I know damn well I learned about things like compound interest in middle school. Were the rest of these clowns asleep or absent on those days?

7/18/2011 11:48:50 PM

I didn't really learn about it until after college.

I just knew my cds were getting 5% which looks really damn good right about now.

7/19/2011 11:32:30 AM

i learned it in middle school

but i quickly forgot it. :shrug:

[Edited on July 19, 2011 at 11:44 AM. Reason : so i guess a better term is memorized it? ]

7/19/2011 11:43:42 AM

Man, price negotiations suck when the selling party is delusional about what the market is currently. We might end up moving on to house #3 if her agent doesn't talk some sense into her.

7/19/2011 9:47:39 PM

so tempted to short sell and pay back $20k worth of loan...

7/19/2011 11:21:56 PM

Doesn't a short sale screw up your credit?

7/19/2011 11:41:04 PM

For 3-5 years... and not that badly. Future creditors would keep the times in mind when looking at me in the future. In a time when A LOT of people are foreclosing and short selling... it wouldn't be that bad. I'm also not planning on buying a home in the next 3-5 years and already have a car and plenty of credit cards. I could short sell it, pay off the part that wouldn't be forgiven, then move on with life. Other option is to hold onto my condo until it goes back up to where it was when I bought it ($80k more than it's currently valued at )... which may never happen.

Which do I pay more for in the end??

7/20/2011 12:54:30 AM

Damn $80k? That sucks. Is this a condo in Raleigh?

Signing the papers tomorrow! What have we gotten ourselves into

7/21/2011 9:31:46 PM

Short sale > foreclosure

7/22/2011 1:43:05 AM

Why bother with a short sale when you can just force a foreclosure? Good chance you'll live rent free for 6-12 months or more.

7/22/2011 7:35:34 AM

Raleigh-Cary named top housing market to watch this year
http://www.wral.com/business/story/10705177/

2/9/2012 4:21:33 PM

Quote :

"pay off the part that wouldn't be forgiven"

If you have a valid hardship they will often times forgive the deficiency in return for your cooperation.

2/9/2012 6:09:44 PM

Quote :

"Future creditors would keep the times in mind when looking at me in the future. In a time when A LOT of people are foreclosing and short selling... it wouldn't be that bad."

I'm curious who told you this and why you seem to believe it so easily as to seem to almost be stating it as fact. Creditors might do this if the government makes them, but it's far from guaranteed to be the case otherwise. risk is risk.

2/9/2012 8:50:45 PM

Your score will suck for at least 48 months after the date it is settled. In the mean time you just keep paying all your bills perfectly so as soon as the bad home loan starts to age out the score shoots back up. The older the bad loan gets, the less it impacts scores.

Its called strategic default.

It is probably true that in a couple of years a letter explaining the homeowner was hit hard by the recession will suffice to get a loan, especially if all other obligations were paid and scores have recovered.

I have known rich people to buy their next home first (for a steal because high end homes are not selling), move, then let the one they were upside down on go in to default, then they can short sell it, & get out of being upside down on it by $100,000 or more.

By the time they let the original one go they have locked in a low fixed rate on a nicer home they plan to stay at for long enough that it wont matter.

[Edited on February 9, 2012 at 11:03 PM. Reason : .]

2/9/2012 10:57:36 PM

For a first time homebuyer I have in mind what I want and know a few houses I'm serious about looking at that are well within my pricerange. The mortgage isn't necessarily what I'm concerned or ignorant about, it's the closing process of the home. For example, one of the options for a townhome I'm looking at is using allentate which is one of the biggie commercial representatives around here. Is the link below relatively close (ignoring the parts about the surveys since it's a townhome) to what I'd expect during the closing if I'm not using a buyer's agent? It's about the only page I've seen that tries to throw together everything a new homebuyer might see during the process. If you have any other easy literature that may clarify or be more accurate I'm all ears.

http://homebuying.about.com/od/escrowandclosing/a/nc_closings.htm

If I schedule a viewing with the seller's agent, what exactly can I expect if all systems are a go? Should I start looking for a real estate lawyer or going solo and letting the seller's agent do the gruntwork? I'd honestly assess myself as being good at spotting things and being anal about the details but I also don't want to drag out the process more than necessary and don't want to get steamrolled on a step that I should have known more about.

