The House Searching / Buying/ Building Thread

One thing that cant be overlooked however is the maintenance on the home is not covered by the person renting. Those costs can add up quite a bit for homeowners. Then add in the ridiculous closing costs and taxes, that renters do not have to deal with either.

Very true. I always roll my closing costs into my loan so I factor that in, and the taxes are rolled into your monthly payment. Homeowners also usually get a tax break since they itemize deductions.
I will admit, I have been pretty luck so far in my houses. Nothing major has gone wrong except for needing a new roof twice which was covered by my insurance.

I actually did not want to buy a house were I am currently. I wanted to rent. But when I broke it all down, renting would cost me $300-400 more a month than buying my house.
The market here is stupid.
 
We are currently looking into a waterfront lot here in Jacksonville, has been on the market for over a year and has had a few price reductions.
It is appealing to buy the land and build the house we want. What isnt, is the time to construct and amount of attention it would require.

Some pending details before we submit an offer but my wife and I are excited about the possibility.
 
We are currently looking into a waterfront lot here in Jacksonville, has been on the market for over a year and has had a few price reductions.
It is appealing to buy the land and build the house we want. What isnt, is the time to construct and amount of attention it would require.

Some pending details before we submit an offer but my wife and I are excited about the possibility.

I'll bring a cooler and some fishing poles.
 
This home building process is so much harder than I initially thought. My wife and I decided to build a house at the end of March, but waited to start until we sold our existing home. We did that pretty quickly, which was awesome. They started building our new home around mid June with an expected move in date of September 22nd. Pretty quick turnaround we thought.

Fast forward about two months and the outside looks finished, but nothing has happened inside. Something got screwed up with our well and septic location and the health department has held our build hostage for about a month. Nothing has happened....and I mean nothing. The drywall was delivered a month ago and it is sitting in the exact same spot. I think the most frustrating part has been the lack of information from the builder. We don't know exactly why there are issues and why all this wasn't done prior to starting the build.

So our late September build has been moved back to at least mid October. We are told every few days that they expect to get approval "today", but it hasn't happened yet. The frustrating part is that while we are only 45 minutes away from our current location, we have basically moved our life to the new location. My daughters soccer team is going to be there along with her ballet, my sons daycare, and my daughters Kindergarten. We figured it was only going to be a couple weeks, so it wouldn't matter when we signed up for everything. Looks like it will be at least a month and a half of lots of driving.

Rant over.
 
This home building process is so much harder than I initially thought. My wife and I decided to build a house at the end of March, but waited to start until we sold our existing home. We did that pretty quickly, which was awesome. They started building our new home around mid June with an expected move in date of September 22nd. Pretty quick turnaround we thought.

Fast forward about two months and the outside looks finished, but nothing has happened inside. Something got screwed up with our well and septic location and the health department has held our build hostage for about a month. Nothing has happened....and I mean nothing. The drywall was delivered a month ago and it is sitting in the exact same spot. I think the most frustrating part has been the lack of information from the builder. We don't know exactly why there are issues and why all this wasn't done prior to starting the build.

So our late September build has been moved back to at least mid October. We are told every few days that they expect to get approval "today", but it hasn't happened yet. The frustrating part is that while we are only 45 minutes away from our current location, we have basically moved our life to the new location. My daughters soccer team is going to be there along with her ballet, my sons daycare, and my daughters Kindergarten. We figured it was only going to be a couple weeks, so it wouldn't matter when we signed up for everything. Looks like it will be at least a month and a half of lots of driving.

Rant over.

Have you tried contacting the health department for an explanation? The only thing that comes to my mind is if the well has been drilled too close to the septic. You wouldn't (shouldn't) have been able to pull permits to build if your drain fields weren't already sited and approved. Are you required to install a "low-flow" or "alternative" style septic system or can you use a traditional system?

If the outside is totally buttoned up you're pretty close to being done, provided all your mechanicals have passed inspections.
 
Man cave coming together nicely

1422461fbecffc2e2434da4798d4194b.jpg
 
The House Searching / Buying/ Building Thread

Needs a couple golf bags in there dude!!!!

We are working on that. Golf stuff is in the garage waiting to be added. I should have posted the pic of the closet lol


She is allowing me to price out having the carpet ripped up and making the entire floor a putting green ???
 
Well, looks like we're approved for the full amount on a new home if we wish to go that route (we have several we're looking at). Now deciding if we want to sell the house we're currently in, or turn it into a rental property. While I'm intrigued with being a rental owner, the thought of turning over a 120k+ piece of property to a stranger with nothing more than a signed piece of paper and a deposit scares the poop out of me.
 
So question ...

We're seriously considering a home, but it's at the bottom of a slope. Our real estate agent was turned off by this and said every time it rains we're going to have moisture issues. Now I haven't seen the underside of the house to know if there are moisture issues, or if the previous homeowners have taken steps to abate them ... but, for those who live in houses that have significant slope towards the home ... what have you done to alleviate those issues, and are they truly effective? I assume there is some way to dig drainage a few feet away from the house to divert it away and towards a collection area, right?
 
So question ...

