Gotcha Griff - Thats sorta what I thought, but wanted to be sure before I replied.

I am scared to death of going that deep into debt too. I live very modestly because of that opinion. I am looking to get a larger place with my own yard etc. Thats really gonna cost me. . . both monetarily and stressfully.

I have a buddy living in the San Diego area with the intent of selling and building back here plus doing the travel-home thing. It should all be manageable if the market doesn't permanently tank. I guess we just have to do things our own way. I trust my hammer more than the job or real estate markets.

Classic. I know whta you mean. We live in a nice place in a nice neighborhood on about 1/3 of an acre. We are looking at 198 acres and a final place for a home now. It will be a difficult task but we are going to remain positive.

Re: Tax Break.

HUUUUUGE!

The tax break isn't worth it anywhere. As Dave Ramsey says, you end up paying $10,000 to the mortgage company to avoid paying $3,000 to the IRS.

/devil's/While that is traditionally true, have you considered the effect of the baby boom generation on this traditional strategy? Every boom/bust cycle we've experienced since 1945 has been directly tied to the habits and needs of the boomers. As boomers age they will downsize. In many cases they owned second and third properties as investments. They will sell these properties as the need for cash comes along combined with their diminishing desire to have the extra concern of multiple properties. There are nowhere near enough buyers for all of the existing properties + additional properties as the builders continue to do what they do. Home prices cannot not escalate the way they have traditionally. The home as primary investment just might not work for our generation the way it did for our parents./advocate/

Now that is a perfectly respectable, legitimate reason to purchase a home.

The bestest. :thumb2:

The mortgage that Aliantha is talking about is available in the US and can be quite effective. The drawback is our tax laws are different and it is possible to land in a position where the interest is no longer deductible and there are further ramifications on the death tax.

I know that something is supposed to appreciate to actually be considered an investment, but there's still something to be said for building equity, right? Obviously this is not the case in the crazy-ass California markets, but around here the prices for rents and mortgages are basically the same, so my understanding is that buying is usually a better idea as long as your overall budget is stable.

If your plan is to pay it off and live in it payment free then it is definitely a better plan.

If you plan on living in it until you find different place then you have to consider whether it is an increasing or decreasing asset.

Unfortunately too many people with that plan find they can't afford the taxes and maintenance when they retire.:(

My Realtor called me tonight to tell me the bank picked someone else, but if they change their mind or don't make it through escrow, I'll get it.

:(

I'm sorry, Radar. That really sucks. We were told that at first, and for 24 hours thought we had lost the house. By then, you've already mentally moved in and starting repainting walls.

Let us know how it plays out - they could call you back!

We had already waited nearly 2 weeks to hear from them. I was making a checklist of all the stuff we had to do before moving in.

Sorry to hear, Radar. :(

Sorry fella.

We lost two houses we bid on before we got this one, Radar. Don't worry, there will be a place as good (if not better!) out there for you.

This was our second lost one. We wanted this one so bad, I really can't explain it. It's within walking distance to my brother's house. It's in a REALLY great neighborhood. It's close to everything. It has a HUGE amount of upgrades that were installed fairly recently.

It's move-in ready and most houses at this price are not in LA.

It did have the pool issue though.

I'm sorry you didn't get the house Radar. It's always a big blow when things like that happen. You have to think that something better is just around the corner though.

Stay positive. You never know what will happen.

Ugggh. Escrow is soul-destroying.

We're trying to lock down our mortgage. Apparently everybody who writes mortgages still thinks that the only good borrowers are company men, with a single W2 source of income, one savings account with $950,000 in it, and impeccable tax records for the last 19 years.

The sheer volume of paperwork involved in getting a mortgage is staggering, especially when your income sources include self-employed musician, small business owner (wife's floral design business), a University where 20% of your income is from "overload" teaching assignments that you do every year but aren't part of your base contract pay, and the winner, royalty income from previously published music (they love that one).

Somebody needs to simplify this process.

Call Nancy.:eyebrow:

I wish I was complaining about doing the papers for the escrow company. :(

Who is Nancy?

Sorry, bro.

