Design question. We just finished our design session for our new build townhome. For the bathroom on the 1st floor, 3rd floor, and 4th floor, we have to have the same hardware, counters and vanity's. However we can have different floor and wall tile. Initially we picked the same darker graphite flooring and marble title for all 3. But after talking to folks, they mentioned we may want different tile for different bathrooms so they don't look all the same. Only had 1 bath in my last house and our apartment is the same for both.
What do folks think? Should we change 1 bath to something different or 2 baths to something different so all 3 are something different?
I'm going to be a bit contrary, and also, I'm looking at it from an Northern European / Scandinavian design culture, and I would say:
I would adjust the colors and tiling patern between your bathrooms, roughly thinking about these rules:
1. Think about the function of the room: do you want to make it a "grand bathroom" that's super impressive: you want it to either be big, or use light colors and materials to make it feel big . If you want cozy and intimate, then adjust your colors to do that.
2. If it is a small bathroom that needs to feel big, then you want a lighter color, using glass and mirrors also add to this impression
3. If you have a very large bathroom, then you can make it "more cozy" by working more with earth tones, or if you want to keep it looking large and impressive (with a light color scheme), consider natural material such as marble or blank wood.
4. Do you have windows, and if yes, how much light do they add to your bathroom, also, do you want to emphasize them, or work them into the background décor?
5. Kids bathrooms benefit from brighter accent colors, not because you're being patronizing to them, but because brighter pallets are more forgiving of having mess lying around, and with kids, it is going to be messy.
I do occasionally think about selling just so the places I've ignored, papered over, or generally halfassed over the past 13 years never catch up to me and become my problem.
I'm fine being the 'what dumbass did this' if I'm not the one dealing with it.
But we aren't moving and I generally did ok. At least close enough no inspector will really ding me but since it's a no contingency seller's market...again, who would care?
So I caught a bird starting a nest in our plant hanging up outside, should I leave it alone or should I move the nest outside of the planter somewhere and put up some bird netting to prevent it from accessing it again?
I just bought six 2x4's and three sheets of 3/4 inch underlayment plywood and it cost me $300. Lumber is so completely fucked it isn't funny. And it's all complete scam.
Earnings reports for 4 of the 5 largest mills. The fifth is Georgia Pacific and isn't publicly traded.
You don't have a 7000%+ earnings increase in the middle of a pandemic-caused slowdown and shortage unless you're a profiteering piece of shit. Which they all are, apparently.
:edit: 7000%+ increase after spending $3.1bn to buy Nordbord in that timeframe, too.
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zepherinRussian warship, go fuck yourselfRegistered Userregular
So it looks like if we refinance now the fees are going to be about ~7800. We will see about ~200 a month reduction in our mortgage, and when our LTV reaches %80 our PMI falls off. So about a 39 month break even. That’s not bad, and if house prices keep being insane the PMI drops off saving us another 180 a month...yeah I guess we should probably do it.
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Red Raevynbecause I only take Bubble BathsRegistered Userregular
So I caught a bird starting a nest in our plant hanging up outside, should I leave it alone or should I move the nest outside of the planter somewhere and put up some bird netting to prevent it from accessing it again?
I'd leave it alone and enjoying seeing them around! Try not to blast their nest with the hose when you're watering, though "I've heard" dark-eyed juncos will just come out and chirp very angrily at you if you occasionally forget.
Shortage of supplies tends to increase profits for the people selling the supplies. If they didn't do that you'd have wood scalpers the same way NVIDIA has graphics card scalpers.
So it looks like if we refinance now the fees are going to be about ~7800. We will see about ~200 a month reduction in our mortgage, and when our LTV reaches %80 our PMI falls off. So about a 39 month break even. That’s not bad, and if house prices keep being insane the PMI drops off saving us another 180 a month...yeah I guess we should probably do it.
One thing to keep in mind though is that your 80LTV locks value at whatever your refi appraisal comes in at. But, if your house appreciates another 60k in the next 12-24 months, that won't be a factor for the bank unless you talk to them and then pay for a new appraisal.
