Obviously real estate is hyper-local, but I'm trying to stay in my current town for the schools and at any given time there are only ever 2-4 houses for sale at anything resembling what a dual income professional household can afford. The last one we put an offer on got 55 bids in three days and went for 25% over list. It's fucking bananas.
Home buying thread
- Thread starter Pasteton
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Koushirou
Log Wizard
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We’ve got a new construction being built. Not the greatest, it was $150k or so higher than I was budgeting for and I was very dubious when we first signed the contract (this was over this last Thanksgiving). At that time, the rate was 3.25. My brother took us over to a new development and since it was the end of the month/year we got a couple of things thrown in like a finished basement, some closing cost help, and a half priced lot (though maybe they always offer this shit to sound good, IDK).
I honestly didn’t think shit would go downhill this fucking fast in the country, so all my misgivings about probably overpaying and maybe we’d find something more in budget later are gone. Sure, we got a generic new build from a cheapo builder, but we at least will have a house and it came with the shit we want and the right size. I don’t think we’d have at chance at owning if we were starting to look now.
My brother’s also been looking to move and also got lucky as hell in a new development he was looking at. Got bumped up to the top of the waiting list for the lot he wanted so he avoided the increases (I guess for every two sales, the base price jumps up $20k). The minimum he could put down was 12% to even have a chance of buying and here I’d gone for the pricier 5% down when I signed my contract. Can’t imagine how much he’s going to be fucked on his interest rate before he can lock it.
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Sanrith Descartes
Veteran of a thousand threadban wars
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Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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Koushirou
Log Wizard
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TJT
Mr. Poopybutthole
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TJT
Mr. Poopybutthole
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We bought a new construction in January of 2021, then the rates were <3%. After 18 months of shortages and other issues (waited 7 months for papers from the city to start). Now we just have to eat it.
On the plus side the property is worth almost $200k more than when I bought it already and I haven't paid a single dollar on it other than Earnest Money yet. So I guess I can't complain about 18+ months of free equity.
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This is incorrect - what Fris's neighbor is describing is a Section 8 voucher and it is perfectly legal.
Housing Choice Voucher Program Section 8
Housing Choice Vouchers Fact Sheet On this page What are housing choice vouchers? Am I eligible? How do I apply? Local preferences and waiting list - what are they and how do they affect me? Housing vouchers - how do they function? The rent subsidy Can I move and continue to receive housing...
www.hud.gov
Anecdotally, I have a former co-worker who has about ~20 units between several duplexes, quads, etc. He has/had a couple of tenants on Section 8 and they've been all or nothing - one put up an above ground pool in his backyard (huge liability issue) and he had to have the sheriffs get it removed, another caused a ton of damage and didn't clean for a year. But he's had several other tenants who, once they had their Section 8 voucher sorted out, never caused any problems and always paid on time (the government was paying over 90% of the rent via the toucher).
Khane
Got something right about marriage
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This is incorrect - what Fris's neighbor is describing is a Section 8 voucher and it is perfectly legal.
Housing Choice Voucher Program Section 8
Housing Choice Vouchers Fact Sheet On this page What are housing choice vouchers? Am I eligible? How do I apply? Local preferences and waiting list - what are they and how do they affect me? Housing vouchers - how do they function? The rent subsidy Can I move and continue to receive housing...
Anecdotally, I have a former co-worker who has about ~20 units between several duplexes, quads, etc. He has/had a couple of tenants on Section 8 and they've been all or nothing - one put up an above ground pool in his backyard (huge liability issue) and he had to have the sheriffs get it removed, another caused a ton of damage and didn't clean for a year. But he's had several other tenants who, once they had their Section 8 voucher sorted out, never caused any problems and always paid on time (the government was paying over 90% of the rent via the toucher).
This is so weird. I have called my local housing authority about this specifically when trying to figure out if I wanted to participate in the program as a Landlord. They do their normal "checklist" and then go over the rules and both times I've talked to them (once before, and once after an apartment remodel) they said this was specifically prohibited under the Section 8 guidelines.
Unless it has something to do with what they deem your units "fair market value" is and you just aren't allowed to have a tenant come up with a difference that is over that amount and I'm misinterpreting what they were actually saying to me.
