Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

tjc78

Couple notes since I’ve done this twice during this crazy time.

1: Prepare for closing to be delayed. Banks are overwhelmed and often miss the clear to close. The buyers of our home missed, and we nearly missed on the Wildwood house.

2: 100% find the home you want with offer accepted and then put yours on the market.

3: On the selling front, after the initial surge of showings just mark a line in the sand and let the realtor do a “highest and best” by X date and time

4: Prepare a plan if either home doesn’t appraise. With values the way they are it’s more common than ever for the appraisal to not be inline with the current value if the comps aren’t there

tjc78

@xwesx said:
I have a feeling that the housing market is going to cool off in a hurry as interest rates rise this year. If the Fed plans eight increases, assuming 0.25% each time, we're looking at as much as 2% to the prime rate, which leads us to territory we haven't seen in a good long while.

I expect that housing prices will take a dive commensurate with the increase in prime.

All this to say, "Sooner is better for listing in 2022."

I don’t think this is the case. It may slow the escalation in prices but values won’t go down. There isn’t enough inventory to match demand. Builders aren’t building nearly as many new homes so the existing market will remain hot.

Rates are increasing. The sub 3% 30 years are gone. Most are around 4.5 right now.

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

stickguy said:

speaking of houses during the week I got pre-approved for a ridiculous amount of money they would give us to buy a new house (without even selling our current one first). So my agent up north is happy to know she can submit any offers for us now. asked how much we wanted to up the budget. I said not much! now just need to find the right how to start bidding on. A few options floated past, none quite right.

but man, doing this remote in a hot market is not going to be fun. might give the wife a nervous breakdown. to pull it off probably have to send my son and the agent to look at a listing as soon as it pops, do a video walk through, and decide to bid without seeing it. Them get up the next weekend to lay eyes on it before an offer is accepted (or has to be signed). a hassle, but probably less of one than finding an overpriced rental and moving twice!

agent here said our house will go immediately. She can't wait to get her hands on the listing. And highly recommended buying the new one first before thinking about listing. and closing on the new one first (unless we get real lucky and can sell this one first and get a ST rentback deal!)

plus a month from now we will have just arrived in Sicily for vacation. Timing has never been my strongpoint. But the agent really thinks it needs to be listed by June to catch peak market.

I hear what you’re saying but today the peak market is anytime you have a house with value to sell. We just sold flip #3 a few weeks ago, pretty much in the dead of Winter, and we had an acceptable offer in 4 hours. Had 2 other offers a little sooner than that but the couple we chose seemed to be more motivated to buy. Maybe because they were coming from out of town but, hey, good for us.

I doubt in the market we’re in now that you’ll have any problems selling. Buying? Well, that will be the real trick.

jmonroe

I see this overheated market and it reminds me of 2007 just before the Great Recession. Have fun while it lasts, just don’t get caught over leveraged if the bottom falls out.

I’ve been watching clips from the movie The Big Short on YT and it’s a great statement on economic bubbles.

kyfdx

Looks at magic 8 ball:

I don't think mortgage rates will rise as fast as the Fed rate. They've already gone up 3/4%, even before the Fed's 1/4% hike.

30 yr mortgages tend to follow the 10-yr T-bond rate. That's only expected to rise about 1% more, this year.

Of course, give it another year, and who knows?

nyccarguy

kyfdx said:

Looks at magic 8 ball:

I don't think mortgage rates will rise as fast as the Fed rate. They've already gone up 3/4%, even before the Fed's 1/4% hike.

30 yr mortgages tend to follow the 10-yr T-bond rate. That's only expected to rise about 1% more, this year.

Of course, give it another year, and who knows?

I'm glad my 20 year re-fi went through at 2.99% back in early January.

au1994

nyccarguy said:

kyfdx said:

Looks at magic 8 ball:

I don't think mortgage rates will rise as fast as the Fed rate. They've already gone up 3/4%, even before the Fed's 1/4% hike.

