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Koivunen posted:The whole school district issue didn’t really sink in until we found out we are pregnant last week, and it’s like my priorities shifted overnight. I now have very little hesitation to continue living in town for the next 20 or so years if it means a good school district, which this one is in. I just spent 25-35% more on a house that isn't exactly what I want knowing I'll want to be in THIS school district for the next 8 years so my kids can finish here. Houses that we actually want (old stone farm house with a modern addition on 10+ acres) with the same square footage are the same price, with houses like this (larger colonials on 2 or so acres) are the aforementioned 25-35% less. It wasn't even a "decision" that we were going to stay in the district. When we couldn't find what we wanted we started looking for "nice enough, we'll be happy here until the next move." Kids will do that. And congratulations.
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Aug 22, 2018 13:45
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I just bought a condo — which I will never live in — specifically because it’s in the school district my girlfriend lives in now, so that her kid doesn’t have to switch schools when they move in. Kids break your brain. Also, congratulations!
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Aug 22, 2018 15:06
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Koivunen posted:We are putting down an offer on a house in the morning. My dreams of having a house in the woods were kind of shattered, any house with a good school district with more than one bedroom with even the smallest amount of acreage are out of our budget currently. There are some dream homes on 10+ acres of land that we could easily afford, but the commutes are 45-plus minutes on a sunny, dry day, and in super tiny school districts. The lake home we loved is on leased land and that’s $2,400 that would just disappear each year. Kids change everything. But you do have about five years before you need to worry too much about school districts. It also depends on how bad the districts are, frankly. If you are both intelligent, involved parents, then that goes a long way towards academics. I would worry more about how they do with socio-emotional education personally. But then I have a bright kid who got bullied a bunch last year at what is supposed to be one of the best elementary schools in our district, which is one of the better districts in the Portland area that still has middle class single family homes in it. We are talking Oregon schools here though, and Oregon's schools are 48th in the nation so YMMV.
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Aug 22, 2018 19:32
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I have an ethical dilemma. The house behind me, which is very similar to mine, sat empty for about 6 years before going through tax foreclosure and being sold for about 60k to an LLC. Not long after, renovations started. But it was a little strange. It was all being done by one guy who appeared to be living in the house while he was renovating it. About a year later, last spring, a family moved in. I was curious what it sold for so I looked up the property records. No sale. Still owned by the LLC. Ok, I guess it’s a rental now. I go introduce myself to them and strike up a conversation about a fence. We both have dogs and since it was vacant for so long I never had to worry about it. They said they owned it and had no problems with me putting a fence up. I should note that all three times I’ve stopped by over there a different family member has answered by shouting “you with the city?”. In addition to this, they poured a new driveway, and the pitch of the concrete is directing a lot of water into my backyard. Previously it was gravel, so runoff wasn’t really an issue. But now when it rains I get a ~2 foot deep pond back there. I didn’t mention this to them because I wasn’t sure it was the issue. I went to search for the permit for the driveway to just check that it was done to code. If it was done to code my issue is with the city, not them. I found no permits. For anything. No certificate of occupancy either. In my city all dwellings require a CoO be issued upon deed transfer and it’s based on a point of sale inspection each time the property changes hands. This property has no CoO and still has several pages of unresolved violations. One of which is for a gravel driveway in bad condition. So they did all the renovations without permits and are occupying it illegally. Ok, whatever. But I need to sort out my flooding issue. I send a note to our city’s housing director, who I’m fairly well acquainted with, for help. He says he’ll get back to me. In the mean time the 2018 tax appraisal estimates come out. My wife sees that ours is going up so she gets curious and checks the assessors website for the houses around us. She finds that the house behind us hasn’t paid their tax bill for last year and mentions it to me as that’s what causes it to get foreclosed last time. I should note that where we live the property tax rate is very high. The taxes on a $200k house are $10k a year. I took a look myself and noticed that the owners (an LLC) has filed a complaint with he county over the valuation. In the complaint, the owner’s representative (who calls themselves a property manager) claims that: - the house is unoccupied - no work has been done on the house since they bought it - the value is only $30k (they bought it for $60k, comps are around $250k, and they told me they put $400k into it). I know it at least has a new driveway and all new windows. They claim it’s in such poor shape that they can’t get a certificate of occupancy and therefore can’t rent it out, yet people have been living there for more than a year. They claim no renovations have been done, but they clearly have. Major ones. And they’re claiming an absurdly low value to avoid paying taxes. So, I’m pretty pissed off. When I bought and renovated my house I did everything by the book and totally above board. When my tax appraisal went up because I renovated it I didn’t contest it. I pay my $12k a year because that’s what I owe. I can’t abide this family sending their three kids to the schools here while also cheating the school district out of thousands of dollars (73% of our property taxes go to the schools). Am I a piece of poo poo if I tip off the county that the info in the complaint is false? I should add the complainant has to attest under penalty of perjury to the accuracy of the complaint.i Jealous Cow fucked around with this message at 15:43 on Sep 14, 2018 |
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Aug 23, 2018 01:12
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Jealous Cow posted:I have an ethical dilemma. Do iiiiiiiittttt
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Aug 23, 2018 01:20
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Jealous Cow posted:I have an ethical dilemma. You should report them, yes. It's possible the owners are unaware of the people occupying their house, it's possible the occupants have been cheated, who loving knows... but what's certain is your city is being defrauded of its rightful tax income and that puts the burden of the city's expenses onto everyone else, unfairly. Maybe those people are desperate, maybe they're fugitives from oppression, who knows. But it's not your duty to try and find out, especially to your personal risk since they know where you live and have direct access to you. Your only reasonable option is to report what's going on to the authorities pronto.
