I saw a nazi flag in the garage on my final walkthrough. That was...fun.
It's weird to me that a seller wouldn't take down or hide shit like that when trying to sell a house. What's more important? That people know you're a shit-head or selling the damn house?
I saw a nazi flag in the garage on my final walkthrough. That was...fun.
It's weird to me that a seller wouldn't take down or hide shit like that when trying to sell a house. What's more important? That people know you're a shit-head or selling the damn house?
If I've learned anything these past 4 years, it's letting people know you're a shit-head.
Also, they want to sell to someone who agrees with them; leaving flags up attracts like minds. They don't have to ask, just look at each other's flags flying.
+3
Options
ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
Another fun thing I saw locally - house listings where the included photos had a handful of prominently visible confederate flags.
That would fuck me up. Like I can perform the logic of "they're not part of the house and they won't be there when you move it" but then another part of my head says "yeah, but... fuck those people".
The only redeeming part would be to cover the house in rainbow colors or something.
My in-laws had neighbors who hated them basically for being gay. So to try and keep some space between their neighbors, the in-laws put up a fence.
When your agent talks to the seller's agent, and the seller's agent says they have an offer that's x dollars over asking... how often do you think they're just straight up lying to fish for more money?
I suspect that does not happen very much. Sales agent are about speed and turnover, getting on to the next commission. For their percentages, and increase of $10k (or whatever) does not increase their take home all that much, certainly not as much as getting a commission on another house. The risk of a party walking away to not get caught in a bidding war isn't worth the extra $100 (or whatever) they'd make.
I mostly just can't understand retiring and having to account for roughly 20k+ a year in rent in your income. That would give me fucking panic attacks.
I mean... how many renters do you think believe retiring is in their future at this point?
I'm renting and am well on my way to retirement. You just factor a payment into your budget. Instead of buying a house I rent, part of that calculation is that I can save more for retirement. It's not so complicated, but then again I'm in a fortunate enough position to save a decent amount for retirement.
How can you save more for retirement by renting? Is the market _that_ upside down?
My mortgage payment, with the taxes, is about $400 a month cheaper. And it's just going to get cheaper year after year.
Even if you don't plan to retire, not having an actual payment per month is worlds better while you're working.
I live in NYC, renting is definitely cheaper than buying a comparable home here. I think that's true a lot of places. Buying does give you more cost certainty, I agree with you there.
One thing that became apparent when I was looking to buy is that I also save by renting a smaller apartment/house than I would buy. At the time I was living in a 1BR, but my wife and I wanted a family so buying a 1 br meant we would have to move in a couple years. But, if we bought a 2 or 3 br then until those rooms are needed we're paying a lot of extra money/month for empty space. In both cases I thought it made more sense to just save the extra money.
I would guess that the price difference for different sizes is normal. I've heard of mystical places where renting is more expensive than buying, but unfortunately I don't live in one of them.
Just don’t forget about inflation. In 30 years when you’re trying to retire and working to the bone just to pay rent in 2050 dollars there will be people putting the final payments on their fixed rate mortgages valued in 2020 dollars.
When your agent talks to the seller's agent, and the seller's agent says they have an offer that's x dollars over asking... how often do you think they're just straight up lying to fish for more money?
Depends on the market. I'd believe it without a second thought in any major city. Small town? I'd think they were full of it, depending on how nice the house in question is, whether there's other stuff available, etc.
I mostly just can't understand retiring and having to account for roughly 20k+ a year in rent in your income. That would give me fucking panic attacks.
I mean... how many renters do you think believe retiring is in their future at this point?
I'm renting and am well on my way to retirement. You just factor a payment into your budget. Instead of buying a house I rent, part of that calculation is that I can save more for retirement. It's not so complicated, but then again I'm in a fortunate enough position to save a decent amount for retirement.
How can you save more for retirement by renting? Is the market _that_ upside down?
My mortgage payment, with the taxes, is about $400 a month cheaper. And it's just going to get cheaper year after year.
Even if you don't plan to retire, not having an actual payment per month is worlds better while you're working.
I live in NYC, renting is definitely cheaper than buying a comparable home here. I think that's true a lot of places. Buying does give you more cost certainty, I agree with you there.
One thing that became apparent when I was looking to buy is that I also save by renting a smaller apartment/house than I would buy. At the time I was living in a 1BR, but my wife and I wanted a family so buying a 1 br meant we would have to move in a couple years. But, if we bought a 2 or 3 br then until those rooms are needed we're paying a lot of extra money/month for empty space. In both cases I thought it made more sense to just save the extra money.
I would guess that the price difference for different sizes is normal. I've heard of mystical places where renting is more expensive than buying, but unfortunately I don't live in one of them.
Just don’t forget about inflation. In 30 years when you’re trying to retire and working to the bone just to pay rent in 2050 dollars there will be people putting the final payments on their fixed rate mortgages valued in 2020 dollars.
That's definitely a concern. Luckily I'm in a rent controlled apartment, so rent increases shouldn't be terrible. Another issue with NYC ownership is that the monthly maintenance for most apartments is already substantial. For a 500k 2br apartment maintenance would likely be at least 700/month right now, and that's only going up. A lot of those co-ops are already 80+ years old.
I mostly just can't understand retiring and having to account for roughly 20k+ a year in rent in your income. That would give me fucking panic attacks.
I mean... how many renters do you think believe retiring is in their future at this point?
I'm renting and am well on my way to retirement. You just factor a payment into your budget. Instead of buying a house I rent, part of that calculation is that I can save more for retirement. It's not so complicated, but then again I'm in a fortunate enough position to save a decent amount for retirement.
How can you save more for retirement by renting? Is the market _that_ upside down?
My mortgage payment, with the taxes, is about $400 a month cheaper. And it's just going to get cheaper year after year.
Even if you don't plan to retire, not having an actual payment per month is worlds better while you're working.
I live in NYC, renting is definitely cheaper than buying a comparable home here. I think that's true a lot of places. Buying does give you more cost certainty, I agree with you there.
