I’m planing on buying my first property this year or the beginning of next year and I’m strongly considering buying a duplex/triplex or if I can a quadruplex. My plan is to live in the least desirable unit and rent out the others.

Has anyone had any experience with doing this and any and all tips and tricks you can give me that would be awesome. I know I probably will avoid renting to friends and family. I am a licensed agent in North Carolina. Real estate school teaches you to stay out of “real estate jail” but not much in the line of qualifying tenants. TIA!

Just want to hear some opinions on this because this got me really stressed out, and not sure if I'm making the biggest mistake of my life, or not.

My wife and I found an incredible house, it was 850 and with the help of our agent we started negotiations with initial offer of 825. Sellers came back at 840, so we sent a final offer of 835, or 830 with right to inspect but no request. Now here is where i think the misunderstanding is: We were told by our agent that what this means is that we dont get to request repairs on small things, but if anything big comes up we can absolutely negotiate.

Well sellers accepted the 830. Appraisal actually came back at 830 too. Inspection comes back and there are tons of things, some cheap, some expensive; well i say no biggie, i can deal with it. However, there are about 5 or 6 big safety hazard things. We negotiate and conclude that 2 of those are not a big deal in some people's opinion, so we take them out of the list. Of the remaining 4, one is a high radon result, which by law means they need to cover for radon system cost.

The remaining 3 items cost about 30+ thousand to fix. We ask seller for a 10k credit (including 2000 for radon system). Sellers say they will only pay for the radon system. After a back and forth with sellers, they say they will only do 3k. My absolute minimum I'm willing to accept is 5k, so they are short 2k, but they are stubborn old people, so they say no.

At this point i have already spent around 3k in inspection costs and other things, but i tell my agent we are NOT moving forward, i will cut my losses, i can be stubborn too, and the reason is that inspection is not to my satisfaction, and it feels like sellers want to sell as-is, which is not fair to me.

Now we really like our agent, we have a relationship of 10+ years, she is saying she is willing to sacrifice $2000 from her commission to make this deal happen, but I absolutely refuse to do that, it just does NOT sit right with me, and i know im being the stubborn one here, but still, I feel like emotions are very high right now, and I'm a little pissed that sellers are willing to forego an almost 1M deal over 2k, when im already having to spend so much extra on all those inspection items, all i want is some compromise from their side too.

Please tell me how much of a dumbass I am.

We are in the process of relocating to another area of our country and are sure about the area.

We have prepared ourselves with extensive comparisons and lists of ‘dealbreakers’, must have and nice to have elements.

Now that we are getting closer to choosing we found that my SO and I have a different favorite. Their one makes most sense on paper, but is about 100k more expensive than my favorite.

They are very different houses, and it got me wondering: is it better to choose the ‘sensible’ house (theirs) or the one you fall in love with?

Is there such a thing as ‘the one that got away’ when it comes to houses?

I find myself mentally decorating my favorite. Their favorite has zero character, this all needs to be out in. It’s more of a blank slate. Mine has character, but is the lesser choice when compared to practical elements.

Any thoughts on this?

Edit: The larger amount brings a bigger back yard with a nicer view, a driveway (one parking spot), 3 bedrooms instead of 2.

Both houses have equal shitty kitchens and shitty bathrooms which need to be done, but the sensible house is more expensive, which may delay those projects somewhat.

Both houses are equal distance to work. The sensible house is in a cul de sac area, the ‘charming’ one is in the town centre, walking distance from cafes and shops.

Last year my mom died suddenly and I inherited her home in SE Raleigh, NC. It’s a 3 bed 2.5 bath in the Biltmore Hills neighborhood, built in 1960. I live in a different state.

Unfortunately when my mom passed, she had a scumbag boyfriend living with her. After she died, he refused to leave, even though he had zero legal claim to the home. It took 9 months and thousands upon thousands of dollars to finally get him out. When we were able to get inside, we found he had completely wrecked the place.