30 yr mortgages tend to follow the 10-yr T-bond rate. That's only expected to rise about 1% more, this year.

Of course, give it another year, and who knows?

I'm glad my 20 year re-fi went through at 2.99% back in early January.

We did 2.65 on a 15 year back in 2020.

oldfarmer50

I just watched a Hoovie video on the Tesla Model S Plaid with a 2 second 0-60. It never occurred to me that acceleration that fast would actually be unpleasant, not fun. Hoovie didn’t like it.

tjc78

@nyccarguy said:
I'm glad my 20 year re-fi went through at 2.99% back in early January.

Yeah for once we timed the market pretty well. 2.75% on one home and 3.125% on the other. At the time 3.125 was as low as it got for second homes.

Of course we paid heavily for both houses but also sold the other two very high as well. Who knows if any of it was the right decision but we are very happy with everything and I guess that is all that matters.

venture

tjc78 said:

@nyccarguy said:

I'm glad my 20 year re-fi went through at 2.99% back in early January.

Yeah for once we timed the market pretty well. 2.75% on one home and 3.125% on the other. At the time 3.125 was as low as it got for second homes.

Of course we paid heavily for both houses but also sold the other two very high as well. Who knows if any of it was the right decision but we are very happy with everything and I guess that is all that matters.

If you're happy, it was the right decision.

ab348

fintail said:

Problem with selling the car is like selling a house these days, the market is not fun, nothing on the lot I really want.

Yes, I am now in year 5 with the ATS. Normally I would be itching to get something newer, but have no such desire at the moment, thankfully. There are no cars on the lots to even look at and I haven't really seen/heard of anything that tickles my fancy. Thankfully I still really like my car and it has been pretty trouble-free.

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

kyfdx said:

Looks at magic 8 ball:

I don't think mortgage rates will rise as fast as the Fed rate. They've already gone up 3/4%, even before the Fed's 1/4% hike.

30 yr mortgages tend to follow the 10-yr T-bond rate. That's only expected to rise about 1% more, this year.

Of course, give it another year, and who knows?

I'm glad my 20 year re-fi went through at 2.99% back in early January.

I’m just glad I never had a mortgage. I never would have made it during the lean times. Even today the thought of paying out $2-3k a month gives me chills. When we first looked at houses in 1979 I think the rates were about 12%, might have been more. The 30 year T bond was almost 17% so I can’t imagine what the 10 year was.

ab348

oldfarmer50 said:

I’m just glad I never had a mortgage. I never would have made it during the lean times. Even today the thought of paying out $2-3k a month gives me chills. When we first looked at houses in 1979 I think the rates were about 12%, might have been more. The 30 year T bond was almost 17% so I can’t imagine what the 10 year was.

Looking back I was really lucky. I bought this place in 1997 for $110K and while I had a mortgage for 85% of that or so, rates weren't outrageous (I think somewhere in the 5%-6% range) and I was able to get by despite all the things I needed to buy that weren't needed when I was renting. The first 5 years or so were challenging but then I changed jobs and started making more money, so I was able to actually pay if off early. My place is modest but tidy, in a good neighborhood, and works OK for me. Like you say I cannot imagine having to pay thousands every month these days.

au1994

tjc78 said:

@nyccarguy said:

I'm glad my 20 year re-fi went through at 2.99% back in early January.

Yeah for once we timed the market pretty well. 2.75% on one home and 3.125% on the other. At the time 3.125 was as low as it got for second homes.

Of course we paid heavily for both houses but also sold the other two very high as well. Who knows if any of it was the right decision but we are very happy with everything and I guess that is all that matters.

