Buying A House: C or D?

I think it's been a process over a handful of years. Like, the roof is only 3 years old and the hvac is 2 years old and google street view from 2012 shows the house looking pretty much like it does right now from the outside, so I really don't know how the sales history figures into it all. I imagine it's been shifted around from one investor to another (or within different departments of the same firm).

Hoping the inspection on Tuesday morning will be to my liking, regardless.

I guess the market is definitely heating up. In Birmingham, my niece and her husband got more than their asking price within half a day of putting the word out about their move to Huntsville.

Nice. What are they moving to Huntsville for, if I might be nosy? That's my hometown.

Scott, the husband, works for Sysco and is getting a big promotion that involves transferring. They've been in their B'ham house less than a year and are kind of tore up about leaving friends and a neighborhood they love, but feel they can't turn down the opportunity.

They'll like it alright. I visit all the time now since my dad retired and my parents moved back. Way more to do there in 2014 than there was in 1994, that's for sure.

so the mister and I have been looking at places and have decided to put an offer in on a 3 bed 1.5 bath 1600sqft colonial in the neighborhood where we currently live, it's freakin' adorable. we are putting in an offer and i am currently F R E A K I N G O U T

Moving across town today, have spent the last night in a house I've lived in for 7 years, still haven't closed on the new place, appraiser for new place is coming tomorrow, meeting with insurance guy on Thursday, mother-in-law is staying with us until Friday, have a week until the renter moves into our current place and lots of things to fix and clean before that.

I woke up at 5am in sheer panic and it hasn't gotten any better since then.

godspeed to ye

we are putting in an offer and i am currently F R E A K I N G O U T

This was me a week ago. It's been mostly smooth sailing since then, so I hope the same is true for you.

The house got a totally good inspection this morning (only a couple moderate problems, one of which I can fix myself in about 20 minutes). Then I stopped by the insurance agent to get a quote on a homeowners policy and it was right in line with what the mortgage company had estimated (I imagine they're pretty good at making estimates).

Not sure what else I have to be concerned about until closing. The loan underwriting process is moving along, my parents were in town yesterday and they gave the house a thumbs-up, I met one of my neighbors this morning and got playfully molested by his dog. Also found out that, even though the house isn't presently wired for cable tv, going through the crawlspace and up into the living room will be super easy. I don't want to jinx it, but woo hoo!

Has your neighbors asked how much you bought the house for yet?

It's public record, but damn, my neighbors sure could've used a little more tact in introducing themselves.

(Second question was an inquiry to the whereabouts of my regular house of worship.)

No, nothing like that. Just a quick hello.

Ugh, how do I make my dad stop being a complete killjoy during this process? He ground my enthusiasm down to the tiniest nub with an hour of "we thought the neighborhood would be nicer" and "it's an investment first, a place to live second" and other dad things.

What he doesn't understand and I don't think he ever will is that in the price range I'm shopping, no liveable house is going to be 100% sparkly and perfect. If I had three times the budget, sure...I could live in a neighborhood like the ones he's used to, but I can't. From this house, I might see poorer folks walking down the street on the way to the bus. In this hosue, more than one of my neighbors might be a black family. Also, a 94 year old house is not a brand new house no matter how recently it's been renovated. Unless I were to live 25-30 miles outside of the city, this is the kind of situation my homebuying budget leaves me with. I'm being pragmatic and real with myself about this the whole way through, but he's steamrolling the fucking joy.

"it's an investment first, a place to live second"

Console yourself with the thought that he's being a bigoted dinosaur--if I've understood anything iatee ever said, I don't think homes are good investments in that sense anymore, not in most places. Also, living in economically and racially and culturally diverse places is an overall good so he can eat a bag of hammers.

Unless I were to live 25-30 miles outside of the city, this is the kind of situation my homebuying budget leaves me with.

There's some HGTV show that I end up watching at the gym that takes place in Atlanta, and it's amazing how many people seem excited to live in shiny places way out in the burbs with an hour commute each way.

Ugh, how do I make my dad stop being a complete killjoy during this process?

