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[m_shortpants]

Greetings house-GAF

My wife and I closed on our first home last week. It's a condo in Silicon Valley. Woefully overpriced, and it feels bad knowing I could get a single family home in most other states, but oh well, at least with my payments I'll be getting a tiny amount of equity.

The condo used to be a unit that the owner rented out, but after her last lease was up she renovated the whole thing and put it up for sale. So the carpet is new, the kitchen has new counters, cabinets, appliances, and the same goes for the bathroom.

Everything is great except for two items which may be related.

1. The dryer is currently exhausting into the hallway...yeah there's just a duct coming out the back that is pointing upwards and is covered with a stocking. Apparently there's no exhaust vent, but j have to verify this. It's been a little hard because it's a closet and the dryer and washer are arranged as if they're a combo unit, but they're not. So it's been hard to try adlnd pull it out by myself. So I ran the dryer a few times and it was just pumping moist air into the condo, which is definitely not right and a red flag. If there's no exhaust, I'm thinking I'll have to replace it with a compact ventless dryer.

2. My wife found a cockroach on the floor just walking around. The only place I think it could have come from is behind the washer...there's a gap in the wall which I think is the only entry unless it came out the bathroom plumbing. What's the best way to.deal with roaches?

But other than these two issues, it's been great so far.

 

[Captain Tuttle]

Hey everyone,

I know this is a Home Buying OT, but I was hoping you could give me some advice on home selling.

We're looking to sell our home in 8 months or so; we're making a big move to Tennessee to be closer to the Smoky Mountains. Until then, we have some things to do to our house to make it more sellable. Can anyone prioritize any of these? I'm not sure what's feasible, what's not feasible financially so prioritizing the most important for resale value would be a big help.

(Some background - Southern Indiana, we bought the house for $125k in 2013, it's pretty basic cookie cutter 1400 sq ft home with .4 acres, most nearby houses look the same. Hoping to get $140k out of it; nearby houses selling for around $140k).

-Laminate Flooring for living room & hallway (it's currently carpet with some stains from a senior dog).
-Paint Garage (it has some scuffs and some holes to be patched)
-Refloor the garage (some polyurethane spills from a project gone wrong)
-New Shingles (some shingles are missing)
-New cabinet hardware (currently no cabinet hardware at all)
-Patch tiny cracks in plastic shower
-Add Kitchen Backsplash
-Repaint hallway that's a dark teal (we like it but it's definitely a loud color)
-Change lightbulbs to energy efficient ones (most are regular 60 watt incandescents)

Thanks!

I'd do the roof and cabinet hardware, that's all imo

 

[Wubbles]

Where (roughly) in NJ are you looking? I could tell you a lot more based on that. When I bought outside of Cherry Hill last year, the seller's realtor tried the same kind of nonsense to coax more of a bid. I was looking at several houses in the area and figured it was at least a semi-bluff. Turned out to be spot-on.

Been looking between Manahawkin to Bayville. I work in NYC and looked in North Jersey. Came to accept that I'd rather sacrifice my time commuting if it means getting a nicer home vs what up north has to offer in my budget.

So I got an update from my agent an hour ago. The seller claims there's 3 other offers and said to submit my best one by tomorrow at noon. Not sure if I should call their bluff and stick with my 260K or say fuck it and bump up the offer to asking price.

The home has been on the market for just a week and I know it's had a lot of showings since when I went, there were plenty of other realtor cards left behind. Leaning towards the latter and will likely increase my bid. It comes out to an extra $30 per month in payments and would hate to lose out on a home that I thought was awesome for a mere 2-3% savings.

Was hoping my agent could get more intel on the other offers but no luck. Decisions decisions lol.

 

[Salaadin]

Supposed to close in a week and it feels like everything is lining up. Got the appraisal report in last Thursday and they flat out said that it met FHA standards, as far as Im aware, that was the last hangup. Ive head stories about underwriters disagreeing with appraisals and whatnot so Im really, really hoping that doesnt happen here. Just waiting to here back from the lender now.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Just getting into this whole thing for our first home. Tagging this thread.

