Normal to have a lien placed on home for work being financed?

[thestrangebrew1]

We're looking into getting all our windows replaced with dual pane glass and we'll need to finance the job. The TILA states that a lien will be placed on the property as part of the deal. Is this normal? Should I be concerned about this, as I obviously have every intention on making my payments. I'm more concerned about how this will affect our ability to refinance later down the road if this lien is still on record. Thanks.

 

[slag]

We're looking into getting all our windows replaced with dual pane glass and we'll need to finance the job. The TILA states that a lien will be placed on the property as part of the deal. Is this normal? Should I be concerned about this, as I obviously have every intention on making my payments. I'm more concerned about how this will affect our ability to refinance later down the road if this lien is still on record. Thanks.

Yep, very normal. We had the same done when we installed 18k worth of windows a couple years ago. We had to pay it off when we sold the house of course, but its normal as they need collateral to make sure they get paid.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Yep, very normal. We had the same done when we installed 18k worth of windows a couple years ago. We had to pay it off when we sold the house of course, but its normal as they need collateral to make sure they get paid.

Did you refinance at any time the lien was still on your record? I called my CU and right now they're offering energy efficient loans that the windows would qualify for at almost 3% less than what this company's financing is offering. The CU loan would be considered something like a personal loan with no lien on the property, so I'm thinking that would be a better option.

 

[slag]

Did you refinance at any time the lien was still on your record? I called my CU and right now they're offering energy efficient loans that the windows would qualify for at almost 3% less than what this company's financing is offering. The CU loan would be considered something like a personal loan with no lien on the property, so I'm thinking that would be a better option.

No. We installed the windows and then 2 years later decided to sell and move to a different part of town. Wish our area had those energy efficient loans.

 

[piasabird]

Just refinance the house and have the refi pay off the window company as part of the loan. In reality that adds some value to the house. Maybe do that with a Harp loan at 15 or 20 years if you can afford it.

 

[JEDIYoda]

sorry for all your trouble. The wife and I had 72 double paned windows installed and paid cash! Cash is the only way to do things! Cash all the way baby!!!

 

[edro]

Interesting. I hadn't heard of this, but it makes sense due to the value.

 

[DrPizza]

I'm taking a shot in the dark at this, because I've been there. On a couple of occasions, we had some high pressure sales pitches to try to get us to install new windows in our home. They had all of the financing available for us - and more importantly, they were more than double the price of what it would cost to go through a regular contractor. If you have CU loan availability, make sure you shop around on price. Replacement windows are generally trivial to install (very low labor costs) and glass is relatively cheap. For most older homes with "normal" sized windows, it runs around $200 per window to replace them. Oddly, if I recall correctly, for our previous house, the price was the same as slag's: 18k. Going through a contractor who was purchasing them through a respected lumberyard, at that time, would have been well under half of the cost. The companies I'm aware of that make their own windows, install them, and do their own financing are, imho, ripoffs.

 

[OutHouse]

i dont think i would like to have a lien on the house for windows. windows are easy to replace. do it yourself one at a time, and pay cash each time and you will be way better off.

 

[DrPizza]

i dont think i would like to have a lien on the house for windows. windows are easy to replace. do it yourself one at a time, and pay cash each time and you will be way better off.

Another excellent idea. They're very easy to install. (Usually.)

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

How fucked up are your windows to constitute an $18k expense and a lien on your house? That just seems ridiculous to me like someone came and smashed the shit out of them and screwed up their frame to warrant that kind of a bill.

Maybe I'm just inexperienced though....

 

[OutHouse]

How fucked up are your windows to constitute an $18k expense and a lien on your house? That just seems ridiculous to me like someone came and smashed the shit out of them and screwed up their frame to warrant that kind of a bill.

Maybe I'm just inexperienced though....

quality windows are expensive. example Anderson renewal windows are 1000 each. im actually going the mid rage and replacing mine with MillGuard which are made here in Denver.

 

[nerp]

How fucked up are your windows to constitute an $18k expense and a lien on your house? That just seems ridiculous to me like someone came and smashed the shit out of them and screwed up their frame to warrant that kind of a bill.

Maybe I'm just inexperienced though....

Do you own a house? Windows aren't cheap. Well, you can but cheap windows. But those are the ones that fall apart in 3 years and are drafty, etc. You get what you pay for. We had new Anderson sliders put in and it cost us nearly 10K for both. And that was a deal. Of course, we went with the best sliders we could get. But the difference between good Anderson sliders and the cheap home depot shit is night and day. Incredible difference in quality. We're talking hollow thin aluminum that bends and gets dinged up during installation vs. solid thick wood that will last 30 years and has an amazing warranty.

 

[slag]

I'm taking a shot in the dark at this, because I've been there. On a couple of occasions, we had some high pressure sales pitches to try to get us to install new windows in our home. They had all of the financing available for us - and more importantly, they were more than double the price of what it would cost to go through a regular contractor. If you have CU loan availability, make sure you shop around on price. Replacement windows are generally trivial to install (very low labor costs) and glass is relatively cheap. For most older homes with "normal" sized windows, it runs around $200 per window to replace them. Oddly, if I recall correctly, for our previous house, the price was the same as slag's: 18k. Going through a contractor who was purchasing them through a respected lumberyard, at that time, would have been well under half of the cost. The companies I'm aware of that make their own windows, install them, and do their own financing are, imho, ripoffs.

We could have gotten them cheaper and had planned on staying at the house for a much longer period of time. We should have thought it through more. A series of events happened which made us rethink the decision a year after we had the windows put in where we decided we wanted a newer house without the problems of a 40 year old home. We specifically chose this company due to the lifetime transferrable warranty on the windows as well. In retrospect, we should have gone with cheaper windows but were also very happy with the fit and finish of the windows we purchased. We did not finance through the company who made the windows though, but it might have been a subsdidiary company.

EDIT: We went with triple pane windows, got rid of the old storm windows and drafty single pane windows, and had a lifetime transferrable warranty which ultimately our home buyer told us helped sway his decision. If a window ever breaks, frame has issues, anything related to installation, the company comes out and fixes or replaces it for free.

 

[Jeeebus]

if you think windows are expensive, move to Florida and shop for hurricane impact windows. We spent around $30k for the house. A lot of that was the front door and sliders, but it was also well worth it.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

All of our windows in the house are custom and single pane with aluminum siding. Completely inefficient. We can pay cash, but when we tiled the flooring in the house, we found our master bath had water damage and that threw in an unexpected cost to our reno. I've decided to just work with the CU and avoid the whole lien thing. We've only been in the house for a 1.5 months so refinancing now isn't an option.