Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with housing and money

I'm moving moving, out out, to Cali Cali

Never Better — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:01:51 -0800

Moving from Milwaukee, WI to take a job in Carlsbad, CA - what should I know, and where should I live? I just found out I will be changing positions at my job, which entails a move across the country to work in Carlsbad, California. I need to start planning, but I do not have a ton of time to research everything I normally would in making such a move.

As far as I know the city of Carlsbad is expensive to live in- are there cheaper areas close by where I could get by making about $2,000 a month on average? I realize this is not much, but I am intentionally keeping it a conservative estimate. I will likely bring in more than that, but I want to plan economically.

I am looking to live in a younger neighborhood (I'm 24) - I like art and music, lots of good cheap food (I can taste the burritos already) and just a fun scene to be around. I do not mind commuting, though I would rather keep it at a minimum. I have a car, but would love to use public transportation as well.

Crime is a rather important aspect as well. Though I've grown up in bad neighborhoods by Midwest standards, I would rather not live anywhere where I need to have barred windows or constantly have to watch out at night. I certainly don't need an idyllic situation, but something reasonable.

I would like to keep rent, including utilities capped at about $1,000 / month. I really have no idea if that number is fantasy land by that area's standards, so if it is, let me know. I am not 100% opposed to moving in with others really, though as an introvert I would prefer my own space.

If anyone has experience with a similar move, please fill in your experiences. I've been all over California before doing road trips and what not, but is there anything special I should know/expect going into a full move out west?

Can I get the deposit back on a house I didn't move in to?

hnnrs — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:40:11 -0800

Can I get the deposit back on a house I didn't move in to? At the end of last month I made a rushed decision to move in to a shared, rented house here in the UK. It wasn't a nice place, but time wasn't on my side and I desperately needed a roof over my head. The landlord showed me round, and I paid him £50 cash to hold the property.

Moving day came, I visited the landlord with a further £200 in cash towards the deposit - unfortunately my cheque book was packed away with my belongings, and £200 was the most I could get out of the cash machine.

Driving up to my new place, I had a really bad feeling, it was on a council estate on the outskirts of a small town and it just felt so incredibly depressing that I'd be spending the next six months there. I'd had a call from the landlady of another property that day, and she said she had a room available in a period house in the middle of town. I went and took a look around her place and it was exactly what I was looking for - a nice place with good views and a 10-minute stroll to work. And it was cheaper than the horrible council estate house.

I moved in right away, and paid her a deposit. I called the landlord and told him I wouldn't be moving in. I appreciated that I'd let him down, and said I'd try and find someone else to move in to my room. I also - possibly stupidly - agreed to let him keep some of my money on a pro-rata, for each day he couldn't find someone to move in.

I re-advertised the room, but as I listed his number as a contact I have no idea if he's found someone to move in. I've left messages but he hasn't got back to me.

Of course, he could have found someone to move in the day I decided not to, and not told me. He seemed like an honest enough bloke, but I'm worried I won't be able to get my cash back. I didn't sign any contracts or anything, and everything was agreed verbally - where should I go from here?

I got ripped off by the person whose lease I took over. What should I do to recover my money?

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 06:53:29 -0800

I got ripped off by the person whose lease I took over. What should I do to recover my money? I wanted to take over this girl's lease. She said she needed a $1200 deposit, because that was what she had paid the management company initially. She said when the lease ended and she got that back from the management company, she would give it to me.

I gave her a check for $1000 last week. Today I gave her another one for $200 after we signed all the papers.

After we signed I found out there was no deposit with the management company. She had owed them $1200 in back rent, and she used my money to pay it off so she could leave.

I called her freaking out and she said not to worry, she will pay it back to me within one month (my mom was listening on speakerphone as she said that so I have a witness). She said she would email me within half an hour to confirm that she agreed to pay me back in one month.

Well it's been several hours and no email.

She's several states away by now, but the management company has her SSN, and parent's information on file so it won't be impossible to track her down if need be.

This is my question: what is the best way for me to get as much of my money back as possible?

Say you somehow got yourself into my situation. what would you do starting right now?

I do have receipts from her for all the money, and emails and text messages from her stating the lie she initially told me.

Is the best way to go hostile, even though that might scare her off and make it harder to recover my money? Soft and coaxing so she will at least try to give me some back? Help :(

Refinance through the same bank?

condour75 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 07:05:32 -0800

Is it possible to refinance through the bank that holds your mortgage? Is it desirable? Is it easier? I bought a house in August with a Bank of America no fee mortgage at 7%. I'm wondering if a) it makes sense to refinance now, even just a few months in, and b), whether I should approach the mortgage holder first and see what they can do. It seems to make sense that they'd want to keep the business rather than letting it go to another company, but I'm wondering if I'm missing something, since the web seems to have little info on doing so.

Other salient facts: 30 year, fixed rate, 10% down. I'd be willing to consider a 15 year mortgage if the rate is low enough now, because we could probably afford it. We plan on staying here for at least 5 to 10 years, possibly longer.

