Why is buying a house so hard.

OK so massive rant. I am rather riled up tonight.

What in the bloody world is wrong with buying a house in this day and age. This is simple, I have money and the bank is giving me some. I am going to give it you, you give me a house that matches what you put in the MLS.

Not you are going to lie on the sqf of the house and if the extensions are legal. Not that the house has black mold which was covered over with new paint, or massive support damage. Or that I might want the know at the taxes are 2 years behind and you want me to cover it.

The wife and I had been looking for what feels like forever. But found a new home builder with a decent reputation. Cash put down, we are supposed to be 10 months out and now allegedly 15 months due to "unforeseen delays" more then likely 18. IE putting the sale of my house right in the middle of nowhere land and in the middle of my worst time of work. Or sell it on the time we originally planned and have nowhere to live.

So today my wife and I took half days and dug through five more homes of utter crap and found a gem of a house. Absolutely PERFECT, better then anything I could ever build for the cost.

So now we are stuck, buy the most perfect home I think we have ever seen, pray that our house sells immediately (it should in ~3 days according to the realtor we have) and give up on the house that is far behind schedule and dig out another 100K give or take on top of the 250k that we put down on the other home which we can get back due to them being behind schedule. And kick the bank into gear on getting the mortgage loan though (we got pre aproval yesterday)

I have no idea if everything can get done in the right order and in a proper way. I need another drink and someone to just tell me what to do.

Be glad you don't live here in Vancouver BC, Canada. The prices of the houses are so astronomical that a very very large majority of the population have been completely priced out of the market.

As of Dec 1st 2012, here are the average prices of homes.

Detached house - $1,053,902 Attached house (aka townhouse) $545,658 Apartment - $428,825

Here is a link that will make you shake your head http://priceypads.com/7-insanely-priced-vancouver-homes/

Buy the perfect house, you will likely regret it if you don't.

Disclaimer: I have never bought or sold a house and don't have nearly enough money to do so.

friend of mine went through this and after a year of getting dicked around, gave up and went back to renting. There are houses still sitting empty due to forclosures and such, and the banks (and sellers) are just messing around getting them sold and people in them

One house he looked at.. they got there and the realitor told him they were not allowed in the basement.. seems the house needed 50,000(!?!?) dollars in mold removal. My friend traveled an HOUR from his home to see this house and then was told they could not getting into the basement due to mold. He was furious

Wow I always thought the "getting enough money" part was the hardest and everything else was child's play in comparison.

I learn so many new things from your posts

I've bought and sold many homes. I would second EvanB's recommendation -- buy the one you found recently. I kick myself over two I should have bought -- both slightly more than I had budgeted for, but in hindsight would have been incredibly savvy investments.

Get in. Get settled. Dump the stress from the builder who is jerking you around.

If you've found the perfect house, buy it. One in hand is better than two in the bush and all that...

fastbmw wrote: Be glad you don't live here in Vancouver BC, Canada. The prices of the houses are so astronomical that a very very large majority of the population have been completely priced out of the market. As of Dec 1st 2012, here are the average prices of homes. Detached house - $1,053,902 Attached house (aka townhouse) $545,658 Apartment - $428,825 Here is a link that will make you shake your head http://priceypads.com/7-insanely-priced-vancouver-homes/

Its nuts I agree, just bloody crazy.

Bit more of a rant.

350K is just barely above the 30% that I need to put down to avoid PMI here is San Diego and get a discounted rate of 3.5%. Due to some flooring damage this is the cheapest home in the development by almost 500K. Average price is ~2.7 million and climbing. The house next door is I kid you not is 4.2 million US. but they are all PERFECT in layout, they all exceed code requirements and are in the area and my wife loves it. Plus since I travel a ton they have the lowest crime rates in the area.

Again not trying to complain to much but it is terrible for anyone who did not get in early enough to buy a home and hit it big at work or in the market. My crappy little 1940's house has been on the market now 12 hours at almost 650K and we have 7 people scheduled to be here tomorrow according to the email that I just got from the realtor. Neighbor sold his house at 850K in 14 hours with two backup offers. Never even made it on the MLS.

