So, I've just put in a first offer on a first house. Since this is a frequent feature in the lives of junior faculty, I thought I'd start a thread to collect collective advice and hard-won wisdom, and hopefully I'll be able to contribute some of my own when this is all over.
I've been renting here for three years, and while buying is expensive renting is crazy expensive (more than a mortgage payment) and house prices kept going up and threatening to price me out, so it's time.
It's going to be a multiple offer situation in a hot market so I'm trying hard not to get attached. . . at least things happen quickly, it's not like waiting to hear back about faculty jobs!
For those who are old hands at this, what did you wish you'd known before buying your first house?
I wish I'd known that even getting the offer accepted is only the first step. The inspection is more fraught yet. And disappointing, always. Your "perfect" house suddenly develops a million flaws in the eyes of the inspector, and you want to protect it! Resist, and see it for what it truly is, and be willing to let it go (with gratefulness that you wrote an inspection clause into the contract) if necessary. If it comes back acceptable, then rejoice! But also understand that the second you sign the papers, a door will fall off. Welcome that, as it's the new house's way of welcoming you into the fold.
Sorry, I know you wanted some serious advice, but I've owned a lot of houses, and it's a really up and down process, so you might as well laugh about it. And hopefully get some champagne ready - fingers crossed for you!
Quote from: backatit on June 10, 2019, 03:54:22 PM
Sorry, I know you wanted some serious advice, but I've owned a lot of houses, and it's a really up and down process, so you might as well laugh about it. And hopefully get some champagne ready - fingers crossed for you!
No this is exactly the sort of advice I can use-- the whole process could use some lightening up for sure. Thanks!
The house was built in 1890 (though it has been renovated since then of course) so there is no doubt inspection is going to reveal some interesting things if we get that far (inspection here happens after an offer is conditionally accepted). I'm lucky in that my dad is a retired contractor and has been very helpful with long distance consultations. My phone is now filled with all sorts of close ups of window frames and foundations and such.
You have put in an offer, so this may come too late.
My advice is always to buy the least house you need, put a good down payment on it, and plan to pay it off quickly.
I do a finance problem with my classes where, as an example, one can afford a $200K house, but buys a $100K house. The buyer makes the payment of the $200K house. After under 8 years, the lower priced house is paid off. The buyer then sells that house, buys a $200K house, (financing the other 100K), continues with the same payment, and after about 15 years and one move, owns a $200K house outright. Had the buyer directly purchased the $200K house, the buyer would still owe over $100K and still be facing 15 years of the payment on the original $200K mortgage!!
Personally, I financed about what I make in a year. I devoted all of my summer money toward paying down the principal. After 8 years or so, I had paid off my house. Since then I have devoted what had been my house payment toward bumping up my retirement contributions. Of Before the 08/09 financial collapse, i was chastised as many thought that the best idea was to not pay off the mortgage, or even to cash out any equity that you had to invest in the stock market. After , the financial collapse of 08/09 hit and many people lost 1/2 of their stock equity, I didnt hear much about that.
The bottom line is that debt adds risk. (look Hamada equation in an intermediate finance book for the math). I still invested heavily in my retirement, but I dumped all of my extra money toward paying off the mortgage, so I didnt forsake retirement savings.
So as you asked, my advice, is and has been, finance as little as you can get away with on a 15 year mortgage for no more than 25% of your take home pay, and dump your extra money toward paying it off faster.
Oh, and on a related topic, NEVER depend on your summer money to make ends meet. Summer money is ALWAYS extra. It is too easily cut because enrollment is down, administration cuts summer wages, a new admincritter (AKA "a$$hole) decides that someone else should teach that/those classes, or as mine have done in my college (not the university, only the college Im in) the dean sets an arbitrary lower limit on the number of classes one can teach (my college faculty are limited to 2 classes, but the university limit is 4 and all of the other classes use that as the limit). The bottom line is that you do not want to be in a position to depend on what can be changed at the whim of an admincritter.
Congratulations on your offer. I sincerely hope that it ends up being a great decision for you (as only time will tell)!
Quote from: clean on June 10, 2019, 06:41:46 PM
So as you asked, my advice, is and has been, finance as little as you can get away with on a 15 year mortgage for no more than 25% of your take home pay, and dump your extra money toward paying it off faster.
Ha, well, I'm sure this is great advice in lower cost markets. I take the spirit of your advice, and wish it could be applied here, but no such luck.
Here it would mean no one would ever buy a house. Which wouldn't actually be a good idea considering that rent on a one bedroom is more than my mortgage payment on this house would be. I'm sure that defies some law of economics, but that's the reality here.
Without getting too geographically specific, we'll just say this area falls in the top 10 highest priced housing markets in the country. Every year there are more people and few additional places for them to live. In this market 100k would get you about 1/3 of a very small and run down condo. And this is considered one of the lower cost suburbs.
That said, it's a small house at the most reasonable price I'm likely to ever find around here, and I'll be able to put 20% down with a 30-year fixed rate.
Puget, I don't have any real advice for you, just congratulations on finding a reasonable house in the market you describe!
Congrats, Puget!
No real advice - except - until you sign the contract, you are only engaged to the house. No shame in walking away from a bad deal. It's harder to sell a bad house than ditch a crazy ex.
Congratulations on the house! If someone wants to start a "selling a house" thread, I'd be happy to contribute to that, too.
The smaller the house, the less expensive it will be to own and the less time/effort/money it will take to keep clean. And generally the more its value will be increased by the larger properties on the street.
How resilient is the house's location and the community that it is in to climate change-induced events? There are entire swaths of the country where I would not buy a house unless it was significantly elevated above ground level.
Yes, if anyone wants to buy a house in a coastal area prone to natural disasters (HUGE house, great if you have more than 4 kids, which we USED to, but they've all aged out), 20 minutes from the beach, we'd be happy to trade for one in a less hurricane-prone area...We've already taken one extreme hit and had to completely rebuild. We are planning on selling in the near future and relocating further inland...House has appreciated a lot, but is a LOT of house to repair and keep clean.
As some of you may recall, I recently started a "what do you wish you knew when selling a house for the first time". But that was in another forum, and besides, that place is dead. (Well, near-death.)
My update, and then my 2 cents.
We are in contract both selling and buying. Inspections turned up lots of stuff (for the new home; I don't know what they flagged at current place, but it cannot have been huge). Much hand-wringing by us about things not covered by paperwork, but nobody else seems fussed -- inspectors, banks, or lawyers -- so apparently it's nothing to worry about. We're still waiting on our appraisal, but that should be any day now. Who knows when the actual closing date will be ... it's a bit of a black box, which is a little tricky when you have small children.
