| Author |
Message |
Kitt
Member
09-05-2000
| Monday, August 12, 2013 - 3:30 pm 
There must be a lot of good experience and knowledge here at TVCH about issues around buying a house, but I'm not sure how much traffic this section of the board has.
I have a question...
We are looking for a house to buy. We are first time buyers and would be ready to move in really quickly after we settle on somewhere and all the money stuff is sorted out.
But what if the owners of the house we want to buy haven't found somewhere new? Or what if they have but the people in the house they want haven't?
If there's some sort of chain involved, how long do people wait for a house to become available? When someone accepts your offer on a house does it mean they say they will get out of the house after a stated time, or is the accepted offer contingent on them finding a new house of their own and we could be waiting months for the exchange to actually happen?
|
Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Monday, August 12, 2013 - 4:16 pm
Kitt, are you getting a mortgage or paying cash?
If you are getting a mortgage it can take anywhere from 30-60 days to get your mortgage approved.
Typically most purchase contracts contain the time frame for the purchase, when I bought my house we said we would close in 45 days and I had a certain amount of time to eliminate the conditions, like the house inspection, the loan approval, etc.
Your seller will have to do what is in the contract whether they have found their new house or not.
I am in the mortgage industry so if you have other questions just ask.
|
Kookliebird
Member
08-04-2005
| Monday, August 12, 2013 - 4:18 pm
It's all part of the negotiation process during closing. If you want to move in early, your real estate agent will propose a closing date. The closing date is the date that the seller has to be out of the house. If they do not like your proposed closing date, they can counter with a different closing date. Remember, at a minimum, you will want the house to go through the required inspections and make any modifications for anything they find (which will take time). When I sold my dad's house, it was about 5 weeks from acceptance of the offer to the closing date. In that timeframe, we had to fix some plumbing and repair the roof due to the inspections.
Find a good realtor. They will help you immensely.
|
Kitt
Member
09-05-2000
| Monday, August 12, 2013 - 5:11 pm
Ah that's a lot better than I thought. In England, which is the only experience I have, deals are contingent on the next person up the chain being able to move, and sometimes things are delayed so many months that people have to back out. Much better if the date is set in the closing. Thanks.
Yes, we don't need to rush right now (still have 10 months on this rental lease) but I wasn't sure when we would have to start being less picky, and how many months we should allow to be safe that the next person up the chain would leave. We'd rather break the lease here than have to move out of here (bad experiences of previous landlords wanting to move back in!) and not have a new home to go to.
Another question, this time on the subject of realtors. I've read about getting a "Buyer's Agent" when you're buying and not selling. Is this just any old realtor who you choose or do some reators specialise in buying somehow? It's so hard to know which people (realtors, property lawyers, etc.) you need and which are just people who aren't really necessary when you're just buying but websites say you need because they want your money!
|
Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Monday, August 12, 2013 - 6:54 pm
I'm not sure what a "buyers agent" is, but yes, you want to have your own realtor representing your interests. Don't just talk to the realtor selling the house. Have your realtor do the talking for you. If you know an area you like and want to buy in, find the realtors that sell in that area and know the area and contact one about helping you buy. If you know someone who can recommend to you, even better. You need to feel like you trust your realtor and if you don't, find a new one. Good luck. Buying a house is one of the most stressful things I've ever done. When they accepted my offer I cried in panic, not in joy. But 20 years later here I sit happy with my purchase.
|
Christy358
Member
07-10-2007
| Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - 10:03 am
Kitt, Talk to people you know to recommend a realtor. He/She can answer all your questions, take care of everything and make the entire process less stressful and problem free.
I bought my house less than a year ago and my realtor took care of everything.
I did find out it is not like on TV, where you go in and sign and give them a check and then get the key. I had to go sign, then they had to get a wire transfer (did not want a check) and then they recorded everything and on the closing day my realtor brought me my key.
|
Kitt
Member
09-05-2000
| Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - 10:04 am
I'm kind of panicking about it actually happening too, right now it's fun, but as it gets more real I think it's going to be very stressful.
