Home buying thread

I know credit reports are an inexact science, but...

Is having an outstanding amount in collections really not as bad for your credit as actually having paid off that collection amount? I can't imagine someone would want outstanding collections on their credit going into applying for a major loan like a home mortgage, especially for a smal amount like $100.

joeboo_sl said:

The problem is, inspectors just can't possibly see many problems that might pop up. They can't see inside walls to know that your insulation is shit, or that your wiring is not up to code, or that your shower leaks through the floor after it's been on for 5 minutes.

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They may not be able to see inside your walls to inspect insulation but that's not a problem. Ask the current owner for proof of utility expenses. They definitely can identify that your shower leaks through the floor, all they need to do is inspect the ceilings on the floor below the shower, there will be water damage (and there was a lot of evidence of that in my case, the inspector was either just stupid or didn't give a shit). They can also look at the condition of things like the conduit into your house and the electrical box(es) to get a good idea of if the wiring is up to code. If you want to be more certain about these things you can skip houses that have finished basements with non false ceilings. If the basement is unfinished the inspector will be able to see all kinds of stuff with the electrical.

I thought I knew enough the first time around to look for certain things. I looked for water damage on the floor and walls of the basement to see if it was prone to flooding, I didn't even think of checking the ceiling which in hindsight was supremely retarded.

Arative_sl said:

Probably what happened is that the debt got sold and the new agency reported it as new debt. This is a violation of the FCRA. What State were you in when you got the debt? It could be out of the statue of limitations as well.

What you need to do is in writing, dispute the debt with the collections agency. Ask for debt validation. There are plenty of sample letters out there for you follow. Also dispute the debt with all three credit reporting agencies. If you really want to fuck with the collections agency, lodge a complaint with the CFBP that this agency is reporting old debt as new in violation of the FCRA.

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Yep, I actually did exactly this. Worst comes to worst, I'll pay it. Trying to avoid an unnecessary mark though. I sent it certified letter with a return receipt today.

lindz_sl said:

Our offer was accepted yesterday, yay! We ended up including some extra appliances and the agents will split a tiny bit of the closing costs (like $500) to cover what the buyer couldn't make up. Overall happy about the whole thing.

Our inspection is on Tuesday and if everything goes well, we'll close April 30th.

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Will you be renting it back to the sellers for a short period?

lindz_sl said:

The first suggestion is we do a rent back. We close April 30th, then let them rent the property from us for a month and a half abouts, until our current lease is up. Our Realtor did not recommend doing this, but the offer is there. Anyone have experience doing this? Becoming a landlord for a month seems like a whole big mess I don't want to deal with and I'd have to do a ton of research.

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It all depends on the area and type of people I guess. When we bought ours we ended up renting it back to the sellers for a month just because it worked out better for both of us. The sellers weren't expecting to have an offer 2 days after going on the market on top of us closing in about 30 days.

dolaan_sl said:

When we did our recent home load the bank asked us, "Why do you have you gas and electric on auto-pay?" I spent a ton of time wondering why they would even ask that question, still never figured that out. I just answered, because I hate doing bills and it is easy. Never heard about it again so I guess my answer was "Correct" but what would be an incorrect answer?

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I've seen some stupid shit, like the bank asking me about some stupid $350 deposits when we make about 5 times what our mortgage was going to be (we had no debt so existing debt to income wasn't even an issue), but dam what a stupid question for a bank to ask about auto-pay. Seriously, of all the shit they could question or have issues with, how the fuck does that even come up?

Arative_sl said:

Probably what happened is that the debt got sold and the new agency reported it as new debt. This is a violation of the FCRA. What State were you in when you got the debt? It could be out of the statue of limitations as well.

What you need to do is in writing, dispute the debt with the collections agency. Ask for debt validation. There are plenty of sample letters out there for you follow. Also dispute the debt with all three credit reporting agencies. If you really want to fuck with the collections agency, lodge a complaint with the CFBP that this agency is reporting old debt as new in violation of the FCRA.

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Yup, a long time ago I had a Bally's collection that kept being resold over and over and over, probably for over 10 years. I finally had a enough of it and disputed it. Never saw it on a credit report again.

Kaita_sl said:

Will you be renting it back to the sellers for a short period?

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No we won't. Just seems like more of a mess than we want to deal with right now. If they wanted to stay in longer they could have gone for a later close date. We offered to close later but they were the ones who wanted a 45 day close.

Psypher_sl said:

I've seen some stupid shit, like the bank asking me about some stupid $350 deposits when we make about 5 times what our mortgage was going to be (we had no debt so existing debt to income wasn't even an issue), but dam what a stupid question for a bank to ask about auto-pay. Seriously, of all the shit they could question or have issues with, how the fuck does that even come up?

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The only thing the lady at the bank asked me about on my first loan was why my deposists of a weekly paycheck only appeared every 4-6 weeks. I never thought they would ask about how often you deposit your checks but they did.

The only weird thing I was asked was why I had deposited a check for ~$550 around Christmas. It was because a friend I work with never bought Christmas presents for her kids and wanted to use my Amazon Prime membership to get them in time, so I ordered them for her and she paid me.

Our realtor suggested we make copies of all the checks we deposited that aren't normal things like payroll. I think the bank wants to document any "gifts" and they may see a random $500 deposit as a gift. We don't have any of those, so it doesn't matter. Just hoping the closing and inspection go smoothly. I've moved 3 times in the last 3 years, so I'm ready to stop doing that. Our families are ready to stop helping too.