We re-fi’ed the lake house last year and got 3.25.

sda

When I bought my first house in 2/90 30 yr mortgage rates had just fallen to 10%. We refinanced our current home about 7 years ago 15 yr fixed at around 2.75%. Even though our loan balance was 150% more than the balance from 1990, our total mortgage payment is less than that of 1990. Our goal is to have the house paid for in 30 months.

laurasdada

stickguy said:

speaking of houses during the week I got pre-approved for a ridiculous amount of money they would give us to buy a new house (without even selling our current one first). So my agent up north is happy to know she can submit any offers for us now. asked how much we wanted to up the budget. I said not much! now just need to find the right how to start bidding on. A few options floated past, none quite right.

but man, doing this remote in a hot market is not going to be fun. might give the wife a nervous breakdown. to pull it off probably have to send my son and the agent to look at a listing as soon as it pops, do a video walk through, and decide to bid without seeing it. Them get up the next weekend to lay eyes on it before an offer is accepted (or has to be signed). a hassle, but probably less of one than finding an overpriced rental and moving twice!

agent here said our house will go immediately. She can't wait to get her hands on the listing. And highly recommended buying the new one first before thinking about listing. and closing on the new one first (unless we get real lucky and can sell this one first and get a ST rentback deal!)

plus a month from now we will have just arrived in Sicily for vacation. Timing has never been my strongpoint. But the agent really thinks it needs to be listed by June to catch peak market.

That's what we did, Stick. 60 day rent back when we sold condo, that was the longest allowed by the buyer's mortgagor. Worked perfectly, we moved to new TH two weeks prior to end of rentback. So, two weeks to overclean the old place, wife is particular...

laurasdada

Bought my first home in '91 @ 9.5%/30yr. Outstanding at the time... 30(!) years later, 2.875%/30yr for the current dirt pile (affectionately nicknamed after I sent first plot picture to friends, basically a large pile of dirt!)

28firefighter

2.375% for 30 here after refi. Bought at 3.375. Never selling it with money this cheap.

stickguy

all good info. can always count on this group!

I only care about interest rates in terms of what they do to the market. I will only have a large balance temporarily (if we carry 2 houses). Once the old one sells, the equity goes to the new mortgage. So should end up somewhere between 0 and 100K, but getting paid off in 2-3 years anyway. so the extra interest will just not be all that much to us. A 500k loan for 30 years, that will add up!

would be wonderful to get both under contract and close on the old place first like L'sDD did. That is the dream. Not really expecting it though. But these days, who knows.

I can say it is nice to have a transition window. This house we had about 2 months before the prior one sold. Was able to get most of the interior painted when it was empty, which is nice. Would probably rent the big Uhaul and drive up a load of extra stuff to closing, and get a head start on that process. Then have the rest moved at the end. Basically get enough stuff there to make it a functioning house while we are up getting it ready!

corvette

tjc78 said:

4: Prepare a plan if either home doesn’t appraise. With values the way they are it’s more common than ever for the appraisal to not be inline with the current value if the comps aren’t there

It's becoming somewhat common in hot markets for buyers to proactively include in their offer (as an addendum to the financing contingency) that they plan to put $X amount down on the mortgage, but are willing and able to put up to an additional $Y down in the event the property does not appraise for the contract price). This can avoid the parties getting upset later in the event of a low appraisal, which often results in the buyers claiming they can't put a penny more down at closing, and demanding a price reduction from the sellers, who believe (often correctly) that they could get the same price or higher with different buyers.

corvette

The main mortgage on my primary residence is about a year into a 5/1 ARM period, I think it's 2.375% for the remainder of that period. My HELOC rate bumped up to 4.24% in the last week.

roadburner

On extended warranties, I believe BMW let’s you extend your warranty on an annual basis.

breld

We were at 2.50%, 15 year, on the last house, but couldn’t replicate that with the new house. But you know, 6-car garage and all. It was worth the increased interest rate - 3.175% on a 7 year arm, but we intend to pay it down/off in that time period.

I wouldn’t guess the housing market will take a dive this time around, but hard to predict what will happen with so many different factors…40 year high inflation, the threat of war. I think rising mortgage rates will have an impact on the higher end of the market more than anything…folks will choose not to stretch as much. As @kyfdx mentioned, the rising rate environment has already been baked into the mortgage rates, as they tend to react to merely the mention of increases (and there’s been a lot of that for several months).

