We made an offer on a house!

[DanGarion]

Oh man, I really hope it's accepted, we really like this house and could see us living there for a long time!

Just a run down of how things have gone this week... (taken from my blog).

11/17/2008
Actually this isn’t the begining, but it is the begining of us really house hunting. For the past 6 months we have been using Redfin and Trulia to search for homes that we might be interested in. The problem we ran into with Redfin is that the concept is great and their search is top notch, but they won’t work with short sales. Now hold on before you tell me short sales suck, I already know this. I’m just interested in trying for the homes we like, and if that involves the possibility of a short sale I want to be able to make sure I’m using a Realtor that wants to work with us to find our home. This is what brings us to our possible new Realtor, Dan Slater from Orange Realty. He seems like a really nice guy so that’s a start. He mentioned he is a board member on the city of Orange Chamber of Commerce and he knows one of the marketing guys at my work. Next I’ll have to see if my barber knows him (Dick seems to know everyone). Here are our housing qualifications.

We are looking for homes under the $400k range and we don’t want to deal with PMI
We love Orange and would love to live in the Plaza area but we know we can’t afford that, so we are looking in a couple various Neighborhoods in Orange and also Garden Grove.
3 Bedroom 1+/2 Bath
1000+ Sq/Ft house on 7000+ Sq/Ft lot
Prefer to have a back yard without a pool
2 car garage is a must

He’s going to take us out looking at homes on Sunday, so that should be fun. I will keep you all posted on how things go and I’ll try to take some pictures of the homes we go look at.

Oh and for you political fans, no this is now Dan Slater from Colorado. ;)

11/20/2008
So I just off the phone with our credit union and they had to counter offer on our loan request because we haven’t owned our dog grooming business for 2 years. They can’t use the income we make on our business till we have owned it for two years. Unfortunately this makes our loan significantly less then what we had wanted. I’m going to get back in touch with another lender that we had a pre-approval with and work on getting another pre-approval from them again, since they were able to to do it back in Sept. Just a little road block in our pursuit of happiness. Nothing we can’t work through. I understand the reasoning and would like to keep the loan under our bank, but it just might not end up that way.

11/24/2008
So on Sunday we viewed 5 properties in the city of Orange and 5 or 6 in the city of Garden Grove. We really liked the last two properties in Orange, so we asked our Realtor if we could see them again today. After walking through the two houses today we decided to make an offer of a beautiful home located less then 1 mile from the Orange Plaza (Circle)! We’ve absolutely love this area and it was the primary area we were hoping to locate a house in. Now we wait to see if the bank that owns the house decides to accept our offer (the house is a foreclosure / REO). Our Realtor thinks we have a really good chance of getting the house at the price that we offered. I can’t believe we made an offer! I’m still waiting to hear back from the banks on our loan approval, but I’m pretty sure we will get approved, I made a number of calls today and verified with these lenders that our business ownership will not interfere with us getting the loan for the amount that we want!

The house is 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1346 sq/ft on a 9045 sq.ft lot. Here are two pictures I took yesterday while we walked the property.
http://www.dangarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/img_1730.jpg
http://www.dangarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/img_1731.jpg
We weren't really sure about the kitchen at first, but now we really like it and think it will be cool to have 50's retro looking kitchen, especially if we can find a nice retro fridge and stove/range/oven.

We should hear back from the bank today.

[Mustang]

Grats!

So, what is that kitchen color called?? Nuclear Green?

:D

[DanGarion]

Grats!

So, what is that kitchen color called?? Nuclear Green?

:D

Heh, that wall on the right that's a darker color will probably get color matched to the lighter green of the kitchen.

[Raiders Army]

Congratulations! The kitchen looks really clean from the picture which is a great sign. Why did they take out the appliances?

[Dr. Sak]

Congrats Dan! I hope you get it!

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Wait, how much did that house cost? 400K?

[DanGarion]

Congratulations! The kitchen looks really clean from the picture which is a great sign. Why did they take out the appliances?
Well it's a foreclosure, that's one of the things that happens sometimes.
Wait, how much did that house cost? 400K?
No it's less then that, but welcome to California, home of the expensive homes.

[Eaglesfan27]

Wait, how much did that house cost? 400K?


I'm always amazed at how much location factors into the price of houses. I have friends who I trained with who live in homes smaller than mine that paid 3 times as much as I did for their home just because it is in California. One of my acquaintances in California is living in a gorgeous multi-million dollar home, but has an interest only loan.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

Congrats, Dan. I hope all goes well with the process. :)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

No it's less then that, but welcome to California, home of the expensive homes.

So how much did it cost if you don't mind saying? Much like EF27, I'm always interested in location/value of homes and how they change. I'm sure you got a great deal if it was a foreclosure. You probably would have paid 100-150K more a few years ago.

Congrats either way. There are occasional issues, but overall it's great to own your own place.

[Flasch186]

grats

[terpkristin]

Congrats, Dan!
I vividly remember putting my offer down on the house I now live in. I was very superstitious. :)

Location always makes house-buying no fun. I'm sure for what I paid for my townhouse in Ashburn, people could buy a farm with a mansion in parts of Texas.

/tk

[sterlingice]

Congrats :D

Location always makes house-buying no fun. I'm sure for what I paid for my townhouse in Ashburn, people could buy a farm with a mansion in parts of Texas.

Yeah, we call that part of Texas "Houston". ;) My parents have a giant house for what people pay for "junk" in Cali or some of the more expensive cities.

SI

[Dr. Sak]

I'm just about the opposite. If you put my house in any other big city, it would be worth 5 to 7 times as much as I paid for it. Especially with the land.

