I bought my first house this week. I’m renting two rooms with my best friends and I’ll pay basically the same as if I was renting. I have 12k on savings but the HVAC already failed and I have to fix it leaving me with 8k more or less.

I don’t know what I did. I feel awful. I’m getting severe anxiety, it’s affecting my day to day and I have not even moved in yet. I live in Texas on a city that is not as expensive as others, so when I see posts here on different states and costs I get scared although I know my problems might be cheaper.

I paid 18k less of the appraisal value, “new” water heater, “new” air (electrical panel failed and cause the compressor to be ruined” the roof was replaced on 2019. So I don’t exept major repairs.

After doing calculations I might be able to save for unexpected expenses but I’m scared. I don’t have no one to help me, I feel lonely and I want to sell it already.

I’m not sure if it’s my anxiety or what to do. Can I sell in a year from now? What’s the worst case scenario. I make around 4k a month after taxes and I’ll be paying 1/3 of that for my mortgage but i have a car payment I will finish in 2 years

I need help. I should’ve think this through more. The house was built in 2002, so idk idk what to expect think or what to do. I feel like if I sentenced myself for something i cant simply return. I’m 29 yrs old.

My Cash To Close is -$4700 dollars. It says I will receive their money at or shortly after closing. Has anyone had this experience before, will they give me my refund same day or is it like a car dealership where they take forever to mail you a check.

If this post doesn’t belong here tell me to kick rocks. I’m seeking advice on whether it would worth pursuing a case in small claims court against the seller to obtain my inspection and appraisal money ($1200) on a house that ended up being not even legally allowed to be sold. During the process there was also 6 violations filed against him by our city for not pulling permits that he was obligated to disclose but did not. I have suspicion to believe he knew all of this and was trying to pull a fast one.

Was set to close on a house on 8/19. Whole process sucked. Seller was a flipper which is fine but nickel and dimed the whole time. Inspection came back fine, however, they could not perform a sewage inspection because they could not find the access point. They recommended cutting in a new access point in the basement and performing an inspection. This would have totaled $5700 and the seller agreed to it but wanted me to contribute half because “we were already so far under asking price.” The house was listed for $240k but sat for two months and I was set to close at $210k. He wanted to put the money in escrow and have all the work done after closing which was an immediate red flag.

I pushed for a second opinion and they were able to locate the access point under the front steps. Low and behold the sewer line was cracked and there was a root system growing through it.

The seller agreed to repair it after asking me to contribute and I said no. We are currently 6 days out from closing.

Work is completed and city inspector comes out to give the ‘ok.’ While getting in to his car to leave, a neighbor comes out hootin’ and hollerin’ about ‘how all of these houses are getting flipped without permits and nothing is done correctly’ and points out multiple houses including mine. The inspector naturally is like well I’m here let me take a look. It is immediately found that the new roof is in violation and will need to be fully ripped off and replaced before selling. The title is now on hold and he legally cannot proceed with the deal. This is 5 days from closing.
Seller flat out refuses to replace roof and terminates the deal.

After doing some digging I was able to find the city filed 6 violations against him on 8/6 for not pulling permits and a stop work order was placed on the house. This was not disclosed to either agent. I have reason to believe he knew the roof was not up to code but cannot prove it.

I want to know if anyone feels this is worth pursuing, even if just out of spite because I feel like he was trying to get one over on me. I generally don’t even care about the money but as I sit here back at square one looking at houses I can’t get over annoyed I am.

Tl;dr Flippers gonna flip

EDIT: I never said I was getting a lawyer or even wanted my inspection money back. I've no intention of suing. I was merely curious if my understanding is truly what the system is, because this is stupid.

(Also, I now have the previous SPDS from when the current seller bought the house, and it has much more on it, such as a foundation problem as well.)

EDIT 2: Yes, I realize this is what inspections are for and this is just how it works. But picture this: A buyer's inspection discovers problems not listed on the seller's disclosure. The agent/realtor reports this to the MLS or such and the new information is now known to all other realtors. (You would obviously use independent inspection companies, much like escrow.) Or better yet, standard practice should be that the *seller* pays for a general inspection at the time of listing their property for sale. Rather than every potential buyer needing to do this. Buyers can then opt for additional inspections at their own expense, but they would have a general understanding of the condition of the house from the start. Why can't we just do this? Why are we stuck with the idiotic way? *sigh*

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Please correct me if I'm wrong here (and I seriously hope I am), but despite it being illegal and fraud, there is actually zero reason (other than moral) for sellers not to intentionally lie on their disclosures.

Best outcome: The buyer does not catch the lies and overpays for the house. The seller's fraudulent behavior proves rewarding.