Like you, Puget, 25% of our combined take-home salary wouldn't buy a piece of raw land around these parts, let alone any kind of home. And the rental market is similar. So, we went 30 year, about 30% down. I had hoped for a much shorter mortgage, but there was no way to do it. I'll try to compensate by kicking more into retirement, on the assumption that I'll make more in a tax shelter than we'll be paying out in mortgage interest.
Some things I learned from my two iterations:
1. You never know what people will love. My spouse really dislikes our current house. She was doubtful at the start, and the feelings never went away. But the people who bought it really adore it, even though they're going to undo almost everything that we put into it.
2. The fundamentals (school district, access to amenities, taxes, and square footage) almost never change. In our case, these meant that we sold the place within days. We bought near the market bottom almost a decade ago, but the people buying it now clearly think that they're also getting a great deal.
3. Local expertise will save you a lot of time. Realtors, lawyers, and bankers who know the drill will make it all go faster. You might save money without them, depending upon where you live, but you will have to put in the hours.
4. Head for the high ground. We are in a coastal area, and moving to a town that is already experiencing some flooding. You'll find our house right next to the water tower, on the highest hill. This isn't just because I teach students about rising sea levels, although that's always near the front of my mind; it's increasingly difficult to get home insurance for properties in FEMA flood areas.
5. Think about what kinds of work you might want to hire people to do. Sure, I could put up sheetrock, but I'm pretty sloppy and there's a lot of waste, since I don't do it all the time. If you ask around, you might be surprised at how affordable some jobs are, especially if you aren't paying contractor prices at the box stores. You'll get mountains of mail from companies and contractors of all stripes as soon as you move; keep some of it for at least a year, as you settle in. Obviously, if you're handy and/or really enjoying home repair, go to it.
Good luck!
dc
Don't feel pressure by the "multiple offer" mantra from your (and the seller's) realtor. Decide how much you'll pay and make that offer. It can be less than the ask price, or more. But keep in mind that in hot markets, like the ones that you and I live in, always talk about these multiple offers, but if you obsess in that direction, you'll spend too much.
I bought in a west coast market that was hot with multiple offers. I went in and made offers that were less than the asking price, and drove my realtor crazy. Many turned me down. One accepted. I'm happy with what I got. If I offered more than I wanted to pay just to get the house, I probably wouldn't have been happy.
Quote from: brixton on June 11, 2019, 12:44:20 PM
Don't feel pressure by the "multiple offer" mantra from your (and the seller's) realtor. Decide how much you'll pay and make that offer. It can be less than the ask price, or more. But keep in mind that in hot markets, like the ones that you and I live in, always talk about these multiple offers, but if you obsess in that direction, you'll spend too much.
Another possibility is after the house is truly appraised, the banks all agree on what the maximum lend value will be and, thus, you cannot outbid anyone on the house. We bought our current house that way with the other bidders unable to actually get loans for the value they bid and the realtor having to point out that reality.
Thanks everyone for your words of wisdom and encouragement-- I'm now under contingent contract on the house!
I really did not think I was going to get it, but some combo of them not wanting to sell to investors, my realtor knowing the listing agent his whole life and convincing him we weren't going to mess them around, and being able to close quickly (it's an estate sale) did the trick-- they didn't even counter offer. My realtor was as stunned as I was that we pulled this off. Next steps, inspection and mortgage (shouldn't be a problem, pre-approved for quite a bit over what I need for this one). It won't really feel real until those are done.
To address a few points--
Not in a flood prone area thankfully (I should probably clarify that my moniker refers to my natal waters, not current location).
It is indeed a small house (1200 sq ft) surrounded by much larger and more expensive houses. The location is great, close to everything but on a quiet neighborhood street.
I don't really have any worry about it loosing value given this market-- I'm sure what the investors who they didn't want to sell to were planning to do was update the decor (very 70's currently) and flip it for considerably more. I can do some updates gradually over time as I save for them.
Given how good a deal this is compared to comparable nearby houses, appraisal should not be a problem at all.
Whoo-hoo!
Yea!!
We'll have to have a moving-in party for you, assuming all goes well.
M.
Ah, the fun of new home ownership. Right after we moved into our first house, a pipe broke for an outdoor spigot. Fixing it was easy, but required three trips to Home Depot: one to buy a shovel to find the problem, one to buy a wrench to take it apart so we would know what to get, and one to get the parts.
We are right now in the process of building a house. My wife is disabled, so we're making an accessible house. Of course there are issues. One is that the new house right next to our lot used our sewer lateral, so he (or the developer, or someone who's not me) will have to put in a new one for us. Another is that even though there is NO WAY for a flood, we are right on a creek (more of a drainage ditch) so we have to build higher than practically necessary. Oh well--it's only money.
Congratulations! And also it sounds like on picking a nice size for a house.
Good luck with the house building pgher!
SO MANY things to get squared away, but moving along. Inspection scheduled for Monday, loan in process, attorneys looped in (it's a state that requires them), started getting insurance quotes but need to find out when the roof was replaced before I can finish those, which realtor is working on finding out.
Aside from a bunch of meetings I have not gotten much actual work done in the last few days, and tomorrow I leave for a friend's wedding for the weekend. Oh well, I'll get caught up somehow sometime.
We bought one similar to what you describe; 1200 square feet surrounded by larger houses.
You know what they say: "buy the cheapest house in the nicest neighborhood". 1200 sqft was perfect for the two of us.
It was a cute but bland house when we bought it. We did a few improvements, new roof, added shutters, trellises, fenced the back yard for our dog, lots of landscaping (we did all of it ourselves, using perrennials from the clearance section), built a raised bed garden. Except for the roof, it was mostly cosmetic work to improve the curb appeal.
We sold it a few weeks ago for a hefty profit, mostly because there are so few homes for sale, and smaller homes are in high demand. Our realtor says its the lowest housing inventory in decades. There are so few listings that each one is a bidding war.
Low housing inventory was great when we sold our house, but now that we're shopping for a house, it's very frustrating. We're moving to a small city (about 10,000 people), and there's maybe one new listing a day, and sometimes fewer. I just keep hitting refresh on zillow, compulsively. Then we have to drive 3 hours each way to look at houses. It's brutal. Imagine going to a shoe store, and there's only 5 pairs in the store, and two don't fit, and one is a ballet slipper, and one has worn out soles and no laces.
So how did the inspection go?
Quote from: backatit on June 18, 2019, 08:13:21 AM
So how did the inspection go?
Pretty well!
The structure appears to be sound-- they really built those houses to last. Main concern is corrosion of the waste pipe and leaking of the water pipe as they leave/enter the (unfinished) basement. Those are going to need to be replaced and we're trying to negotiate some money back from the seller for that. Other things were either relatively minor or I already knew about (vinyl siding needs some repairs, windows eventually need replacing but are protected with storm windows for now).