[DanGarion]

So how much did it cost if you don't mind saying? Much like EF27, I'm always interested in location/value of homes and how they change. I'm sure you got a great deal if it was a foreclosure. You probably would have paid 100-150K more a few years ago.

Congrats either way. There are occasional issues, but overall it's great to own your own place.

We bid 355k now we are waiting to hear back from the bank to see if they accepted that. In 2006 this house sold for 630k.

[chesapeake]

Congratulations, and welcome to homeownership!

Now go patch that hole in the roof, kill the carpenter ants coming up through the garage, and dig up and replace the backed-up sewer line to the street! :)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

We bid 355k now we are waiting to hear back from the bank to see if they accepted that. In 2006 this house sold for 630k.

Yeah, that's what I figured. Great timing for you. :)

[Marc Vaughan]

congrats :D

[JeeberD]

Congrats! Hopefully it goes better than our first offer, but we wound up with a better house anyways. :)

[Lathum]

good luck to you, it's a great feeling buying your first home!

[PilotMan]

Congrats Dan, that is a huge feeling. I hope that it works out for you.

[DanGarion]

So I have like three lenders working on loans for us. If they all come back with the same type of offers and the prices are around the same, I'm going to end up going with the one that has treated me the best throughout the process. I'd rather reward a nice guy then save a couple hundred bucks on the closing costs of the loan (as long as the rate is the best).

[Galaxy]

One of my acquaintances in California is living in a gorgeous multi-million dollar home, but has an interest only loan.

Yikes.

[MikeVic]

What's an interest only loan?

And that looks like a microwave egg cooker in the kitchen. Or an air freshener. I've recently got a place of my own, and I can sympathize with how nerve-wracking it can be just to make an offer on something.

[DanGarion]

What's an interest only loan?

And that looks like a microwave egg cooker in the kitchen. Or an air freshener. I've recently got a place of my own, and I can sympathize with how nerve-wracking it can be just to make an offer on something.
Are you being sarcastic about not knowing what and interest only loan is? Basically it's why the housing market is the way it is. You pay only interest for 3-5 years, and during that period you take a HELOC out, and then when you ARM hits you realize your house if worth 1/2 of what you paid for.

[Eaglesfan27]

What's an interest only loan?



For the first 10 years of the loan, he only pays the interest and then for the last 20 years his payments go WAY up as he pays the interest and the principal. The idea is that people who expect their salaries to go up can buy houses they couldn't normally afford - it's a risky loan in some aspects.

[MikeVic]

No I wasn't kidding, hadn't heard the term before. Thanks for the answers.

[DanGarion]

So we got a counter offer from the bank that owns the property for 372k which is basically 8 less then the list price. We have now done another counter offer for 360k. According to the Realtors involved now what will happen is the bank that owns the property will send the counter-offer up to a higher manager to analyze the numbers and make a decision. I understand 99.9% of the decision is all based on money and projections, but hopefully the interest we are showing and the quick response back on the counter offer will count for something as well.

[PilotMan]

Our house was negotiated with a bank (actually a company that gets paid to move bank owned properties) and we went back and forth three times before they moved into our 'go' range.

Sometimes it can be very slow, but in our situation it was all in the course of an afternoon.

[DanGarion]

Our house was negotiated with a bank (actually a company that gets paid to move bank owned properties) and we went back and forth three times before they moved into our 'go' range.

Sometimes it can be very slow, but in our situation it was all in the course of an afternoon.

We are pretty close to getting to the point where we will just stand back and wait a couple weeks to see what happens. We are already close to what we would prefer to pay. Trying to keep emotions out, but if this is the place you are going to live in for awhile, you want to really like the place.

[CamEdwards]

Good luck Dan. With the market the way it is, we're looking at buying (we've been renting since we moved to northern VA 4 1/2 years ago), but I want to wait until we're closer to the end of the school year.

[DanGarion]

Good luck Dan. With the market the way it is, we're looking at buying (we've been renting since we moved to northern VA 4 1/2 years ago), but I want to wait until we're closer to the end of the school year.

Yeah if things fall through with this one, I think we will wait till Summer, so we don't have to deal with the 24 months of business ownership, plus we will probably have more money then to show we can handle owning the house.

[DanGarion]

Alright so when I last left you on Tuesday we sent back a counter offer and were waiting for the bank to respond. We got a response on Wed. and they budge a little but did not meet our offer. After talking we decided our counter offer was a high as we wanted to go and we spoke with our Realtor who suggested that although the price the bank wanted was still a really good deal we could go ahead and do a final counter offer back to the bank saying we don't want to go higher and he would also let them know we are already qualified for the amount we are offering. Our Realtor called the realtor for the bank and explained the situation to him, he responded back that they had now already "got some offers for above the asking price". We called BS, since why would they want to counter for less if they know they can get more (especially since this is a bank, not a person selling). So we continued with our final offer.

We are only 10k off, but I'm willing to stand firm and make they come to our offer, we have the advantage, we already are living somewhere and can wait, they will continue to lose money till they sell...

Today we heard back from our Realtor after he called the banks realtor and the offer was sent up to someone higher at the bank to analyze. The Realtor on the bank side didn't mention a single thing about other offers, which leads our Realtor and us to believe there are no other offers. We expect to hear an answer tomorrow! This could be one heck of a Christmas gift.

[MrBug708]

Garden Grove? Sublime Green!

[DanGarion]

Garden Grove? Sublime Green!

Orange! :), my wife is from GG, and I'm from Stanton, but we love Orange.

[Flasch186]

I just sent an order of Mr. Brewman's to Garden Grove! Was that you?

[DanGarion]

I just sent an order of Mr. Brewman's to Garden Grove! Was that you?

