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Homeowner/House Thread: It's going to cost how much, now?

That_GuyThat_Guy I don't wanna be that guyRegistered User regular
edited April 2019 in Debate and/or Discourse
Have you found yourself $250,000 in debt to a bank you've never visited? Do you have just one more project before it's livable? Doing remodels or renovations? Did you find the perfect place in the perfect location and just wanna gush about it? This thread is for you. Here we can discuss the trials and tribulation, the ups and downs, the adventure that is home ownership in a post recession economy.

Home Hunting Resources
zillow.com
trulia.com
realtor.com
www.redfin.com

Credit Resources
creditkarma.com
annualcreditreport.com
mint.com

Mortgage resources
mortgagecalculator.org
www.bankrate.com/calculators/mortgages/mortgage-calculator.aspx

Loan advice
Find a small local broker. They are going to work the hardest to make sure you find just the right loan for you. The big banks just don't have as much of an incentive.

That_Guy on
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Posts

  • DoodmannDoodmann Registered User regular
    Redfin is more accurate as it's a direct MLS pull, but it's not available everywhere.

    Whippy wrote: »
    nope nope nope nope abort abort talk about anime
    Sometimes I sell my stuff on Ebay
  • That_GuyThat_Guy I don't wanna be that guy Registered User regular
    Doodmann wrote: »
    Redfin is more accurate as it's a direct MLS pull, but it's not available everywhere.

    Thanks, I added it.

  • SeñorAmorSeñorAmor !!! Registered User regular
    Think I may have asked this in the previous thread but my memory and attention span are... ooh a bird...


    Anyway, we're looking at redoing the floors on our first floor and my wife wants real hardwood. This is a home we're going to be in for awhile, so we're willing to spend a little bit extra on this project. I was on board with wood, but when I went to a local flooring company, they suggested luxury vinyl planks. They're cheaper, look like real wood, waterproof and generally more durable. They said they do more vinyl than hardwood nowadays. I did my research and it turns out they were telling the truth and not trying to con me into something that benefits them.

    I took my wife back to the store so she could see it and she's still not on board. I think she's got blinders on and laser focused on real wood because her main complaint was that it didn't *look* like real wood, which is totally inaccurate. Of all the things to have an issue with vinyl, appearance is the least different.

    Do any of you have any experience with luxury vinyl planks? I'm hoping to get a real-world experience from some random person on a website I frequent rather than feedback from a random person on a website I don't frequent.

  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    edited April 2019
    Our last apartment had it. It was made to resemble parquet. Never had any issues.

    Edit: Also duh, our current house does too. To me it doesn’t quite mimic wood in appearance but it’s easy to clean and maintain.

    Quid on
  • That_GuyThat_Guy I don't wanna be that guy Registered User regular
    You can find hardwood flooring on the cheap at you local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The one in my town always has several pallets of nice hardwood flooring left over from their building projects.

    In fact, the ReStore should be your first stop when remodeling. My ReStore has a pretty steady supply of gently used fixtures and furnishings that have saved me a fair bit of money on projects here and there.

  • SeñorAmorSeñorAmor !!! Registered User regular
    That_Guy wrote: »
    You can find hardwood flooring on the cheap at you local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The one in my town always has several pallets of nice hardwood flooring left over from their building projects.

    In fact, the ReStore should be your first stop when remodeling. My ReStore has a pretty steady supply of gently used fixtures and furnishings that have saved me a fair bit of money on projects here and there.

    Yes, but we have two kids (7 and 9) and all their grubby little friends coming into our house. Plus I'd like to extend the flooring into our back hall/mudroom and back bathroom. Both of those would be better suited to waterproof flooring that I don't have to resurface every few years.

  • zeenyzeeny Registered User regular
    SeñorAmor wrote: »
    Think I may have asked this in the previous thread but my memory and attention span are... ooh a bird...


    Anyway, we're looking at redoing the floors on our first floor and my wife wants real hardwood. This is a home we're going to be in for awhile, so we're willing to spend a little bit extra on this project. I was on board with wood, but when I went to a local flooring company, they suggested luxury vinyl planks. They're cheaper, look like real wood, waterproof and generally more durable. They said they do more vinyl than hardwood nowadays. I did my research and it turns out they were telling the truth and not trying to con me into something that benefits them.

    I took my wife back to the store so she could see it and she's still not on board. I think she's got blinders on and laser focused on real wood because her main complaint was that it didn't *look* like real wood, which is totally inaccurate. Of all the things to have an issue with vinyl, appearance is the least different.

