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Anonymous wrote:My house went under contract and the buyers walked after the inspection. I am relisting. Do I need to share the inspection report with new prospective buyers?
I'm confused - when they walk on inspection and don't ask for repairs, the buyer's agent does NOT send the inspection report. The buyer's agent is a moron and your agent should have not accepted delivery of said report.
As far as sharing the report, absolutely not. And "age of roof" is not anything you need to disclose. If they said there were specific issues that are now brought to your attention, you are supposed to disclose. This is a very gray area though.
Who ever the f*** sent that report, and then your agent who then sent it to you...all morons. Your agent isn't protecting you and they should be. That's messed up. I once had a buyer's agent send me a damn report when the buyer was walking and I said, I deleted your email without reading because I saw an inspection report attached. Resend the release with NO REPORT.
Anonymous wrote:I'm a Hardy parent that is new to thread. One of the other parents told me about this site. I have a 7th grader and an 8th grader at Hardy. If there is talk of clearing house with any of the APs, I want a chance to share my opinion. One of them seems to be the voice of everything; and it's not a voice I care to hear anymore. I really don't want my 7th grader to go through what my 8th grader has gone through this year. Has there been any discussion about this AP?
Who? She or he?
I got 3 buyers under contract in one day last week. I'm not having an issue. Most agents I know aren't having an issue. The outliers are probably struggling.
I have lots of clients with lots of cash, they have been waiting for this moment. Most of my offers are 40% down to all-cash offers. I'm not finding the under $1M price point to be super competitive for the most part. But $1M - $2M is a disaster. THOSE buyers have money. So a blip in the market or interest rates doesn't affect them at all. I have clients who were in multiple offers on a $1.9M home. That's the fascinating part of this to me, where the buyers are in terms of price point.
What's hilarious is that we all made SO MUCH MONEY in the last few years, and now it's interesting to see who is poor-mouthing and who saved their money. Frankly, I'll take a year or two of lower income to see the idiots exit the industry. Also, NAR is considering raising our dues, which would go a long way toward getting the riff raff out of the industry.
I have lots of clients with lots of cash, they have been waiting for this moment. Most of my offers are 40% down to all-cash offers. I'm not finding the under $1M price point to be super competitive for the most part. But $1M - $2M is a disaster. THOSE buyers have money. So a blip in the market or interest rates doesn't affect them at all. I have clients who were in multiple offers on a $1.9M home. That's the fascinating part of this to me, where the buyers are in terms of price point.
What's hilarious is that we all made SO MUCH MONEY in the last few years, and now it's interesting to see who is poor-mouthing and who saved their money. Frankly, I'll take a year or two of lower income to see the idiots exit the industry. Also, NAR is considering raising our dues, which would go a long way toward getting the riff raff out of the industry.
Ooh, OP - tell us you migrated over from the Washington Probs comments without telling us you migrated over from the Washington Probs comments.
1) Read the contract. What does it say with respect to repairs.
2) I always tell clients, you can ask for it to be fixed or just ask for some money and you fix it. Always go for the money. Once you agree to the "fix" it's out of your hands for the most part. It doesn't have to be good, it just has to be done.
3) You have nothing until you're within the hour prior to closing. You still don't know if these repairs will be adequately completed or not, so you may have to wait.
4) I realize everyone wants to blame the agent around here, but you do realize that an agent isn't a party to a contract and thus cannot "okay" any work to be done.
5) See #1. Your friend really needs to read the contract and/or consult an attorney and see what it says. We can't answer these questions without the contract.
2) I always tell clients, you can ask for it to be fixed or just ask for some money and you fix it. Always go for the money. Once you agree to the "fix" it's out of your hands for the most part. It doesn't have to be good, it just has to be done.
3) You have nothing until you're within the hour prior to closing. You still don't know if these repairs will be adequately completed or not, so you may have to wait.
4) I realize everyone wants to blame the agent around here, but you do realize that an agent isn't a party to a contract and thus cannot "okay" any work to be done.
5) See #1. Your friend really needs to read the contract and/or consult an attorney and see what it says. We can't answer these questions without the contract.
Anonymous wrote:AgentX wrote:You can't look at your income of $650K of what you use to qualify off of. As an agent I'm also self-employed, they use our net to qualify us. So I have approximately the same take-home percentage as you, the total into my hot little hands is 1/3 of the gross commission income I make after splits, expenses, taxes, etc. The reality is that for buying real estate, having a W-2 job is just easier to make fly because the income numbers are the same year in, year out. No variances.
Your income they use to qualify you is the $20K take home x 12 months = $240K. And on a $240K salary, someone could purchase a home (roughly) up to $750K - $800K.)
