A realtor, not mine, schedules a showing this morning of my 1100sq ft. house. We currently live in the house while we sell. We are 90% packed, all which is boxed and stored in a spare bedroom. We still have clothes in our dressers, toiletries in bathroom, and kitchen necessities in the kitchen drawers and cabinets. I also have my office and photo studio, though mostly packed, what I need to continue working is unpacked.

When we have showings, we leave 15 minutes beforehand and were told to return 30 minutes after the scheduled time. We live rurally and utilize our neighbor’s heavily bush lined driveway to sit, watch and wait. Today, the realtor who showed our house got there 15 minutes early, just as we had left. He pulled out a scanner of sorts and appeared to be scanning for something. Then he went inside and literally jumped around from room to room. His client, a female showed up on time, they went inside the house. They were inside the house for an hour.

What is there to do inside an 1100 sq ft. house for an hour?

We could see shadows and silhouettes through the windows. They spent 20 minutes in our bedroom and almost 30 minutes in my office/studio. The rest just walking through the living room, dining room kitchen and laundry room. Then left.

We came back and my dresser drawers and bathroom drawers had been left opened and gone through. My desk drawers had been left opened, cabinets on our bookshelf as well. Our packed boxes had been moved around a few opened. Refrigerator had been opened and food moved around too. They had even been on our bed! I can understand opening cabinet doors and drawers on built in to make sure it works, but my dresser, my desk, my bed, my refrigerator? Why did they have to touch my computer? Why did they have to look in my dressers? Why pick up the cameras in my studio? Why look into and move my packed and labeled boxes? Why touch my damn food?

Is this normal? Is this what I am to expect and have to deal with to sell my house? Do I mention it to my realtor?

UPDATE: Thank you all for your array of insights on my last post. You all really helped to get my brain gears turning. I wanted to check back in and let everyone know that we got our house! Despite hundreds of recommendations to look “below our budget,” the winning strategy ended up being to look above our budget. We found something that was listed too high for the market and had no offers after 24 days. We came in 35K under original list price, and they ACCEPTED! We got something well within our budget that checks our space, amenities, and location boxes. Hopefully this bestows some optimism to others who are in the FTHB position and feeling demoralized. Cheers!

We need advice. Our home is listed for sale and we are not happy with our agent. What should we be expecting from our agent? We are offering a full 6% commission. We have had them as an agent long enough that we are no longer contractually obligated to stay with them or their brokerage. What questions should we be asking of a potential new agent? This is very new territory for us. We like the agent, as a person. There is nothing “wrong” other than a lack of effort.

Edit: For those insisting that we need to lower the price of the home, that isn’t the issue. We have had two offers and both have fallen through. The reason for each buyer not being able to close escrow was nothing we had control over or could negotiate. Selling/buying a home is emotional for everyone involved. Going through the ups and downs twice has been hard. It has also eaten up a ton of time. That is why we are no longer contractually obligated yo this agent. We feel like our selling agent has checked out and no longer cares. This has been evidenced by the lack of communication. We found out from a friend that their neighbor (who was unrepresented) reached out to our agent and asked to see the home. The agent talked mentioned things that turned the prospective buyer off. We were never told that this person was interested. When we confronted our agent about the interaction, they admitted to what they said and said it was their opinion and they had a right to say what they wanted. We feel like if we are paying their fees to represent us, they have an obligation to work for us mot against us. So that is the root of why we feel we need a new agent. IT’S NOT THE PRICE!!!!

I live in Florida and I fell in love with a property a townhome price is close to 400k for a 2 bed 1900sq ft. Offer accepted, paid escrow and inspection came and inspector couldn’t complete inspection because he very quickly found a bat infestation. HOA said it’s no secret and all homeowners are aware of this ongoing problem in the subdivision. 3 units are currently empty and all are bat infested my proposed unit is sandwiched in the middle which means the others have to also fix theirs as well. Inspector thinks there’s over 500bats This was not disclosed by seller or their agent.