    Do any of you have any experience with luxury vinyl planks? I'm hoping to get a real-world experience from some random person on a website I frequent rather than feedback from a random person on a website I don't frequent.

    We have cement imitating "luxury" vinyl in foyer/kitchen/closet and also another small section on a kitchen wall. It looks nice and is fast/easy to lay. I can't speak to durability as it's relatively recent. That said, we didn't even consider it for other rooms as we have a very strong association between hardwood and comfort.

    Re: The comments of the flooring company:
    - Vinyl is ridiculously easy to lay down. It's faster to complete, if you ask construction workers which one they prefer to work with, the answer will prob heavily favor it.
    - The argument "we are doing more of X than of Y" really doesn't say much. Vinyl is in heavy use in office/public spaces and the cheap versions of it go *really* cheap.(I would ask them where you can see a lay they have done, so you can go and see it "in the wild")
    - Hardwood is (without any doubt in my mind) aesthetically superior as texture and feeling. Unless you have a design opportunity to use vinyl or a strong practical or financial reason to fallback to it, I would be hesitant to recommend over wood.

  • djmitchelladjmitchella Registered User regular
    edited April 2019
    We put engineered hardwood in the basement in previous house, it's a thin(1/4-1/8" or so) layer of real hardwood on top of an easier-to-assemble base. So you can just click the planks, together like with laminate, but it's still real wood on top. (whereas real hardwood you need a big nailer and stuff).

    Here's a photo I found from someone after us that was selling it:

    m8jwSjo.jpg?1

    (edit: it was Kahrs Merbau of some sort, with the woodloc joints, now I hunt around some more. We went with that because one of the flooring places we looked in had a bunch of boxes of it on sale to clear it out, I'm not sure how much it would cost nowadays. It definitely was super easy to install, though)

    djmitchella on
  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    That’s pretty much identical to the fake wood in our house.

  • DocDoc Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited April 2019
    Great thread, thanks for posting it. My partner and I just bought a place, as my current house had just one bathroom with one sink, not enough room to host overnight guests, etc. It was exactly what you imagine as a "starter house."

    I'd bought the old place for next-to-nothing (well, for the Seattle market anyway) and put a substantial amount of work into it. For two years it was my second full time job. I'd work on it for about six hours a night, plus weekends. New electrical, new plumbing, new roof, new kitchen, new bathroom, finished the basement, tore out all the wood paneling in the garage and drywalled it, retrofitted it to be to code in terms of earthquake tolerance, built a deck, tore out and replaced the yard (twice), built an awesome shed out back, added a sprinkler system, added wired-in outdoor lighting, insulated the exterior walls, redid all the siding, the list goes on and on and on. It's hard to not take any criticism of the house personally, no matter how valid it is; it's still a 2br/1b, I can't dodge that fact.

    The new place is better in every single way, besides the payments, where *just my end* of it is twice what my old payments were. My career situation has changed enough that I can easily handle it, but it's still a bit of a beast.

    I'm still keeping the old place, though. I'll just rent it out. My financial exposure to the Seattle real estate market is a bit extreme, but I don't need to sell it.

    Doc on
  • Captain InertiaCaptain Inertia Registered User regular
    For what it’s worth I used to get compliments on my hardwood floors but years of dogs nails and dropped stuff have left them looking bad and in need of a refinish (we did dark wood which shows this shit more, I think)

    I get raving applause every time people see the LVP I put in the basement. It’s also great because I’ve had to scrape caulk off it, have dropped and dragged heavy shit on it, and get the occasional water seepage down there.

    rmtjzxn6sbl0.jpeg

    I think LVP is far more practical and will look better with less maintenance, but there are lots of folks like your wife who live that HGTV life and want their old hardwood floors.

  • Senna1Senna1 Registered User regular
    I think the high-end laminates still do a better job mimicking the look and feel of wood than LVP. But there's no MDF-based laminate I'd trust in areas prone to water exposure.

    My brother, who worked in the trades for a while, used LVP in his basement "den" room. My dad is in the process of installing it in a guest 1/2 bath on the main level of his (otherwise hardwood/tile) house. They both also redid other living areas of their homes recently that were less subject to potential water damage, and chose to put real hardwood down in those places instead.

  • AbsoluteZeroAbsoluteZero The new film by Quentin Koopantino Registered User regular
    For fake wood that looks pretty darn nice to me.

    cs6f034fsffl.jpg
  • CogCog What'd you expect? Registered User regular
    Our AC had been making some godawful loud buzzing/humming noises while running, so we had it looked at. Low on coolant. Probably leaking. Cost to attempt to find the leak (with the caveat it's neigh impossible to find), and refill the coolant, and NOT including the cost to repair the leak IF they find it: $1050. For a ~15 year old unit.

