Can we have a homeowner thread?

Ok.
I own a house
Now what?

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>>1160936
REEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeent till u diy!

>>1160936
I own a house. Shit is expensive.

>>1160954
Looking at 3 and 4 right now and maybe contracting for 5. Not sure if rich or just cut my balls off and blowjob a shotgun...

>>1160957
Are you flipping these things, or just get bored easily?

>>1160936
I built the house I live in. I own 2 others, 1 I divided up into apartments and rent them out.

>>1160956
House are cheap as shit unless you are into McMansions. Paying rent is expensive.

>>1160955
That's a $600,000 house in San Francisco.

>>1160962
>House are cheap as shit

Roof much?

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>>1160959

>autism.

The closest i will ever get to flipping is my idea to buy a house and hang a 4 sale sign after i get my realtor liscense for a rediculous amount of money. With taxes and fees being paid to buy it, sell it, and 30%+ on faggot flip tax it wont sell. But after 1 year and 1 day with some improvements i can drastically lower the price and make even more profit selling. All while renting it out. Then with new advertising and "PRICE REDUCED" people that have been seeing it may consider. Not sure if this strategy is worth a fuck but i honestly plan to buy houses and then sell them when they go to shit.

Sadly i live in and buy houses ready for the bulldozer atm...

>>1160964
Kek! But its in bumbfuckistan kansas and a dirt floor garage tho

>>1160965
roof isn't THAT expensive on a normal house. a few thousand to have it done and yer good for 15 to 30 years. most the time you won't even be living there anymore when it needs to be re-done.
if you have an easy roof like a basic ranch - you can even do it yourself with an air nailer and a buddy. I did a two car garage essentially by myself when I was but a lad. dad helped a little.

About to get a little place w/ USDA loan assuming everything passes inspection.

Any less common tips for a new homeowner?

I have a house.

It was built in 1915. There are lots of DIY projects I've been tackling. Everything from small stuff like removing paint on old hardware to big stuff like replacing the ancient octopus furnace.

Got it for a good price, and a good mortgage rate. Hopefully the value goes up over the next couple of years.

Not bad for somebody 26 years old I guess.

>>1160954
Idk....Get married

>>1161093
Get it inspected, then get it inspected again.
>>1161097
>gravity furnace
God those are a bitch and a half to take out. Never doing it again.

>>1160983
You do realize that house depreciates and becomes worthless if not maintained?

Post a list of stuff you've done to your house -

>Installed wood floors
>Replaced hot water heater
>New toilet and paper towel/towel holders
>Caulked bathtub
>New kitchen sink faucet and basket
>New lights in kitchen and above front door
>Replaced window pane
>Painted master bedroom and master bathroom
>Painted kitchen cabinets and shelves
>Touch up paint everywhere
>Caulked overflow drain on master bath for safety
>Replaced overflow gasket on guest bath
>Installed new cartridge, handle, and shower head
>New guest bath faucet
>New p-trap pipes
>Replaced broken bathroom tile
>New garden hose holders and outside faucets
>New laundry room door and took out a shelf for taller storage
>Replaced water pump on dishwasher and rebuilt shelf that rotted out
>New rollers on kitchen drawer
>Replaced transmission on washing machine and bearing on dryer
>New fridge
>Painted garage, built workbench and storage shelves
>New doorbell button
>Painted street sign on curb
>Pressure wash driveway, porch, and side of house
>Replaced every single outlet, light switch, and face plates with white ones
>New ceiling fan
>New mirror in bathroom
>New air conditioner vents
>New insulation on AC lines in attic
>Replaced capacitor on outside AC unit
>Combed outside AC unit
>Removed junk from evaporator coils
>Fixed squeaky floors and stairs
>Bolted loose counter top back down

Fuuuuuuccckkk the list goes on and on. If you're thinking about becoming a homeowner either be prepared to fix stuff, or be prepared to settle with some things. Did I need to repaint the bedroom? No, but I wanted to. Did the house need new white outlets/light switches? No but it does make it look nicer. You can settle on some things, other things are a must have. YouTube is your friend for replacing stuff. Anyone can be a homeowner, but it is work. Mowing the grass every few weeks, etc. It's work, and maintaining stuff. But you can do it.

I've leaving CA to TX; gonn abuy a house. Whats a mortgage, how do property taxes work, can I no longer write off interest as a deduction, what happens if my neighbors are shitlords?

Good thing I know the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell!

>>1160936
I will be wiring my house with ethernet cable in the near future. I already have plenty of access in the crawl space and attic to do line drops and install the outlets, so that's not a problem. I have the tools and the cable.

My question is, where do I put the fucking switch? I'm doing about 10 lines (1-2 in each room), so where do I hide a 10-port switch? stash it in the attic? make a special shelf in the back of a closet? any ideas?

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>>1161151
Don't bring the CaliCancer with you.
If you live in TX , live like a Texan:
Gun
Bible
Trump
Pickup

>>1161163
Already have more guns than you, i'm not religious, Trump, and I'd be going muscle car, not pickup.

>>1161165
>I'd be going muscle car, not pickup
CaliQueer detected, get a truck fegget. Texas is full of country space and you'll need it to get around. At the minimum get an SUV. Shit's fuckin convenient yo

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Biggest one, and by far the best... network upgrade.

>Bedroom outlets: 2xCat5E, 1xTel, 1xRG6U
>2 of those per bedroom
>Living room: 2xCat5E, 2xRG6u, 1xTel, 1xHDMI, 2pr speaker wire
>2 of those
>HDMI and speaker just connect between the two
>Kitchen: Cat5E, Tel; 1 of those by the sink
>Attic: 2xCat5E; 2 in opposite corners
>Garage: 3xCat5E, 1 in there

Running Ubiquiti Unifi WLAN/gateway equipment and Hikvision IP cams.

Getting as much in this house off wifi really improved the entire network. Band-steering to 5gig helps since 2.4's so horribly polluted here.

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Replaced all the outlets/switches in the place too. Installed a couple of the USB outlets in the bedrooms/kitchen... nice to have that power available without the adapters. Kind of expensive for what they are, but they're worth it.

Changed all the switches from the standard toggle switch to the flat Decora-style switches. Some of the home-automation modules fit that size, so changing everything to that style makes everything more uniform.

In-wall timer for my front porch light, humidity sensor on the bathroom fan, lighted switch for the bathroom light, dimmer on the dining room light.

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>>1161142
>Installed wood floors
Going to be putting tile in the kitchen and entryway pretty soon (within the month).
>Replaced hot water heater
It's coming out when I do the kitchen floor. Shouldn't have to replace it though.
>Caulked bathtub
Replaced the insert about 5 years ago. It's still shitty. When the kitchen's done, the bathroom's my next major project. Replacing the shitty plastic surround with tile.
>New kitchen sink faucet
heh, had to do that a few years back too.
>Painted master bedroom and master bathroom
Painted the entire interior in '12
>Painted kitchen cabinets and shelves
Mine are getting replaced
>New laundry room door and took out a shelf for taller storage
Removed all the shitty cabinets in the laundry room and replaced them with wire shelves. Opened the laundry room up and gave me a lot more storage space.
>Replaced transmission on washing machine and bearing on dryer
My dryer's making awful noises, fairly certain a drum bearing's fucked. I'll deal with that when I pull it to do the floor in there.
>built workbench and storage shelves (in garage)
Ah yeah, did that too not long after I moved in.
>New doorbell button
done that too
>Replaced every single outlet, light switch, and face plates with white ones
>>1161174
>New ceiling fan
Had to unfuck the 3 ceiling fan wiring here.
>New mirror in bathroom
Did that when I pulled the crappy mirror/cabinet in there.
>New air conditioner vents
tfw no ac
>Fixed squeaky floors and stairs
Liquid nails and wood shims, yup
>Bolted loose counter top back down
Mine came out and went into the dumpster.

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Soffits on both sides of the kitchen came out ... new drywall up on that, textured/primed, i'll paint it when the rest of the shit comes out.

Replaced that section of drywall the previous owners beat that "L" section out of, installed an outlet for the new over-the-range microwave.

Flooring's next - all the subflooring's coming out down to the joists underneath, new plywood/cement board on that, then tile.

Sink's getting refinished while it's out.
Clean out and service hot water heater.
Service washer/dryer.

>>1161151
30 yr old San Antonio, TX homeowner here. My house cost $150k. It's a 1986 two story, 1,700 sq ft. 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, two car garage in a safe quiet neighborhood. No bars on the windows, etc. A few renters here and there, my culdesac is all retired ppl so it's pretty quiet.

Property taxes are REALLY easy, they are just built into your monthly mortgage payment. As is home owners insurance and PMI (insurance for the lender incase you default on the loan, they will get it paid off by an insurance company. you have to pay for the PMI insurance). My mortgage is through Wells Fargo so think of it exactly like paying rent. Every month I send Wells Fargo one check (my mortgage payment) for $1,260 and that's all I do on my side. I'm done. On THEIR side they take care of all the details. First they put part of that money towards the principal you owe, and then they keep a portion for interest. They also take some of the money and put it into an escrow account which is like a special bank account that is for your money, but they have control to distribute it. So they put a little of the mortgage payment into the escrow account each month and when your yearly property taxes are due they make the payment for you using the funds from the escrow account. Same for your homeowners insurance. Some of the mortgage payment goes into an escrow, then they pay it each year from that.

None of this requires any action on your part and this goes for any lender you get, they all do this for you. You just send them one check a month and they do everything else. Each year they re-calculate what you will owe for your property taxes and homeowners insurance. When your rates go up they send you a notice that your mortgage payment will be increasing, and you just start paying a little more each month. Remember your mortgage payment is not a fixed amount. It increases as your property taxes and homeowners insurance rises.

Cont.

>>1161014
I need to complete tear off my roof. I've thought about DIY, but I'm intimidated as I don't have many buddies to help. I live in a 1958 ranch home and these fucking vultures want up to 30k to redo it. Not sure how permitting weekend though.

>>1161093
Yeah. Assume unless you have a lot of exoerience all repairs will be twice as painful, costly as u think. Leaky faucit? Ahh, 40 bicks and an hour job. 80 bucks 2 hours min.... fucking kill me

>>1161139
Was already there when i hauled the 15 pickup loads of trash out and started repairs anon. Slumlords abound and eith be cicked with a roof falling in and shitter touching the sink or get a shithole and move in. Try and imorove it to liveable conditions. Give up, get a better job and bail.

>>1161189
cont.

Mortgage interest is always deductible on a federal tax return. Your lender will send you a Form 1098 each year that shows how much interest you've paid over that year. You'll use the 1098 to deduct that interest on your tax return. Side note, Texas doesn't have a state tax return so that's cool.

