Author Topic: The Benefits of Home Ownership?  (Read 99454 times)

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Offline Chino

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #315 on: April 03, 2018, 11:32:56 AM »
We ended up with 14 showings and got 7 offers. We ended up accepting an offer that was originally asking price with an escalating clause where they would beat any bid by $1000 up to $12k more than asking price, no closing costs, and an informational only home inspection. We ended up getting $9k more than asking price.  :metal

Damn. Nice. We have houses in our neighborhood that have been completely remodeled and have still been sitting on the market for the better part of a year now.  I envy you.

Offline lordxizor

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #316 on: April 03, 2018, 01:49:06 PM »
We could probably walk away netting $50-60k after only 3 years in the house. But rental prices are high right now too so it's likely not worth it.

We're in the exact same spot as far as the amount of equity we have in our home....although we've been there 4 years. We contemplated a move, maybe a downsize but with three growing boys it just didn't seem logical. We just feel blessed that we're even in the position that we're in so we will call it even. We bought this house with the intention of staying here until at least the boys graduating high school...maybe longer, so we're gonna resist the temptation....put some effort into our house as far as yard work etc. and ride it out.

We're in a pretty similar boat. We bought our home because it was a home we could stay in for 20 years. Not that we necessarily want to but it would work for our family (3 young boys) as they grow up. Our mortgage is affordable based on my current income, though I'd love my monthly payment to be less. In retrospect i wish we had spend $50k less, but there's nothing I can do about that now. The house we should have bought 3 years ago costs as much as the house we have now and with interest rates being at least 1% higher, we'd have to downgrade a ton to save any money. I don't look at my home as an investment (though it is to some degree, we've had those discussions previously in this thread). It's a place for my family to live that offers a level of stability that renting is unlikely to offer.

Offline gmillerdrake

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #317 on: April 03, 2018, 04:45:44 PM »
We could probably walk away netting $50-60k after only 3 years in the house. But rental prices are high right now too so it's likely not worth it.

We're in the exact same spot as far as the amount of equity we have in our home....although we've been there 4 years. We contemplated a move, maybe a downsize but with three growing boys it just didn't seem logical. We just feel blessed that we're even in the position that we're in so we will call it even. We bought this house with the intention of staying here until at least the boys graduating high school...maybe longer, so we're gonna resist the temptation....put some effort into our house as far as yard work etc. and ride it out.

We're in a pretty similar boat. We bought our home because it was a home we could stay in for 20 years. Not that we necessarily want to but it would work for our family (3 young boys) as they grow up. Our mortgage is affordable based on my current income, though I'd love my monthly payment to be less. In retrospect i wish we had spend $50k less, but there's nothing I can do about that now. The house we should have bought 3 years ago costs as much as the house we have now and with interest rates being at least 1% higher, we'd have to downgrade a ton to save any money. I don't look at my home as an investment (though it is to some degree, we've had those discussions previously in this thread). It's a place for my family to live that offers a level of stability that renting is unlikely to offer.

 :lol    That’s our same situation. We can afford our house/lifestyle but looking back we’ve both admitted we should have been a tad more patient. A house $40-50k Cheaper would work just fine as well.

We got swept away because we were building a home. So, we opted for the largest floor plan with less bells and whistles. But anyway....as I said, we feel fortunate to be where we’re at and have what we have. It’s all easier to see when you look back on it.
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Offline Phoenix87x

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #318 on: April 04, 2018, 04:25:38 PM »
Oh damn. My neighbors are going at it. This is crazy.

I am on the 3rd floor and my neighbors pipe apparently has broke and its draining/spraying down into the person's place below her. So the sprayed person was banging on the door of the sprayer and freaking the fuk out. And now they are going at it. Damn

Apparently the sprayer just turned off the valve and the plumber is on the way, but they are both freaking out. Its quite a show

Offline jasc15

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #319 on: April 05, 2018, 10:52:47 AM »
My wife and I are fortunate to have higher than median household income for our area, and we bought a house below median price, so even with high property taxes we are not swamped with the house payment.  To me, however, I don't see how the median house is affordable with the median household income around here.  Our utility bill isn't much different from when we rented a 2 bedroom apartment, and we haven't added any other recurring expenses since buying.

We have had our fair share of stress in the 5 months since we moved in.  With the single digit temperatures this winter, we had a few instances of frozen pipes and water leaking into the basement from the kitchen drain.  It wasn't that obvious at first, though.  We noticed water seeping up between 2 of the floor boards in the kitchen, far from any pipes.  It was a mystery that it still unsolved, since we had a plumber come twice to look at it with no real idea what the problem was.  What I will do this spring/summer is to get access to those pipes (which are covered by the only part of the basement ceiling that is finished) and put some heat tape on them with a thermostat control.

