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Andy Dufresne posted:I think I agree with the idea that you got "I'm not really interested in this job, but you could convince me" prices. I don't doubt it. Since I was 8 for 8, the problem is certainly on my end. What do I need to avoid doing to immediately put off a contractor??
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Oct 16, 2020 20:53
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:I don't doubt it. Since I was 8 for 8, the problem is certainly on my end. What do I need to avoid doing to immediately put off a contractor?? Don't let em see your m2c
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Oct 16, 2020 21:02
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:I don't doubt it. Since I was 8 for 8, the problem is certainly on my end. What do I need to avoid doing to immediately put off a contractor?? I am a design/build residential estimator in the midwest. I don't really see master bathrooms under $60k. I could probably get down in the $40k range if I got to pick most of the fixtures and finishes, and no rewire required to meet code, and no door replacement to meet code (specific to my jurisdiction). When I need to pull a new circuit halfway across the house and repair a finished basement, it's starts to add up. Going from a tub to a shower usually requires upsizing the drain piping. My recommendation would be to find a design build firm, tell them your budget, and pay them to design something within that budget. That will eliminate a lot of the uncertainty regarding what fixtures and materials are being quoted, which makes it hard to compare pricing contractor to contractor.
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Oct 16, 2020 21:19
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These posts are just affirming that it would be dumb for me to "remodel" (I'll clarify below) my basement bathroom for pretty much the sole purpose of resale value. Right now my basement technically has a half bath - in that there's a funky black toilet and matching hair washing sink (? Or something - it's got an extended shallow side bit) in a busted free-standing vanity sitting in a big open area. So the plumbing is all there (there used to be a tub and a utility sink, so there is additional drainage and hookups), and I guess demo would be reduced because there's no flooring and limited fixtures, but they'd also have to put up a wall and a door to make the space work. I'd probably still be looking at a 40k+ project, and since the house already has 2 full baths (3 br), it'd be better to leave the basement unaltered and market as a clean slate you can totally remodel to your preferences!* *In about 7 years when you finally get around to it. marjorie fucked around with this message at 21:34 on Oct 16, 2020 |
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Oct 16, 2020 21:32
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I mean you can get a non-black toilet for like 400 bucks and some stock vanity
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Oct 16, 2020 21:43
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The Big Jesus posted:I mean you can get a non-black toilet for like 400 bucks and some stock vanity Yeah, but it'd still be in the middle of a giant open space (no doors) and on concrete floors, so I don't see where that helps me or a future home-buyer (unless you just mean it's less of an eyesore, but I figure the costs to get someone to haul the old stuff and install the new stuff would still make this a multi-thousand dollar project that will not affect the house price). If the market here stays relatively hot, I don't think it'll be a problem to sell, just looking at whether increasing from a (technically) 3 br 2.5 ba to a real 4br 3 ba (or more specifically just setting up the downstairs so it looks like a livable space for guests\roommates and they don't have to imagine it) would be worth the cost.
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Oct 16, 2020 22:04
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So wait it's just a shitter and a sink in the middle of the floor?
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Oct 16, 2020 22:43
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At least take a photo of it and submit it to Toilets With Threatening Auras. 
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Oct 16, 2020 22:48
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Ok, you can't see the whole space, but this is the first picture I came across (it's actually the first picture on my camera roll!) and you can get an idea. And yes, this was my band's practice space before covid. E: I guess I misused "middle," I just generally meant it's part of a big ol open space rather than in like a bathROOM.
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Oct 16, 2020 22:52
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marjorie posted:Ok, you can't see the whole space, but this is the first picture I came across (it's actually the first picture on my camera roll!) and you can get an idea. And yes, this was my band's practice space before covid. That's hilarious and I wonder what the hell the previous owner was thinking. If I were you I'd just put up a room divider when you sell and not worry about it otherwise.
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Oct 16, 2020 23:03
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BRAKE FOR MOOSE posted:That's hilarious and I wonder what the hell the previous owner was thinking. If I were you I'd just put up a room divider when you sell and not worry about it otherwise. Yeah, and behind\beside the organ (on the same wall as the toilet\sink) is a faucet and drain left over from the utility sink that was there. Tbf, I think it was the a confluence of dumb decisions leading back to the original owners that led to this setup. The black toilet is practically original to the house (it's circa 1970; the house was built in '68), but the bump out with the stone wall was by the second owners (who apparently did that because there used to be an exodus door leading up\out that got broken into a bunch so they just sealed it up by erecting that weird stone wall and even weirder diy skylights above it). There is also some rumoured history of rampant sex parties when there was shag carpeting down there in the late 70s, so I think the previous (most recent, before me) owners just ripped out a whole bunch of stuff leaving this.
