House Buying Thread

[Kane]

Is there an out for home buying in your lease, c2i? When we bought our house we were living in an apartment, and they were required to let us out of the lease because we bought a home.

[count2infinity]

Yeah. If it was just me or just me and my wife, we could take a bit of risk. But with a kid and two dogs, we need something more definite. And you have to pay for definite in this world.

[NTP66]

30-60 days is the norm, I'd say. You're in a better spot than most because you don't have any contingencies, and there are cases where sellers can close quickly if you'd like. Honestly, if you've found the house you absolutely love, I'd go for it even with the current lease. Eat the rest of that contract.

[count2infinity]

Honestly, if you've found the house you absolutely love, I'd go for it even with the current lease. Eat the rest of that contract.

That's what we're thinking. It's gonna hurt for a bit, but long term it's for the best.

[Troy Loney]

I think you should go ahead and make the bid. The closing is kind of on your terms, the seller might give you **** if you push it out further than necessary, but then you can just pretend the bank is giving you hassle. It sounds like your concern is that you don't want to be paying rent along with the mortgage. Couple things to consider, one if you start the negotiation now you are easily looking at an April close that could easily push out to May if you move slow with things like the inspection. The bank will definitely accommodate pushing the close out, I don't think you're running into issues with like the appraisal or flood determination expiring if your talking in terms of a month push back. Next, the first mortgage payment will be closer to two months after closing as opposed to 30 days. Next, if you have plenty of time between closing and having to get out of your apartment, you will appreciate that luxury. That will give you time to do any painting or cleaning, or any other project that is much easier sans furniture.

We did our close and move out in 15 days, and in that time we painted and refinished the floors and got a dog, easily the stupidest path I ever created for myself.

[NTP66]

Source of the post Next, if you have plenty of time between closing and having to get out of your apartment, you will appreciate that luxury. That will give you time to do any painting or cleaning, or any other project that is much easier sans furniture.

We regretted not painting the entire house before moving in, and that's probably why it took us 7 years to finish paining every last room.

[Beveridge]

Could you put in a contingency for lease running out in July? Might hurt the offer a little bit, but people do sell contingencies all the time, which delays closing by an undefined amount of time.

You're looking at Mid-April right now for possible close so you'd be at worst maybe eating up 2-3 months of contract so probably not a total blow at the end of the day.

And has TL said, you got a place to live until July so even if you close, plenty of time to do some work on an empty house.

[Troy Loney]

Source of the post Next, if you have plenty of time between closing and having to get out of your apartment, you will appreciate that luxury. That will give you time to do any painting or cleaning, or any other project that is much easier sans furniture.

We regretted not painting the entire house before moving in, and that's probably why it took us 7 years to finish paining every last room.

Yeah, we have a 1500 sq ft house, we painted everything but the trim before moving in, and definitely wish we would have given ourselves time to sand and paint the trim.

[Troy Loney]

And trying to find a sublet for that 2-3 months is probably going to create more hassle to deal with on top of the moving logistics.

[Beveridge]

And trying to find a sublet for that 2-3 months is probably going to create more hassle to deal with on top of the moving logistics.

Agreed. I'd rather eat the cost and a @mikey hanger before messing around with a sublet for 2-3 months.

[count2infinity]

We did it when we moved into the place. It was through the rental agency and it was a sublet + year lease, so I'd imagine they'd do the same for us. But yeah, a couple months overlap isn't the end of the world.

[Beveridge]

Well, if the rental agency does it and you know how it works on that side of it, not a bad option if things move quickly.

I thought you'd be on the hook for handling it all. Doesn't sound too bad.

[skullman80]

I'm starting to get nervous again about trying to line everything up with selling our house and buying a new one. I'm confident in our realtor that he will do his best to line everything up, but it's still nervewracking. We were going to put the house up last october, but decided to wait until spring. The time is coming quick, and I know my wife is going to be a nervous wreck so I have to play the calm person.

[NTP66]

I'm starting to get nervous again about trying to line everything up with selling our house and buying a new one. I'm confident in our realtor that he will do his best to line everything up, but it's still nervewracking. We were going to put the house up last october, but decided to wait until spring. The time is coming quick, and I know my wife is going to be a nervous wreck so I have to play the calm person.

Good luck. I hated the entire process, and don't wish to go through it ever again.

[skullman80]

I'm starting to get nervous again about trying to line everything up with selling our house and buying a new one. I'm confident in our realtor that he will do his best to line everything up, but it's still nervewracking. We were going to put the house up last october, but decided to wait until spring. The time is coming quick, and I know my wife is going to be a nervous wreck so I have to play the calm person.

Good luck. I hated the entire process, and don't wish to go through it ever again.