If your neighbors are shitloards try being a man and addressing it with them first. Don't just go be a taddle tell. I have a neighbor cadi-corner to me who's dog barked constantly. I left a note on their door saying basically I know that dogs bark but we all appreciate the quiet hours especially at night, please take care of it, something like that. It was a nice letter and I made sure to keep it neighborly. I didn't state it in the letter, but I felt that I'm in a neighborhood not an apartment, and I'm paying a mortgage not rent. After a long day at work I shouldn't have to hear a dog bark all afternoon and all through the night. every. single. day. I gave them a few months to get it taken care of. I figured that gives them a few paychecks to save up for a bark collar, or get the dog training, or however they wanted to handle it. It never stopped so after that I had no choice but to start calling the cops. I always call late at night too since the dog barked all night. That made it extra inconvenient and embarrassing for them to have to get out of bed for the cops. Took about two times, but after the second time I haven't heard the dog since and it's been a few years now. I would never do something like that without addressing it in a personal manner first. If you got to live next to a person for at least six or seven years to recoup the investment on your house you're going to want to be on good terms with them. But at the same time don't let someone take advantage of you. Laws are in place for a reason. With our city codes if the barking persisted the owners would get tickets for disturbing the peace. Just be a good neighbor, it goes a long way.

>>1161155
Anywjere easily hidden but accessible. U wanna crawl inro your attic to troubleshoot or can u bolt that bitch to a closet wall?

>>1161163
Words to live by if u change texas to america. Gold and silver maga hats came in today

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>>1161165
Not religious and not going truck or both... best assimilate faggot.

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>>1161191
Diy roof.

Dont...

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>>1161155
Rack in a closet. They're cheap.
Use a patch panel.
Label things as you go (buy a decent label printer and use it).
Install an outlet in chosen closet.
Mount plywood to the studs so you have something solid to mount other equipment to (UPS, modems, power injectors, etc).

Honestly, I'd go at least a 24-port switch. If you go with something managed, that allows you some fun with VLANs (think isolated guest network) as well as monitoring/statistics.

Pull extra cable now, even if you don't terminate it. Shit's cheap.

>>1160954
Pretty much this. I'll answer questions but I mean what are you getting at...

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>>1161200
Safety equipment, yo.
Cheaper than hospital bills.

>>1161097
Wew me too. 1895 here. Very old, lots to do. But goddamn was it cheap and it's 2500sqf

>>1161178
See it's always something. I'm getting so complacent with some of the stuff I know I should fix up, but I just feel like everything I'm doing is for the next guy ya know? Good luck with that tiling job, how tf do you get them to all be the same height?

>>1161191
Permitting depends on your city. Most cities don't care if you aren't touching the trusses. A ranch house is easily doable by yourself if you get a week of good weather and the slope isn't too bad on the roof.

>>1161093
I'm doing my first USDA direct loan right now. What kind of timeline did you have to go through? I submitted my pre-qualification app last week.

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>>1161215
>I just feel like everything I'm doing is for the next guy ya know?
Yeah, I am doing most of this "for the next guy".
Place was built in '72. People I bought it from bought it on short-sale as a fix-and-flip, older couple in town that never lived here, they were just here to fix the place up. Handy, but not handymen if you know what I mean.
The lady that they bought it from was a hoarder - walkways through the rooms in waist-deep trash, shit you see on TV kind of stuff. So it needed a bit of fixing-upping. My sellers did a decent job, but having never lived here there's a lot of shit they missed. Leaky pipes/valves/plumbing, backed up drains, shitty repairs on electrical, etc.
So I've been going through it all, getting experience doing all this shit, so when I do move to a bigger place (hopefully without an HOA) I'll have all the tools/experience to build the place up the way I want it.

>Good luck with that tiling job, how tf do you get them to all be the same height?
Floor leveling compound.
I'm tearing everything down to the joists. Plywood is rotting from several water leaks. When the fridge/icemaker was installed by previous owners they snagged the poly line on something when they installed it, so there was a pinhole leak for about a year before I caught it and fixed it.
There's another real squishy spot by the washer, I think it's the drain line off that under the floor. If I press down hard enough in one or two spots, i'll get water seeping out of the flooring. Only happens after I run the washer, so I don't think it's the main water line.

>>1161191

This anon >>1161226 is correct, but if you're a desk jockey you may want to think about it. Tear off is physical, but it's the worst part (assuming you get the new shingles delivered to the roof). You do not have to use a nail gun, and if you aren't a pro it won't really save you any time anyway.

>>1161191
Any hail strong wind in your area?

>>1161212
Kek. My converted duplex is the labyrinth. Has a new roof with 3 leaks and is a $21,000 shithole.

>>1161209
I didnt have the money for either. Lol, lesson learned. Raining today. Can't walk...

>>1161206
thanks for the suggestion. The main cable drop is on a wall in the living room, but it's in a corner where nobody goes (i have furniture and bookshelf there now) and it's difficult to reach other rooms from this area (no common walls). I was thinking of installing a utility cabinet here and disguising it as the book shelf. probably 2 feet by 4 feet vertical on the wall, and a few inches thick to hide the equipment mounted flat against the wall. power strip, cable modem, wifi router and switch will all fit in this area, and then run all the lines up to the attic.

>>1161169
>>1161198
>texas is big, you need a truck to get around because a muscle car won't do it!
I'm failing to see how a 500hp car won't fit the bill, I don't want a bro-dozer or drive on dirt roads to middle of nowhere places.

I like pickups, but I simply have no use for one. And its very likely I'll be driving a company car which is rumored to be a soccer-mom SUV.

>>1161189
>>1161195
>PMI Insurance
Seems thats only if the down payment is less than 20%, I would be avoiding that. I'm probably going to look at $225k houses, and put at least $50k down.
>property tax
my Brother in Austin bought his house for just under $190k, and his property taxes were just assessed at $250k even though he hasn't done any modifications or upgrades to his house. He's trying to appeal the assessment, but supposedly its just every 6 months or once a year he pays a sum of money to the government based on that assessment. No income tax, but if you own house you're paying thousands seems like an even tradeoff.

I'm looking to be in the DFW area, I'd like to be in a quiet suburb but NOT in suburbia where all the houses are within arms distance of eachother. I don't mind being able to see my neighbors, but shit I want to be able to not feel so confined like coastal CA or in-the-city texas.

>>1160936
Been buying and fixing up homes since I turned 19.

>We grew up poor as fuck.
>started working at 10 doing yards and odd jobs around the neighborhood.
>graduate, dont want to do college just yet
>working 2 full time jobs
>hermit hoarder gal i do yardwork for dies.
>family lists house 'as-is' $15,000 on tuesday
>offer $12k tuesday evening
>accepted wednesday morning
>it took seven dumpster loads to clear the house out of all the trash.
>itd have been much easier to have a $12,000 bonfire
>gutted the entire thing down to the bones, subfloor and all.
>redid the layout for a master suite and two bedroom insted of five bed.
>sold it for $78k
>gave dad a chunk of change for helping me out and bought another shithole.
>dad says Im crazy for doing it all over again but meh
>did it five more times and then I started renting the fifth one
>my company owns 80 rentals, and 5 apartment buildings with a total of 110 units and manages another 50 rental units for lazy owners.
>myself, my husband, 11 employees and a Juanita the cleaning lady all run the show.

Owning your own house sucks and is a lot of fucking work. You alone are responsible for maintaining it, keeping it updated, and making sure it doesn't fall apart and lose you money. Because if you do let it get run down and lose market value, someone like me is gonna make a fucking fortune off you.

Fix stuff right away, not next week, or next month. Shit piles up on you. If your faucet is dripping then fix it or replace it the next evening.

The more things pile up, the more psychological effort it will take to clear the job queue.

Vacuum and dust once a week minimum, ideally twice a week.
Wipe down the kitchen and bathroom nightly.
Squeegie the shower walls after every shower
Wipe the kitchen down every time you cook and sweep the kitchen nightly, ideally with one of those swiffers with a moist washcloth attached.
Paint on a schedule according to the manufacturers specs, and keep the outside maintained.

>>1161332
Solid fucming advice /10.

Can confirm all of the general stuff.

110 units. How the fuck do u manage this...

>>1161305
Been all over texas and america in general. A car is fine. Hell a muscle car is beneficial as texas is the biggest state and most aggressive on the road. Have an old vid of my wagon shitbox pegged and 85 and like 9 cars just cruise by at 90 or 100... yall are nuts and i love it

>>1161332
>offer $12k tuesday evening
I applaud your hard work and making a living off of flipping houses, but do you think that would be reasonably possible nowadays with all the flipping shows on TV, easy money for prospective flippers, and many over-priced houses?

12k for a house must have been one of those tiny 650sqft shacks in bumfuck nowhere right?

>>1161337
When I was visiting my brother in Austin, he let me cruise his Camaro, and I took it up to about 100 on the toll roads (I could see there were no cops anywhere, very light traffic) and he told me to back it down because that would constitute wreckless driving and I would be taken to jail. I didn't want to test it. I also watch a channel on YT where they have said multiple times street racing in TX is no joke if you get caught; they take your ass to jail no questions asked.

Ideally I'd love to get a Mustang GT350R, or GT500 if it ever comes out and put it in my 3-car garage. I'm not finding many 3 car garages or houses with separate barns/garages.

I know what I want in a house, but I think finding it is going to be a challenge, or it'll cost me an arm and a dick to make happen.

>>1160936
No i hate those>>

>>1161339
They're still out there.

Every does "house hacking" now anyway.

Get an FHA loan with 3.5% down and a roommate, who you charge whatever your mortgage is. Or, you can get a duplex and rent the other side out. Or, you can buy a place that needs some work, fix it up as you go, after two years you don't have to pay capital gains on any profit from selling it.

There's alot of ways to do it. Real estate is where the money is, especially with interest rates as low as they are now.

>>1161335
>110 units. How the fuck do u manage this...
I have 11 employees and a husband who run the property management sude of things. Renting, advertising, collecting rent, scheduling repairs, etc.

My old man, my brother, and my uncle do my construction and maintenance work.
Occassionally shit piles up and I need to bring in some pros to clear the work orders, but Ive got some great connections Ive built over the years and I get good rates.

And whenever I need roof work done I have my husband tell Juanita my housekeeper to get her sons and nephews over to the site to get the job done.

10 mexicans make short work of a house roof.

>>1161191
>1958 ranch home
>30k to redo

So, not just putting shingles or metal roofing on, instead it is a removal of the entire roof and its trusses?

Because 30k is fucking insane on that type of house.

>tfw it cost 5k usd to build my entire house's metal roof; trusses and all.

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>>1161209
Ladder jacks and roofer's railing help too. I saw a guy slip on some asphalt shingle grit, slide down the roof, right off the roof, only to catch the beefy TV antennae mast, that looks like a small 3-sided ladder, to save his life. We were on a 2-story house and there was a garden with lots of tomato stakes right below him.

Shits scary if you don't do things correctly.

>>1161386
Depends on the area, my ranch is looking at 10k for remove/new roof.

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>>1161343
And a leg. Im digging a hole. Fuckin hate people. Also buying 1 of 50 cars made for 2017 some day... fucking 1,000hp trans am

>>1161385
They sure do. Just be sure and get workmans comp and insurance or make them get an llc and hire them as a contractor so you dont wind up with injured help fioting a huge bill and possible law suite. But it sounds to me like you got your shit handled. Grats on your sucess. Im working on smething very much along thos lines.

