Buying Homes: Horror stories and Triumphs

[AnotherSusan]

If you plan to keep animals, make sure what the rules are before buying. Some places there has to be certain zoning, a certain size lot or animal buildings have to be a certain distance from property lines.

Also check for easements across your property. If buying land a perc test is a must, before purchase. Life is better with a septic system. If a seller already has a septic system in place, get it tested. One property we really liked failed as the water table had risen and the drain field no longer drained.

A home inspection is a great idea. We looked at one that had all sorts of big problems that were not noticed until looked for.

A survey, with the corners marked is very helpful.

Talk to neighbors. Find out about power outages and response times and frequency. Find out about snow removal on the county roads. Ours is a fairly busy road and still one of the last ones to be treated. Fortunately we don't get much snow. Also find out if flooding is an issue. Water on or near is great except when it ends up in your basement.

We have almost 6 acres and an easement so we can get to our place. In our locale you must be zoned agricultural and have at least 5 acres to keep poultry and livestock. Animal housing must be 100 feet from property lines.

Now is a great time to buy, not so great to sell. We love our new place! Good luck finding yours

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Thank you tremendously for the help all! We got the go ahead from the loan officer to work on an offer with our (buyer's agent only) realtor for pre-approval, and have a house in particular we are interested in pursuing. Hope to get out that way today to talk with some of the neighbors. Feeling better about the process today, but still terrified.

Kristy, I can't imagine how thrilled your family was to find their home sinking into a trash dump! Ugh!!

Bobby, I agree completely on HOAs. Usually they are easy to spot, but one rural, modest five acre home ended up belonging to an HOA. Into the trash that listing went. FHA and USDA loans have unfortunately undergone huge changes. I'm reading the same on the PMI for FHA loans now.


Nikki, small homes are he best. So much less energy and money to keep them cool/warm, and so cosy. Congrats on finding your little slice of heaven!

AnotherSusan, that is a great list of things to look into. Thanks!

 

[oldrooster]

Oh and look in classifieds, on craigslists, and local papers. Many places are sold by owner, and some owners are willing to work out financing with you. It can save you thousands in fees and closing costs and many of the privately sold properties tend to be cheaper. Make sure to check on the state of the property too. Does it have any claims or liens on it? Any boundary disputes? Do you get water, mineral and timber rights? Was the place once used as a trash dump or anything else like that? anyone have right aways on your property?

We are having that problem here. the place we live in was under dispute about property lines, and ten years later we are being dragged to court (this summer) over this.

The home I grew up in was built on an aging dump/disposal area. We did not know about it until i was about ten and the land started having sinkhole issues. Turns out the previous owners just pushed dirt over all the trash and built on top of it.

There was a national radio show host (now retired) named Bruce Williams. I used to listen to him both on radio and on line, He insisted you hire your own property lawyer and your own house inspector, why? you may ask. because you may have a 30 year bill on something you can't use. don't let anyone tell you "it's okay you have a Realtor helping you. That's bull are you paying the Realtor? no. are they doing it because you are their friend? no. they ONLY get paid if you BUY. So in essence your Realtor while they show you perspective properties to buy are actually working for the seller, even if they never listed it. How's that you may ask? again their paycheck is based on you buying something from them not the other way around... The home inspector by law has to be honest, but how do you know if he really inspected the house if you don't hire him independently? If your BIL is a home inspector and knows there are some issues but knows it won't show up for a few years he may say well I didn't know/see that problem and the person you sold to is holding the bag get it? Also as Kristy has suggested have it surveyed, you don't buy a car just by looking under the hood (house inspector) and nothing else correct? you look to see if the wheels are on it, and if the body is in good shape. The lawyer should tell you when you first talk about when you hire him that he will do a title search on the property and also what it's zoned as also if there are back taxes owed, otherwise don't hire him hire someone else. you test drive a used car right? the title search and zoning is like a test drive. remember lawyer, home inspector, (what is more expensive payng a few hundred dollars or several thousand if there is something wrong,possibly the entire cost of the property then some).

 

[oldrooster]

Another Susan made a good suggestion about the neighbors, also go there not just when the Realtor shows you the house but during the early, morning, late evening and middle of the day along with weekends, because in my county we have a speedway and people whom live close enough to hear it, but are far enough from it where there are no signs pointing the way or where you have to drive past it still hear the noise for quite a ways away, One developer built a whole development near enough you couldn't enjoy your yard at night or even have the windows open on a friday night during the summer to sleep, but his open houses where when the speedway was closed days and weekends, and the occasional friday when there was some other event that the owners knew it would be hard to attract enough of a crowed 2 or 3 weekends of the season to break even, so he took a weekend off (also made the ticket sales go up the week before and after because people knew they had to go on x weekend because it would be closed the one) where you are looking it may not be a race track, it may be a airport, or some other thing with noise, smells, and sights you don't want to see. also look into state federal and local roadway projects that may be coming through that will take your property or diminish the enjoyment of it.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Yay, I have a horror story to add to my own thread!! 8D

We were pre-approved for a 150,000 home, and were able to put 20 percent down (or more) on that. We found a modest 1,000 sq ft stick built home on two acres for half that ammount, did inspections, etc, then pushed ahead with buying. Our loan officer rechecked my husband's credit, and dropped my husband's credit score by quite a bit by doing so. So, guess what? Loan denied. I found out through this...experience...that I apparently do not have a credit score. Of any kind. I have no debts and paid off my car loans and student loans under my name, so yeah, okay, that makes sense. We lost $2,000 in inspection money and earnest money on a home we were assured entuisiastically and repeatedly, and in writing via a pre-approval letter, that we would qualify for. When asked for clarification on how cedit scores work then, we were told by loan officer, "we don't really knoooow how they work". Tried a credit union that went from "you will have no problem getting a loan with 20% down" to "nope, not going to happen", and while FHA would have helped us back in the day, they no longer serve the low income people they used to. Lots of great articles on that for those interested.

