Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with housing and realestate

shouldn't a vacant lot be buildable?

markhu — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:51:20 -0800

Are there un-buildable lots? I have read up on a similar question but that was about how expensive the known-to-be-buildable lots are. My question is if I see a lot listed that is "virgin" vacant never had a srtucture on it, how likely is it that no one could build on it? In my case, I found a vacant lot in a location I like up in the hills in Los Angeles, California, and would like to put an offer on it. But everyone keeps asking uncomfortable questions like, "is it buildable?", "is it on a fault line?", "are there utilities nearby?", "how deep is the bedrock?", "why hasn't anyone built there before?" and other such questions that it seems would take thou$ands to investigate.

Maybe my question should be, "if I find out I can't build, can I at least use it for picnicking and camping? Or build a little storage shed on it?"

Oh give me land, lots of land under LA skies above...

rileyray3000 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:48:29 -0800

Say I want to buy some cheap land in the Los Angeles area: where would I find such a listing online? Basically it's time to go from a renter to buyer. Only given that a nice two bedroom in Compton is still over 300K I think I want to go a different way.

I've been looking at some amazing pre-fab houses that are 100-150 all in and all up. Now all I need is a piece of property to put one on. So where do you look for that? Craigslist? Landhunter.com? Lotsoffun.net?

complex real estate cost benefit analysis needed

anonymous_account — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:51:46 -0800

Complex cost/benefit real estate question. We put our small, far suburban, now-overpriced house on the market two weeks ago. (Bought in '05.)

Because my wife has gotten a job, our income has doubled since buying our house, and we are saving $5k per month. However, her commute is lengthy, and we would like to move closer to the city, to lessen her commute, because now we can afford to, we know the target area better now, and we have friends in the city. Also, she may work more if we are closer, resulting in a higher income.

However, looking around at the other houses for sale in our area, I kind of doubt that our house will sell at the price which the realtor set for it, because there are nicer, bigger houses in better areas available for less or the same money. However, those are mostly foreclosures or short sales, which our realtor says takes a lot of time to buy, so maybe they are not that attractive to folks who are not real estate professionals.

We have $60k of our money in the bank and no debt except for our mortgage. We have $60k of my brother-in-law's money in the bank as seasoned assets, which he would like for us to use to buy the house. He is going to send $20k more soon. Later we could either pay him back, or he could continue to own part of our house (which I know is another big can of worms).

So what we will be faced with soon is: do we lower the price of our house (i.e., lose money on the house) in order to sell it? Although our house's price is depressed, the price of the house that we want to buy is also depressed. And I feel that we might be able to "save" more money on the purchase than we will lose on the sale...because the price of our house is only about 67% of the price of the type of house that we want to buy. We are not upside-down on the house --- our mortgage is 68% of the current asking price of our house.

Do you have to pay taxes on money paid during a seller rent-back?

unclezeb — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:31:20 -0800

You buy a house in California. You agree that the seller can stay up to 2 months after escrow closes (a "seller rent-back") if they make your (PITI) payments. Do you need to pay income taxes on the money they pay toward your PITI? Also, what was your "seller rent-back" experience? We are buying a house in California. The sellers (who are very nice) want the option to rent the house beyond closing while they look for a house to buy (e.g., a seller rent-back or Residential Lease After Sale [RLAS] agreement) for up to 2 months. If they stay beyond escrow, they will pay our PITI, say $100/day for the sake of convenient calculations.

Suppose they stay 20 days and pay $2000 toward our PITI during that time.

Is that $2000 considered our income for tax purposes? In other words, would we (in the 25% federal and 9% state tax brackets) need to pay taxes on that $2000, effectively reducing it by one-third?

I understand we can deduct our interest and mortgage insurance payments from our taxes, does that mean this comes out in the wash?

What was your experience with a "rent-back" or a Residential Lease After Sale agreement?

How do normal people pay for custom homes on land?

mathowie — Sat, 30 May 2009 16:27:25 -0800

Dream Home Filter: How does one go about financing the buying of land and building of a custom house? I need help with land loans vs. buying land with a house on it (to improve/tear down), construction loans vs. home loans, etc I've always wanted a couple acres of land and a custom designed house with a kitchen that works exactly as my family wants it to, etc, but I've never known anyone that did it directly (I know a few people that came into money and paid cash for new custom homes).

