OT - Buying a House | Page 8 | The Boneyard

OT - Buying a House

Jaker said:
Condo's are ok until some major defect is uncovered and the entire community gets stuck with a huge assestment to make repairs.
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Nothing is perfect. But it’s probably better than home ownership for most.
 
Interest rates definitely play a factor. I was quoted well below 4% back in February and I know those will rise.
 
I'm a developer. We study demographics and buying trends. We develop mostly multifamily and hospitality but we're looking at land now in preparation for building entry level housing for young families and retiring Boomers on the next 5-10 years in CT. A large segment of the millennial generation comprised of 80m people is going to start having kids, the majority of the 70m Boomer generation is getting ready to retire, at least part time.

CT has one of the best school systems and quality of life in the country. Millenials will move here if we have less expensive entry housing (multifamily/starter homes) in the good school systems and boomers will stay at least part time if we give them housing that's affordable enough that they can spend part of their time in warmer climates or traveling.

The cost of educating the millennials is going to drop substantially over the next 10 years to the point where our cities and towns will be closing school regularly. Its not (in large part) because people are moving out (CT has a pop growth of ~1.5%), its because the biggest demographic of kids our country has ever seen is aging out of high school and college. This will help the state get out of its fiscal nightmare.

Barring huge increases in interest rates, additional government screw-ups or some unforeseen problems, CT home values should be rising steadily for the next 15 years.

Buy a reasonably priced house in a town with an excellent (not ok or average) school systems near an excellent healthcare system. Buy the smallest least expensive house in a good neighborhood. If you can buy near a walkable downtown, you're way ahead of the game.

Don't overspend on big. Big is a financial mistake and really only boosts your ego. Buy program. Program elements are those elements you want in a house, like a kitchen, living room, # beds/baths, etc.. Buying a big McMansion is a huge mistake. Those McMansions that my competitors built like wildfire in the early 2000's were built cheaply and are not going to age well. They're not energy efficient and they cost a lot to maintain.

Flipping houses every 2-5 years for the next 15 years should be reasonably safe if you do it right.
 
MadDogRevival said:
I lived in Manchester for 11 months in one of the Mills back in 1995 for 22 months. Ditched the lease early, with penalty, to GTFUDGEOUT.
Thought the place was a hole. Went there on a whim because it was rated highly in CT magazine and was between UConn and Hartford, where we studied and worked, respectively.
The day I wanted out was when I walked into a convenience store near the Mills and there were adult videos, with explicit cover scenes, by the front door on ready display.
That was the place where I bought my first handgun and started carrying it. Thought the schools were poor.
Long time ago and we really didn't spend much time out and about, so, granted, limited exposure, but I'd strongly recommend against - PM me if you want more details that would get this post deleted.
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Which mill did you live in? I lived with a roommate in Clocktower for 4 years, from '99 to '03 and had a good friend in Velvet, before I moved across town. Apparently we had very different experiences. The worst part about the mills are the thin walls. The fire alarm seemed to go off 3 times a month as well. It was almost like a living in a dorm again. I'm trying to remember said convenience store, but I do not recall. I'll take your word for it, but it comes with a sideways glance. Either way, I'd be shocked if it was still there 15 years later.

At 22-30 years old, I cared not one iota about the schools. Didn't have kids. Didn't pay property taxes. At the same time, the quality of the school district plays no small part in the quality of community you choose. At this point in my life, I don't mind paying for it, especially when it will benefit my kids. I don't know what the taxes are in Manchester, but I can't justify paying taxes that mainly benefit public education, and then turn around a write a tuition check for private schools.
 
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Quick pitch. Any UConn fans buying or selling this year? My real estate network works throughout the entire country. Recent projects including New England, Florida, Missouri, Maryland.

Sold a Boneyard referral on a farm last year in Puerto Rico that didn't even have a formal address. Expired listing that had previously sat for months. Realtors showed it by lot number with longitude/latitude coordinates.

