House Buying Thread

Postby **NTP66** » Sat Feb 08, 2020 8:11 pm

Water heaters are much more reasonable when you don’t have a blower powered WH like I do. Basically add $800+ to that cost.

Postby **count2infinity** » Sat Feb 08, 2020 8:20 pm

Will an inspection be able to give us a guess on roof condition and when it'd need replaced?

Postby **tifosi77** » Sat Feb 08, 2020 8:26 pm

Dickie's got it; write your offer so the seller provides a 1 or 2 year warranty that covers that stuff. That's pretty common, especially with that set of facts re the house. I would be surprised if your seller isn't already prepared for that, given the particulars. Shoot, the only thing in our house that's older than around 8 years is the slab foundation and the framing and our seller paid for a 2 year warranty.

An inspection will tell you what you need to know re all the old bits. If I were the seller, I'd have done one myself and included it with disclosures so buyers can't hold that stuff out in negotiations.

Also, a sales contingency is pretty normal. It weakens the offer, but it's common.

Postby **count2infinity** » Sat Feb 08, 2020 8:28 pm

They replaced the furnace in December. That wasn't on the disclosure because it was filled out when they put the house on the market in September. That's one less thing to worry about.

Postby **NTP66** » Sat Feb 08, 2020 8:28 pm

Will an inspection be able to give us a guess on roof condition and when it'd need replaced?

Yep, a good inspector will be able to get you in the ballpark. I disagree with tif regarding warrantees, though. I have never heard of a homeowner doing that. I sure as hell wouldn’t (as a seller). Asking the seller to possibly replace one of those things as part of the sale is more common IME.

Postby **tifosi77** » Sat Feb 08, 2020 8:30 pm

Also, if you have any specific concerns I'd recommend paying for a supplemental inspection. Like, in addition to the general home inspection I'd get a roofing contractor to inspect the roof.

Postby **mac5155** » Sat Feb 08, 2020 8:33 pm

See my post in the home improvement thread about boilers

I would say get the home warranty, and you can usually extend It out of pocket for a few hundred a year. Until you've got it all fixed and replaced. Then you're in the clear

Postby **count2infinity** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 7:48 am

Met realtor Friday. Toured two houses on Saturday (the second of which we pretty much walked in and immediately turned around and walked back out), put in an offer on the house Sunday at noon, accepted their counter offer at 9 last night. Wtf just happened?

Postby **skullman80** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 7:50 am

Met realtor Friday. Toured two houses on Saturday (the second of which we pretty much walked in and immediately turned around and walked back out), put in an offer on the house Sunday at noon, accepted their counter offer at 9 last night. Wtf just happened?

You just bought a house? The next month or two will be a whirlwhind of doing things and having deadlines and such. As long as you have a competent realtor the process should be pretty smooth overall.

Postby **Trip McNeely** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 7:50 am

Met realtor Friday. Toured two houses on Saturday (the second of which we pretty much walked in and immediately turned around and walked back out), put in an offer on the house Sunday at noon, accepted their counter offer at 9 last night. Wtf just happened?

I like your style. All in

Postby **count2infinity** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 7:53 am

Yeah... close date is mid-April. The seller was super flexible with that, so that was cool.

The second house was wayyy out there, and my wife said "this place will have to blow me away for us to even consider it." I replied "yeah, it's going to have to blow me for me to consider it." And we started chuckling. When we got done with the half tour she said "That was kind of the opposite of a blow job, huh?" I said, "yeah, felt like the house put its dick in my mouth." Again, a nice chuckle. It's been pretty stress free so far. Hope it stays that way.

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 7:55 am

Source of the post As long as you have a competent realtor the process should be pretty smooth overall.

Postby **Troy Loney** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 7:56 am

As long as you aren't getting an FHA loan, the mortgage process should be easy. The inspection is the PITA. I would suggest paying the extra ~200 for an inspector that is also a structural engineer, because what really sucks is the inspector seeing something that he's suspicious of and says to have a structural engineer look at it.

You can bang out the mortgage stuff pretty easy on your end, just collect PDF's of your recent pay stubs, last year's tax return, and probably your 2018 and 2019 W2.

When we bought in 2016, our idiot realtor, who referred us to the banker we used, neglected to let the banker know that the deal was good to go, so I had to basically do everything on our end for the mortgage in one sitting, this after I reached out to the banker to confirm, and he was just like, "oh ****, we better hurry".

