We've launched the new forums! Read more here

The House Searching / Buying/ Building Thread

jlukes said:
Bank finished their appraisal and just awaiting their report. My realtor said to expect some good news, so fingers crossed.
Click to expand...

Good luck. The time between appraisal and report was nerve wracking for us on both the buying and selling side. Sounds like the realtor has some insight though - that's good.
 
mpeterson said:
Good luck. The time between appraisal and report was nerve wracking for us on both the buying and selling side. Sounds like the realtor has some insight though - that's good.
Click to expand...

Yeah we got shafted on our appraisal when selling, but based on what we and our realtor have seen on the market, we are buying this house at an incredible price and could even have a good chunk of equity as soon as we move in.
 
DevRickus said:
My initial thought was Nashville or the surrounding area. A friend of mine and his wife are thinking about moving there with their daughter in the next few years from California. I know Martsy is moving there next year as well. I hear nothing but good things about the area in terms of raising a child so its definitely high on my list.
Click to expand...

Come on down...no state income taxes.

THP TN outings could be a lot of fun.
 
First home viewing is this afternoon. The house is clean, clutter is to a minimum, countertops are clear. Anything I'm missing before these strangers show up at my house?
 
jt2929 said:
First home viewing is this afternoon. The house is clean, clutter is to a minimum, countertops are clear. Anything I'm missing before these strangers show up at my house?
Click to expand...

No photos or anything out on walls or tables?

Closets neat and organized?
 
The home we are buying appraised for more than our purchase price! Woo hoo!
 
JohnSinVA said:
No photos or anything out on walls or tables?

Closets neat and organized?
Click to expand...

We have photos on the walls. Wouldn't it look terrible to take the photos down and have nails/holes showing instead of photos? Closets are good to go.
 
jt2929 said:
We have photos on the walls. Wouldn't it look terrible to take the photos down and have nails/holes showing instead of photos? Closets are good to go.
Click to expand...


You are fine to keep photos on walls and stuff, just so long as it isn't cluttered.
 
Just about a month on the market so far. Only one person has looked during a viewing and one came during an open house Sunday. First didn't like the layout, second didn't like the bedroom sizes. Realtor suggested we drop the price by $3,000 to get us into the next search filter bracket. Not sure I want to though. We have until the start of the 2016-17 school year to move to the new location so we aren't in a rush to sell, and we haven't found a house we want to buy yet.
 
jt2929 said:
Just about a month on the market so far. Only one person has looked during a viewing and one came during an open house Sunday. First didn't like the layout, second didn't like the bedroom sizes. Realtor suggested we drop the price by $3,000 to get us into the next search filter bracket. Not sure I want to though. We have until the start of the 2016-17 school year to move to the new location so we aren't in a rush to sell, and we haven't found a house we want to buy yet.
Click to expand...

The longer you are on the market the harder it will be to sell. I'm not sure of your local market but in most of the US right now real estate is doing very well, If you have only had 1 showing in a month either there are some major problems in the way you are marketed, you are way out of line on price, or the market for your home is dead/extremely small.

If you are not yet serious about selling you are probably better off withdrawing and waiting until the market comes up to where you need to sell. Languishing on the market like that will not work out in your favor. I definitely wouldn't just leave it on if you are getting NO action. Are other homes in your price point selling?
 
Just finalized our insurance for the new home. Movers are booked, just waiting to close!
 
Wake said:
The longer you are on the market the harder it will be to sell. I'm not sure of your local market but in most of the US right now real estate is doing very well, If you have only had 1 showing in a month either there are some major problems in the way you are marketed, you are way out of line on price, or the market for your home is dead/extremely small.

If you are not yet serious about selling you are probably better off withdrawing and waiting until the market comes up to where you need to sell. Languishing on the market like that will not work out in your favor. I definitely wouldn't just leave it on if you are getting NO action. Are other homes in your price point selling?
Click to expand...

We are listed at $4,000 more than we paid in 2008. I know the markets took a dump, but we have put some good money into this house. We are also about $5,000 less than other comparable homes in our area. The market here is weird, some houses sell within days of going to market while others sit for a year or more. Our agent said the average time on the market is 122 days. We are definitely serious about selling, but we aren't at a point where we are desperate to sell. Our realtor contract is for 6 months, which puts us at the end of November. I'm thinking that if it doesn't sell, we'll take it off the market until the spring. I'd like to leave it on for the summer at least so we might get an offer before school starts. I'm no expert though, so I really have no idea what a good strategy is.
 
jt2929 said:
We are listed at $4,000 more than we paid in 2008. I know the markets took a dump, but we have put some good money into this house. We are also about $5,000 less than other comparable homes in our area. The market here is weird, some houses sell within days of going to market while others sit for a year or more. Our agent said the average time on the market is 122 days. We are definitely serious about selling, but we aren't at a point where we are desperate to sell. Our realtor contract is for 6 months, which puts us at the end of November. I'm thinking that if it doesn't sell, we'll take it off the market until the spring. I'd like to leave it on for the summer at least so we might get an offer before school starts. I'm no expert though, so I really have no idea what a good strategy is.
Click to expand...

