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Socratic Moron posted:I need some help smart Goons. My sister is trying to buy a house: The adage "If you have to ask, it's a scam" is perfectly valid here. If you have any misgivings about this house, whether with the house itself or the seller's agent or anything at all, keep shopping. Yes, the house is awesome, and your sister may have fallen in love with it and it's the only one in the entire county she likes, but this is a Big Time Trap. DO NEVER BUY. Tell her to keep looking. Trust me, good things come to those who wait (and keep looking).
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Jul 15, 2011 21:46
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Long story short, I closed on my late-1800s house in December (after putting a bid in by October  ), tore up the carpet, found the subfloor ruined and the joists running the wrong way, tore down the walls and found pretty much everything wrong including windows that all but fell out, and ended up just gutting the entire house except for one room.My original plan was only to spend $2-$3k to update the house. It's cost me over $25,000 so far (thank you, Mom!) for a full gut and there's still no insulation or drywall up yet, but this old house will eventually be bulletproof and, more importantly, to code. Do I have any recourse for a seller's listing that flat-out lied about the roof being only 5 years old (it's clearly not, and leaks), the seller doing DIY fixes that were fire hazards (naked wire in loose-fill insulation, anyone?) and toxic (one potable water pipe to the shower was replaced with lead), and/or the inspector who told me the house was in mostly good condition, said the roof was good, and missed so much crap that became obvious once I started ripping up carpet and drywall? It's been 8 months since I started renovations... Yeah. There's a reason this house was on the market for nearly 3 years. DO NEVER BUY OLD HOUSES unless you got renovation-money. But hey, you can't beat the workmanship on these things, and the ZEO said that if there's a hurricane, he's coming to my house, that's how strong it is.
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Aug 5, 2011 20:46
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TraderStav posted:but they are able to extend this right to seek deficiency up to 20 years in some states. Why is this period so long compared to other financial statues of limitation? Bankruptcy falls off your credit report after 10 years and the IRS can't badger you past 10 years for tax liabilities, so why can/should the banks be able to go after you for twice as long as the government can? Hell, even child support ends when the kid's 18...
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Aug 8, 2011 19:21
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MH Knights posted:Should fixer-uppers be avoided? I currently pay $715 in rent for a very new ~580sqft studio (normal for the area I live in, Dane County, WI) but am exploring getting a house. The money I pay in rent could get me about a $100k ~ $120k loan but unfortunately in my area that only gets a smaller/older home that would need some sort of work. Don't buy fixer-uppers unless 1. you have cash money in the bank for said fixes and 2. you're handy (or are willing to shell out for a contractor).
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Aug 30, 2011 02:00
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Reggie Died posted:On the topic of DIY madness (suggesting someone with NO experience put a shower in a NYC apartment building = madness), do permits increase the value of a property compared to a similarly remodeled property without permits? No, they don't, but permits show that you did the work right and might sway potential buyers. If only I had asked if the guy who "updated" my house had permits for his work... (here's a hint: no, no, he most certainly did not, nor clearly had any formal plumbing OR electrical experience but DIY'd anyway, and I'm still wondering how the hell the house didn't burn down before I bought it, gutted it, and am allllmost done renovating it.  )
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Sep 15, 2011 15:42
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sanchez posted:Insulation and water heater do not sound like dealbreakers to me, the plumbing is scary though. Get a few quotes to see what replacement would cost... You're going to have to open up the walls to get at the plumbing. Once the walls are open, you're going to find things that need fixing/replacing/"how has this house not burned down yet?" Ex: opening up the bedroom walls to find six paper wasp nests and tearing down the bathroom surround to find out that the moronic previous homeowner didn't even use greenboard (or ANY sheetrock at all) and helloooo, mold! Slippery slope, and consider yourself forewarned.
