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Thread: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

  1. #1
    Forum Member DanTheBluesMan's Avatar
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    I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    as much as I want to get into a house and out of this apartment, the frustration of shopping in this crazy market is getting to me.

    The place we looked at today was described as nice on the inside and in need of "a little paint" on the outside. Ah, that must be real estate speak for "really rough shape". It probably hasn't been painted since before the first Oil Shock crisis. There was trim that I bet I could have pushed my fingers into if I could have reached it. In the attic I could see daylight through the roof in several places. The stairs must have been made for Lilliputians. The detached 4 car garage was in better shape than the exterior of the house. Yes, the inside was nicely done. It had a glorious amount of daylight through all the windows. There were spaces between the stones in the basement walls around the bulkhead that probably would have screamed "welcome come on it" to rodents, raccoons, bears, maybe moose.

    The asking price was 340, it'll probably go for 375-380, and it needs 50-80K of work if a penny.

    On the way home, I saw another open house sign. We found the place, a new construction at the end of a dead end street. We guessed that it would have been 480-490. Nope. 575.
    "Live and learn and flip the burns"

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    Forum Member Laker's Avatar
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    Re: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    Quote Originally Posted by DanTheBluesMan View Post
    as much as I want to get into a house and out of this apartment, the frustration of shopping in this crazy market is getting to me.

    The place we looked at today was described as nice on the inside and in need of "a little paint" on the outside. Ah, that must be real estate speak for "really rough shape". It probably hasn't been painted since before the first Oil Shock crisis. There was trim that I bet I could have pushed my fingers into if I could have reached it. In the attic I could see daylight through the roof in several places. The stairs must have been made for Lilliputians. The detached 4 car garage was in better shape than the exterior of the house. Yes, the inside was nicely done. It had a glorious amount of daylight through all the windows. There were spaces between the stones in the basement walls around the bulkhead that probably would have screamed "welcome come on it" to rodents, raccoons, bears, maybe moose.

    The asking price was 340, it'll probably go for 375-380, and it needs 50-80K of work if a penny.

    On the way home, I saw another open house sign. We found the place, a new construction at the end of a dead end street. We guessed that it would have been 480-490. Nope. 575.
    Maybe you’re in the wrong area of the country for what you’re trying to do. For $350K you would be living quite sweet where I live.

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    Forum Member gibsonjunkie's Avatar
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    Re: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    Housing costs vary so much. My neighbor had to walk away form his mortgage and lose his house after he paid $489,000 for it. He bought a nicer house somewhere around Atlanta for $150,000. A longtime friend moved to Spring Texas 30 years ago and can't afford to move back to Connecticut because of the difference in house prices. I had a job offer from Apple years ago with a huge increase in salary, but I couldn't afford the housing. I don't know how anyone starting out can get a house any more. My daughter and her fiance are trying to do so, but it's really hard, especially since she has a ton of student debt over her head.
    "We catched fish and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness." Mark Twain

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    Forum Member dirtdog's Avatar
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    Re: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    Yeah and with what’s going on, the timing is a bit nuts. Around here, I was reading some stats recently, detached homes around here rose 40% year over year at are averaging around $700K. Averaging. Mind you the sales volume is low, supply is low and demand is high, relatively speaking.


    We sold my mom’s condo last month and made out quite well. She’ll be able to live very comfortably in assisted living for years to come.

    Getting into the market would certainly be painful. I’ve been wanting to move for a few years now...city life is grinding me down...my office, should I ever go back to an office, is in the suburbs. So I want to be out in the sticks. As long as I can get fibre optic to the house. But right now, even though we own this place outright and it’s market value has tripled in the last 15 years, I’d need to take out a mortgage if we bought something even remotely close to what we have in town. The market makes no sense right now. My big problem is I want 50 acres....;-)

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    Forum Member DanTheBluesMan's Avatar
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    Re: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    Quote Originally Posted by dirtdog View Post
    ...My big problem is I want 50 acres....;-)
    LOL. A one acre lot downtown vacated by the demolition of an old industrial building sold for 3.5 million dollars a couple years ago, pre-Covid.

