Starting to look at houses...carpet questions

Not surprised, really. It's tough to buy foreclosures & short sales.... I've heard a LOT of horror stories around here. The key to making deals is knowing when to walk (FWIW, I've walked from buying any number of companies - including some I badly wanted to buy - because the seller didn't have their act together or they weren't worth what folks thought they were worth.

Don't worry about the bank - it'll cost them money (though I'm betting they've done the math and figure they'll be better off this way).

I hope you can find something else in time.
 
jesse said:
Wells Fargo just backed out of the deal completely. So at this point I basically need to make an offer on a house within a day or two or just say forget about it and find something to rent.
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What happened to the woman who was "looking into it"?
 
gismo said:
What happened to the woman who was "looking into it"?
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So far -- nothing. No answer today and left a voice mail with her and with her assistant.
 
jesse said:
Wells Fargo just backed out of the deal completely. So at this point I basically need to make an offer on a house within a day or two or just say forget about it and find something to rent.
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Give it a couple months until they forclose then offer the bank $15k or $20K less than you were going to pay the first time (to make up for the loss of $8K).
 
And today I got a letter in the mail from Wells Fargo (the bank I have my mortgage with) saying to give them a phone call, and they'll just lower my interest rate. So I gave them a call to talk about it, figuring there was a catch. Well, this is a program they have for people like me who are lazy and want a lower interest rate, but don't want to deal with a big long loan application process again, don't want closing costs, etc. etc.

What she said was that it was a program in place to keep customers happy and not go to other banks. Apparently customer service has been pretty low with them (and we can see why with cases like Jesse's), and they've been losing a lot of business to other banks that have provided lower interest rates.

I'll admit to being lazy on this stuff (plus simply don't have the time, and don't know how many years I'll be staying in this house). Ends up taking my interest rate down to 5.625%. Could do better, sure, but for 15 minutes on the phone, some papers in the mail that I have to sign, notarize, and return, it works for me. They're calling it a free interest rate reduction. Now we'll see if it actually works out that way...
 
I just made an offer on a different property. *cross fingers*
 
gismo said:
Just make sure you don't make a $200k mistake to reap the $8k stimulus payment.
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I have a feeling that a lot of people will do just that. I am doing fly damnest to buy something functional but affordable. It is an interesting game of emotions, money, and patience.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
They're calling it a free interest rate reduction. Now we'll see if it actually works out that way...
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Just watch carefully to make sure they don't roll a bunch of closing costs/administrative costs into your loan balance. Wells Fargo are masters at playing hide the weenie.


Trapper John
 
Trapper John said:
Just watch carefully to make sure they don't roll a bunch of closing costs/administrative costs into your loan balance. Wells Fargo are masters at playing hide the weenie.
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They specifically said that they weren't doing that. So if they do (and I will check), they'll be getting a call from my lawyer.
 
Talked to the Wells Fargo people again today -- and although she was certainly willing to listen to me and "understand"..she wouldn't tell me what actually happened. The only real way to fight this would be from the outside with a lawyer which would probably be financial suicide.
 
One of those fights that just isn't worth it, even if it is the right thing to do.

Sadly, this is how companies get away with things like that.
 
is your loan still gonna be through Wells Fargo? If not it may be worthwile talking to the local news channel. they might be able to do one of those hatchet job news stories. Cheaper than a lawsuit, and the bank may make it up to you to avoid the bad publicity.
 
I would hope that you have the ability to tell Wells Fargo what you think by walking. Do you have anouther company you can use?

You may only be a drop in their bucket but why give them the business if they will not at least make you whole for the extention of the intrest rate lock in
 
Missa said:
I would hope that you have the ability to tell Wells Fargo what you think by walking. Do you have anouther company you can use?

You may only be a drop in their bucket but why give them the business if they will not at least make you whole for the extention of the intrest rate lock in
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At this point -- I really don't have the time to switch mortgage companies.
 
And if I read it right, it's not the mortgage selling side of WF that gave you grief, it was the side that already held the paper on the property you wanted to buy, correct?

Two suggestions - make sure the property isn't held by WF, and put a clause in your offer that says your price is contigent upon a quick closing - any delay past (whatever date it is) results in automatic cancellation.
 