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Sep 21, 2011 20:19
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Fire Storm posted:And if possible, go for cheaper. Nice finds exist at good prices, so look at the lower end of the spectrum as well as the higher end. A $100K house is not necessarily better than a $35K house! One may look slightly better and have fresh paint, but the $35K may just need cosmetic work to be a great place (I saw a place that was great but slightly out of my price range that needed a few $K of work, but I am surprised it didn't go for twice the price). Don't do this. I bought a "bargain" house for $52k in Bumfuck that only "needed a few $K of work" and what it got was a full gut and renovate. Even the second floor's floor joists were in wrong, never mind the colossal mindfuck that the walls presented. The other sub-$50k houses I had looked at had severe water damage, or was in a bad neighborhood, or in the city where I didn't want to live, or otherwise had major structural damage. Sure, there's bargains to be had if you're lucky enough to find that diamond in the rough, but I'm telling you, if you're looking on the lower end of the house pricing spectrum, you will be putting elbow grease into that house. DO NEVER BUY cheap houses
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Sep 28, 2011 15:07
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As I've said several times in this thread, I've gutted my house, including the kitchen. I certainly can't afford $20k+ for a kitchen... hell, I can't even afford $5k. "Retail" kitchens are staggeringly expensive. I'd like granite countertops, sure, but I ain't gettin' them. However, there are bargains to be had if you'll shop around and are willing to do a little DIY. Buying a new, basic cabinet from, say, Home Depot, just to hold the sink would cost me $80+, never mind cabinet-ing the rest of the kitchen. Alternatively, I tried shopping on Craigslist... in order to get enough cabinets for my own kitchen, I need to either buy them piecemeal and hope they fit, or pay $250+ for a complete set. Those $250 deals are almost always crappy particleboard and not worth it. That's ridiculous, and I always thought pre-built cabinets wasted a lot of space. I'm a fan of European style cabinets, which are literally a box with a door on the front. You can't get any simpler than that, and it's very easily DIY'able. Best of all, you can get a basic table saw from Home Depot for $120 which can (almost) build you the entire kitchen. If you need a fancier-looking kitchen, you can either buy or make your own "crown molding" for dirt cheap with a router bit (call it $25-$50, less if you can get a deal on eBay/Craigslist). Here's what my kitchen has cost (not including drywall, electric, etc) while borrowing a friend's tools: Free - brand new gas stove that came with the house $500 - brand new top-of-the-line dishwasher, HUGE refrigerator, oven hood, undermount stainless steel sink, and electric stove from a friend's mother (paid $800, sold the stove for $300) $40 - 20 or so 2x4's to frame out the cabinets $20 - plywood to put on top of the base cabinets to support the countertop $118 - IKEA wooden countertop (Lagan), $59 for 96", I need 2 for my L-shaped countertop, plus I will have enough left over for the 4' breakfast bar $45 - 2x metal corbel brackets to hold up the breakfast bar in a floating style (still need two stools - these can be had for cheap off Craigslist) $23/sheet of cabinet-grade plywood for the outer facing wood, doors, and interior shelves - not quite sure how many I need, but it'll be less than 8 - currently shopping around for a cheaper alternative $25 - "antique-looking" interior hinges and handles I found in a bulk lot on eBay $30 - gallon of premium stain and another of clear-coat $50 - 250 sqft of tile some rich dude sold on Craigslist to get rid of them because his wife didn't like the look of them and made him go out and buy $8,000 worth of butt-ugly "Galaxy" tiles  Let's call it $1,500 even for odds and ends I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting like screws and tile grout. $1,500 and two weekends of cutting/sanding/staining/laying tile to get a fully functional kitchen vs $10,000+ and however long it takes for the contractors to come and install your stuff. It's a no-brainer. DO NEVER BUY retail cabinets unless you really don't want to build your own/install them yourself. daggerdragon fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Oct 4, 2011 |
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Oct 4, 2011 22:03
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Leperflesh posted:e. Daggerdragon's stuff is pretty interesting, though. I'm big on DIY (if I can blacksmith, repair my car, resurface my hardwood floors, and my wife builds robots for fun, I think we can handle poo poo like cutting up wood and screwing in screws) but I'd be concerned about fit & finish - we do intend to eventually sell this house (in like 10+ years) and we would not like to have to fix a lot of mistakes caused by DIY ineptitude. I have no skill with cabinetry and I'm going to tackle this project myself with a little help from friends (one of whom has skills in cabinetry, but it'd be more like him telling me how to make something structurally sound). As for fit and finish, if you can make sure the cabinets are square and level (at least the tops and shelves), then stained or painted cabinets always look good. You can dress up the door fronts (or make a door front with an inset for glass, if you like that look) and hide the tops/bottoms of cabinets with crown molding. That's essentially what the retail cabinets are: a box with a door with fancy bits nailed all over. I also intend to sell my house eventually, but I have enough faith in my basic crafting skills and anal-retentiveness to not end up with trapezoid cabinets, for example...