    That new build we saw yesterday was tacked onto a hillside overlooking a 14.3 acre wooded lot beside the parkway. That would be big enough for me Nobody's going to hear me over the road noise
    "Live and learn and flip the burns"

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    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    Re: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    My son told me that for a modest house in Santa Monica, he and his fiancée expect to pay 700,000 for a modest little house. I"ve never had a lot of money, and that figure is just unreal to me. Of course that area is prime. Still shocking to me.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

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    Forum Member dirtdog's Avatar
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    Re: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    Quote Originally Posted by DanTheBluesMan View Post
    LOL. A one acre lot downtown vacated by the demolition of an old industrial building sold for 3.5 million dollars a couple years ago, pre-Covid.

    That new build we saw yesterday was tacked onto a hillside overlooking a 14.3 acre wooded lot beside the parkway. That would be big enough for me Nobody's going to hear me over the road noise
    Not surprised.

    We're not *quite* downtown, but I can walk there in about 40 minutes. We're in what the suburbs were 100 years ago, if there were suburbs back then...;-). Knockdowns on 36' foot lots are going for $1M+ right now. Owners are then subdividing and putting up semi-detached units or detached duplexes or triplexes. All supported by official city policy of urban intensification. Which makes sense.

    But I'm at that life stage where the "get off my lawn" tolerance is the same as the effective range of a 12 gauge...or an Ampeg SVT at full throttle!

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    Forum Member dirtdog's Avatar
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    Re: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    Quote Originally Posted by ch willie View Post
    My son told me that for a modest house in Santa Monica, he and his fiancée expect to pay 700,000 for a modest little house. I"ve never had a lot of money, and that figure is just unreal to me. Of course that area is prime. Still shocking to me.
    California is nuts. I was astounded when I visited some friends in Huntington Beach about 15 years ago. Modest 3BR tract house, backing onto a boulevard. Fair haul to the beach. Inches between houses....$2M at the time. Not sure how they afforded that on cops salaries. 50 year mortgage perhaps?

    I had a chance to cross the border and work for company near San Diego years and years ago. Seriously considered it until I learned that I would only be able to afford a small apartment in a shitty part of town. Now, San Diego is my ideal climate and a top choice for lifestyle options but I just couldn't make the numbers work. And my wife wasn't able to work - I could get a TN visa, she couldn't.

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    Forum Member gibsonjunkie's Avatar
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    Re: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    Quote Originally Posted by ch willie View Post
    My son told me that for a modest house in Santa Monica, he and his fiancée expect to pay 700,000 for a modest little house. I"ve never had a lot of money, and that figure is just unreal to me. Of course that area is prime. Still shocking to me.
    When we looked at housing in Santa Clara (for the apple job) a house similar to my 1,300 square foot raised ranch in Connecticut was selling for 1.3 million bucks (on a 1/4 acre lot). My house stood on 3/4 acres and we were damn fortunate to sell t for $215,000 (luckily I built it myself for around $67,000 including the land, so we did OK). They actually had a mobile home on 1/10 acre lot for $450,000. That';s a crazy kind of insane.
    "We catched fish and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness." Mark Twain

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    Forum Member OldStrummer's Avatar
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    Re: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    Quote Originally Posted by gibsonjunkie View Post
    When we looked at housing in Santa Clara (for the apple job) a house similar to my 1,300 square foot raised ranch in Connecticut was selling for 1.3 million bucks (on a 1/4 acre lot). My house stood on 3/4 acres and we were damn fortunate to sell t for $215,000 (luckily I built it myself for around $67,000 including the land, so we did OK). They actually had a mobile home on 1/10 acre lot for $450,000. That';s a crazy kind of insane.
    One of the employees at my company's HQ in Marin County, CA lives in a houseboat because she can't afford the housing costs.
    Striving to be ordinary

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  11. #11
    Forum Member dirtdog's Avatar
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    Re: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    Quote Originally Posted by OldStrummer View Post
    One of the employees at my company's HQ in Marin County, CA lives in a houseboat because she can't afford the housing costs.
    I've seen people who do that up here as well. And the lakes and rivers are frozen for months at a time around here! Gotta be a little chilly in depths of winter. No thanks.

