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QuarkJets posted:So we're thinking of buying a wine fridge and installing compartments for vegetable storage. The upper racks can have wine I guess, I just want fresh potatoes and garlic You could get a chest freezer and a temperature-controlled switch to set a higher temperature. Apparently they make great fridges for people on limited space/power budgets. The temperature controller linked here goes up to 80F: http://newlifeonahomestead.com/convert-chest-freezer-to-fridge-solar/
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Nov 3, 2015 23:25
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Closed! So, on our as-is two-flat purchase, we've found: * our buying agent checked "microwave" on the purchase agreement, so we were left a really crappy tiny microwave * the tenant moved out at the last minute, the rental unit is filthy, but whatever * accordingly, the alley is full of the tenants crap, waiting to be picked up by the city * we keep stumbling upon window air conditioners in random places, we've so far found three * we found some evidence of historical water damage in the rental unit that both us and our inspector missed, but judging by patchwork on the foundation it's corrected (hopefully) * the seller warned us to leave the faucets running in the winter to prevent the pipes from freezing, but there's currently no water meter so we pay a flat rate regardless of how much water we waste * the attic contains all the original doors which have been removed over the home's 130+ year history, which is awesome All said and done, I guess this is okay? Ask me again in a couple months when I've poured $20,000 into repairs and it still looks like hell.
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Nov 4, 2015 03:02
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Captain Cool posted:You could get a chest freezer and a temperature-controlled switch to set a higher temperature. Apparently they make great fridges for people on limited space/power budgets. My first thought was "minifridge and a temperature controller", and then I went to "chest freezer with a temperature controller", but both of those options are a lot more expensive than just buying a wine fridge. I had always thought of wine fridges as being expensive luxury items, but the low-end models are actually way cheaper than other fridge units when you look at $/volume despite coming with more bells and whistles. Looking at retail prices, we're talking $100 for a cheap wine fridge that is already designed to cool to the desired temperature range vs $200 for a cheap chest freezer for the same volume plus another $50 for a temperature controller that you have to homerig yourself. The only comparable deal that I could find for a chest freezer was $110 on ebay for slightly larger refurb units, but if you're dipping into refurbs then you can definitely go even cheaper on the wine fridge, too.
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Nov 4, 2015 06:10
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Would you guys be nervous about buying a house that has had the foundation piered, (work was done well to my knowledge) but has no warranty on the work?
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Nov 4, 2015 20:30
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Am I the only one who can't get trades people to return calls or follow through? I've called numerous landscaping people, plumbers, junk haulers, chimney sweeps and actually talked to some. Followed up multiple times. Only one person has actually done what they said they would do and shown up. The others I can't even get a return call. Owned homes in two different states and it's the same poo poo.
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Nov 4, 2015 21:52
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Jealous Cow posted:Am I the only one who can't get trades people to return calls or follow through? I've called numerous landscaping people, plumbers, junk haulers, chimney sweeps and actually talked to some. Followed up multiple times. Only one person has actually done what they said they would do and shown up. The others I can't even get a return call. Owned homes in two different states and it's the same poo poo. You are not alone. Apparently they all have lots of work and don't need our business.
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Nov 4, 2015 22:05
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I had that problem. Be prepared for a flood of returned calls when their slow season starts.
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Nov 4, 2015 22:34
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Call them early in the morning, 7-8am.
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Nov 4, 2015 22:42
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Lining up home insurance for a property you don't own is weird. We had questions about the type of construction of walls, roofs, floors, everything and I'm going heck if I know, I've only been inside it a few times and didn't punch a hole in the wall to find out if it's plaster vs drywall
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Nov 4, 2015 23:01
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mastershakeman posted:Lining up home insurance for a property you don't own is weird. We had questions about the type of construction of walls, roofs, floors, everything and I'm going heck if I know, I've only been inside it a few times and didn't punch a hole in the wall to find out if it's plaster vs drywall Yeah, when I insured a 20 year old home they had hardly any questions. 101 year old home? They pretty much wanted to know where the stone for the foundation and wood for the frame was sourced After we closed they sent an inspector out to measure everything, take pictures, check electrical and plumbing. It was annoying. Fun fact: I paid 260. Replacement cost using modern techniques is 445. Replacement cost using period techniques is 770. They let me chose which one I wanted to insure for, the latter being double the price.