I understand from a bit of research that you could get a loan for the land you buy, then a construction loan to build a house, and when it is complete, it can be rolled over into a standard home loan, but I've heard the land loans are hard to get and the construction loans are high interest rates. I've been told by some people that buying land outright is the only way to go, but I don't have a few spare 100s of thousands of dollars to do that.

Let's say I currently live in a home worth $300k, and I'd like to someday build my own $200k custom home on $100k of land (keeping my current house until the new one is done, then putting it on the market). Are the loans necessary to buy land and build a house tough to get with a lot of interest? Is buying land with a manufactured home on it that could be removed be a better way to go?

Who to talk to about buying a home?

lore — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:46:02 -0800

Who is the best person to give me information on the housing market? My partner and I are looking into buying a home. Not being experts in real estate, we'd like to have someone to consult with on basic questions about the current housing market, including the best places to buy property in Northern California (or beyond) and the legal and financial aspects of buying a home, including paying cash vs. getting a mortgage. The thing is, we don't really know who to talk to about these things.

Our first thought would be to talk to a real estate agent, but we have two concerns: 1) that a real estate agent would have a vested interest in talking us into buying, and 2) that any real estate agent we talked to would not have sufficient experience about the market outside of their "neighborhood".

Where should we go for objective and helpful advice on the housing market and the particulars of buying a house?

Short sale? Walk away? Run?

anthom — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:16:50 -0800

My wife and I need to get out of our house ASAP for reasons both financial and mental-health-related. I've been told we may need to look into a short sale, but researching the process is making my head explode. What, if any, are our options? (more inside, obviously) We bought this house 4 years ago, on two incomes, intending to start a family. Short version - it hasn't happened yet, and won't for the foreseeable future. This, and a few other stressors, helped bring my wife into a depressive spiral, which led to her leaving work indefinitely about a year ago.

We currently live on my salary plus a pittance from her long-term disability - we're working on getting more, but Social Security is notoriously slow to approve this kind of thing. We're not behind on any payments yet. We've got three loans for this house - we financed initially with an 80/20, and between the two have managed to pay down about 10% of the principal. We also have a loan through our town that we used to pay for a new well and replacement septic system. We have a little bit in savings, but if we continue to pay the minimum payments on all the loans (and eat, keep utilities current, etc.) it'll be gone in another 6 months or so.

Her counselor has mentioned that living here may well be an additional stressor for her, and that we might need to work on finding a way out to help her recover. It's an older house that, while livable, definitely needs a lot of work that we either can't afford to have done, or don't have the energy or ambition to tackle right now. We have an offer from a family member to stay with them if we need to get out, and neither of us is too proud to take them up on it.

I did the online credit counseling at 995-HOPE’s website, and the counselor there suggested putting the house on the market, but mentioned that we may need to consider a short sale. It’s highly unlikely, if we sell the place, that we’ll get anything close to what we owe on all the loans, and we really don't want to foreclose.

Where we’re not in arrears with either of our mortgage companies, is short sale even an option? How do we find an agent willing to put in the extra work for less money? Are there other options we haven’t considered? It’s all incredibly confusing and frustrating - if you can, please help us, hive mind!

I'm cute, buy the house

racingjs — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:41:04 -0800

Why do realtor often put their picture on "for sale" sign?

The closing is off, now what?

mygothlaundry — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:49:42 -0800

Help. My house closing, scheduled for tomorrow, has been indefinitely postponed since the seller's second mortgage is not going to be paid in full. I don't know what to do even though yes, I already talked to a lawyer. I have had a contract to buy this house since the end of July. I am buying the house for cash due to a recent unexpected inheritance when my mother suddenly died a month ago. The original contract was based on my ability to secure financing and it is for about 8 grand less than the original asking price for the house.

The seller, who is going into bankruptcy, has apparently got two mortgages on the house. The contracted price is not enough to pay off both her mortgages and she has not yet gotten a letter from the second mortgage company agreeing to the short sale. I found out about all this three hours ago and I just got off the phone with my cousin, who is a local real estate lawyer.