[Edited on February 12, 2012 at 5:02 PM. Reason : Let's make this a little more eye-friendly]

2/12/2012 4:59:54 PM

^ You can use whoever you want as your buyer's agent. If a seller was trying to tell me I had to use a certain buyer's agent I would want to know why because that seems sketchy.

This thread will answer all your other questions for the most part: message_topic.aspx?topic=623111

[Edited on February 12, 2012 at 5:04 PM. Reason : s]

2/12/2012 5:03:27 PM

That's actually one of the threads that got me thinking more about it. Seems like some of the posts that addressed the OP's question leaned more for a buyer's agent than against it, but it doesn't clearly answer some of the questions thrown out there later in the thread. Assuming I found a buyer's agent (not from allentate), how much additional cost is there either out of my pocket or cut through the seller's payment. None of my coworkers in the area can remember or recommend any agent they used so that's out. I'm in north Charlotte/Huntersville btw.

2/12/2012 5:21:50 PM

You don't pay anything for the buyer's agent. They get commission from the seller's agent. And if your buyer's agent is good they'll negotiate that all closing costs get paid by the seller.

2/12/2012 7:31:25 PM

^

2/13/2012 5:05:26 PM

Awesome.
And...I...learned something today.

2/13/2012 9:14:17 PM

I am thinking about signing up for RealtyTrac again, but first wanted to see how many people on here are interested in buying a foreclosure. (RealtyTrac is $$$)

If you are interested let me know by PM or in this thread, if you send me zip codes you are interested in and your email address I can setup a search that will send you new ones and price reductions.

3/10/2012 6:19:57 PM

corelogic says this is worth 116k with a range of $103,275 - $128,803, prev owner paid 115k

it is listed for 63k
http://tra.mlxtempo.com/DotNet/Pub/EmailView.aspx?r=1837868727&s=TRA&t=TRA

3/13/2012 10:20:25 AM

That would be easy to turn into a rental I bet.

3/13/2012 10:23:17 AM

I think it would rent for 850-900 easy.

3/13/2012 10:39:04 AM

aaaand that one is sold!

If anyone wants to get a feed of foreclosure listings let me know and let me know what zip codes. The only way to get the good deals is to see them as soon as they go up, the ones that are priced to sell usually sell in a matter of days.

3/20/2012 10:09:51 PM

anybody want to buy a house in Chesapeake, VA?

3/20/2012 10:12:31 PM

this one is priced at 28k
http://tra.mlxtempo.com/DotNet/Pub/EmailView.aspx?r=1704320334&s=TRA&t=TRA

Here is what the computer says it is worth....

RealAVM™(1):$82,315
Confidence Score: 84
RealAVM™ Range: $74,084 - $90,546
Forecast Standard Deviation: 10
Value As Of: 03/09/2012

I am not sure what is wrong with it, but there is 40-50k in room there.

Rent Zestimate®: $659/mo

[Edited on March 20, 2012 at 10:35 PM. Reason : .]

3/20/2012 10:33:20 PM

Does anyone here flip houses/rent WITH friends and family investing? I'm confusing myself looking at GS78A-17 and 18 NCAC 06A whether you have to file/pay anything with the state...

78A-17(5) says you are exempt from having to register or file your prospectus but i would imagine you have to file something (Form D for 504 exception, U-2). What about consent to service?

3/21/2012 7:53:42 PM

Here is a good deal off Lineberry

http://tra.mlxtempo.com/DotNet/Pub/EmailView.aspx?r=924210228&s=TRA&t=TRA

Corelogic says its worth 126k
Listed for 71k

3/29/2012 12:54:16 PM

Quote :

"needs repairs, priced accordingly! As-is sale. Seller exempt from state disclosure. No survey/inspections to share. "

yeah that throws up red flags.

3/29/2012 4:46:02 PM

What would make someone exempt from disclosure?

3/29/2012 9:33:46 PM

Quote :

"It means the seller doesn’t have the capacity to disclose issues, like water in the basement or lead paint. It’s common in the case of foreclosures where the bank owns a property, but has never lived in it so can’t say what’s wrong."

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080623121617AAic9vH

3/29/2012 11:23:10 PM

Quote :

"What would make someone exempt from disclosure?"

-new construction
-bank owned
-more than 4 units in a building

3/30/2012 9:12:27 AM

How are house appraisals coming in now?

