I really dislike the whole 'write the seller a letter/include family pictures' trend that seems to be ongoing. Just ripe for abuse of fair housing rules.
Congrats!Wasn't able to update our experience...
We listed our house two weeks ago, on a Thursday, we had one offer by Friday sight-unseen, but they wanted us to decide by Saturday before our open house. We said no, we were going to do the open house, got 4 offers after the open house. Wild market. I feel like we lucked out with the house we got our offer accepted on... We came in above asking by $5k, but I think there was some serendipity with when we put our offer in and how everything worked out.
You can't help but feel emotional with some of the people... One couple that bid was a young couple, they had bid unsuccessfully on a bunch of houses for months, and they were the ones who came in on Thursday. BUt the offer we accepted was $5k over asking, plus no closing costs, which ends up being a significant difference, and they were well qualified where that first couple was really up against the ceiling of what they could borrow and they were financing closing costs.
Both closings are scheduled for middle of August. Closing on our house sale, and then closing on our purchase immediately after... We have the movers scheduled that day as well. Pretty damn hectic, esp with a 1-year-old. But we're lucky, so far everything's worked out.
That's a thing? Ew.I really dislike the whole 'write the seller a letter/include family pictures' trend that seems to be ongoing. Just ripe for abuse of fair housing rules.
How does selling your house while looking for a new one work? Should both processes start at the same time? We are not sure how to make a contingent offer.
I really dislike the whole 'write the seller a letter/include family pictures' trend that seems to be ongoing. Just ripe for abuse of fair housing rules.
Congrats!
Sucks for that young couple, though. But if they were cutting it that close to pay for a house, they should probably be looking for something less expensive. Borrowing at max for a house is so risky.
I really dislike the whole 'write the seller a letter/include family pictures' trend that seems to be ongoing. Just ripe for abuse of fair housing rules.
In my area it seems to be (and a lot of other places too).
Found a lot of places online who also 'recommended' it when I was first doing my research.
What is better?
Getting 500k mortgage to fix my parents' house for close to 400k..
Or find a newer less broken 4 bedroom house for 675k in Toronto (TTC-public transit accessible)? Is that even.. POSSIBLE? lol
I really dislike the whole 'write the seller a letter/include family pictures' trend that seems to be ongoing. Just ripe for abuse of fair housing rules.
This is nuts- they're not applying to a university. All I care about is that offer is solid and the closing will happen as planned.
Yeah, exactly.
I'll admit as someone who just sold my house to a couple kinda like my wife and I but 10 years younger... If I had two offers, one of them from some Chinese LLC, or a Development Corp and one of them from a young family, I'd go with the family... Even if the foreign LLC had a slightly better offer, or met our needs better. I also like my neighbors and would know they'd be pissed if I sold the house to a company that was going to turn it into an Airbnb rental.
I'm emotional like that though. And as our city gets more and more developed, I like to see actual owners living someplace.
Yeah, exactly.
I'll admit as someone who just sold my house to a couple kinda like my wife and I but 10 years younger... If I had two offers, one of them from some Chinese LLC, or a Development Corp and one of them from a young family, I'd go with the family... Even if the foreign LLC had a slightly better offer, or met our needs better. I also like my neighbors and would know they'd be pissed if I sold the house to a company that was going to turn it into an Airbnb rental.
I'm emotional like that though. And as our city gets more and more developed, I like to see actual owners living someplace.
My neighbor just sold his house and I was very glad to hear that he said the buyer was actually looking to move into the house.Yeah, exactly.
I'll admit as someone who just sold my house to a couple kinda like my wife and I but 10 years younger... If I had two offers, one of them from some Chinese LLC, or a Development Corp and one of them from a young family, I'd go with the family... Even if the foreign LLC had a slightly better offer, or met our needs better. I also like my neighbors and would know they'd be pissed if I sold the house to a company that was going to turn it into an Airbnb rental.
I'm emotional like that though. And as our city gets more and more developed, I like to see actual owners living someplace.
When we sold our house we had 6 offers, the lowest offer (like 10 grand below asking) had a letter stating how they knew they were low but loved the house, grew up on the street blah blah. We ended up going with an all cash offer, no contingencies 20 grand over asking. Wasn't a hard decision at all (although the couple that bought it were a very nice young couple). But even it was an LLC buying it a $30,000 swing would be hard to swallowWell yes, I agree to an extent. I always prefer to sell someone that actually "needs" the property over a foreign LLC (never had offers from foreign LLCs). With that said, if the foreign LLC had a 98% of closing and the "family" only a 50%, I would go with the LLC. I prioritize my family's interests over another.
When we sold our house we had 6 offers, the lowest offer (like 10 grand below asking) had a letter stating how they knew they were low but loved the house, grew up on the street blah blah. We ended up going with an all cash offer, no contingencies 20 grand over asking. Wasn't a hard decision at all (although the couple that bought it were a very nice young couple). But even it was an LLC buying it a $30,000 swing would be hard to swallow
Agreed.It's unlikely to ever do that. But if they are equal on paper or close it can be a difference maker.
