[audio-pals] Re: Older Houses
- From: Thomas McMahan <shadowmonstrosity@xxxxxxx>
- To: audio-pals@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2015 13:36:46 -0500
No he couldn’t, we he won’t once the property tax comes around. Not in
Chicago. Detroit maybe though.
> On Mar 12, 2015, at 1:19 PM, BethAnn LaPresta (Redacted sender
> "bela28_02@xxxxxxxxx" for DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Actually for $120K, he could probably buy an entire block in Chicago...
>
> From: Thomas McMahan <thomas.mcmahan@xxxxxxx>
> To: audio-pals@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2015 11:08 AM
> Subject: [audio-pals] Re: Older Houses
>
> Why didn’t you tell us you lived in Chicago? Sounds very much the same as it
> is up there.
>
> Hey Josh, I just thought of another option. There are lots of houses
> available in Detroit. Heck you can probably buy yourself a school building
> there. That would be a big house for you. Utilities might be a little high
> though.
>
>
>
>> On Mar 12, 2015, at 11:57 AM, BethAnn LaPresta (Redacted sender
>> "bela28_02@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:bela28_02@xxxxxxxxx>" for DMARC)
>> <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>>
>> My house is in a neighborhood that is definitely considered "the hood". I
>> refinanced in January at $130K and my payment is about $800/mo. My property
>> taxes are spendy though, over $2K per year, so that adds almost $200/mo
>> right there. They tossed 26 of my cottage style single detached homes on
>> little 3900 sq ft. lots, so our cul-de-sac is very busy with all of us
>> stacked up right against each other. But, living out west, things cost much
>> more, it is shocking actually.
>>
>> I could've purchased a 100 yr. old home where Heather lives in Ohio with
>> about the same size lot for $60K, just to give perspective. The guy who got
>> himself into trouble with my house paid $263K for it in 2006 when real
>> estate prices were obscene out here. Because he was short selling the home,
>> I was able to get it for just $110K in 2011. A house on my street has just
>> gone up for sale and they're asking $200K for 3 bedrooms (and they are
>> tiny), 2 baths with one car detached garage. So, if I need to sell, I
>> should still be able to make a little.
>>
>> Thought I should explain my monthly payment since I was saying I didn't
>> think the $600/mo. seemed like enough.
>>
>> From: Thomas McMahan <shadowmonstrosity@xxxxxxx
>> <mailto:shadowmonstrosity@xxxxxxx>>
>> To: audio-pals@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:audio-pals@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2015 9:23 AM
>> Subject: [audio-pals] Re: Older Houses
>>
>> Oh mine btw was $162, because we’re cheap! *lol*. Then it went down to
>> $150 then down to $128, but again we’re cheap and live in a piece of s—
>> house, but as Pat used to say, “it’s our piece of S— *lol*.
>>
>>
>>> On Mar 12, 2015, at 10:12 AM, BethAnn LaPresta (Redacted sender
>>> "bela28_02@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:bela28_02@xxxxxxxxx>" for DMARC)
>>> <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I am not sure that $600/month figure is accurate. I just refinanced at
>>> 3.25% and my payment is $800/mo. (this does include property taxes and
>>> insurance though).
