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vicarzHOUSE
So this is a pointless description of "What happened:"
I have dated Janna for over 5 years, going to b'more many weekends. I had gone to college in/near b'more so I had some already fond memories of the place (mostly clubs and thrift stores). While dating I'd spend time alone in the Mt. Vernon area where she lives. Doing that I ran into really cheap buildings for sale, including one I thought strongly about buying - an antique store on antique row / Howard Street with living areas above it complete with crappy kitchen and bathroom. It also had 6 parking spaces in back that were rented out; the owner was retiring to his house in the burbs. I thought about it and toured it a few times, saw the price drop, saw a contract go through, but decided it was too much work and out of my league.
Still with that bug, I realized gorgeous historic houses in gay mecca were really cheap. I looked at properties, got addicted to redfin, and even dragged poor Jason up there - I owe him big time for he explained some plusses and minuses, while his partner Scott showed me HUGE flaws in the renovations home flippers had done. That was very valuable information which I built on.
I went back and forth on b'more, but finally decided it would be a great place to live, but horrible place to commute to work from. I finally walked from the idea of living there based on the commute - I've commuted by car, used the train, and waited for connections. To me, it's worth a lot of money NOT to commute. I HATE commuting. B'more has my heart but I'm ruled by my head.
That might be when I got addicted to (house) porn. HGTV is pretty dumb and trashy, but I have honestly learned a bunch of things that can go wrong or that are done wrong. Side note - want to get on HGTV? Be a gay or interracial couple - they are so fucking pc. Want to get everything you ever wanted done to your house? Be an interracial gay couple I guess! Throw in a polly trans situation and you may get a free house.
Hanging with Christy I discovered Hyattsville, and realized gorgeous houses in an underrated neighborhood were super cheap. I got more serious, started actually working with Jason, and toured houses over the past many months. I mostly looked between Hyattsville and the metro PLUS the PG Plaza metro. You probably heard me talk about that a lot. I moved from gorgeous houses, to fixer uppers, spent a long time realize I did not want to be more than .5 mile from a metro (which is about how far I am from a metro now and it's a stupid walk when the weather is bad or you're in a rush), and alternated between fixer-uppers and not-very-expensive near-mansions. I put bids in on 2 houses, losing each time (Jason agreed with both my maxes, in fact in each case though I was putting in more than it was worth - I still agree).
With some nudging from Jason, I started looking at places in DC. Somewhere along the line I picked up on the idea of income property. I started running the numbers (and of course watching more porn, income properties on HGTV) and found they made sense - you could cut you mortgage by 1/3 to 1/2 or more renting out part of a property. I looked in evolving neighborhoods, sometimes shying away from areas with groups of people "hanging on the corner," including the group that cussed at me for being there. I also continued to look at, and universally reject, flipped houses (it wasn't even based on what might be shortcutted behind the walls - they were almost always just terrible at the start - white lacquer fireplace anyone? Care for a toilet in a bay window?)
I rejected the house I just got in Columbia Heights. When we looked at it, Jason was very excited about it; I was not. I couldn't get past the shit-floor-job they did, and all the reno work actually TOOK VALUE from the house rather than added it. However, as we checked other properties, more and more this one at this price began to really shine. Columbia Heights was quiet and comparatively safe - listed at 630 (down from 650) I was looking at places from 5-600k near RI metro, passing live drug deals as I walked from metro to the houses by serious traffic noise, and those places were not nearly as nice in terms of space and amenities (save one - better access to highways). I asked and Jason agreed to show me the house again. This time, I saw what he saw.
Jason gets a gold fucking medal for putting up with me all these months. Seriously, decisions are NOT my strong point.
I put a low bid on the place with the intention of haggling to what we thought the place was worth. It was rejected with no counter, and I WALKED. However another place, smaller, slightly further from the metro, without parking, went up for sale nearby for about 100 less. I was excited and planned to look at it over the weekend - it was a total fixer-upper, but was not shittily upgraded like my current dump. However, the place went under contract in 2 fucking days. Ouch. We looked at another grandma house for about the same price, but it had no parking, serious work that needed doing, and enough significant problems in making income space that I shied away from it.
