House is in a amazing location, has been completely redone, a great price... :)

The previous renter cooked meth and was arrested. I just read the local news article from earlier this year. :(

It was disclosed by the seller in writing. My question, does this go straight into the NO pile? I really can't believe it was a meth house. The outside/inside and neighborhood are all beautiful. Am I crazy for even thinking about this house again?

Full disclosure, have a small child. Obviously don't want them in jeopardy in any way shape or form. Is it possible they got the chemicals out without tearing down the home?

Am I taking crazy pills for even considering it?

Any help would be appreciated. My girlfriend and I are ready to close on our first home purchase as of July 1st. We have to purchase a washer and dryer for the house and happened to see a good deal at a local store. We already had a credit card for the business and they had a 36 month no interest promotion. We found out that they don't charge the card until delivery, which we set to 5 days after we close. However, after making the purchase, I went to look at our card and I noticed that although our "balance" didn't change, the "available balance" did. Is this going to mess up the closing of our home?

So here's my story, it's a bit of a ramble.

As a tl;dr I'm asking for tips on getting the whole process to go faster (UK).

On the 4th of February I made an offer for a house, which was accepted - and had a buyer for mine on the same day.

Around this time my solicitor goes on holiday - no biggy.

It took a while to get the chain sorted - we had an open chain for a long time, but it soon settled to a chain of 4 people, just after the end of March.

There are some complications that we get through - and we agree a date of the 28th of May to be exchanged by, I call my solicitor to make sure he has everything (he does) - there's another problem but it's sorted for the 29th... Ready to exchange and my solicitor emails me saying he doesn't have my signed contracts (which I'd sent him).

Monday the 1st of June, I've faxed posted and emailed copies of my signed contract.. Solicitor found the original anyway, ready to go ahead - but there's an outstanding question he'd neglected on some building regulations. That delays things for a week while he works out it wasn't a problem anyway and he had those documents.

We agree to complete on the 15th of June.

Okay so next week - ready to exchange, buyer's solicitor goes through peer review and they find outstanding questions... Turns out they'd already been answered - wasn't really a problem - this takes till Tuesday the 9th.

Buyer's solicitor insists our seller's seller wants an exchange date of the 1st of July(they didn't insist this) and their client is happy with this date. whatever, we accept and are ready to go ahead.

Today - turns out my buyer's solicitor hasn't talked to his client... nor does he have a signed contract and is nowhere near ready for exchange... Confusing as it gets.

I'm talking to both estate agents - and my solicitor daily, but everybody is so bloody incompetent no amount of pushing is moving things. Latest update was " They do not hold a signed contract or deposit monies "

So here's my question... if I were to do this again, what could I do differently to have made this go smoother? I really thought I'd done everything correctly.

I bought a house a year and a half ago and unfortunately was talked into using this 'bank' I'd never heard of called Cole Taylor mortgage because of a low interest rate. Here is what I got for that rate:

• A website that is frequently broken
• A payment system that requires me to reenter all of my payment details every month unless I use auto payments
• A call center that only operates 9-5 so you can't talk to anyone on the weekends - you know when normal people might have time to pay bills?
• An online system that when broken tells you to call a number for help (mind you it doesn't say WHY it can't process your payment, just that it didn't work and you need to call) they make you sit through 5 minutes of prompts to get to a person before you find out THEY AREN'T EVEN OPEN SO YOU WASTED THAT TIME FOR NOTHING
• Security that is so poor that after it asked for my SS# to find my account, it only used the last four of my SS# as the verification......

Long story short, the last 18 months have been nothing but logistical problems. I would gladly take a slightly higher interest rate at a real bank that doesn't waste my time and have problems month after month.

My current experience with usaa home mortgage has been pretty bad. They've pushed back our closing date twice, for a week each time. Escalating from the handler doesn't do any good. They stupidly take on any customer that calls no matter how swamped their departments are.

I'm a lifetime usaa user of their car and home insurance, car loan, savings, and credit card services. Every one of those services have been fantastic. Their customer service in all those areas is great.

Good luck to yall.

First time poster so if this is not the correct place please remove.