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Oct 16, 2020 23:19
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marjorie posted:These posts are just affirming that it would be dumb for me to "remodel" (I'll clarify below) my basement bathroom for pretty much the sole purpose of resale value. As long as you kept the plumbing in the same place you would be well under $40k in most of the USA. Limited stuff to remove, no shower/tub, keep the concrete floor, no tile, easy access to electrical since you are already in the basement (where I assume your panel is).
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Oct 17, 2020 00:53
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Hello thread. I bought a house in Chicago, and I've sent the earnest money, and I have been sent the official loan paperwork from our lender, Navy Federal. It's 488k @ 3% 30 year. However I don't see anything about basis points or anything. I have closing cost details page where it claims the "Total Loan Costs" is $2462, but that seems too cheap. Is this something you have to figure out yourself or is it just sprung on you during closing? I do see a page called "comparisons" that has an Annual Percentage Rate of 3.014% and a "Total Interest Percentage" of 52.032% but I don't really have any context for those numbers. Are they bad? Good? Normal?
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Oct 17, 2020 02:38
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Tezer posted:As long as you kept the plumbing in the same place you would be well under $40k in most of the USA. Limited stuff to remove, no shower/tub, keep the concrete floor, no tile, easy access to electrical since you are already in the basement (where I assume your panel is). I'm lucky I got my remodeling done in NorCal back in 2014-2015 by some nice Ukrainian lads.  2 bathrooms for around $14k, this one and the master about 3x the size w/same materials. Everything permitted/signed off etc too. 
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Oct 17, 2020 02:41
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:I don't doubt it. Since I was 8 for 8, the problem is certainly on my end. What do I need to avoid doing to immediately put off a contractor?? You didn't talk to my guy, did you? The labor for my entire kitchen is gonna be like 21k for a full kitchen remodel. Of course, he does tend to quote it with "provided materials" where he quotes the work and sends you off to the floor store or appliance store or whatever to get the stuff you want, but he will work with your budget. I definitely think you are getting a neighborhood premium though. They know how much they can charge out there. I'm not saying or implying anything about you, but they also know that clients in your neighborhood are high touch and often a severe pain in the rear end.
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Oct 17, 2020 04:00
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ate poo poo on live tv posted:Hello thread. I bought a house in Chicago, and I've sent the earnest money, and I have been sent the official loan paperwork from our lender, Navy Federal. It's 488k @ 3% 30 year. However I don't see anything about basis points or anything. I have closing cost details page where it claims the "Total Loan Costs" is $2462, but that seems too cheap. Is this something you have to figure out yourself or is it just sprung on you during closing? Shop around. If you haven't closed yet you still have time. You can probably do 2.5% with no points or better on a VA loan. Check with zillow for rates, or call a mortgage broker. The points could be called different things, origination fee, prepaid interest.
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Oct 17, 2020 07:14
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Keyser_Soze posted:I'm lucky I got my remodeling done in NorCal back in 2014-2015 by some nice Ukrainian lads. Is that the before picture?
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Oct 17, 2020 15:40
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Speleothing posted:Is that the before picture? lol, yeah travertine is boring but you should have seen the 1980 bathroom before. 
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Oct 17, 2020 16:10
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Keyser_Soze posted:lol, yeah travertine is boring but you should have seen the 1980 bathroom before. I think this may have been in reference to how poorly it's matched/installed. Travertine should look a lot better than that. Looks like your contractors just pulled the next piece out of the box and stuck it on the wall rather than treating it as the uniquely colored and patterned natural material it is. Sorry.
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Oct 17, 2020 16:27
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ate poo poo on live tv posted:Hello thread. I bought a house in Chicago, and I've sent the earnest money, and I have been sent the official loan paperwork from our lender, Navy Federal. It's 488k @ 3% 30 year. However I don't see anything about basis points or anything. I have closing cost details page where it claims the "Total Loan Costs" is $2462, but that seems too cheap. Is this something you have to figure out yourself or is it just sprung on you during closing? seconding to shop around. make sure to check credit unions, i've heard they can go lower. we got a conventional loan for 2.5% buying a quarter point, but that was offset by some fees they waived. the first offer was 2.99% at zero points, but then we found a local credit union that was offering 2.5 with zero. in the end the first bank came in cheaper because even though we were buying a point they waived enough of their fees to bring us a little under. we have pretty good credit, low debt load, and had a 20% down payment so your situation might be different. apples to apples and all that.