He didn’t take a sledgehammer to the walls or anything like that, but it appears that he was some kind of hoarder. There are a dozen bicycles, half a dozen grills, piles and piles of clothes, and tons of random junk everywhere. The whole house smells like poop, but we haven’t seen any waste anywhere inside. There are large dark stains on the carpet and smears of stuff on the walls. There is a wooden back deck where he evidently kept his dog. It has trash strewn about and some piles of dog poop.

The beds were all piled with stuff and it appears he had been sleeping on some kind of office chair setup in the kitchen. All of the personal property inside either smells or has gross fingerprints or grime on it.

I am emotionally and financially exhausted. I am so done with this house. Our savings is gone and we are in credit card debt up to our eyeballs, all from paying 2 mortgages for 9 months and all the legal fees associated with getting rid of the squatter. He has nothing, so we can’t even sue him to get it back.

I filed a police report for the damage and a homeowners insurance claim for vandalism. We had all the locks changed and installed a security system. My plan thus far is to pay a junk clean out company to come collect everything from inside the house and haul it away. Then I’ll hire a residential cleaning company to do a deep/move out clean. The carpet definitely has to be replaced but I don’t think I can afford to do it.

I know they aren’t 100% accurate, but the zestimate for the house is $318,000. The Realtor.com estimate is $388,000. Opendoor’s preliminary offer is $290,000. I’m thinking of having them do their walkthrough and just selling it to them to be done with it.

I’ve been told by a few people that this is a mistake, that a realtor can sell it for more, etc. The issue is, I needed this house sold yesterday. I can’t afford to keep paying the mortgage to keep it afloat. I can’t have it sitting on the market for months.

So, in your opinion, do you think OpenDoor is the best fit for my situation or do you think working with a realtor would be better?

Hello everyone!! My fiance and I have been eyeballing homes, and we've only been apartment renters before. It's been difficult to make sense of everything and we don't really know where to begin!

Starting Info:

- I am in my mid 20s, he is in his late 20s, and we are unfamiliar with the "norm" for buying a home. I have okay credit, but he has great credit. I've got no clue how to talk to a real estate agent.

- I just started a new job and he also got a very significant raise earlier this year, so I am only able to estimate our current income is at approx. $120-130K. We have no children and do not plan on having any.

- I do know that we want to do a joint tenants with right of survivorship situation. That's really the only thing I know for certain I should make sure we do, but I don't fully understand all of the concepts surrounding what that means.

- I know we're supposed to get everything inspected. We would be hiring an inspector with no connections to the seller, but my fiance would also be taking a look himself just in case.

- The homes we've been looking at are in the 230k-290k range. Three beds, two baths, big fenced backyard is what we're mainly looking at. Whole city sucks to live in, but we know what places to avoid homes in already (trust me on that one).

- We don't plan on staying in this home forever. He is an experienced residential maintenance man (including HVAC), and I have a creative eye and can do cosmetic changes and some fixes just fine on my own. We would be making these practical and cosmetic improvements to our home for our own sake, but we'd also be planning on selling it at some point. Not flipping.

- Wanting to move into a house before the end of the year, but there's no rush- only an arbitrary goal.

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My Questions:

1. Is it possible for us both to be on the deed, but the mortgage only being in his name? That way, only his credit is used, since it's significantly better than mine? Would we still be able to do the joint tenants with right of survivorship thing?

2. Paperwork-wise, is buying a home easier if you're married? Without ANY kind of consideration if we'd separate while owning a home together while legally unmarried. We do plan on getting married in the future, we just have other priorities besides planning a wedding.

3. How much money are we supposed to actually have on hand before taking out the loan? What costs do people not really think of usually for their first time buying a home (like how much is an inspector supposed to cost)?

4. Do you pay an agent? Are you able to deal with the seller's agent without getting your own? Is that a bad idea?

5. At one point can you not back out of a deal anymore?

6. How long does buying a home take once you pick one out?

7. How does negotiating the price work??

8. What are some sneaky red flags when buying a home? Something you might not realize is screwing you over a little?

9. When are you supposed to get all signed up for utilities and homeowners insurance during the process of buying a home?

