What are your next major purchases?

[stessier]

I'm good at negotiating, but does anyone still buy a car while sitting in a salesman's cubicle?

Only a majority of new and used car sales in the United States. You can start by email or a web form, transition to text and you'll still end up in the same room talking about the extended warranty, fabric protection and maintenance plan.

It doesn't have to take long, though. Online reviews lead me to a dealer that handled it by email and text. The day of delivery I still had to go in and it took about 90 minutes as I recall, but that was just the financials completing the sale, setting up a Chevy account, and then the salesperson walking through all the features of the car and making sure our phones connected. A couple of up-charges were mentioned, but all I said was "no thanks" and they moved on. That part was only 2-3 minutes.

[coopasonic]

My most recent Tesla purchase, which involved a trade-in, took about 3 minutes on site. It could have been faster, but small talk happened. Likely helped by the fact that I'd already paid for it.

[stessier]

My most recent Tesla purchase, which involved a trade-in, took about 3 minutes on site. It could have been faster, but small talk happened. Likely helped by the fact that I'd already paid for it.

Honestly the longest part was the salesperson sitting in the car explaining everything to me. I could have just told him I was good, I guess, but I can see how most Chevy buyers would appreciate the walk through.

[geezer]

The last major purchase on the horizon is a new vehicle. I keep putting off getting the ball rolling. I need to work on that.

That's high on our list, too, but since we're also shopping for a new house buying a car now would be a *bit* much. OTOH, I want to replace the Honda before it shits the bed, but where we're going to live will affect what kind of vehicle we need. We should at least come up with 2-3 vehicles that are contenders, in case our hand is forced. Preliminary opinion is that plug-in electrics aren't quite there yet so we'll probably opt for a hybrid instead.

My 1998 F150 is... well, not in great shape. I mean, it looks pretty good for it's age, but the last time I took it in, they came back with ~$3k worth of work that it needs/should get.

If it makes you feel better, since 1998 I've spent ~260k on daily driver vehicles (not counting anything for my wife). I think 3k in repairs sounds pretty good.

I'd be afraid to add up what I've spent :/

[geezer]

I'm good at negotiating, but does anyone still buy a car while sitting in a salesman's cubicle?

Only a majority of new and used car sales in the United States. You can start by email or a web form, transition to text and you'll still end up in the same room talking about the extended warranty, fabric protection and maintenance plan.

It doesn't have to take long, though. Online reviews lead me to a dealer that handled it by email and text. The day of delivery I still had to go in and it took about 90 minutes as I recall, but that was just the financials completing the sale, setting up a Chevy account, and then the salesperson walking through all the features of the car and making sure our phones connected. A couple of up-charges were mentioned, but all I said was "no thanks" and they moved on. That part was only 2-3 minutes.

Agreed. My last purchase involved finding the make/model I wanted, doing some online sleuthing to figure out was a good deal was, and emailing sales managers at various dealers until one said ok. It took about 10 dealers until I got the answer I needed. About half answered my initial email, and of those, three started the "come on in and talk about it, two engaged in good faith discussion over email (took about 3 back and forth) and one of the two was clearly a better deal, so I took it. No shenanigans when I arrived, and all was well.

To answer Kraken's question, I'd *never* just go in and dick around with a sales dude for a car anymore.

[coopasonic]

The last major purchase on the horizon is a new vehicle. I keep putting off getting the ball rolling. I need to work on that.

That's high on our list, too, but since we're also shopping for a new house buying a car now would be a *bit* much. OTOH, I want to replace the Honda before it shits the bed, but where we're going to live will affect what kind of vehicle we need. We should at least come up with 2-3 vehicles that are contenders, in case our hand is forced. Preliminary opinion is that plug-in electrics aren't quite there yet so we'll probably opt for a hybrid instead.

My 1998 F150 is... well, not in great shape. I mean, it looks pretty good for it's age, but the last time I took it in, they came back with ~$3k worth of work that it needs/should get.

If it makes you feel better, since 1998 I've spent ~260k on daily driver vehicles (not counting anything for my wife). I think 3k in repairs sounds pretty good.

I'd be afraid to add up what I've spent :/

I never maintained a track car. Autocross doesn't count. If we include the tax credits on the EVs I've also never paid more than $50k for a car though, inflation adjusted, the 2001 Lexus ($31,000 in 2001 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $53,855.45 today, doh) or the first Infiniti might cross that line.