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Oct 5, 2011 02:03
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sanchez posted:daggerdragon, I'd really like to see some photos when your kitchen is done, some of the stuff in your list is a result of luck and can't reliably be repeated (flooring and appliances) but the cabinets in particular sound very interesting. I'll eventually make a thread in DIY with the entire house progress and it'll be the poster house for DO NEVER BUY.
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Oct 5, 2011 15:37
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Thwomp posted:Sure it looks nice now but after a weekend of demo, I was freaking out. Nothing like looking at bare studs to really sink in the reality of what you planned to do. This. I actually got a little depressed around mid-way through the project thinking we'd never get it done, ever. You just need to keep going and it will eventually go from being a forest of 2x4's to a house, and once the drywall's up and painted and the floors are in, then it gets to be a home. quote:Edit: New thread title.....is this my fault? 
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Oct 6, 2011 18:34
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PoliSciGirl posted:The house we put an offer on has termites in the basement window (the house is 100% stone exterior). Our realtor, who I have grown to think is sneaky, says it's common to have termites on a home that has not been inspected in 20 years. The house also has a radon level of 19.7, but the realtor says it's common because the house has been vacant for a long time since the house is an estate. Is she correct? The gently caress? Ignore your husband and get a new realtor ASAP. Your realtor should work FOR you, not hand-wave away your concerns. Termites are NOT common, and nobody (formally) inspects their home every so often. I'd put out a bet that there's lead in the paint and asbestos in the insulation as well...
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Oct 26, 2011 03:57
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ArterialTool posted:It appears this will only provided ownership history correct? What about insurance claims, construction permits, neighborhood foreclosure rates/info and other things of that nature? Insurance claims, no, as that would be between the previous owners and their insurance companies. Permits should be on file with the town clerk, but only if they actually pulled permits to do whatever work (hint: they usually don't). As for neighborhood foreclosures, you could ask your realtor, but that's a lot of work and not really relevant. In short, no, there isn't any type of Housefax. I wish there was, because I would have passed on my house if I had known the previous owner did everything without a permit (and to expected results: requiring a gut + renovate).
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Nov 16, 2011 17:29
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Molybdenum posted:We found a nice, well maintained house built in 1910. Asking price was 160, we offered 125 and they accepted. Had our inspections done and because of the presence of knob and tube wiring, State Farm won't insure the house. We're looking at insuring it through the current insurer of the house but we're worried they may have been grandfathered in (owned by the same family since the 1950s). we already asked the sellers to replace the KnT in the basement and attic, but replacing all of it might be a stretch, since the lathe/plaster would probably need repairs/replacement as well. My house had knob and tube when I bought it. The seller refused to upgrade it, but I have a friend who's an electrician and he was willing to help me. Because of this, I explained to my prospective insurance company and they offered to insure it for 60 days for a premium until me and my friend could yank out all the wiring and replace the old crap with at least a breaker panel. That was the first thing done on the house, and as soon as the main line from the street to the house was installed, I told the insurance company and they gave me full insurance at regular prices. Try negotiating with your State Farm agent. Granted, you're right and that the plaster over lathe will likely be repaired/replaced to get at all the wiring, but from what I saw when I eventually gutted my house, you will need to replace everything. Trust me - you do not want to gently caress with old wiring. They can and will catch on fire, and it's not an "if", it's a "when". This is why insurance companies won't cover houses with K&T. It really is that dangerous.
