This Old #%&@*$ House

Minarchist, definitely amazing job. When I buy my next house, can I rent you for a month or two?

My wife and I just saw a house yesterday that we both liked a bunch. The main selling point is that the downstairs living area is pretty great. It's got a front sitting room, dining room, and kitchen that are good-sized. It's main thing is that there's a kind of den that's got high ceilings, a fireplace to the side, a spot for a TV, and a loft/office space. That's basically ideal for us, because we'd put the computers up there, which means she could be watching TV below, and I could be on my computer above, and we'd be in the same space. There's also a finished rec room downstairs that we'd probably use as an exercise room. Big back yard that we'd fence in for the dogs, and a three-season porch with a nice deck. Also, at least two rooms are already set up with HDMI cables run through the wall to a wall-mounted TV, so that's cool too.

Down sides are that my wife would want to reconfigure the upstairs to give more closet space in the master bedroom, and to move the laundry machines to the second floor from the basement. The garage isn't very deep, so my plans for a garage gym would be out the window, and I'd have to re-think my exercise routine. Using the downstairs for a workout space is definitely possible, but then we lose it as a potential play space for kids down the line. It's also a ten-minute walk from her parents' house, and is in the neighborhood she grew up in, which is a little weird.

The big down side is that it's $325k, which is $50k over what we were hoping to spend. We think the price seems high, but it just came on the market a few days ago, so we're not sure that putting in an offer at $275k is even worth it yet. We're planning on watching it for a while and see if it sells fast, or just sits there. Even at $300k, it's not out of our price range, we were just hoping to spend less. Boo for high prices.

Asterith wrote:

Minarchist, definitely amazing job. When I buy my next house, can I rent you for a month or two?

Depends on how much you pay...

Chaz wrote:

My wife and I just saw a house yesterday that we both liked a bunch. The main selling point is that the downstairs living area is pretty great. It's got a front sitting room, dining room, and kitchen that are good-sized. It's main thing is that there's a kind of den that's got high ceilings, a fireplace to the side, a spot for a TV, and a loft/office space. That's basically ideal for us, because we'd put the computers up there, which means she could be watching TV below, and I could be on my computer above, and we'd be in the same space. There's also a finished rec room downstairs that we'd probably use as an exercise room. Big back yard that we'd fence in for the dogs, and a three-season porch with a nice deck. Also, at least two rooms are already set up with HDMI cables run through the wall to a wall-mounted TV, so that's cool too.

Down sides are that my wife would want to reconfigure the upstairs to give more closet space in the master bedroom, and to move the laundry machines to the second floor from the basement. The garage isn't very deep, so my plans for a garage gym would be out the window, and I'd have to re-think my exercise routine. Using the downstairs for a workout space is definitely possible, but then we lose it as a potential play space for kids down the line. It's also a ten-minute walk from her parents' house, and is in the neighborhood she grew up in, which is a little weird.

The big down side is that it's $325k, which is $50k over what we were hoping to spend. We think the price seems high, but it just came on the market a few days ago, so we're not sure that putting in an offer at $275k is even worth it yet. We're planning on watching it for a while and see if it sells fast, or just sits there. Even at $300k, it's not out of our price range, we were just hoping to spend less. Boo for high prices.

The only way to really know if they're pricing it high is by looking at comps in the area that have actually sold. If they're in line with what other homes are selling for in terms of square footage, lot size, and updates, then the chance of them coming down at all goes out the window. If they are in fact priced high, then it'll sit on the market for a few months, and if it gets marked down, keep waiting until it's in line with comps, and then start bargaining.

Yeah, we just got comps in from our realtor, and it seems like the probable selling price is going to wind up around $315k. That's still a price we could afford, but not ideal.

It just sucks that it's seeming less likely that we'll be able to find a house that we really like in the $250-275k range, unless we get a split level. There are TONS of those around here, but I think it's a really, really stupid floor plan, so I've been trying to avoid those. Anything that's not a split seems to be closer to the $300k range.

Our thinking right now is to give it until the first week of April, and if it's still on the market, offer something around $285. It'll get rejected, but maybe we'll be able to get it for closer to $300. If not, than it wasn't the house for us anyway.

