The I need to buy a house thread

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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

Post by sancarlos »

The Sybian wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2020 12:29 pm
wlu_lax6 wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2020 12:17 pm John Glenn's house is a tear down
https://www.arlnow.com/2020/06/03/john- ... torn-down/

$1M for a tear down....
My inlaws live in a neighborhood where all the tear downs go for just under a million. It's a pretty standard suburban neighborhood built in the early 1970s. The plots are .2 acres, so pretty small. The rundown 1800sq ft ranch across the street sold for $950,000. It's about 1 mile from main street, so that's a plus. Inlaws have one of the few remaining original homes, and they get offers to from developers frequently. All the new houses are way too big for the plots, and it looks ridiculous IMO. 4000 sq ft homes with 8 feet on each side of the property line.
You could be describing my town. And, double it for Menlo Park or Palo Alto.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

Post by The Sybian »

Steve of phpBB wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2020 5:28 pm
Oh, no doubt. I think I pay around $4500 per year in property tax for both places.

We actually have relatively high income tax here, however, though from what I can tell they're around the same as NJ or NY.
Ouch, that is painful for me to contemplate. I put in an appeal, but my taxes are assessed at $21,000. Fucking insane. I used to bitch about the taxes on my old house at $13,000, but doing some research, found it was assessed way lower than it should have been. Shocked to see my inlaws town doesn't tax higher than mine. They are 10 minutes away in a very similar town, but you pay more than 20% more for the same house. They do have a great main street with some top notch restaurants, but it's not worth that much.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

Post by The Sybian »

sancarlos wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2020 5:30 pm
The Sybian wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2020 12:29 pm
wlu_lax6 wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2020 12:17 pm John Glenn's house is a tear down
https://www.arlnow.com/2020/06/03/john- ... torn-down/

$1M for a tear down....
My inlaws live in a neighborhood where all the tear downs go for just under a million. It's a pretty standard suburban neighborhood built in the early 1970s. The plots are .2 acres, so pretty small. The rundown 1800sq ft ranch across the street sold for $950,000. It's about 1 mile from main street, so that's a plus. Inlaws have one of the few remaining original homes, and they get offers to from developers frequently. All the new houses are way too big for the plots, and it looks ridiculous IMO. 4000 sq ft homes with 8 feet on each side of the property line.
You could be describing my town. And, double it for Menlo Park or Palo Alto.
I'm guessing your town is significantly more expensive. Your downtown area is more hip and I think everything is more in the Bay Area than the suburbs of NYC. Last time I was there, I killed a day in Palo Alto to wandered around Stanford and the surrounding area. It takes several million dollars to get a fairly standard house. Insane.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

Post by mister d »

Interesting, I hadn't noticed Chatham being as weird with the McMansions as Westfield. Definitely more new builds there than here, but they didn't seem as awkward.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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mister d wrote: Thu Jun 04, 2020 10:06 am Interesting, I hadn't noticed Chatham being as weird with the McMansions as Westfield. Definitely more new builds there than here, but they didn't seem as awkward.
Westfield is worse. Chatham has neighborhoods filled with mansions were they look appropriate sized for the lots. The original houses were mansions. They live in an area where the original houses were 2000 sq ft split levels and ranches, and they are next to the "Bungalo section," where the original houses are probably under 1500 sq ft. They are one of the few original houses left, all replaced with 4000 sq ft houses. Their neighborhood got hot 15 years ago, but now that most are rebuilt, the Bungalo section is getting eaten up by developers. It's such a drastic contrast seeing gorgeous $1.5 million new construction houses next to 1200 sq ft cinder block houses. It reminds me of Trinity Church next to the Hancock Tower in Boston.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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The Sybian wrote: Tue Jun 02, 2020 10:58 am
Brontoburglar wrote: Tue Jun 02, 2020 7:51 am did you even try the inspection addendum trick?

