The Home-ownership Thread

[shrader]

Welp. Having finally admitted to myself that it mKes no sense for me not to, my house is for sale. Somebody buy it please.

 

https://www.trulia.com/p/va/salem/111-deer-trace-ln-salem-va-24153--2022629948

 

There's always something when it comes to realtors writing up the description.  Earlier it was excessive exclamation points.  Now we have yours who refuses to use capitalization.

[Sabel79]

There's always something when it comes to realtors writing up the description.  Earlier it was excessive exclamation points.  Now we have yours who refuses to use capitalization.

I didn't notice that. Nice.

[Doohicksie]

There's always something when it comes to realtors writing up the description.  Earlier it was excessive exclamation points.  Now we have yours who refuses to use capitalization.

 

"one of a kind".... My thought when I looked at the pictures is that it looked like a pretty standard suburban home.  Looking at the price history, it appears the previous owner lost his shirt.  Sold it during the Crash of '08.

 

What's your motivation for selling?  Want to buy something different?  Looking to rent instead?

Edited April 19, 2018 by Anordning

[Sabel79]

"one of a kind".... My thought when I looked at the pictures is that it looked like a pretty standard suburban home. Looking at the price history, it appears the previous owner lost his shirt. Sold it during the Crash of '08.

 

What's your motivation for selling? Want to buy something different? Looking to rent instead?

From what I recall when we bought the place, the Seller's realtor was well--known to be an actual crazy person. Our realtor expressed on more than one occasion that she hated dealing with her, and that the asking price was a joke. Plus which, the seller was building a house elsewhere and ran out of money...

 

I'll probably end up renting something in the short term. Selling because of the impending divorce, effectively. Would like to have kept it but it just doesn't make sense, money wise.

Edited April 19, 2018 by Sabel79

[Doohicksie]

Sorry to hear that.  I hope it all works out well for you in the end.

[Sabel79]

Sorry to hear that.  I hope it all works out well for you in the end.

It's all good, but thanks.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

It's all good, but thanks.

 

I hope everything works out for the best.  Your home looks nice.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

+++++

 

We are also considering this one ...

 

https://www.viewpoint.ca/cutsheet/201701226/1

 

Not to run as a B & B, just a house.  There is a good apartment for some income and the yoga studio would make for very fine Wagner Accounting offices.

 

We know the owner and she is a great lady.  Good karma.  A bit over priced, IMO, but a great 'century' home.  We are thinking about all the pros and cons of town living.  Mahone Bay, NS is a world renowned tourist trap, but is also frequented by many local NSers, especially from Halifax on the weekend / summer evenings.  It is often packed to the gills, as we say.

[Doohicksie]

"Original woodwork is in tact." 

 

Good.  I hate it when my woodwork gets out of tact.

 

 

Seriously, that one is charming.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

"Original woodwork is in tact." 

 

Good.  I hate it when my woodwork gets out of tact.

 

 

Seriously, that one is charming.

 

It is a well established fact that realtors are, in fact, idiots.

 

My wife and I go through many listings and very few do not have a reflection of the photog in one of the bathroom mirrors.   :doh:

[spndnchz]

+++++

 

We are also considering this one ...

 

https://www.viewpoint.ca/cutsheet/201701226/1

 

Not to run as a B & B, just a house.  There is a good apartment for some income and the yoga studio would make for very fine Wagner Accounting offices.

 

We know the owner and she is a great lady.  Good karma.  A bit over priced, IMO, but a great 'century' home.  We are thinking about all the pros and cons of town living.  Mahone Bay, NS is a world renowned tourist trap, but is also frequented by many local NSers, especially from Halifax on the weekend / summer evenings.  It is often packed to the gills, as we say.

Listed since January of 2017?

[Sabel79]

Currently sitting in a park while various people I don’t know poke around my house. They’d best be making offers...

[Wyldnwoody44]

The closing process is quite a bear, I guess I never realized what goes into it.... Just take my money and give me my house

[Doohicksie]

Listed since January of 2017?

 

Not easy to sell a B&B.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Listed since January of 2017?