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Nov 5, 2015 00:47
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mastershakeman posted:Lining up home insurance for a property you don't own is weird. We had questions about the type of construction of walls, roofs, floors, everything and I'm going heck if I know, I've only been inside it a few times and didn't punch a hole in the wall to find out if it's plaster vs drywall They just want to estimate the replacement cost. You don't necessarily need to insure the mortgage cost of the home, just the replacement cost. There will be a big difference if you live in an expensive area. My condo replacement cost for walls in is $120 a sq ft but it cost $500 a sq ft to buy. Some lenders will try to get you to insure the whole mortgage cost but many states have laws so you are not required to insure more than the real replacement cost.
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Nov 5, 2015 01:30
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Jealous Cow posted:Fun fact: I paid 260. Replacement cost using modern techniques is 445. Replacement cost using period techniques is 770. They let me chose which one I wanted to insure for, the latter being double the price. Well, yeah. You pay a premium in 2015 to get workers out there with metal lunchboxes and handlebar mustaches.
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Nov 5, 2015 01:54
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House we are buying has a rubber roof that's on its last legs over the addition. After a big storm last year it leaked into an upstairs bathroom. The sellers patched the roof but didn't fix the ceiling. We got the sellers to agree to put funds in escrow to pay to fix it, but they don't have the money to fix it until the house sells. Well Chase doesn't like that and doesn't want to underwrite the loan until it's fixed. Do never buy.
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Nov 5, 2015 01:55
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Yeah on a 130 year old house I also got asked all the questions by our insurer, and as we've been cleaning stuff we've discovered that I probably answered some of those questions wrong. Stuff like the walls are probably not plaster but really old drywall with probably a million layers of lead paint, and the hardwood floors are possibly still there under the terrible cheap engineered floors. Also this place is filthy. I think I could probably sell it and make a profit once it's clean.
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Nov 5, 2015 03:00
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minivanmegafun posted:Yeah on a 130 year old house I also got asked all the questions by our insurer, and as we've been cleaning stuff we've discovered that I probably answered some of those questions wrong. Stuff like the walls are probably not plaster but really old drywall with probably a million layers of lead paint, and the hardwood floors are possibly still there under the terrible cheap engineered floors.   I didn't know what real dust looked like till I knocked a hole through 120 year old horsehair plaster and lathe. Still not as bad as cutting up lead painted asbestos shingles to fix the siding around the windows I replaced. Between that and the breaker panel pouring out water the other morning, I'm fairly conceived there's an outsize chance this house will be the death of me. Considering it used to belong to the village mortician, it's only appropriate I guess. Do never buy.
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Nov 5, 2015 04:44
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Jealous Cow posted:Am I the only one who can't get trades people to return calls or follow through? I've called numerous landscaping people, plumbers, junk haulers, chimney sweeps and actually talked to some. Followed up multiple times. Only one person has actually done what they said they would do and shown up. The others I can't even get a return call. Owned homes in two different states and it's the same poo poo. Yep, a lot of tradespeople seem to feel that it's cool only to take on customers they feel are going to make them the (large) profit they want, and drive away the rest by being dicks. Which I can understand, but most of them don't seem to have the guts to tell you this directly. Couple months ago trying to find a contractor to put up no-frills ceiling in our garage: first place we called, they sent out a guy who looked around, acted disappointed that we didn't want to remodel the entire garage, and made some snarky comments about non-standard light fixtures (don't know what to tell you, bro, we didn't build the drat place), then left. Never got an estimate back, or any other communication at all. Same idea with another 4 or 5 non-responses/no-shows/brush-offs/etc., (only one of which had the decency to actually say "Sorry, the job's too small") before we finally found a guy that was more interested in actually working than maximizing profits - and who will be getting our business when we do actually have a big $$$$ job. Deathwing fucked around with this message at 14:28 on Nov 5, 2015 |
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Nov 5, 2015 13:23
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We made an offer on a short sale about two months ago, and the bank accepted on Friday. We wanted to make sure and do the inspection before the utilities were shut off, so we scheduled it for Wednesday. As I was getting into my car to go to the house for the walk-through, I see a text from our agent. The bank had a miscommunication and changed the locks (leaving no new keybox) and turned off the utilities. We did not know this until the inspector was on the property trying to do his job. Now we have to wait for all that to be undone for the inspection (and then they will likely redo it because of the colder weather). Is this normal?
