|
Sits on Pilster posted:Hey there 30-year fixed @ 3.375 buddy. Now let's just hope the bubble keeps inflating for a few more years. I'd be happier with a nice stable cooling of the market.
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 03:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 8, 2024 20:25 |
|
|
yeah, there's no reason for an average home (3br 2ba 1961 built) here in denver to have gone up ~90,000 in value in 2 1/2 years. i know lots of people are coming here specifically for the legal weed and outdoor ski culture poo poo, but that's unsustainably fast appreciation and makes me think we're headed for another crash sooner rather than later. if Sessions starts coming in and shutting down the legal weed industry then fuckin lol forever, the state's economy would collapse i felt lucky when i got htis place too, my 1br apartment rent went from 765->1250 from 2009-2013 and i just said lol gently caress renting and figured out a down. i'm probably going to be here forever though i seriously doubt we'll ever see 3.375% on a mortgage again
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 05:55
|
|
|
Low interest rates push house prices up. I've love to pay those exceedingly low interest rates though. The rates in NZ are 4.5%-6% with short fixed terms mostly 1-3 years. In Auckland prices are up an insane amount. The region I live in house prices are up an average of $100k and in 2.5 years my house has increased in value by at least $170k. It's pretty crazy right now.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 06:08
|
|
|
There is also a demographic press. This is a chart of USA population by age and sex as of July 2015.  We're used to thinking of the Baby Boomers as this big bulge in the US population, but as you can see, there's a huge group of Americans who are now about 25 years old, a sort of new "mini-boom" of Gen Ys and Millenials. And look at the section of the chart for 25-40 year olds. It's a widening wedge. That represents a growing segment of the population in their main first-house-buying years. We've just passed a period of 3 decades where the group of Americans doing their first home buying was shrinking - the contraction is seen in the general inward slope on this chart between the 55s and the 45s. So... it's not a huge effect, but in addition to the general growth of the US population, which drives increasing housing demand, there's also a demographic shift in the last decade that is going to continue, and get worse, of a larger proportion of the US population being of the age when they try to buy their first house (if they can buy a house). Lots of those 25-year-olds are still living with their parents but getting ready to move out, too. And even the ones that don't buy a house, still put pressure on the overall housing market, because homebuyers are competing with landlords and investors over a lot of similar inventory. The one additional thing was the housing crisis in 2007/8. For four or five years during and after, new home starts all but stopped completely, nationwide. But the population continued to grow, and that put serious upward pressure on both home prices and rents. Now, home construction is chugging along nicely, but in the major urban centers it's still lagging behind demand, and that's why prices keep rising. A bubble is driven by speculation - it pops when speculators lose confidence, bail, and there isn't enough non-speculator demand to prop up prices. Instead of the soft, slow fall of a market gradually shifting in supply/demand balance, it's a sudden drop. The 2008 housing bubble pop was driven by speculators bailing - not just the blatant speculators (home flippers, foreign investors, etc.) but a lot of people who didn't know they were speculating - folks with crazy balloon ARMs, liar loans, etc. and folks who found themselves in default as soon as they lost a job, even for just a month or two. You can classify those people as speculators because - despite their intentions - they were gambling on prices rising rapidly, and in no financial position to deal with even a modest fall in price. I think what we have today is mostly not a bubble. There are definitely investors speculating, there always are, but: employment is very high, the liar loans are all but gone, interest rates are so low that nobody in the last 8 years has needed or wanted a crazy balloon ARM, and of course, the federal government also took steps to force the banks to maintain larger margins of error (essentially to recapitalize and disallow as severe leveraging behavior as was permitted before). So prices aren't guaranteed to keep rising. But I think they're very unlikely to suddenly fall by a lot. In the most desirable cities where the prices are rising the fastest, a recession and rise in unemployment would soften the market, and prices might even fall for a few years. But not by 30% or higher like we saw in 2008. Rising interest rates if there is no recession (the FED will not raise rates during an actual recession) should also soften the market somewhat, but again, I do not think by a great deal. The demographic forces at work are too strong. America needs millions more homes, mostly in the most desirable cities where employment is strong and wages rising the fastest, and even if we have a serious correction and recession in the next few years, there will be no foreclosure crisis, no huge price drop, and no major banks will be in danger of folding.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 08:31
|
|
|
So Home Depot has a daily flash sale, today they are selling grills. Not much of a discount, but the Weber genesis is $100 off.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 15:17
|
|
|
Sits on Pilster posted:Hey there 30-year fixed @ 3.375 buddy. Now let's just hope the bubble keeps inflating for a few more years. Checking in  Got mine in last May and there's no way that I'll be refinancing any time soon.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 15:29
|
|
|
