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Eric the Mauve posted:Hey now, much of Pennsyltucky is really quite scenic and beautiful, as long as you stay far away from the various dying small cities that used to be based on coal/steel/railroads but now are based on meth and welfare, and as long as you don't mind not seeing the sun for weeks at a time. Yea it is, I grew up right in the middle in Mifflin County so I'm well aware of Pennsyltucky. It is incredibly beautiful and incredibly depressing to see the state of the towns.
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Oct 22, 2017 04:39
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Steampunk Hitler posted:Eastern PA, best PA. Agreed. Unfortunately Doylestown is also really expensive for the kind of house/property I want. But I'm gonna stay here anyway because I've got 2 kids in school and can. I may just f off to Pennsyltucky when they're out of the house.
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Oct 22, 2017 17:31
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MOTHER OF PEARL! So I went to future neighborhood fully intent on getting the build process started (I had to go choose my desired lot and draw up building contract/give them money) and ended up putting in an offer on a almost finished home in the same price range. PLUS sides the house is in the only semi-private street in the entire neighborhood, only 12 houses on the street, both sides are wooded lots and the lot sizes are 75' rather than the standard 55' in the rest of the development i.e. the lot I would have chosen to build on. The downside it was already spec'd out so we couldn't change anything at the design center, but luckily the choices that were picked were probably exactly or close to what we would have done other than the kitchen cabinets being white pearl color and I prefer darker and it's probably ~5K over what I estimated on the build home without knowing prices for things anyway. Builder is paying all closing costs and gave us 6K in addon's so we got a nice fridge, garage door openers, 2" blinds throughout and a outdoor ceiling fan for the covered back patio. Still had 1k left so they took it off the house price. My realtor thinks we got a pretty awesome deal based on her past dealings with the builder so that's cool. Now the fun mortgage application process begins, luckily wife and I are able to put down 20% with the sale of our townhouse so that should help off-set my recent spending habits trying to prep the current residence for sale...FINGERS CROSSED.
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Oct 23, 2017 14:52
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A house went on market Friday evening. I looked at it Saturday and offered asking price Saturday night. Sellers took an offer from someone else Monday noon. I really thought it would happen. Too bad, it was a decent place and very well located. Upside is I didn't buy a house that was around a 7-8 on my scale of how much I like it. Downside is I still don't have a house. Now to see if a well-located and sized house that's been on the market for almost 3 weeks is willing to drop their asking price by 10%.  At least this one is out of my price range if they don't so I'm not really out anything if they're willing to just wait it out.
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Oct 23, 2017 22:57
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Got an inspection today on a house we were interested in. 4 inches of standing water in the crawl space. Chimney brick is falling apart. Newly renovated bathrooms are all using non-code compliant flex pipe. Not great! Seller (who we find out is planning on using the neighboring lot as a junkyard) decides to visit during the inspection and tries to talk with us and the inspector during the inspection. We are not buying the house. $400 down the drain. Best $400 I've ever spent.
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Oct 24, 2017 03:28
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Eric the Mauve posted:Hey now, much of Pennsyltucky is really quite scenic and beautiful, as long as you stay far away from the various dying small cities that used to be based on coal/steel/railroads but now are based on meth and welfare, and as long as you don't mind not seeing the sun for weeks at a time. Dude my in-laws live in Johnstown. Please stop.
