So I was thinking about writing my landloard about this...

[Tessian]

I bet if you drew pictures next time Sine would catch on even quicker and MAYBE actually admit his mistake instead of pretending he's tired of the subject because he knows he lost. Own up man

[Imakeholesinu]

I bet if you drew pictures next time Sine would catch on even quicker and MAYBE actually admit his mistake instead of pretending he's tired of the subject because he knows he lost. Own up man

Update:


I was busy at work today so I didn't get a chance to call. But they haven't called me yet to say that they've acknowledged my problems.

[Oracle]

(Man I'm glad I own my own home.)

QFT

[Imakeholesinu]

Update:

Called my landlord today and inquired if they had time to read my letter. They said they had and that they were looking into the issue of the Bird's in the wall.

Also they have a new rent-a-cop that will be patrolling the neighborhood so he will be on the look out for children around the cars.

The smoking issue looks like it will not be resolved. Reason being is that the woman below me is one of their longest leased tenants they have. My landlord has offered me the chance to move into a new unit if one becomes available though and transferring my lease to that unit. I'd love to do this if a similar unit opens up (preferably a 1 story unit with parking and storage and the ability to place a dish. We'll see though I guess.

[SineSwiper]

Yeah, if something opens up fairly soon, I would transfer over. You probably shouldn't wait too long (3 months), and remind them that you're still looking for an open unit.

[Imakeholesinu]

Yeah, if something opens up fairly soon, I would transfer over. You probably shouldn't wait too long (3 months), and remind them that you're still looking for an open unit.

I talked to them again yesterday and there is a unit, 1st floor 2BR garden apartment open directly across the street from where I am. I'm going to see it tomorrow.

[Flip]

Yeah, if something opens up fairly soon, I would transfer over. You probably shouldn't wait too long (3 months), and remind them that you're still looking for an open unit.

I talked to them again yesterday and there is a unit, 1st floor 2BR garden apartment open directly across the street from where I am. I'm going to see it tomorrow.

That seems like a very reasonable solution. Moving sucks, but across the street is very doable... for the same rent.

[Tessian]

Yeah, if something opens up fairly soon, I would transfer over. You probably shouldn't wait too long (3 months), and remind them that you're still looking for an open unit.

I talked to them again yesterday and there is a unit, 1st floor 2BR garden apartment open directly across the street from where I am. I'm going to see it tomorrow.

That seems like a very reasonable solution. Moving sucks, but across the street is very doable... for the same rent.

Haha this Saturday I'm moving about 2 minutes down the road. Finally getting the fuck out of my fucked up living situation and into a single by myself; no more ex. Same landlord and everything, just a nicer section.

[Imakeholesinu]

I talked to them again yesterday and there is a unit, 1st floor 2BR garden apartment open directly across the street from where I am. I'm going to see it tomorrow.

That seems like a very reasonable solution. Moving sucks, but across the street is very doable... for the same rent.

Haha this Saturday I'm moving about 2 minutes down the road. Finally getting the fuck out of my fucked up living situation and into a single by myself; no more ex. Same landlord and everything, just a nicer section.

Very fucking cool. About time you kicked that girl to the curb. You can start dating again now! You must be sexually frustrated as living with her must have been the biggest cock block evar!

[Zeus]

That seems like a very reasonable solution. Moving sucks, but across the street is very doable... for the same rent.

Haha this Saturday I'm moving about 2 minutes down the road. Finally getting the fuck out of my fucked up living situation and into a single by myself; no more ex. Same landlord and everything, just a nicer section.

Very fucking cool. About time you kicked that girl to the curb. You can start dating again now! You must be sexually frustrated as living with her must have been the biggest cock block evar!

I'd purposefully bring over very loud girls if I were Tess :-)

[Imakeholesinu]

After having lunch with a good friend of mine I am contemplating home ownership in light of the events that have transpired here.

I'm thinking in the $100,000 to $125,000 range.

[Tessian]

After having lunch with a good friend of mine I am contemplating home ownership in light of the events that have transpired here.