The best thing was we pulled up a corner of the carpet downstairs and there is beautiful wood under it! One upstairs bedroom is already wood and the other has carpet just sitting on top of the wood, though that wood has been painted. They just need to be refinished and its going to look fantastic.
That's awesome. Good luck with the water pipe. When my daughter bought her house the AC company (the owners had just had new AC put into the very old house) had run the AC drain INTO THE CRAWL SPACE! So she was able to negotiate that fix because there was no way they should have done that, and the owners were livid too - that shouldn't have passed the A/C inspection. The AC company fixed it, and redid the whole crawl space in face with new vapor barrier because they had ruined the old one (it was a real mess - they had to treat for mold, etc, but it was winter and it had been installed in late fall so there was no huge issue). She's pretty happy with the repairs now - she has a brand new AC system (they had also done some stuff with the duct work that they had to fix - the homeowners were not too savvy as they hadn't checked the crawl space to see how they'd tacked up the ducts - there were a couple that they hadn't properly fastened so those are all properly supported now with straps, etc.). And my daughter now knows that when you have work done, you get IN the crawl space and look at what's been done, so that's a good lesson for her :).
OK, final purchase contract signed by both sides and I wrote the largest check I've ever written so far (which will be dwarfed again by the one at closing).
Got credits from the seller for the pipes and a few other things identified in the inspection-- enough that it should pretty much cover closing costs. My agent took care of those negations entirely and got more than I expected -- he seems to be very good at his job, for which I am grateful.
Everything seems to be proceeding smoothly with the mortgage. They have to do the appraisal, the title stuff has to happen, and I need to finalize insurance and then hopefully we are good to go for closing in just over a month. I'm staying in my current apartment an extra month after closing so I have time to have the pipe replacement done and the floors refinished before moving in.
Congratulations! This part of home ownership is so exciting.
Have you asked your realtor for contractor referrals? Many realtors also handle rental properties and may be able to suggest plumbers and other contractors. You may also be able to negotiate for times to have the contractors look at the property so they can bid the job. If you can get a little head start, you might be able to tackle some of the other repairs/upgrades before you move in.
Quote from: Antiphon1 on June 21, 2019, 04:21:00 PM
Congratulations! This part of home ownership is so exciting.
Have you asked your realtor for contractor referrals? Many realtors also handle rental properties and may be able to suggest plumbers and other contractors. You may also be able to negotiate for times to have the contractors look at the property so they can bid the job. If you can get a little head start, you might be able to tackle some of the other repairs/upgrades before you move in.
Thanks!
I'll ask-- he doesn't handle rentals though. My dad is a recently retired contractor-- not from the area, but I at least have good advice on how to pick one. I do have up to 4 visits to the house prior to closing written into the contract.
We bought our house a few months ago. So far, the doorknobs haven't fallen off (yet), but a couple of newly-installed blinds did, and we're having some plumbing work done this week. Our former home just sold last month. What really helped us (in a small town) was a having a realtor who could give us the names of electricians, plumbers, contractor, etc., that she has used and liked.
Congrats, Puget! When's the closing? <need to start shopping for the virtual housewarming party>
We have three different rental property investments, so don't hesitate to ask any house questions! (Though your dad can probably provide most of the help you need)
and... we are currently under contract to sell one of them. We've never sold a house before, only bought them. The one we're selling is the house I bought while I was a VAP over a dozen years ago, in a city several hours drive away from here where we live.
Quote from: clean on June 10, 2019, 06:41:46 PM
You have put in an offer, so this may come too late.
My advice is always to buy the least house you need, put a good down payment on it, and plan to pay it off quickly.
I do a finance problem with my classes where, as an example, one can afford a $200K house, but buys a $100K house. The buyer makes the payment of the $200K house. After under 8 years, the lower priced house is paid off. The buyer then sells that house, buys a $200K house, (financing the other 100K), continues with the same payment, and after about 15 years and one move, owns a $200K house outright. Had the buyer directly purchased the $200K house, the buyer would still owe over $100K and still be facing 15 years of the payment on the original $200K mortgage!!
Personally, I financed about what I make in a year. I devoted all of my summer money toward paying down the principal. After 8 years or so, I had paid off my house. Since then I have devoted what had been my house payment toward bumping up my retirement contributions. Of Before the 08/09 financial collapse, i was chastised as many thought that the best idea was to not pay off the mortgage, or even to cash out any equity that you had to invest in the stock market. After , the financial collapse of 08/09 hit and many people lost 1/2 of their stock equity, I didnt hear much about that.
The bottom line is that debt adds risk. (look Hamada equation in an intermediate finance book for the math). I still invested heavily in my retirement, but I dumped all of my extra money toward paying off the mortgage, so I didnt forsake retirement savings.
So as you asked, my advice, is and has been, finance as little as you can get away with on a 15 year mortgage for no more than 25% of your take home pay, and dump your extra money toward paying it off faster.
Oh, and on a related topic, NEVER depend on your summer money to make ends meet. Summer money is ALWAYS extra. It is too easily cut because enrollment is down, administration cuts summer wages, a new admincritter (AKA "a$$hole) decides that someone else should teach that/those classes, or as mine have done in my college (not the university, only the college Im in) the dean sets an arbitrary lower limit on the number of classes one can teach (my college faculty are limited to 2 classes, but the university limit is 4 and all of the other classes use that as the limit). The bottom line is that you do not want to be in a position to depend on what can be changed at the whim of an admincritter.
Congratulations on your offer. I sincerely hope that it ends up being a great decision for you (as only time will tell)!
It's certainly great if you can find a livable place for 25% of your take home salary on a 15 year fixed rate mortgage. I wish I made so much that one year of my base salary covers 75% (or even 50%) of a livable house. I'm curious as to which part of the country you live in that has this wonderful combination of high salaries and low housing costs.
For example, a $1 million property, with 20% down, on a 15 year mortgage on a 3.497% interest rate, has a mortgage payment of $5718/month, so if that was 25% of your take home salary, you would need to bring in $22,872/month, of $275K/year post tax. So, given the typical professor's salary in San Diego, you're suggesting getting something closer to the $300K to $400K range, which would barely get you a one bedroom condo.
Quote from: mleok on July 05, 2019, 09:33:42 PM
That's great if you live in a place where you can command a very high salary relative to the cost of housing. I wish I made so much that one year of my base salary covers 75% (or even 50%) of a livable house. I'm curious as to which part of the country you live in that has this wonderful combination of high salaries and low housing costs.
Where I live, one year's salary at the fancy university on the other side of town (where salaries are higher) would cover about 8% of a house. I don't understand how anyone ever buys anything.