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Nov 6, 2015 00:29
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Bank-owned properties? Yeah. The bank owns a bunch, and they are not well-organized or responsive and tend to just do things. More broadly, miscommunications and fuckups are totally standard operating procedure for real estate, because of all these well-paid but disinterested middlemen, paper-pushers, and leeches that suck thousands of dollars out of the process.
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Nov 6, 2015 00:44
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AGirlWonder posted:We made an offer on a short sale about two months ago, and the bank accepted on Friday. We wanted to make sure and do the inspection before the utilities were shut off, so we scheduled it for Wednesday. As I was getting into my car to go to the house for the walk-through, I see a text from our agent. The bank had a miscommunication and changed the locks (leaving no new keybox) and turned off the utilities. We did not know this until the inspector was on the property trying to do his job. Now we have to wait for all that to be undone for the inspection (and then they will likely redo it because of the colder weather). Real estate transactions aren't exactly known for good communication or customer service, more so when it's bank owned. Be glad it's not a water shutoff in February.
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Nov 6, 2015 03:38
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Captain Windex posted:
Finally made it to the end of a very long road and we close on Tuesday.  The loan is finalized, all that's left is to close and move all the money around. When can I apply for financing to buy my drat aircraft carrier? The previous owner decided it would be a good idea to install blue carpet, green tiles, and bright pink/yellow/orange/red paint everywhere, so I need to apply for financing for new floors ASAP.
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Nov 7, 2015 21:49
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DO NOT OPEN NEW ACCOUNTS OR MAKE ANY MAJOR PURCHASES WHILE THE LOAN IS IN PROCESS, PARTICULARLY IF YOUR DTI RATIOS ARE HIGH
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Any time after your loan funds are disbursed is fine. You can apply before hand as well, but you'll run the risk that your lender repulls your credit, sees the inquiry and asks what's up. It probably wouldn't kill the deal unless you've got a borderline qualification situation, but it might hold up your closing due to the bank then wanting to verify the payment for the debt to requalify.
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Nov 7, 2015 22:54
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Deathwing posted:Yep, a lot of tradespeople seem to feel that it's cool only to take on customers they feel are going to make them the (large) profit they want, and drive away the rest by being dicks. Which I can understand, but most of them don't seem to have the guts to tell you this directly. They have nothing to lose by keeping things open ended with you while continuing to prioritize bigger jobs, and nothing to gain by spending time and effort corresponding with you when they could quite literally be working on jobs instead.
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Nov 7, 2015 22:57
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:They have nothing to lose by keeping things open ended with you while continuing to prioritize bigger jobs, and nothing to gain by spending time and effort corresponding with you when they could quite literally be working on jobs instead. Yeah, I get why it happens, I just think it's a lousy way to operate - in my experience so far, it hasn't been so much "keeping things open-ended" as it has been "Make empty promises, don't return phone calls, and generally act like a dick". But, I admit that my opinion may be colored by the fact that I work in a position where I have to deal with (almost) everyone who wants my services whether I like it or not. It *was* theraputic to laugh at a guy that promised me a same-day callback and instead waited 4 days to try calling me on the drive home 
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Nov 7, 2015 23:39
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Deathwing posted:Yeah, I get why it happens, I just think it's a lousy way to operate - in my experience so far, it hasn't been so much "keeping things open-ended" as it has been "Make empty promises, don't return phone calls, and generally act like a dick". A good contractor is worth paying extra. If find a good one and maintain a relationship with him/her, you'll get taken care of. The guy who flipped the house we bought is good. He did a good job with the house, and we stayed in touch and have had him do a couple other things for us. His quotes come in ~10% higher than others, but knowing that he does good work on a reasonable timeline is worth it. Plus, when we build our forever house, we'll go to him first and he knows it.