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Aug 23, 2018 01:23
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As long as you can remain anonymous, do it.
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Aug 23, 2018 02:07
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Leperflesh posted:You should report them, yes. It's possible the owners are unaware of the people occupying their house, it's possible the occupants have been cheated, who loving knows... but what's certain is your city is being defrauded of its rightful tax income and that puts the burden of the city's expenses onto everyone else, unfairly. Um...yes, I agree it's the right thing to do, but the bolded part should not be understated. You need to be safe. If you are the only person these people have spoken to, any complaint could come back to bite you hard. Discretion valor yadda yadda... Or tldr what that guy said above
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Aug 23, 2018 02:30
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balancedbias posted:Um...yes, I agree it's the right thing to do, but the bolded part should not be understated. You need to be safe. If you are the only person these people have spoken to, any complaint could come back to bite you hard. Discretion valor yadda yadda... Get in front of it. You know they filed a complaint and have no CoO. Chat about the fence and say you think you saw some nosy tax authority person (use whatever agency name is on the car) poking around then bitch about taxes being bullshit. gently caress the man etc. Lie to make it look like you're on their side about this.
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Aug 23, 2018 02:47
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report them, take out a lien on the property, when it gets auctioned off for nonpayment of taxes claim the property, build a fence around both, expand your house into a compound
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Aug 23, 2018 02:48
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H110Hawk posted:Get in front of it. You know they filed a complaint and have no CoO. Chat about the fence and say you think you saw some nosy tax authority person (use whatever agency name is on the car) poking around then bitch about taxes being bullshit. gently caress the man etc. Lie to make it look like you're on their side about this. This is really good sense. Don't let criminals know that you are on to them, it can only end badly.
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Aug 23, 2018 02:50
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Don’t talk to them about it if you’re going to report them
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Aug 23, 2018 03:18
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Yeah, do not mention that you're even involved with it. Those kinds of people will latch onto anyone they can to blame and hold a grudge against. Don't think that just because you might be able to convince them it's the city that they won't also hate you for bringing the city into it.
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Aug 23, 2018 03:28
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People are not as good at lying as they think they are. If you’re going to touch the poop, do it from the greatest distance possible.
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Aug 23, 2018 03:31
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If you contest an assessment, isn't at least a drive-by inspection a standard part of the government's response? My valuation jumped a lot last year (first assessment post previous flipper's renovation and sale to me) and I made a really weak attempt to contest it. They did a driveby and also said if I wanted to claim that the basement room wasn't really a bedroom I'd have to let someone inside to take a look at it and confirm it shouldn't count as a real bedroom. I decided that was too much effort and rolled over and paid up since with a 1% tax rate it wasn't really all that much. Maybe check and see what their process is and if they'll figure this out on their own?
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Aug 23, 2018 03:52
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Kase Im Licht posted:If you contest an assessment, isn't at least a drive-by inspection a standard part of the government's response? The county has like 600k dwellings or something and a staff of a few dozen. As far as anyone can tell everything is done on paper. I’m going to call the Board of Revisions and the city tomorrow and explain the situation and ask what I can do anonymously. Keep in mind at least one person at the city knows it’s occupied because I emailed about the driveway.
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Aug 23, 2018 04:07
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Every time I have called a county assessor the conversation always ends with there is a 99% chance that my recommendation to lower it back to the past amount will be approved.
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Aug 23, 2018 17:20
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Elephanthead posted:Every time I have called a county assessor the conversation always ends with there is a 99% chance that my recommendation to lower it back to the past amount will be approved. It hasn’t been assessed at $30k in probably 70 years. It’s been in the high hundreds for decades. They’re trying to scam the county.
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Aug 23, 2018 17:24
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Couple hours until the final walkthrough and then closing tomorrow morning. Barring some sort of extreme gently caress up Im gonna be a homeowner tomorrow 
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Aug 23, 2018 17:48
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Rex-Goliath posted:Couple hours until the final walkthrough and then closing tomorrow morning. Barring some sort of extreme gently caress up Im gonna be a homeowner tomorrow Remember to come back tomorrow and tell us what the extreme gently caress up was!