No you sent me tea 2 months ago. :) Right now we live in Santa Ana.

[DanGarion]

So... hadn't heard from our Realtor all day and both myself and the wife were getting antsy, so I called him. He first jokes around with me asking me if I'm still interested in the house (our Realtor is a really nice guy, but his jokes are corny) and I say yes of course, and he goes on to say, well then I think I have good news for you. The Realtor for the bank verbally confirmed that the bank has accepted our offer, they are both amazed that the bank went down 20k on a first offer but they have appeared to succumb to our will! Anyway the banks Realtor says he's been trying to send our Realtor the info and he should have it, but our Realtor still hasn't got anything. Their Realtor also once again says that they are getting another offer, in fact they are supposed to be getting one in tonight... Anyway not official, but very close to it.

[Neuqua]

Good luck Dan!

[SteveMax58]

Good luck Dan...sounds like it should turn out fine. These things always take longer than you want them to.

As a side...I thought about posting a parody thread titled "We got an offer on our house!"...but alas I'm too lazy...and dont want to jinx my real offer.

[JeeberD]

Best of luck with this!

[Swaggs]

Hope it works out for you guys. :)

[DanGarion]

It's official! We went to the Realtor and signed the accepted offer sheet! If all things work out we should be getting the keys to our new house on Dec. 30th!

[Chief Rum]

Awesome! Congratulations!

[JeeberD]

Congrats, Dan! The feeling of putting the key in your new home for the first time is simply awesome...

[PilotMan]

It's official! We went to the Realtor and signed the accepted offer sheet! If all things work out we should be getting the keys to our new house on Dec. 30th!


That is great news. Now prepare for some stress. In dealing with the bank on our forclosure it took about 45 days to close. Even with all the hard language from the bank about the 30 day deadline in the paperwork, the didn't even try and meet it. We could have closed very early, but it seemed like there were so many people who weren't even trying. Needless to say, we eventually got to the point were it had lost some of its enjoyment.

Moving into the new house was more relief that it was over than excitement.

[DanGarion]

That is great news. Now prepare for some stress. In dealing with the bank on our forclosure it took about 45 days to close. Even with all the hard language from the bank about the 30 day deadline in the paperwork, the didn't even try and meet it. We could have closed very early, but it seemed like there were so many people who weren't even trying. Needless to say, we eventually got to the point were it had lost some of its enjoyment.

Moving into the new house was more relief that it was over than excitement.

Fun, here they make us jump through hoops and have to do everything for the contingency within 10 days and they might drag their feet! WHOO! :) They are the ones that want to close on the 30th, let's hope it stays that way.

[Dr. Sak]

It's official! We went to the Realtor and signed the accepted offer sheet! If all things work out we should be getting the keys to our new house on Dec. 30th!

Congrats Dan!!

[hoopsguy]

Congrats on the new place - good to see that you were able to move the bank and that you called their bluff.

[terpkristin]

Congrats, Dan!
I'm betting you guys will be unpacked before me...I settled on 9/9 and moved on 9/11 but my guest room is still full of boxes (mostly of books, things I'm being very lazy about unpacking). :D

/tk

[Samdari]

Fun, here they make us jump through hoops and have to do everything for the contingency within 10 days and they might drag their feet! WHOO! :) They are the ones that want to close on the 30th, let's hope it stays that way.

Yeah, banks are notoriously one-sided with the time thing. Deadlines apply to you, not them.

The good news is if they signed the offer, you will get the house. My wife and I just waited 7 weeks after offer to get ours (and it wasn't even a bank sale). It was incredibly frustrating, but, we got the right house and everyone is happy in it (including the high maintainance 2 year old). Be prepared for the date to slip, but remember its worth it to be in the right place.

[DanGarion]

We were supposed to have the inspector by today, but the selling Realtor failed to get Edison and the Gas Company to activate the services, so now we have to wait till Tuesday to get the house inspected. My dad and I walked the house today and took down some notes on what we'll need to fix/clean/work on before we move in next month. There isn't a whole lot to do, but it needs a bit of work.

Here are some pictures I took today.

<div style="width:800px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="800" height="533" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fdangarion1%2Falbumid%2F5276749053937428561%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></div><span style="float:left;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/dangarion1/House" style="color:#3964c2">View Album</a></span><div style="text-align:right;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/getEmbed" style="color:#3964c2">Get your own</a></div></div>

[Flasch186]

remind me again how much this motherF%$^er costs? ;)

[DanGarion]

remind me again how much this motherF%$^er costs? ;)

360k in SoCal. 1346 Sq/ft house, 9045 Sq/ft yard. This is a good location, great part of city, so we are probably paying about a 40-50k premium for that, but this is the city we really wanted to live in, plus it's an area that we already have lived the last 3 years.

Also I'd much rather pay for a house without upgrades, then end up paying a bunch of money for the crap that someone put in that I don't like.

Comps in the area run at about 420k. In fact our Realtor just listed a house about 400 feet down the street that looks about the same, but is 200 feet smaller when a 10k Sq/ft lot at 450k.

[Galaxy]

The market is pretty bad in The O.C. (which looks like it is an incredible place), right?

[Flasch186]

WOWEEWEEWOAH

[DanGarion]

The market is pretty bad in The O.C. (which looks like it is an incredible place), right?

Well bad for what is was 1-2 years ago. Median home price right now is about 410-420 range throughout the county.

[Galaxy]

Well bad for what is was 1-2 years ago. Median home price right now is about 410-420 range throughout the county.

Are they still falling, or is the country pretty strong considering the large amount of wealth in the county?

[JonInMiddleGA]

The market is pretty bad in The O.C. (which looks like it is an incredible place), right?