One thing that became apparent when I was looking to buy is that I also save by renting a smaller apartment/house than I would buy. At the time I was living in a 1BR, but my wife and I wanted a family so buying a 1 br meant we would have to move in a couple years. But, if we bought a 2 or 3 br then until those rooms are needed we're paying a lot of extra money/month for empty space. In both cases I thought it made more sense to just save the extra money.
I would guess that the price difference for different sizes is normal. I've heard of mystical places where renting is more expensive than buying, but unfortunately I don't live in one of them.
Just don’t forget about inflation. In 30 years when you’re trying to retire and working to the bone just to pay rent in 2050 dollars there will be people putting the final payments on their fixed rate mortgages valued in 2020 dollars.
That's definitely a concern. Luckily I'm in a rent controlled apartment, so rent increases shouldn't be terrible. Another issue with NYC ownership is that the monthly maintenance for most apartments is already substantial. For a 500k 2br apartment maintenance would likely be at least 700/month right now, and that's only going up. A lot of those co-ops are already 80+ years old.
I can't imagine maintenance alone costing that much. Are you thinking of co-op/condo dues? Those usually cover a lot more than maintenance in those old pre-war buildings, such as water, hot water, trash, and likely even heat if it's a radiator/boiler building.
I mostly just can't understand retiring and having to account for roughly 20k+ a year in rent in your income. That would give me fucking panic attacks.
I mean... how many renters do you think believe retiring is in their future at this point?
I'm renting and am well on my way to retirement. You just factor a payment into your budget. Instead of buying a house I rent, part of that calculation is that I can save more for retirement. It's not so complicated, but then again I'm in a fortunate enough position to save a decent amount for retirement.
How can you save more for retirement by renting? Is the market _that_ upside down?
My mortgage payment, with the taxes, is about $400 a month cheaper. And it's just going to get cheaper year after year.
Even if you don't plan to retire, not having an actual payment per month is worlds better while you're working.
I live in NYC, renting is definitely cheaper than buying a comparable home here. I think that's true a lot of places. Buying does give you more cost certainty, I agree with you there.
One thing that became apparent when I was looking to buy is that I also save by renting a smaller apartment/house than I would buy. At the time I was living in a 1BR, but my wife and I wanted a family so buying a 1 br meant we would have to move in a couple years. But, if we bought a 2 or 3 br then until those rooms are needed we're paying a lot of extra money/month for empty space. In both cases I thought it made more sense to just save the extra money.
I would guess that the price difference for different sizes is normal. I've heard of mystical places where renting is more expensive than buying, but unfortunately I don't live in one of them.
Just don’t forget about inflation. In 30 years when you’re trying to retire and working to the bone just to pay rent in 2050 dollars there will be people putting the final payments on their fixed rate mortgages valued in 2020 dollars.
That's definitely a concern. Luckily I'm in a rent controlled apartment, so rent increases shouldn't be terrible. Another issue with NYC ownership is that the monthly maintenance for most apartments is already substantial. For a 500k 2br apartment maintenance would likely be at least 700/month right now, and that's only going up. A lot of those co-ops are already 80+ years old.
I can't imagine maintenance alone costing that much. Are you thinking of co-op/condo dues? Those usually cover a lot more than maintenance in those old pre-war buildings, such as water, hot water, trash, and likely even heat if it's a radiator/boiler building.
That's true, those things are usually included in the fees. Coops also have weird underlying mortgages that are rarely ever paid off, which is part of why maintenance is usually so high. Condo's have lower maintenance, but the monthly fees (including property taxes) are close to the same.
Either way, when compared to renting all those things are also usually included.
0
Options
daveNYCWhy universe hate Waspinator?Registered Userregular
I mostly just can't understand retiring and having to account for roughly 20k+ a year in rent in your income. That would give me fucking panic attacks.
I mean... how many renters do you think believe retiring is in their future at this point?
I'm renting and am well on my way to retirement. You just factor a payment into your budget. Instead of buying a house I rent, part of that calculation is that I can save more for retirement. It's not so complicated, but then again I'm in a fortunate enough position to save a decent amount for retirement.
How can you save more for retirement by renting? Is the market _that_ upside down?
My mortgage payment, with the taxes, is about $400 a month cheaper. And it's just going to get cheaper year after year.
Even if you don't plan to retire, not having an actual payment per month is worlds better while you're working.
I live in NYC, renting is definitely cheaper than buying a comparable home here. I think that's true a lot of places. Buying does give you more cost certainty, I agree with you there.
One thing that became apparent when I was looking to buy is that I also save by renting a smaller apartment/house than I would buy. At the time I was living in a 1BR, but my wife and I wanted a family so buying a 1 br meant we would have to move in a couple years. But, if we bought a 2 or 3 br then until those rooms are needed we're paying a lot of extra money/month for empty space. In both cases I thought it made more sense to just save the extra money.
I would guess that the price difference for different sizes is normal. I've heard of mystical places where renting is more expensive than buying, but unfortunately I don't live in one of them.
Just don’t forget about inflation. In 30 years when you’re trying to retire and working to the bone just to pay rent in 2050 dollars there will be people putting the final payments on their fixed rate mortgages valued in 2020 dollars.
That's definitely a concern. Luckily I'm in a rent controlled apartment, so rent increases shouldn't be terrible. Another issue with NYC ownership is that the monthly maintenance for most apartments is already substantial. For a 500k 2br apartment maintenance would likely be at least 700/month right now, and that's only going up. A lot of those co-ops are already 80+ years old.
I can't imagine maintenance alone costing that much. Are you thinking of co-op/condo dues? Those usually cover a lot more than maintenance in those old pre-war buildings, such as water, hot water, trash, and likely even heat if it's a radiator/boiler building.
That's true, those things are usually included in the fees. Coops also have weird underlying mortgages that are rarely ever paid off, which is part of why maintenance is usually so high. Condo's have lower maintenance, but the monthly fees (including property taxes) are close to the same.