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on July 05, 2019, 09:39:42 PM
Quote from: mleok on July 05, 2019, 09:33:42 PM
That's great if you live in a place where you can command a very high salary relative to the cost of housing. I wish I made so much that one year of my base salary covers 75% (or even 50%) of a livable house. I'm curious as to which part of the country you live in that has this wonderful combination of high salaries and low housing costs.
Where I live, one year's salary at the fancy university on the other side of town (where salaries are higher) would cover about 8% of a house. I don't understand how anyone ever buys anything.
In many big cities these days, only a small fraction of households make enough to afford a house.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/06/20/americas-25-least-affordable-housing-markets/39579711/
QuoteIt's certainly great if you can find a livable place for 25% of your take home salary on a 15 year fixed rate mortgage. I wish I made so much that one year of my base salary covers 75% (or even 50%) of a livable house. I'm curious as to which part of the country you live in that has this wonderful combination of high salaries and low housing costs.
For example, a $1 million property, with 20% down, on a 15 year mortgage on a 3.497% interest rate, has a mortgage payment of $5718/month, so if that was 25% of your take home salary, you would need to bring in $22,872/month, of $275K/year post tax. So, given the typical professor's salary in San Diego, you're suggesting getting something closer to the $300K to $400K range, which would barely get you a one bedroom condo.
Median price of a house in the US is just over $225K
https://www.google.com/search?q=median+home+prices+in+usa&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS749US759&oq=median+house+price+in+usa&aqs=chrome.3.69i57j0l5.8389j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Put down $25K and finance $200K for 15 years at 3.5% (your number). The payment is roughly $1430
1430/.25 * 12 is $68640.
Median US household income is just over $60K a year.
So if the Median House is about 225K and the Median Household income is just over 60K, it seems to me that plenty of people, especially a couple where one (or more) has an advanced degree, could afford a median house. I could be wrong, but I would suspect that even a sole bread winning family headed by a faculty member would earn close to the median household income, or more. And if both spouses worked It shouldnt be too hard to earn more than the median household income and handily afford a median priced house.
Quoteyou're suggesting getting something closer to the $300K to $400K range, which would barely get you a one bedroom condo.Quote
Quite the opposite! Im suggesting no such thing. Here is probably the sad truth that may be surprising to some people to read, and Im going to type it for anyone to read!
Im suggesting that IF the average/median/typical house is priced at $1,000,000 and faculty positions dont pay closer to $400,K a year (the number provided), then faculty who somehow found themselves in such a situation should move. Find a job in an area of the country where the salary Does allow faculty to buy a house they can afford on the wages that are offered.
Why would anyone even contemplate taking a job where the salary that was offered is insufficient to pay rent, (much less food, transportation, utilities and save for retirement) much less accept a job in such a location ?
QuoteIt's certainly great if you can find a livable place for 25% of your take home salary on a 15 year fixed rate mortgage. I wish I made so much that one year of my base salary covers 75% (or even 50%) of a livable house. I'm curious as to which part of the country you live in that has this wonderful combination of high salaries and low housing costs.
From what I can see, Most of America would meet the requirement!
https://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/index.html
Here is a cost of living tool I found online with a 10 second search. I entered San Diego but left the default city of Asheville, NC. Housing costs are 73% lower (i.e. only 27% of what it cost in San Diego). Im pretty sure that there is a university in Asheville (maybe more than one, if you include private ones).
I am sorry for the long post. I found myself annoyed at what I perceived to be a 'woe is me' or 'it can not be done' reply to an earlier post of mine. In closing, if one is not happy in the situation that they have found themselves to be in, change the situation. No one is truly chained to their location. There are often several alternatives to enduring bad situations.
Quote from: clean on July 05, 2019, 11:31:30 PMMedian price of a house in the US is just over $225K
https://www.google.com/search?q=median+home+prices+in+usa&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS749US759&oq=median+house+price+in+usa&aqs=chrome.3.69i57j0l5.8389j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Put down $25K and finance $200K for 15 years at 3.5% (your number). The payment is roughly $1430
1430/.25 * 12 is $68640.
Median US household income is just over $60K a year.
So if the Median House is about 225K and the Median Household income is just over 60K, it seems to me that plenty of people, especially a couple where one (or more) has an advanced degree, could afford a median house. I could be wrong, but I would suspect that even a sole bread winning family headed by a faculty member would earn close to the median household income, or more. And if both spouses worked It shouldnt be too hard to earn more than the median household income and handily afford a median priced house.
Quite the opposite! Im suggesting no such thing. Here is probably the sad truth that may be surprising to some people to read, and Im going to type it for anyone to read!
Im suggesting that IF the average/median/typical house is priced at $1,000,000 and faculty positions dont pay closer to $400,K a year (the number provided), then faculty who somehow found themselves in such a situation should move. Find a job in an area of the country where the salary Does allow faculty to buy a house they can afford on the wages that are offered.
Why would anyone even contemplate taking a job where the salary that was offered is insufficient to pay rent, (much less food, transportation, utilities and save for retirement) much less accept a job in such a location ?
From what I can see, Most of America would meet the requirement!
https://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/index.html
Here is a cost of living tool I found online with a 10 second search. I entered San Diego but left the default city of Asheville, NC. Housing costs are 73% lower (i.e. only 27% of what it cost in San Diego). Im pretty sure that there is a university in Asheville (maybe more than one, if you include private ones).
I am sorry for the long post. I found myself annoyed at what I perceived to be a 'woe is me' or 'it can not be done' reply to an earlier post of mine. In closing, if one is not happy in the situation that they have found themselves to be in, change the situation. No one is truly chained to their location. There are often several alternatives to enduring bad situations.
Wonderful, so you don't pay any taxes? Nobody is saying you need to make $400K/year to afford to live in San Diego, I am simply saying that if you choose to define affordable on the basis of being able to pay a 15 year fixed rate mortgage using only 25% of your take home income, then that's roughly what it takes. Most of us spend more than that, and do a 30 year mortgage, because that's what it takes to afford a house in an excellent school district.
Look, maybe your advice makes sense in your local setting, but it doesn't make sense everywhere. Certainly not in the coastal states where a significant fraction of the best universities are located. I maintain that being able to afford to buy a reasonable house with approximately one year of your base salary is hardly typical even in a household with two advanced degrees. Unless both spouses are academics, it's often difficult to find a good non-academic position for a person with an advanced degree that pays close to the market rate in a location with a depressed real estate market. If, as you say, you dedicated 25% of your take home pay towards your mortgage, all of your summer salary, and only financed the equivalent of one year of what you make in a year, why did it take 8 years to pay that mortgage off?