Bad? I was just thinking (based on the price, pics, and size) that the market must be better there than I was expecting. And then my wife reminded me about the price difference from one location to another.

For comparison, the same house here would have likely been under $200k, and if it was a foreclosure I'm guessing more like $165k-$185k.

[JeeberD]

I'm so glad I live in Texas...

[Draft Dodger]

way to make Dan feel at ease with his purchase guys!!!

[JonInMiddleGA]

way to make Dan feel at ease with his purchase guys!!!

{shrug} Location, location, location.

My comment was as much about the vast differences in prices from one place to another & thumping myself in the head for overlooking that fact briefly as anything else. It also sort of highlighted how, even with the market being like it is, that the prices still have a big gap (i.e. that the gap doesn't seem to be narrowing much with the housing market in turmoil, which I would kind of expected it might be)

If it's a good deal there then it is (and I wouldn't doubt that it is) and it being shockingly high compared to somewhere cross country does nothing to change that.

[sterlingice]

I'm so glad I live in Texas...

I'm guessing my parents are, too, since I think their house is around that price for a McMansion in suburban Houston.

I don't think I could ever live in Cali for this reason.

SI

[DanGarion]

way to make Dan feel at ease with his purchase guys!!!

No worries guys, I understand the vast differences in regional home prices. It's a big joke, but people love it here, that's just the way it is. :)

[Antmeister]

360k in SoCal. 1346 Sq/ft house, 9045 Sq/ft yard. This is a good location, great part of city, so we are probably paying about a 40-50k premium for that, but this is the city we really wanted to live in, plus it's an area that we already have lived the last 3 years.

Also I'd much rather pay for a house without upgrades, then end up paying a bunch of money for the crap that someone put in that I don't like.

Comps in the area run at about 420k. In fact our Realtor just listed a house about 400 feet down the street that looks about the same, but is 200 feet smaller when a 10k Sq/ft lot at 450k.

Wow....congrats! Anything over a 1000 square ft in SoCal is awesome and you even managed over 1200. Hope things work out for you, because the current market will allow you to get upgrades much cheaper than you could in the past. Congrats again.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

That house would be lucky to go for 100K here in Missouri in the current market. For 340K, you could easily buy a 3000 sq. ft. home with a 3 car garage, 1/3 acre lot, 4 bed and 4 bath. Kitchen would likely have marble counters with wood floors and stainless steel appliances.

Just amazing how different the markets can be.

[Easy Mac]

It's the same here in South Carolina. My wife and I are just starting to build our 2500 foot square home for $180k. But when we lived in Charleston our monthly rent was as much as our mortgage payment will be, and the apt was a third the size.

[DanGarion]

Just for reference, we currently live in a 1 bedroom apartment, about 860 Sq/FT for 1370 a month. It's one of the nicer ones in Orange County, but I think the rental averages for the county is about 1600 a month.

Orange County has a very diverse range of housing prices. There are some cities that you can actively find houses in the high 200s (Anaheim, Stanton, Santa Ana, Garden Grove), but then there are still cities that houses are in the 600s (Tustin, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley). And even in those cities you have huge ranges of housing prices (in Costa Mesa you can find houses in the 200s and houses in the 900s).

[DanGarion]

Wow....congrats! Anything over a 1000 square ft in SoCal is awesome and you even managed over 1200. Hope things work out for you, because the current market will allow you to get upgrades much cheaper than you could in the past. Congrats again.

The lot size is more impressive to me then the house size. I mean don't get me wrong, 1345 is more then enough for the two of us, we both grew up in @1000 Sq/ft houses so this will be bigger then what we lived in, but most old lots in Orange County are 7000-8000, while all the new build stuff is about 4000-5000, I'm very happy with 9000 Sq/Ft of land to call my own.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

The lot size is more impressive to me then the house size. I mean don't get me wrong, 1345 is more then enough for the two of us, we both grew up in @1000 Sq/ft houses so this will be bigger then what we lived in, but most old lots in Orange County are 7000-8000, while all the new build stuff is about 4000-5000, I'm very happy with 9000 Sq/Ft of land to call my own.

Now that you've presented this information, why not split the lot in half, build a house on the other half and sell it for a profit? :D

[DanGarion]

Because we want a yard, not just enough land for a house to be on it. ;)

[Galaxy]

I'm guessing my parents are, too, since I think their house is around that price for a McMansion in suburban Houston.

I don't think I could ever live in Cali for this reason.

SI

Do salaries adjust for by region (higher salaries in more expensive markets)?

[sterlingice]

Do salaries adjust for by region (higher salaries in more expensive markets)?

Well, here's the answer in my mind and my little world.

Yes, salaries adjust, however, cost of living (in particular housing) adjusts at a higher rate than salaries. It's all well and good if I can make $80K for a job in San Jose that pays me $40K in Houston. However, if I can get a good house for $200K in Houston and an equivalent house (physical house, area, lot, etc) costs me $600K in San Jose- is it worth it?

SI

[DanGarion]

Well, here's the answer in my mind and my little world.

Yes, salaries adjust, however, cost of living (in particular housing) adjusts at a higher rate than salaries. It's all well and good if I can make $80K for a job in San Jose that pays me $40K in Houston. However, if I can get a good house for $200K in Houston and an equivalent house (physical house, area, lot, etc) costs me $600K in San Jose- is it worth it?

SI

Depends on how much you like living in San Jose. :)

[sterlingice]

Well, exactly- it's a personal decision. How much value do you put on where you live versus other things in life?

SI

[Eaglesfan27]

Well, here's the answer in my mind and my little world.