We just started talking to the lender and looking at a 3% fixed 30 year loan and some down payment help from the Iowa Finance Aurhority. Hoping to hit around $1100 a month payment total, which I think is around $160,000.

 

[Marc13]

We just started talking to the lender and looking at a 3% fixed 30 year loan and some down payment help from the Iowa Finance Aurhority.

Do you really mean a flat 3%? The lowest I've found is 3.625 with 1.25 points.

 

[prophetvx]

Hey everyone,

I know this is a Home Buying OT, but I was hoping you could give me some advice on home selling.

We're looking to sell our home in 8 months or so; we're making a big move to Tennessee to be closer to the Smoky Mountains. Until then, we have some things to do to our house to make it more sellable. Can anyone prioritize any of these? I'm not sure what's feasible, what's not feasible financially so prioritizing the most important for resale value would be a big help.

(Some background - Southern Indiana, we bought the house for $125k in 2013, it's pretty basic cookie cutter 1400 sq ft home with .4 acres, most nearby houses look the same. Hoping to get $140k out of it; nearby houses selling for around $140k).

-Laminate Flooring for living room & hallway (it's currently carpet with some stains from a senior dog).
-Paint Garage (it has some scuffs and some holes to be patched)
-Refloor the garage (some polyurethane spills from a project gone wrong)
-New Shingles (some shingles are missing)
-New cabinet hardware (currently no cabinet hardware at all)
-Patch tiny cracks in plastic shower
-Add Kitchen Backsplash
-Repaint hallway that's a dark teal (we like it but it's definitely a loud color)
-Change lightbulbs to energy efficient ones (most are regular 60 watt incandescents)

Thanks!

I'm amazed at the suggestions to not prioritize painting. It's arguably the cheapest thing you can do and has the biggest impact. If you have dark walls (like Teal), your house feels small. Fresh paint is a huge value add, it costs $100-300 to do a whole house, the only real cost is time. First thing I've ever done when selling is re-painting in a light neutral color, it makes a massive difference in first impressions when entering a house.

I wouldn't worry about the garage or lightbulbs. Shingles if significant fix it. Adding a backsplash if relatively cheap would be the next thing I'd do after paint.

 

[captive]

I'm amazed at the suggestions to not prioritize painting. It's arguably the cheapest thing you can do and has the biggest impact. If you have dark walls (like Teal), your house feels small. Fresh paint is a huge value add, it costs $100-300 to do a whole house, the only real cost is time. First thing I've ever done when selling is re-painting in a light neutral color, it makes a massive difference in first impressions when entering a house.

i prioritized it, but it costs more than 100-300 to do a whole house unless the house is exceedingly small or you buy the cheapest paint at home depot. (id recommend against this, Sherwin Williams paint is a nicer quality, find a contractor to let you use his contractor discount with it).

But the new paint smell alone for some reason people associate this with "clean"

 

[prophetvx]

i prioritized it, but it costs more than 100-300 to do a whole house unless the house is exceedingly small or you buy the cheapest paint at home depot. (id recommend against this, Sherwin Williams paint is a nicer quality, find a contractor to let you use his contractor discount with it).

But the new paint smell alone for some reason people associate this with "clean"

A 1400 sqft house can easily be painted with $300 of high quality paint. I recently repainted my 3000 sqft place with Benjamin Moore paint for about $600 (without painting the knockdown ceiling).

With that said, even cheap quality paint will leave a better impression than dark walls or walls with marks and scuffs. Cheap paint is just more tedious to paint with, most people can't tell the quality of the paint once it's on, certainly not when it's fresh.

People buy on emotion, they can overlook small things in different rooms, but if your whole house feels like there is something that needs to be fixed, the sell is much harder.

There is a reason why paint and decluttering are usually the two most recommended things one should do before selling.

