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There's a decent chunk of what you're listing that sounds like cosmetic wants though. Painting is also super cheap if you do it yourself, which you should do because it's easy. Replacing the roof and gutters and the sewer sound like the only real "houses suck" thing there IMO.
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May 27, 2016 17:52
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I bought in February 2010. The wife and I put in a lot of sweat equity on the easier stuff, ripping up carpets, stripping wallpaper, painting. When we bought our house we had to have the outlets grounded, and while the electricians were there we had them run a few new circuits for large appliances that were sharing one. We also had the linoleum ripped out of the kitching / dining area and replaced it with hardwoord that matched the rest of the house, and had them all refinished. Since then we've replaced the fence around our house (old fence + dogs jumping on it), redone one of the bathrooms, and had LED lighting installed everywhere. I don't have the numbers all totaled up, but my gut thinks it's been about $30k total. I think I got a bit ripped off on the bathroom, which was $12k. It was a complete gut, the subfloors had water damage and not-totally-bad mold. Probably should have shopped around more, I only checked with 2 contractors. I still think it's the best thing I've ever done with money, in that the floor doesn't bow under me when I go to take a piss anymore. I had these recurring daydreams (daymares?) of the floor giving out and shredding my legs as I fell through.
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May 27, 2016 18:28
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I have a couple of slow drains, but not all of them are slow. House was built in '91, slab foundation. Here's a pic of the clean out:  And here's a pic of the edge of the yard where the ditch starts. It seems to sag a bit there.  And here are the two trees that the line runs between:  Should I be concerned here? I was planning on having a plumber come out to figure out the slow drains (they're all sinks), but should I do a sewer inspection too? This house is going up for rent next month and I really don't want to have a sewer disaster once it's occupied.
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May 27, 2016 23:31
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I'm in year two of home ownership... we furnished the living room and kitchen last year along with the remodeling, and I want to focus on the patio this summer. I'm looking for quality patio dining sets, but more cushion-ey than just table and chairs. Something like this or this (amazon links). I have a nebraska furniture mart nearby which has been a godsend for most of my shopping, but I haven't liked their patio stuff. So, thread, does anyone have any recommendations on quality manufacturers or retailers (online or with locations in DFW)? I'm willing to spend more for workmanship/durability, but I guess I haven't been convinced that anything I've seen online is worth a poo poo. I would prefer buying from a company with a 10+ year history of happy customers.
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May 28, 2016 00:42
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Jealous Cow posted:I have a couple of slow drains, but not all of them are slow. House was built in '91, slab foundation. Is it all of your sinks or just some? If the mainline is getting blocked up, it should be the whole house. You can open that clean out and look down it while you're running a bunch of water and see how well it's flowing. It'll at least give you an idea. If it's backing up in the cleanout, then you know the problem is downstream.
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May 28, 2016 16:14
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Sperg Victorious posted:Is it all of your sinks or just some? If the mainline is getting blocked up, it should be the whole house. Just a few of the sinks... The most used sinks actually. I think I need to clean the trap out.
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May 28, 2016 16:25
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I wouldn't worry about doing the sewer inspection, especially if its going to cost more. Oh, you can also just take off the cleanout and see if it looks like it's been backing up. You'll see old debris caked on the sides coming up to the top.
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May 28, 2016 16:33
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Jealous Cow posted:Just a few of the sinks... The most used sinks actually. I think I need to clean the trap out. Sperg Victorious posted:Is it all of your sinks or just some? If the mainline is getting blocked up, it should be the whole house. This is good advice.
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May 28, 2016 17:28
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Whenever I get reports on old drains they are usually full of tree roots. Just clean the trap, maybe use some draino or whatever similar product to clear out built up gunk. If there's still a problem after that you might want to have the drains looked at. There are some pretty good methods for clearing out blockages including root cutting tools if you are ready to spend.
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May 30, 2016 03:11
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One year anniversary of me buying a house here in DC and now I'm thinking about adding a small rooftop deck to my rowhouse. Anyone in the DC area know of any good contractors/architects that do this?
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May 31, 2016 09:00
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Devian666 posted:Whenever I get reports on old drains they are usually full of tree roots. Just clean the trap, maybe use some draino or whatever similar product to clear out built up gunk. If there's still a problem after that you might want to have the drains looked at. There are some pretty good methods for clearing out blockages including root cutting tools if you are ready to spend. Part of the job is installing a trap. We don't even have one.
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May 31, 2016 15:29
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HEY NONG MAN posted:Part of the job is installing a trap. We don't even have one. I think he means in the slow sinks. Just pull from the bottom of the sink to the wall and scoop out the gunk. Maybe you find a wedding ring. Maybe you find a used condom. It is a game.
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May 31, 2016 16:04
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I posted this as a warning in the other thread....