and yeah, we did the letter on a house we got outbid on. that's the only house that I have regrets about us not buying. fuck, it was great.
Our lawyer and realtor laughed at the suggestion, saying nobody would ever agree to it. The house is 60 years old, so it'd be crazy. We are going to limit the inspection to structural, and mechanical, nothing cosmetic. The buyer's language specifies that if we refuse to fix anything, they can waive the results of the inspection and proceed with the purchase. I think that's the best we can do. Their realtor assured ours that they love the house, really want it, and know we aren't bargaining on inspection. We'll see.
Well, so much for not bargaining on inspection... Got their report back yesterday along with letters and estimates from 2 roofers, a sewer line camera report, chimney repair guy... They are asking for a new roof and skylights with an estimate of $16,000, chimney repairs at $7,500, replacing joists on a 6 year old Trex deck, replacing all sorts of wiring in the house and about 10 more things.

My favorite, they want us to address the "water pressure issue," where there isn't enough pressure to adequately run multiple appliances at the same time. I've always thought you don't run a dishwasher, washing machine and shower at the same time, but maybe it's me. We couldn't in my parents house, and they are still getting by dealing with that for 41 years.

I'm really stressed and furious. I expected some issues, but the report makes the house sound like a death trap, and I'm worried they will be scared off. I was mowing the lawn yesterday and several former neighbors came over to talk. Apparently the buyer-wife ran up and down the street introducing herself to everyone and talking about her roof fears. Everyone said she was saying she is so excited to move in and raise kids in the house, so we shall see. We are throwing some money at them as a credit, not nearly enough to cover all the expenses, but hopefully they are asking for a huge amount, hoping for a portion of it.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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I should see if I can go back and find my last one and what we asked for versus eventually agreed on, but it doesn't sound that far off in total dollars. We went in knowing the main bathroom was a total gut job but technically (just barely) an aesthetic fix rather than an actual issue with the house, so we didn't make an ask but knew those dollars were gone before ever moving in. The roof was like 5 years past useful life and our inspector told us that anyone post winning bid, if it fell through, was going to make the same ask, so we had the leverage there. We ended up settling on the roof (fully covered) plus maybe 30% of the remaining dollars as a bulk credit, with a few other things handyman fixed before moving in. Overall maybe 60% of the initial, although ours was all well justifiable and not water pressure nonsense, which feels like something you ask for knowing you can take it back and fake its a concession.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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That's a very poorly written post with way too many commas and parentheticals, even for me.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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mister d wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 11:08 am I should see if I can go back and find my last one and what we asked for versus eventually agreed on, but it doesn't sound that far off in total dollars. We went in knowing the main bathroom was a total gut job but technically (just barely) an aesthetic fix rather than an actual issue with the house, so we didn't make an ask but knew those dollars were gone before ever moving in. The roof was like 5 years past useful life and our inspector told us that anyone post winning bid, if it fell through, was going to make the same ask, so we had the leverage there. We ended up settling on the roof (fully covered) plus maybe 30% of the remaining dollars as a bulk credit, with a few other things handyman fixed before moving in. Overall maybe 60% of the initial, although ours was all well justifiable and not water pressure nonsense, which feels like something you ask for knowing you can take it back and fake its a concession.
I wouldn't say we are all that close. They are asking for well over $40k, and some things like the water pressure and electrical work I have no concept about how much that would cost. We are offering a credit of $5k and explanations of why the report is wrong on a number of issues.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

Post by wlu_lax6 »

mister d wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 11:09 am That's a very poorly written post with way too many commas and parentheticals, even for me.
mister wlu_lax6?
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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The Sybian wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 12:27 pmI wouldn't say we are all that close. They are asking for well over $40k, and some things like the water pressure and electrical work I have no concept about how much that would cost. We are offering a credit of $5k and explanations of why the report is wrong on a number of issues.
Yikes. Prepared for them to walk or you think they're so locked in they'll cave?
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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mister d wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 12:54 pm
The Sybian wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 12:27 pmI wouldn't say we are all that close. They are asking for well over $40k, and some things like the water pressure and electrical work I have no concept about how much that would cost. We are offering a credit of $5k and explanations of why the report is wrong on a number of issues.
Yikes. Prepared for them to walk or you think they're so locked in they'll cave?
Prepared to throw them off a cliff now. Their attorney said the roof was the deal breaker. We agreed to repair the roof. They said they want a credit for the (much) higher of two roofers, the chimney repair and suddenly want a 1 year warranty on the home. $25k and warranty.

