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BossRighteous posted:A couple of things we saw with older homes: (We are set to close on a first home next week!) Our house was built in '62. It had a lovely addition that the seller/renovator actually turned into a garage (originally, it had been an open carport). I would not have bought the house with that addition, I don't know what people are thinking with those things. I have heard recently (I think on the recent episode of Backstory about housing) that average home sqft is trending back down again after a sharp spike upward, at least.
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Jun 25, 2013 18:20
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I feel like this thread in DIY should be required reading for anyone considering a home purchase. This emoticon is perfect for it 
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Jun 25, 2013 18:43
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WeaselWeaz posted:Does the agent matching service in the OP still exist? I'm trying to get sources for buyers agents for Montgomery County, MD together. I was originally planning to wait to start looking at houses until the fall, but interest rates ticking up is making me think I should at least find an agent sooner. I used them just a few months back and had great results. We really like the realtor they helped us pick a lot. We've pretty much become friends with our realtor at this point. I definitely recommend it.
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Jun 25, 2013 19:47
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rockcity posted:I used them just a few months back and had great results. We really like the realtor they helped us pick a lot. We've pretty much become friends with our realtor at this point. I definitely recommend it. Sorry, I meant is there an updated post? The one in the OP is archived.
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Jun 25, 2013 19:58
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BossRighteous posted:lovely additions - "I quickly realized that it's a lot less space than I grew up with." This is common, so a lot of the Phoenix homes we looked at had additions to increase square footage. Out of 8 '50-'60s homes we walked through with additions not one was done to my standards (Poor AC, poor foundation, etc) That's the Arizona way. We don't have basements to turn into finished basements, so we build horrible additions instead. Also, because it wasn't mentioned earlier: asbestos. If the home is of a certain age, asbestos err'whurr. Even in spots you wouldn't think, like certain kinds of flooring or the popcorn ceiling. They're still safe to live in if you leave it alone, but be aware that it can limit your options if you want to change things inside the house (unless you're OK with mesothelioma). In the example of flooring, you can usually just floor over the top of it without danger. With popcorn ceilings that contain asbestos (not all of them do), you need to pay a professional big bucks to remove it safely. You may run into the same thing if you're just dying to knock down the wall between the living room and dining room. But your home inspector will probably tell you all that stuff anyway. You should also know that older homes are sometimes much less thermal/energy efficient than newer homes. Building techniques and materials have come a long way in the last 50 years. If you live in an area where you are often heating or cooling the home, that's something to consider. Anecdotally, I lived in a house as a guest one summer in the Phoenix area that was 50 years old, a hodgepodge of additions with 2 AC units and one swamp cooler. The owner would pay $600 every month during the summer on electricity to cool the house.  I knew a guy who lived in the same neighborhood, in a house with identical square footage that was 15 years old and he paid less than 1/3rd of that. I don't know how much each different factor contributed to that.
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Jun 25, 2013 20:26
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We lucked out finding a nice '79 single-story block home. Should be a bit better on the cooling costs. Getting a new AC is in our 3 year plan, and new double paned windows/frames are on our long-long term list. We have an Arizona room (glassed-in patio) that has really nice looking push-to-open french doors. It's a bummer to have to put in a more sturdy sealed door system, but cool air is just pouring out of the 1 1/4" gap under the doors. Right now we live in a piece of poo poo 10 year old wood constructed apartment with vaulted ceilings and picture windows every 4 inches. It's a steady 85 degrees within 12 inches of any exterior wall. I'll be interested to see how the block home with more modest windows stacks up in comparison.
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Jun 25, 2013 21:01
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Moved into our home 2 weeks ago. This morning found "water" shooting out from a crack in the concrete a foot away from the main drainage pipe. Pipe is mostly encased in concrete and apparently corroded! Basement smells of poo, but we can light that nice smelling candle we got in our gift basket from our realtor! Do. Never. Buy. 
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Jun 25, 2013 22:13
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So, closing tomorrow. I don't know the final amount yet that I'll need to hand over in the form of a cashier's check, so should I be worried if I don't find out until the AM what that amount is? I live a block from my bank and am hoping I can just walk in quickly and have one made out--is that how it usually works?
