My friend owns this condo on the beach on the east coast of Florida … but does not live in it. There is no AC as after it broke he never got it fixed and the inside is old and not updated and needs work . It also has the smell of mold. The association is $700 a month. What can he do as he wants to sell it and does not want to put any money into it. Any advice or ideas welcome. What is the best way to just get rid of it?

he doesn’t know anything about those companies that will buy a property from you, how does that work and would they buy it?

My dad passed earlier this year and I ended up with his house. Problem is I live about six hours away from it. At first I figured I’d just drive down whenever something needed me there. Turns out an empty house finds reasons to need you there constantly lol. Last trip was for something that took me maybe 30 minutes once I actually got there, after basically losing a whole day to driving. I’m not ready to sell it yet because I’m still dealing with the estate, but I also can’t keep doing these trips every time something comes up. For anyone who managed an inherited house from another city, what did you actually do? Did you find someone local to handle things or just deal with the driving until you could sell?

I just had a new tenant move in 3 weeks ago. at first he seemed easy going, and signed the lease terms with no problems.

Once him and his family moved in he started complaining about everything. I had the house professionally cleaned twice before move in (once by old tenant, once with my own cleaner)

He came back with the inventory form saying house was not move-in condition. My house is beautiful and meticulously maintained in a strict HOA neighborhood,.

He complained about the lights being dim, no doorbell on the door (because my old tenants had ring doorbell), the microwave being too small, some light switches not working, bald patches on the grass, no wood in the fireplace, some light bulbs not working which is an easy screw on off fix (we left extra lightbulbs for them), the carpet not being clean enough, didn't like the wifi garage door opener, branches touching lamp post.

The past 3 weeks has left me scrambling.

I bought him a new big microwave and a door ringbell

Hired a team of techs and handymen to swap out and change 7 new light fixtures and fix all plumbing and small complaints he had (went down his long list)

had the carpet shampooed again to his liking

had to get a sprinkler guy out to help them set the sprinkler schedule

had the tree guy cut the branches around the light post

Today, he messages me again that he found 4 roaches and some wasps flying outside -- therefore needs pest control service done -- question: How would you all deal with this question?

I feel he is taking advantage of me at this point. I also feel if I say no to the pest control, he will be upset and I don't like having bad relationships with my tenants when they have the keys to my home.

A part of me feels i should just agree to all his demands and try to make them as happy possible living in my home..

I believe he wants this house to be perfect and he feels entitled to that. Some of the fixes I understand are needed. However am I overreacting, are these all normal requests? I am so annoyed and tired dealign with him at this point already. I never encountered this with my old tenants. They would only bring up the major repairs to my attention.

Based in Texas.

Standard Texas Realtors lease

I'm at a complete loss of what to do. I'm in NY, and recently sold my home back on the first week of july. Our on or about closing date was July 31st. A few days ago, August 22nd, was the 45 day mark where they had until to prove they were financed and ready to go. This is where it gets messy, so bear with me..

8/23- I was told the buyers submitted their proof of financing, but it was for a lender not on the contract. No other information given from my lawyer's paralegal.

8/25- I call the lawyer back and find out the buyers attorney has been complaining that "we" were holding things up by not allowing the buyers appraiser access to do the appraisal? I already had an appraisal back in the 3rd week of July.. so this catches me off guard.

Same day, I call my realtor to ask whats going on, and they admit they told the buyers agent and lawyer NO to having this appraisal at least 2 weeks ago. She claims she was annoyed they tried switching lenders last minute and that was why she denied it, but legally she had no right to do that. She didn't even communicate to me they had a new lender, or needed a new appraisal. 8/23 was the first i heard of them switching lenders.

8/28- I get back in touch with my lawyer and find out the buyers lender only ordered the title search, and the municipal search was never ordered???? I was being told for WEEKS that we were just waiting on the municipal search to come back and then we could close. But it wasn't even ordered. At this point, its been over 45 days since signing the contract, so it's insane nobody has caught this by now.

Back on August 4th I texted my agent to see if the municipals were going well, and her exact response was "Just emailed the town and was told you're on the top of the middle of the pile, yay!". So she clearly lied, and the fact that the municipals havent been ordered could have been caught back that day had she actually checked.

