The housing market is nuts, with no signs of a change anytime soon due to how low the inventory is. We’re in a position where we aren’t desperate to move, but it would be really nice if we could given that it’s the right house. The main reason is to get into a different school district. Our current house is in a less desirable district, and because if that we use school of choice for our kids (8th grader and 2nd grader) to go to school in a neighboring district which is much better. The main difference when using school of choice is we have to drive our kids back and forth to school and can’t rely on them to just ride the bus like kids in district. In addition to getting in district, there’s a pretty specific area we’d like to move into so our kids can stay in the same Elementary/Middle/High School zoned area they’ve been in all their lives.

Beyond location, we just want a house that is at least as nice as our current crib.We have around 150k in equity in our current house. But there has been NOTHING popping up that meets our criteria. We’re willing to overpay too - based on the equity we have available, income, and the fact that we are looking for a house we’ll be in for at least 20 years.

Has anyone gone the new construction route? There are a couple new subdivisions with the right location and options to build the way we’d want. I get that it’s considered a bad time to do that now because of supply chain costs/delays and the delays in timing. But as I mentioned above, we aren’t desperate to move, so we don’t mind being patient waiting for the build time (builders are saying around 6 month build time - and if things get delayed for whatever reason the sales price is supposedly locked in when we place our deposit, so it’s just a time delay issue and not a cost impact beyond the rising interest rates.) But to that point, if we don’t mind being patient maybe we should just wait until the inventory situation improves and the right house is available on the market. But I just lean towards having it settled and not having to wait and still have to fight over getting our offer accepted…

The one thing we definitely aren’t going to do is list our house for sale and first and then try to find a house to buy (even though that’s what our realtor recommended.) The inventory is just too low for our location and we don’t want to end up homeless for an interim period, or trying to find a temporary apartment for a family of four with both by wife and I needing office space to work from home. We should be financially able to buy first and then sell our house, and do a recast to take proceeds from the sale of our house to pay down the principal on the new house.

In hindsight, I would’ve gone hard to get one of the first houses I saw. I thought, “Let me see what else is available before I fall in love with the first thing I see.”, which is turning out to be super stupid. Those first 2 were $99K and $110K, and the most recent 2 in that same subdivision were $180K and $200K.

I got close to getting one, got all the way to inspection, and there was a fucking hole in the attic where you could see clear to the outside. The seller was some “investor” from out of town who wouldn’t fix anything. I saw that house go “Pending” and “Back on the market” on Zillow and Redfin literally 10 times after I backed out.

I’m trying to go through the NACA process now, which is its own shitshow.

____________
Twitter & IG: @rulerofmyself
SC: rulerofmyself17

Yes! She's on the drugs. (c) BoHagon

even looking in other parts of Charlotte the numbers are stupid high right now.

We have 8 years left on this house so we will prolly chill or add onto this house.

We are looking at more property but for investment. May actually buy something on the coast in South Carolina.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

but everything is more expensive than our current too-big new construction house was 10 years ago.

>

But the inventory is terrible. Seems like as soon as I find something and hit send on the text, the shit is gone. What makes it more challenging is the Mr. is only interested in ONE zip code/neighborhood so our options are even more limited.

it better be well over asking, I'm sure.

We might have to stay where we are way longer than we had anticipated.

“So back we go to these questions — friendship, character… ethics.”

that is zoned not only for the school district our kids are in, but the same schools. It's an area with PLENTY of neighborhoods with great houses but there's just nothing on the market, which is the reason why we're considering doing a new construction.

New construction isn't really an option for us where we live and definitely not something the Mr. will entertain. But there's a lot of developer flips on the market... we're trying to avoid those but might not be able to.

didn't close on anything until October of 2021. I'm in Baltimore.

I had an Akeelah ass list when I started and then slowly had to get rid of shit on it just so I could find something.

If I had it my way, I'd be out in Baltimore County paying 230 for 3 beds, 2 baths and a finished basement. Pre covid I could find a house in the county for that range. If I wanted to live in the city, I could find that for less than 200.

The way it wound up was me living in a good part of the city paying 230 for 3 beds, 2.5 baths and a finished basement. I wasn't tryna pay 300+ just to live in a old ass house in the county so I was priced out. My pops paid 280 for a house in an expensive part of the county like a year before COVID. Shit's worth 420 now.

From January up until I closed I was getting outbid by like 40k or more, some straight up cash. Only reason I'm in the house I'm in now because the person that outbid me got cold feet.

Seen probably 40 houses, the only one we loved we put a bid in and lost. But most of the houses we’ve seen aren’t that nice. They are overpriced and they still get sold within a few days.

“So back we go to these questions — friendship, character… ethics.”