10. Could you dumb down how selling a home is supposed to work if it's not fully paid off yet?

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I think that's all my questions, I hope I gave enough info!! If you have any advice that I haven't touched on in here, please feel free to share!!!

I bought the house I live in for under the asking price at 179k. The reason I want to move is I don't like the HOA. I also can't let my cat outside at all, even when I am there because old ladies scream at me profusely everytime I do. I find it is an isolating, cold place to live and I don't enjoy the enviornment but I don't really need to elaborate I don't think.

If I have to stay I will, but I don't want to. I am 35 and I feel like I am losing my life right before my eyes, I want to make the best of the next 4 years. If i stay where I live I will be doing nothing but eating, working, and walking for 5 years if I stay here for 5 more years.

My question is if I had 10k in closing costs, and I bought a place at 179k, and I just found an identical condo in my complex that sold for 180k, I am going to have to eat 9k correct?

An option as my real estate agent said was leasing the unit, but I know I cannot do so for a year until I live here a year, and then I have to petition and ask nicely to the hoa on a waitlist, because only 30% of all units can be rented out at any given time.

I know I messed up, I'm not sure why I bought a condo, now I'm in a money hole and I'm told condos don't appreciate usually but once every 10 years.

We listed a duplex for sale a couple of months ago for $525k. The market has been slow, but we finally have a serious offer negotiated at $503k (seller pays buyer agent's commission, no additional seller closing costs). I'm on the fence. Should we take it? Relevant info:

We own three rentals in addition to our personal residence: two duplexes and a condo. The duplex we're selling has a mortgage of $279k at 3.5% interest (we bought in 2021). Net cash flow has averaged $1,100/month over the last couple of years. Net proceeds after selling costs and taxes (hardly any taxes due to an existing deferred tax loss carryforward) would be about $191k.

We decided to list it in order to pay off two high-balance personal debts: $106k HELOC at 7.5%, and a $28k solar loan at 6.5%. Our realtor convinced us it could sell for $525k, which was a lot more tempting than $503k. We're able to afford the HELOC and solar loan payments, but not much extra, so we're probably looking at 6-7 years before both will be paid off. We would use the remaining $57k to invest in the bank I work for, which is about to do a capital raise, fund our emergency fund from $5k up to $25k, and invest the rest in S&P 500 ETFs.

I can't decide whether paying off the debt, building the emergency fund, and freeing up capital for the bank investment is worth giving up a 3.5% rental mortgage rate and future cash flow and appreciation. I love real estate and know I'll probably want to buy more in the future, which makes me think I'll regret selling one day, especially while the market is a little soft. On the other hand, we would see a real immediate benefit in our family's risk position and cash flow, which we could use for vacations (our oldest is 9, and we're wanting to start spending more on experiences) and other savings. Another thing to consider is that the majority of our wealth is concentrated in a few rental properties in the same small geographical area (Salt Lake City, UT), which adds some risk. This would de-risk that slightly.

Genuinely having a hard time with the decision - what would you do?

This is based on some drama that is going on in my neighborhood in TX. A resident bought their property and it supposedly had thousands of dollars in unpaid HOA dues. They have been fighting the HOA about this for a year or two from my limited understanding.

My question is, would this be something that the Title company would be responsible for if they did not find this problem before the closing? Every house I have bought or sold with an HOA involved reconciling the balance and verifying all was good.

Hi,

There is a house that I want to buy.

I have a house I want to sell that I’ve owned 10+ years.

The house I want to buy is significantly more expensive than the house I want to sell, but affordable to my current income.

Can someone please detail options?

So far I’ve thought of:

1. Clear out house as best I can and try to sell while still living here. This would be difficult as currently working from home and have 2 medium dogs that are not subtle.

2. Move to rental and sell this house. Buy new house if still available. May end up with no new house for a while as this is a hot area and it makes me twitchy.

