I just recently discovered that my house that we've been living in for two years is full of Radon gas.
I borrowed an electronic detector from a co-worker out of curiosity and the levels from that initial test came back at 3 times the limit (Canadian limit being 200 Bq/m3).
I bought my own electronic detector because some google searches came back with a lot of negative reviews regarding high false readings on the one I borrowed. Unfortunately, the new detector all but confirmed that I have a Radon issue. The last 3 weeks have been getting week long averages for the kids bedrooms, basement rec room and crawl space.
I did some minor mitigation by covering the floor drain with a one way airtight rubber seal. It allows water to flow down it but blocks gasses coming up from the weeping tiles. Also, during my investigations I discovered that my crawl space that is underneath half of the house is likely the major source; measurements in the crawl space peaked around 1900 Bq/m3, with the week long average being ~900 Bq/m3. I also discovered some significant cracks in the concrete slab in there. The major cracks I found I filled with spray foam and the smaller ones sealed with a polyurethane concrete caulking.
I'm hoping that re-measuring the basement after sealing the obvious potential sources in the crawl space will get the numbers down to reasonable winter levels. If not I'll be calling in professional remediation and that is going to set me back a few thousand.
Ugh, houses.
That's not good... all the daughter products are potent alpha emitters and very good at causing cancer. Do you have any way to vent your crawlspace? If you have crawlspace vents, are they open?
There are no vents in the crawl space and the entirety of the foundation walls in the crawl space and the basement are sealed with spray foam. But I believe I've sealed the major sources. The major sources being the laundry room floor drain, the smaller cracks in the crawl space concrete and the inch wide crack that ran the length of the crawl space (this one I could feel a draft coming up from).
The cancer risk is significant but from what I've read it's not an immediate risk, but more from prolong exposure. The Canadian Goverment recommends for my levels remediation within 2 years, so it's definitely become my priority as far as house expenses go. However, I'm going to make get some longer term readings after sealing the suspected sources before any major remediation.
Winter where I live is very cold, so for the majority of January/February the furnace is running constantly all that air going up the chimney was unfortunately being replaced by air being sucked up through the cracks and floor drain. Adding to this the previous owners installed new doors and new windows throughout the house and spray foamed the basement. Also my furnace does not have a fresh air intake. Basically, my house is a gigantic vacuum in winter, so I expect these readings are as high as they'll get. I'm hopeful that the sealed cracks will reduce the flow of air from the ground significantly enough to lower the readings.
If not, the remediation involves depressurizing the soil below the foundation slab. It's just expensive.
Is there any way to install a fresh air intake for your furnace? That might help mitigate the levels some. Also, it can save you money because the air it uses can be directly pulled from outside instead of from outside through the house first.
The reason it can be a risk for cancer is that while it's a gas, the daughters in the most probable decay chain aren't, so it bio-accumulates:
and everything emits 4+ MeV α's. I had to get familiar with this decay chain because we are using it in my silicon detector spectroscopy lab right now.
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I know this kind of work is within my capabilities, but I'll be damned if I have the time to focus on it. And that just makes me feel that much more inadequate having to pay someone else to do it.
I'm wrestling with this a lot these days. In the last 6 months I've gotten hit with:
Water heater replacement
Furnace blower fan replacement
Garage door sensor short
Kitchen/bathtub drain clog
Garage door spring replacement
So far, I did everything myself except for the backed up drain. $250 here and $300 there adds up quick, so I've been doing as much as possible myself, but if I wasn't trying to pay down debt I'd probably call somebody more often.
I hope you didn't do the garage door spring yourself. People die replacing those if they don't know what they're doing.
Got some help from my father in law, who had done it before, but it was nothing crazy. Ordered the proper winding rods ($20 on Amazon), wore safety glasses, stood out of the way. No issues and definitely a doable DIY project if you're careful.
I just recently discovered that my house that we've been living in for two years is full of Radon gas.
I borrowed an electronic detector from a co-worker out of curiosity and the levels from that initial test came back at 3 times the limit (Canadian limit being 200 Bq/m3).
I bought my own electronic detector because some google searches came back with a lot of negative reviews regarding high false readings on the one I borrowed. Unfortunately, the new detector all but confirmed that I have a Radon issue. The last 3 weeks have been getting week long averages for the kids bedrooms, basement rec room and crawl space.
I did some minor mitigation by covering the floor drain with a one way airtight rubber seal. It allows water to flow down it but blocks gasses coming up from the weeping tiles. Also, during my investigations I discovered that my crawl space that is underneath half of the house is likely the major source; measurements in the crawl space peaked around 1900 Bq/m3, with the week long average being ~900 Bq/m3. I also discovered some significant cracks in the concrete slab in there. The major cracks I found I filled with spray foam and the smaller ones sealed with a polyurethane concrete caulking.
