So, I bought a house

Evan Kirkendall

Evan Kirkendall

Senior
Jan 10, 2011
903
4
18
Abingdon, MD
www.harfordsound.com
Yup, little 'ol me finally pulled the trigger with my long time girlfriend. We ran some numbers back in August, and finally decided that it was a better idea to put money into a house than keep pissing it away into rent each month. We found this little gem back in September and closed on it today! It's an 80 year old house that a guy bought and flipped last year. Brand new everything inside- new windows, new kitchen, new HVAC, refinished hardwood floors throughout and a nice fenced in yard. It was a killer find that had everything we wanted. I'm very excited to say the least! :)

Who'd thought Id be where I am today when I first joined these boards!



Evan
 

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Re: So, I bought a house

Spenser Hamilton said:
Congrats, bought my place back in 2011, ended up paying less for a three bedroom house then I was renting a two bedroom apartment.
Click to expand...

I'm coming up on 2 years in this house. My old apartment was a 2nd floor merchant's walk-up built in 1880. It had lots of "charm" to round out 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, office and living room. The owners retired and auctioned the building and my new landlord more than doubled the rent. I ended up buying a mid-1950s ranch for $200/month less than new landlord wanted. I have 4 bedrooms (1 in basement, full egress-able window, full bath) with downstairs family room. Went from ~1,000s.f. to 1600s.f.

Actually, I hate owning homes but I hate renting more. I'll deal with it. ;)

Congratulations and have fun, Evan. If your seller did a good job you'll have at least 5-10 years of trouble-free living.

I've flipped houses before there were TV shows about it. A good flipper takes care of the plumbing, electrical and HVAC you can't see, as well as the cosmetic stuff you can easily see. I've been the "next flip in line" on a couple of properties and some of the work I found was astoundingly poor or unsafe - I get a big kick out of Holmes on Homes - but our goal was to take the worst house on the best block and bring it up to Code, make it attractive and functional. In the process, I learned that women buy houses - men just pay for them. Once we figured out what our target demographic was it got easier to include little features that were appealing to women running busy families. We did a couple of man-cave houses, too, but they took longer to sell. :(
 
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Re: So, I bought a house

Congrads.

One of the "tricks" to home ownership is to stay in the place for a good while. Generally you should be able to get a good return on the investment with time. If you move around-a house is generally not the way to go.

My first 2 houses almost doubled in value while I was in them. The current one not as much-due to the economy.
 
Re: So, I bought a house

Evan is currently wiring B4's into every room of the house. Hopefully he will wait for the green light from a structural engineer before turning them all on.
 
Re: So, I bought a house

DONE AND DONE....
You guys must have missed the pre-install photos when CSW dropped off the black boxes in the front yard..
it was no coincidence that the under porch lattice looks like it does... a lick of white paint and voila...lol
I think he's going with a Left Center Right configuration....
 

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Re: So, I bought a house

Not to state the obvious, but do you have clear title and/or a long term lease on the GF? The best way to avoid future problems is to anticipate and define what will happen now before unthinkable things happen.

JR
 
Re: So, I bought a house

Get ready evan. I bought a 100+ year old house 35 years ago and I'm still working on it. Even new houses need work, so forget about all the new toys and start thinking about all the new tools. Just finishing the last major renovation which is to the living and dining rooms. The lighting for the rooms has already cost me $1500, the total costs are about 10K, and that's for materials. Looking back at some receipts 2x4s used to cost .55 each. Those days are loooong gone.

Nice looking house, new siding and windows, and I wish you lots of good fortune.

PS - +100 to what John says above
 
Re: So, I bought a house

Congratulations! Just paid mine off, so what do I do? Rent it out and move, of course... Moving after almost 20 years in the same place really, really sucks. I had no idea how much "stuff" we have accumulated.
 
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