Buying your first home

[naednek]

Come to Texas. My prospective house is 2200 sq ft. for less than half of that. Cost of living between Boston and Dallas is about a 30% decrease as well.

yes, but how much do you get paid

[Kelric]

Saw another one tonight. 10,000+ SQ FT lot, one car garage, 3 bedroom with a walk-in closet/office space off the master, an actual office, an eat-in kitchen, small dining room and small living room. Only one bathroom and it desperately needs to be updated. If we can afford it we'd love to turn the downstairs office into a laundry / bathroom. Putting in an offer tonight, they have an open house on Sunday with an offer deadline of 5pm that night. They're clearly looking to move (have it listed nearly $40k less than what they paid 8 years ago). I don't think we're going to get it because we need to put a contingency to sell our place, but worth a shot.

[Isgrimnur]

Come to Texas. My prospective house is 2200 sq ft. for less than half of that. Cost of living between Boston and Dallas is about a 30% decrease as well.

yes, but how much do you get paid

Not enough. Never enough.

[LordMortis]

Found out a couple days ago that our upstairs neighbors (we live on the second floor of a three family house) are selling their place. Their place is significantly bigger than ours (because they have the attic in the house) - probably north of 1,500 or maybe even 1,600 sq. ft! I expect them to ask somewhere around $450k for their place, and to probably get a final selling price north of $400k.

If three people own a home in the same physical structure, who owns the physical structure? Who is liable? Who takes care of it? Who takes care of the grounds? This stuff always baffled me.

Also, owning a 3rd floor? Fuck that noise. Two flights of stairs to come home or leave for the rest of my life? Ugh. It's hard enough to get out of bed in the morning.

[Kelric]

If three people own a home in the same physical structure, who owns the physical structure? Who is liable? Who takes care of it? Who takes care of the grounds? This stuff always baffled me.

Also, owning a 3rd floor? Fuck that noise. Two flights of stairs to come home or leave for the rest of my life? Ugh. It's hard enough to get out of bed in the morning.

Do you not have condos in Detroit? The association of owners, in which you buy a stake, owns the structure and is liable. Ideally you come to joint decisions about taking care of things and do stuff fairly. More often than one some of the owners do no work and a few do all of it.

[AWS260]

Also, owning a 3rd floor? Fuck that noise. Two flights of stairs to come home or leave for the rest of my life? Ugh. It's hard enough to get out of bed in the morning.

You get used to it.

[El Guapo]

Found out a couple days ago that our upstairs neighbors (we live on the second floor of a three family house) are selling their place. Their place is significantly bigger than ours (because they have the attic in the house) - probably north of 1,500 or maybe even 1,600 sq. ft! I expect them to ask somewhere around $450k for their place, and to probably get a final selling price north of $400k.

If three people own a home in the same physical structure, who owns the physical structure? Who is liable? Who takes care of it? Who takes care of the grounds? This stuff always baffled me.

Also, owning a 3rd floor? Fuck that noise. Two flights of stairs to come home or leave for the rest of my life? Ugh. It's hard enough to get out of bed in the morning.

Basically we bought both our physical unit and a one-third interest (along with the other two families) in the house. So we're all one-third liable for maintenance (paid mainly through dues). We all share taking care of the grounds, though the first floor family is significantly more anal about that stuff so they wind up doing a disproportionate share of it (which works out fine overall).

I'm a little private so I don't entirely love sharing a house with two other families, but we don't see them all that much overall, and it helps a lot to have that many people available to help on groundswork (and on, say, shoveling). Plus if we'd bought a single family house we would've needed to live in the burbs.

[Madmarcus]

Plus if we'd bought a single family house we would've needed to live in the burbs.

2000 square feet plus a fully finished basement and huge garage for $135k or so makes the burbs pretty livable. Its the cheaper, sleepier side of Atlanta but we're old boring folks anyway. The only way I could see living in a city would be if I was near the center of one with a really nice public transit system and I don't think I'll ever desire to spend the money to do that.

