Real Estate

How much property tax for a 8000,000 house in so cal.?

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:10:00 +0000

I am wanting to sale my house and buy another. my property tax right now is 2400.00 a year, how much will it go up if I buy this 800,000 house? You subtract a $7000 homeowner’s exemption and then take … Continue reading →

who should pay the retaining wall for a new house, builder or new buyer?

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:09:50 +0000

The builer and sale managers never mentioned the retaining wall. After the foundation is created, we found that from the foundation line/base to the fence line/base, total long is about 20 feet and sloped elevation is 3feet 2 inches.
Would you please let us know who should pay this retaining wall?

first off, you had no control over the location of the home on the lot, the elevation of the foundation on the lot or the final grading requirements for the lot, so it is 100% on the builder, not the buyer. The builder also had a legal obligation to disclose that the lot required a retaining wall. Having said that, typically a retaining wall is required if the slope on the lot exceeds a 3 to1 ratio, and it doesn’t sound like that’s your case. Either way you shouldn’t have to pay. That’s absurd. Tell them to keep their house. You may also just go to the top and speak to the general manager. As a former production manger, I can assure if the general manager has to get involved because his people have failed to do their job, it usually hits the fan.

where can i find houses for sale by auction without paying for a list?

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:09:40 +0000

In your local area there normally will be a newspaper (or business journal) that is commonly used to publish foreclosure notices. Any attorney and most lenders or loan servicers will be able to provide you with that information.

There are companies that just hand foreclosures, mostly for banks and other lenders but for individuals too. Many of these have websites where you can get info on pending sales. Contact a bank (that does home loans), a national lender, a loan broker, a loan escrowing company, or a title insurance company and ask them for the name of the foreclosure company they are using. Track them down and get on their mailing list if they have one.

You can also go to the county to see who has filed notices of default.

Here is the link to the HUD homes list.

http://www.hud.gov/homes/index.cfm

Good luck

What are the pros and cons to buying a short sale house?

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:09:37 +0000

I hear it can take a long time for the bank to respond to my offer. Also, can I set a time limit? For instance, can I say if there is no response within 1 month, I am moving on?

I am knee deep in the same situation with 2 short sale homes that i have offers on in So Cal. To date i put the offers in about 3 weeks ago. i think i will hear this coming week but it takes a long time cause usually the owner has a second mortgage that needs to be resolved between them and the bank before they can even consider the offers. Also, your offer has to be accepted by the owner and the bank. im not sure how much pull the owner has, since they have defaulted, but on one of our homes the lady countered saying she wants the stove. we had to agree to that before she accepted. you can get a good deal on a short sale but it requires a lot of patience. its not for the weak….

We set a time limit on both of ours and the time limit has passed on both. if you choose to walk thats up to you but with these your not dealing with a for sale by owner who wants to get into a new house themselves. this is a bank, and they have so many forclosures sometimes they cant move faster.
good luck!

ok i live in texas but i have always wanted to move to hawaii?

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:09:21 +0000

i dont make that much money i make under $12 an hour but i want to know how i could move there w/ that and be able to find a job does anyone know of any sites i could look for a job and find some cheap houses for sale or rent

The only way to make it work with a slightly better than minimum wage job & no real marketable skills would be to share living arrangements with several others, rent a small & not very nice space (think a third floor walk up in a fairly dingy apartment building), rely on the bus for transportation, & consider having more than one job. As Beckee said, there is no such thing as cheap housing in Hawaii, unless you are fortunate enough to have a family member who has an "ohana unit" attached to their home (a small mother-in-law type of apartment) that they are willing to rent to you because they love you & want you to be nearby. I hate to be so negative about your plans, but it just isn’t very likely to work out for you.

How long is it taking for banks to approve a short sale?

admin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:36:26 +0000

I made an offer on a short sale property. The house has a 1st and 2nd mortgage and is located in California. Banks are Bank of America and Washington Mutual.

There are a few factors here that need consideration. 1. Did you make a solid offer or did you try to lowball the offer. 2. volume at both lenders. If both lenders are backed up, it could take 30 days just for the offer to be reviewed. I have heard stories that second lien holders are so backed up, they don’t even get assigned to a negotiator for 60 days. 3. Who is the investor, this is the most critical of the questions for you right now. For example, you stated that bank of america is the 1st mortgage holder, but who owns the loan? Bank of America could own it, Freddie or Fannie could own it or a private investor could own it. This is critical as each investor (owner) has their own set of guidelines that need to be adhered to when negotiating a short sale. The situation is the same with the second, remember, Chase took over Wamu so who knows who’s servicing and who owns that lien. 4. What type of financing do you have? Are you getting a mortgage or is this a cash offer.. If your getting a mortgage, here’s the scenario, bofa has to approve the deal, wamu/chase has to approve the deal and then your lender has to approve the deal, your probably looking at 4-6 months for approval. If its a cash deal 2-4 months, depending on the investors and their guidelines.

