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mastershakeman posted:So the house I'm almost certainly buying has a 30 year old a/c compressor, 25 year old furnace and 15 year old water heater. Is a home warranty going to be useful at all in case these fail the first year (or 2 if I go for that?) Probably not, but that would depend entirely on the terms of the policy. Think about it this way: they wouldn't be in business if they paid out more in repairs than they brought in from premiums. If you can get a policy out of the seller go for it. My realtor made it sound like that's a standard thing in my area.
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Oct 19, 2015 14:47
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mastershakeman posted:So the house I'm almost certainly buying has a 30 year old a/c compressor, 25 year old furnace and 15 year old water heater. Is a home warranty going to be useful at all in case these fail the first year (or 2 if I go for that?) Point out how old that stuff is and the fact they are past their recommended replacement dates and make a lower offer based on the replacement costs.
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Oct 19, 2015 15:11
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Andy Dufresne posted:Probably not, but that would depend entirely on the terms of the policy. Think about it this way: they wouldn't be in business if they paid out more in repairs than they brought in from premiums. ...as a group. Warranties can be cheaper for the individual, it was for my own home.
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Oct 19, 2015 15:13
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If you want a company to come out and put in the cheapest, shittiest replacements possible. Or just make an adjustment to the price based on those and do it yourself.
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Oct 19, 2015 15:19
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Indolent Bastard posted:Point out how old that stuff is and the fact they are past their recommended replacement dates and make a lower offer based on the replacement costs. That's been discussed and it'll kill the deal. The offer is already way under ask. I actually got the warranty fine print and it's pretty much what I expected, where a major repair will result in arbitration. Oh well the money we saved on the offer (that would be paid back over 30 years) can instead be paid year 1! Whee
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Oct 19, 2015 16:30
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No Butt Stuff posted:If you want a company to come out and put in the cheapest, shittiest replacements possible. Or just make an adjustment to the price based on those and do it yourself. Jokes on you, my house is a tract home built in 2005 so it already has the shittiest materials imaginable!
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Oct 19, 2015 16:34
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From my experience, warranty repairs will always be the cheapest possible way to get it running again. We got lucky and on the last month of our warranty that I had no plan on renewing, our ac cropped out, was determined to be a leaky freon line which needed to be replaced but the repair guy the warranty people sent said he couldn't do it so they allowed me to find my own repair guy. Got my wife's cousin's business to come do it, got him paid nicely and all but about $150 of the $1500 job was covered. I decided to follow my gambling advice and not renew the warranty after that, you should always quit when you're ahead.
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Oct 19, 2015 17:14
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Just an update, the deputies came out like 10 minutes after my wife called it in, they felt she was completely justified for calling and even dusted for prints. I guess we'll find out more soon. On another note, I get to pay for a survey because my insane fuckhead bitch neighbor is trying to say that my land (which we've verified via two different plats, the seller, and neighbors) is hers and we can't put a septic system on it because it will cause "erosion" and because "rivers of water come down YOUR HILL!!". Nobody made you put your home at the bottom of a canyon, lady, and I can't stop the rain from flowing. Currently untreated sewage is flowing down to your property, do you want me to fix this loving problem at a cost of $20-25k cash (to me only!) or not?
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Oct 19, 2015 18:43
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Out of all the things that would deter me away from buying a house one where the survey has disputed land boundaries or has use issues would be the worst. I know people who have been in court for 20+ years trying to fight their neighbors they hate over 10% of a loving driveway, it's worse than a messy divorce.
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Oct 19, 2015 22:59
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Nice to see you're making friends! Who would have guessed the condition of the house would actually be your least worry.
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Oct 21, 2015 17:37
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Turns out the ILC will only be $350, and I sent my (ridiculously charismatic and diplomatic) wife down to speak with her. She (my wife) thinks it'll be OK and that the other woman reminds her a lot of her mother - very emotional and quick to fight, but ultimately wants to be a good neighbor. I guess we'll see soon enough.