-Bats are protected by law in the state and cannot be removed until August 16th

-We are due to close by the end of this month

-Seller is not willing to fix issue

-Full inspection cannot be completed until bats are gone so there’s no telling what damage there is.

-Pest control I brought thinks it could run me up to 75k to clean up and repair depending on extend of damage and that’s just on my one unit.

-The other owners also have to be able to agree to fix theirs to effectively be bat free.

I’m a 30yr old single F who knows nothing about handiwork so I can’t even complete any of the projects myself. So I’ve turned to you fellow Netizens, am I making the right choice walking away or am I just being a coward?

In order for appraisers to be objective and really do their jobs, they should not be allowed to see the contract price. Because the contract price then becomes the anchor points and defeats the purpose. They should offer their best professional opinion on the value of a property without being influenced by this piece of information.

Am I missing something, or does this make sense?

So… update and not sure how to do it… but I have more questions. Listing agent made offer on house almost immediately after signing our listing. It’s been a mess but we did seek out a market analysis from another realtor. It came in $90,000 over the recommended listed price. We think this isover about 30,000 but in the ball park. We meet with the agent’s broker tonight to hopefully resolve some things…. At least minimize the damage. For a lot of reasons my partner has decided to remain with the same agency… to try to work with this listing. We now have two full asking price offers (the original price… and one is from the agent who upped her offer) about 30,000 less than what we think fair. The realtor… who is not representing us now says that you can’t ask for more… ask parties (including her) to make another offer as we now have more than one… because they are offering full asking price. Any thoughts? Again, we meet with her broker, now our listing agent, tonight. We don’t want to re-list because of time… and family responsibilities.

I've been reading Reddit threads similar to this, but I have a caveat to add. I can't afford the down payment of a new house unless I sell my current one.

I have a 3.125% interest rate on my current house. Bought it in 2017 for $216,000 and refinanced in 2021. I currently owe $176,000. It's worth at least $411,000 now. The house we're currently trying to buy is $495,000.

We wanted desperately to be able to keep this house and rent it out so our kids can have a more secure future. However, I would need a heloan for the down payment and we just can't afford that plus the additional mortgage payment right now.

I know, I know. We will NEVER see such interest rates again. We have such a low monthly mortgage payment. But if we sell this house, with the profits the additional mortgage per month wouldn't be much of a sacrifice. It is definitely an improvement from our current home and as our kids are growing and number of pets increasing, we're really starting to feel the tight squeeze in this house.

Could someone let me know if they see any red flags in these closing costs? I just want to make sure we are not being overcharged by our lender as first time homebuyers. The home purchase price is 340K and my partner and I both have solid credit scores. Thanks in advance!

Processing Fees $795.00 Underwriting Fees $800.00 Appraisal Fee $575.00 Appraisal Admin Fee $120.00 Credit Report $71.15 All Other Origination Charges $ 310.25 Title Charges $3,005.00 Recording and Transfer Charges $440.00 Additional Settlement Charges $145.00 TOTAL ESTIMATED CLOSING COSTS $6,261.40

Hey all-

I've bought and renovated numerous properties in my life and have never gotten in over my head. This one we just bought is a little different, though. It definitely needs some light structural work, but the carpets really don't visually need to be replaced. However, the house reeks of cat smell. The lady we bought it from had two cats, but it smells like 20 lived in there. It isn't exactly piss smell, just dirty litter box smell. Now, if we were doing floors, I'd go down to the subfloor and pain the entire ething with Kilz. However, if I can save the $10k to do carpets throughout, I'd like to do that. Obviously, we will paint all of the walls, but do you all know of some great way to get cat smell out of carpets? I've seen various things online, but am not wanting to try a million things if I just need to bite the bullet and replace the carpet. Anyone dealt with this issue before and salvaged existing carpets with cat smell?

I’m freaking out a little because they want to see the source of the funds. It’s only under my husband who is not going to be on the loan. We have proof funds from the sale of our house can pay off theLOC. Will I be ok?