>>>
>>> From: Josh <lawdog911@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:lawdog911@xxxxxxxxxxx>>
>>> To: audio-pals@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:audio-pals@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>> Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2015 4:44 AM
>>> Subject: [audio-pals] Re: Older Houses
>>>
>>> Amanda did some figuring using a mortgage calculator online and the 120,000
>>> house was going to run us roughly 600 something a month for I want to again
>>> say it was 1700 sq. ft. We currently live in a 1100 sq. ft. apartment and
>>> pay 714.00 a month. So, given the differences there and the fact that we
>>> have nothing to show for it at the end of the year is a little much in my
>>> book. So, if the 120,000 was going to be 600 something it would go to
>>> reason that the 112,000 would be less money than that. Now, as far as
>>> utilities go, Knoxville Utilitiy Board (KUB) will give us high and low
>>> figures for the last 12 months. The last 12 months is a good thing
>>> providing there has been someone living in the house, but if the house has
>>> sat empty then the numbers that KUB quotes are not in the least bit
>>> accurate. I really like the idea of rolling insurance and taxes into the
>>> monthly payment so that way at the end of the year or whenever land taxes
>>> are due we are not hit with a big lump sum of money to pay. Sure it would
>>> be nice to think that I could just put that money back each month and not
>>> touch it, but the minute something needs to be paid for guess where the
>>> land tax money goes that was being put bac into an account. If it is
>>> figured into the monthly payment then for the most part the majority of it
>>> will be paid throughout the year. The thing that really sucks is that
>>> stinking PMI payment each month.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> From: audio-pals-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> <mailto:audio-pals-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>> [mailto:audio-pals-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> <mailto:audio-pals-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>] On Behalf Of Thomas McMahan
>>> Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2015 4:58 AM
>>> To: audio-pals@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:audio-pals@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>> Subject: [audio-pals] Re: Older Houses
>>>
>>> I accidentally hit the send before cleaning up that mail darn it.
>>>
>>> Here’s another little exercise to work on. Lets say you guys decide to go
>>> for this house. You should have a ballpark of the monthly payment. Sit
>>> down and plot out a budget around it on one paper, as well as a list of
>>> possible repairs to do on another list and their costs. Yes a house
>>> payment can be cheaper than rent, but their are other realities such as the
>>> taxes, and insurance. Are you going to escrow your insuranc and tax
>>> payments into your house payment? Most people do that and it usually works
>>> out well until they assess your house taxes up and then you have to make up
>>> the short fall. Of course if they assess them downward you get a chunk of
>>> money back in the mail like my sister-in-law has done the past two years.
>>> I didn’t escro my other payments. I deal with insurance as I would any
>>> other utility, and we would do our taxes on our own. Because of that I now
>>> pay my insurance once a year and it’s cheaper, and once the house was paid
>>> for there was less entanglement with the bank. I even removed the
>>> automatic withdraw for house payment because they double dipped us a couple
>>> of different months, and didn’t have a very good explanation as to why. So
>>> it put us into over draw land, which isn’t a place you want to be. They
>>> did the same to my sis-in-law too and she went in and practically threw a
>>> fit because she wasn’t working at the time and didn’t have income yet.
>>> They refunded her money on that one, but as she asked them, “now how am I
>>> supposed to pay the rest of my bills? You think you guys are my only bill
>>> to pay?” Banks and their computers can be sloppy sometimes.
>>>
>>> Now when you do your budget here’s another game to play which may be
>>> beneficial. Can you run your whole budget on one income? Everybody that
>>> lives as a couple should do this whether renting or paying for a house.
>>> Most of us find we can’t, but it is a nice goal. The guy we had going
>>> along with us to check out houses etc and sort of pointed and guided us
>>> along through the process gave us that little bit of wisdom. As he said,
>>> what happens if Pat loses her job and can’t get one very fast? Can you
>>> live on just your income alone, because if you can get to that point, then
>>> you can start paying extra against your house on it’s principle and have
>>> more paid off faster which is good for the credit rating, but if you decide
>>> to move in 20 years you are carrying less of a load thus will get more
>>> money back to leverage against your next place should you decide to do
>>> that. Or you can both pay some extra on house and car, then put the rest
>>> in the bank against major repairs which are going to come even if you buy a
>>> house that was built today, in 30 years you will have to had to replace
>>> things, they just don’t build stuff that good anymore and sometimes that
>>> includes homes btw.
>>>
>>> Lots of decisions, but at least it looks like you guys aren’t just jumping
>>> right and grabbing what shines in front of you which is good.