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Oct 23, 2015 17:38
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I've been planning this year on repainting the house. It's about time, although it doesn't look bad it just isn't quite as bright as it used to be. I got a letter from the HOA this week telling me that I need to repaint my house immediately, and I have 14 days to submit an architecture committee application with my planned paint colors in the approved combinations from the approved palette, else I get fined $50. Do Never Buy in an HOA, which in many places means Do Never Buy.
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Oct 27, 2015 19:29
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...Where do you live? It's getting a little close to winter to be painting a house, isn't it?
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Oct 27, 2015 19:32
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Yeah, most paints won't cure properly if it's under 50° out. I would just troll the poo poo out of them and paint razzle dazzle camouflage in the approved color palette
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Oct 27, 2015 19:57
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OSU_Matthew posted:Yeah, most paints won't cure properly if it's under 50° out. Don't troll HOAs, they have more time on their hands and hatred in their hearts than almost any group on earth, you will lose. I get that you were joking, but seriously, they are THE WORST. The only way to "win" is get on the HOA board, but that won't happen if you are a problem case as they will know why you are trying to get a seat.
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Oct 27, 2015 20:26
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It sucks that you are being negatively affected by the HOA rules. If you don't want to paint right away you can probably just go to a meeting and ask to delay it to the spring or whenever you have planned. The problem is that there are some people who cause problems for their neighbors and the best way to deal with it is uniform enforcement of the mutually agreed upon rules. As long as the HOA is consistent with its enforcement it prevents a lot of unrelated problems because people know the HOA will act when it is necessary.
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Oct 27, 2015 20:54
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I live in AZ. It'll be in the 80's through November, so I can still get some painting done in the next month. Our HOA board cannot be unseated. They've been in place since the neighborhood was built 10 years ago, and we've never had a 10% or better response rate in bi-annual voting to gain a quorum to get rid of them. Last time they had a vote, you could either mail in a ballot or bring it in person to the meeting by the start time. They closed the ballot box 10 minutes before the scheduled meeting start time to lock out some votes. One of the lawyer neighbors is bringing a harassment suit forward against the property management company that the HOA hired, which looks like it's going to be awesome.
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Oct 27, 2015 21:00
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lampey posted:It sucks that you are being negatively affected by the HOA rules. If you don't want to paint right away you can probably just go to a meeting and ask to delay it to the spring or whenever you have planned. The problem is that there are some people who cause problems for their neighbors and the best way to deal with it is uniform enforcement of the mutually agreed upon rules. As long as the HOA is consistent with its enforcement it prevents a lot of unrelated problems because people know the HOA will act when it is necessary. So, do you prefer imperial or metric for your lawn-measuring ruler?
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Oct 27, 2015 21:19
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canyoneer posted:I live in AZ. It'll be in the 80's through November, so I can still get some painting done in the next month. Enjoy your special assessment for the legal fees involved
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Oct 27, 2015 22:18
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Contactors suck. Get everything in writing. We had to rush into a deal with a contract that wasn't appropriately itemized, and now the contractor is trying to pass off bad electrical work he did as part of what I already paid for, not what I owe. I'm getting an inspection and seeing if the electrical stuff has to be fixed (which I think it will). He told me he was using a licensed electrician and turns out his buddy just did the work and bootlegged the outlets instead of installing a proper ground wire. All this happened during the week I was gone at a conference so I don't even have pictures of the work he did inside the walls. Boooooo.
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Oct 27, 2015 22:28
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moana posted:Contactors suck. Get everything in writing. We had to rush into a deal with a contract that wasn't appropriately itemized, and now the contractor is trying to pass off bad electrical work he did as part of what I already paid for, not what I owe. I'm getting an inspection and seeing if the electrical stuff has to be fixed (which I think it will). He told me he was using a licensed electrician and turns out his buddy just did the work and bootlegged the outlets instead of installing a proper ground wire. All this happened during the week I was gone at a conference so I don't even have pictures of the work he did inside the walls. How did you find out it was a bootleg ground?