When you're on the move, shoot me a private massage. It's a good idea to interview multiple agents anyhow. Honored to earn your business.

Mike-
 
GemParty said:
Quick pitch. Any UConn fans buying or selling this year? My real estate network works throughout the entire country. Recent projects including New England, Florida, Missouri, Maryland.

Sold a Boneyard referral on a farm last year in Puerto Rico that didn't even have a formal address. Expired listing that had previously sat for months. Realtors showed it by lot number with longitude/latitude coordinates.

When you're on the move, shoot me a private massage. It's a good idea to interview multiple agents anyhow. Honored to earn your business.

Mike-
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Barring an unforeseen job change, we're staying where we are until the day that the youngest leaves for college. And I mean the day -- as soon as the car pulls out of the driveway, the "For Sale" sign goes in the ground.
 
The best I'd probably do is a condo because of the pointlessness of yard work.

Mowing is fine, it's all the bs around the house, like the plants, mulch and other nonsense, that is a complete waste of time.
 
Excalibur said:
Barring an unforeseen job change, we're staying where we are until the day that the youngest leaves for college. And I mean the day -- as soon as the car pulls out of the driveway, the "For Sale" sign goes in the ground.
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What if they left as a commuter?
 
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methodology said:
A lot of the nice towns worth living in are still septic and wells. Just have to understand what it's about if you are coming from sewer/ city water
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This 100%. Grew up on well/septic, went to my condo and it was sewer/city. Now our home in Monroe is well/septic. Fortunately for me (and unfortunate for previous owners), the septic system broke a week before closing. Our sellers had two options with us: either replace the entire system (tank, leaching field, etc) or we walk. Obv they had to replace it all (which we oversaw bc the work was completed after the closing). It was worked out that they didn’t get $20K of their $ until the whole system was completed, to our satisfaction.

As for the well, the pump broke the day before we were moving in so that was on us. However, it’s $2400 that will last us 15-20 years and mimics city pressure (new pumps released in the last year are built that way).

Only issue with well (since the pressure is now about equal to city with this pump) is not being able to run diff items at once (shower while dishwasher is on, etc) bc it’s too much pull for the pump. Also no water if you lose power (installing a whole home generator in the fall...this is our forever home hopefully, which will alleviate the no water issue).

Other than that it’s extremely easy. Lucked out with a new septic system at no cost, we just have to get it pumped every 2-3 years. With the well, every 2 months I buy Morton’s crystal softener from Home Depot for $10 and throw it in, that’s it. Plus no water bill.
 
When I lived in Conn Meriden was known for Ted's KKK rallies bikers and the downtown area that was featured in the movie Jackknife.
 
A lot of hate for well/septic.

I bought my house 4 years ago and have not pumped the septic yet. Theoretically your septic may never need to be pumped as it relies on good bacteria to do its job and that takes time to build up. If your septic is functioning properly it should only need to be de-sludged/pumped every 3-5 years depending on size and how many people live in the house. It should only cost a few hundred at the most for that. Pumping too often is bad for your septic and could lead to early failure. The septic needs the bacteria so every time you pump you are getting rid of that good stuff. You should always avoid a garbage disposal with a septic too.

The only issue I had was the dry summer a couple years ago my shallow well was not recovering quick enough for our liking so we bit the bullet and drilled a deep well, 485' and a pretty penny later I now have two wells, one for the house and the original for use outside if needed.

In the long run without having to pay a water/sewage bill every month it is worth it for me.
 
The Shuttle Meadow Rd area in Kensington, New Britain, Southington line... if you don't have kids you can find a lot of house with a lot of yard in the New Britain side. The Shuttle Meadow Golf Course is right there also.
 
