cman1494 said:

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Update for those of y'all that are curious: we are officially under contract on a house!

Our realtor advised us to raise our budget a bit and expand our search, which was great advice that many of y'all on here echoed. We originally weren't looking at anything over $300k, but she told us that if we raised our budget by $15-$20k, we would be competing with different people because there are a lot of people who only qualify for up to $300k and they cannot go above that.

So over the weekend we started targeting houses it that $300k-$315k range and found this great one that's fully updated and move-in ready in Rockwall right by the lake. We went and looked on Sunday and found out they only had one other offer so far despite having been on the market since Friday. This house is a very unique style but it's one we love. It's updated in farmhouse style, like something Chip and Joanna Gaines would have done. Maybe that was a turnoff for some people, but we love it.

We put our offer in at $310k when the house was listed at $315k but made our terms super attractive. We waived the option period and inspection all together because the house was just inspected 7 months ago before the current owners purchased it. They bought the house, put on a new roof, fence, and floors then got relocated for work, so are selling after doing all these awesome updates. Because of how recently they did updates and got an inspection, plus the condition of the house itself, our realtor felt confident in us waiving the option period. We also offered a 1 month lease back after close, and waived the appraisal up to a $15k difference. They countered with saying they wanted $305k no matter what it appraises for, so we accepted the counter and have a contract on it for $305k.

We feel very relieved and excited! We are getting our own inspection of course, but don't expect major issues to come up. Closing will be in about a month.

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lol... was there original shiplap under there?!

Congrats!

Lol I wish...I was more referring to the style. This house would be a lot more expensive if they had actually done something to it

Well done OP

Nice work OP, but I doubt anything in Rockwell has ship lap under the Sheetrock but most stuff in the m-streets will, but those are probably 2-3x price

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We waived the option period and inspection all together because the house was just inspected 7 months ago before the current owners purchased it. They bought the house, put on a new roof, fence, and floors then got relocated for work, so are selling after doing all these awesome updates.

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In my opinion, this was a terrible idea. Did you at least get a copy of that inspecting report?

I just watched a YouTube video of some realtor basically saying that if you are a first time homebuyer looking to buy a home right now... don't.

Congrats on finding something you like, but I honestly feel like the farmhouse style is the late 2010s version of the Mediterranean look since it's worked its way through the entire market by now. Same with all white kitchens since I think that's been about an 8 year run. Not really sure what's next, but if it's not something you'd like it doesn't really matter anyway. It's great to be happy with what you have!

combat wombat said:

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We waived the option period and inspection all together because the house was just inspected 7 months ago before the current owners purchased it. They bought the house, put on a new roof, fence, and floors then got relocated for work, so are selling after doing all these awesome updates.

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In my opinion, this was a terrible idea. Did you at least get a copy of that inspecting report?

I just watched a YouTube video of some realtor basically saying that if you are a first time homebuyer looking to buy a home right now... don't.

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We did receive a copy of the previous inspection and nothing jumped out as alarming. The couple who had bought it intended it to be their retirement home and spared no expense in updating it and getting it up to code and then life threw them a curve ball and they have to relocate.

We are getting our own inspection just to confirm that everything is good, but our realtor and her husband also flip homes, so they know what to look for and we are confident in her expertise.

I'd say 1 in 20 attempts to paint cabinets actually work out. It's a hell of a lot of prepwork and ain't nobody got time for that! Mine were painted white and even disassembled to be resprayed in the garage with the overspray all over the floor to show for it, but when I bought the place 7 years later the latex paint was a sticky mess that never would come clean no matter how well you scrubbed it. Same for the house I lived in back in SA, cabinets were white and repainted white but the repaint was failing and wouldn't come clean.

The way it comes out the majority of the time I think of it as an interim phase for the kitchen where the next one will be to demo it all and start over. At that point the work it takes to depaint and refinish correctly just isn't worth the time and expense vs new cabinets that won't need any of that.

before & after
to do it right it's not cheap

I agree, walls need to be a different color.

That looks like it came out well, really I think a lot of the problem with cabinets comes from going with the low bidder or deciding to have a go at it on their own. They're lacking a lot of the skill, tools, and patience refinishers rightfully charge a premium for and the results reflect it.

Speaking as someone who's done some absolutely massive rebuilding of their house (see: HI board threads) I don't even, think I have the patience to see a cabinet refinishing job through all the way. Doors maybe but the insides, nope.

Cabinets are beautiful!

Did they take all the doors and drawers outside to spray?

dubi said:

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Cabinets are beautiful!

Did they take all the doors and drawers outside to spray?

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sprayed everything inside before we moved in
and had the kitchen sealed off from
the house

I think the grey/green with beige walls looks fine plus I'm out of money after this!!

So we got the inspection report back yesterday and there were really no major concerns for a house this age (built in 1998), which we were expecting for the most part. This was the survey of the foundation and there is some movement from settling, but no visible major cracks in the inside or brick outside. The inspector is legally required to say we should get further evaluation, but our realtor thinks because houses generally settle most in the first 10 years, this house has likely settled as much as it is going to as long as we take good care of the yard and foundation.

What do y'all think?

If you get a foundation company to look at it, they will find a ton of stuff that needs to be done.


I'd have an independent engineer take a look just to be safe. It will likely just give you peace of mind and be worth it. Worst case, it gives you a head start on fixing things.

Kinda my thoughts as well. Our realtor told us that we could have a foundation company look at it, but they're in the business of selling piers, so they would be biased.

We're not worried about major issues and are definitely moving forward with the house, but just want to know long-term, what potential issues we're looking at.

About 10 years ago we had 3 foundation companies look at my mom's house. One bid at ~$7k, one ~$13k, and one had ~$27k. All of them recommended different things.