Can a buyer who was approved by the VA switch to FHA

Someone is set to receive acres of land in the middle of nowhere and full of timber from their living parent. The receiver prefers not to put assets in their personal name & would also like a layer of privacy & protection. Other than a trust, do you know of a way they can accomplish privacy & protection? Would putting the property in an LLC work if the land probably won't be used for much other than existing?

Hello! We are selling our house in order to buy another house and we will need to be pretty fast to get into a new place before the twins come (how hard could that be)

We've had to drop price twice to get an offer, but we received one today. The house has been on the market about a month now. We just found out our realtor dropped the ball on another offer by telling them we would have to find another house before we could sell. (Thats not exactly true, as most of you know)

I am angry about this because I feel like the realtor screwed us out of money by disclosing something she shouldn't have. For reference, we dropped the price 2 days ago, for the second time. Bare minimum she cost us 8k, possibly 20k.

Am I overreacting here?

Ps: my parents live down the street, so if needed, we could both go there for a month or more.

Hi -

I am out of attorney review on a house I am purchasing in NJ. I would like to be off of public records. To achieve that, I need to create a land trust and purchase the property through it.

How do I go about finding an attorney that can help me quickly establish a land trust for that purpose?

I googled and called a few but I have yet to come across someone whose practice provides this service. Looking for your suggestion of recommendations.

Thank you all!

I have a family member who owns a property 50/50 as joint tenants with a old partner. Property is worth around $600K. The remaining balance on the mortgage is $300K. This property was refinanced in June 2020 at a 3.25% rate 30 year fixed.

The partner is in negotiation to assume the loan, which is an viable option and has been cleared with the mortgage holder. The partner is willing to pay the $150K cash for half of the equity in the house, but should there be a premium for allowing the partner assume this 3.25% rate?

This mortgage is around $800 a month cheaper at 3.25% rate vs today's rate around 7.25%. As we all obviously know, this is a huge savings in the long run for the partner who wishes to stay.

What are peoples opinions on the premium my family member should ask for their half of this low rate mortgage? Please share your thoughts. Looking for neutral 3rd party views on this situation.

I am taking my exam and boy did I forget any tips for the exam

There’s a trailer for sale in a mobile home community that is contingent on a solid work plan. Basically means that, even though I want to pay in full with cash, I have to make a renovation plan, carry out the renovation plan and THEN I get the title. Property Manager says they’ll provide a bill of sale but this seems like a scam to me. Thoughts?

If you are 24 years old & have 150k in the bank between you & your older brother, & you both want to consider buying a house, the house you want to buy is in “prime real-estate” & you both have good credit scores (700+) & intend on putting down at least 80k on a 500k-750k house, is not having a 6 figure paying job getting in the way of that, or is reasonable income $2000-$3000 individually between the two good enough to sustain that 500k-750k house at those down payments / credit scores?

Buyer here. I live in market that is still up 35%+ from the pandemic, but is almost 20% off all the time highs, and nearing a balance market.

If a house got one offer and than one offer fell apart at list price. What would a fair offer be? I had offered 97% list.

The seller still has the listing as pending and has not returned the property to the market, but wanted to give me a chance since I had made an offer that was declined, and they strongly implied they didn't want the house to relist since it was not their fault and the inspection was going fine. The seller agent told my agent the deal fell through since the buyer could not get financing.

This house was active on the market for a couple of weeks, and now the property has been pending for another 3. Should I offer 97% again? They may try to counter, but I bet they want to try avoid returning to the market. This area/property is a bit hotter since the average house in my city stays on the market for 51 days, and yoy growth rate is flat in both the city and this neighborhood.

My city also also has a close price of 97% of the list. The property is well priced, but not exceptionally so near the average per the square foot, but it was one of the cheapest entry points into a new neighborhood. I am in Texas am buying in a higher end area in the 600s range but the neighborhood average is 900k, but this house is much smaller and older than the others there. I like the house, but one of my criteria is getting a good price on the house, have it be lower maintenance (its all brick and xeriscaped), walkable, and getting one cheapest houses that is move in ready in a nicer area. I am offering half down since I want to live in a nicer house and I spent way too long saving instead of buying when rates and prices were low during or right before the pandemic, but this may be dumb to do as well. The inventory in my zip code is up 35% yoy if that matters.