The bottom line is that simple rules of thumb like the one you proposed ignore numerous factors, including the differences in total income between two alternative locations, the rate that real estate appreciates, interest rates, and whether one wishes to retire in place. For example, in my case, the cost of property doubling over the 8 year period you mentioned in your original post. If your real estate market appreciated by the same amount in your initial scenario, after 8 years, that $200K house you passed on would be $400K, and you would now have to finance $300K, at three times your original payment. So, sure, debt is a source of risk, but so are fluctuations in the real estate market, and changes in interest rates (if you want to take a new mortgage in 8 years). The long term financial health of the city and your employer are also important issues.
I did leave an institution in the midwest where I had a 15 year mortgage on a nice house before moving to San Diego, and while I would have almost paid off that house had I stayed, I have twice the value of that midwest house in equity in my current house, with a higher salary, better retirement plan, better institution, and better quality of life. Put another way, there is more than one way to achieve financial security, and for many of us, the quality of the institution we work for matters a great deal, and I would not trade my current institution for the best that Asheville, NC, has to offer, even if housing prices are 60% lower (73% lower is relative to San Francisco).
QuoteI maintain that being able to afford to buy a reasonable house with approximately one year of your base salary is hardly typical
To clarify, I said I financed 1 year of my salary. The house was more.
Quotef your real estate market appreciated by the same amount in your initial scenario, after 8 years, that $200K house you passed on would be $400K, and you would now have to finance $300K, at three times your original payment.
No appreciation was assumed in the original example. However, if you assume that prices moved proportionally (and in my reading of the real estate pages, the lower and middle prices tend to grow proportionately more than the upper end of prices), then the 100K house would be worth at least 200K. so in my example you would be financing 200K (not $300K)...OR you could STAY PUT and save the entire house payment in a retirement account or somewhere else!
If housing prices double in 8 years in an area, there is a good chance that they will crash just as hard! (See Las Vegas, which may not yet have recovered from the 2008 real estate crash).
QuoteMost of us spend more than that, and do a 30 year mortgage, because that's what it takes to afford a house in an excellent school district.
Look, maybe your advice makes sense in your local setting, but it doesn't make sense everywhere. Certainly not in the coastal states where a significant fraction of the best universities are located.
"most of us" "Where a significant
fraction of the best universities are located". So perhaps we have a problem with the term "your local setting". Perhaps you are the one in the minority. Perhaps in YOUR local market it is more difficult to find affordable housing in an excellent school district. For "most of us" in the rest of the country, away from where the 'significant fraction of the best universities are located" this works quite well.
In the link that was provided by another person on the 25 least affordable locations, If I recall the details of the article correctly, 17 are in California and the rest are in New York. That is hardly representative of the entire 'coastal area" And if we look on the map, Asheville is in North Carolina, on the Atlantic coast.
QuoteI did leave an institution in the midwest where I had a 15 year mortgage on a nice house before moving to San Diego, and while I would have almost paid off that house had I stayed, I have twice the value of that midwest house in equity in my current house, with a higher salary, better retirement plan, better institution, and better quality of life. Put another way, there is more than one way to achieve financial security, and for many of us, the quality of the institution we work for matters a great deal, and I would not trade my current institution for the best that Asheville, NC, has to offer, even if housing prices are 60% lower (73% lower is relative to San Francisco).
In the end, then, you have been fortunate to find a situation that has worked for you and you are happy. I am glad that you are happy, as I initially thought that you were unhappy because of the house price issue you found yourself in. Too many people/faculty purchase too much house too soon (because the bank said they would lend them that much) and are disappointed when they are not able to sufficiently save for retirement or afford to reach their other financial goals because the state raises (when they come) dont allow them to out earn the initial mistake of borrowing too much on the house to allow them to afford the other things that they may have wanted.
Quote from: clean on July 07, 2019, 09:06:45 AM
Quotef your real estate market appreciated by the same amount in your initial scenario, after 8 years, that $200K house you passed on would be $400K, and you would now have to finance $300K, at three times your original payment.
No appreciation was assumed in the original example. However, if you assume that prices moved proportionally (and in my reading of the real estate pages, the lower and middle prices tend to grow proportionately more than the upper end of prices), then the 100K house would be worth at least 200K. so in my example you would be financing 200K (not $300K)...OR you could STAY PUT and save the entire house payment in a retirement account or somewhere else!
If housing prices double in 8 years in an area, there is a good chance that they will crash just as hard! (See Las Vegas, which may not yet have recovered from the 2008 real estate crash).
Okay, so you still end up financing $200K after paying down the mortgage for the first 8 years, when you could have done that at the get go and be 8 years further along the same mortgage. Certainly, you want to take into consideration the fundamentals, like the presence of excellent schools, well-paying jobs, amenities and attractions, supply vs. demand, when determining how sustainable long term real estate appreciation is in any area. Otherwise undesirable areas which have appreciated significantly due to more desirable areas becoming unaffordable are the most susceptible to crashes during the down cycle.
Quote
QuoteMost of us spend more than that, and do a 30 year mortgage, because that's what it takes to afford a house in an excellent school district.
Look, maybe your advice makes sense in your local setting, but it doesn't make sense everywhere. Certainly not in the coastal states where a significant fraction of the best universities are located.
"most of us" "Where a significant fraction of the best universities are located". So perhaps we have a problem with the term "your local setting". Perhaps you are the one in the minority. Perhaps in YOUR local market it is more difficult to find affordable housing in an excellent school district. For "most of us" in the rest of the country, away from where the 'significant fraction of the best universities are located" this works quite well.
In a hypothetical where one has a $1000/month mortgage, and it represents 25% of your take home income, that yields a $48,000/year take home salary, or about $60,000/year pre-tax. That $1000/month mortgage would correspond to a $175,000 purchase price with a 80% LTV on a 15 year fixed mortgage at 3.5%, so that's about 2.92 times the annual income.
According to this article,
https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/price-to-income-ratios-are-nearing-historic-highs/
The median sale price is now about four times the median income, which is a significant increase over the factor of three in 2011, but there are areas in the midwest and part of the south where your rule of thumb makes sense.
Quote
QuoteI did leave an institution in the midwest where I had a 15 year mortgage on a nice house before moving to San Diego, and while I would have almost paid off that house had I stayed, I have twice the value of that midwest house in equity in my current house, with a higher salary, better retirement plan, better institution, and better quality of life. Put another way, there is more than one way to achieve financial security, and for many of us, the quality of the institution we work for matters a great deal, and I would not trade my current institution for the best that Asheville, NC, has to offer, even if housing prices are 60% lower (73% lower is relative to San Francisco).
In the end, then, you have been fortunate to find a situation that has worked for you and you are happy. I am glad that you are happy, as I initially thought that you were unhappy because of the house price issue you found yourself in. Too many people/faculty purchase too much house too soon (because the bank said they would lend them that much) and are disappointed when they are not able to sufficiently save for retirement or afford to reach their other financial goals because the state raises (when they come) dont allow them to out earn the initial mistake of borrowing too much on the house to allow them to afford the other things that they may have wanted.