    Guess who bought a new AC. Ow, my bank account.

  • Jebus314Jebus314 Registered User regular
    edited April 2019
    Cog wrote: »
    Our AC had been making some godawful loud buzzing/humming noises while running, so we had it looked at. Low on coolant. Probably leaking. Cost to attempt to find the leak (with the caveat it's neigh impossible to find), and refill the coolant, and NOT including the cost to repair the leak IF they find it: $1050. For a ~15 year old unit.

    Guess who bought a new AC. Ow, my bank account.

    Is their regular maintenance to be done on AC units? I looked into this last year and everything I read basically said no. Maybe clean off the fins to make sure the heat transfer was working well. But it seems like the compressor should have a motor that could need maintenance. Or just general pipe/tube replacement after 10-20 years sitting in the elements. I just couldn't find a good resource on what kind of preemptive things were worth while.

    Jebus314 on
    "The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it" - Dr Horrible
  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    Jebus314 wrote: »
    Cog wrote: »
    Our AC had been making some godawful loud buzzing/humming noises while running, so we had it looked at. Low on coolant. Probably leaking. Cost to attempt to find the leak (with the caveat it's neigh impossible to find), and refill the coolant, and NOT including the cost to repair the leak IF they find it: $1050. For a ~15 year old unit.

    Guess who bought a new AC. Ow, my bank account.

    Is their regular maintenance to be done on AC units? I looked into this last year and everything I read basically said no. Maybe clean off the fins to make sure the heat transfer was working well. But it seems like the compressor should have a motor that could need maintenance. Or just general pipe/tube replacement after 10-20 years sitting in the elements. I just couldn't find a good resource on what kind of preemptive things were worth while.

    It's usually a good idea to have your HVAC system checked every year. And 15 years is starting to hit the lifespan of your average AC unit.

    XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
  • Jebus314Jebus314 Registered User regular
    Jebus314 wrote: »
    Cog wrote: »
    Our AC had been making some godawful loud buzzing/humming noises while running, so we had it looked at. Low on coolant. Probably leaking. Cost to attempt to find the leak (with the caveat it's neigh impossible to find), and refill the coolant, and NOT including the cost to repair the leak IF they find it: $1050. For a ~15 year old unit.

    Guess who bought a new AC. Ow, my bank account.

    Is their regular maintenance to be done on AC units? I looked into this last year and everything I read basically said no. Maybe clean off the fins to make sure the heat transfer was working well. But it seems like the compressor should have a motor that could need maintenance. Or just general pipe/tube replacement after 10-20 years sitting in the elements. I just couldn't find a good resource on what kind of preemptive things were worth while.

    It's usually a good idea to have your HVAC system checked every year. And 15 years is starting to hit the lifespan of your average AC unit.

    Checked for what though? If it's just pressure/sealant testing I would like to do it myself if possible. I guess I've never gotten a quote to see what the checkup would cost, but I dislike paying a lot for things that don't require a lot of work, just because the knowledge barrier is higher.

    "The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it" - Dr Horrible
  • OricalmOricalm MDRegistered User regular
    SeñorAmor wrote: »
    Think I may have asked this in the previous thread but my memory and attention span are... ooh a bird...


    Anyway, we're looking at redoing the floors on our first floor and my wife wants real hardwood. This is a home we're going to be in for awhile, so we're willing to spend a little bit extra on this project. I was on board with wood, but when I went to a local flooring company, they suggested luxury vinyl planks. They're cheaper, look like real wood, waterproof and generally more durable. They said they do more vinyl than hardwood nowadays. I did my research and it turns out they were telling the truth and not trying to con me into something that benefits them.

    I took my wife back to the store so she could see it and she's still not on board. I think she's got blinders on and laser focused on real wood because her main complaint was that it didn't *look* like real wood, which is totally inaccurate. Of all the things to have an issue with vinyl, appearance is the least different.

    Do any of you have any experience with luxury vinyl planks? I'm hoping to get a real-world experience from some random person on a website I frequent rather than feedback from a random person on a website I don't frequent.