We're seriously considering a home, but it's at the bottom of a slope. Our real estate agent was turned off by this and said every time it rains we're going to have moisture issues. Now I haven't seen the underside of the house to know if there are moisture issues, or if the previous homeowners have taken steps to abate them ... but, for those who live in houses that have significant slope towards the home ... what have you done to alleviate those issues, and are they truly effective? I assume there is some way to dig drainage a few feet away from the house to divert it away and towards a collection area, right?
It is amazing the amount of damage that water can do. Personally I would never be at the bottom of the slope. Even digging drainage it will only hold so much water. In a situation like we are experience now and into this weekend that drainage ditch will be full and water coming at the house again.
 
It is amazing the amount of damage that water can do. Personally I would never be at the bottom of the slope. Even digging drainage it will only hold so much water. In a situation like we are experience now and into this weekend that drainage ditch will be full and water coming at the house again.
Well there is a concrete lined ditch that separates the properties (and it's a good 60-70 yards away from the house) so I could potentially divert all the water to that ditch ... but yeah, it's a concern. It's a shame because it's a huge house and we know the owners are way way way motivated to sell.
 
They are motivated to sell because no one wants the house due to the drainage issue. If you were to buy it the potential buyers agents will be telling them the same thing. Obviously I have no idea if the drainage is actually a problem. But it's probably a bad investment either way.
 
Agree with that sentiment! There was a house in my neighborhood at the bottom of a hill, after a number of years, they tore down the house due to damage.
 
I have learned a lot house hunting the past few weeks. Fascinating game. The most important thing I've learned is that make sure you set a good price when selling, otherwise its going to sit. Up here with winter, that isn't a risk worth taking in my opinion if selling in the late summer/fall.
 
FB_IMG_1430757710381.jpg

This is the future house it appears. Wife if pretty dead set on it and we toured the model home that this plan belonged too
 
So question ...

We're seriously considering a home, but it's at the bottom of a slope. Our real estate agent was turned off by this and said every time it rains we're going to have moisture issues. Now I haven't seen the underside of the house to know if there are moisture issues, or if the previous homeowners have taken steps to abate them ... but, for those who live in houses that have significant slope towards the home ... what have you done to alleviate those issues, and are they truly effective? I assume there is some way to dig drainage a few feet away from the house to divert it away and towards a collection area, right?
I recently renovated a 2400 sq. ft. basement which had been flooded almost 7 times over the last 10 years. Slope is not necessarily the issue - but really proper water-mitigation. I grew up in a home with a very steep slope above us, but it was fully vegetated and we never had any issues. The place I recently renovated was not on nearly as large of a slope, but their water-mitigation was ruined when the forest behind their house was wiped out and replaced by a cookie-cutter neighborhood.

Ground-water damage is a very serious consideration, because once it happens you NEED to have it taken care of. A popular "solution" around here are "Perma-Dry" water relocation systems. Unfortunately, most of these don't work if your power goes out, which typically happens with flood-type waters...

I wouldn't rule the property out yet, but get as much information as you can about how the water is mitigated around the house.
 
We checked the property during our 1000 year rains a couple of weeks ago, and there was no flooding or standing water on the property ... so it's still in play.



Will dig around and ask a few more questions. Thanks for the tips.
 
Welp.

After many a discussion and wishes of moving to somewhere cool I.E. Florida we have decided to stay in lovely Iowa . We are building on Emeis golf course here in good ole Davenport.


718d0cfdc1114ce5562e8187e833d62d.jpg


bb6599503566bfdc9c03bef258d0d9fc.jpg


80eb1c6733c6a58b082277cea5603f65.jpg


688097b44152299cb9f9b2a4d036a668.jpg


e4e86c458835ebdc5819b9a6712424d6.jpg


c1a15741298a7779e7be5e23010f81ac.jpg


8c2fb82b4d93e66a539ca8eaed2699f8.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Coming along Jrod
 
Coming along Jrod

Yah it's really incredible how much work goes in to these . It's crazy how much framing is involved and equally impressive how fast they throw it up.


All the basic mechanicals are done and the drywall is going in now. Al the siding is done except for the front as they are waiting for the stone.

We're hoping to be in by February .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Yah it's really incredible how much work goes in to these . It's crazy how much framing is involved and equally impressive how fast they throw it up.


All the basic mechanicals are done and the drywall is going in now. Al the siding is done except for the front as they are waiting for the stone.

We're hoping to be in by February .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Building from scratch is always fun, and interesting to see the home-owners reaction when it takes as much time to get a foundation in as it does to complete the rest of the project. That's the sign of a good contractor - the foundation basically determines how many fuc*-ups you will have to fix along the way. I would imagine he/she will be on schedule and under-budget....
 
Yah it's really incredible how much work goes in to these . It's crazy how much framing is involved and equally impressive how fast they throw it up.


All the basic mechanicals are done and the drywall is going in now. Al the siding is done except for the front as they are waiting for the stone.

We're hoping to be in by February .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

2 1/2 or 3 bath? Natural gas? With a gas log fireplace?
 
Building from scratch is always fun, and interesting to see the home-owners reaction when it takes as much time to get a foundation in as it does to complete the rest of the project. That's the sign of a good contractor - the foundation basically determines how many fuc*-ups you will have to fix along the way. I would imagine he/she will be on schedule and under-budget....

Interesting
 
Back
Top