HUD says Fair Market Value for my first floor unit is $1350/mo. I am currently getting $1675/mo so I guess its a moot point either way because I'm just never going to lose $325/mo because HUD can't value apartments reasonably.
Sludig
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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Advice/ pointers please.
Only owned one home in my life bought 7 years ago, had refinanced into a lower rate last year keeping roughly the same remaining term out of a 30 year.
We make almost double what we did at the time we bought it and we are wanting to buy a new home out of state. For less anxiety moving, id prefer to buy the new place first before either selling the old home in CO. I'm starting to lean towards trying to rent because i want to say rents appear to be like 3k which could pretty much cover both mortgages.
House bought for 255 valued roughly 470k atm, market cooling slightly atm. Trying to buy the new house for 2-300 ish in rural OK.
So I'm just apprehensive i guess about how easy qualifying for both is. Id heard i might have to change my existing mortgage somehow if it becomes a rental?
If we rent instead of selling one challenge might be just moving/ new furniture costs on top of a down payment and any gap of potentially a month or two before I start work after transfering. Even if we sell, i suppose getting that money could be coming late after incurring the other costs.
I didn't really want to refinance money out of the home out of extreme fiscal fear of prices ever collapsing, but I was suggested maybe taking a conservative heloc of 20-30k on it just to cover any unknowns.
And if we sell, I'm not sure how many strategies there are to cut down on all the commission fees etc.
Only owned one home in my life bought 7 years ago, had refinanced into a lower rate last year keeping roughly the same remaining term out of a 30 year.
We make almost double what we did at the time we bought it and we are wanting to buy a new home out of state. For less anxiety moving, id prefer to buy the new place first before either selling the old home in CO. I'm starting to lean towards trying to rent because i want to say rents appear to be like 3k which could pretty much cover both mortgages.
House bought for 255 valued roughly 470k atm, market cooling slightly atm. Trying to buy the new house for 2-300 ish in rural OK.
So I'm just apprehensive i guess about how easy qualifying for both is. Id heard i might have to change my existing mortgage somehow if it becomes a rental?
If we rent instead of selling one challenge might be just moving/ new furniture costs on top of a down payment and any gap of potentially a month or two before I start work after transfering. Even if we sell, i suppose getting that money could be coming late after incurring the other costs.
I didn't really want to refinance money out of the home out of extreme fiscal fear of prices ever collapsing, but I was suggested maybe taking a conservative heloc of 20-30k on it just to cover any unknowns.
And if we sell, I'm not sure how many strategies there are to cut down on all the commission fees etc.
Mizake
Trakanon Raider
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Two things need to be factored in: your current income/assets and your current mortgage. That will determine how big a loan a bank will be willing to give you for your next home. Without knowing your personal finances, I can tell you the vast majority of people out there cannot qualify for two large loans. I would go to a lender and see how much you can prequalify for without selling your home.
Blazin
Creative Title
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You’re going to turn a $200k capital gain from tax free to taxable. You could rent for a few years without this happening but if a long term plan seems like a bad idea for this reason alone .
Sludig
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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Elaborate? Set time that I can rent before sale or the rent itself more taxable? Wasnt aware id have any tax advantage of selling? One reason to keep was to give us a fallback if place ends up sucking bad enough
Sludig
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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So theoretically could rent about 3 years then. Seems like might be worth it, though it's very close to 500k now, over 500k its on the amount over 500 or becomes the whole thing? In CO value is likely to only go up, so maybe still worth paying tax if we rent for 10-15 years and it becomes a 900k home.
Blazin
Creative Title
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That would be $500k of gain, and that is less any cost of selling and capital improvements. You should be able to stay under that. Just start now getting some good record of expenses , and if you go over you don’t miss the benefit you just pay tax on the amount that goes over .
You could also sell it to an LLC an establish a new baseline locking in the cap free gain at the cost of additional transfer . Maybe rent a few years see how it is going and where values are at then decide if it’s worth transferring into a new entity or just selling it .
Sanrith Descartes
Veteran of a thousand threadban wars
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Khane
Got something right about marriage
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Even multi family home prices are starting to surge so much that I am now seriously considering selling mine. I'm in a position where I don't care about renting until the market cools anyway so it's becoming very tempting to sell.
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