Yeah maybe they didn't do usb, I was half paying attention lol
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Homeowner Thread |OT| A Thread for Homeowners
- Thread starter vacantseas
- Start date
Yeah maybe they didn't do usb, I was half paying attention lol
They could've installed receptacles with USB slots in some places since those are just a straight swap with normal receptacles.
Saw the posts about staining/sealing decks a few weeks back. I have a huge multi-level deck that's looking a bit rough (the top deck is old, but apparently the lower deck is only a few years old and looks almost worse than the "old" deck). Half of what I've read says it's okay to pressure wash wood decks and other half says not to do it as you can damage the wood. Anyone have experience with this? I have a pressure washer so I could do it myself. I've already bought deck cleaner and a stiff push brush; just got to figure out what kind of stain/sealant I want.
When you pressure wash make sure that you have a wide spray nozzle on and don't get too close to the deck itself. I'd practice on an out of the way area to get the feel for it. If you get too close you'll start tearing the wood up. You just have to be careful but within 5 minutes you'll be a pro
Awesome, thanks so much for the tips. This is a photo from the listing last year - as you can see it's A LOT of deck so being able to pressure wash it would be super helpful. I may even look into getting a sprayer for the stain, hah.
You're welcome!
Yeah, that's a big area. We ended up having our deck painted this year, it's pretty big as well and my wife had them use a "semi-transparent" grey stain instead of a traditional clear (ish?) stain. Not what I was used to but it ended up coming out nice.
Good luck, decks are nice but they take a fair amount of maintenance. Yours will look really nice when it's done
I know I really shouldn't be looking but I can't help myself.
Zillow's estimates are trash. Here's a recent sale in my town.
Zillow's estimates are trash. Here's a recent sale in my town.
Yeah, I find Zillow's estimate for my house to be on the high side and Realtor.com's to be on the low sideI know I really shouldn't be looking but I can't help myself.
Zillow's estimates are trash. Here's a recent sale in my town.
Zestimates are the worst. At least ours finally values our house for more than we paid I guess.
So for my dining room I have a round table in mind, but it's a pain to find a nice one at the right size. I feel like it has to be 5' to sit six. Not to mention the right price.
yeah i'm not understanding how Canada is supposedly so different with regard to fridge space because of "local options" than Americans are because...........reasons? Sorry, I think you may be ranting into the void.
I know I really shouldn't be looking but I can't help myself.
Zillow's estimates are trash. Here's a recent sale in my town.
What does it look like on Redfin? Their estimates seem to be pretty spot on.
Redfin is usually quick to use a new sale as a datapoint for their estimate. So they have it almost at the sale price.
Before the sale, I think it was at $520k.
Redfin's estimate on my house is over $10k more than Zillow. Not what I expected if it's supposed to be more accurate. Our city's market is nucking futs though so I guess it's not that unrealistic. At any rate it seems pretty clear that conservatively our house has gone up more the $200k in value from when we bought it in 2011.
Meanwhile my parents bought their house in 2009 for slightly more than we bought our house for 700 miles away. It's gone up less than $50k in value according to Redfin, less than $90k according to Zillow. Fucking yikes considering they plan to move to our area in a couple years. They currently live in a 2800 sq ft house; they'll be lucky to get a 1000 sq ft condo for their buying power. Gonna have to dip into retirement.
Meanwhile my parents bought their house in 2009 for slightly more than we bought our house for 700 miles away. It's gone up less than $50k in value according to Redfin, less than $90k according to Zillow. Fucking yikes considering they plan to move to our area in a couple years. They currently live in a 2800 sq ft house; they'll be lucky to get a 1000 sq ft condo for their buying power. Gonna have to dip into retirement.
My sliding doors have started catching. (I have to push the static one a little bit to get the sliding one to close). Are there adjustments that can be made or do I need to replace the static one? I am thinking the static one bulged a little in the middle due to the excessive humidity/heat we have been having.
This person installed speakers in their dining room, behind the dry wall.
Neat.
I don't mind seeing speakers. I'm hoping to add two in the dining room, and since it's opened to the kitchen both rooms will benefit. The living room is on the other end of the home, and I'm thinking my office-ish-room where my PC will be will broadcast to them. Hopefully it works out.
Now I have to wonder if I get standing speakers for the living room, or a sound bar. There's no single room in which I will be spending a significant amount of time over the others listening to music, so I wonder if I have to average them all out expenses-wise. I just want decent quality, broadcast in the dining room-kitchen, office, living room.
Neat.
I don't mind seeing speakers. I'm hoping to add two in the dining room, and since it's opened to the kitchen both rooms will benefit. The living room is on the other end of the home, and I'm thinking my office-ish-room where my PC will be will broadcast to them. Hopefully it works out.