We also need to replace our main electrical panel and service cable from the exterior.  We knew this before we purchased, but underestimated the cost.  Every electrician is recommending upgrading to 200 amp service, which i think is totally unnecessary for our 1000 sq ft 2 bedroom ranch, however the price difference is about $500 on a $2500 job.  The biggest potential load would be central AC, which itself can run on a 30 amp circuit I think.

Offline gmillerdrake

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #320 on: May 25, 2018, 09:40:56 AM »
This will be a long post, but wanted to show what I've been up to this spring. We've been on a mission since last Fall to transform our backyard. So, starting last September-ish we had a paito installed...I posted back then but this is what we had before:



then we installed the patio:





So this spring I added some landscaping around that patio....very simple stuff but it enhanced it a bit:  (you can see the planter boxes I build as well for our back of the house windows..added planters to the patio also)







So....with that portion out of the way there was something that I had wanted to do ever since we moved in. In the picture below (taken 4 years ago) you can kind of see in the bottom right corner where there is a natural rock face....this is where they had chiseled out the rock face to install a storm drain that runs down the back of all our properties. You can also see in that pic how the rock kind of peeks out every now and then along that ridge line. I was convinced that the rock face ran along that ridge line and that it was just backfilled after they installed the storm drain.



So, Fast Forward 4 years and I remained convinced I could reclaim that portion of my yard which was a small hill.....that I could dig out to the rock face and have a deeper..flatter yard.

Here's the back yard which show the small hill...early this spring (late winter)



You can see in this pic I started carving a bit at the top of the hill to see what all was under that dirt.



A couple hours in and this is what I uncovered:






So, I thought to myself maybe I just expose the top line of rock and then put a small knee high landscape wall at the bottom of the hill and then landscape/plant all the area between the two. The guy I know who built my patio has an area on his property he calls 'the brick yard' and he told me some time ago that I could use whatever materials I wanted out of there because it's all old stock that he can't use anymore. It's all surplus from old jobs that really isn't enough to start a new one. So, my dad and I went out one day and picked up some nice blocks that otherwise would have probably cost me $3 or $4 bucks a piece at least....these were free:





So I started to dig and carve into the hill a bit....you can see how I thought maybe I'd thrown the wall in and then expose the top rock and landscape in between. BUT....this small strip of digging took me 6 hours and was a pain in the butt!!!!





So, I got to talking about this with the Son (and guy who actually installed the patio for us last year) and he told me that he was about to renovate his house and needed the construction documents drawn up. I, worked as an architectural draftsman for 7 years...so, he proposed we trade some drawing for some excavation work. Done deal. Moving dirt by shovel, pick and wheel barrel sucks.

He asked me what I wanted to do and I told him my real desire was to dig out all the dirt back and see if that rock face extended all along the back of our property or not. He said he was game....so.....







In (4) short hours he turned that hill into this:




They had just back filled with all the rock that was left over after they installed the storm drain....as I suspected. We used a lot of those large chunks to form a neat little wall and to create a burm on the hill side that was angled to the storm drain in my back yard.

Even after he had did the bulk of the work with the bobcat I ended up wheel barreling (15) loads of small chunks and dumped them into a creek behind my neighbors house. Then I power washed the rock face and started the process of getting it shaped up:






Did some prep work on the dirt to install sod and seeded the top of the hill with grass and wild flower seed:





Notice in that pic ^^^^ that I had moved all of the blocks Clark had given me to the top of the rock face. I still had a plan for those. I still made a small knee high wall about 5 foot back from the rock face front. I also used some of the natural stone we unearthed to create a border at the base of the wall.



So then 'all' that was left was to get some mulch and spruce it up. I have plans to plant the upper tier mulched area....probably going to go with perennial grasses and easier to maintain plants like that. Ones that will get some height. Anything behind that small wall I've blasted with wild flower seed and plan to just let that and the burm return to natural state. I planted some Hastas under the trees because it's shady over there but the base of the wall I'm just going to pick a full sun ground cover plant and let it take over. I've stuck a couple ivy sprouts in a couple of the water run off cracks in the wall that have dirt in them....but I know it'll be a season or two before I get the foliage to where I want it. But, here's where I stand today. I can't tell you how satisfying it is to have this more or less done after (4) years of dreaming about it.








