All Encompassing Mortgage and Real Estate Thread

[BradInATX 9,208]

@Wulaw Horn - just wanted to drop a rep to you. I never considered that these types of letters could end up serving to push segregation or discrimination. Never even occurred to me, I just thought they were annoying and extra. I think you were the first to mention it, so thanks for something that made me think. That's interesting.

Has there ever been any pushback against them? Movements to get them banned, etc.?

Edited July 28, 2020 by BradInATX

[bigcigar 1,161]

Just dropping in to say I’ve worked with @UTPhil2006’s team on a couple transactions over the years and have been giving them hell on a third this year - flipping between home search options and refinance for rates for several months. It should be over now, but I definitely appreciate all the hoops the team has jumped through for me.

[UTPhil2006 3,790]

26 minutes ago, bigcigar said:

Just dropping in to say I’ve worked with @UTPhil2006’s team on a couple transactions over the years and have been giving them hell on a third this year - flipping between home search options and refinance for rates for several months. It should be over now, but I definitely appreciate all the hoops the team has jumped through for me.

All good brother.  That's what we're here for.

[mchookem 16,095]

good grief the house directly across the street from us listed a week ago for what i would consider an unbelievable amount and it already has an offer pending 😳

will be watching closely. current owners took almost a year to flip it (with LOTS of downtime throughout), it's obviously high end finishes, but still... the list price was shocking.

had planned to wait a year, see how covid plays out, husband's retirement, along with some other personal/life developments, etc...

but holy shit if that thing sells at asking! crazy

 

Edited July 28, 2020 by mchookem
north-central austin

[UTPhil2006 3,790]

21 minutes ago, mchookem said:

good grief the house directly across the street from us listed a week ago for what i would consider an unbelievable amount and it already has an offer pending 😳

will be watching closely. current owners took almost a year to flip it (with LOTS of downtime throughout), it's obviously high end finishes, but still... the list price was shocking.

had planned to wait a year, see how covid plays out, husband's retirement, along with some other personal/life developments, etc...

but holy shit if that thing sells at asking! crazy

 

Can confirm the wow price of said property.

[Gil Bang 25,865]

2 hours ago, BradInATX said:

@Wulaw Horn - just wanted to drop a rep to you. I never considered that these types of letters could end up serving to push segregation or discrimination. Never even occurred to me, I just thought they were annoying and extra. I think you were the first to mention it, so thanks for something that made me think. That's interesting.

Has there ever been any pushback against them? Movements to get them banned, etc.?

There's a movement alright.  I'm the committee chair, and also the entire committee.

 

Here's one for you guys:  I had a light-skinned, divorced, hispanic woman as a client.   Last name may or may not have been "Candia".    Small condo in a nice San Diego neighborhood.  Multiple offers.  The seller, who may or may not have been named "Colombo" selected my client.  We met him on the final walk through, and he's asking her what part of Italy her family is from.  She tells him that grandpa is from Mexico City.   Fucker about shit his drawers.   "You're not Italian?  Your name sounds Italian". 

 

[Storm the Field 5,270]

Ugh, getting a house ready for listing photos is the suck. Spending pretty much all week de-cluttering, moving stuff into storage and re-arranging rooms. Have guys here doing a bunch of sheetrock repair, painting and landscaping. 

On the bright side, at least our house will look nice for the final ~2-3 months that we live here before moving into the new build. Only took 6 1/2 years!

[gmr548 16,463]

Anecdotal, but we were looking at big houses (4+ bedrooms) with multiple acres and finding that market, as a buyer, to be incredibly difficult. Houses not even spending a weekend on the market before pending, meaning we never even got to go see them. That kind of stuff.
Her entire realty group is seeing evidence of what you said. Big houses are flying off shelves. Everyone is working from home and expecting that to continue after Covid. So even the DINKs want 3+ bedrooms to accomodate an office for each of them. She also said that the suburbs and exurbs like we were looking at are absolutely blowing up for the same reason. If you're working from home and you're not living that hipster downtown life, what's the difference between living 25 and 45 minutes away from the city center? Difference is 45 minutes out you can't see your neighbors taking a piss from your backyard.
We ended up with the absolute perfect house for us (barring disaster over the next two weeks) but got damn it was a tough process. 
On top of that we actually had a really tough time selling our current house because, despite being a huge house /rant

