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GunnerJ posted:So what are the thread's opinions on: What about crawl spaces? IMO they're better than slab, but they're not without their issues. Basements are even better still. But a lot of this depends entirely on your location/climate, since the pros/cons are tied pretty tightly to what the ground does. Price is a factor too. Slab is cheaper than a crawl space, which is cheaper than a basement.
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Oct 19, 2020 15:45
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I've lived places that had slab foundations and places with basements but never anywhere with a crawlspace so I was just curious if there's anything notable or worth looking out for about them. I am kind of interested in a log house built on a hill that's listed near me. From what I understand about crawlspaces, uneven terrain like a hillside is one of the use cases for them. I've also read that log houses are high maintenance but wasn't sure if there was anything more to look out for.
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Oct 19, 2020 15:55
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Crawlspace means pier and beam foundation, with enough air gap to crawl in there with a hydraulic jack and level the house when the piers start sinking at an uneven rate One major advantage is that you can have substandard contractors try and drag AC ducting under the house and not seal the holes, giving you a rat infestation Biggest issue I had with pier and beam was that the water pipe to the washer/dryer on the far end of the house would start to freeze in really cold weather if you didn't run a load of laundry at least every three days, but mostly because my landlord was a cheap rear end In another rental, the main wall that ran down the middle of the house hadn't been jacked up in decades and was much lower than everything else, and jacking it up now would have caused more problems than leaving it as is A nice feature of pier and beam is that you can move the house to another location on the property later if you want, I guess. It's just another foundation type
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Oct 19, 2020 16:08
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Summit posted: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. I think we probably can swing both just looking at debt to income -- at least if that 43% threshold is calculated on gross income and not net. Still think it comes down to the down payment. On the home selling front, a pox on the former owners for their slapdash DIY painting. It was touched up enough to get us in the door, but has been a headache since. The paint on the kitchen cabinets is all chipped at this point around the hardware and will need to be redone. And they clearly DIY'd paint on the bathroom tile, which now looks rough as poo poo anywhere that's been exposed to water.  I don't think we'd do this ourselves, but we'll probably cheap out fixing it, continuing the cycle of pain for whoever comes next.
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Oct 19, 2020 16:25
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:Indeed, it is bizarre. There must be something about me/the project/the house/the neighborhood that made bids come in at 2-3x the reasonable amount. This means nothing in the grand scheme of things but for fun I sent those pics and your reqs to my brother who is a GC and has his own remodel business. He does work in the central florida area and down in key west in 50k crack houses all the way up to million dollar homes. His reply more or less was that is a 15-20k remodel all day with mid range fixtures/cabinets/tile/etc around here and that's with him making probably 5-8k on the job. However, he said to do that same job down in Key West would be 100k all day long and no one would bat an eye at that cost. He also says to sub it all out separately, get a tile guy, get an electrician, get a plumber etc, yourself. The problem when you hire someone like him is, he's marking up his prices but he's also marking up the prices on the pieces he's subbing out. He says it's probably a combination of the area you are in and the markup the GC is throwing on top of everything.
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Oct 19, 2020 17:10
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Hadlock posted:One major advantage is that you can have substandard contractors try and drag AC ducting under the house and not seal the holes, giving you a rat infestation Ouch, the deepest cut. mattfl posted:He also says to sub it all out separately, get a tile guy, get an electrician, get a plumber etc, yourself. The problem when you hire someone like him is, he's marking up his prices but he's also marking up the prices on the pieces he's subbing out. He says it's probably a combination of the area you are in and the markup the GC is throwing on top of everything. This is something I've been thinking about too when it comes to converting my garage into a living space. Supposedly this could cost up to the value of my actual home to get done, but there are several people on Youtube (I know, I know) who have shown how they've cut the costs down substantially by having a series of contractors work on the home, separated by the city sending their inspector in to make sure everything is up to code. It sounds like it takes a lot longer, but when they break down the prices it also seems like they are saving an absolute ton of money for the same amount of work.
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Oct 19, 2020 17:29
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Anonymous Zebra posted:Ouch, the deepest cut. I can tell you just by the amount of money my brother makes doing little to nothing on jobs and just subbing everything out, it would be far far cheaper to hire individual trades than hiring someone like my brother who then hires those trades. My brother mainly does the electrical on his jobs, so he hires out drywall/plumbing/hvac/flooring people and there is at least a 10-15% markup that he throws on top of whatever markup the tradesman is already putting on the job. It's pretty insane, his GC license and doing good work is basically a money printing machine for him these days.
