holt_bruce81 Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 So being first time home buyers my GF and I are getting more and more frustrated with our agent. We are looking for guidance and they really don’t seem to be giving any. But we’re not sure if this is just how it is when looking for a house or if we need to think about going with another agent. Today for example. I text Him about a house that we had seen but it was listed as “Contigent” Asked him if it was worth us asking to see it/getting a backup offer in there. In my head he was going to check with the other agent and see where they were on their Contigent offer and if they were accepting any backup offers and then he would let us know....Nope. This dude just tells me what Contigent means. Like, eh, ok? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanedorf Posted October 27, 2020 Share Posted October 27, 2020 6 hours ago, holt_bruce81 said: Today for example. I text Him about a house that we had seen but it was listed as “Contigent” Asked him if it was worth us asking to see it/getting a backup offer in there. In my head he was going to check with the other agent and see where they were on their Contigent offer and if they were accepting any backup offers and then he would let us know....Nope. This dude just tells me what Contigent means. Like, eh, ok? Find out if he is making an effort and if not why not ? there might be a good reason On the other hand - The house we are in now, we got as the back- up offer because the other one fell through. It happens I'd want to find out more info first and if the answers aren't to your liking, there's no shortage of talented realtors who might be better than the one you currently have. IF their offer is contingent on getting financing or selling their existing home - those are huge contingencies. If the previous offer is only contingent on passing an home inspection, then that's a tougher one because they usually work out the minor issues. Good luck 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scar988 Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 On 10/26/2020 at 2:17 PM, holt_bruce81 said: So being first time home buyers my GF and I are getting more and more frustrated with our agent. We are looking for guidance and they really don’t seem to be giving any. But we’re not sure if this is just how it is when looking for a house or if we need to think about going with another agent. Today for example. I text Him about a house that we had seen but it was listed as “Contigent” Asked him if it was worth us asking to see it/getting a backup offer in there. In my head he was going to check with the other agent and see where they were on their Contigent offer and if they were accepting any backup offers and then he would let us know....Nope. This dude just tells me what Contigent means. Like, eh, ok? You need a new agent. IF you're in the ATL area, I got an awesome one to recommend you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJ Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 On 10/26/2020 at 2:17 PM, holt_bruce81 said: So being first time home buyers my GF and I are getting more and more frustrated with our agent. We are looking for guidance and they really don’t seem to be giving any. But we’re not sure if this is just how it is when looking for a house or if we need to think about going with another agent. Today for example. I text Him about a house that we had seen but it was listed as “Contigent” Asked him if it was worth us asking to see it/getting a backup offer in there. In my head he was going to check with the other agent and see where they were on their Contigent offer and if they were accepting any backup offers and then he would let us know....Nope. This dude just tells me what Contigent means. Like, eh, ok? Yep, new agent needed here IMO. We had a bad agent the first time we bought a house. The process was miserable. I felt like we drug our agent through the whole process. Second time around we interviewed three different agents, and picked the one we felt most comfortable with. A big part of our selection criteria, and a major talking point of the interview, was how they planned to support us throughout the process. The one we picked gave great advice on things to look at during the search, as well as what price points we should target when we made an offer. He also gave us great advice on what price point we should set our current home at when it was time to sell (we bought our 2nd home first, then sold the 1st right after to make moving stress free). the other thing we looked for when interviewing was finding an agent that would have no problem explaining everything to us in painstaking detail. We wanted someone who would not only give us great advice on what to do, but why. Lastly, we ended up going with one that only makes about 20 transactions/year. This guy was nearing retirement, and was doing just enough to maintain his living style without working himself to death. It worked out great bc he picked up the phone every single time we called him. Every time. We used Dave Ramsey's website to do the search. It put us in touch with 3 realtors right away (they called me, like an Angie's list thing), who i set up interviews with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuskieTitan Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 On 10/23/2020 at 7:24 AM, bigbadbuff said: How much more money do you typically need upfront to build vs buying an existing home? On 10/23/2020 at 7:56 AM, bigbadbuff said: Gotcha. Would be nice, but as a first time home buyer I wouldn't be able to do that. Hopefully the market shifts next year so I can actually buy a house, because I'm not going to be paying current prices. I think it depends on how you go about with the new build route. If you go with a builder that is putting up a neighborhood, things may be different. I went this route myself over the last year. Once the lot I wanted became available, I had to put down 7k earnest money, this was a flat rate for the entire neighborhood. As I'm approaching closing this month, I will end up putting down 5% on a conventional loan. The other major point for me with regards to a new build is that it let me save up money in preparation for the closing and moving - when I became able to afford this house was different than being able to put down something to acquire it. Rather than wait nearly a year before trying to shop the market for an existing home, I got to design it at the beginning of the year then sit back and wait and prepare while it got built. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scar988 Posted November 17, 2020 Share Posted November 17, 2020 On 11/6/2020 at 3:46 PM, theJ said: Yep, new agent needed here IMO. We had a bad agent the first time we bought a house. The process was miserable. I felt like we drug our agent through the whole process. Second time around we interviewed three different agents, and picked the one we felt most comfortable with. A big part of our selection criteria, and a major talking point of the interview, was how they planned to support us throughout the process. The one we picked gave great advice on things to look at during the search, as well as what price points we should target when we made an offer. He also gave us great advice on what price point we should set our current home at when it was time to sell (we bought our 2nd home first, then sold the 1st right after to make moving stress free). the other thing we looked for when interviewing was finding an agent that would have no problem explaining everything to us in painstaking detail. We wanted someone who would not only give us great advice on what to do, but why. Lastly, we ended up going with one that only makes about 20 transactions/year. This guy was nearing retirement, and was doing just enough to maintain his living style without working himself to death. It worked out great bc he picked up the phone every single time we called him. Every time. We used Dave Ramsey's website to do the search. It put us in touch with 3 realtors right away (they called me, like an Angie's list thing), who i set up interviews with. I found my agent through Zillow. Had 10 agents apply to be my agent. Interviewed 7 of them on the phone. First one I felt comfortable with met with me and my wife, my wife loved the first agent so much, that's who we went with. We still have drinks with her nowadays and we haven't needed her services for 2 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWil23 Posted November 17, 2020 Share Posted November 17, 2020 @theJ I can't believe I'm even asking this after locking into my 2.625% 15 year fixed mortgage, but do you know anyone in OH from a lender/person standpoint who does refinances for minimal closing costs? With my credit score/my wife's credit score, I've seen today that I could get somewhere between a 2.15-2.25% on a 15 year fixed...meaning I could save $55-$65 a month just by refinancing. THIS IS CRAZY! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJ Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 On 11/17/2020 at 1:42 PM, MWil23 said: @theJ I can't believe I'm even asking this after locking into my 2.625% 15 year fixed mortgage, but do you know anyone in OH from a lender/person standpoint who does refinances for minimal closing costs? With my credit score/my wife's credit score, I've seen today that I could get somewhere between a 2.15-2.25% on a 15 year fixed...meaning I could save $55-$65 a month just by refinancing. THIS IS CRAZY! Whoops, haven't logged on for a few days. You looking for a title agency, or a broker? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWil23 Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 2 minutes ago, theJ said: Whoops, haven't logged on for a few days. You looking for a title agency, or a broker? Haha, it's all good! I actually found a broker and started the process of refinancing again yesterday, just 5 months after refinancing...we have a fixed 2.625% on 15 years, and I'm about to lock into a 2.250% fixed on 15 years. With the closing costs/me forgoing a month of a mortgage payment with the "reset" time period, I'm going to break even with the upfront cost, save about $10,000 over the life of the loan, and only extend my final payment date by about 3-4 months. CRAZY! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJ Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 2 minutes ago, MWil23 said: Haha, it's all good! I actually found a broker and started the process of refinancing again yesterday, just 5 months after refinancing...we have a fixed 2.625% on 15 years, and I'm about to lock into a 2.250% fixed on 15 years. With the closing costs/me forgoing a month of a mortgage payment with the "reset" time period, I'm going to break even with the upfront cost, save about $10,000 over the life of the loan, and only extend my final payment date by about 3-4 months. CRAZY! Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWood21 Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 Scheduled to close on the house tomorrow. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanedorf Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 45 minutes ago, CWood21 said: Scheduled to close on the house tomorrow. Congrats on the new place Hopefully you can add a little green & gold to the neighborhood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gnat Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 13 hours ago, Shanedorf said: Congrats on the new place Hopefully you can add a little green & gold to the neighborhood You generally don't want a house that screams "Arson should take place here" like that house. 😆 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forge Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Reached out to my LO that I bought my house with 3 years ago. "Hi, I want to refinance. Give me numbers on 20 and 30 years please, 750+ credit. I estimate that I am under 80% ltv. Please get income docs from the work number. I do not want to have an appraisal, please get a waiver. Fannie should be fine with it" 2 days later, I'm basically done lol with no docs provided and just have to go in and sign. I thought about pushing back to 30 years. It would have lowered my monthly payment about $500, added 3 years back on but still saved about 55K in the long run. Was really tempted to go this route to open some cash flow to perhaps buy a second home. But cutting 7 years off my loan and my payment stayed the same and all told I would save over 170K was just too tempting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holt_bruce81 Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 Wrote our 4th offer over the weekend and found out yesterday that the sellers went with another offer. The process is frustrating but I try and look at the bright side. Gives me more time to save up as much as possible. GF is pretty devestated though. We both REALLY loved this one. There were 3 cash offers on it. Yikes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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