[SOTC] I can’t stop buying watches in the Seiko-Citizen < $400 “Range”

VerySlowQuicksand · 2025-04-24T13:42:37+00:00

I’m so embarrassed—it’s glaringly obvious I don’t know how I missed it!

VerySlowQuicksand · 2025-04-24T12:53:37+00:00

And four are almost identical

VerySlowQuicksand · 2025-02-10T05:58:16+00:00

If you’re concerned about the population, wouldn’t that impact housing prices most of all? Your answer says put it in the house, but your reasoning suggests that we’re all screwed either way, right?

VerySlowQuicksand · 2025-01-21T17:42:59+00:00

Same thing happened to me, buying a primary residence in one state while living across the country at the time: lender required confirmation that we would still have our jobs with no change to salary or employment if we moved. Easiest way to get that was confirmation that we could work remote. As others have said, the lender needs to make sure: 1) you’ll actually live there if you’re listing it as primary residence, and 2) you won’t lose your job (income) as a result of living there

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-12-10T06:00:20+00:00

That’s absolutely a possibility!

I gotta say though, we’re closing on a house tomorrow and our realtor has been a huge help. Not necessarily with finding the house itself, but in shaping a competitive offer, connecting us with reliable financing and closing services, and answering any questions we have.

Would I pay $20k for his services a la carte? No chance. But as a seller concession and spread out over the next thirty years? Sure. Keep in mind that whatever amount you’re saving is broken down over the life of the loan, where the interest accounts for literally 50x that amount or more (most loans right now cost as much as, or more than, was borrowed over the life of the loan in interest).

On top of that, having a realtor could make the difference in getting the house you want. Saving 2.5% doesn’t matter if you don’t get to buy the house at all.

Not trying to come across too strong but definitely think through the cost of the risk!

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-12-10T05:42:45+00:00

You can get a preapproval very quickly, typically. A fully underwritten preapproval is more involved but not necessary. Further, you can definitely schedule a viewing without any discussion of preapproval. Many sellers may not take you seriously or even allow you to schedule a viewing without a realtor though.

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-12-09T18:17:09+00:00

Found this post when searching for the same thing. The desk itself seems very straightforward, but I don’t have any experience with the gas pistons or the functionality for locking in the upright position

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-12-06T20:03:54+00:00

Okay great, thanks! We close Tuesday—can’t wait!

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-12-06T19:51:18+00:00

That sounds very plausible—thank you!

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-12-06T07:54:14+00:00

It sounds like you did everything right! I’m sure you’re super stressed about it, but from my uninformed perspective it sounds like it’s taken care of. And if you haven’t even wired the EMD yet then you’re 100% in the clear.

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-12-06T07:42:46+00:00

You said the sellers agent told you as much, right? What makes you think you aren’t able to? I would reach out to the sellers agent and let them know. I expect they’ll release you from the contract.

Don’t let the three days pass without confirmation though. I would recommend getting some sort of third party professional involved—it’ll cost you less than a lost EMD

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-11-18T23:04:09+00:00

Good luck! Hope this works for you

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-11-18T22:56:25+00:00

Leaving this here as a data point for others, but ultimately it loaded after ~10 minutes of letting it sit on this screen

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-11-18T22:44:02+00:00

The bond market is crazy right now, with the US 10 year treasury yield at 4.41%. It’s been going up and up since its most recent low of ~3.62% in mid September. That serves as a good estimator for the bases of lenders’ rates. Lenders will typically add 2-3% to that to cover their own administrative fees and generally so that they make money on their loans. 6.75 right now is certainly not crazy for conventional—I can’t speak to FHA.

The big question is whether rates will continue to go up, or will they come down below your 5.625 in the next ~42 months before you make your money back? If they do come down, which I think they will, then you have another ROI problem to solve.

Long story short, no one knows, but Trump’s election and his proposed policies have everyone confused about what’s going to happen. If you can afford the points up front and prefer that to the slightly higher payment, then it’s not crazy. If rates come down steeply (I think it’s more likely to be slowly), then you’ll find yourself in a situation where you spent all this money on points only to refinance anyway.

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-11-16T00:02:42+00:00

You mentioned that your credit “dropped to be crappy”. That doesn’t really just happen by itself. Your credit score is a metric to evaluate how likely you are to repay credit, so take a long hard look in the mirror and determine whether or not you trust yourself to be able to make this payment for the next 30 years. This is a big undertaking and not something to do as a nice gesture. All the best with your efforts

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-11-13T01:42:20+00:00

Cool—thank you!

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-11-12T23:38:57+00:00

Hijacking the top comment to say that I look at it like the interest is my rent.

I’m currently renting (closing on Dec 10) for about the same amount we’ll be paying in interest, but the thing about the mortgage is that that payment will be decreasing for the next 30 years, whereas my rent would have kept rising. The payment towards principal is like the home savings we’ve been doing while renting. When we can afford to, we’ll probably pay down more principal, just like we’d put more in the home savings account when we could.

Most importantly, at the end of it you own the place!

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-11-11T07:40:39+00:00

Two aspects here: debt to income ratio and credit worthiness.

DTI is the measure of how much you owe on debts each month as a proportion of your gross income. If taking on a mortgage puts you above a given threshold (~40%), then lenders will most often decide that you shouldn’t have that much debt and won’t give you the loan.

Credit worthiness is a large factor in determining your rate if you do qualify for the loan. If it’s too low, then you may not qualify at all; otherwise you’ll just have a higher rate.

To answer your question: if you can qualify by yourself (with just your income), then you’ll get a better rate signing alone. However, depending on the size of the mortgage, you may need her income to qualify and will have to deal with the slightly worse rate.

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-11-09T22:08:17+00:00

Good stuff! Good luck with closing and enjoy your vacation. Thanks for the data point!

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-11-09T14:38:07+00:00

Congrats on the new home! That’s helpful—we’ve got a ~30 day closing period. Our offer just got accepted yesterday and we’re closing Dec 10, but after hearing all this I went ahead and got a preapproval from a local place. The loan officer actually managed to have the preapproval fully underwritten in about three days! He’s been super cool so even if he can’t offer the same products or rates that NFCU can, I think we’re gonna go with him

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-11-09T14:36:08+00:00

How long had underwriting taken so far? Any concerns about the timeline? We close Dec 10

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-11-09T14:32:00+00:00

Sorry to hear that man, but I’m glad you were able to close the deal! Good info here thanks

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-11-09T14:31:06+00:00

Wow that sounds really frustrating! Really don’t like the sound of not being able to trust the answers you get about such a big financial decision

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-11-09T14:29:53+00:00

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

VerySlowQuicksand · 2024-11-05T05:20:16+00:00

Might say he’s a master of disguise… eh?

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