Yes, salaries adjust, however, cost of living (in particular housing) adjusts at a higher rate than salaries. It's all well and good if I can make $80K for a job in San Jose that pays me $40K in Houston. However, if I can get a good house for $200K in Houston and an equivalent house (physical house, area, lot, etc) costs me $600K in San Jose- is it worth it?

SI


Exactly. My friend from college makes over 50% more than I do and he does the exact same job. However, his home which is smaller and doesn't have as much as land costs more than 3 times my home. Having lived out in Los Angeles for 4 years, I enjoyed it, but I personally could never see living in any of the expensive parts of the state when the cost of living is just so much more reasonable in other parts of the country. Of course, for many the amenities of California makes up for the high cost of living or there wouldn't be such a high demand driving the prices up to such levels.

[terpkristin]

alas.
with home ownership comes the duty of fixing things when they break. or, as today, calling a plumber because i have no idea what is wrong or how to fix it and because my hand is still bandaged up from my surgery and i can't use it, i'm resorting to calling and paying for someone to help me.

soooo wish i could just call a landlord.

/tk

[sterlingice]

Want to call a landlord that won't show up for a week? ;)

SI

[DanGarion]

Well the gas and electricity are on, but after speaking with our Realtor we aren't going to have the house inspected till the bank that owns the property has someone look at the water heater. It's all rusted near the bottom and the probes appear to possibly be faulty. Good news about this is that they have a crew that checks out houses for them, so we might end up getting a free installed water heater out of this. After the water heater issue is resolved we will have the house inspected. Also on the contingency front, we have signed a request for an extension due to the issues we have had with them getting things ready for inspection. We should be hearing more about that today.

[terpkristin]

Want to call a landlord that won't show up for a week? ;)

SI

would rather the landlord pay the $700+ ;)

/tk

[Mustang]

Wish our house would sell so we could move into the house we have an offer on for the last 75 days. Looks like we will need to push the closing date again from December 31st to probably Feb 15th, assuming that the current owners will do that, but in this market, if they have an offer unless they decide not to sell the house anymore, not sure why they wouldn't since they have pushed it once already..

Good time to buy your first home though.

In Wisconsin though, in the area I'm around, the houses are about the same, but the property taxes can vary. Our 1,400 sq ft home we pay about $3000 a year (assessed at 170K). Moving out to the countryside (about 4 miles to the north), we are getting a 2400 sq ft home (assessed at 270K) and paying about $2800

[Eaglesfan27]

alas.
with home ownership comes the duty of fixing things when they break. or, as today, calling a plumber because i have no idea what is wrong or how to fix it and because my hand is still bandaged up from my surgery and i can't use it, i'm resorting to calling and paying for someone to help me.

soooo wish i could just call a landlord.

/tk

I just had to shell out 700 dollars today because the dishwasher that came with our house broke despite only being about 3 years old. My wife didn't like my suggestion of an alternative to replacing the dishwasher. :(

[Mustang]

My wife didn't like my suggestion of an alternative to replacing the dishwasher. :(

What was the alternative? That she washes them? :)

[Eaglesfan27]

What was the alternative? That she washes them? :)

Yes. I'm lucky that I'm not sleeping on the couch tonight even though I was just joking. :D

[PilotMan]

Yes. I'm lucky that I'm not sleeping on the couch tonight even though I was just joking. :D

You heartless Bastard!

[DanGarion]

Got all the disclosure agreements from the bank today. Looks like we are looking at 5.625% unless things change in the next week or so.

[Flasch186]

congrats again

[DanGarion]

So our extension offer was accepted, so we have an extra 10 days now because of the sellers failure to get the utilities on before last weekends failed inspection.

The inspection is slated for tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM. I already know there are various little things that will need to be repaired, and unless there is some major game changing issue we will be buying this house, but I had a question for all of you.

Since this house is a foreclosure and thus is sold "as-is", should be still turn in a sheet of things we want fixed before we continue along with the contract? I mean what's the worst that could happen, other then them saying no and us still end up buying the house.

Anyone have much experience with getting banks to fix things on foreclosures, most of my reading say it's hit and miss.

[terpkristin]

So our extension offer was accepted, so we have an extra 10 days now because of the sellers failure to get the utilities on before last weekends failed inspection.

The inspection is slated for tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM. I already know there are various little things that will need to be repaired, and unless there is some major game changing issue we will be buying this house, but I had a question for all of you.

Since this house is a foreclosure and thus is sold "as-is", should be still turn in a sheet of things we want fixed before we continue along with the contract? I mean what's the worst that could happen, other then them saying no and us still end up buying the house.

Anyone have much experience with getting banks to fix things on foreclosures, most of my reading say it's hit and miss.

I do not have experience with the process of making the constraints on a foreclosed property, my house wasn't a foreclosure. However, I would still make the list, officially from the inspector (regardless of if you submit it as constraints), you have a record of what you fixed/why when you want to sell the house later in life. Also, having the sheet (mine was a booklet) from the inspector will help as you try to find people to fix it, you can tell them exactly what the inspector found.

/tk

[Buccaneer]

Congrats Dan on a nice house in SoCal. People in many other parts of the country just don't have a clue as to what houses/rents for go in most parts of the state. In most other places, I would add about $300,000 just to put up with the humidity, blizzards, ice or tornados. Or you could be living in Texas (ugh).

[Glengoyne]

I JUST bought a foreclosed house in Fresno, and that was the ONE condition the bank hit us with. "AS IS" They wouldn't fix anything. I believe the water heater will be a requirement for them though.

Congrats on the house. People are talking about the price, but it is a relative bargain though at under $275 a foot in Orange County. I've got family down by you, so I've been somewhat exposed to those rates.