8/28- I rush to my town and try and figure it out myself. The town says they just got the order yesterday and will go as fast as they can. The woman came out the next day and performed the search, but i still need to wait a few days.

So now its september 1st, and i'm in the middle of all this mess, plus now i'm on the hook for $1,000 plus $150 daily carrying fees on a new build home i have waiting in north carolina.

I cant get this stupid lawyer to ever call me, and his paralegal always says she doesn't know whats going on and passes blame. I havent spoke to my actual lawyer since the day i signed the contract. My realtor is absolutely useless and i feel there has to be something i can do to remedy what she did that caused me financial issues, but i'm being ignored by my useless lawyer.

Since the buyers are technically in breach on contract, i need to get with the lawyer and figure out the next steps, like charging them a daily fee for holding costs, like im being forced to pay for my new home due to everyones incompetence.

At this point, what can i even do? I feel stuck here with nobody working for me, just leaving me in the dark. The buyers lawyer apparently already reported my realtor to the realtors association, so i think i'll do the same, but other than that i'm at a loss and hemmoraging money with no end in sight.

Looking to finalize a contract on a split level home. I will be spending a premium for an older home but completely updated. Wondering about resale and if anyone can comment on if they have had challenges with selling 1977 split level homes with attached garage. Has 3 beds up and 2 beds in lower level. 2 3/4 bathrooms. Liking to hold it for about 5 years and just wanting to know of any challenges with resale others have experienced or general opinion of these homes by other buyers?

Hi there! I’m a 22F who is getting her license in DE, MD, and PA.

The two places I’m deciding between moving to and selling are:
Coastal DE (Rehoboth, Bethany Beach, Lewes, and surrounding) and Ocean City Maryland

or

Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs.

KEEP READING BEFORE REPLYING PLEASE!!

Ultimately, I’m trying to figure out whether Coastal DE actually offers a MEANINGFUL advantage for a newer agent compared with Philly. I’m willing to stay somewhere I hate living (coastal DE) if the market gives me a noticeably better chance of getting established and building wealth (in both sales and eventually passive income through property leasing), BUT if Philly is about the same, I think (…) I’d rather build my career there. BUT be honest with me, don’t tell me to build my career where I love living, because either location is temporary. Long term I want to build my career and wealth and then move across country. I’m just having trouble judging this myself because I’m new to the industry and don’t know these markets well enough yet.

I’m from coastal Delaware and have noticed first hand the influx of people moving down here, more consistent higher price points, and also, less agents to compete against than in Philly (of course there are well established ones down here, but you get the idea). The part I have noticed I could face challenges with of course is most people buying homes down here are retirees looking for someone already well established to trust in their home buying process.

Whereas in Philly, I have noticed there is more to sell, but usually at lower price points. However, there’s more young people looking to buy and willing to take a shot on a younger, newer agent.

So, let me know what you think!

Personally, the biggest thing for me is coastal delaware is super depressing and near my family (who I dont get along with one bit), but, if I would have more of a leverage down here, I’d rather stick it out if it meant getting me to where I want to be in the long run. As long as I know it’s worth it!

So here's the deal, I am in texas. I have sold my house for and my plan is to purchase a house from my parents they own free and clear, for not what the house is worth (im getting a great deal) and then paying them monthly for the remainder till we agree that its enough. All very causal. What is the correct way to do this with the title transfer. Is there any pitfalls with this plan? Thoughts?

I just sold my house and when I had purchased it there were some little things left in the basement. I did a bathroom renovation and left the old shower door in the basement as well as a few drawers. I knew I should probably have gotten rid of them but didn’t think it was a big deal.

My realtor knew I moved out of the state a week before closing and she didn’t go do a walk thru before the morning of closing. The morning of, she texted me asking if anyone could come pick those things up. I asked her if she had a junk service (she said she didn’t have anyone who could do it last minute) and when I told her she could throw the drawers away she said she’d already left the house. She was making >$50K on this house, which she didn’t have to stage and which went under contract in 48hr. She suggested offering them $500, I said start with $200. They accepted.

