Buying a House

[Forge]

On 4/2/2019 at 4:46 PM, theJ said:

Not anymore.  Most people don't itemize with the new rules.

I pay roughly 15.5K a year in mortgage interest and I can't even itemize with that unless i have other itemizations, where as before, that was over double what the standard single deduction was lol

 

[Forge]

On 4/4/2019 at 8:14 AM, skywindO2 said:

Would changing jobs while looking for a house be a bad idea? 

I had an initial interview for an intriguing job opportunity yesterday. Wouldn't want to pass up a great job opportunity or a great home should one come on the market because of one or the other. 

It can vary. @MKnight82 pretty much summed it up well. Don't switch to a job that is commission based or has a high bonus as part of your total compensation with a lower base salary. You need to have at minimum a 1 year history of bonus or commission in order to reasonably use it in qualifying (and that's technically only supposed to be with sufficient other compensating factors, otherwise it should be 2 years) and they'll end up qualifying you on the new base salary, which if lower, could detrimentally impact your qualification. 

If its in the same line of work, salaried, etc, it'll have no impact on your qualification whatsoever, just make sure you advise the lender asap if you accept the job so that they can get everything updated. They should do a verbal verification of employment within 10 days of your closing, and if you switched jobs without telling them, you're going to have to recycle a lot of stuff and possibly delay your closing. 

[theJ]

17 hours ago, theJ said:

I think they'll sign though.  They had actually already signed some agreements with contractors to fix some of this stuff when it started getting complicated.  So we just mutually decided that we would handle all the repairs, take it as is, and knock off some money on the purchase price.

They signed! Now just waiting for closing... 

[JaguarCrazy2832]

On 4/5/2019 at 3:16 PM, Forge said:

I pay roughly 15.5K a year in mortgage interest and I can't even itemize with that unless i have other itemizations, where as before, that was over double what the standard single deduction was lol

 

Yea it sucks that one of the selling points of buying was the tax benefit but thats gone. I suppose you gain benefit with the standard deduction but so does everyone renting too

[skywindO2]

I don't know how it is in other markets but I keep seeing reports about how their's low inventory in the Twin Cities. It's really frustrating but it's nice that there's some reports out there letting me know that it's not just me feeling like there's nothing out there. 

[theJ]

34 minutes ago, skywindO2 said:

I don't know how it is in other markets but I keep seeing reports about how their's low inventory in the Twin Cities. It's really frustrating but it's nice that there's some reports out there letting me know that it's not just me feeling like there's nothing out there. 

It's like that mostly everywhere at the moment.

[ramssuperbowl99]

On 4/5/2019 at 2:16 PM, Forge said:

I pay roughly 15.5K a year in mortgage interest

 

 

Bay Area?

[Forge]

56 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

 

Bay Area?

Vegas

[ramssuperbowl99]

5 minutes ago, Forge said:

Vegas

Do you own 5% of the land mass of the state!?

[Forge]

1 minute ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

Do you own 5% of the land mass of the state!?

Lol nah, was just in the first year of my mortgage last year, so rough sledding for now with regards to the principle and interest split

[JaguarCrazy2832]

On 4/12/2019 at 11:46 AM, Forge said:

Lol nah, was just in the first year of my mortgage last year, so rough sledding for now with regards to the principle and interest split

Yea I’m in year 2 albeit not Vegas but the split is very unkind 

[MWil23]

Well, our pending situation fell through.

Long story short, the appraisal on our house that we are selling came back $9,000 under what the agreed upon amount was. After doing some digging, I found out that the buyers were FHA loan approved, and the appraisal was based upon their FHA status, which is apparently very rigid and strict. Through a series of counters that fell short of the original agreement by $3,500, they then decided to give us a series of deadlines and ultimatums, including being out of our own house a full week earlier than originally agreed. We stood firm and walked away. Our realtor communicated to us that they were "devastated". We said when we put our house up that we had a bottom line figure and if we didn't get it that we'd go next year. We put $5,500-$7,000 towards the principle/equity in our home each year since we have under 10 years left on our mortgage, so if the appraisal is the same in a year and the market is still good (let alone white hot like it is now), we will make out better or at worst break even. If the appraisal comes back better (it probably will), then we make out MUCH better. We don't "HAVE" to sell and can delay building our new home for a bit, so we have the bargaining power.

We can get another appraisal done, but that won't impact THESE buyers' appraisal. Also, this FHA appraisal is stuck with our house for any and all FHA buyers for the next SIX MONTHS. So, we can get a different appraisal for a different loan (conventional, VA, etc.) and go through this process again, or demand that another FHA buyer bring cash at closing (unlikely if they are going the FHA route to begin with), or pull our house from the market and try again in 6 months to a year. For us, I'm not taking 90 cents on the dollar in the greatest market our country has seen...maybe ever.

They still haven't sent over the official termination paperwork, which I find interesting.

Any thoughts at all @theJ or @ramssuperbowl99? Others who have been through this a bunch feel free to respond as well. @LETSGOBROWNIES

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

@MWil23 sounds like you have your ducks in a row, crappy situation for all parties imo.

Unless something major happens I can’t see the market around here dying down that significantly in 6-12 months, it’s absurd around here right now.

[ramssuperbowl99]

Sorry to hear that man. Sucks for everyone involved.

[MWil23]

Just now, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

@MWil23 sounds like you have your ducks in a row, crappy situation for all parties imo.

Unless something major happens I can’t see the market around here dying down that significantly in 6-12 months, it’s absurd around here right now.

I'm REALLY betting on it not flipping in the next 6-12 months.

Just now, ramssuperbowl99 said:

Sorry to hear that man. Sucks for everyone involved.

I'll be honest, I felt TERRIBLE for the buyers until the last 48 hours. They were begging the appraiser to reconsider and honor the original agreement. That said, giving us 2 ultimatums and the real kicker, that we need to be out of our house at closing (April 26) instead of the original agreed upon date (a full week later, giving us another weekend to move) was the straw that broke it as well. Finding a place to live, having to move on Easter weekend and not being given another weekend, lining up housing in under 2 weeks...all of that was just not feasible, to go with taking a $3,500 bath. I realize that for most people, $3,500 isn't a lot, but for us, that's a decent chunk of change and would go a long way with our future home.