The amount of money my condo appreciated is enormous, but it's still not nearly enough to buy another place.

And buying at a higher cost will impact my property takes a lot too.

I'm stuck here until the next dip.

https://www.redfin.com/city/16904/CA/San-Diego/housing-market#demand

------------


Gone: My Discogs collection for The Roots:
http://www.discogs.com/user/tomhayes-roots/collection

We've been getting so many unsolicited offers on our house it's crazy. We built this house right around when the market crashed 13 years ago and was the only house on our street for almost 5 years till the market started picking up again. In our little town in Georgia it's a big movie/tv show filming area and we live close to the main square area. We're getting offers for 2.5X what we paid for the house. The only problem is everything we like is higher than or around that amount right now even way out in the country.

from selling my current home. Was trying to wait around for the market to loosen up here in metro Atlanta, but I think these prices are going to hold. I think the days are over for "affordable " houses here.

We waited at first because it felt like a bubble, but at this point the prices are legitimately the value based on supply and demand. Even if the supply starts to catch up, the demand is gonna stay high because of so many people who’ve wanted to buy but couldn’t. Even with interest rates rising. On top of that some of the supply chain issues are long term and won’t be resolved for years.

All that being said, because of this we don’t mind “overpaying” for this compared to what we would have paid 2-3 years ago, because long term the value is going to be there and we plan on staying in our next house 20+ years.

I'm like what's the point of us moving if I'm going to a new home to pay as much or more than I make off the sale of the old home?

Looked at close to 30 homes and put in 6 offers that were all rejected.

7th offer was accepted in April 2021.

I wanted to put an offer in the first house we saw and the realtor and wife were like, “no plenty of time, don’t fall in love with the first house.” Well we ended up buying in that same neighborhood, a house with the same square footage and 3/2 floor plan but ended up paying $70k more in April than we would have if we bought it in October.

House hunting was ridiculously stressful. We would have started earlier but we were pregnant and had baby number 2 in June 2020, between the pandemic and pregnancy we didn’t think it would be a good time to buy.

The house has gained about $170k in equity and I can say I live in a million dollar house, on paper. We plan on being in this house for 20 years.

I know that's getting close to a year ago now, but it was pretty much peak market and buyer pool. We did very well. It was a great time for us to get rid of it before major things started to happen. Did put some money into residing and reroofing it before going on the market, it was worth it. Fortunately we're perfectly happy living in our current home because there's no way we could have bought the house we live in for what we're paying for it. I feel for those in the buying market right now.

We saw a house last Friday. Nice old house, great location but needed a significant amount of work, priced way too high. Like over 100,000 too high. It was priced like all the work that needs to be done is already done. So we decided to just keep an eye on it. This morning we learned they received an offer. Whoever the buyer is going to have refinish the floors, take down wall paper, rip up carpets, paint the inside and outside of the house, and maybe fix the roof. That’s a lot of money.

“So back we go to these questions — friendship, character… ethics.”

She was like, “You should just change your search and find a single family home.” I’m like, those ones in my price range are what’s being flipped. I’m only approved for so much, without having to pay double what I got the house for for renovations.

____________
Twitter & IG: @rulerofmyself
SC: rulerofmyself17

Yes! She's on the drugs. (c) BoHagon

>Whoever the buyer is going to have refinish the floors,
>take down wall paper, rip up carpets, paint the inside and
>outside of the house, and maybe fix the roof. That’s a lot
>of money.

How you have the CASH money to bid over ask then renovate? I check prices from time to time, but I fear a couple of factors in the housing market, including money from institutional investors, might have fucked up the game somewhat permanently.

In a generation of swine, the one-eyed pig is king.
-Hunter S. Thompson

>We saw a house last Friday. Nice old house, great location
>but needed a significant amount of work, priced way too high.
>Like over 100,000 too high. It was priced like all the work
>that needs to be done is already done. So we decided to just
>keep an eye on it. This morning we learned they received an
>offer. Whoever the buyer is going to have refinish the floors,
>take down wall paper, rip up carpets, paint the inside and
>outside of the house, and maybe fix the roof. That’s a lot
>of money.

are not buying these houses for housing. probably what's happening in this case, just another flip.

--------

With us looking in a very specific area there is NOTHING available. Even looking at recent sales, there's been maybe 1 or 2 houses that sold in the last 6 months that somewhat meet our criteria. So if something DOES come available we'd be making an offer fighting against dozens of other families in the same position, way overpaying for a house that we'd still need to do a ton of work on to make it fit our needs.

New construction can also be stressful, but at least then we're building it how we want it. We can get the pricing locked in with a deposit. If there are timeline delays, no rush we'd still be able to sell our house just fine. And for me and my wife, we'd have more peace of mind waiting for our house to be built than we would trying to look at existing homes that "sort of" fit and having to fight to get an offer accepted...