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Oct 17, 2020 16:41
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Motronic posted:I think this may have been in reference to how poorly it's matched/installed. Travertine should look a lot better than that. Looks like your contractors just pulled the next piece out of the box and stuck it on the wall rather than treating it as the uniquely colored and patterned natural material it is. I get what you're saying. All a single exact shade and pattern would be better for sure, I agree. I've bought that same Mexican Noce 16x16 and cutting them in half from Arizona Tile for multiple houses now and you can get a pallet of the stuff and the colors are all over the place so you just try to mix them in as you can. The 4x2 sheets come the same way w/mixed shades interspersed throughout. If it's a $1m+ house - I'm spending the extra few grand to buy multiple pallets of the stuff till I can color match a bit better, but not the modest under $500k houses in my area (Sacramento) I've been living in. It's not quite as obvious in person which helps. I also definitely would have tossed the tiles in the middle bottom with the dark veining if I was watching the installers pull tiles that day. I have extra tile so I could do that I suppose or more likely let the next owners deal with it if it triggers them so.  Prior house, different installers. 
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Oct 17, 2020 17:38
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We ended up making a spreadsheet and trying to categorize all the fees to more accurately compare loans, but there is so standard way of reporting so its kind of a guessing game. I would caution against just trying to get the lowest rate, you need to look at your upfront costs as well which is arguably where the banks are really competing. The difference between 2.5% and 3% is not a lot, especially if you sell your home in 5-10 years, it'll basically be negligible. We ended up taking a 3.5% rate because they let us go 15% down on a jumbo loan with no PMI. We save about 30k up front compared to spending 100k more over the life of the loan on some of the 2.5/2.6 offers. We know we need a bunch of big purchases the first year and with covid and economic uncertainty having extra cash now seems preferable to spending most of our non-retirement savings on a down payment for a better rate that wont even matter if we sell in 5 years.
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Oct 17, 2020 18:18
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Keyser_Soze posted:I get what you're saying. All a single exact shade and pattern would be better for sure, I agree. I've bought that same Mexican Noce 16x16 and cutting them in half from Arizona Tile for multiple houses now and you can get a pallet of the stuff and the colors are all over the place so you just try to mix them in as you can. The 4x2 sheets come the same way w/mixed shades interspersed throughout. If it's a $1m+ house - I'm spending the extra few grand to buy multiple pallets of the stuff till I can color match a bit better, but not the modest under $500k houses in my area (Sacramento) I've been living in. It's not quite as obvious in person which helps. I also definitely would have tossed the tiles in the middle bottom with the dark veining if I was watching the installers pull tiles that day. I have extra tile so I could do that I suppose or more likely let the next owners deal with it if it triggers them so. My mother and I (she has a lot of remodeling expertise) used to actually sit and watch to make sure that (1) the planned layout of the tiles was correct and (2) would place and assign each tile one by one with the contractor. Really good tiling contractors don't need any oversight and can do this without even thinking, but you pay a significant premium for really high quality work here.
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Oct 17, 2020 18:33
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Mr. Crow posted:We ended up making a spreadsheet and trying to categorize all the fees to more accurately compare loans, but there is so standard way of reporting so its kind of a guessing game. The loan estimate is the standard way to compare costs between lenders. You need to do some work and apply to get the estimate. On the second page it will report all of the lender costs and credits, and you can compare them line by line in addition to the totals. The difference between 2.5% and 3% interest rate over 5 years is about 2.5% of the price of the loan. This is a lot of money. Usually the company with the best rate/cost for zero points will also have the best rate for 1 point, or negative points/lender credit
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Oct 17, 2020 18:59
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lampey posted:The loan estimate is the standard way to compare costs between lenders. You need to do some work and apply to get the estimate. On the second page it will report all of the lender costs and credits, and you can compare them line by line in addition to the totals. yup something we learned real fast was that nothing your lender tells you means loving anything until you get that loan estimate. we had people tell us all sorts of crazy poo poo about 2.whatever with no points or negative points etc and then when the loan estimate came through it would be both higher and with us buying points. get that poo poo in writing and then just flat out tell them that you're staring at 4 loan estimates and need them to come down on something. the one we got had us send them one of our really low loan estimates to prove that we actually had that and then they countered with a better one.