>>1161387
Fucl around anon. Everyone i know has fallen off the roof but im the only one to suffer a real injury. Makes me cringe. Dude i know just fell through his barn and broke his back and legs. Watching american choppers the day i got out of the hospital and they said building their new shop a guy fell through the roof and died. Guess i was lucky even though i can hardly walk.

>>1161418
Aren't those from a specialty aftermarket shop like Roush or Hennessy or Brabus? Not actually made or approved by GM, but just a widely known aftermarket shop?

In my opinion, its kinda fucked the very limited cars have a $25,000+ markup just because they're special. Mustang GT350Rs were reported selling from dealerships for over $100k.

Back to OP's topic; I'd love to have a 3 car garage attached to the house, with a back barn/garage for a small workshop and room to part a project car in in the back part of the property. Unfortunately you usually have to live in bumfuck nowhere to have property that large, and still unbastardized as a "guest house" or whatever.

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>>1161424
I built my house and worked on about 30ish roofs for various reasons from building to repair to installing stuff. I've yet to fall off and that guy who slipped and nearly fell in >>1161387 is the only 1 of two people I know who nearly fell off a roof (the other person stepped on a piece of plywood that wasn't nailed down they caught the trusses on the way down luckily). I don't know anyone who actually fell off and landed on the ground.

I worked with a guy who fell off some scaffolding though. It pretty much destroyed his wrists, elbows, shoulders, ankles, knees, and hips because he landed on all fours. He only fell 12 feet. I did some weight-force calculations of how much force I'd have if I fell a similar distance at the weight I am as an adult. Fuck. I used to jump off a second story barn loft, as a child, and land on solid ground, until one day I chipped a baby tooth.

>>1161385
Thanks for undercutting honest American workers to get Mexicans to do it on the cheap you piece of shit.

>>1161431
My brother has a roofing company and been at it for about 30 years. He's fallen off twice, both times it was only a single story, so no injury.

Some of his people have also fallen off.

The danger is when you tear off the asphalt shingles it leaves those little granules behind, and people slide off because they don't sweep them away in front of them.

>>1161443
>The danger is when you tear off the asphalt shingles it leaves those little granules behind, and people slide off because they don't sweep them away in front of them.

That is exactly what happened to the guy I saw sliding off. The real irony was that I had the broom in my hand and was sweeping it off. He literally walked out in front of me and right into the section I was working my way towards. Just as I opened my mouth to yell, he went down. There wasn't a damn thing I could do, but sweep faster all the way down to where he was hanging on. The roof was one of those really old steep ones too.

This was just before lunch. I think maybe he just needed something to eat and wasn't thinking to clearly because of that. He was in his 40s at the time and that happens a great deal I've seen.

I am looking at moving out. I do not want to rent, I want to buy.

I saved $13K so far. I make an estimated $31K/yr (haven't worked a full year yet). My job is an apprenticeship, so I will keep getting raises and will probably be making more than $55K in 3 years.

My only debt is a car loan ($8K) and a credit card I pay off in full every month.

How much house can I afford? If not, how much more should I save or make? Is mortgage insurance worth it if it means I can put down less? I live in suburban Chicago.

Sorry for the generic questions, but I am really anxious and would appreciate a little insight.

>>1161471
I don't think you can get any mortgage yet.

>>1161186
>That image
>tfw just bought a house with a shit load of stuff to do
Now this is a motherfucker of job to do, but we can't complain too much since we're finally owning our own place considering the house we're currently renting wants to jack up the rent to £800p/m

Plus the only reason we even got the place was the inlaws decided to give my wife an early inheritance rather than waiting till they die. So we managed to get a cheap end terrace with enough rooms and surprising amount of space, it was rented out though and the tenants beat the shit out of the place.

>end terrace
>driveway big enough for two vehicles, pebble dashed making it super shit to drive a motorbike on
>Side gate is rotted to fuck and obliterated by wind, had to rip bits off and screw together, quite a bit gate so might build my own later
>skirting boards/doors/door frames fuck it every wood surface rough as fuck, rather replace the lot than sand/paint
>Small cracks in walls/walls pretty dirty, need to patch and paint
>crappy carpets, ripped them all up and getting news ones fitted
>kitchen looks like dogshit as someone did a horrible plastering job and everything is dirty as fuck with broken floor tiles, ripped out busted oven and washing machine, repainted everything white, filled floor gaps with mortar, flooring people coming to fit vinyl
>bathroom is an ill fitted wet room, got a bathtub and sink fitted with vinyl floor
>most of the upstairs walls have crappy lining paper, removed it and DIYd even shittier lining paper, will have to live with it for now

Shit is stressful as fuck, thanks for reading my blog

>>1161471

Look into a USDA direct loan. You can probably afford 120-150k under their program. They give you a 3.25% interest rate (3.55% with mandatory PMI).

You don't have to out any money down on the house, and if you ever lose your job, they will suspend your mortgage payments for up to two years without penalizing you.

https://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov/eligibility/welcomeAction.do?pageAction=WEP

The only catch is that they require you buy a house outside of incorporated cities larger than 35k people. Above is the eligibility map to see where the lines are for your area.

>>1161339
Depends on the area. I'm in Michigan, but when I was looking at houses my realtor told me from the get go to only look at the prices as a guideline, because a lot of them are absolute shit holes expecting somehow to make money of flippers.
I always say get it inspected twice.
One house I looked at had a Lally column and a wood post in the basement. The Lally column was totally rusted through and the post was basically monkey wood. First inspector somehow missed it. Anyway I digress, they still wanted fucking 200k and change for an average size house that needed tons of work.

>>1161436
FREE MARKET WILL FIX IT MELON LABE #RONPAUL

>>1161448
My aunts first husband Final Destination'd himself into a piece of for some reason exposed retard because he slipped on that grit.

>>1161497
In some markets you can get away with selling a dump over market value knowing it needs in excess of $50k of work; here in CA, 1200sq dumps that haven't been maintained since the 60's are selling for $500k, buyers get a loan for $700k and renovate the house before moving in. Its CA, so people are used to paying $1m for shitty shacks that need a ton of work and just focus on their monthly mortgage payment or defer the price into a balloon payment with the hopes of perpetual refinancing to push off the cost of actually living in the house.

Its funny because as a renter, all the homeowners with rental properties (and full time jobs) always say owning a house is more work than its worth. But would NEVER become a renter ever again. My problem is probably asking boomers.

>>1161504
Yeah, I'm torn personally. I've rented houses and apartments and owned a house. They've all got their pros and cons.

>>1160964
missing a zero or two

>>1161504

The economics of rentals depends on the market. My local market is definitely a buyers market, but in market like you're describing there's no sense in buying.

>>1161514
>>1161512
Most people I know with rentals in Los Angeles bought houses for super cheap shortly after an earthquake. A bunch of people panic sold their house in fear of another or big earthquake.

Yeah its nice being able to call my landlord and tell them a lightbulb is out to come replace it within 24 hours. But on the other hand, I'd like to pain the fuckin walls, have a kitchen that isn't from 1992, or get rid of this carpet if I feel like it. Not to mention when I move out, all my money has essentially gone up in smoke.

>>1161093
Less common tips......I don't know what is common to you, but check for signs of DIY guys. I'm an electrician and I've seen so many things that 'work' but are not safe or aesthetic in any way. Depending on where you live home inspectors are a joke and not sanctioned by the state. There was a magazine that had an article that said "become a home inspector in your spare time." Coworker sent off for shits and giggles. Ridiculously easy. One inspector told one of our customers, "I have a license to inspect a roof so I am allowed to inspect anything under the roof". Each one has their own thing or things they like to pick at, frequently reaching for something so minor while passing by 1 or more major things.

Best advice is have a friend in the trades walk through with you. Having been around long enough most will be able to point out something really bizarre or abnormal.

If the homeowner finished the basement himself look for signs it was done somewhat correctly. See if corners are actually square, walls not curved, signs that effort was put into doing it right.

All I have for now. Everything I think of is common to me.

>>1161533
Along that same vein, if an inspection incorrectly diagnoses a problem, or simply overlooks a problem, they are not responsible or liable for it. For example, if they declare a house in tip-top shape, and you find out a month after moving it theres all kinds of problems, he's not even remotely in trouble.

Like someone else said, get at least 2-3 inspectors to comb things over.

>>1161492
Great info. Thank you.

>>1161556

No problem. They'll allow 33 and 38 year loans as well, which will greatly increase the amount of house you can buy. Normally, I'd be nervous about buying more house than you can afford, but it sounds like you'll be making more money within the next few years and the protections built into the USDA loans are great, so you should be fine.

what kind of things would you want to be looking for in a first home (preferably in a fixer-upper type situation) positive or negative?

>>1161564

It depends on what you're comfortable with. I love houses that need drywall work and need floor, both of these are easy fixes and they allow me to move in and fix as I go.

Anytime you flip a house and hold it for more than a year, the profit is subject to a capital gains tax. There is an exception of 250k in profit for your primary residence, which is the home you've lived in for 2 of the last 5 years before the sale. Don't be afraid of buying something that will take some time to fix up, holding the house for a few years can save you some money in taxes.

There are some things that I don't touch: foundations, systemic wiring problems, and septic issues. It's hard to estimate the cost to repair those and its rarely worth the investment.

Another thing is the neighborhood. You want your house to be the worst house in the neighborhood. If all the houses in the neighborhood are in similar shape, then it's hard to improve the house enough to recoup your investment.

Don't be afraid of trailers either, especially if they're post-1997 models and they're in a neighborhood that is mostly houses. There's alot of profit to be made in trailers.

>>1161568
alright, that sounds like a lot of stuff i would agree with. obviously get something with room for improvement for wall sockets im guessing? just in case extras are needed? as far as electrical goes i can replace/create new sockets for electrical wiring and drywall isnt /too/ bad. flooring ive never worked on but it seems like something everyones gotta learn sometime or another. i probably wouldnt end up changing the floor plan right off the bat, but for the future, is there any way to know that theres load bearing walls or do you find that out after? pillars are fine, walls are the issue

>>1161571
Load bearing walls almost always run parallel to the gutters on a ranch style house. Once you get outside the basic ranch style, things get complicated.

You've got to check your local laws as well. Here in NC, you need a permit to touch the electrical, plumbing, or HVAC. You can get away with repairs to these systems yourself, but if you're adding new outlets in or converting your garage to heated space, you need a permit. Most of the time it doesn't matter, but county inspectors have the power to tell you to tear all your work out if you don't have it permitted.

Doing major renovations like that isn't a good idea for a newbie anyway. I think the only exception would be converting a 4b/1bth to a 3/2 or something like that.

Most of the world you'll be doing is drywall, painting, roofing, and flooring.