    I put in both LVP and solid bamboo floors for our 2nd level about 2 years ago. Bedrooms and hallway in bamboo, master and hall bathrooms in LVP. The LVP stands up to water and an 80lb golden retriever just fine, and it's a click-lock installation so if you're putting it in yourself, it's loads easier. As far as "feel" it feels just fine, has a decent wood texture to it (though that will vary on what you get) and doesn't feel cheap or hollow or anything. Ours also had an attached cork board underlayment so it's quiet and pretty sound dampening.

    If you want DURABLE hardwood floor, look at strand bamboo. It's about the same (or cheaper) than most hardwoods, and just about indestructible (Regular bamboo is not as tough as strand). If installing yourself, get (or rent) a specialized nailer for exotic hardwoods and bamboo. Otherwise, your nails will crumple without piercing. Or glue it, but I was not about to deal with that mess. For reference, we have red oak on the main level, and the dog's nails have destroyed it. He Scooby-doo's on the bamboo, but not even the faintest of marks and a quick Swiffer cleans it spotless.

    Xbox Live: Oricalm
  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    Jebus314 wrote: »
    Jebus314 wrote: »
    Cog wrote: »
    Our AC had been making some godawful loud buzzing/humming noises while running, so we had it looked at. Low on coolant. Probably leaking. Cost to attempt to find the leak (with the caveat it's neigh impossible to find), and refill the coolant, and NOT including the cost to repair the leak IF they find it: $1050. For a ~15 year old unit.

    Guess who bought a new AC. Ow, my bank account.

    Is their regular maintenance to be done on AC units? I looked into this last year and everything I read basically said no. Maybe clean off the fins to make sure the heat transfer was working well. But it seems like the compressor should have a motor that could need maintenance. Or just general pipe/tube replacement after 10-20 years sitting in the elements. I just couldn't find a good resource on what kind of preemptive things were worth while.

    It's usually a good idea to have your HVAC system checked every year. And 15 years is starting to hit the lifespan of your average AC unit.

    Checked for what though? If it's just pressure/sealant testing I would like to do it myself if possible. I guess I've never gotten a quote to see what the checkup would cost, but I dislike paying a lot for things that don't require a lot of work, just because the knowledge barrier is higher.

    Checked for the overall health of the system. A full HVAC service will go over all the mechanicals, make sure they are correctly operating efficiently, clean out the system, etc. Also, you may not be able to check the pressure legally, due to laws regarding refrigerant.

    XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
  • EncEnc A Fool with Compassion Pronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
    edited April 2019
    I pay for a service to come out and clean the coils of my AC, check freon levels, check for corrosion on the coils and electronics, and run maintenance of my external unit to ensure it is operating properly and nothing is damaged. They also will annually run a cable through the vents to make sure nothing is in the AC ductwork. Costs me about $150 a year and ensures a 20% off from any repair bills. If repairs are needed during the year, I also don't pay the $60 come-out-to-check cost. A lot of repairs are just free.

    Last year, for example, the they replaced the capacitor in my external unit for free, which (admittedly) is like a $10 part, but retail that would have been a $150 repair without the system and not everyone is going to be comfortable doing it on their own.

    My understanding is that such programs are common most places that have year-round AC usage.

    Enc on
  • EncEnc A Fool with Compassion Pronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
    Also, yes. In the US you must have a license to access and work on freon lines.

  • CogCog What'd you expect? Registered User regular
    Jebus314 wrote: »
    Jebus314 wrote: »
    Cog wrote: »
    Our AC had been making some godawful loud buzzing/humming noises while running, so we had it looked at. Low on coolant. Probably leaking. Cost to attempt to find the leak (with the caveat it's neigh impossible to find), and refill the coolant, and NOT including the cost to repair the leak IF they find it: $1050. For a ~15 year old unit.

    Guess who bought a new AC. Ow, my bank account.

    Is their regular maintenance to be done on AC units? I looked into this last year and everything I read basically said no. Maybe clean off the fins to make sure the heat transfer was working well. But it seems like the compressor should have a motor that could need maintenance. Or just general pipe/tube replacement after 10-20 years sitting in the elements. I just couldn't find a good resource on what kind of preemptive things were worth while.

    It's usually a good idea to have your HVAC system checked every year. And 15 years is starting to hit the lifespan of your average AC unit.

    Checked for what though? If it's just pressure/sealant testing I would like to do it myself if possible. I guess I've never gotten a quote to see what the checkup would cost, but I dislike paying a lot for things that don't require a lot of work, just because the knowledge barrier is higher.

    Checked for the overall health of the system. A full HVAC service will go over all the mechanicals, make sure they are correctly operating efficiently, clean out the system, etc. Also, you may not be able to check the pressure legally, due to laws regarding refrigerant.