Our realtor is really stressed that our house isn't going to appraise for the accepted offer price even though that is $32,000 below the 2008 appraisal. Are things that horrible now?

I feel like it should appraise without a problem, but he's got me really stressed out. I should find out tomorrow. Someone make me feel better.

4/9/2012 4:41:58 PM

I am down 20% since 07....sorry

4/9/2012 6:51:51 PM

Appraisals are all over the place.

If there are not a lot of solid comps to support the price it may be an issue, but there is a possibility it wont be.

4/9/2012 9:45:36 PM

yeah, if there were enough comps to justify the buying price I don't think you'll have to worry.

4/10/2012 7:51:22 AM

FHA appraisal just came in $55,000 lower than the 2008 appraisal. He used the wrong comps, didn't count our upgrades or finishing a room.

Killed that deal. Totally ridiculous.

If anyone needs a really great townhome, please send them my way.

4/10/2012 10:12:16 AM

I'm going to buy a house in cary soon. How to bargain with the seller? I posted an offer of 268k while they wanted 300k. Then they only went down to 293k and stopped there. They still have confidence for the price as the house is just on market for 10 days. My friend's home in the same district was bought for 268k. How should I rise the offer? I want to move in by this month.

6/16/2012 10:46:23 PM

In my experience when a seller gets an offer in the first couple of weeks it goes straight to their head. . . . I have had situations where they would not give in, lost the buyer, and a few months later reduced the price even lower than the offer they had in the first few weeks.

The only thing I can tell you is talk to the agent or have your agent talk to the agent and say if they do not give in more you are moving on. There is a good chance it wont matter, but it might. You can always circle back in a week or so if you decide you want the house more.

6/16/2012 11:08:51 PM

I can do 280k probably. That's my bottom line. looks like they don't have any reason to maintain such a high price.

6/16/2012 11:32:36 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_costs#Loss_aversion_and_the_sunk_cost_fallacy

6/17/2012 5:09:30 PM

How is it related with my case?

6/17/2012 5:38:44 PM

What they paid for the house shouldn't influence their selling price, yet it does.

6/17/2012 6:20:36 PM

They reduced to 285k. I want to bargain more.

6/20/2012 6:59:40 PM

Quote :

"In my experience when a seller gets an offer in the first couple of weeks it goes straight to their head. . . . I have had situations where they would not give in, lost the buyer, and a few months later reduced the price even lower than the offer they had in the first few weeks. "

Truth. We put a reasonable offer on a house that the owner balked at because their asking price was way too high for the area. We went back and forth a bit, the selling agent turned into a massive asshole so we walked. House ended up staying on the market another eight months before they sold it for $10k less than we had offered. I won't lie I laughed when I saw the closing price for that place. Worked out in the end since we found a nicer house anyway.

6/20/2012 7:33:04 PM

This same thing happened to me when I bought my townhouse in Hunters Creek, I would have been one building over but the guy decided that he added $10,000 in value by enclosing the garage, I could not get him to understand that adding a room and losing a garage is pretty much a wash if not a detractor.

Another one popped up for sale, I swooped in and bought it, summer ended, all of the others were sold or rented for the next year, 7 more months pass (7 more payments, its vacant), he lists it with a Realtor who made him paint the whole inside and replace the carpet, it sold for less than what I offered him when it was FSBO & on top of that paid a commission between 5-6%. (that he was going to get out of dealing directly with me).

Basically the guy lost about ~$15,000 by being a dumbass, but the bottom line was I called right when he listed and not enough time had passed to wear him down.

[Edited on June 20, 2012 at 7:46 PM. Reason : .]

6/20/2012 7:44:07 PM

We looked at a couple houses with enclosed garages and I personally don't get it. I'd rather have a place to keep my car.

6/20/2012 7:55:31 PM

Enclosing a garage might make sense for someone who simply needs a playroom or a space for their teens hang out or an office....but it does not add value.

The worst is when people do not even level the floor. Garages slope slightly toward the doorway, if you just lay flooring on top of the concrete your room is not level.

6/20/2012 8:16:09 PM

The most WTF thing is that almost no houses in Cary have garages, and the people act like those dumb little sheds they drop in the back yard are just as good.

6/20/2012 8:26:57 PM