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Oct 27, 2015 22:44
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moana posted:Contactors suck. Get everything in writing. We had to rush into a deal with a contract that wasn't appropriately itemized, and now the contractor is trying to pass off bad electrical work he did as part of what I already paid for, not what I owe. I'm getting an inspection and seeing if the electrical stuff has to be fixed (which I think it will). He told me he was using a licensed electrician and turns out his buddy just did the work and bootlegged the outlets instead of installing a proper ground wire. All this happened during the week I was gone at a conference so I don't even have pictures of the work he did inside the walls.
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Oct 27, 2015 22:52
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SiGmA_X posted:What do you mean by bootleg ground? I've done a lot of unlicensed electrical work but I always make sure it's NEC compliant... I wouldn't pay a non-licensed guy to do electrical though. I don't know if that is legal, it isn't in many areas - has to be homeowner or licensed electrician. Did your inspector sign off on it? That's all that ultimately matters, that all your permits are signed off on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootleg_ground - not to be an rear end in a top hat with the Wikipedia links, I only recently found out about this and it's weird/interesting
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Oct 27, 2015 23:01
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Radbot posted:How did you find out it was a bootleg ground? Fortunately, I have the email where I tell him that I want the outlets grounded and asking if I should hire the electrician before I left for Florida. He replied no, he had a licensed electrician who would take care of it. And then I come back to this mess. Hopefully we can fix this for less than what I owe him.
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Oct 27, 2015 23:14
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Radbot posted:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootleg_ground - not to be an rear end in a top hat with the Wikipedia links, I only recently found out about this and it's weird/interesting moana posted:Tested all the outlets (after I came back, AFTER the drywall was already back up) and found a bunch that weren't grounded. The friend came over and started futzing with them to "fix it" and we asked him how he was fixing it and that's actually the term he used. The other guy then backpedaled and said that they had put in ground wire for "most of the circuits" just not two of the outlets, and when I asked him who the electrician was he said that they had done it themselves and acted surprised that I'd wanted a ground wire run through the whole house. So now there's unpermitted lovely electrical work in my walls, great. How will you re run proper Romex with the wires up? You can't just chase a single ground though the walls... Any new wiring would have w ground built in, you know, 12/2 or 14/2 is what they should be using unless it's all in conduit and then you can pull a ground, if there is space. Consult the NEC for fill current specs... Jesus, Moana. Of all people, I'm surprised this happened to you.
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Oct 28, 2015 16:07
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WTF is a housing covenant and how do they have powers like HOAs?
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Oct 28, 2015 20:23
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Pryor on Fire posted:WTF is a housing covenant and how do they have powers like HOAs? In most cases it's just an HOA. The rules of an HOA are determined by a set of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) that you agree to when you buy a house. A housing covenant means that there are rules restricting what you can do with your house, and these rules are most often enforced by an HOA board. There are other cases where a former property owner files one or more covenants with the local government. In these cases there is no one to enforce the covenants (no HOA), you basically have to get dragged to court by someone who's upset that you're breaking a covenant. For instance, if a former owner of your plot filed a covenant along the lines of "no fences above 6 feet" and you ignore that, then a neighbor could sue you for violating that covenant. But there's no HOA running around enforcing the rules in this case. QuarkJets fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Oct 28, 2015 |
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Oct 28, 2015 20:34
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SiGmA_X posted:Of all people, I'm surprised this happened to you.
