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uwaeve posted:Edit: OK, who's had a radon mitigation system installed? The proposal for the house we just purchased came in and they are going with an outdoor-fan subslab depressurization system. Which made me immediately skeptical because I've heard outdoor-fan/routed systems are easiest and cheapest to install (highest profit for installler), run into fan life issues due to freezing of condensation, and are ugly as poo poo. I'm sure an indoor-routed/fan one could be done more elegantly at a higher cost. Anyone have any thoughts or opinions? We had one done on our house before we moved in, it's an external fan one like you mentioned. Aside from it not looking the best (though it's on the back of the house so no one sees it) I have no complaints and we haven't had any issues. Seller split the cost with us, which I can't even really remember at the moment, I think all told it was ~$1100-1200? Honestly can't remember.
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Aug 10, 2012 16:43
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sleepness posted:Closing day is today! So excited. Nothing like walking into closing with a check for only $4,000. Unfortunately, they retain possession for five days after closing though, so it won't be as exciting since we don't get a key :/ How did you work out the liability ramifications of them literally living in your house for 5 days? Are they paying rent?
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Aug 10, 2012 17:14
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They are paying rent for 3 of the days. We originally gave them two free but the house they are moving into got delayed due to a roof repair. The form we use in Indiana is designed to take care of liability issues, but I knew it was kind of a grey area before I accepted. I'm not really worried though, as we know the sellers as friends.
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Aug 10, 2012 23:27
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sleepness posted:I'm not really worried though, as we know the sellers as friends. Famous last words! But if you've got a rental agreement you might be better covered (I am not a lawyer). But make sure that if they accidentally burn the house down, strip out all the copper wiring on their way out, and/or slip on the sidewalk and burst their skull like a ripe melon, someone's insurance covers it.
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Aug 11, 2012 01:05
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Leperflesh posted:Famous last words! Haha. Trust me, we have our fingers crossed. I plan on going over it with a fine tooth comb, that is if its still standing.
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Aug 11, 2012 01:53
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Rates are ridiculously low right now.  we refinanced to a 15 year at 4.875 a couple years ago and just decided to do it again to a 10 year at 2.75. That was odd in that 10 and 15 years were not much different, but okay. We have a plan to get this thing paid off in just under 6 years. Now I feel like an idiot for not looking at this earlier.
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Aug 11, 2012 02:02
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I hate moving so much. gently caress moving. God drat. Also... I have a problem now. I literally bought my house last week with an FHA loan and a grant from Texas to help with closing costs. So now that I'm all set and moving into my new home my buddy calls me and offers me a possible job at 3 times my current salary on the other side of the country.  So legally I can't rent my house, it has to be my primary residence and if I sell it before 9 years I owe a federal recapture tax. gently caress.
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Aug 11, 2012 04:21
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The possibility of moving for a job is one of the things I always list when I am responding to someone posting about whether they should buy. DO NEVER BUY
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Aug 11, 2012 04:23
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Errant Gin Monks posted:So legally I can't rent my house, it has to be my primary residence and if I sell it before 9 years I owe a federal recapture tax. gently caress. How does this work?
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Aug 11, 2012 13:36
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lapse posted:How does this work? Texas first time homebuyers grant. We got a grant from Texas for about 5k to assist in closing costs and whatnot to make our purchase easier. And I figured hell it's my tax money give it back. But the assumption is you stay in your house for more than 2 weeks. So you can't rent it out, I guess if you refinanced it you might be able to. It is supposed to be your primary residence, although if you move I don't think they really care as long as you don't rent out the house. And these things are in effect for 9 years. The recapture tax kicks in if 3 things happen. I sell the house for a profit, I make significantly more money then I did when I bought the house and it has been less than 9 years.
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Aug 11, 2012 14:17
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To all those moving from rent to buy, don't underestimate the cost of your bills going up. Here's by first summer electric bill in our new, larger house. 11 days left on the billing cycle!   DO. NEVER. BUY. (a large, two-story house in a hot area)
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Aug 11, 2012 17:34
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What kind of utility raises the unit price with higher consumption? Where the hell do you live that the going rate is 32c /kwh?
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Aug 11, 2012 20:52
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SlapActionJackson posted:What kind of utility raises the unit price with higher consumption? Where the hell do you live that the going rate is 32c /kwh? Southern California Edison. Our thermostat is set at 78 too, but most of the month has been temps over 100 degrees. My wife an son are home all day so we have to run A/C most of the day.