I was fortunate to move here when the real estate market was depressed. But, if one was starting as a faculty member here today, one would definitely need to seriously consider purchasing a smaller house as opposed to a "forever" house unless one already had substantial downpayment.
QuoteOkay, so you still end up financing $200K after paying down the mortgage for the first 8 years, when you could have done that at the get go and be 8 years further along the same mortgage
Let us be reminded that You made the assumption that house prices doubled in 8 years. Usually, housing prices grow much closer to the rate of inflation. If they doubled in 8 years, then that is roughly a 9% annual rate of increase... Hardly what the majority of the nation has experienced.
Also, running some numbers on that 200K mortgage, assuming an original 30 year payment at 4%, after 8 years, the outstanding balance has fallen about 32,500, or a little more than $4000 a year. Is it possible that the larger house costs more than $4000 a year to heat/cool, insure, and pay property taxes? Perhaps the smaller house owner is still no worse off... and that is under the assumption that house prices doubled in 8 years, which, for most of the country, is very unrealistic!
QuoteOne thing to understand about California housing is that boom and busts are central to the market. It is fascinating from a psychological standpoint that today, many think that California housing is a simple and safe bet. Casually, they forget the massive destruction that occurred only a few years ago and the echoes of the impact are still around: low inventory, massive Federal Reserve intervention, and a shift to investors buying homes. Looking to buy? Gear up for a sizable down payment and maximum leverage on a low interest rate. Also, it is easy to forget that 1,000,000+ Californians lost their homes via foreclosure and many today are still underwater even with the recent boom in home prices.
http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/california-housing-history-real-estate-market-trends-30-years-of-data/
It sounds like you bought at the recent low, and have done well. I dont vouch for the veracity of the link I quoted after a 10 second internet search, but it would seem, that if it is accurate, many in California are not participating in the same increase in wealth you have enjoyed.
I sincerely hope that the loss of the deductability of state taxes, the cap on the mortgage interest deduction, or future raising interest rates does not wipe away your equity, built not by paying down debt, but by the increase in the current market value. I also hope, for all of our sake, that the tariff battles with China, Mexico and Canada do not cause us to move into a recession.
Quote from: clean on July 07, 2019, 01:52:15 PM
QuoteOkay, so you still end up financing $200K after paying down the mortgage for the first 8 years, when you could have done that at the get go and be 8 years further along the same mortgage
Let us be reminded that You made the assumption that house prices doubled in 8 years. Usually, housing prices grow much closer to the rate of inflation. If they doubled in 8 years, then that is roughly a 9% annual rate of increase... Hardly what the majority of the nation has experienced.
Also, running some numbers on that 200K mortgage, assuming an original 30 year payment at 4%, after 8 years, the outstanding balance has fallen about 32,500, or a little more than $4000 a year. Is it possible that the larger house costs more than $4000 a year to heat/cool, insure, and pay property taxes? Perhaps the smaller house owner is still no worse off... and that is under the assumption that house prices doubled in 8 years, which, for most of the country, is very unrealistic!
Certainly if you purchased the smallest and least expensive house consistent with your needs as opposed to your wants, you'll be better off financially in a real estate market with low appreciation, at least if you're disciplined enough to invest the money you would have paid for the more expensive house. But, for families with kids, the constraint of being in an excellent school district means that the median priced house will be unlikely to address those needs.
Quote
QuoteOne thing to understand about California housing is that boom and busts are central to the market. It is fascinating from a psychological standpoint that today, many think that California housing is a simple and safe bet. Casually, they forget the massive destruction that occurred only a few years ago and the echoes of the impact are still around: low inventory, massive Federal Reserve intervention, and a shift to investors buying homes. Looking to buy? Gear up for a sizable down payment and maximum leverage on a low interest rate. Also, it is easy to forget that 1,000,000+ Californians lost their homes via foreclosure and many today are still underwater even with the recent boom in home prices.
http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/california-housing-history-real-estate-market-trends-30-years-of-data/
It sounds like you bought at the recent low, and have done well. I dont vouch for the veracity of the link I quoted after a 10 second internet search, but it would seem, that if it is accurate, many in California are not participating in the same increase in wealth you have enjoyed.
It's funny that you quoted that website. I happen to know the Highland Park area that the article cites as being indicative of the housing bubble very well, and the increase in value is due at least in part to the significant gentrification of that area, the revitalization of the Los Angeles downtown core, the easy access Highland Park has to downtown, and the generally horrendous LA traffic which makes living further out a long commute.
Quote
I sincerely hope that the loss of the deductability of state taxes, the cap on the mortgage interest deduction, or future raising interest rates does not wipe away your equity, built not by paying down debt, but by the increase in the current market value. I also hope, for all of our sake, that the tariff battles with China, Mexico and Canada do not cause us to move into a recession.
We came to San Diego during the crash that was fueled by the period unverified zero interest or negatively amortized loans, and observed which areas rebounded the fastest. As you might expect, the most desirable neighborhoods, with good proximity to excellent jobs, and excellent schools, were the quickest to rebound as demand continued to far exceed supply. We have definitely seen a slowdown in the market due to the effect for the SALT limit and cap on mortgage interest deductions, but the fundamentals remain strong. What we have observed is that the greatest volatility occurs at the entry level of the market, so buying something that is modestly priced, but does not meet the needs of professionals with excellent incomes can be a risky strategy as well.
In my college and post-college years, I lived in Boston, San Francisco, and Honolulu. I couldn't afford to buy a home in any of those locations then and certainly can't now. When I lived in Asheville, it was tied with Raleigh as the most expensive real estate market in NC. But having purchased (in reality, mortgaged) two homes between Asheville and Raleigh, I know that real estate costs across NC are about half of those of where I live now (East Coast). But when I relocated, I still refused to buy anything that I could not put a 25% down payment on. Financing too high a percentage of a home's purchase price is one of the big mistakes I often see. The other is buying a much larger home than what is needed. Although my wife and I are very happy in our current home, we could easily get by on something that is at least 25% smaller, and that would save us $1,500-$2,000 per year in taxes, insurance, and maintenance. But my general advice is that if you can't afford to buy and are just scraping by because of high rents, it's time to move.
Quote from: spork on July 08, 2019, 02:53:52 AM
When I lived in Asheville, it was tied with Raleigh as the most expensive real estate market in NC. But having purchased (in reality, mortgaged) two homes between Asheville and Raleigh, I know that real estate costs across NC are about half of those of where I live now (East Coast).
My first faculty position was at UNCA in the early 2000s. We bought our first house in Asheville! The market at the time was split between shacks and mansions, at least price-wise. Somehow we found the one affordable house, a trilevel with a garage converted into living space. We sold the house FSBO three years later and made a surprising (well, not so surprising) profit. Had the assessed value come higher we would have even made more profit as the buyer was willing. The only improvement we did during that time was new carpet. Kind of crazy, really; this was back when people were flipping houses like mad, I think. I can't imagine the market there now.
