General

Awesome! Best of luck with the closing and move!

John wrote:

COVID has taught me I just can't do the whole working for the man thing anymore. I've wanted to start a business for years, it's time to do it.

Just stupid.

We saw a house yesterday, first day open for viewing. Maybe 20 people saw it. Listed at $550k, sold same day for $710k.

We're not moving, haha.

Sounds like the home was listed way under market to bring in more interest in the home.

SwiftJAB wrote:

Depends on the local market still. Homes here are being listed over appraisal and getting 50-100k over that. People are trying to get in before rates go up even more. It's all crazy.. the time to house swap is gone. Gotta wait things out at this point. Another terrible point is, because it sold for over 700 and might only be worth 500, they won't get a mortgage on that and need to bring whatever excess to even close the loan. Though I know some shady banks will appraise a home right at the sale price to get it done. Happened with our last house.

One day on the market. We were first scheduled to view it tommorow morning. Just got notified our appointment is cancelled, sold to a cash buyer, well over asking, sight unseen.

Son of a dog. We were legit excited for this one. Fudge this market.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2988-Harris-Rd-...

Yeah, if I had known how much money I could've taken out of my 401K just to put down for a deposit on a home loan, instead of focusing on having a new job/career, I would have taken the money and put it towards a house of my own instead of the education, but I feel like this education is going to be worth it and I may end up having better home buying opportunities down the road.

Who knows, maybe I'll end up getting my "castle" I've dreamed of...

We got lucky in the last housing crisis. Nabbed a foreclosure at 30% of it's value.

My wife and I have been in the market since December last year and just closed yesterday. Most of our earlier offers were 30-40k over asking with full appraisal gaps and we were still losing. With the rate hikes, we ended up getting our home for 15k under asking. Feels so fucking good to not have to stress about this anymore.

I barely read into the whole buying up foreclosures and sheriff's auctions stuff, but it's to my understanding you need to have cash up front for them... I also don't like them because I think I read a LOT of them don't let you see what you're buying. Yet, I've had family members tell me to look into those options....

@d3vanj congrats!

HybridCRoW wrote:

I can confirm that this is risky and, for most, not a good solution. We bought one on the courthouse steps once due to unpaid property taxes. In my state, after this sale, they have 6 months to "redeem" the property by paying us what we paid plus a tiny amount of interest. They paid it on the last day.

And, yes, like you said, you generally need the total amount as cash-in-hand. And are often bought without being able to go inside and look. And, let's face it, people letting their house go to foreclosure for an unpaid mortgage or unpaid property taxes -- probably aren't taking the best care of it anyhow.

Also, with the market as it is, even foreclosures have gone for crazy money. Much more than they are worth.

Long story short... Family members telling you to look into those options likely have no idea what they are talking about.

If you are a first time home buyer, check to see if your town or state offers any first time home buyer assistance. These programs are typically for people with lower incomes, but it doesn't hurt to spend a couple hours looking into what assistance might be available to you.

If you live out in the country, look to see if your town qualifies for a USDA loan - they have no down payment.

SwiftJAB wrote:

I can assure you I spoke w/ someone at a well known Credit Union near me about this.. The whole "First time home buyer" thing isn't a thing anymore. I mean it IS a thing, but basically the gist I got from the response was that it's not a thing anymore because practically anyone can get it now.

I'm sure there was something I may not be remembering or misunderstood, but the one thing I know I remember him saying was that it doesn't matter anymore if you're a first time home buyer.

Not sure what the banker was referring to, but several cities within San Diego offer buying assistance to first time home buyers in the form of a low interest loan towards a down payment. Certain restrictions are placed on the home, like it can't be rented out for 10 years, and the loan payments can be deferred until the home is sold or refinanced.

I have no idea either... like I said, it's the gist of what I got from the email conversations. Maybe he's referring to my income level, credit history, etc...

I don't know. It just seemed like every time I tried to buy my own home so I could get out of rising rent, it always come back to as some stupid thing... like this time they said I needed $10-$15k saved for a downpayment... before that it was a mixture of my credit score and my student loan debt.

I decided I was tired of working the job I had for the crap wage I was making despite how well I did my job and how long I was there for, and decided to do the CCNA program I'm almost finished to get into cyber security, start a new career where I actually get paid my worth and have plenty of growth opportunities. I should then be easily able to afford rent even if it goes up again w/o thinking I can't knock off my student loans quicker. Also being single, I've sort of come to terms that it's pointless for me to buy my own home.

razeak wrote:

We did the same thing

Scott wrote:

Not quite the same, but I got my current 2/2.5 `1200 SF townhouse for around $160k when the previous owners paid $300k. I know its worth over 300k now. The market is crazy and its going to crash again soon.

It has to as people can't afford anything.

While do suspect there will be a dip in housing prices over the next two-three years, it's unlikely we'll see the massive drop like we saw 11-12 years ago unless we see a large jump in unemployment and a shrinking amount of available jobs. Especially in the Tech sector where people were moving out of state but keeping their high salaries. This would be an indicator that we could see many foreclosures/short sales in the years to follow and there be a large influx of available homes to purchase, driving down home prices.

