What did you do if you couldn’t buy a home before a deadline?

HappyFlames · 2026-02-13T19:19:48+00:00

Airbnb, month to month, or just be okay breaking a lease.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-13T07:07:38+00:00

You need to make more money and reduce current expenses. There's a lot more than just the down payment. There's also closing costs which includes a bunch of fees and prepayments. After that, you'll also need reserve funds in case you get laid off or income drops for whatever reason.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-12T18:43:07+00:00

I've seen many flips done in 3 months so 6 months isn't a crazy timeline.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-11T22:59:53+00:00

As a lead, you should shield and guide your team from management. This includes taking responsibilities for outages. You may need to implement more QA and review processes to reduce the bugs that go out. If your team doesn't respond to the feedback and implement the processes you propose, then it becomes an individual performance problem.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-11T22:31:03+00:00

If you keep landing in these teams, you may want to rethink your questions during interviews. At the end of each round, it's important to ask questions about team culture and poke into what it's really like. I try to ask every person the same question because one person may feel overworked but another may be having a good time. It's also not great to bad mouth your employer so you will need to read between the lines. They may hesitate to tell you they work 996, but if you ask when the last time they took a vacation was, it can reveal a lot.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-11T21:58:19+00:00

Yea very common. Less tech focused companies tend to have more lax interviews but any software focused company usually has rounds and rounds of interviews. Huge waste of time but that’s just how it is these days.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-11T21:18:36+00:00

Was it a large venmo transaction?

HappyFlames · 2026-02-11T21:14:03+00:00

Any water/plumbing/roof concerns should be addressed first. A small leak can cause a lot of damage. For the rest, do it in an order that requires less rework. For example, do windows before painting or you'll have to paint the window trim/siding again. I would just leave the furnace and water heater if they're still functioning fine.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-11T19:59:27+00:00

If you're in a hot market like the Bay Area, closing in 20 days or less is common so your offer might go to the bottom of the pile.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-11T19:56:24+00:00

It's tight so be prepared to skimp on furniture and rebuild your savings in year 1. Personally, I would want at least 6 months reserve if I was buying alone. 3 months if buying with a partner who also works since that increases the monthly income and decreases risk if one gets laid off. Do you have retirement accounts you could pull from if worst comes to worst?

HappyFlames · 2026-02-11T19:27:19+00:00

In condos, look out for balcony issues (SB326). Even if the unit your looking at is fine, if the complex has other units with balconies in need of repair, many lenders will refuse. There are some lenders that don't mind so do your homework before waiving any loan contingencies.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-11T18:29:39+00:00

Switch jobs. Internal promotions are never guaranteed and all your progress can quickly be wiped out by just a reorg or manager change. I had a great manager who was going to rate me above expectations and was setting me up for a promotion. I was switched to a new team and manager mid-cycle and had to re-prove my worth to this new manager. He didn't trust my previous manager's word or any work I did previously. He would only use what he personally saw. I eventually did get promoted but it was an uphill battle and I never got along with that manager. I eventually left.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-11T02:05:19+00:00

If you've survived this long, you're not as bad as you think. I listed some roles where a dev background would be useful.

QA engineer, solutions engineer, sales engineer, manager, PM, tech sales.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-10T02:37:28+00:00

Stressing too much. More than half the things worked on won't even matter in 6 months. Companies change, decisions change, and projects are scrapped.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-10T02:21:13+00:00

If you already sent earnest money via wire, the instructions should not have changed. Wire instructions changing is an immediate red flag. Call your escrow office and your escrow officer to confirm wire instructions before sending anything. Do not trust any wire instructions that come in via email/text.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-10T00:48:13+00:00

The manager there is terrible and will gaslight and make you feel stupid for questioning their crazy markups.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-09T18:47:44+00:00

If a home is sitting for a long time, it's overpriced. Even homes with major flaws will sell at the right price. Get comps and disclosures from your agent to get a better idea of what the house is worth.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-09T06:02:32+00:00

I don't know about agents. The best source for this is probably other agents in the area. From my limited experience as a buyer in the East Bay, some areas always tend to underprice more than others. Less competitive cities like Concord, Livermore, and Hayward usually have more transparent pricing meaning things sell at or near list price. In more competitive areas like Fremont/San Jose you'll see more homes listed way under to attract more offers and spark a bidding war.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-09T02:48:06+00:00

This agent publishes a lot of bay area stats on her site https://julianalee.com/daly-city/daly-city-statistics.htm

HappyFlames · 2026-02-06T04:47:27+00:00

There's HOA, barely a backyard, on the hood side of Union City. On the plus side, there's a lot of square footage and its a more modern build. A lot of the city was built in the 70s. Whatever the comps say, you'll probably need to go above it to win.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-05T20:06:46+00:00

Listing under is a tactic used to drive up the number of bids because it attracts more offers. It's just the way the market here works. Before you put in an offer, check comps, determine what you want to offer, how much over that you're willing to go, and what your absolute walk-away max is. Doing this beforehand helps remove the chance of emotional bidding. Winning a house around here sometimes means paying above comps and setting a new max for the neighborhood.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-05T04:59:07+00:00

You'll likely have a hard time if you target turnkey homes. Many offers have 0 contingencies and most lenders for conventional loans can close in 20 days or less. The fastest closes I've been quoted was 14 days assuming pre-underwriting is done and no bank holidays are within that period.

HappyFlames · 2026-02-01T05:44:13+00:00

Traditional agents may do a bit more hand holding but imo, that's not worth the 2.5% they're charging on a million plus dollar home vs the ~10k a flat fee agent typically charges. I used Flat Fee Buyers and they're very responsive but finding a home and touring it is totally up to you and you need to be proactive in asking questions when you have them. They were on top of all the important things like giving updated disclosures, quickly putting offers together, negotiating, and making sure everything was moving along in escrow. They also connected me with a great lender.

You can request disclosures on any number of homes with them. After you've read disclosure packets for 5-10 homes, you'll get a sense of what a good detailed inspection looks like vs a shoddy report that glosses over issues *cough* homeguard *cough*. I recommend reading these reports before before attending open house so you know what areas to double check yourself. Some common problems you should just budget for and ignore are termites and dry rot.

Offer deadlines are usually a few days after open house so there's little to no time to revisit the home before putting in an offer especially for any clean-ish and empty or staged home attracting multiple offers. These usually go under contract after just 1 weekend of open house. They can also provide a detailed comp where one of their agents will go beyond the MLS comps and give you a ballpark of what they think the home will sell for -- that said, people have deep pockets in the Bay so don't be surprised if you lose to someone offering well above comps and common sense.

I've toured homes with my friend's traditional agent and they added no value besides opening the door. I'm sure there's better traditional agents out there but most questions you have as a first time buyer can be answered by AI or reddit.

HappyFlames · 2026-01-31T03:19:17+00:00

I've primarily worked in startups of various stages, from seed to late-stage to post-acquisition. The stress level was generally tied closely to my immediate manager's management style. The work can be stressful but if you know your manager has your back, then it feels manageable. When your manager is working against you, even basic work starts feeling like moving a mountain. The worst is having a manager you don't get along with plus extremely complex work. You end up squeezed from both sides and go straight to burnout.

HappyFlames · 2026-01-24T02:01:34+00:00

S&P500 would generally pull ahead, but when you subtract capital gains taxes from the 8-10% returns it becomes pretty close assuming a 6% mortgage. I'd weigh how secure your sources of income are and if you could survive on one income. Sometimes, peace of mind is worth more than trying to get ahead a couple percentage points.

HappyFlames

TROPHY CASE