I have to be out of my rental house by next Saturday, October 4. I am also in the process of cleaning out my mother's house and moving my 80 year old aunt with vascular dementia into my new house. The moving trucks are coming on Tuesday to both houses. The electricity and water have been turned on at the new house. Everything is packed. A friend of mine, a contractor from Baltimore, is even now driving down here because the original plan was to take the next five days to do some necessary - mostly aesthetic, but still - repairs to the house before I moved in. We were going to start with ripping up the horrible carpet and sanding the wood floors underneath before the furniture got moved in.

The real estate agent has gotten the seller to agree to something called a Possession Before Closing contract which means that I could proceed to move my stuff into the house but a) it's only good for seven days, although it can then be extended week by week if necessary and b) it stipulates that I cannot make any changes at all to the house while I'm living there. As in any: apparently, anything I do could be considered damage to her property. This contract is specific about even my animals (2 dogs and a cat) being in the house.

My cousin the lawyer says this is going on all over the country and mortgage companies are inundated and the the only option I have would be to try to get my landlord to extend my lease another month and stay here. That might be possible but unfortunately my aunt's situation is not as easily fixed, since she cannot stay where she is: my mother's house must be vacated by Tuesday, October 1. I don't have room for my aunt in this house and the general situation of boxes and chaos wouldn't be good for her at all anyway.

He also says not to make any changes to the house at all. That is going to make everything insanely more difficult, since it means construction going on while we're living there and that will be difficult for my aunt. If I can even get my contracting friend who I trust to stick around to do this work for me, and since I promised him work, I feel bound to pay him at least something for all his trouble already. Also, yes, this would be wrong, but, what if I do rip up the carpet and then the sale falls through? If she sues me for damage to her property (actually, it's a total improvement, good god) then can I counter sue her for breach of contract?

So what do I do? Do I move into the house knowing that it could all fall through and I'll have to move out again with little or no notice? Is it likely that the mortgage company is going to agree to this short sale and release the lien on the house? It will go into foreclosure if they don't, so you'd think it would be in their best interest to do that but will they? Do I move all my stuff into storage and put my aunt into a hotel and farm my son out to his sister and stay at a friends? Do I try to get my landlord to extend my lease another month? Should I give up on this house and start looking for another one? I'm freaking out and I don't know what to do. Has anybody been in this situation before?

How low an offer should I take for my house?

Mom — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:56:45 -0800

How low an offer should I take for my house? 2 family house.

Bad: Has some knob&tube wiring, crappy, beat-up garage, kitchens haven't been renovated. Close to noisy road. 1 really awful neighbor that the city will take to court for basically being a dump. Built @ 100 years ago; I'm the 3rd owner.

Good: Has gorgeous period woodwork, pretty good location. Close to the ocean, shopping, bus lines, recreation, university. Replacement windows, insulation, recent roof.

Put it on the market at 325. Under contract at 305, buyer bailed out. Gave realtors 1 month extension of contract, reduced price 10% to 293.

There are are @ 50 2-family houses on the market, many more 3 & 4 family houses, and few buyers. Rents will cover my 1st & 2nd mortgages on the house. I have a new house, sick of being a landlord, would like to have cash to buy more land, and generally have better cash flow. Have negotiated an offer to 285.

My real question? How bad do you think the market will get? How bad do you think the economy will get? My town is healthy, real estate market is soft but hasn't really tanked. I tend to be quite pessimistic about the current state of affairs.

Thanks for your advice.

What happens to condo owner if condo reverts back to apartment?

rainygrl716 — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:25:45 -0800

My husband and I are looking at buying this lovely condo that was once an apartment. Unfortunately, with the market the way it is, these converted condos have been on the market since January and haven't sold but one unit. What happens if we buy one and it "reconverts" back to an apartment complex? We live in the Seattle area (on the eastside).

The condo is gorgeous and I fell in love with it when we toured it, but we are worried about buying it and having the condos convert back to apartments. What happens to people who own units in a complex if it is forced to convert back to an apartment building? Are there any legal rights owners have or are they forced to sell (probably at a lower cost than what they paid, I'm assuming)?