So what you're saying is that I'm never going to be able to buy a house in metro Boston. Good to know, I guess.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 15:33
|
|
|
brugroffil posted:dual-zone smoking on my weber genesis owns I have nothing to add other than I used to work at the data center that hosts (hosted?) this site. The admin's email address was "ribguy@amazingribs.com" and seeing it in a trouble ticket always brought a smile to my face as an image of rib kid danced in my head.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 16:58
|
|
|
I bought a house last year and I still haven't gotten around to replacing the 13 year old smoke detectors (partially because a 6 months in I got laid off). Now that I'm back working and things have settled down I'd like to actually rectify this situation. I'm looking at getting addressable smoke alarms because my house is quite large (5600 sqft between 3 floors plus an attached garage) and I'm told that with larger houses getting addressable smoke alarms is a good idea. Does anyone have any familiarity with these? I assume I'm going to need an alarm panel to relay the addressable smokes back to the fire station (which we have an alarm panel that came with the house, but I haven't yet gotten it set up in my name). Do I need to get the correct smoke alarms to pair with my alarm panel or are they all pretty much standard? I'm planning on just hiring someone and I assume this is something an electrician can do.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 19:57
|
|
|
Steampunk Hitler posted:I bought a house last year and I still haven't gotten around to replacing the 13 year old smoke detectors (partially because a 6 months in I got laid off). Now that I'm back working and things have settled down I'd like to actually rectify this situation. I'm looking at getting addressable smoke alarms because my house is quite large (5600 sqft between 3 floors plus an attached garage) and I'm told that with larger houses getting addressable smoke alarms is a good idea. Does anyone have any familiarity with these? I assume I'm going to need an alarm panel to relay the addressable smokes back to the fire station (which we have an alarm panel that came with the house, but I haven't yet gotten it set up in my name). Do I need to get the correct smoke alarms to pair with my alarm panel or are they all pretty much standard? https://smile.amazon.com/Nest-Prote...nest+fire+alarm
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 20:27
|
|
|
Nest is not universally acclaimed. There is or used to be a thread around here somewhere - maybe in DIY? - with a former fire marshal and some other guys who could go into detail about the pros and cons of different systems. Ah, right, here it is: Don't let your house burn down: fire protection and detection thread. Nobody has posted in it for two years but it hasn't hit the archives yet (Lol at the DIY subforum) and in any case, it's only three pages and worth a quick read to mine for info. Motronic is still around and a regular poster so you could send him a PM maybe. e. Oh, that thread is "locked for archiving" so I guess you can't still post in it but yeah give it a read. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 20:45 on Jan 27, 2017 |
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 20:38
|
|
|
I really like being able to silence my Nest when I smoke the kitchen while cooking, and know it'll re-enable when the smoke clears.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 21:03
|
|
|
Subjunctive posted:I really like being able to silence my Nest when I smoke the kitchen while cooking, and know it'll re-enable when the smoke clears. Spend the money you would have spent on Nest on a better range hood, ours is 900cfm and I'm pretty sure I could start a campfire on the stovetop without any issues. They're not super expensive and an easy DIY project too. Anything 500cfm+ is vastly superior to the internally venting garbage builders seem to prefer installing. sanchez fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Jan 27, 2017 |
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 21:48
|
|
|
As far as I know, while Nest is addressable in the sense that they know where they are and will tell you, the person in the house, they are not addressable in the sense that you can wire them into an alarm panel and the alarm company can tell the fire company where in the house the smoke alarm has triggered before they've even gotten to your house.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 21:50
|
|
|
sanchez posted:Spend the money you would have spent on Nest on a better range hood, ours is 900cfm and I'm pretty sure I could start a campfire on the stovetop without any issues. They're not super expensive and an easy DIY project too. Anything 500cfm+ is vastly superior to the internally venting garbage builders seem to prefer installing. Mine is externally vented, but I can't find it on Thermador's web site to see what it's rated at. I wanted to replace the smoke/CO detectors anyway, and I'm not really price sensitive, so I figured I'd try the Nest. So far I like it. I might look at a bigger hood, though, once I'm done with the current upgrades.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2017 21:55
|
|
|
Subjunctive posted:Mine is externally vented, but I can't find it on Thermador's web site to see what it's rated at. I wanted to replace the smoke/CO detectors anyway, and I'm not really price sensitive, so I figured I'd try the Nest. So far I like it. Not sure I'd put my family's life in the hands of Tony Fadell.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2017 00:49
|
|
|
How often do you all shop for new home owner's insurance? I've had the same insurance for a few years, and it's not exorbitant, but I'm sure I could get a better deal if I made the effort.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2017 04:23
|
|
|