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May 31, 2016 16:17
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What is that image trying to convey besides the fact that zestimates are worthless? I just sold a place for $40K over the zestimate and the graph looked like the inverse of that one. So what? Zillow is not good at valuing real estate.
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May 31, 2016 16:31
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I just checked the Zestimate® for my house and it is $35k lower than the actual appraisal we had done 3 weeks ago.
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May 31, 2016 16:53
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I updated the listing on my house on Zillow by adding a bedroom, a bathroom, and literally every optional thing available and it dropped the zestimate by 35k. There's no rhyme or reason and I wouldn't worry about it at all.
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May 31, 2016 16:59
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Elephanthead posted:I think he means in the slow sinks. Just pull from the bottom of the sink to the wall and scoop out the gunk. Maybe you find a wedding ring. Maybe you find a used condom. It is a game. Oh sorry I was talking the wrong conversation. My side sewer doesn't have a clean out so I have to get one installed (or keep removing the basement toilet).
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May 31, 2016 17:15
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All I can think of when y'all poo poo on zestiment is "unskew unskew!" but maybe I've been spending too much time in D&D. Seriously though buyers use that poo poo to reinforce their delusions. Edit: Also, just got a quote of $5.5k to put an acrylic shower stall over an old tile shower. 36x39" That seems....high Jealous Cow fucked around with this message at 17:37 on May 31, 2016 |
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May 31, 2016 17:34
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Jealous Cow posted:All I can think of when y'all poo poo on zestiment is "unskew unskew!" but maybe I've been spending too much time in D&D. Zestimates piss me off, especially when they're not even close to the recent sales price. Also annoys me all these sites like zillow, redfin, realtor, estately, etc aggregate posting photos from the mls listings and hang onto those photos for all perpetuity, detailing the interior layout and preserving crappy broken things or interiors I've since fixed. Re: Shower estimate--I know from going through house paperwork the old owners left behind that they paid 8k for the shower unit they had installed, and it's nothing fancy. From the same paperwork, I also know their ssn, bank information, overdue and unpaid bills that still to this day show up in our mail, you name it. Seriously, why don't people update their addresses??
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May 31, 2016 18:22
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OSU_Matthew posted:Zestimates piss me off, especially when they're not even close to the recent sales price. Also annoys me all these sites like zillow, redfin, realtor, estately, etc aggregate posting photos from the mls listings and hang onto those photos for all perpetuity, detailing the interior layout and preserving crappy broken things or interiors I've since fixed. I think you can take ownership of a property and update the photos on most of the sites. I am almost positive that I deleted a bunch of photos of my house from Zillow.
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May 31, 2016 18:25
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Hello, homeowner buddies. I bought my first home on Feb 28th 2016 and so far it has been great, aside from getting laid off two days after I closed, but poo poo happens. The home I bought is two years old, but had never been occupied. The gentleman who originally purchased it had got it for his mother in law, but for whatever reason she never moved in. I mention that because basically all of the warranties on my appliances have now expired. Last night I opened the washing machine and it was about half way full with water and sopping wet clothes. I emptied the clothes and water so I could try to figure out what may be wrong, looking under the washer I noticed that the plug for the pump was unplugged and the plastic bracket piece is broken. I also saw a little bit of moisture around the bottom of the pump, which I imagine should not be there:  I plugged it back in but the washer doesn't work at all. I press the start button and the "sensing load" light comes on, but it doesn't do anything beyond that. From researching online Ive learned that if there was a problem the "lid lock" light should flash, enabling diagnostic mode to be run, but since that doesn't happen I'm not sure what the issue could be. Any ideas? The washer is a Kenmore Series 500 
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May 31, 2016 18:41
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The man that owned my house before me was had (according to his family) undiagnosed bipolar disorder that he treated (according to the bottles I've found buried in my yard) with alcohol. In addition to liquor bottles, he also buried trash like broken up bathroom tiles, razors, and venetian blinds. Also the shards of every pane of the glass from his old aluminum sliders that he replaced with wood casements. And some little art project in the front yard that involved clipping the individual branches off of an artificial Christmas tree and burying them in the dirt below the pine tree.
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May 31, 2016 19:14
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Pryor on Fire posted:What is that image trying to convey besides the fact that zestimates are worthless? I just sold a place for $40K over the zestimate and the graph looked like the inverse of that one. So what? Zillow is not good at valuing real estate. My house is listed twice on Zillow for some reason with a $47,000 price difference between the two, identical listings.  My appraisial for my refi last month was neither of those numbers.
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May 31, 2016 19:29
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$5,500 seems high to me get more quotes. A full on tile shower of large size is only $10,000 and that is much more labor and material. Are you getting fancy thick glass doors or something? Those can be pricey.
