Hi all,

My house is less than 10 years old and our buyers just completed their inspections. They found small items like possible manufactures defect in builders windows and on our shared fence with neighbor and a broken window latch. I offered to have these repairs as they asked for $2000 back in concessions. Plus file warranty claim for windows with manufacturer.

I’m up against my bottom line to sell at what I accepted and wrote back to my agent that the repairs would be our concession reply and no money back and that was final counter. The buyers realtor came back with lowering our home by a few thousand and lowering their commission % by .5 my realtor is trying to tell me it’s a good deal and I just don’t see it. The buyer has been stuck on this $2,000 off my bottom line since they first offered and I countered back. I really want to stand firm at what our contract offer is but my realtor is making me like it’s not a big deal. Option period ends in 2 days. Now on flip side the house we are buying we asked for concessions and was told no and moved on because we accepted their decision at the new house.

Am I wrong to hold firm because I feel like this is a who blinks first move by buyers and they don’t like being told no.

I’m a single man, and honestly house space doesn’t mean that much to me, give me a kitchen, a bed, a tv, and a shed to throw my stuff in an I’m fine, however I do love to build stuff, whether I be working on cars, welding, or just whatever seems interesting to me. So I’ve decided I’d rather buy a small warehouse or medium garage (preferably with running water) and just live in a loft above it. The only issue is when I look for garage only or just warehouse properties, it either recommends me houses with a detached garage, or some 1.5 million dollar industrial warehouse. Is there anywhere I can look to just buy a moderately sized empty building to live in

Hello,

I was doing some rough estimations, comparing real estate investing against investing in ETFs, in an effort to see which grows NW better in the long term. Here were my calculations/assumptions:

Real Estate (10+ year period)

8% CoC + 4% Appreciation + 3% Equity growth (Solely from principal pay down, and I understand this varies greatly from property to property depending on the type of loan) MINUS 3% Inflation, equals a 12% real growth on your overall portfolio/yr.

Stock Market

Assuming you dont play options/single stocks, day trading, etc.

10% return on S&P index (10+ year period) MINUS 3% inflation = 7% real return/year.

So real estate wins by 5%, which i would think is very significant. Not to mention the tax benefits which could be huge. Of course, I understand that I may be very off in my estimates, I am by no means a professional, but from what i‘ve researched, this seems to be fairly realistic.

So whats the reason there is such a split debate on which gives better long term returns, stock market or real estate? Is it because real estate requires significantly more personal time investment? Is it because your portfolio is illiquid? More difficult to contribute to your portfolio since your buying a tangible asset? Something else?

I bought my house 18 months ago and I am really not enjoying the neighbourhood. Is it too soon to sell it? How much of an issue would that be?

That's pretty much it. I know it's unavoidable, but dang!

I thought I'd stay here forever, but the area around my neighborhood has gone downhill while remaining a HCOL area. I'd like to move to a nicer 55+ neighborhood in the same city and downsize to a 2 bed 2 bath 1 story condo.

I inherited my house from my Dad in 1992 and have lived in it ever since. Awaiting a historical appraisal for the value at that time, which I'm guessing was maybe $120,000 to $130,000 at the most, and possibly even less.

Current value is at least $700,000, so even with the $250,000 deduction for single filers it will be a huge tax hit. I remodeled the kitchen and baths quite a few years ago and now those updates are old.

I'm also not sure if or how much to invest prior to selling. I had a new roof put on a few years ago. It needs windows, probably a re-stucco, floors. Kitchen and baths could use upgrading again.

Just curious if anyone else had a similar situation and your thoughts.

We live in a small town in California and want to move about 30 minutes away for better community, schools etc. the new town puts me even more away from the Bay Area for job opportunities if that becomes an issue. Currently remote.

We are between keeping our current home in case we ever want to come back (Bay Area way too expensive and family is near) or selling it to have an even bigger down payment (300k with selling + saved amount)

Our current home is at 3%. It’s a beautiful home & brand new so not much upkeep. If we sell we would have 200k roughly to our down payment and that’s on the low end after fees. We have about $450k left on the house.

If we keep the home we have about $100k saved and will continue to add for another year with a new build (just smaller home). We would just buy smaller, wait 5ish years and once we feel good about the community and careers long term then we can 100% shift over unless things are even smoother.