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Oct 19, 2020 17:42
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Anonymous Zebra posted:This is something I've been thinking about too when it comes to converting my garage into a living space. Supposedly this could cost up to the value of my actual home to get done, but there are several people on Youtube (I know, I know) who have shown how they've cut the costs down substantially by having a series of contractors work on the home, separated by the city sending their inspector in to make sure everything is up to code. If you don't know the first thing about construction/trades, DO NOT act as your own GC. Trying to coordinate the subcontractors is an elaborate dance with many places where you can get screwed over. Inspectors are not going to pick up the pieces for you. I just had an 'inspection' of a HVAC installation that consisted of the guy hopping out of his truck, looking at it for 5 seconds, and leaving. If I wasn't home, I don't think he would have even bothered to hop out of his truck.
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Oct 19, 2020 17:47
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Coordinating subcontractors is a skill and you are not going to be able to just call them up and schedule them without hiccups. A professional general contractor will have a superintendent on site to keep an eye on the trades and a project manager going between the office and the site to manage changes and coordinate schedules. Picking a real general contractor also gives you someone who presumably has real insurance and can have certificates of insurance provided in a reasonable manner, as well as managing the lien waiver process and all the other things that an individual will find a way to screw up.
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Oct 19, 2020 18:30
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A 10% markup in exchange for making sure you're getting a reliable competent worker for every trade (and not having to find a replacement yourself if someone suddenly skips town) is a pretty good deal IMO.
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Oct 19, 2020 18:37
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Oh I absolutely agree. Although finding a "good" GC has been a pain in the rear end since we moved into this place. It's one of the reasons I was planning on hiring an architect first, and then asking who they like to work with. I figure that a bad GC can go through lots of one-time clients without losing business, but in theory a GC that keeps getting referrals from an engineer or architect will at least have to be consistently competent. Or maybe not, who the gently caress can tell these days.
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Oct 19, 2020 18:46
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Welp. Seems like I'm selling my house as component of a settlement with the previous owners. Anyone know a good real estate attorney in Portland?
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Oct 19, 2020 19:40
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The Puppy Bowl posted:Welp. Seems like I'm selling my house as component of a settlement with the previous owners. Anyone know a good real estate attorney in Portland? How are you this far without an attorney?
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Oct 19, 2020 21:00
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H110Hawk posted:How are you this far without an attorney? We have a litigatior who got us here. We just need someone to help us generate the sale paperwork.
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Oct 19, 2020 21:05
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The Puppy Bowl posted:We have a litigatior who got us here. We just need someone to help us generate the sale paperwork. Gotcha! They don't have a suggestion? Also holy moly. Glad this is working out, hopefully you can share some details when it's finalized.
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Oct 19, 2020 21:07
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H110Hawk posted:Gotcha! They don't have a suggestion? Also holy moly. Glad this is working out, hopefully you can share some details when it's finalized. It's been a whole big thing. Late date for the transaction according to our tentative agreement settlement is end of November. If all goes accordingly I can share the story after that. We can laugh at how stupid I am and how evil the world is.
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Oct 19, 2020 21:15
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Chad Sexington posted:Hello friends! I wanted to consult the Praise be. I just spoke to a lender and he said with our cash in-hand, we can swing buying a place without a selling contingency at 10% down, even at the upper range of what we're considering. Then once we sell (which would still hopefully be right away), we can recast the loan after six months to get the payments down to about what they'd be if we had started with 20% down. Agent also sent us comparables for our condo and they are $10-20k higher than we thought. Because I have gone back and read a good chunk of this thread, I can't tolerate good news and I am still embracing the possibility we get unlucky and have to pay two mortgages for a few months. But better that than moving twice. Or selling our place and then getting stuck in an airbnb or short-term rental while the world shuts down for COVID again.
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Oct 20, 2020 17:44
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Chad Sexington posted:Praise be. I just spoke to a lender and he said with our cash in-hand, we can swing buying a place without a selling contingency at 10% down, even at the upper range of what we're considering. Then once we sell (which would still hopefully be right away), we can recast the loan after six months to get the payments down to about what they'd be if we had started with 20% down. Grats! Lucky to be selling into a hot market. I've kept up my search (Baltimore, not DC though) and everything I've been interested in has been under contract within 72 hours. I'm probably going to put in an offer this evening on a place I just saw today. Stomach is already in knots.
