Wife and I bought our first home about 3 months ago. It was an unusual sale. We bought from her grandfather and didn’t use a realtor. We had the home appraised through the mortgage lender for 550k and he sold it to us for 450k such that we didn’t need a down payment and gained some instant equity. I won’t go into all the details, but there are reasons he gave us a discount. For example, all of his stuff is still in our unfinished basement. I would’ve never bought this house had he not given us a solid deal. I’ve always been a neurotic and anxious perfectionist type. I am unhappy because I am constantly stressing and ruminating over what this home’s value is truly worth. For example a Zestimate just released for the first time and is showing $444k and it totally killed me inside to see that. The way we came to 550k feels silly and largely made up. I feel like we may have been played by our mortgage broker. We liked the home and were excited and eager. I learned a lot through the proce...

Not sure if this is a reasonable request. Hoping to just ask our agent to ask the sellers agent to ask the seller (huge game of telephone) what his average utility bills are. Is this a normal question to ask? submitted by /u/iloverats888 [link] [comments] source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1wjpv6k/can_we_ask_our_agent_to_ask_the_seller_that_his/

I'm in the metro Atlanta area and inventory is plentiful and homes are increasingly having 90+ days on market. I understand that as a listing agent, you can't force the seller to list at a certain price, but my goodness... Maybe I was lucky each time I had a listing. But my sellers agreed to my suggested list price, and all of their homes were under contract quickly. In this market with increasing interest rates, hella inventory, and longer DOM, I don't understand these inflated prices, especially from sellers who have only been in their homes for a couple of years and haven't been in the home long enough to gain much, if any equity. There's a house my client is interested in and it's listed at $675k. There are 5 other homes for sale in the subdivision ranging from $489k-$599k. The home for $599k has a fully finished basement, while the one for $675k has a partially finished basement. The home for $675k is newer, and the floor plan for my client is more desirabl...

I noticed that Zillow and Redfin has email updates you can set as notifications for new listings in your area based on your criteria. I’m not sure if this is extended to the Zillow and Redfin IOS apps. Are there any apps for iPhone or Android that notifies you through your phone when a property has changed status? I think if someone were to make an app like that, it would be extremely useful to help organize your real estate portfolio. Sort of like eBay notifications and how you can get updates on your saved listings. submitted by /u/BenKlesc [link] [comments] source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1wj5w66/are_there_any_apps_that_give_you_notifications/

We are about to close next Wednesday, on a home that has taken 45 days to close. We’ve already put in our 30 day notice at our apartment and will be out of home next week as well. The seller says that he cannot change his vacation, and won’t be able to close until 2 weeks after the original closing date. We don’t want to extend it beyond the closing date because we won’t have an apartment a day after the closing date, our movers already prepared and everything is boxed up and ready to go. Our Realtor suggested to their agent and to the seller that they allow the title attorney office to be his Power of Attorney. The seller refused. What do we do? First time home buyers and we’re very afraid and fear we may have to put things in storage and get a hotel temporarily for an unnecessary 2 weeks while the seller goes on vacation. Help? submitted by /u/travelingbozo [link] [comments] source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1wj5669/the_is_seller_is_unwill...

My family owns 89 dismil (~0.89 acre) of ancestral land on NH-57, Odisha . It’s a regular/square-shaped roadside plot with good frontage and direct highway-facing access , potentially suitable for petrol pump, farming, storage units, or other commercial use . 📍 Location: BBSR-Sonepur-Balangir Highway (NH-57) 📏 Land: 89 dismil (~0.89 acre) 🚗 20 km from Sonepur | 35 km from Boudh | ~290 km from Bhubaneswar 💰 Expected: ₹2 lakh/ 👤 Direct owners, no brokers We’re considering selling it primarily to build a retirement fund for my father . And if anyone is genuinely looking for NH-57 roadside land , feel free to DM me. submitted by /u/siachenbaba [link] [comments] source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1wisiiv/how_would_you_sell_1_acre_of_roadside_land_on_nh57/

I’m quite frustrated with the filtering of sites like Zillow not allowing for OR conditions nor complex strings and I would rather locate listings like I do for data at my job — with SQL. I used to have a real estate tech job and we had all the various MLS‘ data around the US for market analysis updated daily, pretty sure through some pricey corporate data broker. It was very easy to just query it all with whatever complex criteria I needed to include. I’ve not worked there for years at this point. How or where could I do something like this as an ordinary buyer? Looking in Sacramento county in CA. Thanks in advance. submitted by /u/customheart [link] [comments] source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1wig68z/any_way_to_query_an_mls/

Hey there! We are about to buy my parent's house from them and utilize gift of equity. The home appraised for $515,000. My parents are selling it to us for $415,000. The gift will then be $100,000. We were under the impression that my parent's would walk away with around $415,000 from this sale and we would have $100,000 for our down payment ( I am purposefully leaving out closing costs and fees and stuff to keep these number simpler). My dad just got his Sellers Settlement paperwork and it says he will walk away with $315,000. It subtracted the $100k gift of equity from his sale proceeds. Is this correct? We were under the impression that the gift was the difference between the sale price and the appraisal value and that he would walk away with the money from that full sale. Everything I am reading online pretty much says as much, but the mortgage and title company says that is not the case. What am I missing here? Or is there some kind of misunderstanding on their end? Help ...