So it looks like if we refinance now the fees are going to be about ~7800. We will see about ~200 a month reduction in our mortgage, and when our LTV reaches %80 our PMI falls off. So about a 39 month break even. That’s not bad, and if house prices keep being insane the PMI drops off saving us another 180 a month...yeah I guess we should probably do it.
One thing to keep in mind though is that your 80LTV locks value at whatever your refi appraisal comes in at. But, if your house appreciates another 60k in the next 12-24 months, that won't be a factor for the bank unless you talk to them and then pay for a new appraisal.
And even then a lot of banks won't drop PMI with a new appraisal. Its definitely something to discuss the details of with your lender if you are taking a loan with PMI.
Shortage of supplies tends to increase profits for the people selling the supplies. If they didn't do that you'd have wood scalpers the same way NVIDIA has graphics card scalpers.
There isn't a shortage though. Not a real one, at least. Mills have more logs than they know what to do with. Timber growers haven't cut production or raised their prices for logs. They can't because there is so much timber, anyone who raises their price is immediately cut out of the market. Lumber yard profit margins haven't gone up either. It's all the mills.
The only actual lumber "shortage" was mid-2020 due to covid-related mill shutdowns, wood literally wasn't on shelves. Mills had anticipated a drop due to covid, which was logical at the time, and got caught flat footed when demand went up. But walk into any Lowes or Home Depot now, you have 2x4's stacked to the ceiling and prices haven't budged at all, because that's what mills are still charging. If anything, we're bordering on straight up collusion to keep prices artificially high. The only stuff that increased in price is dimensional lumber and structural stuff. Look at hardwoods, look at decorative stuff, prices are almost the same they were pre-covid. You can get 3/4 inch thick solid red oak wood flooring for about $3.25 per square foot right now. The sheets of rough 3/4 inch pine underlayment I bought today were about $2.60 per square foot.
It's funny but my Lowes has the big saw to rip panels, but it has been down for over a year now. If you want to take a $50 nice maple 4×8 and cut it down, they tell you to get the project panels that are roughly double the cost per square foot.
At the moment I don't have an easy way to get a 4x8 sheet home, and only need one or two 2x4 panels, but it really chaps my ass knowing I'm getting ripped like this.
I should probably go to Home Depot since they more than offset the 5% lowes discount, but going into one of those stores is fucking exhausting and I sure as hell dont want to do both.
It's funny but my Lowes has the big saw to rip panels, but it has been down for over a year now. If you want to take a $50 nice maple 4×8 and cut it down, they tell you to get the project panels that are roughly double the cost per square foot.
At the moment I don't have an easy way to get a 4x8 sheet home, and only need one or two 2x4 panels, but it really chaps my ass knowing I'm getting ripped like this.
I should probably go to Home Depot since they more than offset the 5% lowes discount, but going into one of those stores is fucking exhausting and I sure as hell dont want to do both.
Lowes and Home Depot rent trucks, usually a standard pickup or some kind of flatbed-body pickup. Last I checked it was like, $19 for 75 minutes. Which, still sucks but it doesn't $50 suck at least.
I just bought six 2x4's and three sheets of 3/4 inch underlayment plywood and it cost me $300. Lumber is so completely fucked it isn't funny. And it's all complete scam.
Earnings reports for 4 of the 5 largest mills. The fifth is Georgia Pacific and isn't publicly traded.
You don't have a 7000%+ earnings increase in the middle of a pandemic-caused slowdown and shortage unless you're a profiteering piece of shit. Which they all are, apparently.
:edit: 7000%+ increase after spending $3.1bn to buy Nordbord in that timeframe, too.
Family friend is planning to build a house and was going to start pre-pandemic, but then design changes meant delays, etc. now they have to wait longer because the current lumber prices increases the build price $60k. $60K!
I just wanted to build some shelves and edge a garden this summer, you know? Proooooobably gonna have to wait on that at this point.
It's funny but my Lowes has the big saw to rip panels, but it has been down for over a year now. If you want to take a $50 nice maple 4×8 and cut it down, they tell you to get the project panels that are roughly double the cost per square foot.
At the moment I don't have an easy way to get a 4x8 sheet home, and only need one or two 2x4 panels, but it really chaps my ass knowing I'm getting ripped like this.
