Home buying thread
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I appreciate it and agree with y’all. The maintenance issues seem crazy too. Just my small house now I had a handful of exterior things painted, not even the house itself, and it was like $6000.
I did look on the mortgage payoff calculators and the equity from my current house would take off like 6-7 years, and like an extra $500/month would take off an extra 4-5 years. But that would be almost $2500/month more than I pay now, not even including all the maintenance for the property. And the property tax and insurance is more too of course. So that extra $2500/month, if I stay in current house, over 13 years, is like $350,000 at 6.5% interest.
It all just feels extremely expensive and not what I want in my life right now.
I did look on the mortgage payoff calculators and the equity from my current house would take off like 6-7 years, and like an extra $500/month would take off an extra 4-5 years. But that would be almost $2500/month more than I pay now, not even including all the maintenance for the property. And the property tax and insurance is more too of course. So that extra $2500/month, if I stay in current house, over 13 years, is like $350,000 at 6.5% interest.
It all just feels extremely expensive and not what I want in my life right now.
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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how do they work it that you buy the house but don't get the boathouse? is it like on separate land deeds or something?
i mean hows that boathouse get power? from the main house i assume? what if you don't buy it, and it just sits there?
LachiusTZ
Rogue Deathwalker Box
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Can you get a similar lot? In size / features / etc. Then build a smaller home, boat house a bit later, and larger home in 15 - 20 years (then turn first home into guest house etc)?
Would keep maintenance low, lock in a set of features at a location now, and give you what you want later when you might want it, while keeping your cash flow mostly the same.
Frenzied Wombat
Potato del Grande
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I only own a 2500 sq foot home and I don't think a month has ever gone by without an unexpected $500 expense..
Like, just over the last six months or so:
1) overflow drain came loose on upstairs bathtub, leaking water into downstairs kitchen. 1K for sheetrock repair and new overflow.
2) Steel bookcase bracket fell on wood floor, damaging finish. $500 to refinish floor area
3) Contact block on AC condenser blew, $350 to replace.
4) Critters chewed through irrigation lines, $300 to fix/replace
5) Woodpeckers tore the shit out of some wood siding. $500 to replace and paint
It just never ends..
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Khane
Got something right about marriage
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This is why the idea of buying a "starter home" or "fixer upper" is hilarious and outrageous to me.
Frenzied Wombat
Potato del Grande
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Anybody who buys a "fixer upper" who isn't a) a contractor b) in the business of flipping or estimating fixer uppers or c) has a rolodex of competent and reliable contractors, is a moron.
I can't imagine buying a fixer upper, or even being in that flipping biz, as there is nothing I despise more than dealing with trade people. Late, unprofessional, stupid, scammy, incompetent, and sloppy all come to mind. The money factor is only half the pain, the other half is dealing with these bastards and the inevitable rage and anxiety when they fuck things up, and they will fuck something up. Like I forgot to add to that list $500 to poly-level a sunken cement pedestal entry at my front door. Well the jerk-off worker was supposed to place a bucket over the foam injector in case there is back-pressure, which there was, and he got industrial strength foam splatter all over my aluminum front door and windows. They then spent the next week using razor blades to take the foam off the windows, and various different buffer machines and polishes to get the stains off my door. fml..
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IMO the only way to go is to buy small enough that whatever you can afford is solid and in good repair. I've seen a number of friends get burned by "luxury" homes with paper construction or getting in over their heads on properties that "just require some touch-ups" and turn out to have large, systemic problems. And even if you do that, there will always be maintenance. Entropy is a bitch.
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Frenzied Wombat
Potato del Grande
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I've come to the determination that the best home to buy is a 10 year old home, or a 100 year old home that's been renovated. The former has any major problems already exposed/fixed but isn't old enough that it needs any major systems replaced, while the latter is a home built during an era where the materials last forever and craftsmanship actually existed. New construction is a total crapshoot unless you got in at the beginning of a build and hired your own PM to supervise-- so much new construction looks pretty but falls the fuck apart, I've been there. Anything that says "luxury condo" should make you run for the hills.
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Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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yea all my friends that have new construction homes in the last 10yrs have loads of structural problems.
one time i stayed over and got the basement, and i was like "wtf, why do you have a cavern sized cracked on your wall"!
he said the house probably shifted and its only along the seam of the drywall.
then i walk around the basement and i was like "theres another crack"!!! and he's like yea, it shifts!
i heard about houses "settling" after a few years but this was literally like a 2yr old house.
oh and their living room was all plastic'd off cuz the patio hanging off on top of started to leak through.
and of course they're talking to "the builder" since they have a "warranty" welp the same builder built 4 other houses on this development property and they all have some sort of leaky shit, and they all have to band together to get their lawyer on.
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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old town also has to keep that "townhouse" look so all the new development 10years ago has to look like those ugly townhouses with 3 tiny ass floors
ZyyzYzzy
RIP USA
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Nah, there are plenty of massive homes and townhouses, they are just all 3000+sqft and over a mil
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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oh, i was just talkin about the new developments since a i saw a few of them years ago, they all look the same, but all have 3 floors and garage in back
Vinen
God is dead
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Just don't do what my wife and I did. Buy in a more expensive town with a poor school system (improving) then say... welp if it isn't good enough we can just pay for private school.
Which gets me to my point. If you can get a kid into a good private school why bother moving. The cost difference in the long run.
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I bought a total fixer upper, and I haven't used any contractors. I do all the work myself. I've been in the house 10 years and I'm not done, but I'm getting close. Part of the kitchen and 2 bathrooms to finish inside. I've also built a few out buildings and done a lot on the property. You have to be patient, and you have to have a patient spouse and family.
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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as long as youre not disrupting life, i don't see a problem, i remember when my dad remodeled the family bathroom 30years ago, we just had to goto the first floor bath for a few weeks.
Vinen
God is dead
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You don't sniff glue like I do.
I'm 400K into a renovation at this point. Looking at another 100K next year to finish exterior stuff. Then should be done for a while... /slitwrist
Anyone have some crack.
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Exactly. In the process of doing the kitchen remodel there was a week where we didn't have an oven, but we still had a cook top. There was only about an hour without a sink. It takes a while like that, but it's always functional.
Cad
scientia potentia est
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You don't buy in the poor school system thats improving, because it never hits critical mass because the good students never go there until its already good.
You pony up and buy the expensive house in the already good school system, and ride the wave of appreciation as everyone else realizes that minorities aren't suddenly going to become good students, and clamor to the few good school districts left. Your home value and retirement plans will thank you.
Also: renovation? Lol I recall you bought a 100+ year old house right?
Have you SEEN the movie Money Pit? It was a not a how-to movie. It was a cautionary tale.
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