Not that I advocate buying out of your desired price range, but we just moved out of a split level (into a ranch) and I'm so so happy to be rid of it. It was a true "raised ranch" style with the main living area upstairs...very annoying floorplan. And you're not the only one who doesn't want one, so the resale value isn't awesome (we did okay, but our model was the lowest value in the neighborhood).

We're living in a split level now. It's just a dumb layout.

YAY! Water in my basement! Not much, but the carpet tile in my north-west corner was wet. I've pulled up the tiles, set up a fan, and my dehumidifier. It's drying up quickly, but evidence that I have some foundation problems

The melting, this year, was really fast, so it might only rear its head rarely, but won't (and can't) be ignored. I'll probably have to wait on that, as I already have a, put off too long, roofing replacement to do this year.

Home ownership can suck sometimes...

Chaz wrote:

We're living in a split level now. It's just a dumb layout.

I know that there are folks who hate split levels, and I've never really seen it. My house now is a split level and while I'm not likely to stay in it because reasons, I really love the floor plan and layout on the whole. In fact, my only real beef with the house is that it's 40 years out of day in terms of how it's laid out.

My thing with the split levels is that they tended to build them on the smaller side, and have a huge basement space that's the footprint of the house that's usually unfinished. In our area, that means that upstairs, you've got a kitchen/dining/living area in some configuration that takes up half the space, and then 3-4 bedrooms crammed into the other half along with the only bathroom. The downstairs is some combination of unfinished, garage, and living space that was finished after the fact, with varying degrees of success. So you might wind up with one really big bedroom down there, or a giant rec room space, or who knows what. The main issue is almost always those small bedrooms in the upstairs. Here, they were all built around the same time, so they all look very, very similar, so they're all boring as hell.

That's what I've done with mine. The basement is finished, and split into three rooms, plus a 3/4 bath. The largest space is the master bedroom, plus there's a utility closet for laundry, and the other room was destined to be a crafts room for my wife.

Upstairs, there's two similarly sized bedrooms and a larger bedroom on the back plus all the other stuff you've mentioned. We put our two boys into one of the bedrooms and the three girls in the larger room. I'm not going to say that it's not a bit tight space wise, but it's definitely workable. The third room was a play space/toy room. Total square footage, including the garage was just over 2k square foot.

I think your old walls were rad, Min.

Spring is kinda here! Projects I'm thinking of:

  • Add shelving to finished (tile) basement
  • Stare at walls in basement to ensure they don't leak (they've held since early August!)
  • Swap around rooms—we've got two "offices" laid out now, but one will probably have to flip into a nursery.
  • Step-by-step convert mostly-Charlie backyard into garden and rain garden.
  • Fix cracked grout in kitchen and bathrooms.
  • Fix crooked closet doors.
  • Realign back door (it's just far enough out of line that it doesn't always latch).
  • Build out nursery closet.
  • Do something with front garden space.
  • Hang all the art that's leaning against walls or tucked into unused parts of the house.
  • Replace busted weather stripping around outside doors.
  • Maybe something with the garage?

Mostly little things. I'm almost to the point where I am going to list them all out with required resources and time estimates. No Gantts, though. Yet.

I swear, if I ever find the person who installed the one toilet in the world with completely non-standard toilet seat attachments I am going to shove the entire toilet down their nostrils.

Hello spot in the yard that never seems to dry out. What could you be?

Druidpeak wrote:

Hello spot in the yard that never seems to dry out. What could you be?

Leaky water pipe?

Druidpeak wrote:

Hello spot in the yard that never seems to dry out. What could you be?

You're not on a septic system are you?

City sewer. Not in line with where our water supply runs into the house. I suspect leaky sewer line(not so likely, I don't think), and I'm not exactly sure where that runs to connect with the city line. I just know we have a sewer access on that side of the house if we ever need to rotorooter that thing. Or, it's the underground sprinkler system that has a head right nearby. I'll probably dig up the sprinkler head to see if that's the cause. I turned off the supply for the sprinkler system before winter, but I'm pretty sure I need to replace the valves in the access boxes soon. Our water bill hasn't been anything crazy since we stopped watering in August, so I have my doubts about it being a leaking supply of some sort.

I'll poke at the irrigation system, and if that doesn't provide any answers I'll call for some locates and start digging deeper.