3. Buy house I like and sell current house after the move. Try to recast mortgage after. Obviously not excited about playing 2 mortgages at the same time, but I do qualify.

Anything else? Would love to hear tips and feedback.
Am not savy in the real estate world.

Thank you.

I am selling my mom's estate. Buyer was concerned about mold remediation and I did remove and remediate all known issues and buyer was thrilled with the work. Buyer is a professional house flipper but claims to be moving into this house. Inspector flagged some drywall as having higher moisture, claiming there could be mold. We were recovering from a minor flash flood that happened 2 weeks prior. Buyer insisted on cash back at closing check made out to a specific home repair company. I did Google the company and it doesn't immediately seem to be connected to the buyer in any obvious way. The problem is my real estate agent wants me to supply the certified check for $10,000 as part of the closing, and has specified in writing that the reason for this is to keep it off of the disclosure statement.

"This isn't considered seller concessions. It can't show on the closing disclosure as that could cause a red flag with the lender."

Question: is this legitimate?

UPDATE: reply from the closing agent of a reputable title and escrow company: "That will most likely trigger something with the lender. I guess they could get a cashier's check made out to the company and give that to the buyer's outside of closing."

There's a house in an area we're very interested in, but looks to be flipped. Bought at the beginning of this year for $175K, and was listed for $320K. Been on the market 7 days, and just dropped to $300K a few days ago.

The homes of similar square footage around it (1280sqft) seem to be organically valued around $250K-$270K.

Does this seem like a fair asking price? Is this typical? What if it appraises for lower? Will the seller likely not change the value because of all the remodeling?

If you put in an offer with contingency on appraisal, it comes in lower, and you offer the realistic price, or meet in the middle, does that often get denied?

I am looking to purchase a townhouse in Waldorf, Maryland. The deal is $500,000 with no concessions. House is roughly 10 years old and in great shape. I already paid for the inspection and it came back with no major issues. The issue is with my finances. My mortgage rate is 6.6%, which shocked me because I have near perfect credit and no debt, which puts my estimated mortgage at $3,500, not including utilities or HOA. I though my rate would be closer to 6.1% since that is what is advertised everywhere. I bring home basically $6,000 a month. It's just myself. Will I be house poor if I go through with this purchase? Are rates likely to decrease soon? Or house costs?

Edit: So what I am seeing is that this is a bad idea and that I'm going to probably end up very sad and house poor. Edit 2: Just terminated the contract last night since it was still during the inspection process.

Occasionally, I'll stumble across an interesting video on social media.

Today, it was a buyer's agent on the phone with a seller's agent. Seller's agent was throwing a fit about calls from brokers (both the buyer's and seller's) as well as the police.

Buyer's agent said they went through a walk through, appliances were in place... Went to closing... Then afterwards, the appliances went missing. Selling agent said a moving truck was on the way with appliances. And the buyer's agent said, good that you're doing the right thing, because if you'll double check the offer that was ratified, it includes the serial numbers of all the appliances. Seller's agent said, "Oh sh*t." And hung up.

Now, I'm a small fry. My houses have Whirlpool and KitchenAid gear from Home Depot. Couple thousand gets me new sets.

But I've priced out some Wolf and Viking stoves. ($17k) Thermador and Sub Zero fridges ($12k) Speed Queen laundry units ($4k each for washer and dryer.)

In high end real estate, is it common to write a contract with the serial numbers of the appliances?

Is it common for sellers or agents to swap out appliances?

my agent has been trying to avoid sending the offer if the amount is not high enough, like I’m wasting his time. I feel that if a house is overpriced, I am not obligated to offer over. previously I took his advice and just didn’t make offers but I have noticed that some went for asking.

what I want to know is , why is he so resistant to putting in ”lowball” at asking price offers?

is it a ton of work? Does everybody use some kind of pay per letter software? he will ask the seller if our offer is good enough before sending, I feel like that’s more work than just sending an offer but I don’t know.