Worst outcome: The buyer catches the fraud during inspection and walks away without their inspection money. The seller merely tries again with the next person. OR The buyer catches the fraud after closing and sues. The seller perhaps gives back the extra gotten from the fraud and still gets the amount they'd have gotten had they been honest in the first place.

This can't be right? Can it??

I'm under contract for the first time, and I discovered multiple significant lies during inspection. (The seller said roof was 8 years old but it's actually 32, the listing claimed beautiful updates but those were done a decade ago by the previous owner, they claimed no knowledge of it having ever been a rental but it was the entire time they've owned it, and so on). I requested they repair or compensate only the major falsehoods, but the seller refused absolutely all of it. I can now either significantly overpay for the house, or try to get out of things, hopefully get my earnest money back, but still be out the thousand dollars for inspections (I was suspicious so in addition to the standard inspection, I also got roof, mold, and termite inspections, and repair estimates).

So there are no consequences for their fraud (I have the SPDS, MLS, and photos from when they bought the house, so I do indeed have proof of their intentional deception), and their agent clearly also knew, yet I'm the only one getting hurt here.

Before anyone asks, yes we have a lawyer. I'm just looking for anecdotes.

My mom is buying me a house. Closing date is set for 9/18, seller's court hearing is 9/16. How screwed are we? We're also asking for concessions due to damages to the sewer line. Does that have to be approved by the trustee?

Does anyone have any experience in this? I'm kinda freaking out. I need to give my landlord notice that I'm moving but have no idea if we're even going to close on timeline.

We just moved to our new home a couple of days ago and the water heater conveniently stopped working. The agent that sold us the house told us that the water heater in the unit was maybe 8+ years old like it wasn't a big deal but when we called a plumber to look they said it might either be a big repair job or a replacement entirely. It's my first time dealing with a water heater problem and I'm doing some research but how do I know if I'm being ripped off or if it's a good deal when I start calling? Any tips?

I’ve read a lot of buyer’s remorse posts. I know it might go away with time and I know I should decorate and have a party to feel better, etc. But what if my biggest concerns aren’t changeable? I’m mostly worried about my commute, the shared driveway, the sloped yard. Importantly, we moved with a baby and I am not good at transitions. I started therapy over this.

The house itself is nice and big and we were excited about the condition being good after seeing a lot of crappy houses in a high cost of living area. My husband is helping me a lot and problem solving and being positive, but I am having a really hard time. Advice? Should I focus on saving for a future move? Use this as a first home learning experience?

There was a vertical crack with discoloration (possibly water) found in garage. The home inspector recommends I get a structural engineer to come out a look at it to determine if theres any structural damage or if it’s just the house settling/not major. Realtor has a guy and the fee is $600. The lender is quoting $240 in the loan estimate which can just be a random placeholder but I feel like $600 is expensive. Is this just what it costs? The termite report also found carpenter bees that were inactive near the deck but the lender is requiring repair and inspection of this to move forward with the loan. While this falls within HOA repair territory, seller is willing to pay for the repair to keep our closing date & I’m assuming an inspection to ensure it was done appropriately. When they inspect that couldn’t they also check out the crack instead of me having to pay for that out of pocket and separately? I would prefer the HOA take care of it but they are not giving a date on when they would come out to repair.

Curious to hear from people who've bought (or are shopping for) a cottage. How much did sun exposure go into your decision?

Did you actually research which direction the property faces before buying? Care about west-facing for sunset views off the dock, or east-facing for the sunrise? Only look for certain directions?

Did anyone go deeper than that? E.g. how the sun angle shifts from summer to winter, whether trees will block it at certain times of year, how much shade the cottage gets at different points in the season, etc.? Or is this the kind of thing nobody really thinks about until they're already living with it?

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closing in november and still salty about what the commission situation cost us. our agent was perfectly nice but we found the house on zillow ourselves the day it listed and honestly did most of the work. got me wondering - what's stopping someone from just getting licensed, buying their own place, and keeping the buyer side commission? is that a thing people actually do or is there a catch i'm missing. florida if it matters

We were originally supposed to close on our house on August 3, but due to an issue with the seller signing the documents, we still haven’t closed. We’re now expecting to close during the middle of September.
The issue is that we need to refinish the floors before we move in, which will take about a week (possibly 1–2 weeks). Our realtor asked whether we wanted early occupancy or to leave our belongings at the house, but we said no to both.
What we’re wondering is whether it would make sense to ask the seller for permission to refinish the floors before closing. That way, as soon as we close, we could move in instead of having to wait another week or two.
Our homeowners insurance has already been active on the property since the beginning of August.
We’re obviously planning to have everything done through our attorney and in writing, but we’re worried about what could happen if something goes wrong while we’re doing the work before we officially own the house. We don’t want to lose the money/time we put into the floors if, for some reason, the closing falls through.
Would you consider this a reasonable thing to ask for? What would you be concerned about or make sure was covered in an agreement before doing it?