I would have to do a bunch of math but I did trade every one of those cars in (except the most recent, obviously) so the real expense was probably closer to half that number. $150k (not quite half as the most recent was also one of the most expensive) over 25 years is $6k a year or $500/mo which doesn't sound too bad to me considering tires and oil changes were all I was paying for since they were generally all under warranty the entire time.

[Exodor]

Just when I was about to give up we got a cash offer for the old house. A week and a half after their offer the deal is closed and my bank account is much fuller (at least until we put most of that toward the new mortgage after some home renovations at the new place)

[Kraken]

Just when I was about to give up we got a cash offer for the old house. A week and a half after their offer the deal is closed and my bank account is much fuller (at least until we put most of that toward the new mortgage after some home renovations at the new place)

Nice. We hope to use the same playbook.

We're going back out to the Berkshires in a week or two to tour a couple of houses that are contenders. The market is so dead during the holidays that we don't feel any time pressure. Both look like nice houses that tick most, but not all, of our boxes. One is in a nice leafy neighborhood that abuts an industrial area on one side and a commercial zone on the other -- those are things most people in the Berks want to get away from, but I need to see the lay of the land for myself. I'm rather fond of civilization's conveniences. The other house is nearer my ideal location geographically, but the neighborhood might be too suburban. I don't mind having neighbors, but I don't want to see them, at least not up close and routinely.

The longer we look for our unicorn, the more my definition of a unicorn changes.

[em2nought]

GM announces 50% increase in vehicle prices. Guess what my next major purchase isn't going to be. http://www.autocarsgo.com/car-repairs/g ... ces-by-50/ I guess I bought one new vehicle in my life and that's it.

[LordMortis]

That is apparently from one youtuber whom I won't plug and has nothing to do with reality. He doesn't even mention Barra by name. Reality is GMs labor cost per vehicle will be going up by $500 next year and how that will reflect in price is will depend on what they can and cannot get from other areas. Of course labor increases will eventually cause supply chain cost increases rather than the concessions GM seem to think they are going to get...

https://apnews.com/article/general-moto ... 278c1b9884

The deals, GM said, will increase costs per vehicle by $500 next year and $575 by the end of the contracts, but analysts say competition will limit the company’s ability to raise prices.

“We are finalizing a 2024 budget that will fully offset the incremental costs of our new labor agreements, and the long-term plan we are executing includes reducing the capital intensity of the business, developing products even more efficiently and further reducing our fixed and variable costs,” CEO Mary Barra said in a prepared statement.

[Carpet_pissr]

Yeah, my bullshit-o-meter was pinging pretty hard when I saw that.

[Kraken]

Yeah, my bullshit-o-meter was pinging pretty hard when I saw that.

Me too. One link took me to a seemingly unrelated YouTube page, another took me to a 15-minute video of an old man ranting. I bailed after 3 minutes of that.

[em2nought]

Yes, I wasn't finding much supporting evidence. I guess he really needed the traffic.

[Kraken]

We're going to make an offer on a house tomorrow morning.

Since we started shopping almost a year ago, we've toured about 20 houses. This afternoon is the first time Wife and I agreed that this house is what we both want.

[gbasden]

We're going to make an offer on a house tomorrow morning.

Since we started shopping almost a year ago, we've toured about 20 houses. This afternoon is the first time Wife and I agreed that this house is what we both want.

Congrats! I know you were looking at one last fall - how does this one compare?

[Kraken]

We're going to make an offer on a house tomorrow morning.

Since we started shopping almost a year ago, we've toured about 20 houses. This afternoon is the first time Wife and I agreed that this house is what we both want.

Congrats! I know you were looking at one last fall - how does this one compare?

Our tastes changed. The previous one was a great house on a huge private piece of land -- 10+ acres and I would've owned a big chunk of woods, and the house itself was near perfect. But when I put the kibosh on it for financial reasons (which turned out to be wrong, but that's a side quest) we gradually came to realize that neither of us wanted to live where we couldn't get a pizza delivered. We've just been city folk too long to live out a Green Acres season. This is a slightly-less perfect house on a smaller piece of private land, but it's a hop skip and a jump to all the perks of civilization that we are accustomed to. It even has curbside recycling and trash. It's also priced $160,000 lower. I'd say the other one was pristine and this one is practical.

Here's the realtor.com listing, which I hope will go away pretty soon because it's not for sale anymore.

