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As DM said, don't use whomever your agent suggests. Either get some recommendations by people who've purchased a house recently or sign up for https://my.angieslist.com/ and read their reviews.
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Apr 11, 2011 14:59
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Bozart posted:Slightly off topic - but the shoe Holmes Inspection has inspired my morbid curiosity. What is the most messed up, asbestos laden, moldy, should-be condemned problem that people have actually dealt with here? Well, when I was shopping around last year, I did an inspection on one house that thankfully they rejected my bid on. I had offered 180k presuming it needed at least 100-125k of work. (ended up buying slightly larger in much better shape at 285k that wasn't a short sale). That one eventually sold for 225k (I have no idea how). Anyway, that one had: Roof in severe disrepair, had leaked the previous winter, and there was water damage in the master bedroom around the closet as well as spot issues in other parts of the house. The garage had been converted into an additional bedroom with a raised wooden floor and a laundry room. The sink in the laundry room was broken, with an ejector pump that was also broken. We ran some water through it, it went through the bottom and disappeared within a minute under the wooden floor. (hello mold). In addition to this, the electrical box was directly above the washing machine (and said leaky sink), and had been encased in wood for some unknown reason. Moderate to extensive wood rot to the exterior in a few spots. Also as part of that bonus room, they had removed the existing flooring in the garage and built a non-existent cover over the oil line between the oil tank and boiler. So for a period of what had to be at least 10-20 years, they were walking directly on the oil line feed. I pulled that bid pretty drat fast after doing the inspection, since in addition to that, all the flooring / carpets in the bedrooms and kitchen needed to be renovated. All the houses in the area (suburb outside Boston) are basically 1500ish sq. ft ranches built post WW2. They all feature: asbestos tiles (with glue with asbestos in them) directly on top of the foundation. Recommendations are that you just build a floor on top of them as need be and leave them be. Walls also tend to have lead paint, paint over it. Also the boiler and hot water heater (and usually washing machines) are located in the kitchen to save on plumbing. Most convert this away into the garage when the radiant heating system gives out (probably around 20-30 years ago for most of these places). E: Speaking of, bought at 285k, renovated an original kitchen and moved the boiler / washing machine from the kitchen to the garage and bonus room, as well as upgraded the electrical system. Hit so far: $35k, minus ~10k in mass save interest free loans. Do never buy~ Kalli fucked around with this message at 17:33 on Apr 27, 2011 |
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Apr 27, 2011 17:27
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DJCobol posted:I kind of based utilities off of my apartment. Everything here is electric, and its all old inefficient crap, and my worst month here has only been $55. I'm expecting an increase when I get into a house. Water was based off of a co-worker that lives about 10 miles away and said they pay $40 a month for water and sewer for a family of 5. That only leaves trash, and I honestly have no idea how much trash costs. For trash, check the town website. Where I am, the trash is just part of your property taxes, the next town over you have to buy special bags that they sell for $10 for 5 for trash pickup. Also, my water bill is <$20/mo for 2.5 people, so there you go.
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May 8, 2011 17:33
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I'd recommend pulling the permits for the renovated work. If they don't exist, run away or at least presume it's all garbage that will need to be replaced.
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May 19, 2011 17:54
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I recently replaced some 50 year old single pane windows in my house, and in the bonus room, there was... absolutely no insulation at all between the paneling and exterior wall. (I figured it was thin and flimsy considering how thin it had been in the kitchen, but poking in and seeing nothing just made me laugh.)
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Dec 12, 2011 18:49
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At thirty years, sure that could work out, now what happens if you want to move in 5 years? 10? Don't forget the 6% agents fees and risk of special assessments when doing the math!
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Feb 8, 2012 06:21
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Sophia posted:Edit: And don't let this post make you think I've already decided; I'm just answering devil's advocate-style to your questions. You raised a good point about the length I plan to live there. Yeah, you sound like you're in a pretty good situation for that Sophia. Also, geez, only $80 a month for snow removal / yardwork? They must get a solid deal by contracting the whole complex, because let me just say that it is nowhere near that cheap out here.
