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Upgrade posted:I know this is SA and all, but you can also have healthy relationships with family members, with clear boundaries without geographic distance serving as substitute... and live in childcare is nothing to scoff at. Also a lot of SA posters are at an age where you're going to have aging parents and will have to make some hard choices around care and independence What are you talking about most people on SA were teenagers when they signed up twenty years ago...oh wait
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Apr 23, 2022 21:38
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Ugh, don’t remind me.
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Apr 23, 2022 21:54
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Upgrade posted:I know this is SA and all, but you can also have healthy relationships with family members, with clear boundaries without geographic distance serving as substitute... and live in childcare is nothing to scoff at. Also a lot of SA posters are at an age where you're going to have aging parents and will have to make some hard choices around care and independence I'm just waiting for the inevitable day that my mother actually uses the long-term care insurance I've been paying premiums on for a full decade now, so that the claim can immediately get rejected and the policy canceled outright.  I could not live with my in-laws or my mother if I tried anymore. The entitled-boomer brain rot is so advanced in them that it's irrecoverable now. I actually discussed the idea of boundaries with them living with us when they're older, and the response was straight up [para] "we're your parents; your wishes will always be secondary, no matter whose roof we're under." It ended with an agreement that nope, you're not moving in then.
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Apr 24, 2022 01:18
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Upgrade posted:I know this is SA and all, but you can also have healthy relationships with family members, with clear boundaries without geographic distance serving as substitute... and live in childcare is nothing to scoff at. Also a lot of SA posters are at an age where you're going to have aging parents and will have to make some hard choices around care and independence Yeah, the built in childcare and the ability to keep an eye on the in laws were most of the appeal. I thought I could handle the level of general frustration that my in laws can cause me, and it took a family crisis for them to show how amazingly hosed up they can make things. I agree that in healthier families or families that are hosed up but committed to being miserable together it can work splendidly, and some cultures multi-generational living is the norm.
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Apr 24, 2022 01:34
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What reports do I need to analyze when looking at a condo? Can I pull those reports or do I need a real estate agent to do so?
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Apr 24, 2022 03:46
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Ornery and Hornery posted:What reports do I need to analyze when looking at a condo? The declarations, financials, rules, meeting minutes. You usually can't get any of this until you have an offer accepted. A contingency to get out of the deal if these are bad is very important.
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Apr 24, 2022 04:00
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spwrozek posted:The declarations, financials, rules, meeting minutes.  Dang, well that complicates things a bit. Thank you for the answer!
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Apr 24, 2022 04:12
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therobit posted:Yeah, the built in childcare and the ability to keep an eye on the in laws were most of the appeal. I thought I could handle the level of general frustration that my in laws can cause me, and it took a family crisis for them to show how amazingly hosed up they can make things. I agree that in healthier families or families that are hosed up but committed to being miserable together it can work splendidly, and some cultures multi-generational living is the norm. The thing about built-in childcare is that when you pay for child care you can say, "No, don't hit them, no, don't put cereal in their bottles, no, don't punish them for toileting mistakes." With family? They can say "I raised you, and you turned out fine," and ignore everything you say about how you want your children to be raised. I loved my parents a lot, and looking back on my childhood, I wouldn't have wanted them to raise my babies even if they'd wanted to. (They, wisely, said before we even had children that they'd raised their share and they were done.)
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Apr 24, 2022 05:36
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Arsenic Lupin posted:The thing about built-in childcare is that when you pay for child care you can say, "No, don't hit them, no, don't put cereal in their bottles, no, don't punish them for toileting mistakes." With family? They can say "I raised you, and you turned out fine," and ignore everything you say about how you want your children to be raised. Yes, so my in laws have spanked my kids once, it was a whole thing, the kids didn’t go over there alone again until I had a solemn promise from them that they will just drive them home to me before spanking again. For various reasons we have not felt comfortable with overnights with them. My parents gave up spanking when my brother came along. They have been overall great grandparents and during the pandemic I had no real choice but to send my kids to my parents house. They were and are a little too indulgent but our daycare closed and saving a thousand dollars per month per kid is nice. I think it is actually good for kids to learn that different environments have different rules. I also think there are good arguments for and against having your kids cared for by someone who loves them.