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Oct 24, 2017 04:29
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thebushcommander posted:MOTHER OF PEARL! So I went to future neighborhood fully intent on getting the build process started (I had to go choose my desired lot and draw up building contract/give them money) and ended up putting in an offer on a almost finished home in the same price range. PLUS sides the house is in the only semi-private street in the entire neighborhood, only 12 houses on the street, both sides are wooded lots and the lot sizes are 75' rather than the standard 55' in the rest of the development i.e. the lot I would have chosen to build on. The downside it was already spec'd out so we couldn't change anything at the design center, but luckily the choices that were picked were probably exactly or close to what we would have done other than the kitchen cabinets being white pearl color and I prefer darker and it's probably ~5K over what I estimated on the build home without knowing prices for things anyway. Builder is paying all closing costs and gave us 6K in addon's so we got a nice fridge, garage door openers, 2" blinds throughout and a outdoor ceiling fan for the covered back patio. Still had 1k left so they took it off the house price. My realtor thinks we got a pretty awesome deal based on her past dealings with the builder so that's cool. Sounds good to me. Is a similar situation to our house (buying an almost finished one and not being able to modify it much). Except we tried to get some stuff thrown in and they repeatedly told us to go gently caress ourselves. Probably because it was literally the last lot in the neighborhood, was one of the biggest lots, and they'd sold the other 4 remaining (even less built) ones in the previous 10 days. The broker literally said "we'll throw in a free fridge but you probably won't like it."
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Oct 25, 2017 01:25
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Still in escrow. Everything is late. Repairs, mortgage, termite remediation, seller response on repair credit, etc. Got an email from the bank with 23 requests for explanation yesterday. And everyone is extremely relaxed about it. What was the point of all this strong language in the contract about timelines??
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Oct 25, 2017 02:08
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I bought a house two years ago. Here’s what’s broken: * washing machine * refrigerator * refrigerator (again, the house came with two) * garage door * garage, gutters * garage, foundation (I’m just going to hope I can catch its final stages before it falls on my car) * roof on rear porch * front porch Also the house included no dryer, so I had to buy one, one of the two stoves is trash and needs to be thrown away and I need to go extract the second from downstairs. I’ve had to kill a bunch of bamboo, the gutters on the house itself is blocked, and gutting plaster and wood lath sucks. My inspector caught 90% of these problems, he was very good. Also t-mobile is putting a 100‘ cell tower a block away. Do never buy as-is fixer-uppers, but buying a house that could potentially sell for $100k more than we bought it for is a thing.
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Oct 25, 2017 03:15
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minivanmegafun posted:I’ve had to kill a bunch of bamboo. lol you think you've killed the bamboo 
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Oct 25, 2017 12:17
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scrubs season six posted:Sounds good to me. Is a similar situation to our house (buying an almost finished one and not being able to modify it much). Pretty much. Initially I said I'd like to offer below the current ask and the woman looked at me like I was out of my mind. She did call her superior on and they flat out said yeah right. Basically stating that if I don't buy it someone else would and for full ask which given the neighborhood seems pretty accurate. The more I think about it, the only thing I am not to happy about is the stairs being carpet rather than matching hardwood like the downstairs floors, but having 2 little kids and a doggo the carpet is probably the safest bet for them all
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Oct 25, 2017 17:34
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Might have burned $670 this morning on the house/septic inspection. Bunch of the usual expected small thing but the main thing is the leech field seems to have been damaged when it was installed 20 years ago and so failed and needs replacing. So now I expect a bunch of BS back and forth since I need a pretty decent credit else I will walk away,
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Oct 25, 2017 17:40
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BigPaddy posted:Might have burned $670 this morning on the house/septic inspection. Bunch of the usual expected small thing but the main thing is the leech field seems to have been damaged when it was installed 20 years ago and so failed and needs replacing. So now I expect a bunch of BS back and forth since I need a pretty decent credit else I will walk away, In many states, often in PA, it might be on the seller to fix this if they ever want to sell to someone with a mortgage. The septic should absolutely be fixed before you take possession of it. Unless otherwise disclosed, I'm pretty sure it's assumed that the house has a functional sewer connection/septic system. So I'd sag you have a good chance of getting the sellers to fix it, since you just turned up something that will radically change the value of the home for potential buyers.
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Oct 25, 2017 18:13
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LogisticEarth posted:In many states, often in PA, it might be on the seller to fix this if they ever want to sell to someone with a mortgage. The septic should absolutely be fixed before you take possession of it. New Hampshire has no laws even requiring an inspection of the septic system so it really is up to the broker if they will give a loan with it not functional. My main concern about them fixing it is they will throw in the cheapest one they can and I will be replacing it in 10 years. I guess that is all up for discussion.
