Home buying thread
- Thread starter Pasteton
- Start date
-
Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!
Go here and give us your nominations!Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!
- 46,628
- 214,680
Wood is a renewable material. Pine grows fast and is well suited for studs. Metal is more expensive, and many people don't have the materials necessary to cut metal studs. Everyone has a saw for wood. Additionally, you need to buy specific screws to self-tap and go in to the metal studs.
Metal studs are becoming more popular, and do a fine job. They will never completely replace stick construction, though. I still prefer wood, but I can't really articulate why. It's more forgiving, I guess.
Metal studs are becoming more popular, and do a fine job. They will never completely replace stick construction, though. I still prefer wood, but I can't really articulate why. It's more forgiving, I guess.
ZyyzYzzy
RIP USA
- 25,295
- 48,789
- 46,628
- 214,680
Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
- 38,275
- 15,106
I think so. At least there are really great cuts of wood that just aren't easily or affordably available anymore. Simple example: in the late 1800s, northeast area middle class three story townhomes had single piece ~20' walnut banister rails. Now that railing would be made from two pieces and probably not from walnut unless it was some custom request.
ZyyzYzzy
RIP USA
- 25,295
- 48,789
Vinen
God is dead
- 2,790
- 495
Ahh ok yeah. At my friends house in Sommerville they have that. Never really realized it was one cut of wood but now that I think about it it is.
Cad
scientia potentia est
- 25,426
- 49,042
Vinen
God is dead
- 2,790
- 495
Pretty sure this was covered a few posts back.
Some people like long hard shafts of wood.
I guess San Francisco would be a better location for them?
Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
- 38,275
- 15,106
Vinen
God is dead
- 2,790
- 495
Hey. Cambridge isn't Tel Aviv or San Francisco man. Not as much of a gay population.
I'm into stone and glass, too.
Eh, what's the difference between an BMW with ordered paint and leather interior and a Kia with one of five colors and soft touch plastic interior?
The two main problems I see are that a $1.1M home should have material and craftsmanship commensurate with price, and it should be able to last more than half a century without major repair. Otherwise it's just a BMW badge slapped on a Kia to create margin for the builder.
If you know the acreage of the development and price paid, that's easy enough to ballpark. Cost of land isn't factoring into more than 20% of the eventual sale price. Might not even be 10% when they crank out (100) 1 Million dollar units on .7 acre lots.
Khane
Got something right about marriage
- 20,342
- 14,006
Well cost of land has a lot to do with where it's located, how available it is, what kind of amenities and public facilities there are nearby, proximity to jobs, etc etc etc.
The structure itself isn't really what's valuable. These million dollar homes don't cost even close to a million dollars in materials and labor. You're paying for neighborhood, school district, things like that. The structure itself is not 90% of the sales price.
In places where land is cheap the land itself may only be 10% of the cost of the home, in places where land is expensive (like where Vinen is buying) it's far more than 10% or 20% of the eventual sale price.
EDIT: This is why house prices can fluctuate wildly without anything ever happening to the house itself. Even as the house depreciates in value the market price for where the house sits could be moving upward.
The structure itself isn't really what's valuable. These million dollar homes don't cost even close to a million dollars in materials and labor. You're paying for neighborhood, school district, things like that. The structure itself is not 90% of the sales price.
In places where land is cheap the land itself may only be 10% of the cost of the home, in places where land is expensive (like where Vinen is buying) it's far more than 10% or 20% of the eventual sale price.
EDIT: This is why house prices can fluctuate wildly without anything ever happening to the house itself. Even as the house depreciates in value the market price for where the house sits could be moving upward.