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

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Posts

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    zepherin wrote: »
    Looking at houses and the good homes are on the market for a day. And the good houses that are cheap are in terrible school districts. I’ve spent so much time looking at elementary school zoning maps.

    Do you have School Choice in your state?

  • zepherinzepherin Russian warship, go fuck yourself Registered User regular
    Mugsley wrote: »
    zepherin wrote: »
    Looking at houses and the good homes are on the market for a day. And the good houses that are cheap are in terrible school districts. I’ve spent so much time looking at elementary school zoning maps.

    Do you have School Choice in your state?
    Maryland does not, but school districting is more than just where our future currently non existent children will go to school.

    Houses in good school zones are worth more appreciate faster and weather recessions better than schools in worst school zones. To the point where new townhomes literally across the street from each other have a 100k difference in price.

  • GorkGork Registered User regular
    zepherin wrote: »
    Mugsley wrote: »
    zepherin wrote: »
    Looking at houses and the good homes are on the market for a day. And the good houses that are cheap are in terrible school districts. I’ve spent so much time looking at elementary school zoning maps.

    Do you have School Choice in your state?
    Maryland does not, but school districting is more than just where our future currently non existent children will go to school.

    Houses in good school zones are worth more appreciate faster and weather recessions better than schools in worst school zones. To the point where new townhomes literally across the street from each other have a 100k difference in price.

    Oh man, we bought our townhouse in Montgomery county in one of the good school districts last May. It was not fun, but I grew up here, so I knew what to expect. My wife, who is from Ohio, on the other hand, had no idea what she was in for, no matter what I told her.

    She went from a firm budget that seemed enormous, to her, to my suggested numbers real quick after we started seeing stuff.

  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    South Texas => Northern Virginia is a helluva sticker shock, too.

  • ZavianZavian universal peace sounds better than forever war Registered User regular
    I finally installed my bidet! While trying to remove the water supply line I accidentally broke the plastic connector piece, and also inadvertently messed up the flush valve inside the tank by rotating it. This ended up causing the toilet to keep running constantly. I was actually concerned I might need a plumber! After buying a new supply line cable and installing it, then rotating the flush valve around and resetting the floater, the toilet now flushed and refills like normal again, and the bidet works fine. I am the plumbing champion woooo!

  • ThegreatcowThegreatcow Lord of All Bacons Washington State - It's Wet up here innit? Registered User regular
    Holy crudnuggets. I have an ever deepening respect for plumbers now than I ever have before. With the corona thing going on right now I haven't been able to find any plumbers willing to visit a home to do work, so I finally decided to bite the bullet this weekend and attempt to swap my dishwasher out with the unit my friend gave me from his old kitchen as a housewarming present. I watched a few videos online and it seemed straightforward enough (route waste and water hoses appropriately and wire a standard positive/negative/ground terminal wire from the wall to the Dishwasher).

    And sure, in a perfect world, it'd go easy peasy as it did in the video. But good lord, whatever foul magic possessed the previous resident to do this hookup and setup was something indeed. First, the old dishwasher didn't even make use of its normal feet to slide and position the dishwasher unit. The previous owner installed some giant screw bolts and used them as makeshift "jacks" to lift and adjust the height of the machine. This required the removal of 6 different nuts to actually unscrew them and start trying to move the unit out. Then I discovered some bizarre hose and water line configuration that necessitated a trip to home depot as due to the position of the unit and pipes, I ended up having to buy an 8 foot water line and drain hose just to get it in range of the hookups.

    Took about 6 and a half hours all said including the home depot trip to get everything but I managed to get it done! And holy hell for a unit that was in storage for over a year and a half it runs so nice. The old frigidaire that I removed wailed like a damn banshee when I ran it, despite the overall good cleaning job it did. This Samsung is so much quieter it's glorious. Feel pretty proud of myself for getting it done and I hope it lasts a while too.

    rry12rawqorx.jpg
    2u0p4ablzh0b.jpg

  • Steel AngelSteel Angel Registered User regular
    Gork wrote: »
    zepherin wrote: »
    Mugsley wrote: »
    zepherin wrote: »
    Looking at houses and the good homes are on the market for a day. And the good houses that are cheap are in terrible school districts. I’ve spent so much time looking at elementary school zoning maps.

    Do you have School Choice in your state?
    Maryland does not, but school districting is more than just where our future currently non existent children will go to school.

    Houses in good school zones are worth more appreciate faster and weather recessions better than schools in worst school zones. To the point where new townhomes literally across the street from each other have a 100k difference in price.

