Buying A House: C or D?

even lakewood being a little more expensive and competitive than most places within the city of cleveland i could still afford some incredible places

mh that is GORGEOUS there wow

what's it like, is it pricey?

it's more so than it used to be, since people started cleaning up the neighborhood and renovating homes in the last couple decades

there was a period of time (90s maybe?) where a handful of the people really into renovation were gay dudes and part of the neighborhood was both an area of urban revitalization and gay mecca! I might be misremembering the timeline or exaggerating some of the neighborhood stereotypes

also there are a few apartment buildings like this which are amazing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lexington

a friend lived in a different one (on 15th maybe?) that needed some work but had a couple small bedrooms, huge living room space, and a three season porch

xps re that Cleveland one
"Historians, millenniums, families, and everyone in between will be in awe of this beautiful home!"
haha
the pillow on the bed aaaahhhgggghh

what it is a nice pillow you don't want to put your head onto it?

http://photos1.zillowstatic.com/p_f/ISpxu7xthwc3c71000000000.jpg

jesus nooo

lol, i was literally just about to post that picture

these rooms make me nervous just looking at them
http://photos3.zillowstatic.com/p_f/IS9lqjwg9gw8c71000000000.jpg
http://photos2.zillowstatic.com/p_f/ISt8mvv310gec71000000000.jpg

even though i like our house fine now i want this place. right at the end of main street. always loved the idea of having store + house. mortgage would probably equal our current mortgage + current store rent. 11 parking spaces in back! and a huge back yard. our house would sell for about half what this one is going for though.

http://cohnandcompany.com/properties/commercialindustrial/greenfield-massachusetts-72048316

http://i.imgur.com/3qvCbOp.jpg

There have been so many nights where I wish that there had been a sink right next to my bed.

And if I lived in that house, I figure I would have many more nights like that.

I legitimately like that Cleveland house

Gotta be a trapdoor in there somewhere.

On the verge of doing a refi to a 7/1 ARM that will lower my payment by like $240, give me a $750 credit and pay for itself in about a year. But I'm still a little freaked out by ARMs, even though we plan to move in five years or less, and even though rates would have to go super high AND my financial situation would have to be bad in seven years for it to be a problem.

I got hives just reading that

good hives or bad?

lol @ the idea of interest rates ever rising again

these rooms make me nervous just looking at them

yea they kind of look like they are gonna swallow you, or maybe one of the walls will shift and there won't be any escape

Here's an image they inexplicably left out this one from the virtual tour:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/10/31/19/2DFD139D00000578-3298376-image-m-37_1446321581041.jpg

I love love those sliding doors. Had one on my bedroom in college. Couldn't slam 'em, though you could recreate that last scene of Godfather with Kay Corleone and make it 100% creepier.

Also, gotta catch 'em all.

http://i.imgur.com/1f06P6A.jpg

On the verge of doing a refi to a 7/1 ARM that will lower my payment by like $240, give me a $750 credit and pay for itself in about a year. But I'm still a little freaked out by ARMs, even though we plan to move in five years or less, and even though rates would have to go super high AND my financial situation would have to be bad in seven years for it to be a problem.

― socka flocka-jones (man alive), Thursday, August 25, 2016 12:08 AM (eleven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm freaked out by ARMs for sure

good luck

more than half the UK population has one iirc

Been coming back to this thread intermittently -- thanks for all the Zillow links, Marcos.

I think our house's previous owners went to the same wallpaper store as the owners of 9402 Madison. Spent the first few years after we bought pulling that wallpaper off. Of course they hadn't properly prepped the walls before papering and so some of the plaster came off with the paper.

Marcos, if you're seriously thinking about looking in Cleveland itself, don't miss the Kamm's Corners area (around Lorain Ave/Rocky River Dr) -- some nice (and amazingly low-priced) neighborhoods around there, mostly between Rocky River and Warren. The schools are obviously an issue, and you don't have all the amenities of Lakewood, but there's been some revitalization of the Lorain Ave strip in recent years (and you're a short drive away from Lakewood).