>>1161573
alright, good information. this is a ways off, but i figured since the opportunity is here, might as well use it. My dad has done quite a bit of carpentry work himself, so i could always send him a message or something if i need any help. and yeah, local laws are probably something i would need to look into quite a bit. how much does an inspection usually run? no doubt its worth it, but still something to tally up

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>>1161575

The inspection really isn't the problem, it's that they want a licensed plumber or electrician to do the work, so your costs are through the roof.

Most of the stuff, you can learn as you go. I'm out working on a future rental property right now, actually. It's just piddly stuff like cleaning the cabinets out, replacing the appliances, etc.

A strategy alot of people use is to buy a place that needs some work with a 3.5% down, FHA loan. Spend about a year fixing it up, then rent it out, and use the rental income to pay down the original mortgage while pocketing the rest (setting some money aside for major capital improvement projects, like roof repairs).

Mortgage companies typically look for you to stay in the place for at least a year before renting it out, anything less and they'll say that your intent was never to make it your permanent home.

I do everything with cash now, but I'm getting all my ducks in a row to do a big portfolio loan on my properties, pulling maybe 60-70% of the equity out. Loan rates are artificially low right now, so I want to try and get as much of this good debt as I can.

>>1161576
ill have to look into that. how much, after paying the mortgage, do you make on average? id think itd be a decent pay, itd be fun to look into, but down the road id probably just be looking for a place to rest my head at night. if i have the extra funding and time, itd be a nice project though. id probably be thinking about a place with a full bath at least, probably another half bath, a basement (if it came finished i wouldnt mind but i could possibly finish it myself too) probably 2 bedrooms, an office, a workshop, living space, spare room, couple closets, kitchen, etc. id probably go for a ranch style home, and work up from there. i can probably make some halfway decent furniture, ive got a couple contacts that i can make curved moldings and such. if i paid for the materials, im sure theyd let me come in after hours and work on some stuff

>>1161579
Honestly, it all depends on your market. I can buy double wides in safe neighborhoods for 40k, put 10k in them, and rent them for 850 a month all day long. Most of the time, I have a tenant lined up before I'm even finished with the work. PITI on a 50k mortgage is roughly $400, so if I were to get traditional mortgages I would be cash flowing 450 a month before setting aside money for capital repairs.

Every market is different though. I know there are a lot of markets right now where you'd be lucky to get enough rent to cover your mortgage payment. I'd never touch a market like that. That's how everyone lost their shorts in 2008. These investors would break even on the payments and "just know" the value of the house was always going to appreciate at 4% a year. When home values started to fall, rental prices fell too and those investors found themselves in a pile of shit.

>>1161581
ah okay. so in other words, serious research is needed. seems good to me. honestly though, wherever i get a job is probably going to be where i end up living, not really anything to do with the housing market. ill keep it in the back of my mind, but work comes first, or so it seems

>>1161586
Markets always fluctuate too. Before I bought my first house, I went on Zillow and ran the numbers on two houses everyday, just so that I was familiar with what prices were normal for my market, where I could buy the cheapest and rent for the most, etc.

I've been fortunate not to lose any money yet. I bought some land a few years back that I thought would increase in value, it never did, so I ended up selling it for what I bought it for. The people couldn't get a loan, so I did seller financing for them at 7% a year. They're still paying, I think this is their 3rd year paying, and they've barely put a dent in the principal.

If you don't want to do this for a living, you should look into "house hacking."

>>1161587
huh, interesting. i guess i could always use something to keep my hands busy, and working on houses would certainly be a productive way, especially if i can make some money off renting it out

Bought a cheap house nearly two years ago. Completely fixed it up, so now i have an incredibly cheap mortgage and am basically guaranteed a nice profit when i sell it. If i were to rent a similar house i would pay nearly twice what i pay now. Got really lucky on this house, i am single and wouldn't have gotten a much higher mortgage so a finished house was never an option. Fixing it up was a great experience and living here is cheap enough that i can save half my paycheck every month and still be comfortable.

>>1161191
Are you me? Seems like utter bullshit since it's only $5k in supplies and a day or two max of work.

>>1161423
>workmans comp etc
Been doing this for 20 years and im on the City's housing commission which deals with slumlords and assesses fines and levies for failures to comply with housing ordinances.

>>1161436
Juanita is a second generation citizen born and raised in the US, and so were her parents. Her grandparents came here from mexico. Her sons and nephews are third generation citizens and I bankrolled their construction firm because their mother was the second employee I ever hired. They give me a good rate because I tore up every check they tried to pay back the loan with and give their mother free room and board.

Please stop with the xenophobia bullshit. I like Trump and all, but this mexican hate b.s. is getting a little old.

>>1161471
>want to move out.

Honestly, don't.

The moment you move out of the nest you lose a fantastic safety net.

My suggestion is and always will be to sit down with the parents and have a frank discussion about your financial situation.

Write up and do the math for a two year wealth building plan. This includes saving up a deposit, establishing and funding a retirement account etc.

Walk them through your plan showing how much money you plan to save to buy a house when you do move out.

Unless your a neet splurgelord they should appreciate your efforts and come with an agreement with you. You should be covering some of the bills or paying some kind of rent to them to further establish responsibility.

Two more years at home, saving money from a professional level job will give you a SIGNIFICANT leg up on your peers in establishing your adult life.

>>1161866
Oh also. As to your 401k retirement plan. Almost every plan allows for a non-penalty withdrawl for house down payments. You then pay that loan back with interest to yourself back into the account.

So if you do a pretax contribution of the maximum allowable amount for two years, ~$15,000, then you have $30,000 saved up of untaxed monies you can apply towards the down payment. The bennefit of this is that it then reduces your taxable income. So if you're making $31k a year and contribute $15k to your plan, then the government only taxes you on $16k of income. Which, living at home is all you need to make car payments and contribute around the house. And squirrel away some more.

Obviously there are also market fluctuations to account for, so talking to an advisor is... well ...advised

>>1161170
care explaining more in depth? why do you need those things? what are all of those things your pic?

>>1161685

You've made it. Do this three more times and you'll have a great rental income.

>>1161863
>hurr durr, muh Civic Nationalism

Juanita and her 82 nephews have to go back.

>>1161866
This: stay rent free with your parents as long as reasonably possible. Set goals as agreeable as possible with your parents. As an adult its not unreasonable for them to charge you rent, however if they're willing to let you stay for free, DO IT. Set goals with your parents so they see the light at the end of a tunnel whereby they know them affording a roof over your head will make you better off in the years to come.

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How do I fixed my jacked up driveway and how much do you think it'll cost to fix?

Pretty decent sized chunks of concrete missing from the first slab and a bit on the second.

>>1161903
the demo/removal is the expensive part. if you did that and some of the earth work you can probably get a new one poured for less than 1k.

honestly though, i'd just do it myself. you aren't doing a warehouse steel trowel finish or anything.

>>1161903
that seems like a nice comfy house, and if you have a sledgehammer, that should work. either that or rent a jackhammer if youre comfortable with it. id say only take it down to where you need to. first slab should fix most of it, id recommend doing that first, second slab maybe when it gets worse. im not super experienced but if its only one slab, a days worth of sledgehammer and elbow grease should do it, maybe less than that. after that, you should be good to go for some pouring. since its on a slant, id go for a company instead. that way, youre guaranteed at least a job thats someone on par

>>1161931
>if you have a sledgehammer, that should work
Jesus christ no. He'd be beating the fuck out of your driveway for weeks at a time driving yourself to domestic violence in no time.

Rent a jackhammer if possible, break the fucker up proper. Remove the asphalt, you'll need to rent a dumpster for that too, then you'll need to grade the soils, flatten them, tamp them and prep for new surface.

At that point, you could lay a concrete lattice and fill with dirt and grass.
Or your could lay peat gravel, and have perpetual maintentence of sweeping stones and adding them every ~5 or so years.
Lay paving bricks, add sand, weed regularly.

Get a couple quotes for the asphalt demo and laying. Sometimes you'll find a dirt cheap solution based on your area and the contractor who just needs work. Alternatively, sometimes they can simply "resurface" the asphalt by adding thick tar every couple years for a few hundred bucks. Works well enough, but it'll need to be done every few years.

>>1161940
He could try freezing it, to form an ice sheet. If it worked for Fukushima it can work for his driveway.

>>1161940
ive done something the size of that in a couple hours with a sledge, if im judging size correctly. but yes, jackhammer is probably preferable

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>>1161874
>care explaining more in depth?
Wifi sucks here. 2.4g is horribly polluted - to the point where when I'd come home and everyone's streaming movies/porn/music/etc, I had less throughput between my computers/phone to the modem than I did over my 1.5mbit internet service. So I did something about it.
>why do you need those things?
Because wifi sucks, and I wanted my shit to work. So I built some infrastructure to make shit work.
>what are all of those things your pic?
1 - DSL modem. Configured in "bridge mode", so all its doing is being a modem between ADSL and ethernet.
2 - Gateway/router. This does PPPoE auth to my ISP, that interface has the WAN IP. It stands between WAN and LAN... my firewall. Has fun stuff like VLAN support, multiple DHCP servers (req'd for vlans), VPN/RADIUS servers that consumer-grade stuff lacks.
3 - There is no 3.
4 - UPS. Runs this equipment for ~30mins in the event of a power outage/brownout.
5 - My main 24-port managed switch; the heart of my LAN. Managed switch gets me diagnostics/statistics, as well as VLAN tagging/trunking. Lots of other stuff I don't use. About $50 used/corp.upgrade.
6 - Patch panels. Top is all ethernet to everything in house/garage/attic. Bottom is telephone and coax to house/attic. It's the other end of all the cables in the walls.
7 - Controller. This manages access points, RADIUS auth/access control, guest portal, gateway, and provides the interface to admin all of the above.
8 - 2 power injectors for AP's and the power supply for the gateway.
9 - My house access point. Dual-radio 2.4/5gig. Way better than the radios/antennas on best-buy tier all-in-one modem/gateway/switch/AP's. I've got another AP in the garage for when i'm out there.

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>>1161975
VLANs, "virtual LAN"s, are tagged by a VLAN ID on ethernet.

I have one network, my "main" network, VLAN 1, 10.0.1.1/24.
VLAN 2 = VPN, 10.0.2.1/24.
VLAN 4 = Guest/Visitors. 192.168.4.1/24.
VLAN 10 = Cameras. 192.168.10.1/24.
VLAN 20 = IoT/Appliances. 192.168.20.1/24.

Each of these VLANs behaves logically like its own LAN. Each has its own DHCP server on the gateway.
Gateway firewalls between different LANs - some (VPN to main) are admit-all both ways. Others (Guest) are only allowed access to internet; everything else is denied. Cameras and IoT networks are fairly heavily firewalled from my main network and the internet.

On the WiFi side, I have 3 SSIDs.
One's my main LAN.
Another's for guests, no security (anyone can join) but like hotels/airports, you have to get through the guest portal with a voucher code before it'll let you on the interwebs. It's tied to VLAN4 for visitors.
My 3rd SSID is for appliances - thermostat, chromecast, radio in my truck, etc all attach to this. It's tied to VLAN20 for IoT shit.