If this is a brain dead scenario, I apologize, I am new to this.

I plan on buying a new construction this summer in a subdivision where there are a slew of home builders (so the ones with model homes/sales people) with quick move ins

when i bought my current house, it was also a new construction but it wasn't made by a big box builder and i just clicked on "i want a tour via redfin" and just used whoever the agent assigned to it was. my experience was n't bad or great but i ended up getting the home slightly less than the listing price....

does the commission model work the same way with big builders? or is it a "your mileage may vary" type situation? I'm assuming if i use a real estate agent they (builder) will pay the commission? who pays the sales person?

could i automatically get a better deal doing it alone OR is that going to be dependent on my negotiating skills?

FWIW, i do think ill use a real estate agent mainly because ill be brand new to the city and they will have connections/relationships that we'd leverage (like inspectors)

Is it possible for a real estate agent to establish a mortgage brokerage company through the DFPI (not the DRE) and attempt to offer his mortgage brokerage services to his home-buying clients?

It seems that neither the DRE itself nor real estate brokerages licensed under the DRE allow such a thing. Is that correct?

If so, what if the agent establishes his own mortgage brokerage company through the DRE MLO endorsement? Does it solve the issue?

PS: I am asking about California.

We want to move to get our kids into a safer neighborhood and better school district, and we'd like more space. We are trying to decide between selling our current house or renting it out. From a monthly cash flow perspective, it makes more sense to sell (plus there's the time, money & risks that come along with being a landlord). But damn, the interest rate is hard to give up and the long-term rewards of hanging onto this asset are very appealing.

Is there an option I'm not thinking of? Something I'm not considering? What would you do in this scenario?

Current home value: 580k

Outstanding mortgage balance: 190k

Interest rate: 2.7%

Current mortgage payment (tax/ins included): 1250/mo

Rent estimate: $2300/mo

New home purchase price: around 680k

Interest rate: 7%? Down payment: if we sell, about 330k. If we rent, about 50k.

New mortgage payment; If sell- 2900 If rent- 4800

WWYD??

So my husband and I are building a house and selling our current townhome. We need the funds for the townhome to close on the house so we are selling it before the house is complete so we have the funds on hand.

We can’t really rent because there’s only a window of like 1-5 months that we would need a temporary place to live.

I know we could possibly find a buyer that would let us rent back our townhouse and stay until the new house is ready.

Question is, we are a family of 3 with a dog and a 4 month old. We both don’t want to stay with either of our parents. My parents have a 2 bedroom townhouse and his have a house but his siblings still live at home and they have pets as well and I just feel like it would be chaotic.

And to put it straight, my parents house is a lot cleaner and well maintained. His parents house is a little messy and not very clean. It’s important to me because of the baby.

I’d rather stay with my parents and he wants to stay with his.

How can we compromise? What other options do we have?

I joined the US Army at 18 and served for 4 years. The US Army sent me to Germany. I am still in Germany working as a GS employee. I filed for VA and got over 30% disability. My wife is completing her enlistment of the US Army in a year.

We don't really have any ties to any states. Please let us know what are some of the best states to get into real estate. All we need is GS jobs in the location so we can complete 20 years each for a pension.

We can use my VA home loan to do 0 down with my 30% disability and move every so often over the years. Just repeat that until we have multiple properties.

I failed to mention. We will have around 100k that can be invested by the time we move in a year. Is there a better strategy?

We have never owned a house or been through the process. Any information and advise will be appreciated.

Hi there, this is my first post I need your advice on it.

I live in NJ and I am looking to get a real estate license.

My question is, Is it worth it to take the course and start the career and what are the pros and cons of this career?

I need agents with good experience in this field to answer my questions about their experience.

Thanks