Either way, when compared to renting all those things are also usually included.
A big chunk of the coop's maintenance is that when you buy a coop, you're buying shares in the building itself, so you're paying off a chunk of the building's mortgage. It comes with some tax benefits and allows for minor corruption when it comes to picking who to go with when they refinance the mortgage.
Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
Just don’t forget about inflation. In 30 years when you’re trying to retire and working to the bone just to pay rent in 2050 dollars there will be people putting the final payments on their fixed rate mortgages valued in 2020 dollars.
One thing we've found useful is that when we got our mortgage in the first place, it was for the value of the house (minus the value of our previous house we were moving out of, but still a whole big lot of money). So the amount of "pay down some more mortgage if you have extra cash one month" was based on 20% of that original amount -- which was ridiculously high, but gave us some breathing room.
Because we've just renewed the mortgage with the same company for the last couple of terms, now that we're in the closing stretch, the 'extra pay it down' allowance is still based on 20% of the original amount, not 20% of the (significantly smaller) amount we're on now, which would be small enough we might run out of space. I don't know how that sort of thing works when refinancing with a different company, but it's useful enough that we haven't wanted to shop around for the absolute lowest possible rate.
(for what it's worth, when we set our mortgage up, we set it up with the smallest monthly amount that we could pay with that term and interest -- then, when we do our budget at the end of each month, if we have money left over for one reason or another, we put it on the mortgage. That way we can still pay it down faster than expected, but it gives us a bit more slack on a month-by-month basis for budgeting. It does rely on us to actually _do_ the extra payment, whereas going on 'accelerated bi-weekly' or whatever would mean we couldn't forget, but it's turned out to be okay as part of our general budgeting strategy. (I get paid every two weeks, for example, so in a three-paycheque month there's a bit of spare room in the budget to put on the mortgage, for instance).)
I so envy the home prices some of you guys have in your areas. The cheapest single detached home in Metro Vancouver is over $500k
Denver is out of control as well now. We put down offers on several homes over the past few months and just now FINALLY had an offer accepted in Denver. $900k. Just insane. Thank goodness our current home's value has gone up by a bunch over the last 6 years.
I mostly just can't understand retiring and having to account for roughly 20k+ a year in rent in your income. That would give me fucking panic attacks.
I mean... how many renters do you think believe retiring is in their future at this point?
I'm renting and am well on my way to retirement. You just factor a payment into your budget. Instead of buying a house I rent, part of that calculation is that I can save more for retirement. It's not so complicated, but then again I'm in a fortunate enough position to save a decent amount for retirement.
How can you save more for retirement by renting? Is the market _that_ upside down?
My mortgage payment, with the taxes, is about $400 a month cheaper. And it's just going to get cheaper year after year.
Even if you don't plan to retire, not having an actual payment per month is worlds better while you're working.
I live in NYC, renting is definitely cheaper than buying a comparable home here. I think that's true a lot of places. Buying does give you more cost certainty, I agree with you there.
One thing that became apparent when I was looking to buy is that I also save by renting a smaller apartment/house than I would buy. At the time I was living in a 1BR, but my wife and I wanted a family so buying a 1 br meant we would have to move in a couple years. But, if we bought a 2 or 3 br then until those rooms are needed we're paying a lot of extra money/month for empty space. In both cases I thought it made more sense to just save the extra money.
I would guess that the price difference for different sizes is normal. I've heard of mystical places where renting is more expensive than buying, but unfortunately I don't live in one of them.
Just don’t forget about inflation. In 30 years when you’re trying to retire and working to the bone just to pay rent in 2050 dollars there will be people putting the final payments on their fixed rate mortgages valued in 2020 dollars.
That's definitely a concern. Luckily I'm in a rent controlled apartment, so rent increases shouldn't be terrible. Another issue with NYC ownership is that the monthly maintenance for most apartments is already substantial. For a 500k 2br apartment maintenance would likely be at least 700/month right now, and that's only going up. A lot of those co-ops are already 80+ years old.
I can't imagine maintenance alone costing that much. Are you thinking of co-op/condo dues? Those usually cover a lot more than maintenance in those old pre-war buildings, such as water, hot water, trash, and likely even heat if it's a radiator/boiler building.
That's true, those things are usually included in the fees. Coops also have weird underlying mortgages that are rarely ever paid off, which is part of why maintenance is usually so high. Condo's have lower maintenance, but the monthly fees (including property taxes) are close to the same.
Either way, when compared to renting all those things are also usually included.
A big chunk of the coop's maintenance is that when you buy a coop, you're buying shares in the building itself, so you're paying off a chunk of the building's mortgage. It comes with some tax benefits and allows for minor corruption when it comes to picking who to go with when they refinance the mortgage.
You're typically just paying for the interest on the building's mortgage. Most coops don't actually pay off their mortgage. I would think the tax advantages are much lower now with the new tax laws, but I admit I can't remember from when I was looking at buying a couple years ago.
I mostly just can't understand retiring and having to account for roughly 20k+ a year in rent in your income. That would give me fucking panic attacks.
I mean... how many renters do you think believe retiring is in their future at this point?
I'm renting and am well on my way to retirement. You just factor a payment into your budget. Instead of buying a house I rent, part of that calculation is that I can save more for retirement. It's not so complicated, but then again I'm in a fortunate enough position to save a decent amount for retirement.
How can you save more for retirement by renting? Is the market _that_ upside down?
My mortgage payment, with the taxes, is about $400 a month cheaper. And it's just going to get cheaper year after year.
Even if you don't plan to retire, not having an actual payment per month is worlds better while you're working.
I live in NYC, renting is definitely cheaper than buying a comparable home here. I think that's true a lot of places. Buying does give you more cost certainty, I agree with you there.