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Feb 23, 2012 21:36
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NitroSpazzz posted:I've managed to find a house I really like, but am unsure on how much to offer. The house is 12 years old (as are the appliances), new HVAC 2 years ago, new windows last year. Only work it needs is new paint and get rid of the ugly drapes so no negotiating power there. New windows in a 12 year old house? That sounds odd and makes me think they were likely done wrong when the house was built which immediately makes me wonder what else is wrong with it. Not trying to dump you off it, but I'd make sure you get a good, thorough inspection. Kalli fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Mar 6, 2012 |
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Mar 6, 2012 22:10
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NitroSpazzz posted:They list them as new high efficiency ones so maybe the old windows were garbage. I'll mention that to the inspector though. Yeah, it's just one of those things that makes you wonder, not enough to bail, but always worth talking to the inspector about. Like, same thing, if they used garbage windows to build the house as recently as 12 years ago, what else were they cheaping out on? Anyway, goodluck with your offer.
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Mar 7, 2012 17:26
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Sophia posted:Yeah, that's true. I won't be going through appraisal process but there's still inspections and the like, so I know there's many a slip twixt the tongue and the lips. But the process still jumped forward a lot more quickly than I was expecting. Quick, DVR like 20 episodes of Holmes on Homes and Holmes Inspection and marathon them~
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Apr 16, 2012 04:55
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Finally starting my cheapest house project yet, a mere $6,500 patio. Yay housing.
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Apr 25, 2012 15:42
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Sure, will definitely post some pictures. Though the process won't be terribly exciting, I ended up hiring a contractor. The house was previously owned by an elderly couple that pretty much had the yard go to hell over the last decade, and every time I look at it I pretty much just stare for awhile, then decide to do something else. The house is a slab foundation, with a step drop to the yard, though the grade of the land is a total mess right now and the two trees we've removed so far have left us a present of a thoroughly congested root system where the patio's going. They're bringing in a bobcat and going to dig down 2 feet, re-grade the land, lay a gravel bed, then place pavers. Originally we were looking at stamped concrete, but by the 4th contractor we had quote us a price, realized there wasn't any point.
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Apr 25, 2012 16:49
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I read up and used internet estimates to make a rough guess of what it would cost to gut my kitchen, moving the boiler and washing machine(!) out of it into the garage and a closet respectively when I was buying my house. I underestimated by only about $10,000. At least the inspection was top rate and everything else has been golden.
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Apr 25, 2012 19:03
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moana posted:I have been putting off doing a patio for entirely too long - can you post pics or let us know how you did it? From weeks back, but it's finally finished. (yes, I know the siding is hideous, project X on the list).   Not great shots that doesn't show off the central circle but it's just the same color as the edging. Just have to setup a planter along the right side of it now and plant some grass that will wither and die under my care.... and build a shed, and install gutters, and clean up 10 years of yard neglect from the previous owners... Ended up setting up appraisals with six contractors. Five were the typical bostonian types, gruff old guys who don't ask you anything other then size, hate being there, and won't quote you prices in person. I think I was directed to their late 90's era websites a combined 20 times between them. The other was amazing though. Extremely energetic guy who spent like an hour walking through different configurations, paver types and colors, layout, going over the process, offered to drive me around to show off some jobs he had done in person.
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May 14, 2012 18:51
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Thanks, I'm currently 'working' from that little table on it  . For the siding, it mostly jut really needs to be painted (the window and door are new from last fall, and the color doesn't really match), and touched up along the bottom where it's gotten particularly stained and cracked at parts.
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May 14, 2012 19:10
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He was getting a renovated place for under $100k, not shocking that it was just lipstick on a pig like so many of those are.
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Jun 11, 2012 22:40
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uwaeve posted:Next is finding a good home inspector. I'm told they don't exist. If anyone has recommendations for Middlesex County, MA, I'm all ears. Oh hey, I've got someone actually. http://top2bottomhi.com/ Had this guy recommended to me by a co-worker, rated well on Angie's List (as I recall), and ended up using him for two inspections. (the first scared me away from a house I thought needed $50k+ of work, when in reality it needed well over $100k... and was a short sale). Both reports were ~25-30 page documents. I've lived in this house for two years now, done a bunch of projects and haven't come up with anything that wasn't in the report.
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Jul 17, 2012 01:54
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uwaeve posted:Wow, thanks. Are these guys you came up with on your own or on recommendations? Or were they recommended by your realtors? I wouldn't use someone recommended by my realtor. I dunno, they could be honest, but even an honest realtor is going to be biased towards a more lenient home inspector. Friend of mine at work had had that guy recommended to him, was really happy with him, and let me leaf through his report. That was plenty for me.