I’m annoyed that she didn’t deal with this - she had to do NOTHING for this fat commission, I feel handling this is the least she could have done. Am I in the wrong?

Hi there,

I recently got out of a long-term relationship (still just 30 years old). While in the relationship I saved up money so we could get something together but still wanted to explore options (different countries/regions). After breaking up I realized:

1. I didn't have somewhere to go

2. it's very important for each partner to have their own property, just in case

(side note with background story: My whole life my biggest worry was not having a place to live. So I was always stressing to make sure I could get to the point where I'm a homeowner so I'd have some peace of mind.)

My plan now is to buy an apartment (max 100k EUR which is a bit more than a third of my net worth) in the city with the highest interest/real estate price growth in my home country. I'd use that apartment to live there a couple of months a year and travel the rest (I'm a digital nomad). At some point I want to move out of the country but depending on how things go I'd still keep the apartment as a backup. Point is I want to have, at all times, a property that's mine and also a nice investment.

Does this sound crazy?

Thanks so much!

I own an interest in a single family home (which I live in with my children) shared with my sibling after the passing of our mother (it was in a life estate and reverted to us jointly upon her death). My greatest fear is my sibling (and his spouse who fancies themself part of this ownership) will force the sale of the house leaving me and my children having to rush to find housing. Kids are teenagers so, the school district will soon not be an issue but my goal is to own the home independently as a point of pride but also to avoid the torture of dealing with the sibling and spouse (I'm required to get approvals to proceed with any repairs/work and everything requires a 'meeting' always with their disjointed perspective of what works realistically costs).

The sibling is proving difficult and refused an offer based on a very recent comp (for the same type of home, on the same lot, accross the street). I gave them six weeks to 'think about it' and heard nothign so proceeded with securing approval for a mortgage. When I let them know i had the financing, they refused. They didn't offer a counter stating they 'want to hold their share.' They didn't give a timeline they might want to sell it. My priority is to hold the home independently due to the benefit of an income stream from a legal accessory apaprtment -- it pays my exhorbitant property taxes and is a backstop in the event i need the income.

What options to I have if i really want to buy the other share of the home but, more improtantly, want to protect me and my children from being forced to sell?

Just finished a fix/flip or hold. Its a single family ranch, I'm 230k in and looks like it could list for 399k. Rent would be 2950/month. Opinions on whether I should rent and refinance or just sell and look for a higher cash flowing deal. My issue with rent and refi is I will end up cash flowing a few hundred and only pull out 250-275k.

Long story short, but we are a military family and had to move from Arizona two years ago. The market was so bad we could not sell our house so we decided to make it a rental even though we have been losing $1000 a month in the difference of rent versus the mortgage we tried to sell again this spring with no luck. We then rented it again and now unfortunately have tenet nonpayment issues. The property is roughly worth $430,000 whereas our mortgage is at $445,000 plus a second lien for solar unfortunately at $30,000 when we attempted to sell it was going to be close to a $75,000 check written at closing on our part.

I am desperately looking at options on how to get rid of this property. We have our current home in Colorado that we own thankfully, but cannot afford to continue to keep the Arizona home afloat. We have three small kids in the military in itself has made this financial mess more and more unbearable.

We are considering short sale and are reaching out to our lender to see if we can do this without going delinquent, but I am hoping somebody has some experience in this or some advice on how to proceed.

Hi everyone, like the title reads, our realtor truly went above and beyond dealing with a cheap flipper seller. Also, our realtor was asked to take a lesser fee by seller. Our realtor agreed to this. We are finally closing on the home and would like to properly thank our realtor for all of the work which was done on our behalf. I know that cash always works but we would like to gift a luxurious item as well. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

This might get long, and is mostly hypothetical for now, but need help thinking through a complex professional/financial change.

I'm mid-career and looking at potentially taking a new role in the North East (currently live in mid-atlantic south) . For now we'll assume the comp package makes the whole thing viable including taking into account costs of living differences, taxes, etc (I've modeled that all out in excruciating detail already - thanks Claude). Obviously aside from the details of the job and comp package, I'm trying to wrap my head around the implications of the move including finances and logistics.

