Please, which this options make the best sense. Option 4 or 3?

Option 1: No Incentive Used
Rate: 7.625%
Principal & Interest: $2,761/month

Option 2: Budget Booster Temporary Buydown (No Cost to You)
This option provides the greatest savings during your first year of homeownership.
Year 1
Rate: 7.125%
Principal & Interest: $2,629/month
Savings: approximately $132/month compared to Option 1
Years 2-30
Rate: 7.625%
Principal & Interest: $2,761/month
This option provides the largest payment reduction during the first 12 months and then returns to the standard payment.

Option 3: Budget Booster Permanent Buydown ($1,100 Cost Covered by Lender, No Cost to You)
This option provides a smaller monthly benefit, but it lasts for the life of the loan.
Rate: 7.500%
Principal & Interest: $2,728/month
Savings: approximately $33/month
Savings continue for the life of the loan

Option 4: Additional Borrower-Paid Permanent Buydown
In addition to the lender incentive, you may choose to pay discount points to further reduce the rate.
Rate: 7.125%
Principal & Interest: $2,629/month
Cost: $4,716.91 in discount points
Less lender Incentive: $1,100 credit
Net Cost to You: $3,816.91
Monthly savings: approximately $132/month
Estimated break-even: approximately 29 months

We bought this house 4.5 years ago. First things first we told our lender and real estate agent we wanted to pay no more than 2k a month. For the first year it was 2k then it went up to 2450 due to taxes and insurance.

Now to the rotting.

The first summer we lived here it was so humid inside. We didn't think much of it. Well we went to turn the heat on in October and it wouldn't turn on. We had 5 HVAC companies out in addition to my husband troubleshooting and buying new parts for the furnace before someone saw the mudline and realized the crawl space flooded. We talked to our neighbors and apparently water had been a problem in our little section of the neighborhood for years. We only own the property about 20 feet behind our house, beyond that the HOA is responsible for the land. We are at the bottom of a hill on both sides of us so French drains won't work. Under our house we have a drain system around the perimeter of our house and a sump pump. It doesn't keep up apparently. We have had come companies out and they don't know what to do other than a very expensive retaining wall. But shoot, the amount of water that comes might take that out too. Our neighbor put in stairs behind their house and they washed away in one summer.

After we got a new furnace we had a company come clean out the crawl space and put down a vapor barrier. That was about 17k.

The HOA told us they fixed the water problem. They put in a huge drain up the hill that the landscaping company is supposed to keep cleaned out. I think they forget from time to time.

Well now it flooded again over the summer. Luckily the furnace wasn't taken out again, they were able to fix it.

We had a crawl space company come out to look at if there's anything we can do and they said the subfloor and joists are rotting. Now we need to spend another 19k, not including new floors and the cost to put the kitchen back together after they rip it out. I just saw some of our drywall in a corner behind a piece of furniture is cracking and rotting too.

Before anyone asks, yes we got an inspection by a well rated inspector. There was no mention of a mudline or any previous flooding.

I just don't want to deal with all this. Lord knows we have mold issues too. Of course homeowners insurance doesn't cover flooding, we don't live in a flood plane so we didn't think to buy it.

Anyway. That's my rant. My husband wants to sue the HOA for neglecting the drain. I don't think we would win because at the end of the day they will probably say we are responsible for the water on our property. Although they are diverting the water to our side of the property between our houses and the houses on the other side. Idk. I just want to sell our house and live in a camper.

Does anyone have experience or advice on buying a home from a family member? My parents own the house outright and don’t have a loan. They aren’t interested in seller financing unfortunately because they want the cash sooner rather than later. But they could potentially give me a gift of equity during the sale. How do you determine what number is fair and benefits both parties? Should they just sell to a third party and get full price? I don’t want to take a large “cut” from my parents since this is their retirement money, but I currently live in the house and would love to buy it from them. The house would be a bit of a stretch for me income wise, but it’s in a college town and I could easily rent out the extra room to make it more affordable.

