The House Hunters Thread

[meresal]

Update:
Ok... here was Sunday afternoon:

 

[meresal]

and here is Today!!!!!

anyone else have any updates??? I feel like I'm the only one lately...

 

[Snooper]

I''m tired of all the rain and we''re supposed to get a snow storm this weekend. Once they pour the rest of the concrete, the frames go up. For now gotta wait for the rain to stop. *sigh* Here''s our basement.

 

[rhbgirl24]

WOW! Super big congrats to Mere and Snooper!! Everything looks great!

No big updates here - still waiting on stupid little issues with the house we want to move forward on - now the propane tank is the problem. The tank is owner owned, well no gas company will fill the tank because they do not have the cert of ownership. They don''t have it because the bank owns the home (its a foreclosure) and it obviously wasn''t turned over to them by the people that lost the home!
The township was contacted but b/c the house was built in 1982, these documents are on microphish and they cannot be bothered to look it up.
The gas company that filled it the last time, even though they do have record that it is owner owned, now will not fill without seeing the cert again as per new rules in this state.
So it was looked into removing the owner owned one and putting in a company owned tank - well to put in a new one, the old one needs to be removed or stabilized and to get the permits for that, you need the owner cert....

URG..... and this ALL has to happen before the house gets priced and put on the market, which is what we''re waiting for.... not sure thats going to happen in the time frame we had in mind!
In other news we''re seeing another home on Thurs.

 

[meresal]

Snooper- Congratulations on having a basement! Will they cover it with a tarp or anything if it begins to snow? or is that pointless because it is still just concrete? (Strictly wondering since a basement is below regular level and might hold water)

rhb- I''m sorry to hear about that hiccup! What a pain! Did you know about the tank before putting in an offer on the house?

 

[rhbgirl24]

Date: 1/27/2010 9:58:36 AM
Author: meresal

rhb- I''m sorry to hear about that hiccup! What a pain! Did you know about the tank before putting in an offer on the house?

Actual no offer has been put on the house. It hasn''t even hit the market as of yet. Its a foreclosed on house that is in the process of being priced for sale. I''ve worked in the real estate business for 9 years on and off and we''re watching for it to be priced, to then put an offer in.

I know, a strange situation, we have no hold to the house, but we have done a walk through and know we want to put in an offer if it is priced in the range we''d like. That is a big IF as well.... so basically we''re involved before we should even be involved, but it just happened that we were brought in to the process MUCH sooner than normal buyers are..... very good and very bad at the same time.

However, I just got a call from my agent - propane is going in tomorrow! So hopefully the pricing report will be done shortly and we will at least know where to go from there.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Mer, the house is coming along SO quickly!! That is amazing!

Snooper, I''m keeping my fingers that the snow storm misses you somehow! If it does snow, how long would the framing be delayed?

rhb, so you think the pricing will be determined this week? If so, that would be great! Good luck!

No updates here. Friday would have been the day we closed on the house and I''ve been kind of sad about it all week. Strangely enough, I''m more sad about it now than I was at the time because I keep thinking that we could have been moving into our new house this weekend and now we''re taking a long break, so it feels like we''ve taken a giant step backwards. D was more sad at the time, but is happy with our decision now, so that''s making it more tough on me this week. I continue to peruse through the listings, but only half-heartedly.

 

[rhbgirl24]

Date: 1/27/2010 10:25:11 AM
Author: NewEnglandLady

rhb, so you think the pricing will be determined this week? If so, that would be great! Good luck!


No updates here. Friday would have been the day we closed on the house and I''ve been kind of sad about it all week. Strangely enough, I''m more sad about it now than I was at the time because I keep thinking that we could have been moving into our new house this weekend and now we''re taking a long break, so it feels like we''ve taken a giant step backwards. D was more sad at the time, but is happy with our decision now, so that''s making it more tough on me this week. I continue to peruse through the listings, but only half-heartedly.

This week would make me insanely happy, but I''m realistic... maybe 2 weeks??

I''m so sorry about this week, I understand that its hard! But you made the best decision and even though you aren''t moving into a house right now, I have no doubt you will have a dream home in the future! Maybe you guys could go out to dinner or something fun, so you have something to look forward to instead of dwelling?

 

[Burk]

Haven''t been following this thread as closely as I''d like but I should start since we will *hopefully* be breaking ground in the next couple weeks.

meresal~yay for amazing progress!!

snooper~Hey lady!! How are you?!? Hope the weather cooperates! That''s been our huge issue with our house as well. We were supposed to break ground weeks ago but kept getting ridiculous amounts of snow and have had uncharacteristically low temps!!

 

[LabRatPhD]

Congrats, Meresal and Snooper! Great progress!

Ugh, so I actually got cold feet about buying a house and had a mini-meltdown yesterday! Has anyone ever experienced this?

