The Official Homeowners Thread

[F K]

why are new houses so much more expensive than old houses? the labor?

You can buy houses in my state for 50-60 k in the rural zones but every online calculator says building a new house will cost like 150k+
so how did I buy a house for less than 150k, including the land beneath it?

 

[F K]

Purchased my first home in Anacostia [South East DC]. It’s wasn’t listed, but the three other single family homes in the same row were, so my realtor called the seller ASAP and put in an offer. I got it at asking, no bidding war, which apparently isn’t normal, especially in the District. The other three homes were only on the market for 24 - 48 hrs. I didn’t even get time to think about the purchase. By law they had to list it for a day, and during that time few people had submitted offers. Glad my homies told me to put the offer in immediately. I love my place.

It was listed as a new construction, they only keep the brick from the old exterior. The inspector was highly impressed the construction. I even got a nice back yard, which is wild to me, I wasn’t expecting that for myself in DC.

CB2 is now my favorite store and Crate & Barrel to a lessor extent; entire place is dripping with quality furniture. Just completed the Living Room and Master Bedroom, Need a few more items for the guest bedroom, Kitchen furnishing won’t be complete until May; the table I ordered from CB2 is on back order.

...and NO HOA!

pm me your realtor info please, I might move back to D.C and want to buy in anacostia if I do

 

[F K]

Has anyone done a cash out refinance on a property?

There's a property im looking at, where its 70k. I'll put down my 20% for the down payment, closing costs, repairs from the inspection report, etc. Im thinking after 6-12 months, i can put that equity out (20%) and use that check to do buy another

Im lowkey kind of confused about how it'll work out if you get the home appraised, and it went up in value. I was under the impression, that with a cashout refi you're pulling the equity out of the house.

If i only put 14k down, and the house goes up to 100k, would you just be able to pull more money out off the strength the house appreciated?

you found a 70k property in ATL?!

 

[NeilCartwright]

you found a 70k property in ATL?!

Nah this was out of state. I was looking on rootstock.com a while back but I’m gonna go in a different direction to not have to put 20% down

 

[Rawtid]

Anyone have a patio/deck set with cloth/fabric cushioning?

Do those hold up well year-after-year?

There is product by rustoleum called "neverwet", you can find it online at Home Depot for sure, but spray the cushions with it, let it dry and it will repel water, which is usually how the cushions get ruined quickly. If you don't use a repellent, just try to make sure the cushions don't get wet often and dry thoroughly if they do.

 

[thaKEAF]

I’m interested in buying a bigger house later next year. Not sure if I want to sell my current house or rent it out when that time comes.

 

[Rawtid]

Anyone have any experience with a 203k loan? I want to renovate my entire house at once and I'm thinking a 203k refi or cash out refi, sometime next year. From what I've read, the benefit of the 203k loan is you're allowed to borrow based on the upgraded value of the home, traditional refi's look at the current value, which could mean less money. The 203k also has limitations on uses for the money, like landscape, so I'd have to use my own money. Either way, my goal is to get my mortgage below $100k and hopefully receive about $50k for upgrades.

 

[Akae Beka]

Anyone have any experience with a 203k loan? I want to renovate my entire house at once and I'm thinking a 203k refi or cash out refi, sometime next year. From what I've read, the benefit of the 203k loan is you're allowed to borrow based on the upgraded value of the home, traditional refi's look at the current value, which could mean less money. The 203k also has limitations on uses for the money, like landscape, so I'd have to use my own money. Either way, my goal is to get my mortgage below $100k and hopefully receive about $50k for upgrades.

Before I bought my home, I found a really nice home with an unfinished basement. Inquired with different realtor agencies about the 203b and one told me it was better to take out a loan because the 403 has higher interest rates and they will want you to pay it off quicker.

 

[MrRDU]

I'm trying to sell my current home & use the equity to purchase a new one. I'm trying to sell as is though. It's the biggest house in the neighborhood on the biggest lot, so I'm hoping to hit the jackpot.

I want much more than the tax value, how difficult will that be to pull off?

 

[Rawtid]

Before I bought my home, I found a really nice home with an unfinished basement. Inquired with different realtor agencies about the 203b and one told me it was better to take out a loan because the 403 has higher interest rates and they will want you to pay it off quicker.

Thanks. The goal is to have just one payment, which is why a cash out refi is one of my options. From what I was reading the 203k is supposed to allow the cost for repairs and the mortgage to be combined. I’ll read more into it.

 

[Lv99 Slacker]

This morning, I replaced a garage door that was completely busted (hadn't opened it in, at least, two months), and an opener that I'm sure was close to 30yrs old, slower, loud as hell.

The old:

Spoiler

New:

Spoiler

I don't know what I'm doing. I'm trying to carry on with the assumption that life will return to some semblance of normalcy in 3-4 months, but I suspect I'm fooling myself. Lol.

 

[Amerikan Melanin]

Landscaping and fence installations, I was quoted $5600 and 7k

I need about 310 feet of (wooded)fence, how much did they charge u guys?

price out the fence panels you want yourself from Home Depot then you can see how much they really charging you for labor and parts.

landscaping same thing. You are paying for mulch and labor. That price sounds high to me.

get at least 3 estimates and have them break down the costs.


I have about a 1/4 acre yard paid $500 for the landscaping. Paying 2600 for fence.

 

[calixprynce]

what credit score do yall recommend before i start the process?

and any of yall went thru with one of those down payment assistance programs in your city? I got about 10K saved rn , but im not tryna pay PMI or whatever

 

[BaileyPark31]

Question re mortgages and remodeling a property.

There are two parcels I'm interested in (they are right next to each other)

One is 180k (older cape cod style home)

and the other is 130k (2 car garage w/ small apartment above it)

They need serious updating.

How would this work mortgage wise? Can I buy both on one mortgage? Can i roll the upgrade costs into the mortgage? Does it cost to make 2 parcels listed as 1 parcel?

There are several properties popping up in my area like this. I'm just trying to be more educated when I finally do go for a pre approval in this new market (previous one expired cuz I backed out).

 

[F K]

Question re mortgages and remodeling a property.

There are two parcels I'm interested in (they are right next to each other)

One is 180k (older cape cod style home)

and the other is 130k (2 car garage w/ small apartment above it)

They need serious updating.

How would this work mortgage wise? Can I buy both on one mortgage? Can i roll the upgrade costs into the mortgage? Does it cost to make 2 parcels listed as 1 parcel?

There are several properties popping up in my area like this. I'm just trying to be more educated when I finally do go for a pre approval in this new market (previous one expired cuz I backed out).

I'm not really sure. The only times I've heard of people doing this is with a fha 203k rehab loan.