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Dec 9, 2011 17:31
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n8r posted:Why would you assume a house that has stood since 1910 is just bound to catch on fire from it's knob and tube? Lots of people have no issues insuring it, just shop around and you'll be fine. Start w/ the company that is currently insuring the house. Because knob and tube in and of itself is not the dangerous part - it's the wiring. The wiring is old, degrades over time, and is expensive to replace. Moreover, people do unlicensed work. Case in point: my house had frayed, exposed wiring inside the walls, and the previous owner decided to do haphazard blow-in insulation. I took the plaster and lathe off to find one disconnected wire that sparked every time you turned the switch-that-goes-"nowhere" on (thank god it was above the poorly-packed insulation) and in another wall there was a flimsy metal box for what I think was supposed to be a wall sconce with naked wires shoved into it (with no ground, of course) packed tight with loose bits of insulation. The older the house, the more I bet you someone cut corners somewhere, somehow, and if it's something like the electrical, it's not gonna be up to code from today, yesterday, or probably not even 20 years ago. There are 4 things you do not gently caress with in an old house: the structural integrity, removing dangerous material (asbestos/lead paint), the plumbing, and the electrical. Everything else is (probably) not going to kill you.
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Dec 9, 2011 23:34
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Zfuut posted:Should we let the listing agent be our realtor? NO. They're there to get the seller the best deal they can. It's a conflict of interests, and is illegal, to boot. Is there a reason you want to take out a mortgage instead of just buying the house outright, since you have the cash for it?
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Jan 15, 2012 02:11
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Zfuut posted:Well were going to put 20% down, so around 40,000. We like having money in mutual funds and other things, just in case something happens rather than have everything wrapped up in a house. If it was me, I'd put down much more than 20%, if not 100%, but YMMV, though. If the poo poo hits the fan, you don't want to be worrying about a mortgage. quote:On a weird note, so the listing agent showed us this house, now she is saying that we can't have our own Realtor and that she will be both the buyers and sellers agent, dual agency. This sounds fishy, this is Arizona by the way. No. No, no, no, no, and NO. Get your own realtor and tell them what this listing agent is doing. Find a way to report them to the NAR, as well. If the listing agent will no longer deal with you for getting your own realtor, walk away, because you don't want to deal with that level of crazy, trust me. You want someone to represent YOUR best interests and to help YOU get the best deal, hence the getting your own realtor. If they're worth their salt, they'll help you spot the crazies like this one and can steer you away.
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Jan 15, 2012 07:48
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Guacala posted:It's not illegal, it's called limited or dual agency. Most states recognize this type of agency and allow it. http://www.lajuett.com/buyers/recognizedanger.htm I do NOT like the terms they lay out there. There's just too much incentive for a dual agency agent to be unethical, and really, if you don't know what you're doing (which most people don't), how are you going to know if they're really following the law or not? According to that list, they won't even tell you if something is wrong with the home, and once you buy it, it becomes your problem and you have absolutely no recourse against the seller. That's not fair, at all. Zfuut, please get your own realtor, one who is dedicated solely to you, if only so you can get all the information you can on a prospective house.
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Jan 16, 2012 16:31
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Kneel Before Zog posted:Whats wrong with condos as rental properties? You don't have to provide lawn maintenance or pay for the roof. Or are they strictly the devil in terms of living in / trying to sell? Is it the really steep assocation fees? The condos I used to live at charge 300 dollars a month, but they come with cable and water so you are basically paying 200 dollars a month to not have to worry about fixing a roof or termite damage. In your example, you pay the condo board your cable and water instead of to the utility companies directly. You (probably) can't choose to not have cable/water, or go with another company, or upgrade your cable to HIGH DEF BLAZINGLY FAST INTERNETS (or down to dial-up if that's your thing). If the roof collapses or gets eaten by termites, they'll assess a special fee from all units to pay for the repair/replacement, and this is ON TOP OF that $200/mo you're already paying for cable/water. Those condo fees go to the condo equivalent of a HOA. There's no regulation of said HOA/condo board, so they can keep jacking up the fees and make all the "special assessments" they want for whatever reason they want, and there's not jack diddly squat you can do about it but suck it up and pay (or sell, or majority rule to fire the board and take over, good luck with that). HOAs are the devil. They will eventually fall to corruption within the ranks.