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Jun 25, 2013 22:23
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lord1234 posted:My wife and I have decided to hold off on purchasing a home till the rates stabilize(and hopefully drop back down...). A nearly 1 point increase in the span of 2 weeks seems like a bubble that is destined to burst(god I hope so!) This might be short-sighted. There's no way for sure to know what's going to happen but if you look at average loan rates over the past 30 years, the current rates are still very low - only .5% from the best they've ever been. Take a look here for more perspective. I wouldn't assume rates are going to drop back down, in fact my guess is that they'll keep rising until they hit 5.5-6% http://www.hsh.com/mtghst/mortgage-rates-by-product/30-Year-FRM
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Jun 25, 2013 22:30
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BossRighteous posted:A couple of things we saw with older homes: (We are set to close on a first home next week!) One house I viewed in the Deer Valley area had an addition of a Great Room and bedroom built in place of the car port and back yard space. In the bedroom, you could literally see the floor rise where they built over the existing, and not removed, concrete walkway in the back. I can't believe the shoddy work some people do.
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Jun 25, 2013 22:36
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lord1234 posted:My wife and I have decided to hold off on purchasing a home till the rates stabilize(and hopefully drop back down...). A nearly 1 point increase in the span of 2 weeks seems like a bubble that is destined to burst(god I hope so!) We've never had rates this low in the history of mortgages and probably won't until the biggest housing collapse of our history happens again. 
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Jun 25, 2013 23:32
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That makes me feel a a hell of a lot better about the 4.3% on a 30yr fixed we just locked Thanks for that!
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Jun 25, 2013 23:58
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The joke is that realtors always say "it's a great to buy right now!", but from an interest rate perspective, it really is as good as it gets.
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Jun 26, 2013 00:41
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FCKGW posted:We've never had rates this low in the history of mortgages and probably won't until the biggest housing collapse of our history happens again. It's me, I'm the 18% mortgage rate during a recession
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Jun 26, 2013 00:44
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canyoneer posted:The joke is that realtors always say "it's a great to buy right now!", but from an interest rate perspective, it really is as good as it gets. Pretty much, but any realtor who says that 100% of the time is trying to get one over on you. If it's great for one prospect to buy, doesn't mean it's great for another person to buy. Right now, it's hard for buyers where I live because they can miss out on great homes if they don't make a decision quickly. It's great for sellers, though. It's totally a great time to sell.
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Jun 26, 2013 01:41
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WeaselWeaz posted:What should we be concerned with when looking at older homes, mostly 1950s but probably between 1940-1960? That's what we're looking at for single family homes in our preferred areas. I quickly realized that it's a lot less space than I grew up with. Two of the homes were pretty much our current 1BR apartment with two extra bedrooms. Living room, dining area, and kitchen were exactly the same size. A couple more things that haven't been mentioned: knob and tube wiring and galvanized plumbing. In houses from the 50s you're probably safe on those fronts, but at least where I live, knob and tube makes the property uninsurable. I am buying a house that I was told was from the late 40s, although I now think it's a bit older, and the seller had documentation of rewiring and replumbing and asbestos removal and so on. The house inspection still turned up more knob and tube. I am also a first-time buyer, so I don't know what I am talking about, but I'd run screaming from the place with obvious water and mold problems.