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Apr 24, 2022 06:12
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Only a thousand? Edit: twerking on the railroad fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Apr 24, 2022 |
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Apr 24, 2022 12:07
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Does anyone have any advice/wisdom for finding a realtor when looking for a house across a large geographic area? I'm in the fortunate position of having a fully-remote job, but as the mythical 'first-time home-buyers' my wife and I are struggling with how to get started when our search area is anywhere in the state with good internet access. Is there such a thing as a realtor/broker that operates at a broader scale, or are we better-off narrowing our search to a few smaller areas and trying to work with multiple agents?
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Apr 24, 2022 18:18
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I know there’s never a good time to buy, but is it ever worth it to wait? The market is nuts and buyers are getting reamed in every imaginable orifice so I’ll inevitably get hosed somehow, but interest rates and prices are only going to rise. I can’t foresee things being any better by the fall or even in 2023. If Buffet is anyone to go by (  ), be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. But does that apply to the housing market too?
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Apr 24, 2022 18:27
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Pollyanna posted:I know there’s never a good time to buy, but is it ever worth it to wait? The market is nuts and buyers are getting reamed in every imaginable orifice so I’ll inevitably get hosed somehow, but interest rates and prices are only going to rise. I can’t foresee things being any better by the fall or even in 2023. I don’t think desirable areas are ever going to get less desirable
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Apr 24, 2022 18:32
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The Third Man posted:Is there such a thing as a realtor/broker that operates at a broader scale, or are we better-off narrowing our search to a few smaller areas and trying to work with multiple agents? If we'd been dealing with a pan-Mendocino County realtor, that's 3800 sq. miles of radically different terrains and climates and history. Somebody who knew the best places to live in Ukiah (inland, relatively flat, hot) wouldn't have a clue about the best places to live in Fort Bragg (rolling hills, seacoast, lots of fog). A good realtor -- there are lots of bad ones -- can tell you what the trends are in the market. For my previous house, the realtor said things like ,"That one's not going to sell at nearly the asking price; they deliberately underpriced so it will go into a bidding war," and "Do you see all the 8s and 6s in the sales price? That means they're trying to attract Asian-culture buyers." Inside knowledge, if you can get it, is key.
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Apr 24, 2022 18:38
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Upgrade posted:I don’t think desirable areas are ever going to get less desirable Yyyyeah especially not my area. Reason I ask is because I’m trying to do some mental math between grabbing something suboptimal but fixable over time, vs. waiting until the best opportunity crops up. Problem is that I don’t think that “best” opportunity will ever crop up, and even if it does it’s going to be highly competitive and someone else will kick my rear end. Everyone else is rushing, so I feel the need to do the same - within reason. Making this tougher is that condos and multi-families are far more plentiful than SFHs in the areas I’m targeting. I’m not in the market for them, but I’m not gonna lie, sometimes I wonder about getting one just so I don’t have to deal with the asspain of getting a stand-alone. But it wouldn’t be worth it and I’d be selling it for an SFH as soon as I land one…
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Apr 24, 2022 18:39
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The Third Man posted:Does anyone have any advice/wisdom for finding a realtor when looking for a house across a large geographic area? My two cents as a recent first time buyer would be to do some research on your own first. What are your priorities I guess would be the first thing? Do you want more land? Do you have kids and care about good schools? Do you want to be in a walkable area etc? Do you want to be close to a down town not for work but for entertainment etc? What is the amount you can afford in terms of cash flow month to month, how much down payment can you come up with and how expensive of a house do you want to buy or think you can afford? How long do you plan to live here, work in your remote job, do some areas make it such that changing jobs for a better opportunity would be worse? To answer your question specifically about realtors my opinion would be to find an agent local to the area you are looking. So if you're going to actually look for homes all over a state that are far apart then I would get an agent for each area. I would probably not even get into the fact that you're looking all over with them. But if it comes up or they want to be your exclusive agent just explain your situation. I am looking at homes both here and a hundred miles from here and in that other area I have a different agent.
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Apr 24, 2022 18:45
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Yeah our goal and what I hope we accomplished was getting a home that is very liveable but not perfect. Like if we never change anything because it costs to much or we prioritize other things then it's fine. But we'd prefer to have a different master bath room situation. We'd like a better kitchen etc. But both are very liveable and appropriate. We didn't want to pay an extra two hundred k for a faux property bros Reno.
