Home buying thread

Lots of people seem to be confusing statute of limitations with FCRA... It's 7 years for derogatory marks to fall off your bureau(s). Bankruptcies are 10. The only exceptions are federal debts which have no statue of limitations. The problem is that any activity on the account by you will reset the clock(s), hence why they send a storm of letters right before statute expires. Once you are outside of statute, they can't litigate against you because the debt is no longer enforceable. However, it is still a valid debt and frequently it will end up being purchased for pennies on the dollar by a debt buyer. Before the CFPB there were precious few 'rules' because after purchasing the debt, it became first party to the agency that bought it and the stricter FDCPA rules of conduct would no longer apply (most companies will farm it out to 3rd party agencies for a number of years to try to collect on it before making determination to litigate/sell). The issue with debt buyers is they will be incessant, though they often will take outrageous settlements. The CFPB has started to implement policies whereby the original creditor will be liable for any illegal actions of agencies... which is where some of the shady debt buyers will no longer be allowed to purchase paper.

Also, keep in mind that per the FDCPA every agency that collects on it must furnish a validation notice to you (giving you the opportunity to dispute some or all of the balance). Per the FCRA, the creditor must inform you that a debt will be reported to a credit bureau. While it is incumbent upon you to update the proper mailing address with the creditor, if you can prove they did not provide these notices to you, you may be able to have the balance forgiven (if they cannot provide proof that you owe the debt) or the negative trades removed. Depends if you want to involve a lawyer and the facts of the case.

For such a frugal human being I find it odd that Tuco would rather live in an apartment where he is essentially throwing money down the drain rather than a house where he is building equity!

Not home buying, but we just accepted an offer on our house. Super excited, and hope the inspections and everything go well. They want to close July 30th, so have a month to get out. Let the yard sales commence!

Nice man, good luck!

Noodleface_sl said:

For such a frugal human being I find it odd that Tuco would rather live in an apartment where he is essentially throwing money down the drain rather than a house where he is building equity!

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I piss like $400/mo down the toilet thanks to escrow. Owning a home vs renting isn't quite the free ride everyone makes it out to be.

nice work Crone

There are pros and cons to owning vs renting obviously, and some housing markets I think it might still be better to rent than own.

Closing costs suck but we got the sellers to pay those. Could we have gotten $5k less on the house vs $5k in closing costs? Maybe, but it was less out of pocket at the time so we took it.

So far I like owning a house but that's probably because nothing has gone wrong after 18 months. As soon as my A/C, furnace, whatever the fuck breaks/floods I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune.

As a 1 month home owner I'm enjoying it a bit more than renting. Sure I'm throwing away some money, and electricity is new (IT WAS FREE AT OUR APARTMENT) - but so far would never go back. I'd probably sing a new tune as well when things start to go wrong.

The sellers wouldn't pay the $5k closing costs, instead taking $5k off the sale price - so I guess it worked out.

Sorry for the derail!

Deathwing_sl said:

You think a renter isn't essentially paying the landlord's escrow? All those "but now you're paying for taxes!" are wrong because unless your landlord is an idiot, you pay for those as a renter too. There are exceptions, of course. Like back in 2008 and 2009, when the homeowning and renting markets were quite different due to a huge demand for renting.

Soygen has the right of it. One time costs and expected duration of stay are what primarily should be considered.

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Of course the landlord is making the profit. The only difference is I am paying 100% of the taxes where in a complex you have multiple people each chipping in to pay the taxes.

Back to being about credit cards! Go to the Home Buying thread if you want to get into owning vs. renting.

Yes. Glad I didn't fuck that up.

I don't mind the interest and taxes, more deductibles at tax time. My home is about 500 more per month then when I was renting 4 years ago.

I never understood that line of thinking. You might as well say "I enjoy spending lots of money and getting a small rebate!" Heck, it's quite possible (especially with housing prices being so low for a bit) that the interest and taxes provide zero tax savings - I pay a mortgage and property taxes and didn't itemize last year (thanks to my wife's side business, but still).

In my specific situation, I am paying 6000 more a year to live in a home that I now own. I have twice the living space, a backyard, a deck, room for a family to grow etc. Not only that, when I'm ready to retire, I'll have somewhere around a $500k asset that I can sell and use to move somewhere less expensive. If I rented for the next 30 years? I wouldn't have anything to show for it outside having $180,000 in cash saved up (assuming I just saved that). However, I would imagine I get at least 2-3k in tax savings a year on these rebates but I won't count it since I don't know the exact amount.

I think it's a no brainer. What don't you understand. I didn't buy a home and say "I only did this for the tax break!".

There are a lot of expenses that go into owning a home that over time can add up very quickly, and while all of those benefits exist that Draegan mentioned, in the end, it may not end up costing less.

I'm currently in escrow and selling my first home, and when I do buy again, I'll for sure be looking at things differently than I ever did when I bought my first.

In my current home, it was built nearly 30 years ago, very little remodel was done, and so for us, if we hadn't bought at the right time in 2011, and then reaped the rewards of the last 2 years of gains, I'd be pissed I bought.

Old appliances, old A/C units, single pane windows, terrible insulation, bad electrical. Pool in bad shape. To a naive first time home buyer, these are things that you don't really think about. At least my wife and I didn't, but over the last few years it has cost us a ton.

Our electric bill already is reaching over $400 because of our terrible insulation. Basically the upkeep on a home can vary greatly from home to home, and if you got a shitty home, and the upkeep is high, it'll never be better to own.