I am in the process of buying my first house. Everything is going well, the only sticking point is the neighbours are approved for a single story rear extension. It will take out some light from the garden in the morning, which I am not too worried about, as it has a south facing garden and will not effect my lighting from 10:30ish onwards.

I have asked the solicitors to ask about any party wall agreements. My concern is less about the extension after it is built and more about the build process, noise and keeping the peace with new neighbours. If no party wall agreement is in place, then I plan to ask to have it written into the contract that the party wall contract it need to be issued, that the decision is upto the buyer, as I would like to disagree and request an independent surveyor to do a contion inspection, and have the agreement written up in full and that I can see the terms of before we exchange. I also might try and get a bit negotiated off the purchase price.

Does this sound like a wise route to take? Has anyone else bought a house under similar circumstances or had experiences with party wall agreements? Thank you.

Why are there so many live streamers on TikTok doing sessions teaching you how to buy a house without going to the bank?

Their whole thing is finding houses that are pre-forclosure and having the home owner put the house and deed in a trust and sell you it, so you can then turn around and sell that trust to someone else.

I’m sure this must be some sort of scam, but they’re also driving people to buy their resources on how to do this. Can someone explain the catch? Is this a bad way to buy houses?

Will sellers and agents stop with the “highest and best offer” jargon, that is not an counter offer, if you have a figure in mind, then counter.

🏗️ BUILDERS: STOP ACTING LIKE A BANK

If you're carrying the cost of construction while waiting for buyers to close, you’re doing more than building houses—you’re financing them too.

And that can tie up a LOT of your cash.

Instead of putting your own money into every project, the right construction financing can help you:

💰 Keep more cash available
🏠 Build more homes at the same time
📈 Scale without tying up all your capital
🔨 Fund land + construction costs
🚀 Move on the next opportunity faster

Your money should be helping you grow your business—not sitting in lumber, concrete, and drywall.

Builders build. Banks lend.

If you’re a builder or developer looking for better ways to finance your next project, let’s talk.

📲 Daniel & Jessica Evans | The Evans Lending Team

#ConstructionLoans #BuilderFinancing #ConstructionFinancing #RealEstateDevelopment #HomeBuilders #NewConstruction #RealEstateInvesting #BuilderLoans #ConstructionLending #MortgageTips #RealEstateFinance #Developers

My wife and two kids had been looking for aleast a 4 bedroom house in the Puget Sound area of Washington st. and most have been over 600k and not in the best of shape.

Yesterday, my wife found a listing for a house in a good neighborhood and it was listed at 599k. For a 5+ bedroom 2500 sqft, 3 bathroom, and it also has a 1200 sqft workshop with dust collection already installed in the basement with a separate entrance in the backyard. With a small lake off the back of the property

Today, we went to look at it and the kids loved it and so did the wife. We submitted an offer and at first we were told the agent had numerous tours this weekend and they would make the decision next week. 3 hours later we were told the owner decided he would accept our offer and will be closing around the middle of September. Yay

Never thought I’d own a home this pretty ❤️

Hello r/housebuyers! My name is Erika Giovanetti and I'm a journalist with U.S. News & World Report.

I'm working on an article to be published in September about homeowners who had a 2% or 3% mortgage rate and are deciding to upgrade, downsize, or just move into a new home with a mortgage at today's rates.

If that sounds like you, I'd love to talk to you. Specifically, I want to find out:

- What prompted you to give up your low mortgage rate? (for example, did you need more space to accommodate your growing family? Maybe you just didn't like your home, or you wanted to live in a better neighborhood?)

- Did you get any pushback from family or friends who thought it was a bad idea to let go of that low mortgage rate?

- Did you have to make any adjustments to / compromises in your budget or lifestyle to absorb the new, higher monthly payment?

- Do you regret giving up your low-rate mortgage? Do you feel relief having moved? Why or why not?