I should probably go to Home Depot since they more than offset the 5% lowes discount, but going into one of those stores is fucking exhausting and I sure as hell dont want to do both.
You could bring a circular saw and bring/buy a sheet of XPS and lay it on the ground, but the sheet on top of it and through cut it. A full size handsaw with hardened teeth would do it, too, but ripping 8 ft wouldn't be very fun.
Otherwise if you complain to the right level of manager they can probably adjust the price. Probably need to hit the right level of 'authority to do the override' but below 'cares about profit margin of the store'.
Ugh, our mortgage underwriter is taking forever to get back to us. We need to have our financing in place by Wednesday! If I don't hear from them today I'll have to call and poke at them some more. We were pre-approved for way more than what we need! What's the holdup?! What if they deny us?! AAAAAAAAAH!
Ugh, our mortgage underwriter is taking forever to get back to us. We need to have our financing in place by Wednesday! If I don't hear from them today I'll have to call and poke at them some more. We were pre-approved for way more than what we need! What's the holdup?! What if they deny us?! AAAAAAAAAH!
I recommend poking them every day regardless. Not to stress you out, but the house we just closed on I was asking the lender for status daily and being told, "Everything is fine" right up until the day before I was supposed to close. The closing attorney was suspicious because nobody'd contacted them about the title and finally got ahold of someone at the lending company who said, "What? No. This can't possibly close tomorrow; it only went to underwriting yesterday."
It wound up taking an extra month to close and the original loan officer was fired. We wound up having more problems with them during that month, though, and it was only me contacting them every weekday at least once asking for status that got me informed about said problems in time to deal with them. Your lender probably doesn't suck as much as mine did, since it'd be hard to suck that bad, but they're not going to not give you loan because you asked too many times if they had everything they need from you.
Ugh, our mortgage underwriter is taking forever to get back to us. We need to have our financing in place by Wednesday! If I don't hear from them today I'll have to call and poke at them some more. We were pre-approved for way more than what we need! What's the holdup?! What if they deny us?! AAAAAAAAAH!
I recommend poking them every day regardless. Not to stress you out, but the house we just closed on I was asking the lender for status daily and being told, "Everything is fine" right up until the day before I was supposed to close. The closing attorney was suspicious because nobody'd contacted them about the title and finally got ahold of someone at the lending company who said, "What? No. This can't possibly close tomorrow; it only went to underwriting yesterday."
It wound up taking an extra month to close and the original loan officer was fired. We wound up having more problems with them during that month, though, and it was only me contacting them every weekday at least once asking for status that got me informed about said problems in time to deal with them. Your lender probably doesn't suck as much as mine did, since it'd be hard to suck that bad, but they're not going to not give you loan because you asked too many times if they had everything they need from you.
Ugh, our mortgage underwriter is taking forever to get back to us. We need to have our financing in place by Wednesday! If I don't hear from them today I'll have to call and poke at them some more. We were pre-approved for way more than what we need! What's the holdup?! What if they deny us?! AAAAAAAAAH!
I recommend poking them every day regardless. Not to stress you out, but the house we just closed on I was asking the lender for status daily and being told, "Everything is fine" right up until the day before I was supposed to close. The closing attorney was suspicious because nobody'd contacted them about the title and finally got ahold of someone at the lending company who said, "What? No. This can't possibly close tomorrow; it only went to underwriting yesterday."
It wound up taking an extra month to close and the original loan officer was fired. We wound up having more problems with them during that month, though, and it was only me contacting them every weekday at least once asking for status that got me informed about said problems in time to deal with them. Your lender probably doesn't suck as much as mine did, since it'd be hard to suck that bad, but they're not going to not give you loan because you asked too many times if they had everything they need from you.
Well that’s not helpful at all! AAaAAaaAaaah!
Ok... ok... I'm calm... I'm calm...
After poking them over and over and over, and comforting my wife who broke down crying when she thought we might lose the house, the bank finally came through for us at the last minute.