Postby **count2infinity** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 7:59 am

Yup. Conventional loan. Our realtor said she has suggestions of some of the best inspectors and will work with us to make that appointment. I'll be sure to ask about a structural engineer.

Mortgage stuff is in the works. All that documentation is over to the mortgage broker, and we have an appointment set up with a local bank for later this week to get stuff banged out there, so we'll have two places to choose from.

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 8:10 am

We used Pillar to Post for our inspection, and the inspector was great. Pointed out the few little things that I needed to look out for, and answered a number of questions months after we purchased the house without hesitation. The binder report we were provided was incredibly detailed, as well. I'd use them again in a heartbeat.

Postby **skullman80** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 8:33 am

We were going to go to an open house yesterday for a house we thought we might like. We decided against it since our house isn't even up yet (plan is end of this month, early march). I check this morning and that house is already contingent. I guess I take solace in the fact there isn't anything out there that we absolutely love, but I worry that the timing when we do find something we really like is going to be a PITA. My wife and I both said we aren't "settling".

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 8:39 am

Source of the post My wife and I both said we aren't "settling".

Stick by that. The few people I know who bought houses to be their "starter house" all regret it and have had trouble getting out of it - my sister included. The market is finally up in her area, and she's looking to sell and move into her forever home, but she'd be in better shape had she simply waited the first time around. I swear that she only bought a house because her siblings all had houses at the time, which is mind-numbingly stupid to me.

Postby **skullman80** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 8:45 am

Source of the post My wife and I both said we aren't "settling".
Stick by that. The few people I know who bought houses to be their "starter house" all regret it and have had trouble getting out of it - my sister included. The market is finally up in her area, and she's looking to sell and move into her forever home, but she'd be in better shape had she simply waited the first time around. I swear that she only bought a house because her siblings all had houses at the time, which is mind-numbingly stupid to me.

Well my wife bought her house before I came along. So just for her as a single person it was plenty big. Now add me, and two dogs... not so much. Our realtor is pretty confident we can come out in the positive when we sell her house so I'm not overly worried, but it still makes timing a PITA. Us not settling is going to probably end up with us living at my mother in laws for a month or two to really find the perfect house, but we seem both open to that even if it's not our first preference.

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 8:53 am

Source of the post My wife and I both said we aren't "settling".
Stick by that. The few people I know who bought houses to be their "starter house" all regret it and have had trouble getting out of it - my sister included. The market is finally up in her area, and she's looking to sell and move into her forever home, but she'd be in better shape had she simply waited the first time around. I swear that she only bought a house because her siblings all had houses at the time, which is mind-numbingly stupid to me.
Well my wife bought her house before I came along. So just for her as a single person it was plenty big. Now add me, and two dogs... not so much. Our realtor is pretty confident we can come out in the positive when we sell her house so I'm not overly worried, but it still makes timing a PITA. Us not settling is going to probably end up with us living at my mother in laws for a month or two to really find the perfect house, but we seem both open to that even if it's not our first preference.

Same deal with my wife. She owned a condo when we met, and we ended up taking a $19k hit when we sold it (I'd do it again).

Postby **Beveridge** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 2:10 pm

We used Pillar to Post for our inspection, and the inspector was great. Pointed out the few little things that I needed to look out for, and answered a number of questions months after we purchased the house without hesitation. The binder report we were provided was incredibly detailed, as well. I'd use them again in a heartbeat.

Can't like this post enough. Used Pillar to Post and will have him do it again when we buy next year. A+++++++++++++

Postby **count2infinity** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 2:13 pm

"There are no offices servicing this area"

Womp, womp, womp....

Postby **Beveridge** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 2:15 pm

"There are no offices servicing this area"

Womp, womp, womp....

You're state college right? I got a name to come up for 16801

Postby **nocera** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 2:15 pm

Thirded for Pillar to Post. I can't remember who came out but he was excellent. He pointed out literally everything he saw that was an issue or could be an issue in 5-10 years. He showed me things that as a new home owner I wouldn't have known. The report was extremely detailed and I still reference it from time to time. They also provided a radon inspection, which turned out to be valuable as the house came back well higher than the national average.

Postby **count2infinity** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 2:15 pm

Bellefonte

Postby **Beveridge** » Mon Feb 10, 2020 2:18 pm

Well poop on you.