Home buying thread

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
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I only need the house for 3 months. I'm not really concerned with them selling it. More concerned that they won't fix stuff while I am working 16-18 hour days for 3 months during our turnaround. If they don't have the cash to put in a new AC unit when it's really hot that would suck etc...

Some of the other companies are building their own housing for the upcoming February thru April for the workers they are bringing in.

I was just curious if anyone else felt like their landlord needed their credit checked.
 

koljec_sl

shitlord
845
2
I was just curious if anyone else felt like their landlord needed their credit checked.
I think it's a neat idea, especially for dealing with small landlords, but I don't think it's common. If there are other applicants who won't put the landlord through the trouble, why bother with you?

It's probably something that legislation should require, maybe as part of licensing to conduct rental business. It would really help in slumlord cities like Philadelphia.
 

Khane

Got something right about marriage
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It wouldn't help with slumlording at all. You think slumlords have bad credit? They don't. Not only that but it's completely ridiculous to expect a credit check to ensure that an AC unit can be replaced. Borzak is being way too cautious and needy with that.

He wants a credit check done when he makes very good money and could easily go to Wal-Mart and buy a window AC for 100 bucks. This is the reason he won't move into a rental... absurd.
 

Vinen

God is dead
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It wouldn't help with slumlording at all. You think slumlords have bad credit? They don't. Not only that but it's completely ridiculous to expect a credit check to ensure that an AC unit can be replaced. Borzak is being way too cautious and needy with that.

He wants a credit check done when he makes very good money and could easily go to Wal-Mart and buy a window AC for 100 bucks. This is the reason he won't move into a rental... absurd.
Borzack sounds like he will/is a terrible tenant that you want to get rid of as soon as possible.
 

Asshat Brando

Potato del Grande
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A lot of misinformation being thrown around here in regards to mortgages. If anybody has any specific questions still send me a PM or ask away here. The zero down USDA loans I don't know much about being based in SoCal but almost anything else I should be able to answer.
 

Falstaff

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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I'm sure you are smart and have some good info but this is a pet peeve of mine... why don't you point out some of the misinformation and correct it rather than saying, "This is all wrong, but I have the correct info, and you have to PM me if you want it!" Is it a secret?

I'm so peeved by this I'm about to go post about it in the rustled jimmies thread.
 

Khane

Got something right about marriage
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Rustles my jim jams too. Why wouldn't you share that knowledge with the entire board?
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
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When you rent you'll sign a contract that will outline stuff like fixing things in the apartment, if the landlord doesn't adhere to his contract in a reasonable manner then proceed from there. It's not like you move into a place, they hand you the keys, and that's it.

I've had my AC (central air) go out at my apartment once. Turns out a switch in the kitchen was wired to the same circuit as the AC unit (??????????). Our roommate blew a fuse by plugging some appliance into that switch in the kitchen and since we never used it we never knew. The AC unit compressor shut down and leaked all over the apartment (or something like that) and had to be replaced. I left for work in the morning and got an email 2 hours later that they fixed it as well as an explanation about the switch.

I don't see the point of a credit check on the landlord anyways, most likely they don't have poor credit if they are renting out apartments/houses.
 

Khane

Got something right about marriage
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They can very easily have poor credit when you consider most property investors don't buy single family homes to rent out. It almost never pays off. Usually only people who are in financial duress do that, or people who are so well off that they can afford two mortgages while they wait for the house they just moved out of to sell (and are renting it out in the meantime because the market isn't favorable).

But even a landlord with impeccable credit can be a shithead who doesn't fix anything. The credit check doesn't really garner you anything except a landlord thinking "well this fucker isn't getting the apartment, he's already being a huge pain in the ass and he hasn't even signed a lease yet"
 

Asshat Brando

Potato del Grande
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I'm sure you are smart and have some good info but this is a pet peeve of mine... why don't you point out some of the misinformation and correct it rather than saying, "This is all wrong, but I have the correct info, and you have to PM me if you want it!" Is it a secret?

I'm so peeved by this I'm about to go post about it in the rustled jimmies thread.
Sure.
 