Thanks for your help. My friend knows a few realtors but I have to discretely look them up before I ask her to refer me to them!
|
Kitt
Member
09-05-2000
| Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - 10:06 am
I wondered how that worked, Christy. It's a lot of money to just trust that the check will clear!
|
Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - 9:25 pm
Kitt, I have bought quite a few houses when I moved around for my job. Buyer's agent is somebody who has YOUR best interests in mind and will work to get you something you want and love. They generally don't just try to push you into something to get their commission, at least none of mine ever did. So, yes, you want your own real estate agent, and it is just fine to interview several until you find one you like and who you want to work with. Although, that said, I never interviewed, just usually took a friend's recommendation and always did fine.
And as somebody said upthread, if you know the area or areas you want to look, you can also look for an agent who specializes in that area. That is going to get you the most knoweldgeable agent. Last I knew, buyer's and seller's agents were all the same people. It is just the perspective and ethics that change when your agent switches roles. You could very well select your agent by walking the streets in the neighborhoods where you want to consider buying and picking the agent's name off the For Sale signs. If you keep seeing the same name on the signs, I guarantee that agent is the "expert" in that neighborhood. Cynics might say s/he will attempt to sell you one of his-her own listings, but that is not necessarily so. S/he also knows which are the best buys that the competition is offering.
If you have cash for the down payment and are pre-qualified for a mortgage, you are in an excellent position. You should be able to select a property where acceptance of your offer is NOT contingent upon anything that depends on anybody else. Your buyer's agent will filter out the ones that have unacceptable clauses.
You will be fine. You have excellent instincts, and a great support staff (us), LOL.
|
Kookliebird
Member
08-04-2005
| Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - 9:05 am
When I was selling my dad's house, we met with 3 different realtors deciding who to use. It was very clear which one we could work best with. So, my advice is make a list of your questions, then talk with a few realtors before picking one. In the end, I think you will have a gut feeling as to which realtor you would work best with.
|
Kitt
Member
09-05-2000
| Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - 9:38 am
We've seen a few repeat realtors already when we've gone into open houses, so that will give us an idea of who represents the sort of houses we want in the area we want.
Thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate it as I can see this is going to be very stressful!
|
Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - 11:15 am
Kitt, I don't know if they are doing this as much as they used to in the past, with the banking and real estate bubble bursting, but they will try to get you to buy more house than perhaps you can really afford. So I took whatever $ they gave me. "Oh,you can afford to spend XYZ on a house" and I subtracted out many thousands, tens of thousands, and looked in that price. They are not afraid to make you house poor. When you buy a more expensive house, they usually make a higher fee.
|
Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - 8:38 pm
Kitt, it really doesn't have to be stressful, and you have time with ten months on your lease. You will probably know when you find the "right" one.
|
Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Thursday, August 15, 2013 - 6:01 pm
Ditto what Juju said - when we were looking for our first house (rather than building our current one), we had a BLAST! We looked at as many houses as we could, and even those we decided didn't fit gave us ideas as to what look for in other houses. We were under a much tighter deadline (2 months), but we still enjoyed it thoroughly.
|
Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Thursday, August 15, 2013 - 7:02 pm
I did a lot of research at realtor.com and would then drive the neighborhoods to see what I thought. A lot of homes got eliminated that way, LOL.
|
Kitt
Member
09-05-2000
| Thursday, August 15, 2013 - 7:13 pm
We are quite enjoying the open houses and getting some good ideas, but when it comes down to it there are too many what ifs for me to be comfortable with spending so much money, particularly in this housing climate. I'm having to tell myself (over and again) that it'll be worth it for the stability, even if we end up losing money if/when we have to sell.
|
Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Thursday, August 15, 2013 - 7:25 pm
Kitt, I bought my house so that I wouldn't have to worry about my rent going up every year. Then the real estate market went to hell in a hand basket.
But I don't care, this is my "forever" home, unless I get decrepid and need to have an elevator building, but that is years away and the value will be back by then.
And my rent hasn't gone up in 7 years and I recently got a HARP Refi and dropped my payment $400.
So just be sure you buy a home, and in a neighborhood you will love for many years. That way even if the values change you will be happy.
|
Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Thursday, August 15, 2013 - 7:55 pm
Just take your time, Kitt. I know you are in one of the highest priced real estate markets in the US, indeed the world, and the numbers are very scary. We did NOT buy a house there in 1995 because we could not see spending a quarter of a million dollars on a 70 year old unremodeled two bedroom adjoined house that came with an unevictable renter in the basement! Hahahaha!!! (we were looking to buy in SF itself, don't know if you are) We finally decided that all SF houses came with basement trolls included. And so, we did not buy, and when we left SF a mere five years later, those houses were selling for $750 thousand. It's probably all relative.
