Would you build your dream home in a burn area? Yes? No?
nicole___
5 years ago
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Anyone remember 'Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House?'
Comments (13)Such a great, great, great movie. I have a story about it and I swear on my children's lives absolutely true. Tragic ending, IMO.... Sometime in the mid-80's, as was typical, teen me is chilling out in the pre-5000 channel era watching an old movie on a Sunday afternoon. I love Cary Grant, and have parents that are renovation addicts, so this one is particularly fun for me. Mom comes in and joins me, we laugh at the silliness and finally she says, " Uncle L has that house." Me, "Who?" "My uncle L, he's W's father." "Why don't I know him?" "Because he's an abusive and mean old SOB that no one likes very much, but he built my Aunt M that house - she's the one that died long ago in the car accident." "He doesn't have THAT house!" "Yes, yes he does, they built a bunch of them to promote the movie, although he couldn't get one of those. But, Aunt M wanted one. So one day he just called the studio in Hollywood. He actually talked to a producer on the phone and convinced them to send him the plans. I'm pretty sure they still have the plans and signed letter from the producer that came with them. He also owns a whole bunch of land where he goes hunting and fishing - he had all the timber and siding on the house cut from his own property and waited for it to cure before he built the house. It's an amazing, beautiful house." I was in it since that conversation, and yes, it was. Here's the tragic part - the immediate family never told anyone when it was time to sell it. My uncle died 9 yrs. ago this Spring (he lived in the house until his death in his 90's) and DH and I were looking to move to the town he had lived in to be closer to DH's work. We live in that town today. We really wanted to buy it but my cousin insisted on selling some of the land separately for commercial zoning - we didn't want commercial property right up against us, so we said no thanks. The house with a small amount of yard around it ended up being sold at auction for less than $200,000, I believe it is being used as a rental property and every time I drive by it I want to cry. It looks terrible and unloved, and honestly, the old guy had kept very good care of it until the last couple years. It has such an amazing story behind it, and I am sure that almost no one knows that it is a Blandings Dream House - except my cousin, I don't even know how much his own kids know about the story or if he kept the paper work that went with it. I would love to put the word out about it, because I believe there are organizations that keep track of the houses built in the promotion that try to get them preserved. But I'd just feel like I'm screwing over my cousin, and that the fools that don't take care of it now could stand to make a killing on it just because of what it is. Too bad, isn't it?...See MoreThe Un-Dream House, Just for Fun: What would you do?
Comments (8)Thank you all for playing! I didn't even want to bring up the situation on the inside, because I felt overwhelmed just looking at the mold and the basement toilet which appears to have no door? I agree about the hanging cabinets in the kitchen and that door being awkwardly placed, though I can never give up a way to let the dogs out...too lazy! I agree about painting it all one color ( would choose cream, with putty colored shutters and a colorful door, maybe) removing the shrubs, and repositioning the walkway. Our walkway is the same way--leads to almost the top of the driveway, which means any visitors have to squeeze past cars to get to our door. Annoying and not welcoming. The back of the house is indeed plug ugly. I'd just plant a whole row of hydrangeas and call that a fix, after fixing/replacing the brick patios. For sun relief, I'd like a pergola I could plant with wisteria. My friend has one to die for and I have too much shade to justify it at my house. I feel like decks are far too much work in our climate--my neighbor's looks quite awful and the one friend I have who has a nice looking one has to spend money on it every other year. Our brick patio has required zero work other than a power wash in the decade since it was put in, so I'm a fan. re: the ugly wires on the back of the house, I will never understand why they put the service hookups on the back of the house. There is almost always a side of the house people aren't going to have to look at from either the front or the back patio--why don't they put it there? My house is just like this--all the wires lead right to where you're sitting :(...See MoreBook review: How to Build Your Dream House Without Getting Nailed
Comments (1)Well...before one considers building, (or reading a book about building), one might beneficially want to understand and consider: --One's budget and appropriate contingency fund; --One's needs vs wants, and how the needs might be best organized and related to one another; --One's land or site, and how it will significantly affect how a house may be designed and constructed; --The design options, and how the design process works, for a home, on a specific site, for a specific budget, to address needs and as many wants as feasible; --The requirements, schedule and costs for required local jurisdictional approvals from start to finish of the project; --The options for competitive bidding versus a negotiated construction contract; --The various category of construction contracts, and how they can be written for either the owner's benefit, the builder's benefit, or a reasonable shared benefit. --How to understand and manage allowances (hint: zero allowances); --How to manage project close out and occupancy. If the book addressed all these, it's an exceptional book. If it didn't, keep looking for reference books! But chances are, there are few books which address all of these critical issues....See MoreWhat are your “must-haves” or “wish I had” for your dream home
Comments (49)so you would know that leverage increases risk. This is not true. A levered firm will be more risk than the same firm unlevered. However, that is different than saying that leverage increases risk for several reasons. Essentially, the overall risk of adding debt to a firm depends on the overall risk of the underlying assets. For example, $100 invested in Enron stock in September of 2000 was more risk than having $100 invested in Enron and $100 invested in Apple, even if your marginal debt is $100. Moreover, this is largely not true for highly liquid assets. Essentially, having $100 and owing $100 is the same financial position as having $0 and owing $0. Looking at our example, you have added $500,000 of debt, but you have also added $500,000 of highly liquid investments. you had a good run in the longest bull market in history but it could also have gone the other way and you could have lost your 500k investment and now the bank owns your home. This statement is incorrect for several reasons. First, I have been doing this for 25 years now so the recent bull market isn't really relevant. Since the 1929 collapse (when the modern market was introduced) there has not been a single down five year period, and only a couple of small down three year periods. I put money in the market in 2003 and after 2008 I was still in the black. Meanwhile my house wasn't liquid at all. So had I needed cash, I would have had it available, the credit freeze didn't bother me at all. Additionally, the equity market recovered much faster than housing, two years after the collapse the market was back at 95% of pre-crisis value. Next, properly diversified investment portfolios don't just go to zero. They may lose some value, but it isn't like one day you have money and the next day you don't. One day you have money and the next day you have a bit less. Finally, houses are riskier. It is much more likely that your house will decrease in value than it is your investment portfolio will decrease in value. Above you mentioned a scenario where I could lose my house. However, in reality it is much more likely to lose your house or health from a maintenance issue. The house that is across from one my rentals has a foundation problem, the owner who purchased it in January of 2011 for $210,000 cash just sold it for $130,000 in November of 2018. Had he financed $168,000 and invested that amount he would have had $401,000 in investments and maybe fixed the house instead of giving it away because he can't afford the $80,000 to repair the house....See More
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moonie_57 (8 NC)