Home Improvements

[SD]

Any home owners here? I'm in the market to buy a house. Probably in the $200,000-$250,000 range in a Philly suburb (Bensalem, Langhorne, Warminster etc.). Any first time home buying advice. I can use the VA home loan.

[ice grillin you]

theres nothing much to say....its pretty straight forward...except I would say to look at lots of properties....no matter how much you love a place there almost always is a better place out there

[ice grillin you]

one other thing....look into a 15 year loan....the difference in the payment isnt that much....best thing ive ever done

[SD]

I'm on trulia and zillow. I know every person/home is different, but how much do sellers lesson their price? I see a house in Bensalem for $235,000 that's nice, if I offered $220,000 is that reasonable or would I be laughed at?

[ice grillin you]

hard to answer because every local market is different...look and see what like houses in the same area have sold for

[Diomedes]

Who gives a farg if they laugh at your offer anyway?  farg 'em.  It's business.

[Sgt PSN]

I'm on trulia and zillow. I know every person/home is different, but how much do sellers lesson their price? I see a house in Bensalem for $235,000 that's nice, if I offered $220,000 is that reasonable or would I be laughed at?

Never used Trulia, but I know zillow is great, but also wildly inaccurate at times. Realtor.com also has its flaws and lacks info about the properties.

Villagerrealty.com has the most info, imo. If I find a place on zillow or Realtor.com, I'll plug the mls into villagers website and it pulls up a pretty comprehensive listing.....sqft of every room, tax info, flood zone, property history, etc. Print the listing and you're good to go.

As for your offer, that depends on how long the home has been on the market, if the owners still occupy it, and what their financial situation is.  You'll probably never know their money situation, but you do know how long they've had it listed and if it's being lived in our not.

The longer is been on the market, the better for you. If it's empty, that means the owners are now likely carrying 2 mortgages and want to sell quickly. That's also good for you.

If the house you're looking at is new to the market, then your offer is more likely to get rejected. If you're close to what they're willing to accept, they may come back with a counter offer.

I think a good rule of thumb is to immediately knock at least 5k of the price and then deduct an additional 500-1000 for every month the home had been on the market over 2-3 months. 

Even if they reject your bid without a counter offer, you can always make additional offers.

Some tips:

As long as you aren't in an absolute rush to buy, plan on taking a month or 2 to look. I'm in my 3rd month but I'm not in a major rush, either.

Unless you build a house to your own specs, you will likely not find a "perfect" home and will want/need to spend a little money on making changes.... like wall colors, flooring, kitchen appliances, add a deck, finish the basement, etc.  I've bought 3 houses over the years and my preference is to spend about $10-15k less on the home than what my actual ceiling is so that I have a few extra bucks to put into the home and make it what I actually want.

Take lots of notes and pictures of each house. If you look at 3 or more in a day, you'll stay getting the houses mixed up. Make a list of pros and cons for each house and prioritize them. Go for a 2nd look on any house you are really interested in and take an impartial friend or relative with you who will point out flaws you either missed our didn't want to see in the 1st place.

Ask about the condition of plumbing, septic, roof, heating & cooling units.

Remember that paint and flooring are easy and cheap to modify/replace so don't let the shag carpet or wall paneling scare you off.

If you see a place that you really like, but say you want to gut a bathroom and start over, get at least 2 or 3 estimates before making an offer. 

Look at foreclosures and short sales if you aren't in a rush.

Most importantly is if you see a place you really like, but don't get it because you were being diligent and another buyer swooped in, don't worry about it. There are thousands of homes on the market and the one you missed out on isn't going to be significantly better or worse than any of them.

Let me know how it goes with the VA loan. I'm not entirely sure how that process works in comparison to a traditional lender, but I'm also looking at homes right now and would like to go with the VA if they meet my needs.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Good advice there.

HBionic can probably offer up some industry insider tips too.

I'm about a 12-18mo from beginning to get serious about building one. So I've been reading up on all this stuff too. Agree with Havas on the 15yr note too...

[SD]

Thanks sarge...exactly what I was looking for

[General_Failure]

Don't let your real estate agent pick your home inspector.

[Munson]

Good advice there.

HBionic can probably offer up some industry insider tips too.

