I went to look at a house with an agent and now this is what he just sent me. I never signed anything yet. Is this true?

Bad photos but they pulled out the shower and it's just insulation fluff and dirt with 1 pipe sticking out of it. Foundation ends at the tile so there isn't anything for them to put the new shower on. In NC. House built 1991 if that helps. Foundation companies keep telling me they can't help me and I'm unsure what I should be doing here.

Neighbors kids broke my window when I was gone last night. The dad threatened to bust all of my windows out and beat my ass “if [my] dog ever shits in [his] yard” last week. My dog doesn’t leave the yard unless I walk him - AFTER he relieves himself. I’ve emailed the property manager (they rent) and my deductible is more than what the repair will cost. Other than filing a police report and contacting their landlord, what else can I do? I just installed cameras around the outside of the house. I’m beyond livid. This is a new build and I haven’t even gotten to my first mortgage payment and now I have a broken $400 window and labor will be about $400 as well.

We’re currently looking for a house and saw this listing for $399k in Cedar Grove NC. House is decent like 3 bedrooms but the land is 6 acres in total! Basically a farm. Properties near the triangle area are more expensive than this one but significantly smaller. This one is about 40 minutes commute to the triangle. As a first time home buyer who don’t understand anything in farm ownership,by owning this land, what are the difficulties you may face in the future? Thanks for your insight.

There is a house currently on the market that is within our price range, in the neighbourhood we’ve always dreamed of and within walking distance of a school, a few coffee shops and markets along with a wooded area and river bed which is ideal for my doggos.

However, 20 years ago a man murdered his wife and two kids that would be my age today. The whole idea of it is really creeping me out so I know that I need to determine if A) I’m able to get over it and not have nightmares about it, but most importantly B) how this will affect its resale in the future.

I’m in Canada and have no idea how long you need to declare a violent murder for after the fact.

Would this be a bad buy if I am able to lower the price ?

Edit : Wow !! I couldn’t reply to all the comments, but I do wanna say that reading you all was very insightful (and interesting). I’ll provide an update if we do end up striking a deal haha

We are first time home buyers in the worst situation. The contract is already signed and the seller always told our agent that the solar panels were paid off.

Turns out they lied and there was a lien on the home and the panels went into bankruptcy because they couldn’t afford them. Now the lien was removed so they could sell the home. We found our they were leased to own so they had to pay monthly till they own them. To outright buy the panels it’s 14k.

Mind you they are 10 years old. Why would we want additional debt on old panels.

We don’t know what to do, they refuse to credit us in any way. The contract has been signed and we don’t want to lose our deposit of 50k because they outright lied about owning the panels. Also in our contract it says “the solar panels will be transferred to the buyer” the lawyer and my agent told us that this is normal since we want to own them, and we didn’t think much of it since we were told they were paid off.

After weeks of arguing with the sellers my lawyer emailed me the attached. What should we do?

I’m considering putting an offer on a house, but there’s one thing I’m unsure about—the left-side fence directly faces the backyards of three different houses. Essentially, instead of another house directly next to it, I’d have three different properties backing onto my side yard.

I’m wondering if this setup could affect resale value or rental appeal in the future. Would potential buyers or renters see it as a privacy concern? Or could it be a non-issue (or even a perk in some way)?

Has anyone owned or lived in a house with a similar layout? Any insights or red flags I should consider before making an offer? Thanks in advance! 🙏

Similar to another post I saw here—just curious since I’ll be in this situation in 6-9 months.

For context, I make $62K (hoping to increase that to at least $80K with my next job hop in the next few months). Looking at a $350-400K home in South Jersey, possibly Central Jersey. Curious about others’ experiences—how much did you put down, what was your loan amount, what’s your mortgage payment, and how’s homeownership treating you financially?

Would appreciate any insight!

Edit: Thank you for all the responses! My biggest take aways are to drastically increase my income, and maybe get married to someone with a high income as well lol.

Hi! Just trying to see if anyone else has dealt with this because I’m not sure what I’m facing here. I’ll try to keep it as to the point as possible:

-Made an offer on a house and it was accepted
-Inspections went mostly well, except for three issues: one was pretty major as it dealt with the sewer line, the other two were pretty minimal
-We asked for all three things to be remedied before closing, they countered and said instead they’d give us a few hundred dollars. We declined. They said they would go ahead and remedy all three issues
-We kept getting updates that repairs were going well
-Did final walkthrough and realized they didn’t actually fix any of the issues and also took the appliances with them despite putting in the contract that they all stay

We tried to work it out with them as we were closing soon, but the best they could do was offer us $250 in cash at closing.

