The Home-ownership Thread

[darksabre]

It was a real estate listing. Not sure why Zillow had pics Realtor.com didn't. It was puzzling to me too.

 

So the "safe" house I thought we were going to offer on? My wife decided she doesn't want to live there. We went to Plan C (the previous one was Plan B), but we have a few questions into the seller (foundation repairs, age of roof & AC, etc.) before we jump off. And even then.... my wife still wants to look at other houses we haven't seen yet. (She's seriously driving me crazy.)

Where's ubkev to tell you house shopping is fun?

[Sabres Fan in NS]

The only thing worse than house shopping is car shopping.

[darksabre]

The only thing worse than house shopping is car shopping.

I'm inclined to agree. All cars are awful. 

[SwampD]

Where's ubkev to tell you house shopping is fun?

I love it. Of course, we did it twice when we didn't have to move. I could see it sucking if you had to move.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

I'm inclined to agree. All cars are awful. 

 

Of course, when my wife bought her Legend (which she is awesome enough to let me drive) it was purely pleasure ...  :flirt:

[darksabre]

Of course, when my wife bought her Legend (which she is awesome enough to let me drive) it was purely pleasure ... :flirt:

Older cars are great. Anything after 2000 (with a few exceptions) can kindly eff right off.

[Doohicksie]

It was a real estate listing.  Not sure why Zillow had pics Realtor.com didn't.  It was puzzling to me too.

 

So the "safe" house I thought we were going to offer on?  My wife decided she doesn't want to live there.  We went to Plan C (the previous one was Plan B), but we have a few questions into the seller (foundation repairs, age of roof & AC, etc.) before we jump off.  And even then.... my wife still wants to look at other houses we haven't seen yet. (She's seriously driving me crazy.)

 

Now I'm the one going crazy.  I checked Realtor.com and a house popped up in the neighborhood we want to be in, is larger, less expensive, and has a great layout.  We're looking at it tonight and will make an offer unless we see a show stopper.  (The reason why it's cheap is that it's only a block away from the freeway access road.)  If not, then we're back to Plan C.

I love it. Of course, we did it twice when we didn't have to move. I could see it sucking if you had to move.

 

:D

[sabills]

Where's ubkev to tell you house shopping  for other people is fun?

Thats the key. The theory of houseshopping is super fun, the actual thing is stressful. 

[ubkev]

I will say it again. I loved house shopping. And I also love car shopping. I love looking, putting in the offer, renegotiating the offer, them accepting the bid. Everything after that sucks, though.

[North Buffalo]

I'm semi-retired - in a few more years, this will be my home. 

 

Airstream.jpg

Yeah thought about building a tiny home for same reason or modifying an airstream so I can pull to a piece of property with a small cabin when I want rest for a while kinda like a docking station :)

[Doohicksie]

I will say it again. I loved house shopping. And I also love car shopping. I love looking, putting in the offer, renegotiating the offer, them accepting the bid. Everything after that sucks, though.

 

You're mad.

[ubkev]

You're mad.

Going to look at houses is awesome. Walking through them, imagining your life in them. Picturing grilling in the back yard, or relaxing in what would be my man cave, screaming at the TV. Figuring out how your going to put the furniture in the living room. Loving all the extra space it has over your tiny little town house. It was awesome! Me acting like a diva when the place didn't have a garage. Refusing to look at places without yards. It's my world when I'm house shopping. Everyone else is just living in it. Lol

 

And my realtor kicked ass. She was awesome. Helped us avoid a lot of potential headaches.

[Doohicksie]

We put an offer on another house tonight.  It just hit multiple listings today.  As our realtor was pulling up, someone else was showing the house to a client.  We got home and offered a little over the ask.

 

It's a 1956 traditional home, on its first owner.  She just went into assisted living and is selling the home.  Her family did a great job getting it ready for sale- fresh paint, beautifully refinished hardwood floors throughout.  The house had a two car attached garage that's been converted to a family room; they built a detached garage to replace it.  The detached garage has a loft for storage.  Incredible.

 

The downside is it's one block from a freeway, and you can hear the road noise inside, but just barely- the kind of thing that your brain will learn to ignore after a couple weeks.