Now, to answer your question, I have a lot of clients looking now in Bethesda, Chevy Chase and surrounds. They are all the same level of frustrated you are. There is a lot of parent money out there, even with buyers in their 30's and 40's. It's not just mom and dad helping with that first condo down-payment. And millennials have tons of money. It's amazing. Their bank statements show $400K - $500K cash. I have clients twice their age without that kind of cash.
One other thing we have here is the ability for foreign buyers to purchase and when you have a buyer with $1M cash who needs a place to bury it, it puts the house prices out of reach for the rest of us. It...sucks. I'm sorry. I'm the shoulder to cry on right now for a few people in the same boat. I think the answer is to move further out. Rockville / Olney.
This is bad advice. I have a similar financial situation to OP and I was qualified based on my full salary (650k+), not my 20k/month draw.
It's not bad advice, it's how it works when you're self-employed which OP is. Unless you have a magical lender, those in the 1099 world live by different rules.
You can't look at your income of $650K of what you use to qualify off of. As an agent I'm also self-employed, they use our net to qualify us. So I have approximately the same take-home percentage as you, the total into my hot little hands is 1/3 of the gross commission income I make after splits, expenses, taxes, etc. The reality is that for buying real estate, having a W-2 job is just easier to make fly because the income numbers are the same year in, year out. No variances.
Your income they use to qualify you is the $20K take home x 12 months = $240K. And on a $240K salary, someone could purchase a home (roughly) up to $750K - $800K.)
Now, to answer your question, I have a lot of clients looking now in Bethesda, Chevy Chase and surrounds. They are all the same level of frustrated you are. There is a lot of parent money out there, even with buyers in their 30's and 40's. It's not just mom and dad helping with that first condo down-payment. And millennials have tons of money. It's amazing. Their bank statements show $400K - $500K cash. I have clients twice their age without that kind of cash.
One other thing we have here is the ability for foreign buyers to purchase and when you have a buyer with $1M cash who needs a place to bury it, it puts the house prices out of reach for the rest of us. It...sucks. I'm sorry. I'm the shoulder to cry on right now for a few people in the same boat. I think the answer is to move further out. Rockville / Olney.
Your income they use to qualify you is the $20K take home x 12 months = $240K. And on a $240K salary, someone could purchase a home (roughly) up to $750K - $800K.)
Now, to answer your question, I have a lot of clients looking now in Bethesda, Chevy Chase and surrounds. They are all the same level of frustrated you are. There is a lot of parent money out there, even with buyers in their 30's and 40's. It's not just mom and dad helping with that first condo down-payment. And millennials have tons of money. It's amazing. Their bank statements show $400K - $500K cash. I have clients twice their age without that kind of cash.
One other thing we have here is the ability for foreign buyers to purchase and when you have a buyer with $1M cash who needs a place to bury it, it puts the house prices out of reach for the rest of us. It...sucks. I'm sorry. I'm the shoulder to cry on right now for a few people in the same boat. I think the answer is to move further out. Rockville / Olney.
Anonymous wrote:Those whole thread is hilarious. People need to mind their own business.
This thread is amazing!
I always tell people that the one thing I hate about DC is that people here seem to feel like they have the right to tell you how to live your life. I've never seen so many busybodies in one place. It felt like it subsided in the past few years, maybe because of covid, or because I saw lots of people's true colors, lots of entitled a-holes and I generally find most people to just be selfish.
But this takes the cake.
You literally want to demand that people who come to your neighborhood also send their kids to the public schools, despite the fact that it may or may not be right for their child and family. Girl. Please.
Anonymous wrote:Yes, and you won’t pay anything. The seller will be charged one month’s rent as commission, with half of this going to his agent and half going to your agent.
Depends, but it's rarely half that goes to the agent bringing the tenant.
In Virginia it's 10% to 25%.
In DC & MD we see anywhere from 25% to 50%.
I know the agent. 100% nailed it re: chat gpt. I'm sure that's what she used.
I tell clients that structural issues are the most scary, and most everything else can be remedied with the right contractor.
You want to disclose everything you personally know from the time you lived there. If the people before had termites but you didn't, you can disclose but you are not obligated to. If you have had no termites in your time of ownership, you don't have to disclose. If you have a contract with a company to spray, mention this.
If the frozen and burst pipes were remedied, disclose the issue and tell what you did to fix/solve it.
If unpermitted work occurred on the house under your watch, disclose. If not, then the buyer is able to find any permits using the same online system you would find, so you don't have to disclose but this is a gray area. Since you know, you should disclose, but this doesn't meet the test of something "latent."
