How do I find an old house specialist?
New York 7a
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
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Comments (16)myk1, what I was speaking about is degree. Ok, we all know too much salt or sugar damage our health. Knowing this fact, do you use only 1/20 or 1/30 teaspoonful salt or sugar when you cook?? No, we don't use only 1/10 teaspoonful or 1/30 teaspoonful salt or sugar. We use at least 1/2 teaspoonful salt or sugar when we cook because using too little of salt or sugar is almost same as not using at all. Key word is degree. Thomis, of course I never try to prune thousands of branches knowing killing my apple tree. Myk1, my apple tree is about 20' tall and I asked them to shorten height not more than 1/3 and they did. Man was shaking tree so hard trying to drop branches when branches were stack between other branches. Most of the job they did was just pruning tip of the branches and I could do that myself knowing I have all tools to pruning trees. Only thing I couldn't do was removing several large branches to shorten height of my trees....See MoreHow to find out about your old house
Comments (19)Columbusguy, our county auditor also has a website with similar information. Unfortunately it only goes back to the 1950s, so my house was already 50 years old by then. I had to go to the courthouse and look at the deed/title record to go back to the beginning. Another house was on our lot previously, so it was a little hard to date the house exactly based on that alone. Like you, we are also on a corner lot. The house next door is exactly the same as ours and built by the same family - the daughter (married to the owner of the company that made the bricks for the two houses) lived in the house next door, and the son lived in this house. Their parents lived across the street! I love my family, but I think that would have been too much family togetherness for me! And every so often I feel unreasonably upset that they split the lot in two (our house is technically on a half-lot). How dare they build two houses without considering ME?! PS: I love driving through the old Columbus neighborhoods to see the houses and other architecture. I watch the Columbus Neighborhoods show on PBS whenever they show it just to see the buildings! Brickeyee, I had my title search done by a title insurance company. I would not use them again or trust them to do anything related to my house ever again. After several serious mistakes (like my name not being on the title transfer paperwork) I noticed a typo on the title (which reads "South" instead of "Fourth," and they refused to fix it "without hiring a surveyor to re-survey the property." In doing my research, I had copies of the previous titles - transferred by them the past 2 sales. Their spellcheck had corrected the previous title's typo of "Sourth" to "South" instead of "Fourth." She tried to tell me that the street names could have changed over the years so they couldn't fix the title. Yeah, lady, it makes perfect sense to go Second, Third, South, Fifth, Sixth Street. Now I thought the purpose of title insurance was to guarantee the accuracy of the title. It's just money down a rat hole....See MoreHow do I find a home inspector? A good buyer's agent?
Comments (9)Kristen, I'm very excited for you! There are lots of things you must seriously consider, of course, and it sounds like you are on the right track. I had a buyer's agent, and I am glad I did have one. The house that I did buy had a listing agent that was VERY unprofessional and would do anything to sell the house. However, DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT, put all your faith into a buyer's agent. Make sure you do alot of your own homework and question everything. At the end of the day, any agent - buyers or sellers - are looking at accomplishing one thing: to sell you a home. Absolutely DO NOT use any inspector the buyer's agent or listing agent, or anyone that has a stockhold in selling you a property. Find your own. I hired one that was highly recommended from my trusted buyer's agent, and he screwed up royally. Missed so much...$20K worth of things that should have easily been found. But, he was working with her to make the sale go through. And inspectors are not that worried about reprecussion of a bad inspection...the most they could ever get is a little slap on the wrist and to refund your inspection cost back. Surely not enough to cover damages that should have been found. Home inspectors DO NOT move anything. So this is what you should do yourself: look under area rugs for trouble, move the curtains to see the windows better, move the refrigerator to see what is lurking beneath (in my case it was a rotten floor), ask to see the house after it rains, etc. Go in yourself with a flashlight and look into every corner. Better yet, take knowledgable friends and family with you. Specifically have these questions asked and answered: when was the electric updated and where? when was the plumbing updated and where? how old is the septic system? How old is the roof? Also make sure you get the water tested. VERY important, especially if you have well water. Another very good thing to do is to go to the town hall and see what permits were pulled for work done on the house. See what was done professionally. Big things count: roof, septic, electric, plumbing, and installation of a furnace. Make sure you have the chimneys checked as well (not doing so cost me $4,000 to have them updated as they were caved in and I waived the chimney inspection). Don't think the ASHI organization is the pinnacle of excellence in finding a great home inspector either - that is used mostly for advertising so HI's can say they are part of some national organization where their credentials are checked. The take a test once, pass, and that's it. Find your HI through friend's recommendation. Interview several yourself. After all, YOU are hiring them to do a job. As far as a buyer's agent, do the same thing: interview a few, ask alot of questions. You are basically giving them a listing on a potential sale. So, you have every right to check them out to see if they really do have your best interests at heart. So do, many do not. Remember, they want a sale, period. Good luck, Kristen, take your time, and ask, ask, ask questions galore to find the right people. They are out there, it just takes some digging. Best to you!!!...See MoreHow do I find the old Gallery threads?
Comments (0)I'd love to be able to peruse the pictures that were in the gallery threads: Living rooms, paint colors etc. Where are they now that we've joined Houzz? Thanks for any helpful suggestions you can offer!...See MoreBruce in Northern Virginia
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoNew York 7a thanked Bruce in Northern VirginiaNew York 7a
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