Moved in and settled.

It's been over a week in the new place!
We're all unpacked and the three book shelves I had the movers bring in are assembled and filled with books. The total cost of moving was $560, perfect! Couldn't have planned it better. The two guys were busy and did a great job. Nothing was damaged in the move and everything went perfectly. So, yes Winter Moving I can very easily endorse them.

So far it feels like home. The funny thing is that it's still all my stuff so everything feels familiar. This morning I had the internet guy come out to connect the phone line. Sonic.net will be giving me 20Mb/sec for $40.00 a month. I'm about 6000' away from a central office so my loop is really long. The installation guy said that I should expect pretty low performance.

Oh well, faster than the cable at my other apartment, shared line in a building with about 200 other people meant prime-time was impossible. I'm also a fan of a static IP so I can manage my own cloud server and firewall. Web page at the house should be up soon. I'm planning on a nice video web cam on my patio and maybe the front door.

Next comes going to ikea to get a dining room table and something for guests to sit on. My last place was too small to have anyone over so this is going to be fun!

Getting the keys from the agent.

So, I'm off to go get the keys to the house. My agent said that he had some other things he had to do today, so he's left the keys at will call. Kinda like I'm picking up tickets to a concert or something. In any case, I'm taking half of the day off from work to go get things done tonight so I can move in tomorrow.

yay!

Preparing for moving.

Of course business travel a day before the big move doesn't help, but what eves, happens right?
So on thursday, Winter Moving is coming at 9am to help me pick up all my stuff. They're quoting just about 100 an hour. So I'm hoping to have the move done in about 4 to 5 hours at most. Hopefully this wont run long.

The plan is to be done with them by about 2pm, 3pm at latest. So that'll end up costing about $500 + gas, to me it's worth it. I mostly just want them to move my couch, desk, chairs, bed frame + mattress, book shelves, and the 40 something boxes. If I help them with all of the stuff then I everything should go smoothly.

The night before I'll also be taking apart all of the different book shelves that I got from container store earlier in the year. they're bolted into the walls and I used regular drywall screws. I have till the end of the month to fill in the holes with some putty so that'll happen over the weekend.

Hope they don't care that I poked holes in the walls.

Packing is just about done.

It's been a busy weekend. Lots and lost of packing and a random trip to japan town to hang out and go karaoke. Then lots more packing on Sunday hung-over.

I've spent about 80.00 on boxes from the container store. that's just about 40 boxes. This pile is about 80% of all of the stuff I have in the apartment. The shelves are about the only thing left to break down and organize for transport. I'm going on business travel Monday and return Tuesday Night, then I do a half day at work Wednesday to come home to finish packing so I can prep for the movers on Thursday. I have the rest of the month to fix up the holes in the walls in the apartment, and clean everything up.

I really wish I didn't have to do the business trip, but I guess if I wasn't doing this the week would have been way to easy.

Wire sent!

A quick trip to the bank and a wire transfer form later, I've sent out the rest of the down payment for the house. Thankfully I've got plenty left over in the bank and some cash that I took out for paying taxes later in the year for April 10th.

Now all I have to do is wait for the sellers to accept the monies and sign the house over to me.

yay!

Signing tons of papers.

So a part of the newer undersigning process at the mortgage office includes me signing things that I've signed before. Tax returns copies of tax returns, a signature for allowing the bank to get tax returns so they can compare them to the tax returns I provided to check for fraud were signed.

The process took about half an hour, and it was less arduous than I had anticipated. The stack of papers only required a signature for every few pages, and each page was presented to me with what they were and what they were for. Things like assuming the responsibility for paying taxes, paying insurance, and paying them on time.

Because I'm planning on switching banks from a big bank to a credit union they allowed me to hold off on the automatic payment forms till I've gotten setup at my new bank. Something I plan on doing right after I wire the funds from my account to the mortgage company.

It's quite interesting, the entire process. Overall I'd have to say that everything went smoothly. All of the paperwork that I've gone though will be provided to me on a CD, and emailed to me in PDF, so come time for taxes I'll be able to print things out and send them to my accountant.

All I have left to do is wire money to the title company and wait for the sellers to do some signing off on the final sales papers. That happens on monday, the next day they get their money, the day after that I get keys, that night I plan on moving in my electronics and computer stuff, the following morning I've taken the day off so I can help the movers with all my stuff starting at 9am.

Woo! 

The estimations of estimates.