I don''t know, FI and I have been renting for so long and the thought of having a massive (to me) mortgage hanging over our heads freaked me out. FI paid off all of his law school loans last year and it was so nice to have NO DEBT of any kind for a last several months. I got so scared at the thought of the loan we would be getting and I personally have never had any kind of debt before so it''s a big deal. I think FI talked me down enough to the point that I am okay again.

We got a pre-qual letter and will be looking at properties on Saturday!

 

[Snooper]

Burk!! Great to see ya! Isn''t the weather frustrating?!

Tell you what ladies, the one thing that has kept me sane is reading all your posts in regards to selling/buying/building! Seems like we''ve all encountered some hiccups! Never seems like it''s easy but in the end it''s worth it.

LabRatPhD, the whole house buying is stressful! Yay for paying off those student loans! I think it''s normal to have your feelings. This will be the largest debt we''ll all have in our lifetime.

NEL, I think a nice dinner as suggested by rhbgirl24 might be a great way to unwind.

meresal, I''m told that when they start the framing, it goes up at an insane rate. Then the hard part of waiting for the interior stuff to be finished looms

Our house is supposed to be finished and ready for closing by mid May and that includes any weather mishaps.

Sending builders good weather, buyers an easy experience and sellers a fast and painless process!

 

[meresal]

Rhb- Good luck with the pricing! Congrats on the new tank.

NEL- I''m sorry to hear about your tough week. I can imagine that it would hard to think about what you "could have been" doing in your new home, but try and think about what you WILL be doing once you find that perfect house! You all are in a gret position that you have so much time to look and are able to really find a house that has everything you want. Take advantage missy! It is a blessing in disguise!

Thanks Burk! I hope that you all break ground soon! The weather delays are so frustrating, but I will hope for a nice change in your area!

Lab- I''m sorry to hear about your break down. I''m sure it is something that you will get over as soon as you find a great house!

Snooper- I wasn''t told that by anyone, but I figured as much. Right now it is just labor... but once they have to do tile, appliances, paint and all the other things, we will be waiting on other people re: deliveries, stock, re-do''s, etc. The only advice I would give, is once you find out that there is something new at the house, GO CHECK to make sure it is correct BEFORE they start installing it. They dropped off the brick on our lot weeks ago, and I was there that afternoon to check the tags on it and make sure it was correct.
It is so exciting to see all of the changes! The contruction guys now wave at me when I pull up to take pictures!

 

[Burk]

Snooper~Good to see you too (I never tire of your beautiful princess!!). May is not too far away! Can''t wait to see it progress!

meresal~Thanks. Hopefully it''ll warm up enough for us to break ground within the next couple weeks. It is just our luck that we have such a crazy winter the one year we''re trying to build a house!!! Too funny that the constructions guys wave to you!

 

[Snooper]

Question to those who have built prior and for Burk and meresal

Are you two at all concerned about locking in your interest rate? The rates haven''t really changed much but if memory serves right, you can lock in your interest rate 45-60 days prior to closing (or look into the 90 extended lock). I''m thinking of doing the standard but was wondering what you two thought.

 

[rhbgirl24]

Very bummed today.....

Two things. Our real estate agent believes that after March and with Obamas new projection for 2011 that interests rates will skyrocket. Who knows, too many variables, but he wants to see us find something before then to lock in the low rates.

AND... we suffered a huge blow with the one house we really wanted. Looks like they won''t even consider doing the pricing report until the beginning of April now.

Which makes it pretty much out for us if we want to ensure we get the low interest rates AND the tax incentive.

I know it wasn''t ours at all, no ties, but we''ve been watching it for over 2 months, have toured twice. I''m bad with that, already in my head had paint colors picked up. Which I absolutely knew was toxic, but couldn''t helped it.

So I''m just super bummed out today.

OK... anyone have GOOD news???

 

[meresal]

Date: 1/29/2010 6:58:24 PM
Author: Snooper
Question to those who have built prior and for Burk and meresal

Are you two at all concerned about locking in your interest rate? The rates haven't really changed much but if memory serves right, you can lock in your interest rate 45-60 days prior to closing (or look into the 90 extended lock). I'm thinking of doing the standard but was wondering what you two thought.

Actually here is the deal.

The place that we are looking at using for our loan, the builders people, will only hold a rate for 60 days. You have to pay about 1% of your loan amount to lock it in. This is actually about the same price it would be to purchase points at your closing. However, if you wait and purchase the points in your closing documents, THEN the money you pay is tax deductible.
You cannot claim the money that you pay to "lock in" a rate before hand.

Rhb- I'm so sorry to hear about the house. How devastating. I hope that you all are able to find something you can see yourselves in soon! Did you RE agent happen to say 'Why' he thinks they will "skyrocket"?

