We have been house hunting for the past couple of months. Primarily focused on the new builds in the greater Cincinnati area. These are the experience with different builders:

1. We went and toured the house. The house was about to be completed. It seemed overprice, after a while we settled on price. But after asking about inspection/appraisal contingency, the builders agent started ghosting us.
2. We reached out back to this builder whose house we have toured before. This house has been sitting for 10 months. Settled on price but asking for inspection/appraisal contingency, the builders agent flat out refused us. We had a real estate attorney helping us out. We had no choice but to walk away.

Is this common? People just sign the new build contract by waiving the inspection/appraisal contingency? Researching further and it seems most new builders here follow the same template.

We are very close to giving up on buying new houses and start exploring older houses? Any advice/recommendations?

So before I go any further, please be respectful. I’m being vulnerable here and sometimes, Reddit is a breeding ground for superiority complexes.

So for context, my wife and I bought a house in California in 2023; we were making good money and we lived comfortably. We had money in the savings, could afford everything easily, and things were going really well. Then it hit us like a ton of bricks.

Around a year and a half after we bought our house, my company made the decision to restructure to cut costs, so they laid people off and drastically reduced our hours for the people that were left. I went from working 60 hour weeks for the past 8 years to suddenly working 35-40. It was a punch to the gut. Then a month later, we get hit with an escrow shortage and our mortgage went up $1000 a month(apparently we’re in a fire zone so insurance skyrocketed) we have a son with autism, so us working two jobs wasn’t plausible, but two jobs still wouldn’t have been enough to compensate for all that.

We spoke to our realtor and refinancing/loan modification wouldn’t have helped. We were just in too deep, so we made the decision to sell our house. Unfortunately because we weren’t there for very long, we had to do a short sale. We got lender approval and we found a buyer. The process took about 5 months, but we finally got a closing date.

Then 3 days before the closing date, our realtor sat us down and gave us the unfortunate news; our short sale got rejected. Basically, the lenders weren’t satisfied with the amount of money they’d be getting from the short sale, so they told our realtor that they’d much rather foreclose and risk taking it to auction. By then, we didn’t care anymore. We packed all our stuff, moved in with in laws, and we’re honestly a lot happier. I actually recently learned that my brother also has to sell his house for the same exact reason; escrow shortage made his mortgage go up $1000 also, so it’s just a product of the current economy.

But I’d love to hear other people’s stories. I know we’re not alone in this. Thanks for listening.

UPDATE:
The offer expired. The seller is worried I wouldn’t be able to repair everything and is going to rent the house instead.

For preface I am a buyer. There is a home that has been on the market over 150 days. From what I can see, there has been one offer that was later withdrawn and the asking price was lowered around $20k. I put in an offer at listing price. They messaged my realtor saying that they wanted $1 more than was I offered (the listed price) and said they will not complete any repairs or offer any concessions. I was fine with that because i will have money left over for repairs. We have also asked for a disclosure multiple times but still haven’t received anything. My realtor sent a revised offer and they have not replied since. The offer is due to expire today. To me it seems like the seller doesn’t really want to sell the home? Is this normal behavior? As a realtor would you let a seller do this type of thing?

During our inspection it wasn't working. They found standing water in the overflow pan and some gaps and fixed it and sent a receipt for $500 of work 3 days prior to closing. We moved in and even on an October fall day in Georgia, it's mid 80s outside and the system set to 70 since the morning and we're at 75 degrees upstairs. This is the upstairs unit, the downstairs has its own unit and is at 70 degrees, as it is set.

Am I just hosed because the system couldn't be fully tested?

The repairs were done and there is no sitting water in the overflow pan now, but, it's just.... Not cooling as it should.

Venting. No pun intended. Lol.

Cry.

We got the report today, and let's just say it's not pretty. The main issues were structural, electrical, and utilities. I'll start with the outside and structural issues, move into the electrical, then cover the utilities, and finish with my final thoughts.

