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drat. I could sell my house, pay off the mortgage, and have enough left over to buy a house out there outright. It's kind of a tempting thing to consider. Until I remember all my friends and family live here, and not there, and I love it here. But still.
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# ? Jul 14, 2014 22:41 |
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# ? Jun 3, 2024 20:53 |
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Economic Sinkhole posted:"Property sold in 'as-is' condition." In my area at least, properties are sold with seller disclosures, where the seller lists everything they know that is wrong with the house. If they fail to disclose a problem and it can be proven that they knowingly did not disclose, the seller can be sued. But when its an "as-is" transaction, there is no disclosure. Usually, that means that there are huge problems (structural, foundation, etc.) and they know it. The other possibility (that I'd guess is the case here, based on the pictures) is that the seller wasn't the occupant (e.g. it's an inheritance), and can't disclose issues because they know little to nothing about the property. This might seem like the better case, but it's not really - contrary to popular belief, "as-is" agreements can't waive all disclosure requirements, while honestly not knowing puts you in the clear. edit: Nice terrible real estate photography! Zhentar fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Jul 14, 2014 |
# ? Jul 14, 2014 22:50 |
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Leperflesh posted:drat. I could sell my house, pay off the mortgage, and have enough left over to buy a house out there outright. It's kind of a tempting thing to consider. Downside: you have to live in Pennsylvania. \/\/ - I'm (mostly) joking and being a regionalist rear end in a top hat. Pennsylvania seems to combine a lot of unfortunate aspects of the midwest that would make me not want to live there - an evaporating manufacturing base, horrible weather owing to the lake effect, depressed economy, proximity to West Virginia, etc. Also, what kind of technical writing do you do? I'm looking to get into that because, well, I'm sick to death of the 9-6 + commute life. ex post facho fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Jul 14, 2014 |
# ? Jul 14, 2014 23:03 |
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a shameful boehner posted:Downside: you have to live in Pennsylvania. How bad is that? To be honest, about all I know about Pennsylvania is that Pittsburgh is there, it was founded by William Penn, and there's... uh, is it Shakers? Quakers? Maybe the Amish too? I'm a technical writer, I work from home, my wife is an artist, so I'm not strictly tied to my region or a specific town. But, if I ever lost my job or wanted to change jobs, it's best to be where I'm at (the bay area) for a critical mass of good jobs in my field. ...then again, if I owned my home outright, my cost of living would be so much lower that I could afford to work a much lower paying job and still enjoy my current standard of living... So it's one of those things to kind of think about but it'd be a big risk to actually do.
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# ? Jul 14, 2014 23:08 |
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Economic Sinkhole posted:Stack your hole saws so the smaller one guides the larger one like this: shortspecialbus posted:The most annoying thing so far has been trying to figure out how to convert a 1 1/2" deadbolt hole to a 2 1/8" one that can't quite be in the same spot so I can't just put the 1 1/2" hole saw inside the 2 1/8" one as a guide. I'm gonna have to either fashion a plug or clamp wood over/under. Need to do that on two doors That would have been lovely but alas.
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# ? Jul 15, 2014 01:43 |
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Sockser posted:A few months ago, I wanted to paint the bathroom in the apartment I'm renting (it's a hideous loving yellow color). I started looking at paint colors before remembering that I don't own my apartment. Just to start with... that doesn't necessarily mean you can't paint it. My landlord's policy was that the first coat of paint was free, and I'd get billed for the painters time for any additional coats (which wasn't particularly expensive). If it's currently a hideous yellow, your landlord may well be grateful if you paint over it with something better. Doesn't hurt to check. Sockser posted:It seems to make a lot of sense but I'm welcome to hearing why I'm loving stupid (that horror story about that shittily renovated house is giving me a lot of pause right now) Aside from horror stories like that, even in the best case you're going to have to spend more time and money on repairs and upkeep. For example, you'll have a yard to take care of, and you'll need to get tools to take care of it with. Even in a well maintained house in very good shape, there are a more things to take care of than in an apartment, and all of them are your problem. And once you own the place, there are a lot more things to entice you to spend money on. Back when I lived in an apartment, if I got a $15k windfall, I probably would've bought myself a nice new laptop and put the rest in savings. Today, I'd spend every cent of it (and probably some of my savings as well) replacing my driveway (and with radiant heat! Oh, how wonderful that would be be...) Also, utility expenses on a 100 year old house are probably going to be much higher than an apartment. Possibly much, much larger. Sockser posted:2. If I found a place I liked and wanted to pursue that place rather than getting a real estate agent to show me "some places," what would my next steps be? Getting pre-approved for a mortgage is obviously like, step 1, but after that? Try to find a good buyer's agent (note: can be challenging. Take friends' recommendations with a grain of salt). The standard 3% commission on a $50k house comes to $1500, so you don't stand to save a whole lot skipping one, and the agent isn't going to be particularly eager to show you a bunch of places at that rate so they'll be glad if you've just got one or two to check out.