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Aug 23, 2018 17:49
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Grumpwagon posted:Remember to come back
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Aug 23, 2018 17:52
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We didn’t get the house. I’m really bummed out, it would have been a great fit.
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Aug 23, 2018 22:15
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Elephanthead posted:Every time I have called a county assessor the conversation always ends with there is a 99% chance that my recommendation to lower it back to the past amount will be approved. I have the opposite experience. They ignore any comps and insist they're right just like most shithead appraisers. Have to keep taking them to court where I've won two years in a row.
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Aug 23, 2018 23:34
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Week 3 into buying a short sell.... seller accepted offer 2 weeks ago.... still waiting to hear back from the bank. I'll post again in 6 months when escrow finally closes.
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Aug 25, 2018 04:43
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baquerd posted:I have the opposite experience. They ignore any comps and insist they're right just like most shithead appraisers. Have to keep taking them to court where I've won two years in a row. Mine have to run in a primary where only 1,000 people vote.
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Aug 25, 2018 16:58
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I've been in a house since 2004 that I have come to despise (things important then are no longer important), and am finally in a good position financially to start looking at moving. I have begun putting together a list of the must haves for the new place, but I'm wondering if there are any websites or apps that let you "design" a house goal, but not necessarily actually DESIGN it - like, I want 3 bedrooms, or 2 bedrooms and a den I'll be working with a realtor but would like to have some sort of time waster while I'm working and browsing. Medullah fucked around with this message at 23:25 on Aug 26, 2018 |
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Aug 26, 2018 21:09
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I’m now a property owner Closing was a breeze and only took about 30 mins. Now to just wait for the developer to finish the last items on the list.
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Aug 26, 2018 21:15
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Medullah posted:I've been in a house since 2004 that I have come to despise (things important then are no longer important), and am finally in a good position financially to start looking at moving. What is a dentist in this context?
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Aug 26, 2018 23:17
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HEY NONG MAN posted:What is a dentist in this context? Yikes autocorrect didn't like Den.
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Aug 26, 2018 23:24
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Rex-Goliath posted:I’m now a property owner Condolulations. Two 30 minute closings in 7 days for this thread.
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Aug 27, 2018 13:03
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Putting in an offer today for the first time since I started hunting for my first home. 25 different groups toured this property at the open house yesterday so I'm trying really hard to not get attached knowing I'll probably get outbid immediately.  Edit: welp 2 offers on it already Sirotan fucked around with this message at 14:34 on Aug 27, 2018 |
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Aug 27, 2018 14:18
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Motronic posted:Condolulations. Mine was more like 15.
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Aug 27, 2018 14:39
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So we were originally supposed to close on September 5th. We're now closing tomorrow because everything was in order and we didn't want to wait. I'm going to be a home owner tomorrow barring some unforeseen circumstance.
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Aug 27, 2018 16:32
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A realtor called me this morning citing the same information that the student loan car warranty scammers do asking if I wanted to sell my house given my neighbor was selling theirs. I said yes. Apparently we're meeting tomorrow at 2pm. At an address I'm unclear if it even exists. Several counties away. I'm really curious whose credit report my phone number is linked to, because it's not mine.
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Aug 27, 2018 17:27
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H110Hawk posted:A realtor called me this morning citing the same information that the student loan car warranty scammers do asking if I wanted to sell my house given my neighbor was selling theirs. I said yes. Apparently we're meeting tomorrow at 2pm. At an address I'm unclear if it even exists. Several counties away. Why would you meet with someone who cold called you? Even if they convinced you to sell your house, you can definitely do better than this person.
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Aug 27, 2018 17:38
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H110Hawk posted:A realtor called me this morning citing the same information that the student loan car warranty scammers do asking if I wanted to sell my house given my neighbor was selling theirs. I said yes. Apparently we're meeting tomorrow at 2pm. At an address I'm unclear if it even exists. Several counties away. Hope you're not still using those kidneys.
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Aug 27, 2018 18:13
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I thought this would be obvious: I'm not actually meeting this person several counties over at an address I made up one day to refinance my student loans, which I have never had. I was just agreeable on the phone. I think she knows the jig is up, she was supposed to text me her info and has yet to do so. H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Aug 27, 2018 |
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Aug 27, 2018 18:19
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H110Hawk posted:I thought this would be obvious It’s ok, it was.
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Aug 27, 2018 18:34
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Subjunctive posted:It’s ok, it was. Apparently I'm just dense
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Aug 27, 2018 18:47
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gvibes posted:Mine was more like 15. Did you have the pre-signing via docusign or similar for your mortgage? I heard that was becoming a thing now with some mortgage lenders and it's basically making closings something you can do on the hood of someone's car in front of the house after a final inspection.
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Aug 27, 2018 20:23
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