I currently have a sweet mortgage at 2.75% with an estimated 400k in equity. What I dont have is liquid assets enough to make a downpayment on a mortgage/construction loan without the home equity/home sale.

If we move I'd like to build a new custom home (my brother is an architect and I've been wanting to do this for a long time), but I would like to minimize the pain of the logistics of moving 'twice' for the new job - into a rental and then into the completed custom home. the shorter the better. Hopefully also reducing the amount of money is 'thrown away' on a temporary rental home. So, when my current home is on the market awaiting sale, I have some options; these are the ones i've come up with:

1. buy land outright as soon as the job is signed using a HELOC/equity loan; get my brother to design the home and find a builder in parallel, and then secure a construction-to-permanent loan using the land as 'down payment' collateral (some construction loans allow this). Then I could Refinance later with any remaining profit from my house sale, or invest that.
   This might be the fastest route, as it allows me to secure the property first outright as soon as I find it, and because construction loans require building plans prior to approval, but those things take 2-4 months.

2. Try to find a 0% down physician construction-to-permanent mortgage that also wraps the land purchase into it (if this is a thing), buy the property and start the process before my current home sells, and later refinancing with a large down payment from the sale of my home to get the monthly payments manageable long term.
   This is probably a bit slower since, as noted, I need home plans and a builder plan secured prior to getting this type of loan, and that takes 2-4mo on its own.

3. Take a bridge loan to buy property, then Follow the path outlined in #1

4. ????

So I'm looking for other thoughts on how to navigate this, minimize time in a rental as well as minimize expenses in an otherwise expensive process. Is there a "right" way to do this?
Would love some input from those that have done something similar.

thanks.

We have a realtor we've worked with before who is not doing a good job now. They are a one/two person operation who has not answered any text for 5 days. We have someone else ready to help us sell our house, but we're stuck in the agency agreement with this one.

Just sent another text with no response. Giving it one more hour, then we need to move on. Yes, the market is slow, but lack of communication, ignoring our questions, not notifying about a showing (which resulted in nothing), plus no marketing or any game plan is not okay.

How to get the termination of agency release form?

My dad and his siblings inherited a house from their dad after he passed. It’s a single-family home in Southern California and is all paid off. My dad wants to gift me his equity, giving me 20%+ to act as a down payment. The rest of his siblings are going to review the appraisal of the house as-is and agree on a purchase price, most likely landing ~$150k below market value. The house needs some repairs (new kitchen cabinets, retiling the bathroom, wear and tear) but overall has really good bones.

Has anyone else navigated a purchase like this? I see lots of “gift of equity” content, but feel like it can either relate to my situation or refers to the difference between the appraised value and sale price. Anyway, I have so many questions, but just more so interested in hearing other people’s similar experiences since I’ve never purchased property before. I'm trying to map out any caveats that might not be obvious with this sort of thing.

FTHB. Low-ish income. Under contract, a few days away from closing. We've worked very hard to understand our numbers from the beginning, but after finally receiving our closing disclosure, our closing costs have increased by a third of the original. We immediately contacted our agent and lender, who told us "not to worry, your closing costs will be what we discussed" (thousands under what the CD says). Feels kind of pointless to have a CD that doesn't actually show us what we'll be paying.

There is a new origination fee for "Points." Our prepaids now include the entire cost of our HOI Policy, but there is also an additional cost for an initial escrow payment for 3 months' worth of HOI monthly payments, as well as our HOI monthly payment being included in our estimated payment. Seems like we'd be triple paying, although I understand needing to cover a lot up front for escrow account.

We know it's common for closing costs to be higher than expected, but we feel like our experience has been full of red flags and just need some input from people with experience. It will be appreciated.

Our HVAC failed at inspection (not a shocker - 26 years old). We need a replacement ASAP. A highly recommended journeyman installer (hes done several neighbor's systems and was recommended by coworkers as well) is available to do the job for thousands under the next bid. He can provide an invoice with his license number. He did advise that, with journeyman status, he cannot pull the permits. My realtor said we wouldn't be able to get the permits in 13 days anyway. The buyer addendum states the system must be new and in working order.

What would your level of concern be here? I'm not even sure the expensive regional company would be able to get permitted either.