Cameras are all wired, so those ports get tagged on the switch and they're handled in there.

But a cable can carry more than one VLAN - called a "trunk". Traffic on that cable stays tagged, and the packets are sorted at the gateway/firewall. So where I have multiple logical networks, physically it's all one system. Think of it kind of like partitioning a hard drive.

Cables to my AP's carry three VLANs, cable between switch and gateway carries all 5.

Everything that can be wired, is wired. Those get a solid/reliable connection to the LAN, and frees up spectrum for wireless traffic.

>>1161975
is it the wifi pollution or the shitty ISP service that slows your shit down, and you spend hundreds on hardware that doesn't really matter?

I bought a 800000 USD house in 2013. I invested vasts of money (300000) to update and maintain it but the worst thing is the time I invested for the house. It became som kind of the center of my life. I completely agree to the other anons. It's cool to say that is my house and my ground and you can do what you want. But you are responsible for every little shit and there are some regulations you have to match.

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>>1161988
No, it's because there's a fuckload of other AP's/devices all competing for the same 11 (overlapping, only 3 discrete) channels in 2.4gig.

Much less traffic in 5gig... partly because of the way 5GHz signals propagate, partly because there's just less AP's there.

Imagine trying to talk to a friend 10 feet away.
2.4GHz, you're trying to talk to your friend over hundreds of other people all talking to their friends.
5GHz, you're talking to your friend in that same place but there's only three other people there with you.

Has nothing to do with my ISP. All they're doing is providing me a (slow) connection out to the internet.

Everything in the house works far better after I did this upgrade. Waited way too long to do it.

>>1161996
Original question stands, why not just upgrade to wireless N units for half the price?

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>>1162002
That's what I did. These AP's support 802.11ac.

I don't have much more into all my ubnt hardware than I'd have spent on a high-end 802.11ac all-in-one from bestbuy.
And I can guarantee you my shit works better.

Consumer networking equipment is disgustingly overpriced for the quality and features you get out of it.

>>1161866
>>1161871
I guess you're right. I feel kind of pressured to move out because I flunked out of college on my parents' dime, but they do respect my recent career and financial decisions and I should respect that.
>Almost every plan allows for a non-penalty withdrawl for house down payments. You then pay that loan back with interest to yourself back into the account.
Well this is huge for me because I was considering holding off on the 401K until I had enough for a down payment. This is very important to know. Knowing this, I will absolutely contribute everything I can. Thank you.

Just to clarify, if my company matches my savings to any extent, do I get to take out what they matched? If I save $2,000 this year, and they match it 100%, could I borrow $4,000 from my account? Hypothetical numbers.

>>1162028
You need to talk to your HR department. It depends entirely on how the fine print was written on your 401k account.

>>1161879
Except I don't have the funds to buy more properties.

>>1161888
This is what I did. I only moved out when I was 23 and by that time I had already worked for about 4 years. The money I managed to save put me ahead so much.

>>1162158
When I first started, I used 0% down USDA loans to buy the properties, fixed them up, and refinanced them. By the time I was done fixing it up I had enough forced appreciation that my original mortgage was only 60% of the value of the house, so I didn't have to put any money down when I refinanced.

The USDA loans don't allow you to rent out the home, so you have to refi before you start renting them. Rinse and repeat.

If you can save up some money, you can get an FHA loan with 3.5% down and save yourself the headache of refinancing.

>>1161874
You are too retarded to understand. Go learn some tech then come back,

>>1162002
Because some of use still like to have a physical connection and not have every single fuckin thing on wifi.

>>1161426
I would imagine? 50 being made it sounds like a small run shoo is just throwing blowers on shit with a modified body. Either way its my new dream car. Along side its 74 brother drag car that will never see the track. Just car shows. I have 6 cars and 3 are projects. Antique tags and laibility is pretty cheap but i cant wait to buy a pasture

>>1161431
Its fucked aint it? Used to jump off my roof as a kid. Never hurt 1 time. Fell out of a tree onto my back and just got winded bad. Like 15 feet or so. Then i catch a truss and almost am saved before i see the nail gun and nope the fu k out. 8 foot roof and 6 foot body hanging. I bet i fell like 4 feet...

The second i landed i knew shit was broke. Didnt figure i would be so fucked up i could hardly walk tho. Spent all day hobling around the drag strip yesterday. Now i gotta soak my foot just so i can stand 20 minutes at a time shooting guns.

>>1161142
Gutters
Fascia
Soffit
Siding
Windows, interior and exterior trim
Painted the entire interior

>>1162028
As the other anon said its up to the plan.

Most allow for 100% borrowing capacity on your contribution for qualified pyrchases but dont allow emploter matched portions, while some allow varying percentages. Call the plan management firm and ask them directly.

The bennefit of these 'loans' is that the interest you pay on the loan just goes back into your account in addition to the principle.

>>1161911
>>1161931
>>1161940

Thank you anon, I think my house is super comfy.

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm literally DIY inept so this might be beyond my ability at the moment.

Still getting used to doing little things at the moment by myself.

i got muh 20% down payment saved up. how do i not get cucked when buying a house? the prices on similar homes are all over the place on zillow. how do you know what a house is really worth?

>inb4 its worth whatever you want to pay for it

>>1162531
It's worth what the next buyer will pay for it.

>>1162531
You asking us how to maximize your dollar when buying a house?

Zillow's price per square foot is a decent measurement for the layperson. check that price, then evaulate if the house has the features you want; is it on a hillside with a view, does it have a recently renovate kitchen or bathroom, whats the overal quality of materials, etc.

There isn't a surefire way to make sure you're getting the absolute best deal on a house simply because there are thousands of factors that go into a price.

>>1162542
the thing is i see similar houses of similar square footage with similar features that are going for wildly different amounts. some that are literally down the street from each other.

>>1162545
Again, you have to look at what has been done to the house. The kitchen may have a $30k kitchen, new windows, a brand new roof, maybe its got engineered floors instead of carpet, maybe one has a pool, it just comes down to the specifics; houses are not priced based on square footage alone.

>>1162545
Yeah, it's the free market.

>>1162549
>>1162548
well with that being said, did anyone here get their house for less than what the seller was asking?

>>1162551
I'm a licensed real estate agent and investor. I'll give you a brief rundown and then you can ask for clarification on whatever you need.

Prices vary wildly because of seller's motivation and the demand for houses. The best way I know of to determine how a market is doing is to call agents and ask them if it's a buyers market or a seller's market. Don't tell them that you're looking to buy, or they will lie and say it's a buyer's market. Ask them what they think about the market longterm. This is a great way to interview to find an agent too.


Some neighborhoods are better than others. I strongly advise you to park your car in a neighborhood you're considering and walk the whole neighborhood. Look at the type of cars people own, how many kids are in the neighborhood, how people keep their lawns, etc. Do this at different times of the day different days of the week. Go talk to the neighbors, ask them if they know anything about the house, what the neighborhood is like, how long they've been there, etc. The main thing you're looking for is to try and project long term trends for the neighborhood: what do you think the neighborhood will be like in 15 years. Is the town developing towards that neighborhood or away from it.

Personally, I like to buy houses that homeowners don't want. Houses that need new roofs, houses that have torn up drywall, need new flooring. Get it inspected twice before you buy it though. You don't want anything that has structural damage or needs gutted. It's hard to estimate the total cost of these repairs, so I tend to avoid them.

A seller's motivation is a big part of the cost too. Foreclosures are great. I just bought a house for 41000 that was for sale right across the street from a house that is for sale for 105k. Mine was a foreclosure and the other one is someone trying to sell it for enough to pay off the mortgage, which they got when my market peaked in 2010.

1/?

>>1162568

Another thing I like to look at is how much the house has sold for in the past, you can look this up on Zillow, but you should double check with your county tax office. Zillow is off sometimes or it's missing data. This helps you to figure out what the motivation of the seller is: have they had the house long enough to have paid down their mortgage low enough that they have some wiggle room on the selling price? Are they selling it quickly for the same price they bought it for just recently? How is the turnover in the rest of the neighborhood? Is it mostly rentals? Are alot if houses for sale in that neighborhood?

Another key consideration is what your motivation is. Are you just buying something you can fix up and live in for a flew years so that you can sell it for a profit once you settle into your career? What are the odds you'll be in that same city in 10, 20, 30 years? Is the house close to your family, favorite stores, work, etc. Just figuring this stuff out helps tremendously in preventing that buyer's remorse some people get about a month after they've moved in.

Another thing to look for is tax benefits and financial loopholes. What is the income limit for your state's Mortgage Credit Certificate program, which allows you to write off a sizeable portion of your interest payments as a tax credit. For example, in NC, we have an MCC program that lets buyer's write off 1/3 of their interest payments as a dollar for dollar credit against their taxes, with the other 70% still being deductible (it's 50-50 for new construction homes).

>>1162568
>>1162570
informative post. cheers.

>>1160936

tf is wrong wit those windows

>>1161093
A good inspector will take a few hours to inspect the average size home. If they're not taking every socket and switch out to check the wiring for gauge size, you're getting a lousy "it looks fine to me, just do x" inspection. They should be looking at everything, taking things apart and whatnot. Ask around for the kind of inspector that does that. It's really common for "inspectors" to just do a quick visual inspection, maybe take one or two things apart, point out some obvious code violation that may or may not matter, etc. You want the inspector that is going to be looking at every pipe, switch, outlet, panel, heating, cooling, roof, siding, basement, whatever. It really does take a few hours to half a day to do a good inspection.

>>1162649
this. if he isn't spending at least an hour in the crawlspace and an hour on the roof, you got a shit inspector.

>>1162161
That might work in the USA, but I am from the Netherlands. I don't believe we have such systems here. Your available mortgage is tied to your income, I could only get a mortgage of about 90-100K on my own, and even then I had to put 25K in a special account which I could only access for renovations, or after I had finished the renovations. No idea if there is a term for this in English.

>>1162385
I need to do the trim on my house but it's two story. That's gonna be a pita to do, probably gonna have to rent a ladder. Any tips?

Just got a 1400 sq ft 3 bed, 2 bath brick house for 145k.
it's got a few minor repairs but I'm currently renovating the kitchens and floors. granite and tile backsplash was $3000, floor is probs gonna be $800, new light fixtures and shit. It's gonna look great when it's done.

>>1162885
post some before and after pics anon?

>>1162885
How old is the roof?

>>1161311
>my Brother in Austin bought his house for just under $190k, and his property taxes were just assessed at $250k

Wait, how can the taxes be more than the price of the property?

>>1161385
>And whenever I need roof work done I have my husband tell Juanita my housekeeper
Why dont you tell her yourself?

Lemme guess, he speaks spanish

>>1162969
because the assesment price has nothing to do with the sale price. one is what the owner is willing to sell for, the other is what the county thinks its worth.

