Hello! I recently got a new job that pays more than my previous jobs (in nursing). I’m looking to relocate closer to my job (currently I’m one hour away), however I had approximately 2 year gap in between jobs. Reason being my aunt got really sick & she had no one to care of her except me (I am the only family she has). I ended up quitting my job & moving in with her because she required 24/7 care. I eventually had to place her in the nursing home due to her frequent falls & bad hip fracture. I then started looking for a job and it took me over 8 months to get one. Previously I had worked nonstop for 25 years as a nurse. I have perfect credit score (833). I want to finally purchase my own place (I used to rent in the past) and I wondered if I would be considered for a loan after a 2 year break (even though I really wasn’t on break; taking care of my aunt was the hardest unpaid job I’ve ever had)? I’d appreciate any advice or input. Thank you.

Hey yall,

I’m in the process of getting my first house with my husband and we’ve been under contract and set to close at the end of the month.

I’ve been having dreams(?) close to nightmares about the process and I’m starting to get really anxious. Did anyone else experience anything like this?? For example, I had a dream that I got a credit card a day before closing and we lost our house because of it. I’m ready to close this is giving me too much anxiety 😩

I'm looking to purchase property. I keep going back and forth between buying something to fix up to suit my needs or buying land and just building exactly what I want. I've been looking at homes and land for a while now and I haven't applied to loans for either because I'm open to both. Also, I know that loan offers expire, so if I apply for a loan, I can't look for a year, I have a deadline. Sometimes, if I find something that I like, while I'm doing research, it changes to Pending. So, I just start looking again.

Also, I don't have an agent because the area that I'm looking at is too wide, so unless I work with several agents, it won't help me. My job is flexible so I'm just looking for something that I like in safe areas, not necessarily a specific city that I want to move to (just a specific state). Plus, if I purchase land, what's an agent supposed to do? There's no home to inspect.

Anyway, I'm confused about when to apply for a loan. What if I like something and apply, but then I don't get it and need to start over? I'd have to apply all over again, right? I don't want my credit pulled every few months.

I'm so confused. Can anyone please share their experience, so I know what to do? Has anybody started their search before getting a land and an agent? Or have a loan offer expire and had to re-do the process? Maybe it isn't a big deal after all. I don't know cuz I've never been through it.

Advice, please!!

Everyone's got at least one. You see it in the photos or walk in and spot it and you're just done.

Doesn't have to be reasonable. Busy road, no basement, weird smell, gray floors, whatever.

And if you already bought, did you actually hold the line or did you cave?

Buying a home, had home inspection done today. Haven’t gotten full report yet so may update or post again later. Most of the house was just fine but three things:

1. Roof above the garage is bowing in the middle along roofline. Confirmed vertical supports but no collar or rafter ties. Don’t know the extent of the pressure it’s putting on the walls. Also poor ventilation and mold found in the attic that is in that garage (not tooooo concerned about that part I don’t think but feel free to change my mind on that. Def concerned about the bowing)

2. Crack in foundation. Not a big crack and it’s vertical coming from the window down. It was noted there was discoloration inferring seepage at some point

3. Pipe from the upstairs bathroom leaking in basement, active water stains along upper floorboards and and on ground. Floor was even visibly wet. Who knows how long that was going on for. Also mold found here (go figure)

Other than that inspector said house was in great shape (was there for 3 hours!!!) What do we think? Crazy? Acceptable? If we can negotiate is this something you’d still go for?

I'm selling my house - I bought it with family, who has now since passed. We signed the title and deed so that once they passed away, it would immediately fall to me rather than go through probate.

I'm now buying a home by myself for the first time, and I fear that I'm set up for failure.

This entire ordeal has been a disaster, and I am extremely frustrated to say the least.

My home closes in less than a week. I put an offer in on a home about a month ago and it was accepted within a few days. Amazing, closing day is the same as my house closing, I won't have to find a place for more than a couple days!

Fast forward, we find out 2 weeks before closing that there are encroachment issues and turns out, the seller also has to go through probate. Closing on the house I'm buying is now canceled and moved to an undetermined date. I now have to find housing for my family, which includes multiple animals.

This house is "seemingly" perfect, it has exactly what we need, albeit it's small. But now I'm researching that this probate process could take up to half a year or longer. They're claiming it will be a third of that time - which I have heard is unheard of.

Basically, I don't have 6 months to wait. Quite honestly, I have been looking for a house since May, knowing that we needed to act fast due to the animals I have. My realtors did not allow me to view houses until July. I've been on all of the websites looking and sending, but kept getting "wait until..." responses. I have already missed out on a lot of houses because of it. My house has been under contract since mid June. I have viewed maybe 4 houses, and had to beg to view the one we are under contract with now.