@stickguy - we had a great product from a local credit union to bridge the purchase of our new house last fall, where they financed 90% of the new home and then when we closed on the sale a few weeks later we were able to pay a large portion down and recast the loan with the new amortization.

fintail

Locally, we'll need the influx of out of area/state money both for owner occupants and under-regulated hoarders/flippers to vanish in order to make a serious impact in the market (up 20% YOY every year since 2014 or so). Even if prices corrected 25%, which would be a significant crash, we'd only go back to 2021 prices, not a big reset if 2.75% rates are now 4%+. I am very thankful my buying experience was as easy as it was - was fortunate to find a place with a unique floorplan that I think put people off, and it needed some cosmetic updates. Closed in 5 weeks, and only a few quirks to deal with (knock on wood).

I like looking at 80s era rates, and also seeing how prices then related to incomes, and what banks were offering in simple money market accounts and CDs compared to now.

xwesx said:

I have a feeling that the housing market is going to cool off in a hurry as interest rates rise this year. If the Fed plans eight increases, assuming 0.25% each time, we're looking at as much as 2% to the prime rate, which leads us to territory we haven't seen in a good long while.

I expect that housing prices will take a dive commensurate with the increase in prime.

All this to say, "Sooner is better for listing in 2022."

henryn

Mortgages are funny business. Like a few other things, the mortgage lenders are protected from most forms of competition by laws. Back in 2011 when I purchased my present house, I needed $50k for a short while, like maybe 2 or 3 years. This could not be done on a mortgage, no way, no how. For a car, sure, absolutely. For a house, no.

I talked to the woman who ran the company credit union, a person I had known personally for better than 20 years. She told me she would love to do it, but legally she was not permitted to do so. She could loan me $50k (or more) to buy a new car. With terms from 2 to 7 years. And at an interest rate quite a bit lower than the going rate at that time for mortgages. But she was not allowed to loan money against a house. Laws.

I wound up pulling the money out of my 401. I had just turned 59 and a half, so I could pull the money without paying a penalty. Income taxes, yes, penalty, no. And I believe I have mentioned before how amazingly easy it is to close on a house with no mortgage lender involved. I have dealt with four closings over the course of my life, the other three took hours and lead to writer’s cramp from signing so many forms. With no mortgage, turn over the cashier’s check, sign twice, over and done in less than 5 minutes.

I did not have to pay for title insurance, nor a survey. I felt pretty sure there would be no title problems buying the house straight from HUD. And no inspection by a licensed professional, I did my own inspection, thank you.

explorerx4

When we moved into our previous house in 1984, mortgage was 14% for 15 years after we bought the rate down.
Our under construction house, with construction loan, is 3.25% for 30 years.

fintail

Most cars age pretty well these days, a 5 year old Caddy today is probably better than 2 year old one 30 years ago.

Local MB dealer has zero new cars in stock, inventory consists of a 11 CUVs/SUVs and a Sprinter. They have a few actual used cars, at prices that make my buyout look like a real steal.

ab348 said:

fintail said:

Problem with selling the car is like selling a house these days, the market is not fun, nothing on the lot I really want.

Yes, I am now in year 5 with the ATS. Normally I would be itching to get something newer, but have no such desire at the moment, thankfully. There are no cars on the lots to even look at and I haven't really seen/heard of anything that tickles my fancy. Thankfully I still really like my car and it has been pretty trouble-free.

Michaell

IIRC, the mortgage on our first house, in 2001, was 8.875%. Second house we timed pretty perfectly, at 3.25%.

Current house is a bit higher at 4.75%, but I'm looking to refinance and drop PMI before rates get out of hand. My mortgage broker seems to think that's possible, so I can save a few hundred a month.

Folks are posting questions in the lease threads asking about money factor hikes due to the Fed actions this week. Told them that's not how the lease market works.

FWIW, BMW MF was .00093 last September. This month, it's .00158.