Now their realtor is saying they are concerned about the loose brick on the chimney, but their repair estimate is all liners and internal shit, nothing about the masonry. Our realtor called the people who made the second identical offer, they haven't made another offer yet. Tempted to cancel this contract and go with them. I'm just afraid we will end up in the same place, but waste 2 weeks getting there.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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Those warranties are pretty cheap, right? You just pay $500 or whatever to some third party insurance company and that's that?

I wonder if a roof + small kicker or we're going to the backup offer would be enough to push them along.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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mister d wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 6:07 pm Those warranties are pretty cheap, right? You just pay $500 or whatever to some third party insurance company and that's that?

I wonder if a roof + small kicker or we're going to the backup offer would be enough to push them along.
Also frustrating that they gave us estimates for 2 roofers, one being $6,000 more, and they are insisting on a credit for the higher estimate. My buddy across the street was very diplomatic, but I could tell he thought she was completely nuts and annoying.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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You're offering a post-sale credit and not a reduction on the sale price, right?
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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mister d wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 7:27 pm You're offering a post-sale credit and not a reduction on the sale price, right?
I’m toying with reducing sale price if we go this high to reduce commission and transfer tax. At the contract price, we are looking at $50,000 in closing fees.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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The Sybian wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 9:11 pm
mister d wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 7:27 pm You're offering a post-sale credit and not a reduction on the sale price, right?
I’m toying with reducing sale price if we go this high to reduce commission and transfer tax. At the contract price, we are looking at $50,000 in closing fees.
So does anyone do a for sale by owner in that area? I’ve never done anything but although I expect when we sell this house I will get a realtor.

ETA: a smaller house than mine just sold for 35k more than ours is valued at just one street over. But we want to get the youngest to senior year before we think too hard. Feds basically saying rates are zero for two years helps.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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A_B wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 9:36 pm
The Sybian wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 9:11 pm
mister d wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 7:27 pm You're offering a post-sale credit and not a reduction on the sale price, right?
I’m toying with reducing sale price if we go this high to reduce commission and transfer tax. At the contract price, we are looking at $50,000 in closing fees.
So does anyone do a for sale by owner in that area? I’ve never done anything but although I expect when we sell this house I will get a realtor.

ETA: a smaller house than mine just sold for 35k more than ours is valued at just one street over. But we want to get the youngest to senior year before we think too hard. Feds basically saying rates are zero for two years helps.
I see FSBO signs, and several months later they are replaced by realtor signs. There really isn't much need for realtors helping to find houses with Zillow and other websites, but I didn't want to be involved in letting people in to show the house. Realtor puts a lock box and other realtors need to be there to show the house. A guy in my neighborhood went the FSBO route for over a year, and I hear realtors refused to show his house, because he was impossible to deal with, irrational, and unwilling to negotiate down from his unrealistically high price. He got a realtor in February, same list price, still for sale. His house is nice on the outside, but inside looks like it hasn't been updated for 25+ years, and the train is directly in his backyard. He refuses to believe people care about that. Oh yeah, he also refuses to pay buyer's agents to typical rate, that's why realtors won't show his house.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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The Sybian wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 9:11 pm
mister d wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 7:27 pm You're offering a post-sale credit and not a reduction on the sale price, right?
I’m toying with reducing sale price if we go this high to reduce commission and transfer tax. At the contract price, we are looking at $50,000 in closing fees.
50k???

Can I borrow the Porsche?
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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BSF21 wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 7:55 am
The Sybian wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 9:11 pm
mister d wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 7:27 pm You're offering a post-sale credit and not a reduction on the sale price, right?
I’m toying with reducing sale price if we go this high to reduce commission and transfer tax. At the contract price, we are looking at $50,000 in closing fees.
50k???

Can I borrow the Porsche?
He keeps the porsche at his second house.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

Post by testuser2 »

We had our inspection results last weekend. They had some nonsense on the list that we rejected like replacing one of the original basement windows. The stuff we did commit to doing was replacing some GFI outlets that didn't work anymore, modify some downspouts, level the heatpump, etc... Total cost was around $300 and I did it all myself other than the downspouts.