I hated every moment of this experience (and told the bank as much, in the calmest, most "disappointed dad" voice I could muster), but we got our mortgage approved, with some pretty good rates. I double-checked with other mortgage brokers that I've been in touch with, and the rate we got is pretty much the best one we possibly could have gotten. So, despite the harrowing experience, we finally got what we needed, just in the nick of time.
Papers are signed showing that both ourselves and the seller have met their obligations. Everything is set. All that's left to do now is wait until the closing date which is... *checks notes*... JULY 9th? You mean I just have to sit here and wait for a whole month!? Uuuuuuuuuugh!
Ugh, our mortgage underwriter is taking forever to get back to us. We need to have our financing in place by Wednesday! If I don't hear from them today I'll have to call and poke at them some more. We were pre-approved for way more than what we need! What's the holdup?! What if they deny us?! AAAAAAAAAH!
I recommend poking them every day regardless. Not to stress you out, but the house we just closed on I was asking the lender for status daily and being told, "Everything is fine" right up until the day before I was supposed to close. The closing attorney was suspicious because nobody'd contacted them about the title and finally got ahold of someone at the lending company who said, "What? No. This can't possibly close tomorrow; it only went to underwriting yesterday."
It wound up taking an extra month to close and the original loan officer was fired. We wound up having more problems with them during that month, though, and it was only me contacting them every weekday at least once asking for status that got me informed about said problems in time to deal with them. Your lender probably doesn't suck as much as mine did, since it'd be hard to suck that bad, but they're not going to not give you loan because you asked too many times if they had everything they need from you.
Well that’s not helpful at all! AAaAAaaAaaah!
Ok... ok... I'm calm... I'm calm...
After poking them over and over and over, and comforting my wife who broke down crying when she thought we might lose the house, the bank finally came through for us at the last minute.
I hated every moment of this experience (and told the bank as much, in the calmest, most "disappointed dad" voice I could muster), but we got our mortgage approved, with some pretty good rates. I double-checked with other mortgage brokers that I've been in touch with, and the rate we got is pretty much the best one we possibly could have gotten. So, despite the harrowing experience, we finally got what we needed, just in the nick of time.
Papers are signed showing that both ourselves and the seller have met their obligations. Everything is set. All that's left to do now is wait until the closing date which is... *checks notes*... JULY 9th? You mean I just have to sit here and wait for a whole month!? Uuuuuuuuuugh!
When we bought the place we're in now, our closing was 2+ months away. It was definitely weird waiting.
Also, place nearby was listed for 100K over what would be market rate at 5k short of a million - sold in 5 days. This area is nuts now.
My realtor is over taking photos of my old house today to get the listing up. Really curious what he's going to recommend we list at. I paid $225k for it 13 years ago. When we decided it was time to move earlier this year it was when an almost identical place was selling for $325 down the street. Opendoor is offering me $354 now and my realtor said this morning there are currently three comparable homes in the entire city listed below $400.
Everyone involved seems to be dedicated to doing it at the last possible second, I'm not really sure why.
Everyone wants the transaction to happen, because that's how they get paid, it will go through.
It’s multiple things but a couple I’d mention (I’m married to the best mortgage loan officer in the country, that’s not a husband joke, she has been the top producer at a few of the biggest banks and would have as good a claim to that made up title as anyone)
Automation has slowed the process down (wait, what??)- the processors communicate everything by email and work everything from “task” queues in the underwriting system
1. Emails sent to borrowers saying “I need your 1040 and a LOX about the synchrony pull on 10/23” are common- the processor thinks hey have accomplished their task of communication loan stipulations and move on, the borrower sees gobbledygook and does nothing
2. The processor doesn’t do anything with the file until it comes back up in the “stips past due” queue a week later and then resends the original email
A phone call to the borrower to say “I’m going to send you an email, please reply by attaching your 2020 tax return as a .pdf...also, did you apply for a store credit card last month? Ok, can you put in your response that that was for a Target card, I see that on your credit report we can match that up. Ok you can get that to me tonight? I’ll put a note on my calendar to check tomorrow morning and reach out if there’s anything else, if you don’t hear from me assume we’re good” might take 10 minutes vs 5 minutes of email, but saves hours of work later.
The good loan officers make that call themselves
The other thing is a really wack pay/staffing situation that I’ll need to get to another day
I just saw a post for a lot in Austin going for 800k.
