All Forum Posts by: William C.

@Gary Barella that is not the point you were trying to make. You were trying to make the point that appraisals are pointless, and not to trust his opinion. I don't think you realize the type of deal this is, or what FHA loans are. List price and appraised value are completely different things. And it is not just a lousy $8k. If you knew anything about FHA deals you would know that this lousy $8k now has to come out of the buyers pocket in the form of cash. Essentially doubling the down payment. The entire reason for going FHA is to get into a home for little money down. We are not talking about REOs, flips, or distressed property here. This is someone purchasing a home retail for his family, and it sounds like the appraiser already stretched the price as high as he could go to $260k.

@Remone Randolph have you tried talking to the agents about how the seller is essentially guaranteed to get the same amount or less if he decides to let this fall apart? I have been the agent for buyers in your position a few times over the course of my career, it is rare, but when it happens the seller just needs to hear the facts, and they really have no choice, or they will be taking less down the road. The most I'd consider giving up on your end is maybe $1000-$2000, depending on how hard it might be to find another home, or how much this home was "the one" you you and your family. And is the seller actually trying to hold your EMD hostage? I would imagine you need it in order to move on if this deal is in fact done. Maybe this thread will serve as a reminder to those that don't think it's important to have good buyer representation. I really do wish you the best of luck. You are in a very tough spot and at no fault of your own. My best advice would be to get your agents Broker (boss) involved as soon as possible. In my experience that has always pushed things along faster when there is an issue with a deal.

Buyers are actually paying $7k UP FRONT for appraisals, on a $500k deal, that may or may NOT fund?

I am not in the business of scamming people, but that seems like the greatest business model of all time. Just tell every unsuspecting “investor” you’ll find they’re fix and flip or any deal for that matter. Take an application. Collect $5k. Profit. Oh and maybe lend some money out here and there to the slam dunk deals will all the upside in the world.

@Gary Barella you are so far off it amazes me. Appraisals are arguably the most important part of some deals. Like this one for example. This was not a "private" appraisal. It was down by the bank and ordered by 3rd party companies to ensure no foul play. Sure Iv hard appraisals come in low and had to deal with it but it doesn't make them useless or wrong. Appraisers take more time than 10 minutes to do an appraisal. FHA loans are very common in a lot of markets. To say " if I need an FHA loan I can't afford it" is a bit presumptuous. FHA is a GREAT way for a lot of families to become home owners with 3.5% down and reasonable monthly payment.

@Greg H. Hit the nail on the head in his first post regarding the FHA amendatory clause. FHA appraisals stick, if either of the agents in this transaction knew this, the seller would have realized he had no choice but to accept the appraised value. Or hope and pray a cash buyer or Conv buyer came along willing to pay as much. Doubtful if he has to go from pending to active. Value drops immediately in the eyes of buyers. Hmmm why did the buyer walk?? Since FHA loans allows for up to 6% seller assist, the appraisers job is to make sure the buyer is by attending to "overpay" for the home, only to have the seller assist help pay for the closing costs. Lastly, OP, the seller can dispute the release of your EMD but he will never win. In PA it can only be held In Escrow for 180 days (down from 365 just recently). I am very sorry to see a thread like this on bigger Pockets, this is exactly what agents are for, and it should have been handled better by the agents in the deal rather than the buyer having to sort through 89 different opinions from all 50 states with varying laws etc etc. It's all written in the contract in plain English as to what happens and where the money should go if the seller is dumb enough to allow this to fall apart.

FHA loans allow for it. Everyone has heard of FHA. There was also a change made a year or so back that allows homeowners to 'Trailer' their current home, and go buy a new home. Meaning you can rent your house out, use the rental income to "cover" that monthly payment so that you can afford to go purchase a new home with a new loan. There are some caveats, and you'll need cash since you won't be getting proceeds from a sale, but it is possible and it works. Not to mention the investor specific products that some brokers can offer.

Did this poor women lose her house?

Digging up this old thread in hopes to get a meeting on the books.  A date, time and place were the hang up last time.  So this time I have a venue to have everyone, for free, and once I have some interest I set a date and time a few weeks out so people can prepare to attend.   Mention me in your reply and I'll mark you down as attending.  Thanks, looking forward to meet some new like minded individuals.

UPDATE:  The summarize, the GC and the HVAC contractors have been nothing but cooperative.  Offering to right any wrongs that the seller is accusing them of, and make any needed repairs on the unit.  The buyers have now REFUSED to allow them to make the repairs, unless they are NATE certified.  For anyone nor familiar, its a trade association, but is in no way a requirement for HVAC companies to operate.  So the buyers are now asking the sellers to pay for a NATE certified HVAC tech to make the repairs.  We said we could not help.  THEY HAVE CONTACTED AN ATTORNEY.  I wish his was a joke.    So we offer to help, can the buyers deny our help, then sue?  This just isn't logical.  We will win a court case every single time but its not worth the cost to even attend.

You certainly should not be in charge of measuring and ordering the windows.  Leave that to the installer.  The issue with replacement windows is when there is an issue the manufacturer blames the installer, and the installer blames the manufacture.  You end up getting stuck with the issue.  Get it done right the first time.  The cheapest quote will most likely cost you the most in the long run.  Do you have anyone that can refer a window guy?  Bringing out 4 strangers seems a bit time intensive, only be left with 4 different quotes, and still no idea who to hire.  

 Fair enough, you certainly want to save more than you spend.  My state does not have the annual franchise tax, I am learning that California seems to  Just one of the tax incentives my CPA pointed out to me saves 15% on up to $15,000.  That alone would be enough to cover the $800 franchise tax if I did have to pay it.

@Teren Cooley best of luck. Iv learned the money is in the development of the land. Flipping the paper might make a few grand, but building a $500k house can be very lucrative. Builders in my market are tripping over themselves for lots. So if we purchase a lot at a good price, I am able to partner with the builder, and we build the home together , sell it together, and split the profits together. I understand what you are trying to do. Maybe there is way more potential in that diet than you are giving yourself credit for. If it is so valuable, why give it up for a $5k assignment fee? Just something to think about. I know it’s not possible in every market and in every deal, but think of the highest and best use, and work to bring it to that highest and best use through your network.