In the first post, I mentioned the porch/deck issues. What I didn't realize is that the support poles had missing joist hangers. This means the deck was held up loosely by friction alone; the inspector said high winds could easily topple it. The roof was in "acceptable condition," but the furnace chimney was uncapped and deteriorating. The front porch had rotten wood supports. The awnings had visible carpenter bee damage from an infestation that will likely return next spring. The foundation of the additions (about 2/3 of the house) was leaning and seemed in desperate need of repairs. The attic was inaccessible from the fold-down ladder because of a lock that was not present during our tour. The inspector found an access panel in a closet; when he entered, he noticed mold and loose nails. The electrical section also mentions more about the attic. Ironically, the most structurally sound part of the house was the 100-year-old section.

On to the electrical issues. The house wiring was aluminum; however, the wires were undersized for the current amps coming into the house. This would require a full rewiring to prevent house fires. Most wiring connections lacked a junction box; the few that had one were missing a cover. Several breakers were shut off in the panel; when turned on, they immediately tripped. The breaker box itself was full of sharp metal. The inspector recommended a full electrical inspection of all connections to confirm safety. There were no GFCI outlets in the bathrooms or kitchen, and the wires under the kitchen sink were fully exposed (no insulation on the wire, just the wire itself), leading to the garbage disposal. There was no electrical shutoff leading to the furnace. There were no grounding wires throughout the entire house. Lastly, and most importantly, the attic had old knob-and-tube wiring; most was disconnected, but one was still active (the inspector told us over the phone this was one of the only things he mentioned to the seller before leaving, and the seller called him a liar).

Next, utilities (water, gas, sewer, and vents). I'll start off with water, surprisingly the most up-to-code part of this section. The main shut-off valve was corroded and seemed to be fragile; replacement was recommended. All three bathrooms were missing sink shut-off valves. The water heater had no expansion tank or temperature release valve. The copper pipes, which the owner said were “newly installed,” showed signs of previous leaks and were poorly soldered. Next, the gas lines. Several uncapped gas connections were present throughout the house, including the attic, bedrooms, basement, and den. Ironically, the laundry room had no outlet or gas line for a dryer; to access one, you had to thread it through the flooring. Several old gas space heaters were throughout the house; however, the inspector found that the gas lines were improperly connected to the heaters, potentially causing carbon monoxide poisoning or an explosion. The inspector also found no gas shut-off valves on the space heaters or furnace. Now let's get to the sewer: no sewer vents were connected to the system, causing pressure to build up. The recently installed drain lines were improperly glued; sewer gas could escape through out-of-code S-traps under the sinks, toilets, etc. The vents were probably the worst part. First, there were no return vents, unbeknownst to us. The vents were being contaminated by furnace exhaust, and then the furnace showed signs of water damage (no idea how that happened, but it did). The furnace was recently serviced according to the disclosure statement; however, the inspector found no signs of it and said the filter looked like it hadn't been cleaned or replaced in years. We were told the furnace was installed in 2003; however, dating on the furnace itself showed an installation date of 1991. The furnace had a malfunctioning control board and was improperly attached to the foundation, which could damage the gas and electrical connections. 

Needless to say, thank god for an inspection contingency! We are walking away from the offer. The seller did a great job hiding all these issues, and I can see why he was so upset we had an inspector now. After talking with our insurance and loan provider, they all agreed that walking away was the best path to take. The insurance company even said they probably wouldn't cover the house. The most slimy part was the seller locking the main attic access so the inspector couldn’t see the issues. I’m so impressed with the inspector we got, and we'll use him again when we submit an offer on a hopefully better house. Thank you to everyone who responded to the first post; it really reassured us that this was unusual and a cause for concern. 

update to original post:

we fell in love with the house, neighborhood, and even the pool. We started visiting the area and mentally picturing ourselves there. We put an offer in!
… However another person apparently put in a higher offer the same day, and we can’t go any higher, and we lost the house. It was perfect. 😔 Sigh… it’s gonna be okay. I am theoretically okay with pools now. Onward with the search.