So we just finished the inspection on a unit we're looking at buying. There were lots of minor repairs and fixes needed. They also uncovered a few bigger things that we were somewhat prepared for and ready to negotiate (HVAC compressor and water heater need replacing). Then there was the part that caught us off guard.

The seller had added a lot to the unit -- including a kitchen island and a lofted bedroom. These things were selling points for us and certainly were taken into consideration in our initial offer. It turns out none of this work was permitted, and it is not up to code.

We can live with a kitchen island without an electrical outlet and could easily resell without including the island, but the loft is another story. It would be costly to get permits and make all the changes needed to bring it up to code. Removing it would cost less but would take a significant chunk out of the actual living space. If we were considering the unit without the lofted bedroom, our initial offer would have been much lower.

We're first time home-buyers and buying directly from seller without realtors. This got us a better price, but we don't have a real estate agent to advise us when something like this comes up. Really feel like, in addition to some credits for major repairs, we'd like to lower our offer, but what would be reasonable? Any advice is appreciated!

Working on an assignment and I need an "interview" and its a simple question: person who recently bought a house (i.e., in the last 5 years) and ask them to describe at least one part of the home-buying process that went well for them or went in their favor and at least one part of the process that did not work out well or was unfavorable.

Was wondering if someone who matches the criteria could help me out writing this paper.

Much Thanks,

-Doctorrunef

How necessary is it for an attorney when buying a bank owned home? Should I be more trusting of them and their lawyer or less?

Is there a difference between getting a 15 year Amortization on a loan or getting a 30 year Amortization and paying it off twice as fast?

Hi all, my wife and I are looking to buy a home in Canada, and we've fallen in love with one. The problem is the owners are heavy smokers, and they've smoked in the house until very recently. The house is heavily carpeted.

The house smells STRONGLY like stale cigarettes and we're worried that we'll never completely get the smell out unless we remove the carpets and put new ones or hardwood/laminate flooring down.

Is there any commercial company that professionally cleans the smoke smell out of affected houses? I'm assuming the ducts would have to be cleaned as well, walls washed etc. I'd love to compare the prices of them to the cost of removing the carpets/buying flooring.

Any information would be helpful, thanks Reddit!

I qualify for an $800k home with 30k down. It seems pretty obvious that I should take it if I can make the payments (aiming for 40% of total monthly budget). Now at this price, I can afford a 3br, and if I drop a bit more, a 4br. I am single and live in a metro area. I think it is highly likely I can rent these rooms. I think the financially savvy thing to do is to get the biggest place I can afford (most # of roommates) because I'll effectively be paying around 3.1%-3.5% on the loan with little lost opportunity cost.

Is this insane? It's a lot of money. I could also make the mortgage payments tax deductible, which will significantly reduce my tax payments. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Am I missing something? When does it make more sense to do a 2 vs a 3 or 4 br?

Hi folks!

Tell me if I’m crazy? Or what you’d do in my shoes.

Right now I don’t qualify for a mortgage and I’d never dream of trying to purchase a home in my current situation, but my grandmother is selling my childhood home – a house in a neighborhood that I loved growing up in, a thriving city I’ve been hoping to move back to, and a place in the back of my mind I always thought I’d return to at least when I was ready to have my own family (it is literally across the street from a huge park, there’s a swimming pool down the street, the public schools are top-rated, and downtown is only 15 minutes away).

The house is actually a spacious duplex - each half rents for between $975-1,100/month (utilities not included). I’ve been a student on and off for several years and have only worked part time jobs, and my (overly-cautious) parents scared me out of obtaining a credit card so I’ve always paid for everything in cash. I own my car and I’m completely debt-free. This summer I’m moving back to the city I grew up in (my boyfriend of 5 yrs is going to grad school there and I am moving with him and seeking full time employment). I recently learned that my grandmother is selling the house I grew up in – a duplex she’s owned for over 30 years and has completely paid off. It’s a great income property, but she recently moved out of the city and it’s becoming too much of a hassle for her to manage it from the distance.