Anyone got a two bed/one bath in san diego for rent?!?!

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 06:02:35 -0800

Renting - It's been a while and I'm afraid we're gonna look bad on paper. Mid/late twenty year olds (one a musician) without a huge amount of $$ or history - are we screwed? I'm out of college and have been working at a great, professional job for about a year. My roommate is out of college and also has a great, professional job. Together, we have been living in a house owned by my family. I've been paying no rent and he's been paying a paltry sum. Have I mentioned my family rules? They do. But, its time to leave.

Should I lie about renting from family for no money? Should I tell my family to act like I'm not kin (we have different last names)? I've been here about 7 years. I dont even remember who I rented from last. Do I really need to dig up that info?

Lastly, the third roommate is my boyfriend, who is a working musician and artist. He takes jobs that he can quit when he goes on tour. He's coming back from tour this week, so technically when we are looking for a house, he will be unemployed. Will a grand in savings be enough to convince the potential landlord? He'll have no problem finding a job soon enough, but we simply cant wait.

We'd be great tenants. We're considerate, kind, and would be consistent with the bills/rent. How can I get this across on a rental application?? There must be a best way for us to go about this.

Thanks everyone!

How can I crack the whip / get my realtor to move my property?

jkl345 — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 22:24:26 -0800

My realtor has gone from a proactive go-getter to a neglectful, smarmy do nothing. I need to sell my condo (I know the market is bad) but it's a nice place in great condition and priced in line with others in the market. How can I get it to move quicker? THE SITUATION:
She acted all proactive and excited when I interviewed her, she said she has 20 years in the selling homes, promised it'd be occasionally advertised in publications (Remax buys a page in the paper and rotates houses they have for sale). But ... In the past 5 months, 7 people have viewed it and it hasn't been advertised at all. Every time I talk to her I ask about the ad she always dances around it and says it's coming, saying things like "Ads don't sell your place" and I'm just like, " M.F. ok. Ads don't sell it, but you sure don't either!".

I know the market sucks, and sure, ads are the old way to sell places (everyone just goes online now and looks at MLS listings) but is there anything I can do to actually make her do her job better and get traffic through the condo?

I chose her over several others, and she edged out an independent Realtor recommended to me by a friend because I figured with Remax they'd have more clients/brand recognition coming through, but I'm really regretting it. (ADVICE TO ANYONE: To be honest, if I was going to do it again, I'd sell it myself, building a cool site with virtual tours, tons of photos, craigslisting it and paying $300 or so to an agency to list it in the MLS, with a juicy seller commission of 3.5 or 4 percent.)

I'm locked into a contract with her until the end of May. I'm not sure what to do until then (or even if I should bother looking for someone new when the contract ends). This is lame. I never want to buy a home again. I'm in Florida, by the way.

MY FINANCIAL SITUATION
My financial situation is pretty good. Right now it's not fun carrying a mortgage and rent, but I recently received a promotion and have also been doing a lot of freelance work every weekend and most nights, (and I also had about $10,000 saved to buffer me through this selling period, luckily I haven't had to touch that.). I live very frugally. So, 'in theory' I could continue to float like this for a while... It's not comfortable though. One car accident and I could be in trouble. (BTW: Moving out of the condo and renting closer to work actually saved me so much on Cable/Internet/Gas/Electricity/Wear and tear on my car/tolls/time that it's really only costing me about $120 more a month, compared to when I lived in the condo. I used to commute an hour a day each way and getting that time back is definitely worth $120 a month in extra expenses.)

$1000 KICKBACK?
One friend has suggested that I ask the Realtor to add a "$1000 cash bonus to the Realtor/individual that brings me the buyer." statement to the listing. I'm not sure if that's even legal or what. Part of me thinks the Realtor is not as uh, "motivated" as she was originally because the independent was only asking 4 percent (2/2 seller/buyer), so she had to lower her rate to be competitive. (The commission is 2.5/2.5 to seller/buyer on the condo). Anyone tried this? How much does half a percentage matter to a realtor?

RENTERS?
I know what your thinking, get some renters in there. Right now it's sitting empty (yes I know, I've considered renters, but it's in brand new condition, it was totally refurbished when I bought it and I left it in immaculate shape and upgraded it. I don't want to deal with renters possibly destroying it, and showing it while renters are in it and insuring it for renters and the condo association with renters... I need to make the sale the quicker the better (especially before hurricane season), so I can't really have them sign a contract then boot them.

SLASH THE PRICE?
I can't drop the price much more or I'm going to lose money (right now after all is said and done, I'll make about $5000-10000 depending on the final price/terms or maybe just break even--since so many sellers are expected to pay all the closing costs with the horrible market...)

DITCH HER AND DO IT MYSELF?
After the contract ends at the end of this month (May) should I just go 'For Sale By Owner' and sell it like I described above under "ADVICE FOR ANYONE"? Post it on EBay? Burn it down and collect the insurance? Any ideas/success stories would be great!

Any advice, links, etc. you can offer on how to sell and survive in this rough market, would be greatly appreciated!