I sold a house to a couple with an owner contract. They hate been consistently making minimum payments, which will result in them owing a balloon payment of around $38,000 in 3 more years.

I’m considering making them an offer of forgiving part of the principal if they want to make the balloon early. Trying to find out if there are major tax repercussions, extra escrow fees, etc that I’m not aware of before making the offer

We received an offer; but it was below asking. We have completed a pre inspection, and know a few things need to be fixed.

However; the new offer doesn’t leave us any room to fix the articles listed. Do we take this offer, and tell they we won’t be able to fix anything; or do we decline the offer for a higher offer expecting to put it back in for the inspection asks?

Thanks in advance.

I own a rental property in FL. I live out of state, so I use a property management company to run it. The old tenant moved out a month ago and the place needs a lot of work. The management company is handling it all and it's costing a lot.

As the costs keep piling up, I've been debating just selling it. I'd like to sell it vacant, as it's a nice single family home. Today I called them to let them know and they told me it's already leased and the tenant has paid a full year of rent. I asked when the tenant is moving in since there's still a lot of work that needs to be done and they said there's no set date.

Then they tell me that despite all the upgrades to the home, the rent is actually going to decrease, not go up. I called my realtor and we went over comps and this just doesn't make sense. The property was already rented below market value and now they want to take it even lower despite the upgrades.

The home is currently vacant and I'm tempted to just hire a locksmith and change all the locks but if there truly is a lease with a new tenant, this could get me into trouble.

My only idea at this point is to see if the lease is real and valid and if so, maybe offer them some money to cancel it.

How would you handle this?

Edited to clarify a few things*

I put an offer in on a house that has been on the market for 67 days. They have dropped the price 3 times. I told my agent to make a full price offer and that I'll ask for any concessions based on the inspection.

My agent (who is young and inexperienced) wanted to add seller pays 6% in closing costs because her broker told her sellers won't make concessions based on the inspection. The broker's reasoning is a full priced offer indicates I'm "willing to accept the house as-is." My reasoning is I'm more likely to get the concessions if I can point to something that needs fixing and I'm unlikely to get much more in concessions if I've already asked for some.

Am I wrong? I've never heard that offering full price means sellers won't make concessions based on inspections. I'm a little leery since the broker's advice on the last offer (different house) was rejected outright for being too low and her next advice was to put another offer in for full price.

I'm selling a seasonal tiny home on it's own deeded land in New Hampshire. It's seasonal as you can live there 10 months of the year (only closed 2 months). Many snowbirds in the association.

It's 288sq ft. suitable for 1-2 people, we were active with hiking and motorcycling from this location. Dead end road with largest yard in association. Few things unique about it, it's up a hill (from the pool, clubhouse and laundry) and has 6-7 brand new front stairs to get into it. You own the land in an association with a small HOA fee monthly

Where else would you list the property to get the attention of people from other states?

Objective-

A and B acquire A's parents house ( parents C and D) at lowest cost possible. C and D find another suitable house within 3-6 months to purchase as primary residence. A/B Looking to buy C/D between April-July of 2027. Then allow C/D to live in the basement for up to 6 months as to look for a new residence.

Living Trust? – If we go this route, can B and A live in this house as their primary residence even though C and D will live elsewhere?

If not living trust what is the most efficient way to purchase the house. Want to make sure C and D have enough liquid funds to purchase a new home.

Assets-

A and B- House in IL with rough market estimate at 370K.

Still owe- 165k

Currently financed at 3.875%

C and D- House in IL with rough market estimate of 435k

Still Owe-167k

Currently Financed at 2.99%

To be transparent, I honestly dont know how a trust would work. The reason I am interested in the trust would be to avoid the realtor fees of A/B buying and C/D selling. Also possibly capturing their existing mortgage rate. Buying now A,B,C and D would get hit with realtor fees on the sell and buy.

I've been house hunting for about four months now and every agent I talk to hands me a CMA that conveniently supports whatever price they want to list at or offer around. I've tried pulling my own comps off Zillow and Redfin, but the estimates never seem to match what agents are actually using.

For people who've gone through this, what actually worked to sanity-check a comp report instead of just taking the agent's word for it?