I'm just a peasant renter but this generally vibes with my experience with the rental market as well, professionally and personally. I work in multifamily - Class A and B apartments can be had with major concessions. A good rental house won't last a week. We just signed a lease for a house that had an open house over the weekend to accommodate interest - never seen that from a rental. We had a couple pop up then go off market before we even had a chance to see them.

We ended up going with a 3BR house a little farther from the city/in a more suburban neighborhood than I'd normally want. There's only two of us and I loathe the suburban lifestyle, but my girlfriend was really pushing the space angle. Thinking about us both working from home for the foreseeable future, and the limited appeal of paying to be in the heart of the city when most of the appeal of that is off the table with COVID, it was pretty easy to come around on a place that I normally would've considered way too much house for us. Personally I'm quite confident I'm not going to shift my preferences long term but I do wonder the unprecedented collective shift to remote work will rebalance the market. Or, rather, I wonder to what extent it will.

[gmr548 16,463]

Plot twist: The family we are selling to, who wrote a letter (and sent a photo too! Gasp!) are "browns, blacks, and other undesirables" to use your words. I could give two shits about ethnicity. What I cared about was a family who is going to actually live in the house, I didn't want to sell to an investor or someone who was not going to live there. That's my prerogative as a seller, and you made a pretty big leap to say that the information is used to be exclusionary or was not inclusive or open to POC. It was exclusionary to a flipper/investor, but so what? They can go spend their money somewhere else.  

I don't think the implication was that you did that or would do that. It was that it happens, and as with many other discriminatory elements in this country's housing market, past and present, and especially in Texas/the south, that's a feature, not a bug.

I take issue with the idea that it's limited to Austin. Thinking it doesn't happen in Houston, which is just as segregated (more diverse in terms of racial background, absolutely, but really similarly segregated), or anywhere else for that matter is fantasy.

[Brew 3,044]

7 hours ago, hornian said:

I'm just a simple country lawyer, but what discrimination claim? There's no law (state or federal) that I'm aware of that says a private seller has to sell to a private buyer. 

That's a shitty letter. I wouldn't have responded well to it as a seller either. And it's not anything like the letters I have written. Maybe I'm just a better writer than those people. 

Plot twist: The family we are selling to, who wrote a letter (and sent a photo too! Gasp!) are "browns, blacks, and other undesirables" to use your words. I could give two shits about ethnicity. What I cared about was a family who is going to actually live in the house, I didn't want to sell to an investor or someone who was not going to live there. That's my prerogative as a seller, and you made a pretty big leap to say that the information is used to be exclusionary or was not inclusive or open to POC. It was exclusionary to a flipper/investor, but so what? They can go spend their money somewhere else.  

I think with the Fair Housing Act if you take a lower offer and the higher comparable offer is a protected class, you open yourself up to a discrimination claim. Sale prices are online, so it’s pretty easy to see where the deal ended up. You better have a good reason why the lower offer was a better offer in that scenario.

[Wulaw Horn 18,963]

1 hour ago, gmr548 said:

I don't think the implication was that you did that or would do that. It was that it happens, and as with many other discriminatory elements in this country's housing market, past and present, and especially in Texas/the south, that's a feature, not a bug.

I take issue with the idea that it's limited to Austin. Thinking it doesn't happen in Houston, which is just as segregated (more diverse in terms of racial background, absolutely, but really similarly segregated), or anywhere else for that matter is fantasy.

I’ve worked with a couple hundred borrowers as a lender and a good three thousand as a closing agent. I can just tel you that this whole writing a letter thing, in my experience, isn’t really done on houston. It’s almost always a buyers market down here, so that’s, I’m sure, part of it. It’s certainly not really common. 

