Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[dani negreanu]

2 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

Not sure I mentioned your incredible cheesecake.  It looks amazingly delicious.

 Yes, it is [quickly on the way of "was"] a great success 😁

 

BTW, we went back to Modi'in, this time without any "palpitations" for DGS2 3 years b'day.

 

We stopped to refuel just at the entrance to Modi'in, where Palace is situated [marvelous location, location, location], and I took the opportunity to snap another picture, from another view.

 

You're right -- I think they have various units with different balconies in their 2 interconnected buildings.

 

To me, it seems a very good option to move to in a few years....

 

 

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I work as a mortgage underwriter.  A standard purchase contract closing is 30 days from time of signing to closing.  Some we are able to close sooner if we get the appraisal and title docs back sooner than the 3 weeks most of those companies are taking.

Of course cash offers with no inspection contingencies will go quicker but even they have to wait 2 to 3 weeks for title company to do their job.

I've learned that one of the more important aspects of a house offer in the current market is how the buyer will address any appraisal gap.  Example...a buyer makes an offer for $100K and says that they will pay up to $10K for an appraisal gap.  If the house appraises at $80K, there is a $20K gap between the appraisal and the offer.  The buyer would cover $10K of that gap, meaning that the seller would be expected to cover the other $10K.  This is because the loan amount may be limited by the appraised amount, and the buyer needs to be able to pay the rest in cash.  In effect, the buyer is really only paying $90K rather than their offer amount of $100K.  Since houses are routinely selling for over appraised value right now, this is very important. 

 

I'd argue that the value of a house is whatever people are willing to pay for it.  In my example above, if multiple people make $100K offers, then isn't the house worth $100K??  Still, it might appraise for $80K.  I understand though that the appraisal protects the mortgage company from getting stuck with a defaulted loan in an amount that's more than the house is worth, should the value of the house drop to a more "normal" value in the future.

 

The other big "lever" that buyers have right now is post-close occupancy.  The offer for example could say that the seller can continue to live in the house for 30 days after closing.  This could be valuable to some sellers who have not yet purchased a new place to live, or who would otherwise be paying rent on temp housing.  That's happening a lot because houses are selling so fast.  Since we already have a house in Florida and will be going back as quickly as we can close, post-close occupancy isn't worth anything to us.  Now if you want to talk to me about completely waiving the inspection...

[Sea Dog]

1 minute ago, bobmacliberty said:

Now if you want to talk to me about completely waiving the inspection...

When I sold my parents house after they passed, I was worried about the house failing inspection and having to put a bunch of money into it to fix things. I ended up selling "as is" and was pleasantly surprised that I had no problem selling it that way.

[DaniDanielle]

14 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

DD....I'm so sorry to hear this news. It's tough. As was said, they surely become part of the family. The having to say goodbye at some point just, for me, seems to get harder each time. Right now we have one cat around 11 years old and doing well albeit a touch of arthritis I think. Lost our dog a few years ago and so far haven't gotten another. DW wants one so much though. I'm still stuck on the difficult memories of what we went through towards the end. Have to do it soon (getting another dog) or else I'm beginning to think the longer I put it off the harder it'll be to actually do it. Prayers for your granddog that things maybe will go better than expected 🙏The thing is, it's so hard to be objective. Looking back on how long we hung on with our last dog, I know we probably let it go on...too long. Easier to see that looking back on it. But, when you're in the moment, you want to just keep things going, always hoping. I did the same thing with our last cat - subcutaneous fluids at the vet every week (till I learned to do it myself). Oh well....hoping things go as non-painfully as possible for you and the family. 

Thank you.  Sorry you had such a sad experience 😢

Marietta

[DaniDanielle]

2 hours ago, Lionesss said:

 

 

I am truly sorry.

It will be hard-------- and wishing you time as  you share more great memories with him.

 

I never thought the loss of our adopted four legged daughter  would take such a toll on me till we lost her at the young age of 8 years from Leukemia. (Martha, our lemon beagle).

 

 

Take care.

 

 

It really is heartbreaking. We were hoping it was just arthritis but we will love him through it.

[DaniDanielle]

1 hour ago, voyager70 said:

 

So sorry to hear this.  Praying he beats the odds.

