Home Improvements

[Sgt PSN]

Good point with the taxes, Rome. I've had a few friends who bought homes in the past where the previous owner was only paying, say $1500/year in taxes.  But that's because they had been living there for 30 years and were paying based on really old assessment values.  But once they purchased, the assessment value doubled or tripled and so did the taxes.  I don't know the exact details or specifics on how all that stuff works, I just know that they got blindsided by some hefty tax increases. 

One thing you might want to try and avoid is buying a home that your realtor has a listing on because there's confidentiality issues that will prevent a realtor from giving you their true opinion of the home.  A realtor's 1st loyalty is to the sellers that they hold listings to.  In the past, when I've gone through homes with a realtor, there's been a drastic difference in how they walk through the home with me based on whether or not the realtor holds the listing. 

On homes that my realtor was not listing, she was helping identify any and all flaws with the home and telling me everything she knew about it...both good and bad...and advised us on what kind of offer we should submit if we were interested.  On her own listings, she can't do as much of that, especially when it comes to telling us what kind of offer we should make if interested. 

JMO here, but if you're looking in the $200-250k range for a home but don't have the 20% to put down, you should most definitely be looking at homes in the $150k range.  I've browsed a few homes in the Wilmington area (that's where you are, right?) and in that price range I saw quite a few homes that wouldn't require very much money/work to update them. 

[Munson]

Luckily the taxes around here don't change on ownership, assessment for prop taxes is done by the county and the last time they did it was in the 80's, so property taxes around here are crazy low.

We are looking in the north wilmington suburbs area, with some certain spots in the city as well. Problem with the city is they get double taxed, a school district tax and a city property tax, so it makes it a little less affordable that way.

Anyone have any expieriecne with 203k loans on their mortgage? I've heard they're a real pain in the ass but we're in a position where we can get a HUD property that is more or less perfectly livable now, but one we'd wanna do some relatively major updates to (like adding a 2nd bathroom). The good news is because of the HUD Good Neighbor program, we could get the place for, at maximum, 71K (50% off the listed price for teachers, bitches)...so we're talking about insanely low monthly payments. So we'd have the money to pay for a lot of stuff ourselves. But we'd still probably go with a 10K 203K add on to the mortgage so we can do the 2nd bathroom more or less right away. But apparently the delays in payments to contractors and stuff can cause problems?

[Sgt PSN]

That's all Greek as farg to me. Sounds like a Chuggie question.

[Diomedes]

From what I know, you'll have to work harder to find a contractor because small guys like me can't wait to get paid, don't have the time or staff or interest to deal with paperwork, etc.  Also..10k is a dirt cheap new bathroom in an existing house.  If you can get one for that, and it's not shtein work&materials, then you did well.

[Munson]

From what I know, you'll have to work harder to find a contractor because small guys like me can't wait to get paid, don't have the time or staff or interest to deal with paperwork, etc.  Also..10k is a dirt cheap new bathroom in an existing house.  If you can get one for that, and it's not shtein work&materials, then you did well.

That seemed to be the general number I was getting from some family members/friends who have had work done or do that type of work as their job. Good news is we know enough people that do that type of work that hopefully we won't get screwed by some stranger heh. It would be converting existing space into a bathroom rather than building an addition, so maybe that's why? IDK enough about this stuff.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Agreed that $10k is way on the low end of the spectrum for a bathroom remodel.

With the way prices are now for materials at least a quarter of that 10 would go for stuff that I sell and that's just plywood, lumber and Mouldings. And that's for doing a current bathroom remodel not turning a new space into a bathroom.

[Sgt PSN]

Converting space into a bathroom *should* be significantly more costly than just remodeling an existing bathroom since it requires tapping into your existing plumbing and adding a new line.  Maybe your friends and family misunderstood and were just quoting you for a remodel? 

[Diomedes]

If you have friends like me, who know what their doing and will help you for a day here and there gratis, and you've got the time to do a lot of the work yourself, you're in great shape.

If you're paying guys like me for everything, ten grand is a very low number.  I'm $500 per day labor cost.  Electricians and plumbers, double that.

[Tomahawk]

$60 and hour? You undervalue yourself, Dio.

[Diomedes]

I don't even get that, it's what I'm billed out at.  I'm billing $35 as a sub.

[Munson]

We put a bid in at lower than asking price and got beat out. Were put on a 'waiting list' in case other bids ahead of us fall out....the search continues.

Anyone wanna tell me what all this means? Good news or bad news? Different house, and judging by the name the of the "Client", the realtor ordered this themselves...

[General_Failure]

Never trust the realtor's guy.

[Rome]

I learned how to swap out a breaker box yesterday.  I bought all the hardware myself (panel box, breakers, etc) and had a buddy of mine walk me thru the process.   He's a GC and licensed electrician and he owed me a favor and offered to hook me up. I paid about $225 for the hardware and paid him $25/hr to walk me thru the process.  I saved a few hundred on the job and I actually learned a skill.  Turned out great too.   I still have to patch the drywall but other than that, it's done and I'll ever have to worry about a 50 year-old breaker box sparking a fire and burning us alive.

[Rome]

Next up is a new water heater. 

[Diomedes]

Anyone wanna tell me what all this means?

House is standard wood frame on cinderblock foundation and concrete pad, no basement.  Center of concrete slab has fallen/is falling "significant[ly]."  One corner of the house is also sinking. 

Negative grade means when it rains water runs towards the structure rather than away from it.  This condition is very likely the cause of both foundation/structural problems. 

I don't know the implication of the line about wooded environment.  My guess would be to establish the idea that the ground ain't really going anywhere on its own because it's all rooted up.

The problems are not so advanced that the structure is considered unsafe.

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I'd be wary.  If you get more serious about this one, go there in a rain storm before you buy it.