>>>
>>> Btw, I don’t think our budget is currently within the lowest income level
>>> of the house here at this time which would be Patti’s income, although it’s
>>> not way above that amount. It is a good goal to work for actually, so we
>>> will be able to start seriously working on this place. Get a lot of little
>>> stuff done over time, then do a loan down the road and fix the major stuff
>>> such as re doing the roof etc. I don’t think I am going to lift the house
>>> and work on foundation, but it would be nice to do actually.
>>>
>>> But it’s a good exercise to do. I would run it on your income Josh because
>>> it is likely to always be there and Amanda’s income is the variable one, it
>>> can be lower if she’s out of work, but can also be a lot higher should land
>>> a great paying job. Drop in everything, credit cards the whole deal, then
>>> figure out once you get to where you’re going which angles to cover and get
>>> paid off in the budget.
>>>
>>> I am guessing you guys have done some of this already though in preparing
>>> for checking out the housing market and talking to lenders because they are
>>> going to do roughly the same thing when checking your credit etc.
>>> Especially if it’s a conservative bank.
>>>
>>> Now I think I’ve completed all I was going to say. Took two e-mails, but
>>> if I had been able to clean up the other one first it would have fitted
>>> into one probably *lol*.
>>>
>>> Instead you get two.
>>>
>>> On Mar 12, 2015, at 3:34 AM, Thomas McMahan <shadowmonstrosity@xxxxxxx
>>> <mailto:shadowmonstrosity@xxxxxxx>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Wouldn’t worry about a house on market for 5 months. Most around here are
>>> on a year or so. To many deals fall through each time that happens that
>>> just adds more time that the house is sitting there. Age, is only a
>>> problem if the house hasn’t been kept up and modernized over the years.
>>> There are people who prefer older houses simply because they are more
>>> solid. The house I live in was placed here in 1922. Yes it came from
>>> somewhere else. The house next door is older and was also brought in here
>>> from another place too. Fairly common in a town that springs up by a
>>> railroad. I wouldn’t worry so much about that as apposed to how it’s
>>> fundamentally built, there are a lot of newer places that are likely to
>>> give you just as much trouble if not more.
>>>
>>> Any house is going to have ongoing mantainence of some kind. Sided house
>>> are nice but siding fades over the years for example and eventually would
>>> need replacing. Wooden houses have their things that have to be done, and
>>> so would brick, but brick is the best option as far as I’m concerned accept
>>> maybe when a big earthquake comes, then I would favor a wooden house, but
>>> what are the chances of that huh?
>>>
>>> I don’t know the market down there anymore so don’t know if that is a low
>>> ball figure on that house or not, but I can tell you it is larger than mine
>>> is and mine is two stories, but so is it’s price too.
>>>
>>> Go through it with a fine tooth comb with the idea of what has to be fixed
>>> now, and then in the next 5 years and what would be ongoing over the years,
>>> I don’t think for the long term ongoing it will be much different than a 10
>>> year old house verses the 60 year old house, but agin it is a matter of
>>> what would immediately have to be worked on. When was the house last
>>> occupied too? A house that hasn’t been occupied for a good while can have
>>> problems such as drainage because they haven’t been flushed etc. It sounds
>>> like you already have someone with you who knows how to examine a
>>> foundation well and give you an idea of what would have to be done and when
>>> which is good. Same with tuck pointing brick etc.
>>>
>>> It may be sitting on market because folks think it’s to high also, but you
>>> are going to drop in a price and they will take it or leave it, or you both
>>> the buyer and seller will eventually come up with something in the middle,
>>> or the seller is going to have an empty house on their hands.
>>>
>>> What heating and cooling does it have, and when was it installed too that
>>> is a factor, a 30 year old furnace is getting kind of old in this part of
>>> the world, but most of our furnaces are gas and they do have to work pretty
>>> hard for a good part of the year. Does it have any chimnies, and where do
>>> they run through the house. Ones that run through centers of houses on the
>>> surface are nice, but when they have to be worked on they are a lot more
>>> work. Of course where you live a lot of homes are electric heat and
>>> electric water heat, which is another thing to add to your check list, how
>>> old is the water heater and when will you be replacing that. A brand new
>>> house obviously you would get to wait a while before doing that, but
>>> chances are you would have to do it eventually, or have your price knocked
>>> down when you are selling it, or when your descendants are selling it. But
>>> that goes with any house again.
