I had forgotten how much house hunting sucks.

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  • Bigtanker

    Cuddles
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    24   0   0
    Aug 21, 2012
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    Osceola
    We saw a property pop up yesterday, about noon, that I called my realtor about. We got an appointment for today at 11AM. They got so many offers by 8PM last night, that the SELLER'S realtor cancelled our viewing today. My wife and I LOL'd, and I cancelled my leave. At least I didn't waste any leave over it.
    Well we looked at house #6 yesterday, liked it and made an offer. Just got the call we got it.
     

    dudley0

    Nobody Important
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    Mar 19, 2010
    3,725
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    Grant County
    Well we looked at house #6 yesterday, liked it and made an offer. Just got the call we got it.
    Congrats. Hope all works out well on the deal.

    I called about a little crap place in a small town by me. I figured it was worth maybe in the 30's before so maybe 50 now. They want 96 for it. Asked the realtor if 1/3 asking was a bit low... ha ha.
     
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    SnoopLoggyDog

    I'm a Citizen, not a subject
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    Feb 16, 2009
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    Warsaw
    Next year, we plan on moving from Greentown towards the Warsaw or North Webster area. Already have a potential buyer for our house. I am not looking forward to serious house hunting.
     

    Bigtanker

    Cuddles
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    Congrats. Hope all works out well on the deal.

    I called about a little crap place in a small town by me. I figured it was worth maybe in the 30's before so maybe 50 now. They want 96 for it. Asked the realtor if 1/3 asking was a bit low... ha ha.
    Yeah. Some of the listings are a complete joke. But there are deals to be had. I feel God really blessed us with this one. We got it at a REALLY good price too.
     

    Sigblaster

    Soon...
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    Apr 2, 2008
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    Next year, we plan on moving from Greentown towards the Warsaw or North Webster area. Already have a potential buyer for our house. I am not looking forward to serious house hunting.
    Caution: Thread resurrection in progress!

    How is Greentown to live in? We were actually looking at a house there a while ago, but it wasn't ideal, and someone else bought it.
     

    Sigblaster

    Soon...
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    Yeah. Some of the listings are a complete joke. But there are deals to be had. I feel God really blessed us with this one. We got it at a REALLY good price too.
    Are you happy in your new home? I hope so. :)

    I agree that some of the listings are a complete joke. I walk through some, and it's not even about what the owners have done. It's about what the people who designed it and built it did. Ridiculous stuff like putting a toilet in the laundry room that is between the garage and the kitchen. Tryna squeeze out a grogan and there's two unlockable doors in the room? "Get out, I'm coiling up a rope here!" "Just let me put this load of towels in the washer." Or, "Shut the door, I'm drowning a snake!" "I gotta get these groceries in before the ice cream melts." "I'm metling chocolate right now! GTFO!"

    When you put a crappy addition on your house without heat or cooling, don't call it a sunroom. It's a poorly-built porch. And if you're going to install a cheap porch on the back of your house, at least remove the siding so you don't have a wall of siding in your "sun room".

    And why on earth would the master bedroom be tiny, like 9x9, when the other 3 bedrooms in the house are 2-3 feet larger or more on each side? Master bedroom 9x9, 2nd bedroom 10x13, 3rd bedroom 12x15, 4th bedroom 12x18. Who designed this house? Why didn't the builder punch him in the mouth and tell him to fix it?

    Ugh, I'm done. For now...:xmad:
     
    Last edited:

    dmarsh8

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    Sep 10, 2011
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    Katmandu
    OP. Talk to people you know. Drive around and around often to find places that look empty, but aren't trashed.
    We sold in 2020 because it was too good not to and we had a place to stay.
    The first house we were supposed to buy was actually right across the street. Lady died almost a year prior. Her son (in his 60's)
    said he needed to go through all her personal belongings and he would get with us. He let me come in and scope it out and take pics. That was a few months before we sold and his mom has now been dead over 2 years and he still has done very little. Fast forward to March of this year. We talk to a neighbor of my wife's parents and my wife also messages someone that she thinks may know the family of another deceased person(empty house) of nearly a year. I don't know why people let good houses sit empty that long, but anyway..
    We finally get in contact with the oldest surviving kid and set up a time to meet. He is also slow as steam off a dog turd because we are just now about to sign a purchase agreement!!! No estate/trust was established. Not even POA!! Crazy!
    So, the lawyer is done with his part finally, and we will be proceeding. It's also a very good deal because they just want to get it
    done and move on. Buying for assessed price and even in a bad market it will make 20-30k because of the size and location with a full basement. Moral of the story, like many things, think outside the box. My:twocents:
     