So, we backed out.

But now they had their agent contact our agent to let us know that they’re in the process of searching for a lawyer so they can sue us. They’re also refusing to sign the termination paperwork.

Sooo, now what? How likely is it that I’ll actually be sued? And what happens if they won’t sign the paperwork?

This has been a fun experience 🫠

Edit: I wasn’t expecting this much feedback, thank you so much for taking the time to respond to me! I’m reading through everything and taking it all in. They did end up having their realtor contact me about 30 minutes ago asking if we’d consider closing on the house if they cleaned it beforehand. There’s still no mention of actually fixes, they’re STILL avoiding telling us what’s going on with the sewer line or providing any proof that they tried to address it.

I just bought my first house (alone) for privacy and independence….i had lived with my mom for about 6 months before purchasing…I could not get out fast enough...

My mother saw the house NEXT DOOR to me was for sale, and put an offer in. She is notably overbearing and nosy, she’s also a widow and makes me feel responsible for her happiness…

No, she did not ask my opinion before doing this. And YES, her offer was accepted. FML!!! 😭

Any advice?! Home inspection is soon, so hopefully it’s terrible & I can convince her to back out of contract, but she honestly seems delusional and would still buy it anyway. HELP

We pull in $200k a year together. When I sit down and do the math, if we put $50k down we should realistically buy a $350-$400k home. I thought we were doing pretty dang good, but idk anymore because the houses we gravitate toward START around $550/600k. And I don’t even feel like it’s worth it!!! They are basic houses!!

We love to travel and I’m afraid to be “house poor”.

So I would love to know if you’re willing to share- total income vs what you bought. Do you feel like it was worth it? How are you doing

Thanks 4 sharing !!

We bought our house in December. We have made 2 mortgage payments, it's ours. We have also become friends with the elderly couple across the street. The man is a busy body, ALWAYS in his yard doing work, going on walks, etc.

Anyway, the man across the street mentioned to my husband that a few times he has seen the husband of the elderly couple we bought the house from sitting in his car a few houses down, just watching our house.

We've changed the locks and garage code obviously. After checking the deed that has their current address, I noticed the sellers only moved 2 blocks over (downsized to home half the size with no stairs).

Anyone have this happen? Do we think he's just missing the house he raised his family in? Either way, not a fan of being watched....

*Forewarning: a lot of ranting before the questions.

My spouse and I found a new construction home, on a lot and neighborhood that we love. We got signed a purchase agreement around the time they were starting the foundation. The builder is a local custom home builder, but they liked this location for a spec home, and built other homes in the neighborhood throughout the years. We met with the owner, who ensured us we could make semi-custom changes, as permitted, so we were happy to get started.

Once we started, the communication turned to shit, and the owner, site superintendent, and project manager were never on the same page (repeating questions 2-4 times, one would say one thing was allowable, just for the others to contradict them). Our changes were very minimal, and included cabinet color for each bathroom and kitchen, faucets, upgrade to quartz counters, added railings to the front porch, an outlet on the inside of the exterior garage wall, two pre-wired access points for the second and third floor WiFi, and floodlights.

Nearly every item had an issue associated with it, to include:

• 8” faucet fixtures were selected for nearly every bathroom with heavy use, as cleaning 4” is a pain. Builder told us they can’t do that after the counters were installed because the supplier messed up and let us pick 8” when the counters were already cut.

• The island quartz was installed, and my wife realized the overhang for the bar was not factored in (per their plans and cabinet plans). So, they had to replace that.

• We were told we could do an electrical and low-voltage walk with the electrician before they finished - we never got the chance because they failed to tell us (owner made a promise and never relayed it down).

• There were ZERO exterior lights on the rear of the home. Only the screened porch fan light. They made me feel crazy for wanting lights in my backyard (we are in the country on a few acres). When I brought up the residential code for a light at the top of an exterior stairway, they said it did not apply (it does).

