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lumbergill posted:It gets easier after the first one. I found taking that initial step of making the first offer the hardest part. Also, I like to think of it as one fewer potential buyer (and in particular, one fewer potential buyer who is willing to over-bid) in the competition. My optimistic side sees it as an opportunity to just keep building my downpayment/ savings while I continue hunting and waiting. Though at this rate I feel like I'll have 75% down by the time I can snag one!
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Apr 28, 2014 04:44
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fishhooked posted:Just curious, where was this one located? Still waldo/brookside? Yeah, brookside near 62nd and holmes.
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Apr 28, 2014 05:53
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anyone have any good resources for DIY home security projects? (camera reviews, repurposing preexisting security panels, etc) everything I'm finding looks like elaborate ads.
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Apr 28, 2014 06:48
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So close to the end here and the Realtor calls me and informs me the seller took the lovely old washer/dryer that were missing buttons and knobs despite them being written into the contract. I didn't quite care about the basically $100 Craigslist set, but fiance is insisting on getting them back or we be given $1000 towards a new set. Just let me sign the papers already, damnit.
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Apr 28, 2014 20:16
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Good-Natured Filth posted:Needless to say, my wife is now worried that we're moving into the murder capital of the world or something. Anyone have advice on calming her down? This property is exactly what we want, the location is great for us, and the fact that it's new construction is just icing on the cake. I know this question is only semi-related to house buying, but I figure some of you have gone through similar situations. After some research to show my wife that our realtor wasn't lying when he said it was a nice area, we negotiated an accepted offer. Not even 2 days later, some guy gets in a stand-off with the police, threatens the police with a firearm, and then gets himself shot. This is the first occurrence of major "crime" I can find in the past year, but what are the odds it happens as we're buying a house?  (Here's an article about the incident, if anyone is curious)
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Apr 28, 2014 21:04
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Your wife is probably right and she will never let you forget it as you are never able to sell your new house. Crime happens everywhere. At least the cops showed up to blow this guys head off. In high crime areas they would just have noted a guy with a gun running around and asked you to call back when someone gets shot.
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Apr 28, 2014 22:36
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Man, that "garage doors must be closed at all times" rule is one of the dumbest loving rules in the history of dumb HOA rules. loving around in your garage with the door open is one of the best ways to meet your neighbors and stimulate friendliness. I would never have met my best friends if it weren't for their constantly being in their garage/driveway doing poo poo. At my current place, when I work on my cars with the door open any neighbor who walks by at least says "hi" and at most stops to shoot the poo poo for a while, it's nice. And during the times when I need to concentrate and actually accomplish something, I have the option of leaving the door shut. Dumb loving rule created by dumb fucks.
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Apr 28, 2014 23:44
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I need some opinions. I'm still in inspection period on a house built in 1991 in Virginia. It's been totally redone inside by Freddie Mac, and is in seemingly great shape. A very nitpicky inspector found only minor things like a clogged dryer vent and missing vent covers, but did find evidence of old termite tubes. The termite guy came out today and confirmed where tubes had been cleaned off the wall, found another intact but dry tube, and doesn't see evidence of professional treatment. He called both tubes "small" and said he any confirm an active inspection. The house is wood on slab with brick/vinyl exterior. Neither the inspector or the termite guy think it's anything to worry about. Freddy Mac won't let me open a wall in the garage (where the tubes are) to check. Am I being first-time-buyer paranoid? The house is in awesome shape in every other way, roof is only 5 years old, windows 2 years old. I feel like the inspector would have found evidence elsewhere if damage extended beyond the interior garage wall (shared with the kitchen).
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Apr 28, 2014 23:44
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Jealous Cow posted:I need some opinions. I'm still in inspection period on a house built in 1991 in Virginia. It's been totally redone inside by Freddie Mac, and is in seemingly great shape. A very nitpicky inspector found only minor things like a clogged dryer vent and missing vent covers, but did find evidence of old termite tubes. Safe response: Pretend you're going to need to spend $10k+ off the bat for fixing termite damage; are you still comfortable buying?
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Apr 29, 2014 13:31
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Walked posted:Safe response: Pretend you're going to need to spend $10k+ off the bat for fixing termite damage; are you still comfortable buying? I really think there would be some evidence of damage if it was that severe. To answer your question, I'd change my offer, but I have no evidence of damage or any way to quantify what the damage, if any, would be to repair.