[Gil Bang 25,865]

1 hour ago, Wulaw Horn said:

I’ve worked with a couple hundred borrowers as a lender and a good three thousand as a closing agent. I can just tel you that this whole writing a letter thing, in my experience, isn’t really done on houston. It’s almost always a buyers market down here, so that’s, I’m sure, part of it. It’s certainly not really common. 

All due respect, I cannot imagine any scenario where a lender or closer would ever see those letters.  I get them by the bushel, and I've never forwarded one to the lender, escrow, or title officer. 

They happen during the offer process.   They aren't a part of the sales documentation, they are a cover letter that is sent along with the offer.  Ask some of the realtors that you deal with.   You may be surprised to find out that they are indeed common. 

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by Gil Bang

[Wulaw Horn 18,963]

8 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

All due respect, I cannot imagine any scenario where a lender or closer would ever see those letters.  I get them by the bushel, and I've never forwarded one to the lender, escrow, or title officer. 

They happen during the offer process.   They aren't a part of the sales documentation, they are a cover letter that is sent along with the offer.  Ask some of the realtors that you deal with.   You may be surprised to find out that they are indeed common. 

 

I’m pretty involved during the entire prequal process and selecting a home and the like. It’s possible man, but for the 15 or so years I’ve been in Houston in the real estate market about 14.5 of them have been buyers markets. Like, sellers are happy to get an offer, any offer. I seriously don’t think it’s a thing. Whereas I know in Dallas it is from working with a dozen borrowers up there. It actually would come up fairly often. 

[mapplewhite132 309]

I sold a home in Houston last year. I got an offer the first day on the market as well as a letter explaining how this couple had been searching for their first home for a year, and mine was a perfect fit for them. 

I used this gushy letter as leverage and squeezed an extra 2% over list price out of the buyer. I'd have been pissed if my agent didn't give me the letter. 

[BrazilHorn 6,576]

Had someone a couple of streets over put their house up for sale by owner for $2M over the 2019 appraisal. I guess the guy is just saying "Well fuck it, Tesla is coming and a bunch of other Californians, let me put a crazy ass price on my crib ($4M) and see if someone bites".

Will see what happens, as it is an nice house but that is a crazy price for it.

[Wulaw Horn 18,963]

3 hours ago, mapplewhite132 said:

I sold a home in Houston last year. I got an offer the first day on the market as well as a letter explaining how this couple had been searching for their first home for a year, and mine was a perfect fit for them. 

I used this gushy letter as leverage and squeezed an extra 2% over list price out of the buyer. I'd have been pissed if my agent didn't give me the letter. 

What part of town?  I’ve sold 10 houses in the last 18 years and never gotten a letter. All suburbs though, not inside the loop. 

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,780]

On 7/13/2020 at 9:53 PM, Gil Bang said:

that flip...I've never seen a tub INSIDE of a shower enclosure before.  Weird as fuck. 

It's certainly different.  I'm looking to remodel my master bath and have been struggling with a way to enlarge the shower.  Doing something like that might be a solution.  I going to mess around with some designs and see if I like the idea.

[UT_OB1 2,200]

24 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

It's certainly different.  I'm looking to remodel my master bath and have been struggling with a way to enlarge the shower.  Doing something like that might be a solution.  I going to mess around with some designs and see if I like the idea.

I showed my wife that picture. According to her that’s the new trendy thing. 

[mapplewhite132 309]

4 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

What part of town?  I’ve sold 10 houses in the last 18 years and never gotten a letter. All suburbs though, not inside the loop. 

Spring branch

[Murfdogg21 4,412]

On 7/28/2020 at 6:20 PM, Brew said:

I think with the Fair Housing Act if you take a lower offer and the higher comparable offer is a protected class, you open yourself up to a discrimination claim. Sale prices are online, so it’s pretty easy to see where the deal ended up. You better have a good reason why the lower offer was a better offer in that scenario.

Private citizens are not permitted to sell to anyone they want?