Now please keep in mind, this post comes with a lot of uncertainty concerns in the future and trying to build a good safety net.

If we rent it for the same mortgage is it still worth it? Is this a good safety net because of all the uncertainty and layoffs? Will I thank myself long term for keeping it?

Yes I have rental experience so not worried about that.

What would you do?

I inherited my dad’s house a while ago. It was built in the 1970s, he never updated or upgraded anything. The house is livable but needs a lot of work including the fuse box, piping, etc basically WAY more than we can afford to repair or replace.

We keep getting things in the mail from companies claiming they will buy the house as is and give a considerable amount they just need to inspect it to see what it is actually worth currently.

Are these companies genuine? I’ve read a lot of things and most negative but some sort of neutral, I don’t know what options I have because the house is not great and in a pretty meh area but also people around here seem to be selling to said companies because a good few homes have been torn down, rebuilt then rented to people hence why the neighborhood is really meh recently.

Anyway do these companies do as they say or what option do we have?

So I'm a seller. Buyer inspection had a few weird items that I'm trying to figure out what the heck they are talking about.

We have a heat pump system, and the inspector's recommendation includes checking CO levels.

We have a decorative, freestanding half wall on the patio, and the inspector is calling it a retaining wall, and he recommends a structural engineer to inspect a slight lean.

He claims our guest bath doesn't have hot water, but when I checked, the hot water came right out.

Lastly, I checked temperature history and he used his infrared gun to scan heating temperature in the middle of a hot afternoon, shortly after turning the thermostat up to 80 after the system was running at 100% cooling for hours, then claims that supply vent discharge is not warm enough. Common sense would've said that the heated air was mixed with residual cooled air in the ductwork.

Now, some are legitimate, such as one single loose shingle, but the roof is new and the roofing contractor covers it with warranty.

There's a FPE electric panel (probably main, but the sub-panel in the basement is fully updated) with a single breaker, that's legit and I wish 10 years ago our home inspector pointed it out, but he didn't so we will take the L on that.

Altogether the buyer is asking for $12k concession. Not sure what to respond here. Any advice?

Long story short this property was bought when we were married jointly, then I moved out and we got a divorce. She claimed she could pay the mortgage alone so divorce decree did not address the mortgage nor the property. In the last year she fell behind in all her bills, and the irs put a lien on the property and she stopped paying the mortgage.

Then she told me that she left the country, leaving the property abandoned as it had been sent to foreclosure and needing tons of work. She agreed to sign a quit claim deed to me for no consideration. I drafted the QCD and triple checked to make sure there were no errors in the title description and she signed and notarized it online and emailed it to me. I then recorded it immediately with no problem.

I have since paid the reinstatement fee and got the mortgage current. I have also fixed up the lien situation so there are no liens other than the mortgage. My issue and question are whether I can sell the property considering the QCD. It was property notarized with a notary registered with the commonwealth of PA and there are no issues with it.

Wrt consideration I have taken over all the remaining mortgage payment, had to pay 30k to reinstate and I also took half the property with the irs lien attached to it then.

I am asking whether a title insurance would insure this in the future? My ex only agreed to qcd this to me because they thought the property was worthless considering the foreclosure proceedings and the insane amount of irs lien, thinking that I would not be able to fix it up. I doubt that she would sign anything else after learning that the property is not saved.

Thanks

So I need some help. I’m trying to do the right thing but I think there’s a misunderstanding. I’m living in a house with my friends Right now (they bought it and I have been living here) I am paying them $350 monthly and have been since may 1 2025 when the first mortgage payment started. We moved into the house on march 30th 2025. I am leaving July 15th this year. Well today my roommate told me i owe them $350 still for the month of June even thought I already paid in June. I just don’t think either of us understand how a mortgage works and maybe I’m wrong I can admit if I am but I’m confused. We never agreed that April rent is due in may and may rent is due in June so on and so forth. To my understanding the bank gives you 30-60 days after closing for your first mortgage payment but that doesn’t mean it’s “previous months mortgage” right? could someone please help me and tell me if I’m wrong or how to address this correctly if I’m not wrong!

Selling dad’s house in PA. Buyer made offer on home as is, no contingencies, waiving an inspection. Their mortgage lender completed an appraisal and found moisture in the basement. Engineer followed up with an assessment and found elevated moisture and cracks in foundation, though stated there is no evidence of widespread structural settlement or foundation failure. Despite this, recommending repairs which are expected to cost $30K+.