Is the $50K before you split it or is that your share? In your market closing fees probably aren't hard to hit when you start looking at transfer taxes, agent fees, etc.

With so many people who now may end up permanently remote there may be a big push to move to an area with better prices or life balance. A million dollars can get you a mansion in a place like Altoona/Williamsport/Lock Haven or a smaller house with a vacation home somewhere else.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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rass wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 8:14 am
BSF21 wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 7:55 am
The Sybian wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 9:11 pm
mister d wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 7:27 pm You're offering a post-sale credit and not a reduction on the sale price, right?
I’m toying with reducing sale price if we go this high to reduce commission and transfer tax. At the contract price, we are looking at $50,000 in closing fees.
50k???

Can I borrow the Porsche?
He keeps the porsche at his second house.
Maybe CAD? I can't remember which ones of you fuckers are northies.

I mean I get the commission comes out so there's 6/7% of the purchase price but trying to figure out how you'd hit 50k in fees. That seems ridiculous.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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BSF21 wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 8:59 amI mean I get the commission comes out so there's 6/7% of the purchase price but trying to figure out how you'd hit 50k in fees. That seems ridiculous.
50,000 / 0.06 = ___,___

#math #homeschooling #pandemicparent #northeasthouseprices #billsimmons
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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mister d wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:10 am
BSF21 wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 8:59 amI mean I get the commission comes out so there's 6/7% of the purchase price but trying to figure out how you'd hit 50k in fees. That seems ridiculous.
50,000 / 0.06 = ___,___

#math #homeschooling #pandemicparent #northeasthouseprices #billsimmons
thanks for the lesson dad. can I go bounce on our 23,000$ trampoline near our 325,000$ pool now?
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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I'm legit terrified of kids being on trampolines.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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mister d wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:33 am I'm legit terrified of kids being on trampolines.
ONe of the ladies who works for my wife had a kid get a bad leg injury just last week on a trampoline. I won't share the picture.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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I'm convinced that in my lifetime, I'm going to firsthand witness (1) a plane crash and (2) a compound fracture. Only one can be actively avoided.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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#jobarules

We have one, and my concern is generally when kid goes plural.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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mister d wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:42 am I'm convinced that in my lifetime, I'm going to firsthand witness (1) a plane crash and (2) a compound fracture. Only one can be actively avoided.
No fracture but a deep cut. deeeeep cut.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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BSF21 wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 8:59 am
rass wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 8:14 am
BSF21 wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 7:55 am
The Sybian wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 9:11 pm
mister d wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 7:27 pm You're offering a post-sale credit and not a reduction on the sale price, right?
I’m toying with reducing sale price if we go this high to reduce commission and transfer tax. At the contract price, we are looking at $50,000 in closing fees.
50k???

Can I borrow the Porsche?
He keeps the porsche at his second house.
Maybe CAD? I can't remember which ones of you fuckers are northies.

I mean I get the commission comes out so there's 6/7% of the purchase price but trying to figure out how you'd hit 50k in fees. That seems ridiculous.
$50K is just seller's fees. Seller pays most of the fees. NJ has an extra sales transfer tax. Realtors only get 2.5% each on commission. The closing fees also include lawyer fees and everything else. Buyer pays bank fees for mortgage, title fees and some minor things.

As for trampolines, next door neighbor has one. When COVID hit, my wife forbade the kids from going on it, as hospital visits weren't an option. They got the OK to resume jumping last week. In HS or while home from college, we were drunk roaming the neighborhood as the sun was starting to come up. Walked past a house with a trampoline, and my buddy decided to do a front flip. He landed face first on the outer metal frame and his nose and mouth just exploded with blood. That's all I could think about when my daughter told me her goal for the summer is to do a flip on the trampoline.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

Post by Johnny Carwash »

Anyone ever have to deal with replacing a septic tank? Considering a place that looked good, but turned out to needs the system replaced, and the owner wants the buyer to take responsibility for it.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

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The Sybian wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 10:40 am
BSF21 wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 8:59 am
rass wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 8:14 am
BSF21 wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 7:55 am
The Sybian wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 9:11 pm
mister d wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 7:27 pm You're offering a post-sale credit and not a reduction on the sale price, right?
I’m toying with reducing sale price if we go this high to reduce commission and transfer tax. At the contract price, we are looking at $50,000 in closing fees.
50k???