[Murfdogg21 4,412]

5 hours ago, UT_OB1 said:

I showed my wife that picture. According to her that’s the new trendy thing. 

Yeah the claim is that people want to shower off immediate after the bath (bathing in their own filth?) so having it the shower means no water on the bathroom floor...or if not used that way then any bathtub splashing won’t get on the bathroom floor. I don’t like it. 

[Wulaw Horn 18,963]

15 minutes ago, Murfdogg21 said:

Private citizens are not permitted to sell to anyone they want?

I imagine it’s kind of like an at will employment situation. You can fire whoever you want for any reason you want as long as its not prohibited. I’m this case I imagine you can sell to who you want as long as its not for a prohibited reason. 
as a practical purpose are they going to be able to prove discrimination against Harry homeowner selling his primary residence every three to seven years?  Not likely. But, if you are a professional and in the business I wouldn’t want to show a pattern of discrimination. 
Personally as a seller I always would break ties with loan type and interest rate. Much more interested in selling to someone on a conventional mortgage with a low interest rate as that demonstrates good credit- as opposed to an fha type with a rate a point above normal market. That kind of deal is a wing and a prayer. 
cash, obviously, is best. 

[Enchubben 5,509]

9 hours ago, mapplewhite132 said:

I sold a home in Houston last year. I got an offer the first day on the market as well as a letter explaining how this couple had been searching for their first home for a year, and mine was a perfect fit for them. 

I used this gushy letter as leverage and squeezed an extra 2% over list price out of the buyer. I'd have been pissed if my agent didn't give me the letter. 

This was my exact same scenario in NW Houston last month. First day, first offer, asking price plus letter. We didn’t get 2% but we didn’t concede anything after inspection.

If anything I used the letter to determine how serious they were, and got confirmation that their current home was sold so contingency would be removed shortly thereafter.

[Gil Bang 25,865]

32 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

I imagine it’s kind of like an at will employment situation. You can fire whoever you want for any reason you want as long as its not prohibited. I’m this case I imagine you can sell to who you want as long as its not for a prohibited reason. 
as a practical purpose are they going to be able to prove discrimination against Harry homeowner selling his primary residence every three to seven years?  Not likely. But, if you are a professional and in the business I wouldn’t want to show a pattern of discrimination. 
Personally as a seller I always would break ties with loan type and interest rate. Much more interested in selling to someone on a conventional mortgage with a low interest rate as that demonstrates good credit- as opposed to an fha type with a rate a point above normal market. That kind of deal is a wing and a prayer. 
cash, obviously, is best. 

I disagree 100%

The low-down FHA types have few, if any, options.  The big swinging dick with all-cash, or a huge down has a ton of options.  They'll tell you to stick it up your ass in a heartbeat.  They ask for repairs or concessions; either meet their terms, or they say 'fuck you" and move on to the next house.

The low-down guy is thrilled to get his offer accepted and will stand on his head to get the house, because he's got nowhere else to go.  

That's my experience.  Your mileage may vary. 

[Wulaw Horn 18,963]

Just now, Gil Bang said:

I disagree 100%

The low-down FHA types have few, if any, options.  The big swinging dick with all-cash, or a huge down has a ton of options.  They'll tell you to stick it up your ass in a heartbeat.  They ask for repairs or concessions; either meet their terms, or they say 'fuck you" and move on to the next house.

The low-down guy is thrilled to get his offer accepted and will stand on his head to get the house, because he's got nowhere else to go.  

That's my experience.  Your mileage may vary. 

Yeah, but the question is- are they gonna qualify?  I agree with you on desire, but the tougher the lending environment the harder to feel real comfortable that the loan is going to happen, for sure. 

[Gil Bang 25,865]

Well, if they aren't qualified (I mean DU qualified) then I don't get in bed with them.  

But let's be honest here.  FHA qualification isn't that tough.    580 credit score?  Seriously?  

If they're in the mid 600's on credit and can show the down payment, what's the risk? 

[Brew 3,044]

1 hour ago, Murfdogg21 said:

Private citizens are not permitted to sell to anyone they want?