I guess, but 6 months of checking/savings account info and that was the only thing that was out of the ordinary.

If you get a significant gift there is a form that you and the person who gave you the gift need to fill out. A friend of mine got like $20k from his parents to help with a down payment and his parents had to submit their checking/savings account statements and sign a form stating that this was a one time gift and not a recurring gift.

Had our inspection today and just got the report back. I'm super impressed with the level of detail that my inspector gave. A few minor things which aren't a big deal, but the biggest issue is a leak in the roof in the garage and a couple areas where the siding has failed. I think we're just going to ask for those things to be fixed and hope the sellers will be receptive. Given their tight budget we're a bit worried about what they'll cover.

lindz_sl said:

Had our inspection today and just got the report back. I'm super impressed with the level of detail that my inspector gave. A few minor things which aren't a big deal, but the biggest issue is a leak in the roof in the garage and a couple areas where the siding has failed. I think we're just going to ask for those things to be fixed and hope the sellers will be receptive. Given their tight budget we're a bit worried about what they'll cover.

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If I were you I'd hold firm on anything involving the roof as that can be get to be way more expensive than it initially looks. Especially where it involves leaks.

What is the overall age of that roof? If its under 10 years old and a spot is leaking, it's probably due to some sort of storm/wind/hail/ice damage and there's a good chance that any other section of the roof that faces that same direction is damaged as well. If the roof is 20+ years old, the whole thing could be close to being shot.

Be very careful with the roof, and try to get an exact age on it. Insurance companies are starting to get REALLY picky about the condition of roofs when they insure a home. You could possibly be flat-out denied coverage if the condition of the roof is going to need a full replacement in the next 5 years or so, or at very least be forced to go ACV on your roof if it's over 10 years old, which will greatly impact how much money you get to repair or replace your roof if you ever do have a claim down the road.

The roof is older than 10 years, it is the original (17 years) but has spot repairs from what I understand. The reason for the leak is a downspout that is pouring directly on a patch of the roof. With so much water constantly pouring on it, it eventually developed a leak in that spot. We will be asking them to fix the leak, perform any additional spot repairs as needed and have the roof 5 year certified. We'll also ask them to fix any damage caused by the leak.



This is the downspout causing the problem and the darker area directly beneath it is the leak.

I wouldn't be afraid to ask for everything to be fixed but personally I would let cosmetic stuff slide... like the siding depending on what you mean by failed. It's obviously part of the post-inspection negotiation and should be expected. Also depends on how aggressive your attorney is. In retrospect, ours was pretty soft and we definitely should have asked for more things to be fixed but really they are just minor annoyances that I haven't had the time to tackle myself.

What will really annoy you is when you send a list and they say yes/no to half of the things and just ignore the other half. Really made me dislike the sellers, but then when we showed up after closing they had left us a bottle of champagne and a 4 page hand written note about the neighbors, neighborhood, nuances of the house, etc.

Sent off our letters, hopefully it's good enough as I don't feel like continually writing letters to the bank. Got our home inspection coming up on Saturday. Really hoping everything goes well. Roof looked good to us, but I don't know much about that stuff.

Be careful with roof leaks. My parents had one that would leak down into the walls of the house. They ended up with a massive mold outbreak all along the walls and in the wood in the attic. Had to completely replace the entire roof along with most of the wood. I forget how they dealt with the mold within the house too. The best part was I was a bit younger (18 I think) when it happened, and my stepfather made me and my brother help the company that was doing our roof and he didn't even pay us. Always made us do shit like that.

lindz_sl said:

The roof is older than 10 years, it is the original (17 years) but has spot repairs from what I understand. The reason for the leak is a downspout that is pouring directly on a patch of the roof. With so much water constantly pouring on it, it eventually developed a leak in that spot. We will be asking them to fix the leak, perform any additional spot repairs as needed and have the roof 5 year certified. We'll also ask them to fix any damage caused by the leak.

This is the downspout causing the problem and the darker area directly beneath it is the leak.

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Who the hell builds a downspout right on top of a roof? Roofs are usually the biggest haggling point when it comes to repairs because neither party wants to foot the bill. I'd ask them to do something with that downspout.

When we bought our house, the one thing we didn't get was a dead tree in the back to be taken down. Inspector noted it and we put in the request, but the seller denied it, saying it stood up to hurricanes, storms, etc. Sure enough, a year later a heavy storm came through and the tree came down. Fortunately it didn't damage anything.

double post

We have a downspout like that but it feeds directly into a lower gutter... and cause a shit ton of ice build up if I didn't remove the snow quick enough this winter. It's a priority on my list of things to address this year.

We've requested they fix the damaged area of the roof and any damage it has caused inside the house, gutters and downspouts repaired, replace failied siding on chimney (it is pretty nasty, all moldy and warped in one spot), caulking around the windows, secure a loose fascia board that has pulled way from the house, have the roof 5 year certified and any patches it may need. We skipped minor thinks and cosmetic things, just went for any water intrusive issues given the importance in our location. My agent said it should cost them a couple thousand so it shouldn't be too bad. Still worried though since they have stated their budget is low. Water issues are a deal breaker for us though, so fingers crossed.