Can I borrow the Porsche?
He keeps the porsche at his second house.
Maybe CAD? I can't remember which ones of you fuckers are northies.

I mean I get the commission comes out so there's 6/7% of the purchase price but trying to figure out how you'd hit 50k in fees. That seems ridiculous.
$50K is just seller's fees. Seller pays most of the fees. NJ has an extra sales transfer tax. Realtors only get 2.5% each on commission. The closing fees also include lawyer fees and everything else. Buyer pays bank fees for mortgage, title fees and some minor things.

As for trampolines, next door neighbor has one. When COVID hit, my wife forbade the kids from going on it, as hospital visits weren't an option. They got the OK to resume jumping last week. In HS or while home from college, we were drunk roaming the neighborhood as the sun was starting to come up. Walked past a house with a trampoline, and my buddy decided to do a front flip. He landed face first on the outer metal frame and his nose and mouth just exploded with blood. That's all I could think about when my daughter told me her goal for the summer is to do a flip on the trampoline.
Just keep her away from the booze.
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

Post by elflaco2 »

house hunting.. time to expand..
location really depends on Mrs. elflaco -- although i still have a desk in our NY office, i can be 100% remote as my teams are all over the county and in a non-c19 world i travel at least 50% of the time. but i digress. for now, looking in the same town.

went to a couple of open houses (followed all the rules) at the last house, one we really like.. spent about 30 minutes w the realtor talking about the house and others in her portfolio. she never asked nor did we volunteer that we have a realtor.
spoke to our realtor (neighbor ax the street) on Monday, she offered to take us back in w a contractor to estimate work (the two houses we like both need work, just unsure of time required, looking to minimize time living in a construction zone.)
and then the phone calls started. the seller's realtor - called us multiple times.. left voice mails.. called our realtor at least ten times.. seems she feels betrayed, she spent all that time with us (there was no one else at the open house while we were there and she had at least another 90 minutes to go when we left), yada, yada, she wouldn't have told us all she did had she known we had a realtor, etc.

generally, idgaf.. but its a small(ish) town where seemingly everybody knows everybody's business. i try and keep a low profile (despite running the soccer club) heck a few years ago it was a struggle to get a woman i knew on the soccer board because she'd had fight re property w someone who was friends w someone on the board. petty shit, but as we want to stay in town, and will likely end up dealing w the selling realtor (certainly appears she has at least a 1/3 of the listings and 100% of those in the neighborhood we want) i'd rather keep the peace.

so we're going back in tonight - our realtor has told us not to speak w the other one -- but i told my wife we have to reach out and clear it up. am i wrong?
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mister d
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

Post by mister d »

I feel like "wow, what you just did to me is very unethical and upsetting" is just a tactic in that industry. We had a standing preapproval with this one woman who couldn't have put more than 30 minutes effort into our relationship (we had a blank template we were allowed to fill in ourselves up to our limit when submitting offers) and then found another guy who was either a half or a quarter point cheaper and she wanted us to meet in the middle "as a compromise". I think she may have hung up on me to end the call when I explained the compromise is really him giving the better rate first but me still giving her my business. Either way, there's definitely an intentional pettiness there you won't find if you buy your soup at a different grocery store.
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elflaco2
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

Post by elflaco2 »

our only experience in house buying, we were advised not to use one realtor/company as buying/selling.. but to use different agents. if we buy the house she still gets paid.. obviously she (her co.) gets an additional 2% if she acts as both buyer/seller agent..
our neighbor as said i'm helping you because we're friends, i don't need your $.
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GoodKarma
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

Post by GoodKarma »

I agree with your wife. The listing agent is a petty P.O.S. Not to bash an entire industry (which means I'm about to bash an entire industry) but real estate agents have not caught up with the fact that the need for their job has been severely limited with the advent of technology. I had a buyers agent that acted offended when I tried to negotiate his fee...he wouldn't and it cost his own clients $7,000. He wasn't even there when they looked at the house the first two times.