Spoiler:

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandho ... 4637439014

Oh yeah. It also has a pool. We're waffling on whether to remove it or use it.

[gbasden]

I had those cabinets!

I hope everything goes smoothly! That's a good looking house.

[Daehawk]

Oh yeah. It also has a pool. We're waffling on whether to remove it or use it.

Could put bass and crappies in it and fish out the winder in summer.

[em2nought]

We're going to make an offer on a house tomorrow morning.

Since we started shopping almost a year ago, we've toured about 20 houses. This afternoon is the first time Wife and I agreed that this house is what we both want.

Looks swell, the rooms all seem really big. I only even notice one neighbor's house? The lot seems really nice and private. I wonder if somebody cracked a tile in the kitchen and came up with the idea of creating the square pattern when they couldn't match the original tile. I have one poorly adhered tile, so I've considered what I might have to do if I ever tackled that kind of problem. LOL This house has a nice small house look from the front, but it definitely isn't small once you view it from the rear or see the inside. Looks really great and private on one plus acre from satellite, I approve.

I just hope it doesn't take somebody that long to buy my place. I've had three showings in two weeks.

[Kraken]

The focus of the house is its backyard, so the neighboring house that's visible from the front doesn't matter -- and once the trees leaf out even that won't be intrusive. It has the feel of country living while being quite close to a commercial strip, and within 10-15 minutes to the downtowns of Pittsfield and Lenox. Just the kind of location we've been waiting for. My main reservation is that both the streets and the driveway are on steep grades that will be challenging in slippery weather. But we're already planning to buy a new car after the house is settled, and 4-wheel-drive should solve that.

Our realtor is researching a couple of questions, and then we're going to do a Whatsapp call to nail down our offer price. There are no other offers on the table right now and she feels that the asking price is a little on the high side for the neighborhood, so we might undercut it slightly. But the house has only been on the market for less than a week so it's hard to gauge potential competition.

[Kraken]

Welp, we aren't buying a house yet. They had three offers, all close in price (and over the asking price), but the seller chose one with better terms (probably meaning a cash sale).

Back to square one. We've been house-hunting for almost a year now. We've toured 20+ houses. This was the first one Wife and I both agreed on without reservations, and therefore our first offer. I don't think we can spend another year looking at 20 more houses because these frequent overnight trips to the Berkshires are getting quite tiresome (not to mention expensive).

[em2nought]

Welp, we aren't buying a house yet. They had three offers, all close in price (and over the asking price), but the seller chose one with better terms (probably meaning a cash sale).

Back to square one.

Sorry, that was a great size private lot and location.

[Kraken]

Welp, we aren't buying a house yet. They had three offers, all close in price (and over the asking price), but the seller chose one with better terms (probably meaning a cash sale).

Back to square one.

Sorry, that was a great size private lot and location.

It was pretty close to exactly what we're looking for. The (sour grapes) drawbacks are that it's at the top of a long, steep hill that would be hard to climb when slippery...the driveway is also steep...and the neighborhood isn't all that; we would've had a $500k house in a $300-400k neighborhood. It's not air conditioned, either. AC didn't used to be necessary in the woodsy mountainous Berkshires, but of course that's changed over the past 10+ years, so we would've had to install several mini-splits.

It was only on the market for 6 days and got 3 offers -- that's how desirable it is. We couldn't compete with somebody who has half a million in cash.

[Unagi]

we would've had a $500k house in a $300-400k neighborhood.

Well, they do say "never own the most expensive house on the block" - so you dodged that bullet.

[Exodor]

We've discovered the previous owner of this house was a big DIYer and an idiot.

Last Friday we got a visit from the gas company who told us the furnace in the garage has been venting natural gas. They gave us two options - turn off gas to the furnace or turn off gas to the house. We chose to spend 4 days without central heat and now we've got a snazzy new furnace (and a water heater since the previous one was old and blocked into a corner by the furnace.)

Yesterday we had a contractor remove the insulation in the attic to prep for new stuff going in (insulation which was clearly a DIY job and done poorly). They discovered that most the pipes from the house going through the attic are broken or just plain don't go anywhere. The bathroom fan and hood over the stovetop just vent straight into the attic. Also the hood was clearly moved from one side of the kitchen to the other at some point and to get power to the new location they ran an extension cord in the attic under the insulation to the new location.

