The Home Ownership Thread

[imatlas]

It’s pretty much what you’d use for a kegerator: regulator, CO2 tank, gas line, ball lock connector, and a special cap that fits standard soda bottles.

I bought it to get around the Sodastream monopoly only to learn that gas
sales are largely controlled by a duopoly these days, Praxxair and AirGas.

Still, my up front cost was roughly equivalent to a Sodastream Premium, and my TCO should be a lot lower over time.

 

[Gibonius]

I'd assume most of the cost is the regulator? CO2 bottles should be cheap. We pay like, $30 for the 350 cubic foot ones at work.

I have a CO2 seltzer bottle, it used the tiny little CO2 cartridges. Maybe not the most efficient, but it's a lot cheaper than buying bottled.

 

[imatlas]

Tank refills are $28 for 5 lbs. I had to buy a tank, which was about equal to the cost of the regulator. They swap tanks so I never have to replace it (they’re only certifiable for 5 years).

 

[bdavro23]

My wife and I are in the design phase of a new build. We are working with an architect and are pretty excited with how things are progressing. I met with him for about two hours today and I think we are pretty close to having the broad design complete, though without finishes determined. Its all really fun right now, but we havent gotten hard numbers for the build cost yet. I assume that will be less fun :/

On the other hand, one of the advantages of living in flyover land is that the price of this shouldnt cause an aneurysm..

 

[imatlas]

How did you select your architect? I found that a challenging process - in fact our first architect abruptly fired us when she landed the Dropbox headquarters.

 

[brokencycle]

My wife and I are in the design phase of a new build. We are working with an architect and are pretty excited with how things are progressing. I met with him for about two hours today and I think we are pretty close to having the broad design complete, though without finishes determined. Its all really fun right now, but we havent gotten hard numbers for the build cost yet. I assume that will be less fun :/

On the other hand, one of the advantages of living in flyover land is that the price of this shouldnt cause an aneurysm..

I'll be curious about the build costs because I have never lived in high cost of living areas, but I have found high variability in flyover country. As an example, I hired some electricians, and they charged $67/hour while my friend in Wisconsin said he couldn't find an electrician for less than $100/hour. He also found that roofing costs were beyond stupid expensive. He lives in a fairly rural area which I think actually drives up the cost because there is a lot lower supply.

 

[NorCal]

Wife has been drinking a lot of carbonated water, so I bought a home carbonation system:

View attachment 1441165

Where did you buy that? I need exactly that thing in my life.

 

[NorCal]

Another amusing anecdote---A friend of mine just got a contract on a house. They got three offers for list price the same day it was listed. They only picked hers because she insisted on seeing it first; the other two were sight-unseen. It's so easy to back out of contracts in this state that no sane person would accept a sight-unseen offer. IMO, of course. Me, I would have relisted the house for 10% more. Hah.

A lot of States would require you to pay your agent their commission if you did that.

 

[Ataturk]

The agent who just advised me to list the house for a price three people were willing to pay on the first day it hit the market? She can go pay somebody $300/hr to try to get that commission, or she can just bite her lip and do like I say. Even if she sues you, she can't hold up the sale of the house if you post a bond. What do you think most agents would do?

 

[NorCal]

The agent who just advised me to list the house for a price three people were willing to pay on the first day it hit the market? She can go pay somebody $300/hr to try to get that commission, or she can just bite her lip and do like I say. Even if she sues you, she can't hold up the sale of the house if you post a bond. What do you think most agents would do?

Sounds like she priced it right. I suspect the buyer's agent would think about suing as well, or at least their broker would. It is a very settled area of law, and most listing agreements include an arbitration clause so it would probably not even have to go to court.

The proper course of action would be to make a multiple counter offer and see if any other offers come in during that time. You get a chance for the buyers to bid it up and you get to see if your property really is as hot as you think it is.

 

[imatlas]

Where did you buy that? I need exactly that thing in my life.

Regulator, hose and ball pin connector from homebrewsupply.com.

Stainless carbonation cap and CO2 canister from Amazon (do NOT buy your regulator off of Amazon!)

 

[Ataturk]

Sounds like she priced it right. I suspect the buyer's agent would think about suing as well, or at least their broker would. It is a very settled area of law, and most listing agreements include an arbitration clause so it would probably not even have to go to court.

The proper course of action would be to make a multiple counter offer and see if any other offers come in during that time. You get a chance for the buyers to bid it up and you get to see if your property really is as hot as you think it is.

Hey, look, I live in my own little world over here. It might be how you say it is off in Cali-forn-i-a. But here that's folly. It reminds me of the parable of the lawyer and the mechanic.

Caller: My mechanic messed up my car!
Lawyer: Did you pay him already?
Caller: Well, yeah.
Lawyer: Sorry, I don't fix cars. You need a mechanic.
Caller: Can't you sue him or something?
Lawyer: I could, but it'd cost you more than to just pay somebody else to fix it. He might not even have the money anymore.

Etc.

On the house front, the sellers came back with a "split the difference" counter offer, along with a "let's expedite the **** out of this" additional term. Heh. Real smart, guys. Hell, I probably would have paid their counter had their agent not told me they wanted to get out quick. We came back with a modest increase in the original offer, styled a "firm offer," and I gently reminded the seller's agent that we didn't have an agent of our own. She sounded optimistic.

This is why you don't get a buyer's agent. Heh. I hate real estate agents.

ETA: these people are still living in the house. I saw the guy's closet. He had ten suits in a row, all with surgeon's cuffs with one button unbuttoned. What an asshole. Haha.

 

[nootje]

My wife and I are in the design phase of a new build. We are working with an architect and are pretty excited with how things are progressing. I met with him for about two hours today and I think we are pretty close to having the broad design complete, though without finishes determined. Its all really fun right now, but we havent gotten hard numbers for the build cost yet. I assume that will be less fun :/

On the other hand, one of the advantages of living in flyover land is that the price of this shouldnt cause an aneurysm..

Good luck!

We’re currently in the wrapping up part of that journey, tomorrow they are starting on the kitchen en in 2 weeks we’ll have a garden (albeit small due to living in the city center).

It’s exhausting, maddening due to the level of small detail decisions, but ultimately very rewarding to have a home fully customized to your preferences.

 

[Piobaire]

ETA: these people are still living in the house. I saw the guy's closet. He had ten suits in a row, all with surgeon's cuffs with one button unbuttoned. What an asshole. Haha.

I wonder what his StyFo screen name is.

 

[jbarwick]

So we got a lowball offer which we are going to counter. The woman came with her dad who is apparently some sort of RE developer in town so I figured he did it purposely. Can’t hide when you search the name of the buyers and they had an extravagant wedding in town covered by all these random newspapers and websites.

Have an NY couple coming to look at the house. Heard she was 7 months pregnant so we played up all the spaces kids could play in our house. We will see what happens.