    Oh man, we bought our townhouse in Montgomery county in one of the good school districts last May. It was not fun, but I grew up here, so I knew what to expect. My wife, who is from Ohio, on the other hand, had no idea what she was in for, no matter what I told her.

    She went from a firm budget that seemed enormous, to her, to my suggested numbers real quick after we started seeing stuff.

    That the townhouse I inherited is in walking distance from one of the best non-magnet high schools in MoCo is a big part of why I refuse to sell it and buy a more manageable space for a lone bachelor.

    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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  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    Any tips for removing hard water scale from the seals on a dishwasher? Baking soda + vinegar? I'm worried about damaging the rubber in the seals.

  • zepherinzepherin Russian warship, go fuck yourself Registered User regular
    Gork wrote: »
    zepherin wrote: »
    Mugsley wrote: »
    zepherin wrote: »
    Looking at houses and the good homes are on the market for a day. And the good houses that are cheap are in terrible school districts. I’ve spent so much time looking at elementary school zoning maps.

    Do you have School Choice in your state?
    Maryland does not, but school districting is more than just where our future currently non existent children will go to school.

    Houses in good school zones are worth more appreciate faster and weather recessions better than schools in worst school zones. To the point where new townhomes literally across the street from each other have a 100k difference in price.

    Oh man, we bought our townhouse in Montgomery county in one of the good school districts last May. It was not fun, but I grew up here, so I knew what to expect. My wife, who is from Ohio, on the other hand, had no idea what she was in for, no matter what I told her.

    She went from a firm budget that seemed enormous, to her, to my suggested numbers real quick after we started seeing stuff.
    MoCo definitely swings hard. Silver spring especially, it is half 600k houses and 400k houses, and it's spread right at the district line.

  • GorkGork Registered User regular
    zepherin wrote: »
    Gork wrote: »
    zepherin wrote: »
    Mugsley wrote: »
    zepherin wrote: »
    Looking at houses and the good homes are on the market for a day. And the good houses that are cheap are in terrible school districts. I’ve spent so much time looking at elementary school zoning maps.

    Do you have School Choice in your state?
    Maryland does not, but school districting is more than just where our future currently non existent children will go to school.

    Houses in good school zones are worth more appreciate faster and weather recessions better than schools in worst school zones. To the point where new townhomes literally across the street from each other have a 100k difference in price.

    Oh man, we bought our townhouse in Montgomery county in one of the good school districts last May. It was not fun, but I grew up here, so I knew what to expect. My wife, who is from Ohio, on the other hand, had no idea what she was in for, no matter what I told her.

    She went from a firm budget that seemed enormous, to her, to my suggested numbers real quick after we started seeing stuff.
    MoCo definitely swings hard. Silver spring especially, it is half 600k houses and 400k houses, and it's spread right at the district line.

    If you don’t work in DC proper or don’t mind hour plus commutes, the area in Wootton High School’s district is sort of better. We work in the city, so it was a bit much for us.

  • zepherinzepherin Russian warship, go fuck yourself Registered User regular
    Gork wrote: »
    zepherin wrote: »
    Gork wrote: »
    zepherin wrote: »
    Mugsley wrote: »
    zepherin wrote: »
    Looking at houses and the good homes are on the market for a day. And the good houses that are cheap are in terrible school districts. I’ve spent so much time looking at elementary school zoning maps.

    Do you have School Choice in your state?
    Maryland does not, but school districting is more than just where our future currently non existent children will go to school.

    Houses in good school zones are worth more appreciate faster and weather recessions better than schools in worst school zones. To the point where new townhomes literally across the street from each other have a 100k difference in price.

    Oh man, we bought our townhouse in Montgomery county in one of the good school districts last May. It was not fun, but I grew up here, so I knew what to expect. My wife, who is from Ohio, on the other hand, had no idea what she was in for, no matter what I told her.

    She went from a firm budget that seemed enormous, to her, to my suggested numbers real quick after we started seeing stuff.
    MoCo definitely swings hard. Silver spring especially, it is half 600k houses and 400k houses, and it's spread right at the district line.

    If you don’t work in DC proper or don’t mind hour plus commutes, the area in Wootton High School’s district is sort of better. We work in the city, so it was a bit much for us.
    I wouldn't mind because my work is right next to a metro station, but it would be a 90 min to 2 hour commute for my wife, we did look in MoCo, but we are more focused in Anne Arundel County, which has schools that are some of the worst in the state, and schools that are some of the best in the state. Education inequity abounds.

