smackfu posted:

We aren’t actively house shopping but we had a “let us know if you are ever interested in selling” lead come through from a friend’s neighbor for their lake house. We took a tour and are interested but there’s no selling agent or listing or firm asking price, just a mention of the Zestimate from the owner.

Anyone here ever been in this situation? I guess it’s basically for-sale-by-owner which are generally bad but we could also get a good deal and not have to compete with anyone?

Lockback posted:

I just did this exact thing this past fall, except the guy who owned the house (and actually designed and built it himself in '77) was moved into assisted care and his son who lived 2000 miles away had POA. I got a great deal BUT it also needed a lot of work. I'm not sure why it would be a big risk FSBO, I still got an appraisal and a inspection, there are tons of services you can use that mimic what a realtor would do for closing at a fraction of the price, or you can get an attorney to do it if it makes sense for the price of the house. All you are losing is a Realtor which is a mixed bag in terms of advice and advocacy anyway.

Whether you'll get a good deal depends on lots of factors but in my case it worked out as I was leveraging the risks we were taking to get a price that would have been impossible to get anywhere else. The family wasn't willing to go down the path of doing the work it needed and I knew how to use that to build it into the price, while still doing the legwork to get a very thorough inspection and so far the work has been considerably LESS than I anticipated.

Cyrano4747 posted:

The thing that kills me is these vestigial loving fireplaces. The gas ones are bad enough but the electrics, come the gently caress on. Just admit that you live in the 21st century, have central heating, and throw that crap out.

Because if there's one thing I hate, it's having a TV plopped on top of the mantle for a fireplace that serves no purpose what so ever.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

This is close to what my wife and I are doing right now; the mother-in-law spotted a house four doors down from her that was going to be coming up on the market, thought "grandbaby within walking distance!!!!" and connected us up; the little old lady who'd lived there since it was built had a real estate agent, but the property wasn't listed yet. She asked an entirely reasonable price given the neighborhood and the amount of work the place needed, we offered her asking, she accepted. Closing is in about a month. We've had the inspections and it found the problems I was expecting it to find; basically the house needs about 75-100k in general updates and repairs -- half due to an enclosed porch that was enclosed poorly and the other half just because nothing inside has been updated since 1972 -- but it's underpriced for the neighborhood by [more than that]; we;ve had the appraisal and it valued the house at just enough more than the asking that I feel like we got a deal and not too much more so I don't feel bad for ripping off a nice old lady..

So we're doing this thing. We'll see how it turns out. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop; if this keeps going this smoothly it will be the easiest house sale and purchase i've ever *heard* of.

I'll report back how the renovations go. Here are some more "before" pictures:


What an entrance!




The formal living room with picture window and original 1972 carpet






This lil oven is genuinely growing on us and we might keep it, it still works!



Is. . . is that a pizza hut lamp?




A picture of the HAM radio closet had been requested


This bathroom counter stumped us until we realized grandma needed a whole counter for her curlers etc.

I'm really glad we found the place before the flippers did, limewashed it and put in grey laminate flooring everwhere, and jacked 100 grand onto the price uselessly.

hobbez posted:

I’m gonna push back here. Having grown up in a home in which a wood burning stove was a center piece, I’ve been anti gas fireplace for forever. But we have one in our current interim rental and I think I’ve been turned. It’s nice to be able to just throw on for a few hours in the evening when you want some spot heat in your primary living space. And for ambience, it’s obviously not the same as a wood burning stove or fireplace, but it’s still pretty nice to plop in front of to read a book or whatever. And obviously it’s stupid convenient compared to any wood based alternatives

QuarkJets posted:

The only thing I'd prioritize renovating here is removing the popcorn ceilings and replacing the carpet, that house is beatiful

hobbez posted:

I’m gonna push back here. Having grown up in a home in which a wood burning stove was a center piece, I’ve been anti gas fireplace for forever. But we have one in our current interim rental and I think I’ve been turned. It’s nice to be able to just throw on for a few hours in the evening when you want some spot heat in your primary living space. And for ambience, it’s obviously not the same as a wood burning stove or fireplace, but it’s still pretty nice to plop in front of to read a book or whatever. And obviously it’s stupid convenient compared to any wood based alternatives

LanceHunter posted:

Not to mention that if your fireplace sees any use at all, the heat will seriously gently caress with any TV that is mounted above it.