Say, "Dad, stop being a complete killjoy during this process!"

er, it's a house. it's definitely a place to live first, an investment second. he wants it to be one way, but it's the other way.

it's amazing how many people seem excited to live in shiny places way out in the burbs with an hour commute each way.

That's the kind of people my parents are. They love planned suburban developments. They've never bought a McMansion, but most houses we/they have ever lived in are more house than they actually need. They like strip malls and chain restaurants and everything that goes with living in a burb.

I, on the other hand, despise everything that goes with living in a burb to the core of my being.

Don't get me wrong. I love my dad, but he's an old white man who's never lived in a culturally/economically diverse neighborhood as long as he's been alive and he's probably scared shitless on my behalf of imagined dangers where, at least in the neighborhood I'm moving to, have no basis in reality.

Here's my advice: a house is a place where you live. Make the inside yours, make the outside yours, live with all your shit in boxes in one room of the house. It doesn't matter as long as you're happy and it works for your needs.

I mean, don't be a dick and leave the outside totally fucked up because you want to be on good terms with neighbors. So if you have a yard, mow it before it goes to seed, if it snows where you live, clean off the sidewalk. Don't have too many cars on cement blocks in your front yard. But you're not under any obligation to landscape or garden or wtf ever just because you could.

People who only do things to their homes after carefully amortizing its contribution to the resale value are savages.

Right? I mean, I am actually looking forward to keeping a yard looking nice. This is the ultimate payoff for my selective neatness ocd. There's probably a lot to be said for always making sure your next house can be nicer than your current house, but the size of this mortgage and payment is so much less than what I'm even paying in rent right now that I'm willing to gamble a little bit on whether or not I can make all my money back if I move out of the house in five years.

I agreed with iatee on the house-is-not-an-investment in some places, but Atlanta freakin' Georgia where you can probably get 1500-SF for $150K is not one of those places. I am convinced that homes closer to the core of a city will appreciate in value far faster than what will be the outer-city shell neighborhoods of 2039.

Factor in the savings of not paying rent, adding equity to your portfolio, being able to get credit to pay for any future Fevers' education, the peace and mind that not only comes from keeping a home neat and clean, but being empowered to do whatever the fuck you want to do with it - I think you're the smart guy here.

It's funny - I've privately questioned basically every single person I know who owns a house that doesn't look like mine since I became a property owner. Why would he want to live on a big hill like that? It's ugly where they closed in the carport. They've got three kids and one bathroom? It's great, and I enjoy it. The grass is greener on your side when you own your home.

Unless you mow it to the bone like I do, then it's just dirt.

Haha!

a house is always going to be, by a certain definition, an investment - you're going to own an asset worth a lot of money that might go up or down in value.

it's more that you don't want to have the 2000s era mindset that there's always gonna be inevitable rapid appreciation - it's not a machine that spits out money, it's a machine for living in that requires a lot of upkeep.

I would also take the 'buy something close to the atlanta core over the exurbs' bet, but who knows, nothing is sure, maybe solar powered google cars or w/e will let southerners live even further from the core, and everyone losing their jobs will make inner city crime go to 1970s levels.

The previous owners of our new place were way into yard work - the guy gave me a half hour rundown of the sprinkler system, what the lawn service does did every month, how to treat the grass, and so on and the whole time I was thinking how sad he'd be to learn that lawn care is not at all my hobby and at best I'll mow it during the wet spring and let it go dormant when the dry summer kicks in.

I did mow yesterday for the first time, and only to not be a dick and leave the outside totally fucked up because I want to be on good terms with neighbors.

Yard work is the worst. I'd have to buy a house with zero yard.

I like a nice-looking yard, but I don't want to maintain a botanical garden or anything. I just plan to keep everything that's already there cut back for minimal maintenance.

One good thing about yardwork is you get to see the results every time you go outside -- lots of positive reinforcement

If there are two things my divorced parents have in common, it's weather and the damn yard.

