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If you guys want the best history on a home (sales history, previous owner names & prior addresses - that's how detailed they are), propertyshark.com provides it, but they are no longer 5-free searches. I think they're down to just 1. If you're really digging into many homes, I would even consider subscribing to them.
Yes just last night they had a mini-mansion for $300k, something that should easily be over $800k. The buyers were pointing out the negatives. It's all relative, but we'd be all over that in 2.4 seconds. Can we start naming all the negatives of Houston to make ourselves feel better? I asked myself how low could their jobs pay... can't be that bad. Maybe that's why they can afford to eat so much down there.
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OMG!!! Thats THE WORST! They're like "oh I dont like this light fixture". "I dont like the paint in this room. "That toilet paper holder is SOOOO tacky." "I dont like the grain of the marble in this brand new amazing chefs kitchen that Wolfgang Puck himself comes over and cooks us breakfast every morning. Lets keep looking."
My and my husband go insane like "Ahhhhhhh!!!! Shut up! Just SHUT UPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!" We would throw our remote through the tv if we could!!!! LOL
Thanks Elke!!! Youre so very helpful. Im learning so much about this whole process. THANKS A MILLION!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elke Mariotti
Something for you to think about:
From the time you find a house till closing, it can take about three months; short sales often take longer.
Are you just looking for suitable neighborhoods at this point? Or also for a suitable, affordable house?
What if you happen to find the "right" house next weekend? No seller is going to wait to close until December . And in this market, anything "decent" that's reasonably priced isn't going to be around in August/September.
So my answer is, if you want to be ready to pull the trigger if an opportunity presents itself, then yes, you should have a pre-approval ready--sellers won't accept an offer without it. And I'm not talking about a letter that is based on a phone conversation about your financial situation, but a conditional commitment based on the lender obtaining documentation from you such as tax returns, pay stubs, bank statements, etc. Once you have it, it can easily be updated with current information if it takes until Fall for you to find your home. A pre-approval as mentioned above will also give you an edge when making an offer, because the sellers will know you're qualified and are "ready to go".
In this case, you may want to wait until after purchasing a house, as other posters have mentioned. Your goal at this point should be keeping your credit and debt/income ratio as healthy as possible.
Thanks for the advice. Im def going to let my husband now about this and we'll see what we're going to do. Thanks!
I wish you the best on your search!! Maybe we should join forces and buy a house together and rent out the basement!! Maybe then we'll be able to afford something decent!!! lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by okellies
I should revise that its more like a 210k-270k budget, I was just riffing off of the OP's 300-350k remark. We've mostly looked at towns in the Sachem school district (Ronkonkoma, Lake Ronkonkoma, Holbrook, Farmingville), we've also looked in Centereach and Selden. We've seen a few homes on the South Shore in the Copiague, Amityville and Lindenhurst areas. We've basically been going where the deals are and paying attention to school districts.
We pay special attention to the taxes (especially village taxes), which have been a real killjoy with most of the homes we've seen. Most of the houses we've looked at have been corner lots or near busy streets or the backyard is sharing a border with a parking lot. We've looked at some tiny houses and we've looked at some real fixer uppers. We have found some nice homes though in our price range.
Ngl, it is very hard in our price range, but we keep chugging along.
I wish you the best on your search!! Maybe we should join forces and buy a house together and rent out the basement!! Maybe then we'll be able to afford something decent!!! lol
Thanks! I wish you the same! Seriously though, I know people who do that or have done that haha! LI is a crazy market. We've found some homes with income suites (or the potential for one) and man, the money we could make renting them out would make our mortgage a joke.
The fun part is finding the house. The nightmare begins with the mortgage application process and learning about all the ridiculous fees the bank charges. Prepare to dish out another $15,000 on closing cost.
The fun part is finding the house. The nightmare begins with the mortgage application process and learning about all the ridiculous fees the bank charges. Prepare to dish out another $15,000 on closing cost.
Oh wow. That's something that I didn't even consider. Do sellers ever really pay closing costs?
Thanks! I wish you the same! Seriously though, I know people who do that or have done that haha! LI is a crazy market. We've found some homes with income suites (or the potential for one) and man, the money we could make renting them out would make our mortgage a joke.
Would you consider renting out a space?? I'm so fearful of doing that bc my aunt and uncle rented out the uptairs at their house in Queens and the woman (with a small child) just stopped paying and was living there for free for almost a year while they waited for the eviction process to go through! It was crazy! Not to mention extremely awkward of course!!
Oh wow. That's something that I didn't even consider. Do sellers ever really pay closing costs?
From what I've seen on LI, in this market, no. You can attempt a seller's concession, but it turns a lot of sellers off because in the event of a low appraisal, the deal can potentially fall apart. We were lucky enough to find a seller who was willing to go along with it for us (probably because he was confident in his home's value), so that's $15k we don't need to come up with out of pocket.
Would you consider renting out a space?? I'm so fearful of doing that bc my aunt and uncle rented out the uptairs at their house in Queens and the woman (with a small child) just stopped paying and was living there for free for almost a year while they waited for the eviction process to go through! It was crazy! Not to mention extremely awkward of course!!
I've lived in apartments my whole life, some of the time in other peoples houses. There are landlords who do extensive checks on their renters or they require two months rent and a security deposit up front (it can be almost as expensive as a down payment on a house!). Some landlords just bring in whoever and roll the dice. You can have requirements for tenants (no kids, single occupancy), BUT its illegal to list these requirements when posting the apartment listing on a website (i.e. Craigslist). The boyfriend and I ran into these issues, even when looking for a one bedroom apartment. We are a quiet couple and looking for apartments was an adventure. A 5 month adventure.
Overall, many landlords will require to see that you are a good tenant (like a reference from a past landlord), that you have a good job and/or as long as you give the security money they ask for upfront, its typically an okay situation.
I'd be more worried about landlords. When I was younger, we once had a landlord that threatened to hurt my dad if he didn't pay rent on time.
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I asked myself how low could their jobs pay... can't be that bad. Maybe that's why they can afford to eat so much down there.
. And in this market, anything "decent" that's reasonably priced isn't going to be around in August/September.
A pre-approval as mentioned above will also give you an edge when making an offer, because the sellers will know you're qualified and are "ready to go".
!