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Oct 25, 2017 18:27
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Mourne posted:Dude my in-laws live in Johnstown. Please stop. Yep, I came up with all that information secondhand and totally not because family considerations result in me spending time in Altoona on a monthly basis
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Oct 25, 2017 18:58
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My agent is confusing me a little, maybe you guys can help. I went in to get approved for a mortgage last week and the broker asked what I want to pay, so I said 550k/14k taxes (long island lol) and that is what they approved me for after automatic underwriting (I have the pdf saying it is approved with specific loan amount, tax amount, and monthly payment amounts). My agent is telling me this pre-approval means nothing until it is banker backed and sellers wont take me seriously. Is that true?
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Oct 25, 2017 19:36
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Not sure about LI but in New Hampshire I just flashed the pre approval letter from the broker.
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Oct 25, 2017 19:38
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BigPaddy posted:New Hampshire has no laws even requiring an inspection of the septic system so it really is up to the broker if they will give a loan with it not functional. My main concern about them fixing it is they will throw in the cheapest one they can and I will be replacing it in 10 years. I guess that is all up for discussion. A leach field isn't really something you can "cheap out" on. It's PVC pipe and sand or a sand mound. At least down my way, we have township sewage enforcement officers who inspect designs and sign off on systems after construction. Most fields fail not because the field was constructed improperly, but rather due to poor system maintenance or an undersized tank. PA has no laws requiring inspection either, but if it's a known/documented problem, that changes things. I'd give your local municipality a call and see how they handle septic permits/inspection, what's grandfathered, etc.
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Oct 25, 2017 19:53
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Sepist posted:My agent is confusing me a little, maybe you guys can help. I'm in Pittsburgh, so YMMV, but we didn't get our actual approval until the sellers had actually accepted our final offer after inspections and negotiations. Our realtor said that no one would take us seriously without a pre-approval, so we had that, but no one ever asked for anything more.
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Oct 25, 2017 20:26
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Note that there may be some confusion between a "pre-qualification" and "pre-approval". One is a happy feel good letter that says the bank won't kick you out the door for being an undesirable, and the other actually involves pulling your credit and income/bank statements and such. Off hand I forget which one is which so maybe someone who isn't phone posting can elaborate.
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Oct 25, 2017 20:42
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It turns out she was just confused. She forgot I had submitted financial verification to the broker already.
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Oct 25, 2017 20:44
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You want a pre-approval not a pre-qual. With our bid we submitted 3 pre-approvals from 3 different lenders (2 banks, 1 mortgage broker) to show that we were serious. It is a seller's market here with well-priced properties going from listing to contract in ~8 days.