  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    If you're changing batteries in your smoke detectors, that's probably a good time to change the batteries in your alarm sensors too. And when you're doing that, maybe replace the adhesive that attaches them to the walls.

    Why yes my heart is pounding at 2am!

    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
  • Stabbity StyleStabbity Style He/Him | Warning: Mothership Reporting Kennewick, WARegistered User regular
    edited April 2020
    Anyone have experience with decreasing the slope of a hill? I've got a pretty sharp cut off between two parts of my yard and I've been thinking about the best way to tackle it. The back 10 feet of my yard are an irrigation easement, so I don't believe I'm allowed to build anything on it, like a retaining wall, which was my first thought. I thought about maybe doing a retaining wall 10 feet in, but that basically puts it just barely in front of where the cut off is, so it doesn't really gain me much usable yard. Right now I'm thinking of getting some fill dirt in and just making it a more gradual slope so the yard's usable. Should I call a landscaping company to come do that? Can I just get some fill dirt, pack it down into the slope, and then put some topsoil on it?

    Also, do you guys have any recommendations for low maintenance (ideally no mowing if possible) ground cover for a desert area (hardiness zone 7a)? Ideally something people could walk on at least a bit. I think I've seen creeping thyme and moss as possible candidates, but I don't know if you guys have any opinions. Also, something that'd help a bit with controlling erosion would be good, too, since all of my yard is basically a hill. I'd rather not have gravel, too.

    Stabbity Style on
    Stabbity_Style.png
  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    Retaining wall with a fence and level off the yard is the best solution, but you can do gradual slope with some dirt. Just make sure your locale doesn't require a permit for grading changes (looks like it might with the irrigation easement).

    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
  • redfield85redfield85 Registered User regular
    Day 3598: Still can't get an inspection. Really want to move. Send halp.

    bYf6vNQ.png
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  • zepherinzepherin Russian warship, go fuck yourself Registered User regular
    redfield85 wrote: »
    Day 3598: Still can't get an inspection. Really want to move. Send halp.

    ...Like a home owners inspection? I was able to schedule one on Tuesday for tomorrow.

  • redfield85redfield85 Registered User regular
    zepherin wrote: »
    redfield85 wrote: »
    Day 3598: Still can't get an inspection. Really want to move. Send halp.

    ...Like a home owners inspection? I was able to schedule one on Tuesday for tomorrow.

    I'm in Philly. Still can't.

    There was something that happened recently where if you signed your contract for the house on or before March 18th, you can move ahead. We signed on March 19th, because of course. Our realtor was looking into seeing if we can move ahead, but no can do.

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  • Stabbity StyleStabbity Style He/Him | Warning: Mothership Reporting Kennewick, WARegistered User regular
    edited April 2020
    bowen wrote: »
    Retaining wall with a fence and level off the yard is the best solution, but you can do gradual slope with some dirt. Just make sure your locale doesn't require a permit for grading changes (looks like it might with the irrigation easement).

    Dang, I hadn't considered that they wouldn't want a grading change either. Man, this sucks. DAMN YOU EASEMENTS, LET ME USE MY YARD.

    Edit: Looked up the Irrigation District's permitting process for encroachments on easements and apparently retaining walls are actually commonly approved! Like $350 for a permit application, though. I'll probably hit up a landscaping company about it. Maybe talk to my neighbors, too, see if they wanna get in on a retaining wall, too, since they have the same issue in their yard. Probably not something I do in the near future, though, that sounds like a 5 figure project at least.

    Stabbity Style on
    Stabbity_Style.png
  • CarpyCarpy Registered User regular
    Anyone done a rent back when buying a house and if you did how did you handle the utilities during that period?

  • GorkGork Registered User regular
    edited April 2020
    Carpy wrote: »
    Anyone done a rent back when buying a house and if you did how did you handle the utilities during that period?

    We did and the seller paid the utilities during the rental period. It was written into the agreement. I believe they even had to pay the title company an amount put in escrow in case they exceeded a set amount. The water utility tried to charge us for the rental period and our realtor sent it right to the title company.

    Gork on
  • CorvusCorvus . VancouverRegistered User regular
    Carpy wrote: »
    Anyone done a rent back when buying a house and if you did how did you handle the utilities during that period?

    We did this when selling our condo, we were the ones renting back. Worked fine, they paid utilities I think, though it was only electricity so I don't entirely remember. I live somewhere we don't have metered water and the strata covered natural gas under the strata fees.

