A few random, yet important questions?

[justbugged]

Quote:
Good advice.

With FHA loans you can buy with a lot less equity in the house. I think it's as low as 3%. So you should be fine with the everything going on.

I have had appraisers in several times to the house we've owned nearly 20 years, and reasonably clean is good. A good appraiser is going to look at just the house it's self, but if the place is a total mess an appraiser could assume that you will not care for the house. They could assume that you will not repair things on the house. Not fixing things like leaks will destroy a house in no time flat. It may not be true for you, but appraisers are human, and could make judgments any way. Better safe than sorry. The Yard counts in the appraisal also. So mow the grass, and make sure things are picked up. My house appraised for more because of the landscape.

 

[justbugged]

Oh and best wishes on the out come.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

We would, but it's raining. The mower would get clogged up and muddy up the grounds. The grass isn't too high, 4" tops. I'm picking stuff up as I want the seller's to get the most they can.

Yes, the equity rate is 3.5% and our loan rate is locked in at 3.875% whoop!

From the buyer's point of view, if the appraisal is less than what the seller is asking, is that a bad thing for us? Doesn't it just mean renegotiating?

Thanks for all the help and advice! I'm panicking!

 

[KenK]

Most banks these days are not going to loan you more than about 80% of what the house appraises for.

Here is what I would expect to happen: the asking price is $100,000, the appraisal comes in at $80,000, the bank will loan you 80% of $80,000 or $64,000.

If you were determined to buy it at the asking price you would have to come up with a down payment of $36,000.

If it does appraise for less than the asking price that should certainly give you some negotiating power unless the seller's know how bad you want it.

In today's housing market I can't imagine paying more than market value for a house...

 

[KenK]

Quote:
I'm terribly confused now.

 

[featherfinder]

My family had their own bussines doing this for many years. My dad and aunt were both apart of my grandpa's company he owned so if you have any questions then please let me know and i could get you an email for either one and you can talk to them. I use to go with and all your questions have been answered but i do know they take pictures while they are there of your house and clean is better. It gives them a better judge of the house rather than judging threw the mess.

 

[Orchid]

Quote:
That's what I thought too, but I'm not familiar with FHA loans. She said the equity only has to be 3.5% for the FHA loan.


To the OP, if the house appraises lower than your loan would be, then yes, that means renegotiating with the seller to a price that gives you the amount of equity you need to get the loan unless you have the cash to make up the difference.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

There are 4 other houses down the road, in similar condition for the same price. The sellers need to sell it as bad as we want it. If it winds up not working, we can pursue more houses on the same road.

KenK, the sellers have been kind enough to allow us to rent their house while we were getting the funds together. We had to move from OK to PA in a matter of weeks. I don't want to "stiff" them out of money by having a dirty house. They didn't have to let us rent the house. They could have simply turned our offer to rent to own down.

The bank is giving us an FHA loan, equity at 3.5%, they pay 96.5% financing.

The sellers know that our purchase of the house is contingent upon the loan being approved, which would mean paying the appraisal price.

 

[KenK]

I can certainly agree with not wanting to cheat them. Unless the house is a total pig stye I don't think it's going to make much, if any, difference in the appraisal.

Don't cheat yourself either though.

 

[catwalk]

I don't have any advice that wasn't already covered, but I want to wish you good luck! Buying a house is exciting/scary, and I hope you get everything you want out of it!