This is the area that was already chiseled out....I built the base up a bit to add dirt and mulch to plant:




Pic taken this morning:





There you have it.....my spring time project  :lol    Sorry for the long post but wanted to share with you all....I'm just really excited about it   :biggrin:








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Offline lordxizor

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #321 on: May 25, 2018, 09:52:30 AM »
Looks awesome!

I had to shell out $10k yesterday on a new AC and furnace. The old ones were original to our 27 year old house, so I knew the end was nearing, but I was hoping to get a couple more years out of them. Especially since I just spent almost all of the money I had saved for house stuff upgrading the exterior after a hailstorm. Happens just in time for a mid-90s temp long weekend too. Can't get the new one installed until Wednesday so we get to sweat it out.

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #322 on: May 25, 2018, 10:41:22 AM »
That's f'n awesome Gary.  So nice to have a bit of an oasis to enjoy when the weather allows.
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Offline gmillerdrake

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #323 on: May 25, 2018, 10:50:54 AM »
Looks awesome!

That's f'n awesome Gary.  So nice to have a bit of an oasis to enjoy when the weather allows.

Thanks  :tup

A couple of our neighbors chose to finish their basements....we're still holding off on that for a while. We really wanted that outdoor space and it's been great so far. The 'grand' plan is to turn our covered patio into a Four Seasons room....but that'll have to wait a bit.
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Offline Podaar

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #324 on: May 25, 2018, 10:53:51 AM »
Very, very nice, Gary! I'm looking forward to the photos of the area filled with plants.
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Offline gmillerdrake

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #325 on: May 25, 2018, 10:59:23 AM »
Very, very nice, Gary! I'm looking forward to the photos of the area filled with plants.

You and me both  :lol   I never realized how expensive planting and landscaping could get. Between the new window planters, changing some things up in the front patio area and the new area around the patio....then the area by the trees.....I've spent a small fortune on plants already.

Gonna be a bit before I can spend $$ on planting up top of the rock face. Probably fall.
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Offline Cool Chris

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #326 on: May 25, 2018, 11:23:17 AM »
Amazing! My house is on a super small lot, and my backyard isn't much bigger than a postage stamp, but just having that little oasis (as jingle put it) is worth every penny we have spent on it over the years.
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Offline Stadler

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #327 on: May 25, 2018, 12:26:05 PM »
Here's one for you:  right before we bought the house we're in (August, 2015) we were thisclose to making an offer on another house that happens to be about 0.5 away (about half that as the crow flies).  But someone beat us to the punch.     Well!   It's on the market again.   Don't know if there are issues or not, but it's for sale, at the exact price it sold for back in July/August 2015.

Too soon to consider? 

Offline Podaar

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #328 on: May 25, 2018, 01:01:16 PM »
Whoa, that's tough Stadler. My guess would be that it probably doesn't make a lot of financial sense. Still, I think if I were in your situation it would boil down to how much more you like the other house.
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Offline ReaperKK

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #329 on: May 25, 2018, 06:56:38 PM »
That is awesome! I finally babied our yard into somewhat of presentable shape. We are hoping to tackle the screened in porch soon.

Offline cramx3

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #330 on: May 28, 2018, 04:13:14 PM »
Wow Gary that looks pretty cool and really amazing how you did that

Offline gmillerdrake

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #331 on: May 28, 2018, 05:53:46 PM »
Wow Gary that looks pretty cool and really amazing how you did that

 :tup Thank you Sir!
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Offline Implode

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #332 on: May 30, 2018, 07:47:15 AM »
That's awesome! Now that I own a home, albeit just a townhome, I totally understand why so many people love doing improvement projects. Now every time I go into a hardware store, I want to buy and do everything.

Offline gmillerdrake

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #333 on: June 01, 2018, 08:29:34 AM »
So....ummm......yeah.......






Been a bit of a whirlwind at the Miller household. Our decision to sell boils down to we really want to get our kiddos into the same school district my wife teaches in. We could send them there now given she's a teacher there  but the transport would be all on us and logistically it's near impossible given start times of the middle and elementary schools...work schedules etc. So we're gonna look for a home in her district which would be ideal. If nothing there then there is a really good district called 'Lindbergh' that we're going to target as well. Not that we dislike where the boys are at now but you always want the best for your kids and there's room for improvement.