 

[Fragamemnon]

-Laminate Flooring for living room & hallway (it's currently carpet with some stains from a senior dog).
-New cabinet hardware (currently no cabinet hardware at all)
-Repaint hallway that's a dark teal (we like it but it's definitely a loud color)
-Patch tiny cracks in plastic shower
-New Shingles (some shingles are missing)
-Add Kitchen Backsplash
-Paint Garage (it has some scuffs and some holes to be patched)
-Refloor the garage (some polyurethane spills from a project gone wrong)
-Change lightbulbs to energy efficient ones (most are regular 60 watt incandescents)

This is the priority list I would roll with. Compare vinyl plank to laminate if you can (it's way nicer IMO) but either will really make those areas pop vs. older carpet. Cabinet hardware is a must and dark teal in the hallway has got to go.

Kitchen backsplash is there ONLY if you're comfortable doing it yourself, nothing is worse than people messing w/ tile and not doing it right. This plus the hardware will go a good refresh of your kitchen, which is where houses get sold.

The cracks in shower need to be fixed sooner rather than later along with the shingles. Get those cleaned up so there isn't a chance of active leaks from there. Your biggest enemy is the inspector, they nitpick houses to death now so buyers "get their money's worth" and then buyers then use their report to reduce their offer after the fact (and it's hard/annoying to back out then and find a new buyer). Don't give them any free problems to work with that aren't super cheap to fix in advance.

Garage? Dunno why you'd paint or refloor it. People look in garages for two things-space and to look at any mechanicals. It's not an area of that much interest during showings. Incandescent bulbs are fine, they light up immediately during a showing and that's what matters.

 

[Ron Mexico]

Been looking between Manahawkin to Bayville. I work in NYC and looked in North Jersey. Came to accept that I'd rather sacrifice my time commuting if it means getting a nicer home vs what up north has to offer in my budget.

So I got an update from my agent an hour ago. The seller claims there's 3 other offers and said to submit my best one by tomorrow at noon. Not sure if I should call their bluff and stick with my 260K or say fuck it and bump up the offer to asking price.

The home has been on the market for just a week and I know it's had a lot of showings since when I went, there were plenty of other realtor cards left behind. Leaning towards the latter and will likely increase my bid. It comes out to an extra $30 per month in payments and would hate to lose out on a home that I thought was awesome for a mere 2-3% savings.

Was hoping my agent could get more intel on the other offers but no luck. Decisions decisions lol.

Sounds so much like mine. The seller "didn't want to play any back and forth games" until immediately before he accepted my offer after doing what you said.

That said, $260k will get you a lot of decent options in Ocean County-- are you intent on remaining that close to the beach? If that's not your top selling point, I'd also say look inland a little in the Burlington/Mercer County area like Hamilton, Bordentown, Chesterfield, Allentown, etc. $260k would get you a nice place and you'll be along the NJT line if you planned on taking the train or the Turnpike for driving it.

Just food for thought-- it's hard to argue when you found *the* house, but there's plenty of good options out there.

 

[bennywhatever]

Thanks for the extra advice.

Our house was fully painted only 4 years ago, and most of it is a neutral-light color (very light cream/basically white). It cost about $500 at the time, but we went with good Sherwin Williams paint and bought way too much. Everything still looks good as new paint-wise, but we chose that hall-wall for our "creative" color. So the gist I get is to just repaint that wall then.


We've looked into vinyl plank floors too and they look awesome and around the same cost. That would be the most expensive upgrade so we're only wanting to do it if we have to. We're currently rolling around with getting a professional in to clean the current carpet and just leaving it at that. That should only be about $150-$200 tops looking at deals in our area.

 

[Dr. Feel Good]

We recently bought a condo in LA. It's (shockingly) overpriced but given this area there's nothing we could do. It has a number of thugs we want to work on but the first being our popcorn ceilings. My parents are advising us against removing them, especially by ourselves as they say it's difficult and cause damage to the place. Everything I've seen online says it's more of just a pain in the ass if anything. There is no espestos and my wife and I wanted to attempt at them ourselves. Worth it?

 

[Septimus Prime]

We recently bought a condo in LA. It's (shockingly) overpriced but given this area there's nothing we could do. It has a number of thugs we want to work on but the first being our popcorn ceilings. My parents are advising us against removing them, especially by ourselves as they say it's difficult and cause damage to the place. Everything I've seen online says it's more of just a pain in the ass if anything. There is no espestos and my wife and I wanted to attempt at them ourselves. Worth it?