So the bank has sent me an estimate of the final closing costs, my mortgage broker also sent me one, they're about 10% off from one another. They are just estimations, but it's still interesting to see how they differ. The rate I seem to be locked in at is 4.325. I see on some web sites that they are advertising as low as 2.5, but there are always special conditions that are involved with those rates. Usually things like you can only get into a house with a special city census zoning, along with you need to be in a low income bracket like under 75k for the household. and the property has to cost less than 225k or something specific like that. Otherwise you'll be paying a more regular rate like I am. Otherwise you're special...

I've managed to get all of the funds I need in a liquid form, i.e. in my checking account so I can wire the money to the bank before the deadline. My meeting with the bank agent is in the morning on Friday, so I'll have to get to a bank and fill out my wire form by 3pm which I think was the cut off for the same day transfer. I've also scheduled a full service mover to pick up my stuff and move it into the new place.

I get my keys on the 7th and the movers come on the 8th at 9am, so I'll be moving some of my electronics and fragile things myself on the evening of the 7th. I'll leave the big stuff and the boxes for the movers. Tonight I'm going to go over to the container store to get some boxes and other things to prep for the move.

Also, since i'm ending my lease at the apartment complex early, i'll have to pay an extra month of rent. Ouch.  All of these costs are starting to add up, but I'm still feeling good about the money going into the house though. With Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, Sales Force, and others in the area getting money, and IPOs are on the way, there's going to be a lot more millionaires in the area, and I'm hoping to get into real estate before they decide to go on house shopping sprees and make it impossible for me to afford something nice.

Appraised and approved!

So the appraisal was spot on, thanks for not going through the same appraiser as last time. Seems like a crap shoot sometimes, but it worked out this once. The bank contacted my apartment management firm and they told them I haven't missed any payments in the last year. Something you should remember if you're planning on getting a house loan. This was something new that the previous bank didn't do before approving the loan.

There was an importance that the apartment's landlord was a company and not a person. I'm not sure what the difference means, but the banks prefer to deal with a company not an individual. I'm guessing that they might want to confirm that the landlord is trust worthy.

So I'll be going to the loan agent's office next week to sign a bunch of papers. After that i'll have a week or so to gather up all of my funds into one place so I can write a big check for the down payment. I'm going to have to assume they'll accept a wire, so I'll be able to go to my bank and send a wire transfer, being that I've gone digital money transfers for the last several years and I haven't even seen my physical check book for years. (So far that's worked out fine.)

So if all goes well, I'll be handed a set of keys on the 7th. Sooo, I've told my apartment management that I'll be leaving. I'll still have to pay an additional month of rent + the rent for next month as per the terms of my lease agreement on the apartment. And I've scheduled a full service mover to box up all my stuff and drag it to the new loft on the 8th. Yay!

Also, I'll be a lot further away from work than I am compared to my apartment. So I'll be getting an electric bike to help ease my commute. The Stromer! from electricwheelswest is going to be where I go. They're cool. Really really cool.

Almost time to party!

So sounds like the appraisal went well! I haven't gotten the paper work yet, but it sounds like the appraisal price was the same as the purchase price! I'll be getting the papers soon. From the sounds of it the purchase and the appraisal price usually differ, with the appraisal usually coming slightly under the purchase. The case usually ends up with a few percent difference.

So in my case I could have expected about 3 to 6k difference. But with the two coming out to the same number the number I'm going to have to put in for a down payment on the condo will come out to what was planned from the beginning!

Woo! next comes a bunch of simple paper work, and then soon after that a big fat check going to the mortgage bank.

The waiting is killing me.

After watching "Inside Job" the movie about the collapse of the banks in 2008 I'm a bit worried about the appraisal. Considering how loose the banks were and how they gave out predatory mortgages so often I'm wondering if they're more strict these days.

Or, maybe they're even worse, who knows.

Anyway, I have to wait for the the bank's appraiser person to finish writing his report and I'll get it via email sometime today, so I'm told.

Hope everything works out, otherwise it looks like I'll have to wait for a while to find a house. The end of the season is coming and I'll have to wait till more houses are available on the market. And on top of that, it's starting to feel like a lot of the places I was looking at earlier were in the low 500s, now everything seems to be in the low 600s. The market is feeling like it's getting hot.

If this keeps up I'll be out of luck and I'll have to get a house that's really not that great for the money.

more papers signed.

So, you have to prove a lot about your self. You have to prove you have money coming in each month by showing pay stubs. You have to prove it again with tax returns. You have to prove it again by witness, the bank wants to call my land lord to ask if I actually pay my rent. I have to prove where the money comes from, not lotto winnings or one time payments etc.

