Home ownership
Maybe I missed a thread similar to this, but that's ok. I have been in my home for 10 years now, and there are some thi
Eye protection!
Mark,
Who originally bought that house? From the pics you've posted, it looks like your grand parents lived there or maybe your childhood home?
love the tree history
assuming it's an oak, is that correct?
I'll say! It's amazing how gnarly one can become in only 60 years!
I used a weed eater this morning for the first time in years. It took less than ten seconds for me to remember why I hate them so much. Sumbitch worked like a champ! Me, not so much.
Ugh. I hate weedeating. Only thing I do anymore that makes me sore, lol.
Mark,
Who originally bought that house? From the pics you've posted, it looks like your grand parents lived there or maybe your childhood home?
Built in '64, grandparents bought it in '67, I was born in '69. So, it's really the main constant throughout my life.
It's a Live Oak.
Weedeating sucks. The mower should take care of that.
So, there's your million dollar idea. Invent a reliable attachment which can do the weedeating in one pass of the mower.
Just remember to cut me in.
I would have thought you guys were into edging.
Got my first surprise of the home buying process: the property didn’t appraise.
Our contract sales price is 384. The comps the appraiser used were two in the subdivision, at 402 and 426, and one in the next subdivision over (that’s closer to the landfill and may smell) at 370. And of course, the one in the other subdivision doesn’t have the clubhouse, pool, and amenities mine does.
Furthermore, my property could be even more desirable than the comps in the neighborhood, as it’s on a cul de sac, granite in the kitchen, etc.
Somehow, the appraiser arrived at a value of 381.
The lender told me I have two options: ask the seller to reduce the price, or ask the appraiser what the hell he’s smoking to get that number, and submit more comps and ask to reconsider.
Since the negotiations were lengthy, and I extracted 7k out of the seller for closing costs, I don’t want to ask them to reduce the price. I think if I do, they’ll just take it out of the closing costs they’re giving me, which I’m using to reduce my cash to close, and buy down the rate, to keep my payment as low as possible.
So I have my realtor doing market research to ask the appraiser to reconsider.
If I have to come up with the 3k difference to make the deal work, I will. But still. Very unnecessary new development.
That's wild. In 6 real property transactions in my life between buying and selling, I've had the appraisal on the number for the purchase price in all 6.
Got my first surprise of the home buying process: the property didn’t appraise.Our contract sales price is 384. The comps the appraiser used were two in the subdivision, at 402 and 426, and one in the next subdivision over (that’s closer to the landfill and may smell) at 370. And of course, the one in the other subdivision doesn’t have the clubhouse, pool, and amenities mine
I had a good 24 hours of panic when my appraisal came in at 230 and my house was under contract for 270. I could cover the gap. I was under the gun to close the deal because of the timing of their rent-back period and my apartment's lease running out, so I didn't want to play games with trying to re-appraise that insanely lowball number. At least I'll never ever be underwater even if we see prices retrench after the 2020 boom, that I bought into the early stages of.
Which is why my loan is at 4.99 and not the 7 that the "poor souls" after me got. I mean, I remember when mortgages were at 14.
Had that happen during the 2020 boom. Appraiser used comps that were about 6 months old, which was an eternity at that time. I ended up splitting the difference with the buyers, and I'm still salty about it.
Wow, good luck, TJ. $3,000 isn't that much in the scheme of life, but when asked to come up with it unexpectedly, it's tough.
This piece of **** limb is wedged into the ground and there are just too many variables here to cut it and run. It could take a really weird fall and somehow hit the neighbors garage.I think I might have to grapple it maybe with a chain hoist? To make sure it doesn't go anywhere.
I ended up bringing this down with only a shovel. I had to look at it for three weeks before it made sense in my head what to do but I basically just dug out and used a stone as a fulcrum and easily picked the whole thing up and laid it down. Took five minutes.
My mind moves more slowly now with so few braincells left to work with but it does still work.