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# ? Jul 15, 2014 02:30 |
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Zhentar posted:Try to find a good buyer's agent (note: can be challenging. Take friends' recommendations with a grain of salt). The standard 3% commission on a $50k house comes to $1500, so you don't stand to save a whole lot skipping one, and the agent isn't going to be particularly eager to show you a bunch of places at that rate so they'll be glad if you've just got one or two to check out. For us, the seller paid all the commissions. Is that a Wisconsin thing or was I just lucky?
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# ? Jul 15, 2014 02:37 |
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Sockser posted:I'm fairly handy, having helped my dad restore a few properties growing up, so I can handle rewiring and putting up new drywall and doing plumbing work etc but anything past that I'd probably get someone else to do it for me.
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# ? Jul 15, 2014 03:25 |
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shortspecialbus posted:For us, the seller paid all the commissions. Is that a Wisconsin thing or was I just lucky? That's standard everywhere in the US as far as I know. For most people the only advantage of not having a buyer's agent is if they can convince the seller to refund them the amount that would have been paid to their agent. Normally when the buyer has no agent the seller's agent just takes the whole commission. For a first time buyer I would not recommend going without an agent. IF you go without an agent, I would definitely get a lawyer (which you might want to do anyway).
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# ? Jul 15, 2014 03:31 |
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shortspecialbus posted:For us, the seller paid all the commissions. Is that a Wisconsin thing or was I just lucky? Sellers pay the listing agents fee, typically between 5.5-6% these days for a "full service" agent. Of that, the listing agent will split the proceeds with the buyers agent. Closing costs are what are considered nice bonuses if the sellers pay them. In a buyers market, the seller will typically add that as a concession, but not in a sellers market. Whatever that means.
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# ? Jul 15, 2014 03:58 |
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There are so many things about those Pittsburgh properties that make me nervous. I don't know anything about Pittsburgh, but why are those homes so cheap? Is it because they are old and run down? Is it because they are at the intersection of Cracksville and Murdertown? Is it because demand for housing is shrinking due to large employers closing operations there? (sup Detroit) Is it because they are haunted by ghosts? Are you willing to bet a large part of your future earnings that those trends are reversing?