Now I have to wonder if I get standing speakers for the living room, or a sound bar. There's no single room in which I will be spending a significant amount of time over the others listening to music, so I wonder if I have to average them all out expenses-wise. I just want decent quality, broadcast in the dining room-kitchen, office, living room.
Got our first real quote on this little project we want to do, 84K O_O
The monolithic slab is eating up almost a 1/3 of the cost. All the houses in the neighborhood were poured with back yard patios so it's not load bearing at all which means the whole thing has to be torn up and re-poured. Estimate is around 30K just for that.
We do, but price depends on your yard. Typically it 30-40 a week for a normal sized yard with edging. We also pay for spring and fall clean up, but it's usually not that bad. Maybe an extra 10-20 two times a year.
The monolithic slab is eating up almost a 1/3 of the cost. All the houses in the neighborhood were poured with back yard patios so it's not load bearing at all which means the whole thing has to be torn up and re-poured. Estimate is around 30K just for that.
We do, but price depends on your yard. Typically it 30-40 a week for a normal sized yard with edging. We also pay for spring and fall clean up, but it's usually not that bad. Maybe an extra 10-20 two times a year.
I don't think I asked this here before: dishwasher under the sink, good or bad? I assume you have less space for it, but gain some for the other counters? I guess access to the sink's pipes becomes more problematic?
I've never seen a dishwasher installed under the sink, it's always been under the cabinet right next to the sink. I don't know how you would run the plumbing if it were under the sink
I never had a dishwasher, always washed by hand, so if it is advantageous space-wise I would go for that, but I'm curious what drawbacks there might be. The food grinder is part of it too.
Well I'll be...
I'm so used to storing cleaning supplies and dish soap and stuff like that under the sink I don't think I could give it up.
Ether_Snake Well if you're ok with losing space on the dishwasher size, I don't see why not then.
Depending on how much you use during dinners, you might just have to run it a little more.
Depending on how much you use during dinners, you might just have to run it a little more.
Since I never had one, and I tend to wash everything right away, often while cooking, I think I will make only partial use of it. We'll see.
edit: Is there an official thread on home automation? I want to control the lighting in every room, auto-control temperature, and play music in a few rooms at once. I've been told Google Home is pretty good, even sound-quality-wise. I'm not a fan of voice-control though, so not something solely controlled with voice but I guess none are. For lighting I definitely want to control brightness, color is less important.
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I had a tree fall down on in my yard less than 3 months after I bought the place. There was a sudden storm that had fierce winds, and it sheered a tree that was less than 20 years old in half. I think some fungus near the base weakened it a bit. On the positive side, it fell against a larger tree and in a direction away from any houses. I'm pretty glad it didn't fall on the neighbor's apartment, because it very easily could have if the wind was blowing a different direction.
I managed to chop it down from its precarious perch on the other tree after about 45 minutes, but now I have to chop it into smaller pieces. Not looking forward to that. Probably going to take another 5 hours to get that done. The less heavy end is still caught up in some branches with the leaves intertwined with the branches on the live tree, so I'm not entirely sure how I am going to get that down. Maybe just let gravity take care of it, because that end doesn't weigh much and I doubt it could hurt anyone.
I managed to chop it down from its precarious perch on the other tree after about 45 minutes, but now I have to chop it into smaller pieces. Not looking forward to that. Probably going to take another 5 hours to get that done. The less heavy end is still caught up in some branches with the leaves intertwined with the branches on the live tree, so I'm not entirely sure how I am going to get that down. Maybe just let gravity take care of it, because that end doesn't weigh much and I doubt it could hurt anyone.
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Hi, today i just went to an open house and i loved it. Problem is i don't know the proper steps to making an offer. Much like when Michael Scott from The Office thought just shouting"I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY" thinking that is the way to declare bankruptcy, my impression is to just call the listing agent and say, i will offer XX amount, and that is my way of making an "Offer"
So please help me, in not making a mistake in "making an Offer"
So this is what i plan on doing:
1. Call Listing agent, the person i spoke to during the open house
2. Say i will offer XX amount for the house
3. Also tell them i will be putting XX amount as down payment and the bank should cover the rest.
4. Offer is pending satisfactory inspection.
That is the extent of what i know to tell them, and to ask for. What else should i be doing?
Some more questions. If i tell the agent i want to buy the house and offer $300K, and the seller accepts, is that already legally binding? Or would i need to sign something before it is legally binding? Would the agent even just submit my offer to the seller without drafting any paperwork?
Edit: Also what about some tactics i should employ? Like offering lower than what im really willing to pay, etc?
So please help me, in not making a mistake in "making an Offer"
So this is what i plan on doing:
1. Call Listing agent, the person i spoke to during the open house
2. Say i will offer XX amount for the house
3. Also tell them i will be putting XX amount as down payment and the bank should cover the rest.
4. Offer is pending satisfactory inspection.
That is the extent of what i know to tell them, and to ask for. What else should i be doing?
