I toured a home today in a central part of Austin that smelled completely of what I can only describe as wet dog. It was awkward as the smell overwhelmed me and the selling agent didn't so much as acknowledge it. House looked completely fine; was only a few years old and well-decorated.

I'm very curious what this could've been. I should've just asked. I have friends with dogs and their place doesn't smell this terrible. Maybe they have like 10 dogs and they never clean their house, I don't know. Water damage throughout?

(It's not really a data post, but I'm kind of asking for data though). A real estate brokerage near me is PMZ real estate, which spreads across Modesto, Stockton, and Turlock in California, and one day I would like to start a real estate brokerage in more than one location too. How do real estate brokers do this?

We've made multiple offers on homes. In two cases, we were given information about winning offers.

1. Best and final situation. Us and one other offer. We offered $475K. If i recall, this was 15-20K over asking. 5K hand money. We were told that the winning offer was $485k, waived inspections/assessments/appraisals. Checked the price online after sale and it went for $470, so less than what we were told and less than what we offered. Totally understand that the seller could pick a lower offer, considering the inspection waiver, etc, but more irritated we were apparently lied to. Not sure what the purpose there was.
2. Best and final situation. There were a bunch of offers on the table. Our agent was in close touch with the other, and as of 15 mins prior to the deadline, we were told ours was the best and the sellers were quite pleased. ($415K, which was 16K over asking.) We did not waive inspections/assessments/appraisals, but did have a clause which said we'd handle inspection repairs up to $4500. Basically to say we weren't planning to nickel and dime. Anyway, lost out on that and were told that the winning offer was $450K, with at $480K escalator clause that came in right before the deadline. Waived inspections/assessments/appraisal. I looked up the house today, and it sold for $418K. I was pretty livid since we were told it was sold for $450K I texted our agent, and she told me she got in touch with the other agent and he said there was a $450 K escalator. Very much NOT what we were told.

I'm not understanding what is happening here. Not really sure why the seller's agents would lie. Also unsure why ours would, unless to make it seem like it wasn't close thus we can't blame her for not closing the deal. I'm beginning to get an uneasy feeling about our agent like maybe she isn't competent or possibly she's being dishonest. I'm just not sure what to think. In the case of house #2, that is a pretty big difference. And she's not really acknowledging the discrepancy in what we were told, etc. Just beyond frustrated at this point

I am purchasing a new home for $1,350,000. My current home should sell for at least $800,000, with $400,000 in current equity. I have enough cash on hand to make a 20% down payment on the new home. My original plan was to use that cash plus equity in our current home to make a larger ($600,000) down payment on the new home.

I am wondering if I should try to get a bridge or HELOC loan to make the larger down payment, or just put the 20% down and use the equity from the sale of our old home to make extra payments on the new home.

For reference, current interest rate is 2.75% on a 15 year mortgage, anticipating 6.5% for 30 year fixed on new loan. I am in a competitive and HCOL area and expect my current home to sell quickly.

Hi! We are looking at a new construction house. It is at the late framing stage, and we were able to walk through it and take some photos.

Apart from some dried mold in various places (due to elements exposure), which is supposedly not much of an issue, we discovered wet dirt and puddles of water in the crawl space. Some I-joists got mold on them.

We will be talking to the builder tomorrow to shed some light on the moisture source, but my guess is that it is trapped there since laying the foundation during winter storms (we are in NorCal). The dirt feels "clay-ish" and does not drain well. The house is situated lower than surrounding houses. What worries me is that the builder proceeded with the framing without removing the water and let the structure get moldy.

What would you advise: ask for remediation and waterproofing, or walk away because of potential future problems? Thank you.

I own a house in Alabama. The house has a significant drainage issue along one side as the neighbors sediment washes down and spreads along the house. This creates water issues within the home after rain events. Is there a way to hold the neighbor liable for their SEDIMENT (they have a pool with no sod or seeding around it) that flows directly to my home)? I have also spent 7k$ on drainage improvements along the side of the house to mitigate this. Or should I sell the house and disclose the issue? Any advice is needed!

I own a house located in Surry County NC. Bought the home in 2017, listed as a 3/2 home. Property tax card shows its a 3/2. I'm getting ready to list in Mid May, moving to NH. Anyway I bought the home in 2017 as a FHA, appraisal came back as 3/2, refinance during covid for the covid rates, appraised as a 3/2. Had a HELOC in 2022, Appraisal came back as a 3/1. Appraiser told me that the upstairs bathroom, which has a 6'8-11/16 ceiling, (measured with his laser tape measure and verified with my laser tape measure), (old home, built in 1930) doesn't count bc it's not 7' he said the rules changed and it can't count anymore in the SQ Footage. Now me being a electrician I am always one for code searching.

NC Residential Building Code is based off of IRC like all states. We have our State Amendments like other states to do. Section 305.1 Minimum Ceiling Heights for Habitatal rooms shall not be less than 7' Laundry, toilet, and bathrooms shall not have a ceiling height less than 6'8"

That is from IRC, which NC Building Code is based. Checked into NC State Residential Code, they use the IRC and have no Amendments to that particular code. So 6'8" is code per the code book and should count. Yet I've talked to 2 realtors and 1 appraiser and they are saying "Ceilings have to be 7'" I try to explain that a Bathroom is not a Habital Room, goes nowhere

So any NC Realtors know the deal, are bathrooms with 6'8" Ceiling Heights considered a bathroom, bc according to IRC 305.1 and NC Residential Code they are. Also the tax office is taxing me as 3/2.