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>>1161097
1905 here, got it for cheap and it don't really need a whole lot, just a few issues with how the bathroom was "upgraded" and the windows are still original but have good storm windows over the top of them so my heating bill is pretty normal for the size of the place.

main thing i need to actually do is treat the bungalow front porch so it don't rot further (already had it fixed up and patched) and have the house sided (too much work to scrape off the old paint and redo so just going over it with siding)

>>1161207
Same.

Do we post our houses, or the work we have done on it?

>>1161882
To where?
If her parents were born here and her grandparents were not, she's as much of a citizen as Trump is.

>>1163209
Mexico.

>>1163210
But she's a citizen of the US. She's not 'going back' if she was born here.
You're just saying she should leave because you don't like her.
>>1163122
Why not both? I don't have any photos on hand, but word to the wise: any kind of creeping plant is an absolute bastard to kill. Spare no expense or it will be back the next year.

>>1163211
I'm saying that because she has to go back.

>>1163215
Ah. So you're either a le ebin trol or legitimately retarded. You could have juts said that in the beginning.

>>1163227
Nah, Hispanics need to go back. We've seen what happens to every country they're a majority in.

>>1163262
>>1163262
Why do you autistic fuckers who have no interests outside of political shitposting have to infest literally every board

>>1163271
Why do hispanics like you who have no interests outside of depressing our wages have to infest every state

>>1161123
Good reference there Anon

>>1161163
Got' Dang it, get this man some propane he's my Kendall fella

>>1163272
Jokes on you I'm a firmly upper class gook with a Masters.

>>1162570
No idea about that tax credit bit u may have saved me a bunch of money. Thanks anon.

>>1162568
Top fucking kek. Buddy just bought and moved into a forclosure.

>bank wants 110k
>he throws 75k at them
>they say no, then yes, then no-we will auction it online
>had his dad find it
>bids up to 41k.
>gets a house valued at like 150k

Gets loan for 80k.

Splits his property line and building a duplex to rent.


L. O. L

>>1162894
yeah I'll take some pics. The biggest change so far was switching out dim floodlight bulbs for bright white ones.
>>1162903
Brand new. The house is 15 years old but had hail damaged roof so the seller got his insurance to replace it during closing.

>>1163211
I have an avocado tree that needs constant trimming, so I build the roof around it, That way you can see it from the gallery, looks decent.

>>1161191
Use a magnet hammer. I had a couple buddies that actually roofed for a living that used them as they didn't want to carry a compressor and move around a hose. Plus here, it is illegal to carry up your own shingles so they bring out a trailer and lift combo and put the shingles on the peak.

>>1163118
I'm jelly. I wanted a bungalow a couple years back that was close to downtown but the gentrification of the houses there sent the properties rising like 5k a month it seemed. I would save some money have a look, realize I couldn't afford, save some more, look again, prices had risen and couldnt afford new prices.

Prices legit doubled between 2012 and 2016. The only bungalows I could get were in sketchy areas.

I'm not to upset though, I changed a lot as a person and realized I like living in the country. I got my house next to a state park and plan to buy land even further out to build my forever home. Still, it would have been cool to live downtown and near my college campus for the few years I was there.

>>1162551
My wife and I just accepted a counter offer on a house we had been looking at. They were asking for 125,000 which was way under our budget and we threw out 117,000 to see if they'd come back at 120,000.

They countered at 122,500 and although our agent was sure we could get it down to 120,000 we accepted in order to get the ball rolling quickly and get out of our shitty townhouse. We have a couple of inspections scheduled now so short of anything popping up with those we feel that its a more than fair price. Much more house for less than we were going to get with our 2nd and 3rd choices.

>>1160936
2tacky4me

Why are people with no taste allowed to be rich?

They keep commissioning ugly houses with no preservation value.

>>1163609
Our economic system has no taste. Plus, starving artist does the best work.

>>1160936
I am curious. How much did every homeowner on this thread pay for their houses? I am 27 with 37k on the bank. I will get to 50k at the end of the year and i want to buy a house in Georgia. My dad owns a 1444 square feet home and I have to keep up with the Joneses.

>>1163660
bought for 100k, got an insurance paid for repair of at least 10k coming up.

God I love America.

>>1163660
Not a homeowner yet, moving out of CA first. But I have $100k in the bank, and I'll probably be looking at the $250k range when I move out of state.

Square footage doesn't matter as much to me; I just want a nice kitchen, big master bathroom, 3 car garage, and a separate building if possible (like a guest house or barn/garage). The outbuilding isn't as much of a concern, but it would be nice.

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>>1160962
>House are cheap as shit unless you are into McMansions
I want a cheap mansion.

>>1163660
4 years ago at 240k. Now valued at 340k. High value area due to military supported economy. Easy access to Seattle as well.

>>1160936
Was just gifted a 1md house in Cali... only 2850 sq ft on .49 acre... I think I will manage.

>>1163692
that's Dunleith Plantation in Natchez, Ms. I used to shoot weddings there.

>>1163609
http://mcmansionhell.tumblr.com

Enjoy.

fuck painting, this shit takes so long to do properly. ive spent at least 25 hours in prep alone and ive only painted some of the ceilings so far. still havent prepped everywhere too. fuck whoever painted it before and didnt fill in all the gaps and didnt take care when painting.

also a question. im going to paint the patio roof which is corrugated metal. how do i strip the shitty paint thats on it? can i just pressure blast it away or do i need to sand it?

I'm 24 and just closed on my first property. It's a small, 3 bed 3 bath, 1,600 sqft townhouse with a little courtyard outside. I got it for $168,000 as a first-time buyer (5% down) and my mortgage is apx. $840~/month. The homeowner's association is absolute shit and charges $335 per month for maintaining the landscaping, pool, parking lots, club house, and gym. It's nice and in a great, upcoming area just outside of the city.

I preferred to buy a home rather than continuing to rent because rents have increased drastically in this area over the past 4 years. Purchasing property will help me reduce my tax liability (self employed) as well as not feel like I'm making someone else rich. My friend and real estate agent said to me, "You either pay for your own mortgage when you buy, or you pay it for someone else when you rent". I think it's a good philosophy.

>>1163962
Whoops.

Whole point of my post was to mention that I'm redoing all of the kitchen cabinetry and the first-floor tile floors. There's new appliances, so I will save some money there. Was quoted $1,200 for the floors and $3,800 for the kitchen. With supplies I will be spending about $2,500 total by doing it myself. A nice $2,500 savings.

>>1162825
Measure twice cut once, make sure the siding and windows are completely clear of caulk and debris before re installation. Caulking and painting everything will probably be the biggest pain in the ass in the end.

Use a cats paw for tear off. As long as you can use a caulk gun, saw and tape measure everything should go smoothly.

>>1163962
>hoa
hoa boy

>>1163962
>$335 per month

I really hope you meant per year. HOA are shit, but god damn thats on another level.

>>1163978
Nah, if there is a community pool, tenns court, and a decent amount of landscaping to be done, $335/mo is normal for some HOAs. Its god damn robbery but thats normal for some areas.

In CA, even in a trailer park for a doublewide trailer, lot fees of $450/mo are normal. And to buy a doublewide is like $250k+ depending how close to the beach you are, and how nice the park is overall.

Yeah, it costs more to live in a trailer park in CA than it does to buy a mcmansion in tornado alley.

>>1163994
>tornado alley

Insurance also pays you for a new house every few years too.

I own a modest house in an older suburban neighbourhood. The price was low because the property backs onto train tracks. It works for me because I like trains, I like to relax on my back deck drinking beer, smoking weed, and watching the trains go by.

>>1163962
I will take a different approach instead of paying a 5 % down payment. Would it be wise to put a 33% down payment so the monthly payment is not too high? I want to put 50k as down payment on a 120k to 150k dollar home.

>>1164236
Depends on your interest rate and what you would do with the money otherwise.

Interest rates are the lowest they'll ever be, it's not difficult to find investments that would pay out more than the interest you'd save.

New home owner.
Bought my house for 135k in cash.

No mortgage for me.

>>1164237
>it's not difficult to find investments that would pay out more than the interest you'd save

Famous last words.

>>1164263
If you have decent credit, you should be able to get 4% APR on your mortgage. As long as you can average more than 4% on your investment, you'd come out ahead. That's barely more than inflation.

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>>1163994
Tornado alley here. LOL U BEACH FAGGOTS... time to build a garage

>>1163660
Paid 21k for the shithole i live in. Paid 10k for the shithole next door. Paying lowes 2500 to carpet and vynil the kitchen.

Just biy a descent home. Dont try and fix up shitholes.

I probably blow $1,000 a month fixing this shithole up to lose money on it when i could have paid 700 a month amd not worked 20 hours a week on it.

Some shit is just ready for the dozer anons.

>>1163415
>its illegal to carry your own shingles.


Wat???? How or wtf do u do? Pay a dog to drag them up?

>>1164311
I bet he live in some liberal paradise.

>>1164307
Yup, same lesson I learned.

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Think I've got you all beat.
I'll post more recent shit.

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New floor, new stain. Blah blah blah

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Wink ;)

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Ddddddddddd

>>1161174
>he thinks people will still be using wired USB chargers in 5 years

>>1164535
>>1164536
>>1164537
>>1164540
What is going on in this? Jackhammered slab, poured new slab, but not footings, cold seams everywhere, then you stained it brown?

>>1164025
sounds nice n comfy senpai

>>1164576

Exactly! And let's not forget the wonderful new plumbing underneath the floor. How would we pour new footings? Are you referring to the footings that exist at part of the foundation walls? Or is there some other type of footing I'm not aware of.

I have a pad for the column and the beam we installed to hold up the house.

Cold seams exist I suppose. If you're referring to the part where the slab meets the footing/foundation walls. But there is a sump pump with drain tile as well and its been performing very well.

We're excavating this weekend to move water away from the home.

:-)

>>1164236
No put down 20% or 25% and save some for emergencies like losing your job or if your house needs repairs like fixing the ac or burst pipe

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I may look into buying or building a house sometime within the next year. I think it would be much cooler to build, but we'll see how things go.

>>1164535
Whoaaaaaaaaaaa. Anon no. Just run.

>>1164654
Its done.
Been done
Did that done this

>>1164602
This. As an estimator and inspector, the number of people who run into a $1-2000 repair bill who exclaim they simply do not have that kind of money is astonishingly high. I see it on a weekly basis where people say they cannot afford simple repairs like replacing a water heater, re-piping their house's plumbing for $3k, and inability to pay for regular fucking maintenance like weather proofing and minor roof repairs.

People living in 2000sq foot houses with nice features, driving Mercs, BMWs, and brand new iphones do not have $5000 to fix their fucking house. Put down as much as you can reasonably afford, but still have money to live in your house without an income for at least 1 year, and enough to cover sometihng catastrophic such as a medical bill, or replacement of a major appliance such as the water heater, plumbing, or roof.

Im on Zillow for shits and giggles looking at houses for sale.