Good. Would have posted earlier, but still having trouble with photo app no longer having a copy function. Screenshot doesn't seem to work either. Very frustrated with phone ATM.
First company came out to quote me on furnace replacement.
Surprised at how much there is in terms of incentives; heat pump just about as cheap as replacement.
"We only have three of these in stock." I wouldn't say he was trying to hard-sell me, just stating a fact. The next one in line didn't have quite the rebate potential, so I'll have to evaluate.
Felt good about him from a technical standpoint. He seemed to know what he was talking about, and could explain things down to my level. Did what seemed like a good inspection (turns out, Richmond built the place without quite enough return air--surprise!), and a few other things, so not a simple install, but noting they haven't run across before either.
Two other companies coming out the first part of next week, so I'll get some other numbers and info and then make a decision.
Last of the quotes this AM. Three that seemed pretty competitive, and the guy who came out seemed competent.
Now trying to sift through the data to make a decision. Pretty sure I know who I'm going with, but I'm bad at synthesizing so much data from a field with which I'm unfamiliar.
Ultimately, it'll be fine. I'll pull the trigger and live with the results. Going to give it an overnight to think. Or maybe later today. We'll see.
What are the companies you're looking at?
I got quotes from Kappler, Cooper, Sensible Heating, Elephant Energy and Tipping Hat. 2, 3 and 5 made the finals.
Just got off the phone with the guy from Cooper, I decided on them. Have had them do some electrical work before, they seemed competent.
Prices all kinda within $1K of of each other. Looking at proposed equipment, they all seemed good. Neighbor guy had them put in heat pump/furnace this spring and has been quite pleased, so got a bit of feel-good from that. He's quite intelligent, and an engineer.
Anyway, they're supposed to send me some docs to e-sign, call tomorrow to get payment details, and then be out Tuesday for the install.
When getting bids from contractors, I always think of this. Never go with the lowest bid especially if they ask for money up front to cover the cost of materials.
Although I guess it worked out OK for John Glenn
I guess the question I'm asked the most often is: "When you were sitting in that capsule listening to the count-down, how did you feel?" Well, the answer to that one is easy. I felt exactly how you would feel if you were getting ready to launch and knew you were sitting on top of two million parts -- all built by the lowest bidder on a government contract.”
― John Glenn
👍
Generally agree with Cowboy. While this happened t be the lowest bid, that wasn't the driving factor.
As mentioned earlier, I'm not good at synthesizing the data from everyone. Kinda did some googling on the proposed brand/models of hardware, didn't see anything there driving me one direction or another. Seemed like all of it was fine.
The company that I went with is going to take the fair-sized rebate that Xcel offers directly, instead of me paying them and waiting some weeks for Xcel to rebate me. So less out-of-pocket initially.
That plus my neighbor's recommendation pushed me in their direction.
Golddog-Contractor is key-most manufacturers make decent quality-one caveat-do not buy products from Goodman Manufacturing (brands are Janitrol, Goodman)
Every house in your subdivision has inadequate return air-guaranteed. (Actually all the ducts are probably marginally undersized) Adding return capacity will help you save money and be more comfortable (with less air noise also)
You're right. Per our previous conversation, I was actively going to avoid Goodman. Nobody suggested that. The selected contractor installs Bosch stuff.
All of them mentioned increasing the return flow. Fortunately, plenty of room near the furnace to expand those ducts.
Went by the office yesterday on the way to Target and paid the 50% upfront portion. Filled out the document to tell Xcel to send them the rebate instead of me. We're on for Tuesday!
Unfortunately, Target didn't have the inner tube size for my bike. I didn't think of the local hardware/outdoor store till this morning, then went ahead and got a tube with the wrong kind of valve on my first try. So missed a short ride over to my car mechanic's annual BBQ/car show/customer appreciation day.
As always, they put on a nice show, and it was a good time.