Things that made this easier are lots of on-line documentation provided by banks and other people who have web sites and manage money. Statements are easily printed from a web page and that's more than enough to satisfy any of the loaning agent's requirements.

Anyway, at the end of the day I was able to fill in all of the requirements, so the loan is so far approved. The bank wants to give me the money, but the under writer wants more proof that I have the money to pay the bank. By the end of the week I should have a report, about a page long, from the appraiser who is evaluating the property.

Depending on how that goes I should be meeting with the loan agent, and real estate agent and we'll go over the remaining costs and I'll be told how much money I'll need to hand over to the mortgage bank to get the rest of the money for the house.

I'll have a few days to gather up the money for the check and that should be that!

I have to remind myself that the money isn't going to completely disappear once it's handed over to the mortgage bank. It's going into a fund that's supporting my house's loan which is something that i'll be building equity in. So if the market value of the house goes up so too does the worth of the money that I put in.

Here's to all of the companies in the area and the new buildings popping up all around the house doing well!

Bank papers need signing.

Today I have to wait for the appraisal, and also I have to go sign some bank papers that allow the bank to pull a copy of my previous years tax returns. I guess banks don't like Docusign, sort of understandable. But that means that I have to either fax a signed paper, or go to the agent's office and sign papers there.

Quick update

So the appraiser from the bank will be going to the property tomorrow and he'll be meeting with the selling agent. My loan application has been submitted to the bank, but has yet to be underwritten. So, I'm left to more waiting and wondering.

Papers signed, on to the next step.

So the visual inspection papers are all signed via docu-sign. Looks like there are a few minor things that need to be fixed. The kitchen faucet sorta leaks, one of the windows is a bit sticky and hard to open and close. Oh, and there's a funny little dog door for the screen door out into the patio.

After this is the appraisal by the bank. Depending on what they say I might not be able to afford the place, if it appraises too low I'll have to come up with the difference between what the bank says it's worth and the money I need to buy the place. Crappy part of the process. There weren't any short sales or foreclosures in the area and there were two other sales in the building at or above the same price, so hopefully we can work with that.

House Inspection day!

Presents!

So today was the house inspection. I took about two hours off from work to go look at the house with the house inspection guy, my agent, and the selling agent. The process basically involves following the inspector as he turns on and off faucets, looks for leaks, holes, wobbly things, and stuff that's broken, or might in the near future be broken.

All in all the loft was in great shape, yay!

Something that the seller was telling me was that there are zoning restrictions that limit the amount of space that a loft can cover over the lower floor before it's no longer a loft, something like 33% or so. The other buyers in the same building have often ignored this and will not get a permit but still hire a contractor to build some extra loft space.

The building had this in mind and left open areas which would be easy to add a floor over and extend the closet and room over the entrance. The small bridge has been done away with in a couple units and the floor extended on the loft to meet the stairs. Something I might consider since that seems to add to the value of the unit.

The dryer seemed too big to fit in the closet. That's fine, I'm considering getting a super cool LG all-in-one washer dryer unit, very cool and super easy to use.

Other goodies include the fact that the sellers are going to leave me with their TV, since they went through all of the trouble to shove in RCA cables into the wall and mount the TV I guess I'll have to figure out how to string an HDMI cable through the holes they left, but that's no biggie.

Last but not least, they're also leaving the super cool grill in the patio space. Woot! It's like xmas! yay. The sellers aren't interested in keeping this thing. I guess they don't need it, great for me!

Also the building behind this unit was just sold. A gigantic warehouse, the selling agent tells me that in the next five or so years it's going to be developed into something, either living or retail. The nice part is that it will be pushed away from the back wall and I'll have a bit more air between my view and the back of the next building.

The open lot across the street from the property used to be an old glidden paint company factory. It's taken many years but it's been slated for construction in the next five years as well with commercial space on the ground and living space up above.

Now everything hinges on the appraisal. I really hope that goes well. :-S

DocuSign, a bit creepy.

It's almost too easy to sign in 40 different places in a gigantic contract. DocuSign is pretty neat, and it allows for nearly immediate contract agreement. But it seems odd that something like that can be binding. But in any case, I've got the contract from the sellers and now everyone is fully committed to the deal, I just have to get the bank to give me money at a decent rate and not want to rake me over the coals.

Signed mortgage papers this morning.

I went to the mortgage brokers office to sign papers.
Mostly just papers that talked about what the bank needs from me and that I give them the permission to look at my personal information and get my credit score. Credit scores seem like one of the bigger bank schemes, but I digress.

