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JimmyD

Quick tip re: anti-slip: you can tell them to not scrape the chips quite as smooth as they might typically do and it achieves the same effect as having the additive put in. Zero extra cost since it means slightly less work for the contractor. They wanted $300 for the additive. We just did this on ou...

JimmyD

You don't say, but do you have a sump pump? Based on what you said about the lake nearby, your basement floor is probably below the water table at least part of the year. If you have no sump pump, hydrostatic pressure will constantly be attempting to force water thru the concrete walls and floor. A...

JimmyD

We just purchased a new construction home with a basement A general rule of thumb is that concrete will continue to emit water vapor for 1 month per inch of thickness. So for a six inch basement wall, you can expect around six months of emitting water vapor as it continues to dry after curing. This...

JimmyD

If it is new construction there is a lot of moisture that needs to be extracted from the Sheetrock mud and other sources. That is something I'm curious about. It is new construction and being that the basement has been without a dehumidifier for months now, I'm wondering if it just needs a couple w...

JimmyD

First make sure there is no water flowing up against your foundation walls. Stopping water from flowing against your exterior foundation walls is critical. Install gutters if you haven't already done so, and add splash blocks so that flow is away from the house. It is critical that the soil level a...

JimmyD

We have poured (ICF) basement walls. I did use rigid insulation and foam to insulate the rim joist. Late fall to early spring I turn our dehumidifier off and the humidity runs in the lower to mid 40's. I attribute that to lower humidity in the winter and the furnace running. Any time now I'll see t...

JimmyD

Have you used an independent humidity meter? This post has prompted me to do so later today. I was surprised to read that a setting of 50% is recommended. We use ours in the spring and fall when the HVAC for the house is not being used much. If we set it at 50%, it runs continually. We use a settin...

JimmyD

Does your home have a french drain on its perimeter to route water away from house? We had high humidity in our crawl and part of our solution was a french drain. We coated the foundation wall with a tar like substance to prevent water intrusion. We sealed the interior of crawl and installed an ind...

JimmyD

We just purchased a new construction home with a basement and in order to keep the humidity level in check, also purchased a 70 pint dehumidifier which I've set at 50%. I connected a hose from it to our condensate pump which seems to work well, however after a week of use, it is still running 24/7. ...

JimmyD

Which lender is coordinating with the title company re: closing docs? At what point does the title company need to know which to deal with? They won't play the game of dealing with both. Excellent and timely question. The title company called a bit ago and said they completely understood the situat...

JimmyD

Which lender is coordinating with the title company re: closing docs? At what point does the title company need to know which to deal with? They won't play the game of dealing with both. Excellent and timely question. The title company called a bit ago and said they completely understood the situat...

JimmyD

My wife and I are selling our current house in one week. We're under contract to close on a new house March 19th. Buyers are letting us stay in our current home until we move out, March 20th. Things were moving right along until we hit a wall with lender #1 about 10 days ago when they effectively st...

JimmyD

Jimmy, It doesn't address your issue but I just reported my back door Roth Ira's on FreeTaxUsa and had no software problems. Everything transferred to form 8606 and upon inspection it was correct. Even had the $1 in taxable income from the interest I earned before the conversion, as it should have....

JimmyD

better luck in TaxSlayer I imagine that you have worked your way through the TaxSlayer documentation already but just incase, they have some guidance on reporting conversions: https://support.taxslayer.com/hc/en-us/articles/360046511472 Yes. Reviewed that documentation and filled out Form 8606 corr...

JimmyD

Here is a link to a detailed explanation for TurboTax: https://thefinancebuff.com/how-to-report-backdoor-roth-in-turbotax.html Its clearly not TaxSlayer specific but perhaps the process is similar enough that you can find the corresponding pages in your program. Ha. I actually tried TurboTax first ...

JimmyD

Has anyone figured out how to correctly report their backdoor Roth IRA contributions in TaxSlayer yet? It doesn't look like they offer any real guidance anywhere on their site...and a thread here a few years back wasn't really helpful: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=242051 Can anyo...

JimmyD

59Gibson wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:00 pm I used them about 4-5 years ago for purchase. They're legit. No issues, no games, LO/processor were responsive, and closed on time.

