The Home Ownership Thread

[jbarwick]

Americaunas are the breed you want for blue-green eggs. Usually you can find chicks as a Tractor Supply, Co-Op, or other farm store. The problem currently is that people really want hens and stores don’t have chicks due to distancing.
We did find local a Facebook group where a ton of people post chicks for sale which may be the route you want to go down. I guess another option could be the app Neighborhood and people may post or have insight there.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

I bet you guys **** those chickens.

 

[PhilKenSebben]

I bet you guys **** those chickens.

If not, Rule 34 applies. So you are in luck

 

[Omega Male]

"Girthy lumberjack chicken ******"

 

[gettoasty]

Time to take the chip off my chef's knife

View attachment 1363919

You know what feeling sucks? When your are grinding away at a low grit for a long time and finally give up and go to an even lower grit... All that time just completely wasted.

Had to go all of the way down to my coarse diamond stone because I just wasn't making progress... I hate using that that thing because it leaves a real nasty surface behind that takes a lot of work with my next stone to clean up.

 

[jbarwick]

So I risked life to get some flowers over lunch earlier this week. The nursery was empty and strict on limiting people wandering around so I was in and out. I would love to get mulch delivered but not raped on price vs. bags.

Also trying to find the price of stone to build a slight 2ft high, 10ft long wall. How the hell do you price stone?

 

[PhilKenSebben]

Anyone else ever buy a cyclone rake (Or DR vacuum type thing)? I am quite excited. Only downside is I have to drive to Cleveland to get it (bought on e-bay)

ths should revolutionize the yard care. Unfortunately all of the wid blows leaves from everywhere onto my property. No real place to put them. now with this, i can mulch them into nothing and make a huge difference. or not. We will see. Worth it at well less than half the price.

 

[SirGrotius]

That cyclone rake looks like the real deal. Great name too!

Do any of you folks have a whole-house generator? I'm obviously working from home now and anticipating that I will more and more. I could shave off about 50% of the total price to have a partial generator, but I like the peace-of-mind of having the whole shebang. We have a large house, so it's no small expense, however, I wonder does it have any effect on property value, assuming you get a good one? It's not the prettiest thing to have on the side of the house, especially with the fuel tanks.

 

[sugarbutch]

How about solar and a Power Wall instead?

 

[NakedYoga]

The wife and I just put up a chicken coop. She loves animals and I have to admit it's growing on me, especially since my young children are interested. Our backyard is nicely fenced since we have a pool, so that probably is a boon here in PA.

Any advice on chickens to purchase, where, how? I have a soft spot for the blue eggs that I see homestead people sometimes post.

Tractor Supply if you have one nearby. It's also a one-stop shop for any other chicken-related things you may need. Don't start with too many -- they will produce a surprising number of eggs when they're in prime laying season.

 

[Piobaire]

We're still investigating battery vs. back up generator. If I understand things correctly you can't draw on a batter quite like you can a generator.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

It depends on the inverter (kW) you buy and capacity (kWh)

 

[sugarbutch]

My buddy has two Power Wall modules, and they can run their whole house (a large, rambling mid-century in the hills of San Jose) when their grid connection goes down.

 

[Omega Male]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ket-in-u-s-relies-on-bargains-and-desperation

Jim Morris is on the hunt for a South Florida mansion, at a bargain price. He’s got money to spend and few competitors house-shopping during a pandemic. He just needs to find a motivated seller willing to make a deal.

This is what’s left of the U.S. housing market. With stay-at-home orders canceling open houses and social distancing requiring no-touch closings, most buyers and sellers are deciding to just wait.

That leaves opportunistic buyers like Morris, whose food-packaging company has shifted into high gear. With Americans hunkered down at home, stocking up on frozen foods and other essentials, his revenue shot up 300% in March, he said.

“If your house is on the market a buyer is going to assume it’s a sale by necessity,” said George Ratiu, senior economist at Realtor.com. “If you don’t have to sell right now, why would you? There will still be transactions, but the number will be so low.”

Already, there’s been a dramatic pullback in listings at a time of year when they’re typically increasing. The number of homes pulled from the market doubled in the week ended April 3, according to Redfin.

As sales slump, home prices will fall later this year and early next in the “low single digits” nationwide, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. The declines may be more pronounced in West Coast markets, which were already overvalued relative to incomes, he said.