    Sigblaster

    Soon...
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    Apr 2, 2008
    1,208
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    OP. Talk to people you know. Drive around and around often to find places that look empty, but aren't trashed.
    We sold in 2020 because it was too good not to and we had a place to stay.
    The first house we were supposed to buy was actually right across the street. Lady died almost a year prior. Her son (in his 60's)
    said he needed to go through all her personal belongings and he would get with us. He let me come in and scope it out and take pics. That was a few months before we sold and his mom has now been dead over 2 years and he still has done very little. Fast forward to March of this year. We talk to a neighbor of my wife's parents and my wife also messages someone that she thinks may know the family of another deceased person(empty house) of nearly a year. I don't know why people let good houses sit empty that long, but anyway..
    We finally get in contact with the oldest surviving kid and set up a time to meet. He is also slow as steam off a dog turd because we are just now about to sign a purchase agreement!!! No estate/trust was established. Not even POA!! Crazy!
    So, the lawyer is done with his part finally, and we will be proceeding. It's also a very good deal because they just want to get it
    done and move on. Buying for assessed price and even in a bad market it will make 20-30k because of the size and location with a full basement. Moral of the story, like many things, think outside the box. My:twocents:
    I'm happy it worked out for you, but it's not so easy for us as my wife and I are transplants from other states, and we really don't have any access to word-of-mouth homes. We drive around this state a lot, but we don't see any hidden gems out there. We're pretty much relying on what gets posted to realty sites.

    I really can't explain to you how much I love this state, and how much it feels like home. I've lived in several states, and traveled through many states, but I've never felt the way about any state the way I feel when I'm traveling, and getting close to my house, and I pass a sign on the highway that says "Welcome to Indiana". It feels right. It feels safe. It feels like I belong here.
     

    Bigtanker

    Cuddles
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    24   0   0
    Aug 21, 2012
    21,688
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    Osceola
    Are you happy in your new home? I hope so.
    :)

    We close on Thursday the 16th. It was built in 1972 and the original owner, (the wife was 90 And the husband passed away last December) lived in it the whole time. It needs just about all the surfaces updated but besides that it's a really solid house. Over 2,000 square feet, not including the full basement, 5 bedrooms & 2.5 baths.

    We are moving out of an 800 square foot three bedroom one bath house on a slab. We're moving off a very busy road into a quiet subdivision. So I really don't see it downside to it.
     

    drillsgt

    Grandmaster
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    108   0   0
    Nov 29, 2009
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    Sioux Falls, SD
    We close on Thursday the 16th. It was built in 1972 and the original owner, (the wife was 90 And the husband passed away last December) lived in it the whole time. It needs just about all the surfaces updated but besides that it's a really solid house. Over 2,000 square feet, not including the full basement, 5 bedrooms & 2.5 baths.

    We are moving out of an 800 square foot three bedroom one bath house on a slab. We're moving off a very busy road into a quiet subdivision. So I really don't see it downside to it.
    Sounds like it worked out for you. I miss having a basement, in MI it seems unusual for a house not to have one but down here it seems pretty common not to, especially in the new neighborhoods where they want to charge a crazy premium to put one in.
     

    dudley0

    Nobody Important
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    And why on earth would the master bedroom be tiny, like 9x9, when the other 3 bedrooms in the house are 2-3 feet larger or more on each side? Master bedroom 9x9, 2nd bedroom 10x13, 3rd bedroom 12x15, 4th bedroom 12x18. Who designed this house? Why didn't the builder punch him in the mouth and tell him to fix it?

    Ugh, I'm done. For now...:xmad:
    My current house was exactly like that. Master was 9x8 with a half bath attached.

    I was fortunate enough to buy at a great deal and a few years back. Complete remodel doesn't cover it. Only thing that is the same are the four exterior walls. Put an addition on as well and the wife is happy as can be. Her friends refer to it as a magazine house.

    I am happy it is done. I still have all the landscaping to do, but I own it outright. When we finally decide to really downsize I can make bank on the place.

    Don't give up, just have patience.
     