[Chaz]

Plus if we'd bought a single family house we would've needed to live in the burbs.

2000 square feet plus a fully finished basement and huge garage for $135k or so makes the burbs pretty livable. Its the cheaper, sleepier side of Atlanta but we're old boring folks anyway. The only way I could see living in a city would be if I was near the center of one with a really nice public transit system and I don't think I'll ever desire to spend the money to do that.

Ah, see, in Boston, "the burbs" where you'd be able to find something like that for that price would be somewhere in northern VT. Home prices in the New England area exist in a whole other realm than elsewhere in the country.

[J.D.]

Plus if we'd bought a single family house we would've needed to live in the burbs.

2000 square feet plus a fully finished basement and huge garage for $135k or so makes the burbs pretty livable. Its the cheaper, sleepier side of Atlanta but we're old boring folks anyway. The only way I could see living in a city would be if I was near the center of one with a really nice public transit system and I don't think I'll ever desire to spend the money to do that.

A friend of mine just bought a house in the burbs near me (outside of Toronto) that's 2000sqft with an unfinished basement and a two car garage for .... $560,000. I'm living in the wrong area for affordableness.

[Madmarcus]

Ah, see, in Boston, "the burbs" where you'd be able to find something like that for that price would be somewhere in northern VT. Home prices in the New England area exist in a whole other realm than elsewhere in the country.

I know. My brother lives in northern NJ so I'm very used to hearing about insane real estate even in what would be the burbs.

[Isgrimnur]

Put in an offer on a place 4% over list on Sunday after the open house. The place got over 10 offers, and we were declined. Again.

[El Guapo]

Put in an offer on a place 4% over list on Sunday after the open house. The place got over 10 offers, and we were declined. Again.

My upstairs neighbors are having an open house this Sunday.

[coopasonic]

That commute is a bitch.

Is the "fixer upper" still available, Isg?

[El Guapo]

That commute is a bitch.

Don't worry - Isg's going to move to Boston.

[Isgrimnur]

It's not on Zillow as available or recently sold. It's probably been pulled down pending their gluing the foundation back together by hand. Realtor.com shows it under Active Option Contract.

[Isgrimnur]

That commute is a bitch.

Don't worry - Isg's going to move to Boston.

There's a few credit unions in Boston, S. Boston, and Waltham. Danvers, Lawrence, and Fall River don't look promising.

[El Guapo]

That commute is a bitch.

Don't worry - Isg's going to move to Boston.

There's a few credit unions in Boston, S. Boston, and Waltham. Danvers, Lawrence, and Fall River don't look promising.

No, there is definitely nothing promising about Danvers, Lawrence, or Fall River. But that's ok, because Boston is great.

[Kelric]

We put in an offer Friday but they didn't respond by our deadline so oh well. Making another offer tonight.

No, there is definitely nothing promising about Danvers, Lawrence, or Fall River.

That's certainly true.

[Isgrimnur]

Offer was placed on Thursday for a place clocking 200k. We went at 205. Owners are having a new place built for them, which won't be ready until June.

Our offer was accepted. Inspection is Tuesday. If everything goes forward, past closing, they will pay us $50 a day until they can move into their new place.

[Kelric]

We got an offer accepted on a place in Peabody, MA (in between Nothing-Promising-About-Danvers and Cool-Seaside-City-Salem) and had the inspection today. Asking them to get all the outlets grounded and fix a bit of the ducts near the furnace. The inspector hated the insulation job in the attic / crawl space and strongly recommended we get that dealt with before next winter, but that isn't something we think the seller would go for doing now.

[Kraken]

I think of Peabody as being far away, but I see you're not that much farther from Boston than Braintree is. Must just be the drive/traffic that makes it seem remote. You have commuter rail there?

It's funny how the north and south shores seem almost like different states with Boston separating them.