All these folks who order cars and can't lock in the terms are gonna be shocked when their car arrives at the dealer, and find the lease payment is $25/$50/$100 month more than they budgeted.

Many more folks are looking to buy with low APR's (at the moment).

stickguy

Ford at least gives you the option on a customer order. Incentives/terms on the date of the order, or at time of purchase. Your choice.

I discussed options with the mortgage broker that gave me the pre-auth (great guy, been in the business for 30 years). I asked about any kind of bridge loan or program, and he said they have not had anything like that in many years. A CU, they might have different stuff. He said that most people now just get the new mortgage for a bigger amount, and pay down principal when the old house sells.

the other option people use (if the old place has enough equity) is just take out a huge home equity loan, and use that to buy the new place. Then it gets paid off at closing on the old house, and you are a cash buyer on the new one. Just something you need some lead time to get done.

qbrozen

First house in 2000 was, IIRC, 5.25 or 5.5 30-yr fixed. 2nd house in 2004 was maybe 4.875? 2015 3rd house started at 3.75 and re-fi’d last Sept at 2.875, 30-yr fixed, 80% LTV.

corvette

Ford made what sounds like a boo-boo and sent out a cryptic email with the subject line "A change in your 2022 Maverick order," but the body was a generic email advising of unspecified delays and noting that certain features may delay an order. Not really noting any changes to the order. :facepalm:

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

all good info. can always count on this group!

I only care about interest rates in terms of what they do to the market. I will only have a large balance temporarily (if we carry 2 houses). Once the old one sells, the equity goes to the new mortgage. So should end up somewhere between 0 and 100K, but getting paid off in 2-3 years anyway. so the extra interest will just not be all that much to us. A 500k loan for 30 years, that will add up!

would be wonderful to get both under contract and close on the old place first like L'sDD did. That is the dream. Not really expecting it though. But these days, who knows.

I can say it is nice to have a transition window. This house we had about 2 months before the prior one sold. Was able to get most of the interior painted when it was empty, which is nice. Would probably rent the big Uhaul and drive up a load of extra stuff to closing, and get a head start on that process. Then have the rest moved at the end. Basically get enough stuff there to make it a functioning house while we are up getting it ready!

Have you settled on a location for your new palace? I know with a kid in Albany and relatives in Amsterdam you want to stick around the Capital District even though that’s the more pricey area. Are you looking for a development or would you rather have a more rural setting?

And no, I’m not trying to sell you my place.🤑

xwesx

au1994 said:

We did 2.65 on a 15 year back in 2020.

Yes, same for us on our Conneaut house in early 2021.

xwesx

oldfarmer50 said:

I’m just glad I never had a mortgage. I never would have made it during the lean times. Even today the thought of paying out $2-3k a month gives me chills. When we first looked at houses in 1979 I think the rates were about 12%, might have been more. The 30 year T bond was almost 17% so I can’t imagine what the 10 year was.

I'm very glad we went that route with our main home. Granted, it still isn't finished, but that's because I don't feel much like working on it (rather than just not being able to afford it). With the other house, the essentially free money made it not make sense to use my own money up front to buy it. Still, it costs far less than a lot of people pay for their vehicle leases/payments, so I guess if times go lean, they will have to go *really* lean to have much of an impact there.

As for car satisfaction, well, I try not to hold repair needs against my cars. I mean, they're cars. Yes, the Audi dealer in Anchorage consists of a bunch of cheap, incompetent boobs, but now that I'm out of warranty and decided to not pursue having them fix warranty issues, I'm at peace with the whole thing.

I'll hit 125,000 with the Q7 later today.

xwesx

stickguy said:

would be wonderful to get both under contract and close on the old place first like L'sDD did. That is the dream. Not really expecting it though. But these days, who knows.

I can say it is nice to have a transition window. This house we had about 2 months before the prior one sold. Was able to get most of the interior painted when it was empty, which is nice. Would probably rent the big Uhaul and drive up a load of extra stuff to closing, and get a head start on that process. Then have the rest moved at the end. Basically get enough stuff there to make it a functioning house while we are up getting it ready!

