Fifth Avenue Forum

Couldn't you just let the grass grow over time and mow it all down at the same height? Or is it actual different grass per green/rough?

raise your hand if -when you were a kid- you used scissors on a section of grass of your parents lawn to try and make a putting green

and my lyin' eyes convinced me it would be the same as a putting green

Couldn't you just let the grass grow over time and mow it all down at the same height? Or is it actual different grass per green/rough?

raise your hand if -when you were a kid- you used scissors on a section of grass of your parents lawn to try and make a putting green

and my lyin' eyes convinced me it would be the same as a putting green

until i tried it a half dozen or so times

It is pretty wild how much work goes into maintaining greens.

Anyone know a good way to value acreage? There is a strip of land that abuts my property and I want to make the land owner an offer for just the land. It's about 1/3rd of an acre, not much. No buildings. I have a number in my head but it's not based on any hard enumeration. The land is of no real use to the owner and represents a very small portion of their lot.

I may take it via adverse possession quit claim deed but I want to give them the opportunity to accept payment first.

I tried to buy a small strip of ground off my neighbor a few years ago. She had a surveyor come in and do the estimate. They told her 1/16th of an acre was worth $1,000. I nope'd out of that deal real fast. Then she was pissed that she paid a surveyor. shrug.

That's actually not too far off of what I was thinking.

Quick measurement on GMaps puts it at about .4acre. I was thinking $2,000 beforehand. At your rate, it's about $6,400.

I actually measured wrong, it's .22acre so $3,500 by your math.

That said, it's worth maybe $3k to me if I'm going to pay for it. Particularly when I'm pretty sure I can get it for nothing from the courts.

When I had my appraisal done for my construction loan they valued my land at $9k per acre. This was in 2018. I'd say your $3k estimate is about right.

How do capital gains taxes work with home sales?

Let's say we sell our house but want to rent for a period of time in order to figure out schools, neighborhoods, distance to work, etc. Is this different from state to state? Or is it a Federal tax issue?

As long as it was your primary residence for two of the past five years (don't quote me I don't do much tax anymore) your first 400K-ish of gains are excluded

Thanks. I'll double check, but that sounds like we've got that covered.

I think it's 500k but either way, unless you're selling it for like a million you should be good.

If you bought a house for say 250k you can sell it for 750k and not owe tax.

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

@robbiestoupe: Now this is just getting ridiculous. Their mortgage was sold for the fourth time. There really should be a limit on how many times this can happen.

I work in this area of law, a bit. RESPA stuff. I can recommend a really fantastic book on the subject. Chain of Title by David Dayen. It's set in the late 2000s during that mortgage crisis. But we (as a country/industry) are doing it again so I think it's worth the read. Very thorough.

I work in this area of law, a bit. RESPA stuff. I can recommend a really fantastic book on the subject. Chain of Title by David Dayen. It's set in the late 2000s during that mortgage crisis. But we (as a country/industry) are doing it again so I think it's worth the read. Very thorough.

Do they deal with companies frequently selling mortgages? I could see this process causing people to miss payments, leading to late fees, and possibly leading to even worse issues including foreclosure.

I used to work for a loan servicing company that got caught sitting on mortgage payments in order to hit the late fee period and charge them late fees. They also charged other illegal fees. Got caught and paid tens of millions in fines, and closed my location. I left the second we heard what was going on, because that was some corrupt bullshit that I still can’t believe happened, especially when I knew a lot of the people in these departments.

Yeah, it goes into all of that shady stuff. Though a big theme is that, when prompted, the companies couldn't actually produce a title in most cases. And the courts just kind of shrugged and went with it. Missing titles, missing allonges, etc. It's pretty upsetting that nobody answered for it in the end.

It sounds like one of those books where I’d wind up just being completely disgusted and angry at what happened.

Yes. The amount of research and depth he went into to write it really shows though. It's a story that should be told.

Anyone ever deal with Diversified Gas and moving gas line? Found out that a gas line goes diagonally across the property instead up straight to the road. Going to have to have it moved to build and no idea what I might be looking at for timeline for that to happen.

Yeah, it goes into all of that shady stuff. Though a big theme is that, when prompted, the companies couldn't actually produce a title in most cases. And the courts just kind of shrugged and went with it. Missing titles, missing allonges, etc. It's pretty upsetting that nobody answered for it in the end.

I imagine that stuff would have more of an impact in a title-theory state rather than a lien-theory state like PA. I may be wrong, but I would think that missing chains of title would be much more significant in a title-theory state.

For those not familiar with the concepts, depending on the state, there are two different "theories" of how mortgages work. In a lien-theory state, the borrower is the recipient of the deed when the seller conveys the property. The mortgage is a lien on the property that is extinguished when the debt is paid in full. In a title-theory state, however, the property is deeded to the lender under a sort of trust arrangement where the lender owns the property on behalf of the borrower until such time as the debt is paid off, and at that point the lender deeds the property to the borrower. So in a lien state you always own your house, and the bank has a claim against it, but in a title state the bank actually owns the house until you pay it off, and only after full payment do you get the deed. About 20 states are lien, about 20 states are title, and the others use a hybrid of the two theories where the owner has the deed but the lender can take it away if the owner defaults on payment.

The book primarily takes place in Florida, a lien theory state.

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

@robbiestoupe: Now this is just getting ridiculous. Their mortgage was sold for the fourth time. There really should be a limit on how many times this can happen.

Was one of the companies Mr. Cooper? Where do they live? Do your parents have good credit? Just wondering why they would want to keep selling this mortgage, as if nobody wants any part of it.

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

robbiestoupe: Now this is just getting ridiculous. Their mortgage was sold for the fourth time. There really should be a limit on how many times this can happen.

Was one of the companies Mr. Cooper? Where do they live? Do your parents have good credit? Just wondering why they would want to keep selling this mortgage, as if nobody wants any part of it.

They're in Philly. Here's how it all went down:

1. Had a mortgage through Wells Fargo
2. Refinanced with Better.com
3. Mortgage sold to Mr. Cooper
4. Mortgage sold to somebody whose name I forget
5. Mortgage sold to Sun Trust
6. Mortgage sold to Novad Management Consulting (they received that letter the same day that they received their statement/bill for mortgage company #3)

They have great credit, never missed a payment, never late, etc. Nothing negative at all.

Well, F Philly then

That goes without saying...

No it doesn't. F Philly again