    :so_raven:
  • CarpyCarpy Registered User regular
    Gork wrote: »
    Carpy wrote: »
    Anyone done a rent back when buying a house and if you did how did you handle the utilities during that period?

    We did and the seller paid the utilities during the rental period. It was written into the agreement. I believe they even had to pay the title company an amount put in escrow in case they exceeded a set amount. The water utility tried to charge us for the rental period and our realtor sent it right to the title company.

    Thanks. I went ahead and checked the rent back agreement and it's listed the same way in ours.

  • GorkGork Registered User regular
    Carpy wrote: »
    Gork wrote: »
    Carpy wrote: »
    Anyone done a rent back when buying a house and if you did how did you handle the utilities during that period?

    We did and the seller paid the utilities during the rental period. It was written into the agreement. I believe they even had to pay the title company an amount put in escrow in case they exceeded a set amount. The water utility tried to charge us for the rental period and our realtor sent it right to the title company.

    Thanks. I went ahead and checked the rent back agreement and it's listed the same way in ours.
    The best part was when our realtor called us two weeks after everything had been signed because they wanted to extend the rental period so they could have their kid’s birthday at the house. We were like, first, we already gave our notice to our apartment building and had to break our lease early based on what they proposed and, second, did they forget when their kid’s birthday was when they proposed the original date?!??

    I was mad at them from the negotiations so I had no problem saying no.

  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    bowen wrote: »
    Retaining wall with a fence and level off the yard is the best solution, but you can do gradual slope with some dirt. Just make sure your locale doesn't require a permit for grading changes (looks like it might with the irrigation easement).

    Dang, I hadn't considered that they wouldn't want a grading change either. Man, this sucks. DAMN YOU EASEMENTS, LET ME USE MY YARD.

    Edit: Looked up the Irrigation District's permitting process for encroachments on easements and apparently retaining walls are actually commonly approved! Like $350 for a permit application, though. I'll probably hit up a landscaping company about it. Maybe talk to my neighbors, too, see if they wanna get in on a retaining wall, too, since they have the same issue in their yard. Probably not something I do in the near future, though, that sounds like a 5 figure project at least.

    Oh yeah, usually in places that require lots of permits for lots of work they're generally stupid cheap and easy to get as long as you have someone licensed doing the work or you know how to draw up plans and file paperwork.

    It's the places in the middle of nowhere that have one dude working 3 departments for the whole county where it's a pain in the ass and like 4 grand to get a permit.

    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
  • schussschuss Registered User regular
    As someone on a planning board that hears that sort of thing:
    Really the permitting is just to make sure people aren't doing something completely idiotic that will potentially mess with watersheds or screw over their neighbors (IE, I'm going to build drainage to dump into my neighbors property and it becomes their problem).

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    Both of my houses were/are the second-to-last house at the bottom of a slight hill, so I get all my neighbors' runoff without asking for it. :(

    You'd think I would have learned after the first house.

  • zepherinzepherin Russian warship, go fuck yourself Registered User regular
    edited April 2020
    Mugsley wrote: »
    Both of my houses were/are the second-to-last house at the bottom of a slight hill, so I get all my neighbors' runoff without asking for it. :(

    You'd think I would have learned after the first house.

    Install a french drain at the bottom of the hill


    Also had home inspection today, and the inspection firm picked apart the house...which I paid them to do, but my wife is like oh my god there are so many things listed.
    I was like I went with a really good firm...this is literally their job.

    zepherin on
  • zepherinzepherin Russian warship, go fuck yourself Registered User regular
    schuss wrote: »
    As someone on a planning board that hears that sort of thing:
    Really the permitting is just to make sure people aren't doing something completely idiotic that will potentially mess with watersheds or screw over their neighbors (IE, I'm going to build drainage to dump into my neighbors property and it becomes their problem).
    Also to make sure that the design won't literally kill the idiot owners/contractors.

  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    zepherin wrote: »
    Mugsley wrote: »
    Both of my houses were/are the second-to-last house at the bottom of a slight hill, so I get all my neighbors' runoff without asking for it. :(

    You'd think I would have learned after the first house.

    Install a french drain at the bottom of the hill


    Also had home inspection today, and the inspection firm picked apart the house...which I paid them to do, but my wife is like oh my god there are so many things listed.
    I was like I went with a really good firm...this is literally their job.

    It's so much nicer with a company that does this shit so you can see what is a priority and isn't.

    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
  • zepherinzepherin Russian warship, go fuck yourself Registered User regular
    bowen wrote: »
    zepherin wrote: »
    Mugsley wrote: »
    Both of my houses were/are the second-to-last house at the bottom of a slight hill, so I get all my neighbors' runoff without asking for it. :(

    You'd think I would have learned after the first house.