I couldn't do it, I'm stressing over my $93/ft purchase. All of the sudden I've got a real mortgage and all sorts of grown up stresses that go with it. Congrats again, and I hope you get the same kind of stressful feelings real soon.

[DanGarion]

I JUST bought a foreclosed house in Fresno, and that was the ONE condition the bank hit us with. "AS IS" They wouldn't fix anything. I believe the water heater will be a requirement for them though.

Congrats on the house. People are talking about the price, but it is a relative bargain though at under $275 a foot in Orange County. I've got family down by you, so I've been somewhat exposed to those rates.

I couldn't do it, I'm stressing over my $93/ft purchase. All of the sudden I've got a real mortgage and all sorts of grown up stresses that go with it. Congrats again, and I hope you get the same kind of stressful feelings real soon.

Oh yeah, if I wanted to I could do like $50-60 a sq-ft in Hemet.... But I'm not really a fan of driving 2 hours +each way to work. Or we could do Corona at $90-120 a sq/ft but then it would be still 1 1/2 hours each way. Of course I did see a condo in San Bernardino for $29.... It's beautiful too!
1565 Coulston St #9, San Bernardino, CA 92408 | MLS# H08171389 (http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Bernardino/1565-Coulston-St-92408/unit-9/home/3447436)

[Chief Rum]

Oh yeah, if I wanted to I could do like $50-60 a sq-ft in Hemet.... But I'm not really a fan of driving 2 hours +each way to work. Or we could do Corona at $90-120 a sq/ft but then it would be still 1 1/2 hours each way. Of course I did see a condo in San Bernardino for $29.... It's beautiful too!
1565 Coulston St #9, San Bernardino, CA 92408 | MLS# H08171389 (http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Bernardino/1565-Coulston-St-92408/unit-9/home/3447436)

Well, yeah, except for this part in the property description:

Don't get excited by the price! This is a totally burned out condo. Nearly a total loss. Obviously can only go all cash.

lol

[DanGarion]

So inspection came and went on Saturday. There is nothing major that needs done except the water heater. But there are a number of minor things that really need to be repaired, roofing, plumbing, electrical, windows, etc. Things that would mount up to probably at least a couple thousand in repairs. Also we got the pest inspection back and it has about $5000 in work that needs done to get rid of infestations and to repair damage (I think a majority of that is because the water heater caused a bit of damage to the firewall of the closet that it's in).

So we are now redoing a counter offer based off the inspection and the work that is needed to get this house in a better livable condition. We are going to amend the offer to include for them to replace the water heater (the thing is completely shot) as well as give us a $10,000 credit for us to do repairs that will be needed.

Also my insurance company is asking when the work will be done because in this condition they are saying that they might not be able to cover it, unless we are repairing it soon after purchase. Going to sign the new counter offer tonight. Our contingency ends on Friday!

If they don't at least go 1/2 way on the credit we will walk and see what happens from there.

[sooner333]

This is what $340k gets you in Norman, OK about five blocks from campus and walking distanfce for football games.

Home Tours (http://openhouseok.com/showhome.oht?&city=norman&address=515+S+Flood&st=ok)

[Sublime 2]

Me and my girlfriend put in an offer on a house about a week ago, and today we got the call that it was accepted!! No counter offer or anything, they accepted all of our conditions as well. We'll get an inspection done in the next 2 weeks, but based on our 3 walkthroughs nothing big should pop up. One of the conditions is having the furnace be completely serviced and all necessary upgrades done, which was really my main worry, as it's a little older than I liked.

<img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_DVWHgC_PY6A/SVBO2rcspFI/AAAAAAAAAhM/W3VjgiXaKm8/s400/10796477-304x228.jpg" /></a>


Yeah...Paint job is definitely the first big job to be done...the girlfriend loves the mint color, I can't stand it really.

[kcchief19]

That house would be lucky to go for 100K here in Missouri in the current market.
Only if it were in the hood or currently on fire. Given Dan saying it's in a good location and great neighborhood, homes like that (especially a ranch) are going to go for. $80 a square foot would be a bargain price. In a place like Liberty you're like closer to $100 a square foot, and closer to $125 to $150 in a place like Brookside or Prairie Village.

Of course the difference is that Brookside doesn't have any palm trees and it's currently 23-freaking-degrees in Liberty. :banghead:

Congrats, Dan! Good for you!!!!!

[DanGarion]

Update. They offered back 4k and that was it. After putting a lot of thought into it my wife and I called our Realtor and turned it down. After some discussions with our Realtor he asked what it would take to make us say yes, and he told him 5k and the water heater replaced, he said he'd get that done one way or another, either having the seller accept it or him paying for the extra 1k and the water heater replacement himself. So we said yes!

It was only about $1,800 difference from what they were willing to offer but it was less then what we had already laid down as what we would accept. Can't believe we are going to really get the place now! We both felt sick after saying yes, we are really going to be home owners now!

Talking to some friends getting a bank to give you as much as they are giving us (4-5k) on an As-is REO is impressive, especially after already getting them to move the price down more then 5%.

[PilotMan]

That sick feeling won't go away until you are totally living there, either. It will get worse right up until closing day. The seller's agent didn't even show up at the close for us, and had no keys to hand over. Bastard. Nothing like buying a house and not having the keys for it.

I am happy for you and your wife Dan. The house payments are difficult sometimes, but I love that it is mine.

Our house was 'AS IS' too, but we were still able to get the seller to fix some damage to the roof, even after they came down about 4.5% on the price, that was already 10k below what it was built for 7 years earlier.

Nice job, I think you have really made the most of the current market!

[DanGarion]

Haha! They changed the status of the house on Redfin!