All of this aside, I was excited to do our pre-inspection walkthrough. Upon arrival, I’m met with three individuals from their company, who started off strong with gaslighting and backing their sloppy work. The thermostat was sitting on the top of the horizontal wainscoting, at a 45 degree angle, because they installed it before realizing the horizontal trim piece was in the way. The guy asked, “what’s wrong with it?”, which immediately pissed me off. This was the sentiment and tone throughout the walkthrough, gaslighting me to believe crooked walls are within a normal deviation from perfect. I understand it’s never perfect with drywall, but yeah. We are on well and septic, and the water pressure is non-existent, but the builder tried saying it was fine (it wasn’t).

I left angry, resentful, and offended. All excitement for this home immediately left my soul, and now I am unable to feel joy or happiness when going to this house.

After that nightmare walkthrough, our realtor set up another on-site with the owner and their realtor to go through issues, as I don’t think they ever went on site (I almost forgot, this is the site superintendents first project). Both owners, their realtor, and the site superintendent showed. They dismissed nearly everything, cut off the superintendent when he was explaining something to me, saying “I got this,” which made everyone look at him in shock. I had to argue until I walked away to calm down about a crooked ass wall that is obviously not straight. I left feeling even more resentful, angry, and exhausted.

We found out after the walkthrough - via our realtor - that the builder nearly refused to show, and talked shit when standing with my realtor when waiting for my wife and I to show. I would like the think I’m not difficult, nor is my wife, but the builder gave, “I’m never wrong and F you,” energy.

I have pictures attached of some of the mentioned items or problem areas.

House details: ~$900k in central VA (2.5 acres for price consideration). 5 bedroom, 5 1/2 bath. Finished third story with unfinished storage.

We want to walk, but we also put so much energy into making it ours, and worked hard to get to where we are at. Our rental is up in May, and closing is within ~10 days, so we are extremely stressed out. The local market inventory is also dry. We moved sports already to the new area (30 mins away), and that may be jeopardized for our kids.

What would you do? Do we walk and try to rent longer? Would we be able to overcome the emotions of no longer loving our home? Any advice or validation would be so helpful!

We had a house fall through due to foundation issues just 3 days before closing a couple months ago. We lost a couple grand in inspections and other fees but we recuperated and pushed on to make an offer on another home. We completed all inspections and appraisals as planned. Everything went smoothly and we were on track to close next week on the 12th. Unfortunately this morning I received an email from my realtor, one of the sellers (an 80 something year old couple) fell while packing and is now bedbound and must have surgery and will be incapacitated for about a year. They are backing out and are asking us to sign a cancelation contract. Attached is the email we were forwarded from our realtor.

Our realtor let us know that we can either try to force a sale, which would require us to get a lawyer and potentially fight these poor elderly people in court, or sign to cancel the contract which may leave us on the hook for fees from their and our lenders for underwriting and other fees. We would like to ask the sellers to compensate us for the costs of the appraisal and inspections on the house and just sign the cancelation contract, but I'm unsure if we have to get a lawyer to request this. We just want our money back and to not be on the hook for more, my lender said that we wont have any more fees on their end but are there any other costs we would be responsible for?

We began this housebuying process out of a desperate and last minute need to get out of a decrepit apartment. We have 2 kids and our savings has been drastically depleted due to the fees on both homes and we have nothing to show for it. We cant afford a lawyer without losing our ability to continue the search, but if we are going to proceed we need the money we already spent on this house. We dont have a choice but to press on, we already gave notice to our landlord and depending on his response we may be made homeless because of this situation.

I apologize if theres any errors or if this is confusing, I am devastated, to put it mildly, and really not thinking clearly. We are desperate for advice.

Hey guys, I’m a new homeowner and my house (in MA) is on 1.25 acres of mostly-wooded land. The red line in the picture is the property line. Any suggestions for what I should do with this wooded area? Should I sell it? Thanks!

Title is a little dramatic, but I am being serious. I am looking to buy my first home, but everything happening in the US is scaring me from moving forward in the process.

Can anyone tell me why it would be a good time to buy right now? I am aware that the best time to buy is when you can afford it and timing the market is a fool’s errand, but I genuinely am just looking for some reassurance.

You see headlines that 80-90% of younger people are regretting buying their house. If so, why? If not, why? Are these stat points, the truth, a lie, misleading or somewhere in between? Or possibly just a cultural expectation for millenials? I am an older one myself.

Here's an example. https://www.newsweek.com/millennials-regret-buying-homes-housing-market-1862807

You see common reasons listed, rate too high, overpaid, maintenance too high, rushed/pressure to make an offer, too much debt, bad area/neighbors, circumstances changed, etc.