It is great to have the flexibility to do that!

The folks from whom we bought our house last year had to have it sold before they could close on their other place simply because they couldn't actually afford it. Granted, they made out like bandits on the sale, but they were determined to go from the frying pan directly into the fire. Hahaha!

roadburner

I wish I could get a handle on M2 prices; I know they won't hold as steady as 1M prices but I'm beginning to think that they won't drop an appreciable amount before they hold steady and start to appreciate.

stickguy

simple answer RB. If you want it, buy it. If you don't really want it, don't buy it!

stickguy

corvette said:

Ford made what sounds like a boo-boo and sent out a cryptic email with the subject line "A change in your 2022 Maverick order," but the body was a generic email advising of unspecified delays and noting that certain features may delay an order. Not really noting any changes to the order. :facepalm:

Ford can make a nice truck but they don't seem to be great at communications. What is really the problem is they expect the dealers, who actually sell cars to people, to keep the people with orders up to date and most dealers are not interested in that. So frustrated orderers carp about Ford.

so Ford got tired of it and said sure, we will send out an update. And that is what we got. No specifics, just reiterating that there are delays and commodity constraints, so you just have to be patient and will eventually get a truck. eventually.

roadburner

The May issue of Thoroughbred and Classic Cars contains Quentin Wilson's Smart Buys for 2022. All but a few were cars not offered in the US, but one pick I found interesting was the Volvo 850 T-5R. I did like my wife's 740 Turbo, which admittedly was an entirely different beast. I caught more than a few people by surprise at the Stoplight Grand Prix. It acted like it had a high stall torque converter, reminding me of my misspent street racing youth. Just hold the brakes, floor it, get off the brakes at 2,000 rpm and it was smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.

stickguy

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

all good info. can always count on this group!

I only care about interest rates in terms of what they do to the market. I will only have a large balance temporarily (if we carry 2 houses). Once the old one sells, the equity goes to the new mortgage. So should end up somewhere between 0 and 100K, but getting paid off in 2-3 years anyway. so the extra interest will just not be all that much to us. A 500k loan for 30 years, that will add up!

would be wonderful to get both under contract and close on the old place first like L'sDD did. That is the dream. Not really expecting it though. But these days, who knows.

I can say it is nice to have a transition window. This house we had about 2 months before the prior one sold. Was able to get most of the interior painted when it was empty, which is nice. Would probably rent the big Uhaul and drive up a load of extra stuff to closing, and get a head start on that process. Then have the rest moved at the end. Basically get enough stuff there to make it a functioning house while we are up getting it ready!

Have you settled on a location for your new palace? I know with a kid in Albany and relatives in Amsterdam you want to stick around the Capital District even though that’s the more pricey area. Are you looking for a development or would you rather have a more rural setting?

And no, I’m not trying to sell you my place.🤑

we float around a bit. Gave up on saratoga itself because prices there went nuts and it is a bit of a hike from our son. Right now focusing around Clifton Park area. But would get something in Albany (or county, like Colonie or Latham). Or over in your burgh. anywhere in the general area. We want something in a neighborhood of some sort, and convenient to shopping and stuff to do. So not looking to move out to the sticks. Prefer a newer house if possible.

kyfdx

Moving North

stickguy

kyfdx said:

Moving North

not my idea. I wanted to go to N. Carolina or Tennessee. I got outvoted.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

all good info. can always count on this group!

I only care about interest rates in terms of what they do to the market. I will only have a large balance temporarily (if we carry 2 houses). Once the old one sells, the equity goes to the new mortgage. So should end up somewhere between 0 and 100K, but getting paid off in 2-3 years anyway. so the extra interest will just not be all that much to us. A 500k loan for 30 years, that will add up!

would be wonderful to get both under contract and close on the old place first like L'sDD did. That is the dream. Not really expecting it though. But these days, who knows.