Home inspection on the latest house happened today. Furnace has a cracked heat exchange. Sigh. Back to the negotiating table.
 
Ghery said:
Just remember the Golden Rule - Them with the gold makes the rules.

That does stink, however. And why would the seller have to sign a promissory note? They're selling, not buying.
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It is a short sale. They must think the seller has some assets somewhere.

-Skip
 
jesse said:
Home inspection on the latest house happened today. Furnace has a cracked heat exchange. Sigh. Back to the negotiating table.
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That's a $70 repair. I think it is an easy mark for the inspector. They love to find the little stuff. Now, a cracked heat exchanger is not a trifling thing, it can be deadly in every sense of the word so people get all panicky about it. But it's an easy quick in and out repair. Don't let it break the deal.

EDIT: Check to see if your gas utility won't do the work themselves...free labor you pay for the part.
 
Richard said:
That's a $70 repair. I think it is an easy mark for the inspector. They love to find the little stuff. Now, a cracked heat exchanger is not a trifling thing, it can be deadly in every sense of the word so people get all panicky about it. But it's an easy quick in and out repair. Don't let it break the deal.

EDIT: Check to see if your gas utility won't do the work themselves...free labor you pay for the part.
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Uhm -- not a single person I've talked to says a heat exchanger is a $70 repair. There is no way you can buy one for $70 .. and it's illegal to repair them in many areas.
 
Richard said:
That's a $70 repair. I think it is an easy mark for the inspector. They love to find the little stuff. Now, a cracked heat exchanger is not a trifling thing, it can be deadly in every sense of the word so people get all panicky about it. But it's an easy quick in and out repair. Don't let it break the deal.

EDIT: Check to see if your gas utility won't do the work themselves...free labor you pay for the part.
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Everything that I've seen online says $1500-2000.
 
Good catch by the inspector. I hope that your post reminds folks to keep their furnace serviced *and* to have a working carbon monoxide detector in the house.

On the home buying side of things, the way it works around here is that the defect must be disclosed to any future buyer so it really is in the seller's best interest to either fix the problem or renegotiate the deal with you. Of course Nebraska law may be different.

Depending on what type of furnace is installed it may be in your best interests to use this as an opportunity to upgrade to a high efficiency unit. You can do that and finance the additional cost by adding a couple thousand to the purchase price with a rebate from the seller to cover the entire installation cost. It's just an option.
 
Clark1961 said:
Of course Nebraska law may be different.
.
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Nebraska law requires all known defects to be divulged to a buyer. The law
allows a penalty from the seller to the buyer if it's not done. I had
a case where the seller on mine failed to state something and he ended
up paying for fixing it.
 
Assuming the balance of the furnace is in sound shape, you should be safe valuing a heat exchanger at $1,000.00. That said, it is unusual for a heat exchanger to fail unless the furnace itself is very old.

If you have the make/model of the furnace, I can run it by one of my HVAC clients for a rough'n'ready estimate of what it *should* cost.
 
Bill,

I must have said this to you before.

Nice plane I see there in your avatar. Are you aware of the COG? We just had a fairly good fly-in to Boyne Falls Michigan. Great group of people, and plenty of help to the Commander Owner.

www.commander.org - forum there as well.
 
jesse said:
Home inspection on the latest house happened today. Furnace has a cracked heat exchange. Sigh. Back to the negotiating table.
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Richard said:
That's a $70 repair. I think it is an easy mark for the inspector. They love to find the little stuff. Now, a cracked heat exchanger is not a trifling thing, it can be deadly in every sense of the word so people get all panicky about it. But it's an easy quick in and out repair. Don't let it break the deal.

EDIT: Check to see if your gas utility won't do the work themselves...free labor you pay for the part.
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The last time I had a cracked heat exchanger the price was a new furnace. About 20 years ago IIRC, so the price isn't important today, but it was a replace the whole thing, not replace what's broken deal.
 
Ghery said:
The last time I had a cracked heat exchanger the price was a new furnace. About 20 years ago IIRC, so the price isn't important today, but it was a replace the whole thing, not replace what's broken deal.
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That makes WAY more sense than a repair to an older, less efficient, likely to have other problems furnace...
 