We are looking to buy in a HCOL city and home to the #1 school district including the #1 ranked high school and #1 ranked elementary school in our state. Homes demand a premium price if they are districted for a particular sequence of schools, which we would love.

However, there is only ONE home in that particular neighborhood, that is within our budget. This could be our only chance to buy a house at a good price in that particular neighborhood.

But it has a pool.

Our agent said that it's probably why it's not selling (we live in the midwest where people are ambivalent, at best, about pools.)

Would you buy it?

... What if you had three tween boys with unlimited energy and love swimming and being in the water? (We just moved away from the lakeside.)

Spouse and I both work and would have some money set aside for running and maintaining it, but we aren't rich and wouldn't look forward to paying for repeated big ticket repairs. Filling it in for 10k$ would be an option down the road I guess.

What would you do?

I’m “right-sizing” and getting ready to sell my house and get an apartment. My biggest concern is signing a lease and moving out before the final closing and then the buyer backs out at the last minute, leaving me stuck with the ongoing mortgage payment and the new rent payment as well as moving expenses. Do buyers ever agree to let you have a couple of weeks to a month to clear out after closing? Or is there some time between the due diligence period and the closing when they can’t back out?

Hi all,

I am currently a graduate student and planning on entering a dual MBA from a Top 25 program next year. I am really interested in getting into real estate development and am looking for more guidance on certifications to help land internships and development associate roles.

I have heard CCIM and ARGUS are good ones. Any others that may help? Do you think a PMP would help? My school also offers a certificate in global real estate as part of their MBA program, so I plan on doing that since it’s just a couple of electives.

Any general career advice would also be helpful!

FT: US 10-year Treasury yields risk hitting 6% for first time since 2000, Pimco says

Dan Ivascyn, chief investment officer at bond giant Pimco, said that a further sharp rise in 10-year Treasury yields — from the current level of 5.29 per cent — is “feasible” as investors like hedge funds are forced to ditch their losing bets on bonds following weeks of heavy selling in the $32tn market.

“It is certainly possible, even from a short-term trading perspective, given that some of the activity we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks is tied to some negative technicals, some stop-out activity from the platform hedge funds and other levered investors. You can certainly get there,” Ivascyn told the FT.

I guess we should get ready for mortgage rates above 8% soon!

We have an accepted offer on our house. The buyer waived the general home inspection, but the offer specifically allowed a sewer lateral inspection.

The scope found tree roots (which was already disclosed on the conditions report) entering the lateral in multiple places, plus some buildup/scale. The sewer is still functioning and the camera made it through the line; there was no obvious full collapse or total blockage.

They quoted two lining options:
About 29 ft of lining: $11,755
About 46 ft of lining: $13,370

The quotes include root removal/cleaning, lining labor/equipment, liner/resin, and reinstating a drain connection.
Their paperwork describes the lining as the recommended repair.

The buyer then submitted a formal Notice of Defects saying: roots are “breaching” the lateral
the system is allegedly non-closed/non-compliant
there are signs of I&I (infiltration/inflow)
there is scale/FOG buildup that could eventually reduce the usable pipe diameter

They are asking for a $10,000 seller credit or $10,000 price reduction. We countered at $5,000 and they are holding at $10,000.

Is it worth getting other quotes and fighting this/negotiating even though they don’t seem willing?

first time home seller and my husband and I have a lot of anxiety about this process. We placed an offer end of Sept on a house contingent the sale of ours. They accepted and we had 5 days to get our house on the market. Our house took 3 days to get ready and listed and went contingent in 5 days of being on the market which was to us a good sign. They were on a plane when contracts were being sent back and forth so there was a slight delay in them returning them to us. Their offer was inspection with no requests and two days ago was scheduled for today. Yesterday, their earnest money was deposited and the inspection was confirmed with all parties. Today, they didn’t show up and did not provide any communication as to why. Is this a bad sign? Our anxiety is telling us yes that this is them ghosting us, but our realtor is saying it isn’t because earnest money was deposited less than 12 hours before their missed home inspection. Is it possible that they are just continuing without an inspection because of their initial no request? Any insight is welcome and appreciated, please delete if not allowed.

