth, I"d be very surprised if they came down that low for you. It"s possible that the lender may not even approve the list price the seller is posting. On top of all that, most if not all short sales are sold as is, the bank is not responsible for the condition of the house once you get it.

TheCutlery said:

What the fuck kinda bullshit is this? Your grandparents aren"t allowed to give you some money for a house? What do they think you did, robbed a fucking bank, and then deposited a whole pile of small unmarked bills into your bank?

Tell em to piss off and stop being douchebags. Just take it all out and pay cash for the down payment then if they wanna be dicks.

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It"s not that simple. An FHA loan has stringent requirements about where down payment assistance comes from. Cash or not, they won"t approve the loan without knowing where the money comes from.

The stupid thing is that, if I wait a month so that it doesn"t show up on my deposit history, they"d never know anyway.

Heylel Teomim said:

It"s not that simple. An FHA loan has stringent requirements about where down payment assistance comes from. Cash or not, they won"t approve the loan without knowing where the money comes from.

The stupid thing is that, if I wait a month so that it doesn"t show up on my deposit history, they"d never know anyway.

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We"re in the same situation. When you get preapproved for a loan, all they do is look at your assets. If you don"t have enough assets to cover the downpayment, they won"t pre-approve you. If you say well I"m going to be putting down a certain amount, they"ll ask where is it coming from. If you say it"s from a family member (any family member), they"ll want proof that it came out of that account and went into yours.

That said, if you got the money before you did any application and you list it as assets in your accounts, they don"t count that as a gift. That"s what we were told from our mortgage broker. It also must be in there for two bank cycles (two months).

It sucks but two more months really isn"t that bad when buying a house. It just gives your more time to inspect the house over and sit on the idea if that"s the right house for you. More time to look around and check out other offers or maybe start pricing out materials for repair. Find a good moving company or truck or give people heads up you need help.

None of that requires two months but two months gives you a lot of time to get a lot of things done and for a 30 year mortgage a two month wait is a minor inconvience.

I waited about and mouth out of principle of not rushing into a 30 year mortgage when I wasn"t sure if it was really really the right thing.

So I"m getting a little exasperated with my buyer"s agent. He"s becoming difficult to set up appointments with, and I get the impression he"s tired of looking at different properties. I realize I"m not looking at expensive homes, but I"m still a client, and it"s bugging me.

I"m not prepared to drop the guy, it could just be a busy time for him. However, is it rude of me to contact a seller"s agent directly and set up a home showing without his presence? I don"t want to go around him, but I have more time available to see homes than he does, and I"m sick of waiting around all week only to have the weather cancel my plans.

Did he not make you sign anything? I know that when I was looking my buyers agent made me sign an exclusivity agreement with her.

If you don"t like the guy, get another buyers agent. You are better off getting someone who will be on your side and get you all the information you need to make an informed decision/offer.

He just seems really busy. I"m sure given the market he has to focus more on high dollar sales, but it"s getting pretty difficult. Then again, I tend to be the sort of person who"s persistent enough that I"ll call around and find whoever I need to talk to right away, rather than leave messages. I"m sure he"s more of the "voicemail and a callback" sort.

Black_Death said:

Did he not make you sign anything? I know that when I was looking my buyers agent made me sign an exclusivity agreement with her.

If you don"t like the guy, get another buyers agent. You are better off getting someone who will be on your side and get you all the information you need to make an informed decision/offer.

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Mine didn"t make me sign anything till I was ready to put a bid on a place. Just to make sure I didn"t try and deal without them after using them to find it etc.

CnCGOD said:

Mine didn"t make me sign anything till I was ready to put a bid on a place. Just to make sure I didn"t try and deal without them after using them to find it etc.

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Looking back over the offer I made a few weeks ago, I had to sign an exclusivity contract with my buyer"s agent that lasts 90 days. Of course, I didn"t get that house, so I dunno if its still in effect.

Also, this agent so far hasn"t actually provided me *any* homes himself. I get automated emails from his website with properties that somewhat match my criteria, but nothing done by hand. Every property I"ve actually wanted to look at was one that I found myself using the website. He"s been good about finding out additional info such as contract status, but that"s only halfway helpful. I wouldn"t be looking at some of these houses at all if he bothered to filter that step out for me.

TheCutlery said:

What the fuck kinda bullshit is this? Your grandparents aren"t allowed to give you some money for a house? What do they think you did, robbed a fucking bank, and then deposited a whole pile of small unmarked bills into your bank?

Tell em to piss off and stop being douchebags. Just take it all out and pay cash for the down payment then if they wanna be dicks.

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Actually yes, they will think it came from illicit deeds, like drug dealing, stealing etc.

Or even non-illicit means such as taking out another loan to buff up your down payment. Shady loans don"t show up on your credit report unless you show up to meet your loan officer with busted kneecaps.

Are you looking for a house in the Atlanta area? Just like you, I found most of the houses I wanted to look at myself and would just wait for my agent to have some time to let me into them. My agent sucked though, so I won"t recommend her.

I also tried to get as much information about the properties as possible using public records. If you are looking in Atlanta (from your location) you can look up assessment data for houses in Fulton County atFulton Countyand Dekalb County atDekalb County. I am sure the other counties have similar websites, but those are the two I had bookmarked already.

When you look up a house it will show you stuff like square footage, any permits the property has requested over the years, tax information, owner information, sale information, zoning information (to make sure you arent on a flood plain), building sketches, etc.

If you want to get super internet detective you can google the owners, find their facebook/myspace and stalk them to see how desperate they are to sell. Then you can make an offer based on that information.

Yeah, Atlanta on the northwest side of town, preferably near Marietta. I"m looking a bit closer to Powder Springs now just because of what"s on the market, but I work in downtown so I need quick interstate access.

edit: I just looked up the property I"m viewing on Thursday. It"s 2008 assessment values it at 180k. It"s a short sale on the market for 159.9. I"m planning to offer 144 if I like it, and see what they say. Am I pricing myself too low/high? The previous owner bought it in 2006 for 178 with no money down, so they probably owe close to the short sale list price.

edit to the edit: A property with an identical floorplan only a few miles away assessed for 160k. They"re both listed at similar prices. I"m betting I would have an easier time getting the lower assessed property cheap, correct?

The assessment data can be a little deceiving and I wouldn"t base my offers on that since the county doesn"t actually walk through the house to do the assessment. Also its hard to be sure how recent the assessment is. I know my house is assessed for 200k less than my neighbor"s even though my house is larger and nicer simply because the assessor hasnt come by in 10 years (they are suppose to do it annually or biannually). I"m not complaining though...it just means that my taxes are incredibly low for the area I live. I will request my house gets reassessed before I sell it just so it doesn"t look suspicious to potential buyers.

As far as your offer goes, if the house is in short sale, don"t be afraid to lowball the offer even more than you are. I doubt they have even paid off as much principal as you give them credit for if they bought it with 0% down in 2006 and the price has probably depreciated since then. In this market I would make my initial offer of 80% - 85% of the listed value (if it is a reasonable listed value) and see what happens. You can"t worry about people getting insulted that you are lowballing them. In most cases you will be the first and only offer that they have received in the months they have had their house listed. This is business, and you have to be looking out for yourself first and foremost.

If you work in the city, my neighborhood is pretty awesome and there are some decent houses up for sale for cheapish. It takes me about 10 minutes to get downtown on a bad day and I can avoid all traffic. My neighborhood isHowell Stationwitha map.

You get houses likethis(link goes to all the houses in my hood currently on the market) here.