I'm hoping that re-measuring the basement after sealing the obvious potential sources in the crawl space will get the numbers down to reasonable winter levels. If not I'll be calling in professional remediation and that is going to set me back a few thousand.
Ugh, houses.
That's not good... all the daughter products are potent alpha emitters and very good at causing cancer. Do you have any way to vent your crawlspace? If you have crawlspace vents, are they open?
There are no vents in the crawl space and the entirety of the foundation walls in the crawl space and the basement are sealed with spray foam. But I believe I've sealed the major sources. The major sources being the laundry room floor drain, the smaller cracks in the crawl space concrete and the inch wide crack that ran the length of the crawl space (this one I could feel a draft coming up from).
The cancer risk is significant but from what I've read it's not an immediate risk, but more from prolong exposure. The Canadian Goverment recommends for my levels remediation within 2 years, so it's definitely become my priority as far as house expenses go. However, I'm going to make get some longer term readings after sealing the suspected sources before any major remediation.
Winter where I live is very cold, so for the majority of January/February the furnace is running constantly all that air going up the chimney was unfortunately being replaced by air being sucked up through the cracks and floor drain. Adding to this the previous owners installed new doors and new windows throughout the house and spray foamed the basement. Also my furnace does not have a fresh air intake. Basically, my house is a gigantic vacuum in winter, so I expect these readings are as high as they'll get. I'm hopeful that the sealed cracks will reduce the flow of air from the ground significantly enough to lower the readings.
If not, the remediation involves depressurizing the soil below the foundation slab. It's just expensive.
Is there any way to install a fresh air intake for your furnace? That might help mitigate the levels some. Also, it can save you money because the air it uses can be directly pulled from outside instead of from outside through the house first.
The reason it can be a risk for cancer is that while it's a gas, the daughters in the most probable decay chain aren't, so it bio-accumulates:
and everything emits 4+ MeV α's. I had to get familiar with this decay chain because we are using it in my silicon detector spectroscopy lab right now.
+1 for fresh air intake. While it won't solve the problem, it's likely a cheaper mitigation measure since the furnace will pull less air from the soil. Taking a stab at napkin-math and Canadian prices, I'd guess you could get an intake line put in for about $1500-$1800 depending on if the company has to drill through concrete or can get through walls/siding instead. They should be able to go right out the foundation and not run a pipe up to the roof.
So, housing thread. My wife and I may want to buy a house. How do we do that?
* Save all the money
* Ask friends if they have realtor recommendations
* (Seattle only) Whenever any place remotely meeting your needs pops up, engage in cage match to the death with 20 other people until one emerges, bloody but victorious.
* Remember closing costs are a non-trivial percentage of the down payment.
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"I resent the entire notion of a body as an ante and then raise you a generalized dissatisfaction with physicality itself" -- Tycho
* Prepare to have a microscope shoved up every aspect of your life. Gather all employment records and bank records for at least the last couple of years. The bank will almost certainly want this if you make an offer and it gets accepted.
* Scope property taxes out, they can be a significant part of the payment.
* Realtors only want to be paid, but it's your money so dont let them be pushy.
* The commissions for the sale come from the seller, and are about 6% of the overall sale. Don't get roped into paying this.
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Expect closing costs to be close to 5% of the cost of the house. You'll have inspection, escrow ayment, first couple mortgage payments up front, etc. And don't forget to budget moving costs/any cleaning you want to do before you move in (accessing ducts is easier before furniture is in, etc)
If your credit can afford multiple hard pulls, it may be worth talking to multiple Banks and playing them against one another. This may make you feel like shit, though.
Keep in mind that if you put less than 20% down, you'll need to pay mortgage insurance too.
Even if you don't have kids, look into what schools are for the area. It may end up mattering down the line, and even if it doesn't matter directly, neighborhoods with good schools hold value in downturns better.
Some more details will likely be helpful:
We're looking mostly in Queens, NY for now (may expand to other suburbs). There aren't many areas with good schools and access to transit so that part really narrows it down.
We have excellent credit.
We have 20% down payment. Some of this will likely be a gift from parents, is that an issue?
Will closing costs still be 5% if house prices
Property taxes are relatively low in NYC, since there's a city income tax.
I'm a pretty cautious person, so I've done a lot of research into how much various aspects of home ownership cost around here.
We've started asking for realtor recommendations and will likely follow up next week
How do you 'play banks off eachother' I hear there are mortgage brokers?
Your realtor probably has good recommendations for a lender if you don’t already have one in mind.
For the gift funds from your parents, you’re going to need bank statements from them to prove source of funds.
Brokers are fairly few and far between these days...also since the vast majority of 20% down mortgages get sold to FNMA/FMAC, you’re unlikely to find much variance from lender to lender- you’re basically looking at the “off the rack” mortgage based on what you described.