Husky25 said:
Which mill did you live in? I lived with a roommate in Clocktower for 4 years, from '99 to '03 and had a good friend in Velvet.
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Velvet.
Store was at the South end of Pine, on Hartford IIRC. Google maps does not show it - may have been knocked down.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess - lived in a lot of different areas, including Willimantic and downtown D.C., and something about Manchester gave me the willies - just did not like the feel of the non-working people hanging all about.
 
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mike012779 said:
The Shuttle Meadow Rd area in Kensington, New Britain, Southington line... if you don't have kids you can find a lot of house with a lot of yard in the New Britain side. The Shuttle Meadow Golf Course is right there also.
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Isn’t the course private?
 
Not sure if South Windsor is too much of a location stretch...lived there for 19 years...good schools and nice town to raise the kids.
 
MadDogRevival said:
Velvet.
Store was at the South end of Pine, on Hartford IIRC. Google maps does not show it - may have been knocked down.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess - lived in a lot of different areas, including Willimantic and downtown D.C., and something about Manchester gave me the willies - just did not like the feel of the non-working people hanging all about.
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Used to be a DB Mart. It blew up.
 
It’s all about location, location, location. Better to get a small house or a home that needs work in a nice town with good schools on a quiet street. Try to find the worst house in a nice neighborhood. Don’t fall for the trap of buying a nicer home in a depressed town or the nicest home on the street, you will regret it over time.
 
whaler11 said:
I was being kind only gently mocking your post.

Maybe advice like this is useful in California but this has no bearing on the reality of Connecticut:

Sell your first house in 2 to 5 years depending on market conditions. If you can get 250k in profit, it's not taxable. That profit is in your pocket tax free.

Spoiler alert: Here, if your house appreciates enough in 2-5 years to pay the realtor’s commissions you got lucky.

I guess you can ignore the dozens of people posting about the reality of real estate values in Connecticut and tell us about the benefits of tax free profits up to a quarter of a million dollars. Just like people all over the country get to tell us about attendance and UConn. Super accurate.
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So let's not call each other names. I wasn't suggesting that he could get 250k equity in his first home in 2-3 years. I was suggesting that sweat equity in a crumby house in a great neighborhood he could/should get some profit that he could parlay into the next house. Even if it's 50,000 as a result of a lot of work, that means he can move up to a 350,000 house after his initial 300,000 house and that 50k is free and clear of taxes. Take the 350k crumby house in a great neighborhood and with more sweat equity and hopefully rising prices, he might get 100k or so in 5 years and then keep doing that to the point that hopefully after 4 flips or so in 20 years, he could get actually see 250k. The point is get a crappy house in a great neighborhood which you can handle the updates and over time you can actually see a significant gain.
 
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jleves said:
So let's not call each other names. I wasn't suggesting that he could get 250k equity in his first home in 2-3 years. I was suggesting that sweat equity in a crumby house in a great neighborhood he could/should get some profit that he could parlay into the next house. Even if it's 50,000 as a result of a lot of work, that means he can move up to a 350,000 house after his initial 300,000 house and that 50k is free and clear of taxes. Take the 350k crumby house in a great neighborhood and with more sweat equity and hopefully rising prices, he might get 100k or so in 5 years and then keep doing that to the point that hopefully after 4 flips or so in 20 years, he could get actually see 250k. The point is get a crappy house in a great neighborhood which you can handle the updates and over time you can actually see a significant gain.
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These are things that might be true in other places. Not true here.

If you follow the logic in this thread nobody would live in any house but the worst house in any neighborhood and every other house would be empty. This would actually lead to the worst houses in a neighborhood being overpriced on demand. Do people really think there are handyman specials sitting in Simsbury or West Hartford or Glastonbury that you can pick up cheap and rehabilitate for profit? Maybe if you had a time machine that could take you back a few decades. I sold a Glastonbury condo to a friend in 2007 for 190k. She struggled to get 140 last year when she moved.

Nobody except someone selling houses would attempt to convince someone in 99% of Connecticut that you get equity through flipping houses on sweat equity.