My wife and I purchased our home in 2008 and just sold it at the end of May and just on the base price, lost $25K. We had put at least $20K into the house too since we replaced windows, replaced both HVAC units, added garage storage and made major improvements to our yard. The market in this area just wouldn't support our purchase price. It really sucked, but we are now building a home in a better school system and pretty much our dream house, plus rates are still so amazingly low now that we are getting into a neighborhood we likely wouldn't be able to get into if rates were in the 5-6% range. Our major motivation was school also since our daughter is starting Kindergarten in September.

If losing money on your home is your reason to not drop the price, I'd think hard about the rate increases that are coming at the end of this year and beginning of next. Having to pay a couple thousand now to get out of a house is much better than paying 1-2% more in rates. I think our mortgage broker told us that for our home each 0.125% increase in rate, our payment would go up $28 per month.
 
Why is buying a house so stressful????? Wait it's not the house buying part it is the wife stressing me out lol. We found a house in our target city and it was a great first home for us and the only thing we didn't like in the entire house was one wall color. Well they had multiple offers on the house and the agent for the sellers told us we just came up short and my wife was devastated. After talking to her for awhile it seems like she has moved on to other houses lol
 
Debating cinder block vs a traditional wood frame in our house we're starting up this spring. Concrete is a bit more expensive, but better insulation would offset the cost in a few years. Also a bit harder to run plumbing and wiring, but less breakdown and settling of materials over the years. Too much to think about and it's beginning to wear on me a bit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Colt said:
Debating cinder block vs a traditional wood frame in our house we're starting up this spring. Concrete is a bit more expensive, but better insulation would offset the cost in a few years. Also a bit harder to run plumbing and wiring, but less breakdown and settling of materials over the years. Too much to think about and it's beginning to wear on me a bit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
How are soils in your area? CMU will be heavier and can increase foundation costs.
 
I also try to look at the fact if you bought a house, and lived there for several years you have to equate that into it when you decide to sell.
Yes you want to make as much money as you can. But if I bought a house for 200K, and 5 years later sell it for $175K. I didn't lose 25K.
If I had been renting, and paid 1K a month I would have spent 60K just in rent. So I still came out 35K ahead.

At least that is how I look at it. And that usually makes it easier to handle. That is also why I haven't rented in awhile and continue to buy houses instead of rent them.
 
Barberakb said:
I also try to look at the fact if you bought a house, and lived there for several years you have to equate that into it when you decide to sell.
Yes you want to make as much money as you can. But if I bought a house for 200K, and 5 years later sell it for $175K. I didn't lose 25K.
If I had been renting, and paid 1K a month I would have spent 60K just in rent. So I still came out 35K ahead.

At least that is how I look at it. And that usually makes it easier to handle. That is also why I haven't rented in awhile and continue to buy houses instead of rent them.
Click to expand...

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.
 
captaincaution said:
How are soils in your area? CMU will be heavier and can increase foundation costs.
Click to expand...

The soil is pretty soft. We're on a mountain and the lot is in the back of one of our orchards. The site will have to be graded. When we grade it, we plan on taking off extra soil and mixing with lime. Then compacting the sub grade before pouring any foundation. The good news is that our family has ties to plenty of people with all of the equipment needed to do just about everything to build this house. And since they're friends of the family, and we're all real close in this little mountain community, it will all be done for next to no labor costs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Colt said:
Debating cinder block vs a traditional wood frame in our house we're starting up this spring. Concrete is a bit more expensive, but better insulation would offset the cost in a few years. Also a bit harder to run plumbing and wiring, but less breakdown and settling of materials over the years. Too much to think about and it's beginning to wear on me a bit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Check in to insurance cost differences as well, as frame can be considerably more expensive here.
 
Wake said:
Check in to insurance cost differences as well, as frame can be considerably more expensive here.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Didn't think about that. I'll look into it. Hopefully the cement would be cheaper as it's much stronger.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Colt said:
Thanks. Didn't think about that. I'll look into it. Hopefully the cement would be cheaper as it's much stronger.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Yes it is here, also less liable to have a significant fire.
 
Wake said:
Yes it is here, also less liable to have a significant fire.
Click to expand...

See. THIS is why I come to THP. House building info!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top