Dad wonders why I haven't planted Bermuda or Zoysia like the other neighbors. Mom thinks I should plant bushes all along the back fence.

I'm very much into Keep It Simple. I envy people in New Mexico who can dump some rocks in their yard and receive accolades in return.

But I'll mow before it gets over six inches. It's easy to do when it's short and if I let it go long, the bugs and varmints start making a home back there.

As far as the monetary investment is concerned, I think iatee and I are roughly on the same block. In my state, most of the busts from five years ago came from new construction - developers thinking their field of dreams was going to pay off in the millions. It takes time, it takes work and it does take a little knowledge of where the best place in your area is to live, not to buy.

I've got a buddy who bought a house for roughly the same price as we bought ours. He's way out on the new west side of town, living on this looped road with identical brick houses side-by-side with one another. Last time I went to visit, there were at least half a dozen For Sale signs in the yards. No selling advantage whatsoever - if one house is the same as the other, price is the only a buyer really needs to be choosy about.

At least in my neighborhood, the sizes, ages and lots vary widely. One house might be cheaper than the other, but hey, you're missing out on that huge fucking yard to plant your bushes. I'm very comfortable in my investment, and honestly, it'll still be worth it for me 25 years from now if we sell the house and only break even.

every time you go outside

therein lies the rub

I don't mind messing around doing home improvements and screwing with stuff. Even if I fuck it up, the house has been there since 1915. If no one has managed to accidentally destroy it yet, I doubt I'll be the one to do so.

I hear ya on that, mine is from 1920

congrats JF!

If I buy a house, I'm going to till up the St. Augustine or Bermuda and put down ground cover that has a legitimate place in Texas without being watered 3x week for the 210-day summer.

My lawn right now looks to be basic fescue, which grows faster than I'd like it to. Fortunately, there's not much of it. I imagine mowing both front and back could be done in about 20 minutes.

My side yard is mostly this little motherfucker:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glechoma_hederacea

I like yard stuff because I like to sit outside and grill and drink and such and let the dog roam around in the back. Also if I build a fence or patio and it's slightly crooked it's no big deal as opposed to fucking up a backsplash or something inside and hating myself every time I see it.

If I buy a house, I'm going to till up the St. Augustine or Bermuda and put down ground cover that has a legitimate place in Texas without being watered 3x week for the 210-day summer.

― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, July 9, 2014 1:15 PM (2 hours ago)

You might need to completely dig the yard out past the topsoil. I thoroughly tilled up my back yard the year I wanted to get heavily into vegetable gardening. That wore me out, so the next year I left the back alone except for a couple of strips and raised beds. By the 2nd summer past the tilling, you couldn't tell I'd ever done anything to the yard -- I think the aeration just helped the grass thicken up.

I've posted this image before:

http://i.imgur.com/oWglb6Q.png

• My neighbor's on the left.
• My yard's on the right.
• My parents are ashamed.

original listing $239k
offered $220k
counteroffer $236k

no dice

:|

tell yourself it's for the environment xp

not worth it if more time and resources only gets you what's on the left tbh

And believe it or not, that guy's a professional landscaper.

Sailor, you should counter-offer $216k. And then buy a boat.

original listing $239k
offered $220k
counteroffer $236k

Based on recent sales in the area, was your offer solid? Because that seller seems unwilling to really play ball.

they're probably underwater

Hadn't thought of that, but it's a definite possibility.

Definitely buy a boat then.

A+

seller listed the house at $289k(?!?!) last year and dropped the price a couple times last summer. The house is only 1500sq ft on a very small lot (which we liked; manageable size); similar houses nearby are all larger, newer & on larger lots, usually in the $190k-$215k range. The seller has done some nice improvements & it's in great, move-in ready condition -- just seems like they feel entitled to get a certain price out of it? Seller's realtor says they upgrading to a larger seaside house down the road so I dunno what the deal is

My yard's on the right.

Can't speak for where you live, but local officials in California are urging homeowners to let their grass go brown due to the severe drought conditions we've been experiencing for months. So for me, my brown lawn is a badge of honor. :)