Fresh Motivation - House Projects
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Help Me Stay Motivated: Waiting for 'Right' House.
Comments (20)Took us a year to find a house. After selling our home of 40 years in NY, we retired to Florida. We were lucky we had family with vacation condos where we could stay during that time. We must have seen hundreds of houses and worked with 5 different agents....don't ask! It was a nightmare and we wound up buying a house we had seen at the very beginning of our search. We liked it initially, but it lacked certain things we thought we couldn't live without. It also was out of the area we wanted to live in. Over the year, the market (Florida) began to change from buyers to sellers market. Investors were snatching up properties quickly. But, we also saw many short sales which were tempting. We had put offers on a few but the banks never moved. It became depressing. We had all our belongings, furniture, clothes, etc. in storage which was expensive. We felt so displaced and unhinged. We had accepted offers on quite a few houses during the year but they all fell through. Most failed inspections and the buyers wouldn't allow for major repairs (roof, plumbing, mold). Others had permit issues where the work they did was not legal. Their only option was to try to get permits but they all choose not to do so. So we wound up with one of the first houses we saw. By that point the seller dropped her price and we raised ours. She was underwater with the bank and would only accept her price to cover her mortgage. We gave in and covered her. Are we happy here? Still not sure, bit we are finally settled. After 7 months I still don't feel this house is home. It took me almost 6 months before I could call it 'home.' I still have issues with that word. But, we spent a year living in limbo, working with agents who didn't fit. When we finally found the right Realtor we knew we'd find our house. I don't know if you'll ever find the right house. I do know the longer it takes the harder it becomes. You begin to settle, you get tired of looking and you just accept. I still feel we should have kept looking. We call this place home now. We are slowly putting ourselves in the house making it feel like home. Not there yet, but at least we aren't living our lives looking for the 'right' home anymore. Good luck, Jane...See MoreNeed Motivational help
Comments (22)Got the quote for the mini-split system. I'd researched these quite a bit online, so thought I'd be prepared . . . The Electric Co-op wants about $10,000 to put in a system that will only provide AC and auxiliary heat for THREE rooms in the house! And they will knock off $1,000 if we do the hard work of installing the one unit that goes in the ceiling. I was hoping to get a bit of a discount on the materials through the Co-op -but instead it looks like they are trying to recoup the costs on the new facilities they are building. The estimator was a really nice guy, and loved my kitchen. He asked all kinds of quesitons and I had fun showing him all the neat parts (all ideas from GW) he even said it was a good thing his wife didn't come on estimates with him, or she'd be tearing out the kitchen the next day. Maybe with seeing the neat features, he figured we have lots of $$$ to spend. Right now we spend about $500 a winter to heat the house. We do have a wood stove, but don't use it regularly as we aren't home. This mini-split system would not work much below zero, and I live in SD were we get temps that low on a regular basis. It would work well for the AC needs, right now we use a window AC in the kitchen, and one in the bedroom. We only run them maybe 20-30 days a YEAR. I think if we had a quite system we might use it more often, but it's not needed. I did a little figuring, and even if this system saved us half on our heating/AC bills(which it would not come close to) it would take about 20 years to recoup the cost, and we don't plan on being in the house that long. Our house is old, but has all new windows, new inslutaion, exterior house wrap and interior vapor barrior. A lot of people in our area pay more a month for heating than we do all winter. On the good side, this means no crawling in the attic to put in supports and cutting holes in joists. Option two was to get a radiant ceiling cover heater for the kitchen (about $150 and we use the existing wires and thermostate). Then I can still have my window seat (and a lot more storage). We are going to look into getting a single mini-split system for the bedroom (ac only) that should run about $1,200 and it's about as simple an istallation as you can get. All in all, it's not a real bad thing - nothing like getting really mad to get a person motivated! I'm going to dig out the plans I did a while back for the window seat, and get to work....See MoreHow to motivate contractor to save $, if he earns % of total spent?
Comments (20)With all due respect to everyone and noting the validity of some of the points, it is very hard to say things about who is responsible for what in a contract without reading the contract and knowing the circumstances. There are legitimate constraints on professionals underbidding projects and using the contract as protection. The contractor has a responsibility to enter the contract honestly and in good faith, asking whether or not certain charges should have been noted in the formation of the contract is a legitimate question on whether or not the contractor intentionally underbid the contract. While not giving advice, I would put the contractor on written notice and ask for a list of other foreseeable expenses that are reasonably likely to incur. The real purpose is to keep the contractor in line if you feel he will be adding on significant unnecessary expenses, as well as forming some basis of protection if things go bad in the future. I would send an email with a read receipt saying something like, In order to ensure that finances are in order and sufficient please provide us with a list... Keep it polite, not accusatory at all. As always, if you have a bad feeling about the arrangement see an attorney....See MoreWhy build a custom home? Your motivations and frustrations.
Comments (84)We built custom because there were no homes available (size and features we wanted...large floor to ceiling windows in just about every room of the house) on the type of land we were looking for. I desperately wanted privacy and I was so so tired of the typical subdivisions where you’re on top of your neighbors and every home looks and feels basically the same. Even many of the upscale neighborhoods with large lots and custom homes just didn’t suit us. We didn’t need neighborhood amenities and had no desire for a “showy” community). In addition , we were finished with HOA’s (I can see the value of them, but I didn’t want to have to ask permission every time I wanted to plant a flower. I wanted to be able to look out every window of my home and not see another house and also have enough land that if the surrounding area was clear cut of every tree, we still would be private and have only nature as our view. BUT (and this was a big but, it could not be in the boonies. We wanted property very close to everything (grocery, mall, restaurants, drug stores, airport, etc.). And another absolute requirement was that the lot was situated in such a way that the main living areas (which I wanted in the rear of the house) faced south (but also with open east and west exposures). I need sunshine and bright cheeriness flooding my home all day long, so even though we needed trees on the perimeter of the property for privacy, we also wanted the building pad to be fairly open so sunlight would be able to flood the interior spaces. So, finding a suitable (and affordable) lot was the tough part. We finally found pretty much exactly what we were looking for....almost 7 acres surrounded by trees (privacy!) but with a fairly clear open area for building. It is in a “subdivision” but there are only 7 lots (all with decent acreage). There also is an HOA, but I am the VP so no problems there :). It’s gated which is nice, but does not have the feel of the typical gated community....much more relaxed. And.....the grocery store (as well as a bunch of other stores) is 3 minutes up the road and “civilization” (the mall and restaurants etc.) are a 10 minute drive. There are also a bunch of other subdivisions very close by along with elementary, middle, and high schools....so there is not that feeling of isolation. Perfect setup for us. Now, as far as the building process goes, hoo boy, it was not without its problems. We’ve built several times before....and it’s never been just pure joy (although each time I somehow thought it would be different because I had learned so much from the previous build....that was not reality though). I’m glad it’s over. Making so many decisions in such a short period of time hurt my brain and having to babysit and nag my builder was a pain and nuisance that I didn’t enjoy. We’ve been in the house almost 6 months. Was it worth all the pain and suffering? Not quite ready to say yes to that yet....still need a little distance between the building trauma and our move in date. But i am truly enjoying the house and setting....I’m sitting here this morning and enjoying watching the birds from my comfy window seat. The sun is streaming in all my windows and doing exactly what I anticipated ......flooding the house with light. And I’m sipping a delicious cup of coffee to boot...so it’s definitely getting closer to being worth it. A few more months and I think I’ll be there. This is it though, we will NOT be building again :) Link to Our build...See MoreRelated Professionals
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