We bought in the end of 2019. We specifically wanted to be close to downtown & in a diverse neighborhood. We were able to find a great option and jumped on it. The neighborhood was already hot and we were lucky to be able to find something.

Now, we're apparently in one of the most overvalued cities but that's not stopping people (most of whom are rich & white) from buying stuff up. They're tearing down older houses and building newer, more expensive ones in their place. The gentrification has rapidly increased its pace.

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/price-of-paradise/lakeland-tampa-top-list-for-most-overvalued-housing-markets

The value of our house has soared. We could sell but we probably wouldn't be able to afford anything else in this neighborhood now. We could find something bigger & newer out in the suburbs but we absolutely don't wanna move out there.

So we're content right now. We like the area, it's convenient and has a lot to do. We'll just stay put.

I'm trying to purchase a house in NJ, but it's absurd ...2.48%.

...while the national average is 1.04%, and in NYC I only pay .87% property tax on an apartment.

>The housing markeis nuts, with no signs of a change anytime
>soon due to how low the inventory is. We’re in a position
>where we aren’t desperate to move, but it would be really
>nice if we could given that it’s the right house. The main
>reason is to get into a different school district. Our current
>house is in a less desirable district, and because if that we
>use school of choice for our kids (8th grader and 2nd grader)
>to go to school in a neighboring district which is much
>better. The main difference when using school of choice is we
>have to drive our kids back and forth to school and can’t
>rely on them to just ride the bus like kids in district. In
>addition to getting in district, there’s a pretty specific
>area we’d like to move into so our kids can stay in the same
>Elementary/Middle/High School zoned area they’ve been in all
>their lives.
>
>Beyond location, we just want a house that is at least as nice
>as our current crib.We have around 150k in equity in our
>current house. But there has been NOTHING popping up that
>meets our criteria. We’re willing to overpay too - based on
>the equity we have available, income, and the fact that we are
>looking for a house we’ll be in for at least 20 years.
>
>Has anyone gone the new construction route? There are a couple
>new subdivisions with the right location and options to build
>the way we’d want. I get that it’s considered a bad time
>to do that now because of supply chain costs/delays and the
>delays in timing. But as I mentioned above, we aren’t
>desperate to move, so we don’t mind being patient waiting
>for the build time (builders are saying around 6 month build
>time - and if things get delayed for whatever reason the
>sales price is supposedly locked in when we place our deposit,
>so it’s just a time delay issue and not a cost impact beyond
>the rising interest rates.) But to that point, if we don’t
>mind being patient maybe we should just wait until the
>inventory situation improves and the right house is available
>on the market. But I just lean towards having it settled and
>not having to wait and still have to fight over getting our
>offer accepted…
>
>The one thing we definitely aren’t going to do is list our
>house for sale and first and then try to find a house to buy
>(even though that’s what our realtor recommended.) The
>inventory is just too low for our location and we don’t want
>to end up homeless for an interim period, or trying to find a
>temporary apartment for a family of four with both by wife and
>I needing office space to work from home. We should be
>financially able to buy first and then sell our house, and do
>a recast to take proceeds from the sale of our house to pay
>down the principal on the new house.

-------------------
I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

Just looked it up. Florida's average is .98%. Hillsborough County is 1.02%.

>
> Just looked it up. Florida's average is .98%. Hillsborough
>County is 1.02%.

-------------------
I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

Our property taxes are confusing...the county rate is 1.76%, but every city/twp has their own millage rate which makes that vary quite a bit. We are currently in Superior Twp, less than one mile from Canton which is in Wayne County where the rate is 2.55%. But even within Washtenaw County, property taxes in Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, and Ypsi Township are way higher than they are in Superior Twp, Saline, and Pittsfield Twp.

That's actually part of the issue in my original post. Our kids have always been school of choice for Ann Arbor Public Schools because we used to live there (and my mom is a retired teacher from AAPS, my dad a retired firefighter from AAFD). Ain't no way I'm sending my kids to Ypsilanti Schools. I went to Willow Run before it closed and was fine, but once school of choice hit, Willow Run and Ypsi went DOWN. Ann Arbor proper has really high taxes, but Pittsfield Twp has some nice neighborhoods with big houses and are zoned for AAPS - even the same Elementary/Middle/High School that our kids are already in. So we have a small area where we are looking.

My parents moved from Lahsell / Fenkel area (Brightmoor what up cgonz) to Canton...7520 Briargate Court haha (Lyndon Village). Then they moved to Troy / Rochester Hills when I was in 8th grade (and I was furious with them)

I went to Pioneer Middle school, how are Canton schools rated nowadays?