When I bought my first house, I was always thinking about what I needed in the present, and not what I might need later.
What I would tell my early career self when it comes to buying the first home:
1) If you know you plan to move for sure, then buy a home that will have the most likely chance of appreciating in value over a short amount of time.
2) If you plan to start a family, go ahead and buy a home that is bigger than what you need now, so you don't have to go looking for a new house again, in a few years when you can't get anything done at home because you don't have enough space. Also, the needs of a young family are different from the needs of an older family with teenagers (for example, finished basements with bedrooms and bathrooms are great for teenagers, but a house on a cul-de-sac is better for young kids, and thinking even farther down, a ranch style home (ranch style doesn't have as many stairs) is better if elder parents are going to live with you.
3) Amenities that may be great, now, (like that background play set the comes with the house or the or Space Invaders console that comes with the basement or the swimming pool) will become the bane of your existence when you try to get rid of it later, after you get tired of it. Interests do change.
4) Big landscaped yards look awesome and make you feel good, but there is a hidden cost to having a big yard, either in spending time to take care of it or hiring someone to take care of it. Same thing goes for lots of living space and house cleaning services. You don't want to be a slave to making things look nice, unless you enjoy doing things like that. I enjoyed amateur landscaping as my hobby . . . for about four years, then I was in thicket hell, when I lost interest in landscaping. Interests change (see #3).
5) Just because you can afford something, is not the reason to buy it (I suppose that goes for just about anything and not just homes)
6) Granite countertops are overrated.
7) so is a bathroom for everyone in the household. people need to learn to hold their pee, otherwise you end up stopping every 90 minutes on family trips.
Personally, even though I've done it a lot, I hate moving and I hate dealing with the unpleasant aspects of shopping for a home like reading the fine print on mortgage documents, and receiving the ego smack-down of getting out-bid on a home, paying $400 to a know-nothing-do-nothing closing attorney (and other BS closing costs like a bank's drive-by appraisal and a foundation inspector who is in cahoots with the local foundation repair mafia), and having to own (and make payments for) two homes at once when making the transition between two homes. Most of all, I hate losing precious time to this process, where I am silently complicit in a lot of really racist aspects of the home buying process (like when a realtor says "location, location, location" or "this home is in a school district with high test scores" we should all know what that REALLY means).
This is a very useful discussion. I hope Pendanterast (sp?) from the CHE fora signs up, signs in, and chimes in. He had studied things to say about buying a house, especially the investment aspect.
Well, it's done! Just finished signing about a tree's worth of paper and now own my first house.
I'm trying to take an hour or two to savor the moment before plunging back into all the things I need to do to get ready to move on the 17th. That seems like plenty of time except I'm out of town the 5th-14th (I would have planning things very differently if I'd known how the house timeline would turn out, but it will work. . .somehow). I need to finish scheduling some work that needs to be done before I move in and finish packing.
Congratulations! We move on the 31st, and are surrounded by boxes. The whole process is exhausting, and I hope never to do it again until I retire.
dc
Quote from: Puget on July 26, 2019, 11:11:00 AM
Well, it's done! Just finished signing about a tree's worth of paper and now own my first house.
I'm trying to take an hour or two to savor the moment before plunging back into all the things I need to do to get ready to move on the 17th. That seems like plenty of time except I'm out of town the 5th-14th (I would have planning things very differently if I'd known how the house timeline would turn out, but it will work. . .somehow). I need to finish scheduling some work that needs to be done before I move in and finish packing.
Congrats! In the end, no matter what I've said, I still think it's worth it to buy a home (vs. renting).
Wonderful news! Congrats to all new home owners. Here's wishing all of you many happy times in your new homes.
Thanks everyone, and congrats/good luck to the others that are also moving this summer.
I get to show the house to some friends today which will be fun. Making progress in getting all the work arranged and scheduled-- floor refinishing should start next week and will be a major transformation of the look of the house (the sellers probably really should have done this before putting it on the market).
Anyone have any experiences good or bad with tub/shower refinishing (aka reglazing)? The tub and surround (which I think are fiberglass but could be acrylic?) are stained and the finish seems to have flaked or been scrubbed off in places. At first I thought I'd get inserts, but experienced some sticker shock from the estimates, so I started looking into refinishing. I know its sort of a temporary fix, but seems like it might do for a few years till I'm ready to do a bathroom remodel.
Congrats Puget!
Now THE LIST begins.
The first thing I did when I bought my first house was refinish the wood floors. They'll look great! I've been in this house now for 25 years, they're starting to wear a little in the high traffic areas.
What finish is the refinisher using? There is a difference in how long they'll last in traffic areas. Our guy uses a Bona product called Traffic. We didn't use him 25 years ago. And Bona Traffic is also a new product...
I don't have experience with reglazing. I just googled and found this advice (https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/bathrooms/refinish-a-bathtub/)
If you are planning to remodel soon anyway, I might price out what kind of things you may want in the end. It'll be expensive to do it twice.
What kind of inserts were you pricing?
You can get replacement surrounds at Home Depot for not that much. ($200-ish) They're pretty easy to DIY install if you're up for that. Taking out the old one will be the worst part.
What does a new one cost?
there is a 'shower scene' in the movie Dave. (he plays a look alike for the president and while doing his work as a double the prez has a stroke so Dave has to continue on. There is a scene where Dave is in the presidential shower when the president's wife walks in to discuss a veto that the chief of staff did).... Long set up for something as simple as that was a really nice looking shower, and IF I were to need another shower, that would be something to consider!
Also, a jet tub (great for a bad back) is not really all that more expensive than a regular tub. IF you need a new tub anyway, consider upgrading to a jet tub.
Just some thoughts!
Quote from: monarda on July 27, 2019, 06:52:49 AM
Congrats Puget!
Now THE LIST begins.
The first thing I did when I bought my first house was refinish the wood floors. They'll look great! I've been in this house now for 25 years, they're starting to wear a little in the high traffic areas.
What finish is the refinisher using? There is a difference in how long they'll last in traffic areas. Our guy uses a Bona product called Traffic. We didn't use him 25 years ago. And Bona Traffic is also a new product...
I don't have experience with reglazing. I just googled and found this advice (https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/bathrooms/refinish-a-bathtub/)
If you are planning to remodel soon anyway, I might price out what kind of things you may want in the end. It'll be expensive to do it twice.
What kind of inserts were you pricing?
You can get replacement surrounds at Home Depot for not that much. ($200-ish) They're pretty easy to DIY install if you're up for that. Taking out the old one will be the worst part.
Thanks Monarda!