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Oct 25, 2017 23:01
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Motronic posted:Legally correct. Not the situation I want myself fighting, which will take both years and cubic dollars shoveled into the legal system. Red flag property ended up not under contract anymore as of a few days ago. We loved it so much I decided to double check my gut feelings on just how bad the property was. Let's just say I was 100% right. The deed has a restriction that it is part of an "Open Space Association." I pull the public records for said association. It was required to be formed by the township and has specific obligations and powers. They are authorized to assess all 65 lots in the development both annually and as a special assessment to raise operating funds. They are required to meet once a year. They are required to let every lot vote once a year on officers. They are required to give a financial statement to each lot annually. They are required to hire a competent individual to inspect the drainage system annually. They are required to maintain liability insurance. At this point I'm like "oh...well, this doesn't sound so bad." My wife calls two people we know that live there. Neither have any knowledge of such thing. So it's simply not being operated. Who knows if this has ever been inspected or maintained, and it's nearly 30 years old now. Then the kicker (there is only one basin, so regardless of how it's written, all of this is describing the property I was considering and ONLY that property):  Gotta mow it, sure. Debris.....ehhh, could get messy if something goes poorly. SEDIMENTATION? What if this thing clogs and half of it is full of poo poo? I'm potentially on the hook for a crew of triaxles and track hoes. So the seller disclosure was bullshit in saying that maintenance was not the responsibility of the property, and worse yet the township can come in and do work if the owner OR association fails to perform. In EITHER CASE the property owner is the one who can have a lien put on their property by the township. This is a cautionary tale, kids: SCRUTINIZE the title and ALL REFERENCES ON IT. Do not believe the seller agent, your buyer agent or the disclosure. Do your own research. This was potentially the best spent $25 of my life retrieving this document from public records. Do never fall in love with a house and do never buy. Also, if anyone want to armchair lawyer this, my lawyer looked it over and independently came to the same conclusion. In fact, I got a panicked phone call right after he read this "PLEASE TELL ME YOU DIDN'T PUT AN OFFER IN YET" Motronic fucked around with this message at 02:58 on Oct 28, 2017 |
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Oct 28, 2017 02:56
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Motronic posted:Basin stuff Since this came up, none if this is surprising and is pretty much standard for most residential development basins, at least in PA. The fact that your lawyer seems surprised is kinda a flag in itself. Everyone thinks the township or someone else is supposed to maintain these things but in 95% of the cases it's the property owner. It's also not quite the nightmare situation you're describing. If that basin had any kind of significant sedimentation to the point it's failing, then someone has royally (and I mean royally, and for an extrended period) hosed up upstream. You'd be able to get the county conservation district out there and shut down the source. The thing has been there for a couple decades now, and is still doing it's thing. If I were in your shoes, I probably still wouldn't buy the property because the acreage is deceptive and you're still on top of your neighbors. But the basin maintenance isn't the main reason. If you really do love the place otherwise, I wouldn't make the basin a non starter.
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Oct 28, 2017 03:26
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LogisticEarth posted:Since this came up, none if this is surprising and is pretty much standard for most residential development basins, at least in PA. The fact that your lawyer seems surprised is kinda a flag in itself. Everyone thinks the township or someone else is supposed to maintain these things but in 95% of the cases it's the property owner. He wasn't surprised and the problem isn't the maintenance as described on the property owner: it's the fact that the property owner is liable for the failings of the further maintenance obligations of a development-wide association that appears to not actually exist and also therefore isn't carrying proper liability insurance. He actually sent me excerpts from other open space agreements that were not just liability dumps onto the sucker who bought the old farm house (in places where that didn't exist so things were more equitable split among all new home residents). Edit: in most of these agreements the open space association/HOA retained title to the land the basin was on. Is that not typical? Seems to be from a short bit of research around this area. Motronic fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Oct 28, 2017 |
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Oct 28, 2017 03:31
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Motronic posted:The deed has a restriction that it is part of an "Open Space Association." I pull the public records for said association. It was required to be formed by the township and has specific obligations and powers. They are authorized to assess all 65 lots in the development both annually and as a special assessment to raise operating funds. That is comically bad. Sure it's never come up, but that doesn't mean you want to be left holding that bag. Instead of it being 1/65th of the liability you are on the hook for the whole drat thing. Talk about a bullet dodged. What does your agent say about your new findings and poor disclosures?
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Oct 28, 2017 03:46
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H110Hawk posted:What does your agent say about your new findings and poor disclosures? She is not pleased, nor is she very surprised based on the seller agent. To be fair, the seller agent is not allowed to help the seller fill out that form. I didn't ask her to get this far into the property - I took that upon myself figuring it to be better than paying for inspections and appraisals first. Couldn't tell you if or when a buyer agent would have picked up on this. My guess is never, because that's contrary to their interest - which is selling a house as quickly as possible.