Hi there, we enclosed a space in our home to take it from a 2/1 to a 2/2. No change in heated square feet. We’re so close to dropping PMI, and recent comps are priced $50-80k higher than when we bought so I feel good we’ll get a higher appraisal. Im curious what downsides, if any, might exist to have my house show an increase in value? The county increased our building value to reflect the change, but the assessed value increased at the same rate as previous years, as if there has been no change. submitted by /u/balanchinedream [link] [comments] source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1whxe0b/any_downside_to_reappraising_your_house_after/

We bought my in-laws' house about four years ago, thinking "Eh, there are a few projects we can tackle over time," but those projects have multiplied and are less "fix it up" and more "tear it out and start over." It's a 3 bed, 2 full, one half, one quarter bath with essentially two living rooms, kitchen and dining, a finished basement, and a two-car garage. Despite its issues, it's in a good (not fancy but desirable) neighborhood in the Kansas City metro. It's big, too big for us. My wife also did not realize that appraiser and inspector were not the same thing. I was out of state when the "inspection" took place and passed, but it was actually the appraisal. Had we gotten a formal inspection, I probably wouldn't have bought the house. Anyway, we have decided we want to sell in order to get something smaller but nicer. Problem is, interest rates are up and the house needs foundation work, two bathroom remodels, and probably...

I was lucky enough to buy my current home 10 years ago, and we only owe about 100k left on it. We are projected to sell for about 450. It was never meant to be a forever place but you know…here we are. A house went up for sale in my ideal location (close to family). It’s a gut job- termites, smoke damage, mold. I spoke to the seller who was really nice and said he’d like to give a family a fighting chance to get this but already has builders making offers. Once the builders swoop in we’re fucked. They’ve bought up everything in town and flip them for millions, effectively making it so that no one from here can live here anymore. I feel like this might be my chance to get the location we’ve been wanting for so long. I have meetings with our financial advisor, real estate agent and a friend who owns a building company to get as much info as possible on how daunting this will be to really start from scratch and build on our own rather than trying to get an already flipped home. But I’m ...

My brother & I have lived here for about 2 years, our mom rents the other side of the duplex. It's 2 acres & in disrepair; the roof leaks, the doors all get stuck, I've had to replace every faucet since moving in, the floor boards are uneven & not installed correctly. The carpet is permanently stained with urine from the previous tenants (dogs & kids lol). We got rent really cheap because the previous tenants absolutely trashed the place & we cleaned it up ourselves. She & her husband leave us alone most of the time. They let us do whatever, as long as we pay rent. I communicate & ask for permission for anything big (fencing the yard, expanding my chicken run, planting trees). The agreement states that they're supposed to handle outside maintenance, like the lawn, however they haven't. My mom mows the place herself. I repair anything that breaks unless I absolutely can't figure it out. My brother has 9 dogs, as he's a dog trainer. D...

I'm under contract to buy a house, past all contingency periods at this point. I realized very late in the process that the house is only legally a 3 bedroom house when it was listed as 4br on both the MLS listing and zillow. I also just figured out through the inspection, subsequent electrical work (paid for by the seller), and calling the power utility, that the house is 100 amp service, not 200 amp which was explicitly listed in the MLS listing. When I found out the bedroom discrepancy, the seller didn't want to negotiate down on that. When I found out the amperage, I got a quote from the same electrician they used to upgrade the panel and service entrance to the house, and I got a quote from the power utility which requires that the homeowner pay for the labor to upgrade the overhead wire to the house. My realtor provided both quotes to the seller, asking them to contribute the cost toward our closing costs. The sellers agree to pay for the private electrician (about half ...

I’m trying to better understand how home equity actually works, especially with a 30-year mortgage at today’s interest rates. For example, let’s say: $1M home ~$250K down payment ~$750K mortgage 30-year fixed at ~6.125% ~$4,550/month principal + interest From what I understand, the first few years of payments are heavily weighted toward interest. So in the first month, roughly $3,800 goes toward interest while only ~$700 goes toward principal. After 2 years, I believe you could have paid around $109K in mortgage payments but only reduced the loan balance by roughly $18–19K. Obviously, the original down payment is already equity, and appreciation can increase equity substantially. But the interest portion of the mortgage payment doesn’t create equity at all. So when people say “you’re building equity instead of throwing money away on rent,” how should that actually be thought about? Am I misunderstanding something? submitted by /u/sundrenchedwindow [link] ...