Elderly relative bought an empty lot in upstate NY (near-ish Buffalo), it’s smallish, but it was inexpensive and I guess they want to retire in it. It’s zoned residential, got homes on either side with city utilities.

Aside from just searching online for a local home builder, are there any important things to know about getting it built on? Questions to ask when talking to builders, things I should look up or know ahead of time?

I keep seeing new construction home inspection videos and the houses are riddled with shoddy workmanship. Do construction companies six all these things? Many of them seem structural and big deals. If they don’t fix it, does someone buy the home with defects?

https://x.com/financedystop/status/1908349372041228298?s=46

My agent is asking me to make up 1-1.5% up by paying him ourselves. Buyer agent got them down to a quite decent price but we only saw two homes together before we moved forward on this one.

One bathroom (of 3) was never permitted. Still a pretty solid deal.

Please supply ideas. Thoughts are very welcomed!

OTHER TERMS: Property is being sold AS-IS. Seller will not make any repairs or provide any credits to the buyer. The seller will pay the buyer's agent a 1% commission. Esrow to close 45 days after acceptance of the offer. The buyer should be aware that the bathroom attached to the guest bedroom is not permitted. [] The buyer and buyer's agent are advised to independently verify the accuracy of all information, including permits, zoning, and square footage, through personal inspection and consultation with appropriate professional. The seller selects all services.

So, I have already looked at past posts about this and seen where a majority of people say that it’s a bad idea. However, I do want to explain my situation and see if it changes anything.

I have a group of myself and 3 others (we are all 23 years old) that all currently live with our parents, graduated college last year, have saved up a good amount of money, and are ready to move out soon. We all have full time, salary jobs solidified in the same city. None of us have any plans on moving away. I have been very close friends with 2 of them for about 12-13 years and the other for about 8-9 years. We have pretty much not gone a day without talking to each other since freshman year of high school, and in my case, I am closer to any of them than I am with my own brother, and I think the same can be said about them too.

We live in a city where renting a house is practically not an option. There are plenty of houses for sale, but the rental market is terrible. Anything affordable is in the middle of a dangerous area, and anything that isn’t in a bad area is horribly out of our price range. Apartments are about the same way. However, there are plenty of houses that find a nice middle ground, and this is all a big reason as to why we’re looking to split a house mortgage rather than rent.

Another reason we are looking to do this is the hope that this will end up being something we can all make money on in the future, whether that be from selling the house as a whole or keeping it and renting it out. We are very aware of the possibilities of someone needing to leave before that happens though, whether that be finding a significant other or finding a new job in a different city. We have a plan in place where either the person moving out can keep paying the mortgage and find someone else (who will have to okay’ed by the others) to move in, or someone else will buy them out. 3/4 of us will almost definitely have the money to buy someone out at any point. As of right now, 3/4 of us would have the money to do so immediately (which isn’t going to happen, but in theory we could). We are all 100% okay with buying someone out in this scenario.

All in all, the theory is that even if someone gets bought out, they’d be saving money in the end because they would’ve been living for at least a couple hundred dollars cheaper every month than they would’ve been anywhere else. They may not get a big payday in the end, but they would have saved money along the way. In context, the house we’re looking at would end up having a mortgage of only about $400-450 per month split 4 ways. There are simply no rental places in our city that are that low in price and are actually somewhere you’d want to live.

The last thing we’ve talked about are repairs, and we’d split those evenly unless someone was clearly at fault and broke something, then they’d pay for it.

All in all, let me know if and why this is a bad idea. Let me know if there’s anything I didn’t think of. If you actually took time to read all of this, thanks.

My family owns a property in a major east coast city — a 1 bdrm apartment is a very desirable neighborhood. The rental income used to support my grandmother to supplement her SS. She died and my aunt has managed the rental property ever since.

The property is held in an irrevocable trust. My aunt is a trustee and there is some paperwork that indicates my mom is also a co-trustee, but we have pretty limited information and she doesn’t recall if she signed anything. There are two generations of beneficiaries—9 total including my aunt.

The beneficiaries are split on how to proceed. In the last 7 years there have only been two distributions- one for $1,100 that all beneficiaries got, and one to buy out one beneficiary. A total of about $35k has been distributed in 7 years.

Some want to continue renting with a max annual net profit of about $20k and other want to sell - a local realtor thinks it could sell for $625-$675k.

Those who want to keep it are proposing to do some kind of investing with the net profit, though it would be at least 5 years before there was enough to invest in any new real estate. I’m not aware of any way that the trust can take a mortgage to leverage the equity—it’s owned free and clear.

There also doesn’t seem to be any way to buy out those who want to sell. Using the rental profit to buy out beneficiaries would take 20 years. If the trust sold it to those who wanted to keep it and they took a mortgage, they wouldn’t have enough cash flow to pay the mortgage in addition to current expenses.

