Buying A House: C or D?

IDK I think Behr has gone down in quality in the years I've been using it. If you're in the USA and can afford it BM Regal Select is about the best consumer grade paint out there. Zinsser 123 or Kilz 2 for primer if you need it.

The better materials and tools you can afford, the better results and less headaches you will have.

I should say Regal Select is the best all-around. There are much better paints but they are ridiculously expensive. Also between BM's 2 main color lines there are plenty of choices and coordinating schemes if you want a place to start from.

In the old house, the satellite salesman said I'd have to get rid of the trees on the south end of the property to get any reception. Didn't think it was worth it.

Some time since then, those trees came down anyway, and boy, it's opened the yard up. Can't really hide on the porch anymore to smoke either.

https://i.imgur.com/tgGO6Yg.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/qY4GNuG.jpg

(See that white car in the first pic? I'd bet my old neighbor really lost his shit when he saw that.)

Anyone have any strong opinions on stone foundations? Good / bad? I've heard varying reports.

idk, if you're dealing with a house of a certain age it is what it is. tough to make a blanket statement about them. my house is from the tail end of when they were common (1940s) and has no issues at all.

yea just depends on the house, have it inspected if you like the house

our house was built in 1908 and its fine. it's not pretty but there are no major issues at all

relatively dry too

I assume stone foundations are in areas without seismic activity

My house is 1911 vintage and needs a lot of foundation work. The mortar holding the stones together is crumbling, it's like sand in some areas. Inspect, I'd say.

Hmmm. The mortar problem you're having is consistent with the 'cons' I have heard about stone foundations.

Thanks!

my house is circa 1915 and the foundation seems solid

I think the entire structure is starting to stand taller after removing all those layers of shingles tbh

Congratulations to diamonddave85 on the imminent purchase.

re: taxes, I'd be ecstatic if mine were only in the four figures -- for a smallish 3 bedroom. And of course I just remembered that yesterday was the deadline for filing a tax grievance this year. Damn.

and............ sold

congrats! that's a relief huh

still need to conclude missives.... will be relieved then. 80% of the way there tho, so feeling chill

woo hoo!

Nothing really WTF or OMG about this house... I mean, it definitely has "character" and everything, but I'm really just posting it because, hey, https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/183-Frobel-St_Monticello_GA_31064_M66573-64614?ex=GA636635434&view=qv40,000 for a 2,465-SF 5BR/3BA isn't something you see every day.

One day I shall learn BB Code.

That's not tooooo far from Atlanta (it's still pretty far out, though, so impractical for me). But dang. Tempting!

The siding in the bathroom scared me off a bit.

Never lived in a house with transoms, I'll say that.

The other bathroom is even scarier, peeling paint everywhere....

Also, there's way, way, way too much stuff in that house. I'm usually not an adherent of the "declutter before listing/photographing your house" edict, but all that crud makes the place look even tackier than it is.

I dunno, just picture a 19-year-old Michael Stipe shaving at this sink. Pretty easy if you try!

https://i.imgur.com/sSjatRm.jpg

Wait, is that sink in front of a door?

"Haha, c'mon, plains. Every old house has that room with the TV in front of the sealed door to the bathroom..."

https://i.imgur.com/CcmG596.jpg

(ME, WAVING A KNIFE AT EVERYONE): "NO! NO THEY DON'T!"

That house looks like a steal tbh

The camera lenses they use for these shoots confuse the hell out of me.

Like, these stairs seem really flat to me (for stairs):

https://i.imgur.com/su5wtho.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/TSVLSi4.jpg

But from this angle, hope you keep a rope and harness ready:

https://i.imgur.com/ay14J6Y.jpg

"I dunno, man. Seems like it'd be a bit more Christmasy if we took the plywood out of the fireplace."

"Shut up and hand me another beer from the fridge, ok?"

https://i.imgur.com/PqnHb1Y.jpg

Least you wouldn't have to worry too much about keeping up with the Joneses.

https://i.imgur.com/YTMm6Rl.jpg

see, that's why I was lax in fixing up my house. guy with a nice-looking house doesn't mow the yard or weed often enough? eh, we have a couple of those on the block. irritating but at least they do something. guy with a nice remodeled house is lazy? well, that just draws attention

whoops, that is to say, guy with a paint-peeling, roof looks bad house doesn't do the work, no one cares

I've never been so angry at a house listing.

https://i.imgur.com/yX0VL4f.jpg

That looks like some weekend warrior shit.

lol I just saw a listing with a really extreme use of fisheye lens and thought of pplains's other thread, will try to find the pic

Oh yeah here it is
https://ssl.cdn-redfin.com/photo/79/mbpaddedwide/515/genMid.3031515_11_0.jpg

guys, what shape is a bed, normally?

HAHA

florida bed

I remember that scene from Time Bandits.

I've never been so angry at a house listing.

WIsh I could find the place where 3/4 of the ground floor had been converted into open plan with stairs and one or two small rooms tucked behind a curved wall, like a full 90 degrees front wall to side wall curve. It looked so bad. So bad.

In other news a) aargh, ii) never get complacent or fail to hassle solicitors etc from day one, 3) accepting an offer on your place before find another place to move is not the best idea.

d) please insert a comma after 'open plan' above.

accepting an offer on your place before find another place to move is not the best idea.

It's better than getting another place before an offer has been made on your first place.

ledge, I can't quite picture what you're talking about.

But I did find this atrocity in a search for "Open Plan" "Curved Wall":

https://i.imgur.com/YTvlD4d.png

Video

ok imagine that's the whole ground floor (about 4 room's worth) and the curved wall goes all the way to the ceiling and the other wall, completely enclosing one corner, with a door in. and it was painted blue iirc. i've gotta find it again...

very nice of them to put in a partial wall so you can't quite see the toilet from the bed

It's better than getting another place before an offer has been made on your first place.

not if you sort of agreed the buyers could move in fairly quickly... or: TS: paying for two houses vs. paying storage costs and 2x moving costs and having to live with the in-laws.

Most of the houses on my block are based on slight variations of the same 1938-40 floor plan. It's neat to go to other people's houses and see how they treated the little idiosyncracies that vex us.

There's a comically teeny bedroom (teeny by current first-world 'burb standards anyway), about 6.5x7 feet. Half of my friends have closets bigger than that. Perversely, the door opens inward. (Ours is my son's bedroom, at least until he decides he's jealous of his sister's more generously-sized room, then we will need to work something out.)

Anyway when houses in my 'hood are on the market, I get a kick out of seeing horribly fisheyed pictures of that room. Somebody had it staged as a nursery, and in the photo the crib looks like an isosceles triangle.

^ My old neighborhood was like that too. Took me awhile to figure out why my hallway was so dark and cramped compared to my neighbors until it dawned on me that, oh, I've got two closets there that were added after it was built.

TS: paying for two houses vs. paying storage costs and 2x moving costs and having to live with the in-laws.

I dunno, which side has drinking the arsenic? I'd probably pick that one.

I put my stuff in storage and subletted for 6 months between homes we did the move into a storage unit ourselves the first time, so only paid mover costs really once). But It made sense financially and was less stress about finding a new place to live. And I subletted in a neighborhood I had always wanted to live in so it was fun.

I don't understand why that curved wall above is so thick.

I think just so it matches the width of the seat/laundry hamper at the end of it?

https://i.imgur.com/fdx8ZFF.png

(And boy did I have a much different reaction the first second I saw that.)