Buying A House: C or D?

It's a sitz bath.

We have a winner! But I'm still surprised for a seemingly high-end sitz bath to show up in a private house - every one I've ever seen was at a hospital, usually much smaller, and without the separate plumbing for salene, baking soda, and other additives. Most either sit in an existing sink, commode, or bathtub. Anyhoos, here's how to use one should you find ono where you are and have a need. I now know what to put in those empty corners we can't always work out of remodeled bathrooms....

I think this was very posh at the time, kind of like having a Jacuzzi bathtub.

I never knew there was the perfect bathtub fixture just waiting for me, in Germany, 85 years ago.

It's an arse sink?

arse sink in old place

Housing prices have gone insane in my area - since last fall properties that were around $105k have started moving to $115-120k and there's no sign of a slowdown.

It's really not in an area with median income around $42k.

Jesus fucking christ, that's about the average income where I live and the average price for a *flat* is $400,000.

Even if you financed the entirety of a $120k purchase price, that's around $550 a month at current mortgage rates (less if you get an FHA mortgage). Even on a $42k income, that's affordable by any standard.

lol marcos we're actively looking in boston suburbs and these cleveland links are killing me

― call all destroyer, Monday, April 25, 2016 8:29 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha i know what you mean, tbh this is a large reason why we are considering a move there

we met with a realtor friend of ours in boston a couple months ago and we are getting daily MLS listings for "our price range" (in quotes because the idea of that price range being remotely in our budget is laughable) and it is mostly tiny condos or homes that will need prob $100k of repairs. these emails basically serve as daily reminders that we should leave boston.

this home is cute http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1349-Bonnieview-Ave-Lakewood-OH-44107/33489911_zpid/

it's a nice street, walk south to the corner and you can go to one of cleveland's oldest and best headshops, daystar boutique

this one was listed for sale last july for $75k but now after some rehab it is listed at $309k, but there is no way they will get that much imo http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1458-Wyandotte-Ave-Lakewood-OH-44107/33501765_zpid/

we met with a realtor friend of ours in boston a couple months ago and we are getting daily MLS listings for "our price range" (in quotes because the idea of that price range being remotely in our budget is laughable) and it is mostly tiny condos or homes that will need prob $100k of repairs. these emails basically serve as daily reminders that we should leave boston.

I mean, if you want to know what keeps us around in Little Rock, I'll tell ya, it ain't the theater.

you might doubt the utility of an arse sink, until you get a chronic case of the 'rrhoids

What's the social vibe in those areas of Cleveland like? My biggest fear of these *charming, affordable little American cities* is that life would just revolve around church and football or something.

There's a goth club right down the street, over the border in the Cleveland. Buncha gay bars in that area. Head shops. Lotsa parks. A dive bar within walking distance of anywhere in Lakewood. Sweet library system.

lakewood is a pretty progressive neighborhood, gay-friendly, lots of good food/bars/cafes, kind of alternative, has a good farmer's market, not hugely diverse (about 85% white). there are a fair amount of hipsters i guess but they are cleveland hipsters not like williamsburg hipsters. it has a wide range of very wealthy people who live on the lake, middle class people in one- and two-family homes, and more working class/blue collar whites who live in the areas directly bordering cleveland.

cleveland heights is way more diverse (49% white, 42% black), has a "bohemian" center that was probably more bohemian in the past, very close as mentioned to the main cultural institutions of cleveland (museums, universities, etc)

both are overwhelmingly democratic. they are old inner-ring suburbs that are a pretty good mix between urban/suburban.

A dive bar within walking distance of anywhere in Lakewood

lol otm

there are definitely a lot of sports bars but that's just cleveland

My biggest fear of these *charming, affordable little American cities* is that life would just revolve around church and football or something.

― JWoww Gilberto (man alive), Tuesday, April 26, 2016 12:40 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fwiw my brother-in-law is from small town western nebraska and when his family visited and described what cleveland felt like to them, you would think they were talking about NYC or chicago, it is an urban place. outer suburbs though are definitely church and football.

starting to wish I'd considered closeness to head shops in my house-hunting decisions

that marlowe house i posted at $185k just dropped to $173k today, i really want it

And all of a sudden that dn falls into place. xp

I feel like sports bars are endemic most places, now

or just a flood of restaurants with televisions on every flat surface that's not a table

yea totally

There is a place in my hood that has an individual TV at every table. I pretty much don't care about any sports but the kids like it when we go there so they can put it on Disney or whatever

when i was in town last week i got a little too high w/ my siblings one night and we went to a very large sports bar to watch the cavs-pistons game and it was a very strange and surreal experience, the bar was in this old cavernous brick building that seemed way bigger than it actually is, huge enormous tvs everywhere, a giant backlit grinning chief wahoo behind the bar, and i had the very stoned & trenchant thought of like this is a modern cathedral maaaaan...

IME the historical progression of large quasi-ceremonial public spaces has gone (approximately) temples - public baths - cathedrals - concert halls - factories - train stations - movie theaters - sports stadiums - shopping malls - sports bars.

What type of space will become the next cathedral?

Everyone carries a movie theater/TV/stadium/concert venue in his or her pocket, so entertainment consumption is only rarely a grand collective experience requiring a grand collective space. We no longer need grand public architecture for bathing, work, or transport. Most commerce will continue to move inexorably into the private sphere, so malls will continue their current fade from prominence.

I predict that grocery stores are overdue for the full the cathedral treatment. If you go to a Wegmans store on the East Coast you will get a sense of what I mean; they are food cathedrals.

For me the things that kind of fit for that - in terms of being in public, encountering people I know, or flaneuring - are the coffee shop I work at a lot, the food co-op, and especially the farmer's market. All food shopping related.

Bareburger is sort of a guilty pleasure because of the combination of good burgers, good beers and a TV that only plays cartoons -- I don't love my four-year-old watching frenetic cartoons she doesn't understand for a whole meal, but I do love the relative peace.

Ugh ordinary people eh

Nah just people who like stuff that I don't like. We're all ordinary.

That was kinda xp to whole thread tbf

No ass tubs, but plenty of potential for the motivated buyer:

https://www.crye-leike.com/1422-s-summit/in-zip-code-72202-mgrp-2-tid-littlerock-mlsnum-16005323-ln-76-p-8-sm-1

sigh, there's a neighborhood here with lots of houses like that, and they used to go for that price or less

then people moved in and fixed em all up and their prices changed accordingly

Great opportunity in Los Angeles!

http://la.curbed.com/2016/4/26/11513036/echo-park-house-tear-down

More details in the Redfin link at the bottom.

my new home, cozy li'l cottage i just scooped up
https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/ca/los-angeles/357-lorraine-blvd/pid_11440831/

does it have a Sitz bath?

There's a Carnac joke in here somewhere.

It would neat to find out ilx has a secret gazillionaire who buys $8M homes just because.

would *be

Not it.

I will not comment on this topic at this time

A Cleveland friend tipped me off to the property tax rate for that area and it's among the highest in all of Ohio. All relative of course, but (for example) in Lakewood it's $3,203 per $100K of home value.

http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2016/01/compare_property_tax_rates_in.html

daamn that's triple what we pay

yea it's pretty high for sure

usually areas with taxes that high have fancy public schools

yea they are currently renovating/rebuilding almost every school in the district

lakewood also has a huge amazing lakefront park that was completely renovated

Westchester Cty outside NYC has taxes like that, but the houses in a lot of the good towns are $600K and up, so the added taxes on top of that is a huge additional burden, like another $1500/month or more.