 

[rhbgirl24]

Thanks Mere! Any new pics of the house?

He has a degree in Economics and went into a very long drawn out explanation about the federal reserve and the borrowing power there. He made it very clear that that is only ONE way it could go and that he could be wrong because there are many other factors, including politics. I personally think it would be devastating to the economy if that were to happen, and they would make every advance to prevent it. However, who knows... to tell you the truth I kind of tuned it out because it came after the news with the house. Very bad of me, I know.

However they got the paperwork pushed through that would have prevented that delay just about an hour ago. So it MAY still be a possibility, but I think I'm going to proceed as though it weren't, just for my own sanity, you know? This roller coaster is killing me!

 

[meresal]

Date: 2/3/2010 11:37:58 AM
Author: rhbgirl24
Thanks Mere! Any new pics of the house?

He has a degree in Economics and went into a very long drawn out explanation about the federal reserve and the borrowing power there. He made it very clear that that is only ONE way it could go and that he could be wrong because there are many other factors, including politics. I personally think it would be devastating to the economy if that were to happen, and they would make every advance to prevent it. However, who knows... to tell you the truth I kind of tuned it out because it came after the news with the house. Very bad of me, I know.

However they got the paperwork pushed through that would have prevented that delay just about an hour ago. So it MAY still be a possibility, but I think I'm going to proceed as though it weren't, just for my own sanity, you know? This roller coaster is killing me!

lol. This just made me laugh a lil bit. I have my degree in Economics and know quite a lot about borrowing regulations and such in the differing levels of banking, but I have never admitted to being able to predict/speculate the rise and fall of interest rates.

**In a nutshell, since you zoned out and I don't blame you: that Fed has a certain amount that they will loan each type of bank, they have "borrowing rates" that they charge each bank when they take money form the Fed, and each bank has a reserve of what they are required to have in liquid assets at all times. Each or any of these things changing can effect what you are being charged and how much they will give you to buy your house.**

Of course it is PROBABLY going to go up... they are pretty low and the odds of going *much* lower are slim. It's like predicting that it will rain at least 5 more times in 2010.

I just hate when I hear people predict that things are going to "Skyrocket" or "Plummet". It's just another form of fear mongering IMO. Don't let him rush you into anything because the rate might rise. A house is something that you should love. Get out there, look at as many as you can, and don't settle.

If it really bothers you, then have the lender type in a few hypothetical interest amounts and see how much your payments would "really" change, that way you know what needs to be adjusted "should" a rise possibly happen.

Interest rates have been adjusted since the bubble burst, and banks have cut back on their lending as well. They can't cut back more AND increase rates too much, or no one will be able to buy a house... or want to, for that matter. Banks make their money by charging interest and fees. If they aren't lending, then they aren't doing either. The government is just starting to see increases in "Legitimate" house purchases, they will not do anything that will cause that to come to a hault, that I can see anyway. That is just my opinion.


As far as our house, they have all of the framing completed!! It has been raining on and off here for the last few days so I haven't been by, but as of Saturday morning I believe the next step was insulation and roof work!!

 

[rhbgirl24]

Thanks for the "In a nutshell" and yes, I do understand what he was talking about, but didn''t really want to hear it at the moment because my head was still trying to grasp the first part of the conversation and the disappointed associated with it.
It was just his predictions, and like all predictions there is only a small chance that will happen. And of course rates will go up - they really can''t go down, but he was thinking go up HUGELY. Which I don''t believe will happen.
Our real estate agent is basically family (my mother works in his brokerage and I worked with him on and off for over 8 years as the IT person) so I think he has more vested in us than the normal clients, and he doesn''t want to see us burned. Understandably. However we aren''t going to buy just to buy. So lets hope the first house works out, or we find something else we love!

Thank you for the advice, I think I may just do that and have them run a few scenarios up for us to keep in mind.

So sorry for all the rain! Its been fun watching your home''s progress and lets hope you have much more to report when the weekend rolls around!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Mer, the framing is done?? Woohoo!! Everything is moving so fast now, which is great!!

rhb, while I do think that interest rates will start to climb, I definitely don''t think they are going to skyrocket. Yes, interest rates have been kept artificially low for much too long, which is likely going to result in some upcoming inflation. However, our economy is still very fragile and there is no indication that the housing market is going to pick up soon, thus I''m guessing interest rates are going to remain low. Even if the Fed does begin to raise rates, housing loan rates may not climb in the same proportion.

 

[meresal]

Rhb- Glad to see you have someone that is "on your side". We are dealing with banks right now, and being that it is close to what I do on a daily basis, I HATE dealing with men that automatically shug off my questions like I have no idea what could possibly be going on.