 

We're not assured the offer will be accepted; our realtor said there could be a potential bidding war.  So we'll see.

 

 

Hardwood floors.... EVERYWHERE!

Edited February 16, 2018 by Anordning

[Doohicksie]

Offer accepted.  Inspections, financing, and closing the deal on selling our house pending, we'll be in by March.

[darksabre]

Love that open space

[woods-racer]

Outstanding !

 

You knew what you wanted, found it and got it. 

 

Happy for you and the Mrs.!

[Doohicksie]

I'm very suspicious that, even though our house is supposed to be an as-is sale, the buyer is going to try to get the price lower.  We have little wiggle room but if they low-ball us the whole thing will fall apart.  I hope I'm just being overly cautious.

[dudacek]

We put an addition on our place last year.

Contractor was a little nervous about the inspector who he says has been getting quite a reputation for been a hardass and a nit picker.

 

Knock on the door. “Hi, I’m here to do the final inspection.”

I invite him in. He looks it me officiously and says no, I’m going to do the outside first.

 

I barely have time to sit dwn and there’s another knock.

“It’s in there, right?” He pushes past me into the new part of the house stands in the middle of the room, looks left, then looks right.

He then sits down, pulls out a pen and paper. He quickly scrawls something down, gets up and passes it to me.

“Approved”

And then he,s gone. I think he might have said goodbye, but I’m not sure.

 

I think it took me longer to write this than it did to do the inspection.

[Jacque Richard]

Truth ... my taxes in N.Atlanta are about a 1/3 of what they'd be in WNY.

 

how is the crappy traffic with all the urban sprawl just great I bet

[Doohicksie]

The inspection on the house we're selling was supposed to be last week but the inspector didn't show.  They've got it rescheduled for this Wednesday.  At that point we should know whether they're going to try to lower their offer (the house is as-is, so we won't be doing any repairs, but I fully expect them to try to cut things back a bit.  A little is okay, a lot will sink the deal).

 

Meanwhile, the inspection on our new place is this afternoon (fingers crossed all around).

Edited February 19, 2018 by Anordning

[Doohicksie]

The house needs some updating, particularly on the electrical system and windows (original windows, mostly painted shut), but overall it's in good shape for a house 60+ years old.

[Gramps]

how is the crappy traffic with all the urban sprawl just great I bet

 

Pretty sad ... on a weekday morning/evening at rush, would take about 1h45m to get to downtown ATL - about 25 miles. 

The house needs some updating, particularly on the electrical system and windows (original windows, mostly painted shut), but overall it's in good shape for a house 60+ years old.

 

Floors look great - I'd have to do some painting though and remove any old lady wallpaper. 

[Doohicksie]

I'd have to do some painting though and remove any old lady wallpaper. 

 

Yeah, that'll come with time.  The drapes in the living and dining rooms are pretty nasty too.

[Doohicksie]

So, the buyer did their inspection on our current home today and this evening they accepted the property.  So one way or the other we're moving.

 

We did some further inspections on the new house today and we're probably going to ask for a little relief on the price.  There are some issues with the electrical system, a tree leaning against the eaves that has to come down, a few plumbing issues, etc.  But even if there is no relief we'll be going forward.

[Winston]

So, the buyer did their inspection on our current home today and this evening they accepted the property. So one way or the other we're moving.

 

We did some further inspections on the new house today and we're probably going to ask for a little relief on the price. There are some issues with the electrical system, a tree leaning against the eaves that has to come down, a few plumbing issues, etc. But even if there is no relief we'll be going forward.

Cool! Gotta be a relief when “as is” is accepted as “as is.” (what a weird sentence that was grammatically...)

 

Here’s to hoping you get a little money back for those remedies ????

 

This week I have been thinking about the first house my wife and I went into contract on. It was a week just like this one, with pretty much constant rain that ranged from drizzle to downpour. The day of the inspection was particularly miserable. But it played to our favor.. turns out the foundation was leakier than Robin Lehner in a shootout. Further investigation showed that the seller had covered up major water damage. The detached garage had roof issues as well.

 

We bought a condo built on a slab instead... no basement issued here :P