Honestly you sound ready and your realtor is going to be a huge help
Basically in my case, there was a loan person my realtor recommended, and another local bank I spoke to. Both have offers for interest rates, etc, and tried to beat one another where it was possible (but realistically, they're all locked down by the rates the FED provides, so there's only so much they can do). I was open about this, and felt like crap, but they both said they'd do the same and it was the right decision for me. Only caveat that one had was that it had to be a local bank if they were trying to counter and not some "I was approved on the internet" thing.
NYC is a special enough market that I can't speak to the closing costs, so that'll be a question for your realtor.
As to the "gift from the parents" thing, IANAL, but I believe the rule is that "if they are not having their names put on the lease, you will need to pay taxes on any gift over valuation of $10k within a calendar year" or something like that. When you fill out paperwork, you will most likely sign an affidavit that you're paying for it yourself because the banks don't want to loan to someone who is effectively lying about their ability to pay what they end up owing. I ended up having a fun discussion about a point where my parents were loaning me a couple grand when we bought our house as an interest free loan, but none of it was technically going to the house - just I was dipping deep enough into my savings that my "cash on hand" got a lot lower than I was comfortable with, so they wanted to make sure I HAD enough on hand.
e: I'm in California, I have no idea if the aforementioned affidavit is national or state.
For the gift funds from your parents, you’re going to need bank statements from them to prove source of funds.
You may also need to provide some proof from your parents that the gift is actually a gift, and not a "gift" (an undisclosed loan); if they bank needs it, they'll ask for it.
Look around and see if there are any local credit unions you can join. They tend to have better rates and better customer service than major banks (not always, but usually).
Avoid Bank of America like the plague; they are a shitshow of an organization and are one of the worst groups of people I have ever dealt with.
For the gift funds from your parents, you’re going to need bank statements from them to prove source of funds.
You may also need to provide some proof from your parents that the gift is actually a gift, and not a "gift" (an undisclosed loan); if they bank needs it, they'll ask for it.
Look around and see if there are any local credit unions you can join. They tend to have better rates and better customer service than major banks (not always, but usually).
Avoid Bank of America like the plague; they are a shitshow of an organization and are one of the worst groups of people I have ever dealt with.
Will closing costs still be 5% if house prices
... if they do what?
I think I'm comfortable that the gift won't be an issue for tax purposes, but I'll ask my tax prep friend to be sure. The legal/bank issues I guess I'll have to figure out.
I meant, will closing costs still be 5% in NYC? A lot of the closing costs seem to be flat rate fees, so I was curious. Regardless, 5% seems like a reasonable thing to account for.
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SummaryJudgmentGrab the hottest iron you can find, stride in the Tower’s front doorRegistered Userregular
Some more details will likely be helpful:
We're looking mostly in Queens, NY for now (may expand to other suburbs). There aren't many areas with good schools and access to transit so that part really narrows it down.
We have excellent credit.
We have 20% down payment. Some of this will likely be a gift from parents, is that an issue?
Will closing costs still be 5% if house prices
Property taxes are relatively low in NYC, since there's a city income tax.
I'm a pretty cautious person, so I've done a lot of research into how much various aspects of home ownership cost around here.
We've started asking for realtor recommendations and will likely follow up next week
How do you 'play banks off eachother' I hear there are mortgage brokers?
The portion of the down payment may or may not be an issue for banks as part of their underwriting calculus. Assuming you aren't bumping up against certain debt-to-income limits or whatever you should be fine.
Closing costs will likely be less than 5%; they were less on my house in the Midwest so I'm assuming that given that your house is likely more expensive and amount of labor involved is static, I'd imagine should be fractionally less. Part of the origination fee is loan amount based, though.
Play banks off each other just by calling up and getting approved - get a copy of your credit report on the first bank you call, and/or make sure you call banks in rapid succession so that your credit isn't dinged by multiple pulls coming in over a period of time - AFAIK it is attenuated or only counts as one if they're within X amount of time. Ask for the best rate they can do for whatever term you are considering. Call the next bank, lather, rinse, maim.
Ask about other terms - you might see a nice rate drop by going from a 30 to a 20 or 25. You may not, and if you were considering a 20 or a 25 you might elect to do a longer term and simply over-pay every month, with the flexibility to make a lower monthly payment one month if an expense comes up.
Don't be afraid to tell a realtor it's not working out. Don't sign anything. I went through two before I found one I liked. I never did find a good way to get info and vet them before the fact. The rolling-face-on-keyboard emails I got from one of them after the fact let me know that was the correct choice. Don't sign anything.
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Some days Blue wonders why anyone ever bothered making numbers so small; other days she supposes even infinity needs to start somewhere.
For the gift funds from your parents, you’re going to need bank statements from them to prove source of funds.