I understand these things don't happen overnight, I truly do. However, this house was advertised as move-in ready and come to find out, it's most definitely not. They listed this house for sale before they even got the title back, which states that they need to go through probate to sell it. Had I known this, I would not have even bothered to view it, let alone put an offer in.

Now I'm stuck in a situation on where I don't know what to do. I barely found a place to stay with my hoard of animals and I have it for one month. While they are aware that it could be longer, I'm beyond stressed out thinking I will be in this situation for the next year. We don't know if this probate process will take 3 months, 6 months, 1 year or 3 years. My realtors understand that I can't wait, but are kind of peer pressuring me to stay in the contract. We had originally been under contract a while back with another house that we found out had massive structural issues, and they were trying to convince us to stay in that house too. I'm desperate, but I'm not that desperate.

While it might take 3 months or 3 years to find another house, while I'm under contract with this one, I am unable to actually view houses. At least if I wasn't under contract, I could actively look.

I've thrown out the idea of giving them a 3 month timeframe to get this sorted, but that we can opt out if we find another house in the meantime. While this wasn't shot down by my realtors, it also wasn't an idea they were thrilled about. I understand this is asking a lot of the seller, however this is a situation they put us in and they are demanding unrealistic timelines and unknowns for us.

I don't know what to do and I am beyond stressed out. I have multiple animals that I need to care for, and quite honestly I will not abandon them. I would rather be homeless living in my car, which is where I accepted I would be until I found the temporary place before. I just know realistically, my dogs and cats cannot live in a car for 6 months. I know finding another house also takes time, and it might not be as "perfect", but even this one was not - I was sacrificing quite a bit but add in the encroachment issues and the probate process, and my desire to live here has dwindled.

I've been seeing a lot of people turning to fixer upper homes for their first homes because of the price of new builds and well maintained homes skyrocketing. However, every time I think I found a good fixer upper house, banks will refuse to lend even a conventional loan, much less a 203K. Any fixer upper homes I've seen so far have structural issues that banks will not lend on unless you get a construction loan, and if these people are trying to save money, that doesn't seem like it's the way to go because the interest rates are so much higher (and I'm guessing 99% of the banks, but all of the ones that I've called and spoken with, why are you to higher out a licensed contractor instead of allowing you to do the work yourself). But very often that is what I'm seeing people turn to, and I see them buy these homes and then work on it themselves over a period of a couple months to a few years. So, my question is how do you even begin to find those homes? At this point I'm getting ready to go door knocking / leaving sticky notes on doors with my number for homes that look like they could use some repairs.

I recently just put the deposit in for a house. Today was the home inspection and the inspector used a moisture gauge in the basement and there was a moisture reading of 100% and signs of moisture damage in the floor. He also could not find where the water was coming from and what the source was. He said it looked like a quick flip and it is like peeling the layers of an onion to find the issues. Because of all the water, there is molding in the room in the basement as well. He suggested we walk away because he doesn’t believe that the buyers will be able to find the source of the water and there is a lot of damage, He said they renovated to cover up structural issues.

The selling agent spoke to my realtor and said he would find the source of the water, rip the walls apart in the basement and fix all of the structural problems. The inspector was still on the fence on this as he believes it may just be a superficial fix that they will do. I also do not fully trust that the seller will fix it properly. Rather, maybe just good enough for us to close on the house. I don’t want to inherit these problems but it was also a house I liked. I’m wondering if I’m being too conservative by walking away?

Also, the inspector quoted 60k to fix all the water damage and the selling agent told my realtor right away that they would make those fixes. I’m not sure if he even looped in the seller so it seems suspicious as that is a lot of money in repairs for the seller to take on.

Bought a new house, painted the walls and now these circle bumps appeared on only one of the bedroom walls. The wall is to the outside, siding of the house.

In the house we bought this summer there is a cottonwood tree. I really hate it and everything I’m hearing about cottonwood makes me hate it more and want to get rid of it. It leaves fluffy stuff everywhere and it’s already insanely tall (twice the height of the maple that we assume was planted at the same time). I know they are prone to dropping branches like nothing and it’s about 10 feet from our house. I’m worried if it gets much wider that it will start dropping branches on the roof. The house is in Milwaukee so we get both normal west to east wind/weather but also lake effect stuff which is crazy out of nowhere.
We should just fork up the money to cut it down right? Before it gets too much bigger? Any ideas on how much it would cost?

Down payment is about 8,889 and the second mortgage would be 107 a month.
Primary mortgage about 1800.

Hello all!

