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Dazzleberries posted:Here's the grand champion of that strategy then. That is so loving cool.
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Feb 4, 2015 22:29
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gvibes posted:We were looking for like 9 months, and only found three that were good enough for a showing, and one for an offer. House hunting isn't fun when you're super picky. Even if it wasn't shag carpet, if the carpet is actually from the 90s it probably should have been replaced once twice already. Carpet is not a 25 year floor covering. slap me silly posted:It's worse - my kitchen has tile counters. Nice wood floors though! I feel the same about laminate as I do about carpet. I know someone who, in the year 2013, took out perfectly serviceable (if boring) laminate kitchen countertops and did a hideous DIY tile countertop with, 12 inch floor tiles and big ugly wide grout lines. 
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Feb 4, 2015 23:20
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canyoneer posted:Even if it wasn't shag carpet, if the carpet is actually from the 90s it probably should have been replaced once twice already. Carpet is not a 25 year floor covering. Ugh, tile countertops! We replaced the lovely laminate in our kitchen with (nicer) laminate when we moved in, and I already wish we'd done actual wood floors. The budget just wasn't there, considering we had to re-floor the entire upper level, and finish off a chunk of the lower level. Plus buy all the appliances, patch and paint all the walls, and replace the broken subfloor we found in one bedroom while ripping up the lovely laminate floor that was there when we bought the house 
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Feb 5, 2015 01:00
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daslog posted:Just thought I would share this listing that my friend sent me. I would be delighted to own that house. Open concept is big right now, it's easy as piss to tear up carpet and deal with old wallpaper, and that house looks really clean, has amazing views, and is enormous. The kitchen is tucked into a smallish space but there's room to expand it if you want, or put in an island or bar area past the fridge on the right side to expand it if you want. If there's no hardwood beneath that carpet, it's probably more cost effective to sell it as-is than to pay to replace it with something some buyers won't want anyway; some buyers will want to put in hardwood or laminate or bamboo or tile and some will want some specific color of carpet, so only a small number will be willing to pay enough more to cover what you spent replacing it with whatever you picked.
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Feb 5, 2015 01:11
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Dazzleberries posted:Here's the grand champion of that strategy then. Looks less dated than what I just bought. I really like it.
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Feb 5, 2015 02:09
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gvibes posted:We were looking for like 9 months, and only found three that were good enough for a showing, and one for an offer. House hunting isn't fun when you're super picky. Out of curiosity, where'd you end up? You're in the chicagoland region right? My wife really wants to buy on the north shore and I have no idea how we're ever going to afford it :I
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Feb 5, 2015 02:22
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blarzgh posted:That is so loving cool. Unironically cool.
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Feb 5, 2015 03:52
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powderific posted:It's weird to me that most house chat in this thread is about 30 y/o or newer homes. In my city I'd have a very hard time finding a home newer than 70 years old or so in the areas I'd actually want to live, with most stuff being in more the 90+ range. I think most houses are on the new side. I bought an 80 year old house this year. It's great, but that's because I like old stuff and don't mind that it's not perfect. Keeping really old houses up to people's new house standards is often prohibitively expensive. So far it reminds me of owning old cars. You have to be willing to get your hands dirty and pay attention to maintenance. In the end, the pay off is usually having something more unique, historic, and...welll...cool . I like that kind of stuff, so it works for me. I can easily see how owning an old house wouldn't be everyone's bag. It's like the polar opposite of having a condo.
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Feb 5, 2015 04:00
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Jimmy James posted:Unironically cool. yeah, seriously. I love that house.
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Feb 5, 2015 04:53
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Average housing age varies dramatically by region: http://eyeonhousing.org/2014/02/the-age-of-the-housing-stock-by-state/
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Feb 5, 2015 05:09
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LemonDrizzle posted:I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would reject a house on the grounds of its interior decor given that it's not especially hard, expensive, or time-consuming to redo. Worry about the things you can't easily change/fix like size, layout, structural integrity, and location. A lot of damage of time gets caught by doing updates. Think of how many people go to redo a shower/tub and find water or termite damage. Now imagine going 50 years without doing any updating and lucking out with not finding any of that. If so, go play the lottery.
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Feb 5, 2015 13:58
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The flip side is that a lot of "improvements" are poorly planned and executed.
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Feb 5, 2015 16:53
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powderific posted:It's weird to me that most house chat in this thread is about 30 y/o or newer homes. In my city I'd have a very hard time finding a home newer than 70 years old or so in the areas I'd actually want to live, with most stuff being in more the 90+ range. A lot of loving houses have been built in the last 30 years, like way more than in the previous 30 years.
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Feb 7, 2015 21:06
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Here in the midwest we abandon neighborhoods rather than maintaining them. Land is cheap and plentiful. It allows us to let cities run up huge debts then we just move to a new city rather than pay them. The poorest fill in the space since they don't have enough income to worry about debt service besides payday loan inc..