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# ? Jul 15, 2014 04:07 |
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canyoneer posted:There are so many things about those Pittsburgh properties that make me nervous. I don't know anything about Pittsburgh, but why are those homes so cheap? Just by looking at those pictures Yes Yes Yes Most likely
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# ? Jul 15, 2014 13:41 |
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Zhentar posted:Just to start with... that doesn't necessarily mean you can't paint it. My landlord's policy was that the first coat of paint was free, and I'd get billed for the painters time for any additional coats (which wasn't particularly expensive). If it's currently a hideous yellow, your landlord may well be grateful if you paint over it with something better. Doesn't hurt to check. quote:Aside from horror stories like that, even in the best case you're going to have to spend more time and money on repairs and upkeep. For example, you'll have a yard to take care of, and you'll need to get tools to take care of it with. Even in a well maintained house in very good shape, there are a more things to take care of than in an apartment, and all of them are your problem. And once you own the place, there are a lot more things to entice you to spend money on. Back when I lived in an apartment, if I got a $15k windfall, I probably would've bought myself a nice new laptop and put the rest in savings. Today, I'd spend every cent of it (and probably some of my savings as well) replacing my driveway (and with radiant heat! Oh, how wonderful that would be be...) Aware of this, and would actually much prefer to be spending my money on something uhhh "productive" like that. quote:Also, utility expenses on a 100 year old house are probably going to be much higher than an apartment. Possibly much, much larger. In the five years I've been living in Pittsburgh, every apartment I've lived in has been in the 100 year old range, so I'm pretty familiar with utility costs at this point. As long as it's not as bad as my first place, which must have had serious loving structural issues to run a $300 gas bill on a two-room place with the thermostat set to loving 60. canyoneer posted:There are so many things about those Pittsburgh properties that make me nervous. I don't know anything about Pittsburgh, but why are those homes so cheap? Sort of Sort of They've been cheap forever so I dunno! The ghost of industry and commerce at the very least NPR did a thing analyzing income vs housing prices, and Pittsburgh is just kind of an anomaly. Here's Pittsburgh v Detroit v Allentown (where I grew up, very similar place to Pittsburgh) The places I'm looking at aren't in the amazing neighborhoods because there's two of those and the jump in price to live in those neighborhoods is insane (like 5x price difference). Not to say that I'm looking at great areas or bad areas, but I figure if I'm looking to stay in this city for ~5 years and I'm currently renting an apartment in Murdertown, why not buy a place in Cracksville for less? Or I could move to one of the real hilly parts of town that are pretty nice but my Corolla isn't the best in the snow so that's a concern. I'm not moving to like, Rape Alley or anything though. Houses in those neighborhoods are under $20k quote:Are you willing to bet a large part of your future earnings that those trends are reversing? Sockser fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Jul 15, 2014 |
# ? Jul 15, 2014 15:16 |
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Sockser posted:I could very well paint it, I'm aware of this. But what's the point of me painting somebody else's house?
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# ? Jul 15, 2014 15:28 |
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Just buy your murderhouse in depressed Pittsburgh because you really seem bent on buying it anyways. EDIT: To answer your question the reason those houses are so cheap is that no one wants to live there for some reason and there's a pretty good chance that you wouldn't want to live there either. FCKGW fucked around with this message at 23:45 on Jul 15, 2014 |
# ? Jul 15, 2014 23:42 |
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/\/\/\ he already lives there dude I actually think it's not a bad idea. We usually get down on people buying houses on a whim or houses that are at high risk, but we're used to houses that cost $200k or so. A $40k house is something you can walk away from and not have it be a financial catastrophe. I will say it's probably really easy to spend $20k trying to fix up a $40k house and still have a $40k house at the end. But it's also possible to buy a $20k car and wrap it around a tree. If you're smart about what kinds of repairs and upgrades you do, I can't see how badly wrong you can go on something with a 5 year loan and $600/mo payments.
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# ? Jul 15, 2014 23:51 |
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Pittsburgh Stymie here, none of those places are a bad purchase for a first-time single guy to build some equity, and they're all close enough to downtown that they will go up in value over the next couple of years, and there is nothing near any of those houses that can be classified as Cracktown or Murderville. I'm in Dormont and hundred year old houses that sold for $120K four years ago are going for $250K+ now here. These houses are all well-built brick.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 00:13 |
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If this house were a fifteen minute drive across the West End Bridge and down Rt. 19, it would be $300K+ To be more specific, many of these houses are as cheap as they are because Pittsburgh is racist as gently caress and people would rather drive two hours to work than live near people who don't look like them.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 00:31 |