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May 31, 2016 20:33
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Elephanthead posted:$5,500 seems high to me get more quotes. A full on tile shower of large size is only $10,000 and that is much more labor and material. Are you getting fancy thick glass doors or something? Those can be pricey. Basic acrylic insert and pan in a 36x39 ish stall. No door. Includes tearing out existing tile. Edit: i decided I'm going to clean the gently caress out of the existing pan and regrout it and my tenants can deal.
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May 31, 2016 21:54
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Droo posted:I think you can take ownership of a property and update the photos on most of the sites. I am almost positive that I deleted a bunch of photos of my house from Zillow. Only on zillow, the rest I actually had to contact customer service and request they be taken off, and I'm not even sure where else they might be hiding on the internet. Yours are almost certainly still on trulia, realtor, estately, and other places. Pretty sure in a few years, Google street view will be extended to Google interior, and once more people start getting their genome mapped, whelp  E: Bojanglesworth posted:Any ideas? Try the fix it fast thread... I'd link, but I'm on my phone
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May 31, 2016 22:58
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Droo posted:I think you can take ownership of a property and update the photos on most of the sites.
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May 31, 2016 23:27
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I don't see why you would give a gently caress about your zestimate unless you were going to sell anyway.
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Jun 1, 2016 13:40
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Nail Rat posted:I don't see why you would give a gently caress about your zestimate unless you were going to sell anyway. Even then who cares. It is like the craigslist people that quote you kelly blue book prices on 25 year old cars. Yes my spotless 1967 copo camaro is worth $500. I accept your offer. I am not going to consider what identical cars actually sell for.
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Jun 1, 2016 14:14
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So I have a groundhog. I tried to scare it away with a broom but it just lunged at me. So now I am planning on getting a trap, then getting some dry ice and then euthanizing it. Homeownership is great! Also the American College of Veterinarians has extensive literature on how to humanely murder animals.
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Jun 1, 2016 18:16
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Bozart posted:Also the American College of Veterinarians has extensive literature on how to humanely murder animals. In BFC, we cite our sources. Preferably with links.
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Jun 1, 2016 18:42
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Elephanthead posted:Even then who cares. It is like the craigslist people that quote you kelly blue book prices on 25 year old cars. Yes my spotless 1967 copo camaro is worth $500. I accept your offer. I am not going to consider what identical cars actually sell for.  But yes, who gives a gently caress about zillow estimates. They're alright as an estimate but they don't actually reflect the market.
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Jun 1, 2016 18:56
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When I bought my house for 500k, the Zillow estimate was like $330k. It was the only thing that had me at all worried about the price, but everything else made sense including my own experience looking at houses in the market for like 18 months and putting in two offers on other properties. At some point I took ownership of the house and updated the information on Zillow (3 car garage, city view etc). Over the next year it went from 330k to 690k on a fairly straight line upwards. Then one day the 690k spike was completely erased (and the 6+ months of price increases that got there) with no mention (the chart history was erased as well) and the new price was like 575k. The value of the house remained fairly consistent over that same time period if I had tried to sell it. Whoever said the thing about property taxes made a good point though - if you are disputing property tax maybe you can trick Zillow into making the opposite change happen. Who knows what assessors use to justify their numbers.
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Jun 1, 2016 19:08
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In my experience the zillow numbers are pretty good down to the zip code or neighborhood level, at least for seeing trends, but they're stupid and useless for individual properties.
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Jun 1, 2016 20:12
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moana posted:Don't do this unless you're intending to sell. Adding in improvements/extras onto your zillow page is just giving the property tax appraiser more ammunition to gently caress you over with a tax increase. If you ever need to fight against a property tax increase, you don't want your brand new floors/deck/kitchen showing up anywhere online. There is a home near me up for sale, svc the property taxes on it are above $6.8k a year. Even if they had their homestead exemption, it was still way above the average for the area (2k a year). I kind wondered if they did a bunch of improvements and pulled permits for everything. Sperg Victorious fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Jun 1, 2016 |
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Jun 1, 2016 20:30
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slap me silly posted:In BFC, we cite our sources. Preferably with links. I'll do links and highlights. Here is the report. Some snippits below... What I'll be trying with dry ice...  For your pet humans???        Don't do this:  
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Jun 1, 2016 23:19
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And I just bought all that strychnine 
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Jun 1, 2016 23:39
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That cat seems very upset about being euthanized.
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Jun 2, 2016 00:16
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I just put a goldfish down last month and I'm glad that I ended up doing it humanely 
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Jun 2, 2016 00:48
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Bozart posted:So I have a groundhog. I tried to scare it away with a broom but it just lunged at me. So now I am planning on getting a trap, then getting some dry ice and then euthanizing it. Homeownership is great! We had a burrowing animal in our yard for a while, so I dumped cat litter down every entrance I saw. No more burrows!
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Jun 2, 2016 02:17
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