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Apr 29, 2014 17:42
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If I've learned anything from this thread is that there is always something that you find after you buy the house that will require money to address. If you just pretend that you'll have to spend 10k in maintenance on a newly purchased house you'll be more financially safe, and if you don't end up needing to spend all that 10k then congrats you got lucky. It's kind of like buying a used car. You can get the most thorough pre-purchase inspection out there, but its still wise to budget for additional surprise maintenance on top of the purchase price.
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Apr 29, 2014 17:49
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Jealous Cow posted:I really think there would be some evidence of damage if it was that severe. Like I said; its the safe answer (as Guinness expanded on). No, it probably wont be an issue, but what if it is? Better of having cash on hand than owning a house you cant afford to fix.
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Apr 29, 2014 18:06
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Walked posted:Like I said; its the safe answer (as Guinness expanded on). We have about 10k budgeted for floors, washer/dryer, and some other stuff so I guess we'll rip the wall open before spending any of it.
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Apr 29, 2014 19:04
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mindphlux posted:anyone have any good resources for DIY home security projects? (camera reviews, repurposing preexisting security panels, etc) There's a thread in the DIY forum: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3462976
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Apr 29, 2014 20:46
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Wife and i are looking at a townhome in the Midwest. Its a new construction and will be completed in October. Is there generally some wiggle room for new construction houses being purchased from the builder? We're paying rent right now and are just unsure if we should buy or keep on renting.
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Apr 30, 2014 05:29
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Jastiger posted:We're paying rent right now and are just unsure if we should buy or keep on renting. Rent, otherwise.
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Apr 30, 2014 09:31
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Jastiger posted:Wife and i are looking at a townhome in the Midwest. Its a new construction and will be completed in October. Is there generally some wiggle room for new construction houses being purchased from the builder? Given what I remember from your thread in E/N, you seem to be far from stability financially and career-wise. Jesus Christ you should rent.
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Apr 30, 2014 13:24
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Jastiger posted:Wife and i are looking at a townhome in the Midwest. Its a new construction and will be completed in October. Is there generally some wiggle room for new construction houses being purchased from the builder? In my opinion, the only good reason to buy a condo instead of a house is to open up a location that you otherwise couldn't buy in (downtown city centers of major cities). Plus if you decide to have a family you will outgrow it fast.
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Apr 30, 2014 15:34
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The idea would be to rent it out once we outgrow it for sure. We're just paying a much higher rent than a mortgage would cost on a similar type of property. I'd be buying it in my name only if I could. But yeah, I think we'll just be stuck renting, I don't think buying is a good idea right now.
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Apr 30, 2014 23:38
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Six months ago I bought a home. Within the first week of moving in I learned that there was a problem with the water heater. It's a Rheem PowerVent, and it heats a tank to full then turns off. It doesn't turn back on again, either - it has an LED that flashes six then three which means "recycle limit - flame lost". It hasn't been a MASSIVE pain in the rear end, as I can get hot water, but I have to turn it on manually every day. So I called up my home warranty people and 60 bucks and a few days later, I had a plumber at the house. He couldn't fix it, he just did fuckall, and left. So I called the home warranty people again. They sent the same guy out, he called the OEM, did fuckall, and left. This time though, he ordered a baffle for the top. So he came back a few days later, installed the baffle, and it didn't fix the problem. So I called the home warranty people again, and they sent a different plumber out. It turns out they don't work on PowerVent water heaters so they just left. I called the home warranty people again, they sent out a new plumber, and this guy seemed like he knew what he was doing. He called the Rheem people, and we learned that this water heater has had trouble since JUNE 2011. The previous owners bought the place in... June 2011 when it was a new construction. The Rheem guy says that the venting is improperly installed - it goes from 3" piping to 2" piping, cuts a 45' angle, then 45' back to get to a vent that takes gases out the side of the garage - which means that it is no longer considered a home warranty issue, but an improper installation issue. Personally, I don't think think the venting is the issue, but I know jackall about water heater ventilation. However, it's losing the flame AFTER heating a tank to full so all the gases should have properly off-vented, otherwise it wouldn't be able to fully heat a tank at all, right? My home warranty people are telling me that they're not responsible to fix the problem, and I have proof from Rheem that the previous owners KNEW about this but didn't disclose it in the sales documents. Rheem keeps detailed files down to the serial number so I know every single time the previous owners called in issues. Can I sue the poo poo out of them? Or at least for enough to fix the loving problem? Or do I try to get the home builder to fix the problem? Or am I poo poo out of luck and need to fix/replace the drat water heater myself? edit: The six-three flash indicates the following: Recycle limit - flame lost Pilot tube restriction, low gas supply pressure, carbon buildup on electrode, wire/pilot tube damage or combustion air port blockage 1. Gas supply pressure is low 2. Jacket air holes obstructed 3. Pilot replacement Drewski fucked around with this message at 17:22 on May 1, 2014 |