How does one get planning permission to buy a property then knock it down and rebuild a new house?

admin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:35:38 +0000

There is this bungalow for sale with near me. It is in a prime location and come with a substantial plot of land. But the building is hideous 80′s bad council design.

It has been on the market for 18 months..

I would like to buy the property for the land knock it down and build my dream home.

How can I be sure that I would get permission before I purchase.

Would be grateful for any advice!

(UK) You can NEVER guarantee planning permission, however straight forward the proposal. In principle a knock down and re-build are normally acceptable, although can depend on so many factors, so never take anything for granted. I am a Chartered Town Planner with my own consultancy, advising clients on matters such as this. If you need any assistance please let me know. info@aspireplanning.co.uk

What website can i find houses for sale or rent in London?

admin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:35:15 +0000

www.londonrenting.co.uk
www.london-city-lettings.co.uk
www.london-letting-directory.com

Is buying a Short Sale house always a good deal?

admin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:35:12 +0000

And is there a way to get on a list, or find a way to find these simply?
What are some of the downfalls?

I’m doing this to buy rental income RE. I’m not a broker, agent, etc., just a regular guy looking for good investments, and possibly also to buy a house for myself to live in as well.

There is no type of property that is "always a good deal". Short sale properties are homes that have loans on them that are worth more than the house is. These sellers are asking their lenders to accept less than they are owed to sell the house. No lender is going to let a home go cheap unless they absolutely have to. There is a chance you will get a highly motivated lender to dump the house to get whatever they can for it, but that is the case for any type of property in a declining market. Your best bet is to track a neighborhood. Get to know the homes int he area and track them when they go on the market and when they sell. Start writing offers on homes as they comae available and after they have been for sale for more than 120 days. Do not discriminate between types of homes! look at new homes, resale, REO (foreclosure), and short sale. Get an eye for value (know your market) – that’s the only way to recognize the good opportunities.

Short sale? Foreclosure? Lease purchase? Pro help needed pls!?

admin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:35:05 +0000

We bought house (a foreclosure) in 2005 for $245K. Our loan ppl said our payments would be $1000/mth. We didn’t know about taxes and ins. Or the 2nd mortgage. Payments = $1800 a month.

We are self employed. 6 months later I refinanced the 2nd for repairs and business exp. Now we owe $300K – $200 on first & 100 on 2nd. Things did not continue to go well. We were loosing up to $2K a month sometimes, and getting by on credit cards!

So last year we put the house up for sale and guess what? Yup it still hasn’t sold. We were in credit card debt of $28K then. We’re in for $45K of cc debt now. And out of credit.

We are making enough to pay the mortgages, biz exp and groceries (4200 mth). Not enough to pay the credit cards (1200 mth). I’m at 30 days late with 8 cc’s now. We have no savings; some mths we may have enough to pay a debt reduction firm, but I can’t be sure.

If we lease purchase the house, that will give us money to move away and rent a cheaper house.
I just don’t know how many more months we can hold on. I don’t want to do bankruptcy.

Is there a way to do short sale without ending up with a 1099?

What about foreclosure? I really don’t want to do that but anyone have advice for me?

We’re making as much money as we can to pay our bills; the economy is hurting all small businesses. I never intended to have to use a debt reduction firm, this is very hard. The credit card companies won’t work with us until we’re 60-90 days over they say. I can’t get anyone that speaks good english on the phone at our 2nd mortgage company (Suntrust) and 1st (Countrywide) says they can’t do anything to help, not even deed in lieu.

There is no extra money for anything right now; this month we had to pay $600 to dentist for one of our kids. We have no health insurance. That’s why we couldn’t pay our cc’s this month.

Please don’t roast me; we need help from people smarter than us pls. Thanks.
This was our first house purchase, sorry we were green and didn’t know there would be extra taxes and insurance, esp at an extra $400 a month. Mortgage people have been getting bad press for not fully disclosing details. Sorry if we were one of the suckers.

We have no family other than ourselves -both sides. That sucks.

Due to debt to income ratio, countrywide will not refinance, nor will any other companies. I’ve tried.

Please note – we recognised we had a problem last year and tried to be proactive and sell the house so we could pay our debts. Buying too much house was a huge mistake.

I’m just asking for help. Thanks
State = Georgia

If you credit qualify VERY carefully you may have a successful resolution with lease purchase. One of the biggest problems you are going to face is that people that are looking for lease purchase typically have some type of ding on their credit that may indicate they aren’t the best credit risk. They also have only a couple of homes typically that they can potentially look at, and those are homes that have stayed on the market a long time. You may find them moving out and getting a new property with no notice and you face the same risk as renters, property damage, non payment and maintenance issues.

I would explore all my options carefully. A short sale would damage your credit (not as much as foreclosure) but you could also check into a deed in lieu.

Good luck! We’re rooting for you!