Motronic posted:

Another episode of "goons who can't look up".

No, it won't unless your mantle is uselessly small and you do things like leave the flue closed. People have had pictures and actual animal mount above fireplaces since forever and you don't hear constant stories of grandpaws prize buck mount that got burnt up.

Is it unfortunate that there's typically not a good place to put a TV in a room with a fireplace other than above the fireplace? Yes. But unless you have actual mobility issues I just don't see how this is a big deal. I've literally never heard someone in real life have a problem with this.

Motronic posted:

No, it won't unless your mantle is uselessly small and you do things like leave the flue closed. People have had pictures and actual animal mount above fireplaces since forever and you don't hear constant stories of grandpaws prize buck mount that got burnt up.

quote:

Heat & TVs Don’t Mix

Heat and television, or any other electronics for that matter, aren’t designed to get along. When it comes to mounting your television above your fireplace, it’s best to play it safe and know which fireplaces are less likely to cause you problems with overheating and which types you should avoid mounting a tv above.

Why can I not use a tv mount with a gas insert or wood stove fireplace? Because the nature of those is to make a lot of heat… which can harm the delicate electronic components inside the television.

[...]

While you can usually get away with mounting a flat-screen tv over an electric fireplace, when it comes to gas or wood-burning units made to produce heat, you must be careful what you place above the mantel. Even direct vent gas fireplace and inserts produce a substantial amount of heat that can eventually deem your television useless. You won’t notice the damage until the day comes when the television refuses to turn on.

In most cases, you should not install electronics above wood-burning stoves or gas fireplaces and inserts because they produce massive amounts of heat. That heat could severely damage your tv or other electronic devices.

An open fireplace that burns wood or decorative gas logs, which has non-removable glass doors (with gaskets and a tight-fitting latch) or air-tight doors, would frequently allow a TV to stick out from the facing IF said television was mounted in excess of 12 inches above the opening or fireplaces lintels.

Take this Quick QUIZ to Determine if a Mount Can Work for You
- Does your fireplace have air-tight doors that open with a latch?
- Does your fireplace produce heat?
- Does it have a single fixed sheet of glass in a frame, held in place with springs and a clamp?

If the answer is yes to ANY of those questions, then heat could become a problem for the TV mounted above your fireplace.

pmchem posted:

on another nerd forum I frequent, people regularly laugh about how lovely it looks to have a TV mounted above a fireplace. to the point where it's basically a meme joke.

ultimately it's a matter of aesthetics, up for debate:
https://www.houzz.com/magazine/design-debate-is-it-ok-to-hang-the-tv-over-the-fireplace-stsetivw-vs~73630550

Cyrano4747 posted:

My problem with fireplaces is mostly people orienting their living room around something that rarely gets used and then cramming the TV - which is frequently used - over the mantle and making it a pain in the rear end to watch. Mostly because of my in-laws, who have this gargantuan gas fireplace that I have never, ever seen them use. It dates from the 90s and it's just what you had to have in a respectable living room I guess. As a result their TV is perched over a mantle that has to be 4 feet off the ground (it's about chest -height on me and I'm just shy of six feet) and everyone has to crane their neck up to watch it. And it's always on, because boomers.

If it's older construction (say, pre-70s) whatever, but mostly I'm annoyed by new construction that tries to pretend that - however you may feel about this as a component of our culture - the TV isn't the entertainment focus point of a modern living room. Want to stick a fireplace on the side of the room as a decoration? Cool, enjoy. But when I walk in to look at a place and see the dominant wall that you're going to have to organize furniture around with one in the middle of it, gently caress I'm out. It just really, really bugs me.

Like this:


Ugh.

