Looks like I may be joining the moving brigade soon... put in what I thought was a lowball offer on a house in VA and amazingly enough, looks like it's going to work out.
yes, there is a garage. Oh happy day.
nate
Whatever garage you get wont be big enough.But you knew that already
Bob40
No kidding Bob. I think we have a larger garage than most houses but that quickly filled up with parts. Had to take some time off from working on the car to build a storage shed. Have plans if anyone wants them.
Superb! Now JP will have more room to park cars!
"Nate Nagel" wrote...
Tips? Yeah, a few.
1) Don't trust a realtor. 2) Hire a real estate attorney to look over your closing to represent your interest. 3) Don't trust him either. 4) Set your packing finish deadline as a full week and a half before your move date. 5) Start packing yesterday. 6) Take as much of the hard to movce stuff over to JP's now. (You can move that later on. 7) Buy some naproxen sodium (Advil) .. Works better than aspirin, or Ibuprofen (Tylenol)Sounds neat. This your first house? Jeff
"Nate Nagel" wrote...
Fortunately, for my job, I have to read a lot of contracts so I'm pretty familiar with the legalese. The whole thing is pretty much biased in the buyer's favor except for one boilerplate clause about mechanic's leins which hopefully will not be a concern. JP already
*has* all the big stuff and I'll bet he'll be happy when some of it is gone :) (now figuring out how to move it is another issue. I may have to rent a truck for a day just to take care of all the stuff at JP's - two roll cabinets full of tools, numerous sets of wheels and tires, boxes of parts etc. etc. etc. and I don't know if it would be a good idea for the maiden voyage of a fresh rebuilt engine to be at 70 MPH around the DC Beltway...) that may have to wait until I get the '55 a little more together otherwise it'll never get done if I have to set up the garage before I can even get back to working on it.Also fortunately my current landlady is totally laid back so I don't think it will be a huge rush to move my stuff (and my rent is dirt cheap, so carrying that another month wouldn't kill me.)
yes, this is the first house, at least as far as owning (Michele and I had a house to ourselves in Dearborn, but it was rented - not quite the same thing.)
nate
Jeff Rice wrote:
An engineer reading a real estate contract? Now that's a hoot Jeff (Ought to be fun at the closing ) Rice
"N8N" wrote...
Another huge tip, which is probably required by your mortgage lender... get at least one home inspection. Probably cost you $300-$400 per inspection but I've seen seasoned inspectors miss things. If it's an older home (more than 10 years old) I would drop the extra money and get a second inspection. I've done quite a bit of construction, but when walking around with a professional home inspector he was pointing out things that I wouldn't have even thought of checking.
Also those "one year home insurance policies" they push on the sellers to get are worthless except for the heating and air systems. I think they cost the seller about $400, I'd just as soon they give me the $400 up front because if you have to file a claim on appliance problems you're better off just replacing or repairing it yourself because there are deductibles you have to pay, many many excuses why what you're having problems with isn't covered, getting ahold of someone at their customer service department who gives a shit about your problem, etc...
Now you get to buy things like lawnmowers and furniture.
Lee
Hey, I've moved on, I am now officially a Project Manager (the guy that makes engineers miserable.) Yeah, the engineers and techs are the guys that actually get things done, but the PM's are the guys that get paid for it.
nate
Jeff Rice wrote:
No worries, the contract is contingent on both appraisal, home inspection, *and* termite inspection. And since I actually read it I know how quickly I have to act when they find something :)
nate
Lee Aanderud wrote:
Leave the tools, you'll need them to finish your car and fix the next one. Besides, does your new garage have gas heat, air, lift, steam cleaner and the rest and I was just getting you trained.
N8N wrote:
You think with home ownership he's going to have time for his car? With the rain we've been getting lately I'm cutting my grass twice a week.
Lee
Here's the best part - NO GRASS! house's current occupants are environmentalist types and the whole "yard" is trees and "native plants" with about a foot of mulch laid down to discourage undergrowth.
The only downside is that the guy was using the asphalt driveway as a composter to turn wood chip mulch into topsoil; I have a feeling that it's not in the best condition (had a 6" layer of decaying wood chips on it when we went to look at the house.)
nate
Lee Aanderud wrote:
Then I would definately get a thorough home inspection. Down here they discourage wood mulch because it's known to be a breeding ground for termites unless it dries thoroughly. My inspector didn't even like the landscaping timber flowerbeds up next to the foundation (they're somewhere in the local landfill now). I don't kow if Maryland has a termite problem, but down here a house can't sell without a termite bond letter... or in other words, I pay a yearly fee of $200 for some guy to crawl around my crawl space for 10 minutes once a year.
Lee
I hear you can get illegal aliens real cheap right now.... Jeff (Their benefits package is better anyhow..) Rice
"John Poulos" wrote...
Here in the south it is a law to have a termite, and wood destroying organism inspection. A house inspection is an option that the buyer has to pay for (and paid up front because it can kill a deal if something is found that cannot be repaired, or agreed to.) One neat thing here in Florida is the use of termite Beagles. The University of Florida has done a breeding and training program for this and it works extremely well. The inspection I just had done had a Beagle that was more interested in my Lab bitch, and she's fixed, so there must not have been any termites. Jeff
"Lee Aanderud" wrote...
That's what I did with my old house back in RI. Total natural landscaping except for a 20' x 20' patch of grass and tomato garden in the back.
JT
N8N wrote:
The whole country is in a real estate slump... there are developers in the Phoenix area that taking just about any semi-realistic offer on new homes without countering. Some are going back in and doing upgrades (granite countertops, hardwood floors, etc.) and not raising the listing price on homes nobody has ever lived in. I'm noticing houses in my subdivision that last year would have been on the market for 2-3 weeks now on the market for
2-3 months.I read last night that some people who are on ARM's may actually be upside down when it comes to refinance.
Lee
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