House-buying thread - Why is everyone involved in this process so deeply stupid?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > House-buying thread - Why is everyone involved in this process so deeply stupid?

skybolt_1: Oct 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

JUNGLE BOY posted:

So it turns out these people signed on for a 20 year solar PPA agreement they are 4 years into that I would need to take over.

Why-i-wont-consider-houses-with-solar-panels.txt

Your instincts are correct, these people are actively trying to screw you, and you should stick to your guns.

# ¿ Sep 30, 2023 14:59

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 04:35

skybolt_1: Oct 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

JUNGLE BOY posted:

...I did not feel things were going in a good and honest direction.

I cannot stress enough what a good move you made walking away from this. Congrats, you passed a key test that so many buyers fail.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2023 00:06

skybolt_1: Oct 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Yet again, reading about the abstract layers of fuckery that y'all deal with in terms of your mortgages reinforces my decision to just go through my plain, zero perks credit union for my mortgage. They only package and sell 50% of the note, keep 50% and retain servicing rights.

Could I have saved a tenth of a percent more through the open market, sure, but it sure seems like you do pay for it eventually.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2024 23:49

skybolt_1: Oct 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Mush Mushi posted:

I did another walk through tonight and brought my headlamp and found more knob and tube in the crawl space.

After rereading their quote several times, I think the electrician is proposing to replace the visible knob and tube with romex and splice the last few inches of any inaccessible knob and tube to romex in junction boxes, which might get me insured because thread title?

Offers are due tomorrow. I think I’m going to move on to the next one.

IMO in the face of that requirement from the insurer you're doing the right thing. There is always more knob and tube. Source: lived in a 200 year old house growing up.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2024 14:01

skybolt_1: Oct 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Anza Borrego posted:

Holy poo poo I am so glad I don’t have a condo

# ¿ Feb 10, 2024 14:02

skybolt_1: Oct 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

pointlesspart posted:

I am doing due diligence again on another potentially massive money pit.

The facts:
Asking price: $250k
Built in 1892
4000 sq ft main house
~2000 sq ft carriage house, includes second floor apartment. Listing doesn't give exact measurements for carriage house.
Third floor ballroom was converted to an apartment at some point.
County has it listed as multi family, but that may be an artifact of the carriage house and the home occupying multiple lots. Or the ballroom apartment.
In historic district, good location. Safe, near a magnet school, businesses moving in, etc.
Most of the roof replaced 6 years ago.
Old mechanicals
I think the PO died partway through renovation, but the name is hard to google.
Neighborhood sales prices in the past two years with square footage greater than 3000:
210k, 3100 sqft
260k, 3200 sqft
305k, 11500 sqft (was a church, I suspect the footage has something up with it making it an outlier)
325k, 3300 sqft
335k, 4500 sqft

My main goals are to find out exactly how much work is still undone and get estimates. If the work is mostly cosmetic, I'll consider buying. If not, I'll find something cheaper. This appears to be in better condition than the previous, but that is a very low bar.

Question: Has anyone disputed a property valuation before and how much of a nightmare is it? I've looked up the process in my state and it seems like an uphill battle. On the other hand, the property is valued by the county at close to 500k and lowering that to close to market value will save a lot of money. Nothing in the neighborhood can support that valuation, despite the recent upswing.

And, of course, I welcome any potential problems anyone finds. You all have been very helpful in general.

This will be a massive money pit, beginning and end of story, as are all houses of this and older vintage. If you are into renovating old properties to their former glory / enjoy un-loving 132 years of Garys sins / have a burning desire to gut and rebuild the place in order to insulate, rewire, modernize generally, then I strongly suggest you buy it.

The likelihood that the work is "mostly cosmetic" is vanishingly unlikely and unless you are literally The Most Handy Person Alive you will be best friends with your local tradesmen, to the point of getting invited over for Christmas and serving as the godparent to their children. Some things that are guaranteed to be present in varying amounts:

Asbestos (is bestos!)
Knob and tube (insurers love this)
Lead paint ("wall candy")

Some people really love old houses though, like my sister and brother-in-law. They paid to gut and renovate a 1700's era farmhouse. It cost like $300k in pre-pandemic money, where they had a choice of contractors, and in the end they have a quirky old house with stairways that are hideously steep, dozens of places to smash your head on beams, and two children with mild lead poisoning from the lead dust that wasn't cleaned up properly.

It will cost an absolute fortune to keep at a comfortable temperature assuming it is in a place that gets cold.

Honestly, I would consider the property valuation the least of your concerns, your best bet to get an answer there is to give the local government a call and find out what the process looks like.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2024 03:54

skybolt_1: Oct 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Pollyanna posted:

Clearly you’ve never gone house hunting in Massachusetts

Yeah, this. As a child growing up in an old house, I was always told not to bump into the large tinfoil wrapped pipes in the basement because they were asbestos my father had encapsulated ( with two layers of extra duty tin foil and duct tape!)

House sold 4 years ago no problem. Far as I know they didn't remediate afterwards either.

Same house; full of knob and tube, lead pipes (drain) lead paint (everywhere), and probably radon in the basement.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2024 18:21

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 04:35

skybolt_1: Oct 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

On the subject of mortgage brokers, has anyone here used https://www.ownup.com as a mortgage broker? For the most part what I have found online seems to be generally positive experiences, and they operate in the state that I'm looking to purchase in.

I have already gone through the OptOutPrescreen.com process.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2024 03:17

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > House-buying thread - Why is everyone involved in this process so deeply stupid?