Also is it possible to negotiate the price further down with a condo dealer? I'd want to offer them a little less than what they are asking for and right now I feel that is fair but I don't know how much negotiating is acceptable when it comes to condos from builders.

It is just worrisome that they have only sold one unit so far and the prices are not bad at all. Any advice?

Real dilemma estate

hellbient — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:56:34 -0800

Real Estate question - When looking to buy a "short sell", is it normal to have a contract sent to you that is not pending inspection? We have a bid in, and our lawyer is telling us to get an inspection before we sign the contract (which we haven't seen yet). But our real estate agent says we can't get a binder on the place (so they won't show it to anyone else while we're negotiating) and is telling us to have the lawyer insert a "pending inspection" clause in the contract. Our concern is that we get a $600 inspection and then lose the place anyway. I'm used to thinking that signing a contract would be pending inspection, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

Buying through Redfin - does anyone have first-hand experiences they could share?

GuyZero — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:51:15 -0800

Buying through Redfin - does anyone have first-hand experiences they could share? I'm looking to buy a house in the Bay Area. I use the Redfin web site all the time, but is their limited human contact going to be an issue? I have bought and sold homes before (but not in California) so I am generally familiar with the home-buying process.

Hitting a housing jackpot in LA?

symbebekos — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 18:24:01 -0800

After reading this article in the NYT about lotteries for housing in New York, I was left wondering if there were any equivalent programs in Los Angeles - I remember reading about something in Santa Monica, but it was apartments to rent, not own. Do such things exist?

How much is your w/d worth?

hattifattener — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:17:36 -0800

How much is it worth to you to have a washer/dryer in your building? All else being equal, how much cheaper would an apartment have to be to make up for not having laundry facilities in the building? There's not a laundry in the immediate neighborhood, but you do have a car (and there are plenty of laundries in the city).

I'm asking because I find myself in the awkward situation of having sublet half of my space and, halfway through the lease, losing the w/d the sublessors are using. So, assuming I can't fix that, I'm thinking of offering to reduce their rent a bit to compensate. How much is fair?

Buying a house in Chicago - good or bad?

BuddhaBelly — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:49:00 -0800

Given the current market situation, should I buy a condo in Chicago? I'm aware of the existing question with applications to the UK. This is regarding the U.S., specifically Chicago.

I am looking to purchase a condo - for my own residence - in Chicago (downtown, $300,000-$350,000). I have a great buyer's agent. I know exactly what I want.

I am just worried about all the talk of a housing market collapse...upside-down mortgages...recession.

Am I, an average Joe(sephine) going to get caught up in all this? Is it prudent to wait? If so, how long?

I am currently in a month-to-month renting situation that can continue indefinitley. I'm doing OK on money, and am planning on a 20% down, 30 year fixed mortgage. As of this morning, interest rates from my 3 lenders ranged between 6.32%-6.7%.

Any advice is, as always, deeply appreciated.

The housing bubble -- as seen on your street corner?

calhound — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:04:08 -0800

I've been reading about the ongoing housing bubble collapse, and I am wondering how exactly neighborhoods are supposedly changing and especially where all these people go when they lose their home. I recently read this passage on a webpage about the bubble: "As purchasers lose their homes to foreclosure, the real estate is being grabbed at bankruptcy prices by the banks and by any other investors with ready money. Whole neighborhoods of cities like Cleveland or Atlanta are turning into boarded-up ghost towns. And it’s not just lower-income home purchasers who are affected. The Washington Post has reported that for the first time in living memory that foreclosures are happening in Washington’s affluent suburban neighborhoods in places like Fairfax, Loudon, and Montgomery Counties."

So where do all these homeowners go exactly? Interestingly last month I was looking at rentals in a medium-sized city and there wasn't really any shortage on rentals. One would think displaced people would be lining up to sign leases from ghetto properties. But last month I was looking at medium-ranked rentals in a medium-sized city ($800/month rentals in the Midwest FWIW) and there was no sign of any rental shortages. There were lots of properties to look at.

Or are the Washington burbs just cherry-picked examples, with the collapse not really played out in full yet?