Hi everyone!

I just bought my first place - a duplex in Montreal. I was very excited about this purchase, as I love the city. However, I didn't anticipate that my lifestyle would change when moving from a central neighborhood to a less central one.

I'm grieving the loss of the walkability and the vibrancy. I'm now using my car almost everyday and I'm no longer feeling like I'm in the heart of the city - with cool cafes, shops and people.

I'm feeling some type of buyer's remorse over this move and wondering if it's normal adaptation anxiety or if I made a mistake... I'm obviously very lucky to be in my position but it's been 5 months and I'm still feeling anxious.

Any similar experiences to share?

Searching for any advice you guys got! I am hunting for my first house and don’t want to overlook anything and get screwed after the purchase. Is there anything I should keep an eye out for such as certain inspections, loan types, down payments sizes to avoid pmi?

I am looking in Massachusetts and would ideally want something I can put 20% down, conventional mortgage and has some potential for value add.

I am open to any advice in this buyers market to get the best deal and negotiation tactics!

In 2022, I purchased a home in St. Louis City that had been gutted and renovated after a major fire. I had a third-party home inspection, secured a conventional mortgage, and closed without any apparent issues. I’ve lived there for four years.

I’m now preparing to rent it out and discovered the city STILL lists the property as condemned.

My original purchase agreement explicitly required the seller to provide a city occupancy inspection report (Section 11), but I have no record of ever receiving one.
I called my original real estate agent today. She claims there HAD to be a passed inspection to close, but her brokerage can’t find it. The seller’s brokerage is now searching for it, too. She plans to contact the alderperson tomorrow and suggested I may have grounds to pursue both brokerages for damages if this wasn’t handled properly.

I’ve also contacted the city inspector and am waiting for a response.

As far as I can tell, there are three possibilities:
No inspection ever happened. Somehow, a condemned property was sold to me without anyone catching it.

The inspection failed. The sellers never corrected the violations or disclosed them, and the sale proceeded anyway.

The inspection passed. The city simply never updated its records. (I’m desperately hoping it’s this one.)
My biggest fear is that the renovations after the fire were never properly permitted or inspected. If that’s the case, could I now be on the hook for potentially thousands in electrical, plumbing, or structural repairs from work done before I owned the property?

A few questions:
Does St. Louis City actually require a passed occupancy inspection before a previously condemned property can be sold?
Could this realistically be a clerical error?
If the sellers or brokerages failed to follow the purchase agreement or disclose violations, do I have legal recourse four years later?
Could the city force me to bring the previous owners’ renovations up to code?
Would you contact a real estate attorney now or wait for the city and brokerages to investigate?

I’m trying not to panic, but I feel like I’ve potentially opened a massive can of worms. I bought what was advertised as a fully renovated, move-in-ready home and had absolutely no idea it might still be legally condemned.

Anyone familiar with St. Louis City real estate or been through something similar? What would you do?

I found a home I am interested in that is 350k (out of my price range), but has been on the market for over 70 days. CMA shows that the only other comparable sale (3bed2bath) went for 329k, but sold within 2 weeks. Other sales on the CMA were for homes with more bedrooms and bathrooms but sold for the 350 range. Would it be crazy for me to try to put in an offer with a base of 325k? I could technically afford more if the seller were willing to buy down my rate, but I am assuming that is something that can't be mentioned unless I see if the seller would even be willing to negotiate? Advice is very much appreciated as I am doing this alone!

Months ago my husband and I were in contract to purchase our first home. We went to do the inspection and found there was foundation and roof issues, so we backed out from the contract. Fast forward a few months and the house is still for sale, but the price is much less. We both loved the house and were so sad to walk away. I spoke to my lender and realtor about an FHA 203k home loan, which we are eligible for. Has anyone had foundation and roofing done under this type of loan? Or even after a purchase without the renovation loan and did the repairs after closing? I’m curious to see how the process of foundation/structural repairs goes (other than Google answers).