We found out that:
1. Credit scores are MAGIC
2. Loan officers must benefit in some way from assuring you a loan will go through and then doing a 180, because...how else does that work exactly?
3. You can't move forward on the loan before having the home inspected and putting down earnest money and an offer, but pre-approval letters actually mean nothing, so be prepared to lose any money you put into the home
4. Anything you try to do to improve credit, say, by opening a credit card or paying off any debts, actually lowers credit before it may or may not raise it, so, you know, have fun with that

I am thankful my husband and I have other options and are very fortunate to have cushions of solid employment, family, and friends..and to have options period! As far as homes go, we would be happy renting for our entire lives. Land, not so much. I read a study recently that showed that giving people homes did not improve their financial standing or security, but giving people land did. We are finding that we could do so much with just one acre that would vastly enrich both our lives and our financial lives, so I believe it.

So for us, we plan to rent a home and use our downpayment money to instead buy a 1 to 4 acre lot outright in cash. No mortgage to worry about with that. It is terribly hard to find small acreage lots that do not belong to a %{#%}€ gated community/covenant/etc, but we have seen a few.

So, if you do not *need* to own a home, my advice still stays at DON'T. The only reason we were looking at a house is because in this area at least, you tend to get more land and improvements (electricity, water) for your money if it has a house on it. Ended up not being worth it for us!

 

[BakinInAZ]

Sorry to hear you lost $$ on that deal. Have you looked on Trulia? That is where I found our home & 13+ acres! It was a forecloseure & in pretty bad shape, but DH has built/worked on houses, so we didn't need an inspection. We have a water haul, so many firms won't do a mortgage on that type of property, & our debts were high,so I had to look for really inexpensive places w/very low taxes. We did finallly get the price low enough to pay cash, although I did have to use up one of my IRA accounts, but we own our place outright,& all we have to pay out now are the annual property taxes, which unfortunatley will go up about another $100 for next year's bill. Yes, it's cold in the winter & quite hot in the summer,but we are surviving. If DH can get his disability approved by S.S. standards, we might even be able to run the AC on occasion & maybe figure out a way to heat a mobile that has very poor insulation. Pellet stoves & heat pumps are way beyond our current budget.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Love the name Bakin! I was pretty upset and ranty when I wrote that, but am thankful and fortunate as our family and friends banded together and we will be taking a contracted loan with reasonable interest from them as if they were a bank. Would much rather go that route than the bank route, and wish that option was not so far out of the reaches of many today. So, we will be able to go forward with this house and not lose the money we put in, *but* that is not what would have happened to many in our situation. So be very wary house-hunters of being pre-approved, having the loan officer drop your score with too many credit checks, and refusing to negotiate (when *they* are the reason your score dropped) thus making you lose money you already put in. I am reading about this happening to way too many people. :/

Wow, there is so much you two are going to be able to do on 13 acres! That is so exciting. I wish there was something I could suggest on the insulation issues, but your husband having knowledge in home building probably is very familiar with all your options. Last rental place we were in had the heat go out in the middle of winter in a very snowy/cold location. It was pretty miserable, but we got by with a modern, energy efficient space heater (craigslist has them used for cheaper), sweaters and blankets, used a heavy blanket acting as a curtain, and we kept to just one small room. Got sick a lot, but it got us through and helped us save money for our move. Right now, we have the opposite problem. 100 degree days sharing a home where the trailer runs even hotter and our housemate/landlord does not run the A/C. We found a modern/energy efficient window unit and are again keeping ourselves to one small room when indoors (outdoors, the heat really isn't bad since it is not humid or stuffy). I definitely value the small room approach to save up. Not sure if that is within your budget or not. Crossing my fingers for your husband's disability to come through.

 

[BakinInAZ]

So glad to hear that you are getting the house. Hubby did build in a fireplace in the main room & we did use that this last winter, but what a mess the ash can make. and we have lots of ceiling fans in the house (4) plus some other fans also, for the hot summer, so we manage. The nights do cool off pretty well since we are in the mountains & that is a blessing. We have the most wonderful neighbors here. We have lots of get-togethers and community parties, & lots of helping each other out w/various projects. Hope you have good neighbors at your new place!

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Thanks so much, I am so thankful and ecstatic! It will need a ton of work, but it represents so much to us from building a small business to growing our own food to hopefully help with autoimmune issues for me and just general health for my husband.

I'm so glad the nights cool off at least! I don't know about you, but I usually just can't sleep if dripping with sweat, and end up just laying awake all night feeling gross. Good neighbors are the best. The work that needs to be done becomes a joy when there are many hands.