Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with housing and resolved

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.

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?

House sale tax question

mikedelic — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:26:33 -0800

Rental house sale - I moved out of my house and started renting it Jan 2008. If I sell it soon, what are the tax ramifications? I lived in this house as my primary residence from 1990 to Dec 2007. Rented it last year to my daughter and she's moving out to buy a house. If I sell it, how will it affect my taxes? Are there any websites that would help with the calculations or have some advice? Thanks for the help.

Why do I obsess about this?

supercoollady — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 08:24:23 -0800

Obsessiveness Filter: I fixate on and plan obsessively about moving to new (specific) places, and I'd like to know why. Here's the situation: I have mild depression with anxiety and take medication for it which helps a lot. However, periodically I do something that I find odd and that I can't find specific references to in information about OCD, depression or anxiety. I pick a place that I might vaguely like to move to, and become obsessed with planning every detail about it. More about me: I live in a NYC and have a good life here--good job, good husband, good dog, good apartment. We're planning on moving out of here at some point but we don't have a definite plan for where or when.

Every now and then, I come across some scenario in which it seems like life might be better/easier/more relaxed and (this is a big one for some reason) where we might own a house. This seems reasonable--but rather than thinking about it in a rational way I usually become completely obsessed with it (to the point where I can't sleep at night), assume it's DEFINITELY going to happen, and not brook any criticism of the idea. These are big, life-changing moves, not moves to another part of the city or the suburbs (although I do that too to some degree...as in the case of our near-move to the Bronx).

So here's my question: I'm sure this is a manifestation of some disorder I'm carrying around in my teeming brain...but what? And why do I choose places to live to obsess about? Finally, DOES ANYONE ELSE DO THIS? I hope I'm not the only one in the world...

Grad student housing "insider info" for Ann Arbor?

everythings_interrelated — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:04:40 -0800

I will be starting graduate school at University of Michigan in the fall. I'm looking for insider-info with regard to housing. I'm trying to decide between an ICC graduate student co-op, sharing a house with an older adult through HomeShare, or just doing the random roommate thing through off-campus housing or craigslist. Any stories/ideas are welcome. So the goal is to be successful in my program. I won't be successful if I'm miserably alone, running out of money d/t high rent, or having to deal with commuting 60min each way. So... I want to meet people, live within my stipend, and walk to campus. To complicate things, I'm a little non-traditional in that I'm 30 years old. Cake-and-eat-it-too, I guess.

I like people, beer, music, books, etc, but I'm also very serious about getting the education that I came for.

Any ideas? Any experiences with ICC co-ops, especially grad student experiences? Any experiences with the HomeShare program? All input is appreciated.

Where should a young, social guy live in the Denver area?

pennstatephil — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 07:37:35 -0800

I'm a 22 year old engineer who recently visited the Denver area, loved it, and decided after living in upstate NY my whole life (minus college) to try city living. Where should I look? I went to Penn State so I am used to being around a lot of young people and really enjoyed it, so I'd prefer an area where there are more people my age (recent college graduates/current grad students). It doesn't have to be downtown Denver, but I don't want it to be a pain to get into the city if I do end up in a nearby suburb (like Englewood), as I expect many activities that interest me (concerts, sports, etc) will be in the city.

I am not looking to buy any real estate, I figured I'd start with renting a nice apartment for a year (know any good properties?) and if I do enjoy it as much as I hope I will, maybe look into more permanent options.

I'll be working in Littleton (a little off 470), but have heard great things about the light rail, and would be happy to save on gas (maybe just using my car on the weekend).

O great Denver meFi-ers, I throw myself on the mercy of the 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?

What are good neighborhoods to consider in the Philadelphia area?

scblackman — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 03:11:22 -0800

PhillyFilter: My wife and I are relocating to the Philadelphia area and could use some advice on what neighborhoods or (shudder) suburbs to consider. We currently live in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, having previously lived in the Clifton neighborhood of Cincinnati and in the East Lakeview part of Chicago, meaning that we prefer neighborhoods that are more artsy/diverse. We have a new little girl, so safety, schools and greeenspace are important.

We've been looking at places on the "Main Line" but I don't want to live in a generic suburb, and so our attention has been turning more to Germantown and Chestnut Hill, but we could use more suggestions.

I'll be working in Upper Gwynedd/West Point, but am willing to tolerate a commute of up to 45-60 minute if it means living in a neighborhood that we both are happy with.

For the sake of this AskMe, assume that we're a late 30s/early 40s family of 3 and that cost doesn't matter nearly as much as quality of neighborhood, schools, housing stock, safety, etc.

And if you have a minute, what's the scoop on the Friends schools? They don't have them here in Beantown.

Help for a rental refugee?

zarq — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:46:00 -0800

Can anyone provide advice, suggest tenant rights resources, courses of action or even refer a good pro-bono lawyer for a friend of mine who's getting screwed by her landlord during the conversion of her apartment complex from rentals to condos in Studio City, CA? Everything's being documented on Flickr.

At Christmas, all tenants were given notice that they had 180 days to vacate. CA state law requires (among other things) that the landlord help current tenants find new housing, pay for up to $500 in moving costs and compensate them with $1000 cash. Hers has refused to do any of that.

In February, construction began months early and created many ongoing hazardous living conditions, such as a six-foot deep moat around the building and exposed nests of metal and electrical wires. But even though the management company is blatantly violating their end of the agreement (and breaking the law) and the tenants are dealing with unsafe living conditions, not one of the numerous lawyers they've called will take the case on -- either individually or as a class action suit. They all say that the case would be winnable, but there's no money in it because no one has been seriously injured or killed yet.

Anything y’all can suggest would be greatly appreciated.

Housing Coops in Portland

medea42 — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 15:53:43 -0800

Could someone point me in the right direction to find out about any housing coops in Portland, Oregon? I've done the requisite Google search, and all I seem to be finding looks more like commune than coop. Some friends of mine that live in Portland have a baby coming and are looking for new living options; an apartment-style coop would likely fit their needs the best, but they're still new enough to the city not to know where to look.