As Brownie said upthread about Clifton Blvd, it is a wide road but it does clear out after rush hour and it stays mostly around 35 mph. Also you get a little more front yard on Clifton than with most other streets in Lakewood.

yea kamm's is a great neighborhood! lots of nice affordable homes, cute and sturdy bungalows eg http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/17701-Valleyview-Ave-Cleveland-OH-44135/33375991_zpid/ and http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4020-W-158th-St-Cleveland-OH-44135/33378056_zpid/. we've thought about it but schools are definitely an issue for us

dud. http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Santa-Barbara-CA/house_type/15891884_zpid/13712_rid/globalrelevanceex_sort/34.424611,-119.69508,34.406378,-119.736193_rect/14_zm/0_mmm/

ive been fascinated by some of the east side neighborhoods, there are some incredible homes, lots of suffering neighborhoods though but it's a huge mix. working in university circle i drive down wade park ave, east blvd, the glenville neighborhood, there are huge mansions in great shape next to decrepit and boarded up places. i also drove through east cleveland the other day and was blown away by how similar the housing stock is to lakewood, everything built around the same time period, very similar neighborhoods at one point but now one is a dynamic, beautiful, and increasingly desirable neighborhood and the other seems beyond any possibility of recovering. what's going to happen with some of those neighborhoods? i feel like in any other city a neighborhood like glenville - immediately adjacent to a major research university, world class art museum, art and music institutes, world famous orchestra, all the major cultural institutions with a beautiful park-like surrounding - would be untouchably expensive. sure some places look fabulous eg http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Glenville-Cleveland-OH/33408728_zpid/200981_rid/3-_beds/41.521418,-81.605099,41.513449,-81.617352_rect/16_zm/ and http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1467-E-105th-St-Cleveland-OH-44106/90186852_zpid/ but not far away there are places being auctioned off at $1 http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/729-Parkwood-Dr-Cleveland-OH-44108/33388800_zpid/

Sufjan's deal of a fixer-upper there looks move-in ready!

probably has a lovely view of the fires! I hate this place sometimes.

Ok just found out that the bank guy gave me incorrect numbers on the fixed refi (looked it over at it didn't seem right) and it turns out that even with a 30-year fixed I can lower my payment like $165/month, so I think I'm just gonna do that.

Fixed is the right way to go right now. Rates are so low.

I don't know how it is in Cleveland, but I'd have to assume it's not too different than where I am in SW Atlanta—nice, preserved and/or rehabilitated homes rub shoulders with run down blighted properties and it's just the way it is. Seems like the tipping point into a revival could come at any moment, or it could be another 3-4 years (or longer). I felt pretty comfortable buying where I bought, but at the same time I didn't really have to worry about schools. From what I understand, the school ratings have improved considerably just since 2014, and that's likely due to more people buying in these neighborhoods.

So, like, I wouldn't rule out some of those houses you're sharing links for, marcos. Especially if you can pick one up significantly under your budget. If you wanted to update the kitchen and bathrooms, or even just do some cosmetic upgrades on the exterior or the yard, you're helping all the properties in the neighborhood go up in value (and rising values attract more buyers!).

That said, don't buy the only nice house on a block. If there's one for sale and every other address is a blighted dump, let someone else be that urban explorer.

yeah, no shame in being an adult who doesn't want to spend all their free time on house renovation and community building when you have kids and other things to do. kudos to those who can do so.

Fair enough. I keep forgetting that kids basically rule out having enough free time for upgrades!

it didn't stop my parents but as far as I can tell, their primary hobby was (and is) doing shit to their house

I've got friends with 3 kids who happily spend any available free time finishing their entire basement, starting from bare studs and concrete floors.