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Dormont is probably my favorite neighborhood in Pittsburgh and I'd love to live there. Everything's so nice My understanding is basically as long as I stay away from Hazelwood, Homewood, West Oakland, Duquesne, and parts of the South Hills I'll be cool. Wish I could live in Penn Hills but I work down near Washington so I kinda need to live west of the city or face suicide in a matter of days. Any neighborhoods you'd recommend I stay away from? A handful of other properties I have saved in Zillow that haven't been delisted or sold http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2706-Glasgow-St-Pittsburgh-PA-15204/11371237_zpid/ http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1420-Alton-Ave-Pittsburgh-PA-15216/11444894_zpid/ http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1205-Hodgkiss-St-Pittsburgh-PA-15212/11498993_zpid/ Hearing someone from Pittsburgh affirm that I'm not insane is nice, though
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 00:36 |
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Sockser posted:Dormont is probably my favorite neighborhood in Pittsburgh and I'd love to live there. Everything's so nice The median income in Dormont for a family is $38K. The median in the city is $32K. That's why the houses are so cheap. As a young single guy, none of those places are bad. I live a four minute drive away from that Alton Ave location, and I'll tell you exactly why it's so cheap: a lot of Mexican immigrants are moving into Beechview and the older population is terrified of them and selling everything and moving as quickly as they can. I work downtown so I depend on living near the T, but if you're going to be driving to Washington anyway, that Alton location is perfect. Right on Rt. 19.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 00:43 |
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If you see a house for sale down here that's got the HGTV-style stainless appliances, double basin vanity in the bathroom, etc, stay away from it because it's a flipper and the flippers here are lazy as hell and usually don't know what they're doing. The Alton Ave location is pretty clearly a Dead Grandma Special and those are worth looking at.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 00:45 |
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Economic Sinkhole posted:How handy are you? That house likely needs a complete renovation, top to bottom. Built in 1910, it could have all kinds of fun electrical and plumbing issues. Chances are very high that it has some major faults somewhere since that as has the magic words "Property sold in 'as-is' condition." In my area at least, properties are sold with seller disclosures, where the seller lists everything they know that is wrong with the house. If they fail to disclose a problem and it can be proven that they knowingly did not disclose, the seller can be sued. But when its an "as-is" transaction, there is no disclosure. Usually, that means that there are huge problems (structural, foundation, etc.) and they know it. You say "built in 1910" as though that's weird or unusual. They're ALL that old around here, and have all been continuously occupied and upgraded for the century that they've existed. The house I live in right now was built in 1911, and has brand new windows, up-to-date electric, a new sewer line, etc. It's a large duplex that was bought for $90K in 2009.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 00:55 |
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Citizen Tayne posted:You say "built in 1910" as though that's weird or unusual. They're ALL that old around here, and have all been continuously occupied and upgraded for the century that they've existed. Just because they're *all* that way doesn't mean that it's not a bad purchase for someone who doesn't plan to live there forever and wants to "build equity" but will end up putting thousands of dollars into fixing major electrical and plumbing issues, therefore negating the whole point of building equity by spending it and then some on bullshit. Renting isn't always a bad option.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 05:01 |
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Citizen Tayne posted:You say "built in 1910" as though that's weird or unusual. They're ALL that old around here, and have all been continuously occupied and upgraded for the century that they've existed. Every house there has been upgraded since it was built? That's amazing that you have that kind of insight. Around here it's hard to know if a house has been updated until you inspect it. Here, old houses sometimes have remenents of their original construction. But I really don't know the Pitsburgh market as well as you do, so I defer to your superior judgement.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 05:02 |
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I am a homeowner as of this morning. Closing took about an hour and a half. Rolled around on the hardwoods for an hour or so, spent 7 hours transferring minor items from my apartment in my car and taped down as many baseboards for painting as I could. Found a very minor leak in my (knew about prior to closing) copper to galvanized joined plumbing, re-amazed myself at the condition of the foundation in the crawlspace, and made some plans to cut back some tree limbs near the roof and patch a slight tear in the screen door to the dining room. Haven't even moved in a single piece of furniture, and feel like I have a million things to do, but even then it feels like a huge weight is off my shoulders. Can't wait for all the joys and challenges.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 05:08 |
