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Nearly bought a house

Nearly bought a house

Old Jun 24th 2015, 12:24 am
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Default Nearly bought a house

Hi, so we've exchanged contracts and paid a deposit on a lovely house in the Bay Area. We completed on our house in the UK today and will get the money transferred asap.

We've already looked through and signed/initialed about 500 pages of reports etc and we are having a home inspection done on Friday. I've booked the moving company, started packing, given what i can to the mortgage broker, got insurance quotes, etc but i'm sure there's plenty i'm missing!?

I'll need to change my address and request a forwarding from the post office - any tips on this?

Anyone have any advice for me on anything else I need to be doing/thinking bout or be aware of re house buying/the moving process?
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Old Jun 24th 2015, 12:44 am
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Default Re: Nearly bought a house

Originally Posted by LeavingLondon
Hi, so we've exchanged contracts and paid a deposit on a lovely house in the Bay Area. We completed on our house in the UK today and will get the money transferred asap.

We've already looked through and signed/initialed about 500 pages of reports etc and we are having a home inspection done on Friday. I've booked the moving company, started packing, given what i can to the mortgage broker, got insurance quotes, etc but i'm sure there's plenty i'm missing!?

I'll need to change my address and request a forwarding from the post office - any tips on this?

Anyone have any advice for me on anything else I need to be doing/thinking bout or be aware of re house buying/the moving process?
In California, everything has always gone smoothly by the title company. I believe I always used First American which is the largest title company in the US.
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Old Jun 24th 2015, 7:00 pm
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Default Re: Nearly bought a house

Originally Posted by LeavingLondon
Hi, so we've exchanged contracts and paid a deposit on a lovely house in the Bay Area. We completed on our house in the UK today and will get the money transferred asap.

We've already looked through and signed/initialed about 500 pages of reports etc and we are having a home inspection done on Friday. I've booked the moving company, started packing, given what i can to the mortgage broker, got insurance quotes, etc but i'm sure there's plenty i'm missing!?

I'll need to change my address and request a forwarding from the post office - any tips on this?

Anyone have any advice for me on anything else I need to be doing/thinking bout or be aware of re house buying/the moving process?
I imagine the house purchase is contingent on the house inspection. Hopefully the inspection went well. The Bay area is crazy competitive and expensive at the moment for rent or buying so congratulations.
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Old Jun 24th 2015, 7:54 pm
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Default Re: Nearly bought a house

Originally Posted by bewildering
I imagine the house purchase is contingent on the house inspection. Hopefully the inspection went well. The Bay area is crazy competitive and expensive at the moment for rent or buying so congratulations.
Thanks. i've read through the house inspections from 2009 (think the owners bought it, did it up and flipped it) and in 2011 so am hoping nothing terrible has happened in the interim. The current owners fixed most of the stuff from their 2011 inspection so my fingers are crossed!

Managed to get XE.trade to increase my limit to transfer the funds but now HSBC are giving me hassle about transferring such a large amount of money over the phone. Just had to post them a letter (at a cost of $50+) with official authorization. Grrr
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Old Jun 24th 2015, 11:11 pm
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Default Re: Nearly bought a house

The inspections always come up with something!!

What you're going to need to decide is who is going to fix them. We got the sellers to do it all - everything was fairly minor stuff so not a problem for us. You might want to negotiate that you will do it and they give you the money. As Pulaski points out, then you are in charge of it and know that any work is done properly. I didn't have the time or inclination to be bothered with it.

Don't forget to ask they pay for a year of home-owners insurance - we were given a $600 allowance for that. Just in case anything goes wrong in the next year. Especially useful when pools and a/c is involved because that can be very expensive to put right.
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Old Jun 24th 2015, 11:18 pm
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Default Re: Nearly bought a house

Originally Posted by petitefrancaise
Don't forget to ask they pay for a year of home-owners insurance - we were given a $600 allowance for that. Just in case anything goes wrong in the next year. Especially useful when pools and a/c is involved because that can be very expensive to put right.
You mean home warranty?
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Old Jun 24th 2015, 11:22 pm
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Default Re: Nearly bought a house

Originally Posted by sir_eccles
You mean home warranty?
yep.... except for some reason our realtor kept referring to it as homeowner's insurance.
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Old Jun 24th 2015, 11:50 pm
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Default Re: Nearly bought a house

Originally Posted by petitefrancaise
yep.... except for some reason our realtor kept referring to it as homeowner's insurance.
Well you need that too.
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Old Jun 24th 2015, 11:58 pm
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Default Re: Nearly bought a house

Originally Posted by sir_eccles
Well you need that too.
is it not the same thing?

Our warranty covers our house and just about everything in it if anything goes wrong.

If it's something different, maybe you could explain the difference?
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Old Jun 25th 2015, 12:11 am
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Default Re: Nearly bought a house

Originally Posted by petitefrancaise
is it not the same thing?

Our warranty covers our house and just about everything in it if anything goes wrong.

If it's something different, maybe you could explain the difference?
Generalizing slightly but:

Home warranty is optional and will help replace certain items that need repair.

Homeowners insurance is required when you have a mortgage the bank will insist on it and generally helps pay for when it burns down or someone breaks in. There is some overlap.
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Old Jun 25th 2015, 1:45 am
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Default Re: Nearly bought a house

We had both of those for the first year......

now we've got just the one which the mortgage company want. Unless I think somethings on the blink then I'll quickly get the other one!
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Old Jun 25th 2015, 2:00 am
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Default Re: Nearly bought a house

Originally Posted by petitefrancaise
The inspections always come up with something!!

What you're going to need to decide is who is going to fix them. We got the sellers to do it all - everything was fairly minor stuff so not a problem for us. You might want to negotiate that you will do it and they give you the money. As Pulaski points out, then you are in charge of it and know that any work is done properly. I didn't have the time or inclination to be bothered with it.

Don't forget to ask they pay for a year of home-owners warranty - we were given a $600 allowance for that. Just in case anything goes wrong in the next year. Especially useful when pools and a/c is involved because that can be very expensive to put right.
Thanks. They already agreed to pay for the year home owners warranty. I'm sure the inspector will come up with a ton of recommendations - I agree that it's better we get it fixed (with their money) so that we know it's being done properly.

Last edited by LeavingLondon; Jun 25th 2015 at 2:02 am. Reason: Checked that it was warranty and not insurance
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