Home buying thread

TheCutlery said:

Fuck man, you can do a fence in a weekend with your buddies with a shovel, a couple bags of quikrete, a level, and a case of beer. Don"t get too strung up on the little shit that needs to be done if you like the house as a whole. There"s an awful damned lot you can do yourself with a little motivation and some friends.

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Yep, I"m well aware. There"s very little housework that can"t be accomplished for the price of a keg of beer. Honestly, I"m reaching a point where Ineeda project. I"m no longer in school, so after I get home from work I just sorta sit and stew until I wake up the next morning and go back to the office. It"s really starting to get unhealthy. Having some yard work to do, as strange as this sounds, honestly is an exciting prospect. I used to love tinkering and building stuff when I was younger, then I went full nerd in high school and just sorta stopped doing that kind of thing. It"s time I remember how to hang drywall, plant a tree, and fix a loose floorboard.

You sure there is a HOA? If so, put the handbook on the back of your shitter (it"s a big book) and check for information on satellite dishes. Ours go as far as restricting the type of door fixtures we have on the front door.

Don"t stress over minor cosmetics, check the important (expensive) things. If the fence is severely rusted and/or loose in areas, go for a credit on repairing/replacing it. Worst they will say is no.

There"s an HOA yeah, but it"s an older neighborhood and I"m not sure how strict they are. From the looks of it, they don"t seem to care much. Some DirecTV guy must have made a killing on that street, there"s dishes all over.

Good idea on the fence. It"s pretty severely rusted, in fact it"s the only thing that looks like it wasn"t kept up well. Chain link just doesn"t look very good for long.

I have a house!

My offer on the property above was countered yesterday evening. We went back and forth a bit, and settled on a number that"s amenable to both of us. All the paperwork is signed and submitted as of today, so the next step will be a home inspection.

My agent managed to get the seller to agree to pay all closing costs, so my out of pocket expenses are quite low. My mortgage will be about 20 dollars more than my current apartment rent, so my monthly costs won"t rise much. I"m estimating another 100 in additional utilities because the space is so much greater, but I"ll be splitting everything 3 ways (2 roommates) rather than two, so in effect I"m saving money.

This has been a bit of an adventure so far. Thanks to everyone who"s provided me advice as I went along, it was very helpful. Assuming everything stays positive through the appraisal and inspection, it looks like the whole process will be drawing to a close.

Woot

Heylel Teomim said:

. My mortgage will be about 20 dollars more than my current apartment rent, so my monthly costs won"t rise much. I"m estimating another 100 in additional utilities because the space is so much greater, but I"ll be splitting everything 3 ways (2 roommates) rather than two, so in effect I"m saving money.

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And you"ll get about 3grand more back in taxes every year to! But expect your other expenses to go up a bit more then that. You"ll also be buying new stuff for the house for umm forever? And that"s a regular cost that isn"t ever going to go away..

Oh buy your insurance costs on everything should go WAY down. ALL of my insurances went down 50% in the first year and but smaller increments in consecutive years..

Well, my insurance is mostly on a family account now, so I won"t see much difference in that. However, it means I can put it all in my name and it won"t goup.

Continuing to keep this updated for anyone who"s curious or might be looking to buy in the future.

I"ve just had a crash course in the very shady realm of home inspections. What I have learned is that there"s virtually no baseline, and you should always call around and get at least 3 estimates. You"ll get what you pay for, but price does not necessarily dictate quality or comprehensiveness. The lowest of 3 estimates I received provided not only the most detailed sample documentation, but also had the most industry experience and best credentials. Also, inspectors who are located in more rural areas tend to be priced less than city inspectors, even within the same territory.

Final inspection on the home will be this Wednesday, at which point we"ll move into the negotiating repairs phase of the home buy. We"ll see how it goes!