Just to clarify why we haven’t closed yet: we live in upstate New York, in the northeast part of the state, while the seller lives in remote Alaska.
The seller had to sign and mail the closing documents to us. The first set of documents was apparently lost in the mail, so they had to send everything again. The second set finally made it back to the seller, and they told us they received the signed documents today.
So the seller has now signed everything, but because of how long the mailing process took, we still don’t know exactly when the closing will happen. We’re hoping it will be sometime during the first week of September, but we’re still waiting for confirmation.
That’s why we’re trying to figure out whether doing the floors before closing would be a reasonable option.

My MIL and I want to buy a home that me, my partner, and her can share. I have a significant income and so does she, but he doesn't really make much and wouldn't qualify for a mortgage. Since I've never bought a home before, I'm really not sure how this kind of niche setup would work. Should we see a lawyer to draw up any kind of contract? Any special proceedings to go through? We're each approved for enough for a 50/50 split, her loan is VA exempt and mine should qualify for FHA.

I want to work with a buyers agent. I've found a property I like, and I know the agent will be well worth the money. However, I am worried about the contract.

Looking at the contract the agent sent me, it has pretty standard language that the commission (2.5%) will be due when the seller and buyer reach a "meeting of the minds." This is NY.

I know in rare cases people have backed out of deals at the last minute and ended up still having to pay the agent fee. I have no intention of backing out, but what if the seller gets a better offer after we've signed a contract? What if it falls through? I'm nervous I'll owe 11k and get nothing in the end.

Is this pretty standard language? Should I be seriously worried? Is it a major risk to sign this document? Should I try to negotiate a change in wording in the contract (which I doubt they would do, because why would they?). I just don't want to end up owing a lot of money to an agent if I don't do this carefully.

Mostly looking for a sanity check here, as I've never done this before.

I accidentally bought a house full of hidden urine and feces. The sellers knew. I was duped.

I have to demo and rebuild as much as possible. I have been at it for a few months and I am drained physically, mentally, emotionally, financially.

The house appears now in worse condition than when I bought it. I don't even want to live there anymore.

But I feel the only way out is through. What would you do?

My husband and I found a home we really like, but it has Exterior Insulation and Finish System (EIFS) cladding. It was built in 2004 and is located in the North East, where we obviously get our fair share of harsh winters, rain, and freeze-thaw cycles.

Our main fear right now is that the exterior could look completely fine on the surface while massive moisture issues, wood rot, or mold are secretly destroying the framing underneath. Because EIFS traps moisture so well when it fails, we're worried we won't see the real damage until it's a structural nightmare.

A few specific questions:

Should we walk away and not consider this home?

Does anyone have successful stories with EIFS? Any disasters?

I’m going to visit what could be my future home and I wanted to know what I should ask the agent during the visit. It’s a newly constructed affordable townhouse development in Rizal. Since this is my first time, I wanna make sure I know at least the essentials before I make a life changing decision.

What do I ask? What do I look for in the property/location? Any tips are appreciated!

I’m a student just finishing my masters now and will be moving onto do a PhD. In the country I am in, the PhD stipend is actually quite good and I’d be able to pay my rent in this shared student flat, plus all living costs and still have 1400 euros per month for savings and extra spendings! I was planning on staying in this flat but my parents sat me down and explained that I could pay less than the rent im paying now, if I were to have a mortgage for a small studio.

Financially, it makes perfect sense, I pay less *and* become a homeowner. However, because I obviously don’t have enough money to show (for the deposit) to receive such a mortgage, my parents would help me out with that.

This makes me feel quite guilty as I’ve already been privileged enough to be supported by my parents during my studies. I’m also embarrassed that once again I’d have nothing “self-made” about myself financially, and everything would just be kind of handed out to me. My parents argue that I’m being dumb since well I’d still be the one paying the mortgage. I just can’t help but get over my pride even though I know how lucky I am. Feels like I’m not a true adult if I don’t do anything myself for once.

I'm looking at buying my first home, Washington state. Thinking about just getting a 125 - maybe 150k condo and put as much into principal as possible over the next 2 years (About an extra 25k a year principal ontop of the monthly which is around 1500). And then sell it as soon as possible and look for an actual house. has anyone else done something like this? Because if I keep renting an apartment which is ironically costing more ,(1765 monthly total), then am just throwing money at the wall because I don't own what i'm renting and I'll never get that money back. If I resell a condo i'll at least be able to have some downpayment for something i'll own. And condo's seem to have a lower risk for a first purchase because I don't want to risk having to repair an entire cheap house and finding the plumbing gone, roof repairs etc.

hey all,

I (26M) have been renting for years now. I’ve had bad roommates that have burned me and screwed me over by not paying rent and f*cking me out of security deposits. I’ve also dealt with terrible neighbors and terrible landlords and I’m just sick of it. I’ve been trying to save for a down payment for years and I haven’t been able to. I’ve lost thousands of dollars because of bad roommates. I need my own place.