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Oct 28, 2017 03:55
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Motronic posted:He actually sent me excerpts from other open space agreements that were not just liability dumps onto the sucker who bought the old farm house (in places where that didn't exist so things were more equitable split among all new home residents). I did miss the part where lien would only be against the farmhouse property, although I'm not sure if that part is typical or not. It varies development to development, but in my experience most of the time these basins (and swales, rain gardens, etc) are often owned by the property owner, and maintenance is on them. Now, the actual inflow/outfall structures may have some communal ownership, but more often than not, if these thing are still in good repair after 20-30 years, they probably will be for another 20-30. Taking on the basin maintenance is somewhat of a risk, but the odds that you would have some kind of nightmare scenario where you had to spend $60,000 rebuilding the whole thing are quite low. There's also grant funds out there for basin rehabs/naturalization and whatnot. Also, most of these "open space associations" (note that most developments get around open space requirements by making the stormwater basin/swales the "open space", hence the name) are totally defunct. An active one where anyone is even inspecting, let alone funding a repair account, is a rare thing. Developers establish them on paper, then basically walk away and leave a bunch of clueless residents to run the thing, since ultimately it is the new property owner's responsibility. Townships often don't give a poo poo either. On an active development near us, I saw a homeowner build a new pool before the whole development was done. When they started to wrap things up, turns out they were supposed to put an infiltration trench through that portion of their property. But the township, who is also in charge of storm water permitting, also permitted the pool. Everyone was clueless, nobody did anything, and the township never enforces it unless it's actively causing a significant problem. With more pressure from MS4 stuff (basically more stormwater oversight from the EPA), you might see this change, but if the system isn't comically broken, then nobody is likely looking at it.
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Oct 28, 2017 21:04
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LogisticEarth posted:I did miss the part where lien would only be against the farmhouse property, although I'm not sure if that part is typical or not. I totally get what you were looking at: it's your thing. I appreciate your advice on this. What I quoted was the real deal killer, and I don't care if it's typical or not as I'm sure you understand. I will not pay handsomely to take on that kind of liability. e: also, "sedimentation" may be a term in your industry, but it is not a well defined legal term. Meaning people in your industry get hired as expert witnesses on both sides to argue over what it means. This is a gigantic unknown legal risk. Is it still sedimentation when the parts the association are required to maintain fail even if they caused it? Did the association required parts fail because property-owner required maintenance was deferred (i.e. the grass was too high?). These are things that happen in real world civil court. All the time. Unlike on TV you win by pumping money into the legal system, not by being right. Edit edit: If you want to make fun of me here's your ammo: I'm looking at the old school house down the street as a gut job now. I have a walkthrough tomorrow. https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sa...698_rect/17_zm/ I'm guessing the "studio" side needs to be torn down. Motronic fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Oct 29, 2017 |
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Oct 29, 2017 01:54
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Whoo boy, Point Pleasant. I'm pretty sure I've driven past that exact house a few times. All I know is that they had some kind of flooding or erosion issue near that place, so keep an eye out. Anyway, just for additional reference on where I'm coming from, I actually work on the regulatory/technical assistance side of things now, not private sector. I get your concerns, and the particular property you were looking at doesn't really have your typical advantages of a large parcel, since it's crammed into a development on top of your neighbors anyway.
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Oct 29, 2017 03:46
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LogisticEarth posted:Whoo boy, Point Pleasant. I'm pretty sure I've driven past that exact house a few times. All I know is that they had some kind of flooding or erosion issue near that place, so keep an eye out. That was on Point Pleasant Pike to the north, and it was an absolute poo poo show that kept it closed for two years. This isn't nearly as bad, but it is absolutely still a concern. Im more concerned with the slope of the property and the cost of retention walls to make more of it useful. Fortunately I know I a guy (PE, not an equipment operator with an LLC) who does this for a living (what are the chances of that living in a river valley?). Motronic fucked around with this message at 04:20 on Oct 29, 2017 |
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Oct 29, 2017 04:15
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That woodstove looks sketchy as hell. On the upside, there IS a fire extinguisher right next to it!