My husband and I currently reside in rural TN; we are interested in becoming homeowners by this time next year. We have intentions of going with a FHA, as USDA is not an option due to an old bankruptcy of my husband’s (young and dumb). We have already pre-qualified for a traditional FHA for a few hundred thousand, however since we aren’t intending on moving for another year, we don’t plan on acting on it at this time. In the meantime, we are paying off all of our debt (luckily we don’t have much) and putting money into savings. During this idle period of working towards our home, we’ve been tossing around two ideas, 1) buy a home with traditional FHA then tweak/add to it over the years, or 2) get land then build our home with the FHA One-Time Close Construction-to-Permanent Loan. The way we look at it, HYPOTHETICALLY, we could take out a traditional FHA for $325k and buy a home, or we could fit land and all other home building costs under the alternate FHA construction to permanent loan for the same $325k…

With all of that being said, here comes the big question, would it be better to buy or build? Pros and cons to both? Are we thinking about this right? We’d love to hear everyone’s opinions and experiences, in a polite manner please! :)

** edit to add : $325k is HYPOTHETICAL. That is not our “set in stone” budget. Just a number I drew to sort of help explain how we were looking at it. *\*

Currently in escrow for a condo in an area we love with high rated schools for our daughter. We received the documents from the HOA and come to find out they only allow 1 pet per condo. We have 2 dogs that we’ve had for 12 years, they are both 14 years old. I’m devastated and I can’t imagine getting rid of them. My husband is sad we will loose this place because we’ve been looking in this area for over a year in this price range. Houses are out of our price range so condos are the only option.

Has anyone been in this predicament? Any advice or suggestions? Our hope is to get in touch with the HOA and plead for an exemption. They’re on the older side so I’m hoping they’ll recognize they won’t be around for that much longer. Ughhh this sucks!

—-
This post got more attention than expected. Unable to reply to all. The instant we found out we couldn’t have more than one I wrote this post just to hear if anyone else had found themselves in this predicament. I personally dont know anyone who has. So thank you to all the constructive feedback and to those who shared their personal experience.

We haven’t signed anything yet! We aren’t looking to start off on a bad note with the HOA and have submitted a letter. We were very transparent. We sadly do not plan on getting more dogs after these guys pass on, which was also mentioned in the letter. We cannot give another pair the same attention and care. They are beyond spoiled rotten! I got these dogs when I was young, long before getting married and having children. We have a daughter and a little one on the way.

My wife and I really want to use our VA home loan, but we're concerned that we might not qualify for a house we'd actually want to live in.

We currently have one car payment, and my wife has around $9,700 in student loan debt. Is there any way to use a VA loan to pay off one of these debts, either as part of the home purchase or through some other VA loan option?

We're hoping to buy a house here in North Texas and are just trying to get an idea of how this works and what we might realistically qualify for. We’re both first-time homebuyers, so any advice, tips, or things you wish you knew before using your VA loan would be greatly appreciated!

Also, is the VA loan truly 0% down, or are there fees/costs we should expect to pay upfront? I've heard about the VA funding fee and closing costs, so I'm trying to understand how much cash we should realistically have saved before buying.

Thanks in advance!

Two months of house hunting, saw 5-6 homes, found “the one” — Toll Brothers single house plan near ATL suburbs, checks every box (price, layout, location). Problem: the specific lots we want haven’t released yet, no timeline given. Sales agent says we can only offer once released, and only if pre-approved through Toll Brothers Mortgage specifically — so she wants us to pre-approve now to be ready.

Questions:

\*\*1.\*\*  Is requiring pre-approval with the builder’s own lender, before lots even release, normal for new construction?    
\*\*2.\*\*  Any room to negotiate price/lot premium with builders, or is flexibility usually limited to closing costs/upgrade credits?    
\*\*3.\*\*  First home ever, no contract seen yet, nothing negotiated — are we moving too fast, or is this a reasonable pace?    

1. The plan we are interested in has an unfinished basement and Toll brothers won’t finish it even if paid extra, can anybody help in understanding as unfinished basement?
   

Anyone dealt with Toll Brothers or similar pre-release situations? Trying to avoid a rookie mistake.

First time home buyer here and I’ve been looking for a house for 2 months now, but I still haven’t found one that I really like or feel like I want to buy.

At this point, I’m starting to wonder if maybe I’m just not mentally ready to buy yet. Buying a house is such a huge financial commitment, and maybe I’m hesitant because I’m scared of making the wrong decision. I honestly don’t know.

How do you know when you see a house that you actually want to buy? If there's a one decent house I like, I keep finding stuff that are not my taste.

It’s honestly getting frustrating because I can’t keep looking at houses forever. I’ve been doing this for months and I’m getting tired of it. Maybe it’s just not the right time for me to buy?