You may also need to provide some proof from your parents that the gift is actually a gift, and not a "gift" (an undisclosed loan); if they bank needs it, they'll ask for it.
Look around and see if there are any local credit unions you can join. They tend to have better rates and better customer service than major banks (not always, but usually).
Avoid Bank of America like the plague; they are a shitshow of an organization and are one of the worst groups of people I have ever dealt with.
Will closing costs still be 5% if house prices
... if they do what?
I think I'm comfortable that the gift won't be an issue for tax purposes, but I'll ask my tax prep friend to be sure. The legal/bank issues I guess I'll have to figure out.
I meant, will closing costs still be 5% in NYC? A lot of the closing costs seem to be flat rate fees, so I was curious. Regardless, 5% seems like a reasonable thing to account for.
A lot of closing costs are based on the value of the home or the loan, and so are variable.
Like, tax stamps can go either way; title insurance is usually a flat rate; loan fees (origination and any points) are percentages of the load; prepaid taxes and home owner's insurance vary with house value and location; etc.
On average, a New York homebuyer pays the lender $60 for document preparation, $983 for the origination fee and $76 for tax services. Third-party charges include $418 for an appraisal, $1,117 for closing or settlement, $21 for credit reports, $10 for flood certification, $125 for pest inspections, $100 for postage or couriers, and $465 for a survey.
Title insurance fees are not included in these averages because lenders have difficulty in estimating them, but they can add thousands of dollars to the total closing costs. New York is one of a few states that charge a mortgage tax, which is about 2% of the property value. For home purchases in New York City, additional taxes and fees, such as a mansion tax, building fees and co-op fees, can add thousands of dollars to the total closing costs.
...
Buying a home in New York is not for the faint-hearted. Aside from having the highest home values in the nation, New York's real estate codes for purchasing and selling homes in many parts of the state are among the most complex. Although the typical closing costs are not extraordinarily high, there are fees and taxes that can be added on, driving total closing costs into the thousands of dollars. As with most other states, New York homebuyers can still expect to pay between 3 and 5% of their homes' sale prices in closing costs. However, with some New York City markets exceeding $2 million in median sale prices, that can amount to five or six figures tacked on to the cost of buying a home.
Third-Party Fees - Appraisal, Flood, Closing, Title Insurance, Transfer taxes
Prepaid Items - The amount of interest that accrues from the date of your loan’s funding to the end of the month when the funding occurred. For example, if your loan was funded on June 10, the prepaid interest should reflect 20 days to cover the period from June 11 to June 30. Since your first mortgage payment on September 1st will cover the interest from August; in order to be all caught up the interest from the month of closing needs to be paid upfront. It is industry best practice to use 15 days as an estimate, since the exact date of your loan closing is still unknown.
Lenders require that borrowers purchase homeowner’s insurance, also known as hazard insurance. The lender will require an upfront payment at closing to cover a full year’s premium of homeowners insurance, as required by the policy provider.
Lenders require an initial escrow deposit to start your escrow account. Escrow accounts (sometimes referred to as impound accounts) are set up to pay certain property-related expenses, such as property taxes and homeowners insurance. These expenses are usually paid once or twice per year, but your lender will break them down into monthly installments and add them to your mortgage payment each month.
The bolded stuff is what I was making sure to warn you about. It's stuff you expect to pay. It's just stuff that you might not expect to pay AT CLOSING. You'll pay the interest to the end of the month up front. You'll pay the homeowners insurance for a year up front. You'll do the initial escrow deposit - which will probably cover a year's property taxes - up front. It's stuff you're probably factoring in your "we can pay this in our monthly budget" but you'll have to bundle a bit more than you expect in the initial payment.
If your credit can afford multiple hard pulls, it may be worth talking to multiple Banks and playing them against one another. This may make you feel like shit, though.
This is wrong. Specifically for mortgages, multiple pulls within - I want to say - 30 days count as one hard pull.
Also we're going a bit in the weeds but everyone is allowed to gift up to $14k to a family member every year, tax free. Please confirm with a tax professional.
Also since you're in the Northeast like me, enjoy watching shows like Fixer Upper and getting mad at their housing and renovation prices.
Also, it's a rule of thumb that you'll spend roughly 10% of the home's value in moving and setup costs (incl. stuff like window treatments, paint, rugs, towels, bedding, furniture, ceiling fans, light fixtures, appliances, etc)
However I think if you're judicious you can cut that nearly in half.
If your credit can afford multiple hard pulls, it may be worth talking to multiple Banks and playing them against one another. This may make you feel like shit, though.
This is wrong. Specifically for mortgages, multiple pulls within - I want to say - 30 days count as one hard pull.
Also we're going a bit in the weeds but everyone is allowed to gift up to $14k to a family member every year, tax free. Please confirm with a tax professional.