It's a Bona water-based finish, something called Mega, with a satin sheen level. I wanted water-based low VOC but otherwise trusted the recommendation of the floor guy on what would look good and wear well.
The problem with the tub is the tub itself needs refinishing, not just the surround, and tub liners have to be custom fit, which is much more expensive, around $3000 or so installed, and apparently there can still be problems like water getting between the tub and liner. Refinishing on average is apparently about a quarter of that. I don't know what the refinishing product/process will be since I haven't had anyone out to look at it yet, so will find out more. A full bathroom remodel is a ways off, as it is $$$.
Quote from: clean on July 27, 2019, 07:37:28 AM
What does a new one cost?
there is a 'shower scene' in the movie Dave. (he plays a look alike for the president and while doing his work as a double the prez has a stroke so Dave has to continue on. There is a scene where Dave is in the presidential shower when the president's wife walks in to discuss a veto that the chief of staff did).... Long set up for something as simple as that was a really nice looking shower, and IF I were to need another shower, that would be something to consider!
Also, a jet tub (great for a bad back) is not really all that more expensive than a regular tub. IF you need a new tub anyway, consider upgrading to a jet tub.
Just some thoughts!
My dad is a retired contractor so I have good info on how much things typically cost--
Replacing a tub is MUCH more expensive-- it's not the cost of the tub itself, it's the cost of the construction (demolition, installation, re-plumbing and often re-flooring is also needed then). If you're going to replace a tub/shower you should do a full bathroom remodel at the same time, as there are some economies of scale involved.
Quote from: Puget on July 27, 2019, 07:54:56 AM
Quote from: monarda on July 27, 2019, 06:52:49 AM
Congrats Puget!
Now THE LIST begins.
The first thing I did when I bought my first house was refinish the wood floors. They'll look great! I've been in this house now for 25 years, they're starting to wear a little in the high traffic areas.
What finish is the refinisher using? There is a difference in how long they'll last in traffic areas. Our guy uses a Bona product called Traffic. We didn't use him 25 years ago. And Bona Traffic is also a new product...
I don't have experience with reglazing. I just googled and found this advice (https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/bathrooms/refinish-a-bathtub/)
If you are planning to remodel soon anyway, I might price out what kind of things you may want in the end. It'll be expensive to do it twice.
What kind of inserts were you pricing?
You can get replacement surrounds at Home Depot for not that much. ($200-ish) They're pretty easy to DIY install if you're up for that. Taking out the old one will be the worst part.
Thanks Monarda!
It's a Bona water-based finish, something called Mega, with a satin sheen level. I wanted water-based low VOC but otherwise trusted the recommendation of the floor guy on what would look good and wear well.
The problem with the tub is the tub itself needs refinishing, not just the surround, and tub liners have to be custom fit, which is much more expensive, around $3000 or so installed, and apparently there can still be problems like water getting between the tub and liner. Refinishing on average is apparently about a quarter of that. I don't know what the refinishing product/process will be since I haven't had anyone out to look at it yet, so will find out more. A full bathroom remodel is a ways off, as it is $$$.
Yes, Mega is a good product. We have a jug of it in our basement. It's much easier to apply than Traffic. But Traffic does last longer.
One compromise to consider is refinishing the tub, but tiling the surround with a simple tile from a big box store. Some of those tiles are only $1-2 per sq ft.
Ah, well. In the oh-so-distant days (of the Nixon [who?] Administration) when I bought this cracker box for what now would be less (in dollars of the same amount) than the cost of a Honda (Accord), I did not realize that years of staying in place fills, fills living space with "stuff." Be very focussed that you should begin to deal with this before The Reaper is seen at the end of the street, checking his clip-board.
As Ben Cheever said, "If you die and wake up and still have all your stuff, you're in Hell."
Final update of the house buying journey for the curious (though just the start of the house owning journey)-- moved in yesterday! Still lots of unpacking to do, but I'm fairly minimalist in my possessions so I should be able to more or less finish today.
The floors turned out beautifully, despite some interesting things being hidden under the carpets. I'm so glad I went ahead and did them-- it is really transformational.
I also went with refinishing (aka reglazing) for the tub and surround as the more economical choice for now, which ended up costing $600. We'll see how it lasts (3 year warrantee) but at least for now it looks brand new, so I'm very pleased with that.
A dear and generous friend who's really into organizing and decorating is coming to visit in a week and we're going to we're going to try some DIY interventions on the very 70s kitchen with cabinet and countertop paint kits and peel-and-stick backsplash, and replacing the cabinet hardware.
There's a long list of other projects to tackle, but I have to get back to actual work so those will mostly have to wait. I'm afraid to start on things like touching up trim because knowing myself its going to turn into "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" home improvement edition. . .
Congratulations! Glad everything is working out so far.
A couple houses ago, when our kids were very little, we got into a mode where we had about a dozen half-finished projects. I finally told my wife that we had to just focus on one at a time and get them done. And that was in a new house with no remodeling needs! But lots of landscaping etc. Anyway, sounds like you have a grip on that.
An update on our house: The framing is nearly complete! I can hardly wait. The goal is to improve accessibility for my wife (in a wheelchair). We went in it the other day, and the wide hallways, wide doorways, and generally smooth flow are just so wonderful.
Congrats again! There's nothing like freshly finished floors.
Our floor guy is coming tomorrow to sand and finish our floors in our addition. About an hour before he shows up we are closing on a HELOC so we can pay for it.
Quote from: monarda on July 05, 2019, 08:05:41 AM
Congrats, Puget! When's the closing? <need to start shopping for the virtual housewarming party>
We have three different rental property investments, so don't hesitate to ask any house questions! (Though your dad can probably provide most of the help you need)
and... we are currently under contract to sell one of them. We've never sold a house before, only bought them. The one we're selling is the house I bought while I was a VAP over a dozen years ago, in a city several hours drive away from here where we live.
And, this Friday we are closing on selling the VAP house. Goodbye, VAPville.
Congratulations, and it sounds like the floors are lovely! I have a couple of friends who did the counter finish and peel and stick backsplash at least two years ago so I'm happy to report that it's held up very well.
Thanks everyone! Still a few boxes to go but I got the kitchen unpacked enough to cook a proper meal, which made me feel much more settled in the house.
Quote from: pgher on August 18, 2019, 01:22:45 PM
An update on our house: The framing is nearly complete! I can hardly wait. The goal is to improve accessibility for my wife (in a wheelchair). We went in it the other day, and the wide hallways, wide doorways, and generally smooth flow are just so wonderful.
Congrats pgher! My dad was a contractor for 40 years, so I grew up visiting job sites, and there truly is something magical about the moment the framing is done and what was abstract plans is suddenly a real space you can walk through and envision life in. Sounds like it will be a great move for you two!