 

That would be wonderful 

[island lady]

30 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

I've learned that one of the more important aspects of a house offer in the current market is how the buyer will address any appraisal gap.  Example...a buyer makes an offer for $100K and says that they will pay up to $10K for an appraisal gap.  If the house appraises at $80K, there is a $20K gap between the appraisal and the offer.  The buyer would cover $10K of that gap, meaning that the seller would be expected to cover the other $10K.  This is because the loan amount may be limited by the appraised amount, and the buyer needs to be able to pay the rest in cash.  In effect, the buyer is really only paying $90K rather than their offer amount of $100K.  Since houses are routinely selling for over appraised value right now, this is very important. 

 

I'd argue that the value of a house is whatever people are willing to pay for it.  In my example above, if multiple people make $100K offers, then isn't the house worth $100K??  Still, it might appraise for $80K.  I understand though that the appraisal protects the mortgage company from getting stuck with a defaulted loan in an amount that's more than the house is worth, should the value of the house drop to a more "normal" value in the future.

 

The other big "lever" that buyers have right now is post-close occupancy.  The offer for example could say that the seller can continue to live in the house for 30 days after closing.  This could be valuable to some sellers who have not yet purchased a new place to live, or who would otherwise be paying rent on temp housing.  That's happening a lot because houses are selling so fast.  Since we already have a house in Florida and will be going back as quickly as we can close, post-close occupancy isn't worth anything to us.  Now if you want to talk to me about completely waiving the inspection...

 

Indeed market value...is exactly that.  What the market will bear.  

 

Even if we hadn't done major remodeling to our current house....we bought it for X amount, then just two years later, exact same homes (without remodel) are selling for XX amount.  We muss that we could have received much more for our previous house...but our current house was less price as well.  

 

Perceived value.  Market price.  

 

Right now you have the upper hand as a seller...it's a seller's market...and you are in a fantastic position with already having another house set up.  

 

Congrats!  Best of both worlds.  🙂 

[island lady]

30 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

When I sold my parents house after they passed, I was worried about the house failing inspection and having to put a bunch of money into it to fix things. I ended up selling "as is" and was pleasantly surprised that I had no problem selling it that way.

 

We bought our current house "as is"....knowing we would put some money into it...and the seller was overjoyed that we knew that...and was able to avoid outside inspections.  It sped up the process that much more.  He is actually a friend of ours now...living in the same neighborhood.  Very nice man.  

 

We also sold Bucky's parents house "as is"....and was the best way to go.  

[Sea Dog]

38 minutes ago, island lady said:

and was the best way to go.  

My parents house needed a lot of work and luckily the couple that bought it were people who liked to flip houses. They liked this one so much that they decided to stay there. I have not seen what they did to the inside but they have made many improvements to the outside. If they ever do put it on the market I want to go see it and how it's changed. I have a lot of memories in that house. It's nice that someone took the time to put some work into it.

[grapau27]

3 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 Yes, it is [quickly on the way of "was"] a great success 😁

 

BTW, we went back to Modi'in, this time without any "palpitations" for DGS2 3 years b'day.

 

We stopped to refuel just at the entrance to Modi'in, where Palace is situated [marvelous location, location, location], and I took the opportunity to snap another picture, from another view.

 

You're right -- I think they have various units with different balconies in their 2 interconnected buildings.

 

To me, it seems a very good option to move to in a few years....

 

 

Happy third birthday to your second born grandson Dani.

[davekathy]

5 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

Wow.  What a crazy couple of days.  We ended up with 54 showings on Friday and Saturday.  We met with our agent at 9:00 last night to review the 12 offers that she had received, but her phone was blowing up with questions, requests for showings today (sorry...54 is enough), and promises of more offers coming.  Some of the already received offers were poorly written and missing important info (that could hurt us later) so our agent also needed to get that fixed.  We're getting back together later this morning to again review offers.  Almost all are above list price.  😁😁  I expect that we'll have a signed contract today.  More later.

 

We really enjoyed visiting the Air Force Museum yesterday while people trampled through our house.  Micheline loves reading the stories of the people, and I like ready about the technology.  Works well for both of us.  If you are a military or aviation fan, this place is spectacular.  If you or a friend/relative served in the US Air Force, you can almost certainly see the type of plane they worked with (plus a few Canadian planes as well!).  It has grown significantly since I was last there and now covers 4 huge hangars in the middle of the old Wright-Patt AFB runways.  My watch says that I walked 4 miles in the museum. There are almost 300 planes/drones/helicopters/missiles on display, organized by time periods from the early years of aviation (Wright Brothers) thru WW1, WW2, Korea and Southeast Asia wars, the Cold War, the Space Gallery, the Presidential Gallery, and the R&D Gallery.  Just about any plane you can name is there.  I don't know how well this will work, but here is an overview map of the museum with labeled silhouettes of all planes.