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Nov 8, 2015 01:31
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Just got my initial mortgage application paperwork back... credit union decided to list all the car and student loans twice... doubling what they think our monthly payment towards loans is. Off to a good start!
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Nov 8, 2015 02:04
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Dik Hz posted:A good contractor is worth paying extra. If find a good one and maintain a relationship with him/her, you'll get taken care of. Yup, thankfully did in the end, and we have, so far He's done about $2000 worth of good quality work for us so far, very responsive, polite, etc. Hopefully he doesn't decide to move anytime soon :p
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Nov 8, 2015 03:46
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Ghostnuke posted:Would you guys be nervous about buying a house that has had the foundation piered, (work was done well to my knowledge) but has no warranty on the work? Was it done over 10 years ago or is the warranty not transferable? If the company that did the work is still in business I would probably be ok as that would be an indication they did things right, are capable of being insured. Worst case is you have to have the work redone right? Assuming the entire building doesn't collapse.
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Nov 9, 2015 19:41
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Elephanthead posted:Was it done over 10 years ago or is the warranty not transferable? If the company that did the work is still in business I would probably be ok as that would be an indication they did things right, are capable of being insured. Worst case is you have to have the work redone right? Assuming the entire building doesn't collapse. Work was done between 2 and 3 years ago, when the house was last sold. The (then) new owner didn't respond to the company in time to transfer the warranty, and now the company refuses to offer one. They are coming back out to remeasure and make sure nothing has moved.
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Nov 9, 2015 19:47
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In my area (North Texas) a lot of buyers completely avoid houses with foundation issues on the disclosure. At a minimum you've got a smaller market which should lower the price. My realtor told me that a lot of them end up as investor flips and rental houses.
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Nov 9, 2015 20:17
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Captain Windex posted:Any time after your loan funds are disbursed is fine. You can apply before hand as well, but you'll run the risk that your lender repulls your credit, sees the inquiry and asks what's up. It probably wouldn't kill the deal unless you've got a borderline qualification situation, but it might hold up your closing due to the bank then wanting to verify the payment for the debt to requalify. Ah nuts. Well, on a related topic, can anyone recommend a good personal loan lender for home improvements? I've heard good things about Lightstream, even though it sounds like an RV manufacturer and not a bank. I also can't find a good online calculator that will estimate approximately how big of a loan I'm likely to get approved for. We are getting a big windfall in January, so this is just a stopgap solution, and the process is puzzling.
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Nov 9, 2015 23:24
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I use Lightstream for my car loan. They're pretty good.
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Nov 9, 2015 23:55
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TheNinjaScotsman posted:Ah nuts. Well, on a related topic, can anyone recommend a good personal loan lender for home improvements? I've heard good things about Lightstream, even though it sounds like an RV manufacturer and not a bank. I also can't find a good online calculator that will estimate approximately how big of a loan I'm likely to get approved for. We are getting a big windfall in January, so this is just a stopgap solution, and the process is puzzling. I don't want to get on a high horse here, but taking out a personal loan to remodel instead of waiting 2 months for your windfall is an awful financial decision. What is the rush? Save money, then spend it.
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Nov 10, 2015 01:14
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Well two things our inspector said were on their last legs lasted less than a week. Garage door got jammed half-way after only about 5 open/close cycles, though I found an awesome guy on the first try to fix it, and only cost me about $140. Works better than it ever has, and he managed to make the lovely DIY job the previous homeowner look like it might make it a few years. Wall furnace in one of the apartments won't even flow gas to fire up the pilot light. Our inspector couldn't get it to light either when he was through. Furnace guy I've worked with in the past flaked out on me, so I'm just hoping I can find someone before it gets cold enough to worry about the pipes freezing. Do never buy.