Downsize...downsize....downsize. We LOVE this house we built. Really a 'dream' house but we've been going back and forth about do we really need a house this big? Cleaning it alone is a chore (3200 s.f.) then throw in utility costs of dual AC units....etc etc, we got to thinking about what was essential. We're looking to knock it down a notch to maybe 2000-2200 sf....have a nice rec room or finished basement dedicated to the three growing boys but other than that just have the essentials.

It kills me to leave the backyard oasis we created....it's really a relaxing area and I personally put a lot of work into it but I can make something like that wherever we land. Doing the work is most of the fun anyway. We've become great friends with a lot of our neighbors so that's always tough to leave but I know there are a couple of them we will stay in touch with and you can't base decisions that affect your family off of 'emotional' connections like that.

But another factor is financial. Our subdivision is completely built out now and yet still very desired to get into. There have been a few homes go on sale that are selling quick and for a pretty good price. It's really a sellers market right now in St. Louis. We had a few realtors come by and interviewed them and ran numbers and what not and bottom line is even after paying commissions and closing costs.....if we get what we list for.....we'd be taking home right around $100-105k. That's just impossible to ignore. We feel like the time is right to cash in on the equity in our home and re-invest it in another property.

That type of equity to then throw down on the next house we buy could potentially get us into a 15 year loan....or we're really liking the idea of lowering our mortgage payment and socking some $$ away giving us a bit more 'freedom' financially. We're also tinkering with the notion of maybe building again as there is a small (38) lot subdivision being built right now directly across from the High School in the district my wife teaches in....but we don't want to get too carried away because building can get a bit expensive. so we're going to meet with that builder today to run through some floor plan options on a smaller Ranch style house to see if it jives with our budget or not.

It's freaking crazy, but honestly we've talked about moving a few times over the past year or two and finally after seeing what this last house that sold in our subdivisions sold for it kind of prompted us to either  :censored or get off the pot.
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Offline kaos2900

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #334 on: June 01, 2018, 09:28:58 AM »
Good luck! The time to sell is as good as it's going to be for the foreseeable future. It is a sellers market for sure and that is starting to change with the increase in interest rates but my realtor thinks it will stay hot for at least another year. I think I posted that we sold our house in 12 hours and got almost 10 grand more than we were asking. We're moving into a much larger house and I don't plan on moving again for at least another 15-20 years. The equity we're getting is going to allow us to pay off a carand pretty much furnish the whole house so we're set up pretty good for awhile.

Actually, we move in 10 days! We have been waiting for almost 6 months since we "bought" our new home. Exciting times for us though I forgot how much moving sucks.

I was actually to ask how much your patio construction cost. There is an old and small deck on the new home and we want to tear that down and just extend the patio. We had a huge deck on our current home and while it was nice the upkeep was atrocious.

Offline lordxizor

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #335 on: June 01, 2018, 09:34:50 AM »
We're considering the some thing, though not terribly seriously. We could probably sell our place for $100k more than we owe. We recently got a new roof and siding due to a hailstorm so that adds to the value. Th problem is that we don't have a clear idea of what we would do instead. I'd like to get a little less house, but prices and interest rates have both gone up so it's unlikely we'd be able to save any money. So we'll likely stick it out, but I think about at least once a week.

Good luck with the selling process! Enjoy that backyard while you can.

Offline gmillerdrake

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #336 on: June 01, 2018, 09:41:03 AM »
I was actually to ask how much your patio construction cost. There is an old and small deck on the new home and we want to tear that down and just extend the patio. We had a huge deck on our current home and while it was nice the upkeep was atrocious.

Well...we were very fortunate on that. I had a lifelong friend who's father in law and brother in law are brick masons. They primarily do Brick work on commercial buildings but have installed a handful of patios and landscape walls here and there. They cut me a great deal when they had a crew in between jobs last fall. I paid (3) guys $1000 cash each for three days of work....then had to buy the materials at cost which was $6200. So, $9200 in total. BUT I had gotten a quote from a local landscaping company prior to learning Clark and Ben could do it for me and was quoted $17,500. So I saved a significant amount of money....we were super blessed on that one.

And the rock wall excavation was a 'trade' of services. Ben came back and did that work (about 4 hours) for me and I drafted up and prepared a set of construction documents for his house renovation. Took me about 10-12 hours of time to do.