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Feb 7, 2015 21:22
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Is your ideal mortgage cost or whatever supposed to be based off of your take home pay, or your gross income? Out here in Los Angeles, the percentage seems to be 36% for debt to income ratio, but that's literally half of my take home pay...do people actually pay 50% of their net pay towards a house? That sounds insane to me.
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Feb 8, 2015 00:36
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RaoulDuke12 posted:Is your ideal mortgage cost or whatever supposed to be based off of your take home pay, or your gross income? From an article I was reading today about people leaving LA county for the Inland Empire, about 30% of people in LA are paying more than half their take home pay for housing. Yes, it is insane.
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Feb 8, 2015 00:50
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RaoulDuke12 posted:Is your ideal mortgage cost or whatever supposed to be based off of your take home pay, or your gross income? Ideal is definitely the wrong word choice, but it is generally computed against gross pay.
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Feb 8, 2015 01:13
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I've known people who spend 3/4 of their take home on rent/mortgage. They're insane but they think it's normal and we're probably both right. It's basically what led to the mortgage crisis but no one's learned anything.
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Feb 8, 2015 01:18
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It is easier to live on just half your takehome pay when your takehome pay is $150k, though. So that number is really more about how you prioritise the standard of living you can afford with the remainder, vs the compromise you'll make in lowering your housing cost. Which is why those "rule of thumb" estimates are fairly useless. The bank uses it to determine risk of default; as an individual or family setting a budget, you should make decisions based on your particular costs, plans, and priorities.
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Feb 8, 2015 02:42
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Yeah if I doubled my salary I could more than double the mortgage I pay and still have more pocket money at the end of the month. 36% of gross or whatever it is these days doesn't necessarily apply to the top quintile of earners.
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Feb 8, 2015 02:57
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Leperflesh posted:It is easier to live on just half your takehome pay when your takehome pay is $150k, though. So that number is really more about how you prioritise the standard of living you can afford with the remainder, vs the compromise you'll make in lowering your housing cost. Gotcha, that makes sense I guess. I mean I guess I could buy an $850k home but $5k/month in house-related payments and a $160k down payment just seems a little ridiculous for me to justify. And yes, real estate out here is absolutely retarded. It's almost not worth buying, the property tax alone on a decent property could get you a really nice home in 98% of the rest of the country.
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Feb 8, 2015 03:15
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While shopping for home insurance, Allstate told me that the home owner had a claim in 2013 for water damage. This seems like something Allstate shouldn't have told me, but I've asked my lawyer to ask their lawyer about it.
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Feb 8, 2015 04:46
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Elephanthead posted:Here in the midwest we abandon neighborhoods rather than maintaining them. Land is cheap and plentiful. It allows us to let cities run up huge debts then we just move to a new city rather than pay them. The poorest fill in the space since they don't have enough income to worry about debt service besides payday loan inc.. This is really hosed up but neatly answers so many questions I had about how things are done in the USA.
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Feb 8, 2015 04:59
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Citizen Tayne posted:This is really hosed up but neatly answers so many questions I had about how things are done in the USA. It is nonsense and not right. The midwesterners aren't some kind of debt nomad people.
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Feb 8, 2015 05:50
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Bozart posted:It is nonsense and not right. The midwesterners aren't some kind of debt nomad people. He's actually 100% right. It neatly explains American suburbanization at the cost of deurbanization while also covering cultural rootlessness as an American ideal along the way.
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Feb 8, 2015 09:54
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Citizen Tayne posted:He's actually 100% right. It neatly explains American suburbanization at the cost of deurbanization while also covering cultural rootlessness as an American ideal along the way.
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Feb 8, 2015 13:45
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Dik Hz posted:You do realize that the suburbanization trend is reversing, and that Americans, and especially Midwesterners, strongly identify culturally with the places they grow up, right? Elephanthead was making a tongue-in-cheek comment about Detroit, which in no way represents the rest of the Midwest (unless you count Milwaukee). Reversing seventy years of lovely decisions doesn't happen overnight.
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Feb 8, 2015 21:02
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Citizen Tayne posted:Reversing seventy years of lovely decisions doesn't happen overnight.