Inspectors probably won"t quote you on the cost of repairs, so you"ll need to find a contractor to estimate the cost(s). Not sure on the rules there but ours wasn"t legally allowed to refer a contractor for us. I just had a friend come over and make some cheesy estimate using Word, and our agent wrote up a Request For Repairs and then the owner can repair it themselves, or negotiate/counter on the costs by deducting them from the amount you"re paying.

Anything that is expensive, violates codes or is a safety concern is what you want to aim for getting repaired or getting money back on, don"t sweat the petty stuff.

Where"s the pics, dude?!

Heylel Teomim said:

I have a house!

My offer on the property above was countered yesterday evening. We went back and forth a bit, and settled on a number that"s amenable to both of us. All the paperwork is signed and submitted as of today, so the next step will be a home inspection.

My agent managed to get the seller to agree to pay all closing costs, so my out of pocket expenses are quite low. My mortgage will be about 20 dollars more than my current apartment rent, so my monthly costs won"t rise much. I"m estimating another 100 in additional utilities because the space is so much greater, but I"ll be splitting everything 3 ways (2 roommates) rather than two, so in effect I"m saving money.

This has been a bit of an adventure so far. Thanks to everyone who"s provided me advice as I went along, it was very helpful. Assuming everything stays positive through the appraisal and inspection, it looks like the whole process will be drawing to a close.

Woot

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Congrats! I am about 2 weeks ahead of you, pretty much the same situation though. I close in 2 weeks here. Don"t forget to calculate your taxes & assessment fees in those monthly expenses. Mine are complete rape. My mortgage itself was about the exact same as the rent I"m paying now, then I realized that I"m paying another 300 in taxes and another 300 in assessment fees every month

I just had my inspection last week (I think you have 5 days to get it inspected or something) and all I can say is make sure you get a good guy that actually cares. My guy was awesome and was very thorough and ended up telling me price estimates on everything (thankfully I had nothing major). He told me that my town home was in the top 10% of the homes that he inspects, which was worth the price right there imo. If you think about it that"s what your paying for, the guys expert opinion on the inspection, which can only come with years and years of experience. A lot more worth it than the $350 my attorney is going to get for sitting down with me at closing and reading through a stack of papers with me

Now, prepare to get nervous as hell as closing gets closer and closer . I don"t know your situation but I"m single and hence on a single income. Never before in my life have I had to be scared shitless about losing my job until now.

Ravvenn said:

Anything that is expensive, violates codes or is a safety concern is what you want to aim for getting repaired or getting money back on, don"t sweat the petty stuff.

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Inspection was today. The guy I hired did a very thorough job, and I walked through every bit of it with him. He was very impressed with the construction of the home, given that it is 24 years old. There were very few problem areas. My major hitch is a grading issue at the top of the driveway where soil is beginning to slide, and it puts pressure on the foundation. I"m going to try and get a little bit of a credit towards that if I can. The only other problem is apparently the circuit breaker is a design that was recalled years ago, and he recommends I try to get replaced if possible. Beyond that, there were no problems.

As for pictures, I won"t have much until the closing. The home is currently occupied, so I can"t just hop over there whenever I feel like it and snoop around. Besides, until I can get over there and do some clean up and painting, it"s gonna look like crap

After closing this might turn into the home improvement thread instead. I"m budgeting out a DIY kitchen remodeling as a first project. Definitely replacing the counter tops and possibly the cabinets depending on what my father has on hand in his store (aka, what"s cheap or free). After that, I"m thinking about trying to put down some tile. I"ve never done it before, but it strikes me as the sort of job that someone with a meticulous nature could succeed at.

TheCutlery said:

Well, you can link from the MLS for it, that should have some pictures, no?

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It does, they"re just not very good ones I"ll see what I can do once I get to work though!

I thinkanyonewho has been home shopping can look at anything with a creative eye, don"t be shy. Also, regarding tile - I can do it so I"m sure you can. I even learned to fix toilets!

My favorite shows are always on HGTV and DIY, so I"d love a thread for home renovation, remodels, etc. If I stop procrastinating, I"ll be doing a paint job out of my league in my sons room soon.