 

I won't post any plane pictures because it's too hard to take a picture of a plane from ground level (I tried many times), and it would probably bore many of you.  I will say that my step-father flew B-26 bombers in WW2 and they had a B-26 there.  It was nice to see and read about what it was like flying those planes.

 

There were only 2 things that I didn't like:

1. You could not walk through the various Air Force One planes since they were tight spaces (Covid concerns).  I really wanted to walk through the highly modified Boeing 707 (VC-137C SAM 26000) that was used as the primary plane from 1962-1972 and then as a backup until 1998.  This is the plane where Lyndon Johnson was sworn in right after John F. Kennedy was shot.

2.  They did not have an F-14 on display.  This is the plane that Maverick flew in Top Gun. 😄

 

And for those interested, here is the mask status.  This made for a much more comfortable day.  They specifically said that they would not ask for proof of vaccination, so it was an honor system.  I saw several people wearing a mask so at least some were following the rules if they were not vaccinated.  Seemed to work.

 

Whenever I would go TDY to WPAFB I would always go to the National Museum of the United Sates Air Force. The restoration hanger was also always a must to see.  

[Sunshine3601]

4 hours ago, island lady said:

 

My comment was due to the assumed flood of mortgage requests with this high demand for home buyers.  I am assuming you are very busy right now?  And it is perhaps taking a bit longer to get to them all?  Or maybe not?  

Yes we have been very busy since last year but still can close on a home in 30 days or less.  If we didnt have to wait for appraisers and title companies and follow various federal regulations we could close on a mortgage in 7 days.  But we are at the mercy of waiting for docs from closing attorneys, title companies and appraisers.

[Sunshine3601]

3 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Yes we have been very busy since last year but still can close on a home in 30 days or less.  If we didnt have to wait for appraisers and title companies and follow various federal regulations we could close on a mortgage in 7 days.  But we are at the mercy of waiting for docs from closing attorneys, title companies and appraisers.

Still very busy with refi loans and people pulling cash out of their equity while lowering their interest rate and/or their term.

[Sunshine3601]

3 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

I've learned that one of the more important aspects of a house offer in the current market is how the buyer will address any appraisal gap.  Example...a buyer makes an offer for $100K and says that they will pay up to $10K for an appraisal gap.  If the house appraises at $80K, there is a $20K gap between the appraisal and the offer.  The buyer would cover $10K of that gap, meaning that the seller would be expected to cover the other $10K.  This is because the loan amount may be limited by the appraised amount, and the buyer needs to be able to pay the rest in cash.  In effect, the buyer is really only paying $90K rather than their offer amount of $100K.  Since houses are routinely selling for over appraised value right now, this is very important. 

 

I'd argue that the value of a house is whatever people are willing to pay for it.  In my example above, if multiple people make $100K offers, then isn't the house worth $100K??  Still, it might appraise for $80K.  I understand though that the appraisal protects the mortgage company from getting stuck with a defaulted loan in an amount that's more than the house is worth, should the value of the house drop to a more "normal" value in the future.

 

The other big "lever" that buyers have right now is post-close occupancy.  The offer for example could say that the seller can continue to live in the house for 30 days after closing.  This could be valuable to some sellers who have not yet purchased a new place to live, or who would otherwise be paying rent on temp housing.  That's happening a lot because houses are selling so fast.  Since we already have a house in Florida and will be going back as quickly as we can close, post-close occupancy isn't worth anything to us.  Now if you want to talk to me about completely waiving the inspection...

Yes, that is correct about appraisal gap.  Personally I would not recommend anyone buy a house higher than what it appraises for.  We all know history repeats itself and this bubble will burst in the future. 

 

I havent seen many contracts with sellers to remaining after closing, it happens but not all that frequent.  All mortgages for a primary residence require the buyer to take occupancy within 60 days of closing.