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Oct 17, 2020 19:10
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lampey posted:The loan estimate is the standard way to compare costs between lenders. You need to do some work and apply to get the estimate. On the second page it will report all of the lender costs and credits, and you can compare them line by line in addition to the totals. https://www.calculator.net/mortgage...08&y=22#results https://www.calculator.net/mortgage...08&y=22#results I dunno if those link abominations work, but the difference after 5 years is $2000 on a 300k house. If your paying 10k more in fees or points or whatever to reach that 2.5 rate you're losing money. We saw fees all over the place up to and over (and below) 10k. I'm not arguing in favor of higher rates I'm just saying look at the up front costs because they matter a lot more than you realize. See also https://www.investopedia.com/articles/credit-loans-mortgages/090916/how-do-mortgage-lenders-get-paid-and-make-money.asp Mr. Crow fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Oct 17, 2020 |
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Oct 17, 2020 19:57
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ate poo poo on live tv posted:Hello thread. I bought a house in Chicago, and I've sent the earnest money, and I have been sent the official loan paperwork from our lender, Navy Federal. It's 488k @ 3% 30 year. However I don't see anything about basis points or anything. I have closing cost details page where it claims the "Total Loan Costs" is $2462, but that seems too cheap. Is this something you have to figure out yourself or is it just sprung on you during closing? If this is a VA loan, there should be a funding fee listed on your loan estimate. I would shop around on that interest rate, we got a VA loan from a local lender (who sold it immediately to one of the macs, which they told us would happen) for 210k @ 2.25% (apr is around 3%, I don't have it handy) 30 yr. We closed mid-July with that rate.
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Oct 17, 2020 20:24
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Mr. Crow posted:https://www.calculator.net/mortgage...08&y=22#results If you're going to plan on selling in 5 years you also need to factor in the transaction costs on the back end into that. As the seller you're on the hook for a lot of the commissions. I don't know how that changes your over-all math, though. Honestly if you're selling in 5 years you're usually better off renting, at least from what I recall the last time I looked at buying and did the math. IIRC the break even on ownership assuming identical total costs (so insurance+rent/mortgage+any taxes = same) was something like six years, assuming no change in the value of the house. It's been a while since I did that math out though, so I might be wrong given the current market etc.
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Oct 17, 2020 20:49
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I agree that you should look at the whole picture, run the numbers based on how long before you expect to move(or refi, but hard to say if that is realistic), don't just look at the rate or cost. The company with the best advertised rate isn't always the best once you get the loan estimate, and some lenders really go out of their way to give an estimate. But it is still worth shopping around for the biggest purchase of your life. The difference between two random companies could be $10k or more over a 5 year period, but if you shop around a little the best and second best should be the same rate, and the costs should be within a few thousand. Usually you can get a loan estimate from a better lender and ask another one to match it. If they have better customer service it could make sense to pay a little more even if they can't quite match it with a purchase. You could probably get 2.375% with no points or a small lender credit, or 2.25% with less than one point for a VA loan as of this week from the most competitive lenders, but that depends on a bunch of factors that might not apply, and you need to shop around and see what you can get. A VA loan will probably be 100%, or 103% LTV with the funding fee rolled in instead of 80. If you compare over 5 years a $300k loan with $3500 in closing costs not rolled in, 100% LTV, 2.5% vs 3%, the 2.5% loan spends $4750 less in payments/interest, and you have another $2500 more in equity from paying down the principal because of the way amortization is calculated. That equity difference isn't an out of pocket expense, but it does matter if you are selling and moving.
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Oct 17, 2020 21:36
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therobit posted:You didn't talk to my guy, did you? The labor for my entire kitchen is gonna be like 21k for a full kitchen remodel. Of course, he does tend to quote it with "provided materials" where he quotes the work and sends you off to the floor store or appliance store or whatever to get the stuff you want, but he will work with your budget. I messaged him but never heard back. He's probably booked through retirement!
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Oct 17, 2020 21:36
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:I messaged him but never heard back. He's probably booked through retirement! If it was recently he had to evacuate due to wildfires. I also know that he's a one man operation and he just finished a job that was supposed to be 3 months but the client put in change orders every month for 8 months so I think he's been a little busy. Edit- I had asked him a while back and he said he hadn't heard from anyone so who knows what he did with his email. therobit fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Oct 17, 2020 |
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Oct 17, 2020 22:01
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Finally closed on my house last night. Unfortunately the refrigerator broke some time between inspection and closing. I had wholly expected to replace it anyway due to the amount of duct tape on it, but it seems no stores have them in stock until November.