1212 E Walnut Ave, Orange, CA 92867 | MLS# H08164027 (http://www.redfin.com/CA/Orange/1212-E-Walnut-Ave-92867/home/4401832?utm_source=myredfin&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=listings_update&utm_nooverride=1)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Only if it were in the hood or currently on fire. Given Dan saying it's in a good location and great neighborhood, homes like that (especially a ranch) are going to go for. $80 a square foot would be a bargain price. In a place like Liberty you're like closer to $100 a square foot, and closer to $125 to $150 in a place like Brookside or Prairie Village.

I think you might want to take a look at the details on that house that Dan bough. No air conditioning. Wall heater. Missing some appliances. The houses you're referring to have central air and heat along with all the appliances. I can guarantee you that I could get a house on the east side of Liberty school district with the same specs for $100,000 without any problem. I could get you more than one choice for that matter.

Edit: Here's a good example.

824 Hillside Av, Liberty, MO | Reece & Nichols Real Estate, Mortgage, Closing Title Experts | Listing Information (http://www.reeceandnichols.com/Listing/ListingDetail.aspx?Search=305b14a0-fa23-4d79-8339-2c3ee6e27403&Listing=29325007&IRPAgentID=&Image=1&First=1&Last=5&pagesize=10&SearchType=geographic&ListingDistrictTypeID=&FirstLetter=&Sort=6&Cookies=&UseColorBar=false)

4 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath. Roughly the same square footage. Central heat and air with a huge yard in a good school district. List price is $95,000, which means you can likely get it for $90-92K. You'd be amazed at just how good of a house you can buy for relatively cheap in the current market. Dan's huge discount on his house is another great example.

[terpkristin]

Haha! They changed the status of the house on Redfin!


1212 E Walnut Ave, Orange, CA 92867 | MLS# H08164027 (http://www.redfin.com/CA/Orange/1212-E-Walnut-Ave-92867/home/4401832?utm_source=myredfin&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=listings_update&utm_nooverride=1)

I'm so glad I wasn't the only one to do that when I bought my house. It tickled me to see it go to Contg/No KO :)

/tk

[DanGarion]

Even more good news! Our Realtor is going to pay for the water damaged wall next to the water heater, so that is one less thing to repair on our own. AND he had a HVAC guy look at our floor and wall furnace and they both checked out perfectly!

We are still looking to close on 12/30/08!

[DanGarion]

I think you might want to take a look at the details on that house that Dan bough. No air conditioning. Wall heater. Missing some appliances. The houses you're referring to have central air and heat along with all the appliances. I can guarantee you that I could get a house on the east side of Liberty school district with the same specs for $100,000 without any problem. I could get you more than one choice for that matter.

Edit: Here's a good example.

824 Hillside Av, Liberty, MO | Reece & Nichols Real Estate, Mortgage, Closing Title Experts | Listing Information (http://www.reeceandnichols.com/Listing/ListingDetail.aspx?Search=305b14a0-fa23-4d79-8339-2c3ee6e27403&Listing=29325007&IRPAgentID=&Image=1&First=1&Last=5&pagesize=10&SearchType=geographic&ListingDistrictTypeID=&FirstLetter=&Sort=6&Cookies=&UseColorBar=false)

4 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath. Roughly the same square footage. Central heat and air with a huge yard in a good school district. List price is $95,000, which means you can likely get it for $90-92K. You'd be amazed at just how good of a house you can buy for relatively cheap in the current market. Dan's huge discount on his house is another great example.

I hate California for the plain and simple reason that it's FREAKING expensive to live here. What is the median household income in that area of MO?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I hate California for the plain and simple reason that it's FREAKING expensive to live here. What is the median household income in that area of MO?

The median income in that county is just over $58,000(2007 numbers). What is it in your area?

[DanGarion]

Estimated median household income in 2007: $75,024 (it was $58,994 in 2000)
Orange: $75,024
California: $59,948

Estimated median house or condo value in 2007: $660,600 (it was $247,000 in 2000)
Orange: $660,600
California: $532,300

2008 cost of living index in Orange: 140.2 (very high, U.S. average is 100)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Estimated median household income in 2007: $75,024 (it was $58,994 in 2000)
Orange: $75,024
California: $59,948

Estimated median house or condo value in 2007: $660,600 (it was $247,000 in 2000)
Orange: $660,600
California: $532,300

2008 cost of living index in Orange: 140.2 (very high, U.S. average is 100)

Holy Jesus. That's insane that homes cost that much more despite the median income only being around 20K more. I guess you're paying for the priviledge to see the ocean and the weather. :)

[DanGarion]

Holy Jesus. That's insane that homes cost that much more despite the median income only being around 20K more. I guess you're paying for the priviledge to see the ocean and the weather. :)

It's because everyone wants to live here! But for us, it's also we grew up here and our families are all here.

If it wasn't for the family element we probably would have left already, I mean we were really close to moving to Colorado Springs, CO.

I guess all I can say is...


Welcome to California (Hollywood).

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

It's because everyone wants to live here! But for us, it's also we grew up here and our families are all here.

If it wasn't for the family element we probably would have left already, I mean we were really close to moving to Colorado Springs, CO.

I guess all I can say is...


Welcome to California (Hollywood).

Colorado Springs is a great place to live. Not too expensive, low crime rate, and access to all that the Rocky Mountains have to offer.

[DanGarion]

So we weren't able to close today. Due to the issues with the seller getting the utilities on for us to do the inspection and then us getting the loan application started after that, the loan is still in underwriting.

It's almost done, but we've had a couple things requested from the bank that we are getting our loan from, mainly just little things such as a copy of the contract from when we bought our business and new copies of my paystubs, simple things.

New closing date is to be by 01/09/09.

