CAG home owner topic. Buying or selling a home? Have a maintance issue? Help is here!

There was also a PG-13 rated pic that I posted that apparently wasn't kosher.  I didn't think it was any worse than some of the jiggling boob avatars and signatures that people have.  But the temp ban was fair, I'm glad it was only for a week.  Glad it's over.

 
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Sinfulfate said:
I'm in the process of looking to buy my first Home and am going to to my first showing this weekend. This is the house I'll be looking at. Any questions or things I should be looking out for?
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"Seller will not redeem ground rent if any."

Make sure you own the land too if you buy this. See how many Liens are on the property and what amount. We know from the pics it doesnt have central air and I do not see any vents, so I am assuming this place has radiators. Mold would be the thing to look for as well as asbestos.

 
slowdive21 said:
"Seller will not redeem ground rent if any."

Make sure you own the land too if you buy this. See how many Liens are on the property and what amount. We know from the pics it doesnt have central air and I do not see any vents, so I am assuming this place has radiators. Mold would be the thing to look for as well as asbestos.
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^This. Double and triple check the title report. Check the property for any outstanding liens. Try to uncover all you can about the home's history. Check for foundation cracks, roof, leaks and any other exterior damage. Ask how long the house has been empty for? Was it winterized? Learn all you can about the neighborhood and make sure that you like the location, it is the only thing you can't change (aka the motto of this thread).

 
Thanks for the suggestions guys.  I did some research on the house and it doesn't appear to have any ground rent but I couldn't find any info about the leins.  I'll ask the Realtor about that tomorrow.

 
Sinfulfate said:
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I did some research on the house and it doesn't appear to have any ground rent but I couldn't find any info about the leins. I'll ask the Realtor about that tomorrow.
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http://sdat.resiusa.org/RealProperty/Pages/default.aspx or http://cityservices.baltimorecity.gov/realproperty/default.aspx

Block: 3111

Lot: 008

I don't have the time to do a more thorough search but it looks like you are free and clear.

 
Dead of Knight said:
I had to look up what ground rent is... and I'm still confused.
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I believe it is when a home is built on someone else's land. So you rent the land, but own the home. If the lease runs out, I believe you have to move the house if possible. It's like living in a trailer park, except your home isn't mobile ;) (and the leases are usually many years for land rent)

 
Dead of Knight said:
I had to look up what ground rent is... and I'm still confused.
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The way I understand is that its rent you must pay the person who owns the land your house is on.


kill3r7 said:
http://sdat.resiusa.org/RealProperty/Pages/default.aspx or http://cityservices.baltimorecity.gov/realproperty/default.aspx

Block: 3111

Lot: 008

I don't have the time to do a more thorough search but it looks like you are free and clear.
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Ok cool. Thats where I looked too but didn't see anything about leins.

 
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Sinfulfate said:
The way I understand is that its rent you must pay the person who owns the land your house is on.


Ok cool. Thats where I looked too but didn't see anything about leins.
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I know nothing about Baltimore so I hope I'm right. It's much easier to search land records in NY or NJ.

 
slowdive21 said:
I believe it is when a home is built on someone else's land. So you rent the land, but own the home. If the lease runs out, I believe you have to move the house if possible. It's like living in a trailer park, except your home isn't mobile ;) (and the leases are usually many years for land rent)
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That's what I thought... but wikipedia's explanation is so much more complicated. :lol:

 
you people who own a house where median house costs $600k should really stop bellyaching about how much your house is and how small it is.   I'm guessing Javery and Dead of Knight live just outside NYC, SF, or possibly Boston.

1) unless there's something like a riot or a nuclear strike, your houses will maintain their value.

2) if you're living in such an area, you must be making at least 200k+ so nobody is going to feel sorry for you

plus, how do i emphasize this enough... SF/NYC > Baltimore in just so many fucking ways it's not even a comparison.  I'll take a 1000 sq ft condo in sf over a 100,000 ft estate in baltimore every single day.

(No offense to people in Baltimore.)

Sure you can live in Morristown and commute 2 hours to NYC but you probably don't.  You probably live within a reasonable commute to NYC and that is what you pay for.

 
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Confucius said:
you people who own a house where median house costs $600k should really stop bellyaching about how much your house is and how small it is. I'm guessing Javery and Dead of Knight live just outside NYC, SF, or possibly Boston.

1) unless there's something like a riot or a nuclear strike, your houses will maintain their value.

2) if you're living in such an area, you must be making at least 200k+ so nobody is going to feel sorry for you

plus, how do i emphasize this enough... SF/NYC > Baltimore in just so many fucking ways it's not even a comparison. I'll take a 1000 sq ft condo in sf over a 100,000 ft estate in baltimore every single day.

(No offense to people in Baltimore.)

