House Buying Thread

[dodint]

If that is a City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. 617 (1978) reference I stand on a bench and applaud you, sir.

[tifosi77]

Everything is a City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. 617 (1978) reference, and you bloody well know it.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Once a paraphraser, always a paraphraser.

[Silentom]

You all just dump your landfill stuff right into the fault, then?

Magma would definitely incinerate it.

[nocera]

You know, Lex Luthor really had a solid real estate plan in the first Superman.

[Gabe]

I complain about State College area housing being expensive, and then I read tif's posts and think "who in the hell would live in California?"

Real Estate here in Palm Beach County is crazy expensive, then I look at California and it all looks pretty cheap.

To think in 1999, my wife bought her starter home (before we met) for 40K in Kansas City and it seemed like a lot.

[NTP66]

Everyone West of Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs has it nice with the housing market. Your dollars go much further.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Ive posted this before and ill post it again. Pretty simple math. From 2010 to 2015, Silicon Valley added 385,000 jobs. In that same time frame, 58,000 housing units were added to the same area.

Chew on that
https://www.wsj.com/articles/neighbors- ... 1465291802

[Tomas]

Does anybody have a riverfront property? Do you have positive/negative experience with it?

(I am not concerned about flood risks - the river would never reach the house - but with things like mosquitoes or any other "bad" features of river living. I have never considered living next to a river, so I have no clue about what those bad features could be... )

[dodint]

I suppose it begs the question as to what's up stream? Almost every creek I've lived next to in PA is polluted because they run through old mines.

[Troy Loney]

Does anybody have a riverfront property? Do you have positive/negative experience with it?

(I am not concerned about flood risks - the river would never reach the house - but with things like mosquitoes or any other "bad" features of river living. I have never considered living next to a river, so I have no clue about what those bad features could be... )

I would take a look at the flood plane. If the structure crosses the flood plane, the bank is going to require you have flood insurance on the property as long as there's a lien on the property. Flood insurance is really expensive.

[Tomas]

Does anybody have a riverfront property? Do you have positive/negative experience with it?

(I am not concerned about flood risks - the river would never reach the house - but with things like mosquitoes or any other "bad" features of river living. I have never considered living next to a river, so I have no clue about what those bad features could be... )

I would take a look at the flood plane. If the structure crosses the flood plane, the bank is going to require you have flood insurance on the property as long as there's a lien on the property. Flood insurance is really expensive.

OK, this is interesting. The house sits on a relatively narrow nearly 1 acre lot. The house is at the front (street level), the river at the back. The lot slopes down. The seller's agent said that during the very "worst flood" in 2015:

"There was just some debris pushed up against the iron fence in the back and a bit of shallow standing water in the very back (that only came a few feet into the yard). Other than that, in 2 ½ years, it has never again made it into the yard. The river has risen but there’s a significant height difference and it’s never again gotten up to the fence. They do not have flood insurance. "

When you say "structure" do you mean "property" or "house"? In other words, should I be concerned about the insurance? (The sellers disclosure says "The very back of the lot is in the floodplain. The house is not."

[Troy Loney]

I mean the house.

But that’s good news for you. There is still a chance that when the bank runs the determination it comes back positive so they tell you to get flood insurance. But that’s only cause it’s automated and the determination is going to come back flood positive as long as any of the parcel is in the flood plane, but if the structure is out of the zone, there isn’t the mandatory requirement, so in that case it would only be the lender requiring for safety and soundness reasons. If they still require it, I would go to another lender.

[Willie Kool]

Does anybody have a riverfront property?

[mac5155]

Black flies (gnats) are a big problem here unless the DEP sprays insecticides, which they do occasionally. And we are about a mile from the river the way the crow flies.

[shafnutz05]

Black flies (gnats) are a big problem here unless the DEP sprays insecticides, which they do occasionally. And we are about a mile from the river the way the crow flies.

This would be my biggest concern living near the river (or any body of water for that matter). Any pools of stagnant water will make your life a living hell

[DigitalGypsy66]

Finally got rid of PMI today, after an appraisal showed we have enough equity in the house. Gained only $10K in value since the last appraisal when we refinanced about eight years ago.

The square footage between the two appraisals is different. Is this something I should be concerned about? It’s only off by 25 feet or so.

[NTP66]

The square footage between the two appraisals is different. Is this something I should be concerned about? It’s only off by 25 feet or so.

I wouldn’t be. Of my three appraisals, every single one showed a different square footage (all within 20-25sf or so).

[dodint]

I'm thinking about selling the Allison Park house and moving to the Latrobe house. The commute goes back to being murder but I get to dump my mortgage. Three days a week on the bus for $1,500/mo cash is starting to feel like it might be worth it. I have some time to think about it but if we decided to do this we'd like to have the house on the market by May.

[Silentom]

[dodint]

That makes it easier, thank you.

The only things I think I'd miss is hockey and being so close to PittRace. I could still play hockey after work and even if I get more active at PittRace (I go up there 6-8 times a year) that's not worth living here for, I think.

[Silentom]

I will assume my rightful position as mayor.

[robbiestoupe]

I will assume my rightful position as mayor.

A silent mayor, that'll be the day. You can start by sweeping the floor.

[dodint]

[Morkle]

Do you pay double mortgages now? I might have missed it, but why two houses?