If you tested for asbestos and didn't remediate, and you tested for lead paint and didn't remediate, then disclose. If you assume it's asbestos and lead, you say unknown.
Most people are truthful in Maryland because there are lots of rules/laws and the price for not disclosing is steep.
Your agent should be telling you this by the way. If they don't know or letting you fly blind on this, that's not good.
You want to disclose everything you personally know from the time you lived there. If the people before had termites but you didn't, you can disclose but you are not obligated to. If you have had no termites in your time of ownership, you don't have to disclose. If you have a contract with a company to spray, mention this.
If the frozen and burst pipes were remedied, disclose the issue and tell what you did to fix/solve it.
If unpermitted work occurred on the house under your watch, disclose. If not, then the buyer is able to find any permits using the same online system you would find, so you don't have to disclose but this is a gray area. Since you know, you should disclose, but this doesn't meet the test of something "latent."
If you tested for asbestos and didn't remediate, and you tested for lead paint and didn't remediate, then disclose. If you assume it's asbestos and lead, you say unknown.
Most people are truthful in Maryland because there are lots of rules/laws and the price for not disclosing is steep.
Your agent should be telling you this by the way. If they don't know or letting you fly blind on this, that's not good.
Depends on the agent you call. Some would do it for free, knowing that they are building goodwill with you that you may come back to them if you plan to sell.
They can't really lead you astray on a price here because if they tell you that your house will sell for 2x you think, then when they list it you'll want to know why they aren't getting that price. But again, I've seen all kinds of sketchy things so you just never know. I have clients now who I keep suggesting they add on to the house but they have other hurdles they need to fix and that can't be done with their current home.
Only you would know though if an addition will add value to your current home and life. Don't just look at an addition as the money spent and if it's financially "worth it." Think of it like, how happy would you be to stay in this house and not have to move. That's worth more than the cost of renovations in my opinion.
They can't really lead you astray on a price here because if they tell you that your house will sell for 2x you think, then when they list it you'll want to know why they aren't getting that price. But again, I've seen all kinds of sketchy things so you just never know. I have clients now who I keep suggesting they add on to the house but they have other hurdles they need to fix and that can't be done with their current home.
Only you would know though if an addition will add value to your current home and life. Don't just look at an addition as the money spent and if it's financially "worth it." Think of it like, how happy would you be to stay in this house and not have to move. That's worth more than the cost of renovations in my opinion.
The key with 1031's is to ensure you have the title company engaged. They are more instrumental than an agent is, though I would also suggest seeking out someone who has some experience with a 1031. There's not a ton to it, but they have to know that there are proper disclosures for this so that the potential buyer of any of your homes know you have 45 days to find the new home.
The Virginia side will be a tougher commute for you to the Hill. Do you have a strong preference on VA or MD? Many people who are from here do have strong preferences.
If MD - I would say Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Kensington
If VA - Falls Church City, Vienna is lovely but would be pushing it with a commute
If DC - AU Park, Glover Park, Chevy Chase
If MD - I would say Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Kensington
If VA - Falls Church City, Vienna is lovely but would be pushing it with a commute
If DC - AU Park, Glover Park, Chevy Chase
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you plan to move in 5 years, is there a reason you aren't interested in renting anymore? It's a perfectly valid choice for all the reasons you listed. If you don't have college savings I'm not sure I'd want to tie up all your liquid funds in a down payment and mortgage bills.
I just want a freaking house and I know we can afford one.
DH wants an AMAZING house if we buy at all. I want any house that's fine.
I like our neighborhood and house and everything quite well, and it's a good financial spot to be in, but it's just feels emotionally wrong to me. Which is not rational I know. I also feel a little embarrassed about renting, but I'm not sure why when we make so much and are saving so much.
Don't be embarrassed about renting! You would not believe how many Realtors are out there acting like they know everything about homeownership and they are renting. If it works for you, it works for you!
I wouldn't do the amazing house, I'm with you. First of all, you have a goal which is to move in 5-6 years. Don't buy something that may derail that goal, i.e. we love this house and now we're worried about leaving. But get something that checks most of the boxes so you can settle down in the way you envision. Second, you don't want to stretch for something when you've been living so comfortably for all these years. You will hate feeling like 3x your money goes to the house after the past.
To answer the first question about affordability, you'll likely get approved for up to 4x your income. With one child, you can do a 3 bedroom house without issue most likely and stay below $1M.
At the beginning of this madness, people were doing Adjustable Rates again, with terms that it won't change for 5 years. Now the ARMS aren't as good, so just shop around and see what you can get for an interest rate, and lock it in.