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Apr 24, 2022 18:49
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Doctor Party posted:Yeah our goal and what I hope we accomplished was getting a home that is very liveable but not perfect. Like if we never change anything because it costs to much or we prioritize other things then it's fine. But we'd prefer to have a different master bath room situation. We'd like a better kitchen etc. But both are very liveable and appropriate. Mm. My priorities are location of the house > strong and healthy bones (foundation, frame, roof, walls) > size of the house (including garage and lawn) > utilities (HVAC, electrical, plumbing, fixable stuff). As long as the first three are acceptable or strong, then I can compromise on the fourth. Speaking of, I found what appears to be a flip on Zillow! https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/101-Bowdoin-Ave-Waltham-MA-02451/56358439_zpid/?utm_source=txtshare Sold for $226,704 on 3/29/2021, listed at $1,099,000 on 4/1/2022, dropped to $949,900 on 4/20/2022. Area looks uncompelling and the commute wouldn’t be worth it. Overpriced and too much for me anyway. But there’s also the fact that it’s a flip. Flips are often constructed cheaply and for the express purpose of getting someone to buy it, longevity be dammed. Given the renovation and extensions on it (go see it on Street View for a laugh), that’d be a lot of potential failure points if they cheaped out on literally anything. Purchase prices aside  are flips ever worth it?
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Apr 24, 2022 18:57
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Pollyanna posted:Mm. My priorities are location of the house > strong and healthy bones (foundation, frame, roof, walls) > size of the house (including garage and lawn) > utilities (HVAC, electrical, plumbing, fixable stuff). As long as the first three are acceptable or strong, then I can compromise on the fourth. Every flip we looked at was so terribly done (my favorite was the new air handler installed in a coat closet that kept the door from closing all the way and the wall between the closet and living space cut open for the"return"), and with the cheapest and ugliest materials and craftsmanship that I would never pay for one; we ended up with a fixer they need a ton of work and had a bunch of PO DIYs needing to be fixed, but at least I know exactly what all our extra money went towards instead of just flipper profit. PageMaster fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Apr 24, 2022 |
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Apr 24, 2022 19:07
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I’d honestly vastly prefer a pre-1980s construction that’s still standing and has good bones to a completely new construction built for the express purpose of getting my money. Especially one built in the middle of a pandemic. Thinking about this house again. https://www.compass.com/listing/64-potter-road-waltham-ma-02453/1029630646395688865/?origin=listing_page&origin_type=copy_url Kitchen is a tad questionable, I really don’t want to deal with a jacuzzi tub next to a shower stall, and that pole in the basement annoys the hell out of me, but the place looks decent enough otherwise. It performs well in location and size, at least. The poo poo I don’t like can always be changed. Is there anything obvious I’m missing that would imply this is a bad (i.e. completely unworkable over time) option?
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Apr 24, 2022 19:31
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Pollyanna posted:I’d honestly vastly prefer a pre-1980s construction that’s still standing and has good bones to a completely new construction built for the express purpose of getting my money. Especially one built in the middle of a pandemic. That house is totally fine - the one thing that would bug me is a living space that isn't laid out to be conducive to how modern living rooms function (i.e. a TV), but that's going to be a struggle with a lot of houses.
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Apr 24, 2022 19:38
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Pollyanna posted:
This is dependent entirely on the person doing the work. I'm right there with you in hating how flips inflate the price of houses in an area, but there's a huge gulf between some moron who found 100k in the couch cushions after watching too much HGTV and the sort of companies that actually do this as a living. I actually got into a pretty good argument about this with my realtor when he was trying to steer me away from fixxer uppers, and honestly his explanation was pretty compelling. Basically, a good flipper is also the contractor. It's someone who has an existing crew of people, existing relationships with trades, and already knows where to go to get all the materials etc. they are going to need at decent prices. He can basically get all of the work on the house done at his own cost, and make his profit whatever he sells the house for. Meanwhile, if you buy a fixer-upper and then need to hire a contractor to unfuck the kitchen etc the fixed costs (labor, materials, etc.) remain the same, but now you're still paying the contractor his cut. Of course, that's assuming an actual business doing this as a routine thing. The DIY flipper is always going to be a hilariously incompetent wildcard. Now, I still think that having the work done yourself has some compelling advantages, but they aren't going to necessarily save you money: 1) you can get the work done to meet your own tastes as opposed to the most sellable median of flipper grey and mid-ranged countertops and fixtures. 2) if you know something about the kind of work being done you can keep an eye on it and make sure it's being done right. Less of an issue for me since I don't know gently caress about poo poo, but if you know what you're looking at it gives you some peace of mind knowing your new bathtub was installed right. 3) if the work isn't strictly necessary you can still live in an un-updated house with dated layouts and fixtures etc and (hopefully) get in at a lower price. This is going to get deep into what you consider "move in ready" however. Me, I'm firmly in the camp where I'd rather get the work done myself so that I can get the look and features that I want, not what an algorithm says will be maximally salable. My wife on the other hand is firmly in the camp where she's fine with whatever the HGTV hivemind has decided is livable as long as she doesn't have to live in a construction zone during a period of insane contractor (un)availability.