Good to hear - thank you!

JimmyD

LadyGeek wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:04 pm JimmyD - In order to give appropriate advice, it's best to keep all the information in one spot. I merged the update back into the original question.

Thanks!

JimmyD

[Thread merged into here, see below. --admin LadyGeek] Looking to use them for a new build scheduled to close in 60 days. 30 year fixed rate at 2.5% with only $3500 in fees seems too good to be true...and you know the old adage... So, would you trust them or pay more to work with a local or larger ...

JimmyD

Thanks for all the replies. Ended up getting a very good estimate from Sebonic - 2.5% 30 year for $3,100 in fees + taxes & escrow.

Fully expecting to lock with them this evening, assuming Better doesn't beat them out.

JimmyD

I'm in need of a 30 year fixed mortgage and have applied to Ameris Bank and Better.com. Fico of 775. Better.com came back with INSANELY high closing costs. To get 3%, I'd be looking at over $12,000 in points alone. At 3.375%, I'm at $14,388 in total closing costs. Still seems really excessive to me ...

JimmyD

phxjcc wrote: ↑Thu Jan 07, 2021 2:30 am Ummm, how are the underwriters going to appraise and subsequently approve the LTV on an unfinished house?

We are getting a pre-construction appraisal.

JimmyD

Can you afford an increase to 5%? If you have I have no problem affording it (but it will be painful), I'd take the risk. If a 5% mortgage is going to threaten your ability to remain solvent, then lock it in now. The banks know how to price their lock fees. They rarely lose on those. I'm skeptical ...

JimmyD

Wait. You are building so there could be delays and that 6 months may actually be 8. I believe the rule of thumb I got was once the cabinets go in you're about 45 days from closing. At least that is what my builder said and it turned out to be pretty accurate. I was able to get a no cost 120 day ra...

JimmyD

Shoot up by 5%, or increase to 5%? I know past doesn't equal future performance, but https://themortgagereports.com/61853/30-year-mortgage-rates-chart 2-3% increases in a year have happened before, but 5% in that short of a time frame would be indicative of other economic issues that may alter your...

JimmyD

Hi all, My wife and I are building a home and with my luck, it's pretty much a given that rates will shoot up to 5% this year. I'm told that a 6 month rate lock is available, but it's at a 1% loan cost. If you were in my shoes, would you: - Wait it out? - Pony up the cash to lock ASAP? - Something e...

JimmyD

Happy new year Bogleheads! My wife and I are very close to moving forward with a new home build, but the builder is insisting on a 10% construction deposit at contract signing. This equates to nearly $70k, most of which we'd have to get via a short term 401k loan which would be repaid in full upon o...

JimmyD

$340K/year of income AND a paid off million dollar home? I don't think you need to be here asking questions, you need to be here schooling us. I'd be willing to bet you're gonna be ok. We're sailing through raising a kid on much less. The difficult part is keeping up with his balls-to-the-wall 24/7 ...

JimmyD

She drives a 2020 Toyota 4Runner Limited 2WD. I drive a 2020 Toyota 4Runner TRD Off-road Premium 4WD. I'm in the process of decking it out with all sorts of off road goodies. My son and I take it on an adventure of some sort nearly every weekend when the weather's nice. Obviously, not very Boglehead...

JimmyD

Another option I'm wondering about...a 401k loan. It goes against every fiber of my being to even consider a 401k loan, but this might be a circumstance in which it makes sense. Take out a $50K 401k loan, provide to builder with a contract, then repay in full 6 months later when we sell our current ...

JimmyD

My wife and I just came across an opportunity to purchase a to-be-built home that we're very excited about. Well, we were excited until we learned that the builder requires 10% down (this is coming from the selling agent). That amount would be $60,000. I'm not comfortable with shelling out even half...

JimmyD

All said and done, likely at the $600K mark. Could we afford it and still remain on track to retire at 60 (important to me) - yes, however we'd still have a mortgage balance. How much of a sin would this be? Which route would you go? In all honesty, we could stay in our current home and be fine, bu...

