Author Topic: The joys and frustrations of home buying...  (Read 10978 times)

Offline Morgbug

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Re: The joys and frustrations of home buying...
« Reply #60 on: May 2, 2004, 10:05 PM »
MMmmm, DeWalt rocks.  I love yellow.  Get a reciprocating saw, very, very therapeutic to use one of those babies.  

Congrats on the move Mikey.  My job seems to have survived the first round of cuts, so we'll likely be moving across town sometime in the next little while.  Yippee! ::)
Minivans: a sign of the apocalypse.

Offline Famine

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Re: The joys and frustrations of home buying...
« Reply #61 on: May 2, 2004, 10:51 PM »
MMmmm, DeWalt rocks.  I love yellow.  Get a reciprocating saw, very, very therapeutic to use one of those babies.  

Congrats on the move Mikey.  My job seems to have survived the first round of cuts, so we'll likely be moving across town sometime in the next little while.  Yippee! ::)

Come to America.

Kevin
The picture kept, will remind me...

Offline Rob

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Re: The joys and frustrations of home buying...
« Reply #62 on: May 3, 2004, 12:15 AM »
Well.  I'm a little late to this thread...but I figured I'd chime in since the girlfriend and I decided that renting was for suckers and we bought a condo in January.  It's a 1-bedroom loft right in downtown Dallas.  It was a 5 year old building that was just renovated and converted into modern-style lofts - and as they were trying to sell over 100 units all at once, the prices were low compared to similar properties in the area.

We feel that we got a great deal and that it will probably go up in value considerably over the 5 years we plan to live in it.  It's got granite counters, 12' celings, concrete floors, fantastic location,  a second parking space, washer and dryer, and stainless steel appliances for the kitchen.  The best part was that we managed to crunch all the numbers and after the downpayment, our mortgage payment is pretty much the same amount each month that we were paying to rent.

Here are some images from the website of the building and model properties:




Anyways...we were pretty happy with our experience and after four months are just about moved in.... we're still looking to add more bookshelves (ours are all but full) and I've still got some star wars unpacking to do (vehicle hanging) - but...yeah....so that was our buying experience.


Offline Mikey D

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Re: The joys and frustrations of home buying...
« Reply #63 on: May 3, 2004, 07:31 AM »
MMmmm, DeWalt rocks.  I love yellow.  Get a reciprocating saw, very, very therapeutic to use one of those babies.  


I have a friend who has a "saw zaw" who wants to use it badly, so I promised him he can come over to my new house to try it out  ;)
Common sense isn't so common

Offline Brian

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Re: The joys and frustrations of home buying...
« Reply #64 on: May 5, 2004, 11:05 AM »
Congratulations on the new place Mikey, I hope it is exactly what you were looking for.  Sounds like you are in the process of making it even spiffier too, best of luck on all the home stuff.  It can be stressful, but exciting at the same time I am sure.

On a side note, it looks like my wife and I will be moving here soon too, probably by the end of May.  We put our house on the market (had it up once before a couple of years ago, didn't get much interest), and found some buyers after about a week and a half.  It happened quicker than we thought, but were happy that it worked out.  My wife had the opportunity to transfer with her job to a bigger city (Lincoln, NE), so we decided that might be a good move for us.  I currently work "remote" (from home), so it wasn't a problem for me to move either, which worked out well.

We currently live in a town of about 6,000 or so, and Lincoln is about 225,000 (still not big compared to where many of you live I'm sure, but a big adjustment for us).  We have a lot of friends that live down there (and very few here), and there is just more to do, better opportunities if we move.  We went down there two weeks ago to look at houses, and ended up making an offer (and got it accepted) that same day.  The way things are looking now, we could be moved by the end of May.  We were just thinking about moving "sometime this year", but it ended up popping up faster than we thought.  It is exciting, but kind of nerve-racking at the same time.  I guess I'm the type of person that always second guesses, and wants to make sure we are making the right decision.  It is still on the same side of Nebraska, so we won't be too much further away from family...and much closer to some family and friends.