There was a house in a meh neighborhood, but says its estimated value is 68,000 but its asking price is 30,000

There are green and orange stickers on the bathtub, bathroom sink, toilet, kitchen sink, and dishwasher. The toilet is taped shut

What the fuck does that mean?
Is it a condemned meth house?
Why else would all that stuff have orange or green stickers on them? The look like eviction stickers

>>1160936
I own a house. Been very slowly building to do some modifications. I need to redo the insulation and hvac (house was built in '61). Having a giant yard is nice, I've also been trying to find the most cost effective way to build a large 2-story shed.

>>1161191
If you can hold out a bit longer and have decent credit you can get a tesla roof. It'll probably offset enough electricity to pay the loan.

>>1164824
it means the utilities have been shut off and there is probably something wrong with the pipes.

>>1164849
The basement walls have been gutted and look moldy.
Makes sense a catastrophic pipe failure that ruined all the basement walls

>>1160984
I cannot understand what would convince someone to live in Kansas. If you want a low cost per square foot, move to Texas.

>>1164850
>moldy
thats why. black mold can seriously fuck you up. its asbestos tier dangerous and usually requires professional abatement.

>>1161093
1. Get an inspector
2. Get an hvac guy
3. Check the wiring layout (half my house is on one fucking 15a breaker)
4. Make sure there's no asbestos

>>1161142
I'm two years in, replaced a toilet because I wanted to and need to replace ac.

>>1161418
Shit, get the standard model and soup it up yourself. Waaaay more satisfying.

>>1163964
Good call. I'm not replacing anything I just need to re-paint it. I'm not gonna retire here so i just need it to look nice for a few years.

>>1161311
Look at Mr. Moneybags here and his +20% down payment

>>1164824
It's fine, anon, don't listen to this guy >>1164849. It just means the house has been "winterized" so the pipes don't freeze and cause a mess.

The Z-Estimate is almost always wrong, as is the tax value. You should talk to a local realtor to see if it's a decent price, or start monitoring the prices yourself.

>>1164868
oy vey goy, you don't have 20% down payment? well you get to pay extra for a separate insurance that protects your (((lender))) by law!

Ideally I'd like to pay 50% and get a 15 year mortgage. Not sure if I'll have enough cash by then.

>>1164891
we only had 10% down, but because we both had excellent credit we could buy out the mortgage insurance in a one lump sum with the closing costs. the icing on the cake was that we got the seller to cover closing costs.

>>1164891
The problem is that money is so cheap right now. From a purely numbers perspective, it doesn't make sense to put more than the minimum amount down and keep the rest in stocks or use it to buy a rental property.

Even with PMI, you'll be paying less than 4.2%. If you can lock in that rate, you should wait as long as possible to pay it off. It's "good debt." Hell, if you get an assumable mortgage, you'll even get paid a mice premium by whoever buys the place because the interest rate will be much lower than anything available in 5-10 years.

>>1164895
>The problem is that money is so cheap right now.
Right, but if you pay off your house 15 years early, your equity and home value delta increase is higher, so if you ever needed to sell or wanted to sell sooner, you'd get more of that money back.

Not to mention the interest payments are never accounted for. Over the lifetime of a 30 year loan, you pay substantially more than the house is worth for the first what, 20 years of the loan? Spend that money on yourself and the house instead of paying it in interest.

>Say you’ve got a $100,000 loan at 6.5% on a 30-year fixed payment.
>In the example, you’ll pay a total of $227,545.20 over the 30-year term, with $127,545.20 going toward interest.

Obviously interest is lower than that example, however you're paying as much, if not more, in (((interest))) as you are for the price of the house. Ceterus Paribus, if paying 100% cash upfront for a house were possible, everyone would because nobody would willingly pay 200% price for something, regardless of how "cheap money was to borrow".

>>1164898
Even if PMI insurance is only $50 a month, would you be able to invest that $50 better than the interest payments over 30 years? I think not.

Thats just me, I've never liked owing people money, or taking out loans for anything.

>>1164898
Yes, but you're not considering the opportunity cost of the down payment. Rates are 4.2% with PMI, you can definitely average a higher yield on that money than the 4.2% a year you're saving by not putting it towards your mortgage. Even mediocre rental properties are averaging 12% cash on cash returns.

This is purely a financial argument, though. There's a psychological aspect to having your mortgage paid off, and there are certain people who don't have the discipline to invest the money rather than spending it.

I have cracks in my dry wall joints above some windows, above most of my doors and several joints in the ceiling.

What in the actual fuck. It looks like shitty joint work to me as some of them i can see the paper folding up.

But if i fix it then i have to paint a fuckton of walls... fuck that shit.

I wanted to sell and move but im a little worried this will effect the value of my house.

>>1164914
Is your foundation solid? That sounds like your foundation is settling.

>>1164574
What else do you propose? Wireless charging? That shit is inefficient as fuck right now and will always be less efficient than a cable.

>>1164824
The only way to rehab a meth house is to tear it down to the studs and do a complete rebuild.

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Anyone looked into living in a commercial steel building?

Seems like between the cost of the building and the foundation you could get some pretty epic square footage.

>>1165168
Echo-y, no windows but some can have skylights, (no ventilation) poor insulation, its just not great for living in.

Theres a reason even low-income government housing doesn't use this construction for living. Its cheap per square foot for housing shit that doesn't need creature comforts like inventory, airplanes, or cars.

>>1165172
Well I'd be looking at adding things like insulation. And I know you can get them with windows. I'm just wondering if getting this as a shell and making changes isn't better than a pile of lumber and building that way.

graduating college in 3 weeks. i got a job with a really good company and they are giving me 20k upfront to cover moving me out of my cuckbox apartment and as a sign on bonus.

should i smash my student debt with it or buy a house?

>>1165168
It's a great idea. The resale value would be shit though. It really depends on your specific needs. The absolute cheapest way to go for a house us to get one that needs a bit of work.

>>1165175
How much is your student debt total and APR?

>>1165177
30k, 4.5%

>>1165179
I'd say go for a mortgage if your credit score will get you a decent rate. You shouldn't be paying more than 4.2% APR on a mortgage.

You have to live somewhere, and odds are that your mortgage will be quite a bit lower than rent on a similar house. Use the money you save to put towards your student loan.

I'd only put 10% down on a house and keep the rest as an emergency fund if you don't have anything else saved up.

>>1165176
I'd probably be looking to live there the rest of my life.

>>1165182
If so, then go for it. It might be hard to get financing for it. You can still come out ahead financially if you buy an older house and fix it up as you go.

>>1165173
It's not, do it the traditional way. Do not try to believe that you are smarter than the market.

I bought my house in 2012 for 101k and sold it this month for 205k. Of that 205k I had to give back 10k in credit for buyer as well as repairs.

I'm a poor fag who used an FHA loan and I got lucky as hell with the timing. During those 5 years I spent 5500 on repairs (painted entire outside, replaced water main line, fresh grass in the front, and replaced a section of fence) most of the work I did myself with the help of a friend who had handyman skills.

I'm not sure if it's better to buy a house right away or wait to see where the housing market goes

After 6 straight years of the prices of houses going up do you guys think prices will plateau, rise or fall?

>>1165211
Every market is different. My local market is current at its bottom, after peaking in 2010.

>>1165215
I'm in the Central Valley in ca

>>1165226
Honestly, the only way to know is to analyze home prices yourself or to call 5-8 real estate agents and ask them. Don't tell them if you're buying or selling, just ask them general questions about how they see the market going.

>>1165201
>Do not try to believe that you are smarter than the market.
Kind of a goofy way to put it. People are literally buying fake stones to stick onto their house. Am I smarter than that? In a way, yes. I kind of am smarter than the market.

The only real stumbling block I can see to improving over the traditional is code inspectors and the government in general.

>>1165231
condensation

noise

>>1165231
Most people buy or build homes with the idea of treating them as a long term asset. Utility is a pretty low factor in the scheme of things.

>>1165245
>Utility is a pretty low factor in the scheme of things.
I don't follow

>>1165232
So you're saying metal siding and roofs have these problems and can't be dealt with?

>>1165215
My local market has been flat for 30 years.

>>1164857
Maybe. But omg fucking dream car just got real. Born in 85 with a 70s dream car. Now its real

>>1164851
Texas is cool but im like a 9 hour drive from mexico. Was born just south of the mason dixon and carved out a life here

>>1165248
That sounds horrible. I've made more money milking the two market crashes here than I have at my "career."

>>1165247
The main problem with building such a structure is that it won't hold its value, which is the aim of most residential structures. Utility is a secondary factor.

>>1165183
is this nigger really trying to convince someone that a money pit is a wise investement? i say buy the metal cuckshed. Throw some solar panels on the roof and get a space heater or wood stove.

>>1165255
>money pit

Depends on which house you buy. Most buyers will avoid houses that need simple repairs like new flooring, drywall, or a re-shingled roof. Buying such a house and doing the will force appreciation that will give you 10-20k in equity right off the bat.

You should, of course, have an inspection before you buy it, to avoid any surprises.

>>1165252
>it won't hold its value, which is the aim of most residential structures
Yeah that's not what I'm aiming for.

>>1165247
Also insurance. Metal holds the fire in and makes it impossible to fight the fire.

>>1165260
It's pretty well known that metal siding lowers insurance premiums.

You don't fight a fire by using a hose that's strong enough to punch a hole in the siding.

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If you're going full off the grid and hoping the government doesn't find out, you can insulate with hay bails. just line the inner walls with it, a thin layer on the roof will also retain heat in winter. people do it already.

>>1165261

You sir have done no research, would you happen to be a liberal?

http://www.insurancejournal.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7475

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/232005-metal-building-condensation-help-please.html

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>>1165264
>research
>some bullshit forumpost with 2 replies about insurance that's like the first hit on google
>and then some other forum dude with not enough insulation in his shop, or with an airgap between the siding/roof and his insulation
nice. I like how you understand what "research" means.

But just to be sure I just called USAA and they told me they'd insure my house with metal siding, roof of metal frame construction.

>would you happen to be a liberal?
I've probably been arguing with liberals since you've been in diapers.

>>1165280
>But just to be sure I just called USAA and they told me they'd insure my house with metal siding, roof of metal frame construction.

Ask them for a full metal building home. They are thinking it's a normal house with metal siding and metal roof. Those are two different things.

>>1165280
>roof of metal
roof or metal*

>>1165282
I asked about metal roof, metal siding and metal frame construction. What else do you think there is to ask about?

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>>1165285
Metal frame construction is different than the picture you posted...

Anon, I wish you luck.

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>>1165286
It's still a metal frame, it's not shaped like a traditional house.

>>1165291
Are you thinking of prefabricated? Although that's not a type of building as much as it is just a way it's made. Give me another hint.

>>1165293
Ask them again, I am kind of curios if USAA will insure a metal warehouse with a home inside.

The issue you run into is metal warehouse is commercial insurance and they don't insure homes, and vice versa.

>>1165296
They're not going to do commercial insurance for anything that has passed residential code on residential zoned property.

Hell, even if it was a plain, uninsulated non-living space steel building that I was using on my property it would still fit under my normal homeowners insurance as other structures. Just like including detached garages in your homeowners insurance even though it's not your house.