Work those thugs. Hopefully they'll leave and not adversely affect your property value.

As for the popcorn ceiling, one thing you'll want make sure to do is check your ceiling material. Mine turned it to be freaking concrete, so it was a huge pain in the ass, and my contractor's guy complained a lot. He also wasn't able to get it perfectly smooth because of that.

 

[Wubbles]

Bad news. My offer (asking price) was not accepted. I was beat by one that was "well above asking price"

Apparently if something falls through and the deal doesn't work out, we'd be first to know. Sigh this sucks...Back to the grind ;_;

 

[TheCochese]

We've been in our house almost nine years, and we're looking to upgrade in the next two. It's frightening to potentially go through this again. We bought for location, and nothing else, and it shows. The land sucks, the house sucks, etc. We're putting in new windows next week among the improvements/fixes we need to sell.

Everything we like in our price range is so far away, too. But we have to account for the fact my in-laws may have to move in with us, etc. We're still looking at going from the $120 we paid for this one to around $250. Thankfully, our house has appreciated a bit so the gap is closer to $100k.

 

[m_shortpants]

Home-gaf, had a quick question. I need to replace my dryer with a ventless unit, and I'm going to need a 240v outlet.

How difficult is it to do this? I'll be getting an electrician but I'm just wondering how expensive this is going to be.

 

[Linkura]

Bad news. My offer (asking price) was not accepted. I was beat by one that was "well above asking price"

Apparently if something falls through and the deal doesn't work out, we'd be first to know. Sigh this sucks...Back to the grind ;_;

I didn't want to say this before it happened... but I knew it was going to happen. Housing market is tough as shit right now.

 

[Electric Eye]

Home-gaf, had a quick question. I need to replace my dryer with a ventless unit, and I'm going to need a 240v outlet.

How difficult is it to do this? I'll be getting an electrician but I'm just wondering how expensive this is going to be.

I suppose it all depends on the electrician but having a 240v outlet is a plus in the long run, have them run one into the garage or where you would need it in the future. I said garage because they are very handy there if you like to tinker and are going to use high powered things.

 

[Lubricus]

I suppose it all depends on the electrician but having a 240v outlet is a plus in the long run, have them run one into the garage or where you would need it in the future. I said garage because they are very handy there if you like to tinker and are going to use high powered things.

It might be worth putting a small sub-panel in the garage if you think will have a table saw, lathe, planer, air compressor etc.

 

[m_shortpants]

I suppose it all depends on the electrician but having a 240v outlet is a plus in the long run, have them run one into the garage or where you would need it in the future. I said garage because they are very handy there if you like to tinker and are going to use high powered things.

It might be worth putting a small sub-panel in the garage if you think will have a table saw, lathe, planer, air compressor etc.

Wish we had a garage! It's a condo (damn you overpriced silicon valley), which is why we need an electric ventless dryer since there's no exhaust outlet.

Going from the breaker box to the laundry closet is probably 10-15 feet in a straight line but through a wall, so I don't know how that will run me with an electrician. Another alternative for me is paying more for an combo washer dryer that only needs a 110v source.

 

[Hydrus]

I think I'm gonna throw in the towel on buying a home right now. I live in southern California and housing here is ridiculous. Everyone around me keeps saying to wait two more years for the bubble to burst. Is it true gaf? Are we close to a housing market crash in the near future?

 

[D23]

living in seattle, washington.. I kinda accepted my fate that i' cant never afford to buy a house.. for a looong time

 

[MrMephistoX]

living in seattle, washington.. I kinda accepted my fate that i' cant never afford to buy a house.. for a looong time

Honestly bite the bullet and get a condo or townhouse...it's worth it since real estate is appreciating like crazy on the major west coast cities then upgrade with your equity as a down payment.

 

[Wubbles]

Update from my side. I've decided to go with getting a new home constructed. There's a nice little group of about 19 houses being built within a culdesac in a quiet part of town.