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Jun 26, 2013 07:44
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Mandals posted:So, closing tomorrow. I don't know the final amount yet that I'll need to hand over in the form of a cashier's check, so should I be worried if I don't find out until the AM what that amount is? I live a block from my bank and am hoping I can just walk in quickly and have one made out--is that how it usually works? life is killing me posted:It's great for sellers, though. It's totally a great time to sell. DJCobol fucked around with this message at 13:05 on Jun 26, 2013 |
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Jun 26, 2013 13:01
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Where are you located? Just listen to what your agent says about the market if you trust her to sell your home. We've had buyers call about homes before we could officially get them on the multiple listing service because we use signs with "coming soon" riders. It works out for the agents because sometimes they call and can show the house before anyone else if the sellers agree, and that's a big leg up in a seller's market where a couple hours makes a huge difference for a buyer and can make or break an offer. So I don't know what the market is where you are, but here it's been a big seller's market...I have to think outside the box as a buyer's agent a good bit lately to find homes that my clients will like and get them in to see it before three or four others folks can make offers. Many have been going for above list price. Had one home I showed listed at $105k. When I called the listing agent later to ask about offers (been on the market one day at this point), he told me there was a bidding war going on and offers were stretching into the $120k range. life is killing me fucked around with this message at 14:22 on Jun 26, 2013 |
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Jun 26, 2013 14:19
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life is killing me posted:Where are you located? Just listen to what your agent says about the market if you trust her to sell your home. We've had buyers call about homes before we could officially get them on the multiple listing service because we use signs with "coming soon" riders. It works out for the agents because sometimes they call and can show the house before anyone else if the sellers agree, and that's a big leg up in a seller's market where a couple hours makes a huge difference for a buyer and can make or break an offer. Middle TN. I trust her to get it done since she's closed on a 4-5 houses this month already. I just need to finish getting it ready for sale.
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Jun 26, 2013 14:43
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Mandals posted:So, closing tomorrow. I don't know the final amount yet that I'll need to hand over in the form of a cashier's check, so should I be worried if I don't find out until the AM what that amount is? I live a block from my bank and am hoping I can just walk in quickly and have one made out--is that how it usually works? I was really worried about this at our closing since our bank isn't local and we had to get a mailed cashier's check. We just made sure it was going to be "enough" and the the attorney's office cut us a check for the difference of what we over-paid.
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Jun 26, 2013 15:37
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Well, that was fast. Walked in to the closing today and was done in under an hour. Feels...anticlimactic in a way, but I suppose I'll be more psyched once I get to move in. Anyway just wanted to thank this thread for all the advice and insight.
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Jun 27, 2013 00:24
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Trillian posted:A couple more things that haven't been mentioned: knob and tube wiring and galvanized plumbing. In houses from the 50s you're probably safe on those fronts, but at least where I live, knob and tube makes the property uninsurable. I am buying a house that I was told was from the late 40s, although I now think it's a bit older, and the seller had documentation of rewiring and replumbing and asbestos removal and so on. The house inspection still turned up more knob and tube. In addition, check the outlets. switching from two prong to three prong is a giant pain in the rear end, and a lot of older houses have two prong ungrounded outlets everywhere but where it's mandated to have GCFE. (that said, it's really not difficult at all to switch everything to ungrounded GFCE - but it's not nearly as safe as having everything properly grounded.) Other things is check the roofing - make sure that they just haven't been slapping new shingles on a bad roof for the last decade+. And lead paint. Anything pre-1976 likely has some tasty poisonous candy peeling off the walls, (or at least underneath 15 other coats of it).
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Jun 27, 2013 15:30
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So my girlfriend is closing on a house today and I'm helping her with a bunch of the remodeling projects she has in mind (kitchen, bathroom countertop upgrades chief among them). Do any of you helpful goons know of where I can find a pre-made spreadsheet that lists out costs that will help us sort out the sort of budget we'll need? Thanks!
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Jun 27, 2013 15:35
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
AlwaysWetID34 fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Jan 18, 2019 |
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Jun 27, 2013 17:06
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MrMidnight posted:So my girlfriend is closing on a house today and I'm helping her with a bunch of the remodeling projects she has in mind (kitchen, bathroom countertop upgrades chief among them). Costs differ so wildly depending on location, materials, size, and scope that any universal list would be pretty meaningless. Your best bet is to get multiple estimates from reputable contractors/suppliers. For instance, a chimney could cost you $500 to just replace a tiny metal liner and connect the ducts, or it could cost you $50k to tear down and rebuild.
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Jun 27, 2013 17:07
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McFunkerson posted:I have a (probably) unique question, and I'm not 100% sure it belongs in this thread, so I'll apologize in advance. I'll also preface by saying I'm attempting to get a lawyer involved, but he hasn't responded yet and I'd kinda like to know where I sit right now. Oh dear god, man, get a lawyer and don't sign anything until you talk to the lawyer!