JimmyD

Hello Bogleheads, I'll attempt to keep this brief. My wife and I are considering moving to a larger home with more space both inside and out and into a neighborhood with amenities that we would use all the time - notably a pool. While we're content in our current home and are on track to have it pai...

JimmyD

My main checking account hasn’t updated for almost 2 months. I’ve reported it several times and sent follow up emails to the tech support guy who emailed me. Still isn’t working. An inability to timely update the main checking account hub makes the program fairly useless. Oddly enough, I’ve been ru...

JimmyD

Just curious if anyone else has started noticing that Personal Capital has started to ignore all income marked as "Salary / Paycheck" from the "Cash Flow" feature? This appears to be happening for me on both the web and mobile apps and it gave me a mild heart attack and until I f...

JimmyD

She's been wanting an Apple Watch for years. This will be the year.

JimmyD

I recently did exactly that - switched everything we possibly could from Vanguard to Fidelity to have as much as possible in one place. Having gone through the experience, Fidelity just feels more modern and is more convenient for us, offering a fantastic 2% back credit card, a cash management accou...

JimmyD

aluminum wrote: ↑Fri Nov 13, 2020 2:53 pm Where in Georgia?

Just outside of Atlanta.

JimmyD

Look up the Georgia Game and Fish. If they are like my state, they produce a weekly report covering all state lakes with guide reports. Those reports include water levels, fish action and what lures/bait is working. Traditionally, in the south at least, young children have been introduced to fishin...

JimmyD

zimmer0 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 13, 2020 10:29 am flukemaster on YouTube. He is local to you. Goes from beginners to advanced with a plethora of videos.

Awesome. I was about to give up on YouTube, but in watching his intro video, this looks like a really great resource. Thanks so much for the recommendation.

JimmyD

My 6 year-old son has recently become fascinated with fishing. Growing up, I spent some time saltwater fishing in the summers in New Jersey and got pretty good at using saltwater tackle to catch flounder, but I have very limited freshwater tackle knowledge. I now live in Georgia, pretty close to som...

JimmyD

$3.5M + a paid off home and we're good. On target to peace out from work at age 60 (earlier if there's an inheritance). Currently 38.

JimmyD

Age: 31: ($84,860)
Age: 32: $27,000
Age: 33: $139,818
Age: 34: $233,217
Age: 35: $358,344
Age: 36: $466,116
Age: 37: $639,736
Age: 38: ~$800,000

All numbers include $235K in student loan debt that's due to be forgiven, tax-free, in 2022.

JimmyD

Another question worth pondering: Maybe you're not saving enough? Why do you feel the need to take additional risk? If you're saving enough, keeping an age-appropriate allocation in bonds (or similar) shouldn't bother you because you're plowing more than enough into equities. Speaking for myself (an...

JimmyD

FINALLY received our final closing disclosure from Watermark last night after 2 months of waiting and everything still looks good. 2.25% 15 year with about $900 in fees (on top of escrow) all said and done. Has a closing date of 9/25 listed, but we're going to be driving down to Sarasota, FL for vac...

JimmyD

Finally heard back from Watermark last night after more than a month. They requested paychecks from my wife (again) and said that we're still moving forward, which surprised me, as I had mentally written them off and gave up on this refi. Supposedly updated loan documents are coming next, but I'm no...

JimmyD

For those of you who have worked with WM, about how long did it take for your loan to go from the "Conditional Approval" state to closed? I've been conditionally approved for about a week and just wondering what the process/timeline might be from here. Thanks in advance! It's been 28 days...

JimmyD

Did anyone close with Watermark? I have a refi going with someone else at 2.75% I got a LE from watermark for 2.5% and tried to match but it didn’t work. I’ve heard not so good things about Watermark and I don’t know if this 2.5% will actually close. Unfortunately the company with 2.75% is a couple...

JimmyD

How have experiences been with Watermark? Yesterday I locked with LenderFi for no cost at 2.875% (I have a smaller loan) I applied with Watermark and have an email which details 2.625% with $500 out of pocket. Rep says another department does the loan estimates. I told them I want to move forward (...

JimmyD

What site or service does everyone use to track daily rate fluctuations? I'd like to hold my loan officer accountable if rates keep heading lower.

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