Asshat Brando

Potato del Grande
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For FHA loans with <10% down (I think that's the number), you're stuck paying mortgage insurance forever. Conventional they drop it at 20%. Mortgage insurance is expensive too, if I remember right it's about 1% every year. In my case I got an estimate for a 280k purchase price with 20k down, total payment would have been 2300 with 300 of that being mortgage insurance. Forever. Or until you refi.
This was a recent change due to FHA still being much more prevalent in the market than was ever intended. FHA PMI is now for the life of the loan except in a very specific set of circumstances and is very expensive, 1.35% per year. Conventional PMI has not changed and is not for life, costs are actually coming down with the market being more stable. Quoted someone today at .63% annually.

Well I'll say this... I asked my lender what my credit score had to do with the interest rate. They told me they will pick the lowest of the three credit agency scores between the two of you and go by those numbers. The *lowest*. I was also told your credit score didn't affect your interest rate, but only your possibility of getting the loan. If you don't have much of a credit history, they can ask for other forms of credit. 24 months of cell phone bills, water/electricity, etc. Hope it helps
Standard Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac guidelines are you use the worst of a married couples middle score. So if you have a husband with 700, 705, and 720 and a wife with 600, 598 and 595 you go with 598 as it's lower than 705. Conventional loans are risk based pricing so yes, your interest rate will be greatly affected. FHA/VA may or may not be affected, just depends on the lender and their agreement with those entities.

A rural development loan you can go with 0% down (and LOTs of non rural places qualify including some pretty large suburbs and even city limits) and you can even roll in closing cost etc....You have to make less than 115% of the average income for your area
These are USDA loans and the cities they apply to are few and far between, don't expect to actually to have this apply in most situations unless you are truly in a rural area.
 

Khane

Got something right about marriage
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So you are re-iterating what the rest of us have already said. Thanks for the insight killer. You're way smarter than the rest of us.
 

Asshat Brando

Potato del Grande
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PMI for life was wrong, lowest credit score was wrong as well as it not affecting rate, but sure man. Believe whatever you want.
 

Korrupt

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I used a friend with my first house and it worked out well. She and I both spent a lot of time looking at houses and sat down together to talk about the pros and cons of each one. When we had it down to a couple I went with inspections on both and then met with the inspector and her before making my final decision. In my case it worked out great, it felt like she was on my side and had my interests in mind when looking.

Hopefully your friend is a good one.
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
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These are USDA loans and the cities they apply to are few and far between, don't expect to actually to have this apply in most situations unless you are truly in a rural area.
I had a friend in NH have this apply, bumfuck nowhere
 

Burnesto

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The population has to be under 20,000 in a city if you shoot for USDA. It also can't be a suburb of a larger metropolitan area. Basically you need to live in the middle of nowhere to qualify.

Then there are fairly low income requirements as well.
 

Khane

Got something right about marriage
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PMI for life was wrong
What? PMI certainly is for the life of the loan with certain loans and depending on the lender. Which is exactly what you just said in your own post. Am I taking crazy pills here?
 

Burnesto

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He's probably referencing someone claiming it was permanent on a certain conventional loan. Which the original person was wrong in that case. I don't feel like going back and looking but I remember noticing it.
 

Asshat Brando

Potato del Grande
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What? PMI certainly is for the life of the loan with certain loans and depending on the lender. Which is exactly what you just said in your own post. Am I taking crazy pills here?
PMI for Life only applies to FHA and that is only for people getting FHA loans right now. There is no other loan that I'm aware of where you cannot get out of the PMI at some point during the life span of the loan without refinancing out of it. There is nothing depending on the lender unless you're talking about Portfolio lending which is trending towards no MI products, such as what Kinecta FCU or Union Bank are offering, in order to fulfill their CRA requirements.
 

Picasso3

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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Just closed on my penfed refi 5/5arm at 2.625... was a pretty easy deal i think it took about 35 days total and they did indeed pay all my closing costs (1700).
The only thing that (i think) pisses me off is they added 330 bucks on for interest due from my prior loan when my whole monthly payment and principal is only 305. I closed on the 2nd and i don't think they're going to wire them the month until the 15th so they're going to bill me interest for a month and a half despite me making a payment. I'm pretty sure some of it will come back to me unless the bitch waits until the 15th to wire the payoff.