House is going up next week. Markets slowing down but similar houses are pending and we live in a very desirable area in a very desirable neighborhood.

Do you like open houses for selling the house? Why or why not?

As a buyer I liked it because the listing agent was there and we got to see if other people were interested.

Recently i've been getting contacted out of the blue by companies offering to buy my house. (We haven't listed it for sale). The company will send you a vague SMS, addressing you by name, and introducing themselves by first name only making it seem like maybe they're an old friend just checking in.

Has anyone had experience dealing with these people? One in specific that seems very aggressive is crazyhomebuyers by david arlen nelson II and honestly it seems very scammy and they repeatedly contact you completely unsolicited.

If these companies aren't reputable, is there a way to report them?

My family is in the process of finding a new place where my disabled father can get around easier, we found this house in a semi-rural area that fit our requirements and put an offer on it. First red flag I caught was the seller only accepted our offer because the other offer was a USDA loan that would be more strict on the house's condition. We scheduled our inspection, when we arrived the current owner was already there waiting. He started to smooth talk us about he been there 35 years and it been in his family since it was built 100 years ago blah blah blah. When the inspector arrived at the house he asked us if we had any questions about the house's condition and the seller walked right up to use making us very uncomfortable tell the inspector anything.

Then the inspector started doing his thing taking pictures and all of that when the seller started talking to us he mentioned that a gas wall heater had to be hand lit, and many other issues, but any time the inspector brought any thing up he immediately argued with him. The example I can give is the porch; it only had supports on the very edges and was extremely wide, also not all of the headers lined up with each other. The inspector said that he wouldn't trust it with more then 3 people on it and the seller immediately said "that's bull crap we just had 35 people on it not more then 3 months ago." So we decided to leave early and let the inspector do his thing, because we were so uncomfortable with the actions of the seller. The inspector caught us up with everything he found so far and told us to call him in a few hours. When we were walking to our car the owner ran after us to tell us that this was the most picky inspector out there and to disregard what he says and that no homes are up to code. This gave all of us the ick and we basically said ok dude.

We left and called our realtor to tell her what happened. She said we should wait for the inspector to give us his report before we decided to terminate the agreement. We are still waiting for the report (the inspection was today) but we feel like if the seller was this hostile with the inspector it going to be more effort then it's worth to negotiate with him. Side note he also bragged about knowing people who will fix issues cheap and fast which is not what you want to hear as a buyer.

The scenario right now, me and my team are trying to close with a grant and a loan tomorrow, but HUD said it had to be delayed because they didnt have someone inspect the house. The Mortgage company is asking for an extension on the grant because the contract ends tomorrow and now closing or if ill have the grant is up in the air.

During this long process, I've had some responsibilities pop up that i need to pay for, but they’re pricey. I was told I cant spend more than $500 on a purchase. What work arounds are okay in this scenario? For example, my car needs fixes and are going to cost over a thousand dollars, but i am able to pay through paypal in 4 installments. Would that be a problem? Someone said maybe take out cash every few days until you have enough. Would that be a problem as well or no? When I asked my mortgage lenders about spending, they just recommended to save my money and dont spend over $500 on a purchase.

I also have a cavity to fill and the pain is making me lose patience with this closing process! Sos!!

Not going to lie rent is starting to get expensive I'm paying $1,420 in a very old building. I make $19 an hour 600 a week I got about 11 to 12,000 saved up. My credit score somewhere around 610 to 620

I put an offer (at listing price) on a home that definitely has foundation issues. My realtor asked for a disclosure before the offer was made but we never received it. The offer asks for concessions but it was denied by the seller. Selling agent says that they have denied larger offers & pretty much saying that the house will be sold as is even though it states that no where in the listing. Is this normal? Should I walk?

I want to improve how I pitch to affluent clients and investors. To avoid making rookie mistakes, I’m trying to figure out what actually makes them say yes, what drives them away instantly, and the little details or subtle etiquette that matter most to them.