When my other offer was rejected, the place went under contract. I started looking all over the damn city again, when we found out the contract on my current place fell through. Given the scarier hoods I was hitting for not that much less money, and the fast sales around the place, plus after looking at well-renovated properties in that area and finding they went for 2-400k or more than this place with it's bleah condition, I offered to step in for the other contract amount. The contract was actually 10k more than I wanted to pay, but when I had anticipated negotiating it was within (but very close to) my max. They accepted, and we're now under contract.
So, that's what happened.
Now I'm going nuts, freaking out over silly logistics like the utilities, cleaning, internet-phone-tv, and fucking big things like paying structural engineers to dig out the basement for 10s of k or more, gut and upgrade the entire basement to come to code and license as a rental apt., to what I can or should do for my own living space. Other issues are security, bars, dog, and security system. I'm looking at stupid money and projects beyond the scope of anything I've done in the past.
Not very interesting, but that's pretty much what is taking up my non-work business headspace right now.
So this is a pointless description of "What happened:"
I have dated Janna for over 5 years, going to b'more many weekends. I had gone to college in/near b'more so I had some already fond memories of the place (mostly clubs and thrift stores). While dating I'd spend time alone in the Mt. Vernon area where she lives. Doing that I ran into really cheap buildings for sale, including one I thought strongly about buying - an antique store on antique row / Howard Street with living areas above it complete with crappy kitchen and bathroom. It also had 6 parking spaces in back that were rented out; the owner was retiring to his house in the burbs. I thought about it and toured it a few times, saw the price drop, saw a contract go through, but decided it was too much work and out of my league.
Still with that bug, I realized gorgeous historic houses in gay mecca were really cheap. I looked at properties, got addicted to redfin, and even dragged poor Jason up there - I owe him big time for he explained some plusses and minuses, while his partner Scott showed me HUGE flaws in the renovations home flippers had done. That was very valuable information which I built on.
I went back and forth on b'more, but finally decided it would be a great place to live, but horrible place to commute to work from. I finally walked from the idea of living there based on the commute - I've commuted by car, used the train, and waited for connections. To me, it's worth a lot of money NOT to commute. I HATE commuting. B'more has my heart but I'm ruled by my head.
That might be when I got addicted to (house) porn. HGTV is pretty dumb and trashy, but I have honestly learned a bunch of things that can go wrong or that are done wrong. Side note - want to get on HGTV? Be a gay or interracial couple - they are so fucking pc. Want to get everything you ever wanted done to your house? Be an interracial gay couple I guess! Throw in a polly trans situation and you may get a free house.
Hanging with Christy I discovered Hyattsville, and realized gorgeous houses in an underrated neighborhood were super cheap. I got more serious, started actually working with Jason, and toured houses over the past many months. I mostly looked between Hyattsville and the metro PLUS the PG Plaza metro. You probably heard me talk about that a lot. I moved from gorgeous houses, to fixer uppers, spent a long time realize I did not want to be more than .5 mile from a metro (which is about how far I am from a metro now and it's a stupid walk when the weather is bad or you're in a rush), and alternated between fixer-uppers and not-very-expensive near-mansions. I put bids in on 2 houses, losing each time (Jason agreed with both my maxes, in fact in each case though I was putting in more than it was worth - I still agree).
With some nudging from Jason, I started looking at places in DC. Somewhere along the line I picked up on the idea of income property. I started running the numbers (and of course watching more porn, income properties on HGTV) and found they made sense - you could cut you mortgage by 1/3 to 1/2 or more renting out part of a property. I looked in evolving neighborhoods, sometimes shying away from areas with groups of people "hanging on the corner," including the group that cussed at me for being there. I also continued to look at, and universally reject, flipped houses (it wasn't even based on what might be shortcutted behind the walls - they were almost always just terrible at the start - white lacquer fireplace anyone? Care for a toilet in a bay window?)
