Thread Drift

[ny biker]

I think I've mentioned this elsewhere -- everyone who buys a house needs to rent Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House with Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. It just sums it all up.

My last big project for my condo is replacing the wall-to-wall carpet with new wood floors. It needs to be done soon, while I have lots of stuff already packed up in boxes. And I bought new 8x10 wool rugs a couple of years ago when they were on sale and I thought I'd be moving ahead with the floors soon, so they're rolled up in one of my closets taking up valuable space. But I'm so overwhelmed at the thought of their having to move everything around in every room AND every closet in order to do the work. They say it will only take two days but in a way it's the biggest project I'm having done. I still have lots of things that need to be packed up. I'm trying to psych myself up to get it done soon.

[emily_in_nc]

Sorry there have been hassles and unexpected things with the new condo, Crankin! We have built three new houses plus one condo now so have dealt with all sorts of things. And we've bought two existing houses. One was older and needed some work, but that was mostly cosmetic, all easy things for us to DIY (paint, wallpaper, etc). One was only a few years old, and we did NOTHING to it. We liked the way it was decorated and left everything exactly the same. When we sold several years later, we had to have a window replaced that had the seal broken (dual-pane) and a couple other minor things, but really, that was our easiest house overall.

It's a trade-off. Since we've been renters, we've dealt with a new set of hassles, but it's different. I miss being able to paint and put things up on the walls and having my own space, but I don't miss some of the hassles and responsibilities that came with that. I am sure we'll own again one day, but we are not in a hurry. Our next home may just be a motorhome so we can continue our travels while having our own space.

[ny biker]

I will say that owning my own home has not been good, financially. My condo building is old and the prior owners lived out of state and rented it out for years, so they did minimal upkeep, which has meant that I've had to spend a lot to fix it up as well as replacing the heat pump, windows and all the appliances. Meanwhile the market tanked so if I sold it now I'd only get the amount I paid for it over 10 years ago. But yes there are other benefits to owning your own place. Along the way I've learned a lot. And it is nice to sit back now, even with the old carpet on the floor and no pictures on the walls, and feel good about the way it looks.

[Crankin]

I don't think i could ever be a renter again. When we moved here, we bought our house lease to purchase, for 6 months. The whole time I felt uneasy. We had sold our house in Tempe 6 months before we moved to MA, and moved into an apartment not too far away. It was really hard for me to drive by my house while I was in an apartment, even though it was all part of our plan to move back east. So, that meant we were renters for a year. We had a year to do the lease to purchase, but once we got our finances set, we could not wait to get the mortgage. Seems so long ago; that house cost 165,000.
Funny, the condo will be our 6th home, and I have only been emotionally attached to 2 of them... the one in Tempe and the last home we lived in, in Boxborough, before we moved to Concord. I think it has to do with the stage of life I was in. Although things were fun when we moved to MA, we ended up in a town that was not a good fit, and I spent 6 years just waiting to save enough to move. When we moved to Boxborough, it was like our life got back to normal, as it had been in Tempe.

[emily_in_nc]

I will say that owning my own home has not been good, financially. My condo building is old and the prior owners lived out of state and rented it out for years, so they did minimal upkeep, which has meant that I've had to spend a lot to fix it up as well as replacing the heat pump, windows and all the appliances. Meanwhile the market tanked so if I sold it now I'd only get the amount I paid for it over 10 years ago.

Yep, we've had terrible market timing over the years with our various houses. We really only made money on our very first starter home. That one we were in for three years and made about $30K on. After that, things went downhill. Every other house we've sold, we've either lost money (after paying the real estate fees) or broken even.

The house we lived in the longest in NC was one we custom built and lived in for 10 years. At the time we sold, the market was in the toilet, and although we made about what we paid for it, we'd put in tons of landscaping, a beautiful porch, patio, walkways, a nice shed and woodbin, etc. And living in a place ten years, you kind of expect to have made something. We've kicked ourselves many times for selling that house when we did, but hindsight is always 20/20, of course, and at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do.

We just went into the black on our Belize condo, which we sold in March 2013 with owner financing. We get a check every month from the buyer, and as of August, we are now in the black on the sale, finally, and if he makes payments for the full five years, all the better since all the rest is profit in our pocket (although we're living on it).

I've read articles that say not to buy property expecting to make money; buy it because you love it and want to make a home, put down roots, stuff like that. That's why I'm not in a big hurry to own again immediately -- we're just not sure where we want to put down roots next. :-) It's a hassle and expensive to buy and sell quickly if you don't end up staying in place for at least five years or so (been there, done that way too many times), so we need to make very, very sure that our next real estate purchase is a "keeper".

[Trek420]

Some sad news and it may be in a separate thread, if not we should start one. I have just heard that Chickwhorips has passed away. I knew she had struggled with cancer but last I'd heard was hopeful. I'm sure she will be missed here and by many.

[salsabike]

Oh, my god, that is so sad and so shocking, Trek. I really liked her. Thanks for letting us know.

[Pax]

I'd heard from a mutual acquaintance, just unbelieveable, she was so young.

[Crankin]

That is really sad. Her posts were funny and informative.

As for the house stuff, people in the US just expect to become rich from owning a home. You really cannot think of a house as an investment, given the volatile economy. We made over 300K when we sold our last house, and the guy just sold it for 100K less than he bought it for, from us. We bought this house, and I can't even add up all of the investments we put into the house. Because we put such a huge downpayment on this house, we'll make some $ on paper, but nothing really, compared to what we spent remodeling and fixing. But, I don't care. We lived here for 10 years, and enjoyed it. We broke even with our first house (only lived in it for a year). had to pay to get rid of the house I loved in Tempe, as it was a recession, and we had taken out a second, broke even on selling the first house in MA, and used stock options to make the downpayment on the house we actually made money on. I guess when you live long enough, it is easier to deal with this stuff. DH has been so calm about the slowness of the condo renovations, compared to how he would have been a few years ago.
The bathroom tile is done, the installer sent pictures. Lowes is not going to make us pay extra for the demo of the entry way tile, either. They really have been great to work with.

[Pax]

Saw a new primary care doc today, she was appalled about my leg, said I need to have some targeted PT since it's a swollen mess, with significant abnormality in the muscle mass in the quad and calf. God I feel old and busted, I miss the old badass me.

[ny biker]

Well, hopefully this new doctor will help you get back to badass.

[Kitsune06]

Hey everyone. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

[salsabike]

Saw a new primary care doc today, she was appalled about my leg, said I need to have some targeted PT since it's a swollen mess, with significant abnormality in the muscle mass in the quad and calf. God I feel old and busted, I miss the old badass me.

Oh, Pax, I'm sorry. It sounds like you got some sensible help from the new doc. You may well become a new badass self--maybe not the same, but still, better than now--with the right help and time.

[Catrin]

(((Pax))) I hear you about missing your old badass self but glad to hear you've a new doc who is getting you what you need. And the new badass you will indeed be badass - even if different :-)

Kitsune - it's been a long time, hope all is well!

[Crankin]

So lucky you met the new doc! You can be a bad *** in PT. From what I hear, most people are not like the people on this thread when following through with their PT stuff. In fact, I sent a friend to my PT, after a broken shoulder, and she laughed when I asked her how her exercises were going at home. We see it as an opportunity, and others see it as a punishment.