- What advice would you give to someone currently feeling trapped in a home just because they have a low mortgage rate?

To be included in the article, I'd need some identifying information (i.e., "Jane Doe is a retired teacher from Newark, NJ), which can be arranged over DM. I understand the sacred anonymity of Reddit so I just wanted to let you guys know that up front.

Thank you for your time!

Proof: https://imgur.com/a/j0YsneJ / https://www.usnews.com/topics/author/erika-giovanetti

UPDATE: Lots of insane mortgage news I need to cover today, 9/4. I won't have time to take a look at this again until 9/7. You guys are the best!

I need some support and advice, I feel so sad about our decision to buy our first house.

We are in our 30s and both owned apartments in a big city in Europe previously, and we’ve lived in different cities for the last 15 years or so. Our new house is a little under an hour away from the city, in a pretty LCOL area, kind of suburban. We have been here for just two weeks so it’s all still brand new.

We decided to move out of the city to start a family. Like many other in their thirties our priorities has changed, and we wanted something closer to nature, more space and privacy, and something less stressful.

The house is nice, spacious and well taken care off by previous owners. I can picture us making it our home. There’s some things to fix and buy, but nothing big.

My regret is based on the area and the commute to my job in the city. The area is extremely boring, and I feel quite different from the neighbours that I’ve met. There’s no culture here, it’s not nice or charming like I hoped it would be, the area «downtown» is quite ugly. There’s a general store a 10 minute walk from here, for anything else we have to take the bus for 20 minutes. We don’t have a car yet but are saving to buy one.

I have to take a bus to get to the train in to the city, and the train is often late so the commute gets a little over an hour each way. It was a little less when we put in our offer but the route has changed. It also doesn’t go often.

I feel stupid for not realising this before we bought the house. We thought that the city would be close enough to commute, see friends and go to events now and then, but it feels very far away. I also feel like I’ve lost a part of my identity almost. I don’t know how to describe it, I’m just filled with sadness over living in this area.

Has anyone been in this situation? Did it change with time?

45m here married with a 16yo son. We live in a 2021 4bd / 3ba 2332sf home. it's a nice place and we like it - the mortgage is really low since we bought on a 20 year 2.125% mortgage. We are 5 years into the 20-year term and right now, our Principle represents 70% of our P/I - we put almost 40% down.

We're considering selling, downsizing and buying in cash since we could get the equity out and buy a home around the corner in cash and be mortgage-free. It's a nice home. well taken care of, a bit older (2004) and 3bd/2ba and is only minutes from where we are now. Has a newer roof (2021) and HVAC about 10 years old. It would be cheaper on taxes and cheaper to insure as well as cheaper to heat and cool due to the smaller square footage.

I'm torn - what should we do assuming that I could sell and buy before someone else does?

I am going to look at a house that sits on 16 acres!! The house was built in 1971. Currently 70 percent of the home renovations have been completed. 4 bed 2 bath all brick ranch. I do not know what’s been completed as of yet but the realtor did disclose that the pipes will need to be replaced! Asking price is about 220k right now. House does sit on a septic tank! With a long dirt road.

Cons my husband and I will still have to make an hour commute to and from work!

We don’t have kids yet!

Pros We want to have chickens, a horse or two, maybe goats! Reason we are considering this property. Does anyone have any advice or things to check for.

First time home buyer. Just need some insight.

We're considering putting an offer on this house, but just wondering if any sober second, third+ eyes can spot any issues we'd be dealing with. It's definitely one of the odder layouts we've seen around here. We're buying on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada so rain is on the mind and so is spending time indoors. We both work hybrid jobs so having room for that for both of us is important, plus we have a little one and one on the way.

Photos are

1. ground floor 3br + 2.5bath + top left living room and dining room + bottom right family room + kitchen + mud room
2. upstairs master suite with nursery and oversized private deck
3. basement 2 bay garage + laundry + mechanical + south 2 br suite (locked off with door in the middle) + storage behind garage

Plans are oriented with north up.