If you use a realtor, the Fair Housing Act is applicable in the sale of your personal residence. You are not allowed to discriminate which is the point of the issue with the letters. The letters can sway your opinion and if a protected class is involved, you can have an issue. I don’t know that I have seen one  go that way, but letters are nonexistent in our market.

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2,721]

Our house in Dallas was built in the 70’s and has popcorn ceilings. We’ll be selling it next year and are considering scraping the ceilings. One area does need some Sheetrock repair. If we test for asbestos and it comes up positive that may determine if we scrape them or not.
If it does come up positive isn’t that something that needs to be disclosed?

[Wulaw Horn 18,963]

10 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

Well, if they aren't qualified (I mean DU qualified) then I don't get in bed with them.  

But let's be honest here.  FHA qualification isn't that tough.    580 credit score?  Seriously?  

If they're in the mid 600's on credit and can show the down payment, what's the risk? 

We can get people done at 580 (a few of them) now but in the time of Covid That’s become pretty rare. Even prior to Covid it was a harder slog with shit more likely to go wrong. 
A realtor buddy of mine said it best, probably, that when you are in the business and know all the potential landlines in the process it probably is a benefit of 1) being too smart for your own good and 2) not feeling good/comfortable with letting anyone else control the process, because you know how easy it can be to fuck it up. 

Edited July 30, 2020 by Wulaw Horn

[Wulaw Horn 18,963]

10 hours ago, Brew said:

If you use a realtor, the Fair Housing Act is applicable in the sale of your personal residence. You are not allowed to discriminate which is the point of the issue with the letters. The letters can sway your opinion and if a protected class is involved, you can have an issue. I don’t know that I have seen one  go that way, but letters are nonexistent in our market.

Where is your market? 

[Wulaw Horn 18,963]

36 minutes ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

Our house in Dallas was built in the 70’s and has popcorn ceilings. We’ll be selling it next year and are considering scraping the ceilings. One area does need some Sheetrock repair. If we test for asbestos and it comes up positive that may determine if we scrape them or not.
If it does come up positive isn’t that something that needs to be disclosed?

Almost surely. There’s a standard trec disclosure form online you can check out (4 or 5 pages long) that will show everything you have to disclose. 

[drt 637]

Yeah, just assume it has asbestos and don't test.  Same as lead.

[kmac30 416]

5 years ago we bought our house with a letter. My FIL is well known in the area and we were moving from Austin and people don’t know my name. It got us the house. When we sold our Austin house we got a letter and it made the difference (1st home Indian family). When we bought our current house (2018), wrote a letter (bought from kids of parent owners). This was a little different letter - explaining why we were offering the price we were. I did include my kids growing up in this house, but also told them how much work we would need to do to make it livable.

Houston realtor (mainly deals in memorial area) is all about letters.

[tx 3 putt 76,158]

On 7/14/2020 at 4:07 PM, Storm the Field said:

I"m gonna be listing my place in Garden Oaks in August. Hoping that I have a similar story to share here later this summer. 

if it was me selling, my opening price would be something 90% of the people would consider outrageous 

[Enchubben 5,509]

24 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

if it was me selling, my opening price would be something 90% of the people would consider outrageous 

This.  And do whatever you can to make sure bathroom and kitchens are updated. Finishing materials are hard to come by right now for new builds because of Covid which i think is creating a bit more value for pre-existing move-in ready homes. 

[tx 3 putt 76,158]

If your home sells in ONE DAY !!!! or even ONE WEEK, you left money on the table and whoever priced your home had zero idea what they were doing. 

 

just my non expert opinion 

Edited July 30, 2020 by tx 3 putt

[Wulaw Horn 18,963]

1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

If your home sells in ONE DAY !!!! or even ONE WEEK, you left money on the table and whoever priced your home had zero idea what they were doing. 

 

just my non expert opinion 

This isn’t wrong if your house sold for listing price. 
If you had 28 bids and sold it for 20% over ask then maybe not- they got a ton of eyeballs on it and turned it into a bidding war which might have been the intention. 