One thing that became apparent when I was looking to buy is that I also save by renting a smaller apartment/house than I would buy. At the time I was living in a 1BR, but my wife and I wanted a family so buying a 1 br meant we would have to move in a couple years. But, if we bought a 2 or 3 br then until those rooms are needed we're paying a lot of extra money/month for empty space. In both cases I thought it made more sense to just save the extra money.
I would guess that the price difference for different sizes is normal. I've heard of mystical places where renting is more expensive than buying, but unfortunately I don't live in one of them.
Just don’t forget about inflation. In 30 years when you’re trying to retire and working to the bone just to pay rent in 2050 dollars there will be people putting the final payments on their fixed rate mortgages valued in 2020 dollars.
That's definitely a concern. Luckily I'm in a rent controlled apartment, so rent increases shouldn't be terrible. Another issue with NYC ownership is that the monthly maintenance for most apartments is already substantial. For a 500k 2br apartment maintenance would likely be at least 700/month right now, and that's only going up. A lot of those co-ops are already 80+ years old.
I can't imagine maintenance alone costing that much. Are you thinking of co-op/condo dues? Those usually cover a lot more than maintenance in those old pre-war buildings, such as water, hot water, trash, and likely even heat if it's a radiator/boiler building.
That's true, those things are usually included in the fees. Coops also have weird underlying mortgages that are rarely ever paid off, which is part of why maintenance is usually so high. Condo's have lower maintenance, but the monthly fees (including property taxes) are close to the same.
Either way, when compared to renting all those things are also usually included.
A big chunk of the coop's maintenance is that when you buy a coop, you're buying shares in the building itself, so you're paying off a chunk of the building's mortgage. It comes with some tax benefits and allows for minor corruption when it comes to picking who to go with when they refinance the mortgage.
You're typically just paying for the interest on the building's mortgage. Most coops don't actually pay off their mortgage. I would think the tax advantages are much lower now with the new tax laws, but I admit I can't remember from when I was looking at buying a couple years ago.
Basically, the standard deduction increased to the point where you have to spend Rich Person Money on deductible items in order for itemization to make sense, and most people don't. (The usual expense that tipped people over the line was mortgage interest.) The current standard deduction is over $24k, or $2k/month for married filing jointly. ($12k for single.) This is basically double the previous value.
I mostly just can't understand retiring and having to account for roughly 20k+ a year in rent in your income. That would give me fucking panic attacks.
I mean... how many renters do you think believe retiring is in their future at this point?
I'm renting and am well on my way to retirement. You just factor a payment into your budget. Instead of buying a house I rent, part of that calculation is that I can save more for retirement. It's not so complicated, but then again I'm in a fortunate enough position to save a decent amount for retirement.
How can you save more for retirement by renting? Is the market _that_ upside down?
My mortgage payment, with the taxes, is about $400 a month cheaper. And it's just going to get cheaper year after year.
Even if you don't plan to retire, not having an actual payment per month is worlds better while you're working.
I live in NYC, renting is definitely cheaper than buying a comparable home here. I think that's true a lot of places. Buying does give you more cost certainty, I agree with you there.
One thing that became apparent when I was looking to buy is that I also save by renting a smaller apartment/house than I would buy. At the time I was living in a 1BR, but my wife and I wanted a family so buying a 1 br meant we would have to move in a couple years. But, if we bought a 2 or 3 br then until those rooms are needed we're paying a lot of extra money/month for empty space. In both cases I thought it made more sense to just save the extra money.
I would guess that the price difference for different sizes is normal. I've heard of mystical places where renting is more expensive than buying, but unfortunately I don't live in one of them.
Just don’t forget about inflation. In 30 years when you’re trying to retire and working to the bone just to pay rent in 2050 dollars there will be people putting the final payments on their fixed rate mortgages valued in 2020 dollars.
That's definitely a concern. Luckily I'm in a rent controlled apartment, so rent increases shouldn't be terrible. Another issue with NYC ownership is that the monthly maintenance for most apartments is already substantial. For a 500k 2br apartment maintenance would likely be at least 700/month right now, and that's only going up. A lot of those co-ops are already 80+ years old.
I can't imagine maintenance alone costing that much. Are you thinking of co-op/condo dues? Those usually cover a lot more than maintenance in those old pre-war buildings, such as water, hot water, trash, and likely even heat if it's a radiator/boiler building.
That's true, those things are usually included in the fees. Coops also have weird underlying mortgages that are rarely ever paid off, which is part of why maintenance is usually so high. Condo's have lower maintenance, but the monthly fees (including property taxes) are close to the same.
Either way, when compared to renting all those things are also usually included.
A big chunk of the coop's maintenance is that when you buy a coop, you're buying shares in the building itself, so you're paying off a chunk of the building's mortgage. It comes with some tax benefits and allows for minor corruption when it comes to picking who to go with when they refinance the mortgage.
You're typically just paying for the interest on the building's mortgage. Most coops don't actually pay off their mortgage. I would think the tax advantages are much lower now with the new tax laws, but I admit I can't remember from when I was looking at buying a couple years ago.
Basically, the standard deduction increased to the point where you have to spend Rich Person Money on deductible items in order for itemization to make sense, and most people don't. (The usual expense that tipped people over the line was mortgage interest.) The current standard deduction is over $24k, or $2k/month for married filing jointly. ($12k for single.) This is basically double the previous value.
Right, add that to the SALT limit of 10k and buying in NYC suddenly became much less attractive. That's part of the reason I decided to just keep renting.