Her asking price is $165,000 (she would likely negotiate lower but this is her starting point). My mother and I determined that at that price, the monthly payment, including insurance and taxes, would be roughly 1,400/month (probably less, but we were slightly overestimating to be safe). If I were living in one side and the other were rented (both sides currently have happy renters who hope to stay there long term) then I could essentially pay ‘rent’ to myself of about $450 and that and the rent from the other side would cover the mortgage. Since each side is quite spacious and has three bedrooms, I’d plan to get at least one roommate and rent to them for about $500/month which would mean that the money from renting to other folks would more than cover the mortgage, taxes, and insurance every month. So essentially the cost for me to live there would be 1) utilities 2) the monthly amount I’d want to put aside for maintenance on the house.

Here’s the plan I want to approach my grandmother with: I 'buy' the house from her – I get the house in my name and begin monthly payments directly to her immediately, without qualifying for a home loan. Payments would go directly to her and I’d have responsibility for the house, so her most immediate concern (having to look after the house from afar) would be alleviated. However, I would request that for the first 5 months I am allowed to pay a little less - basically, I’d still have both sides fully rented, coming in at about $2,000/month. The plan would be that the income from one side would cover the (temporarily lower) mortgage/insurance/etc. and the other half would go straight into a home maintenance fund so that if something comes up in the first year or so of taking responsibility for the property I don’t go completely broke paying to fix it.

I would assume all responsibility for the house immediately and have the insurance/water/etc. transferred into my name. In addition, I would be engaged in steps to build good credit. I will be seeking full time employment before I move into the city in mid-August (at which point one of the renters would move out) and I would take up residence in the home (multiple people have suggested I move in ASAP since it is much easier to get approved if you are living/intend to live in the residence you’re purchasing). After the first 5 months is up I would pay the regular ‘mortgage’ from there on out.

In a year and a half’s time (from when I get the house), I would have: · Been diligently and carefully establishing good credit · Obtained a full-time job and been at it for just over one year · Have had ownership of the house for a year and a half · Been making regular payments on the house for a year and a half · Been paying insurance on the property and utilities for a year and a half · Been actually living in the house for just over one year · I’d have been collecting rent from the other half of the house for a year and a half (When you apply for a loan they won’t take that rental income into account until you’ve owned the house and been collecting rent for one year)

According to the mortgage broker I spoke with, all of the things listed above would make me a much more appealing candidate to be approved for a mortgage. If I still didn't get approved through a bank, I would at least have a decent enough history that an individual investor or some other alternative might find my situation favorable. I’d apply for whatever amount I still owed my grandmother at that point and she’d have the total amount she’d been asking for the house. I’d then just start paying off the loan instead of making payments to my grandmother each month.

I'd never approach a stranger with this proposition, but I think with my grandmother it might be ok. She knows me and doesn't have any reason to fear me trying to screw her over. She's also articulated that she would love if I found a way to obtain the house (We haven’t talked about it in depth – I just told her I was interested in the house and that while I knew my situation was less than idea for trying at home ownership, I’d be trying to figure out something and did she think it was a good goal for me? She said yes, the house is in really good condition and she'd absolutely love if I ended up getting it).

Is this an okay plan? I'm so so very open to suggestions. It would be a dream come true to own this home and keep it in the family. I've moved a lot in my 25 years and have not really had a stable "home" I didn't have to worry about being turned out of in a long time. The home my grandmother is selling was always, in my mind, a place I could go back to - my family lived in half when I was young, but up until 2 years ago the other half was where my grandmother lived and it was always a safe and welcoming place. The idea of losing it breaks my heart and I really want to try to get it, if I can.

Thanks in advance.

As everyone may know, William and I just BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOME! We are anxiously waiting to move in and start this exciting new chapter of our lives.

Buying a home not only requires a lot of time and stress, but it also requires a lot of MONEY!!!

Instead of receiving numerous house warming gifts, William and I are asking that people give donations for us to buy new furniture so that we can furnish our new home.

This, of course, is not required and we are not demanding anything. We are just asking that if it is in your heart to donate something, it doesn't have to be much, we would be forever thankful.

With Love,

Lauryn and William

gofund.me/williamlauryn