Also since you're in the Northeast like me, enjoy watching shows like Fixer Upper and getting mad at their housing and removation prices.
The problem with gifts is sourcing. Banks get super squicky around anything that isn't standard income. If you are getting gifts, get them asap as anything older than 90 days isn't typically looked at.
If your credit can afford multiple hard pulls, it may be worth talking to multiple Banks and playing them against one another. This may make you feel like shit, though.
This is wrong. Specifically for mortgages, multiple pulls within - I want to say - 30 days count as one hard pull.
Also we're going a bit in the weeds but everyone is allowed to gift up to $14k to a family member every year, tax free. Please confirm with a tax professional.
Also since you're in the Northeast like me, enjoy watching shows like Fixer Upper and getting mad at their housing and removation prices.
The problem with gifts is sourcing. Banks get super squicky around anything that isn't standard income. If you are getting gifts, get them asap as anything older than 90 days isn't typically looked at.
This. We caused ourselves a lot of extra paperwork and inconvenience because we didn't handle it correctly. Do your research for your area and find out the least expensive & painful route for all parties.
One thing I'll add when looking at houses, is checking out the neighborhood at different times on the day, e.g. noon and nighttime, just to get a feel of it.
One thing I'll add when looking at houses, is checking out the neighborhood at different times on the day, e.g. noon and nighttime, just to get a feel of it.
Gifts below a certain total per year aren't taxed, after that they're reported as income. At least federally, states vary.
One thing I'll add when looking at houses, is checking out the neighborhood at different times on the day, e.g. noon and nighttime, just to get a feel of it.
This is interesting.
Because my wife basically decided she wanted to buy our house after 90 seconds of creeping through the back lot on a winter afternoon.
You see, because there was a wooded ravine and ... yeah, we were lucky the rest of the house was in great shape/had been updated, cause she would have bought a shithole just so she could have a swing overlooking our ravine.
I'll second the "time of day" thing. One house I'd looked at was bordering a business area, which I knew, but what I didn't realize was that the business area included a place AAA stored their tow vehicles, and they kept it lit with spotlights the whole night and the trees on the edge of the residential area didn't block them entirely.
I believe that in the US, most gifts over 14k are taxable to the giver. Though there is an exclusion that is directly to the estate deduction (over $5mil right now).
Edit: Also note that the 14k is per giver/receiver combination. So a married couple can give another married couple 56k (14k x 4)
If your credit can afford multiple hard pulls, it may be worth talking to multiple Banks and playing them against one another. This may make you feel like shit, though.
This is wrong. Specifically for mortgages, multiple pulls within - I want to say - 30 days count as one hard pull.
Also we're going a bit in the weeds but everyone is allowed to gift up to $14k to a family member every year, tax free. Please confirm with a tax professional.
Also since you're in the Northeast like me, enjoy watching shows like Fixer Upper and getting mad at their housing and removation prices.
The problem with gifts is sourcing. Banks get super squicky around anything that isn't standard income. If you are getting gifts, get them asap as anything older than 90 days isn't typically looked at.
This. We caused ourselves a lot of extra paperwork and inconvenience because we didn't handle it correctly. Do your research for your area and find out the least expensive & painful route for all parties.
Yeah this, even if it's regular income but coming from a different account. My bank gave me shit because I moved over the money for my down payment from my savings account to my checking account "too recently" and it hadn't "seasoned" yet. Like who the fuck keeps $50k sitting around in their checking account for months on end earning no interest? And yet that's what they expected me to have done.
is cash like a wine? does it get better with age? what the fuck? When I bought some property in australia we had to shift a whole bunch of cash from various accounts, and I think the last bit went in the day before we paid the deposit. And nobody gave a shit because it was still, you know, money.
Banks in the US seem to be run by senile time travellers from the 1880s.
MichaelLCIn what furnace was thy brain?ChicagoRegistered Userregular
edited March 2018
It's all bullshit, but I think the idea is that the lending company wants to be sure you can afford the mortgage with just your regular income. Could also be they want to make sure you don't owe the money; that it was a gift and not a loan.
is cash like a wine? does it get better with age? what the fuck? When I bought some property in australia we had to shift a whole bunch of cash from various accounts, and I think the last bit went in the day before we paid the deposit. And nobody gave a shit because it was still, you know, money.
Banks in the US seem to be run by senile time travellers from the 1880s.
Aus doesn't make you pay tax on gifts/prizes at all.
And as far as I know the banks just look at your current employment/cash flow/debt to determine how able you are to repay the loan.
I expect it gets more complicated if you're self-employed or a contractor.
Or an academic chasing grants <_<
I'm not sure how that would have treated you, @tynic
It will amaze you the kind of stuff they ask you for. One of work buds had to dig up his undergrad transcripts, even though he had an MFA and had been working for 5 years by the point he was ready to buy.
