Fifth Avenue Forum

Let me just preface this by saying, I'm well aware there are other factors involved in pricing, but this has me scratching my head a bit...

Our house offer accepted in Feb 2020:
2100 sq ft. 3 bed, 2.5 bath, 0.55 acre lot, fenced in back yard, 1 car garage and shed in back yard, central air/forced air

House down the street sold Sept 2020:
1800 sq ft. 3 bed, 1.5 bath, 0.70 acre lot, 2 car garage and shed in the back yard, baseboard heating with no AC

House just went up for sale this week:
1400 sq ft. 3 be, 1.5 bath, 0.40 acre lot, 1 car garage and shed in the back yard, baseboard heating with no AC

These are all on the same street within a couple blocks of a dead end road...

We bought ours for 261K, September house: 303K, and the house for sale now: listed at 289K. Again, I know that there are other things at play with the price of a house, but I can't help but think we got a steal...

https://www.noradarealestate.com/blog/h ... edictions/

tl;dr: yes, you got a steal at the right time.

robbie: Since refinancing through Better.com, my parents' mortgage was just sold again. That makes 3 times in as many months.

robbie: Since refinancing through Better.com, my parents' mortgage was just sold again. That makes 3 times in as many months.

I won't pretend to know what goes on with these mortgage companies, but that's crazy. I've owned two homes for a total of 16 years, and my mortgages were only sold twice. Both times they were all but guaranteed to happen, due to the lenders I originally used.

Let me just preface this by saying, I'm well aware there are other factors involved in pricing, but this has me scratching my head a bit...

Our house offer accepted in Feb 2020:
2100 sq ft. 3 bed, 2.5 bath, 0.55 acre lot, fenced in back yard, 1 car garage and shed in back yard, central air/forced air

House down the street sold Sept 2020:
1800 sq ft. 3 bed, 1.5 bath, 0.70 acre lot, 2 car garage and shed in the back yard, baseboard heating with no AC

House just went up for sale this week:
1400 sq ft. 3 be, 1.5 bath, 0.40 acre lot, 1 car garage and shed in the back yard, baseboard heating with no AC

These are all on the same street within a couple blocks of a dead end road...

We bought ours for 261K, September house: 303K, and the house for sale now: listed at 289K. Again, I know that there are other things at play with the price of a house, but I can't help but think we got a steal...

You are a numbers guy and trust the science so here are a few tidbits:

1. Behold the power of interest rates. When you bought your house, interest rates were around 3.4%. Today, they are around 2.96%. That may not seem like a lot, but your same house ($260K) at 3.4% has P&I of $930. So that means you can afford $930 worth of P&I. Lets say you are in today's interest rate environment. If you have a p&I payment of $930 at 2.96%, the mortgage would be $221,670 and the same house would be $277,000. so in other words, the same buyer can now afford to pay an extra 17K for a house while maintaining the same interest payment.

2. Mortgage rates are generally tied to some sort of US Government debt (I believe the 30 year treasury). These interest rates on 30 year bonds fall in times of turmoil because people buy them as a safe haven. I think mortgage rates are also indirectly affected by the Fed's very generous fiscal policy.

3. I forget where I *just* read this earlier today, but there are 37% fewer houses on the market today than there were pre-pandemic. Less supply of houses=more desperate homebuyers.

4. this one is less tangible but can also influence the market, too. One trend since the housing bubble in 2019 is really, really, really yuge money managers buying up single-family homes in bulk and renting them out. google invitation homes. they own 80,000 homes in the country and have only been around since 2012. There are a bunch of other firms out there like that.

As a sidebar, that grandstanding dadhole chamath palihapitiya owns a company that buys houses sight unseen and imo that business model is not good for the little guy (and that jagoff loves to pretend he is a friend to the little guy)

4. this one is less tangible but can also influence the market, too. One trend since the housing bubble in 2019 is really, really, really yuge money managers buying up single-family homes in bulk and renting them out. google invitation homes. they own 80,000 homes in the country and have only been around since 2012. There are a bunch of other firms out there like that.