Woo, started installing cabinet knobs! Made a jig out of some plywood and a small piece of wood with a little notch in it so I can line up the middle. Taped up the front and back of the drawer where I'd be drilling with masking tape. And then also taped up the middle of the top part so I could mark the middle line, which I could then line up with the jig. Then drilled through using the jig and then screwed in the screw for the knob and then attached the knob Had to size up the jig hole a couple of times to find the right width I needed for the screws. The masking tape was also very useful in picking up the bits of sawdust that poked through into the drawers when drilling. I could take the tape off the drawer and then stick it against the bottom to stick it all to the tape. Anyway, feeling pretty good about it! Got 6 drawers done, now I've got like 24 cabinet doors plus 2 more slightly larger sized drawers I need to figure out what I'm gonna do with. I think I might just use the same jig hole for them and have the knobs a bit higher than middle on those drawers since they'll be lower and it's more convenient to have the knob higher (plus, a small knob in the middle of a big drawer just looks kinda silly, imo). Gonna have to measure out 2 more holes on my jig for left/right doors, but once those are on the jig, actually doing all the drilling should be super easy because I won't have to measure out the middle on them like I had to do for the drawers. There's a couple of oddly shaped cabinet doors, namely the ones over the oven and the ones over the fridge that I think have different sized edges from the regular cabinet doors, so I'll have to measure it out and see if I need even more holes in the jig. But for my first real home improvement project, I think this went great! I also ordered blinds for all the windows which'll get here Saturday, so I'll have to see if I have the energy for another project on Monday.
A couple of finished drawers plus my tools (minus the masking tape):
A close-up of the jig:
Edit: Got everything done. Some of the cabinet ones didn't end up matching quite as well as I'd like, but there's not really anything I can do about it. I think I also screwed up the math for the cabinet ones, too, because they didn't really seem to be in the middle of the corner like I wanted. I think I probably needed to do 1 1/2 inch instead of 1 inch. It was supposed to be in the middle of the corner of two 2 inch edges/face frame. Oh well, I still think it looks pretty nice.
I need to start thinking about this stuff. I'm thinking of leaving the military so I can live, work and die in a big, godless metropolitan area. Somewhere with EDM and people who know how to eat vegetables. Like Austin or Washington DC.
I need to start thinking about this stuff. I'm thinking of leaving the military so I can live, work and die in a big, godless metropolitan area. Somewhere with EDM and people who know how to eat vegetables. Like Austin or Washington DC.
We here in Seattle welcome all!
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
I need to start thinking about this stuff. I'm thinking of leaving the military so I can live, work and die in a big, godless metropolitan area. Somewhere with EDM and people who know how to eat vegetables. Like Austin or Washington DC.
I need to start thinking about this stuff. I'm thinking of leaving the military so I can live, work and die in a big, godless metropolitan area. Somewhere with EDM and people who know how to eat vegetables. Like Austin or Washington DC.
We here in Seattle welcome all!
So expensive, tho
Yes, yes it is. :bigfrown: Although to be fair, I don't live in (or even visit) Seattle. Areas further out are better, as long as you stay away from Redmond.
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
DC ain’t cheap either. My wife is paying $1600 for a 600 sq ft apartment right now, and that’s the cheapest she could find and not be 2+ hours away from work. Most other single bedrooms were 2000+.
Steam - Synthetic Violence | XBOX Live - Cannonfuse | PSN - CastleBravo | Twitch - SoggybiscuitPA
+1
Options
AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
Holy hell. I worry that Minneapolis will get that expensive one day, it's already bad enough. Hopefully being a frozen shit hole will keep things in check.
So, we looked at more houses this weekend and really liked one and were seriously considering it. The seller's disclosure said two things that are making us basically say no now (and are incredibly bummed about it). When there is a torrential downpour, there is a part of the basement that gets water (but it supposedly just goes in one little stream that it makes and into the drain). They said it is less than a bucket of water. And then that there is a carpenter bee issue, likely on the one side of the house that is wood.
The house is priced nice and the taxes are pretty low, so it would kind of put our mind as ease money wise right now. But then what if we have to pay for installing a French drain? And having the side of the house resided? Also on the disclosure, they didn't have how old the roof is. ARG.
We are out of our current place at the end of May, so that isn't helping with stress either when we thought we finally found a place to try for. I assume we should just move on?
So, we looked at more houses this weekend and really liked one and were seriously considering it. The seller's disclosure said two things that are making us basically say no now (and are incredibly bummed about it). When there is a torrential downpour, there is a part of the basement that gets water (but it supposedly just goes in one little stream that it makes and into the drain). They said it is less than a bucket of water. And then that there is a carpenter bee issue, likely on the one side of the house that is wood.
The house is priced nice and the taxes are pretty low, so it would kind of put our mind as ease money wise right now. But then what if we have to pay for installing a French drain? And having the side of the house resided? Also on the disclosure, they didn't have how old the roof is. ARG.
We are out of our current place at the end of May, so that isn't helping with stress either when we thought we finally found a place to try for. I assume we should just move on?
The thing to worry about is would you be worried if this "little stream" was much worse? It's hard to gauge trustworthy-ness of sellers, but as long as they disclose something little, that can be an out for a bigger problem. If the little stream is much worse, and you go back and say this wasn't disclosed, they'll just shrug and go hey we've never experienced that, and we disclosed some water so buyer beware. Makes it much harder to to take any action.
On the other hand, it could actually just be a tiny little stream. The building I bought has the same issue, and it is only ever just a little stream, never any bigger. In our building there was a tiny little wear mark in the concrete that showed that it was just a tiny stream (but long untreated), so we weren't too worried about it.
If you're serious, I'd look around for evidence one way or the other on whether this could be worse than disclosed. Staining on the concrete if it's unfinished, any wear marks from water stream, cracks in the concrete wall. If it is finished, look around for some features of things being replaced due to flooding, brand new carpet, baseboard, flooring, etc. And if you do put in an offer, be prepared for the bank to request a foundation engineer inspection beyond the typical home inspection.
Water in the basement can sometimes be easy(er) to fix (regrading your yard), and sometimes incredibly expensive excavating and installing membranes. It all depends on the severity.
Damn I hear all this talk of expensive markets and it just sounds crazy to me, I can't imagine how anyone affords that! I have a decent 3 bedroom house I bought for 160,000 in a nice town in Vermont, and I can afford the 1200 a month mortgage + taxes easy. The last apartment I rented cost more than my house, considerably so. I think people just like cities too much.