The process took about 10 minutes as the broker explained each page I needed to sign, no biggie. After this the loaning bank has a group of randomly selected appraisers to pick from. Then said random person will go out and look at the property and suggest the foreclosure price that the bank would sell it for if I fail on paying the bank. (or what they like to call an "appraised" price)

language hides the intent behind things all too often.

Officially official.

So now the 999 16th street seller has accepted our offer and we're in contract.
I've sent out my escrow this morning from my bank to the mortgage bank.
The mortgage broker needs new bank statements for this month, since it's been a month since the last time I went through this. And that's about it.

I've been scheduled to go on a business trip this week too, going to leave out of town from Friday, and arrive back home on Saturday. Then on Monday I have to go out to the property again with a property inspector to take a look at the condition of the house.

If we find something that looks horrible, then we can back out of the sale and I can get my escrow back. If not then we can proceed with the sale of the house. After this comes the evil appraisal process where the bank can feel free to either extort more money, or just not allow me the money for a loan.

hopefully the banks decide not to be evil, but we know how that might go.

Verbal acceptance!

Horray!
So the seller said that there are three other people that are thinking about making an offer, but I'm the first one to pull the trigger on 999 16th Street. So I've gotten word from my agent that we're going to move ahead and start up with the contracts and the rest of the process.

I have to wire some money to the bank for escrow tomorrow morning before getting to work, then next monday at noon I have to go to the property with an inspector and look at the house. At that time I can decide to back out if I find gigantic cracks in the foundation or the place doesn't look fit to live in. I'm guessing that won't be the case.

fingers crossed!

Put in the bid on 999 16th st. Now I have to wait.

So after putting in a bid, I have to wait to see if the seller will accept my offer. If they accept then we go into a contract. Then I have to wire escrow then go through house inspection and the rest of that.

Jitters! hope they accept the offer! :S

Hit 5 different houses today, bidding on one.

On the bottom of our list was 851 Indiana. At the top of the price range this one felt more like an apartment. Not my favorite.

Then there is 701 Minnesota.
This was a super nice unit in a super nice setting. The gardens in the common area is really nicely kept. But it was more of a regular house.

Then there was 468 Tehama.
Nice over all but a bit uninteresting. It faced a street, and felt a bit small.

250 Clara was nice. Super up to date build. Nice quality parts, but no patio.

Last is 999 16th st.
This was today's winner. Patio, check. Gas range, check. Dog patch, check. Super quiet, at a corner and in a nice building. No elevator, but I guess I'll survive since the garage was so nice, and parking in the area was easy.

Lots of space, the laundry machines need to be upgraded, but they are at least usable.  The layout was cool and allowed for a lot of creative use of the space.

I'm putting in a bid on this place. So hopefully this one will work out.

This post will be updated with pics soon.

Another property I should look at

128 morris st #6 came down to $560.

I like these lofts, I saw this on the market before, but it was just out of my range. Looks like it's coming down and I should take a look this weekend!

There's also 520 6th St #8 at $599 which I should also take a look at as well.

going to be a busy Sunday...

Price Reduced, and in my range.

999 16th St at $599 has come down in price, going to go take a look at this place on Sunday. Hope not too many people are interested in this one. There's a big empty lot across the street, but it's got a cool isolated patio space!

I'll post some pics of the unit on Sunday. Here's a shot from the MLS listing. I should look up what MLS means... Seems like people take acronyms for granted sometimes.

Selling agent is being dumb, oh, and lies.

We were told they'd let us make counter offers. But after 7 bids on the property they just picked the highest one and told everyone else to fuck off.

Bitch!

That's pretty lame. 5th and Townsend is a cool location, but whatever! I've got a deeper pocket than I had thought, I'd like to play this game a bit damnit!

The house was pretty big, had some issues with the grout in the bathrooms, but it's not really been lived in. It was used as an office since it's first sale in '99.

And it's all of a block away from a Safeway. I just know it's some jackass buyer who just wants to rent out the place at like 3600 a month screwing up the rent prices in the area even more. There are too many high priced rentals in that area already, let someone who actually wants to *own* in San Francisco buy a damn house.

Welp, At the moment there's not a whole lot in the area that's on sale. Well, there's a cool place for 1.5million, but that's a bit out of my price range :( Angry today...

Evil villains, if only I were one...

Architecturally Impressive Lairs of Movie Villains: Inspired by the one-off pub Evil...