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a shameful boehner posted:I am a homeowner as of this morning. Closing took about an hour and a half. Rolled around on the hardwoods for an hour or so, spent 7 hours transferring minor items from my apartment in my car and taped down as many baseboards for painting as I could. Found a very minor leak in my (knew about prior to closing) copper to galvanized joined plumbing, re-amazed myself at the condition of the foundation in the crawlspace, and made some plans to cut back some tree limbs near the roof and patch a slight tear in the screen door to the dining room. new house buddy. We've had it for a week now and moved most stuff in last Friday, but my wife hasn't really been home at all so we're not nearly as unpacked as we'd like to be. I've spent most of my time doing minor poo poo like trimming trees that were blocking the view, replacing dimmer switches with ones that don't suck, putting smoke detectors in, replacing bulbs with leds, drilling a hole for the dehumidifer hose, etc etc etc etc. It seems like a never-ending procession of minor tasks, but I'm still in the honeymoon phase with the house and enjoying them. Cooked the first real meal in the kitchen last night, so it finally started to feel like home a bit.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 14:58 |
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shortspecialbus posted:Just because they're *all* that way doesn't mean that it's not a bad purchase for someone who doesn't plan to live there forever and wants to "build equity" but will end up putting thousands of dollars into fixing major electrical and plumbing issues, therefore negating the whole point of building equity by spending it and then some on bullshit. Renting isn't always a bad option. The houses he listed, for the most part, are a five minute drive from downtown. They're pretty good bets except for the one in 15212, and they're cheap because of scary non-white people, not the condition. Move any one of them three miles south and they're $250K houses in their current condition. Renting in Pittsburgh is a horrible idea if you have the means to buy right now. It's incredibly expensive for the housing stock.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 15:54 |
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Economic Sinkhole posted:Every house there has been upgraded since it was built? That's amazing that you have that kind of insight. Around here it's hard to know if a house has been updated until you inspect it. Here, old houses sometimes have remenents of their original construction. But I really don't know the Pitsburgh market as well as you do, so I defer to your superior judgement. You misspelled "judgment."
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 16:01 |
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If you buy a cheap house the roof and electrical would be my main inspection areas. Leaking roof means tons of rot which is slow as molasses to repair yourself. I bought a $20k trailer on normal neighborhood lot then put $20k in. My bills are same as smaller apartment and interior is nicer after all the work. I gained a ton of time and gas money from it. Also 100 yr old lady across the street is awesome. Gives us wine and rum cake often.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 21:28 |
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Citizen Tayne posted:You misspelled "judgment." Both spellings are perfectly acceptable.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 22:54 |
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Christobevii3 posted:If you buy a cheap house the roof and electrical would be my main inspection areas. Leaking roof means tons of rot which is slow as molasses to repair yourself. A double wide? Assuming you bought the land it sits on too? How old is it?
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# ? Jul 18, 2014 04:22 |
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shortspecialbus posted:replacing bulbs with leds This is an awesome thing to do and is cheaper than people think. Costco sells Feit LEDs for the best price, in MD we have good prices with rebates (3x 40w or 1x 60w for $12, BR/R/PARs for $8.99 1x or 2x depending on size). Home Depot has Cree LEDs for low prices but they aren't as good quality as a Feit or Phillips. The Cree bulbs have a dark spot at the top of the bulb which is noticeable in open fixtures. LEDs can buzz because of a dimmer or fixture but it's quiet and white noise. Loudest buzzes are due to my basement's dimmer and a 100w LED in a table lamp. When we moved in almost every bulb was an old, slow CFL, including plain CFLs instead of BR bulbs in the recessed cans in the basement. The basement went from being dark to needing a dimmer turned down to 80%. Changing the 6x kitchen recessed lights from halogen to LED keeps the room noticeably cooler but Costco carried 45w replacements instead of 50w. Still worth it, even if I replace them because the room is too dark I've only lost about $30.
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# ? Jul 18, 2014 15:55 |
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Man gently caress you Wells Fargo. I'm refinancing, got the payoff letter today, and confirmed: regardless of when you pay off a WF mortgage, they charge you the full month of interest. So if you can't arrange to close your refi on the last day of the month, WF is going to go ahead and just steal money (literally, charge interest on money you have already paid them back for). In my case it's only going to be about 13 days' interest, but that's still like $300.