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May 1, 2014 17:18
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So I'm starting to wonder if I'll actually be able to find something in the area I've been looking at unless I'm the first person in the door throwing money at them. The fact that there have now been a couple of houses I've seen go in less than a week that I thought the owners were smoking crack on as far as asking price hasn't helped. They may not be going for the asking price, but something tells me they're not going for $10-15k less which puts them in the range I think they should be in. So I've expanded my search a little bit. I'm interested in a house that's only a few blocks away from my current apartment. It's listed at $160k and seems to be pretty up to date minus some wall paper in a couple of rooms. It might actually be too big, but I can live with that. This would probably be a $350k house in the areas I've been looking. The neighborhood it's in now isn't super bad, but it's definitely in a revival kind of phase. I live there now, but I'm on the 10th floor and am renting. I do love the neighborhood, but actually owning something here worries me a bit. I guess it's a bit of a gamble on whether the neighborhood actually does a full turn around or reverts back to crackheads and gangs that have moved a few blocks east. Anyone else here buy in an area making a turn around with some experiences to share? This is the South Hyde Park area for the KC folks.
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May 1, 2014 17:48
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Drewski posted:water heater
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May 1, 2014 18:07
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Thought the thread followers might enjoy some terrible real estate photos.
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May 1, 2014 18:13
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uwaeve posted:Thought the thread followers might enjoy some terrible real estate photos.   My dad and his wife are redoing her late parents house. They have it listed and the pictures are terrible, but nothing like some of those. I'm going to take some decent shots of it once they're done with it. Good pictures can do so much.
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May 1, 2014 18:20
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Hmm, I kind of like this actually. Would prefer Not Purple though.
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May 1, 2014 18:27
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slap me silly posted:Ugh. All the joy of learning why home warranties suck, plus all the joy of cold showers. How much is it going to cost to fix? If it's just a couple grand, do it and forget about it. Who wants to deal with pursuing a small claims court judgement for that much, even assuming you get it. The cost to fix is the unknown variable. If it's the venting that is causing the issue (I don't think it is), then it's just a matter of buying new piping and fitting it to the tank and ceiling. If it's a bigger problem like replacing the pilot, cleaning the burner unit, etc., then it could be a couple hundred. If it's replacing the water heater, then it's a couple grand. I would go after the rear end in a top hat previous homeowners on principle. I have documented proof that they knew there was an existing problem and failed to acknowledge it in their disclosures.
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May 1, 2014 18:34
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slap me silly posted:Hmm, I kind of like this actually. Would prefer Not Purple though. I do not want to see my poo face.
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May 1, 2014 18:43
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Drewski posted:The cost to fix is the unknown variable. If it's the venting that is causing the issue (I don't think it is), then it's just a matter of buying new piping and fitting it to the tank and ceiling. If it's a bigger problem like replacing the pilot, cleaning the burner unit, etc., then it could be a couple hundred. If it's replacing the water heater, then it's a couple grand. I think it could be the venting. When the heater is firing, there's a lot of heat and gas produced by the full-on flame. Heat rises and so this large amount of gas successfully pushes its way through the convoluted vent and outside. However, after that shuts off, you just have a pilot. The pilot produces very little heat and exhaust gas. If the vent is overly restricted, you lose the outward flow of that gas. Eventually, it smothers the flame as the oxygen gets too low for it to burn. Alternately, if the heater has some kind of exhaust gas flow meter, it may shut itself off because it detects that exhaust gas isn't being vented. This is just my personal handwaving theory, though. With respect to going after the previous owners "on principle" - consider what your own time is worth. Will you be happier or more angry after you've spent a bunch of hours, time off work, and money trying to take them to small claims court, and then you lose the case? Because that's a possibility. If you really want to, consult with a lawyer. An initial 30-minute consultation should be cheap or free, and can give you some idea of whether this is worth bothering with.