Some of the half-a$$ answers that I get are crazy.
(Ex. He tried to convince me that the pre approval he set up that was for $20k less than the purchase price to build our house, "Would be fine." Are you f-ing kidding me?? We are building and we KNOW how much we need to build. Why are you trying to tell me that being pre approved for $20k less is ok?)

NEL- Yes, all of the framing is up!!! Framing was actually complete as of last Thursday (they did all of it in 4 days!!), and after raining on Friday, when I went by on Saturday nothing new had been done.

I''m hoping to get a picture of updates tomorrow when I drive by and will post as soon as I can!!

 

[Snooper]

rhbgirl24, NEL and Meresal, I''m in agreement with you ladies on what may or may not happen with interest rates. Rates will eventually go up, but I can''t see them "skyrocket" and knock on wood, I sure hope they don''t for everyone on this thread''s sake. It''s just so uncertain!

I''m going to wait a while to post pics. Like Meresal, our frames are all up sans our roof.

UNFORTUNATELY we''re supposed to get hit with a BIG snow storm in No. VA this weekend and I don''t know how much that''ll dictate the progress. Our house is an hour drive each way from our current residence, so it makes it a bit harder to monitor (and due to husband''s work).

Still sending dust to everyone!

 

[rhbgirl24]

Mere - thats CRAZY that you cannot get straight answers. Especially because you know better it makes them seem like complete asses. I just don''t get people sometimes.

We thought we may have a had a break with the house, but it didn''t work out. So it seems this one is out completely. I''m really disappointed, but we have a few more lined up to see. My heart was set on that one, so I''m just going to have to change my way of thinking and move on....

 

[Lynnie]

Mer - hoping for good progress... and more pics!

Labrat... You''re not alone!! I had many mini-meltdowns... It just seems so huge to go from living very comfortably (our rent was ridiculously cheap) to what seems like a ''huge'' mortgage! You''ll get through it, though! Owning is so much more satisfying... Did you see any good houses yet??

NEL... what''re you up to, lady?? Keeping your eyes peeled, or waiting til spring? Is the market slower in these cold months?

Speaking of cold weather... dust for ''just a dusting''. I''m supposed to work tonight, and they''re calling for 14 inches overnight. I may get stuck at work

And weather dust for those who are building!

I hope the interest rates stay low for you all, too!!!

Rhb, good luck with looking at houses!

Nothing new on our front... I CANNOT WAIT for our income tax return (will file by next week). I need a car, and am soooo sick of that shiny silver wallpaper in the half bath. No point in just painting, ''cause we''re gonna demo and re-do the whole room (toilet, sink, floor, walls). It''s ''my'' personal project... DH is gonna be my personal laboror

Our house basically still looks like the ''after'' pics... no rugs, no window treatments. It''s like we did so much in 1 month, and took a looong break. I just can''t seem to decide on stuff like that.

 

[meresal]

Rhb- I''m sure something will find you!!

Lynnie- You all are the ideal homeowners! LOL! I''ve never met people that did almsot everything they said they were going to do, upon moving into a house! You are my idols!


HUGE UPDATE: The windows went in yesterday! DH and I are going to drive by tomorrow morning as we leave town for the weekend, see the house, and take some pics. I will post them either Sunday night or Monday morning!

ALSO.... I got an email from the builder yesterday and we have a projected closing date for the END OF MARCH!!!!!!!!

(One month before due date!!!!!!!!!)
Time to start getting all of our updated documents together for our final approval, the bank told me we need to have it all turned in by Friday! I guess, now DH and I need to sit down and figure out how much we want to use as our DP.

 

[rhbgirl24]

WOW! Congrats Mere! Wooo hoo March is absolutely awesome!!

 

[Steel]

Date: 2/5/2010 9:42:05 AM
Author: meresal
ALSO.... I got an email from the builder yesterday and we have a projected closing date for the END OF MARCH!!!!!!!!

(One month before due date!!!!!!!!!)
Time to start getting all of our updated documents together for our final approval, the bank told me we need to have it all turned in by Friday! I guess, now DH and I need to sit down and figure out how much we want to use as our DP.

Wow! How can they finish your house in 2 months?

I really hope they finish in time. How exciting.

 

[meresal]

Rhb- I''m hoping we can stick to this date! That would work out perfectly!

Steel- They have been working on it since the week after New Years''. The whole thing isn''t being built in 2 months. However, I do still think that 2 month will be very quick. I plan on being there about every other day to make sure that everything is going in correctly! *fingers crossed* The slow downs aren''t really in the initial building, it is when they have to go back in a fix mistakes.

Here is a picture that we took on Saturday morning:

 

[Clairitek]

That is some great progress Meresal! I can''t believe how much they got done from 1/26 when you posted the picture of the framing and that past picture! Not even two weeks and you have a roof and windows!

 

[Lynnie]

WOOO. Mer!!! Awesome progress!!