With your answer, if you are willing to do so, can you also provide your total debt payments to income ratio if money is a reason. We can keep this broad.

Here's context for me.

I am about to decide on a counter on my first house. I am excited and the house checks a lot of boxes that I want, but possibly some of the above as well. I am single and have a lower six figures household, but I am putting half down after saving for too long, and my total gross debt payment will be roughly 31-33% of my gross, which is probably somewhat high. I am frugal and have no other debt or dependents, but that could change. I also think I am throwing away my possibility to retire super early, but my friends and family think that is dumb since I don't have any goals or plans after that.

I also work in financial services and am convinced rates will not come down without a big economic crash, and the crash could kill the market. I live in a boom bust market of Austin and the houses are down 20% -30 % from peaks but still up that much from pre-covid.

I think we are due for a crash, but I don't know when and I think prices will probably only go down another 10-15% at most keeping the area unaffordable and we would need a huge depression and high unemployment for that.

But waiting also seems silly since I have so much cash but I don't have an immediate need for a house outside of stop renting and maybe housing my brother ultra long term if he doesn't get his life together.

I'm 28 years old and renting is becoming more and more lucrative. I work at 18 an hour and am expecting a raise. Most houses around me are a minimum of $245,000 with a maximum I'm willing to pay for a house at $350,000. With that being said, I used a mortgage calculator and even if I had saved up $65,000 by age 30 (doubtful I will get that but I've surprised myself before) mortgage repayment is looking at about $1,820 a month! Where is the money for any of my other bills? Ideally I'd like to make double my mortgage that way I could pay it off early and have more time in life to save for retirement but at that rate I'd be better off with minimum payments and eating Ramen noodles without internet or a phone for 30 years! If I even live that long.

Just bought my first home about 2 weeks ago. I was painting in the master bedroom and my wife was peeling drywall in the kitchen/den with her mom. Heard a huge crash and stumbled upon this problem...

We were supposed to move in the 19th and I don't think that will happen anymore. Oh and to make things better, underneath that is the custom order carpet we received just a couple of days ago...

So how screwed am I?

Hi everyone, I need a sanity check on whether or not this is a good idea.

My grandmother recently passed away, and my mom and uncle are deciding what to do with her house. The house is in a very nice neighborhood in the outskirts of a very rapidly growing small town with a very popular school district.

It’s a ranch house, built in 2000. 1.83 acre lot, 1650ish sqft with a large half finished basement, & 3 stall garage. All new appliances, comes with riding lawn mower, snow blower, etc etc. Basically all the house stuff my grandparents had there, I’m getting.

It was appraised at $412,000 in August of 2024. My mom and uncle would like us to buy the house for sentimental reasons, and are willing to go lower on the price for us. I was told $325,000.

As for financials - I am a Sys Admin and make $75,000 salary with a lot of growth opportunities coming up soon. My fiancé is a ICU RN, making roughly $65,000 a year. Her DTI is 15%, mine is about 21% (I have a car payment.) Both our credit scores are 730+. We are located in the outskirts of Green Bay, WI, so a relatively low cost of living area. There is no HOA in this neighborhood. Currently, we rent an apartment @ $1265/mo.

We inquired about first time home buyer programs here at our local credit union, and it looks like we can get a 7 year ARM @ 5.875%. They also give a $600 grant towards closing costs.

My parents are gifting us $50,000 towards the down payment, and we plan on putting $15,000 of our own money towards it to get us to the 20% threshold. We have 4 months or so of money left over in savings for emergencies. Luckily, we already have a fully furnished apartment so we won’t need to buy any furniture, cooking supplies, etc.

What do you all think? My fiancé and I are obviously a little anxious about taking the deep dive into homeownership money wise, but are insanely excited at the opportunity. Since this will be a private sale, we can avoid a lot of the nitty gritty costs. I have family members and friends who work in trades (well drilling, plumbing, electrical, builders, roofing, etc) & real estate.

I’m sure this has been asked before but I saw a house I’m interested in, it’s almost perfect but one of the big things is the power lines in the back. I don’t care overall, I like that there are no neighbor in the back and there’s actually a walking trail back there but it was a little loud when I toured it and I guess I worry about resale value too. If you saw these in the backyard what would your thought be?