I got a really good deal on one of the model homes with $25K worth of premium features/upgrades for just $5K above base price. Put down my $1K deposit last night and written offer with the agent that represents the builder. Just need the builder himself to formally accept the offer today.

If all goes well I'll be moved in within 60 days vs 6 months of having to wait for the house to be built from scratch. And then this Saturday I'd meet with the builder to pick some out cosmetic items like color of hardwood floor, color for carpet, wall colors,etc. So excited!

 

[greepoman]

Update from my side. I've decided to go with getting a new home constructed. There's a nice little group of about 19 houses being built within a culdesac in a quiet part of town.

I got a really good deal on one of the model homes with $25K worth of premium features/upgrades for just $5K above base price. Put down my $1K deposit last night and written offer with the agent that represents the builder. Just need the builder himself to formally accept the offer today.

If all goes well I'll be moved in within 60 days vs 6 months of having to wait for the house to be built from scratch. And then this Saturday I'd meet with the builder to pick some out cosmetic items like color of hardwood floor, color for carpet, wall colors,etc. So excited!

Congrats...sounds exciting. Just make sure to still do an inspection still (meaning pay a professional and be wary of builder recommendations). Had a friend who bought a new house and skipped an inspection cause it was "new"...had a bunch of problems cause they did a sloppy job on construction and had no recourse.

 

[cpp_is_king]

Bought last year in June on a 7/1 ARM with 10% down. We put a little bit into a bathroom remodel, but otherwise not much has changed. We went to refinance into a fixed rate because I didn't feel comfortable sitting on the ARM for very long (thanks to Ron Mexico's advice from a year ago), so we had to get a re-appraisal, and the appraised value came in at over 200k more than we paid, in just 1 year. WTF! This market is nuts. The even better news is that now we can re-fi into a fixed rate with no additional money down, since it appraised so high we have the 80% LTV covered even though we only put 10% down originally.

 

[otake]

What are your guys thoughts on putting 30% as downpayment? US market.

 

[Zoe]

What are your guys thoughts on putting 30% as downpayment? US market.

Would rather invest the extra 10% or set it aside for first-year expenses.

 

[TyrantII]

Home-gaf, had a quick question. I need to replace my dryer with a ventless unit, and I'm going to need a 240v outlet.

How difficult is it to do this? I'll be getting an electrician but I'm just wondering how expensive this is going to be.

Shouldn't be too expensive unless the house is really old and you need a miracle worker to run lines through the gates of hell.

Are we close to a housing market crash in the near future?

Not sure your area, but prices only stalled 08-12 in the neighborhood I recently bought in. Worst crash since 29' barely effect much of the city except the least desirable neighborhoods where ARMs and fraud was rampant.

There's a big move of populations and employers to dense cities and suburbs just outside the cores. Do some research on who's moving and why, and you'll better get an idea if it's a bubble driven by a trend or if it's truly driven by flat out demand.

 

[cpp_is_king]

What are your guys thoughts on putting 30% as downpayment? US market.

Better option would be to set that 10% aside in an interest bearing account or bonds and get a 15 or 20 year mortgage instead of a 30 year, and use that extra money to pay the additional payment each month.

 

[Wubbles]

Congrats...sounds exciting. Just make sure to still do an inspection still (meaning pay a professional and be wary of builder recommendations). Had a friend who bought a new house and skipped an inspection cause it was "new"...had a bunch of problems cause they did a sloppy job on construction and had no recourse.

Yea for sure. Definitely don't want to take any chances. Good news is it comes with a 10 year warranty

What are your guys thoughts on putting 30% as downpayment? US market.

Assuming this is on a 30 year loan....I'm personally doing 20%. If I wanted to do 30% it would save me approx. $173 per month ($325K purchase price @ 4% interest rate) but would mean an additional $33K up front.

$33K / $173 = 191 months / 12 = approx. 16 years until that $33K which would have been in my savings had I not put it down initially is depleted.

So really it comes down to, do you think you'll be able pay off your house within those 16 years? If not and you think it'll take you the full 30 years in addition to you having enough of a safety net by throwing down an extra 10%, then yea it'd be worth it.

