How not to sell your home.

[RevDisk]

I maybe in this pickle soon

I have a 3bdrm 1600 sqf  sf "colonial" in outer Montgomery county DC

similar listings are between 400-450K
the 4 bdrm 2 car homes in my neighborhood are 650-800K
town houses are 380K
I can take my profits from the sale & outright buy a 4 brd  2 car  house in central PA for 300K

i would rather bridge to the new home, move my stuff once and sell the house

finding a J.O.B. is the sticky wicket

You could definitely by a lot of very nice homes in that price neighborhood around here.  Lemme know if you need any help up here.  We're generally friendly folks.  I'll take ya out to the range once you get up here.   

[K Frame]

My ex and I looked at Indian Curry House, too. Or one just like it.

Nice house, really well kept. Smell probably would have gone away in a few weeks.

It was, literally, feet from I-66. No thanks.

[Jamisjockey]

What is the average household income to afford a house like that?  $380k.. that would buy you one hell of a house where I live. 3000+ sq ft on a acre lot for something new and something a little older with up to 30 acres of land. I really don't see that much difference in wages between central Iowa and the more populace coastal regions, maybe 5-10k a year difference at most. I make more per year than some of my friends in the LA area doing the same kind of work (with same time in experience) and I even work for the state which pays lower salary than private business.

Sorry for the hijack... 

I don't have any handy dandy stats to prove it, but wages are higher here across the board.  Plus this area has a high concentration of professionals, .gov workers, and the like.  6 figure dual incomes are not uncommon.

It was, literally, feet from I-66. No thanks

Yeah we looked at a house that backed to 234, and another that backed to Hoadly Rd (busy 4 laner).  In our McMansion search, we found a very suitable place with a detached 3 car garage that had an apartment.  It was one of those double driveway deals (where you pretty much drive down someone else's driveway), and it backed to Prince William Pkwy.  Maybe if it was a couple hundred grand less....but thats a big maybe.

[Harold Tuttle]

Washington DC, land of the #2 worst traffic in the country

I am looking in the State College area for work

My Mom & Dad are there + my brother & his family

At this juncture the equity in this house in MD is my big nest egg from living in DC for the last 20 years
I wonder how much of the equity is prudent to bank verses "invest" in PA property

One thing fer sure

Once I leave this area, I can't afford to buy the house I am living in right now.
But, I don't see a path to affording the 700K house that I need for my family either.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

call me with the horror houses  we specialize in buying and flipping them

[Paddy]

So Brad, can a buyer get a loan nowadays?

[French G.]

I've sold exactly one house and I hope I never sell the one I'm in now. I learned that much as in aviation maintenance, a little paint will make it what it ain't. I actually learned that 9 years earlier after I bought the house and started to look around. I made an effort to make ethical repairs before I left. I did a Bogie, I sold furniture, I gave away furniture, I left furniture sit on the street for the taking. I got a storage unit. I put in new carpet. The house was empty except for my bedroom and kitchen. I made a point ot go out and get breakfast or go shopping when the house was being shown. It still took 5 months. The loan I had taken out was 60K, I walked away with 60K cash after everything settled. That got spent within the week and now i have a new story, my 440K mortgage! 

[Jamisjockey]

So Brad, can a buyer get a loan nowadays?

Yep. Wife and I just pre-qualified yesterday. 

[Brad Johnson]

So Brad, can a buyer get a loan nowadays

Like Jamis said, yep.  Conventional loan prospects are little changed with the exeption of lenders being completely anal about dotting every I and crossing every T.  The ratios and qualifiers have changed little, but you should be prepared to ante up plenty of documentation in advance.  It's the B-paper (non-traditional) prospects that will see their loan criteria change radically.  100% financed, no down, seller-pays-closing, zero move-in loans for people with credit scores of 600 are a thing of the past.  If you have even marginal credit or less than stellar debt-to-income ratios, be prepared for significantly higher down payments and/or interest rates.  That is, if you can get the loan at all.

Jamis, just a caution.  A "pre-qualification" sounds great but what you really really need is to get fully pre-approved.  Pre-quals have a very bad rep right now, what with the mess in the B-paper market.  The jicky lenders were, and are, notorious about giving everyone and their dog a letter of Pre-Qualification.  A pre-qual is just a check of your stated ratios against some rule-of-thumb, generic criteria.  I can do one for you on a calculator.  A true Pre-Approval means your app has gone through the system and an underwriter somewhere has actually given it a qualified "Okay".

Brad

[Jamisjockey]

So Brad, can a buyer get a loan nowadays

Like Jamis said, yep.  Conventional loan prospects are little changed with the exeption of lenders being completely anal about dotting every I and crossing every T.  The ratios and qualifiers have changed little, but you should be prepared to ante up plenty of documentation in advance.  It's the B-paper (non-traditional) prospects that will see their loan criteria change radically.  100% financed, no down, seller-pays-closing, zero move-in loans for people with credit scores of 600 are a thing of the past.  If you have even marginal credit or less than stellar debt-to-income ratios, be prepared for significantly higher down payments and/or interest rates.  That is, if you can get the loan at all.

Jamis, just a caution.  A "pre-qualification" sounds great but what you really really need is to get fully pre-approved.  Pre-quals have a very bad rep right now, what with the mess in the B-paper market.  The jicky lenders were, and are, notorious about giving everyone and their dog a letter of Pre-Qualification.  A pre-qual is just a check of your stated ratios against some rule-of-thumb, generic criteria.  I can do one for you on a calculator.  A true Pre-Approval means your app has gone through the system and an underwriter somewhere has actually given it a qualified "Okay".

Brad

We're going through a builder and thier mortgage comapany.  I think it is a pre-approval, I just don't know the lingo 

[BobR]

We are just finishing up the purchase of a house in Spokane (should close on Friday). Closing has been delayed a couple of times now, lenders are very jittery right now.

Our credit scores came in in the mid to high 700's and they are still asking for reams of paperwork. One of the big things was they wanted me to work at my new job for a day before funding.

Well, I don't work for Wal Mart, I work for the .gov, and they don't let you waltz in and work for a day just to get on the payroll. That delayed us because the lender flat out would not fund without me already working there. Even my present .gov job wasn't good enough, it is in Montana and I am buying in Spokane. So, we had to switch lenders at the finish line, which added time.

So, we may close tomorrow, but most likely will close on Friday, and I can climb in the UHaul and get the stuff over there.

If anyone is in the area, and wants to help move a safe on Saturday, let me know. It went in the truck allright, I am not too sure on the unloading.

bob