denslexusgx470

Locomotive (even though they dont use coal to fuel the trains. lol)

Good idea! Take advantage of other nice loans out there available. Just don't go for the Negative Ammortization, all I can advice you! If you have any more questions, just let me, or SW know. We'll be glad to help you out Josh! I know real estate is a whole new ball game, and I know how people feel when they are fed soo much information in one sitting, especially if it's not in person or through phone and just reading it all on a forum. lol.

I'm not sure about real estate in your area Josh, but doing a VA loan, at least here in Fresno,CA is NOT the best way to go. Even though the market here is bad, a lot of listings won't accept offers if the buyers are using a VA loan. I'm not saying it's not possible in your area, but don't be surprised if the offers you make are turned down because of it.. Haha, I knew it would make your head spin cuz it's a lot of info! But that's just the beginning, wait till you start making offers, and those looooooong contracts. ;) ;)

Labor

Oh duh! I never thought about that. The group we joined, geez took me awhile to realize that. lol.

Coool, thanks! Just joined. I'm also on tribe.net.... do we have a tribe there? hey go find me! lol

Nope I haven't but I have high expectations in the way it should perform. The automatic rear door is optional (so dont worry if it's too dangerous for you if you decide to buy one lol) and Mercedes really charges more than an arm and leg for their cars! Think about this, the 6 disc changer is OPTIONAL, while it's standard on a lot of Lexus models. The auto rear door is optional (i know it's standard on the RX cuz we looked at a basic RX last year and it had the power door in the back), and at a price of $54k that ML350 still doesn't have HIDs! :wacko:

Josh, 3 things, 1. Location. 2. Location. 3. LOCATION That's one thing my dad's office always advice people, that the location matters. Now I'm not too familiar with your area so I'm not very sure why a 2100 sq 3/1 home is selling at that price... But advice for first time home buyers, make sure you have computed all your financial obligations (cars, cellphones, etc.) before you move on. You mentioned that you have good credit, and that's a big PLUS in buying a home. More loan options are available for you. Now do you have a downpayment or are you going to bank on a 100% loan? There are several ways to tackle this. I'm not a loan officer, neither is my dad, but there are many options that are UNIQUE to every buyer. There will never be TWO EXACT buyers with the same exact setup, same exact loan program. Everyone's different. First step really is to speak with a loan officer. Now at first you may feel uneasy doing this, especially if no one has referred you to them (Josh I've got a couple RELIABLE ones) but what you want to do, if you decide to speak with a loan officer either by walking in, or from a referral from one of us guys here, is to give them your basic info (stated income, expenses, what you want monthly, down payment or not, etc) but DON'T give your SSN yet. They CAN'T, I repeat, CAN'T FORCE YOU to give them your SSN number. Now they will give you a basic example based on IF lets say, you have so and so credit, and if there are no hidden strings attached, they can give you a good idea of what loan package is right for you and what the maximum amount loan you can go for. There are many loan options. There's always the fixed, interest only or negative ammortization. Fixed programs vary, depending on how long you want to live in the house. IF you dont plan to live there very long, sometimes the loan officer can get you a program that's fixed for 5 or 10 years, then it adjusts then on, but you would have sold the house before then. If you plan to die in that house (which more than likely you'd want to upgrade in the future, trust me lol) then go for a 30 year fixed. Interest only is ONLY ADVISABLE if the market is stable in your area, meaning that the prices won't fluctuate too much, or go down. Interest only, is simple, you only pay the interest, principle stays the same (so if you have a $100,000 house, interest only, after let's say 5 years of paying interest only, your principle is still $100,000). Now I highly advice NOT to get the negative ammortization. What that means is that you pay an even lower monthly payment. Your principle doesn't go down, and you don't pay the "full interest" payment. What that means is that let's say if (idk how to explain this really) you should be paying $1000 a month to cover the monthly interest of the loan, in the negative ammortization program you pay LESS than that $1000 (these are example figures ok!). So let's say you pay only $800 a month. That extra $200 is STACKED on top of your principle, so on a $100,000 after paying the negative ammortization program for let's say 1 year, your new principle balance is $102,400 Then you have to remember, there's the buyer's closing costs, which is DIFFERENT from the down payment. What is the buyer's closing cost? It is the amount of money that you need to close the deal. It includes the home inspection fees which realtors ADVICE their buyers to do before moving on with the deal, home warranty (another ADVICE we give to buyers) escrow fees, the banks "fee" to borrow money from them (sounds ridiculous but you have no choice), and your first month's mortgage (Steve correct me on this, but I know i probably missed a few things out on this aspect). First month's mortgage is this, let's say you closed Escrow on Jun 1st, technically you make the first mortgage payment on AUGUST 1st, but that whole time in between ISN'T FREE HOUSING because you already paid up front with the closing costs. Closing costs run you about 3-5% of the cost of the house (so on a $100,000 home, your closing cost will run you about $3k-$5k) Another advice, DON'T make major expenses. Hold off on that 60" Plasma tv that's on sale or that ES350 that you're kinda dreaming about. lol. Ok that's a very brief over view of the real estate life. Any questions, just ask me (to the extent that I can help) or SW. ;)