Yup...this is a very disturbing trend. They basically want to create a generation of indentured renters.

robbie: Since refinancing through Better.com, my parents' mortgage was just sold again. That makes 3 times in as many months.

I'm pretty sure Mines been sold twice now. I'm not totally sure as I applied thru standard bank, who used Stearns to underwrite, and now I got a notice the other day it's going to someone else whom I can't even think of the name right now.

4. this one is less tangible but can also influence the market, too. One trend since the housing bubble in 2019 is really, really, really yuge money managers buying up single-family homes in bulk and renting them out. google invitation homes. they own 80,000 homes in the country and have only been around since 2012. There are a bunch of other firms out there like that.

Yup...this is a very disturbing trend. They basically want to create a generation of indentured renters.

Agreed 100%. totally changing market dynamics buying sight unseen and well over ask or appraisal because they're their own bank and know with enough time they will get ROI on the properties. what that does as you said for the generations to follow is quite frankly, scary.

On a related topic, my insurance is up for renewal, and we'll be switching from MetLife's GrandProtect to their new Met360 plan. Same coverage, but about $475/year cheaper. I was actually able to get another $20 off/year on my premium because I have both a smart thermostat as well as monitored water sensors/SmartThings. Nice.

On a related topic, my insurance is up for renewal, and we'll be switching from MetLife's GrandProtect to their new Met360 plan. Same coverage, but about $475/year cheaper. I was actually able to get another $20 off/year on my premium because I have both a smart thermostat as well as monitored water sensors/SmartThings. Nice.

I also learned that if I am paying the insurance premium myself, and not going through my mortgage, I get another discount. May want to check on that for those of you in similar boats.

Starting the process to refinancing. Was asked the question what my goals were, and I came up with better rate, we're currently at 3.5%.

DOn't really know anything about this side of the house and if I should get money, etc. Just looking to pay off my house sooner if I can.

Frankly, if I could go back and do it again (I just refinanced in March-ish), I'd have taken some cash out to pay off slightly higher interest debt and do a project or two. Like $15k more would've been perfect and still kept me well under 80% LTV given the ridiculously high appraisal. I was worried the appraisal would come in low - this was right before the housing market went insane.

Source of the post Starting the process to refinancing.

Who are you going through? If Better.com, let me know and you can tell them that I referred you for $500 off your closing costs.

And unless you're looking to do some home renovations using cash from a refinance, I'd probably just stick with a straight up refinance.

We're just going through a family guy and getting some options at the moment.

We eventually want to add an addition to our house, but that's a few years out. We might just end up straight refinancing. At this point, I would like to get better than 3.5% for sure.

Shop around, just in case. It makes zero sense right now to only look at one player.

For sure, that's why we're getting options, just basically starting the process.

Is 3.5 the current market rate or your current rate? Sheesh, I got 2.625 only a few months ago.

nah 3.5% was the rate we landed with back in 2015 when we bought our current house.

Ah gotcha.

Fwiw standard bank matched better.com rates and I was able to work with a local branch. I think you probably live near their service area, though they were in the process of a merger with dollar bank during our process which has since completed.

Yeah, even if you're using Better.com for matching (remember the $500 closing cost bonus), it's worth it. There's so much competition that I'd assume most would match/beat. Mr. Cooper matched my Better.com offer, and as a result, Better.com matched their counter. Worked out wonderfully for me.

Frankly, if I could go back and do it again (I just refinanced in March-ish), I'd have taken some cash out to pay off slightly higher interest debt and do a project or two. Like $15k more would've been perfect and still kept me well under 80% LTV given the ridiculously high appraisal. I was worried the appraisal would come in low - this was right before the housing market went insane.

you can always look in to opening up a HELOC and pay it off at your leisure. plus its nice to have access to the equity in your house in case you need it for an emergency (I.e. larger truck, larger RV, more toys, guns, etc)

(I.e. larger truck, larger RV, more toys, guns, etc)

@Morkle: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/mortg ... atest_news