The rest of the country is going California prices and I don't understand how this doesn't end up being some kind of crash
Austin is one of the most desirable cities to move to right now. It's not gonna crash unless something worse than covid hits the economy or demand inverts...
I just saw a post for a lot in Austin going for 800k.
The rest of the country is going California prices and I don't understand how this doesn't end up being some kind of crash
I see things cooling and price increases stopping, but I have a hard time seeing a crash before new construction builds back up. Construction companies should be ramping up to try and cash in but we're not seeing that yet.
Construction is at all time lows, inventory is at all time low, there's still bidding wars and millions of families trying to buy. Even if prices stop increasing, there's loads of buyers that will stop them from falling anytime soon.
Could be variances in local markets but for the overall US I don't see a crash.
So I've been seeing some slight separation outside between some walls at the front of my house and the slab it's sitting on. I'm assuming it's just the house settling since it's only been finished like a year and a half. That said, I'm not an expert, so I'ma post some pics on the offchance that it's actually something super serious. In the even that it's not, I'm assuming I need to get some caulk and seal it up. As someone who has never caulked before, do you (the thread) have any recommendations on a caulk that would be appropriate for this situation?
Rest of the pics in the album link. Also, some of those are relatively close up pictures and might look worse than they are in reality? Idk how well the scale reads.
Hard to tell without some further away pictures to give context. Can't tell if that front step is the typical precast-in-one-piece lump or if it's part of a poured in place larger foundation. If it's just a separate piece those can tend to settle. Might be fixable similar to slab leveling where they drill a hole and pump stuff underneath to raise it back up. Worst case it actually has to be lifted out and the substrate rebuilt to handle the weight.
The stucco pulling away from things is due to different expansion rates in the material. Not much to be done there. They should not have put the stucco right up against dissimilar materials like that without sealant to fill the gaps in the first place. Use a polyurethane caulk for sealing the gaps. Silicone caulk won't stick right to those materials.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
Problem: I have a whole attic's worth of blown-in insulation to remove.
Solution: I can rent an industrial vac!
Problem: The cheapest I can find runs $375 per day.
Solution: Harbor Freight sells a 2HP 1550 cfm dust collection vacuum intended for wood shops and it's only $200!
It works great too!
Although when it's full it does kind of look like the Energizer Bunny joined the klan...
Problem: I have a whole attic's worth of blown-in insulation to remove.
Solution: I can rent an industrial vac!
Problem: The cheapest I can find runs $375 per day.
Solution: Harbor Freight sells a 2HP 1550 cfm dust collection vacuum intended for wood shops and it's only $200!
It works great too!
Although when it's full it does kind of look like the Energizer Bunny joined the klan...
Oh lord. I've been looking into doing the same thing and I'm really not excited about it. Definitely keeping this suggestion in mind if I can't find a cheap rental.
(I don't love buying things I'll only use once though)
Posts
I'm going to be a bit contrary, and also, I'm looking at it from an Northern European / Scandinavian design culture, and I would say:
I would adjust the colors and tiling patern between your bathrooms, roughly thinking about these rules:
1. Think about the function of the room: do you want to make it a "grand bathroom" that's super impressive: you want it to either be big, or use light colors and materials to make it feel big . If you want cozy and intimate, then adjust your colors to do that.
2. If it is a small bathroom that needs to feel big, then you want a lighter color, using glass and mirrors also add to this impression
3. If you have a very large bathroom, then you can make it "more cozy" by working more with earth tones, or if you want to keep it looking large and impressive (with a light color scheme), consider natural material such as marble or blank wood.
4. Do you have windows, and if yes, how much light do they add to your bathroom, also, do you want to emphasize them, or work them into the background décor?
5. Kids bathrooms benefit from brighter accent colors, not because you're being patronizing to them, but because brighter pallets are more forgiving of having mess lying around, and with kids, it is going to be messy.
I do occasionally think about selling just so the places I've ignored, papered over, or generally halfassed over the past 13 years never catch up to me and become my problem.
I'm fine being the 'what dumbass did this' if I'm not the one dealing with it.
