The Home Ownership Thread

[ellsbebc]

Yep, that’s what I’m going for. Similar to the below video. Will give it a go this fall if it ever rains again to soften the dirt. Going on three weeks no rain and none in the 10-day forecast.

 

[jbarwick]

Forest ground cover is invading the sod we had laid last year. Part of me is annoyed but another part of me doesn't care It is fighting a losing battle with nature so instead of wasting $$$, I might as well enjoy what I have.

 

[jbarwick]

Does anyone have experience contacting owners of empty lots in a neighborhood?

The reason I ask is that there are multiple lots in the neighborhood that are empty and I am surprised haven't been purchased and built on as our neighborhood seems pretty desirable at the moment. My inlaws are starting to look for houses now that they are full time in Nashville and want to start with an empty lot. One lot seems to have been passed down from parent to children and the owners live in the neighborhood. Another lot, though with a tear down house, belongs to an older person who lives in Nashville but does not live at the house. Another one took some digging but the owners are out of state and likely do not think much of the lot until tax bills or something come.

 

[PhilKenSebben]

Does anyone have experience contacting owners of empty lots in a neighborhood?

The reason I ask is that there are multiple lots in the neighborhood that are empty and I am surprised haven't been purchased and built on as our neighborhood seems pretty desirable at the moment. My inlaws are starting to look for houses now that they are full time in Nashville and want to start with an empty lot. One lot seems to have been passed down from parent to children and the owners live in the neighborhood. Another lot, though with a tear down house, belongs to an older person who lives in Nashville but does not live at the house. Another one took some digging but the owners are out of state and likely do not think much of the lot until tax bills or something come.

Step 1: design and produce a flag
Step 2: walk into the empty lot
Step 3: declare loudly and clearly that this property is now yours as you plant your flag
Step 4: distribute smallpox and Christianity to any natives living on your land
Step 5: profit

Seriously though, I think you can see where the tax bills are being mailed (or if there is a HOA they are sending bills somewhere) you could send a certified letter to that address and go from there. My parents looked at buying a lot in their sub a few years back, bit I think that was owned by a developer. If you don't want to do it you could certainly have a real estate agent do the contact for you. But I do think it will be a difficult process if they are I terested in selling

Marc

 

[Ataturk]

Land records are usually online these days. You may be able to find the owner that way.

 

[otc]

Does anyone have experience contacting owners of empty lots in a neighborhood?

The reason I ask is that there are multiple lots in the neighborhood that are empty and I am surprised haven't been purchased and built on as our neighborhood seems pretty desirable at the moment. My inlaws are starting to look for houses now that they are full time in Nashville and want to start with an empty lot. One lot seems to have been passed down from parent to children and the owners live in the neighborhood. Another lot, though with a tear down house, belongs to an older person who lives in Nashville but does not live at the house. Another one took some digging but the owners are out of state and likely do not think much of the lot until tax bills or something come.

County assessor's office should maintain a mailing address for every parcel: http://www.padctn.org/prc/#/search/1?searchType=address (or equivalent for your county).

You should seriously consider engaging a representative that has done off-market transactions before. If you approach them wrong, you could either kill the deal entirely or set them up to ask an egregious price. Or they just ignore your letter and you never hear anything (odds are they've gotten lowballs from "We Buy Ugly Houses" type people before).

 

[gettoasty]

Anyone know if I can just call to confirm a home had work done with permits? Or it just depends?

 

[Piobaire]

Anyone know if I can just call to confirm a home had work done with permits? Or it just depends?

Depending where you are you can pull up permits on line. Where I live, if you have a lot number, you can pull up any permit issued to that lot.

 

[gettoasty]

Associate city planner called back at 6:30 PM and was able to look up past permits and email me copies

 

[gettoasty]

Are subterranean termites a pain? My understanding is that fumigation would not kill the pests. Would this require year round maintenance?

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Whenever I see lots like that, especially in high dollar areas in NYC I assume there is some sort of remediation that needs to get done that nobody wants to touch.

About records online, it kind of bugs me how public that stuff is. Googling either my name or my address with very little work you can find one or the other.

 

[otc]

I mean, if you don't want it public, there are ways around it. Speculators, rich/famous people, slum lords, etc. all buy behind LLCs all of the time.

Although there's a bit of a problem on the other side given our property system is kind of designed around that stuff being known. Arguably it is also reasonable that tenants might have the right to know who they are renting from or cities have the right to know who owns the land they are made out of.

Perhaps the internet and various aggregator websites have made that stuff *too* public, but there are a lot reasons in favor of being able to easily track down the owner of real property.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Yeah, as a normal person is there a benefit to owning your home under an LLC?

 

[Omega Male]

There isn't much if it's a primary residence. Putting it in a trust avoids probate if you croak, while an LLC is usually used for rental properties as it provides protection against legal liability.

 

[Piobaire]

I'm always concerned about being named in litigation, only because I have many times but that's standard, and have thought of doing a trust for the house. Make my wife the sole beneficiary, then me the successor beneficiary, then who we really want to have the house after we're gone as the second line successors. Once I retire we'd change it to make me a concurrent beneficiary with her.

I don't know if you can construct one like that, and if so, will it do what I want and keep the house protected in the highly unlikely case that a work lawsuit actually sticks to me personally.