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Jun 27, 2013 17:24
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McFunkerson posted:Edit: this is in Nevada if it makes a difference, and there is a clause in the contract saying if the buyer backs out she loses her deposit ($7500) and if the seller backs out the deposit is to be returned to the seller. The rarely seen "heads I win, tails you lose" clause. (Go talk to a lawyer.)
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Jun 27, 2013 17:26
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Thirding the "get a loving lawyer" advice. You've got several layers of legal morass, including inheritance, tax, real estate, contract, and potentially probate law. You must lawyer up and do not sign anything.MrMidnight posted:So my girlfriend is closing on a house today and I'm helping her with a bunch of the remodeling projects she has in mind (kitchen, bathroom countertop upgrades chief among them). Labor costs vary wildly across different regions. It's possible to do renovations super-cheap (IKEA stuff, DIY, etc) or super-expensive (the sky is literally the limit, people have posted in this thread about $50k kitchens which boggles my mind), and there are many variables. You should go to various remodeling-type stores (Home Depot, custom kitchen places, etc) and just browse what they have and what things cost, get a feel for what you're trying to do and how fancy you want and so on. Then maybe call some local contractors and get a feel for labor pricing, what they normally charge for the work you want. Then you can roughly estimate your budget and set priorities for the things you want done. Avoid getting pressured into signing up with anyone until you've got quotes and prices from multiple sources. High-pressure tactics abound in the home renovation industry.
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Jun 27, 2013 18:25
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MrMidnight posted:So my girlfriend is closing on a house today and I'm helping her with a bunch of the remodeling projects she has in mind (kitchen, bathroom countertop upgrades chief among them). http://www.remodeling.hw.net/2013/costvsvalue/national.aspx This site shows a ballpark. The big takeaway from that site and those figures should be that you shouldn't expect your renovations to pay you back 100% when it's time to sell. It's nice when they do, but you should realize that more often than not, that won't be the case. That said, do renovations on your home because that's how you want your house to be while you live there. Don't try to predict what a future buyer would want and be willing to pay for.
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Jun 27, 2013 18:51
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McFunkerson posted:I have a (probably) unique question, and I'm not 100% sure it belongs in this thread, so I'll apologize in advance. I'll also preface by saying I'm attempting to get a lawyer involved, but he hasn't responded yet and I'd kinda like to know where I sit right now. Just curious, how old was your mother? This seems like someone taking advantage of an older person that he expected would either A) pass on before the 7 year term or B) not be able to afford the balloon payment. It really just seems like a rental agreement more than anything and he never expected to transfer the title in the end.
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Jun 27, 2013 19:09
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McFunkerson posted:Edit: this is in Nevada if it makes a difference, and there is a clause in the contract saying if the buyer backs out she loses her deposit ($7500) and if the seller backs out the deposit is to be returned to the seller. I would post this in the law thread, but probably they'll tell you to get a lawyer. I know a good bit about contract for deed (which is what it sounds like this is) but only in Texas, and I think it's pretty state specific stuff. FCKGW posted:Just curious, how old was your mother? This seems like someone taking advantage of an older person that he expected would either A) pass on before the 7 year term or B) not be able to afford the balloon payment. It really just seems like a rental agreement more than anything and he never expected to transfer the title in the end. Sometimes lease with option to purchase is set up this way also, but the other parts of it don't sound like that, although the OP left out a lot of detail. Dogen fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Jun 27, 2013 |
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Jun 27, 2013 19:18
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
AlwaysWetID34 fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Jan 18, 2019 |
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Jun 27, 2013 20:31
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canyoneer posted:http://www.remodeling.hw.net/2013/costvsvalue/national.aspx That being said, there are SOME renovations that will make your life better/utilities cheaper/selling easier, especially if you're doing renovations where the walls are off. Here's a bit of what I did:
Are these going to add up when I sell the house and I'll get $5 more for every outlet I installed? No, but avoiding the frustration of "goddammit why are there never enough outlets" while I live in this house is well worth that $5/outlet. In addition, if I buy another house in the future, outlet count and placement will definitely be on my "must have" list, and maybe my future buyers will have the same criteria. It's the little things that matter. Now, I could also have put in marble countertops in the kitchen (+$2,000), installed stainless steel appliances (+$5,000), and gotten a high-efficiency matching washer/dryer (+$3,000). If I sell the house, am I going to get $10,000 for these improvements? Yeah, not even close. Now of course there's nothing stopping me from paying $2,000 to get a marble countertop installed if I really wanted one, but I'm not going to get that $2k back at selling time. It's all a balancing game. A realtor should be able to tell you more about what improvements will likely improve the value of the home (a new roof to replace the leaky one) vs. ones that are completely cosmetic and not likely to make you your money back (marble countertops).