Basically, until there is a surplus of available homes, prices are going to stay pretty high. Interest rates will help drive prices down, but cash buyers don't care about interest rates. If you live in a town that has a large rental business, it may be prime for investors to buy up properties and turn them into rentals.

brian9824 wrote:

We bought our previous house in early 2009. The market wasn't at its absolute worst then, but it was pretty close. The house was built in 2005 and sold for $215k originally. We bought it for $80k. We ended up selling it in 2019 because we wanted to move back to our home state. We sold it for $165k and only owed around $66k on it, so we were able to put a sizeable down-payment on our new home, and it was a pretty big upgrade from the previous house. I'm still amazed and thankful for how it all worked out.

I just sold my house in ca and moved to Montana. I owed 221k when I sold it for 552k… talk about crazy. I would never have paid that much for my old house.

My friend in rural Indiana bought his house just a couple years ago for $133k. Thanks to this silly market, he just listed it for $307k. I doubt I'll be able to get my dream home for a long, long time if this is how the market will be. I refuse to pay $230k where I live for some small, run-down homes in bad areas.

Problem is buying another. Our house is worth double but with inflation that’s not real. Every house is worth much more than it was a few years back.

HybridCRoW wrote:


I purchased directly from the bank that had foreclosed.

So, we should clarify some things with foreclosures. When a property is foreclosure, it usually goes up for sale "on the courthouse steps." People submit bids -- often closed bids with their maximum amount. The bank also usually submits a bit -- often the amount that is owed. So, sometimes, deals can be had here -- but they are risky.

In most cases, no one actually bids against the bank -- or the bank wins anyhow because so much is owed. The bank then becomes the owner of the property. Eventually, they then list it for sale through more traditional means -- usually using a Realtor that they use for all of their foreclosures. When you buy there, you can often still get a deal -- but it is a much less risky situation (and inspections and such are often allowed -- and you can go in and see it, of course, because the bank already had to go through evicting anyone that stayed once they became the final owner).

Does “the bank” ever not own a property? Serious question.

Feeb wrote:

Yes when the mortgage is paid off.

Or at any point during the time the borrower makes their payments.

The bank never owns the property. The bank has a lien on the building and land due to loaning you the money. If you stop paying them, they have the right to seize the property as collateral to basically repay their loan to you.

Assuming your question meant does the bank ever not have an interest on your property, it's when you pay them back in full.

If you really did mean when do they not own property, they rarely ever own property. Banks don't want to own property. If they have to they'll take ownership as a form of repayment, but its really one of their last resorts.

Well, since we were talking about foreclosures here... The bank does often own them during that time after they have taken them back while they are listed for sale through more normal means. So, we have some people above who bought their house from a bank.

But, otherwise, yes, I agree. Banks don't own them when we're paying a mortgage on them even. They just have some rights tied to them. :)

It's a great time to sell, but an absolutely awful time to buy. If you are okay going from a house to an apartment, now is a good time to sell.

On the flip side, if you're looking to downsize, or upsize, the buyer's market is awful. What used to be negotiations to lower the total cost, are now bidding wars to see who is willing to pay the most for said home.

Our area in the northeast is a nightmare.

I think NPR just said this morning that the apartment rental availability is 1/4th of 1%. Studio apartments being rented for what a two or three bedroom goes for. There is zero availability for anything - companies are buying up apartment complexes and jacking the rent up by as much as a thousand bucks.

And forget houses. Average price right now is like 450k.

The term "starter homes" don't exist any more. That phrase has been wiped off the planet.

What a fudging mess.

I'm looking at homes in the range of 300k to 350k with people tossing 100k+ over asking in cash. I was at a open house recently where a couple brought the actual cash with them. The realtor said "haha we don't accept motion picture cash" followed by "holy crap this is real" and kicked us all out.

ryanflucas wrote:

Haha wow, was it in a briefcase?

We bought our home for $190k nine years ago, sold it for $320k last month. It was listed for 4 days, and the first couple who walked through made an offer the next day for our asking price. They got 6.75% interest (for reference - we refinanced last year for just 2.75% )

Part of me said "WE ASKED FOR TOO LITTLE!!!"...but my GF says oh well, we got what we wanted. Problem for me is that our $320k was what our realitor recommended. I wonder if they went low just to get really quick sales?

6.75? They must have had really crapty credit. That's an insane rate.

Porksta wrote:

I'm not sure...they put down 10% in cash I think, plus $5k in escrow hand money....so I really don't think they struggle financially. I think that's just what is happening in the market right now.

MrBean wrote:
An attache chase is maybe the only acceptable method to pull that sort of stunt.

I closed on my house June 10 and I had a 4.6 interest (my credit is 815 for reference) and I had to buy the rate down. We listed our house at 507k and the sold it for 552k that’s with 4 offers on the table. The people that bought my house removed ALL contingencies. Kinda why we chose them.

Admiral wrote:


You get the final say at the end of the day. You didn’t have to list it at $320K if you didn’t want to just because that’s what your realtor suggested.

My property management company want to rent out our rental property at $3000 after the first tenant moved out after being there for 2 years. They were paying $2725. I said list it at $3500 and lower it to $3300 if it doesn’t rent out in 2 weeks. They had 3 applications in the first week it was listed for rent.