+1
Options
ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
Damn I hear all this talk of expensive markets and it just sounds crazy to me, I can't imagine how anyone affords that! I have a decent 3 bedroom house I bought for 160,000 in a nice town in Vermont, and I can afford the 1200 a month mortgage + taxes easy. The last apartment I rented cost more than my house, considerably so. I think people just like cities too much.
Our house was $105,000 but it needs a ton of work. Still livable, but I doubt we could sell it today. And the taxes are 4k/yr which isn't tremendous in Vermont, but it's still a lot.
Damn I hear all this talk of expensive markets and it just sounds crazy to me, I can't imagine how anyone affords that! I have a decent 3 bedroom house I bought for 160,000 in a nice town in Vermont, and I can afford the 1200 a month mortgage + taxes easy. The last apartment I rented cost more than my house, considerably so. I think people just like cities too much.
We don't like cities, it's just where all the jobs are. I wouldn't even care that much if I could get a job anywhere that was non-rural, but as a software developer, my choices are basically Seattle or the Redmond/Bellevue area.
+1
Options
ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
Damn I hear all this talk of expensive markets and it just sounds crazy to me, I can't imagine how anyone affords that! I have a decent 3 bedroom house I bought for 160,000 in a nice town in Vermont, and I can afford the 1200 a month mortgage + taxes easy. The last apartment I rented cost more than my house, considerably so. I think people just like cities too much.
We don't like cities, it's just where all the jobs are. I wouldn't even care that much if I could get a job anywhere that was non-rural, but as a software developer, my choices are basically Seattle or the Redmond/Bellevue area.
I mean, there's also Austin, Chicago, Minneapolis..
So, we looked at more houses this weekend and really liked one and were seriously considering it. The seller's disclosure said two things that are making us basically say no now (and are incredibly bummed about it). When there is a torrential downpour, there is a part of the basement that gets water (but it supposedly just goes in one little stream that it makes and into the drain). They said it is less than a bucket of water. And then that there is a carpenter bee issue, likely on the one side of the house that is wood.
The house is priced nice and the taxes are pretty low, so it would kind of put our mind as ease money wise right now. But then what if we have to pay for installing a French drain? And having the side of the house resided? Also on the disclosure, they didn't have how old the roof is. ARG.
We are out of our current place at the end of May, so that isn't helping with stress either when we thought we finally found a place to try for. I assume we should just move on?
Give them an offer that plans on those costs. Low ball them hard.
Damn I hear all this talk of expensive markets and it just sounds crazy to me, I can't imagine how anyone affords that! I have a decent 3 bedroom house I bought for 160,000 in a nice town in Vermont, and I can afford the 1200 a month mortgage + taxes easy. The last apartment I rented cost more than my house, considerably so. I think people just like cities too much.
We don't like cities, it's just where all the jobs are. I wouldn't even care that much if I could get a job anywhere that was non-rural, but as a software developer, my choices are basically Seattle or the Redmond/Bellevue area.
I mean, there's also Austin, Chicago, Minneapolis..
I'm just talking about the greater Seattle-Tacoma area. There's basically no software developer jobs in Renton, Kent, Burien, Tukwila, Federal Way, or even Tacoma. All the jobs are clustered around the two areas in the greater Seattle-Tacoma area with the highest cost of living.
Damn I hear all this talk of expensive markets and it just sounds crazy to me, I can't imagine how anyone affords that! I have a decent 3 bedroom house I bought for 160,000 in a nice town in Vermont, and I can afford the 1200 a month mortgage + taxes easy. The last apartment I rented cost more than my house, considerably so. I think people just like cities too much.
We don't like cities, it's just where all the jobs are. I wouldn't even care that much if I could get a job anywhere that was non-rural, but as a software developer, my choices are basically Seattle or the Redmond/Bellevue area.
I mean, there's also Austin, Chicago, Minneapolis..
I'm just talking about the greater Seattle-Tacoma area. There's basically no software developer jobs in Renton, Kent, Burien, Tukwila, Federal Way, or even Tacoma. All the jobs are clustered around the two areas in the greater Seattle-Tacoma area with the highest cost of living.
Oh for sure. The commutes for tech industry folks is crazy. The wife and I were lucky to get an “affordable” 500k place in Kirkland a few years ago. Grandma got a much bigger home for the same price.
Location location location
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
Damn I hear all this talk of expensive markets and it just sounds crazy to me, I can't imagine how anyone affords that! I have a decent 3 bedroom house I bought for 160,000 in a nice town in Vermont, and I can afford the 1200 a month mortgage + taxes easy. The last apartment I rented cost more than my house, considerably so. I think people just like cities too much.
We don't like cities, it's just where all the jobs are. I wouldn't even care that much if I could get a job anywhere that was non-rural, but as a software developer, my choices are basically Seattle or the Redmond/Bellevue area.
I mean, there's also Austin, Chicago, Minneapolis..
I'm just talking about the greater Seattle-Tacoma area. There's basically no software developer jobs in Renton, Kent, Burien, Tukwila, Federal Way, or even Tacoma. All the jobs are clustered around the two areas in the greater Seattle-Tacoma area with the highest cost of living.
Oh for sure. The commutes for tech industry folks is crazy. The wife and I were lucky to get an “affordable” 500k place in Kirkland a few years ago. Grandma got a much bigger home for the same price.
Location location location
I'm currently looking at buying around here and it's depressing. Especially working at the University hospital network, it's almost worse than downtown, because I *have* to drive because on any given day I'll need to have to be able to go anywhere from Northwest Hospital all the way down to the VA if something pops up.
Basically there is nothing north of the cut unless I start looking up near Everett under $450k right now. There's a fair number of places down at the south of the lake, but all of my friends and hobbies are situated in the Greenlake/Northgate area. About the only "good" part is if I'm driving to work every day anyway, I'm not really losing a whole lot in the evenings, since I'll already be in the area.