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Okay, THAT seems excessive. I never had to give over that. Wonder if it's state regulations.
It depends on which investor will be buying the loan, and the terms by which they do so.
The US system is so complex because banks rarely actually hold on to the mortgages (what is typically called a “portfolio loan”).
Investors include:
Fannie
Freddie
FHA
USDA
Slick Lilly from Trenton
Nevada State endowment fund
The peope who were duped into buying Goldman’s dogshit loans
Etc...
I'm crossposting from the SE House thread, but there's a few people here who don't hang out there, so I thought I'd hit up all potential audiences:
So my fridge is making a loud knocking sound randomly. It's sort of a knock-knock-knock, metallic sounding thing, that seems to happen randomly. It's the fridge in my condo that I'm now renting to my brother, so I'd like to take care of it if I can.
I lived in that condo with that fridge for seven years and it had never made this sound before. I only noticed it around Christmas after I had cleared everything out of the condo (I was trying to sell it). So, it was completely empty and I thought maybe that had something to do with it--working more/less to maintain cold, etc. But now that my brother's moved in and filled it with his food and stuff, it's still making the sound. I was over at the condo last night for about twenty minutes and heard it go off again (he says it does it randomly throughout the day).
Does anyone have any ideas what might be up? I'll probably end up having to call someone in, but I'd like to get some sort of idea of what to expect or some guidance to give the service people when I call around. I don't remember what brand of fridge it is. It's one of the smaller apartment-sized ones (a regular fridge, though--not a little bar fridge), and it's probably not super old, since it's black body with brushed metal front finishing, and that's a "newer" stylistic choice. It's definitely not the original fridge with the condo but I don't think it was brand new when I bought the place in 2010
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EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
I'm crossposting from the SE House thread, but there's a few people here who don't hang out there, so I thought I'd hit up all potential audiences:
So my fridge is making a loud knocking sound randomly. It's sort of a knock-knock-knock, metallic sounding thing, that seems to happen randomly. It's the fridge in my condo that I'm now renting to my brother, so I'd like to take care of it if I can.
I lived in that condo with that fridge for seven years and it had never made this sound before. I only noticed it around Christmas after I had cleared everything out of the condo (I was trying to sell it). So, it was completely empty and I thought maybe that had something to do with it--working more/less to maintain cold, etc. But now that my brother's moved in and filled it with his food and stuff, it's still making the sound. I was over at the condo last night for about twenty minutes and heard it go off again (he says it does it randomly throughout the day).
Does anyone have any ideas what might be up? I'll probably end up having to call someone in, but I'd like to get some sort of idea of what to expect or some guidance to give the service people when I call around. I don't remember what brand of fridge it is. It's one of the smaller apartment-sized ones (a regular fridge, though--not a little bar fridge), and it's probably not super old, since it's black body with brushed metal front finishing, and that's a "newer" stylistic choice. It's definitely not the original fridge with the condo but I don't think it was brand new when I bought the place in 2010
Its probably your condenser or ice machine, and its probably made that (or a similar sound) for a long while as part of operation but had it muffled from food and objects inside. The empty void in the fridge is likely amplifying the sound.
Seems like it might be the compressor bit; there is no ice machine in this one, and it's still making the same sound while full of my brother's food now.
Thanks for your help, guys--I'll make some calls about someone to check on the compressor.
Our old fridge did that, the bracket the compressor was mounted to was flimsy, whenever the compressor would come on or shut off it would wiggle, and knock against the starter capacitor. Slow then a couple quick knocks until it had spun up, quick then a couple slow knocks when it shut off.
How often is it knocking? Because once every hour or so is fairly normal. But I had a fridge that started knocking multiple times every few minutes. It was not long for the world after that.
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Is there any way to install a fresh air intake for your furnace? That might help mitigate the levels some. Also, it can save you money because the air it uses can be directly pulled from outside instead of from outside through the house first.
The reason it can be a risk for cancer is that while it's a gas, the daughters in the most probable decay chain aren't, so it bio-accumulates:
Rn-222 -> Po-218 -> Po-214-> Po-210 -> Pb-206 (stable)
and everything emits 4+ MeV α's. I had to get familiar with this decay chain because we are using it in my silicon detector spectroscopy lab right now.
Got some help from my father in law, who had done it before, but it was nothing crazy. Ordered the proper winding rods ($20 on Amazon), wore safety glasses, stood out of the way. No issues and definitely a doable DIY project if you're careful.
You can't give someone a pirate ship in one game, and then take it back in the next game. It's rude.
+1 for fresh air intake. While it won't solve the problem, it's likely a cheaper mitigation measure since the furnace will pull less air from the soil. Taking a stab at napkin-math and Canadian prices, I'd guess you could get an intake line put in for about $1500-$1800 depending on if the company has to drill through concrete or can get through walls/siding instead. They should be able to go right out the foundation and not run a pipe up to the roof.