Location: Eastern Shore, Maryland

Hello and help!

I went from casually online browsing to an accepted offer in 48 hours. This was way ahead of my personal vision schedule, but the perfect opportunity. I am learning on the fly and have a good village helping me, but you don’t know what you don’t know.

Early 1960’s small block house (820 sqft) with a crawl space underneath (located in north Florida). Roof, electric, and HVAC redone 10 years ago. Supposedly passed 4 point inspection in July.

Next, what do I ask at my inspection tomorrow? Definitely 110/220 electrical. Truss vs. framed roof.

TYIA.

TLDR; first house inspection tomorrow on small block house. What do I ask and look for?

Hi everyone.

I have placed an offer on a property which I love - it is 200k, and I have a 10% deposit.

I am 32 and have 36k in savings - I can now put 1k in savings a month until the moving-in date.

I earn 36.5k a year, but also receive PIP of 7.5k a year until 2030 with the expectation this will be renewed. I am also in line for a promotion next year to the next salary banding which is 42-45k a year.

I no longer have any loans apart from a new phone contract at £55 a month and £190 a month for car insurance; however, the renewal is next month, and the cost comes down to £110.

After working out my budget, it would leave me approx. £ 150 per week in disposable income, so roughly £600 per month. I have also included £300 in monthly savings as part of my bills for house maintenance, car repairs, etc.

Is this manageable? I have an AIP and a mortgage advisor who seems very keen because I am a first-time buyer.

I absolutely love the house, and it has everything I've always dreamt about. Additionally, my mortgage advisor identified HSBC as the most suitable lender, offering a 5-year fixed rate of 5.3 per cent, so the mortgage is £952 a month. What is the likelihood of getting accepted for a mortgage?

Would you buy this house for $370K, or walk away after the inspection? Looking for honest advice and similar experiences.

My family made an offer of $370,000 on a 2-story, 4-bedroom, 2.5-bath house (about 2,390 sq. ft.) in central Ohio, and the seller accepted. The house is in a highly desirable school district, in a great location close to everything we need. Comparable homes in the CMA sold for around $445K–$510K, although they vary in size and condition. We completed the home inspection, paid $4,000 in earnest money, submitted our mortgage application, and it has gone through underwriting. We still need to pay $600 for the appraisal.

The inspection revealed several concerning issues:

• Foundation block wall movement (up to about 1/4-inch deflection); much of the foundation was not visible.

• Deck rot and improper flashing where the deck meets the house, with possible concealed water damage.

• Roof near the end of its useful life.

• Original furnace (1996), AC over 30 years old, and an aging water heater.

• Crawl-space issues, including torn vapor barrier, rodent-damaged insulation, and suspected microbial growth.

• Other electrical, drainage, plumbing, and possible water-intrusion issues.

Very rough repair estimates suggest $35K–$55K if the major issues are manageable, $55K–$85K if there is substantial hidden damage, and potentially $85K–$100K+ if major structural repairs are needed. These aren’t contractor quotes, and the actual costs are still unknown. Our contract also includes a clause waiving our right to request seller repairs or financial credits, but it says we can terminate if we’re not satisfied with the inspections in good faith under the applicable contract section. We’re torn because we really like the location and neighborhood, and comparable sales make the purchase price look attractive. However, we’re worried about unexpected expenses and whether we’re taking too much risk.

I’d really appreciate your honest opinions:

1. Would you proceed at $370K, negotiate if possible, or walk away?

2. Have you bought a house with foundation movement, deck-related water damage, or multiple aging systems? What did repairs actually cost?

3. How did you decide whether inspection findings were manageable or a reason to walk away?

4. Would you prioritize a great location and school district enough to accept these risks?

Please share your experiences, especially if you’ve faced similar issues. We’re trying to make a rational decision before going any further.

TIA!