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Apr 24, 2022 19:51
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I’m torn between you and your wife, personally. I want things to be done well and in my best interests, but being able to secure something I don’t need to worry about finding contractors for in this hellscape is still compelling. But I know what livable is and isn’t, and it’s not like I can get worse than my current apartment, so… Dad had a hilarious line of thought on the greater Boston area: quote:We keep going in circles, but it drives me nuts that such a humble 1950s house for lower middle class people, per square foot, isn’t much cheaper than our house in [WASPville Gated Community, FL]. 
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Apr 24, 2022 19:59
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1st_Panzer_Div. posted:My knowledge is west coast, so I'll only give thoughts on that area: Necro-post: What's the quantitative difference between "a bit", modest, moderate, and slight?
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Apr 24, 2022 20:01
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Pollyanna posted:I’m torn between you and your wife, personally. I want things to be done well and in my best interests, but being able to secure something I don’t need to worry about finding contractors for in this hellscape is still compelling. But I know what livable is and isn’t, and it’s not like I can get worse than my current apartment, so… I mean, location is everything. You can buy a literal mansion in some cornfield in Iowa for what an extremely modest 2br ranch in Palo Alto costs.
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Apr 24, 2022 20:03
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Pollyanna posted:https://www.compass.com/listing/64-potter-road-waltham-ma-02453/1029630646395688865/?origin=listing_page&origin_type=copy_url The kitchen is dated, but looks workable. There are a couple of things that are going to be annoyances. The only path into and out of the back yard goes through the kitchen. If you have children, frequently entertain, or have dogs, that means dirt being tracked into the kitchen, as well as the cook constantly being interrupted by people walking through -- maybe even through the work triangle, although I can't spot a refrigerator. The long grey-green room, whatever it is, has a big chunk of space that has to be left free for people to walk into and out of the doors leading off it. That makes the space even narrower than it looks in the picture. Because of the narrowness, it's going to be awkward finding a furniture layout that looks good and functions well. If it's the master bedroom, this may not matter as much. Is there a covered path from the garage to the kitchen, or do you need to carry the groceries out into the slush, up into the living room, through the house, repeat?
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Apr 24, 2022 20:17
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Long green room is probably the master, yeah. I wonder if they consider the finished part of the basement to be a BR. Not enough info on the site to be sure. Good call on the kitchen, I actually don’t know.
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Apr 24, 2022 20:28
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Pollyanna posted:Long green room is probably the master, yeah. I wonder if they consider the finished part of the basement to be a BR. Not enough info on the site to be sure. In my state, a basement bedroom is only legal if you can exit the room through at least one of the windows. If there's only one emergency exit from a room, it isn't a bedroom. edit edit: I note that the heating is electric baseboard and oil. Verify just how much of the heating is electric baseboard, because that can wind up very spendy very fast. Arsenic Lupin fucked around with this message at 20:45 on Apr 24, 2022 |
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Apr 24, 2022 20:36
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A ton of remodeled flips around here are very rough shod. Would not recommend.
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Apr 24, 2022 23:51
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The question isn't "are flips bad," it's "how bad was this flip." Some will cut corners and shoehorn in features for appraisal value (unnecessary built-ins are a good sign of this) and some will do it right. You don't know until you look. I was fortunate to have a relationship with a contractor before I bought and was able to bring them through the house. That was a different time. If I were buying now I'd be looking for "dated but livable" and wait for construction craziness to die down before renovating, if possible.
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Apr 25, 2022 01:02
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In a market where people are waiving inspections and appraisals, and for that price, it’s not worth bothering with.