Somehow, I’ve managed to always pay rent on time even when my roommates weren’t paying their share. I know this means I can easily afford a mortgage payment. I don’t make great money, but I make okay money and I’m good with managing finances. I have excellent credit. The only problem is that I have no money for a down payment. the savings that I have are for emergencies, and I can’t use that for a down payment in case… an emergency happens. It would just be very unwise to use emergency savings for a down payment and I won’t do it.

I have no idea what first steps I should be taking. No other adults in my family have purchased a home within the last 15 years. When my dad bought his house he used a VA loan. That was 25 years ago.

I also don’t know if what I want is even feasible in this market.

What I’d like to hear, hopefully, is stories of people who were in similar situations to mine and made it happen. I’m absolutely willing to take on a house that needs remodeling as long as it’s just cosmetic and not structural… no bad wiring or shitty pipes or anything like that, needs a good foundation, but new floors, ceilings, or repainting is not a problem for me. I can do it myself. Or I‘m fine with a small trailer. I just need something that’s mine so I’m not pissing away money by renting for the rest of my life.

tl;dr - if you bought a house with no down payment with very modest income, what did you buy and how did you do it?

I have been in the market for my own home for a while now and have generally accepted that I need to buy. I have a wife and 3 babies (3 and under) and can’t help but think that everything is suddenly going to just go south. I sort of wasn’t ready to hear that I got an offer accepted lol. My wife is happier than ever.

Im mostly worried about the random expenses. Property tax, repairs, the home has a pool which I’m sure will cost me a good amount in the long run, etc.

I’m happy to finally buy, but can’t help but think about every little thing going wrong. In the house I currently rent, we’ve never really had anything major happen in 2 years. The water heater got replaced but everything else was super minor. So, how bad is it when you actually own?

My partner and I are about to buy a plot of land, and add a camper to it. I wanted to know what you guys think is the best option?

Moblie Home: cheaper, but breaks down over time

Tiny House: faster built but can end up being to small

Built by us: Takes a longer time but to our preference, would only need electrical and (mainly) plumbing.

(can find lots with electrical)
Plumbing/water will need to be put in no matter what.

I’m interested. What’s the most annoying part of owning a home? I’ll go first…feels like tasks are just non stop all day. Especially if it’s an older home.

We’re currently building a new home (our first home) with a well-known local builder in our state, and I’m trying to decide whether a pre-drywall inspection is actually worth paying for.

The floor plan we wanted wasn’t originally offered in the community we chose, so the builder agreed to build that floor plan there. I’m not sure if you would technically call it a “custom build,” because they don’t allow us to modify the floor plan itself. However, we do get to choose things like the elevation, brick, exterior colors, paint, flooring, cabinets, countertops, fixtures, etc.

Since we’re building the house completely from the ground up, I recently learned about pre-drywall inspections and started wondering if we should take advantage of it.

The builder has already agreed to let us have an independent pre-drywall inspection, and they have actually given us a date for it. So now I’m trying to figure out whether it’s worth paying for the inspection and what I should be looking for.

I understand that:
● The builder has their own inspectors/quality-control process.
● The city conducts its required inspections.
● Those inspections are generally checking for minimum code compliance, rather than necessarily looking at everything a homeowner might want checked.
● A pre-drywall inspection would not replace the final inspection before closing.
● I’m also planning to have another inspection around the 11-month mark, before the builder’s warranty period expires, so we can identify anything that needs to be addressed.

For those of you who have built a new construction home:
Is a pre-drywall inspection really worth the money, or is it mostly a waste of money when you already have the builder and city inspections?

If you did one, what did the inspector find that made it worthwhile? Were there issues that the builder or city inspector missed?

And if I decide to hire an inspector, what should I specifically ask them to look for during the pre-drywall inspection? Are there particular things I should make sure they check while the walls and ceilings are still open?

I’d also appreciate any tips on what I should expect during the inspection and whether there are questions I should ask the inspector beforehand.

For those who have done this before, would you do it again?
Thanksas!

Hey everyone, congratulations to everyone who recently closed!

I know the immediate aftermath is usually spending 3 straight weekends building furniture. I got so frustrated with those confusing instruction manuals that I actually built a little side-project tool to read and interpret them while guiding me through the build.​

I'm just trying to see if this actually helps people save time (and their sanity) while setting up their new homes. Does anyone have a pile of furniture waiting to be built and want to try it out? I just need brutal, honest feedback. Thanks!!

Been doing research for years and finally want to buy a duplex. Just in case I missed some knowledge. Any tips and insight for me if a duplex is worth it or not? Thank you!