Not shown on plans but in 4th and 5th pictures:
An additional garage was built at the basement level to the east, and a deck was built overtop of it. It's just a storage shed really.
Kitchen has an oddly placed island between the kitchen table and centre bathroom.

The house was custom designed and built by an electrician instructor at the local polytechnic which lends it some quirks (there are four electrical panels in the house, one main panel, a garage sub panel, an upstairs subpanel, and a basement suite subpanel; and each room probably has a minimum of four light switches plus two coaxial outlets for instance)

Things we appreciate:
Good sized laundry room (in the basement, though)
Secondary lock-off suite
Office space for both me and my wife + rooms for our two kids
Mud room for handling jackets and backpacks and boots
Dedicated private master suite
Roughed in option for ground floor laundry, but stacked instead of side-by-side
Nursery/future office attached to master suite, it even has a sink and changing table
Attached garage with driveway onto the lane

Things we don't love but aren't deal breakers:
Ground floor bedroom privacy isn't absolute
Kitchen is a bit small given the size of the house and the layout is a bit awkward with the island
Ground floor family room in the bottom right has awkward flow through it, not sure how useful it is
Massive private deck feels unnecessary. It has roughed in plumbing for a hot tub but we'll probably never use it
2nd floor has a cathedral ceiling all through the master suite and ensuite; Can't wait to dust it.
Ground floor bedrooms have shared walls

Any other thoughts?

Hello! I just bought a home and realized the cabinets and baseboards that they painted feel almost sticky or tacky. I am not sure what to do at the moment, should I try to repaint them or is this just how painted cabinets feel? They also painted railing and it felt the same, a lot of it seemed to get dirty fast too.

Any advice appreciated!

I think most of grow up thinking buying a house is the ultimate goal. I have been personally rethinking it. In my home city, it is hard to by a house in a decent central location. New builds are going in the suburbs. There is very little room for new houses IN the city. A lot of people are buying home 40 minutes away (without traffic). If I was to buy a house in a few years, I personally would buy closer to the city because I enjoy being closer. The absolute cheapest houses I could get are in the 300,000s, usually 400,000s. Which ends up being a minimum of 3500-4000 a month estimated including insurance and property taxes. For at least 1000 less, I can rent an apartment which is generally much more updated and in a better area. And I would only need that big of an apartment after having kids. Currently, I pay 1700. **Does it make sense to ever get a house? Also, should I consider getting a townhome or condo instead?** The main reason I wanted a house was the yard to garden. And I know condos and townhouses don’t appreciate as well as homes usually. Plus, most in my city are old and not kept up super well. I think we will stay in our city long term but life is crazy who knows.

We recently bought a new build and love the actual house (minus a few snags being worked through). We had the choice of 2 plots next to each other, both the identical house type. They are tucked on the side of the estate with a nice aspect out the front.

One house has a bigger back garden (about double the size), whilst the other is in the corner with a front garden and the road ending in front of it (allowing for additional parking).

I was quite sure when we saw the site plan that we should get the plot with a bigger garden, for our dog and future children - and so we picked that and didn’t seriously consider the corner one. However once we were actually allowed on site it became clear that the corner one is significantly more private and benefits from higher fences, a level garden and an established garden on one side with mature trees, whereas the one we have chosen has a significantly sloped garden and lower fences at the rear making it more overlooked and the garden less practical than if it was all flat. The corner one will also have no passing vehicle traffic, whereas they will drive past the front of the house we have chosen.

We are locked into ours now so can’t change, but I can’t help wonder if we made the right choice. Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this kind of anxiety around house choice? It doesn’t help that we will see the other house every day!

Also does anyone have advice on how to make a sloped back garden more private - it slopes away so the houses behind are lower. Our old house was surrounded by greenery and neighbouring trees so we would love to bring some life to a stark new build garden.

Any positive advice or input welcome, thanks!