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# ? Jul 18, 2014 23:57 |
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Leperflesh posted:Man gently caress you Wells Fargo. Your current loan is FHA right? If so, that's actually FHA's requirement, Wells Fargo doesn't have a choice. Captain Windex fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Jul 19, 2014 |
# ? Jul 19, 2014 01:03 |
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Oh. Well, that makes me still be unhappy, but I guess my annoyance was misdirected. FHA
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# ? Jul 19, 2014 01:25 |
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So the wife and I are looking to buy a house because we have wanted to and are now in a position to. Looking in Indio, CA and going with a VA loan. We have 4 pets (3 cats and a dog) and want more, so it makes sense to buy instead of rent. We are looking at $1600/month with HOA fees compared to the $1900+ we are paying now in rent and utilities. You won't be able to talk me or the wife out of buying a home, but please talk me out of having a pool installed. Assuming I had a gas heater I could use the pool year round (still wouldn't use it Nov-Feb, probably). 45ft length fits nicely in our assumed back yard. Probably 10ft wide, 4-8ft deep? We occasionally get earthquakes so that is something we would have to take into account, but I just want to swim...
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# ? Jul 19, 2014 05:37 |
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El Jebus posted:You won't be able to talk me or the wife out of buying a home, but please talk me out of having a pool installed. Assuming I had a gas heater I could use the pool year round (still wouldn't use it Nov-Feb, probably). 45ft length fits nicely in our assumed back yard. Probably 10ft wide, 4-8ft deep? We occasionally get earthquakes so that is something we would have to take into account, but I just want to swim... Did you price that out? Holy poo poo are pools expensive to buy and maintain and repair.
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# ? Jul 19, 2014 05:42 |
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Pools are very big, expensive, time consuming money sinks and are one of the few things that can actually hurt resale value. If you really want a pool get an above ground. It won't be as big or as deep, but you also won't have things like permits and jacked up home insurance rates to be on the hook for either.
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# ? Jul 19, 2014 05:43 |
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^^^^ That is a good point which I hadn't considered. I'll have to just get a membership somewhere. I had considered having to get HOA approval, but who knows what could be buried in the back yard (everything is buried here, power/sewer/water/earthquakes).slap me silly posted:Did you price that out? Holy poo poo are pools expensive to buy and maintain and repair. No, thankfully I haven't. I know what maintenance and repair costs can be having had the pool at our rental (house, not condo/apartment), but I don't have the faintest idea of install. El Jebus fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Jul 19, 2014 |
# ? Jul 19, 2014 05:46 |
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# ? Jun 3, 2024 20:53 |
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In-ground pools are going to be on a lot of buyers' "must not have" lists. Like probably cutting your potential resale market by 50-90% (number made up by me). Cost out what it takes to abandon one properly and tack that on to sales costs I guess. This is what it was like when we were buying. I wound up with an above-ground specifically because a friend had just bought a home a year prior and convinced me that it was the matter of a weekend to take it down on his own and have the metal wall hauled away free for scrap and sell all the mechanicals on craigslist. That is, there was no real risk other than having a 30' octagonal 2.5" trap rock area (we would have put in a gazebo had we ditched the pool). That being said, I've been maintaining it and love it, but still would never have bought with in-ground. I feel like if you're that serious about a pool, install an affordable above-ground. If you enjoy it, in 5-10 years replace it with a huge hole in the ground. Slightly more than going in-ground to start with but by the time you're murdering your resale value or whatever at least you will be in the "gently caress yeah" camp or the "Jesus gently caress not another year of dealing with this" camp. Keep in mind code likely is going to make you put up a multi thousand dollar 6' fence with special latches, and to do it right you're going to be putting in a lot of concrete decking also. Your chance of accidental drowning of your future infants/toddlers also goes skyrockets, as well as the young kids of any friends you have over. Oh, and unless you want your pool to look like that goose pond in National Lampoon Vacation, you're signing up to maintain it every day of every year. Not a huge commitment if you enjoy it (check out troublefreepool.com) but I imagine it would be miserable if you hate it. You can't really "put it on hold." And time, water, and chemicals mean that all your stuff is always wearing out, like your heater and pump and filtration are all going to last 10 years or whatever. Plumbing too, which means nothing with an above-ground, but a lot for an in-ground if you need repairs. Oh, If you have lovely well water, you're going to have to pay to have water trucked in for fill and whenever you mess up too bad with certain chemical parameters. Enjoy your pool (we do ). uwaeve fucked around with this message at 07:25 on Jul 19, 2014 |
# ? Jul 19, 2014 07:16 |