Average Time to Buy a Home
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2 years ago
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Q s because it is decision time about buying a house/lead paint
Comments (11)I feel your pain. I posted about this on another board and will include a link to the answers. The short version is lots of people are raising young kids in old houses without bad things happening. I have a 4 1/2 year old boy and twin 4 1/2 month old girls. We are closing on a ~70 year old house tomorrow. (I think it may actually be older, we'll see) I bounce between thinking "It's going to be OK" and "Oh my god what the heck is wrong with me, putting my own selfish desires to live in an old house above my children's health?" But we're closing TOMORROW and my husband would seriously kick my butt if I said I wanted to walk out now. (OK not seriously but there would be strong words...) My biggest worry is actually asbestos and come hell or high water - that's getting treated. I have gotten a lot of different opinions on it but I want it out. It's a small amount so hopefully having it done by the experts won't be too much. (It's one or two pipes, 2 feet long or so... mostly in good repair but one of the metal clamps has come off and there's fuzzy stuff under it). As for the lead - like lindac said, any house older than 30 years probably has lead paint. If the paint is in good repair you're in pretty good shape. I can't say much about the outside stuff... luckily our house is brick with a bitty bit of alluminum siding up high so that's not a huge issue for us - but nevertheless I intend to have the soil tested. We want to have a garden and I want to make sure I'm not giving my babies lead in their veggies. (You remember a couple years ago there was the spinach/e coli thing? Some 2 year old died because his mom fed him spinach smoothies. I want to make sure my kids aren't better off eating no veggies than veggies we grow!) So that's one thing I intend to do. Then we will act accordingly. As worried as I am over lead paint - the last place we were living was built in the 50s so probably had some lead paint. We never did any major major renovations but I did have to do a bit of dry wall or plaster repair from my son ramming his trucks into this one corner near the kitchen or the one time he flung a doorknob through our bedroom wall. Probably kicked up a little dust but no one was any worse for the wear (and our landlord never knew about the damage so go me!) My husband and I also took it upon ourselves to replace a window when our neighbor's kid threw a golf ball through it. Old, old single pane aluminum frame windows. Halfway through chipping out all that old putty, I said, "Hmmm, I wonder if there's lead in here?" and DH took over the job as we were trying to get pregnant at the time (I pointed out to him that him having lead poisoning wouldn't help, either, but oh well) Was there lead? Maybe, maybe not... but it was messy as anything, I did not know about proper lead clean up precautions afterwards, and again no one is any worse for the wear. I did get pregnant soon after that and as far as we can tell the babies are fine. My son has never been tested but he shows no signs that he should be. So... I'm hoping it will all be OK. I am going to ask our pediatrician if she'd be OK with periodic lead testing, especially if/when we plan to do any major work. (supposedly it's just a finger stick now) The biggest thing we have in mind is removing a chimney so I plan to keep the kids out of the house while that is done. Also hope to keep the mess as contained as possible and clean up well before we all move back in. I'm hoping it will be OK. I'm a little scared but then I think live in Pittsburgh which is a great place to live if you like old old houses - and so many of my friends growing up lived in really old houses - and I never personally knew anyone who had problems with lead. So while it's scary... I think you also have to take the fear with a grain of salt. It will *probably* be just fine. There are all kinds or precautions you can take from handwashing after you play in the dirt to using the right stripping techniques if you do work on painted areas - these things should help a lot. That's what I am hoping anyway!...See MoreCommute times and buying a house
Comments (52)Whatever you do, before assuming that the train schedule is accurate, or that such a neighborhood is x hours from work, do a test run. At rush hour. In my subway days, I could count on (1) the train always came when I was about a block from the station, so I had to wait for the next one (2) the train was always delayed by something--people holding the doors, the dispatcher holding the train in the station to make a connection, etc. (3) just because it's a 'subway' doesn't mean it won't be affected by the weather. That goes double for an all-surface train. I second the previous poster who pointed out that unless you're at the end of the line, you'll never get a seat on the train, so forget all those fantasies about sleeping. I'll add that you might not even be able to get *on* the train--plenty of times I had to wait for the next train because the first one was too crowded to get on. Certain trains--like the 7 in Queens--even if you do get on at the end of the line you may not get a seat. It's that busy. So, bottom line, before assuming you can handle a certain commute, make sure you're thinking about that commute realistically. Your '1 hour' commute might easily be 1.75 hours more often than not....See MoreAverage length of time for project?
Comments (8)The main part of my reno was done in 6 months. It is the details that are way behind schedule. My kitchen was not new construction, and I had minor changes. Walls were kept in place but we did change around the configurations and make it more workable for us. The foot print was the same but the locations of oven, refrig etc... changed for the better. I think my reno would be called MINI by some of the amazing transforations via GW. Right now I am waiting for molding trim along the ceiling, a new ceiling of beadboard to be put in. I want that painted a glossy white. And I was going to change my kitchen wall color but I love what it is now and have decided to keep it. I have hired someone to finish the details as DH is so busy with playing soccer, coaching soccer and watching soccer. Every so often new things pop into my mind. I am definitely getting a new faucet. Possibly a new pendant and some kitchen candy like Dishware, chaning the glass ware. My floor guys are coming back to finish anothe room. I am having drapes made for this giant family room window that is off of the kitchen and needs serious changes but I consider this all part of my reno. When the molding guy comes, my DH doesn't know this yet but I am putting in a Modernaire hood. I have saved so much with everything else I know he will go along. DH can be a penny pincher but I have a new promotion (yes hard to believe in this economy) So I can splurge on my whim. Well, within reason I am not married to Warren Buffet so I am still careful. : ) ~boxerpups...See Moreis it right time to buy a house?
Comments (7)I think it entirely possible that any mortgage taken on right now might be underwater in the near future. In the neighborhood that we were looking there is a house near our daughter that someone bought and fixed it up to flip. It is a small house, shared non paved driveway, one story, no basement, no garage, small lot. They purchased it for somewhere in the mid 200,000 just last year, fixed it up, and now have it on the market for $600,000 and are likely to get offers in excess of that! That is in just a few months! I might have offered somewhat over $400,00 for it seeing taht the interest is so low and it suits our needs so well....See Moreworthy
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