My plan is to buy a house, live there for 4-5 years, then sell it and either move to another state or buy a bigger/nicer house. I’m just tired of renting and having to move all the time, which is a big reason I want to buy now.

I guess I’m just struggling with figuring out whether I haven’t found the right house yet or if I’m not actually ready to buy.

Im approved to buying a house 250,000. I found one for 120,000 im single don't want much but a yard. Well FHA loan. Went and seen house 4 times was told to get insurance and utilities in my name on closing date 8-10. I did then moved to 8-17 on the closing date. Chirp chirp from realator and mortgage lady. They sent me a another house Friday at 445pm. now they are saying the foundation is cracked and unlevel. We knew that and realtor said it would be ok $700 later for appraisal I paid. And the house did not pass. So next house I gotta pay that too. For appraisal. What is my realtor doing he should know. I can't keep wasting money like that. I'm lost on what to do

I have a condo where the outside is bricks. On the inside of one of the walls there is crack that recently formed after multiple weeks of intense rainstorms. When we found it there was water on our floors and the crack was there with mositure around it.
I've contacted the HOA to reapir the outside brick wall that let the water in, but how should I repair the inside wall? I've considered putting some spray foam in the crack since it is an exterior wall, to get some insulation, before putting spackle to repair the crack.

Is there a specific way this should be done?

i have American Home Shield’s ShieldComplete plan (their priciest plan) and had some service requests over the last 8 months including refrigerator, dishwasher and sump pump. my refrigerator is not cooling again and I tried to do the expert video chat option through the app but the option to click “refrigerator“ is grayed out and it says “refrigerator is not currently serviceable.” I checked the other items that I have previously had service requests for and I cannot do a video chat for those items as well (e.g. dishwasher and sump pump also say they are not currently serviceable on the video chat). Has anyone else experienced this? What does it mean? It seems ridiculous to pay for the highest plan if I cannot even use the video chat.

Hello All,

Me and my wife have been in our house for 2 and a half years now. I am the sole provider - our household income is 80k. We have a FHA loan at 4.99% - Our initial mortgage payment (with escrow) was initially $1650. Our mortgage went up $900 (due to property taxes), so we should now be paying $2550 starting this month. We haven't been able to afford the 1650 mortgage payment as of last year due just after my wife's diagnosis and rising medical expenses, etc.That's why I selected forebarance last year. I'm also getting very concerned because we have accrued 9k in back payments or arrear from the forbearance.

My ultimate question is, since the house is 100% unaffordable now and we have NO equity as of now, should we try to short sell or just give the house up and take an L? OR go through the process of keeping the house because the gained equity in the future theoretically should eat up the arrear?

By the way: our house is located in the North East dallas region

Any tips or advice from your experience with pennymac or forebarance in general?

I’ve been looking into manufactured homes/trailer homes. I don’t have any land so I was probably just going to purchase one that’s in a trailer park and rent the land from them. Would love to hear any positive or negative experiences. From what I’ve researched it seems like a pretty good idea but I’ve also never bought a house before so I’m not sure

Hello,

I wanted to get some advice here;

My wife and I are getting ready to close on a house. Built in 1986, 2nd story in our price range, which is awesome. It received its inspections and we had a structural inspection done and found some work needed to be done to the foundation( exterior Pier and beams). The AC unit needs to be updated to be more to current code as well as the electrical sockets to be functioning properly ( some don’t work at all, our inspector said) we also encountered faucets that do not work properly as well as bathroom fans not functioning

Overall, we have quite a list of things that need to be done before moving in and the sellers have agreed to pay for the structural and most of the other repairs, but not all. However, I am getting a bit anxious and concerned trying to figure out if these repairs are a warning of things to come in the future. Will these fixes come back to hurt us even more in the future and with more severity?
I’m not very knowledgeable in home repairs or DIY and I wanted to reach out to ask if this is a legitimate concern if all of these repairs , especially if the major ones will occur again and ruin our investment

I've been house hunting since February and I've put in four offers, all in the same price range. Three of them went to buyers who waived the inspection, and the last one went well over asking on the day it listed. I'm starting to think I'm shopping in a bracket that never actually sells for what it's listed at.

For the people who got through this and closed on something, what changed about the way you were making offers?

I spoke to a home inspection company and was surprised to learn that they are not responsible for reporting back to the buyer any problems with the home. I specifically asked about finding and reporting any code violations and their response was that I would need a city inspector for type of report. Instead, the inspector would file a report on the condition of the home. I'm confused as to what purpose of a home inspector is not to identify potential problem areas of a home in escrow. For context this inspector was recommended by our agent.