I guess I'm wondering what it is I should be seeing in my neighborhoods (and my parents neighborhood), and why it looks very much like business as usual. Are you all seeing anything different? Or is the turmoil limited mostly to the financial markets right now?

Like a Giant Snail

reventlov — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 08:02:21 -0800

How difficult would it be to find places to lease on which to put a house made of ISO containers? Basically, I'd like a space I can heavily customize (and not have to re-customize every couple years), but I still have a long list of cities I want to try living in before I settle down anywhere. I'm thinking about building a modular house out of a few ISO shipping containers and moving it from city to city. How difficult would it be to find plots on which to put it within, say, 30 minutes of city center, without buying and without running afoul of any laws or zoning restrictions?

(My list is mostly US cities. Bonus points for information about how I'd work such a thing for cities in Britain, Australia, or New Zealand.)

Sell, rent, or stay put ?

ultraultraboomerang — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 13:30:07 -0800

I'm in a really weird housing market (Baton Rouge, LA). Should I get out and rent for awhile until it calms down? Any ideas about weighing capital gains tax vs. possible profit I might lose if prices nosedive before my 2 years are up? I know the housing market is weird everywhere, but this is really a unique situation so I thought I'd see if anyone had some unique perspective. Baton Rouge is about 70 miles west of New Orleans, and due to the great diaspora after Katrina housing prices went up around 26% here in just a few months. So did rent, incidentally, which is why I bought a fixer upper condo in July.

I'm getting really nervous about staying in a market that's so unpredictable and inflated, but I don't want to sell too early and end up paying a ton of capital gains taxes (a ton = rough estimate; I can't find any real idea of what rates are here).

Which is riskier: Staying put until my 2 years is up, hoping there isn't a huge crash? Or selling this summer and paying the tax on my profit (which probably won't be more than $10-15k)? Renting will cost around the same as my mortgage, so should I rent for awhile until things get a little less murky?

Getting a house permitted

chrisroberts — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:08:19 -0800

What is involved in getting a house proper permits? There is a rural house for sale which was built a number of years ago but is non-permitted. The buyers of the house are to "conduct due diligence" in regards to the dwelling and permits. If someone wanted to purchase this house, what would be required of the new owner? What permits would be needed and how would these permits be acquired? Would digging up septic tank pipes and tearing open walls to view electrical work be required? Do permit offices have systems setup for dealing with houses already built but not permitted?

Information does not need to be specific, just trying to get an overall idea of what steps would and should be taken.

Is real estate REALLY a bad idea? If so, then what?

salvia — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 11:19:23 -0800

With the housing market slowing, where are people "in the know" putting their money so that it generates income or equity for them? How did they find out? I'm 28 and trying to figure out an early retirement plan.

My expenses now are about 50% of my salary. I'm 5-6 months away from paying off credit cards, then I'd start investing or saving money for a down payment. I want to use that time to make a plan.

My current hope is that in 5-7 years, I can move to a smaller town with lower salaries and not have to work full-time. So, I'd need to have largely paid off that house and/or have income from rents or dividends. (Isn't this nearly everyone's goal? Maybe this won't be as easy as I think?)

I lean toward real estate because I work in city planning, so I know something about it and hear some of the gossip. I've been planning to buy real estate in areas I'd consider moving to (houses I could sell if I decide against that town), and/or a place here in the Bay Area that I could sell when I'm ready to move.

But I've been reading blogs on the housing bubble.

Still, nothing makes more sense to me. For the cost of a down payment, I can get renters to be paying a mortgage -- ie, equity. I wouldn't want to rely on appreciation (buying low and selling high), so I'd have to find somewhere that rents are pretty close to mortgage payments. (I know this is not easy, but a friend just did it, so I believe it's possible.) Appreciation may be slow, but it's not like I'm buying the property outright with cash I could put elsewhere.

Since I can't understand why people would put their money anywhere else, my question is -- what am I missing? Where are people "in the know" putting their money to accomplish goals similar to mine? Are there other options that make more sense in today's economy? Is there somewhere that money is going to triple (just sell a little stock and buy a house that way)? Is silver the next housing? And how do people find out?