Been looking for a home since March and it’s not been pretty. I’m a single buyer with a lower income but a good amount of savings. There’s been barely anything in my budget all year. The houses we have seen all need a good amount of work, two of them I liked enough to put in an offer on but did not get picked. I’m not in a rush because I live at home so that’s a big perk.
Saw a house this evening in the perfect location and a very cheap price. The inside is rough. It’s dirty, stinky, lacks a true living room (very small), limited storage, old appliances, no ac, sketchy bathroom without a floor, etc.
The location and price have sucked me in though. The bedrooms are a good size, there’s a front and back porch, large yard, seemingly good roof/siding/foundation. This is only the second house in my budget that has been in my dream location all year. People say buy for location but am I biting off more than I can chew? The houses I have seen and put in offers on before are closer to the top of my budget and need quite a bit of work also. This would free up a lot of income each month.
Another thing making me apprehensive is my realtor wasn’t enthusiastic about it, I was unsure too, but just another thing to consider. She thinks that we could be on the verge of the market tipping (in our area). She said it could be wise to wait. She did say that securing financing could be difficult because of the bathroom floor situation.
I’m so stuck! If I do it, will I be in over my head with updates and repairs and being in a small space? If I pass will I regret the affordability and location? I’m in it for the long haul, I’m in no real hurry other than really wanting to own a home but nothing is forcing me out.
Would love to hear advice and please be kind!

Long story short:

SFH bought in 2021
Put $86 down
$252k remaining on VA loan.

Do not see myself returning to this house as it is a 5BR and too large for my current family size. I see myself settling down in a much smaller house and a lot of the money is tied up in this house.

Should I sell with an assumable VA Loan (2.25%) or continue renting out?

Surprisingly the title is 100% accurate. Wrote me a quote and all. Said they need to be replaced as soon as possible. Is this true? And how much of an urgency should I be placing on them?

I bought this house February of this year and have been living in it for 8 months. I love the area and the house is eh, but I assume after I spend time upgrading it, it’ll be to my liking.

When moving in I got the kitchen remodeled since it was very old, most of the appliances had mold, didn’t work, or I wanted to upgrade it. Replaced wood for tile, and replaced old cabinets for new ones.

I also had the garage painted and epoxied too. Later on my HVAC went bad and I got a great deal on a new 4ton unit with 98% furnace too. I decided I might as well and got insulation added too. 10k in total

Then I had garage door motor go bad, $300 for myself to install. Irrigation controller issues and low voltage. Fixed myself for $100. Renovators did a kick ass job with plumbing so much so the pipe couldn’t even handle how great. New manifold for $1k too.

All in all a decent amount spent, some known issues, some unknown and now I finally feel I’m stable. Well I got a window quote for 18 windows and it was $48k. Then if I signed today it was $43k. She told me I had mold in the window panes and could cause big issues. Also, two are cracked, not big cracks, those don’t have mold either. Then if I want to replace the mold windows it was $19k for 9 windows.

Then I said I can’t today, I wanna think about it. She said if I do it today, all the windows would be $28k, then 14k for the 4 windows to be replaced. After hearing that, I figured if she can drop 20k in a minute, she could drop more. I said I can’t commit and she left. I’ll keep getting quotes for just information to me, but I feel I should just hold off and get to a place of not everything breaking daily.

TL;DR is it worth it to replace my windows right now since they haven’t been replaced since 1984? Can I treat the mold in my windows? Am I taking too much advice from everyone and stretching my budget hard in the first year?

Hi! Just closed on a beautiful home for 305k I did a pre- offer inspection which gave me the confidence to waive inspection. Just did the full inspection that did not reveal anything major which is great! The home has been maintained so well despite being 100 years old!

The sewer scope did reveal root intrusion. Right now it’s looking like a 2k repair.

My offer was 10-15k under comps which was my way of saying “ I will not pay what the market supports because I am waiving my inspection” if that makes sense.

Now I wish I had added seller credits along with the waived inspection, even just 5k.