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Jul 18, 2012 01:32
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fat poo poo cat posted:We just went through this on our purchase. After inspection, the home needed about 8k worth of work (new roof and some foundation repairs). We asked the sellers to meet us in the middle and raised our offer by 4k, which they accepted. Have you actually gotten bids for a new roof yet? I thought ours would have cost much more, but all of the bids we received were right around 4-5k (for a 2 story 1800sf home in with an additional 300sf outbuilding that also got a new roof). Are they removing the existing roof or just adding on a new layer? Also prices depend heavily on the location / availability of work / labor I imagine.
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Jul 19, 2012 18:43
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Yeah, I asked because here in Mass, the prices I had quoted from multiple contractors were a little cheaper then that to add a new layer of shingles, and around $10k for a remove and replace. Good price for you though  And yeah, it's very common to add a 2nd layer of shingles (and I've seen 3+ layers before, but that never goes well / may not be up to code). Honestly, I was shocked to find this all out when I was house shopping. Growing up, my parent's house had a ceramic tile roof that's good for a lifetime, so I had no even vague concept of roofing.
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Jul 19, 2012 19:03
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Splizwarf posted:These posts always blow my mind. Around here a $32K house is either 1.5 floors underwater and sinking or actively on fire (and northeast VA was built mostly out of wood on a giant swamp, so it's a real tossup; could be both!). The amount of price variation around the country is amazing to me. It would cost about that to have the condemned structure torn down and hauled away on the quarter acre of land you just spent $180k on around here (30 minutes outside Boston).
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Aug 2, 2012 17:18
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As a side note, buyers tend to significantly underestimate the cost of repairs and remodeling anyway, which is also why remodeling typically only recovers 75% at best of the cost when selling a home.
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Feb 26, 2013 21:42
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Also note that if anyone who's going to live in that house smokes (or did), you should definitely get the test done, as radon + smoking has a cancer factor like 9x that of radon without being a smoker. But yeah in general, you should just get the test done anyway. It's a drop in the bucket that is a housing purchase.
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Feb 28, 2013 18:09
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I'd be amazed if I could get it done here for under twice that, so I may be a bad judge. So yeah, $1400 seems like a fine price.
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Sep 18, 2013 16:37
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Bruce Hussein Daddy posted:We have the money to do it ourselves. It's a finished basement house, so the mitigation would be in the $1500-2000 range. Yes we are in a contract, closing on the current house tomorrow, we like this house. Probably just want the epa's recommendations. If you or anyone who will stay there smokes, yes, do it for god's sake, but otherwise... http://www.epa.gov/radon/pubs/citguide.html#results 
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Sep 26, 2013 19:34
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Pretty much sign up to Angie's List for a month for their reviews. I had a coworker recommend a guy, checked Angie's List and his reviews were glowing, and he sent me an example inspection of his when I contacted him. Other then that, just find the guy with the most 1996-ish era web site and hire him.
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Feb 12, 2014 17:52
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baquerd posted:Are you talking about a MCC? Other than that, there aren't any tax credits, just the mortgage interest deduction. Anyone know how much you need to borrow at today's rates to even break even on the standard deduction for either single or MFJ, assuming no other deductions? The standard deduction was $6.1k this year, increases to $6.2k for 2014 and increases $100 or $150 each year. So at an interest rate of 4.1%, the interest deduction from a 150k loan will hit that for only the first year. A 200k loan will surpass that for 6-7 years and a 300k loan will surpass that for maybe 11-12 years. Double the standard deduction for your typical married couple, so start at around a $300k loan. It's also $8.7k if you're single with dependants, so a ~$220k loan.
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Jun 2, 2014 15:08
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Leperflesh posted:Except that many people already have some things that they could itemize, if they were itemizing, but they don't have enough prior to having a mortgage to have those items exceed the standard deduction. So it's impossible to know exactly how much of the loan interest someone can effectively cut from their annual budget due to the deduction. Oh agreed, I was just answering his question. It's pretty likely that someone at the stage of buying a house would have other deductions. Heck, I'm in year 3 of my loan and after doing my IRA deductions had a refund that just about pays my property taxes for this year.
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Jun 2, 2014 22:10
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fknlo posted:So every single person I've asked has recommended a different home inspector fknlo posted:edit: My agent has recommended a company. Their website plays a sound when you move the cursor over a link. That alone may eliminate them from contention. Go with this one. If their website is straight out of 1995, then that's a good sign that they've been around for 20 years. (Seriously though, old websites are an okay sign, but I'd advise against using someone your agent recommends).