Sure you can live in Morristown and commute 2 hours to NYC but you probably don't. You probably live within a reasonable commute to NYC and that is what you pay for.
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Its true. I lived in Baltimore my whole life and houses are pretty cheap since no one wants to live in Baltimore City.

Anyway I went to the showing today and the Realtor was terrible. The Realtor showed up 45 mins late and didn't even have the key to let us get in the house. Luckily another realtor was there and had just shown the house to someone else and he left the door open for us. The house needs quite a bit of work. My Dad was saying I'd probably need to throw in another 40k or so to fix up the house so Im gonna pass. Im looking at this condo now.

 
I doubt that house is selling for that price in my experience, banks put foreclosures at that price to attract attention to create a bidding war. Looking in the area thought there seems to be an abundance of homes for sale in that zipcode, looking further through home sales in the last month there seems to be a lot of foreclosures in the area.

 
Confucius said:
you people who own a house where median house costs $600k should really stop bellyaching about how much your house is and how small it is. I'm guessing Javery and Dead of Knight live just outside NYC, SF, or possibly Boston.

1) unless there's something like a riot or a nuclear strike, your houses will maintain their value.

2) if you're living in such an area, you must be making at least 200k+ so nobody is going to feel sorry for you

plus, how do i emphasize this enough... SF/NYC > Baltimore in just so many fucking ways it's not even a comparison. I'll take a 1000 sq ft condo in sf over a 100,000 ft estate in baltimore every single day.

(No offense to people in Baltimore.)

Sure you can live in Morristown and commute 2 hours to NYC but you probably don't. You probably live within a reasonable commute to NYC and that is what you pay for.
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Yup I'm in Boston metro. The median house price in my town is currently a tad over 400k. Bought ours at 300k but we could probably get it for 400k because the market is crazy here right now. :lol:

We don't quite make 200k either, but we are doing fine and paying off our mortgage as fast as possible. I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me either. I can't just marvel at the disparity of housing prices across this great land? :lol:

 
sure, marvel all you want.  Just seemed like a bit of a humble brag.  Especially Javery's.

"You get 35mpg?  My ferrari barely gets 11!  Man, why do I drive that thing?"

Anyway, on topic, I did some house shopping today and it's a pretty paralyzing experience.  It's too big of a decision to make for me.

 
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Sinfulfate said:
Its true. I lived in Baltimore my whole life and houses are pretty cheap since no one wants to live in Baltimore City.

Anyway I went to the showing today and the Realtor was terrible. The Realtor showed up 45 mins late and didn't even have the key to let us get in the house. Luckily another realtor was there and had just shown the house to someone else and he left the door open for us. The house needs quite a bit of work. My Dad was saying I'd probably need to throw in another 40k or so to fix up the house so Im gonna pass. Im looking at this condo now.
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Assuming it's a condo run by a homeowners association, make sure to find out the HOA fees for the place and also find out what kind of cash reserves the condo has and how frequently HOA prices change. This can tell you how stable or unstable the HOA is.

Also, is it a middle unit? I can't really tell from the pic. I share my living room wall and master bedroom wall with an elderly couple and it's fine now, but when they have company or move furniture around I can definitely hear it. I'm dreading when they pass away or move out, if there was a young family living there with lots of kids I would definitely hear them all the time. Having 2x the shared walls would be even worse. If you've lived in apartments you're probably used to it but it's also something to keep in mind.

Finally, short sales can be a huge pain in the ass.

 
Confucius said:
Anyway, on topic, I did some house shopping today and it's a pretty paralyzing experience. It's too big of a decision to make for me.
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For 99% of the us, it is the biggest decision/purchase we'll ever make. I would encourage you to come up with a budget. Ultimately, location and price are the two limiting factors. From experience, I wouldn't recommend compromising on location. That said sometimes, it is impossible to find a house in your price range in a given area. So, you'll have to put up with a longer commute or live in an up and coming neighborhood. Hence, why some people live in Morristown or South Orange/Maplewood, instead of Summit or Short Hills.

 
Dead of Knight said:
I can't just marvel at the disparity of housing prices across this great land? :lol:
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This is all I meant as well (I'm outside NYC). Higher cost of living is proportional for most things which is easy to accept except for real estate which seems completely disproportionate. I paid less than what I think the house is worth 10 years ago (not by much though if you factor in the renovations)... which is good.... but I'm likely never selling so I'll never realize the appreciation... which isn't so good. I can't really complain though (with a straight face anyway :lol:).

 
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So I keep my house quite warm, 77-79 degrees when I'm home and 82-84 when I'm out of the house.