Off the Market

The housing market, typically 15% to 18% of the economy, has all but shut down. Forget the key spring selling season, the real estate equivalent of Christmas for retailers. Even the summer may be a bust. For the deals that do happen, closings can look like a scene from “All the President’s Men.”

In Atlanta, real estate attorney Harold Hudson meets mortgage borrowers in a parking garage. His silver Mercedes is adorned with a red and green bow so it’s easy to find. He pops the trunk so that customers can pick up documents and leave their driver’s licenses for verification. A witness stands outside.

Borrowers, who are asked to bring masks and gloves, head back to their cars to sign the documents with their own pens. He walks them through it on the phone. When it’s over, buyers pick up house keys in a plastic bag, stashed safely in his trunk.
“It can be a little bit difficult,” he said. “I never knew the sound that paper can make on a speaker phone is that loud.”

Listings, Demand

Over the next several months, millions of homeowners will double up with friends and family because of the financial impact of the coronavirus, said Ed Pinto, the director of the Housing Center at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
While listings will plunge, demand will fall faster, eventually creating a glut of available homes that will give buyers even more of an upper hand, he said. Nationally, Pinto sees home values slipping 1% to 2% in May from a year earlier, and as much as 4% to 6% by the end of June.

“We’re going to get to a point in June or July where we’re going to have 10 months of supply,” Pinto said. “At 10 months of supply, housing prices get impacted pretty substantially.”

The New Jersey market, for example, is about to get crushed. Home sales in the state, second only to New York in coronavirus cases, may fall as much as 45% this year from 2019, while prices will drop as much as 12%, according to Jeffrey Otteau, president of Otteau Valuation, a real estate consultant in Matawan, New Jersey.

“People will be taking homes off the market and in spite of that, this will be a buyer’s market, with low inventory,” Otteau said. “It’s unusual.”

Distressed Sellers

So far, sellers aren’t racing to lower their prices. The median asking price across the U.S. rose 1% to $309,000 in the week ended March 29, from a year earlier, Redfin data show. The peak of $330,000 was a month ago.
Only 52 listings in Manhattan made price cuts in the period between March 22 and April 6, compared with 663 in the same two-week period last year, according to a study by New York listings data website UrbanDigs.

Still, some sellers are adjusting their expectations. Sadie Mackay, a 29-year-old product manager for Amazon.com Inc. who recently bought a single-family home in Seattle, is getting ready to list her one-bedroom condo close to the company’s headquarters. Its location, also near Google and Facebook Inc. offices, will help. Even so, Mackay said she’s not planning to price her condo aggressively.

“It’s going to become a hot potato if I can’t sell it for a few months,” she added.

Stimulus Cash

To prevent a full-blown foreclosure crisis, the government is allowing borrowers to pause mortgage payments with no penalty. The Federal Reserve, which dropped its benchmark lending rate to near zero, has pledged to buy unlimited amounts of mortgage bonds. That should help to keep mortgage rates low.

Homeowners who take advantage of enhanced unemployment insurance ideally won’t be forced to sell properties at fire-sale prices, according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors.

Discount Mood

The experience of Michelle Medina Bunting, 34, and her husband, Tim, 35, who rent on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, suggests that sellers are in a mood to discount.

The couple last month made a $990,000 offer on a renovated two-home property in Jersey City that was listed for $1.3 million. After some negotiation, they couldn’t reach agreement and moved on.“Now, that agent has been calling us and saying, ‘Do you want to make another offer?’” Michelle Bunting said.

Morris, who’s still looking for his Florida mansion, considered a nine-bedroom Fort Lauderdale property with a six-car garage and boat dock before coronavirus shut down the economy. The owner insisted he was firm at $15 million. But last month the owner called him to knock off 20%.

“I am expecting more of that -- there are going to be distressed situations and distressed situations lead to opportunities,” Morris said. “I don’t want to overpay because we don’t know what the new market will look like when this is all over. What may look like a bargain today may actually be too high.”

 

[patrickBOOTH]

My neighbor upstairs has been trying to sell their unit for more than it is worth for 6 months. Lol, they still haven't reduced the price. They are French, btw. I don't know if that means anything, but a nice detail nonetheless.