[Kelric]

I think of Peabody as being far away, but I see you're not that much farther from Boston than Braintree is. Must just be the drive/traffic that makes it seem remote. You have commuter rail there?

No commuter rail! I will have to travel to Salem (12-15 minute drive, with the possibility of traffic adding 5-10 minutes) for that. Regular traffic will suck, but our place in Salem is 30-45 minutes away from the 95/128 junction, whereas the Peabody place is 10/15 minutes away (even though it is only three miles or so closer). That'll be a huge difference when visiting anyone else on a day trip. At the moment I only HAVE to go into Boston two to three times a month, though technically I should be going twice a week. My team doesn't need to be in office and I only need to be in every other Wednesday for the meetings I run. For the time being the wife will drive me to the train station when I need to go in.

It's funny how the north and south shores seem almost like different states with Boston separating them.

After two and a half years of being in Salem my sense of North Shore geography has improved, but is still full of generalizations. In my head we have Boston. Then Lynn/Revere are the same thing. Then Swampscott and Marblehead are the same. Salem sticks out as an independent coastal town of awesomeness. North of that is Beverly, with an improving downtown and spoiled rich kids. Then everything to the northeast is Cape Ann (Manchester-By-The-Sea, Gloucester, Rockport, etc.). Everything directly north of Beverly is Horse Country (Winthrop, Essex, Newbury, Ipswich, etc.); lots of farms and ranches on estates. West of Salem is Peabody and Danvers, both of which are northern suburban towns that are completely uninteresting.

Ideally we would have wound up in Beverly/Salem, with Peabody as our third choice, but the timing involved with selling our place and getting an offer accepted and not living at my mother's or a friend's spare room for an indefinite amount of time sent us to a town that is more suburban than we really want but is close enough to the two towns we want to enjoy. If we get this house we'll have a fantastic yard that is already fenced in, will be in a completely residential area, five minutes away from a children's hospital, and we'll be going from a 1 bedroom to a 4 bedroom. We just can't walk anywhere beyond the park/playground a few blocks away.

My life is over.

[Kraken]

Not over, just on hiatus for 20 years. People with kids live in suburbs that are optimized for kids and structure their lives around their kids. They just do and most of them are happy to do it. I hope you will be, too. If not...20 years goes by real quick.

I don't know the north shore very well apart from Salem. Seems like you drive and drive through gritty poor areas until suddenly you're in horsey rich areas-by-the-sea. I do like Salem though.

I've gotten provincial after living in Randolph and Braintree since 1986.

[Isgrimnur]

Appraisal comes in at exactly what was listed, which we had to beat by $5k to even get a look. So either the seller needs to come down to what the original ask was or we ... Well, I guess the seller needs to come down to the appraised value. I'm scraping to come up with closing costs. There's no way I can find another $5k to make up that difference.

[coopasonic]

I was going to offer $5k in exchange for your first born, but I decided I am done with diapers and I am not doing that again until it is time for me to wear diapers.

Good luck figuring it out.

[LordMortis]

Appraisal comes in at exactly what was listed, which we had to beat by $5k to even get a look. So either the seller needs to come down to what the original ask was or we ... Well, I guess the seller needs to come down to the appraised value. I'm scraping to come up with closing costs. There's no way I can find another $5k to make up that difference.

Can't you get another $5k loan at a higher rate or did they take all of that crap off the table when everything fell apart in 2008? I was not only allowed to finance a 2nd mortgage in 2003 when I bought the house but I was allowed to deduct it on my taxes.

[Smoove_B]

Appraisal comes in at exactly what was listed, which we had to beat by 1 fence to even get a look. So either the seller needs to come down to what the original ask was or we ... Well, I guess the seller needs to come down to the appraised value. I'm scraping to come up with closing costs. There's no way I can find another 1 fence to make up that difference.

It probably won't make you feel better, but this is what my life has become. I know I've said it before, but don't tap yourself out to get into a house. Because I can guarantee that at some point soon after moving in something will happen and you'll need a bucket of cash to deal with it.