>Our property taxes are confusing...the county rate is 1.76%,
>but every city/twp has their own millage rate which makes that
>vary quite a bit. We are currently in Superior Twp, less than
>one mile from Canton which is in Wayne County where the rate
>is 2.55%. But even within Washtenaw County, property taxes in
>Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, and Ypsi Township are way higher than
>they are in Superior Twp, Saline, and Pittsfield Twp.
>

2.5?? WTF? I dont understand the variation between county lines at all, how is this even determined when its literally a matter of a few hundred feet between borders?


>That's actually part of the issue in my original post. Our
>kids have always been school of choice for Ann Arbor Public
>Schools because we used to live there (and my mom is a retired
>teacher from AAPS, my dad a retired firefighter from AAFD).
>Ain't no way I'm sending my kids to Ypsilanti Schools. I went
>to Willow Run before it closed and was fine, but once school
>of choice hit, Willow Run and Ypsi went DOWN. Ann Arbor proper
>has really high taxes, but Pittsfield Twp has some nice
>neighborhoods with big houses and are zoned for AAPS - even
>the same Elementary/Middle/High School that our kids are
>already in. So we have a small area where we are looking.

My parents wanted to move to Pittsfield when I was in middle school but they didnt have the funds so it never went through. That area was SO rural back then, I cant imagine how developed it is now.

When people tell me that Ford road in Canton is 5 lanes wide and impossible to make a left onto, I just cant fathom it. Lol it was such a sleepy town growing up, but still very diverse.

-------------------
I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

>My parents moved from Lahsell / Fenkel area (Brightmoor what
>up cgonz) to Canton...7520 Briargate Court haha (Lyndon
>Village). Then they moved to Troy / Rochester Hills when I was
>in 8th grade (and I was furious with them)
>
>I went to Pioneer Middle school, how are Canton schools rated
>nowadays?

We looked in that exact neighborhood. REALLY nice houses. When they do hit the market it's typically in the 700-800k range. Plymouth-Canton Schools are VERY good, typically rated higher than Ann Arbor even. But at the end of the day we are so connected to Ann Arbor, and like your experience of moving we don't want to do that to our oldest (he's in 8th grade, headed to Huron High School next year, on the autism spectrum but doing VERY well in school - all A's and on the 8th grade hoop team. It would be devastating for him to switch schools.)


>2.5?? WTF? I dont understand the variation between county
>lines at all, how is this even determined when its literally a
>matter of a few hundred feet between borders?

Exactly. We live in a sub off Geddes and Ridge, with Ridge as the border between Washtenaw and Wayne counties, and MUCH higher taxes. Literally a few hundred feet away.

>My parents wanted to move to Pittsfield when I was in middle
>school but they didnt have the funds so it never went through.
>That area was SO rural back then, I cant imagine how developed
>it is now.
>
>When people tell me that Ford road in Canton is 5 lanes wide
>and impossible to make a left onto, I just cant fathom it. Lol
>it was such a sleepy town growing up, but still very diverse.

Canton is such a typical example of suburban sprawl over the last 20-25 years or so. There are so many new, nice subdivisions that have popped up along Beck from Canton through Plymouth and Northville, over to Denton, and east towards Canton Center, and all the upper middle class folks moving in there are why the school system is well-funded, and why areas along Ford Road are BOOMING with so much retail like you mentioned.

All this being said, still WAY cheaper to get a nice crib here than in NY/NJ where you are now...

I think when they sold their house and moved to NJ (after I left for undergrad) for 400k lol, (that was during the housing collapse, I cant remember the year early 2000s)

and I have nothing but fond memories of 48187. I really want to go back and visit, the last time I went back to Michigan / TOSU campus was in 2008 for The Game. Ever since they moved it to Thanksgiving weekend, it's been impossible for me to attend which sucks because I only watch about 3 games a year now besides that one (I'm not wasting my Saturday afternoons watching us beat up on Akron and Minnesota lol)


>We looked in that exact neighborhood. REALLY nice houses. When
>they do hit the market it's typically in the 700-800k range.
>Plymouth-Canton Schools are VERY good, typically rated higher
>than Ann Arbor even. But at the end of the day we are so
>connected to Ann Arbor, and like your experience of moving we
>don't want to do that to our oldest (he's in 8th grade, headed
>to Huron High School next year, on the autism spectrum but
>doing VERY well in school - all A's and on the 8th grade hoop
>team. It would be devastating for him to switch schools.)

That's awesome your son getting buckets and grades. I hope he gets into michigan or Stanford.

Plymouth Canton - Plymouth Salem (my brother went there for 2 years and he called it 'PCP' bc of how fast things moved. Country Day was easier for him) was a monster of a high school when I was in middle school. I heard they added a third high school and now its like a damn JuCo. I would HATE going to a huge ass high school like that.