 

Yeah.  The owner has been planning on retiring for some time.  It is actually listed twice.  Once as a commercial property listing, which never really expires.  It just keeps on renewing ... 500+ days now.  The residential listing (the property is dual zoned, so it could be either, or a combination of the two) is around 75 days.

 

There have been offers on the property which have not panned out.  They were all on condition of selling of property and the offers expired prior to that condition being lifted.  So, not that concerned about it.

 

We shall see what happens.  We are seriously thinking about it.

Not easy to sell a B&B.

 

This is true and the nice lady would like to keep it that way, although she really can't.  She is looking for someone to keep the B & B going, if possible, but it's hard to do that.

 

The place has been a B & B / Inn for 100+ years, IIRC.

The closing process is quite a bear, I guess I never realized what goes into it.... Just take my money and give me my house

 

It can be and often is a nightmare.  Something invariably gets messed up and has to be sorted out.  The house we sold in The Great Satan when we moved here the buyer missed an instalment payment and thought nothing of it.  We almost pulled out, but in the end that would hurt us as well.  So, we just got them to pay another $10K instalment in addition to the $10K they missed.

 

On our way to moving here we were closing on our house that we live in now.  Got a call when we were stopped for lunch in Moncton, NB (that's New Brunswick, not North Buffalo ...  :flirt: ).  There was no occupancy permit issued to the owner of the house due to a window egress and attic hatch issues.  It never passed final occupancy inspection when it was built 2 years earlier.

 

Anyway, we had the owner pay to have the modifications done and to hire the contractor to do it.  The lawyer drew up papers that the owner signed agreeing to this arrangement ... and to pay us $1,000 bucks for our trouble, which we had paid to the owner to move up the closing date.

 

We pulled into our new driveway not knowing if it was ours, or not.  The lawyer met us there and presented us with the signed doc from the owner and an occupancy permit fresh off the City Hall presses ... at 9:00 PM, no less.  So, it all worked out, but man it is never easy.

 

Then you can look forward to all the joys of actually moving.  Connecting and disconnecting stuff ...

[Sabres Fan in NS]

This one is back on the market.  We saw it a few years ago.

 

https://www.viewpoint.ca/cutsheet/201808350/1

 

The house is nothing special really, but the location is spectacular and quite remote, but still close to Halifax.

[woods-racer]

This one is back on the market.  We saw it a few years ago.

 

https://www.viewpoint.ca/cutsheet/201808350/1

 

The house is nothing special really, but the location is spectacular and quite remote, but still close to Halifax.

 

 

Mrs. Racer and I love those types of neighbors.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Mrs. Racer and I love those types of neighbors.

 

Yup.  The more remote the better.  That's our motto.

[Doohicksie]

A major milestone has been achieve: Initial Operating Capability for the Man Cave. About one third of the man cave has been rearranged and now contains:

. a working television/stereo system;
. a sofa aimed at said television, and
. my computer set up on a former kitchen table.

I can now use that room as a home office, and it gets my computer off the dining room table. My wife's computer is still there. The dining room was our forward deployment base where we first set up communications infrastructure.

Further upgrades to the man cave will include a beer fridge, removal of packing boxes, establishment of bicycle storage (they will hang from the wall), and a space for bicycle maintenance.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

A major milestone has been achieve: Initial Operating Capability for the Man Cave. About one third of the man cave has been rearranged and now contains:

 

. a working television/stereo system;

. a sofa aimed at said television, and

. my computer set up on a former kitchen table.

 

I can now use that room as a home office, and it gets my computer off the dining room table. My wife's computer is still there. The dining room was our forward deployment base where we first set up communications infrastructure.

 

Further upgrades to the man cave will include a beer fridge, removal of packing boxes, establishment of bicycle storage (they will hang from the wall), and a space for bicycle maintenance.

 

The sweet smell of progress.

 

After the near future upgrades, what more would any man need?

[Wyldnwoody44]

I am both excited and scared about doing upgrades, I'm looking into stuff I shouldn't be looking into, but because I'm me will try to do myself, and fail miserably

[Doohicksie]

The sweet smell of progress.