Haha thanks. I keep telling my wife that it will all work out just fine. Everything will go smoothly etc, when I am just as worried as her.

There isn't anything out there right now that we are in love with house wise, but I know once spring hits things are going to pick up and start moving quickly with houses going up and being snatched up.

The ideal scenario is our house sells quick, we move in with my mother in law for a month or two and then we take our time finding the house we want. Neither one of us want to move in with her mom (even though she is really awesome), but that may be the way it goes if the whole contingency process doesn't work out when we sell our house etc.

[NTP66]

Source of the post The ideal scenario is our house sells quick, we move in with my mother in law for a month or two and then we take our time finding the house we want. Neither one of us want to move in with her mom (even though she is really awesome), but that may be the way it goes if the whole contingency process doesn't work out when we sell our house etc.

I would absolutely go that route if possible. I can deal with the pain of living with my MIL or whomever if it means that when we go to buy a house the entire process is easier. We had to push closing back multiple times, and as a result, wound up moving in with my parents for a few months. It was a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.

[mac5155]

It was always encouraged to me (as a buyer) to have the minimum amount of contingencies possible if a house is popular / in a buyers market.

[tifosi77]

Typically keys are handed over 30 days after escrow is opened, which is usually within 24 hours of communicating acceptance of the offer. We had one escrow get extended by about a week because of an appraisal issue that arose 20 or so days into escrow, but that's uncommon.

No seller wants a longer escrow. You may encounter situations where a seller might agree to accept a longer than normal closing period, but you are literally talking about the difference between them getting a six-figure check in-hand in days vs months. Which would you prefer?

Over the years, we've written close to two dozen offers, and reviewed around 6 or 7 as sellers; escrow period has been part of the up front offer terms in every instance. This period is part of your offer, something you sort out with your lender ahead of time, not something you figure once a price has been agreed; it's a key point of the deal, and something that can be used for negotiation leverage. The shorter the escrow period the more competitive the offer, and vice-versa. The fewer contingencies, generally, you place on your offer, the more competitive you'll be, and, potentially, the shorter your escrow will be. Escrow is just an instrument to allow both parties to fulfill certain obligations they have in a transaction, so the only way you can really shorten that period is to write an offer that limits or even eliminates those obligations... which can be quite risky. (When we were shopping in SF, we lost out on multiple houses because even though we were offering substantially more than list price, Tech Bro And His Bank Account came in with all-cash seven-figure offers with zero contingencies, which basically means "Seller, today is Sunday; accept my offer and you will have a million dollars - cash money - in the bank by COB Wednesday.")

Any money you pay into your current lease is more or less just deferred equity in the house.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

straight cash homie

[count2infinity]

Met our realtor and went to tour the house we really like. Of course we'd love to put in an offer, but the house was built in 1997 and it has the original AC unit, roof, furnace, and the water heater was replaced in '09. That's a butt load of stuff that's in the "could crap out at any time" part of their life, isn't it? We asked our realtor her opinion. Probably just nerves on our part, but I'd imagine those are legit concerns.

The other issue is that there's currently an offer on the house, but the selling realtor and owners aren't crazy about it because there's a contingency that the buyers have to sell their current house for the contract to go through. Seems a bit wonky.

[Troy Loney]

2009?

Do they make everything out of cardboard out there?

[Dickie Dunn]

Met our realtor and went to tour the house we really like. Of course we'd love to put in an offer, but the house was built in 1997 and it has the original AC unit, roof, furnace, and the water heater was replaced in '09. That's a butt load of stuff that's in the "could crap out at any time" part of their life, isn't it? We asked our realtor her opinion. Probably just nerves on our part, but I'd imagine those are legit concerns.

The other issue is that there's currently an offer on the house, but the selling realtor and owners aren't crazy about it because there's a contingency that the buyers have to sell their current house for the contract to go through. Seems a bit wonky.

Is there any warranty on the house? We bought our townhouse with an American Home Shield warranty due to the original furnace, A/C unit, and water heater in the house. Furnace and water heater crapped out in the first year and got replaced. A/C unit held out during the time we lived in the house and we sold it with a new AHS warranty.

[NTP66]

Figure a standard AC/furnace could run upwards of $10k on the higher end alone, and a roof is going to be $6k+ depending on the size. If the roof was quality when installed, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that you could get the 30 years a lot of architectural asphalt shingles are good for these days.

[Troy Loney]

We have a boiler, the plumbing guys that service it each year said it could probably last years. Radiators are annoying, but I hate forced air.

Water heaters have short life spans, that’s less that 1500 when disaster strikes, so I wouldn’t spend any time worrying about that.

[count2infinity]

Yeah, the water heater isn't a huge deal might give us a chance to put in a tankless one, tbh. The roof and AC unit/furnace were more of a concern.