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Jun 27, 2013 20:37
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I don't know anything about anything, but did either of them have a lawyer look at the contract when it was originally written? Was it notarized when she signed it? It seems like he was trying to swindle her out of money. Hope it all works out for you. Sorry about your mother.
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Jun 27, 2013 20:38
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Making a second post because this seems like as good of a place as any to ask. The bedrooms on our house face the street. It sucks, we wish they faced the backyard instead, but it is what it is. We hear more road noise than we would like, random dogs barking sometimes, etc. I had an insulation guy come out to our house, for 2 reasons. First, our master bedroom fluctuates too much in temperature. Gets too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter. Second, we wanted to know if adding additional insulation in our walls would dampen some of the outside noise. The man who came to our house told us that they would remove some of our siding, put some small holes through the wall and blow in more insulation. He said it would probably double the R value in the walls, and would help with the road noise. He didn't make any promises about it fixing all road noise, but I agree that it would be likely to help. The price he quoted me seemed quite fair, essentially $200/each for the 2 walls in our bedroom that we'd have done, and $100 for the bedroom in the basement as it is only half-above ground. Anyone ever do something like this - add insulation to your walls? Did it help stabilize the temperature? Did it reduce outside noise?
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Jun 27, 2013 20:44
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Insulation might help with heat gain/loss but fundamentally the temp issues in the master bedroom are due to your HVAC system not being designed properly. Having a contractor come out and evaluate the ducting would be worthwhile. Adding a return would probably help a ton.
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Jun 27, 2013 21:06
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skipdogg posted:Insulation might help with heat gain/loss but fundamentally the temp issues in the master bedroom are due to your HVAC system not being designed properly. Having a contractor come out and evaluate the ducting would be worthwhile. Adding a return would probably help a ton. Actually since I made this post, I went up to figure out where the return is...we stupidly have our dressing in front of it. It's not flush against the return, but it has to be impairing the airflow. I will move that to another wall, freeing up the return. I bet you're right about that helping drastically with the temperature. But the noise issue is still something we want addressed, one way or another. I forgot that the DIY forum exists, and I posted this question there: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3556872 I will add to that post about our air return.
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Jun 27, 2013 21:12
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Is it normal to be 17 hours from closing and the lender keeps telling me they can't get me the HUD form yet so I know the closing amount due? I requested this amount Tuesday and the loan has been in the closing department for over a week.
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Jun 27, 2013 23:48
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johnny sack posted:But the noise issue is still something we want addressed, one way or another. Another direction to go, but is it possible to plant a tree or tall bushes in front of the street-side window? If tree it could take a long time to pan out, but I think that's what the previous owners of our buying-in-progress house did. Google street view shows two dinky trees, but in person there's a giant bradford pear on each side of the front walkway helping block each large window. Helps with shade, noise, and headlights (the house faces the intersection of 2 neighborhood streets).
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Jun 27, 2013 23:55
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drat Bananas posted:Another direction to go, but is it possible to plant a tree or tall bushes in front of the street-side window? If tree it could take a long time to pan out, but I think that's what the previous owners of our buying-in-progress house did. Google street view shows two dinky trees, but in person there's a giant bradford pear on each side of the front walkway helping block each large window. Helps with shade, noise, and headlights (the house faces the intersection of 2 neighborhood streets).
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Jun 28, 2013 00:51
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