The Home Ownership Thread

[Fueco]

Why would you want your fungeon detached when you can dig a deep pit of fun and have a two story basement....

So the noise can’t reach the main house? Haven’t you watched horror/pr0n movies?

 

[PhilKenSebben]

So the noise can’t reach the main house? Haven’t you watched horror/pr0n movies?

Deeper is better baby. Sub basement is very isolated

 

[sugarbutch]

Deeper is better baby. Sub basement is very isolated

You're thinking like a small-timer. Detached with a sub-basement...

 

[PhilKenSebben]

You're thinking like a small-timer. Detached with a sub-basement...

This guy fuchs

 

[Omega Male]

The civic hanging baskets are coming in nicely.

 

[sugarbutch]

The civic hanging baskets are coming in nicely.

View attachment 1811116

My former bandmate lives in Ross. We played a block party on his street once, and the front row was all toddlers. Very wholesome.

 

[venividivicibj]

Other than the start of Covid, sale cancellations are highest in 5 years

 

[ValidusLA]

That plot of empty land kitty corner to my back yard is pending at $600,000 for 2700 sq ft. Thats the sq ft of the land, there is no building on it. It has no curb cut, its at an incline, is next to a wash, and its shaped like a pencil.

Considering they are going to have to run sewer, utilities, pour foundation on a hill etc to build this thing and three stories aren't allowed here, I'm basically envisioning someone spending $3m+ for a 1500 sq ft house at the end of the day.

 

[Fueco]

Other than the start of Covid, sale cancellations are highest in 5 years

View attachment 1811554

The house across the street had a cancellation. No, the prospective owners did not meet me.

 

[venividivicibj]

That plot of empty land kitty corner to my back yard is pending at $600,000 for 2700 sq ft. Thats the sq ft of the land, there is no building on it. It has no curb cut, its at an incline, is next to a wash, and its shaped like a pencil.

Considering they are going to have to run sewer, utilities, pour foundation on a hill etc to build this thing and three stories aren't allowed here, I'm basically envisioning someone spending $3m+ for a 1500 sq ft house at the end of the day.

How are they going to get to the house? Didn't you say it's basically between you and the forest or something weird?

 

[ValidusLA]

How are they going to get to the house? Didn't you say it's basically between you and the forest or something weird?

So, my back property line abuts a nature area which is owned by the county, but there is a house "up the hill" from me whose backyard abuts one side of my backyard. My property is not a rectangle - its a hexagon (though an uneven one obviously).

This lot for sale in theory has an address for the street that runs above that house up the hill from me.

I found out its some real estate trust in OC that owns it, frankly probably has owned if for 50 years since the area was built.

Hopefully if someone is paying 600k for this land they will either
A) Run out of money and it will be vacant
or
B) Be able to build something nice

 

[sugarbutch]

That plot of empty land kitty corner to my back yard is pending at $600,000 for 2700 sq ft. Thats the sq ft of the land, there is no building on it. It has no curb cut, its at an incline, is next to a wash, and its shaped like a pencil.

Considering they are going to have to run sewer, utilities, pour foundation on a hill etc to build this thing and three stories aren't allowed here, I'm basically envisioning someone spending $3m+ for a 1500 sq ft house at the end of the day.

So…a house in San Francisco.

 

[ValidusLA]

So…a house in San Francisco.

Sure I guess. But that's definitly not what houses in my area cost.

 

[otc]

Speaking of weird lot issues...saw a house this weekend that is built in the middle of 3 adjoining lots (dat setback).

But there are weird water issues (this part of the neighborhood is all well/septic). The central lot has a well, but that well is shared with the neighbor across the street via written agreement--has its own electric meter and all costs/maintenance are split 50/50. Septic drain field mostly pushes out into one of the side lots (and the garage partially extends on it), so that lot can't really be sold off or built on.

The other lot is empty, but the county has rules about minimum distances between wells and septic and given where the adjoining neighbor has both, it seems like it would be almost impossible to build. You can fit septic or well, but not both. The land was originally platted out assuming some municipal services, but this side of the hill didn't get water nor sewer.

Obviously the buffer space is nice, but being able to develop and sell off one of the lots would be a good way to lower the cost of the home substantially. Also, I have a a keen interest in a property where we could drop an accessory dwelling unit for some sort of use as guest-house, rental unit, and potentially nanny housing depending what our future holds--biggest constraint to affordable childcare here is that nobody can afford to live nearby on nanny wages, being able to offer a little 1br ADU suddenly makes you popular (and I have very little desire for any setup where an au pair or nanny actually lives in my house).

But there's no easy way to make that work legally. You can have 2 homes on a well, but the property's own well is already contracted out (and getting the adjoining neighbor to open up their well is a gamble). You could tie into the existing septic and just not tell the county (although the existing septic is pretty far away)...would be fine for us since one of the bedrooms will be used as an office and adding an ADU would really just bring it up to rated capacity, but sounds like a nightmare on resale.

So yeah, probably not doing that. Price was kinda reasonable given size and recent trends? I could afford it, but it still just feels like too much.
-House was immaculately maintained, but otherwise untouched since it was built in 2002 (original owners who had it built)...I'd happily live there, but would want to do some update work eventually.
-Detached garage and gravel road/driveway is also a pretty strong negative for me given I like my cars shiny and clean.
-Half-block away from 500 acres of state trust land filled with mellow trails, but a very weird mixed neighborhood (in a 10 minute walk around you could pass multi-million dollar homes, properties that are just an RV on a gravel pad, and homes that appear to have been built by someone who spent their money on psychedelics rather than an architect) that has a weird reputation.
-Give up the ability to ever walk or bike into town--in exchange for dat setback, you're driving a car to go anywhere.

 

[Piobaire]

...but a very weird mixed neighborhood (in a 10 minute walk around you could pass multi-million dollar homes, properties that are just an RV on a gravel pad, and homes that appear to have been built by someone who spent their money on psychedelics rather than an architect) that has a weird reputation.

This is where the HOA comes in.