But we aren't moving and I generally did ok. At least close enough no inspector will really ding me but since it's a no contingency seller's market...again, who would care?
Earnings reports for 4 of the 5 largest mills. The fifth is Georgia Pacific and isn't publicly traded.
from here - https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/comments/nrou4z/with_wood_prices_so_high_curiosity_struck_me_why/
You don't have a 7000%+ earnings increase in the middle of a pandemic-caused slowdown and shortage unless you're a profiteering piece of shit. Which they all are, apparently.
:edit: 7000%+ increase after spending $3.1bn to buy Nordbord in that timeframe, too.
I'd leave it alone and enjoying seeing them around! Try not to blast their nest with the hose when you're watering, though "I've heard" dark-eyed juncos will just come out and chirp very angrily at you if you occasionally forget.
One thing to keep in mind though is that your 80LTV locks value at whatever your refi appraisal comes in at. But, if your house appreciates another 60k in the next 12-24 months, that won't be a factor for the bank unless you talk to them and then pay for a new appraisal.
And even then a lot of banks won't drop PMI with a new appraisal. Its definitely something to discuss the details of with your lender if you are taking a loan with PMI.
There isn't a shortage though. Not a real one, at least. Mills have more logs than they know what to do with. Timber growers haven't cut production or raised their prices for logs. They can't because there is so much timber, anyone who raises their price is immediately cut out of the market. Lumber yard profit margins haven't gone up either. It's all the mills.
The only actual lumber "shortage" was mid-2020 due to covid-related mill shutdowns, wood literally wasn't on shelves. Mills had anticipated a drop due to covid, which was logical at the time, and got caught flat footed when demand went up. But walk into any Lowes or Home Depot now, you have 2x4's stacked to the ceiling and prices haven't budged at all, because that's what mills are still charging. If anything, we're bordering on straight up collusion to keep prices artificially high. The only stuff that increased in price is dimensional lumber and structural stuff. Look at hardwoods, look at decorative stuff, prices are almost the same they were pre-covid. You can get 3/4 inch thick solid red oak wood flooring for about $3.25 per square foot right now. The sheets of rough 3/4 inch pine underlayment I bought today were about $2.60 per square foot.
At the moment I don't have an easy way to get a 4x8 sheet home, and only need one or two 2x4 panels, but it really chaps my ass knowing I'm getting ripped like this.
I should probably go to Home Depot since they more than offset the 5% lowes discount, but going into one of those stores is fucking exhausting and I sure as hell dont want to do both.
Lowes and Home Depot rent trucks, usually a standard pickup or some kind of flatbed-body pickup. Last I checked it was like, $19 for 75 minutes. Which, still sucks but it doesn't $50 suck at least.
Family friend is planning to build a house and was going to start pre-pandemic, but then design changes meant delays, etc. now they have to wait longer because the current lumber prices increases the build price $60k. $60K!
I just wanted to build some shelves and edge a garden this summer, you know? Proooooobably gonna have to wait on that at this point.
wish list
Steam wishlist
Etsy wishlist
You could bring a circular saw and bring/buy a sheet of XPS and lay it on the ground, but the sheet on top of it and through cut it. A full size handsaw with hardened teeth would do it, too, but ripping 8 ft wouldn't be very fun.
Otherwise if you complain to the right level of manager they can probably adjust the price. Probably need to hit the right level of 'authority to do the override' but below 'cares about profit margin of the store'.
I recommend poking them every day regardless. Not to stress you out, but the house we just closed on I was asking the lender for status daily and being told, "Everything is fine" right up until the day before I was supposed to close. The closing attorney was suspicious because nobody'd contacted them about the title and finally got ahold of someone at the lending company who said, "What? No. This can't possibly close tomorrow; it only went to underwriting yesterday."
It wound up taking an extra month to close and the original loan officer was fired. We wound up having more problems with them during that month, though, and it was only me contacting them every weekday at least once asking for status that got me informed about said problems in time to deal with them. Your lender probably doesn't suck as much as mine did, since it'd be hard to suck that bad, but they're not going to not give you loan because you asked too many times if they had everything they need from you.
Well that’s not helpful at all! AAaAAaaAaaah!