I can say it is nice to have a transition window. This house we had about 2 months before the prior one sold. Was able to get most of the interior painted when it was empty, which is nice. Would probably rent the big Uhaul and drive up a load of extra stuff to closing, and get a head start on that process. Then have the rest moved at the end. Basically get enough stuff there to make it a functioning house while we are up getting it ready!

Have you settled on a location for your new palace? I know with a kid in Albany and relatives in Amsterdam you want to stick around the Capital District even though that’s the more pricey area. Are you looking for a development or would you rather have a more rural setting?

And no, I’m not trying to sell you my place.🤑

we float around a bit. Gave up on saratoga itself because prices there went nuts and it is a bit of a hike from our son. Right now focusing around Clifton Park area. But would get something in Albany (or county, like Colonie or Latham). Or over in your burgh. anywhere in the general area. We want something in a neighborhood of some sort, and convenient to shopping and stuff to do. So not looking to move out to the sticks. Prefer a newer house if possible.

I think Clifton Park is your best bet. Taxes are lower than the Albany area. Stay out of the cities since they tend to have higher crime rates and taxes.

corvette

kyfdx said:

Moving North

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJE3EgTGg9k

stickguy

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

all good info. can always count on this group!

I only care about interest rates in terms of what they do to the market. I will only have a large balance temporarily (if we carry 2 houses). Once the old one sells, the equity goes to the new mortgage. So should end up somewhere between 0 and 100K, but getting paid off in 2-3 years anyway. so the extra interest will just not be all that much to us. A 500k loan for 30 years, that will add up!

would be wonderful to get both under contract and close on the old place first like L'sDD did. That is the dream. Not really expecting it though. But these days, who knows.

I can say it is nice to have a transition window. This house we had about 2 months before the prior one sold. Was able to get most of the interior painted when it was empty, which is nice. Would probably rent the big Uhaul and drive up a load of extra stuff to closing, and get a head start on that process. Then have the rest moved at the end. Basically get enough stuff there to make it a functioning house while we are up getting it ready!

Have you settled on a location for your new palace? I know with a kid in Albany and relatives in Amsterdam you want to stick around the Capital District even though that’s the more pricey area. Are you looking for a development or would you rather have a more rural setting?

And no, I’m not trying to sell you my place.🤑

we float around a bit. Gave up on saratoga itself because prices there went nuts and it is a bit of a hike from our son. Right now focusing around Clifton Park area. But would get something in Albany (or county, like Colonie or Latham). Or over in your burgh. anywhere in the general area. We want something in a neighborhood of some sort, and convenient to shopping and stuff to do. So not looking to move out to the sticks. Prefer a newer house if possible.

I think Clifton Park is your best bet. Taxes are lower than the Albany area. Stay out of the cities since they tend to have higher crime rates and taxes.

that and halfmoon are our prime focus now. Just need the right house at right time (well, any time, since we are finally organized enough to throw out offers!)

tjc78

stickguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

all good info. can always count on this group!

I only care about interest rates in terms of what they do to the market. I will only have a large balance temporarily (if we carry 2 houses). Once the old one sells, the equity goes to the new mortgage. So should end up somewhere between 0 and 100K, but getting paid off in 2-3 years anyway. so the extra interest will just not be all that much to us. A 500k loan for 30 years, that will add up!

would be wonderful to get both under contract and close on the old place first like L'sDD did. That is the dream. Not really expecting it though. But these days, who knows.

I can say it is nice to have a transition window. This house we had about 2 months before the prior one sold. Was able to get most of the interior painted when it was empty, which is nice. Would probably rent the big Uhaul and drive up a load of extra stuff to closing, and get a head start on that process. Then have the rest moved at the end. Basically get enough stuff there to make it a functioning house while we are up getting it ready!

Have you settled on a location for your new palace? I know with a kid in Albany and relatives in Amsterdam you want to stick around the Capital District even though that’s the more pricey area. Are you looking for a development or would you rather have a more rural setting?