Anyway....that patio work seems to be pretty involved as far as prepping the area and all the substrate that goes down before hand. A lot of manual labor involved. Can get expensive. But keep in mind the patio I had quoted is 25' long by 19' wide with those half walls and fire pit. there's a lot of material there.
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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #337 on: June 01, 2018, 09:43:43 AM »
We're considering the some thing, though not terribly seriously. We could probably sell our place for $100k more than we owe. We recently got a new roof and siding due to a hailstorm so that adds to the value. Th problem is that we don't have a clear idea of what we would do instead. I'd like to get a little less house, but prices and interest rates have both gone up so it's unlikely we'd be able to save any money. So we'll likely stick it out, but I think about at least once a week.

Good luck with the selling process! Enjoy that backyard while you can.

Thanks. Like I said....we talked about it a few times and finally just said 'lets go for it'. You only live once and I don't think we're risking all that much. Worse case scenario I end up with the same house payment in a bit smaller house without my backyard oasis..... :lol   
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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #338 on: June 01, 2018, 12:40:52 PM »
If you can afford it, keep making the same payments, and shorten your loan amortization.  When interest rates crashed a number of years ago, we refinanced and took 5 years off the amortization period.  There's nothing like being mortgage free - especially before the kids hit post-secondary.

Good luck pal.
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Offline cramx3

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #339 on: June 01, 2018, 02:05:16 PM »
Well if you think it's the best decision than go for it!  It's definitely a good time to sell if it's something you want to do.  Making a 100k profit sounds really nice too.  I just moved my gf out of her apartment wednesday and must say that moving totally sucks, but if I saw 100k dingling in front me, moving doesn't sound so bad then.

Offline Phoenix87x

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #340 on: June 01, 2018, 08:38:39 PM »

Downsize...downsize....downsize. We LOVE this house we built. Really a 'dream' house but we've been going back and forth about do we really need a house this big? Cleaning it alone is a chore (3200 s.f.) then throw in utility costs of dual AC units....etc etc, we got to thinking about what was essential. We're looking to knock it down a notch to maybe 2000-2200 sf....have a nice rec room or finished basement dedicated to the three growing boys but other than that just have the essentials.


You are talking my language. Growing up, I don't know why I was so anxious to try and buy some big house when I grew up, but I'm glad I didn't.

I have a 1 bedroom condo. Its amazingly comfortable and easy to take care of and has everything I need. $90,000 in a nice area and I put $20,000 down so my monthly expenses are super low:

Mortgage is $425
HOA Fee is $275   (which includes heat, water, trash, lawn care)
Electricity is $21

So yeah, Its great to downsize and I love living the minimalist lifestyle. Its nice to not have to live paycheck to paycheck and just use the extra cash to do fun things or save for retirement.

Offline millahh

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #341 on: June 02, 2018, 08:24:45 PM »
That was about the last thing I expected Gary to post...but, good on you guys for being decisive, and for the quantitative/unemotional decision making.

So we're realizing that we don't know shit about landscaping, identifying/maintaining decorative plants, etc.  Any of you folks have a good place you could recommend to start?  Just today realized that we've been mowing over a few strawberry plants, and have like three different species of wild onion growing around the yard....
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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #342 on: June 02, 2018, 08:36:35 PM »
Well, now you know two spots not to now anymore.   Lol


Map out your yard. It allows you to explore your yard and map out what you want to do.  I've told my wife, "Get it right or I mow over it".
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down'.” - Bob Newhart
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Offline ReaperKK

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #343 on: June 03, 2018, 12:43:22 PM »
Wow that’s a lot to take home money wise!

What’s funny is my gf and I built a house a couple years ago and it was our dream house. Similar story to you, 3000sq ft brand new home and we did it because our mortgage is so much cheaper than our apartment (we were renting downtown for $2200 a month and our mortgage now is $1700 (all in with taxes, insurance)). Now we are thinking of getting a smaller house with more privacy on a lake. It’s crazy but there are rooms in my house I haven’t been in over a month.

Offline cramx3

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #344 on: June 03, 2018, 01:45:48 PM »
My mom always says things like "dont you want to live in a huge house some day?" like it is some status symbol or that it's such a life of luxury, but I always say no.  Not unless I become so rich that the maintenance costs are an afterthought.  I just don't need the space nor do I want to take care of all that space.  I have a 1000 sq ft house with a nice front/back yard and a man cave.  I don't need anything more nor do I want anything more. 

Anyway, my next door neighbor's house is on the market and it's got a really high price.  Hoping it sells that high (100k more than what I bought my house for).

Offline ReaperKK

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #345 on: June 03, 2018, 06:05:31 PM »
I think I had a little bit of that growing up. We were pretty poor growing up so I had to share a room with my little brother until I moved away to college. It sort of became a personal goal to have a large house as it was a sign of success to me, funny how that changes. I spend 40% of my time at home in my office, 40% of my time in the kitchen 20% sleeping.