 

[Darryl M R]

Bought last year in June on a 7/1 ARM with 10% down. We put a little bit into a bathroom remodel, but otherwise not much has changed. We went to refinance into a fixed rate because I didn't feel comfortable sitting on the ARM for very long (thanks to Ron Mexico's advice from a year ago), so we had to get a re-appraisal, and the appraised value came in at over 200k more than we paid, in just 1 year. WTF! This market is nuts. The even better news is that now we can re-fi into a fixed rate with no additional money down, since it appraised so high we have the 80% LTV covered even though we only put 10% down originally.

200k increase is amazing. If you don't mind me asking what is the total value as of now?

 

[vacantseas]

I know this is Home Buying, but is there a Homeowner OT? Something to discuss projects were's working on? Recommendations for household items? Place to complain about that neighbor of yours or how much raking leaves in the fall sucks?

 

[captive]

What are your guys thoughts on putting 30% as downpayment? US market.

honestly, need more information. I would say yes do it, if the house doesnt need anything to be done to it and you have other money and you're not just clearing yourself out.

Assuming this is on a 30 year loan....I'm personally doing 20%. If I wanted to do 30% it would save me approx. $173 per month ($325K purchase price @ 4% interest rate) but would mean an additional $33K up front.

$33K / $173 = 191 months / 12 = approx. 16 years until that $33K which would have been in my savings had I not put it down initially is depleted.

So really it comes down to, do you think you'll be able pay off your house within those 16 years? If not and you think it'll take you the full 30 years in addition to you having enough of a safety net by throwing down an extra 10%, then yea it'd be worth it.

i would advise everyone to strongly consider 15 year mortgages. You save a ton in interest and unless you're super disciplined going for a 30 year and saying ill just over pay on it doesn't usually work out.

Paying your house off is freedom.

I know this is Home Buying, but is there a Homeowner OT? Something to discuss projects were's working on? Recommendations for household items? Place to complain about that neighbor of yours or how much raking leaves in the fall sucks?

there's a couple out there, search "DIY "Can we fix it" is one of them.

 

[cpp_is_king]

200k increase is amazing. If you don't mind me asking what is the total value as of now?

I don't really want to give a number, but it's in San Jose, CA (West San Jose more specifically) so if you're curious you can lookup comps. It's not cheap, but then again it is the Bay Area, where nothing makes sense.

 

[demosthenes]

honestly, need more information. I would say yes do it, if the house doesnt need anything to be done to it and you have other money and you're not just clearing yourself out.


i would advise everyone to strongly consider 15 year mortgages. You save a ton in interest and unless you're super disciplined going for a 30 year and saying ill just over pay on it doesn't usually work out.

Paying your house off is freedom.




there's a couple out there, search "DIY "Can we fix it" is one of them.

My mortgage was sold to Well's Fargo. When you login to look at your info, it just straight up asks you "how much more per month do you want to pay to go directly to principle". I really liked that.

 

[I H8 Memes]

Here's the DIY thread. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1037245&page=8

 

[otake]

honestly, need more information. I would say yes do it, if the house doesnt need anything to be done to it and you have other money and you're not just clearing yourself out.


i would advise everyone to strongly consider 15 year mortgages. You save a ton in interest and unless you're super disciplined going for a 30 year and saying ill just over pay on it doesn't usually work out.

I have my concerns with 15 year mortgages. You are basically locked into the higher payments. 30 year mortgages give you flexibility.

As to my situation, it's a 30 year loan at 3.875% interest rate. The house is like new, only 4 years old and in real good shape. I do have to add an aluminum fence but that's it.

House is priced at $305K. 30% is obviously around $90K. The resulting mortgage payment is $147 less than if I put down 20%.

If I put 20% all I will do with the extra money is either buy CD's or keep it in a savings account.

 

[Ourobolus]

living in seattle, washington.. I kinda accepted my fate that i' cant never afford to buy a house.. for a looong time

I'm still stuck in a lease in West Seattle for the time being, but I've been looking at areas like Bothell which seem to be a bit cheaper.