    The company we go through have a tune-up service where, after receiving the tune up, if your AC breaks down at any point in the remainder of the calendar year, they pay you $500.

    I believe there's some qualifiers, like if it's on its last legs due to massive impending mechanical failure or whatever.

  • JragghenJragghen Registered User regular
    I'm going through the process of getting quotes for a new HVAC (we're at 19 years).

    The guy I met with this morning wouldn't give a quote now, he's writing something up and wants to have another in-person meet to give the quote which seems...an annoying hard sell.

    They were an afterthought (literally a "going door to door seeing if people want tune-ups" on Friday which I scheduled a quote because why not) and not one of my original three, so I may just cancel depending on how the others go.

    Got a pretty damn nice quote from the guy who was recommended by a friend.

  • evilmrhenryevilmrhenry Registered User regular
    Jragghen wrote: »
    I'm going through the process of getting quotes for a new HVAC (we're at 19 years).

    The guy I met with this morning wouldn't give a quote now, he's writing something up and wants to have another in-person meet to give the quote which seems...an annoying hard sell.

    They were an afterthought (literally a "going door to door seeing if people want tune-ups" on Friday which I scheduled a quote because why not) and not one of my original three, so I may just cancel depending on how the others go.

    Got a pretty damn nice quote from the guy who was recommended by a friend.

    Do any non-scam businesses go door to door anymore?

  • a5ehrena5ehren AtlantaRegistered User regular
    I've had two different companies come around trying to sell windows door-to-door. Who just decides to drop that kind of cash on a whim?

  • JragghenJragghen Registered User regular
    edited April 2019
    We actually get a fair amount around here for folks like...seeing if you want a landscaper, etc.

    E: they were doing a "donate canned goods to this food drive and get a free tune up" thing.

    Jragghen on
  • zepherinzepherin Russian warship, go fuck yourself Registered User regular
    Jragghen wrote: »
    I'm going through the process of getting quotes for a new HVAC (we're at 19 years).

    The guy I met with this morning wouldn't give a quote now, he's writing something up and wants to have another in-person meet to give the quote which seems...an annoying hard sell.

    They were an afterthought (literally a "going door to door seeing if people want tune-ups" on Friday which I scheduled a quote because why not) and not one of my original three, so I may just cancel depending on how the others go.

    Got a pretty damn nice quote from the guy who was recommended by a friend.

    Do any non-scam businesses go door to door anymore?
    Girl Scouts.

    ...Whoever finds me when I'm craving Samoa's is going on their trip.

  • DocDoc Registered User, ClubPA regular
    A guy came through here selling musical instruments a while back. Super nice guy, quick wit, would buy again.

  • urahonkyurahonky Registered User regular
    Yeah we had a door-to-door salesman come to us about our windows and we paid WAY too much for 3 pane windows in 5 rooms. But I'm too much of a sucker to ask them to leave (they were at our house, gauging prices with us for like 4 hours).

  • Steel AngelSteel Angel Registered User regular
    A lot of it comes from people already doing a job in a neighborhood trying to see if they can get another customer while they're out there already. Makes sense for some things that are lighter jobs with visible needs (e.g. yardwork), less so for pricier things like windows.

    Big Dookie wrote: »
    I found that tilting it doesn't work very well, and once I started jerking it, I got much better results.

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  • urahonkyurahonky Registered User regular
    Last year we needed a new Heating/AC unit (inside and out... I don't know the terms) and that was another 10K out the window. This year is a new garage door. The old one is solid wood and the track is getting warped.

  • EncEnc A Fool with Compassion Pronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
    Jragghen wrote: »
    I'm going through the process of getting quotes for a new HVAC (we're at 19 years).

    The guy I met with this morning wouldn't give a quote now, he's writing something up and wants to have another in-person meet to give the quote which seems...an annoying hard sell.

    They were an afterthought (literally a "going door to door seeing if people want tune-ups" on Friday which I scheduled a quote because why not) and not one of my original three, so I may just cancel depending on how the others go.

    Got a pretty damn nice quote from the guy who was recommended by a friend.

    100% do not go with this company and perhaps ask for someone else to come do maintenance on your units to ensure they didn't sabotage them.

    Like with door-to-door roofers after a hurricane, door-to-door HVAC people at the start of summer have a reason they are canvasing. There is a very viable "break it and put a lean on you if you don't pay" scam system which remains distressingly legal in most states of the US.