>>>
>>> What neighborhood is it in? How accessible is it to you. Pretend Amanda
>>> had to leave town for a Month and start your math, what is easy to get to
>>> via walking etc. Maybe that isn’t a problem for you at this moment, but
>>> life can always hand you changes, and well, next thing you know, you are
>>> walking to the grocery store if you know what I mean.
>>>
>>> Find out what their highest bills were for each utility in the last year it
>>> was occupied if you can, you need that in planning a general budget. I
>>> don’t know your property tax situation anymore, but here they just give an
>>> estimate from the seller, but the problem is, that if the sell lived in the
>>> house for a long time you might get a little surprise when the annual taxes
>>> come. Our’s wasn’t a surprise because the previous owner hadn’t lived or
>>> owned the house for to long.
>>>
>>> So it becomes also a matter of do you get a house that you won’t have to do
>>> any work or as little work as possible on, verses one that may have to have
>>> some work done, or one that is a fixer upper. We bought a fixer upper, but
>>> when we bought it was a seller’s market, it definitely isn’t that nowadays,
>>> so we went for a house we knew we could likely get. Well the trade off is
>>> that it’s needed work done on it and still does actually, but likely we
>>> would at least get some money back when we sell it. Maybe not a lot but
>>> probably some when all is said and done, and of course the sell of this
>>> place could be the lverage to getting a better place. It’s probably what
>>> you parents did, if not them then your grand parents did, that is more the
>>> normal thing in history. Well up until recently where you have people who
>>> expect to buy a brand new house that is larger than what their parents
>>> owned as their first house. Well if it can be swung, go for it, but to me
>>> it’s a little unrealistic, well to my income level it is *lol*.
>>>
>>> What appliances are already there, and how quickly do you think you will be
>>> having to replace say: stove, washer, or more of a bear dishwasher? What
>>> about cabinetry etc, is Amanda happy with that, having that done can also
>>> be expensive unless you have someone who works with you to give you a
>>> break. How much stuff will you guys do on your own for modifications
>>> verses having to hire outsiders. So yes the advantage of a new place is
>>> that you won’t have to do that, but I guarantee you will pay up front for
>>> that, but that is why newer houses don’t stay on market long.
>>>
>>> So then it falls back to degree of work and mantainence that has to be
>>> done.
>>> On Mar 11, 2015, at 9:41 PM, Josh <lawdog911@xxxxxxxxxxx
>>> <mailto:lawdog911@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello,
>>> We are finding tons of older houses that we absolutely love. When I say
>>> older I am talking 1950’s. I am struggling with this a bit though because I
>>> am looking ahead, past when I am living there. Or rather to the point that
>>> I am ready to not live there anymore. So, when I get to the point of not
>>> wanting to live there anymore it could be 10, 20, 30 or more years down the
>>> road, but I am sure there will come a time that I am ready to move on. If
>>> this is not the case and I stay there until I die then it is not a concern,
>>> However, a 1950 house that I live in for 20 years will then be 85 years
>>> old. I know the specific house that we are looking at has been on the
>>> market for right about 5 months. So, what do you all think, do you think I
>>> would have trouble selling an 85 year old home? It is on the market for 5
>>> months at the age of 65 years old. It is right about 112,000.00 right now
>>> without negotiating a lower price. Do you think I would be able to get my
>>> money back? If it is not a major concern, the age of the house, then I will
>>> not let it sway my decision, but taking into consideration that it is an
>>> all brick rancher with over 1700 sq. ft. and it is almost 100,000.00 and
>>> still on the market concerns me regardless how beautiful the house seems
>>> right now.
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
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