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Oct 28, 2015 20:58
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Hey, look at on the bright side, at least you didn't wake up this morning to a waterfall pouring out of your breaker panel because the previous owners never bothered putting the service entrance in conduit! At least I finally know why there are spots of rust inside the seven year old panel 
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Oct 28, 2015 21:19
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QuarkJets posted:In most cases it's just an HOA. The rules of an HOA are determined by a set of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) that you agree to when you buy a house. A housing covenant means that there are rules restricting what you can do with your house, and these rules are most often enforced by an HOA board. A friend is buying a house where there is no HOA but they have to sign a covenant agreeing to not get a dog. First time I've heard of this, seems bizarre but I guess the old neighbors were all buddies and convinced them to do this. Reading about the history of this is pretty crazy, apparently there were covenants about not selling to black people and whatnot right up until the 90s. loving landowning classes are the worst.
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Oct 28, 2015 21:33
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The place I'm buying is in a neighborhood association that the agent swore didn't have any covenants/restrictions/etc in any way. So I went to the Recorder of Deeds' website and pulled up what was recorded, lo and behold there's a covenant regarding painting the house, no businesses out of the home, etc. Of course my wife thought this was great and it's 'important to have a neighborhood character' while I'm chafing at potentially having someone tell me what to do someday. Oh well
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Oct 28, 2015 21:39
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mastershakeman posted:The place I'm buying is in a neighborhood association that the agent swore didn't have any covenants/restrictions/etc in any way. So I went to the Recorder of Deeds' website and pulled up what was recorded, lo and behold there's a covenant regarding painting the house, no businesses out of the home, etc. Of course my wife thought this was great and it's 'important to have a neighborhood character' while I'm chafing at potentially having someone tell me what to do someday. Oh well Don't do it- any neighborhood with decent character has businesses operating left+right, lawyers, realtors, salons, daycares etc. What if they invent some kind of super-paint that insulates by 5% and you want to try it? HOAs + covenants are the worst.
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Oct 28, 2015 21:59
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Hunt down the original developer's heirs and pay them to get rid of the deed restriction. Possibly have them transfer the deed restiction rights to you so you can have the only free home in the neighborhood.
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Oct 28, 2015 22:06
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We've been in our new house a month now and nothing surprisingly awful has happened, obviously this post will trigger something, but: What are non-obvious things we should consider doing / checking / scheduling, as far as preventing future issues? thanks,
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Oct 29, 2015 00:27
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xiw posted:We've been in our new house a month now and nothing surprisingly awful has happened, obviously this post will trigger something, but: Replace the furnace filter.
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Oct 29, 2015 00:35
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Indolent Bastard posted:Replace the furnace filter. Every 3 months. Make a calendar reminder.
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Oct 29, 2015 00:37
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http://www.realtor.com/welcome/learnwithliz/ I love her
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Oct 29, 2015 01:12
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xiw posted:We've been in our new house a month now and nothing surprisingly awful has happened, obviously this post will trigger something, but: Change the locks or at least rekey them. If you live somewhere hot or cold get window film to prevent heat gain/loss and it can also prevent smash and grab burglaries. It is a good time to paint before you have a lot of furniture and stuff moved in. You can turn off the breakers and check the meter to see if there is anything unexpected drawing power. Caulk any cracks that are letting in outside air and to keep out pests.
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Oct 29, 2015 01:29
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clean the rain gutters check if the garage door needs servicing test your smoke alarms inspect your hot water heater for corrosion or leakage clean the grease trap in your stove hood check for leaks in your sprinkler system and all outside faucets if the house was empty for a while before you moved in, check the plumbing in the crawlspace a few weeks after you move in (that's how we found out there was a huge leak that wasn't there when it was first inspected)
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Oct 29, 2015 06:57
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Drain the water heater, that's something that should be done every six months or at least yearly. Clean out your dryer vent. Also, find your main water shutoff valve and tag it so it's easy to find in an emergency. Don't wanna be hunting for the hidden panel while your house is flooding. Check for deals from your energy providers . Eg, if you have Columbia Gas, they do an energy audit of your whole house for 200$ and your get a free Nest thermostat along with the audit, and they'll give you credits on stuff you can fix to make your house more efficient. Clean your gutters (especially this). Start saving for the inevitable disaster that'll bankrupt you otherwise.
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Oct 29, 2015 12:10
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