Also banks suck, all those wonderful rules that you see online are utter crap. 42% back end ratios, 10% down loans, its is all crap. We have a front end ratio under 20% but since I cannot use, bonus, income that is not monthly, investment income, my side business selling cars, or stock payouts even if they are yearly its a little bit higher and they freaked out. 31% is what we ended up with and they had to take it all the way up the chain just to get the per-approval letter. Forget about a 80/10/10.

Then they complained about the 159$ a month lease I have on my scion and said the three other cars we had which are completely payed off are not considered assets. Other them our cell phone payment our ONLY bill.

I have not bought a house in almost 7 years so I expected some resistance but not everything and a colonic map.

GameboyRMH wrote: Wow I always thought the "getting enough money" part was the hardest and everything else was child's play in comparison. I learn so many new things from your posts

Getting the money was hard but not impossible but holy living tar the timing and making sure that people are honest are the worst. If you could just I don't know beat them with a tennis racket every time they lied this would be so much easier.

I can't make heads or tails of what your rant is about.

What's the issue? There are NO mortgage issues that would cause you to be delayed for that length of time.

Are there builder issues? Such as the builder is going BK or is it a permit issue on the new home?

Keep in mind that if you are buying a home and your old one isn't sold & closed that you'll have to qualify for both payments because what if your house doesn't sell or you saying it's for sale is a scam to be able to buy the new home and keep the old one for rental property.

And BTW all the steps involved in buying a home are the govt's way of saying they love you. They are all supposed to protect you from something someone else has done wrong in the past.

And just 2 days ago there was another whole level of mortgage fun added to the requirements so loans will be getting tougher and more expensive to get.

ZOO wrote: I've bought and sold many homes. I would second EvanB's recommendation -- buy the one you found recently. I kick myself over two I should have bought -- both slightly more than I had budgeted for, but in hindsight would have been incredibly savvy investments. Get in. Get settled. Dump the stress from the builder who is jerking you around.

I think your right, when the builder offers your deposit back without asking its time to money on.

also the board need multiquote.

The difference in getting a loan to buy a second home 7 years ago and getting a mortgage on that home (which was paid off by then) 3 years ago was dramatic. One was fun, one was a mile deep hassle of paperwork and financial history. Same people, higher income, same bank that we had already paid off the house with once. It was pretty nutty. I don't think I ever want to buy a house again after that.

And yet, We The People keep voting for MORE regulation, not less, to "protect us from the fat cat bankers". What in the hell else did people think it was going to do except make it harder and more expensive to get a loan?

Duke wrote: And yet, We The People keep voting for *MORE* regulation, not less, to "protect us from the fat cat bankers". What in the hell else did people think it was going to do except make it harder and more expensive to get a loan?

We didn't get to vote on the newest legislation to hit, it was all enacted while there was a supermajority and no one could tell them no.

But in years past new rules (as opposed to legislation) were in response to people "working" the system. The rules plugged the holes.

One of the more common scams/schemes is to for someone to tell the lender they are going to sell their home and buy another homestead when they aren't. SO, now you have to be closed on your first home or else we have to qualify you based upon both payments.

I have nothing to add except I'm glad I'm here and not wherever the hell you guys are. We've bought and sold a few homes in the last 5 years and haven't had a single issue or delay. Hope it turns out well for you.

That being said, our brand new home we just moved into cost $80k less than your downpayment if I understand you correctly...

New subdivision in a pseudo-suburb of a small city with essentially zero crime rate...Although I'm in socialist Canada

carguy123 wrote:

Duke wrote: And yet, We The People keep voting for *MORE* regulation, not less, to "protect us from the fat cat bankers". What in the hell else did people think it was going to do except make it harder and more expensive to get a loan?

We didn't get to vote on the newest legislation to hit, it was all enacted while there was a supermajority and no one could tell them no. But in years past new rules (as opposed to legislation) were in response to people "working" the system. The rules plugged the holes. One of the more common scams/schemes is to for someone to tell the lender they are going to sell their home and buy another homestead when they aren't. SO, now you have to be closed on your first home or else we have to qualify you based upon both payments.