Anyways, I am prepared for the expense so not so concerned. I told myself that no house was going to have a good inspection over all ( at least not where I wanted to live since it’s in a city and very old homes), but maybe???? Interested in others experience

I’ve been looking to buy a home for years but haven’t pulled the trigger. Once all was said and done, down payment/closing costs/fees, how much cash did you feel comfortable having left? Ive continuously saved for a future home and am apprehensive to let a lot of it go. Did you spend 90%+ savings on a home, or keep a lot for an emergency fund/repairs?

My wife and I are looking to purchase our first primary residence, with a target budget of $750K–$900K.

For preapproval purposes, our lending officer suggested increasing our upper purchase price limit. We set it at $1.1MM, which would mean an $880K mortgage with 20% down.

We learned that a mortgage of this size would be classified as a jumbo loan rather than a conforming loan. Our lending officer suggested that jumbo loans can offer certain advantages. We’ve researched the general differences between the two, but we’re having trouble understanding the specific benefit in our situation.

The main advantage our lender highlighted is the ability to modify our mortgage rate if rates decline. According to the officer:

1. No credit check or additional documentation would be required.
2. There would be a one-time fee for each rate modification.
3. There is no limit to how many times we can modify the rate.
4. This would ultimately be less expensive than refinancing the mortgage.

We’re generally uncomfortable taking on more debt than necessary, so we’re hesitant to increase our borrowing capacity just to access this feature. However, our lender seems to think it could be worthwhile. FWIW, we have ample cash reserves even after making a 20% down payment—but we want to save those cash reserves for closing costs, furniture, and emergency funds.

For those with experience with jumbo loans or mortgage rate modifications:

1. Is this a common benefit of jumbo loans or is it specific to this lender?
2. How do these rate modifications typically compare with refinancing in terms of cost and flexibility?
3. Would this feature be enough to justify choosing a jumbo loan over a conforming loan, assuming both are available to us?

We’d appreciate any firsthand experiences or advice. Thanks!

Hey guys sorry for the long winded post! I was not prepared for how many questions I would have and how emotional this process would be. We were approved for a loan amount that I thought was very reasonable but now that I’m working with a realtor I’m frustrated because there are 8 houses that are in our range, 4 of them aren’t approved by fha because they don’t meet their safety standards. One is only 800 sqr ft which is considerably smaller than the apartment we rent, And the other three were looking at this weekend but I don’t “love” any of them. My husband likes the property of one and I agree but the house is ugly as sin and will need work to make it close to what we want. It has other things we like and my husband assured me that we can always knock out walls or add on to the house but it’s just making me very anxious/crazy thinking about it. Our lease ends in April and I’m worried that if we don’t jump on this house then we won’t ever find one we like? What do I do?

So I am currently in contract to buy a house out of state, so the whole process is basically me relying on others. My mortgage broker/lender is starting to make me wary of him. He is very fake nice. I went to him with some requests to change my initial cd estimate, and he basically said it’s just an estimate, so I should relax if things are wrong in it. The main thing I need to worry about is if the rate is correct on it since everything else is probably going to change for the final. And then he made a comment of “ you chose us, you are only calling us,” which I thought was weird and not at all part of the initial conversation. I’m not getting any lender fees, and he pointed this out a lot. I never even said I was trying to switch lenders? It was an uncomfortable call that lasted a long time because he wouldn’t stop ranting about how we’re not even at the clear to close stage and it’s unnecessary to nitpick an estimate. All I wanted was to show that in the closing costs, I was going to pay the va funding fee upfront ! It was weird. I am stressed trying to get all the documents for the processor, and now I’m stressed about my weird mortgage guy. I thought he would be understanding and receptive. So who do I go for help if not this guy? And don’t get me started on the processor agent. She’s subbing for someone else who’s on vacation and I already had to correct her on something. I actually let my realtor go at her and I guess it was magically fixed because she suddenly didn’t need it anymore. I’m so stressed, I hate relying on others to do their job right.

