I’m not sure I understand the problem. Presumably if you’re going to tear down, you know the location that you want and that’s all that really matters, so when you find the right lot in the right place, you get a mortgage for that and buy it.
After that, you will need to go through the tear down/building process, and then you would get a separate loan for that.
I’m assuming that I won’t get a traditional mortgage because I don’t plan to live in the house. Plus I would have to ~immediately refinance with a construction loan, because presumably the lender won’t let me demolish the collateral.
Ahh, I forgot about that part. That seems like quite the pickle. I’ll be interested in seeing how you get around that.
I suppose if you put enough down such that the lender is only on the hook for land value, they ought to let you tear it down. Of course, you would want some kind of assurance on that and I don’t know how you would get that.
I don’t think that the fact that you won’t live there is really a problem. You could very easily intend to live there and then change your mind at some point. In your case, that point will come up pretty quick.
Sounds like that contingency would be very unlikely to work and I think you are generally expected to assume the risk that you can come up with and execute the construction. Buying to tear down is very common, but mostly done by builder/investors planning to resell. They don’t have these contingencies. They just expect they will be able to execute.
If you can get this contingency, great, but if not, learn what you can about development in a location before you make any offers.
You would need lender approval, but hopefully the structure is worth little or nothing. A small old house in my neighborhood is worth less than a bare lot.
I’m confused why you want to try to bundle the purchase loan with the demolition/rebuild loan. Just buy the property, and once you own it you can start looking at architects, contractors, etc.
I think this is usually done with a hard money loan. Or more specifically, I don’t know what the other options are or their frequencies, but I know a hard money loan is one possible solution and I know someone who has used them for this purpose.
I think someone was asking about monetizing low-interest mortgages upthread.
I was looking for an assumable VA loan for my recent house purchase. Inventory is so low in general it wasn’t a practical strategy though. I found one house in three months openly advertising it.
The “2/1” buydown doesn’t sound like much of a buydown at all, more like it’s just a front loaded interest payment. Paying points for a permanently lower rate has been a thing forever and can be an interesting proposition if you’re confident you won’t be selling or have an opportunity to refinance for x years, but paying for a specific two years of lower payments has a fixed maximum value, and the duration is short enough most people are likely to hit that value. Is the mortgage industry really expecting rates to decline so much in two years that soft-locking people in for a short duration has value to them? Or is this just a slightly complex instrument (not that complex) to scam the financially illiterate?
Seller financing and subto arrangements sound like 
Well this is weird. My thermostat conked out, so I installed a Google Nest Learning thermostat, the expensive one, last weekend. Aside from the shape/size not covering up where the old one was, everything went fine.
Thing sucks, though. It thinks it’s at least two degrees warmer than it is - I bought a thermometer to test it. When the AC is on, it takes forever for the thermostat to register that the house is cooler. Literally takes hours for it to come down a single degree, while the thermometer says it’s definitely colder than the target temp. It’s noticeably chilly in the house when the AC is on with this Nest, wasn’t like that with the old thermostat.
Ok, whatever. I bought a different one. Cheaper, still has “smart” features, and looks more like a regular, rectangular, non-fancy thermostat.
I went to install it tonight and, naturally, the first step is to shut off the breakers for the AC and furnace, like I did before. But…the thermostat and AC are still on. My first thought was that there was a battery powering the Nest, but in this model, there isn’t. Plus, the AC wouldn’t be on with the breaker cut, anyway.
The breakers have been off for like 15 minutes and the AC is still blowing. Part of me wants to yank the thing off the wall and just install the new one, but I’m worried that I’ll electrocute myself.
I mean, if the AC is running, it seems obvious that you didn’t cut the power to it?
Thermostats run on low voltage, so you won’t electrocute yourself.
My guess is you have shut off the breaker to the condenser but not the AHU.
The Nest also will almost definitely have a battery in it. Otherwise it would die immediately when the AHU shuts off. They typically require a common wire to recharge the batteries (old ass thermostats don’t).
Easiest solution is to get a Nest Temperature Sensor. The thermostat will use that rather than the thermostat itself to determine the temperature. You can then place it in a normal place in the center of the house that is a better indicator of temperature. We just finished our attic and the Nest was on an exterior wall that is regularly 100+ in the summer, so the Nest though it was always way hotter than it was, and the AC would always run. No idea why yours is off but this sensor will almost definitely fix it.
Google Nest Temperature Sensor- That Works with Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest Thermostat E - Smart Home https://a.co/d/bjh3vQv
Well then it’s really weird that neither of the two I installed functioned until I turned the breaker back on. In fact, I feel like I remember the AC being on and the shutting off when I cut the breaker to swap out the $100 Nest for the $200 Nest.
But maybe I’m misremembering and the fuse box is poorly labeled.
I’m going to try a less expensive thermostat. I considered a temperature sensor, but the thermostat is in the middle of the first floor, not against an unusually warm wall, and the previous thermostat seemed to be accurate (I never used a thermometer to test it, but based on how it felt at certain temp settings compared to now, I believe it was correct). And I realized I don’t need all the smart features and other bullshit. It’s just FOMO. Like who cares if it can “learn” when people are gone - I work at home, so I’m always here. When everyone’s gone, I can just adjust the temp manually.
One weird thing about this Nest is that in addition to thinking it’s 2-3 degrees warmer than it really is (it’s thought it’s 5 degrees warmer at times), it seems to have a hard time realizing the house has been cooled. I like it around 72. The thing thinks it’s 75 in here, but when I tell it to cool, it still thinks it’s 75 after a few hours. And it’s noticeably chilly.
But whatever. I’ll try a third thermostat and see how it works. It’s a Sensi Smart thermostat - looks like a regular, dumb one, but has a few “smart” features. Got it for $130 less than the Nest and I won’t need an additional $15 trim plate.
I have an ecobee with a couple different sensors that I program it to focus on depending on the time of day.
Like it a lot
Yeah, I looked into the ecobee, but I believe it needs a C-wire and the ones I’ve tried do not. I don’t have a C-wire, or at least I don’t feel like seeing if there’s one buried in the wall.
Well, I just found an unlabeled breaker that shut off the power to the thermostat. I swear to the Lord Jesus Christ up above that turning off the double HVAC switch did the trick last weekend.
And I figured out what another breaker switch controlled, so happy Father’s Day to me so far.
Now let’s see if this new thermostat is better.
Edit: It’s on. Now we’ll see if it’s accurate…Two downsides so far: despite the matching shape, it doesn’t line up with my old one which means a paint touch-up is needed, and I can’t get the app to connect to the network yet.
Just make sure you aren’t losing hot water now.