I remember Huron, I took the MEAPS there lmao (memory lane). thats a good size HS.

>Exactly. We live in a sub off Geddes and Ridge, with Ridge as
>the border between Washtenaw and Wayne counties, and MUCH
>higher taxes. Literally a few hundred feet away.

What is the most expensive suburb in that area nowadays? It was Novi and Northville for me when I was growing up,

(I was blown away once we moved to Troy/Roc and saw houses in WBfield Hills though lol. We moved into a much smaller house bc the costs there but now we were surrounded by our friends and family so I didn't care)

>Canton is such a typical example of suburban sprawl over the
>last 20-25 years or so. There are so many new, nice
>subdivisions that have popped up along Beck from Canton
>through Plymouth and Northville, over to Denton, and east
>towards Canton Center, and all the upper middle class folks
>moving in there are why the school system is well-funded, and
>why areas along Ford Road are BOOMING with so much retail like
>you mentioned.

I have to see this for myself, lol. or maybe Google earth it.

>All this being said, still WAY cheaper to get a nice crib here
>than in NY/NJ where you are now...

I don't have any friends or family left in Michigan (they all moved to Chicago/Seattle/Austin/NJ/NYC)

I work in Finance / Pharma / FDA regulatory stuff and NYC & Central NJ (pharma hub, where I'm looking for a house) and Washington DC are where I spend most of my time - and pretty much my only options, until retirement (8-10 years Inshallah)

-------------------
I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

>That's awesome your son getting buckets and grades. I hope he
>gets into michigan or Stanford.

lol we JUST met with his counselor for his high school transition, in which he'd filled out a questionnaire about goals after high school, and he'd listed Michigan and Stanford because of me and his cousin.

>I heard they added a third high
>school and now its like a damn JuCo. I would HATE going to a
>huge ass high school like that.

Yep - three high schools all on one big campus (Plymouth HS, Salem HS, and Canton HS) and kids have classes across all three separate buildings having to walk all over the place.

>What is the most expensive suburb in that area nowadays? It was Novi and Northville for me when I was growing up,

Probably still the same, it's just EVERYTHING is more expensive than it used to be. Even Belleville is more expensive. If you start on Beck Road and go up from Belleville, to Canton, to Plymouth, to Northville, then Novi ending at 96 around 12 Oaks Mall, houses just get more and more expensive. It's still that weird suburban thing though - you'll have a sub of full custom houses going for 1.5 million but then the next block over you'll have some cheap apartments. So it isn't like Those Bloomfield Hills/West Bloomfield type areas where EVERYONE is rich.

Moved here 5 years ago from Ohio. My wife and I at first bought a house in Ypsi Twp and a couple years back the property taxes and housing market started to boom. (I think alot of it had to do with all the expansion happening over at Willow Run.)

We sold our house within a couple of days at a great profit and decided to rent until we could find something we wanted to buy. It's now been 2 years and there's literally nothing great for sale. Every time we manage to find a home we like there's a crazy bidding war going on in Ann Arbor (where we would like to move to). I wish the market would cool down just a little bit.

Our current house is in Superior Township, off the border of Canton (Ridge Road) and north of Ypsilanti. I'm born and raised in this area - went to Willow Run schools from K-12, then Michigan for college. Stayed in Ann Arbor and me and my wife's first house was a tiny one there. Moved to this current Superior Twp sub in 2015 where we are literally one sub over from the house I grew up in (wanted to get closer to my parents while our kids were little and they were helping babysit.) Our kids have stayed in the Ann Arbor Public School District this entire time with school of choice. We've always wanted to keep that consistent - my mom is a retired teacher from AAPS and is still well-known in the district, plus the schools are good. But with school of choice we have to drive both our kids back and forth to school which has gotten OLD.

To the point in my original post, we were looking for a VERY specific area within Pittsfield Township that is an Ann Arbor address, with Pittsfield Twp taxes and Ann Arbor schools. The sub where we are having out house built is perfect - in that area AND the same elementary/middle/high school zoning that our kids are already in. Plus a bigger house.

>Moved here 5 years ago from Ohio. My wife and I at first
>bought a house in Ypsi Twp and a couple years back the
>property taxes and housing market started to boom. (I think
>alot of it had to do with all the expansion happening over at
>Willow Run.)

Yeah - when I was a kid there was NOTHING out there in Ypsi Twp. And even when we moved in 2015 it was starting to boom but Lincoln Schools hadn't grown with the area yet. Now that's a much better school district than it used to be. School of choice has REALLY worsened the haves/have nots in Washtenaw County. (Which is why Willow Run is no longer a district, and even the combined Ypsi Consolidated schools which is a combo of the old Ypsi and Willow Run districts has less students than either used to have separately.) But Ypsi Twp is BOOMING right now.

