House Buying Thread

Postby **dodint** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:31 am

Mortgage on the AP house; inherited the Latrobe house a few months ago. It's the wife's childhood home. Smaller footprint than our house but it's on a nice piece of property that borders Twin Lakes Park.

Postby **Morkle** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:38 am

Ah nice, yea I'd dump the AP house if the inherited house has sentimental value.

Or I'd sell that one and invest it off in the AP one, I'd probably prefer to live there mortgage free, or a few short years mortgage free than Latrobe, but that's me knowing I'd hate the drive very much.

Postby **dodint** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:41 am

Yeah, I mean, ditching the Latrobe house doesn't really work as we had that option when administering the estate and we opted to hold onto it. The long term plan for it is for it to be our western PA base when we move away again. But we're toying with the idea of moving there now and ditching the mortgage while my wife is in school and unemployed.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:43 am

Plus, Allegheny County taxes vs. Westmoreland county taxes

Postby **Silentom** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:43 am

But, also, Latrobe.

Postby **Lemon Berry Lobster** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:45 am

It makes you two minutes closer to me. Sorry you can't move out to the Latrobe house.

Postby **dodint** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:49 am

It's in the country. The 'in Latrobe' thing is a zip code thing only. It's certainly in prettier country than Shaler and it's parade of burned out factories. Another consideration is that all of my family and all of her remaining family are in Latrobe as well so there is some utility in that.

There are times at home in AP where I need to go run errands and I just don't because Rt. 8 is such a **** show most of the day.

I did look at the bus schedule after I made my initial post; 85 minutes from Westmoreland Mall to the Federal Building and the last one leaves at 6:20am. Buh.

The nice thing is I can be happy either way. I suppose the worst case scenario is that we move to Latrobe and the AP house sits vacant on the market for years. That would chap my ass pretty good.

Postby **Lemon Berry Lobster** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:51 am

Make Om buy your house in AP.

Postby **dodint** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:52 am

Comes with all the deer you can eat, which is why I don't have any **** hostas.

Postby **MrKennethTKangaroo** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:56 am

is selling the twin lakes property an option? and then using the $$ (at least your portion of the cash since some of it goes to your bro in law) to pay down the AP mortgage?

Postby **Morkle** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 12:21 pm

I can't imagine you're gonna have an issue selling your house in AP if it's priced well. I think all of that makes sense, I just know the drive to Pittsburgh would get tiring after the first drive there. I drove 1hr+ each way to and from work, and there was no better day mentally then when the commute was under 20 minutes.

Now with traffic I'm around 35 minutes, and that's high, but I can live with it.

Postby **Silentom** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 12:28 pm

Make Om buy your house in AP.

My house is in the much more desirable township of Hampton, whilst still being AP. No thank you.

Comes with all the deer you can eat, which is why I don't have any **** hostas.

Same, and yes, they murder our Hostas'. We planted some new ones in our front flower bed (literally is against the front porch) a few months back, and the murdered them that same night. They give zero fûçks about the proximity to us.

Postby **dodint** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 12:31 pm

Yeah. I told my wife in no uncertain terms that this wasn't a permanent course of action, just something to make life easier for us while we're finishing our school programs. As it is I live less than 10 miles from work and it still takes 45 minutes to get home. Other than getting an apartment downtown I don't see any way of having a 'good' commute in Pittsburgh.

I work downtown three days a week. But that's not accounting for the month I go to my secondary site (St. Paul), and my monthly local site visits and then days that I take normal leave. Altogether I probably only visit my real office 2 times a week on average over a year. When I was living in Greensburg I was going downtown 5 days a week and it was an absolute slog.

Postby **Lemon Berry Lobster** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 12:41 pm

Make Om buy your house in AP.
My house is in the much more desirable township of Hampton, whilst still being AP. No thank you.

K. Buy it and give it to me.

Postby **Silentom** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 12:43 pm

Make Om buy your house in AP.
My house is in the much more desirable township of Hampton, whilst still being AP. No thank you.

K. Buy it and give it to me.

Again, I say no thank you. Once I've finished updating our house, I stand to make a sizeable profit, should we ever move.

Postby **dodint** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 12:44 pm

My street has a lot of turnover. Right now there are 2-3 houses for sale that I know of and there always seems to be at least 1-2 to choose from. Should be pretty easy to price the thing, I guess.

Postby **mac5155** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 2:18 pm

It's in the country. The 'in Latrobe' thing is a zip code thing only. It's certainly in prettier country than Shaler and it's parade of burned out factories. Another consideration is that all of my family and all of her remaining family are in Latrobe as well so there is some utility in that.

There are times at home in AP where I need to go run errands and I just don't because Rt. 8 is such a **** show most of the day.

I did look at the bus schedule after I made my initial post; 85 minutes from Westmoreland Mall to the Federal Building and the last one leaves at 6:20am. Buh.

The nice thing is I can be happy either way. I suppose the worst case scenario is that we move to Latrobe and the AP house sits vacant on the market for years. That would chap my ass pretty good.

I was gonna say, Twin Lakes is hardly Latrobe.

My brother used to catch the bus @ Kohls in Irwin. It's a slightly longer jet down route 30, but would cut the bus ride time in half-ish

Postby **dodint** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 2:26 pm

My brother used to catch the bus @ Kohls in Irwin. It's a slightly longer jet down route 30, but would cut the bus ride time in half-ish

Yeah, the big park and ride for the 1F is the Sheetz in North Huntington. It's a huge parking lot behind there and it's full up.

I'd be more likely to use the one in Greensburg at Pittsburgh St/Highland Ave. It's closer and you can get your seat and fall asleep before the bus picks up the hoard at Sheetz. It's also on the 1F so it has later pick-ups, the 2F is the one that picks up at Westmoreland Mall.

Postby **mac5155** » Wed Sep 26, 2018 9:34 pm

It's now been 6 months since we received our occupancy permit for our new home. And we still haven't been reassessed for property taxes. And at this point, i'm too afraid to ask.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Thu Sep 27, 2018 9:05 am

It's now been 6 months since we received our occupancy permit for our new home. And we still haven't been reassessed for property taxes. And at this point, i'm too afraid to ask.

It'll come when you least expect it

Postby **CBear3** » Thu Sep 27, 2018 9:08 am

Yep, I got a $3k check from the mortgage company after 9 months of occupancy, and then 5 months later a notice from the county reassessing and asking for that $3k.

Postby **mac5155** » Thu Sep 27, 2018 1:37 pm

I have the money set aside for a year's worth of taxes, and have some taken out of my paycheck each month too, since my mortgage bank doesn't escrow.

Postby **tifosi77** » Mon Dec 17, 2018 3:37 pm

The long 5AF nightmare of me not in the housing market has reached its end. After 836 days, it is at last official that we are moving back to Los Angeles.

I shall bring a renewed level of moaning to this thread once the timeline is set, but my understanding is that it will likely be sooner rather than later.

Let the games begin

Postby **count2infinity** » Mon Dec 17, 2018 3:52 pm

Central PA is looking pretty nice now, isn't it?

Postby **nocera** » Mon Dec 17, 2018 3:59 pm

The long 5AF nightmare of me not in the housing market has reached its end. After 836 days, it is at last official that we are moving back to Los Angeles.

I shall bring a renewed level of moaning to this thread once the timeline is set, but my understanding is that it will likely be sooner rather than later.

Let the games begin

Where in LA are you going to settle?