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Oct 20, 2020 18:30
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Tunicate posted:A 10% markup in exchange for making sure you're getting a reliable competent worker for every trade (and not having to find a replacement yourself if someone suddenly skips town) is a pretty good deal IMO. The fallacy is that there is no guarantee that the GC you hire is going to have reliable competent workers for every trade. The incentives are against you. crazypeltast52 posted:Coordinating subcontractors is a skill and you are not going to be able to just call them up and schedule them without hiccups. This isn't a skill that is impossible to learn. Most people have to learn some form of project management in many white collar jobs. The liability insurance indeed is a legitimate concern. It's a question of risk vs reward if you choose to subcontract out. That being said, a very common technique for homeowners is to poach specific subcontractors as people are doing jobs to your house/other houses. ntan1 fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Oct 20, 2020 |
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Oct 20, 2020 19:09
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Anonymous Zebra posted:Oh I absolutely agree. Although finding a "good" GC has been a pain in the rear end since we moved into this place. It's one of the reasons I was planning on hiring an architect first, and then asking who they like to work with. I figure that a bad GC can go through lots of one-time clients without losing business, but in theory a GC that keeps getting referrals from an engineer or architect will at least have to be consistently competent. Or maybe not, who the gently caress can tell these days. You have the same agency issue with an architect. They may refer you to a competent GC, but that doesn't mean the architect's design is amenable to your budget. If total cost is the primary valuation of project success, here's my ranking from lowest cost to highest cost (taking no other aspects into consideration such as quality, schedule, etc.): 1. DIY with your own design 2. Rely on favors from friends and family with your own design 3. Hire one guy with a pick-up truck who has you buy all materials yourself and they self-perform all tasks, with your own design 4. Hire a general contractor who only does your type of remodel (like, only baths or only kitchens, etc.) and performs all work in-house, provides all material from a small list of suppliers, usually they have some design software 5. Hire a general contractor who subcontracts work and gives you a pencil sketch of the plan 6. Hire a design-build firm who designs the project in-house and then builds it for you (this is what I do) 7. Hire an architect and then figure out the rest 8. Hire an interior designer and then figure out the rest
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Oct 20, 2020 20:43
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After telling myself during my entire planning and search that if I found a house I loved that only had one relatively major (pls don't be electrical) system wrong that I would have the thing fixed the right way and be done with it (but was hoping it wasn't going to be electrical), I had my inspection today. And the verdict is: 95 year old house is on a near-perfect foundation, great water system, newer boiler and radiators, aaaaaaand has no major electrical problems but a lot of minor ones that will all together cost most of the way to the cost of completely rewiring and coming up to 2020 code. I jinxed myself.
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Oct 21, 2020 01:47
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ScamWhaleHolyGrail posted:After telling myself during my entire planning and search that if I found a house I loved that only had one relatively major (pls don't be electrical) system wrong that I would have the thing fixed the right way and be done with it (but was hoping it wasn't going to be electrical), I had my inspection today. That's a pretty serious bummer. Is it the old knob-and-tube?
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Oct 21, 2020 02:08
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ScamWhaleHolyGrail posted:After telling myself during my entire planning and search that if I found a house I loved that only had one relatively major (pls don't be electrical) system wrong that I would have the thing fixed the right way and be done with it (but was hoping it wasn't going to be electrical), I had my inspection today. Naturally. However, if you're in a place where 95 year old homes are in demand, minor electrical problems will be ignored by almost every buyer because people are mostly only looking as far as "does it have knob and tube wiring?"
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Oct 21, 2020 02:16
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I’ve probably said this before but in certain neighborhoods no one gives a poo poo about knob and tube. I know that sounds crazy to people buying newish/newer houses but it’s true. Every house around me is 75+ years old and has tons of goofy mechanical weirdness; knob and tube is not sensational in the slightest around here.
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Oct 21, 2020 03:20
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Not knob and tube thankfully! But it is aluminum and all but 3 of the outlets are two prong -- including the kitchen and bathroom. It's grounded two prong, but my current rental is ungrounded two prong. I'm so tired of adapters on adapters on "holy poo poo I'm gonna lose my whole computer again". So we'll see how this sentiment holds up when I bring electricians through. At least the panel is already done and has plenty of space 
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Oct 21, 2020 03:59
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Wait, so there's already a ground AT all the receptacles? A grounded receptacle is only a few bucks and not too hard to install - most of the cost in an upgrade would typically be in running a new ground from your source panel. Wouldn't recommend doing it yourself if you're not comfortable with it, but it's a pretty trivial job for an electrician if you supply the parts. Sorry to hear about the aluminum, though. Definitely something that you should get resolved when you can, esp in circuits that will see a lot of use - you certainly don't need to do a full rewire, but it does require skilled labor to re-terminate the connections safely. My understanding is that reterminating is usually way cheaper - if a full rewire is comparable in price to bring things up to code, I'd just bite the bullet and get that done.
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Oct 21, 2020 04:15
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Welp, got pre-approved and put in an offer. Is it normal to have your stomach in knots and an instant sense of existential regret?
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Oct 21, 2020 15:58
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I think that’s supposed to happen when your offer is accepted.
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Oct 21, 2020 16:01
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Not a Children posted:Welp, got pre-approved and put in an offer. Is it normal to have your stomach in knots and an instant sense of existential regret? The next step is panic focused on whichever tiny hurdle comes next and worrying that it's going to derail your whole process.