 

[cpp_is_king]

I have my concerns with 15 year mortgages. You are basically locked into the higher payments. 30 year mortgages give you flexibility.

You're only locked in insofar as you don't want to refinance. Refinancing is not a big deal, and especially if you've been on a 15-year mortgage for even just 2 or 3 years, you will have significant equity and refinancing should be a non-issue.

Sure you have more flexibility with a 30 year, but at the cost of a significant amount of additional money out of pocket.

I ran a quick check just now, 30 years at 3.85% or 15 years at 3.5%. You save 50% of the cost of the entire house with the 15 year mortgage. That's pretty significant.

 

[Zoe]

A middle ground would be to get the 30-year but pay it as if you're on a 15-year, circumstances allowing.

 

[Ourobolus]

holy shit I just checked the Redfin estimate on my house and it's $155K more than I paid for it back when I started this thread

 

[captive]

You're only locked in insofar as you don't want to refinance. Refinancing is not a big deal, and especially if you've been on a 15-year mortgage for even just 2 or 3 years, you will have significant equity and refinancing should be a non-issue.

Sure you have more flexibility with a 30 year, but at the cost of a significant amount of additional money out of pocket.

I ran a quick check just now, 30 years at 3.85% or 15 years at 3.5%. You save 50% of the cost of the entire house with the 15 year mortgage. That's pretty significant.

right, this is what i was getting at and was actually just about to do but you did it. Its an insane amount of interest when you do a 30 year. I dont know how my parents did it they say their first mortgage was like 8 or 9% interest from a bank.

you can do what Zoe said, but you have to have the discipline to do it.

 

[otake]

You're only locked in insofar as you don't want to refinance. Refinancing is not a big deal, and especially if you've been on a 15-year mortgage for even just 2 or 3 years, you will have significant equity and refinancing should be a non-issue.

Sure you have more flexibility with a 30 year, but at the cost of a significant amount of additional money out of pocket.

I ran a quick check just now, 30 years at 3.85% or 15 years at 3.5%. You save 50% of the cost of the entire house with the 15 year mortgage. That's pretty significant.

It is but, there's a few variables. It's not always so easy to refinance. Mortgage rates are creeping up and if you lose your job, no bank will refinance.

30 years gives you inflation protection and flexibility.

 

[Drahcir]

I think I'm gonna throw in the towel on buying a home right now. I live in southern California and housing here is ridiculous. Everyone around me keeps saying to wait two more years for the bubble to burst. Is it true gaf? Are we close to a housing market crash in the near future?

Same! First time peruser of this thread and I have been house-hunting for several months now in SoCal and I have been disappointed every time I find one I like in my price range. It's been so discouraging because a hot house will have several offers already that drive the price beyond what I can afford. My uncle is a realtor who has been helping me find good homes and submit offers, but each and every time the homes are sold almost immediately after hitting the market. It's ridiculous. It's got to a point where I am about to give up for now and just keep saving up in the meantime.

 

[otake]

Same! First time peruser of this thread and I have been house-hunting for several months now in SoCal and I have been disappointed every time I find one I like in my price range. It's been so discouraging because a hot house will have several offers already that drive the price beyond what I can afford. My uncle is a realtor who has been helping me find good homes and submit offers, but each and every time the homes are sold almost immediately after hitting the market. It's ridiculous. It's got to a point where I am about to give up for now and just keep saving up in the meantime.

No one knows the future but LA is always expensive. If you can find a way to keep saving while renting and there's no urgent reason to buy then wait.

 

[Zoe]

these are very easy, and cheap, my wife ordered ours pulls for our new house from https://www.pullsdirect.com/

OT, but do you know if that site processed as a Home Improvement store on your card?

 

[Zoe]

The 20% mortgage down payment is all but dead

The article says that most conventional loans still have 20%, but we only put down 10%.

 

[ScottSullivan]

The 20% mortgage down payment is all but dead

The article says that most conventional loans still have 20%, but we only put down 10%.

Not surprised by this at all, hell, I certainly couldn't afford the full 20%, ended up doing a local secondary lending program that provided 17% at a rate similair to the main mortage and I had to come up with the 3%