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Feb 8, 2012 22:07
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The Peacock posted:We have been looking at smaller fixer-upper houses around $50,000. We figured out the cost of mortgage for 25 years with 3-5% down (can't afford a higher% right now) plus the cost of utilities, and it works out way less than rent. To be honest (and we know it goes against everyone here), we despise renting. Especially because we were hit twice with bedbug infestations that the apartment owners treated poorly. Don't. I did this. It required a gut and renovate, and I did everything DIY with only hiring a semi-pro plumber and drywall guys. It's cost me at least an additional $25k, and it's not like I'm putting down marble floors and gold leaf. My friends and I were of the opinion that I should have just bulldozed the drat place and built from the ground up because then it would have been cheaper. Besides, that 3-5% down is a FHA loan, and the FHA isn't going to approve a house that's a clear fixer-upper. If you can only afford 3-5% down, how are you going to afford the fixing up part?
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Feb 8, 2012 22:34
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From my experience, it's all "hurry up and wait". This is pretty much how it went: You: Hey, I like this house. I wanna buy it! Realtor: Okay, sign here, here, and here! You: Yay! Seller: I accept your offer. You: Yay! Hey, bank, I can has mortgage? Bank: ... You: ... Bank: ... You: *poke* Bank? Bank: WHY HAVE YOU NOT GOTTEN AN INSPECTION?!?  You: Er, okay. Inspector: Wots all dis, den?  You: Hey, bank, here's the inspection results. Can I have the mortgage? Bank: ... You: Baaaank? Bank: WHY DO YOU NOT HAVE HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE?!! YOU SHOULD HAVE HAD HOMEOWNER'S INSURANCE BEFORE YOU EVEN CONTACTED US! You: Er, okay. Allstate: Jackpot!  You: Hey, bank, here's proof of insurance. Can I have the mortgage now? Bank: ... You: ... Bank. Bank: ... You: ... Bank: ... Bank: ... Bank: ... Bank: ... Bank: WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, THE SIGNING IS TODAY IN 10 MINUTES! You: 
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Feb 17, 2012 19:15
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yawnie posted:My husband and I are looking into building a house in a nearby community and we have some questions about the process. Is this the right thread for that? I don't see a "home building" thread. therunningman is building his own home (caveat: in British Columbia) and has a DIY thread that he updates every now and then. If you don't get any help here, maybe you can ask him? Come watch as we (try to) build a house (hopefully to code).
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Feb 21, 2012 21:16
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Ration posted:It is an option, and likely what we will do, but I was trying to find a more permanent solution. I think that, in this case, you have to choose the lesser of two evils: a higher interest rate and move in NOW, or shop for a lower interest rate and lose grandma to a nursing home in the meantime. Since you don't want your grandmother to move in to a nursing home, you'll have to take the higher interest rate. Do the math on it - will it be less than $200k for the time frame your grandmother is expected to live? Will your wife go back to work when she passes? (I'm thinking that as an RN, probably, and she can continue to make the same amount of money as before, so that point is moot.) Can you swing the higher interest rate on your income alone? And of course, the ultimate question: what happens if YOU lose YOUR job?
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Mar 5, 2012 17:45
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sanchez posted:We waived escrow during a refinance, I don't trust a megabank to do anything other than take my money. I didn't even know you COULD do this until I started reading this thread. Is there any way I can get the escrow on my mortgage to go away so I can save the money myself instead?
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Mar 21, 2012 22:09
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skipdogg posted:I don't think you can change it during the same mortgage. You would have to refinance. Bugger. Okay, I'll keep that in mind if rates drop to like 1% or something ridiculous.