I'm not intending to keep prodding the wound, but I thought I would keep all of our real estate process stuff going on this same thread.

Pelosi

4.875%

Holy crap, we locked our loan this week, and it's at 4.875. That just seems like free money to me. Hell, a year ago our savings account was making almost that much!

For those who are interested, here are a few better pics of the house:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3495/...9cb1c69ed1.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3264/...a6b648a478.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3344/...4e32bd033c.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3444/...baa3c631ac.jpg

Holy Hell that's a nice house

Beautiful, smooth. I am so glad it is working out so well for you.

wow!

The bummer with buying a 1934 house is getting insurance. The insurance companies are asking for proof that the roof, plumbing, electrical, heating and AC are all new within 15 years. We have no records of any of that.

Also, earthquake insurance is a joke. It would cost us $3500 a year, there is a 15% deductible, and it only covers structural damage, not contents of the house. Basically, if our house gets hit by an earthquake, the insurance wouldn't even kick in until we had paid the first 90k out of pocket, and then it would pay for repairs to the structure, not anything for furniture, electronics, stuff of value inside.

What a joke.

Just wrap everything you own in bubble wrap and duct tape. That's much cheaper.

Beautiful house - Are you booking the dates for visitors yet?

What a wonderful building! Make a nice home man.

omg it's beautiful!

I would live in the pool.

Nice Crib.

Wholly, and entirely, mackerel.

Very nice smooth.... that front door is killer.

I love this house. It's going to need a lot of work, but I think it's so worth it.

It looks like it'll be nice and cool inside during the summer. Do you think that'll be the case? It is rendered brick isn't it?

I'm with jinx - that door is awesome!

Not sure what you mean by rendered brick - it's Mission stucco (smoother than what you see on a lot of newer construction). I think it will be cool, because it has huge french doors that swing open to the backyard pool, so the ocean breezes that hit at about 3pm will carry through the house. Also, central A/C, so that's gonna help.

So the stucco is on bricks not fibro cement sheeting? Rendered brick is basically just a brick home with a cement coating (rendering) such as stucco although sometimes that's plaster isn't it?

Anyway, I was just wondering. :)

So lets get to the important stuff . . . how are the acoustics?

I don't know what kind of ocean breezes you'll get that far inland, but good luck with that.

after living in the valley for so long, any moving air would be a welcome change.

Beautiful. Banana plants?

palms.

Please post visiting calendar so that we can all book up NOW!

Limey, you interested in doing a house-swap for a couple weeks? I'd love to go see the "mother land."

Uh ... yeah. Basically, yes. Are you happy to pet sit for 2 cats and a snake (he doesn't require any care as such, but he does live here!)
But is it always unbearably hot? My husband would find that hard to bear. And I'm not sure when. And our house is a tip. But uh ... yeah.

So I made an offer on another house today. It's 1900 square feet with a pool in the back, but it has a fence around the pool. It was built in '69 just like me. It's a 4 bedroom 2 bath with a fireplace, wet bar, granite countertops in the kitchen, etc. and it's in a decent neighborhood. They're asking $344,800. It doesn't have as many fancy upgrades as the last one, but it's very nice. The only drawback is there is an apartment complex directly behind the house. So as my daughter is growing up, the neighbors might be ogling her or my wife. That would make me uncomfortable. The other house has a pre-school directly behind the house so I'm not sure if it would be noisy during the daytime.

I put the offer in, and then when I got back to my job, I got a call that the place my wife and I really wanted (described in the previous pages) is available because the people fell out of escrow. I found out the offer they made was $450k. As much as I'm dying for this house, I'm not going to go over $400k period. I told my realtor to try to get me and my wife into the house.

I called my wife in Vietnam and asked her which house we should get and she said the other one....she hasn't seen the one I put an offer in on today.

I'm a little scared I'll get both. I don't want to come off like a jerk if I get them both and have to tell the guy I made an offer with today that I'm not interested.

It doesn't make you a jerk if you get both. You couldn't foresee what would be.

In the end, you have to do what's right for you and your family.

The new place sounds pretty nice. Got any pics?