I mention this because I think my fridge is on it's last leg.  It's an older model, I bought a fridge thermometer at Amazon and it reports temps of 42-44 degrees inside the fridge.  Everything I've read suggests this is slightly higher than the recommended temp.  Anyways, opened it this evening and it was at 52 degrees.  It's down to about 50 now but I'm guessing my fridge only has days or weeks left at this point.  My temperature setting in the fridge is also at 9, the highest setting it can go.

Could the heat in the inside of my house possibly be having this much of an effect on my fridge, or is it time to break down and buy a new fridge?

And if anyone has affordable but quality recommendations, please let me know.  I'm looking for a cheaper freezer-top version.

Thanks.

 
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tylerh1701 said:
So I keep my house quite warm, 77-79 degrees when I'm home and 82-84 when I'm out of the house.

I mention this because I think my fridge is on it's last leg. It's an older model, I bought a fridge thermometer at Amazon and it reports temps of 42-44 degrees inside the fridge. Everything I've read suggests this is slightly higher than the recommended temp. Anyways, opened it this evening and it was at 52 degrees. It's down to about 50 now but I'm guessing my fridge only has days or weeks left at this point. My temperature setting in the fridge is also at 9, the highest setting it can go.

Could the heat in the inside of my house possibly be having this much of an effect on my fridge, or is it time to break down and buy a new fridge?

And if anyone has affordable but quality recommendations, please let me know. I'm looking for a cheaper freezer-top version.

Thanks.
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I think your fridge is dying or at least it is losing freon. The easiest option would be to replace it. Although you could try to get it repaired.

If you are thinking of replacing it, I would check the clearance/open box section of Home Depot, Lowes, Sears, Best Buy etc and see what they've got. Use Consumer reports to figure out what brand and models are worth owning. Also, setup a deal alert on slickdeals that way you are aware of any sales that might be coming up.
 
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Unplug it for a few minutes and vacuum the coils in the back and bottom, then plug it back in.

I have a old/dying fridge too, so I am also looking for a deal.

Is there a kmart/sears non video game deal thread on here? There have been crazy deals on another forum. I got a TV for under $20 by rolling points.

 
tylerh1701 said:
Assuming it's a condo run by a homeowners association, make sure to find out the HOA fees for the place and also find out what kind of cash reserves the condo has and how frequently HOA prices change. This can tell you how stable or unstable the HOA is.
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The HOA fees were $300 a month so I passed. Im looking at this house now. I made an offer for 85k.

 
Sinfulfate said:
The HOA fees were $300 a month so I passed. Im looking at this house now. I made an offer for 85k.
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That is a nice buy IMO. It is dated, but I love retro looking stuff, so I wouldn't do much in the kitchen. I would buy a retro looking fridge put down a laminate floor (cheap way to update the flooring) and call it a day. Tear out the carpet, leave the wood floors. Leave the bathroom and just paint the pink items. I don't see any potential problems in the pics, but make sure you have the foundation inspected. Good luck!

 
As far as the fridge Tyler... go to an outlet, got our fridge for 60% of the tag price at the sears outlet, and there were some great deals on Lower priced fridges as well!

 
slowdive21 said:
That is a nice buy IMO. It is dated, but I love retro looking stuff, so I wouldn't do much in the kitchen. I would buy a retro looking fridge put down a laminate floor (cheap way to update the flooring) and call it a day. Tear out the carpet, leave the wood floors. Leave the bathroom and just paint the pink items. I don't see any potential problems in the pics, but make sure you have the foundation inspected. Good luck!
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Thanks. I took a look at the house yesterday and from I can see the only thing that needs major work is the basement, there's some mold down there.

 
Sinfulfate said:
The HOA fees were $300 a month so I passed. Im looking at this house now. I made an offer for 85k.
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Luckily it's in a "quite" area. Except for those gunshots a block away last week. =0

07/23/2014 Shooting. Single Victim GSW to head. Homicide Req.

07/23/2014 Shooting Adult Male Reported To Be Shot In The Upper Body.

 
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Pookymeister said:
Luckily it's in a "quite" area. Except for those gunshots a block away last week. =0

07/23/2014 Shooting. Single Victim GSW to head. Homicide Req.

07/23/2014 Shooting Adult Male Reported To Be Shot In The Upper Body.
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It's Baltimore, whaddya expect? ;)

Frigidaire is a decent brand Tyler.

 
Thanks for the fridge input guys.  I actually ended up going with Kenmore, which I believe is made by Frigidaire, but might be an inferior line.  The fridge I bought got a 60 on consumer reports, which was right in line with the other fridges that were in my price range.

 
tylerh1701 said:
Thanks for the fridge input guys. I actually ended up going with Kenmore, which I believe is made by Frigidaire, but might be an inferior line. The fridge I bought got a 60 on consumer reports, which was right in line with the other fridges that were in my price range.
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Congrats!