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Oct 21, 2020 16:02
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ScamWhaleHolyGrail posted:The next step is panic focused on whichever tiny hurdle comes next and worrying that it's going to derail your whole process. 100% if this is your first buy you'll poo poo yourself throughtought the whole process. My current house was my 3rd purchase, my fiance's 1st.. quite a bit of fun keeping her stress levels down.
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Oct 21, 2020 16:40
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tater_salad posted:100% if this is your first buy you'll poo poo yourself throughtought the whole process. My current house was my 3rd purchase, my fiance's 1st.. quite a bit of fun keeping her stress levels down. lol can't wait to do this while my partner is in residency and only has one day off per week 
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Oct 21, 2020 17:36
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Johnny Truant posted:lol can't wait to do this while my partner is in residency and only has one day off per week
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Oct 21, 2020 18:23
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ScamWhaleHolyGrail posted:The next step is panic focused on whichever tiny hurdle comes next and worrying that it's going to derail your whole process. That's the good kind of panic though. Helps you get poo poo DONE. The existential regret once you sign over all that money officially is its own special cocktail. In fact, speaking of cocktails, I think after we bought the first time it took getting a drink over lunch before my nerves finally settled and it seemed like a good thing. We just looked at a couple places and I am preemptively getting all my financial docs in order for pre-approval because there is a non-zero chance my wife wakes up tomorrow saying THAT WAS THE ONE. We still have several weeks-worth of work to do on our condo, but now that we know we can buy without a selling contingency, feeling much more free.
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Oct 21, 2020 18:33
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Bioshuffle posted:A good realtor will be a lifeline. I had a really lovely realtor who kept giving us the run around- rescheduling showings, not responding to emails, etc etc etc. I fired them, got a new realtor, and we had an accepted offer within two weeks of hiring the new one. Good to know. I've already started reading up on house buying basics, but this topic has definitely hammered home the "good realtor makes your life infinitely easier" point.
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Oct 21, 2020 19:06
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that pucker feeling when you wire more money than you have ever seen in one place to the title company for your down payment holy poo poo I triple and quadruple checked that transfer info, called to re-re-confirm that it was correct, and I still just about puked it blows my mind that there isn't a better way to move money than this.
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Oct 21, 2020 20:20
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Rasputin on the Ritz posted:that pucker feeling when you wire more money than you have ever seen in one place to the title company for your down payment It was awful. I used ally for my bank and their form wouldn’t accept the routing number for whatever reason. Turns out it just wouldn’t work from chrome for some reason.
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Oct 21, 2020 21:25
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I'm sure every other country on earth has either; a fool proof high-tech transfer process or a great low-tech way to hand over your 200 head of cattle in exchange for a deed. But if we change anything, then our nations brave financial middlemen couldn't extract the economic rent $ they need to lobby congress!
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Oct 21, 2020 22:37
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Yeah so I was keeping my down payment funds in my Barclays online savings account. Not until the Thursday before close (on a Monday) did I find out that Barclays doesn’t do wire transfers to external parties. What the gently caress. That’s probably my fault I guess but I took it for granted as a normal service for a bank account. Anyways I was able to transfer it to my checking and have it clear by Monday where I cut a bank check the morning of close. Still, got some unnecessarily frantic calls from my broker about needing to delay.
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Oct 22, 2020 00:19
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Diva Cupcake posted:Yeah so I was keeping my down payment funds in my Barclays online savings account. Not until the Thursday before close (on a Monday) did I find out that Barclays doesn’t do wire transfers to external parties. What the gently caress. That’s probably my fault I guess but I took it for granted as a normal service for a bank account. I have an online HYSA and a BoA account that we use for checking (I know, but it has convenient ATMs). I checked on it figuring that I might need to do a transfer to BoA and lo and behold, the online HYSA does no-limit external transfers and the BoA account has a $1000 limit. Uh... I mean, could have done a certified check if the money was in there, but still, what?
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Oct 22, 2020 00:34
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Xguard86 posted:I'm sure every other country on earth has either; a fool proof high-tech transfer process or a great low-tech way to hand over your 200 head of cattle in exchange for a deed. I moved from Brazil to the US in the early 2000s and I was shocked about how much more I could do in terms of online banking in Brazil than in the US. Instant transfers to other banks where the name of the account holder is confirmed on your screen before you agree to it, being able to pay every single bill online instantly, etc. A lot of stuff that was available in Brazil 20 years ago that are only now becoming common place in the US through things like Zelle or the cash app. I was doing online transfers to friends with accounts in other banks to pay my share of a party in 2000 in Brazil, and then I moved to the US and if I wanted to send money to a friend with an account in a different bank I'd have to handle it as a payment and the bank would mail an actual check to the person. Granted, part of it might be that since Brazil had a long experience with hyper inflation banks weren't loving around in terms of being able to send and receive money quickly (ive experienced 2000% yearly inflation, AMA) joepinetree fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Oct 22, 2020 |
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Oct 22, 2020 01:33
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