[Gil Bang 25,865]

7 hours ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

Our house in Dallas was built in the 70’s and has popcorn ceilings. We’ll be selling it next year and are considering scraping the ceilings. One area does need some Sheetrock repair. If we test for asbestos and it comes up positive that may determine if we scrape them or not.
If it does come up positive isn’t that something that needs to be disclosed?

"Material Facts" need to be disclosed.  Anything that could impact the buyer's decision to buy, and the price they pay is a material fact. m

So, YES!

[tx 3 putt 76,158]

some people need that money asap for their next house, so a one day / week sale works great for them. the couple of homes I've sold i was fortunate that i could wait them out 

[Gil Bang 25,865]

1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

If your home sells in ONE DAY !!!! or even ONE WEEK, you left money on the table and whoever priced your home had zero idea what they were doing. 

 

just my non expert opinion 

I agree that you are a non expert
 

In a hot market, appropriately-priced homes often sell very quickly when marketed correctly.

I've had many listings where I received multiple offers at the 1st open house.   

Here's one recent example:  Priced at $550,000, sold for $565,000.   A week after we closed, the model-match next door listed for $585,000.   Similar condition as my listing (only 2 years old)  . Sat unsold for 30 days, ultimately closed for $560,000.  

What did I tell my seller?  That I recommended pricing it slightly under market to try to generate huge interest and multiple offers.  Put the "coming soon" sign out, and all the internet stuff, and let it marinate for 10 days.  "No showings until 1st open house" on a Saturday.   Packed open house.  Everybody saw the amount of interest that the house was generating, so nobody bothered with lowball offers.  5 offers on day 1, all at, or over asking.   Countered everybody for "best and final".   All offers came up, one came 15 over asking.  That's the one we took (without a stupid fucking letter)

Bottom line is this:  "time" has fuckall to do with it.   The listing agent's job is to bring buyers to the house.  If the house isn't selling, it's either overpriced, or in shitty condition.  So, either fix up the house, or lower the price.  

IDGAF if the house has only been on the market 2 days, if I've had a dozen buyers see the house, and nobody bit, it's overpriced, and all the time in the world isn't going to change that. 

 

Edited July 30, 2020 by Gil Bang

[Wulaw Horn 18,963]

3 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

I agree that you are a non expert
 

In a hot market, appropriately-priced homes often sell very quickly when marketed correctly.

I've had many listings where I received multiple offers at the 1st open house.   

Here's one recent example:  Priced at $550,000, sold for $565,000.   A week after we closed, the model-match next door listed for $585,000.   Similar condition as my listing (only 2 years old)  . Sat unsold for 30 days, ultimately closed for $560,000.  

What did I tell my seller?  That I recommended pricing it slightly under market to try to generate huge interest and multiple offers.  Put the "coming soon" sign out, and all the internet stuff, and let it marinate for 10 days.  "No showings until 1st open house" on a Saturday.   Packed open house.  Everybody saw the amount of interest that the house was generating, so nobody bothered with lowball offers.  5 offers on day 1, all at, or over asking.   Countered everybody for "best and final".   All offers came up, one came 15 over asking.  That's the one we took (without a stupid fucking letter)

Bottom line is this:  "time" has fuckall to do with it.   The listing agent's job is to bring buyers to the house.  If the house isn't selling, it's either overpriced, or in shitty condition.  So, either fix up the house, or lower the price.  

IDGAF if the house has only been on the market 2 days, if I've had a dozen buyers see the house, and nobody bit, it's overpriced, and all the time in the world isn't going to change that. 

 

More words to say what I was trying to about starting a bidding frenzy. 
hey Gil- I heard some people out in California not even going with an asking price but publishing an “expected range”- have you seen that? 

[Gil Bang 25,865]

11 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

More words to say what I was trying to about starting a bidding frenzy. 
hey Gil- I heard some people out in California not even going with an asking price but publishing an “expected range”- have you seen that? 

