Can someone help me with this?

Yeah, we’re married, no dependents. And when we did our paperwork for these new jobs (same company), it was all in questionnaire form and not the actual form, so I’m playing catch-up a year late.

Basically, there’s a spot where it automatically had us claim two dependents, as a married couple. The old form had that “claim one for yourself” line. The new one has a spot that says “if you’re married and both work, you may check this box.”

If you DO want to withhold more money during the year, DO NOT check that box.

I also think we’re both far more interested in having kids than we were last year.

 

Any of yall work in finance or housing?

I am looking to purchase soon in the DC/Maryland/ Virginia Metro Area (FUCK THIS PLACE IS HIGH), and could use some guidance/advice on what to do for down payment, if not straight cash.

I can liquidate an old 401k. I can borrow against my fed retirement for .89% interest. I can liquidate a few random things (RH, a healthy chunk of savings, and my impending tax returns). Or I can do NACA that requires only 3% down, but won't be able to purchase until April/May. Not sure what the right move is. I'm thinking the best thing is to liquidate the random shit, unless I start getting into the $50k+ range for a down payment, which is....median home price nationwide and laughable here. I've seen 700 square feet condos go for more than that in the wilds of VA. So, I'm shopping below market anyway.

Suggestions/resources welcome, as this is a pain in the dick.

 

I thought the CARES Act had some provision allowing for it? Maybe it's under some "emergency provision"?

It was the last resort, but it was an option (or so I thought).

Hell, part of the reason for entertaining this fuckery is to avoid the absurd tax bill I get as a single renter.

 

Since you work for FEMA, check to see if you qualify for any of the 1st responder/military assistance programs where realtors and lendors lower or waive fees, reduce rates, etc.

Have you decided on what you're looking for condo, townhome, house? Also do you have an area in mind? I sold my condo in Arlington when we bought our house in Manassas. As you're already aware, the market in this area in insane as far as prices and expectations.

If you're looking at condos, the buildings are required to give you a copy if the board finincials, but look and ask if any special assessments have been levied, or might be coming up, especially if the building is 20yrs or older. About 2yrs after I bought my condo, the building levied a special assessment (over $10k on each unit) to cover the cost of major structural work on the parking garage. A friend living in another building had an assessment for repair work on the building facade.

Keep an eye out for unusual HOA rules. My building didn't allow dogs and 7yrs later I had at least 3 interested buyers pass because of that rule. My realtor estimated we probably could haave listed for about $15k more if the building allowed dogs.

It's also becoming tough to even find a house in the area without some form of HOA or monthly fee. I was surprised at the number of single family house communities that had a HOA attached.

 

Do not borrow money from your 401k either. you will be repaying tax deferred money with money that is not tax deferred as you repay the loan. In essence you will wind up paying taxes twice on the loan amount. With that said, do whatever you can to get into some kind of home. In my opinion, the most important reason is you know what your housing expense will be for the next 30 years. That stability is pretty nice to have.

 

Personally, I’d rather pay PMI on my mortgage with a smaller down payment than tap into my retirement to get some more cash out.

My dipshit brother in law drained a 401k for 10k fucking dollars for a down payment and went into debt trying to pay the taxes back on it. Needed a bailout from my in laws because he had to be a big boy and prove he could buy his own fucking house. So now he’s paying them back with zero interest because they also had to bail him and his soon to be ex wife out of 20 grand in credit card debt.

My whole point is, leave your 401k alone and don’t worry about not putting up a full 20%.

 

I'd just suck up the PMI until you can refinance. Housing market here isn't even that crazy and I went from less than a 10% down payment to no PMI in under 5 years just from the increase in home value.

 

This was our experience as well. Avoid yet one more avenue of debt if you can.

 

It may depend on the wording of the contract. If it is an open contract, which is the only way I would sign one from a realtor, meaning if the seller finds their own buyer, the realtor isn't entitled to percentage of the sale. If it is an exclusive list contract, meaning any transaction has to go through that realtor during the time in which the contract is in effect, then you may have to wait.

Look for the word "exclusive" in the contract.

If the realtor is busy enough, they may let you off with just a relatively small fee.

 

You will have to ask. Do it soon before they get tons of time tied up in the listing.

You could also ask the realtor to reduce the commission when you submit your offer. If they aren't splitting it between two realtors, and it sells quickly to a family member with little effort on their part, I'd bet they will lower it.

The seller of our house negotiated down to 5% and ours was a difficult process with several lengthy repairs, it took 4 months to close from the time our offer was accepted. He just asked because he was taking such a hit with the cost of a new septic system and both realtors agreed out of kindness, I guess. They sent us a new contract, the only difference was the commission amount.

 

Any of y'all a financial planner, or know of one who you could recommend?

 

I have a coworker who asked me if I knew anything about coding, which I don't. He's interested in learning coding, to eventually make a website and develop an app. He knows he'll have to take classes, but I don't know his financial situation, so I wondered if any of you guys would have any advice for online free beginner courses, or books/websites to recommend. Let me know.

 

Depends on exactly what he's looking to do. There are a lot of starting places, and the best place to start is in the area that most interests you.

 

This might be the wrong place for this question, but I think you idiots might have some helpful insight since I don't live entirely in the real world. I'm just looking for opinions/trying to figure out if I am off base.

Husband's company just changed their paternity leave policy from 40 hrs in the first month to 6 weeks over the first 3 months. Initially, he was planning on just taking the week when baby was born and then eating through PTO as necessary after that, depending on our/my level of broken-ness. He talked to HR about a month ago and they told him to hold off until the policy had officially changed so he could take advantage of it. Now he is planning for 3 weeks when baby shows up, and then 2 individual weeks later in the summer, totaling 5 weeks with 1 leftover that he might not take or might use as needed. He cleared it with HR and his direct supervisor. All was well.

This week he informed his project managers so they could come up with solutions/reallocations as necessary. Most of them were totally cool, but one of them was NOT. In so many words, he said choosing to take paternity leave was irresponsible/inconvenient, that husband had been lying to him by not disclosing my pregnancy sooner, basically "I don't want you working on my projects anymore and you shouldn't have agreed to participate if you knew you were going to do this." I am currently 22 weeks, which for you non-uterus-owners means I have a little more than 4 months until I'm due, and am about 2 weeks to the "viability" threshold.

So I guess what I'm asking is - is this normal? Is it really that frowned upon to take paternity leave? Is this the general sentiment or is this just one cranky asshole? I work in a medical clinic that is over 80% female so our whole approach to pregnancy/maternity leave is.... quite different. I don't want him to have negative professional repercussions from taking leave, but I also feel like a) he should get to hang out with our new grub, b) we will be sleep deprived and extra help would be nice, and c) if they're gonna offer it, he should take it.