>>1165297
Let us know how it turns out. By the way, the more common term is barndominium.

>>1161170
Cat 5e and not cat 6? For what purpose cat 6 is literally 20 more markup when buying spools.

>>1165371
cat5e is still the normal standard for gigabit (1000mb/s) speeds which is way more than 99% of what consumers can ever use. cat6 isn't even the standard for IT departments for fortune 500 multi-billion dollar companies.

cat5e is more than most people will ever need, and will be great for just about everyone in terms of home-networking. Buy a spool of 300 feet for $50, a pack of 100 terminals for $10, and a crimper for $15, and have more networking shit than you'll need for the rest of your life.

>>1165383
5e is for people that enjoy ripping cables out and replacing them. 6 has been standardized since like 2002 and 6A since 2009. There's no reason any reason install should use anything less than cat6

>>1165371
>>1165404
see
>>1165383

Even netflix 4k is only ~40mbps. 100baseT supports this. Gigabit can run that shit all day long.
10gig copper is starting to be a thing, but it's still years out from commonplace installation and support.

For the distance of your typical residential runs, cat5e is plenty.

>>1164917

We had a big tornado rip through the area. My house was largely untouched but after that is when i noticed a lot of these things starting to pop up.

My though is the foundation shifted ever so slightly due to it. Would i be ok to fix them now? or should i wait and do it in a year or 2? the tornado was about 3 years ago.

Or would i be best quickly getting them done then selling as fast as i can and let the next guy deal with it?

I want out because in the 5 years i have owned the house my payments went up $200 because of fucktarded property tax hikes every goddamn year. The city also doubled the amount we have to pay for water / sewer and trash. and my gas and electric company laughed at everyone complaining to them that they raised their rates and bills went up by %40.

>>1165431
I would think the foundation has resettled by now. It's probably safe to fix it. If you want out within the next few years anyway, I'd just wait to fix it until right before you sell.

>>1165431
Contact an insurance restoration company and have they take a look, they would know if your insurance would cover the damage.

>>1164922
No shit fuck face

>>1163725
Bremerton?
Looking at buying some rentals there.

I avoided owning for 12 years. Eventually my rent approached mortgage prices so I bought. It's nice getting equity but maintenence is YUGE.

Long story short, do the math and only break bank when you need to send your kid to a goood schoool district.

>>1163660
>how much did everybody pay for their house
$16,500 for a foreclosure from the bank
I then financed $62,000 on a construction loan to extensively remodel the home.
Once the house was done I rolled it over in to a conventional loan and now owe a little under $50K on a hose that appraises for $140K

>>1161230
The funny thing about hoarders is there's always a chance one of them might have quite literally a hoard cash amongst that trash . There have been cases of very wealthy Hoarders. Keep your eyes out for MlP figs

Who else is getting new roofs thanks to hail?

>>1166858
I got money and gotta rebuild my garage with it and cut fucking trees.

>>1166720
Very nice anon. Gave 21k for my sgitgole and 10k for the sgithoke next door. Spend about 1k a month fkaiking about trying to keep up with the repairs and redoing tweaker teir vullshit botched repair jobs. Jist paid lowes 3k to carpet and vynil my rental and spent 2k on paint for both houses and lumber to start repairs on my ruined fucking garage and "master bedroom" that is falling off the side of my house.

>>1165408
Im ran .2mb until new years. Yes. .2mb... kill me.

I feel like the flash with 16mb.

>>1165263
Actually they just added hay bale housing to the building code.
If I was building, I'd definitely be looking hard at it. they actually perform better than wood framing and fiberglass for fire tests.

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So sometimes I see round structures on houses. How do they do that? Like, making a round frame, round exterior and round interior walls.

>>1166985
The beauty of 1/4 inch sheathing and scoring. Custom made trim work that

My condo is currently under contract. Plan is to use some of my net proceeds as down payment towards a house that could use some updates. I am planning on having ~$50k as my renovation budget. What can I get done for $50k? New kitchen + bathroom?

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>>1167003
Easily.

I'm looking at ~4k for cabinets/countertops. Probably do granite, because >granite when I list it.

Electrical I'm doing myself (mostly just adding outlets where there were wires hanging out of the wall).
Kitchen sink is getting refinished/reinstalled.
Dishwasher will get cleaned up and reinstalled.
Oven/stove's been cleaned and is in the garage waiting for a spot in the kitchen.
Washer/dryer need some work (little shit), probably $100 in parts and a solid day for both of those.
Fridge is fine, in my living room... just needs a good cleaning.
Bought a new over-the-range microwave. Frees up a lot of counter space in a small kitchen.
Might need a new HWH. We'll see what comes out of it when I drain the tank to move it.

Floor i'm doing myself. Just dropped $300 on porcelain tiles. Still need to get a bag of grout for it.

I'm probably $1500 in materials into the kitchen remodel so far.

Think i'm going to hire a contractor to come in and deal with the totally fucked up subfloor. That cone? It's there so I don't fall through into the crawlspace.

>grandma paid 40k for 1200 sq ft house in decent neighborhood, contingent on me fixing the place up
>she pays $250 for "inspection", only small things come up like replacing receptacles, etc.
>house turns out to be a complete gut job

I have since demoed down to the studs, put in blown in insulation, put on gutters, replaced water heater and furnace (was done professionally, I'm not a fan of messing with gas), replaced galv plumbing with pex, drywalled the entire house, painted, and installed laminate flooring. The only thing I was hesitant about was the wiring, so I hired a family friend to do it, who ended up nigger rigging the entire fucking house. I've fixed a lot of his fuckups since but I'm having trouble with a few things. Yes it was retarded to drywall before wiring, but the only room that needs wire in walls is the kitchen (I fired his dumbass before he got to it). Are tgere any tips for fishing lline through the attic that has blown in insulation? I've already cut the holes in the drywall for the boxes, but how do I find the wire in the attic? Or better yet, how do I find the wall/hole I drilled in the ceiling without digging through a few feet of that shit? I have a wire fishing drill bit and the wire, but I'm at a loss. Second, can someone point me towards a wiring diagram for multiple ceiling lights? They should be wired in serial correct? I haven't purchased any lights yet but it's safe to assume I can wire all the lights together provided they don't draw too much power combined. Third, can i get tips on how to clean up terribly run lines? I'm at work atm so no pic but the box in the basement looks like absolute shit and I'd like to reorganize the wires to save up on wall space/clean the box itself up a bit. I hope my descriptions make sense, I'm largely self taught and am not sure about a lot of technical terms.

>>1166985
Jesus that looks amazing

>>1167172
so is the maintenance cost.

>>1166985
The framing isn't usually round (though it can be) they just use small sticks with a bunch of angles in the walls, the put the finish material over it. Drywall can be wet to make minor curves, plaster is very easy to make a curved surface, and interior panels can be curved as well.

Some framing is occasionally curved; they have to put the sticks in a steam box then apply pressure to curve the wood. This just adds to cost and labor; its why its normally only seen in higher end builds.

An easier method to making a "round" room is to simply make the turret or round area with many straight walls like a decagonal room giving the impression of a round area. In my experience, round rooms are purely to be different architectural and for appearances even though its less than efficient for space and square footage.

>>1167173
When you build a room that big to store your books, sitting and reading, and wood finished like that, you don't worry about "maintenance costs".

And actually, that wood interior will last decades before it may need a refinish due to the UV bleaching.

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>>1167164
Drill a small hole in the living space, 3-4 inches inside from the wall. Use a plumb bob to locate the spot on teh ceiling directly above the outlet.

Then shove a piece of solid red wire in that hole, painters-tape it to the wall.

In the attic, you'll see a piece of red wire sticking up like a flag. Shove the insulation around to get to the top plates, spade bit to drill through those. Shove the cable down that hole, it'll land pretty much right at your outlet.

Close up the wire-flag hole with a smudge of spackle.

This is a long shot, but might as well
>grandmother owns house in one city
>perfect sized duplex opens up in a city she would rather live in
>takes out loan, buys the side of the duplex, puts other house on the market 6 months ago
>once old house sells, plans on paying off half of loan and keeping the rest liquid cash
>house has sat for 6 months and hasnt sold because she had a retard first time realtor who didnt try
>my rental lease is just about up

Im trying to buy her house from her, but I have particularly bad credit and couldnt even get a loan for a $12k car.

I have a stable job and have been paying ~$1000 a month in rent for the last 10 years. I wanted to do contract for deed but she said no for obvious reasons, because she is old and puts her (and her estate) in a really bad position if something were to happen.

Is there any other way or is just getting some sort of loan gonna be the only way?

>>1167557
Is the duplex in this area?

https://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov/eligibility/welcomeAction.do;jsessionid=c9zUHQL9Nw7Jco+uS+7ZsOLW

It might be eligible for a USDA Direct loan. Such loans are for people with bad credit who have a history of alternative credit. They're very flexibile with people who have bad credit.

There is an income limit that depends on your local area. There should be a tab to insert your income to decide if you're eligible.

Alternatively, it should be fairly trivial for an attorney to write up a document that protects both of your interests. Perhaps you could "lease" it from her for two years for the amount she's paying on her mortgage. Throw in an option to buy it from her for whatever price you agree to at the end of the two years. During this two years, you'll have time repair your credit to get a mortgage.

>>1167557
>>1167597
Just read your post again.

You can figure out how much in interest she would be saving by paying off half her mortgage and just add that to your monthly "lease" payment to her.

Perhaps, if she's hesitant, you could cut the lease down to one year. What's your current credit score and what is lowering it the most? It might be a situation where you could fix your score in 6-9 months enough to buy the house.

My first option would be the USDA Direct Loan though. I'll be in this thread until it 404's. If it dies before you respond just email me at [email protected]

Stop building your house out of wood

>>1167607
Stop regurgitating this ignorant meme that all of the millions of houses made from wood are sub standard and only last a few years.

>>1165168
>never getting laid again

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>>1165168
Fucking pleb. Mud houses are the sturdiest, strongest, cheapest, most A e s t h e t i c home any high test male and his harem could ever hope for.
Though I doubt a "man" who wants to live in giant shed could appreciate such splendor.

>>1161982
>>1161975
great answer, thanks

>>1168036
>she doesn't want a massive steel mansion
Wasn't good enough for me anyway

>>1168038
Yeah, whatever you say.

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>>1168038
HHHNNNNNGghh
/out/ here seriously something about cob houses makes me want to get a cave waifu and make tons of he-man babies.

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>>1168038
Yurts included as well, want the neighbors to hear my savage grunts of glory.

>>1168233
>that shit
>he-man
Looks like a woman designed it. It's mostly windows, it's got some faggot plumage on the top and a multiple walls full of holes.

>>1168236
While I haven't slept in any yurts, they are really fancy tents and must be cheaper than building a guest house or studio on your land. They would be perfect if you simply needed more space and have a 50x50 bit of land to put it on.

>>1169584

New thread

>>1168236
of course it's a hippy white girl who lives there

>>1161903
is this where they filmed me myself and irene?