Ghery said:
The last time I had a cracked heat exchanger the price was a new furnace. About 20 years ago IIRC, so the price isn't important today, but it was a replace the whole thing, not replace what's broken deal.
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Yep. The only exceptions I've seen to that were the first run of Lennox Pulse furnaces that had HX cracking problems that Lennox took care of under warranty, and some Carrier/Bryants with cracking HXs that are also warranty fixes after a class action settlement.

Trapper John
 
Jesse, one thing I'm confused about. You were using Wells as your mortgage banker? Didn't you work with the/a Wells rep as your mortgage broker to resolve this internally at Wells? I don't understand why you had to do things through the sellers agent. Doing anything through a Realtor is, well, I can't say I've ever met one who knew banking. I would have pushed this through the Wells broker who was due to get a commission on a mortgage that was being endangered by someone else at Wells.

I may have missed something, but if not -- seize the reins and handle the mortgage stuff on your own next time. DO NOT rely on your real estate agent.
 
flyersfan31 said:
Jesse, one thing I'm confused about. You were using Wells as your mortgage banker? Didn't you work with the/a Wells rep as your mortgage broker to resolve this internally at Wells?
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Well it's not really that easy. They're a big damn company and it's basically like working from the outside for my mortgage broker. I gave him a lot of hell and his manager to try to resolve it ... but they could never accomplish much.

The big problem with teh short-sale is that the buyer does not have authorization to talk to the actual negotiator. No matter what I tried to do to make noise they'd tell me I wasn't authorized and the only person they would talk to is the seller or the seller's agent.

I tried talking directly to the seller's agent at one point -- but they didn't much care for that. I couldn't find a way to get out of the "talk to my agent, who talks to their agent, who talks to the bank" cycle.

You must remember this was not an issue with my mortgage. This was an issue with the seller's short-sale negotiator releasing the loan. In the end -- they wouldn't tell me why it fell apart because I "wasnt authorized". I was able to basically get the high-up in Wells Fargo that I finally reached to hint at me that the seller lied about their assets which they discovered at the end.
 
jesse said:
Uhm -- not a single person I've talked to says a heat exchanger is a $70 repair. There is no way you can buy one for $70 .. and it's illegal to repair them in many areas.
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No, it's not a $70 repair by any stretch. more like....

FlyNE said:
Everything that I've seen online says $1500-2000.
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BUT - depending on the manufacturer and age of the furnace, the part may still be covered under warranty. On a Carrier I had this was covered for either 7 or 10 years. Part cost covered, labor on you. Labor is about 1/2 day.

Commander Dave said:
Bill,

I must have said this to you before.

Nice plane I see there in your avatar. Are you aware of the COG? We just had a fairly good fly-in to Boyne Falls Michigan. Great group of people, and plenty of help to the Commander Owner.
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Dave, I think we talked on the phone.... you're in PA, right?

I am aware of COG - and I'm still waiting for some disposition on my small piece of stock holding in Commander Premier.
 
wsuffa said:
BUT - depending on the manufacturer and age of the furnace, the part may still be covered under warranty. On a Carrier I had this was covered for either 7 or 10 years. Part cost covered, labor on you. Labor is about 1/2 day.
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The furnace is 23 years old. It is a Janitrol GUI075-3.
 
jesse said:
The furnace is 23 years old. It is a Janitrol GUI075-3.
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SOL. But at 23, the furnace is due for replacement outright. In fact, if I were you, I'd ask for a credit from the seller for the exchanger and take that money together with some of your own to buy a very high efficiency furnace. It will pay off. Don't let the seller do it because they'll get the cheapest thing possible, and don't make 'em replace the HE (because you'll still have a 23 year old furnace).

I replaced a 20-something year old forced-air furnace in the house I had in Cincinnati with a brand new, very high efficiency furnace (and zoned the airflow in the house). The new furnace literally cut the monthly operating cost in half. Had I kept the house, the new furnace would have completely paid for itself in less than 5 years.

YMMV, but if I were you, that's what I'd do.
 
jesse said:
The furnace is 23 years old. It is a Janitrol GUI075-3.
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80% efficiency at its best - replace with a high efficiency unit

Natural gas prices always fluctuate but they won't be going down any time soon. The only "new" supplies we have are either arctic gas or LNG and neither of those options is cheap.
 
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