I'm thinking in the $100,000 to $125,000 range.

Homes are that cheap where you live?? $150,000 around here would get me a rancher in a crappy dangerous neighborhood where derelict cars reside on lawns and crab grass barely edges out the rat population. If you got the savings and the will go for it. I personally don't have the savings for it, nor do I believe I'm ready yet to buy a house or maintain/fix one up. I'll be happy spending another year or two in a rental and not having to worry about shit breaking or a loan that might end up outliving me (not to mention the million other things you gotta worry about when picking a house TO buy). But if houses are that cheap around you then now's the time to buy!

[kali o.]

After having lunch with a good friend of mine I am contemplating home ownership in light of the events that have transpired here.

I'm thinking in the $100,000 to $125,000 range.

If you are in no hurry, you might be better off waiting a bit (next winter). Fears of recession and a generally bleak economic outlook is going keep stock building higher than available buyers. I'm not saying housing prices are going to tank (that's more dependant on specific markets/areas), but at the very least, a buyers market can shift accepted prices at least 10-15% in your favor.

And it sounds pretty damn cheap in your area...what's 100k get you, size wise? I was looking in Bali for property, and 100k buys a decent 2bdr on the water (and Bali is a dirt cheap, fairly unstable investment).

[Ishamael]

Consult a 600 lb grizzly bear. They are crafty animals.

[M'k'n'zy]

My wife and I are getting ready to do the same, out here in Warrenton there are many options around 90k for us to make a starter home.

[Tessian]

Haha this Saturday I'm moving about 2 minutes down the road. Finally getting the fuck out of my fucked up living situation and into a single by myself; no more ex. Same landlord and everything, just a nicer section.

Very fucking cool. About time you kicked that girl to the curb. You can start dating again now! You must be sexually frustrated as living with her must have been the biggest cock block evar!

I'd purposefully bring over very loud girls if I were Tess :-)

Haha Barret-- I 've still been dating since we broke up, it's just more difficult. Only really had one girl since then though and she ended things after nearly 2 weeks for no reason (literally, she just said she had a "feeling deep down that it wouldn't work" after admitting I had been perfect otherwise)... but really all the ex did was make it harder as I had to make sure they never met one another... which just meant we couldn't be here at night.

As for you Zeus-- you're like the 12th person to suggest that, haha Unfortunately not only is it not my style/preference for one night stands, but I didn't want to rock the boat either. No matter how bad things got at times living here, the last thing I wanted to do was make it MORE hellish

[Imakeholesinu]

After having lunch with a good friend of mine I am contemplating home ownership in light of the events that have transpired here.

I'm thinking in the $100,000 to $125,000 range.

If you are in no hurry, you might be better off waiting a bit (next winter). Fears of recession and a generally bleak economic outlook is going keep stock building higher than available buyers. I'm not saying housing prices are going to tank (that's more dependant on specific markets/areas), but at the very least, a buyers market can shift accepted prices at least 10-15% in your favor.

And it sounds pretty damn cheap in your area...what's 100k get you, size wise? I was looking in Bali for property, and 100k buys a decent 2bdr on the water (and Bali is a dirt cheap, fairly unstable investment).

It could be anywhere between 950-1500 f/sq for that price depending on the area. I'm looking in the city and it is hit or miss. I'm going to schedule a sit-down with my agent today for this weekend to go over what I need to do. My mom used to be an agent and I'm going through her old boss.

[SineSwiper]

I dunno. Houses are generally better to get when you're married or living with somebody (second income). Though, it is a buyer's market, so interest rates are dropping like stones.

It's something that you'll have to maintain, which can be a pain in the ass, but you can do whatever the hell you want with it.

[Imakeholesinu]

I dunno. Houses are generally better to get when you're married or living with somebody (second income). Though, it is a buyer's market, so interest rates are dropping like stones.

It's something that you'll have to maintain, which can be a pain in the ass, but you can do whatever the hell you want with it.

Which means I can kill birds in the yard!