 

After the near future upgrades, what more would any man need?

 

 

Ultimately I think we'll end up gutting the kitchen and remodeling it.  It's okay for now, but it's dated.  The floor is old and not particularly high quality (although it's wearing well), and the cabinetry has been refaced and the material they used for the refacing has discolored a bit and doesn't match the doors exactly.  At this point it's not something that *has* to be done, but something we'll want to do.  I also think I'll end up putting new flooring in the man cave... similar story- the carpets wearing okay, but it's not what I would have picked.

 

I am both excited and scared about doing upgrades, I'm looking into stuff I shouldn't be looking into, but because I'm me will try to do myself, and fail miserably

 

Part of that is knowing what you're capable of doing.  If it's something that's over your head, it's best to call in a tradesman.  Having watched some of the work done on my house, I can see why the tradesmen are worth the money.  That said, there's other things I'll end up doing myself.... like painting and stuff.

[biodork]

I am both excited and scared about doing upgrades, I'm looking into stuff I shouldn't be looking into, but because I'm me will try to do myself, and fail miserably

 

Ultimately I think we'll end up gutting the kitchen and remodeling it.  It's okay for now, but it's dated.  The floor is old and not particularly high quality (although it's wearing well), and the cabinetry has been refaced and the material they used for the refacing has discolored a bit and doesn't match the doors exactly.  At this point it's not something that *has* to be done, but something we'll want to do.  I also think I'll end up putting new flooring in the man cave... similar story- the carpets wearing okay, but it's not what I would have picked.

 

 

Part of that is knowing what you're capable of doing.  If it's something that's over your head, it's best to call in a tradesman.  Having watched some of the work done on my house, I can see why the tradesmen are worth the money.  That said, there's other things I'll end up doing myself.... like painting and stuff.

This, and also sometimes knowing how long something will take.  If it's a project you *could* do yourself but it'd take 3 months inbetween work and travel or a professional could do it in 2 days, sometimes it's just worth paying the money.  That's where I am for re-doing the tile floor in my bathroom; it's a small project and I probably could do it, but I've decided I'd rather pay someone to do it so my bathroom is out of commission for the shortest possible time (and I don't have to mess with learning how to use a tile saw).  But to each their own!  YouTube has a wealth of information on household repairs and the like.

[Doohicksie]

This, and also sometimes knowing how long something will take.  If it's a project you *could* do yourself but it'd take 3 months inbetween work and travel or a professional could do it in 2 days, sometimes it's just worth paying the money.  That's where I am for re-doing the tile floor in my bathroom; it's a small project and I probably could do it, but I've decided I'd rather pay someone to do it so my bathroom is out of commission for the shortest possible time (and I don't have to mess with learning how to use a tile saw).  But to each their own!  YouTube has a wealth of information on household repairs and the like.

 

My wife would concur.  It took me 8 years to lay tile in my old house:  back hallway, hall bath, breakfast nook, kitchen and laundry room.

Another factor is likelihood of success:  The tile job was largely successful, but there were two or three tiles that were loose when all was said and done.  I replaced one of them and it loosened up again pretty quickly.  I have no idea what I did wrong (but just on those few tiles).  Now if you're putting down laminate flooring, that's pretty quick and easy and forgiving.  Once you get a couple rows down it goes very quickly.

[biodork]

My wife would concur.  It took me 8 years to lay tile in my old house:  back hallway, hall bath, breakfast nook, kitchen and laundry room.

Another factor is likelihood of success:  The tile job was largely successful, but there were two or three tiles that were loose when all was said and done.  I replaced one of them and it loosened up again pretty quickly.  I have no idea what I did wrong (but just on those few tiles).  Now if you're putting down laminate flooring, that's pretty quick and easy and forgiving.  Once you get a couple rows down it goes very quickly.

Holy moly -- 8 years?  I really want to do the laminate flooring myself, but I don't know if it's even feasible with furniture already in the place to try and remove carpet and lay the laminate in half of a room, move the furniture back there, then do the other half.  :/