* Save all the money
* Ask friends if they have realtor recommendations
* (Seattle only) Whenever any place remotely meeting your needs pops up, engage in cage match to the death with 20 other people until one emerges, bloody but victorious.
* Remember closing costs are a non-trivial percentage of the down payment.
* Prepare to have a microscope shoved up every aspect of your life. Gather all employment records and bank records for at least the last couple of years. The bank will almost certainly want this if you make an offer and it gets accepted.
* Scope property taxes out, they can be a significant part of the payment.
* Realtors only want to be paid, but it's your money so dont let them be pushy.
* The commissions for the sale come from the seller, and are about 6% of the overall sale. Don't get roped into paying this.
If your credit can afford multiple hard pulls, it may be worth talking to multiple Banks and playing them against one another. This may make you feel like shit, though.
Keep in mind that if you put less than 20% down, you'll need to pay mortgage insurance too.
Even if you don't have kids, look into what schools are for the area. It may end up mattering down the line, and even if it doesn't matter directly, neighborhoods with good schools hold value in downturns better.
We're looking mostly in Queens, NY for now (may expand to other suburbs). There aren't many areas with good schools and access to transit so that part really narrows it down.
We have excellent credit.
We have 20% down payment. Some of this will likely be a gift from parents, is that an issue?
Will closing costs still be 5% if house prices
Property taxes are relatively low in NYC, since there's a city income tax.
I'm a pretty cautious person, so I've done a lot of research into how much various aspects of home ownership cost around here.
We've started asking for realtor recommendations and will likely follow up next week
How do you 'play banks off eachother' I hear there are mortgage brokers?
For the gift funds from your parents, you’re going to need bank statements from them to prove source of funds.
Brokers are fairly few and far between these days...also since the vast majority of 20% down mortgages get sold to FNMA/FMAC, you’re unlikely to find much variance from lender to lender- you’re basically looking at the “off the rack” mortgage based on what you described.
Honestly you sound ready and your realtor is going to be a huge help
NYC is a special enough market that I can't speak to the closing costs, so that'll be a question for your realtor.
As to the "gift from the parents" thing, IANAL, but I believe the rule is that "if they are not having their names put on the lease, you will need to pay taxes on any gift over valuation of $10k within a calendar year" or something like that. When you fill out paperwork, you will most likely sign an affidavit that you're paying for it yourself because the banks don't want to loan to someone who is effectively lying about their ability to pay what they end up owing. I ended up having a fun discussion about a point where my parents were loaning me a couple grand when we bought our house as an interest free loan, but none of it was technically going to the house - just I was dipping deep enough into my savings that my "cash on hand" got a lot lower than I was comfortable with, so they wanted to make sure I HAD enough on hand.
e: I'm in California, I have no idea if the aforementioned affidavit is national or state.
You may also need to provide some proof from your parents that the gift is actually a gift, and not a "gift" (an undisclosed loan); if they bank needs it, they'll ask for it.
Look around and see if there are any local credit unions you can join. They tend to have better rates and better customer service than major banks (not always, but usually).
Avoid Bank of America like the plague; they are a shitshow of an organization and are one of the worst groups of people I have ever dealt with.
... if they do what?
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
I think I'm comfortable that the gift won't be an issue for tax purposes, but I'll ask my tax prep friend to be sure. The legal/bank issues I guess I'll have to figure out.
I meant, will closing costs still be 5% in NYC? A lot of the closing costs seem to be flat rate fees, so I was curious. Regardless, 5% seems like a reasonable thing to account for.
The portion of the down payment may or may not be an issue for banks as part of their underwriting calculus. Assuming you aren't bumping up against certain debt-to-income limits or whatever you should be fine.
Closing costs will likely be less than 5%; they were less on my house in the Midwest so I'm assuming that given that your house is likely more expensive and amount of labor involved is static, I'd imagine should be fractionally less. Part of the origination fee is loan amount based, though.
Play banks off each other just by calling up and getting approved - get a copy of your credit report on the first bank you call, and/or make sure you call banks in rapid succession so that your credit isn't dinged by multiple pulls coming in over a period of time - AFAIK it is attenuated or only counts as one if they're within X amount of time. Ask for the best rate they can do for whatever term you are considering. Call the next bank, lather, rinse, maim.
Ask about other terms - you might see a nice rate drop by going from a 30 to a 20 or 25. You may not, and if you were considering a 20 or a 25 you might elect to do a longer term and simply over-pay every month, with the flexibility to make a lower monthly payment one month if an expense comes up.