So now we're not only paying for new insulation but another $500 to have all that shit hooked up correctly (and $XX to have an electrician fix the extension cord issue).

You'd think this is the sort of thing the pre-sale home inspection would find but


Fortunately we've still got the proceeds from the sale of the old house but we're going to have significantly less to apply to the new mortgage than I'd hoped.

[LawBeefaroni]

Sofa/bed thing for the kiddo's room. She's of the age where sleepovers in the living room aren't right. And since she got a sofa, why not a 50" TV?

[Kraken]

we would've had a $500k house in a $300-400k neighborhood.

Well, they do say "never own the most expensive house on the block" - so you dodged that bullet.

True, it wasn't a good investment, but we're buying a place to live out our dotage.

[EvilHomer3k]

We've discovered the previous owner of this house was a big DIYer and an idiot.

Last Friday we got a visit from the gas company who told us the furnace in the garage has been venting natural gas. They gave us two options - turn off gas to the furnace or turn off gas to the house. We chose to spend 4 days without central heat and now we've got a snazzy new furnace (and a water heater since the previous one was old and blocked into a corner by the furnace.)

Yesterday we had a contractor remove the insulation in the attic to prep for new stuff going in (insulation which was clearly a DIY job and done poorly). They discovered that most the pipes from the house going through the attic are broken or just plain don't go anywhere. The bathroom fan and hood over the stovetop just vent straight into the attic. Also the hood was clearly moved from one side of the kitchen to the other at some point and to get power to the new location they ran an extension cord in the attic under the insulation to the new location.

So now we're not only paying for new insulation but another $500 to have all that shit hooked up correctly (and $XX to have an electrician fix the extension cord issue).

You'd think this is the sort of thing the pre-sale home inspection would find but


Fortunately we've still got the proceeds from the sale of the old house but we're going to have significantly less to apply to the new mortgage than I'd hoped.

When we redid our kitchen we found an extension cord inside the wall. Along with that extension cord was a breakout box (also inside the wall). The breakout box was on a 15 amp breaker and fed the oven, microwave outlet, toaster outlet, and an outlet in the garage. We had tripped the breaker numerous times. When we redid it the electrician showed us the breaker box with ALL of the protective sheathing burnt away. He said there was a 100% chance we would have had a fire. We were lucky we found it before the fire. We redid our kitchen ourselves. The electrician was a good friend who helped me and was an electrician for over 10 years at that point (he's in IT now).

I would bet that your issues would have significantly increased your risk of fire as well. In 15 years you'll just be happy your house didn't burn down. I know it hurts monetarily now but it's worth it. I DIY a lot of stuff but anyone who uses an extension cord for electrical wiring should not be allowed to DIY.

[Isgrimnur]

The electrician was a good friend who helped me and was an electrician for over 10 years at that point (he's in IT now).

Lower chance of being electrocuted.

[EvilHomer3k]

The electrician was a good friend who helped me and was an electrician for over 10 years at that point (he's in IT now).

Lower chance of being electrocuted.

Yeah, that and it gets really cold in Iowa in the winter. He did a lot of corporate work on new buildings so a lot of that was in buildings without heat and some without windows. Plus the electrical he had to do outside. Another friend of mine (more an acquaintance) was electrocuted and burned his hands and arms quite badly. Took him almost a year to recover and he'll never fully recover. It's a relatively dangerous profession. I'd much rather be a plumber. Worst thing you get there is pink eye.

[Exodor]

I would bet that your issues would have significantly increased your risk of fire as well. In 15 years you'll just be happy your house didn't burn down. I know it hurts monetarily now but it's worth it. I DIY a lot of stuff but anyone who uses an extension cord for electrical wiring should not be allowed to DIY.

Once we were told about the issues there was 0 chance we weren't going to have them addressed by a professional but my wife is pissed about finding all this stuff AFTER the inspection. At the end of this process we'll have new furnace, water heater, insulation, wiring and A/C (which was installed just before we moved in).

I also still need to pay a dude ~$1000 and rent a dumpter to get the DIY treehouse in the backyard removed. Maybe the neighbors will chip in so they don't have to look at it anymore.

[Punisher]

I would bet that your issues would have significantly increased your risk of fire as well. In 15 years you'll just be happy your house didn't burn down. I know it hurts monetarily now but it's worth it. I DIY a lot of stuff but anyone who uses an extension cord for electrical wiring should not be allowed to DIY.