I'm not going to go overboard on maintenance and the like. I want something that can be simply landscaped in about an hour and a half on the weekends if possible. Interior, maybe have a project a year, like flooring or tile.

[SineSwiper]

Yeah, we painted all the rooms in our house when we got it. (Shellie painted the kitchen three times.) Close to replacing all of the windows in the house. Replaced the front door and going to replace the back this year. Of course, we have the basement bedroom/kitchen that we expanded (knocked down the wall between them) to a TV room/wet bar. Put some nice black tiles on the computer room floor (which used to be a garage converted to a living room). We'll be using our bribe money for clearing out the trees in both front and back yards (some of which were victims of poison ivy), and getting a new shed this year.

This is all in the span of about 3 years. When I get enough home equity, I plan on hiring somebody to install solar tiles on our roof and tying that into the electrical system. (Part of the reason why I'm clearing so many trees is solar coverage.) Also need to convert one of our bedrooms into a laundry room, and redo the bathroom (which is badly in need of drywall work). Will need to install some gutter guards, too. The kitchen needs a new floor, and the bland cabinets and counters need replaces. (The white countertops, white linoleum floor, and oak cabinets are really fugly.) Front garden needs to be redone, too.

So, yeah, be prepared for all of that. Granted, we bought the house with the full intentions of staying for 25 years, but there's always projects to deal with, along with the usual lawn care and gutter work.

[Lox]

Yep, home ownership is fun and frustrating at the same time.

We just had our basement finished after knocking out a dividing wall and re-dividing the room to make better use of the space. So now there is a large living space and a smaller laundry room instead of 2 smaller, unusable rooms. We're about to get carpet down there and we want to replace the carpet on the 1st floor with hardwood laminate and replace the carpet upstairs. We are in the process of replacing all of our interior doors. We just replaced the front door and storm door and had the roof replaced. We already redid the entire bathroom and have basically repainted every room in the house except my office.

And we're not even planning on living here forever! This is just for our current enjoyment and to add value to the house so we can sell it for more down the road.

[Zeus]

I've just finished my third year in my house and we've already done the following:

- roof (needed to be done year 1) - STRONG suggestion, do NOT do this yourself, it's HELL
- kitchen: old one really was that
- painted all of the upstairs (I live in a bungalow) including the bedrooms
- upstairs bathroom: changed the whole thing, only the toilet is original
- cut a "window" hole my living and dining rooms, made a HUGE difference
- rewired a bunch of electrical upstairs
- cleaned up the gardens and side of the house: wife re-soiled the front garden and we removed these insanely heavy concrete slabs out of the way
- removed an old bar and completely took out a stupid looking wall taking up half my basement

Stuff we're in the middle of or plan to do:
- reseeding the front and back yards: yard was very neglected; we've already seeded, just waiting for germination
- trimming trees: I don't want to cut them down even though they block out my Dishnet since I have a huge pine and a couple of maples in the back, so we're having a guy come in next weekend to trim
- rebuild bar: plumbing is already there and it helps with resale so why not?
- finish taping and prime rebuilt wall: yeah, I've been lazy, it's been about 8 months now
- paint entire basement: after wall
- change carpets in bedrooms and downstairs
- re-do driveway: it's old and a bit wavey, but I'm not sure I wanna do it as this is a starter home and something like that you don't get back in resale

Nowadays, you kinda need to do a lot of work in a home, they're just too expensive. And I prefer older homes, they're built SOO much better than the new ones. I also live in a mature neighbourhood with unique homes and a decent lot, not to mention a bungalow, which is a dying breed. My home wasn't too brutal since other than the roof, everything is really cosmetic and/or personal, we were very lucky.

I've also gained a good $40k in value and another $20k in principle paydown (I got lucky with 4.5% fixed for 5 years and pay weekly and fast pay so about half of my payment goes directly to principle) so I've got decent equity now. I'm hoping by the time we're ready to move (after hopefully a couple of kids) to a bigger home in 5 years, I'll have nearly half the house paid down and can put a good dent in the price of the new home. I'm also waiting for the market to settle down, it's been freakin' NUTS in my area