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May 1, 2014 19:15
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Blargh. I'm in the middle of buying a house, and three days from close my lender asks for an extra two weeks because their underwriters are backed up. I've been diligently doing all of the paper work immediately, keeping in nearly daily contact with my lender making sure everything is still on track. The sellers requested an extra week a few weeks ago to have time to move, too. Very frustrating considering how much effort I've put in to making timings work, with how many commitments I have in the next few months. I scheduled a bachelor party for over three weeks from my original closing date and my closing date is now exactly one day before that party. 
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May 1, 2014 21:26
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Loutre posted:Blargh. I'm in the middle of buying a house, and three days from close my lender asks for an extra two weeks because their underwriters are backed up. If you can get two weeks from the seller, do so and then dump your lender, plenty of lenders can close in 14 days.
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May 1, 2014 21:41
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Water Heater Chat Your cheapest fix is probably replacing it with an electric one. If you can get a lawyer to sue for only fees he will win in the judgement you might as well do it.
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May 1, 2014 21:49
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fknlo posted:
Our staff appraisers used to have a monthly competition to find the worst photos in the appraisals they audited. The contest was ended and a winner declared for life after one of them submitted an appraisal with a photo of the master bed/bath which included the seller's wife in full frontal as she was getting out of the shower.
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May 2, 2014 03:46
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I can't seem to find it (which leads me to believe it's been sold) but I just saw a listing a few days ago where it looked like there was just a huge loving gunshot wound brain+blood splatter on the wall. Really wish I could find it 
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May 2, 2014 04:47
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It took my 5 weeks to sell our house from listing to close. It has been a month since we made our first offer on the house we want to buy and it's still going through negotiations. The wife and selling realtor are both on board, but the husband thinks his property is worth way more per acre than we're willing to spend. They finally gave us a verbal agreement, but want until Tuesday before they sign the offer... not sure why.
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May 2, 2014 06:08
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fknlo posted:Anyone else here buy in an area making a turn around with some experiences to share? This is the South Hyde Park area for the KC folks. I don't know anything about KC politics, so I can't comment on your situation directly. But neighborhoods can move in both directions. And if there's a downturn, it's most likely that the most recent neighborhood to come up will be the first one to slide back down.
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May 2, 2014 10:06
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Any tips for getting the smell of smoke out of our house? The previous owner was, among other things, a chain-smoker and no matter what we do the smell still lingers. We had a cleaning crew come in and scrubs the walls, floors, ceilings, doors, cabinets, air ducts. Most of the house is hardwood floors with new carpeting in the two spare bedrooms (which were steam cleaned). After the house was scrubbed from top to bottom we had the entire interior re-painted with an odor neutralizing primer and a new coat of paint in every room. We also replaced all the windows in the house. Anyone have tricks that actually worked for them in the past? Also if you smoke in your house...gently caress you.
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May 2, 2014 18:38
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Tear the interior down to the studs and replace everything. I really don't think there's much you can do, less than that, that will work. The smoke saturates into the drywall, the paint, every crack and crevice. It seeps down through the hardwood and coats the subfloor with brown gunk. I guess maybe invest heavily in air fresheners?
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May 2, 2014 18:53
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Dik Hz posted:When I lived in Baltimore, each mayor would try to revitalize a neighborhood as a showpiece. Where did the resources for this come from? By cannibalizing the investments the previous mayors had made, of course. Because of the instability, I chose to rent. I don't regret that decision at all. KC doesn't have a lot of other blighted areas to steal funds. There's a distinct dividing line that this neighborhood is just to the west of. East of that is the "bad" part of town and has been since a combination of legislation and real estate developers pushing white flight to "better" areas of town basically ruined it. A lot of progress has been made, and it seems like there are a lot of people that are determined to keeping it going forward. There has been a lot of gentrification, but it doesn't seem like that's the main goal. There's definitely more of a risk involved in buying in this particular area. It really is a beautiful neighborhood with a lot of potential.
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May 2, 2014 19:04
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fknlo posted:KC doesn't have a lot of other blighted areas to steal funds. The money is federal grants for the purpose of revitalizing cities. The only people robbed were the children that will get stuck with the unpaid naitonal debt.
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May 2, 2014 19:07
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fruition posted:Any tips for getting the smell of smoke out of our house? The previous owner was, among other things, a chain-smoker and no matter what we do the smell still lingers. So being you used a oder killing primer already, it's probably stud off time!
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May 2, 2014 20:56
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