[coopasonic]

Yeah I'd say blessing in disguise, but I don't want to pile on.

[malchior]

I resemble Smoove_B's comment. Meaning I had a horrible time buying - see above in thread. Then I found out they hid problems with the pool (to the tune of $5000 in repairs), the roof failed faster than predicted, and Sandy knocked down fifty bajillion trees and I had to deal with that shit. I'm only now getting back into a decent cash position and I have a ton of personal loans for the roof/windows/etc. I'm lucky in a way that I estimate if I did sell I'd be able to wash the whole thing and get my original equity stake back but it has been a little tight for the last year or so cash wise. And I would have been screwed if I went anywhere near the edge of my resources.

[LordMortis]

It probably won't make you feel better, but this is what my life has become. I know I've said it before, but don't tap yourself out to get into a house. Because I can guarantee that at some point soon after moving in something will happen and you'll need a bucket of cash to deal with it.

I got approved for a house that sells for nearly twice I paid for mine. Trying to explain to realtors that I didn't want to spend my life eating ramen, living to pay a mortgage got to be a pain. When I looked at the payments, I literally wouldn't have had enough money to pay bills and gas my car and eat.

And as it turns out, I should have bought a cheaper house....

[El Guapo]

My neighbor's place is still available.

[Isgrimnur]

After agreeing to not make them pay the first year of home warranty and not fixing whatever is wrong with the sprinkler system that I didn't know they had until the inspection, it's back on at $200k. Now I just need to get homeowner's insurance lined up.

[coopasonic]

Now I just need to get homeowner's insurance lined up.

Tip: Don't accept a 2% Hail Damage deductible.

[Isgrimnur]

Now I just need to get homeowner's insurance lined up.

Tip: Don't accept a 2% Hail Damage deductible.

I would like to know more.

[Isgrimnur]

Now I just need to get homeowner's insurance lined up.

Tip: Don't accept a 2% Hail Damage deductible.

I would like to know more.

Found it.

[coopasonic]

Now I just need to get homeowner's insurance lined up.

Tip: Don't accept a 2% Hail Damage deductible.

I would like to know more.

Texas has a separate deductible on hail damage to your property. Typical values for that deductible are:
2% of insured value
1% of insured value
$2000 (or some similar fixed dollar value)

Depending on your insurance provider and negotiated terms the insured value for your house may be significantly higher than the purchase cost of your house. Say, for instance you have a house that you bought for $265k. You might think 2% or about $5k is a reasonable deductible for hail damage as it's a fairly rare event. Say, also hypothetically that your current appraisal is closer to $350k and your insurance is based on replacement cost closer to $475k. Now consider a pretty punishing hail storm comes through and you need a roof replacement and all the related goodies. What you figured was a $5k deductible turns out to be a $9500 deductible.

Honestly I don't recall making the selection for the 2% deduction and certainly not comprehending what it meant. The best part is when I checked after the fact and lowered the deductible from 2% to 1% and it cost me an extra $80 a year... to reduce my deductible by $4750.

[Carpet_pissr]

don't tap yourself out to get into a house. Because I can guarantee that at some point soon after moving in something will happen and you'll need a bucket of cash to deal with it.

It is known.

[JSHAW]

Also, owning a 3rd floor? Fuck that noise. Two flights of stairs to come home or leave for the rest of my life? Ugh. It's hard enough to get out of bed in the morning.

You get used to it.

When I lived in Germany we were in a house with the landlord on the bottom floor, we were on the 2nd floor, and another military couple was on the 3rd floor.

We shared a stairwell that led to 2nd and 3rd floor.

Whenever the couple upstairs were having sexy time, we'd hear it. Interesting to say the least.

Kinda awkward to see the woman from upstairs and know that you've "heard the lamentations of the women", as Conan the Barbarian would say.

[Isgrimnur]

We close tomorrow.