Yep, I wish I had endless funds extorted from oppressive governments. But then I guess I'd have to employ henchmen...

Waiting.

So the sales rep for the 655 property is going to start looking at bids on Thursday. My real estate agent said that if there are a lot of bids, about 5 we're going to have to put in our best and last offer. This way we can hope that we're on top of the list and most likely to get into a contract with the place. Otherwise if there are only a couple other bids we're going to put in something that will give us more room to negotiate.

I don't wanna wait! :S

oh well.

Sign and initial

So quick visit with my real estate agent at his office. I was there just to sign papers for the disclosure of the condo. Disclosure basically covers all of the features of the property. Things like the features in the kitchen and square foot and parking etc. Also, things like water damage or other problems that might've occurred in the building it beforehand. Thankfully there's nothing interesting in the disclosure on 655 5th street.

I met my agent at the first property I went to go visit. It was a chance meeting. I went there just because I saw an open house sign on the street whole out walking with my girlfriend. We walked in and the guy representing the home was pretty cool. We talked about the house and other places on the market.

The following weekend we meet with another rep, another cool guy, but he never followed up with any other properties. Adam called and emailed about some other places that fell into the type of place that we were looking for. So after showing us a couple of different places I fell into the pattern that Adam was my real estate agent.

No contracts signed, but I don't feel the need for any. Then we went through the process with 2030 3rd st without any problems, so i don't expect any problems going forward.

The mortgage broker worked with me well. I'm horrible when it comes to preparing papers, and Steve was easy to work with none the less.

It was the appraisal that sucked. The place I was looking at was offered at 519 then met life decided it was only worth 485. That left a gap I had to cover. I didn't have enough.

Here's to  hoping that the next place appraises somewhere closer to the sale price. And if not I can cover what I want to  put down and the appraisal difference.

655 5th Street.

So I'm looking at putting in an offer on this loft. It's got a lot of space and It's near the train station.
My criteria for a house is near the train station, loft, easy parking, and live-work. So something unique about this location  is the extra long parking space. There is enough room for two cars here. The HOA fees are ~$460.00 which isn't bad at all. The only drawback to the property is the lack of gas in the kitchen and no elevator.

Also from a quick inspection the bathrooms need new grout and the washer dryer they have in the unit suck. 2030 3rd st had a really nice set of appliances and an elevator in comparison, oh and a much bigger patio space. 655 5th has a tiny little balcony, but at least it's sunny, so my ghost peppers will have plenty of sun.

Stairs aren't great if you have a heavy electric bike.

Today I go meet with my real estate agent to look at disclosure papers and to talk about the price we will bid on the place. The 655 5th st property is going for 499k, which seems low.  This might turn into a problem if the bank decides it's even lower and I decide to put in a bid over that.

Basically, if I want to bid at 510k or so, and the place is appraised at 480k or something then I have to come up with the difference between the two numbers, in this example about 30k. The bank doesn't want to give out a loan for more than the property is worth to them. The bank is thinking about if I fail to pay and they foreclose, how much can they get back if they need to sell it.

The sales rep is going to hold off looking at bids till Thursday, I'm guessing my bid will not be the highest, and in the coming months with Twitter, Zynga, and others making new millionaires every month my income will not be able to compete with people with fat new wallets. But I still believe it's a good time to buy since my rent is over $2,500.00 a month and I'd rather be putting that money into a mortgage and not in my landlords bank account.

wish me luck.

It's October 31st, Happy Halloween.

So In sept. I started looking for a house.
I was disappointed that I put in escrow on 2030 3rd st. a cool condo loft in the Central Waterfront area. The contract fell through due to under-evaluation at 485 on the appraisal by Met-Life's appraiser. Since I was trying to buy it at 519 I ended up not having enough capital to get the place.

Someone else was going to put in 30% so he didn't care that it was appraised so low.

Anyway, it's been a learning process, and it's all new to me. I really wish there was a nice blog about what's really involved with home buying so I'm filling in that space in my own way.

My checklist.
1) loft space with about 1000 sq ft
2) easy parking
3) gas kitchen
4) elevator
5) usable out-door space either a patio or balcony.
6) in unit washer and dryer
7) not on land-fill
8) recent construction ( concrete walls and vinyl roof )

Things I don't care about
1) apartment like amenities ( stuff like gyms or a door man )
2) a killer view
3) fire place
4) noise, I think I'm going to be the noisy one, so I'd rather my neighbors have something other than me to complain about.

thanks for following! I'll be posting updates as they happen.