I'm trying to find ways to keep on top of these things over time, so I'm interested in blogs and other ways to learn about this. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Real estate agent fees?

xmutex — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 13:02:23 -0800

We've been talking to a generally nice/enthusiastic real estate agent for the purposes of selling our home. She's quoted us that approximately 9-10% of the listing price will go to cover her commission, the other agent's commission, and the various closing costs in between. This strikes us as rather high - we were thinking 5-6%. What's the breakdown and truth here?

As renters, is it reasonable to ask a form of compensation for our landlord's constant open houses?

FearTormento — Mon, 08 May 2006 01:37:59 -0800

Our landlord has decided to sell his house. As renters, is it reasonable to ask for some form of compensation for the constant "open houses" that we must partake in? We're about halfway through a 1 year lease on a 2 unit house in Southern California. We rent one unit, our landlords live on site in the other one. A couple weeks ago, without any notice, we discovered our landlord had put the house on the market.

So far, they've had two "open houses" conducted on Sunday afternoons, during which we had to make our unit available for people to walk through and inspect. Again, this weekend, we're awakened by our neighbors informing us that in TWO HOURS they intended to have yet another open house. And during a discussion with their realtor, we find out that (unbeknownst to us) next weekend they're planning another open house extravaganza on both Saturday and Sunday.

We've already resolved to pay a visit to our landlord this week to discuss their need to give us reasonable advance notice of these open houses. However, we're becoming increasingly annoyed by the frequency of these open houses, since each time we're expected to make ourselves scarce so people can tour our unit.

I don't want to be difficult, and I realize what it takes to sell a house in this market, but I feel like asking us every weekend to let people tour our unit is intruding on our privacy.

Are there any renters/sellers out there that have experienced this from either side of the fence? What have you done to accomodate your landlord's/renter's wishes?

To reconcile our needs, I've considered approaching our landlord to ask that in consideration of our time and effort to accomodate their open houses, they credit us a portion of the rent. (For example, 4 open houses = 4 days or credited rent.) Does this seem reasonable?

Rent negociations

saffron — Fri, 05 May 2006 04:50:24 -0800

How to negotiate a good deal on rent with an owner inexperienced with the rental market? I heard through the grapevine that a neighbor (who owns her condo) is moving and would like to rent it rather than put it on the market. My "source" tells me she doesn't know how to determine the rent, and was curious what mine is. I'm considering approaching her since I'd love to move in there (it's in better condition and has more light), and I'd like to use her inexperience with the rental market to my advantage in negotiations. It's slightly larger than my unit (one more bathroom plus a study) so I'm hoping she won't just tack on 30% or somethign to what I'm paying. How can I negotiate myself a good deal? Compare assessed value of her and my units? Estimate her mortgage payment? What should I keep in mind when I approach her?

Social stigma in rich people's housing

acoutu — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 16:06:27 -0800

Will a child face social stigma for living in a condo? I live in Vancouver, Canada. The housing market here has gone wild. The average house price in the metro area is 757,750, but, in "nice" neighbourhoods, it's now about $1M. You could live further out, but the housing prices remain high, since people want more for their money. Also, living further out means you'd need 2 cars instead of one -- so add another $500+ a month.

My friends and I both currently live downtown. The schools downtown are pretty bad, so this isn't where we want to stay with our small children. Today, at a toddler group, a couple of us were discussing whether it made sense to move to a nice area and live in a condo, instead of a house. My friend (psychiatrist married to a chartered accountant) was concerned that her son would face social stigma for living in a condo when all the other families had houses. She was worried he'd be treated like a poor kid. I said that the people I knew who lived over there -- even the ones who'd bought before the upswing and had just $500k or $600k mortgages -- were struggling under the strain of their payments, rising interest rates, increasing fuel costs, and the like. I said her son and my son would be in a much better position to be the kids with nice clothes, vacations, trips to museums and all the things that you'd hope upper-middle class families would enjoy...except for a house. Meanwhile, the other kids would be from house poor families. However, I don't know if this is true. My husband and I are not originally upper-middle class and we grew up in small towns where everyone had houses.

So, what does AskMefi think? Will a child face social stigma for living in a swanky 2BR condo on the nice side of town, if their friends live in houses?