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Apr 25, 2022 01:32
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spwrozek posted:The declarations, financials, rules, meeting minutes. YMMV for this by state, I think. I got all of those as disclosures in CA without even asking, before I even made an offer. My agent called the seller and asked for the disclosure packet, and I got all of those along with the usual CA-mandated stuff. E: Yep, just found it in California law. Common-interest developments (co-ops, condos, planned developments all specifically called out) are required to disclose those. Sundae fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Apr 25, 2022 |
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Apr 25, 2022 05:22
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Pollyanna posted:go see it on Street View for a laugh Can you request an updated driveby on Street View? If you go a few hops in either direction down the street it has pictures with the house before it was updated.
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Apr 25, 2022 05:50
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Tricky Ed posted:The question isn't "are flips bad," it's "how bad was this flip." Some will cut corners and shoehorn in features for appraisal value (unnecessary built-ins are a good sign of this) and some will do it right. You don't know until you look. There's the wider issue that house flippers create positive price pressure on the entire market. Defenders of the practice commonly allude to "distressed" properties and all of the good that is done by reinvigorating such homes, but that's a red herring; more often flippers purchase perfectly good but dated properties and simply update them. Homes undergoing this treatment become less affordable, and everyone winds up paying a little more as a consequence. But setting aside that, I agree with everything you said. POs can do shoddy renovation work too, but usually when I see shoddy renovation it's in a place that's getting flipped. I've also seen flippers do a really nice job I know a couple who are basically a real estate agent and a general contractor who will buy a house on a 5/1 ARM loan, renovate it as their primary residence, live there, then sell it a few years later and repeat the whole process on a new house. Is this flipping? While there is a profit motive here, I would argue no, since they're turning the house into their primary residence for several years.
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Apr 25, 2022 07:51
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Cyrano4747 posted:This is dependent entirely on the person doing the work. I'm right there with you in hating how flips inflate the price of houses in an area, but there's a huge gulf between some moron who found 100k in the couch cushions after watching too much HGTV and the sort of companies that actually do this as a living. I actually got into a pretty good argument about this with my realtor when he was trying to steer me away from fixxer uppers, and honestly his explanation was pretty compelling. So, I thought like you once, and I really only had knowledge about like insulation and some electrical. We bought a major fixer that has been a loving nightmare and 9 years later just got it to a place where we have be able to make it easy to live in, despite needing a new roof and having some other structural flaws. I have taken on an additional $450/mo payment for fixing the bath and kitchen (and making the kitchen really nice with higher end appliances to be fair). During this time I saw my cousin and his wife sacrifice their marriage over an even worse fixer house and now my cousin lives in a shed in the yard of the home his ex wife and kids live in. If you don’t know anything about construction and soy have people in your close-by network who do that can tour homes with you, please listen to your wife on this one.
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Apr 25, 2022 08:44
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therobit posted:
Unfortunately, we don't. It's been a real challenge for us as far as that goes.
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Apr 25, 2022 12:46
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I mean…you do know goons  I’m sure there’s someone in the area who’s willing to goonmeet and call things out.
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Apr 25, 2022 13:09
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Cyrano4747 posted:I mean, location is everything. You can buy a literal mansion in some cornfield in Iowa for what an extremely modest 2br ranch in Palo Alto costs. this is absolutely true. i just visited my gf's hometown in flyoverwhocares, Illinois, and the cost of my 4/2 would buy a mansion on an estate there. the tradeoff is that your neighbors are almost certainly making meth, instead of just buying and using it.
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Apr 25, 2022 13:34
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QuarkJets posted:I know a couple who are basically a real estate agent and a general contractor who will buy a house on a 5/1 ARM loan, renovate it as their primary residence, live there, then sell it a few years later and repeat the whole process on a new house. Is this flipping? While there is a profit motive here, I would argue no, since they're turning the house into their primary residence for several years. It's a slow flip. This is absolutely calculated so they can 1031 exchange to the next flip for the favorable tax treatment. Nothing they are doing needs to last for more than 5 years so don't think this in and of itself means their work quality must be better.
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Apr 25, 2022 13:56
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I wish I had pictures of the flip I saw last year where the interior was all HGTV special while the outside of the house was tilted to one side as then foundation was failing with inch wide cracks visible.
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Apr 25, 2022 14:04
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