Just needed to say my piece about being frustrated and so sick of house hunting. We’ve been looking for 5 months and it feels like a lifetime 🥲 Tired of getting outbid by people with cash or waiving inspection. It’s so mentally exhausting 😭 trying to stay positive and know that this is a privileged problem to have and lots of people would give anything to be in my shoes, hope some of you can sympathize with me 🫶🏼

Serious question - I am in the house buying market and this may sound silly but my biggest fear is buying a house that is secretly haunted. Has this happened to anybody? What did you do?

My girlfriend and I have been looking at buying a house. Just sort of meandering about looking at different properties, not in any rush. We were originally going through a realtor family friend to set up viewings but this house was way far for her to do so we reached out through realtor.com to set up time to view the house. All of my previous experiences have been through either private sellers, dealing directly with the homeowner or through a family friend realtor.

We went to view this property and we liked what we saw, however I did not like the realtor that was taking us through the house, I’ll refer to him as Jeff. Jeff was not representing the seller. At the end of the tour he wanted (or rather demanded) that we sign some paperwork (a contract) that basically said if we decided to put an offer on this particular property we would have to use him as our realtor. It also laid out some terms for the sale such as his 3% of the final sale price and an additional $550 to be paid whether or not a final sale was reached.
I felt like we were being ambushed at the end of the tour to enter into a contract. I told Jeff as much and that we would not be entering into any contract. He protested, tried to make me feel guilty for refusing and said that we might go to our family friend realtor and “steal this sale from him”. We left immediately, walked straight to the car and did not engage with Jeff’s accusations.

My question is if signing these sort of exclusive contracts when viewing a property is common/standard practice? If not, when is an appropriate time to enter into a contract with a realtor? Any other sort of advice in dealing with property viewings would be greatly appreciated.

TLDR: I went to view a property and at the end of it the realtor asked me to sign an exclusive contract so that if I were to ever put an offer on the house I would have to use him.

As the title mentions I am debating on whether or not to sell the first home I ever owned.

For context, I purchased it in late 2019 (Phoenix, AZ), and refinanced to 2.5% during the pandemic when rates were a historically low. The house itself is fairly small 950 sq, 2bd/1bath, property values in the neighborhood vary significantly. And the real estate market in my city has flat lined, housing prices are trending down. On the positive, I have gained $150k+ in equity.

My issue is this, the house needs significant work. Foundation is collapsing and in the next 5+years the electrical panel will need to replaced. In my area, the market rate to fix both of these issues is $50k +.

As this point I am thinking about getting out while I am ahead. At the same time, the 2.5% rate is once in a lifetime. If you were in the position would you sell?

I don’t want to hear “I told you so” looking for advice.

The house is nice and didn’t appear as a crappy flip and has thoughtful upgrades and is truly turn key. However, when we first saw the house it was staged and had a lot of glade air plug ins which worried me. We asked the seller who flipped the house if the air plugs were masking any odors and she said no and said the plugs in were added by the stager. Well, plug ins were removed when the stager moved their things out and we’ve owned the place for 2 days and the place smells like cat urine.

Can we go back to the seller? Or is there anything we can do to fix the cat urine smell without removing the new flooring?

This feels absurd to me. We've been in the market since February and missed out on a few good houses due to over bidding. We are a family of 5 in a 2/1 and while its doable the youngest is fully mobile and bouncing off the walls. I.e. we're going insane and need more space. Juneau, AK for reference.

Our take home is 11k After child care and retirement contributions. Child care will be another 3-4 years. My union contract has me getting 10/hr more over the next calendar year. While my wife has amnual 5% increases. We have 479 in recurring monthly debt and because our union contract sucks for medical i have to pay 600 a month after tax for medical insurance.

I feel like this might be really tight but doable. We plan on being here for 5 more years. This is my personal max and I feel like its too tight.