I only have a photo of the outside. It reminds me a lot of the house I grew up in as a kid. I feel very comfortable there. When I went to see it, they had a cleaning crew steaming the carpets, cleaning the windows, etc. getting it ready for photos and showings. I was hoping to get my offer in before they published the photos.


If you click on this link, it's the house on the bottom.

http://socallistings.marketlinx.com/...tID=F207015068

You better believe they're soliciting multiple offers, don't feel bad about making multiple offers.

What an incredibly unreadable website. Yuck.

Radar, that second house looks nice too.

Good luck with both your offers!

That's how pretty much all MLS-generated sites look. This is what your realtor will send you when you're looking. Not pretty, but very informative.

My father drove down from Elko, NV and I showed him both places today so he could help me choose. They both have good points and bad. He's having a hard time helping me choose.

The real estate guy from the first house is telling me I'll probably get the house if I go up to $430k. My wife REALLY wants the house but she told me to stick to my guns at $400k. I was thinking of going to $420k just so I could say I got my house for 420. j/k

Seriously though, when I looked at the second house today I noticed some stuff I didn't the first time around . I didn't go into the garage before. This time I went in and noticed that the hot water heater is gone. They put a new stainless steel dish washer and oven rage in the kitchen and new granite counter tops. The walls are torn up above the granite because it looks like they ripped out the old backsplash. The sink is new and stainless steel, but there are no faucets. When I look through the hole in the counter top, I see plywood s I'd have to drill through it and do the faucet and other pipes.

In the hallway where the linen cabinets are, the horizontal top of the cabinets on the floor has had the Formica halfway ripped up. My guess is someone was fixing the place up and ran out of money. I'd have to rip up the rest of the formica and either change the top of the counter or replace the formica.

It needs some minor electrical work, but my father is an electrician and we can do that work ourselves.

Lastly, the people who had the place built some custom stuff in the bedroom. It reminds me of those HUGE waterbeds back in the 70's that had cabinets and shelves and a mirror and stuff taking up the whole wall with the bed in the middle. This was actually built onto the wall, and it must go because the bed part is too small for us.


House #1 will cost me $420k but it needs almost no work to get it the way we want.

House #2 will cost me about $350k but will need about $20k worth of work.

The downpayment on house #1 will be $84,000 and the downpayment on house #2 will be $70,000.

The difference in down payments will nearly pay for all of the repairs on house #2 to make everything right.

The payments on House #2 will be lower, but it will require more upfront cash to get it up to speed.

House #2 has 100 more square feet and has an attached garage rather than detached and it has a fence around the pool so kids can't get in.

House #1 has very expensive upgrades that my wife loves and which might make the value of the house go up faster than house #2.

House #2 reminds me of the house I grew up in as a kid and feels more comfortable to me and being comfortable at home is important to me.

House #1 will probably be more comfortable for my wife because she likes floors she can sweep.

House #2 has new carpet everywhere but the kitchen and bathrooms which I prefer.

House #1 has really fancy and cool bathrooms that are nicer than House #2


House #1 has a pre-school directly behind the house and has trees in that preschool that has limbs that drop leaves into the pool.

House #2 has an apartment complex behind the house with balconies that people can sit on and ogle my wife and someday my young daughter.

House #1 is within walking distance to my brother's house, and is also within walking distance to a movie theater, preschool, starbucks, grocery store, and fast food.

House #2 is within walking distance to an elementary school, pre-school, high school, and DMV. It is also very close to a couple of Vietnamese restaurants, Asian market, Costco, Jiffy Lube, and the 405 Freeway which I take to work.

House #2 is $70,000 cheaper than house #1. Over 30 years of payments this would be about $210k but since it requires about $20,000 in repairs the difference is really about $50k up front and about $190k over the full 30 years assuming I don't pay it off early.

House #1 has a ton of upgrades that over 30 years will probably increase the value of the house enough to cover the $190k price difference and will ultimately make the value of the home higher than house #2 from an investment standpoint.


It's seriously a tough choice.

Good luck

I just got a call from the realtor. They accepted my offer on House #2. That kind of makes the decision easier...

unless I get another call for the other house.