Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Tampa Bay
 [Register]
Tampa Bay Tampa - St. Petersburg - Clearwater
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-06-2008, 05:26 PM
 
Location: Clearwater, FL (Tampa Bay)
14 posts, read 44,686 times
Reputation: 32

Advertisements

mmerculieff -

I am a little confused based on the information you provided. You mentioned you are currently in a lease that lasts 4 more months. You seem concerned about you credit, but you mentioned that you have already been approved for a 30 year fixed mortgage at 5.5%, which sounds pretty good to me. You mentioned that you put money down, but you didn't say how much and therefore I don't know the proposed monthly payment amount for the mortgage.

I do not know your monthly or annual income, but a general rule of thumb is that you do not want your monthly mortage payment (including taxes and homeowner's insurance) to be more than 25% of what your total monthly household income is. Couples obviously have an easier time achieving this because of having two incomes.

It is terrific news that your appraisal is valued at roughly $40,000 higher than the purchase price. I'm not sure, but it sounds like the two neighbor's homes you mentioned are selling for so little because they have been foreclosed. If that is true, there is not much you can do about that.

The bottom line is you need a home for you and your wife to live. You know it is worth much more than you have to pay to purchase it. The real estate market will rebound eventually, we just don't know if it will be 3-5 years or more. Therefore, as long as you like the home, the neighborhood and it suits your needs, you know that in time it will appreciate even more and you should be able to sell for a profit one day. Just keep in mind that you don't want to be purchasing a home with mortage payments that amount to more than 25% of you and your wife's monthly income. With more information, I may be able to offer more advice, but until then, best of luck!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-19-2008, 01:35 PM
 
Location: Tampa Bay`·.¸¸ ><((((º>.·´¯`·><((((º>
4,696 posts, read 7,875,431 times
Reputation: 13657
In this market nowadays in the Tampa Bay area, is the price of a house that's being sold by owners/real estate co. supposed to compare to what a bank has for sale in the same area and on similar conditions?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-19-2008, 02:07 PM
 
Location: Hernando County, FL
8,488 posts, read 20,595,097 times
Reputation: 5397
Quote:
Originally Posted by Annie of Oldsmar View Post
In this market nowadays in the Tampa Bay area, is the price of a house that's being sold by owners/real estate co. supposed to compare to what a bank has for sale in the same area and on similar conditions?
Foreclosures will generally be priced a good percentage below appraisal. Maybe somewhere around 20% below.

They will also generally be "as is" and if you can't close on time you will pay $100 a day until you close. With the mortgage brokers having some problems these days there is a decent possibility of delays.

You also will run into other bidders on the best priced ones. The last 2 I closed there were multiple offers so you need to be ready to go when they come on the market.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-19-2008, 03:57 PM
 
Location: Tampa Bay`·.¸¸ ><((((º>.·´¯`·><((((º>
4,696 posts, read 7,875,431 times
Reputation: 13657
Will I pay these delays of $100 a day even when the mortgage co is the one who can't close?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-19-2008, 06:19 PM
 
Location: Hernando County, FL
8,488 posts, read 20,595,097 times
Reputation: 5397
Unless you can convince the mortgage company to pay it will be you paying.

And the mortgage company knows it will take longer for you to go out and find another lender to get it done than for them to close so it's hard using that as leverage.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2008, 07:28 AM
 
Location: Tampa Bay`·.¸¸ ><((((º>.·´¯`·><((((º>
4,696 posts, read 7,875,431 times
Reputation: 13657
Thanks for your answer Mike. I will keep that in mind.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2008, 08:54 AM
 
Location: Tampa,FL
54 posts, read 263,697 times
Reputation: 18
Another thing to keep in mind is that your house is valued based on similar houses that have sold. If you buy the home for $274k and the other two sell for $225k, you might have lost a lot. The appraisers have to use simialr sales as comps when determining value. If someone looks at the neighborhood to buy, the best value for them would potentially be the foreclosures, so if those are simialr homes, your house will now only be worth 225k. it is sort of complicated but jsut be careful.

Foreclosures can be a pain to deal with. They usually need work and the bank may take forever to resell the home depending on where they are at in the foreclosure process. The mortgage people, like myself, are sometimes at the mercy of the bank holding the home. If the broker is causing the problem, then you need to get with me so I can help you out
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-21-2008, 04:14 PM
 
Location: Clearwater, FL (Tampa Bay)
14 posts, read 44,686 times
Reputation: 32
Thanks Mike for helping out with the Real Estate question from Annie of Oldsmar. I couldn't have said it better myself. Although there are also, foreclosures that go to auction at the County Courthouse with no Realtor involved and often no mortgage company involved with the financing.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-21-2008, 04:22 PM
 
Location: Clearwater, FL (Tampa Bay)
14 posts, read 44,686 times
Reputation: 32
I know Real Estate/Mortgage questions are popular right now, but are there any non-housing financial questions out there? Hopefully all of you out there reading the various Threads on this site and others are planning for your financial future (without Social Security). Ask now so you can get on board and be "ahead of the game".
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-21-2008, 05:39 PM
 
Location: East Tennessee
3,928 posts, read 11,578,301 times
Reputation: 5259
What type of investment(s) do you consider are the most stable at this time? Short term, intermediate and long term as well, please.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Tampa Bay
Similar Threads
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:25 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top