All depends on the economy where you live . I make 80k , my cousin in Ohio does the exact same thing I do but makes 40k less , I currently live in a townhouse but if I spent what I spent in Ohio I'd be living in a Mc mansionhow can you all afford houses 500k-600-k worth makes me wonder what im doing wrong...
Yeah, it's actually a 4+1. Potentially a 4+2? With a yard that is big by Toronto standards.Would you then own the house ? If it's in toronto I'd fix up your parents home and own that , a 4 bedroom home is probably worth a million right now . I'm an hour away and it's 600K-700K for a four bedroom
how can you all afford houses 500k-600-k worth makes me wonder what im doing wrong...
Congrats on the sale , I'm going to be where you are next year and I'm dreading a dragged out process , hopefully everything gets wrapped up before the recessionWe are signing the papers tonight to finalize the sale of our house tonight. It has taken 3 months, and twice people agreed to buy our house only to back out at the last minute. I am so excited to put this nightmare behind me today.
I really dislike the whole 'write the seller a letter/include family pictures' trend that seems to be ongoing. Just ripe for abuse of fair housing rules.
This is nuts- they're not applying to a university. All I care about is that offer is solid and the closing will happen as planned.
Do people usually do appraisals for houses they are buying?Appraisals for the house we're buying and the house we're selling all came in. So far so good. August 16 closing date on both which will be a fucking crazy day signing over everything and moving the same day, but ... w/e. We're getting there.
how can you all afford houses 500k-600-k worth makes me wonder what im doing wrong...
I wonder how things are when you buy from a newly constructed condo vs buying from a current owner.Try buying a home in SF/Oakland. Within hours any decent property will have multiple bidders and the offers will already be ridiculously above the already ridiculous asking price.
I've just accepted the fact that I will be a renter for life.
how can you all afford houses 500k-600-k worth makes me wonder what im doing wrong...
Its at no cost to the buyer right?At least where I live the the bank requires it to write the loan. So the bank (well, our mortgage broker) gets an independent appraisal to make sure that the loan to value ratio is close. In this case, the house appraised for $5k over what our accepted offer price is, which is within the range. We're putting 20% down so it's not that big of a deal, we could have some wiggle room. For the house we're selling it's more important for the value & loan to be close because they're only putting down 3.5%.
This was something that became more common after the housing crash of ~2008/2009 because a lot of banks got sunk when they wrote loans for properties that weren't remotely near what they were worth... so when people defaulted on their loans, there was negative equity, and it's what contributed to the mortgage crash (among other things)
I wonder how things are when you buy from a newly constructed condo vs buying from a current owner.
As someone who bought through the wind up in 2005 and sold just before the crash in 2007/2008, this is all pretty eerily similar.I really dislike the whole 'write the seller a letter/include family pictures' trend that seems to be ongoing. Just ripe for abuse of fair housing rules.
Breh, the Bay Area is ridiculous. Sorry lolWell, on my old work commute there was a billboard advertising, "New starter homes in the low millions." lol
Interesting...It is not really free. It is part of the loan closing costs and is passed on to you.
Interesting...
so say i want to buy a house. I make a offer say 500k and its gets accepted, but the bank say its worth 480k and wont lend me the proper amount. Can i then back out of the sale and get my deposit back, or do i have to had made that contingent in my offer?
And once you buy a house, you basically spend the rest of your existence worrying about your pipes leaking. Like those commericials say, you literally do turn into your parents.
We are signing the papers tonight to finalize the sale of our house tonight. It has taken 3 months, and twice people agreed to buy our house only to back out at the last minute. I am so excited to put this nightmare behind me today.
That's awful. Dystopian future there. I recently moved from a high cost of living area (not as bad as SF) to one of the lowest cost of living areas in the country. The quality of home we were able to purchase was crazy compared to what I was living in. I have friends that struggle in NYC and SF that are dual income earners well over $100k. Fuck that.
I laughed. I cried. And then cried some more every morning on my way to work.
How exactly do you sell a home?
Like, I have a home worth around 160K that I still owe about 100K on.
I want to buy a home in the 250-300K range, but I feel like there is not way I can juggle them both at the same time, and I know I can't choose my sell date of the first home.
How do people do this normally? Pay 2 mortgages until the 1st one sells? What about using the money from the first to pay towards the 2nd?
Sell the first, put the money toward the second.
In practice, you can make your offer to buy contingent on your current house selling and schedule both closings for the same day.
Or you can move into a rental while between owned homes.
I think these letters are stupid and can lead to discrimination. But for some people there is an emotional connection to a house and who gets it after them, and these letters address that.This is nuts- they're not applying to a university. All I care about is that offer is solid and the closing will happen as planned.