[DanGarion]

Ok got more updates, we at at the home stretch and almost done!

From Jan 2nd.
So there are no updates on the house on the loan/purchase side, but that doesn’t mean there is no new news! I called our Realtor today and asked if it was ok for us to start getting estimates for the work that is going to need done on the house and the seller said it was fine. I have 2 appointments tomorrow with electricians and then on Monday 2 with roofing and 1 with windows. We are going to get as much stuff done as quick as possible. I’m taking most of the week on Jan 12th off so I can get things started.

From Jan 5th, this morning.
Here are some old pictures our Realtor was able to get us of our house as it looked over 2 years ago from the outside and also with furniture inside. It really opens our eyes to how nice this place will look once we finally get moved in!
Pictures of the House from over 2 years ago. (http://dangarion.com/general-news/house-hunting-old-pictures-of-our-soon-to-be-home)

From Jan. 5th, this evening.
So at 1:00 PM today our loan guy called to tell me that we got final loan approval! Everything is done with underwriting and it’s off to the escrow office to pull and finalize all the paperwork! We have a couple more things to sign with the escrow company and I guess then that’s it. It’s the home stretch!

On Saturday we purchased our <a href="http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_04678572000P" target="_blank">fridge</a>, <a href="http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02219082000P?vName=Appliances&amp;cName=Dishwashers&amp;sName=Built-In" target="_blank">dishwasher</a>, and <a href="http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02277482000P" target="_blank">range</a>, and then on Sunday we purchased our <a href="http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02606242000P?vName=Appliances&amp;cName=Washers+%26+Dryers&amp;sName=Front-Load" target="_blank">washer</a> and <a href="http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02608242000P?vName=Appliances&amp;cName=Washers+%26+Dryers&amp;sName=Front-Load&amp;mv=rp" target="_blank">dryer</a>. We really like the bottom freeze design of the fridge and from my research fridges without the ice dispensers on the door are big pluses. Not much to say about the dishwasher other then Consumer Reports had it highly rated. We were a bit torn on which range to get, there was a really nice double oven that we wanted, with convection but couldn’t justify the price, so we went with this single oven that has convection and a warming tray. Then the washer and dryer were pretty highly rated on Consumer Reports and we didn’t have a need for them to stack, not to mention the capacities are huge.

Also on Saturday I met with two electricians and went over the work I need done on teh wiring for the house. We need to get our panel and riser moved because they are currently in the garage and it’s the original subpanel from 1949. In addition to that we need a new switch put in the living room for the light (it’s currently in a closet???) and I need to get a dedicated breaker put in the room that is going to be the office that I have the computer in. I then met to more electricians today, I think I’m set on who I want to use, but I’m still waiting for one more finalized quote.

Today we also had two roofing companies check out the roof. They both felt the roof was in good shape except for 1 or 2 trouble spots that shingles have blow off of. In addition one of the companies pointed out an issue with the flashing on our eaves that is allowing water to puddle up on the eaves.

Lastly we had a sales consultant from Home Depot talk to us about installing partial window replacements for 15 windows in the house. The house currently has the original single pane, double hung, wood pane windows. We want to get really nice double pane, double hung, vinyl windows installed throughout the house. They gave us a quote, and we are working on getting two more from other companies.

So that’s where we stand, we are almost done!

[DanGarion]

Wow, it's been a busy week!

So we closed on the house on Thursday (01/15/09). We have been working on the house every day since then trying to get it to where we want it to be for us to move in. Lots and lots of cleaning, and tons of painting, priming almost all done, next weekend is for the real colors. I have already had the Pest guys out to do a bunch of repairs and they are tenting the house on Wed. I had roof guys out there today doing some minor repairs on the roof. Next Mon and Tuesday I have an electrician upgrading our panel to a 200 amp as well as installing a dedicated circuit to the office. Also next week we will be screening all the floors and then finishing them. After that it's also time to start moving in. We are already going to start doing some modifications to the house, we are going to expand the master bathroom. Things are moving a long great.

[PilotMan]

Fantastic Dan, your patience has paid off. Congrats!

[stevew]

Roughly how much was it to upgrade to 200 amp service? We might do that at some point in the future.

[DanGarion]

Roughly how much was it to upgrade to 200 amp service? We might do that at some point in the future.
Well we are actually getting three total things done, but from all the quotes I got, it's about $1200-2400 to do it. That's including having them pull the permit and also running a new conduit in our attic to feed the house.

[sterlingice]

Congrats on the long fought victory :)

SI

[Eaglesfan27]

Congrats, Dan. I hope all goes well with the next few steps to move in.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Given the many "joys" of home ownership, I'm never quite sure whether I should offer congratulations or condolences. Kind of the same feeling I get when I hear about a wedding really.

[sooner333]

Given the many "joys" of home ownership, I'm never quite sure whether I should offer congratulations or condolences. Kind of the same feeling I get when I hear about a wedding really.

Is it kind of like the best two days of owning a boat?

[DanGarion]

Well work on the house has stopped till Friday. We almost got all the priming done on the inside, except for some things that are going to be more of a pain in the ass (like the kitchen cabinets). The house will be tented for the next two days and then work starts back up on Friday afternoon. Got some friends and family come to help over the weekend and hopefully we can get all the color painting done this weekend, then we can start on getting the wood floors sanded and then finished. We are also working on getting another quote of replacing all the windows in the house.

More pictures.

<div style="width:800px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="800" height="533" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fdangarion1%2Falbumid%2F5293600252098781809%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></div><span style="float:left;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/dangarion1/OurHouse" style="color:#3964c2">View Album</a></span><div style="text-align:right;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/getEmbed" style="color:#3964c2">Get your own</a></div></div>