    HoughMade

    Grandmaster
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    0   0   0
    Oct 24, 2012
    35,612
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    Valparaiso
    I last bought a house in 2014...and that is the last house.

    Our requirements were: 4 or more bedrooms, hopefully 3 or more baths, over 1 acre, rural (or rural-ish) and in central to west Porter County, 2500+ sq feet, no HOA. Over the course of a 3 or 4 month search, there were only about 4 houses that came up and were in our price range. That made the house-hunting pretty simple.

    I ended up with 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 2.5 acres and slightly more east in Porter County than I originally thought, 3,500 finished sq ft (then, recently finished basement adds about 800-900) and no HOA, but it has been great. Some day far in the future, I may even finish all of the fixing up we identified when we bought the house.
     

    dudley0

    Nobody Important
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    99   0   0
    Mar 19, 2010
    3,725
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    Grant County
    I last bought a house in 2014...and that is the last house.

    Our requirements were: 4 or more bedrooms, hopefully 3 or more baths, over 1 acre, rural (or rural-ish) and in central to west Porter County, 2500+ sq feet, no HOA. Over the course of a 3 or 4 month search, there were only about 4 houses that came up and were in our price range. That made the house-hunting pretty simple.

    I ended up with 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 2.5 acres and slightly more east in Porter County than I originally thought, 3,500 finished sq ft (then, recently finished basement adds about 800-900) and no HOA, but it has been great. Some day far in the future, I may even finish all of the fixing up we identified when we bought the house.
    This is exactly the reason that we couldn't move until the new place was 100%. Doing this for a living really made it tough to go home and work on the same thing.

    I am just lucky that she didn't include landscaping in the deal. I keep it mowed, but I really need to do a lot out there as well.
     

    bigretic

    Master
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    Jan 14, 2011
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    I think the market is softening up a bit on the upper end at least. The 300+ stuff is sitting, allowing offers below list. Sub 200 is still impossible. Been looking with the kid for a while for his first. Prices on 800sf stuff is nutso. 195k decent on the outside need total gut jobs on the inside. Anything livable under 200 sells fast still. MIL just sold a 400k list for 389 after a few weeks of showings.
     

    Tactically Fat

    Grandmaster
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    Oct 8, 2014
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    I think the market is softening up a bit on the upper end at least. The 300+ stuff is sitting, allowing offers below list. Sub 200 is still impossible. Been looking with the kid for a while for his first. Prices on 800sf stuff is nutso. 195k decent on the outside need total gut jobs on the inside. Anything livable under 200 sells fast still. MIL just sold a 400k list for 389 after a few weeks of showings.
    In my area of greater Indianapolis - it's the homes that are $400k + that sit longer; but only by a bit. The $300-400k range is still selling within a week.

    We had one house in our 'hood go pending at $650k the week it was listed, though. But that was a month ago and it still shows as pending. And a house in a neighboring 'hood listed at $450k also went pending within the same week.

    Another house in my 'hood, that's never had a real estate sign out front of it, shows that it's both A) for sale and B) pending at $315k for a 3/2.5 1840 sq ft house on just under .5 acre. And there haven't been any updates done to it since it was built in the 1978. Belay that - some of the flooring has been replaced with vinyl plank. Realtor.com says it's been on there 3 days.

    BUT - this particular house is ... strange. Strange people live there - seemingly strange pattern of long-term house-guests (probably adult kids). It's been on / off the market like 4 times in the last 4-5 years. No one's ever moved out.
     

    HoughMade

    Grandmaster
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    Oct 24, 2012
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    This is exactly the reason that we couldn't move until the new place was 100%. Doing this for a living really made it tough to go home and work on the same thing.

    I am just lucky that she didn't include landscaping in the deal. I keep it mowed, but I really need to do a lot out there as well.
    I get it. I look at my DIY stuff as a nice change of pace. If I did similar things all day long, I wouldn't want to do it at home. Same principle- ever noticed how many mechanics aren't car guys?
     
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    Bigtanker

    Cuddles
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    Aug 21, 2012
    21,688
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    Osceola
    I get it. I look at my DIY stuff as a nice change of pace. If I did similar things all day long, I wouldn't want to do it at home. Same principle- ever noticed how many mechanics aren't car guys?
    There is a joke somewhere about an OB-GYN and the same situation, but I can't recall it.
     
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