I know the dynamics are completely different when you're dealing with high-net-worth individuals versus the general public, and I want to make sure I'm not missing anything. If you regularly close deals or raise capital from this crowd, what are the unspoken rules you've picked up over the years? What are the tiny things people get wrong without even realizing it?

Thank u in advance

I have been complaining about several issues in our subdivision, some for about a year.

At first the HOA would respond with lame excuses, now they are just ignoring me. I have sent pictures too.

One of the neighbors involved is a rude and vociferous bully who is friends who everyone on the board, but that doesn't make him exempt from following the rules everyone else has to follow.

The HOA is professionally managed. We have a volunteer board, who is not going to say a word to their friends, and a professional manager who I suspect does not want confrontation. The people who are not their friends get violation letters and emails immediately.

Every person who bought houses here agreed to abide by the rules. What are my options?

Thank you,

I own a townhouse in Northern Virginia (Fairfax County) which is an extremely expensive housing market. I bought my house in 2020 with a 2.75% VA mortgage for $425k, with about $350k remaining balance. Property values have risen sharply since then, and though I haven't had it appraised yet, Zillow at least claims a $580k value, and comparable sales in the area support that that's at least in the right ballpark.

One selling point I have in my favor is that my 2.75% is transferable - a buyer can't refinance at that rate, but they can take my remaining $350k balance at 2.75% and pay cash or do something else to cover the remaining balance on the sale price.

I'm considering retiring overseas and so will no longer need my VA mortgage benefit (if a non-veteran assumes my mortgage I can't get another until the buyer pays it off, which is normally a problem but not one I'm worried about in this case).

All this being the case, how huge of a benefit is this for me as a prospective seller?

Can I expect lots of competition? Will I see offers above asking like the market had in 2020? Is this going to be a case where my house is basically sold sight unseen the same day I put the sign up?

Or is this not nearly as important a benefit as I think it is?

Not a first time homebuyer but wondering how long title should take in my case?

So I am buying a house where the seller was going through bankruptcy. The judge finally signed off on the sale and waived the 14 day waiting period a week ago. About an hour after that his attorneys sent everything to my title company. I’ve been waiting now for a week and my realtor, the bank that I’m using for funding and myself haven’t heard a peep. I’ve bought multiple houses before and it typically only took a day or two for a clear title. Does it typically take longer when buying a house where the seller was in bankruptcy and if so how long?

I’m looking into buying in a new development in Washington state. One of the builder’s preferred lenders is Prime Lending. I spoke with a loan officer from Prime Lending and everything seems really good. I’d never heard of them before and want to make sure I am making the right choice.

Anyone have first hand experience with Prime Lending and care to share your thoughts? I’ve searched the sub and most of the posts related to them are several years old.

Thanks!

We are on the market as sellers for the first time outside of Covid craze and I'm trying to get a better idea of where we stand with our house.

We are in a MCOL area, we listed this past sunday for $300k (been on the market about 2.5 days right now). We've had 4 showings already, and a 5th scheduled tomorrow.

We also recieved an offer from the 2nd showing, though it isn't exactly what we wanted. They originally said no wiggle room, we declined, they offered again and found $7k of wiggle room. We are now only off of what we want by about $5k and are making a counteroffer to try and get that to around $2k.

From the other 3 showings, 1 provided no feedback, the other two said it showed well and is priced right but not interested for various reasons (walkout is in the basement instead of main floor, room size is slightly smaller than wanted, etc.).

My biggest question is given all that information how do we stand in the current market conditions? I was nervous heading in with the current rates and know it isn't covid get 4 offers the first day times anymore. So wanted more insight if things look postive based on this, if we are getting a healthy amount of showings and if it's a concern to only have 1 of 5 offer (personally I still feel it's good but I could be off base).

I'm just wondering if fighting for 1% more is potentially costing us a chance to close quick and close close to full price vs waiting and the house sitting and therefore getting lower offers? However, we haven't had a real weekend for traffic either, so that may work in our favor. Thoughts?