Pretty much that is why I am upset, 6 years ago it was a walk in the park. Full doc loan, took about a week to process, we were at 10% back end and they just zinged us along. It took 19 days from finding the house to move-in.

This time pretty much the same situation but nothing but the biggest headache that you have ever seen. We just got another list of rules from the bank, one of them being 6 months of living expenses in cash. Not invested, cash. I have it in the market of course but if I have a extra 50K its in the market for a reason. I don't need the warm and fuzziness of it being in a savings account making 0.5% so I can make a bank feel safe.

All in all it is like the world finally decided to fix the holes and in doing so they made it so ornus that no one can have a mortgage. Even those that used to qualify under the most stringent rules.

Worst part of all no real way around the system and the house we like has 4 offers on it today and two are in cash but ~15K lower then ours. If it was me I would take the cash offer.

I swear I am going to take the extra cash I have sitting around and just flat out buy 50-60% of what is left of what I owe on my house and buy toys when I get bored.

The 6 months reserves is because of it, or your present home being counted as investment property and the reserves can be in stocks, bonds, investments, cash or a bank account.

Sounds to me like you are working with one of the Too Big To Fail Banks. RUN!!!!!!!!!

Do what I did and get the hell out of Vancouver.

I found a nice house in Langley, built in the 1970's with a 12 x 24 attached garage and a 24 x 24 detached shop for 475,000

Not cheap by any means but at least I own the land it's on, not like a townhouse.

I can't understand why anyone would buy a new townhouse at 500,000 when they can get a real house with no bloody strata or HOA and not share a wall with your neighbour.

Prices are still goofy but some of the buyers are downright nuts.

Shawn

fastbmw wrote: Be glad you don't live here in Vancouver BC, Canada.

In reply to doc_speeder:

Yeah, but you have to live in Winnipeg or worse..

In reply to Trans_Maro:

Hell no. I would NOT live in Winnipeg...I'm a good long day's drive from Winnipeg. Think west of Winnipeg, but east of you!

carguy123 wrote: The 6 months reserves is because of it, or your present home being counted as investment property and the reserves can be in stocks, bonds, investments, cash or a bank account. Sounds to me like you are working with one of the Too Big To Fail Banks. RUN!!!!!!!!!

Yep, I can almost bet you can guess who I am dealing with. Been talking to a credit union on the side and they say they can match the rate.

I am going to push them on the investments being as good as cash to cover overages I don't want to take a tax hit, especially this year.

Current home should be under contract when we sign so they tell me they are not using that in the evaluation. More then likely they are.

Still no word on the house yet.

Sounds like BofA to me.

Go to a real mortgage company, and you'll still have the regulations to contend with, but you'll have people working with you instead of against you. CU's can be OK, but it's a real hit & miss thing. And what makes a CU better than a bank isn't that it's a CU, no it's that they operate more closely to the way a mortgage company does.

You'll find it's nice to work with a company that isn't a glorified call center and with whom you'll have the same people you can talk to over and over again plus have people that work your loan from start to finish and don't have to get up to speed every time you call.

And until your other house closes they have to take it into consideration. The fact they want 6 months reserves says they are taking it into consideration.

My bank pulled the 6-months reserves thing on me since we were still putting the finishing touches on the old house when we bought the new one. The sad thing is that both mortgages added together were less than what we would qualify for as one mortgage. Both payments together did not stress us in the least financially. Still had to get an appraisal on the old house, have 6-months cash, etc. What a pain. Thankfully here all we needed was 20% down to avoid PMI so we were able to put the 20% down and still have 6 months reserves.

The old house sold last March, it's been a wonderful year. :-)

Good luck, man. Things will work out.

BofA is trying to get out of the mortgage business, since their $40 billion loss with Countrywide.

I suggest assisting them.

For those pricetags, Id' be getting a pilot's license and a plane to commute in, and live wherever the heck I wanted to.

Planes are much more grassroots than cars these days anyway.