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Nov 10, 2015 04:27
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ETB posted:I use Lightstream for my car loan. They're pretty good. Thanks! Andy Dufresne posted:I don't want to get on a high horse here, but taking out a personal loan to remodel instead of waiting 2 months for your windfall is an awful financial decision. What is the rush? Save money, then spend it. Because the remodel includes replacing every square foot of the floors, which needs to happen before we move in because they're a health hazard. The alternative seems to be continuing to pay rent + mortgage for a few more months until we can pay for the new floors outright, which seems more expensive than financing a loan for the same amount of time.
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Nov 10, 2015 07:01
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Man house buying is stressful. We've been holding for 3 months now on our place while the vendor's solicitor dicks around, purportedly something to do with a missing document from the Land Registry which they insisted they were getting any day now for the past month (why they only applied for it a month ago when they've needed it from the start I've no idea). And now it still hasn't shown up and they've finally agreed to provide indemnity insurance up to the value of the house.. which my solicitor asked them for 2 months ago. I don't even know what the document is or refers to and finding out seems to be harder than it should be. Are all solicitors this way is it a UK thing?
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Nov 10, 2015 10:52
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TheNinjaScotsman posted:Because the remodel includes replacing every square foot of the floors, which needs to happen before we move in because they're a health hazard. The alternative seems to be continuing to pay rent + mortgage for a few more months until we can pay for the new floors outright, which seems more expensive than financing a loan for the same amount of time. What makes them a health hazard? I bought in March and my flooring is being installed in 2 days. I can attest that it absolutely sucks to have to move everything into the garage but it's not a big deal.
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Nov 10, 2015 15:14
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Sanding and staining wood floors is no fun to be or live around. If you're doing a proper urethane you probably don't want to be inhaling those fumes longer than you have to.
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Nov 10, 2015 15:19
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minivanmegafun posted:Sanding and staining wood floors is no fun to be or live around. If you're doing a proper urethane you probably don't want to be inhaling those fumes longer than you have to. Also ideally you shouldn't put things on the floors for awhile so they can fully cure.
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Nov 10, 2015 16:02
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This isn't my personal property but my new landlord's personal home. I thought it was too good not to share" posted:I have a situation here with a humongous oak tree (300-500 years old, 5 story building tall) that broke into two section one of which fell into my property, tore down fences, plants, PG&E wires that started smoldering, I had to call firemen, tree experts (the rest of the oak still hanging over my property), insurance company, most of the oak ended up in my swimming pool, etc. And the situation is complicated by the fact that the tree sits on neighbor's property, he was not co-operative when it happened (a week ago) thinking that city or county (who have easement there) would assist (which did not happen, of course) and so finally yesterday he had a (not English speaking) "company" remove the rest of the oak and it was another disaster: upper part of my property looks now like an airplane crashed here. Now, the neighbor doesn't want to use insurance companies fearing his would cancel his policy after this claim (as he had problem getting any company to cover his property) and at the same time shows an attitude like nothing happened and I can fix all (for free). This is a major headache - I don't want to start any war with my neighbor and I don't have money to swallow the cost (that could be easily covered by insurance companies). Do never buy.
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Nov 10, 2015 16:46
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Andy Dufresne posted:What makes them a health hazard? I bought in March and my flooring is being installed in 2 days. I can attest that it absolutely sucks to have to move everything into the garage but it's not a big deal. The house has wall to wall carpeting, and the previous owner had a lot of animals. I have asthma that is triggered by pet dander, so I currently can't spend more than a few minutes in the house without having an asthma attack. This morning we are closing on pet dander death house. Of course Veterans Day has hosed the schedule and now we won't get the keys until Thursday or even Friday. 
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Nov 10, 2015 17:19
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