Don't be afraid to tell a realtor it's not working out. Don't sign anything. I went through two before I found one I liked. I never did find a good way to get info and vet them before the fact. The rolling-face-on-keyboard emails I got from one of them after the fact let me know that was the correct choice. Don't sign anything.
A lot of closing costs are based on the value of the home or the loan, and so are variable.
Like, tax stamps can go either way; title insurance is usually a flat rate; loan fees (origination and any points) are percentages of the load; prepaid taxes and home owner's insurance vary with house value and location; etc.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
https://www.mortgagehippo.com/blog/ultimate-guide-mortgage-closing-costs/
The bolded stuff is what I was making sure to warn you about. It's stuff you expect to pay. It's just stuff that you might not expect to pay AT CLOSING. You'll pay the interest to the end of the month up front. You'll pay the homeowners insurance for a year up front. You'll do the initial escrow deposit - which will probably cover a year's property taxes - up front. It's stuff you're probably factoring in your "we can pay this in our monthly budget" but you'll have to bundle a bit more than you expect in the initial payment.
This is wrong. Specifically for mortgages, multiple pulls within - I want to say - 30 days count as one hard pull.
Also we're going a bit in the weeds but everyone is allowed to gift up to $14k to a family member every year, tax free. Please confirm with a tax professional.
Also since you're in the Northeast like me, enjoy watching shows like Fixer Upper and getting mad at their housing and renovation prices.
However I think if you're judicious you can cut that nearly in half.
The problem with gifts is sourcing. Banks get super squicky around anything that isn't standard income. If you are getting gifts, get them asap as anything older than 90 days isn't typically looked at.
This. We caused ourselves a lot of extra paperwork and inconvenience because we didn't handle it correctly. Do your research for your area and find out the least expensive & painful route for all parties.
One thing I'll add when looking at houses, is checking out the neighborhood at different times on the day, e.g. noon and nighttime, just to get a feel of it.
Gifts below a certain total per year aren't taxed, after that they're reported as income. At least federally, states vary.
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This is interesting.
Because my wife basically decided she wanted to buy our house after 90 seconds of creeping through the back lot on a winter afternoon.
You see, because there was a wooded ravine and ... yeah, we were lucky the rest of the house was in great shape/had been updated, cause she would have bought a shithole just so she could have a swing overlooking our ravine.
Edit: Also note that the 14k is per giver/receiver combination. So a married couple can give another married couple 56k (14k x 4)
Yeah this, even if it's regular income but coming from a different account. My bank gave me shit because I moved over the money for my down payment from my savings account to my checking account "too recently" and it hadn't "seasoned" yet. Like who the fuck keeps $50k sitting around in their checking account for months on end earning no interest? And yet that's what they expected me to have done.
Banks in the US seem to be run by senile time travellers from the 1880s.
Aus doesn't make you pay tax on gifts/prizes at all.
And as far as I know the banks just look at your current employment/cash flow/debt to determine how able you are to repay the loan.
I expect it gets more complicated if you're self-employed or a contractor.
Or an academic chasing grants <_<
I'm not sure how that would have treated you, @tynic
Edit: well that's not true, there are many situations more complex than mine. But it's not ideal.
It depends on which investor will be buying the loan, and the terms by which they do so.
The US system is so complex because banks rarely actually hold on to the mortgages (what is typically called a “portfolio loan”).
Investors include:
Fannie
Freddie
FHA
USDA
Slick Lilly from Trenton
Nevada State endowment fund
The peope who were duped into buying Goldman’s dogshit loans
Etc...
So my fridge is making a loud knocking sound randomly. It's sort of a knock-knock-knock, metallic sounding thing, that seems to happen randomly. It's the fridge in my condo that I'm now renting to my brother, so I'd like to take care of it if I can.
I lived in that condo with that fridge for seven years and it had never made this sound before. I only noticed it around Christmas after I had cleared everything out of the condo (I was trying to sell it). So, it was completely empty and I thought maybe that had something to do with it--working more/less to maintain cold, etc. But now that my brother's moved in and filled it with his food and stuff, it's still making the sound. I was over at the condo last night for about twenty minutes and heard it go off again (he says it does it randomly throughout the day).
Does anyone have any ideas what might be up? I'll probably end up having to call someone in, but I'd like to get some sort of idea of what to expect or some guidance to give the service people when I call around. I don't remember what brand of fridge it is. It's one of the smaller apartment-sized ones (a regular fridge, though--not a little bar fridge), and it's probably not super old, since it's black body with brushed metal front finishing, and that's a "newer" stylistic choice. It's definitely not the original fridge with the condo but I don't think it was brand new when I bought the place in 2010
Its probably your condenser or ice machine, and its probably made that (or a similar sound) for a long while as part of operation but had it muffled from food and objects inside. The empty void in the fridge is likely amplifying the sound.
Thanks for your help, guys--I'll make some calls about someone to check on the compressor.