Some more questions. If i tell the agent i want to buy the house and offer $300K, and the seller accepts, is that already legally binding? Or would i need to sign something before it is legally binding? Would the agent even just submit my offer to the seller without drafting any paperwork?
Edit: Also what about some tactics i should employ? Like offering lower than what im really willing to pay, etc?
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I thought the purpose of a buyer agent is to help me find a house. If i already found something, what is their purpose in the transactions. Genuine question.
They walk you through the whole legal and pricing process. While the steps you listed are accurate, there are lot of potential complications. For example, it is really difficult to figure out the 'true value' of a house. A realtor will give you a good idea by providing comparables through a system usually only the have access too. The formal process of making an offer is also not very straightforward, there are a lot of pitfalls a selling agent can put you into if you deal with them directly.
For a first time homebuyer, I strongly recommend using your own agent.
My agent is with me through the whole process all the way to getting the keys. Quite often people find the house themselves because the agent won't send them everything (for various reasons good and bad). It's been useful, she also had contacts so it helped when I needed a broker or inspector, etc. Sometimes I ended up using my own, some times her references. I think for a first house purchase it's a must. Only exception is those listing their homes on those sites that sell without agents and explicitly say they don't want to deal with agents, but you can still visit those yourself.
Basically, get an agent, you will not be better off without one, and don't hesitate to ask them questions about anything from how financing works to insurance and what not.
Thanks for this. I sort of do have some buyer agents i talk to already, i just didnt think they had any additonal use outside of finding me the right place, if i already found one already.
However in the back of my mind, I am thinking they are trying to make the sale, and not look for my best interest, so the less questions or contingency the better. They wouldnt inform me of concerns i didn't i would have. I don't know i just don't have much trust in "sales" people whether its the lister or buyer agent.
You can use the same judgement but with their input. Up to you.
Other things you're not thinking of: They know the market best, way more than you do. They also know other agents in the area and have likely worked with/against them in the past. This means they will be able to negotiate the best, find out extra info you may not be aware of, and will have a better relationship with the the buyer agent.
Our agent knew tons of people in our area and even called up some a few times to find out why certain houses had price drops or stayed on the market so long.
You're going to be worrying about securing financing, insurance, coordinating inspection, finding a lawyer, coordinating the move date, etc. It's worth it to let the agent and lawyer handle all the extra bullshit: negotiating price, what does/doesn't get fixed in the inspection, the closing date, etc
You don't actually pay for the agent by the way. It comes out of the seller's pocket from their sale.
Im not saying have no agent. My in my case why not go with the listing agent?
The listing agent works for the seller and are contractually obligated to work to the seller's best interest. It's like saying, why not just go with what you ex's lawyer says in a divorce. Why get your own?
I get that. But as an example for a buyers agent. Why would they try their best to help you negoiate the best price? Its almost like negoiating a smaller commision for themselves?
Sorry im just trying to make heads and tails of it all. Im a very logical person.
You really should start Googling at this point. We're not real estate agents or experts on exactly how the system works on a point-for-point basis. That's why we hire the agents in the first place. All we can say is that it's in the name... BUYER'S agent. They do NOT work for the seller and they aren't trying to screw you over to maximize their own profits.
What we can do is speak from experience, because we've bought houses before. You asked for our advice, and we gave it. Talk to an agent.
Well, for one if they sign with you they are legally obligated to, also, they are in a business... If their reputation is that they screw over their clients they will stop getting business and most likely lose their license.
They would rather close sales and make happy customers? I feel like you're going to very quickly be up against a wall when you realize the negotiating room on houses is not that big, especially if you plan to ask them to do work based off the inspection.
Not to mention unless you're buying in cash you may have a hard time brokering a deal because how can the sellers be trustful of you?
And again, you pay nothing out of your pocket for them other than your time. The sellers are the one who pay the comission rates out of the sale of the home.
They'll do a better job than you. And they'll help you navigate the paperwork nightmare that is buying a house.
Get an agent, there's no conspiracy
You don't sound logical
So my property taxes go up by a fair bit this year and I just got the bill. Should I figure out the difference from last year's amount and pay extra into escrow early? Or is it recommended that I wait for my lender's statement/request?
If you pay ahead at worst your lender sends you a check for the overage
That makes sense, thanks. The bill is due Aug 1st, no point in creating a possible delay.
From my experience what usually happens is you never run out of escrow, they just do the calculations and say "oh, you need to pay up $X bby Y date because we'll be short for the year"
Right, that's what happened last year. It was a small $200 increase.
But this year, the current escrow balance is at (e.g. $5000 + $500 for insurance) but my new tax bill is $7000. So I wasn't sure if they would hold payment till I add more into escrow.
The increase is fair, I can't really dispute anything. The previous owners had the place for 30 years, and their taxable value/sev increases were capped. It got reset last year once I bought it.