>
>We sold our house within a couple of days at a great profit
>and decided to rent until we could find something we wanted to
>buy. It's now been 2 years and there's literally nothing great
>for sale. Every time we manage to find a home we like there's
>a crazy bidding war going on in Ann Arbor (where we would like
>to move to). I wish the market would cool down just a little
>bit.

Good call cashing in on that equity. We would have done the same in terms of renting during the interim if we hadn't found the perfect new construction for us. Good luck in the search...I'm just hoping the market stays up long enough for when we put our house up for sale late summer.

But this is a factor in determining whether or not to buy a house. In some areas the taxes are outrageous.

“So back we go to these questions — friendship, character… ethics.”

>But this is a factor in determining whether or not to buy a
>house. In some areas the taxes are outrageous.

I love Philly / surrounding areas, and the taxes arent bad at all. Even the cost of living is extremely reasonable for a large East Coast city.

-------------------
I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

most of it goes to whatever school district you are zoned in

there's no "state income tax", but they make it up with property taxes and tollways

--------

>there's no "state income tax", but they make it up with
>property taxes and tollways

do you have to pay to use every single freeway or just on I-45 etc?

-------------------
I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

like most things in Texas, the construction of tollways have been "privatized" in the Boardwalk Empire sense

I pay $40 a month, most of my commute route is public highway so the cost is more for my leisure trips (you can end up paying much more than that, however)

I remember the East Coast has a shit ton of tolls too though...

--------

it starts to add up.

>like most things in Texas, the construction of tollways have


>been "privatized" in the Boardwalk Empire sense
>
>I pay $40 a month, most of my commute route is public highway
>so the cost is more for my leisure trips (you can end up
>paying much more than that, however)
>
>I remember the East Coast has a shit ton of tolls too
>though...

-------------------
I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

i remember Jersey being high, but i did not think they used market value they use a lower assessed value.

I got discouraged after one weekend but I'll start back up in the spring

>i remember Jersey being high, but i did not think they used
>market value they use a lower assessed value.


usually in other states county and municipal governments impose local income taxes and sales taxes but NJ doesnt allow so they use property taxes to pay that shit, and apparently theres 638 school districts and over 500 different municipalties in NJ

-------------------
I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

Honestly makes me not want to buy a home here, especially with remote work being a thing now.

>Honestly makes me not want to buy a home here, especially
>with remote work being a thing now.

I get it, I didnt want to buy a place either bc I like the idea of being able to move around at the drop of a hat, but my mortgage is cheaper than the rent I was paying so it made financial sense

-------------------
I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

so I'm not in a rush, especially in this current market, but building equity through a home would be nice. My neighboring town has an incentive that essentially reduces property taxes by around 55% for the first 5 years of home ownership. It's not a bad idea to take advantage of the program those years and possibly even selling once that runs out, but it's limited to new construction only, and it's potentially another problem if you don't want to move and then have to start paying 100% of your property taxes.

comparatively speaking but, coming from the dc area which is absolutely
astronomical and now in georgia...night and day difference

>comparatively speaking but, coming from the dc area which is
>absolutely
> astronomical and now in georgia...night and day difference

-------------------
I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

in decent neighborhoods with "good" schools. Montgomery County, Maryland.
i pay like 1k.

Goddamn. I havent thought about this until I looked over the rates for each county and township.

https://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/pdf/lpt/gtr/2021taxrates.pdf

***********************************************************
https://soundcloud.com/swageyph/yph-die-with-me

>Goddamn. I havent thought about this until I looked over the
>rates for each county and township.
>
>https://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/pdf/lpt/gtr/2021taxrates.pdf

-------------------
I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

and Charlotte is 1.05%

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

>and Charlotte is 1.05%

I can see why now

-------------------
I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

small town called Southport.

No idea if the tax rates are higher there locally since its on the water but half the people are new and from OH/PA/NJ/NY

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

My guess is you arent looking in East Orange, but if you are...Boy do i have the house for you!