But after spending a ton of time redoing a kitchen, bathroom, and living/dining room in our first house I have zero desire to do that at all. I'm capable but absolutely don't enjoy it, don't trust myself, and am super critical of any mistakes so it's absolutely not fun in any way and I'd much rather pay someone competent to do it for me.

both my brother and my sister live in old historic homes and with their spouses they have put an enormous amount of time and work into restoring them. they are DIYers and don't mind living in a work-in-progress. my brother for example has taken about 3 years to paint the exterior of his house. it is cool to see the results of their work, they have beautiful homes and have put a lot of personal touch into their projects, but seeing how long it takes them to do shit has kind of turned me off of wanting to buy a fixer upper. i want to live in an old beautiful house and im okay w/ doing some minor cosmetic things but anything big or time-consuming i'd rather not have to deal with it or else just pay someone else to do it

OK you guys we are seeing a place this weekend that's going on the market Tuesday. Price seems potentially high to me but it ticks a lot of our buttons. I gotta be honest I hate this whole process a lot. Like it's in everybody's interest but ours to create a sense of "OH MY GOD ACT NOW TOMORROW THIS HOUSE MAY BE GONE." I feel like what happens is we'll buy this place before it goes on the market and then afterwards everybody will be like "wau I can't believe you actually paid the asking price for that, we were just taking a flyer to see if anyone with more money than sense took the bait"

Five other families looking at this. Definitely the nicest place we've seen. But very expensive. We can afford it. But my plan was to spend less than we can afford. Is buying the most expensive house you can afford advisable on investment grounds? Or should I think of it as spending money for no reason?

Since rates are low, it's not the worst idea since borrowing any money is relatively "cheap". That said, how much you can afford can vary over time.

I mean, let's say there are two houses which we like about equally; should we buy the more expensive one?

which one is closer to work, is likely to develop more equity, needs more repair etc

and can you forsee yourself being in a situation where you couldn't afford the more costly one?

I guess just on proportional grounds I would expect the one that starts more expensive to develop more equity.
We're only looking in one neighborhood so everything is roughly the same distance to work.
Needs more repair, hard to know. The expensive one we saw has had more recent updates so might be lower-maintenance.
Work is stable enough that I see no prospect of getting caught unable to afford either one.
There is always a possibility though that family/work stuff might make us want to move cities -- could happen at any time -- don't really understand how this affects the project of buying a house

buy the one you like best if you can afford it but you need a cushion for repairs and the unforeseen

We looked at condos for a year and didn't like the inventory in our price range. So our plan has been to save for 4 more years, when we can hopefully afford the down payment on a house. So of course we finally found a reasonably priced condo that we like, but the seller will likely take another offer because our pre-approval was quickly thrown together on quicken. So we are losing our minds trying to get a more legit pre-approval from a local lender while an open house for the place is happening today. DuuuuuuuUUUUUUd (though I can only blame myself for this one).

I mean, let's say there are two houses which we like about equally; should we buy the more expensive one?

The fact that this is even a question is a great testament to the success of real estate brokers in obscuring the principal-agent problem.

You should always buy the cheapest house you like.

We bought our condo at the top of our range 7 1/2 years ago, and one of my assumptions was that the federal salary table gets an across-the-board increase of between 2-4% every year, so gradually the mortgage would fade into the rear view. Then the 2010 election led to 6 years of stagnant income for both of us, we had a kid in 2011, and now we've had to sell in order to move somewhere more affordable. It sucks.

imo after deciding to move cities 2 times in the last 4 years, & having to sell a house each time, I would recommend thinking pretty hard about how likely it is that you would want to sell in the, I dunno, 5? years after buying. Because selling, even when it goes well, is expensive (particularly wrt time but also money since you have to get it into "selling shape"). We sold our dumb great plains house 4 years ago in less than a week, but we'd worked hard for 4 months before that to get it ready. & this time, a year+ later it's still not sold, but we still have sunk silly money into fixing things per the inspection, like the furnace and hot water heater, even though they were still working fine for us. what a hassle! now we're renters again & even aside from having an owner who handles big repairs, I value our freedom to jump to a better place whenever we want. & I don't know about you, but I'm generally, as they say, "movable", if the situation sounds fun; I get antsy staying in one place very long (though I'm hoping this one will last b/c finally it's not a boring midwestern USA town)

maybe a rejection of our offer won't be so bad after all.