 

Something else we see alot of lately is buyers offering to pay for sellers transfers taxes,especially for states that have high transfer taxes for real estate.

[island lady]

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

My parents house needed a lot of work and luckily the couple that bought it were people who liked to flip houses. They liked this one so much that they decided to stay there. I have not seen what they did to the inside but they have made many improvements to the outside. If they ever do put it on the market I want to go see it and how it's changed. I have a lot of memories in that house. It's nice that someone took the time to put some work into it.

 

We enjoyed inviting the previous owners of our current home inside to check out our remodel job.  They loved it and were very impressed.  Was a nice compliment.  🙂 

[Sea Dog]

Just now, island lady said:

 

We enjoyed inviting the previous owners of our current home inside to check out our remodel job.  They loved it and were very impressed.  Was a nice compliment.  🙂 

What a nice thing to do. I'm sure they were impressed. There is history that comes from a home. I think it is good to learn that history when someone buys a home. We built ours, someday we will  sell and downsize. I hope whoever buys it will want to know the history.

[island lady]

18 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Yes we have been very busy since last year but still can close on a home in 30 days or less.  If we didnt have to wait for appraisers and title companies and follow various federal regulations we could close on a mortgage in 7 days.  But we are at the mercy of waiting for docs from closing attorneys, title companies and appraisers.

 

Ah yes...the frustration of legalities.  Ughh....   😮 

[island lady]

4 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

What a nice thing to do. I'm sure they were impressed. There is history that comes from a home. I think it is good to learn that history when someone buys a home. We built ours, someday we will  sell and downsize. I hope whoever buys it will want to know the history.

 

The previous owners did live in our current home for a few years when it was new, then added it to their rental pool. The house then became a long term rental for about 5 years.  They had 5 or 6 in the neighborhood.  They retired and wanted to be rid of them, so we were able to catch them at the "just want to divest ourselves" stage. 

 

Our offer was with no contingent inspection, as is, and did not need to sell our previous home.  They took our offer, well under the asking price... that I was actually hesitant to offer at such low bid 😮.

 

I figured they would counter... but they did not .  Got a great deal.  Even with all the remodel we have done, we are still in it for far under what going price is now. 🙂 

 

Have flipped many homes over the years...but am happy to be done with that now.  We love our "forever home".   Has been a happy six years here.  🙂 

[A&L_Ont]

More of the same. 
 

 

 

Lisa moved out the lounger and sat by the pool for a while today. Lucy sat under the lounger, joined her and slept some more.  It took a while for Lucy to wake only to discover Lisa moved the lounger back and went inside.
 

This is the look of sheepishness. 
 

Edited May 23, 2021 by A&L_Ont

[George C]

Hosting my monthly poker game in about a hour , normal host had huge damage to his house during our February freeze , pipes burst and he and his wife and dogs have been living in a hotel since , hopefully all the work will be done in a few weeks. 

[Sea Dog]

17 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

More of the same. 

I envy cats. What a great lifestyle.

[Sunshine3601]

2 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

My parents house needed a lot of work and luckily the couple that bought it were people who liked to flip houses. They liked this one so much that they decided to stay there. I have not seen what they did to the inside but they have made many improvements to the outside. If they ever do put it on the market I want to go see it and how it's changed. I have a lot of memories in that house. It's nice that someone took the time to put some work into it.

That would be fun for you to go see the house.  You could always reach to the current owner and ask if you could see it.

My Bil recently did that with his childhood home.

I became very good friends with the family that bought my Nanas home.  It has been fun watching her renovate the home little by little.

[Sea Dog]

20 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

You could always reach to the current owner and ask if you could see it.

Yes good idea unless he would curse me out saying, "how could you leave me with all this work?"😉

[Sunshine3601]

11 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Yes good idea unless he would curse me out saying, "how could you leave me with all this work?"😉

I doubt that would happen.  After all they decided to live there instead of flipping it.

[Sunshine3601]

1 hour ago, A&L_Ont said:

More of the same. 
 

 

 

Lisa moved out the lounger and sat by the pool for a while today. Lucy sat under the lounger, joined her and slept some more.  It took a while for Lucy to wake only to discover Lisa moved the lounger back and went inside.
 

This is the look of sheepishness. 
 

I think she is more active in the winter than spring/summer.  Dont tell her I said this but looks like she put on a pound or two.  Shes adorable😺