"Value Range Pricing".

Sure.  Our MLS allows it.

 

"Seller will consider offers between X and Y".  Personally, I'm not a fan.   But, here's what it does accomplish.   The syndication sites like zillow only pick up the lower number.  So, if your price is 499,900-549,900, those folks that search <500,000 will see the listing. 

[Dbeasy 14,953]

I have a house in sugar land I’m willing to sell. The value range is $460k to $1.7m.

[tx 3 putt 76,158]

7 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

I have a house in sugar land I’m willing to sell. The value range is $460k to $1.7m.

How many USB ports ?

[Wulaw Horn 18,963]

1 hour ago, Gil Bang said:

"Value Range Pricing".

Sure.  Our MLS allows it.

 

"Seller will consider offers between X and Y".  Personally, I'm not a fan.   But, here's what it does accomplish.   The syndication sites like zillow only pick up the lower number.  So, if your price is 499,900-549,900, those folks that search <500,000 will see the listing. 

That makes sense. I wondered about that and didn’t get it. 
another question if you will indulge me- how long is your closing cycle running out there in California right now? 

[Gil Bang 25,865]

1 hour ago, Wulaw Horn said:

That makes sense. I wondered about that and didn’t get it. 
another question if you will indulge me- how long is your closing cycle running out there in California right now? 

Put one in escrow 7/1/20.   Initial offer 6/28, dicked around with counters a couple of days. 

Scheduled close today, 7/30.  This is the first time my escrow calendar tracked with the actual calendar (day 1 of escrow 7/1, day 30 of escrow 7/30).  Loan docs were at escrow today.  Buyer couldn't sign today so she's signing tomorrow at 9 AM.  Title rep is waiting at signing, and is couriering (sp?) note to lender and Deed of Trust to title.  Tomorrow being the last day of month, I doubt that they will fund in time to close.   Lender sent CD on Monday 7/27, and docs were dated for today.

So, the county recorder isn't recording walk-ins due to COVID, so basically, whenever title gets the deed and the cash, they are calling the deal "closed".  They somehow efile the deed...how  I don't know, nor do I need to know. 

First time buyer.  740 credit, good income (MRI tech with a large regional healthcare system).  5% CONV, 2.75 interest.  $1400 processing fee, no points.  Purchase price 449,900.

Here's where you Texas boys shit your pants:  977 sf.  2/2 twinhome. Single car garage. Nicest lot in the subdivision at 5,333 with prime elevation.  This was originally a senior  community, and went all-ages in the late 80's.

Wu, I'm happy to PM you the address so you can see it on redfin or something, but not putting any shit on blast on this board publicly.  

[Gil Bang 25,865]

@Wulaw Horn I pm'd the address above to you. Also sending another PM

[Wulaw Horn 18,963]

9 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

@Wulaw Horn I pm'd the address above to you. Also sending another PM

Thanks man. Appreciate the intel. 

[Gil Bang 25,865]

Brief PM exchange with Wulaw, but going back public because people on this thread are interested, I assume.

 

Wulaw just mentioned that he knows how expensive shit is out here.  

Here's the thing...the client mentioned above, her payment is going to be about 2,600.   That's not much more than rent for a similar unit out here. Because,

 

'''

 

And, she's getting the tax benefits of ownership, as well as the "nobody can kick me the fuck out" benefits. 

Edited July 31, 2020 by Gil Bang

[Wulaw Horn 18,963]

8 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

Brief PM exchange with Wulaw, but going back public because people on this thread are interested, I assume.

 

Wulaw just mentioned that he knows how expensive shit is out here.  

Here's the thing...the client mentioned above, her payment is going to be about 2,600.   That's not much more than rent for a similar unit out here. Because,

 

'''

 

And, she's getting the tax benefits of ownership, as well as the "nobody can kick me the fuck out" benefits. 

Also- the taxes out there on real estate are way lower. So a $500,000 house out here will carry a $15000 a year tax bite. My guess is it’s half that out there typically- right?