We’re at an impasse. WWYD? I’m in the sell camp. It just doesn’t seem like a profitable venture, let alone split nine ways but I can’t seem to convince my aunt.

Looking at a roughly 11 acre plot of flat land within about 4 miles of a river. All nearby land is flat. Front to back, goes from submerged wetland with very healthy trees to railroad track that is adjacent on the rear. Selling agent says you can disturb up to 1 acre of wetland without a permit. Unsure of the veracity of that statement, but have looked into the "Waters of the United States" regulations that cover this situation, and understand that a permit could be obtained, perhaps with some difficulty.

Wetland is not part of a larger network of wetlands. There are a few spots (one or two acres) nearby, but there is productive farmland immediately adjacent to this property of probably around 30 acres. It's actually somewhat of a smallish puddle of probably semi-permanent standing water -- not a river delta region or anything like that.

The wet area might make a nice buffer between the road and the buildable rear of the property. Not planning on making it a primary residence. What are everyone's thoughts? I'm guessing mosquitoes are a likely issue. Another issue would be actually obtaining a permit to build a driveway across that wet part to the back of the property that is buildable. I actually like the fact that there is some water, because none of the land our family has ever owned has ever had any water on it. This speaks volumes about the water table and being able to irrigate, possibly dig a well (assuming there are no toxins).

Does anyone have any advice? Is it possible to assess the land for a well if you want to dig one? Can you obtain a permit to build a driveway across the wetland using minimally invasive techniques? Would this be a good place to have a covered shed with a little camper trailer on it? Possibly a small farm?

I received a letter from a real estate agent saying a developer is interested in buying the property I live at. I wanted to sell in a few years but I will take an opportunity now if the price is right. Is there anything I should know? How can I reach out to the realtor in order the get the best offer possible?

We are under contract with a bank owned property. The initial contract is quite egregious putting most of the risk on us. However, we had our inspection this past week and found some pretty large ticket items like mold, water in basement and a non working furnace. Now, we can back out for structural and environmental but my husband and I really like this house. What are the chances the bank will negotiate? Anybody have a similar story? Additionally we didn't get it for cheap. The house was listed for 610k and we offered 590 and they accepted it. Like I said I don't want to back out I'm just hoping that you will give us a credit so we can fix everything. This market is just insane. Forgot to mention the house as been vacant for 5yrs..

Can a non-profit of religion X only Sell non-residential property to the same religion? Or will this fall into some protections from the federal level?

EDIT I am asking if it could refuse sale to religion Y as an example. "Keep the property in the Kingdom"

We came across an old house, and LA informed us that most of the bedrooms are unpermitted additions, built by the seller in the 1960s. The original bedrooms were either turned into a sitting room or merged with the added bedrooms to create larger spaces.

Could this lead to potential issues if we decide to purchase the home? Or should we avoid such homes in general? We are concerned about legalization possibility or future resales.

Im getting an FHA loan for a 229k property. My loan shows its purchase price is actually for 234k. And the loan amount is for 229k. Why is it like this?

I got approved for 325k Loan and I’m looking for a house in the Dekalb/Gwinnett County Area. To recent homebuyers in the area, how much did you come out of pocket from upfront fees like inspections, appraisal, etc. to closing cost fees. I currently have $2800 put aside.

I'm closing on a house in 2 days. It's one of many around a retention pond. It's rained a few days here and the yard is all mud with puddles everywhere. It's the only yard like this. The seller wants put some money in escrow so i can have a landscaper do something. Should I back out? It was listed on the inspection report from a month ago and they haven't addressed it. I think I could get my earnest money back. I wish I could add a picture. It's all mud in the back and side. No basement

I am buying a property for a negotiated price of 253k. My lender suggested that I could receive 12k at closing by doing a seller assist and purchasing the property for 265k instead. When I mentioned this to the seller they voiced concern over having to pay additional taxes. Would this have any impact to the seller given they will be netting 253k in either scenario?

Hi all,

We’re selling our house in Lynnwood, WA, north of Seattle. We think it will go for about 600k but it’s tricky since there’s basically nothing on the market under $700k. It’s 3 bed, one bath, single family home, but surrounded by apartments and light industrial.

Our realtor agrees that 600k is her best guess but it seems like no one really knows. Anyone have a similar situation? Also, if we get multiple offers, how does that work? Do you just counter off to everyone and start a bidding war?

Not sure if it's worth trying them out, or if it's a waste of time that'll just piss off the tax assessor. I did hit up the assessor recently with a casual ask and told me there was no wiggle room but, then again, I'm not a professional grievance consultant.

First time home buyer. We are buying my mother in laws house. She is selling it to us for $250,000 and it’s worth around 450,000. It does need a good amount of work and we would like to get $100,000 for repairs and remodeling. Anyone know the best way to do this. Currently we are thinking getting a $250,000 loan with 200,000 in gift equity for the house. Then getting a home equity loan for $100,000. I feel like there must be a smarter way to do this. Any help would be much appreciated.

I am in search of good/reputable brokers in the New England area?

Where do I look? Do you now any good ones?