Then we had an engineer come and tell us what needed to be done and pitched it to the companies who do the work. I'd recommend going this route.

that's actually pretty funny

Your agent needs to cool it on the advice that's out of his/her wheelhouse.

Hire a structural engineer if you're worried. They'll tell you what is "acceptable" settling vs something that needs to be addressed.

It's generally said to be 1/4" per 10' of slab IIRC

jpd301 said:

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Property taxes are the killer in texas. The state has to be pulling in twice what it was 10 years ago, where is all that going?!

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Recapture / "Excess Local revenue" is where a ton of of the local ISD money goes.

Below is an image of the highest total recapture districts since it was put in place. I highlighted some of the metroplex districts.

Plano ISD, over 800 million dollars of property tax collected by the district over the last 5 years has been sent to districts elsewhere in the state. Think their property tax could be lower if the state didn't take the local $ and ship it elsewhere in the the state?

I can't even image how furious I would be if I lived in Austin ISD.



Sorry for the thread derail.

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Lots of small towns with reasonable taxes but huge o&g revenue (for now). Recapture is like a tax on a tax.

Recapture is an incredibly successful effort to drag down higher performing districts to the mediocrity of the rest of Texas.

For those who have bought or sold in the DFW area recently, are amendments for minor repairs common? In the Austin area buyers are willing to overlook almost anything.

A couple of the items were even on the disclosure.

Probably talking $1k in repairs at most so would rather just adjust the contract price accordingly

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I'd also note, when we bought the house in 2015, it was listed on a Friday and we showed up at 3pm. ..... Crazy market then. Crazy market now. This was in south plano right in your corridor.

Happy hunting!

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This.

We purchased in denver suburbs in 2012. We wanted the next door lot, but it was gone a day before us. The rest of the open lots on the street were gone as soon as they released them.

Every year since then.. 8 years now, a house on the market lasts hardly any time at all. Easily for about 3 years now, any house I see go up is gone within a week or two.
The most recent down the street back in Nov had a line out the door on first day of showing, and it was under contract that day. Buyers were from CA. CA has single-handedly inflated CO home prices for a decade now. New neighbors said they got tired of CA politics.. let's hope they don't bring it with them. They certainly don't seem like those 'types'.

There's just more people in america looking for a house.

62strat said:

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I'd also note, when we bought the house in 2015, it was listed on a Friday and we showed up at 3pm. ..... Crazy market then. Crazy market now. This was in south plano right in your corridor.

Happy hunting!

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This.

We purchased in denver suburbs in 2012. We wanted the next door lot, but it was gone a day before us. The rest of the open lots on the street were gone as soon as they released them.

Every year since then.. 8 years now, a house on the market lasts hardly any time at all. Easily for about 3 years now, any house I see go up is gone within a week or two.
The most recent down the street back in Nov had a line out the door on first day of showing, and it was under contract that day. Buyers were from CA. CA has single-handedly inflated CO home prices for a decade now. New neighbors said they got tired of CA politics.. let's hope they don't bring it with them. They certainly don't seem like those 'types'.

There's just more people in america looking for a house.

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oh they're bringing it.

Coloradans used to beetch and moan about Texans going up there. Now the state is overrun with CA and NE hipsters and politico tree-huggers.

I always admired Colorado from afar - always seemed to be socially libertarian and fiscally conservative. The real way things should be.

Now? nah.

Texas is well on its way with the nutjobs moving in here.

That's how I see Texas from over here (SC). About to get saddled with all kinds of stupidity from its west coast transplants.

The Fife said:

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That's how I see Texas from over here (SC). About to get saddled with all kinds of stupidity from its west coast transplants.

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hopefully it's isolated to places like Austin and certain areas of DFW.

Unfortunately, where we are (north DFW burbs), the influx of out of staters is high. Toyota and the likes moving in right down the road will do that.

I could definitely see us moving elsewhere later in life, but, for now - family and friends are here.

ChoppinDs40 said:

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The Fife said:

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That's how I see Texas from over here (SC). About to get saddled with all kinds of stupidity from its west coast transplants.

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hopefully it's isolated to places like Austin and certain areas of DFW.

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It's not. I live in a pretty read part of Denver burbs, and a I see CA plates weekly.

Having said that.. as I mentioned, my new neighbors are 'from' california, but are really actually from UT and lived in CA for a decade for work. They do not have, after our first few impressions anyway, typical Californian idealism..

Meanwhile, another neighbor who was very much a Californian (major flaming and talked about Obama and San Diego all the time), moved back to CA last summer after being here for like 15 years.

62strat said:

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ChoppinDs40 said:

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The Fife said:

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That's how I see Texas from over here (SC). About to get saddled with all kinds of stupidity from its west coast transplants.

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hopefully it's isolated to places like Austin and certain areas of DFW.

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It's not. I live in a pretty read part of Denver burbs, and a I see CA plates weekly.

Having said that.. as I mentioned, my new neighbors are 'from' california, but are really actually from UT and lived in CA for a decade for work. They do not have, after our first few impressions anyway, typical Californian idealism..

Meanwhile, another neighbor who was very much a Californian (major flaming and talked about Obama and San Diego all the time), moved back to CA last summer after being here for like 15 years.

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Wait, he spontaneously combusted?

When I sold my house in SA in 2010 there were already California plates all over the place. Owners were definitely not in the military.

sucks. Inlaws are down there and, if anything, it's got more foreign nationals than anything these days.

Californian plates will always be everywhere. They hold the highest immigration and emigration statistics annually.

In the interim between sell and buy, we should send them all to the Cecil Hotel on Skid Row. That should take care of the problem.

Can you explain how these bridge loans work?