Another plus for us, is that the house we live in now is a "manufactured" home, which means the house itself is pretty nice and new, but we don't have a basement or a garage, and we have to pay lot rent for where we live.  It is funny how exciting little things like having a basement or a garage is for us now, we're looking forward to the move (or to the move being overwith actually).  The house we're moving to needs a little work, but nothing major, and seems like something we could be happy in for a long time.  Anyways, best of luck to those house buyers (or current home owners out there), hope everything goes great for all of you.

Offline dustrho

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House Shopping... Almost at an End
« Reply #65 on: May 11, 2004, 10:54 AM »
My wife & I have been shopping for a new house for the last couple of months, and we made an offer on a house last night that is less than one mile away from us.  Click here to see pictures of this house, and here are some specs on the house...

- 2800 square feet
- 4 bedrooms
- 2.5 bathrooms
- 9 foot ceilings
- berber carpeting with real hardwood floors in hallways and kitchen
- HUGE kitchen with real maple cabinets
- HUGE full basement with crawlspace (for my Star Wars collection)
- all rooms are already painted, so no painting is necessary

Now it's just a waiting game, so hopefully the sellers will accept our offer.  We're keeping our fingers crossed.   ;D
dustrho

Offline Morgbug

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Re: House Shopping... Almost at an End
« Reply #66 on: May 11, 2004, 10:58 AM »
Damn, nice place Chris.  Hope it works out for you.  

Question: does the square footage count the basement or is it 2800 PLUS the basement???

I ask because up here in Canada, what you can claim as square footage varies by province.  In BC, you can advertise the whole house including basement, but here in Manitoba, real estate laws only allow you to claim the square footage that is above grade.  Basements are not allowed.  
Minivans: a sign of the apocalypse.

Offline dustrho

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Re: House Shopping... Almost at an End
« Reply #67 on: May 11, 2004, 11:01 AM »
From what I understand is that basements are only included in the square footage if it is in a finished state, meaning it's setup to be a "lived in" environment.  I could be wrong about that, but I could easily believe that the basement isn't included in this house's square footage based on how big the house is.

Thanks for the compliment!
dustrho

Offline Morgbug

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Re: House Shopping... Almost at an End
« Reply #68 on: May 11, 2004, 11:06 AM »
That makes sense.  The rules always change, no matter where you are.  It sure looked big enough to not be included.
Minivans: a sign of the apocalypse.

Offline Mainland05

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Re: House Shopping... Almost at an End
« Reply #69 on: May 11, 2004, 11:08 AM »
Really nice pics Chris.  But did you post pics of the basement?

Hope you guys get the place. ;)
Born & Raised Modesto Man. :)

Offline jadesfire

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Re: House Shopping... Almost at an End
« Reply #70 on: May 11, 2004, 11:09 AM »
Wow, what a beautiful home.  Best of luck on the offer!!
Beth

Offline dustrho

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Re: House Shopping... Almost at an End
« Reply #71 on: May 11, 2004, 11:09 AM »
Really nice pics Chris.  But did you post pics of the basement?

No, I didn't end up posting pictures of the basement because it's just a basement.  It's unfinished but it's a HUGE basement.  Can't wait to start displaying my stuff in it.   ;D
dustrho

Offline Brian

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Re: House Shopping... Almost at an End
« Reply #72 on: May 11, 2004, 11:17 AM »
Wow, great house Chris....a beautiful home.  I hope that it all works out for you guys, good luck!  We're actually moving in a couple weeks as well to a new house, although ours could probably fit inside yours :P.  It is an exciting time for sure, best of luck.

Offline DSJ™

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Re: House Shopping... Almost at an End
« Reply #73 on: May 11, 2004, 11:21 AM »
Very nice house Chris. Best of luck to you both.

Offline dustrho

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Re: House Shopping... Almost at an End
« Reply #74 on: May 11, 2004, 12:23 PM »
We heard back from our realtor and the home owners have done a counter offer, and we have agreed to it.  We just have to wait for them to officially accept our offer, and then we will have either a 24 or 48 hour contingency.  After that is up the house is ours!  I wish I didn't have to wait like this, but there's no choice in the matter.
dustrho