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Mar 21, 2012 22:39
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Astro7x posted:Edit: Oh yeah, one of the questions me and my wife had that I thought I'd ask here. How long does it typically take to close on a house from start to finish? It takes 30 days to close, but how much longer does it typically take with making and accept an offer? 60 days total? 90 days total? I realize it can also happen much much faster, and sometimes families wait until June to close until after school is out for the kids. But in past goon experiences, how long has it taken? I found my house in the middle of June and asked my realtor to set up a showing for me. I got the keys December 15. 6 months for me, but I was in absolutely no hurry and the house had been vacant for 2 years. My offer was accepted exactly 6 days, 23 hours after I put it in with a 7-day expiration :facepalm:
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Apr 11, 2012 16:54
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Bright Lights On posted:the gray toilet that's been scratched within an inch of its life. How... do you scratch a toilet? You sit on it to do your business, maybe once in awhile you run a rag over it to clean it, but what could you possibly to do to actually scratch it?
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Apr 16, 2012 16:11
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LloydDobler posted:Maybe? loving goons. I don't know about you, but I don't need to go at my toilets with a Brill-o pad. A rag and some Comet once a week and it's like new again. Now if you're a typical neckbeard and take gigantic, toilet-staining and -scratching poos, yes, maybe you'd need the Brill-o pad and I'd hope you clean it more than "once in awhile"... Less toilet porn, more house porn plz.
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Apr 16, 2012 20:38
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I Might Be Adam posted:So we found a house that we're in a love/hate relationship with. It's really charming, has had a lot of killer upgrades and renovations done but we're in a lock with the things that make it not work for us like not having a laundry room to have a full size washer and drier. Basically, there is space for a stackable. The house is lower in price than we were initially looking so dumb ideas are forming. How incredibly stupid would it be to buy a house and then plan on making an addition to the house like a laundry room? I understand that you can get a home improvement loan with your initial house loan. What would something like that even cost, ballpark? Like an 8x8 addition, 10K, 20K? We're seeing it again today to hopefully find more stuff we hate about it so we can dismiss it totally. The first rule of buying a house is "if you don't walk in the front door and immediately love all of it, keep looking". Keep looking.
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Apr 24, 2012 21:35
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Splizwarf posted:If the seller showed up and stuck around for every showing, I'd walk. That's weird behavior. Are they even allowed to do that? I thought sellers had to vacate the property while it was being shown, or is it just state-based/professional courtesy?
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May 9, 2012 18:18
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Commander Hen posted:I always wonder where the hell do these people come from? It's incredibly popular for pure cash buyers to buy up homes but I personally think homes have a ways to go especially out here. My ex bought his house with cash from stock dividends from the dot-com boom. He got lucky, whereas others might be investors looking for their next property to rent out, or modern-day robber barons, or children of overseas oil tycoons... Bucket Joneses posted:There's also a lot of stupid people who will dump their life savings to own a home outright rather than pay a mortgage. In fact, there's been at least one thread in GBS where some guy brags about how he just paid off his house. Out of curiosity, why is this a stupid idea? If your house is paid for and you got good homeowner's insurance, all you need to pay for is utilities and taxes while you rebuild your savings. Unless by "life savings" you mean withdraw from their 401k/retirement accounts, in which case yes, that's a monumentally dumb idea.
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May 11, 2012 02:35
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Leperflesh posted:Let's take this hypothetical scenario and I'm interested in feedback on my thinking here. This all assumes that Joe and Jane both manage to keep their jobs and continue living exactly the same way they have been for 20+ years with no major expenditures. What if one of them loses their job? What if they both lose their jobs? What if one/both get into an accident and incur lots of medical bills? In that case, having to raise a $2,000 tax bill (assuming 2% property tax on that $100k house) is much, much easier than having to raise $484 every month ($5,808.00, almost triple what they'd need in property tax). Scenario 2 is clearly the winner.