Probably the irrigation system, if it's PVC pipe. Those things seem to break constantly.

complexmath wrote:

Probably the irrigation system, if it's PVC pipe. Those things seem to break constantly.

I hope it is. Otherwise things are going to get poopy.

Son of a freakin frackin mother trucker GAAH. Things were going so well, but now aaaaaarrGGGHHH. Need to vent.

So I'm partway through finishing our basement. Framing is done, I was ready to move onto wiring. Turns out, local law requires that all electrical/plumbing work be done by a licensed contractor. You like DIY? Too bad. Actually, there's an option to take an electrical test if you're the homeowner and only doing renovation work. 25 questions, 1 hour, $50. We'll even let you use the NEC book. They made it sound pretty straightforward. Instead, I get to spend an hour trying to pass what is essentially the final exam for Electricians 201. Sorry, I have no idea what the minimum service load for a residential house is. No, I can't draw a wiring diagram for a 3-way switch connected to a lighting fixture from memory. Calculate the maximum number of outlets on a 15-amp branch circuit driving a 1/3 h.p. disposal? Nope. Have to get 19/25 questions to pass, I only got 16. A handful I couldn't even answer at all and had to leave blank. Total waste of $50.

So now I get to stop working, and go interview a bunch of electricians to find someone to wire a dozen lights and outlets, something I could probably do in a weekend for $100 in materials.

I can't decide what to do about the plumbing, either. I have one bathroom to do - a sink and a toilet. The plumbing test is supposed to be a lot easier, but now I'm so put off by the entire experience, I don't know if I can bring myself to give them another $50.

Has anyone else ever asked "why the heck did I buy this house? In this neighborhood? What the heck were we thinking?"

Zoso1701 wrote:

Has anyone else ever asked "why the heck did I buy this house? In this neighborhood? What the heck were we thinking?"

I've been doing that for a couple of months. The people who had the house before my family were the best at 75-90%. I'm getting out of the house I'm in (thank god - closing on the 15th) because I took a job 68 miles away...and I'm really tired of fixing things that should have been done right, not lazy.

Just bought a rowhouse here in Seattle. It'll be my first time sharing a wall with a neighbor since college.

My question: there's no HOA - any advice on making nice with the four other homeowners that have a stake in the building?

Trashie wrote:

Just bought a rowhouse here in Seattle. It'll be my first time sharing a wall with a neighbor since college.

My question: there's no HOA - any advice on making nice with the four other homeowners that have a stake in the building?

Introduce yourself with baked goods.

Zoso1701 wrote:

Has anyone else ever asked "why the heck did I buy this house? In this neighborhood? What the heck were we thinking?"

Yes. For the last 4 years, roughly. We're completely different people now. We wouldn't buy our house in its current location if we were doing it over again. That's part of why I'm a huge advocate for renting when it makes sense for you.

Glad to know I'm not the only one. Sometimes I feel like I f'd everything up. Annoyances at current situations aside, at the time it made a lot of sense and was the nicest house in our price bracket and area.

Now... Well it just isn't right for us and I feel trapped because the market hasn't gone back up here yet.

I have a definite love/hate with our house. At times it feels just right, other times it's the worst. We live out on the edge of the suburbs, and sometimes that's great - there's nothing out our back windows but woods. On the other hand, it takes an extra 10 minutes to get anywhere, and that gets old.

The one thing I've noticed is that our neighborhood feels like it's changed. It's starting to feel more rural than I remember. Kind of rednecky. Not a fan.

Whoops double.

Same here, on one hand I love living in the boonies where I can ride my atv in my yard an no one will bat an eye, on second hand hour drive to work kinda gets old.

Need advice on painting a house. My house has a first floor brick exterior. The second floor is aluminum siding. The siding is white so it looks dirty, but not too bad. There are a couple of minor rust spots that are not noticeable unless you are inspecting it. Got a quote for almost 5 grand to paint the house.

If it was a one story house, there is no doubt that I would paint it myself. There is a pain in the butt factor with everything being on the second floor so that will require a lot of time on a ladder.

Right now, I am trying to rationalize that even if I paint one side a year, I am miles ahead. I do not plan on selling the house so really there is no rush. Crazy talk? Will it be as bad as I think to be moving a ladder around. My yard is level so just the ordinary pain of moving the ladder around.

Anyone else do this?