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Aug 11, 2012 21:23
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FCKGW posted:Southern California Edison. nanana Evil Robot fucked around with this message at 03:24 on Feb 7, 2013 |
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Aug 11, 2012 21:32
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SlapActionJackson posted:What kind of utility raises the unit price with higher consumption? To be honest, this makes sense from a standpoint of trying to lower energy consumption.
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Aug 11, 2012 22:41
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FCKGW posted:To all those moving from rent to buy, don't underestimate the cost of your bills going up. Here's by first summer electric bill in our new, larger house. 11 days left on the billing cycle! That's absolute insanity. How old are your A/C units? I'd be planning for a 16+ SEER upgrade this winter and installing a ton of insulation. I keep my house in South Texas at 72 and have never seen a bill over 190 dollars. My house is newer and pretty energy efficient though.
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Aug 12, 2012 02:58
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skipdogg posted:That's absolute insanity. How old are your A/C units? I'd be planning for a 16+ SEER upgrade this winter and installing a ton of insulation. Your utility rates must be wicked low, because cooling my 1000 sq. ft. apartment to 79 cost $225 last month. drat 110+ temps.
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Aug 12, 2012 04:33
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skipdogg posted:That's absolute insanity. How old are your A/C units? I'd be planning for a 16+ SEER upgrade this winter and installing a ton of insulation. The house was built in 2005 and one of the dual units was replaced in November by the bank I bought it from. This is a 4200 sq. ft. McMansion though. I can see why so many of the houses out here have solar.
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Aug 12, 2012 05:49
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FCKGW posted:
Great - now you tell me?! My offer on a large 2 story built in 1978 in TX was accepted a few days ago. Scheduled to close on Sept 14. We asked the sellers ahead of time for details on their utilities and it seemed reasonable. I had no idea how much this whole process would make me feel - nervous, sleepless and anxious as hell, but also super excited.
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Aug 12, 2012 23:34
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PG&E (california) also has a graduated rate schedule like that. Generally the "baseline" takes into account what an "average" family in an "average" house uses, and then if you go over that, the more you use the more the excess costs. The intention is to convince you to be more efficient. The actual baseline rate is set based on how much it costs to generate and deliver, plus a built-in profit which is heavily regulated and controlled by the state government. Thus, in California the utility companies are sorta-private entities: they are profit-makers, but cannot freely raise or lower rates based on market forces or a desire to grow or whatever. Which isn't a terrible idea, given that most people have one and only one option to pick from for their household energy. Anyway, saying "I only use $X a month for energy, your house must be crazy inefficient" is totally worthless until you mention exactly what your rate schedule looks like (as well as your climate and your building type, of course). In California, we have earthquakes so there are no brick houses, for example, so that might affect things. We have different building codes, different weather, etc. But most importantly, energy rates are not equal nationwide.
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Aug 13, 2012 05:12
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Jesa posted:Great - now you tell me?! My offer on a large 2 story built in 1978 in TX was accepted a few days ago. Scheduled to close on Sept 14. We asked the sellers ahead of time for details on their utilities and it seemed reasonable. I had no idea how much this whole process would make me feel - nervous, sleepless and anxious as hell, but also super excited. Texas, being a civilized part of the country, has electricity for sale at around 9c/kwh.
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Aug 13, 2012 13:48
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Connection Charge $9.40 First 300 kWh $0.092945 per kWh Next 700 kWh $0.054178 per kWh Over 1000 kWh $0.044464 per kWh It is good to be in coal burning country. Indiana. I use about 6000 kWh a month.
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Aug 13, 2012 21:03
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Elephanthead posted:Connection Charge $9.40 What? Seriously? We use 300-400 kwh a month. How can you use that much?
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Aug 13, 2012 22:25
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sheri posted:What? Seriously? We use 300-400 kwh a month. How can you use that much? I'm getting on grow light for 
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Aug 13, 2012 22:48
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SlapActionJackson posted:Texas, being a civilized part of the country, has electricity for sale at around 9c/kwh. Yeah, the previous owners had an average bill of 180 a month which sounded preety good to me considering: ~3300 sq ft, massive windows in the ~20 foot ceiling den, built in 1978. If I am wrong and this is horrible please no one burst my bubble!
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Aug 13, 2012 23:35
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daslog posted:I'm getting on grow light for I think he just made a typo... I hope anyway. 6000 kWh = 6 million watt-hours. Divided by (24 * 30), that would be continuous use of 8000 Watts. Since a growing lamp is like 150-300 watts, that would be an absurd amount of cat drugs. Like, practically a farm. Correct me if my math is wrong there.
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Aug 14, 2012 00:37
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lapse posted:I think he just made a typo... I hope anyway. A high end central air conditioner is going to average 6 kW, add in another 1 kW for a pair of fridges and it starts making sense.