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Oct 29, 2017 04:44
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Alarbus posted:That woodstove looks sketchy as hell. JFC that stove. I need everything in there to be non-load bearing so I can just clean the place out or this isn't gonna happen. E: I can't quite believe it, and it's to messy to read (or maybe I just don't want to believe it) but the seller disclosure seems to indicate the septic tank is under the floor of the art studio. What the hell?
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Oct 29, 2017 05:03
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Hey guys Tooth and Tail is a pretty drat good RTS
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Oct 29, 2017 06:22
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Motronic posted:JFC that stove. I need everything in there to be non-load bearing so I can just clean the place out or this isn't gonna happen. Servicing that must be entertaining.
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Oct 29, 2017 17:25
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Alarbus posted:Servicing that must be entertaining. Confirmed. It's under the floor of the studio. The studio isn't actually reachable from the house itself, the second floor of the studio is a foot lower than the second floor of the house and is in such poor shape the only logical solution is demoing it entirely. Original hand made windows/hand made glass, most not functioning at all. No storm windows. The roof leaks, the internal stairway has ben blocked off. In the end, you'd spend $70k on demo and be left with 2 floors of 22x32 feet that need extensive window restoration, a staircase a roof and an addition (1400 sq ft is not enough). At the asking price you'd need to put $800,000 all in to make it into a $500,000 house. He's asking WAY too much. I doubt the place would appraise for more then $125k. Even if he gave it to me I wouldn't want it: that's way more of a project than a remodel and therefore way more than I'm willing to take on. Oh well, back to the listings. Motronic fucked around with this message at 18:42 on Oct 29, 2017 |
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Oct 29, 2017 18:39
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Motronic posted:At the asking price you'd need to put $800,000 all in to make it into a $500,000 house. He's asking WAY too much. I doubt the place would appraise for more then $125k. Even if he gave it to me I wouldn't want it: that's way more of a project than a remodel and therefore way more than I'm willing to take on.. This is why I bailed on the southeast and moved home to the Lehigh Valley. Jooooiiinnnn Usssssss. No, seriously do it look at the poo poo you can get for the price of the Basin Nightmare home here: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/65-Sunnyside-Rd-Easton-PA-18042/10164579_zpid/?fullpage=true Literally within walking distance of a Natural Lands Trust wildlife preserve. Bonus points because you would then by in my county and I could count my discussions on stormwater management towards my working hours as educational outreach.
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Oct 29, 2017 19:09
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Need another 9 years to get both kids through this school. Then I'll be heading your way or back to the Poconos.
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Oct 29, 2017 19:29
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Motronic posted:Confirmed. It's under the floor of the studio. The studio isn't actually reachable from the house itself, the second floor of the studio is a foot lower than the second floor of the house and is in such poor shape the only logical solution is demoing it entirely. Original hand made windows/hand made glass, most not functioning at all. No storm windows. The roof leaks, the internal stairway has ben blocked off. In the end, you'd spend $70k on demo and be left with 2 floors of 22x32 feet that need extensive window restoration, a staircase a roof and an addition (1400 sq ft is not enough). lol, I always love houses listed as if they're in pristine condition when in fact the property is worth less than it would be if it were just empty land, because you'll have to pay to demolish the rotting monstrosity that's there before you can build a house on it. i.e., pretty much every property in western Pennsylvania
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Oct 29, 2017 21:47
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Sent removal of contingencies document off to the seller stating I want the money to replace the leach field as a credit on closing. Basically offering to take the other maintenance on and do all the running around with contractors myself so the current owner can retire in peace. It seems reasonable to me but we will see if they want to fix it themselves instead or something. I am not in a rush as my lease on the apartment is not up until March but having everything up in the air is just annoying. Radon came back as well, while under EPA recommendations I will probably have a ventilation system done in the spring. It would be nice if this was resolved before I went away for a week next Sunday but we will see.
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Oct 29, 2017 21:52
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