Once we were told about the issues there was 0 chance we weren't going to have them addressed by a professional but my wife is pissed about finding all this stuff AFTER the inspection. At the end of this process we'll have new furnace, water heater, insulation, wiring and A/C (which was installed just before we moved in).

I also still need to pay a dude ~$1000 and rent a dumpter to get the DIY treehouse in the backyard removed. Maybe the neighbors will chip in so they don't have to look at it anymore.

Have you checked on the possibility of the inspector either wating or helping with the repair cost or at minimum refunding your inspection fee?
If they resist, a bad yelp and BBB review may grease the wheels.

[Lassr]

New Vinyl Flooring incoming. Doing the whole house except Bedrooms and bathrooms, 1200 sq ft. I'll be really glad to get the old laminated flooring up.
Gonna be fun laying it with a stairwell right in the middle of the dining room and great room.

[Kraken]

Welp, we aren't buying a house yet. They had three offers, all close in price (and over the asking price), but the seller chose one with better terms (probably meaning a cash sale).

Back to square one. We've been house-hunting for almost a year now. We've toured 20+ houses. This was the first one Wife and I both agreed on without reservations, and therefore our first offer. I don't think we can spend another year looking at 20 more houses because these frequent overnight trips to the Berkshires are getting quite tiresome (not to mention expensive).

The deal fell through, and we were invited to put in a new bid. We raised our offer by $10k. The other party is also still in the game. Bids are due at noon tomorrow and we should know by the end of the day if we're getting this house or not. The seller wants to close ASAP; our credit union says we can get a mortgage in just under 30 days, which seems really fast to me. So unless the other buyer has a significantly higher offer or can turn it around faster, I like our odds.

[em2nought]

We raised our offer by $10k. The other party is also still in the game. Bids are due at noon tomorrow and we should know by the end of the day if we're getting this house or not. The seller wants to close ASAP; our credit union says we can get a mortgage in just under 30 days, which seems really fast to me. So unless the other buyer has a significantly higher offer or can turn it around faster, I like our odds.

Best of luck! It's a swell lot. I wouldn't want to keep that much house clean and maintained myself, but I'm lazy. I don't even like keeping my 800 sq ft condo in show ready condition.

[Kraken]

We stopped cleaning a couple of years ago. That's what immigrants are for.

[Kraken]

Revised offer signed and sent. We'll know by 7 p.m. Things move rapidly if the offer's accepted (we already have an inspector lined up for next Monday morning, for example).

[Kraken]

...and we lost again. According to our realtor, the two offers were very similar, but the winner is using a local lender. Which rationally shouldn't matter, but people in the Berkshires are parochial about supporting local businesses. The seller's realtor told our agent that the seller is crazy and he'll be glad when he doesn't have to work with them anymore.

If the sale falls through again we'll resubmit again because we still really want that house, but we'll drop back to the original lower offer because fuck them.

[pr0ner]

...and we lost again. According to our realtor, the two offers were very similar, but the winner is using a local lender. Which rationally shouldn't matter, but people in the Berkshires are parochial about supporting local businesses. The seller's realtor told our agent that the seller is crazy and he'll be glad when he doesn't have to work with them anymore.

If the sale falls through again we'll resubmit again because we still really want that house, but we'll drop back to the original lower offer because fuck them.

When I bought my current home almost 5 years ago now, my realtor told me to use a local lender because it would be a lot more responsive than relying on my usual bank.

It worked great, and I wound up refinancing with my current bank when interest rates tanked even further a year later anyway.

[Kraken]

...and we lost again. According to our realtor, the two offers were very similar, but the winner is using a local lender. Which rationally shouldn't matter, but people in the Berkshires are parochial about supporting local businesses. The seller's realtor told our agent that the seller is crazy and he'll be glad when he doesn't have to work with them anymore.

If the sale falls through again we'll resubmit again because we still really want that house, but we'll drop back to the original lower offer because fuck them.

When I bought my current home almost 5 years ago now, my realtor told me to use a local lender because it would be a lot more responsive than relying on my usual bank.

It worked great, and I wound up refinancing with my current bank when interest rates tanked even further a year later anyway.

There are advantages to using Wife's employer's credit union (low rates, low fees, rapid turnaround), and they're a respected name brand. I can see where going local can be a tie-breaker, as it apparently was here, but I'll stick with Plan A unless it happens again. Our realtor feels that it shouldn't be a problem.