Good-Natured Filth posted:How often do you all shop for new home owner's insurance? I've had the same insurance for a few years, and it's not exorbitant, but I'm sure I could get a better deal if I made the effort. Every ~4 years I send all my lines (Fire, Umbrella, Auto x 3) over to the various major insurers and see what they have to say. It never comes close to the loyalty discount that state farm currently gives me. I just send them the one page thing that shows my coverage levels and prices to an agent or three. I don't screw around with web forms.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2017 05:09
|
|
|
Subjunctive posted:I really like being able to silence my Nest when I smoke the kitchen while cooking, and know it'll re-enable when the smoke clears. Get a photoelectric alarm. They're unlikely to cause nuisance alarms due to kitcheny things and it's recommended by the IAFF that you replace all of your ion smoke detectors with photoelectric smoke detectors
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2017 13:37
|
|
|
QuarkJets posted:Get a photoelectric alarm. They're unlikely to cause nuisance alarms due to kitcheny things and it's recommended by the IAFF that you replace all of your ion smoke detectors with photoelectric smoke detectors The nest is a photoelectric alarm.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2017 13:52
|
|
|
Bozart posted:The nest is a photoelectric alarm. Yeah but normally photoelectric alarms cost about $20, whereas the Nest is $100
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2017 15:00
|
|
|
QuarkJets posted:Yeah but normally photoelectric alarms cost about $20, whereas the Nest is $100 I already said I wasn't price-sensitive, and the photoelectric Nest trips when I sear steaks or stir fry, so I don't think getting a different photoelectric one will help.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2017 15:11
|
|
|
Subjunctive posted:I already said I wasn't price-sensitive, and the photoelectric Nest trips when I sear steaks or stir fry, so I don't think getting a different photoelectric one will help. From what I've read, the Nest is more prone to nuisance alarms than normal photoelectric alarms because it's designed to behave more like a hybrid alarm
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2017 15:35
|
|
|
And you always risk being a victim of Google ADHD: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/05/revolv-devices-bricked-google-nest-smart-home I doubt they would do it for smoke alarms due to the liability involved, but who knows! Maybe they set them to just chirp constantly until you throw it in the trash.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2017 17:26
|
|
|
They work fine with internet disconnected, I tested that before I installed them.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2017 17:54
|
|
|
Couple quick questions that my local hardware store couldn't answer. 1. I am having a sump pump installed in my basement this week. One of the primary concerns is that when we get heavy rain we also sometimes lose power. The pump itself operates on a standard power outlet. The plumber says I just need an uninterruptible power supply. Is this the same kind of UPS I could use for a server? Obviously it needs to be in a dry spot but can anyone recommend one? 2. We also want to buy a generator. How much power/what model would we need to run the furnace/some electronics on a barebones basis? Again what kinda wattage would I need? Is there a standard way to plug the generator into the furnace? Our furnace is 15-20 years old so I have no idea if this is even possible. edit: ok I lied three questions: 3. Should I take out a home equity line of credit for reasons other than home improvement? I read that in order for the interest to be tax deductible, the line of credit has to be under $100,000. Does this mean, the total amount of debt that we wind up borrowing has to be under $100,000 or that the entire line of credit (even if we don't use the entire amount available) has to be under $100k? SnatchRabbit fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Jan 30, 2017 |
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2017 21:35
|
|
|
SnatchRabbit posted:Couple quick questions that my local hardware store couldn't answer. 1. What voltage (presumably 120v) and amperage is your pump? How long do you want your pump to be active for? How much juice does it draw when not running? How long do you want potential coverage where the pump is idle but not pumping? 2. What are the voltage and amperage numbers on your furnace and electronics? This is presumably an electric furnace. 3. Why do you want to take this out?
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2017 02:39
|
|
|
baquerd posted:1. What voltage (presumably 120v) and amperage is your pump? How long do you want your pump to be active for? How much juice does it draw when not running? How long do you want potential coverage where the pump is idle but not pumping? I have to look up the first two questions. But the third is we are thinking about putting an addition on the house and using the HELOC to pay for some or all of it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2017 18:16
|
|
|
Came home today to see a brand new roofline looming over my backyard. The neighbor behind and upslope of me is building a stupid new addition to make as much of his property as possible impervious. Added benefit: my view to the rear of my property is now close to 100% roofline. However, my attic window completely overlooks his backyard suburban-hell oasis. Considering installing a decent sized print of Goatse. Good idea/bad idea? We've been in the house for about a month and a half. The house is wonderful (old farmhouse from around 1900) but I'm starting to regret moving into town. Suburban homeowners are generally poo poo.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2017 01:59
|
|
|
LogisticEarth posted:Suburban homeowners are generally poo poo. Can confirm, am suburban homeowner. Since buying our house in suburbia 3.5 years ago, my dream house has become "as much land as possible on all sides, with literally any kind of house on it".