    Install a french drain at the bottom of the hill


    Also had home inspection today, and the inspection firm picked apart the house...which I paid them to do, but my wife is like oh my god there are so many things listed.
    I was like I went with a really good firm...this is literally their job.

    It's so much nicer with a company that does this shit so you can see what is a priority and isn't.
    They brought 2 guys and took over 3 hours. But they were a hundred and 50 more expensive, but I knew their work from other projects and they know their shit.

  • KetarKetar Come on upstairs we're having a partyRegistered User regular
    For all of the frustrations and angst that this thread helped with when we were buying our house last year, being cooped up here is about a million times better than it would have been where we were renting. Thanks for all of the help last year.

    1enfzz8dlpm2.jpg


  • redfield85redfield85 Registered User regular
    Apparently there are COVID certified inspectors now (at least in our area that is a thing) and we were able to get our inspection done. Some minor things to get taken care of, but things are moving forward FINALLY.

    -Carpenter bees in the deck, which doesn't worry me. We've dealt with them before. Seeing the neighbors awning on our side of the house basically farming them doesn't make me too happy, but we will deal.
    -Deck steps need to be fixed (loose).
    -Toilet is loose and needs a new wax ring.
    -Outlet near the dryer/sink needs to be a different type because of how close it is to the sink.
    -Fireplace wouldn't open or something. We were gonna have someone check the thing anyway.
    -Some points on the brick on the side of the house need to be pointed or whatever, which we knew before going into the inspection.

    I think that was it? Settlement is potentially the 14th, we will have people paint for us, I guess fix the toilet and outlet all before we move in by the end of the month. We are so happy to be able to GTFO of here, but sucks that everything else is going on. We can finally have people over and there is actual parking....but we can't have people over. A Zoom house warming party isn't exactly the same, but we will have to make do I guess.

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  • BullheadBullhead Registered User regular
    Ketar wrote: »
    For all of the frustrations and angst that this thread helped with when we were buying our house last year, being cooped up here is about a million times better than it would have been where we were renting. Thanks for all of the help last year.
    1enfzz8dlpm2.jpg

    I have backyard envy. Congrats!

    96058.png?1619393207
  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    We're building a fence. All the posts are in the ground.

    Fuck my arms hurt.

    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
  • KetarKetar Come on upstairs we're having a partyRegistered User regular
    Bullhead wrote: »
    Ketar wrote: »
    For all of the frustrations and angst that this thread helped with when we were buying our house last year, being cooped up here is about a million times better than it would have been where we were renting. Thanks for all of the help last year.
    1enfzz8dlpm2.jpg

    I have backyard envy. Congrats!

    Thank you. It was a combination of the back yard and the location that ended up making this our choice. We had it down to 4 houses we liked, and a couple of them were a little bit nicer and larger but the back really sold me on this one.

    It's also the first time in my life I've ever lived in a house with a finished basement, and wow is that a game changer. And a bit of a sanity saver right now when we can send the kids to play down there and let us have a little bit of space for a while.

  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    Gate is together but we fucked it up the first time and it took two hours to figure out what was wrong and fix it and holy fuck I hurt everywhere. Was hoping we'd finish today but no way in hell.

    Still, there's posts. And a gate. It's almost there.

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  • LindLind Registered User regular
    Meanwhile in the Kingdom of Sweden.

    As summer drew closer the knights knew another campaign against the age-old enemy was about to begin. In the House of Lind the Knight made sure the old warhorse Husqvarna was ready for the first battle of the summer. The sun shone and with a mighty warcry they rode out to battle!
    abG1Az4.jpg?1
    L8kPOas.jpg?1

    When the battle finaly was over the knight made sure Husqvarna was properly feed in the stables and then returned to the house for a cold, drink.
    The enemy would return, but for now the battle was won.

  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    Fence is done! Almost! All the mesh is up, but a few spots sag no matter how tight we got the mesh. Going to get some tension wire and hog clips and get it tightened up in a few days, but we have a pet fence now!

    90t5zqqbcqvp.jpg

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  • ThegreatcowThegreatcow Lord of All Bacons Washington State - It's Wet up here innit? Registered User regular
    Excellent shot of the Doggo mid-zoomie.

  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    Excellent shot of the Doggo mid-zoomie.

    I have another one of my daughter chasing our other dog, but all you can see of him is his back legs and butthole so I figured I'd post this instead.

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This discussion has been closed.