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Feb 8, 2015 21:31
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Enough, enough, this is more the people-who-might-buy houses thread, not the sociophilosophy-of-housing thread
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Feb 8, 2015 21:35
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Hey so my lender is doing a refi and right in the middle of it Obongo dropped the FHA mortgage insurance rate. My lender is saying they had to generate a new case number and blah blah and the FHA hasn't done it yet? Is there literally a room of little old ladies generating case numbers that is backlogged because of the mortgage insurance drop or is my bank giving me the runaround? I really really hated this part of housebuying, and am ready to be done already. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Feb 9, 2015 22:15
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Potential first time home buyer checking in. I had planned for quite some time to buy a home this Fall but my apartment is dicking my rates for a 6 month lease extension so I'm considering just buying now. The challenge is that I would need to close and move by April 20th because I'm going to be out of the country for roughly a month after that. My lease is up April 26. I'm 30, perfect credit, no debt, and will probably qualify for a 400k-ish loan. I'd like to look at properties around $250k and put 20% down. I've got $33k in cash and would make up the 20% + closing costs through a 401k loan. I put a lot into my 401k so the loan won't really dent it. At this point I guess I'm just wondering if my timeline is realistic enough to get a lender and an agent. I'm also speculating that it would be better to buy now with guaranteed low interest rates. A lot of companies are relocating to and hiring in the area I'm looking at (north Dallas/Plano) and I expect that both mortgage rates and home prices will be up if I try again in 6 months.
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Feb 9, 2015 23:49
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Rushing to find a house is the worst possible way to buy. You will feel pressured to buy something, anything, by whatever your drop-dead date is. Conventional wisdom is that you should plan to spend 5-7 years in your house before selling in order to break even on transaction costs. Do you want to rush in to a decision that involves a quarter of a million of your dollars and 7 years of your life? Consider just switching to a month-to-month lease once your current lease is up and start looking at houses today. Plan on doing the month-to-month thing but look earnestly. If you find something, great. If not, it's cool because you have a lease that you can leave at any time. With that kind of plan you can take your time to make this very large decision. Technically, your timeline could work. You can probably find a lender that will close in 30 days. There's all kinds of reasons that your closing date can be pushed out though (see the thread title).
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Feb 10, 2015 00:04
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I'd also be pretty nervous about leaving the house unoccupied immediately after moving in, as well.
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Feb 10, 2015 00:09
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Are you single? If so, live like a bachelor for a few weeks/months. Put all your stuff in a storage unit. Craigslist "temporary/sublet" is a great way. You're in a city with a university, over the summer there are a zillion bedrooms for rent. Alternately, temp/sublet usually has people who are on the tail end of their leases and need to move out, but want someone to take over the last 3-4 months of their apartment lease at the non-ridiculous rate. I have moved into an apartment like that, and I've used a lease-transfer to get out of an apartment the same way.
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Feb 10, 2015 00:20
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canyoneer posted:Are you single? If so, live like a bachelor for a few weeks/months. Put all your stuff in a storage unit. Craigslist "temporary/sublet" is a great way. You're in a city with a university, over the summer there are a zillion bedrooms for rent. The problem with that is coming home from Europe and not having a bed to sleep in  .The month-to-month rate on my current place is $1450, 6-month is $1260, year is $1140. I'm not going to move twice if I can avoid it so it looks like I'll sign a lease ending in October. I'm hesitant to start looking now if I'm signing the lease because it seems like that's way too long to keep everyone on the hook. I would want to start looking in what, June? for an October move.
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Feb 10, 2015 00:33
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Andy Dufresne posted:The problem with that is coming home from Europe and not having a bed to sleep in
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Feb 10, 2015 00:38
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You can also potentially put your stuff in a storage locker and stay at an extended stay hotel. More expensive than the craigslist bachelor life, but it can still be pretty affordable. edit: And of course, subletting. I moved out around halfway through my lease but only ended up paying for about 3 days that I wasn't inhabiting it.
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Feb 10, 2015 00:45
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Andy Dufresne posted:Potential first time home buyer checking in. I had planned for quite some time to buy a home this Fall but my apartment is dicking my rates for a 6 month lease extension so I'm considering just buying now. The challenge is that I would need to close and move by April 20th because I'm going to be out of the country for roughly a month after that. My lease is up April 26. You are missing the cash you will need after buying a house imo, unless you are willing and able to continue bleeding your 401k. How much of the thread have you read?
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Feb 10, 2015 00:49
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Dik Hz posted:Dumb question, but have you tried negotiating with your landlord? Units are easiest to fill in August/September, so they may be willing to cut you a break on a 4-month or even month-to-month lease. If you're a good tenant, you have a strong position to negotiate from. Thanks, I haven't tried this yet but I want to. I am kind of worried that the local leasing agents' hands will be tied because it's a very corporate property. uwaeve posted:You are missing the cash you will need after buying a house imo, unless you are willing and able to continue bleeding your 401k. How much of the thread have you read? I don't want to get too finely into my financial details, but I am cash poor because my 401k contribution has been abnormally high. I'm not going to bleed it dry. Andy Dufresne fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Feb 10, 2015 |
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Feb 10, 2015 00:58
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Has anyone ever bought a condo with an impending special assessment for roof repairs? I understand you could negotiate with the seller to put a large amount of the sale price into escrow to cover the assessment but everything about this screams run away.
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Feb 10, 2015 01:11
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