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    Forum Member Gravity Jim's Avatar
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    Re: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    For 350KUSD, you can buy a sprawling mansion on multiple acres in my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

    I sold my house there - a 2,600 sq ft lofted two story with 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and a finished basement - for a measly $169,000. I bought a house - 1,600 sq ft, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths - in Santa Rosa CA for just a shade under $600,000. (Talk about a crazy market, you couldn't close on anything unless you had cash.). After 7 years, it's worth somewhere between $750,000 and $800K. Completely nuts.

    The difference? Nobody wants to live in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

  13. #13
    Forum Member DanTheBluesMan's Avatar
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    Re: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    Quote Originally Posted by Gravity Jim View Post
    For 350KUSD, you can buy a sprawling mansion on multiple acres in my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

    I sold my house there - a 2,600 sq ft lofted two story with 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and a finished basement - for a measly $169,000. I bought a house - 1,600 sq ft, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths - in Santa Rosa CA for just a shade under $600,000. (Talk about a crazy market, you couldn't close on anything unless you had cash.). After 7 years, it's worth somewhere between $750,000 and $800K. Completely nuts.

    The difference? Nobody wants to live in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
    funny you should say Fort Wayne. Sweetwater Music is there and they're hiring. Maybe I should take what little money I'll get from my mom and take a look out there and get a job.
    "Live and learn and flip the burns"

  14. #14
    Forum Member Gravity Jim's Avatar
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    Re: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    Sweetwater is always hiring because they're always losing guys to attrition and firing.

    When you sign on as a Sales Engineer, you're on probation for something like 6 to 8 weeks. Hit your sales goals or you're out. I met (and shared a drink with) guys who moved across the country for Chuck, only to get canned when they failed to hit their numbers.

    It's not an easy-going environment.

  15. #15
    Forum Member OldStrummer's Avatar
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    Re: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    I can so relate to your frustration and irritation, Dan. It will be four years ago next month that I bought my current house. I had a condo that I'd grown very tired of and wanted to find "The Place." My realtor is a good friend and former neighbor, which made the ordeal a bit easier to tolerate, but at times it was maddening. On several occasions I thought I'd found a place but my friend would tell me, "Sorry, it's already under contract." Other places turned out to be in need of more repairs than I wanted to undertake. I put a bid on a house which was accepted, but the home inspection killed it. I walked away with my earnest money because the seller refused to respond in time.

    The kicker is that my friend had suggested I look at a place a couple of times. The photo (taken during the winter) didn't float my boat, and I wasn't familiar with the area. But one day, when snow had forced everyone to stay home that day, after it cleared I wanted to get out for a bit. I had seen a townhouse that looked promising, so I called my realtor friend and asked if I could take a look. Not today, came the reply. But, why not go check out that house I've been telling you about? I agreed, and headed over.

    When I got there, the "Under Contract" sign in front glared at me like the Eye of Sauron. When my friend arrived, I asked WTF? Checking quickly, we learned that the selling realtor had decided to buy the house, but then had second thoughts. So, we went in, and on the way out, I told my friend, "Let's tell them to keep that sign up." I made an offer, it was accepted, and the rest is history, as they say.

    I'm delighted with this house! It was move-in ready, and the only complaint I've had is the front lawn gets overrun with weeds every year. I'm removing the grass and just mulching it this year. I had a new roof put on a couple of years ago, not that it needed it, but houses in my neighborhood were all having them done (the house was just about 20 years old at the time).

    Stick to it, Dan. Once you've found the right house, it will taste so much sweeter!
    Striving to be ordinary

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  16. #16
    Forum Member DanTheBluesMan's Avatar
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    Re: I'm beginning to not like house hunting any more

    I sure hope so. It probably won't be until next year though. The good thing is my brother is having a red hot streak at work, even if it drops back to what it was before, just the last few months alone will put him in a better position. He draws commission and it pays the following year. This year's check will be good and next year's will be even better. If I can in any way find some means of making even modest money I can help a lot, even if it's only 10-15 k a year it will help.
    "Live and learn and flip the burns"

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