Homeowners

Where do you live? Your state Department of Children and Families will regulate daycare services and will have licensing standards that you need to adhere to.

You should get an inspection no matter what as soon as you sign the contract, but if you want to know before that, I don't know the best way other than your own observation while you're looking at the house.

We had questions about water as well due to a new gutter being put into a seemingly random place (with no drain cap in the yard anywhere) and part of the walkway in our backyard that runs along the side of the house sinking in. There was no visible sign of water damage (or mold) in the basement except what you might expect from a house that was almost 50 years old, but no foundation cracks or anything. We asked for clarification on water drainage in every letter our attorney sent them and their responses were pretty typical... backyard drains to an underground tile which drains out in the front yard, we haven't had any issues with water seepage/damage in the time we've lived here, etc. etc. Basically enough to not necessarily scare me but enough to cover their asses in case the slightest rainfall caused a huge flood in our basement and we sued them.

The seller apparently told one of the neighbors we had a lot of concerns about water drainage so the day we moved in he introduced himself and explained how the drainage system in the neighborhood worked because he heard we were concerned about it. He also said he hadn't seen or heard of any water damage in our house in the 20 years he's lived next door.

I would hope that you would be fine based on their disclosure but who knows. We had an easy close and our inspection didn't turn up anything major so I don't have any horror stories to relate.

Just for reference, here is a link to the licensing standards if you want to operate a day care out of your home in Illinois.

http://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/...6sections.html

Selix_sl said:

Also has your rent gone up over the past 10 years? It will continue to over the next 30 but your mortgage won't. There are other tradeoffs to home ownership that go both ways, though.

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Your actual loan payment may not go up over 30 years, but your insurance and property taxes assuredly will.

Homeowners insurance rates are raising pretty drastically with most major companies across the US over the last couple years. Natural disasters, storms, and just generally volatile weather have had most property insurance companies taking major losses in the last few years. Previously, most companies didn't worry about running in the red on property insurance(most did) because they would make up for it with insurance from the auto insurance side of their business, but with the proliferation of primarly online auto insurance companies that don't sell property(Progressive, Esurance, Geico, etc), most traditional insurance companies(State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, etc) have had to cut auto insurance rates to compete, and their margins on that side aren't as big as they used to be, they can't make up for their property losses with auto insurance profits anymore.

Just last year in my state, Allstate took a 40% increase(on average) on homeowners insurance. I'm an insurance agent and so is my father. My father has been an agent for over 30 years, when he first started the average homeonwers insurance policy was around $200 per year. Now the average is about $1500 per year in our area. So if you are paying $1000 a year right now, expect that to go up a LOT over the next 30 years. You might be paying somewhere between 5-10 grand a year in 30 years if that trend continues.

joeboo_sl said:

Your actual loan payment may not go up over 30 years, but your insurance and property taxes assuredly will.

Homeowners insurance rates are raising pretty drastically with most major companies across the US over the last couple years. Natural disasters, storms, and just generally volatile weather have had most property insurance companies taking major losses in the last few years. Previously, most companies didn't worry about running in the red on property insurance(most did) because they would make up for it with insurance from the auto insurance side of their business, but with the proliferation of primarly online auto insurance companies that don't sell property(Progressive, Esurance, Geico, etc), most traditional insurance companies(State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, etc) have had to cut auto insurance rates to compete, and their margins on that side aren't as big as they used to be, they can't make up for their property losses with auto insurance profits anymore.

Just last year in my state, Allstate took a 40% increase(on average) on homeowners insurance. I'm an insurance agent and so is my father. My father has been an agent for over 30 years, when he first started the average homeonwers insurance policy was around $200 per year. Now the average is about $1500 per year in our area. So if you are paying $1000 a year right now, expect that to go up a LOT over the next 30 years. You might be paying somewhere between 5-10 grand a year in 30 years if that trend continues.

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This is interesting and certainly something to consider. Personally my mortgage payment has gone down $100 over the years but I still pay more then the minimum out of habit. My homeowners insurance is (of course) separate and has gone up from $115/mo to about $140/mo but we did add a new car to our insurance package so that makes sense. Still if it were to go up to $200/mo I would be out there insurance shopping pretty fast. My own personal experience with Renting vs. Buying tells me I would be paying $1,500 or more right now to live in an apartment with my family in the good school area I live in right now and that is before throwing in any kind of insurance, home, car, renter's or otherwise.

Still I don't have a home on a floodplain, firebreak, or any of those other natural disaster prone areas so that probably contributes a lot towards my low and steady payments. This to should be a factor in buying a home or renting.

Deathwing_sl said:

Got my own homeowner questions:

Place my wife and I are looking at doesn't possibly have correct water drainage. The driveway slopes slightly downward towards the house and the land surrounding the house is pretty flat. There's about a foot's width of loose gravel between the driveway and the garage, which is possible for underground drainage tile, but I'm not sure. How can I check this without just asking the seller(who is biased) or getting the house inspected?

The property disclosure mentioned seepage under the front stairs during heavy downpour. It's a bi-level ranch on a cement foundation. I have checked the area and don't see any damage. The owners say a dehumidifier clears the moisture. Should I be concerned about this and how can I be sure before an inspection?

My wife wants to start an in-home daycare. Anyone have some rules and/or regulations for this type of specific business? We'd like to know before purchasing if a property is suitable for said business.

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You might have french drains, but there is no way to independently find out unless you can call up the contractor that put them in or whatever.

However, I would not buy that home. Water in the devil. Find something with better grading.

A question about back yards. I've got a family of three little kids, so obviously back yards are important to us. We are just starting to look for our first home and a bit unsure how much we should prioritize the yard. If the house is great but the yard sucks, is it worth landscaping? What type of costs would we be looking at to landscape a backyard that is primarily rock and garden into a lawn?

Taking down trees and pulling stumps is fairly expensive. Clean filldirt isn't that expensive by the truckload, but clean topsoil is. At least around here.

It kind of depends on what you need done exactly, how big the yard is, and what the market is like around there I guess. I know there are a few landscapers on the boards.

"Not insignificant". A few thousand at the very least, I would think. I did something similar with my uncle two springs ago, but it was jerking around on weekends and in the evenings. Besides for chipping the trees, the labor is really the most expensive part. Well, I mean, at least that's my experience of it.

That will vary depending on where you live. Call up a local landscaper that does sodding, give them an approximate square footage and they'll tell you what the cost would be. I've never done it before, but they may have to do something for water drainage though as well depending on the grade of the land.

It's expensive regardless, (I have no idea how expensive) and it's not something you want to do in a new home unless you budget for it.