Ok I'm gonna steer this back to topic.... I just drove my friend's ML350 last night. Not as good as I thought it would be, but probably because the vehicle is obviously heavier than the E350, with the same engine. Acceleration wasn't as quick and peppy as I thought it would be. Although they've only got about 600 miles on it (and it is barely a week old! geez!) so I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that the engine might be asleep still... He told me to floor it, and reaction took awhile before it accelerated. Quality is still the same, doors sounded cheap and the setup of the instrumentations were confusing! The rear door was automatic, but what was weird is that it's different from like the RX330's rear door, the door literally SHUTS close, unlike the RX it closes slowly and gently. Oh one more thing, very dangerous, the car can open and close the automatic rear door with the car engaged in a different gear aside PARK! I remember the RX doesnt let you open the rear hatch unless it's in P and it makes the warning beep when you shift it with the door open. But idk, these are just the small things I've noticed.... Blindspot isn't too bad, but the quality still remains to be seen....

Big Gulp

Ok i'm guilty of being a Facebook addict now.... so who's on there?!?!? Let me know, and add me! :D :D :D

Easy on the CAPS buddy! Just want to kindly ask you NOT to type in all CAPS because other people might think (and sometimes get annoyed) that you may be either mad or shouting so I just kindly ask you to not type in CAPS, k? All that aside, Welcome, enjoy the new LX450 and I hope you can find your CD Magazine! :cheers:

Well "welcome back" to the Lexus family, and WELCOME to LOC! :cheers:

Well that's why i kinda said in one post "sorry to sidetrack the topic" lol. It's all Alan's fault! lol. jk jk Alan. :P Ok Steve. I'll see what can be done.

See that's the only route their banking on, but THAT'S the problem right there! Let me give you a brief overview of this guy's life. He's only been here in America for about 6 years now, from the Philippines. Now in the 6 years he's been here, guess how many cars he's been thru?? 6! :wacko: He's been thru an Accord, Civic, CRV (07), 4Runner (current) and FX35 (current). Now before i get to their expenses let's talk about his car mistakes. Lastyear, 2006, he got the 4Runner. Then a few months after they leased the brand new CRV for his wife. A month after just getting the CRV, she fell in LOVE with the FX35. Now they wanted the FX (I dont get this part!) they traded the leased CRV into Infiniti, and now their lease payments are HIGH because the dealer stacked all the penalties and fees on top of the FX's lease payments. Sounds crazy?!?! I've never heard of such a thing! Now aside from this, one of them is a co-signer to the guy's mother who just got a Pilot. Now she's late with the payments sometimes, and that reflects on them too. This guy probably spends lots and LOTS of money on mods! So credit cards are probably maxed out, I presume. Mods from K&N filter, to HIDs (can u believe in the one month that he had that CRV he actually changed the lights to HIDs!), Tundra rims, Scion HU, $750 Garmin GPS, Weathertech floor mats, seat covers (which are nice, i think im gonna buy those this summer!), and changed all the small bulbs around (like plate light, door light, dome light) to blue LEDs. Yes this guy's the works when it comes to cars! But that's why their credit score hasnt gone up. Right now as i type, my dad's discussing some possibilities with a loan officer he knows that most of the time can get loans to buyers with bad credit. So idk, we'll see. But what's sad is that once we showed them properties, and he and his wife LOVED the last house we showed that after they got home, she taped the Client Data Report up on their wall and just sat there looking at it, like they had it in escrow or something! :(

True, but driving's a lot more funny and interesting, trust me! We flew to New York once, and after we went around New York, we rented a car which we took ALL over the east coast, from Toronto Canada, to Boston, to Rhode Island, to DC, and drove ALL the way back to Fresno! Yes that was a whomping 5,400 miles on the car! lol. Gotta tell ya, that was the longest test drive i've ever had on a single rental car lol. :P

Disposal

haha! well i dont want to sidetrack too much, but ironically my friend with the red 4Runner in my pix, is trying to buy a house, and we're kinda having a hard time getting him a loan, because he barely has any savings, him and his wife earn pretty good money, but all the money goes to CARS!

1200?? hmmm.... See Steve and my dad are realtors, we've got PLENTY of loan officers that are good and i'm pretty sure Steve knows of a few good ones too, so you can take out a home equity loan and use that! haha. :P :P

!Removed! :P :P

I've got $4, there's a start. lol. :P Let's just say someone wanted a lot of starbucks drinks, and a nice fancy bday gift (ahem) Alex from prom thread (ahem) But it's ok, cuz she gets no fun out of the guy she likes who's broke! haha. lol.

Yep, I know about the tranny issue & still bought the vehicle! Thanks for your input! Is there a tranny issue in the 330? I thought that was only for the RX300. <_<

LOL. Did you really read all 8 pages of this thread Josh, or did u just look at the pictures??? lol.

like the show "Everyone loves Ray" ?? lol ;)

Yea come on! keep the topic clean u guys! who was that, RX330driver i think that tried to take my prom thread's virginity away! lol.