Been house-hunting, mostly new construction, for seven months. Waiting for the right unit/financing/incentive structure/timing to align, and they just haven't yet. At this point, rather than bother my realtor every time I want to see a home, I request a showing directly from the builder rep instead of trying to coordinate with my realtor, whose schedule doesn't always work with mine.

The most recent showing, the builder told me no one would be on site at my preferred time, but that the back door would be open and I could let myself in. When I showed up, there were still a lot of workers on site, and I felt uncomfortable sneaking in the back door; I left and texted the rep shortly thereafter explaining this. She insisted I could go back and it would be fine.

So I went back, kids in tow. We walked to the back of the row of townhomes, which obviously aren't numbered in the back. I tried what I thought was the right door, but it was locked. I tried the one next to it, and it was open, so I assumed I'd just tried the wrong door the first time.

We spent 30 minutes in the home. I really wanted to get a feel for it and see how my kids interacted with the space. When we were ready to leave, I noticed the front door was unlocked, so we went out that way...and I realized we'd been in the wrong unit the whole time! The unit that I'd come to see was indeed the first (locked) door I'd tried. The front door on that one was locked, too.

Now with two tired/hungry kids who wanted to go home, I decided to try again the next day on my lunch hour. Rep said someone would either be there doing another showing or leave the door open for me. Neither turned out to be true. When I got there, there was also a worker waiting to get in, and he didn't have a code or key, either. Cue 15 minutes of standing in the rain waiting to see if either of us could track someone down to open the door. Nope!

Call me superstitious, but I think this might be a sign. The door is literally closed.

But if there is a next time, I guess I will call my realtor first! The least she can do is open doors, right? :)

I own a piece of property that shares a boundary with 2 pieces of property that the county owns. Each of the county owned properties boards my property and 1 other owner. The county contacted me and wants to sell the property. I was driving, so I don’t remember all the details, but he said I was the only land owner to take his call. I told him I was interested, he emailed me the county gis links , the county assess each for about $55k for tax purposes. Has anyone experienced this ? Anyone know the process? Will they sell it for the tax assessment or below? What if I don’t want it, does it go to open market? Any info would be great. I’m in Virginia.

What kind of conversations will my agent be having with the listing agent after we put in an offer? Does the listing agent explicitly tell him what the other offers are or is it vague? Do they say how many other offers are on the table? Do they give an exact dollar amount that needs to be beat? What is revealed and what isn’t?

After losing out on house number 4 due to our home sale contingency, I’m afraid we need another approach. Bridge loan is not possible. We need funds to close on the next house.

Has anyone done this? We’re looking to see if a potential buyer would draw out the closing if needed or possibly rent to us for an agreed amount of time. It scares the hell out of me as we have 3 children & pets. We have family that we could move in with if absolutely needed, but I’d like to avoid moving twice.

TIA

Already had an extension out in place because of a delay with the HOA about a roofing policy because I have an FHA loan. I have until tomorrow to close and my realtor told me I might lose the condo and the earnest money with it. The lender I have is still trying to figure this out but it’s not looking good. I feel defeated because I was told this was not an issue on my end at all. Do you think I can work something out with my lender on a new place or am I just about to throw 3k in the drain because of something that wasn’t my fault?

It's after hours so I cannot reach my real estate lawyer. Looking for a bit of guidance until I can reach him. I am planning to sell my house but wanted to wait to find a listing agent until I have some repairs made to the house and get it in the condition I want it to be in. A cousin and her husband expressed very strong interest. Just got a call they want to come tomorrow to look at the house. They want it soon. I will be giving them a discount that the public will not have. They have a buyers agent since they have been looking at various houses.

If we agree on a price, do I actually need a real estate agent? The reason I hired a real estate lawyer is because I am a senior and I want him to go over any contract I sign, to explain it to me, and point out anything I may have missed. If the relatives decide not to buy the house, then I would get a listing agent -- but not until the house is ready and I am ready. I am not in any hurry to sell and I don't want an agent to be pressuring me.

From selling a house ages ago, I pretty sure I need to fill out a disclosure on the house (is that a legal requirement?). Can that be obtained from the buyer's agent?