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Aug 14, 2012 04:34
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Yes, a typical 2-3 ton AC unit will draw around 6kW when it's on, but it won't run continuously unless you're trying to keep your house at 55 degrees. I run two central AC units, two fridges, and the usual other assortment of household crap for WAY less than 6000kWh.
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Aug 14, 2012 05:02
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SlapActionJackson posted:Yes, a typical 2-3 ton AC unit will draw around 6kW when it's on, but it won't run continuously unless you're trying to keep your house at 55 degrees.
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Aug 14, 2012 05:32
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Dik Hz posted:Dude's got a 4200 sq. ft McMansion in the desert and keeps the thermostat at 78. 6 kW average is pretty much in line with expectations for cooling. Since when is Indiana a scorching desert? I cool 3000 sq ft in a much warmer climate for less than half of what he's using.
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Aug 14, 2012 14:29
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SlapActionJackson posted:Since when is Indiana a scorching desert? I cool 3000 sq ft in a much warmer climate for less than half of what he's using. Since this summer. It's been consistently 90-100. He probably has awful insulation though, that energy bill is insane.
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Aug 14, 2012 14:36
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SlapActionJackson posted:Since when is Indiana a scorching desert? I cool 3000 sq ft in a much warmer climate for less than half of what he's using. I thought we were discussing FCKGW's graduated power bill? FCKGW posted:DO. NEVER. BUY. (a large, two-story house in a hot area)
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Aug 15, 2012 02:25
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I'm pretty sure the rest of us are discussing Elephanthead, not FCKGW.
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Aug 15, 2012 03:08
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SCE posted:Projected Usage: Sorry for the derail guys. The point I was trying to make was that we went from a 1100 sq. ft. house with window A/C units to a much larger house with dual central air so keep in mind your new, larger bills that may come with it.
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Aug 15, 2012 03:29
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I closed on my 3.125 15 year refinance yesterday. The total interest over the life of the loan is only 28,000~. I'm almost thinking that it's not worth paying more than the minimum at these low rates. 766 is the payment for 15 years. If I pay 1068 I pay pay if off in 10, but I only save 10,000 in interest. It's almost a case where paying if off early isn't as huge as it could be. daslog fucked around with this message at 11:56 on Aug 15, 2012 |
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Aug 15, 2012 11:52
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daslog posted:I closed on my 3.125 15 year refinance yesterday. The total interest over the life of the loan is only 28,000~. I'm almost thinking that it's not worth paying more than the minimum at these low rates. At 3.125%, assuming 2% inflation and the mortgage interest write-off coming off the 35% bracket, you are effectively paying 0% interest. There is no financial reason to pay extra on a mortgage in the 3% range. Just wanting a paid off house is understandable though and an ok thing to do if that's what you want. I pay $200 extra towards my 3.3% 15yr just because.
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Aug 15, 2012 22:30
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greasyhands posted:At 3.125%, assuming 2% inflation and the mortgage interest write-off coming off the 35% bracket, you are effectively paying 0% interest. There is no financial reason to pay extra on a mortgage in the 3% range. Just wanting a paid off house is understandable though and an ok thing to do if that's what you want. I pay $200 extra towards my 3.3% 15yr just because. I don't get the write off because it's such a small amount of interest that the standard deduction wins.
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Aug 15, 2012 23:23
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I have a 1970s built 6000 square foot house with leaky windows, an open floor three story design that effectively causes me to cool the equivalent of 15,000 square feet. I run one 6 ton unit continuously for cooling and heating year around with another 5 ton unit for super cold, hot days. I am working on improving efficiency but this house was purchased as a project foreclosure. Fighting to keep the cool air up and the hot air down is a losing battle. Do Never Buy. If I were paying California rates I would have to wall off half the house. Anyway $400 a month for utilities is ok since the mortgage is cheap and my property taxes are low thanks to my super rich neighbors.
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Aug 16, 2012 07:37
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Jesus 6000 square feet
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Aug 16, 2012 21:58
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Finally got all settled in the house we closed on, was feeling extremely giddy with all the awesome cosmetic improvements we can do. New light fixtures! A new Nest thermostat! Those dreams were shattered. While moving stuff into the kitchen under the cooktop, we found a nice gas leak. Called the gas company who not only verified that leak, but found an additional massive leak which requires extensive work. Had to shut the gas off, leaving us unable to cook in our first day in the house, along with an assuredly massive bill from a plumber to fix the leaks. Welcome to home ownership I guess.
sleepness fucked around with this message at 23:09 on Aug 16, 2012 |
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Aug 16, 2012 23:06
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