Agent is saying we must complete the repairs despite the buyer making their offer as is, claiming they can still sue us even though the engineer’s report will be disclosed and we never attempted to hide anything. We’d prefer to just lower the sale price to get this done but they’re steering us away from that.

Would love a second opinion as this just doesn’t sound right. If the buyer made an offer to purchase the home as is, waived an inspection, damage found after the offer is disclosed, and we’re willing to come down the price in light of this finding…why should we have to complete the repairs?

Talked to a listing agent and they have their "standard" listing fee and they were asked what would happen if a non-represented buyer made an offer on the home. They indicated that they would charge an additional 1.5% because having an non-resented buyer meant more work for them. That would be written into the listing agreement.

My question is: what exactly would the extra work be that justifies that 1.5% ? 650k home sale so that's $9,750 more.. Just trying to understand their thinking and if it is truly justified.

All insight appreciated.

We are selling our rental property in Gawler. Is it worth staging it? I am good at styling myself but can't be bothered having to buy stuff to do it myself as we don't have a trailer. We've been quoted around $5000 through Elders which seems high to me. Any recommendations or ideas? Thanks in advance for feedback.

I have been seriously looking for a long time to purchase a house. There are very few new listings in this area and the houses that are on have been sitting a long time. What is left is priced above my 700,000 budget and need (at least) major cosmetic repairs.

I don't want to look elsewhere if something is going to come on soon, but there's no way to know. Kids start school in September and we are staying in STRs until I can find a place. I am too practical and protective of our future to suck it up and buy something we don't like if it's way overpriced.

How long did it take you to find your dream home, and are you glad you waited?

Planning on selling my home w/o a Realtor. Should I hire an Inspector before putting the house on the market to identify any possible issues with home and to help future sale go smoothly?

I want to be ethical, and make the right choice. I do not want to make it harder for people to rent too, but I also want to make sure I’m making a profit.

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In Florida

I am doing a short sell with Truist bank because we were facing foreclosure. But we learned we can apply for a loan modification..we already submitted the loan remodification to the bank. It is currently in review. The rep said they usually will approve.

My agent however after learning we decided to do loan modification and want to keep the house. Is still insisting showings and updated her online postings to "highest offer by this coming Tuesday"

She does this after the fact we told her we want to pause everything until I get a answer from the bank about loan modification. And if it's denies I'll appeal etc. but the agent keeps acting well if you get denied you can short sale. I would try to fight to keep home with lawyer at that point then.

I am wondering is the agent has my best interests? Is she trying to submit offers to bank so they don't look twice at my loan remodification?

When I tried to cancel the short sale earlier this week she told me fathom realty which is her broker, I'll owe 11,000 but she got them to lower it to 7,000.

So I said pause everything until I hear about my loan modification then but that's when she started insisting on more showings and added that best offer online by date.

Is this legal? Will it affect my changes of loan modification? I keep reading online you can't do both. I have two babies at home that she keeps making us leave for showings. And we want to keep house. My loan modification is currently still in review

The contract says a cancellation fee of 1,500 and it also says compensation of 6 percent house value of they find a able and willing buyer . But the bank has to approve all potential buyers due to short sale

In anticipation of an upcoming sale of my elderly/deceased parents' home, is it better to have the listing with furniture staged or have the property empty? I know personalized items, photos and collectibles need to be packed up prior to the listing photos. The furniture is nicer and matches the scale of the property.

Also, there is someone living in the home presently (part of the home tenant), so showings need to be scheduled and cannot be ad hoc. What are the experiences with this situation?

The "part of the home tenant" has another place to live after sale, but is staying in the property to assist with onsite maintenance and management. The relationship with the tenant is very amicable and supportive, so eviction will not need to be considered.

Any thoughts or ideas are welcome.

Just accepted an offer, dryer and washer hasnt been mentioned on contract, only microwave and dishwasher.

Is it the law to have dryer washer and fridge in California while selling? Do i need to leave it or can I sell it?

Hello! I’ve seen an increase in houses that get bought, flipped, and listed for like $100k over the price they bought it for. How much money are they actually putting into the house and expecting to make from of it? How to know how much the house would value for & know if they are listing way over?

edit: asking this because I’ve seen people say that flippers overprice & I’m trying to understand this.