The towns budgets are getting hammered because the state has moved education money from the suburbs to the cities. More pressure on property taxes in the desirable towns. If my house and cars were a mile east over the Glastonbury line my property
taxes would be 20k a year.

If the federal tax law doesn’t get overturned home values here are going to down. The combination of the higher standard deduction and the elimination of the SALT deduction is straight murder. Essentially CT property taxes went up by your effective federal tax rate.

If you could find a non-condemned home in West Hartford that came with a 10k property tax bill - it’s now 12 or 13k. Your 15k state tax liability is now 20k.

Things change. This thread is filled with some terrible advice for people considering buying a house in Connecticut.

If you really want to buy a house here cool your heels for a year and watch the prices drop when people understand the impact of losing SALT next April. People are going to run for the hills when they see how expensive it is.

The reality here for the past decade and going forward: Buy a house because you want that house. It is not a way to build wealth, it’s a place you live.
 
whaler11 said:
If you follow the logic in this thread nobody would live in any house but the worst house in any neighborhood and every other house would be empty. . . .
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Are you this extreme with everything in life? Is everything so black and white from your perspective?
If everybody listened to advice on this board, everybody would be a UConn Men's Basketball fan, and nobody would be any other kind of fan. Lol.
Seriously, you seem very tightly wound on this and other things (e.g. don't cut your own grass, throw yourself into your work).
whaler11 said:
Buy a house because you want that house. It is not a way to build wealth, it’s a place you live.
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Yeah man, you're arguing against yourself. Nobody is pitching home ownership as a primary investment. Most of the advice in this thread is an attempt to help the OP get into a house that will best suit him. That's it. Nobody is telling him to empty his 401k and buy the biggest house in New Canaan he can finance.
The advice to "buy the fixer-upper in a nice neighborhood" was just advice for him, with his particular set of facts, and where he's at in life. Not advice for everybody in every situation.
Have a beer. Or something.
 
Yardigan said:
Not sure if South Windsor is too much of a location stretch...lived there for 19 years...good schools and nice town to raise the kids.
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Hello neighbor
 
So to clear some stuff up. I want to decide what’s the better call for the next 5-ish years.

Buying a single family home?

Buying a condo?

Wait a year, rent, and see what the new tax implications do to the market? At the expense of the growing interest rate?

Renting?

Selling my Audi?

I’m trying to make good financial decisions now, so that in 5 years I can buy a house that I really want to live in.
 
CTBasketball said:
So to clear some stuff up. I want to decide what’s the better call for the next 5-ish years.

Buying a single family home?

Buying a condo?

Wait a year, rent, and see what the new tax implications do to the market? At the expense of the growing interest rate?

Renting?

Selling my Audi?

I’m trying to make good financial decisions now, so that in 5 years I can buy a house that I really want to live in.
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I'm in Cromwell... You should buy my condo! Seriously. Do it.
 
MadDogRevival said:
Are you this extreme with everything in life? Is everything so black and white from your perspective?
If everybody listened to advice on this board, everybody would be a UConn Men's Basketball fan, and nobody would be any other kind of fan. Lol.
Seriously, you seem very tightly wound on this and other things (e.g. don't cut your own grass, throw yourself into your work).

Yeah man, you're arguing against yourself. Nobody is pitching home ownership as a primary investment. Most of the advice in this thread is an attempt to help the OP get into a house that will best suit him. That's it. Nobody is telling him to empty his 401k and buy the biggest house in New Canaan he can finance.
The advice to "buy the fixer-upper in a nice neighborhood" was just advice for him, with his particular set of facts, and where he's at in life. Not advice for everybody in every situation.
Have a beer. Or something.
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You see Frank... the guy asked some questions and some of the advice was mindless generalities that expired during the Clinton administration and some of it was just dead wrong. So I pointed that out.

The thread is essentially about the financial ‘advantage of buying’ - which is something math and financial illiterates parrot without any examination.
 
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