I rejected the house I just got in Columbia Heights. When we looked at it, Jason was very excited about it; I was not. I couldn't get past the shit-floor-job they did, and all the reno work actually TOOK VALUE from the house rather than added it. However, as we checked other properties, more and more this one at this price began to really shine. Columbia Heights was quiet and comparatively safe - listed at 630 (down from 650) I was looking at places from 5-600k near RI metro, passing live drug deals as I walked from metro to the houses by serious traffic noise, and those places were not nearly as nice in terms of space and amenities (save one - better access to highways). I asked and Jason agreed to show me the house again. This time, I saw what he saw.
Jason gets a gold fucking medal for putting up with me all these months. Seriously, decisions are NOT my strong point.
I put a low bid on the place with the intention of haggling to what we thought the place was worth. It was rejected with no counter, and I WALKED. However another place, smaller, slightly further from the metro, without parking, went up for sale nearby for about 100 less. I was excited and planned to look at it over the weekend - it was a total fixer-upper, but was not shittily upgraded like my current dump. However, the place went under contract in 2 fucking days. Ouch. We looked at another grandma house for about the same price, but it had no parking, serious work that needed doing, and enough significant problems in making income space that I shied away from it.
When my other offer was rejected, the place went under contract. I started looking all over the damn city again, when we found out the contract on my current place fell through. Given the scarier hoods I was hitting for not that much less money, and the fast sales around the place, plus after looking at well-renovated properties in that area and finding they went for 2-400k or more than this place with it's bleah condition, I offered to step in for the other contract amount. The contract was actually 10k more than I wanted to pay, but when I had anticipated negotiating it was within (but very close to) my max. They accepted, and we're now under contract.
So, that's what happened.
Now I'm going nuts, freaking out over silly logistics like the utilities, cleaning, internet-phone-tv, and fucking big things like paying structural engineers to dig out the basement for 10s of k or more, gut and upgrade the entire basement to come to code and license as a rental apt., to what I can or should do for my own living space. Other issues are security, bars, dog, and security system. I'm looking at stupid money and projects beyond the scope of anything I've done in the past.
Not very interesting, but that's pretty much what is taking up my non-work business headspace right now.
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no subject
Date: 2014-01-10 12:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-10 12:58 pm (UTC)Thanks, I find this sort of thing is not well received in conversation - but I'm coffee'd and full of writing glory (hole).
Honestly money to buy a house is more a function of lifestyle, discipline, and priorities over time than anything else. When I worked in a factory my lifestyle was so humble by the time I moved closer to the city I had stocked 13k in savings. Granted, I lived on beans and rice and drove a suicide machine...
no subject
Date: 2014-01-10 02:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-10 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-10 06:10 pm (UTC)Congrats on the house. Love the neighborhood!
A
no subject
Date: 2014-01-10 06:59 pm (UTC)We went through several rounds with Jason before we bought our house, which you visited a couple of times, in Arlington on Rt 50.
Jason doesn't do Richmond, but he put us in touch with a friend who does, and we, no, she got what she was looking for and the house has served well with one major issue: the kitchen.
All I would add is that if you have the means to renovate, put some thought into the kitchen now. Other than that, I would and will react as you did to the social dynamics, especially between the property and mass transit. I think we're just seeing the first plateau in a return to urban living, and the wireless coverage, internet and cable carriers, and most importantly, quick access to mass transit, especially subway/metro are going to become increasingly important.
That said, one of the jobs I hope I get will mean that I end up looking for an efficiency to rent because I won't be able to afford anything else in that market -- so security, parking for a car I won't use during the week, and cell phone coverage are all going to matter...as will not being on a ground floor.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-10 07:08 pm (UTC)Yeah I see good rents for basement apts in that area, more with parking, but there is definitely a limit based on being in the basement.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-10 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-10 11:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-11 11:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-11 11:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-11 11:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-12 02:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-12 04:26 pm (UTC)I just realized my 2 br condo is about the same floor plan (minus windows) as the basement place! 800 sf basement vs. 783 sf condo...
no subject
Date: 2014-01-13 04:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-14 05:28 am (UTC)I must be getting older. I regularly have conversations about mortgages, refinancing, and being pregnant or trying to get pregnant (not me, friends).
no subject
Date: 2014-01-14 09:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-14 12:09 pm (UTC)