So was the fence secure enough to meet the code/requirements?

Here"s the pictures off of the realty website. They were done by the owner, so they"re not exactly stellar, but it gives you an idea of the room layout.



This is the front of the house. It"s an older place, but I really liked the huge front porch. I"m a big fan of old country style places. In time I"ll probably paint it something a bit more eggshell or white, what"s there now has a faint pink tinge to it that I"m not sure was deliberate.



The front porch is huge and in great shape. I"ll stick some planters up eventually.




This is the living room. I"m conflicted on all the hard woods. On one hand, it makes the room feel very cozy (and its actually larger than these pictures make it appear). On the other hand it"s pretty dark, and I"d like to lighten it up some. I may end up painting the wood paneling and leaving the texture as a compromise.



Can you tell the current owner is very traditional? Everything is decorated pretty country, so that"s gonna take some time to update. I"m going to update the kitchen entirely over time. The linoleum will come up and I"ll put down some tile with less of a distinct pattern. You can"t see it in this shot, but the cabinets and countertops are behind the photographer. I"m planning to either replace or reface the cabinets, and get a guy my dad knows to come install solid countertops instead of the formica that"s there. I"m letting my mom help with picking colors and stuff, she"s an interior decorator by trade and hobby, and has much better taste than me.



The back deck is freestanding just behind the home, with a pathway and stairs up. This shot is not a trick of perspective, it really is that huge. The deck chairs there should give you a sense of perspective. I have no idea why they painted it that red color, it looks like it was probably whitewashed previously. Again, I think the current owners have just gone with whatever"s in the latest issue of Farm Life Magazine. Eventually I"ll probably paint the flooring more of a gray blue that won"t show dirt too badly, and do the railings in a lighter color.



This is from the far side of the pool looking at the back of the house. You can see a bit of the screened porch behind the deck. It"s all in great shape, it just needs to have the look refreshed.

I"m starting to make a priority list of things I want to get done, with a goal of having at least the big stuff ready for a house warming in mid-June. The kitchen is a big one, and getting at least the master bedroom painted. Once that"s done, I"ll start on painting the basement and then see about toning down all the interior cedar. At times I really like it and think I might just leave it alone, then other times I feel like it needs some lighter colors. Time will tell

TheCutlery said:

That looks pretty awesome. I"d say you got a good house.

I wouldn"t paint wood paneling though. That"s gonna look tacky as shit.

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I"m not sure what to do with it yet. The biggest issue is that it"s in just about every room. One of the bedrooms looks similar to the living room, it runs about hip height down the hallway, and it"s all over the master bath. *Something* has to happen with it in at least one or two rooms just to tone that down.

Worst case scenario, I rip some of it down and put up drywall. It"s not hard, and I could get it done in a weekend.

Full wall paneling looks good, but not a big fan of the waist high panels myself haha. But otherwise it looks really nice, that deck is very nice.

I saw one of those design shows on HGTV (I am becoming such a woman in my old age...) where they painted some wood paneling and it looked really nice. I don"t think it would look good throughout the whole house, but a room or 2 maybe.

I"m jealous of your deck, dude. Mine needs a lot of work;(

The deck was a big selling point. That combined with the sun room and screened in porch means I can entertain company almost entirely in rooms that are very easy to keep clean

I wish I had some shots of the basement. That will have to wait until after I can move in and get things put in place.

Seconded on painting the wood paneling, shouldn"t hit your wallet too hard to rip it off and redo it (patch, paint, drywall, whatever). You can lighten it up with furniture, an area rug, window treatments, decorations, etc. (let your mom do it, haha).

Those kitchen floors! I see why that was your first target.

Great looking house, your front porch and back deck are awesome.

Edit:

I saw one of those design shows on HGTV (I am becoming such a woman in my old age...) where they painted some wood paneling and it looked really nice. I don"t think it would look good throughout the whole house, but a room or 2 maybe

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I think I saw that one, if you mean the episode where they whitewashed it. That did look quite nice, actually!