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May 13, 2012 17:39
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Elephanthead posted:New roof on garage, $3,000. Replacing steps that I knew were bad when I bought the place $3,000. Don't buy, just don't do it. It cost you $3,000 for a staircase? Interior or exterior, and what the heck did you replace them with, gold-plated treads?
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May 17, 2012 16:25
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Bucket Joneses posted:I immediately presumed they were cement exterior steps given the cost. D: Cement stairs cost that much?! How the heck is that even possible, given that a bag of cement is what, $50 and some 2x4s for making a frame is another $50? Screw that, I'll re-build my front steps out of pressure-treated lumber.
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May 17, 2012 18:29
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I'm in the mindset of DIY, here. I assume there's a dumpster, since a re-roofing is going on, and if the existing stairs are in that bad of a shape, they should be (somewhat) easy to break up and chuck in the dumpster. Even so, if you're going with a pro, that sounds like an awful lot of money for some front steps.
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May 17, 2012 20:52
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Bucket Joneses posted:Hope you like breaking up cement with a chisel and a hammer then! If not, you'll need to shell out some money to rent a jackhammer as well. Just theorizing here: In lieu of renting a jackhammer, could you achieve the same effect with a sledgehammer and elbow grease? Of course, this all assumes the existing concrete stairs are in bad enough condition, and is completely dependent on how much work you want to do vs. how much money you want (or have) to spend.
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May 17, 2012 22:05
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Elephanthead posted:Well the house was a repo with a ton of deferred maintenance. The steps are not just 4 steps going up to an entry door. It is a walk out basement with sweeping steps going up both hills. I think they are pouring 10 yards of concrete. I find that a competent contractor is worth paying for. I am not a competent contractor. My renting friends like to laugh at me so I though you guys would enjoy my misery also. Thank you for clarifying this  Now the $3,000 price tag makes sense.
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May 18, 2012 15:25
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Leperflesh posted:Daggerdragon just had a failure of imagination. I mean it took me all of five seconds of pondering the pricetag to think "hey maybe it wasn't just two steps up to a door on a porch, if it cost that much". Pretty much this. Most people have 1-5 steps up to their house, not long winding staircases up a mountain or basement walk-outs dug out of a hillside. Then again, my own experiences with getting quotes for my house leave me kind of jaded against the "pros". One plumber quoted me $8,000 just to hook up PVC sewer pipes to the existing cast-iron sewer out-pipe, and the other three were $5k, $4k, and "nope, sorry, can't do that, it's impossible" . I got it done by an apprentice friend for $850 in materials, beer, and pizza, and $50 to a plumbing inspector.So far, the only pros who've been worth their money were the awesome dudes at Lumber 84 who pre-built my stairs to spec ($350 and a friend's truck to lug it home) and the drywallers ($4.5k for 1,000 sq ft in a house that's hilariously not-square, cathedral ceilings, and some seriously funky curves). I'll lay off the DIY evangelizing now. DO NEVER BUY AND DIY!
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May 18, 2012 18:34
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Molybdenum posted:Do you need some cardboard boxes cause I have left overs... lots of leftovers. Try giving them away on Craigslist. That's how I found all the boxes I needed for my move. An ice-cream vendor was offering his boxes (oh god, so many boxes) and they were perfectly sized for not putting a lot of things in one box so that the boxes wouldn't become a black hole of heavy. My friends thanked me on moving day. As I unpack, I've been giving the boxes to a friend who's also going to be moving to a new house soon. DO NEVER PAY for ridiculously-priced moving boxes!
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Jun 8, 2012 17:37
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Ozmiander posted:Nope, it's about 100 years old, but is in great shape according to both my inspector and the bank's appraiser. I'm not really sure how he came to this decision either. That's bullshit. My house was built, at the latest, 1885, and it's still trucking along just fine. Sure, it's got its problems, but it's not gonna fall down in 25 years, especially not after all the reinforcement I did to it with a gut + renovate. If your house really was going to fall down in 25 years, your inspector wouldn't (shouldn't) let you buy it.
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Jun 15, 2012 16:24
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