Edit: for real I have a saggy deck and my wife got yet another quote to fix it and apparently has been worn out of hope for salvaging it
I think that’s what happened and why this “catalog of dreams” has materialized
Edit edit: you could change one letter in my edit above and it make sense in a completely different context!
Ok... ok... I'm calm... I'm calm...
After poking them over and over and over, and comforting my wife who broke down crying when she thought we might lose the house, the bank finally came through for us at the last minute.
I hated every moment of this experience (and told the bank as much, in the calmest, most "disappointed dad" voice I could muster), but we got our mortgage approved, with some pretty good rates. I double-checked with other mortgage brokers that I've been in touch with, and the rate we got is pretty much the best one we possibly could have gotten. So, despite the harrowing experience, we finally got what we needed, just in the nick of time.
Papers are signed showing that both ourselves and the seller have met their obligations. Everything is set. All that's left to do now is wait until the closing date which is... *checks notes*... JULY 9th? You mean I just have to sit here and wait for a whole month!? Uuuuuuuuuugh!
Everyone wants the transaction to happen, because that's how they get paid, it will go through.
When we bought the place we're in now, our closing was 2+ months away. It was definitely weird waiting.
Also, place nearby was listed for 100K over what would be market rate at 5k short of a million - sold in 5 days. This area is nuts now.
It’s multiple things but a couple I’d mention (I’m married to the best mortgage loan officer in the country, that’s not a husband joke, she has been the top producer at a few of the biggest banks and would have as good a claim to that made up title as anyone)
Automation has slowed the process down (wait, what??)- the processors communicate everything by email and work everything from “task” queues in the underwriting system
1. Emails sent to borrowers saying “I need your 1040 and a LOX about the synchrony pull on 10/23” are common- the processor thinks hey have accomplished their task of communication loan stipulations and move on, the borrower sees gobbledygook and does nothing
2. The processor doesn’t do anything with the file until it comes back up in the “stips past due” queue a week later and then resends the original email
A phone call to the borrower to say “I’m going to send you an email, please reply by attaching your 2020 tax return as a .pdf...also, did you apply for a store credit card last month? Ok, can you put in your response that that was for a Target card, I see that on your credit report we can match that up. Ok you can get that to me tonight? I’ll put a note on my calendar to check tomorrow morning and reach out if there’s anything else, if you don’t hear from me assume we’re good” might take 10 minutes vs 5 minutes of email, but saves hours of work later.
The good loan officers make that call themselves
The other thing is a really wack pay/staffing situation that I’ll need to get to another day
The rest of the country is going California prices and I don't understand how this doesn't end up being some kind of crash
Austin is one of the most desirable cities to move to right now. It's not gonna crash unless something worse than covid hits the economy or demand inverts...
I see things cooling and price increases stopping, but I have a hard time seeing a crash before new construction builds back up. Construction companies should be ramping up to try and cash in but we're not seeing that yet.
Construction is at all time lows, inventory is at all time low, there's still bidding wars and millions of families trying to buy. Even if prices stop increasing, there's loads of buyers that will stop them from falling anytime soon.
Could be variances in local markets but for the overall US I don't see a crash.
https://imgur.com/a/meFMARP
Rest of the pics in the album link. Also, some of those are relatively close up pictures and might look worse than they are in reality? Idk how well the scale reads.
The stucco pulling away from things is due to different expansion rates in the material. Not much to be done there. They should not have put the stucco right up against dissimilar materials like that without sealant to fill the gaps in the first place. Use a polyurethane caulk for sealing the gaps. Silicone caulk won't stick right to those materials.
It's entirely possible, I don't go outside very often.
Solution: I can rent an industrial vac!
Problem: The cheapest I can find runs $375 per day.
Solution: Harbor Freight sells a 2HP 1550 cfm dust collection vacuum intended for wood shops and it's only $200!
It works great too!
Although when it's full it does kind of look like the Energizer Bunny joined the klan...
Oh lord. I've been looking into doing the same thing and I'm really not excited about it. Definitely keeping this suggestion in mind if I can't find a cheap rental.
(I don't love buying things I'll only use once though)