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Jul 23, 2014 19:32
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Yeah, get a quote. I was in a very similar situation and ended up paying around $3k to get my panel upgraded to 200A, while also doing a kitchen remodel, so he also ran something like 8 more lines in there to get it up to code as well as one to the back of the house for a central air unit. I think the cost of the panel and other parts by themselves will run you near $500.
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Jul 24, 2014 22:01
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I think my 3 head heat pump unit was $8.5k. Pricing out the parts by themselves would've run me $6k.
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Jul 24, 2014 22:44
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For mine, it was $3k to upgrade / replace the electrical system and redo the electrical for the kitchen, and then $8.5k the next summer to get the central air system installed. Part of that cost though is it's Massachusetts and every quote I've gotten has kissed the high end of estimates.
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Jul 25, 2014 00:06
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Leperflesh posted:Four thousand square feet. I grew up in a 5k foot house, it was absurd. My parents bought it in the mid 80's after a housing crash for around $100k, and it was a fairly run down house in a dying city (over an hour from Boston without rush hour traffic). It had been originally built by a factory owner for his daughter to throw parties after WW1, so the entire first floor had I think 16 doors to the outside. The master bedroom also had a buzzer that connected directly to the servant quarters in the attic, which ended my plan of moving up there back in high school after a week. My sister had already claimed the basement, which had been remodeled in the 60's with shag carpeting... on the floor and walls and ceiling and a remarkably lovely bar. There were only four of us in that monstrosity, and it was way too drat large, impossible to clean and had a list of needed home repairs that never ever shrank. My parents each grew up in large families in tiny apartments, so I can understand where that dream came from, but I'm now very happy in a 1500 sq. ft ranch. And if you want a show that is nothing but rich people bitching about not having enough house, watch Love it or List it and probably start posting in one of the LF spinoffs a lot demanding communism now.
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Aug 1, 2014 20:21
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Jastiger posted:Stop you're scaring me. I'm at around $1000/mo over the past four years since I bought the house, but that includes a kitchen demo/boiler replacement I knew in advance that makes up about half of it. Track housing that was built so cheaply/quickly the washing machine and boiler were in the kitchen... ugh. Other then that I upgraded the elecrical, put in central air, replaced a bunch of windows, put in a sliding door a shed and a patio, oh and had 6 trees/a half acre of mess removed from what is now a yard.
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Aug 11, 2014 04:56
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shortspecialbus posted:Yeah, lead paint is really a thing that's not much of a worry. It's almost like asbestos in how if it's there it's better to just leave it there where it's not going to hurt anything. Slap a coat over it if you care a lot. You probably run a higher risk if you try to remove it without going all balls-out with asbestos-style removal techniques. If you really care all that much, just get a house built after it was illegal. Note for said paranoid people: get a house built ~5 years afterwards. Even after it was made illegal, it was still legal to use existing stocks for a few years.
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Oct 22, 2014 15:00
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Think he missed a D on that rains.
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Nov 3, 2014 22:49
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I ran into a situation like that. Gave an offer, realtor pushed back hard saying to give the best offer we could, and we balked and stuck with our initial offer. Turns out it was because our realtor knew the seller's realtor, and knew there was a full cash offer for $15k over list price. Shame, it was a nice house, but oh well. If it doesn't sound right, walk away, and check housing sales in a few months to see if you guessed right or not.
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Feb 17, 2015 19:52
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Pryor on Fire posted:No updates means you're basically guaranteed to have to remove lead paint and asbestos right? How liquid is your net worth? Yeah, I'd probably be fine with it if you can expect to have the liquid to start doing expensive renovation projects in a year or so and you do not have young kids. Also check to see what programs are offered in your state for home improvements. For example, in massachusetts I got an interest free loan to replace the 55 year old boiler and getting my attic properly insulated was nearly free.
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Jul 12, 2017 16:05
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FISHMANPET posted:I've lived in this house for over 6 years as a renter, and it's been just fine for us (one of the reasons we're happy to be buying it!) but I've started watching some HGTV to, I don't know, start to get my head around some of the stuff we will need to do, and that poo poo radicalizes you. Like five minutes of watching HGTV and it's like "WHAT IF WE BLEW OUT THIS STRUCTURAL WALL!!!!!" Don't do that, go watch some Holmes on Homes before the poison sets in.
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Apr 22, 2021 16:23
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Residency Evil posted:This is an old saying from the south, right? Became popular due to.... Game of Thrones.
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Jul 21, 2021 22:04
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