>I'm trying to purchase a house in NJ, but it's absurd
>...2.48%.
>
>...while the national average is 1.04%, and in NYC I only pay
>.87% property tax on an apartment.
>
>>The housing markeis nuts, with no signs of a change anytime
>>soon due to how low the inventory is. We’re in a position
>>where we aren’t desperate to move, but it would be really
>>nice if we could given that it’s the right house. The main
>>reason is to get into a different school district. Our
>current
>>house is in a less desirable district, and because if that
>we
>>use school of choice for our kids (8th grader and 2nd
>grader)
>>to go to school in a neighboring district which is much
>>better. The main difference when using school of choice is
>we
>>have to drive our kids back and forth to school and can’t
>>rely on them to just ride the bus like kids in district. In
>>addition to getting in district, there’s a pretty specific
>>area we’d like to move into so our kids can stay in the
>same
>>Elementary/Middle/High School zoned area they’ve been in
>all
>>their lives.
>>
>>Beyond location, we just want a house that is at least as
>nice
>>as our current crib.We have around 150k in equity in our
>>current house. But there has been NOTHING popping up that
>>meets our criteria. We’re willing to overpay too - based
>on
>>the equity we have available, income, and the fact that we
>are
>>looking for a house we’ll be in for at least 20 years.
>>
>>Has anyone gone the new construction route? There are a
>couple
>>new subdivisions with the right location and options to
>build
>>the way we’d want. I get that it’s considered a bad time
>>to do that now because of supply chain costs/delays and the
>>delays in timing. But as I mentioned above, we aren’t
>>desperate to move, so we don’t mind being patient waiting
>>for the build time (builders are saying around 6 month build
>>time - and if things get delayed for whatever reason the
>>sales price is supposedly locked in when we place our
>deposit,
>>so it’s just a time delay issue and not a cost impact
>beyond
>>the rising interest rates.) But to that point, if we don’t
>>mind being patient maybe we should just wait until the
>>inventory situation improves and the right house is
>available
>>on the market. But I just lean towards having it settled and
>>not having to wait and still have to fight over getting our
>>offer accepted…
>>
>>The one thing we definitely aren’t going to do is list our
>>house for sale and first and then try to find a house to buy
>>(even though that’s what our realtor recommended.) The
>>inventory is just too low for our location and we don’t
>want
>>to end up homeless for an interim period, or trying to find
>a
>>temporary apartment for a family of four with both by wife
>and
>>I needing office space to work from home. We should be
>>financially able to buy first and then sell our house, and
>do
>>a recast to take proceeds from the sale of our house to pay
>>down the principal on the new house.
>

---
"though time has passed, im still the future" (c) black thought

I’m never gonna be able to refinance at a lower interest rate. I’m already at 2.2. The resale market was horrible. Every house I looked at the owners didn’t want to do repairs and wanted at least $40k over the market value. I started looking at new builds and surprisingly I found that new builders were actually competing for buyers. The incentives offered pretty much covered my entire down payment and closing costs. I will say the growing pain of a new build are a completely different monster. Also the taxes for building a new house are pretty extreme. Another thing that caught me by surprise is that we have to pay for the right to have gas in our community. Every resident has to pay $300 annually on top of their normal gas bill in order to pay for the gas infrastructure. I feel like I got lucky in a really bad market. I feel bad for anybody who doesn’t have the option for a new build.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What builder is it too if you don't mind me asking? ? Were they flexible in design changes that you wanted ? Ive heard horror stories of builders being absolutely rigid in their designs and not budging

When I went, for every single thing I wanted changed (door here, window there, etc) they were acting like its impossible and it would drive up the cost of the build lol, and I was starting to get impatient.

>Also the taxes for building a
>new house are pretty extreme.

Yea, this came as quite a surprise to me

Another thing that caught me by
>surprise is that we have to pay for the right to have gas in
>our community. Every resident has to pay $300 annually on top
>of their normal gas bill in order to pay for the gas
>infrastructure.

I've never heard of this in my life, is it a rural area?

-------------------
I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

I went with K Hovnanian. They give you some really good incentives especially if you finance through them. Where the development is located it is pretty rural, they dropped about 350 new houses in one single neighborhood, infrastructure is still being built. There is only 1 internet/cable provider so far. Yeah, the nickel and diming of this whole new build stuff is crazy but you can really set your own price by increasing and decreasing your interior options.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

That new house smell is intoxicating but these builders will definitely leave you holding the bag if you don't have them fix flaws during that warranty period. I caught a handful of things in my first year in a new build but I had to fix some other stuff I didn't discover until 4 years later. And don't even bother painting until you've had them fix nail pops and hairline cracks in the drywall.

Try to document the promises the builder and overall developer make. K Hov salespeople were telling buyers in my old community that they would have access to the pool and community center in the apartment complex being built next door. Turns out it was a lie but enough people were fed the same lie that they let us use those facilities for free for a couple years (then started charging $300/month afterward).

Then there were some landscaping issues in the community that the developer promised to fix but didn't. They built their last house and just rolled out!

It was definitely alot of fun customizing the build to my taste but I realized there's constant maintenance on even these new houses.

<-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><->
<-><-><-><-><-><-><-><-><->

>I’m never gonna be able to refinance at a lower interest
>rate. I’m already at 2.2.