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2017 03:05
|
|
|
SnatchRabbit posted:Couple quick questions that my local hardware store couldn't answer. Couple things. As someone mentioned you'll need to compute the energy you need stored in a UPS to see how long it will run. I don't think they're really meant as backup power sources, but rather to provide enough power for things like servers to shut down gracefully. My gut feeling is that running a pump for a significant amount of time/volume of water is going to need a huge UPS. The generator is more the thing I think is appropriate. You'll need someone more familiar with them than me to answer your questions, but it's worth noting you likely need an additional switching mechanism to disconnect your electrical service from the line to your house. This is so you don't murder someone working on the grid with your generator.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2017 04:10
|
|
|
SnatchRabbit posted:Couple quick questions that my local hardware store couldn't answer. 1. I am not 100% positive, but I believe this is bad advice from the plumber - I think you want to buy a special sump pump that comes with a battery, not a computer UPS. 2. You don't talk about what kind of heat your furnace uses, but a generator to power your HVAC is going to be pretty expensive to install. The only ones that are practical for a typical suburban house are natural gas generators - and at that point you are relying on a separate utility to power your house which always seemed kind of weird to me. If you live in a country type house you could get a diesel generator, but they are dirty and expensive and a pain in the rear end to maintain. If you already have natural gas heat anyway, you might consider something like a Tesla Powerwall getting installed to power the furnace fan and some selected circuits - it will probably be cheaper and a lot less of a hassle. Honestly, solar + powerwall is a better solution at this point than a diesel generator for a residential house IMO. 3. Why would you bother to do that?
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2017 05:02
|
|
|
A natural gas generator is still the way to go, if you're worried about the gas utility having an outage it isn't unheard of to have a backup tank of propane on site, often buried and out of sight. You may want to start by talking to an electrician, you're going to need one anyways to install the bypass, that isn't a DIY job since a screw up can cost a lineman's life.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2017 05:36
|
|
|
Appraisal for our refinance came in. $325,000 as is. We bought the house for 200K in April of 2014 and haven't really made any improvements. And here I was hoping we would have just enough to clear the 80% for the refi
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2017 16:20
|
|
|
Economic Sinkhole posted:Since buying our house in suburbia 3.5 years ago, my dream house has become "as much land as possible on all sides, with literally any kind of house on it". Our neighbor built their house first and looking west toward our lot, had a clear view to the lake. He talked to the owners we bought from and they assured him that they were building the house several hundred feet from the road. Neighbor takes a two week vacation, returns, and find the foundation hole dug and cement drying for the house only a hundred feet from the road and in his direct line of sight to the lake.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2017 21:18
|
|
|
Cheesus posted:Forty years ago our property was part of a recently subdivided farm of 10 acre lots. You heard about the spite barn, right? Guy buys a house near a lake, but with no view because there's a stand of trees and the tail end of another lot between him and the water. Checks the property lines, discovers the trees are on his property, gets them taken down so he has a nice view. The owner of that other lot sees what he's done, goes out on the lake and looks back towards the house, figures out exactly where to build a gigantic gently caress-off barn to block the view, does so. The barn's grossly oversized for his needs and not conveniently located, but it hosed over the neighbor so who cares?
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2017 21:37
|
|
|
The thing to take away from all this is that you should never pay extra for property on the basis of its view. Views are nice, but you don't own them and don't have to be compensated when they're taken away.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2017 21:45
|
|
|
Leperflesh posted:The thing to take away from all this is that you should never pay extra for property on the basis of its view. Views are nice, but you don't own them and don't have to be compensated when they're taken away. At some point in the 2000s, the owners we purchased from commented to our neighbor, "Remember the lake view we all had in the 70s? What do you say about helping clear away the trees and bush to restore it?"
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2017 22:11
|
|
|
Leperflesh posted:The thing to take away from all this is that you should never pay extra for property on the basis of its view. Views are nice, but you don't own them and don't have to be compensated when they're taken away. This is why we bought adjacent to a several hundred acre forest preserve that was created about 10 years ago. If it had still been farmland, odds are it'd be giant warehouses or another plot of tract housing within the next 5 years.
|
|
#
?
Feb 1, 2017 23:23
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 8, 2024 20:25 |
|
|
My house backs up to a ravine that the DOT owns and they barely even acknowledge that it exists.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2017 00:20
|
|