Really looking forward to sitting on the couch to watch a movie with my wife and craning my neck up 30-45 degrees like I'm sitting in a bar trying to catch the game over the bartender's head.


edit: or this. Blech.



Much better:



Basically I don't like room layouts that try to pretend like the room isn't used how it really is and instead insist on a fantasy version for aesthetic purposes. Form over function sucks in a living space.

Cyrano4747 posted:

My problem with fireplaces is mostly people orienting their living room around something that rarely gets used and then cramming the TV - which is frequently used - over the mantle and making it a pain in the rear end to watch. . . .

Basically I don't like room layouts that try to pretend like the room isn't used how it really is and instead insist on a fantasy version for aesthetic purposes. Form over function sucks in a living space.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

What I think I'm going to try in the new place is an L-shaped setup with the TV on the wall opposite the couch, the fireplace to the left of the couch, and a chair on the right of the couch.

LanceHunter posted:

The amount of heat required to set fire to an animal mount or even to singe a painting are orders of magnitude greater than the amount of heat required to prevent the electronics in a flatscreen from being able to properly cool off while in use. Hell, even chimney companies recommend against it:

Motronic posted:

Yet no sign of an outbreak of damaged TVs in evidence after literal decades of this common practice. This seem to have no merit at all unless you have out of the ordinary extenuating circumstances with the construction of your fireplace and chimney/wall assembly. Neither of my fireplaces are much warmer than ambient above the mantle when in use.

If you don't like the look or function, by all means don't do it. But this kind of black and white "not only is is wrong for everyone, it's going to damage your TV" is just too much.

LanceHunter posted:

Except there is plenty of evidence of TVs malfunctioning (overheating and shutting down) and dying years before their expected EOL. Hell, in most cases it will also void your warranty. Just because you have never heard of it doesn't mean that it isn't common enough that there are literally hundred of pages out there with experts recommending against the practice.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

I'm really glad we found the place before the flippers did, limewashed it and put in grey laminate flooring everwhere, and jacked 100 grand onto the price uselessly.

Rotten posted:

Like you said it’s nice to be able to flip the fireplace on for a couple hours and have some heat. No more cleaning out ashes lol or the constant mess around it. No more splitting kindling or oversized pieces. My old bad back is much happier.
Sure the ambiance is nice but it’s a lot of work imo.

Arsenic Lupin posted:

absolutely no way to remove the ashes except by carrying them downstairs and out the door, and white carpet throughout.

Motronic posted:

Again, this is certainly a problem for a subset of poorly built fireplaces. As a manufacturer you're going to "recomend" against that and attempt to void warranties over it or anything else. The bottom line is that most fireplaces don't have this problem.

Your very first link only supports your assertion in the headline (wait, would they do something like that just to get clicks on the Internet? Tell me it ain't so!) and then goes on to the actual nuance that matters which is: if it doesn't get hot up there, which it will not on a properly constructed fireplace, it's fine.

TVs overheat and break all the time, they don't even need help from a fireplace. Blaming overheating electronics on an external heat source is just not understanding the failure mode.

QuarkJets posted:

Anything greater than 100F I'd consider unsafe for electronics, that's not particularly hot to the touch but you shouldn't let any kind of computer equipment sit in that temperature for a long time.

Lockback posted:

Case temps routinely go over 100F and CPUs today usually operate around 176F. If this was true all electronics are unsafe all the time.

Lockback posted:

Case temps routinely go over 100F and CPUs today usually operate around 176F. If this was true all electronics are unsafe all the time.

IOwnCalculus posted:

You're mixing environmental temperatures with internal temperatures. A big part of why the internals of your computer are at those temperatures is because the computer is in a 70-80 degree room. Also, your computer is better able to thermoregulate by ramping up fan speeds or throttling CPU/GPU. Fanless consumer electronics don't have those luxuries.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

What I think I'm going to try in the new place is an L-shaped setup with the TV on the wall opposite the couch, the fireplace to the left of the couch, and a chair on the right of the couch.