  • zepherinzepherin Russian warship, go fuck yourself Registered User regular
    For getting your hvac serviced. The big ones are cleaning the coils, the condensate pump and vacuuming out the ductwork (this one can be done much less frequently ans is devilishly expensive). Replace your filters quarterly, or monthly if you have allergies/shitty air quality.

  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    There's a roofing and windows company that regularly canvasses the neighborhood. They do really good work but their sales tactic is even more annoying now that they've replaces all our windows and roof.

  • JragghenJragghen Registered User regular
    Enc wrote: »
    Jragghen wrote: »
    I'm going through the process of getting quotes for a new HVAC (we're at 19 years).

    The guy I met with this morning wouldn't give a quote now, he's writing something up and wants to have another in-person meet to give the quote which seems...an annoying hard sell.

    They were an afterthought (literally a "going door to door seeing if people want tune-ups" on Friday which I scheduled a quote because why not) and not one of my original three, so I may just cancel depending on how the others go.

    Got a pretty damn nice quote from the guy who was recommended by a friend.

    100% do not go with this company and perhaps ask for someone else to come do maintenance on your units to ensure they didn't sabotage them.

    Like with door-to-door roofers after a hurricane, door-to-door HVAC people at the start of summer have a reason they are canvasing. There is a very viable "break it and put a lean on you if you don't pay" scam system which remains distressingly legal in most states of the US.

    I absolutely know the door-to-door guy didn't sabotage anything - we had people working on the fence the whole time, and they absolutely would have raised a stink/let us know if anyone had come into the back yard. So I'm not concerned about that.

    We get a slightly higher than typical amount of canvassers, I think, because we're across the street from a park with a parking lot. Easy place for someone to start/finish their route.

    Anyway, yeah - almost certainly going to end up going with someone else, I was more annoyed that they couldn't just...you know....email me the offer, or have something pulled up today. I looked up the company before when I was researching, and it's basically in the "reputable, but not one of the ones I bothered to contact" range. I just figured I'd get another data point. Ah well.

  • djmitchelladjmitchella Registered User regular
    There's a company that hires student labour to basically push lawn aerators around a neighborhood and ring doorbells to see if people need their lawn aerated. This is super handy for us, because every year or two we want it done, but don't much care when it happens, and really don't want to have to rent a van and haul one back from a rental place, so when they knock on the door we're happy to take advantage of the convenience.

  • CogCog What'd you expect? Registered User regular
    urahonky wrote: »
    But I'm too much of a sucker to ask them to leave (they were at our house, gauging prices with us for like 4 hours).

    Really it's about getting over the anxiety and uncomfortable feeling of interrupting them before they get going. You have to be okay with cutting someone off mid sentence.

    Usually my go-to is "Hey, I'll just be straight up with you and save us both a lot of time. No thank you. /close door."

    Yeah it's technically rude, but we can both go on about our day.

  • CogCog What'd you expect? Registered User regular
    zepherin wrote: »
    For getting your hvac serviced. The big ones are cleaning the coils, the condensate pump and vacuuming out the ductwork (this one can be done much less frequently ans is devilishly expensive). Replace your filters quarterly, or monthly if you have allergies/shitty air quality.

    On the positive side, our AC came with free duct cleaning, so that's like $1500 "saved".

    "Yay".

  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    Cog wrote: »
    urahonky wrote: »
    But I'm too much of a sucker to ask them to leave (they were at our house, gauging prices with us for like 4 hours).

    Really it's about getting over the anxiety and uncomfortable feeling of interrupting them before they get going. You have to be okay with cutting someone off mid sentence.

    Usually my go-to is "Hey, I'll just be straight up with you and save us both a lot of time. No thank you. /close door."

    Yeah it's technically rude, but we can both go on about our day.

    The thing with house services, too, is if you don't have like $2000 just laying around you can say "sorry we don't have that kind of money right now" and it's technically true.

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • CogCog What'd you expect? Registered User regular
    bowen wrote: »
    Cog wrote: »
    urahonky wrote: »
    But I'm too much of a sucker to ask them to leave (they were at our house, gauging prices with us for like 4 hours).

    Really it's about getting over the anxiety and uncomfortable feeling of interrupting them before they get going. You have to be okay with cutting someone off mid sentence.

    Usually my go-to is "Hey, I'll just be straight up with you and save us both a lot of time. No thank you. /close door."

    Yeah it's technically rude, but we can both go on about our day.

    The thing with house services, too, is if you don't have like $2000 just laying around you can say "sorry we don't have that kind of money right now" and it's technically true.

    Even if you do, that's none of their goddamn business.

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