Perks on being on House Hunters/My First House etc
ratherbesewing
10 years ago
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Comments (6)
neetsiepie
10 years agoRelated Discussions
My Very First Purchase For My New House!
Comments (16)Heck, as long as he can afford it, why not? I was talking to my ex-boss, now one of the regional Senior Execs (used to be called Office Managing Partners when I was there), and he told me he was so dissatisfied with the service he was getting since US Trust was taken over by BofA, he had pulled $500K out from his portfolio (fortunately before the market took a dive) and it was now just sitting in his savings account. LOL! He's a car addict, too, and also drives every exotic auto you can think of in a local car club. But personally he's faithful to his 9-yr old Porsche 911, which he bought for his 40th birthday and has loved ever since. His wife, a more sensible woman who has to drive the kids around to and from school, prefers the Acura MDX. OTOH, I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't succumb to the McMansion craze, and are still living in the same modest three bedroom house they were twenty years ago. If I was in TGG's place, I'd definitely prefer buying the Bentley to a Porsche. At the very least, it carries four people a lot more comfortably, hehehe....See MoreAm I being too impatient on the sale of my home?
Comments (86)Your position is that no matter the sample size of FSBO the data would not be normal. The problem is that samples get normal very fast. I originally wrote a long section here about the confidence interval, confidence level and sample size needed to get a good result. It is not nearly as complicated as you think. You don't need to run every home just pick a random sample in every market and ask, "on average did FSBO's in this market sell for X% more?" Then you repeat that for a number of random markets. Most of the things that you are worried about are taken care of by randomness. There are some biases in there - For example, there is a serious confirmation bias, since we are using home sales, it discounts the homes that don't sell as either FSBO or commissioned. But as far as studies go, this one is not even hard to design. Since you are studying a market and commissions are fairly standard in a market, proceeds to the seller is a function of sales price and would never need to be separated. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac track data on realtor vs FSBO and house prices. They make that data available to researchers, in fact, if you fill out the forms and have some analysis software (which you can probably get for free) they will make it available to you. Go conduct your own study. All of this is unnecessary, you can do the same thing with a simple poll. Just go to surveymonkey and create a poll. Ask only two questions - "As a home buyer - rank these types of home sales from least risky to most risky." Then give four or five options. And then ask it again only rank them most risky to least risky. Find some people to take it, preferably random but whatever. We know that all people price in risk, therefore if FSBO's are perceived as having more risk, they will get less money....See MoreBeing a "Parade of Homes" home
Comments (19)Booties? One neighborhood association here has a house tour every fall, which people in the neighborhood volunteer for. Sometimes they have just finished a renovation, sometimes they are getting ready to go on the market, sometimes they just have interesting houses, sometimes they have really boring houses but like to show them off anyway. The tickets are expensive enough to discourage people from bringing children, something like $25 a person and not many houses on tour. Since it's volunteer, it is really a mixed bag. Often parts of the house are off limits. There are docents on every floor of the house and sometimes several per floor depending upon the size of the house. Their general policy is that they do not like the homeowners to be in their own houses, although sometimes the owners insist. More people have been requesting that the visitors remove their shoes upon entering the house. This has proved to be incredibly awkward in some houses because there are a bunch of people trying to put or take off shoes and a lot of people are fairly elderly on these tours. I've seen people pass on houses because of this request, and they aren't too happy about it since there are not a lot of houses to see. And a couple of times I've been in houses that the floors are not in all that great of condition and none too clean so you wonder why your shoes have to come off. So some people have been offering disposable booties which I think accommodates both the homeowner and the touring guest....See MoreCan I stay in my house while my hardwood floors are being refinished?
Comments (5)Even the water based polyurethanes require sanding prior to use. The sanding machines are going to be LOUD. If you are BELOW them you are going to think their machines are going to come down on your head at ANY minute. It would be best to take a day or two off and be elsewhere while the work is happening. I like to see customers stay in town during a flooring refinish. It means they are close enough to visit the site in the morning and evening. They can keep an eye on progress and are within a short drive should the installers come across something unusual that needs the owner to view it and then approve it. Dogs are territorial. They can be traumatized by super loud events in their home that they are not allowed to 'deal with' (ie. not allowed to bark, not allowed to chase the people away, etc). Again it is a good idea to have dogs and cats out of the space while the work is being done. The 'fumes' of the water based polyurethanes can be bad (if your finishers went cheap) or it can be tough but with enough dry time/airing out time it is livable within a day (high priced stuff). Without knowing what product you are getting on your floors, we cannot comment any further on odour. Odour is the number 1 cause for homeowners to leave the house for the first few nights after the job is finished (and the nights DURING the work). Again, the PRODUCT dictates odour...not your nose or your lungs. Personally I would make sure I have a stay-cation during the work/application of the finishes. And remember: the colder it gets the longer it takes for the finishes to cure and the less likely you are to open up all the windows (yet keep the heat pumping) to let the house air out. All of those factors will add up. Dogs' noses are many thousand times more sensitive than ours and their lungs are smaller. That means they can have more issues then humans when it comes to odour and off-gassing. Cats are the same. Besides, you need to stay off the floors until the full cure happens. The dogs have to as well....and the furniture. Area rugs are to stay off for SEVERAL months (many refinishers will tell you to leave the rugs off the floor for 6 months or more). As you can see, all of this adds up to the decision to leave the home (overnight stays) during work and while the floor is curing/off-gassing. Please tell us which finish you have paid for....See Morededtired
10 years agoellendi
10 years agogsciencechick
10 years agocyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
10 years ago
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