I'm jealous of that rate. Rates already are higher, and if we go the new construction route we won't be able to lock in until the house is ready. Who knows what the rates will be at that point. That being said, I keep reminding myself how historically low rates still are.

>The resale market was horrible.
>Every house I looked at the owners didn’t want to do repairs
>and wanted at least $40k over the market value.

THIS...there is nothing at all on the resale market, and the minute anything pops up it's getting bought sight unseen, over asking price and 50-75K over actual market value (the value's are also going way up, but the inventory is so low there aren't enough sales to actually support the value in making an appraisal. Buyers are paying cash to cover the difference on the resell market now.) And like you mentioned, we'd STILL need to pay a good amount of cash to fix things and get them like we'd want.

>I started looking at new builds and surprisingly I found that new
>builders were actually competing for buyers. The incentives
>offered pretty much covered my entire down payment and closing
>costs.

In our area the builders are barely offering any incentives. A few thousand towards closing costs if we go with their lender, but no design center incentives, no negotiation on pricing, still heavy lot premiums and elevation premiums, etc. The whole vibe is take it or leave it - because they have buyers snatching up everything anyways.

>I will say the growing pain of a new build are a
>completely different monster.

Okay so here's my questions. You just closed in November 2021...when did you lock in your deposit? How long did they originally say it would take, and how long was is delayed if at all? Was your price locked in at deposit or did it go up because of lumber costs/supply chain? (The builder is telling us that the price will be "truly locked in", but I've heard that they write the contracts in a way that they can still come back later and raise it based on rising costs.)

They said the house would be ready in December but they finished in October and moved our closing date up by a whole month. The only thing that was delayed was the installation of the sod, which happened the day before my final walk-through. I didn't experience an increase because of building materials, the increase was regarding taxes near closing time.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

They are currently estimating a closing date of August-October. I’ve connected with some of the other owners in the sub who have been there, and it sounds like the builder is spot on with staying on schedule. They order materials WAY in advance so supply chain issues don’t really impact the build process when locked in. That’s accounted for with all the price increases as they released the lots in phases. We’re in the last phase of the sub which means we are paying WAY more than the families who got in first.


>They said the house would be ready in December but they
>finished in October and moved our closing date up by a whole
>month. The only thing that was delayed was the installation of
>the sod, which happened the day before my final walk-through.
>I didn't experience an increase because of building materials,
>the increase was regarding taxes near closing time.

her first house. She said she could not lock in her interest rate until 30 days out, from closing. The builders were pretty rigid about any changes from the plan, she picked. They said they got burned two many times with people changing their mind or their financing falling through.

...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft

>She said she could not lock in her interest
>rate until 30 days out, from closing.

Rates have already gone up just since our initial meeting with the builder earlier this month. Definitely expecting them to rise through the year.

Do you know how long her build took, and if there were any delays?

the only delays would have been appliances but they opted to go with stand in appliances and they will be getting the contracted ones in a couple of weeks.

...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft

We were told to expect around 6 months. I told my wife to be mentally prepared for 9-12 months in case of delays.

their apartment complex was trying to hit them with that new lease, so they had to bite the bullet and pay the extra to go month to month.

...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft

Also: We're old.



_______________________________
gamblers and masturbators.

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.

...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft

DFW is big

--------

First time I went to visit her, this past July…I got into town on. Saturday afternoon. Traffi, plus the setup had me heated. By the time I left, loved it. But, her house is in Crowley, to be exact.

...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft

"bargains/availability" now -- Dallas and the northern suburbs are extremely tapped out and ridiculously overpriced (Plano is so boring for what it costs)

I like Fort Worth though, it is definitely *not* Dallas and has its own thing going

--------

So my wife and I are sold on going new construction since nothing is available. We met with the sales rep at the builder’s yesterday, went over all the options, picked out the lot we wanted, etc. It’s a 50k deposit to lock it all in, which we’re doing a 401k loan to get in cash (we’ll pay back the 401k with part of the 150k in equity we have when we sell our house.) It takes a couple days to get that cash from the 401k though. The rep told us we could pay a few thousand to hold the lot while we’re waiting on the 401k because things are moving so fast. We told her we’d wait on it (partly because I figured she was just trying to close the sale, but more importantly because I wanted our realtor to go over the deal first.) Well - she wasn’t playing…just got a call today less than 24 hours later that another couple snatched up the lot we wanted.

Sooooo we need to decide on another lot. The one we wanted was perfect - on a corner where we’d just have a neighbor on one side. So now we need to choose from lots that have neighbors on both sides or across the street where we’d back up to a pond (nice view, but we have ponds in our current sub and they attract mosquitoes.) All of this is definitely first-world problems especially given the current market and how low the inventory is, but the smallest things matter when making large decisions/purchases like a home. We’ll see!