I'm about a 12-18mo from beginning to get serious about building one. So I've been reading up on all this stuff too. Agree with Havas on the 15yr note too...

Phreak I know you've been in the lumber business for a long time and are probably pretty handy, but I just bought a book a couple weeks ago that basically gives you step by step tips on how to do a whole bunch of shtein, including buying a piece of land and building a house on it. I'm sure you'll hire people to do a lot of the work, but figure someone like you might get a kick out of trying to do some of this shtein yourself. It's called "Back To Basics: A Complete Guide To Traditional Skills", and it gets into pretty much everything, including installing fireplaces, wood burning stoves, insulation, etc and so on. Don't know if it would actually help or not, but figured you might wanna check it out and see if it'd be worth it.

[Diomedes]

Don't let your real estate agent pick your home inspector.

And don't think the inspector is really doing anything other than taking money.  It's a shyster business populated by former contractors who couldn't hack it and the shtein they tell you about houses you are thinking about buying is mostly useless.  Sure, the framing isn't perfectly code here, or this window doesn't open smoothly, etc.  Whatever.  They invariably miss the most egregious shtein and raise the alarm over superfluous crap.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Good advice there.

HBionic can probably offer up some industry insider tips too.

I'm about a 12-18mo from beginning to get serious about building one. So I've been reading up on all this stuff too. Agree with Havas on the 15yr note too...

Phreak I know you've been in the lumber business for a long time and are probably pretty handy, but I just bought a book a couple weeks ago that basically gives you step by step tips on how to do a whole bunch of shtein, including buying a piece of land and building a house on it. I'm sure you'll hire people to do a lot of the work, but figure someone like you might get a kick out of trying to do some of this shtein yourself. It's called "Back To Basics: A Complete Guide To Traditional Skills", and it gets into pretty much everything, including installing fireplaces, wood burning stoves, insulation, etc and so on. Don't know if it would actually help or not, but figured you might wanna check it out and see if it'd be worth it.

Thanks dude...I will be interested in doing some small projected on my own. I actually think the outdoor kitchen is the thing I will do for myself. I want one of those really bad and can picture the exact set up in my head.

I know a lot about the lumber and plywood and building stuff but my craftsmanship would never equal that of my customers. We have some really talented builders that we work with so I will let them do a lot of the work. I will save a shtein ton on material costs though! Hello rift/quartered white oak kitchen cabinets!

[Sgt PSN]

Don't let your real estate agent pick your home inspector.

And don't think the inspector is really doing anything other than taking money.  It's a shyster business populated by former contractors who couldn't hack it and the shtein they tell you about houses you are thinking about buying is mostly useless.  Sure, the framing isn't perfectly code here, or this window doesn't open smoothly, etc.  Whatever.  They invariably miss the most egregious shtein and raise the alarm over superfluous crap.

In general, I agree with this.  Luckily for SD, he's going through the VA so they provide an inspector at no cost to him. 

The house I had in NC was bought by another Marine and he went through the VA.  VA sent an inspector out and he went through my house with a fine tooth comb.  And not only does he inspect it, but he also does the appraisal.  My house passed inspection and his appraisal was slightly over offer than I had accepted, but he did have a few very minor findings that he said I had to correct before he'd allow the buyers to proceed.  Had to replace a piece of vinyl siding because it had a bb size hole in it, the opening at the end of the down spout from my rain gutter was kind of flat because I think I stepped on it one night when I was drunk, and apparently the pull chains on the ceiling fan in my living room were out of code because they were too short.  I know there was one other thing that was just as stupid as those 3, but I can't remember what it was.  Something to do with the crown molding.....I think there was a small gap between the molding and ceiling that he didn't like so I caulked it and called it a day.   

After he left my realtor said that it was the most thorough home inspection she's ever seen and that any inspector used from a traditional mortgage company probably wouldn't have even noticed those things, much less made me fix them. 

Either way, VA is really good about making sure that (a) they aren't lending out cash on a money pit and (b) that the veteran is getting a quality house. 

[smeags]

I'm on trulia and zillow. I know every person/home is different, but how much do sellers lesson their price? I see a house in Bensalem for $235,000 that's nice, if I offered $220,000 is that reasonable or would I be laughed at?

step one - dont buy in the bensalem school district