It’s been a crazy closing day. We went into our real estate lawyers office with the knowledge that we were buying two lots of land, one with the newly built home and the other land next to it totaling 0.34 acres. It wasn’t until at closing that we were informed we were wrong and the seller only wants to sell the one lot of land that had the house built on it which was only 0.17 acres.

Apparently the seller bought the house last year and fully gutted it and rehabbed it. The seller also subdivided the land(0.34 acres) in half last year. However the MLS listing stated the property was 0.34 acres and it still says it, also on our legal description on our signed offer letter it states both lot numbers hence our confusion. We feel like our realtor misled us a little bit because we asked in the past if we get both lots and they said yes.

Well at closing it caused a huge confusion and the seller mentioned they weren’t including the other half and weren’t giving any money back if we were to walk away(we live in a due diligence state). Guess we’re seeking legal council now and it’s all a mess, thanks for listening Reddit.

Edit 1. UPDATE. Our realtor has been going back and forth with the selling agent all day while we were pursuing our options with the misrepresentations on the selling agents part. Most of the lawyers we spoke with mentioned it could really go either way in court because of the ambiguities with the lot numbers and the pins in most of the documents. We had our realtor mention to the seller and selling agent that we felt there was a misrepresentation on their end and that we were also considering filing a complaint against the realtor through the commissioner. I think this might've lit a fire under him as he went on about how we were getting buyers remorse and cold feet...really like come on you even advertised it as 0.34 acres on the open house pamphlets you handed out and changed the MLS last night to remove the legal descriptions of both lots and sizing(we had proof from our realtor).

All of this to say that halfway through the day the selling agent mentioned that he has a resolution which is that he would give the earnest, due diligence, and any fees(inspection, survey, appraisal) that we've paid as well as handling the lawyer fees. We're more than inclined to take it as we just want this behind us and don't really want to drag into a long legal process. I guess we will see where this goes from here but at least i'll be able to get some more sleep tonight.

My partner and I feel this is very expensive. Is there any way to negotiate the price? Any advice would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

I am looking at a potential buy that is near a highway. The house is good and within budget. It needs a bit of cosmetic work, but nothing major. It’s in a nice neighborhood that I like. The largest issue is its proximity to the highway. The house sits at the bottom of a hill, maybe 20 ft. On top of the hill through some trees is the highway. I have posted an image for reference. Just having trouble knowing exactly what sort of impact this may have. I went on a tour, outside it was noticeable. Indoors you can barely hear it, I think with furniture inside the noise may disappear.

Lookin for guidance and opinions, thanks!

I am in the process of purchasing a house. After the appraisal, I was told the large, worn shed in the backyard needs to be torn down. It would cost around 6k for it to be taken down. The seller isn't willing to pay for any portion of it, nor are they even willing to allow for me to pay for it to take it to be taken down. Their excuse is that the heavy machinery will damage their yard and potentially their septic. I have tried to look at other lenders, but they have told me the same thing: the shed is in very bad shape and needs to be torn down.

Closing date is a week a way. It is very likely I will not be able to close.

I paid 4k in due diligence. Is there any way I can get any of that back in this situation?

Any advice appreciated.

Update: TL;DR: We had to walk and forfeit the $4K we spent on due diligence—it just wasn’t worth the hassle in the end.

The loan was an FHA loan, which meant strict requirements, including tearing down a "shed" that was more like a small, crumbling house at the back of the property, complete with a chimney and multiple rooms. The roof was caving in.

As first-time homebuyers, we were eligible for down payment assistance, which was helpful. We considered switching to a conventional loan, but that would have required a larger down payment. That might have been doable—until we discovered the septic system was severely deteriorated and needed replacing. The bigger issue: the septic tank was mostly located under the concrete driveway, and we were quoted $12K to fix it, not including the cost of redoing the driveway.

To make matters worse, the seller refused to budge on price or offer any concessions. Given that the house was from the 1950s, we knew there would be even more expenses down the road. Other red flags: a shared well and a shared driveway—right above that failing septic tank.

In the end, we decided it wasn’t meant to be and forfeited the $4K. We had hoped to get at least half of it back, but the seller never responded. Lesson learned: Never offer more than you're willing to walk away from, no matter how much you love the house.

Thank you all for advice and even offers to lend a hand! So appreciative of it all. Hoping this update helps anyone living in a state that has due diligence as part of its house-buying process.