So, we looked at more houses this weekend and really liked one and were seriously considering it. The seller's disclosure said two things that are making us basically say no now (and are incredibly bummed about it). When there is a torrential downpour, there is a part of the basement that gets water (but it supposedly just goes in one little stream that it makes and into the drain). They said it is less than a bucket of water. And then that there is a carpenter bee issue, likely on the one side of the house that is wood.
The house is priced nice and the taxes are pretty low, so it would kind of put our mind as ease money wise right now. But then what if we have to pay for installing a French drain? And having the side of the house resided? Also on the disclosure, they didn't have how old the roof is. ARG.
We are out of our current place at the end of May, so that isn't helping with stress either when we thought we finally found a place to try for. I assume we should just move on?
Give them an offer that plans on those costs. Low ball them hard.
So, our realtor told us that place already has an offer, so I think that is a no go on the low ball.
We offered just over the asked price and put in a clause that says if someone offers higher than us, we will add X amount every time up to a certain amount. We are also planning to write a letter? Ha.
The house is in a really good neighborhood. Great schools, walking distance to places, super nice park, easy to get to main highways, and move in ready.
We've been so back and forth in the past 48 hours it is insane. I trust my brother in law to do the pest check since that is his job and he is good at it. So, he will (potentially) find issues with those bees. We know exactly where they were per the seller. The water issue just might not be as big of an issue as we think, but we would still have an inspection and our realtor has a water guy to check it out as well.
GOOD LUCK, US. We should know by tomorrow/Tuesday, I think, if we get it.
edit: The bee issue was supposedly taken care of by the current tenant. So, it could not matter in the end.
Welp, mismeasured all of my blinds, so now I get to contact their support and see if they'll let me return em. Ughhhhhhh, I feel like such an idiot. I believe they have a policy that lets you return your blinds if you pay an extra $10 for shipping and they'll remake em for free if you made the wrong measurements. Gotta talk to them at any rate. I messed them all up because I thought my tape measure said 23/8" when really it meant 2 3/8", so all my measurements were 1/2" too large. Just had to measure my measuring tape with another measuring tape to confirm. I really hope they'll let me send em back, though. Otherwise, that's like $400+ down the drain.
God I feel like an idiot, though. What a hassle :<
Welp, mismeasured all of my blinds, so now I get to contact their support and see if they'll let me return em. Ughhhhhhh, I feel like such an idiot. I believe they have a policy that lets you return your blinds if you pay an extra $10 for shipping and they'll remake em for free if you made the wrong measurements. Gotta talk to them at any rate. I messed them all up because I thought my tape measure said 23/8" when really it meant 2 3/8", so all my measurements were 1/2" too large. Just had to measure my measuring tape with another measuring tape to confirm. I really hope they'll let me send em back, though. Otherwise, that's like $400+ down the drain.
God I feel like an idiot, though. What a hassle :<
We learn through our mistakes. All we can do is hope they aren't too costly.
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
Posts
It's weird to me that a seller wouldn't take down or hide shit like that when trying to sell a house. What's more important? That people know you're a shit-head or selling the damn house?
If I've learned anything these past 4 years, it's letting people know you're a shit-head.
My in-laws had neighbors who hated them basically for being gay. So to try and keep some space between their neighbors, the in-laws put up a fence.
And made sure to paint a huge rainbow on it.
Just don’t forget about inflation. In 30 years when you’re trying to retire and working to the bone just to pay rent in 2050 dollars there will be people putting the final payments on their fixed rate mortgages valued in 2020 dollars.
Depends on the market. I'd believe it without a second thought in any major city. Small town? I'd think they were full of it, depending on how nice the house in question is, whether there's other stuff available, etc.
That's definitely a concern. Luckily I'm in a rent controlled apartment, so rent increases shouldn't be terrible. Another issue with NYC ownership is that the monthly maintenance for most apartments is already substantial. For a 500k 2br apartment maintenance would likely be at least 700/month right now, and that's only going up. A lot of those co-ops are already 80+ years old.
I can't imagine maintenance alone costing that much. Are you thinking of co-op/condo dues? Those usually cover a lot more than maintenance in those old pre-war buildings, such as water, hot water, trash, and likely even heat if it's a radiator/boiler building.
That's true, those things are usually included in the fees. Coops also have weird underlying mortgages that are rarely ever paid off, which is part of why maintenance is usually so high. Condo's have lower maintenance, but the monthly fees (including property taxes) are close to the same.
Either way, when compared to renting all those things are also usually included.
A big chunk of the coop's maintenance is that when you buy a coop, you're buying shares in the building itself, so you're paying off a chunk of the building's mortgage. It comes with some tax benefits and allows for minor corruption when it comes to picking who to go with when they refinance the mortgage.
One thing we've found useful is that when we got our mortgage in the first place, it was for the value of the house (minus the value of our previous house we were moving out of, but still a whole big lot of money). So the amount of "pay down some more mortgage if you have extra cash one month" was based on 20% of that original amount -- which was ridiculously high, but gave us some breathing room.
Because we've just renewed the mortgage with the same company for the last couple of terms, now that we're in the closing stretch, the 'extra pay it down' allowance is still based on 20% of the original amount, not 20% of the (significantly smaller) amount we're on now, which would be small enough we might run out of space. I don't know how that sort of thing works when refinancing with a different company, but it's useful enough that we haven't wanted to shop around for the absolute lowest possible rate.
(for what it's worth, when we set our mortgage up, we set it up with the smallest monthly amount that we could pay with that term and interest -- then, when we do our budget at the end of each month, if we have money left over for one reason or another, we put it on the mortgage. That way we can still pay it down faster than expected, but it gives us a bit more slack on a month-by-month basis for budgeting. It does rely on us to actually _do_ the extra payment, whereas going on 'accelerated bi-weekly' or whatever would mean we couldn't forget, but it's turned out to be okay as part of our general budgeting strategy. (I get paid every two weeks, for example, so in a three-paycheque month there's a bit of spare room in the budget to put on the mortgage, for instance).)