Offline lordxizor

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #346 on: June 04, 2018, 06:34:09 AM »
Owning a big house is the traditional American dream especially for the baby boomer generation. I think the younger folks (30s and under) are finally seeing that this is not always the best move for everyone and owning more modest homes or even (gasp!) renting long term is better for a lot of people. Buying less than you can afford is much better move financially long term that buying a big beautiful house and stretching yourself.

Offline gmillerdrake

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #347 on: June 04, 2018, 07:38:26 AM »
That was about the last thing I expected Gary to post...

 :lol   You and me both. It was the culmination of multiple variables just colliding all at once. Couldn't be more at peace with it than we are right now...it actually feels like a relief as I thinks it's something we've both been leaning towards wanting to do but were reluctant to just go for it. Just praying we can sell quickly so we can get the kiddos school situation clarified.

So we're realizing that we don't know shit about landscaping, identifying/maintaining decorative plants, etc.  Any of you folks have a good place you could recommend to start?  Just today realized that we've been mowing over a few strawberry plants, and have like three different species of wild onion growing around the yard....

I'm far from a pro but I stick to planting all perennial plants. They'll come back year after year which is nice. The way I chose mine was really color and size. Just threw things together that 'looked' like they went well next to each other and all in all it's turned out pretty well. Just be careful with ground cover plants because those things do what they say they will. Those ground cover species really go gang busters and can take over an area.

Wow that’s a lot to take home money wise!

What’s funny is my gf and I built a house a couple years ago and it was our dream house. Similar story to you, 3000sq ft brand new home and we did it because our mortgage is so much cheaper than our apartment (we were renting downtown for $2200 a month and our mortgage now is $1700 (all in with taxes, insurance)). Now we are thinking of getting a smaller house with more privacy on a lake. It’s crazy but there are rooms in my house I haven’t been in over a month.

Anything we make is going straight towards the next mortgage. Lowering our monthly bill is a primary goal and with that type of equity we'll be getting back and the types of homes we're looking at we should be able to save $300-400 a month from what we're paying now.

We did the same thing when building 4 years ago. Really got swept away in the process and just built the 'dream' scenario. Then, like you mentioned.....you realize that you really don't use 1/4 of your house, like ever. It's such a waste of $$ and space.

I like the idea of the boys each having their own rooms but it's not necessarily an immediate priority in our next house. My brother and I shared a room until I was 16 and our youngest two have already volunteered to share a room in the next house if they have to. Shoot...on any given night in our house now they're all sleeping in the same room with mattresses thrown on the floor. We definitely need/want the house to have a space for them to play. We have a loft area now that is their 'spot' where they play their PS4 or just hang out when buddies are over so a finished basement or similar loft area is a must in the next home. Other than that.....we are really just looking to be practical.

I think I had a little bit of that growing up. We were pretty poor growing up so I had to share a room with my little brother until I moved away to college. It sort of became a personal goal to have a large house as it was a sign of success to me, funny how that changes.

This is totally me. I wouldn't say we were super poor but we definitely weren't wealthy. We never 'wanted' for anything as my parents always found a way for us to have things but we were certainly not rolling in $$. So, I think subconsciously somewhere attaining that 'big' house became a goal just to 'prove' that I had 'made it'. That along with the 'American Dream' that lordxizor spoke about just felt like we should build this big house. It was such a deviation from what we set out to do when we sold our house 4 years ago....but like I said, we really did get swept away once we realized that we 'could' build this house if we wanted to. Never stopping to think if we 'should'....if it was truly the right decision.

But we did and I'm not one to dwell on decisions....once they are made I just work with that set of circumstances and we could theoretically stay in this house the next 20 years and be perfectly fine. But, we both know that's not what's best for our family right now.
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Offline Podaar

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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #348 on: June 04, 2018, 08:26:49 AM »
I'm still pissed that I won't be able to see the oasis full of lush plants. :getoffmylawn: Rationalize it any way you want, Gary. Your still a disappointment.
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Re: The Benefits of Home Ownership?
« Reply #349 on: June 04, 2018, 08:35:23 AM »
I'm a garden widow until fall right now.  The Queen lives in her sanctuaries unless it rains.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down'.” - Bob Newhart
So wait, we're spelling it wrong and king is spelling it right? What is going on here? :lol -- BlobVanDam
"Oh, I am definitely a jackass!" - TAC