Hi! I purchased an almost 80 year old home here in Austin TX in the Highland neighborhood north of North Loop (that is north of Hyde Park). The home originally was a 4-2, 1800 sq ft house and about 14.7K square feet lot. The house was purchased in October 2022 for $565K. I did some internal remodeling and added 2 private bathrooms and converted part of the living room space into a 96 square feet room. I completed the first bathrooms with all permits approved. For the second remodeling campaign where I included both the 5th bedroom and bathroom in the same permit, I didn’t receive all the approvals because I added joint compound on the drywall screws before the inspectors could come and see the drywall pattern and make sure the right amount was used and the right distance. According to the city, if I wanted to get the permits approved, I needed to get an outside or independent engineer to approve that section. I have done other remodeling such as adding lights on the sides of the hou...

Hey all! Big financial decisions on the way, and I'm trying not to derail a solid financial situation by bad decisions/timing. Half exciting, half scary. Question: With a planned income drop and kids soon, is it safe to buy an $800-850k house now, or is buying at all right now a mistake? Me + Wife: late 20's, HCOL metro (not VHCOL) w/ no debt Income Total HHI: $200-250k I make $150k/yr in sales - just got promoted so may make closer to $200k next year. I'd love the career flexibility in 3-5 yrs to do something lower-paid but less stressful, maybe closer to $80-100k/yr Wife: $50k, career growing Spending ~7k/mo all-in for a very comfortable life. Rent is $3.1k of that. Savings ($1.05mm, largely from inheritance) 150k total in our 401ks 50k in Roth IRA 25k in managed brokerage 35k in HYSA $765k wife's inheritance All investments (401k, Roth, brokerage, etc) are in index funds (VTWAX or VTSAX/VTIAX) Note: potentially receiving another $500k in the ...

So we own a 2B1b house in the best parts of my Indianapolis neighborhood. Homes priced right go within days. I looked at a house today. Was priced 360k and 9 days on market has dropped to 350k .Built 1960. Its a larger house than mine. Placed in the school districts we want. Was recently sold in 2022 for 290k. No updates from this owner. Also master bedroom smells atrocious of dog or cat piss. Smell has permeated around whole house. But stronger in bedrooms. AC about 18yrs WH about 10yrs Roof about 15yrs Kitchen needs remodel Flooring looks new. Done by a DIYer that has failed. Gaps everywhere and some raised uneven connections. Unsure of subfloor condition. My plan is to place an offer on a house with the contingency that I sell my house first. Both my lender and realtor are pressuring towards bridging the loan instead of contingency offer. Also, instead of just asking for a discount on the house to do these repairs. My realtor is pressuring instead, ask for an allowance to r...

My family has a house we are trying to sell. It's been on the market for a little over a year. A few walk-ins but no bites, we keep reducing the price of the house like 25k every 3 months. It's not exactly the sellers market at the moment i'm told, and it's sort of an unusual house on a hill. So I was thinking in this line of work is it even worthwhile to buy ads to get traffic to the houses' zillow or redfin? If it's worth it for those that have used it, what is generally considered the best service? submitted by /u/retroideq [link] [comments] source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1wfeqox/is_paying_for_adsviews_worth_it_for_trying_to/

I have a 120 year old house in New England. It has an obstacle in that it’s elevated, stairs leading up to house and no driveway. Listed at $699k and reduced to $675k after a week because I’m under contract on a new property. After a week at that price, I got an offer for $650k and they eventually came up to $670k, which I accepted. They had an inspection and the next day pulled out with no discussions of negotiating. My realtor pried and they said there were tons of issues in inspection report, including knob and tube in basement and a foundation issue. I had a structural expert come look and said a sill was deteriorated, and gave me a $17k estimate. I had an electrician come and he found mostly dead knob and tube, with one live wire going to a light bulb and switched it out. The buyer contacts my realtor directly and says she wants the house but her parents who are helping do not. We give them structural assessment and offer $20k credit, and show that electrical issue has been rem...

Location: Kentucky, USA Husband and I are looking at possibly buying his parent's house. It's not the perfect house for us and feel like we would need to do some remodeling to suit our needs better. They have set a price for us and what they want to go to market at if we don't buy it. I'm not sure how they came up with pricing but honestly it seems appropriate for the house and area. We have a pre-approval letter from the bank but have not signed any contract yet nor have we talked to land and title. Are there any issues with doing our own appraisal and inspection before being under any kind of contract? I know with traditional transactions you go under contract then everything else falls in line based on timing. We don't want to end up double paying for things because we did it out of order. Time frame for purchase is approximately January 2027 so not in a rush. submitted by /u/nearthebeer [link] [comments] source https://www.reddit.com/...