Denver is out of control as well now. We put down offers on several homes over the past few months and just now FINALLY had an offer accepted in Denver. $900k. Just insane. Thank goodness our current home's value has gone up by a bunch over the last 6 years.
You're typically just paying for the interest on the building's mortgage. Most coops don't actually pay off their mortgage. I would think the tax advantages are much lower now with the new tax laws, but I admit I can't remember from when I was looking at buying a couple years ago.
Basically, the standard deduction increased to the point where you have to spend Rich Person Money on deductible items in order for itemization to make sense, and most people don't. (The usual expense that tipped people over the line was mortgage interest.) The current standard deduction is over $24k, or $2k/month for married filing jointly. ($12k for single.) This is basically double the previous value.
Right, add that to the SALT limit of 10k and buying in NYC suddenly became much less attractive. That's part of the reason I decided to just keep renting.
A couple of finished drawers plus my tools (minus the masking tape):
A close-up of the jig:
Edit: Got everything done. Some of the cabinet ones didn't end up matching quite as well as I'd like, but there's not really anything I can do about it. I think I also screwed up the math for the cabinet ones, too, because they didn't really seem to be in the middle of the corner like I wanted. I think I probably needed to do 1 1/2 inch instead of 1 inch. It was supposed to be in the middle of the corner of two 2 inch edges/face frame. Oh well, I still think it looks pretty nice.
Example of the cabinet doors:
We here in Seattle welcome all!
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
So expensive, tho
Yes, yes it is. :bigfrown: Although to be fair, I don't live in (or even visit) Seattle. Areas further out are better, as long as you stay away from Redmond.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
But, yes, it's expensive. The Bremerton area is a bit more affordable but it's across the Sound from civilization
The house is priced nice and the taxes are pretty low, so it would kind of put our mind as ease money wise right now. But then what if we have to pay for installing a French drain? And having the side of the house resided? Also on the disclosure, they didn't have how old the roof is. ARG.
We are out of our current place at the end of May, so that isn't helping with stress either when we thought we finally found a place to try for. I assume we should just move on?
Tumblr | Twitter | Twitch | Pinny Arcade Lanyard
[3DS] 3394-3901-4002 | [Xbox/Steam] Redfield85
The thing to worry about is would you be worried if this "little stream" was much worse? It's hard to gauge trustworthy-ness of sellers, but as long as they disclose something little, that can be an out for a bigger problem. If the little stream is much worse, and you go back and say this wasn't disclosed, they'll just shrug and go hey we've never experienced that, and we disclosed some water so buyer beware. Makes it much harder to to take any action.
On the other hand, it could actually just be a tiny little stream. The building I bought has the same issue, and it is only ever just a little stream, never any bigger. In our building there was a tiny little wear mark in the concrete that showed that it was just a tiny stream (but long untreated), so we weren't too worried about it.
If you're serious, I'd look around for evidence one way or the other on whether this could be worse than disclosed. Staining on the concrete if it's unfinished, any wear marks from water stream, cracks in the concrete wall. If it is finished, look around for some features of things being replaced due to flooding, brand new carpet, baseboard, flooring, etc. And if you do put in an offer, be prepared for the bank to request a foundation engineer inspection beyond the typical home inspection.
Water in the basement can sometimes be easy(er) to fix (regrading your yard), and sometimes incredibly expensive excavating and installing membranes. It all depends on the severity.
Our house was $105,000 but it needs a ton of work. Still livable, but I doubt we could sell it today. And the taxes are 4k/yr which isn't tremendous in Vermont, but it's still a lot.
We don't like cities, it's just where all the jobs are. I wouldn't even care that much if I could get a job anywhere that was non-rural, but as a software developer, my choices are basically Seattle or the Redmond/Bellevue area.
I mean, there's also Austin, Chicago, Minneapolis..
Give them an offer that plans on those costs. Low ball them hard.
I'm just talking about the greater Seattle-Tacoma area. There's basically no software developer jobs in Renton, Kent, Burien, Tukwila, Federal Way, or even Tacoma. All the jobs are clustered around the two areas in the greater Seattle-Tacoma area with the highest cost of living.
Oh for sure. The commutes for tech industry folks is crazy. The wife and I were lucky to get an “affordable” 500k place in Kirkland a few years ago. Grandma got a much bigger home for the same price.
Location location location
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
I'm currently looking at buying around here and it's depressing. Especially working at the University hospital network, it's almost worse than downtown, because I *have* to drive because on any given day I'll need to have to be able to go anywhere from Northwest Hospital all the way down to the VA if something pops up.
Basically there is nothing north of the cut unless I start looking up near Everett under $450k right now. There's a fair number of places down at the south of the lake, but all of my friends and hobbies are situated in the Greenlake/Northgate area. About the only "good" part is if I'm driving to work every day anyway, I'm not really losing a whole lot in the evenings, since I'll already be in the area.
So, our realtor told us that place already has an offer, so I think that is a no go on the low ball.
We offered just over the asked price and put in a clause that says if someone offers higher than us, we will add X amount every time up to a certain amount. We are also planning to write a letter? Ha.
The house is in a really good neighborhood. Great schools, walking distance to places, super nice park, easy to get to main highways, and move in ready.
We've been so back and forth in the past 48 hours it is insane. I trust my brother in law to do the pest check since that is his job and he is good at it. So, he will (potentially) find issues with those bees. We know exactly where they were per the seller. The water issue just might not be as big of an issue as we think, but we would still have an inspection and our realtor has a water guy to check it out as well.
GOOD LUCK, US. We should know by tomorrow/Tuesday, I think, if we get it.
edit: The bee issue was supposedly taken care of by the current tenant. So, it could not matter in the end.
Tumblr | Twitter | Twitch | Pinny Arcade Lanyard
[3DS] 3394-3901-4002 | [Xbox/Steam] Redfield85
God I feel like an idiot, though. What a hassle :<
We learn through our mistakes. All we can do is hope they aren't too costly.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page