 
I would've posted this over on slickdeals or fatwallet's finance section - but I thought I'd ask you guys.

Anyone buy their first home as a two family and rent out the 2nd half?

I'm at the point now where I am tired of paying rent every month to my landlord who lives in a very nice area like 25 minutes away.

I'm thinking about getting a two family and then renting half it out.

We make combined about 160K. Only debt is her school loans of about 30K. Have about 65K available for a down payment.

It would be nice to have a rental to pay most of the mortgage and two as time goes on pay for the house as I'd probably like to move to a nicer area eventually that is beyond our price range (and keep this just rented out).

The only thing I can think of is wait a bit more for a bigger down payment.

Any of you folks own rental properties or live in a  two-family that you own?

 
I've always dreamed of owning a rental property but I seem to have really bad luck so I'm afraid to pull the trigger.  It is a great idea if you can swing it but your tenant will make or break the situation.  If you find someone who pays on time every month and doesn't destroy the place then it will work.  If your tenant suddenly decides to stop paying rent it can take a very long time to evict him depending on the state you live in and if you need that money to cover the mortgage then you could be in a very tough spot.  There is also the hassle of maintaining the property and just dealing with landlord stuff.

I was thinking of taking out a line of credit on my house to pay for the down payment on a rental property and then using the rent to cover the mortgage on that place plus a little extra to pay off the line of credit.  If it goes well, in 5 years or so you take out another line of credit on that property to pay for the next one.   In 20+ years or whatever it would be a great nest egg for retirement.  It could be a lot of work and it is kind of a big undertaking so I'm hesitant.

 
[quote name="Dokstarr" post="12024725" timestamp="1408562503"]

I would've posted this over on slickdeals or fatwallet's finance section - but I thought I'd ask you guys.

Anyone buy their first home as a two family and rent out the 2nd half?

I'm at the point now where I am tired of paying rent every month to my landlord who lives in a very nice area like 25 minutes away.

I'm thinking about getting a two family and then renting half it out.

We make combined about 160K. Only debt is her school loans of about 30K. Have about 65K available for a down payment.

It would be nice to have a rental to pay most of the mortgage and two as time goes on pay for the house as I'd probably like to move to a nicer area eventually that is beyond our price range (and keep this just rented out).

The only thing I can think of is wait a bit more for a bigger down payment.

Any of you folks own rental properties or live in a two-family that you own?[/quote]
A buddy of mine successfully pulled this off and has now moved on to a second rental property. I think the key to succeeding, is understanding the responsibilities that come along with being a landlord (a lot of time and effort that goes into it) and getting your finances in order. You need to have enough financial flexibility to cover the mortgage payments when/if the tenant doesn't pay or when the unit sits empty between tenants.
 
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kill3r7 said:
A buddy of mine successfully pulled this off and has now moved on to a second rental property. I think the key to succeeding, is understanding the responsibilities that come along with being a landlord (a lot of time and effort that goes into it) and getting your finances in order. You need to have enough financial flexibility to cover the mortgage payments when/if the tenant doesn't pay or when the unit sits empty between tenants.
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This is what I am thinking. As long as you can cover the mortgage for the month or so when it sits empty in between it looks like it would be a good idea in the long term - especially since I'm not planning in staying the same city for the long long term.

I imagine some effort goes into being a landlord, but honestly at least from what I've seen being at the same place for about 1.5 years, it doesn't look like a ton. I've contacted my landlord for issues twice in 18 months, and she has contacted me for other stuff 2 or 3 times. I'm sure if you have a more run down property if you are stuck with crappy tenants than it can be a massive head ache.

 
by buying your home as a "two family" are you referring to a duplex?  if so one of my buds did that after they got married, he's a sherrif so he is off a few days a week during which time he can be mr fix it, so that has worked out nicely for him.  I think he owns three duplexes now.  he always says its the perfect thing to do if you have the time to fix everyones problems and don't mind a little hard work.

 
irideabike said:
by buying your home as a "two family" are you referring to a duplex? if so one of my buds did that after they got married, he's a sherrif so he is off a few days a week during which time he can be mr fix it, so that has worked out nicely for him. I think he owns three duplexes now. he always says its the perfect thing to do if you have the time to fix everyones problems and don't mind a little hard work.
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Yeah, pretty much. When people use the term duplex I usually think of those triple deckers or other similar style houses that you see in the downtown areas of cities. This would be a normal two family house. Maybe it is a little different lingo depending on where you are.

I'll be honest - I'm not Mr. Fix It. I do well enough on my own fixing what I need to with the help of youtube videos, but I think if you get a place that is in good condition you won't have many problems. The only issue I've had in my place for 18 months was with the water heater so the landlord had to call the plumber.

I'm sure if you get rough tenants or people who are just constantly complaining then it could become a headache.

 
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