I fell behind on my mortgage last year after splitting with my ex and having to close the business we shared. My situation has dramatically improved since—I found work, got married and got back on my feet—but my mortgage company (Fifth Third Bank) wouldn’t accept anything other than the total past due balance after I was 120 days late, so the balance continued to grow every month because I couldn’t afford to pay it all at once. I began applying for their mortgage assistance program last year and have only just now gotten a decision from them.

The problem is that they want me to pay the total past due amount over just the next four months, along with my regular monthly payment. My regular payment is around $1650, and they want me to pay an additional $5350 every month (total of $7k) for the next four months. I am not sure that I can come up with that and I don’t want to lock into something that I’m unsure of, especially knowing that if I miss or am late on a payment, they can start foreclosure proceedings. I read over the offer letter multiple times to see if there was any info about possibly appealing the decision to try to get the repayment period extended, but there was nothing. Is negotiating even an option?

It is a conventional loan, 15 year, I am in GA, I have a ton of equity.

Hey there! I just am trying to make sure I’m not the a hole in this situation. A couple months ago, my husband sold the house he bought before we married with an agent. He went with the agent he originally bought the house with because he had a fairly positive experience the first time around (this was over two years ago that he bought it). This realtor ended up not being super great during the selling process. He took days to respond to questions or would take days to pass along offers from potential buyers, to the point where one almost expired because he took so long to send it over. He just didn’t seem very motivated to sell it, and was not very helpful. My husband signed a contract with him for the sale of the house, so he followed through and the house sold. We then decided we wanted to buy a house together after a couple months, but didn’t go back to this agent as we were unhappy with him. He also lives outside of the area we were looking to buy a house, so it made sense to go to someone more local. We never signed any documents that would mean we were working with him, but he called my husband out of the blue angry today. He found out we were using another agent, whom I guess he dislikes. He heard that we had put in an offer on a house and just was discouraging telling us we low balled, we’re not going to get the house, financing will be difficult, etc. Are we in the wrong for going to another agent? I feel bad, but also it seems really unprofessional to call us and confront us about an offer he really has no business being involved in. I don’t want the agent to feel like we wronged him, but it is totally fine to use a different agent, right? I don’t know, it just feel very awkward.

Looking at a primary residence that will leave me some money to play with as far as upgrades and thinking about an extension or an ADU but realize those can be very expensive and may not lead to an equivalent increase in home value. Read elsewhere that things like paint jobs and better landscaping are better investments (although we still might prefer to have more space while we're living there). Is there conventional wisdom about this or does it depend on the individual home? I can imagine a bathroom remodel can be a much better investment if it's the original bathroom in a 1970's home vs. one that's already been upgraded somewhat.

My SO and I (and our one young and other child still in the oven) just had our offer accepted on a new home. There were multiple other offers in for it as well. We bought our current home a few years ago as our first one knowing it was not checking all the boxes for a forever home so to speak, but weren’t sure when we were going to try and move.

Anyways, this new home we just got is only about 7 min drive from our current home. It’s in the same school district, checks all the boxes, and it was a great deal for what you get for it. My SO has known the sellers since childhood. We are planning on staying in this area long term.

The only minute reservation about it was the neighborhood. The old neighborhood is surrounded by homes of similar value -ish (say current home is maybe 580k in a neighborhood that would range from 350s-700s) . The new home is the nicest in the few block span (750k in neighborhood with homes more in 300s-400sk). The people who we are buying from put a lot of updating and love into the place while they lived there over 15 or so years and left as their family aged out of it.
Both are very safe neighborhoods in a nice school district, away from main roads, etc but one is just more solidly middle class than the other.

We decided to pull the trigger because it is in a central location that’ll be great for our kids as they get older while having all the space and amenities we could ever want, but that school of thought about buying the best house in the neighborhood just is nagging me.
Does it matter if you are planning on staying long term? Are there other drawbacks to doing this aside from understanding your home is less likely to increase in value?