The only reason to speak with her would be to call her out or listen to her apology.

I'm not saying all agents are bad or their job isn't sometimes necessary; but there are many that are able to cash in with minimal to no work.
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duff
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

Post by duff »

She freely shared that information with you at the open house. That is on her. Doesn't matter if you had an agent or not. She shouldn't treat you any differently anyways.

All on her. You guys are in the clear.
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HaulCitgo
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

Post by HaulCitgo »

GoodKarma wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 10:11 am I agree with your wife. The listing agent is a petty P.O.S. Not to bash an entire industry (which means I'm about to bash an entire industry) but real estate agents have not caught up with the fact that the need for their job has been severely limited with the advent of technology. I had a buyers agent that acted offended when I tried to negotiate his fee...he wouldn't and it cost his own clients $7,000. He wasn't even there when they looked at the house the first two times.

The only reason to speak with her would be to call her out or listen to her apology.

I'm not saying all agents are bad or their job isn't sometimes necessary; but there are many that are able to cash in with minimal to no work.
Yep. You absolutely don't need an agent to sell and probably better off on the buying side since the seller should split the savings with you in a price reduction. At the very least their pricing structure has been usurped by technology. Ten times better handing them $500 bucks an hour than 3% of a sale price. What percentage of your profit does 3% of a sale equal? Way too much is the answer.
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The Sybian
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

Post by The Sybian »

Sounds like the agent new, bad, or desperate for business. Usually, they will ask if you are working with an agent, because they are stepping on toes and risking ethical violations if you are, and they overstep. My wife likes the idea of going through the listing agent, because they will knock 1% off their commission if they are handling both sides. It's backfired numerous times.

We put an offer on a house last year. It popped up on Zillow before we were really looking. My wife was skeptical, so she had me go through the listing agent to see it, and bring her along if I felt it was worthwhile. Through Zillow, I hit the "contact listing agent" button. Got a call back from a guy who said his partner would show me the house. She was nice, but very young and clueless. I also discovered she wasn't working with the listing agent, that Zillow fucked up and sent my contact info to a random broker. I explained the situation, she understood, and I said we have an agent we work with. We went back with our agent (if the first worked with the listing agent, we would have continued with them), and put in an offer. The first showing agent staked a claim on us as her client (no contract or anything). Our agent said not to worry about it, it would go to arbitration, and she would likely have to split her commission in half with the other agent. Our agent hadn't shown us anything else at that point, so she was still getting a windfall if it went through. We lost a bidding war, so it didn't matter, but it's fucked up the first person had the rights to our commission. Totally different with an open house, but most realtors view open houses as an opportunity to win clients, not sell the house.
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elflaco2
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Re: The I need to buy a house thread

Post by elflaco2 »

checked out both houses w our realtor and her contractor (who turns out is the brother of one of the club's coaches)
first house, beautifulproperty - nearly 1/2 an acre - house is all. and i mean all original from 1920s... needs far too much work to make it ours.. but the property is beautiful.
two blocks away, the other house.
bigger house, smaller yard but still far better than our th -- missus spent over an hour going back and forth w the contractor i left early to run a trivia happy hour for my team on MS Teams
we drove up to the second house as the realtor was getting in her car. smiles all around. she called our realtor after to let us know the couple who arrived as we were leaving was consideering making an offer. my wife spent most of the evening playing around w the floorplan.

big decision next day or so -- put a bid in and then get moving in selling the TH - don't need it to coincide but rather not carry two notes for two long.
going to be painting today - had already planned it so it works out -- we've put in a new roof, painted the siding, new patio door, fixed the deck, new a/c furnace water heater and all appliances are under 2yrs old... only a couple of minor repairs and will be ready to show in two weeks or so. but not sure. we'd been looking to move to dc area and the same money we would spendn would get us so much more (especially in northern moco or carrol or howard)
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