And no, I’m not trying to sell you my place.🤑

we float around a bit. Gave up on saratoga itself because prices there went nuts and it is a bit of a hike from our son. Right now focusing around Clifton Park area. But would get something in Albany (or county, like Colonie or Latham). Or over in your burgh. anywhere in the general area. We want something in a neighborhood of some sort, and convenient to shopping and stuff to do. So not looking to move out to the sticks. Prefer a newer house if possible.

Well if you end up in Clifton Park I know of a very nicely remodeled store you can get all your party goods from!

oldfarmer50

roadburner said:

I wish I could get a handle on M2 prices; I know they won't hold as steady as 1M prices but I'm beginning to think that they won't drop an appreciable amount before they hold steady and start to appreciate.

Are you talking about new car prices or resale prices years down the road? The guys at Mecum were having a discussion as to when to buy old Ferraris along their depreciation curve and determined that used cars depreciated slowly until they bottomed out at around 20 years old and then started to gain in value.

My experience with hoopties mirrors that but with domestic cars reaching the bottom of the curve between 15-18 years.

au1994

sda said:

When I bought my first house in 2/90 30 yr mortgage rates had just fallen to 10%. We refinanced our current home about 7 years ago 15 yr fixed at around 2.75%. Even though our loan balance was 150% more than the balance from 1990, our total mortgage payment is less than that of 1990. Our goal is to have the house paid for in 30 months.

My first house was in 1998 at 6.75%. I was 27 years old and pretty proud of that accomplishment.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

all good info. can always count on this group!

I only care about interest rates in terms of what they do to the market. I will only have a large balance temporarily (if we carry 2 houses). Once the old one sells, the equity goes to the new mortgage. So should end up somewhere between 0 and 100K, but getting paid off in 2-3 years anyway. so the extra interest will just not be all that much to us. A 500k loan for 30 years, that will add up!

would be wonderful to get both under contract and close on the old place first like L'sDD did. That is the dream. Not really expecting it though. But these days, who knows.

I can say it is nice to have a transition window. This house we had about 2 months before the prior one sold. Was able to get most of the interior painted when it was empty, which is nice. Would probably rent the big Uhaul and drive up a load of extra stuff to closing, and get a head start on that process. Then have the rest moved at the end. Basically get enough stuff there to make it a functioning house while we are up getting it ready!

Have you settled on a location for your new palace? I know with a kid in Albany and relatives in Amsterdam you want to stick around the Capital District even though that’s the more pricey area. Are you looking for a development or would you rather have a more rural setting?

And no, I’m not trying to sell you my place.🤑

we float around a bit. Gave up on saratoga itself because prices there went nuts and it is a bit of a hike from our son. Right now focusing around Clifton Park area. But would get something in Albany (or county, like Colonie or Latham). Or over in your burgh. anywhere in the general area. We want something in a neighborhood of some sort, and convenient to shopping and stuff to do. So not looking to move out to the sticks. Prefer a newer house if possible.

I think Clifton Park is your best bet. Taxes are lower than the Albany area. Stay out of the cities since they tend to have higher crime rates and taxes.

that and halfmoon are our prime focus now. Just need the right house at right time (well, any time, since we are finally organized enough to throw out offers!)

Halfmoon is just as good and where most of the new housing is being built but is looked down upon by the Clifton Park snobs because it doesn’t have it’s own zip code. They’ll also be glad to tell you that Clifton Park has no trailer parks because they’re all a few hundred feet across the line in Halfmoon.

sda

Insane pricing.

corvette

stickguy said:

What is really the problem is they expect the dealers, who actually sell cars to people, to keep the people with orders up to date and most dealers are not interested in that.

The dealers should do a better job of communicating, but it's difficult for them to be transparent and honest in explaining Ford's byzantine allocation and order scheduling system. Plus, it's kind of the equivalent of what would be called an "unfunded mandate" in government or. your boss assigning you extra tasks without relieving you of others or commensurately increasing your compensation.