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Oct 18, 2020 01:07
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Hello friends! I wanted to consult the My partner and I currently own a 2BR condo in Washington D.C. With work-from-home becoming more of a thing here and with our prospects for having hatchlings taking on new urgency, we started seriously considering buying a home in the 'burbs. (Plus you really learn how loud your neighbors are when you spend 98% of your time at home.) I feel like I've got a pretty good bead on what we can afford and where we can afford it. With interest rates being so low, we'll probably be able to upgrade to a house for at most only a few hundred more per month than we currently pay for our mortgage plus HOA fees right now. So that's the good part. What is now giving me anxiety is trying to figure out how to time this poo poo. We've spoken to an agent and she seems pretty certain we'll be able to move our place quickly, it being a seller's market. What is less certain is whether we'd be able to land a home in the same time frame. I guess buyer's contingencies aren't really a thing anymore, at least for homes that get multiple offers. And we'd need the equity from our home to put 20% down on another one. And we'd really, really like to be able to avoid having to put our poo poo in storage and rent somewhere and then have to move twice, especially since we have a cat. So I'm trying to explore options for buying first. We have enough cash on hand to put down 10% maybe, but depending on closing costs it might be a stretch. So now I'm looking at all kinds of goofy poo poo... taking loans from our 401ks, HELOCs, 80-10-10 piggyback loans. They all seem to have drawbacks. In an ideal world we'd just do a rent-back from the person buying our place, but no guarantees they'd play ball or that we'd get multiple offers and be able to play them off each other. Anyone gone through this crap in a seller's market recently?
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Oct 18, 2020 23:50
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Chad Sexington posted:Anyone gone through this crap in a seller's market recently? the dc area market is just nuts right now. its insane how fast it moves. we were looking for houses in the dc/va/md sprawl and wow, when we hit on something it happened in the blink of an eye. we didn't have to worry about unloading a house because we were renting, but i can't imagine how we would have been able to time anything. in your shoes i'd probably suck it up and rent month to month while house hunting. try to live that minimalistic lifestyle and keep most of your stuff packed in storage.
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Oct 19, 2020 00:44
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Chad Sexington posted:Anyone gone through this crap in a seller's market recently? If it's a seller's market, any chance of buyers in your locale being amenable to a term like "sale pending purchase of new residence by original owner, closed and out within X days or your earnest money back" sort of thing? I've seen in the northeast where a buyer's purchase clause depends on selling their place house or they drop out, so if buyers are desperate in your area, maybe you can do the reverse? Basically just say "seller's market, dude. Take it or leave it." =P
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Oct 19, 2020 01:54
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Sundae posted:If it's a seller's market, any chance of buyers in your locale being amenable to a term like "sale pending purchase of new residence by original owner, closed and out within X days or your earnest money back" sort of thing? I've seen in the northeast where a buyer's purchase clause depends on selling their place house or they drop out, so if buyers are desperate in your area, maybe you can do the reverse? Yaeh, how is this not a thing in a sellers market? Reinforcing this is totally a normal thing in northeast contracts. It's not even every one, but it's not out of the ordinary.
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Oct 19, 2020 01:58
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Sundae posted:If it's a seller's market, any chance of buyers in your locale being amenable to a term like "sale pending purchase of new residence by original owner, closed and out within X days or your earnest money back" sort of thing? I've seen in the northeast where a buyer's purchase clause depends on selling their place house or they drop out, so if buyers are desperate in your area, maybe you can do the reverse? We're certainly hoping we'll be able to do that. When we bought this place, in fact, we agreed to give the prior owner a two month rent-back and that's what prompted them to take our offer over a higher one. It was a big advantage being a renter at the time and having that flexibility. What makes me squirrely is that there's no guarantee we'll get a buyer who accepts those terms. We certainly hope we'll get one, but it's not a sure thing. We could also run into a situation where we're not able to secure a place in the time we have post-sale. We would just have to be prepared on some level to rent a place as a fallback. So yeah, we hate that idea enough that we're considering putting all our cash in play and potentially paying a higher rate just so we don't have to risk it. Talking to a lender this week and maybe he'll talk me out of it, idk.
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Oct 19, 2020 02:55
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I just went through this! No chance I was going to hope for the best on finding a house after selling because of how picky we are. We sold non-contingent then it was a mad scramble to sell our house as fast as possible so as to not have two mortgages too long. We sold about two weeks after closing on our new house. This only works if you can qualify for two mortgages at the same time.
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Oct 19, 2020 04:27
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So what are the thread's opinions on: 1. Crawlspace foundations 2. Log homes
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Oct 19, 2020 13:24
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GunnerJ posted:So what are the thread's opinions on: 1: what do you mean by this? 2: Harder to finance, and they present some logistical issues, but are otherwise a house.
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Oct 19, 2020 15:30
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