And I have come to realize that our time on this side of the grass is very short, and the most important thing you have is your health. And the rest is, meh, not so important. Even if you end up in homeless shelter, if you are in good health, you are still way ahead of the game. JUST kidding. But sort of not. Tend to that bag of protoplasm that carries your soul around, and the other stuff will sort itself out.
Ooooohhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Deep breaths. Good luck. Don't be scared. You have excellent instincts, and I always trust your advice to others here. You will be fine.
|
Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Thursday, August 15, 2013 - 8:19 pm
OH, I didn't realize you were in the bay area so the one thing I can say is be sure to really find the neighborhood you want.
I am in Concord, very close to WC and I looked in Oakland as well, there are some really nice neighborhoods there and the climate is great and you can be centrally located. But it has to work for you.
|
Kitt
Member
09-05-2000
| Friday, August 16, 2013 - 9:28 am
Yes, San Jose. We're basically looking at a >$900,000 purchase  . When we first came to California in 2001 a house near the one we rented was selling for about $475,000 and we laughed and said who would pay that much for that size house... evidently lots of people as it would now sell for at least $800,000.
Juju I was thinking of rolling out the yoga mat yesterday, I could do with some Ohmmmmms. And thank you for your kind words, they made me feel a lot better  , not necessarily about buying a house ;), but about myself.
|
Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Friday, August 16, 2013 - 11:29 am
Oh lord, San Jose is the worst in price, have you looked anywhere in Santa Clara? I lived there for a while and there are some lovely neighborhoods that are between the college and the San Jose border, or maybe those are actually San Jose. I lived off Newhall and was in Santa Clara and across the street it was San Jose.
The prices are probably off the hook, but maybe you would have good luck in some of the older neighborhoods. I will say I never really priced anything when I was down there and it was in the 90's, LOL.
Good luck I am sure you will find the right house for you it just takes some time.
|
Landileigh
Member
07-28-2002
| Friday, August 16, 2013 - 11:47 am
i've lived all over the bay area my entire life. born in Oakland, lived there till 72. Castro valley until 79. Hillsborough until 81. Alamo until 87. Concord (off Monumnet for Dipo!) for a year. Concord (behind Clayton Valley High School) for 6 months. I showed both Concords, because Concord is so large in size the two homes were like in 2 different cities! Napa for 20 years, and now in Vallejo since Dec 2008. I actually live 1.5 miles from Merrysea (I measured it). I would really look around, as there are so many neighborhoods/cities that you have in such a wonderful area. I love living here!
|
Kitt
Member
09-05-2000
| Sunday, August 18, 2013 - 4:15 pm
We're not so keen on Santa Clara, there are pockets of good areas but they're not so convenient, and the convenient areas only have smaller houses for young tech folk. We're hoping for a bit more space, and a newish house (post 1990). A couple of rentals we've been in which were built in the 70s and 80s have taught us that they can need a lot of work...
|
Biscottiii
Member
05-29-2004
| Wednesday, September 04, 2013 - 4:08 am
Ya know, I really don't like this part, both really nice guys. We've had painters on both south side as well as north side. Both scraping & priming those houses, before painting the whole house. When you're listening & watching, it's a PITA but you get to see first hand how they do the job.
I need to get something perhaps paint job done and had the "can we talk this though?" with Kid Sis. She said, save the money (SS kicks in Sept25th) then we'll paint next summer.
Cannot believe that the PAST paint jobs (both north/south) had not done all the primary work in the past. They just slopped on paint (I watched). Feeling better that Kid Sis is taking hold of the rings.
|
Kitt
Member
09-05-2000
| Monday, February 24, 2014 - 5:01 pm
Does anyone live very close to an elementary school, and has an idea of how noisy it is?
The house we are looking at backs onto the houses that face the school playground. I understand there would be the sound of cars in the morning and afternoon when kids are dropped off, but do elementary schools use their fields much for games at the weekend, or anything that would be particularly noisy?
|
|
|
|
