pittdan77
Athletic Director
Not sure if you're aware of the history of the Mon Valley but every single one of those communities were home to migrants and their children and grandchildren.
Tiny Houses
- Thread starter TheWerewolfFromTwilight
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pittdan77
Athletic Director
And townhouses/condos. Very few nice housing developments. But maybe that's better. I doubt any country spends a higher percentage of their salary on housing as the US does and its getting worse. The demand for McMansions is out of control and driving everything up.
It's a Pennsylvania thing. Ohio and PA have the highest or among the highest percentage of people who have never lived anywhere else. That explains the McKees Rocks phenomenon to some degree.
The Euros don't spend as much, but that's because they don't have nice homes like here. The McMansions are in demand....maybe headed for a crash? I hate the plans that are all in black, grey and white. Boring. The North Hills is crazy now.
Yea I hate those new all-white homes going up. Ugly but that's what everyone wants now.
I wonder if there is any truth to that. I get that these towns are populated by people who were born and raised there but still, I dont understand the mentality that just because you were born and raised in a town, you have to raise your family there if you can afford to live some place much nicer with better schools and not very far away.
For some of those towns, poverty conditions sometimes last for several generations.
And TV clowns dress like Jehovah Witnesses. Boring, no imagination. Zombies.
Makes sense. Two states with high populations that aren't really destination states. Either you're starting here and going south or you're just staying here. But I don't know too many southerners who seek this area out.
It wouldn't measure people who leave PA and OH. It would only measure people not coming in from elsewhere. There are still a lot of people leaving.
Yeah, massive houses just keep popping up in USC and Peter's... let alone the previously almost completely undeveloped areas such as South Fayette, Gibsonsia, etc.
They slowly screw over the previous mansion builders who thought they would be living in the middle of nowhere. Next thing you know, a whole plan of giant houses pops up right next to them.
I don't understand why people need that much house, honestly. Obviously the leader in the clubhouse is the house on Justabout. Looks like a castle in London where the English Batman should live. But why would anyone need/want that?
Yea but Im talking about like say you grew up in Brownsville and now you are a married with 2 kids. Dad is a teacher, mom is a nurse. Why would you still live in Brownsville? This is a hypocritical example but these types of people exist and I cant figure out why. Find some place nicer to live.
Its amazing that these $1.5 million to $3 million homes are popping up weekly. Honestly, I never thought there were enough multi-millionaires in SW PA to have these types of homes. But like I said, we have become like a Middle East oil kingdom. Everybody is rich now apparently. Even the prices I am seeing for existing houses in shitty school districts are obscene. If I didnt have kids, i'd much rather buy some tiny house for 80K than pay 300K to live in friggin Uniontown.
I play hockey with a guy who works for a construction firm that fixes a lot of issues with cheaply built multimillion dollar homes in Queenstown. He says they are built to the absolute minimum standards for framing, and they rely upon "Gib" which is NZ drywall, for structural strength.
Many of these houses shift/settle in under a year, and people can't open or close doors or windows. He says these homeowners get shitty with him about it. He laughs at them and explains to them that they basically bought big cardboard boxes for millions of dollars.
They try going after the builders, who just go into liquidation and open up under a different name.
My 110 year old farm house is solid as. I doubt many of these big new homes will be around in 30 years.
I like the tiny houses knows as vans. There are some people with really nice vans on YouTube and they drive them all around, like a home that can go anywhere.
0% for first time home buyers would be hysterical. So a 30 something will get a house at 0%. A 40 something with 3 kids growing out of his first house has to pay 5.5%. Ya makes sense. Not….
I have rental properties. Gutted House from the 1910 thru 1930 and Houses built in the 80’s the differences are comical. Houses built in the 1910 1920 1930 etc. All oak actual 2”x4’’ ballon construction the Timbers are footer to peak 25 30’ long.
80’s houses are complete garbage.
Buy an old house blow in insulation new windows you are set.
3 or 4 years back I was gutting a house and got to the last bedroom. There was a signature on the wall Ezekiel something and Jedidiah something. They had a date of like 0f like July something 1918… Blew my mind. I signed beside it and dated before we drywalled. Wonder if in another 100 years someone will see it??
My fist house 6 months out of college is 25’ wide by 22’ deep. On and acre with a yard and some woods. I built a deck out front. 550 square feet. Rent it out now. I loved that GD place. I thought i was the King of the world 23 years old and my own pad. My buddies would come over we would buy a 30 pack of Strohs play wiffle ball and try to get any girls we could to come over. I remodled it about 5 years ago tile bathroom new flooring kitchen etc. I would love to move back in there. If the GF ever takes off that’s were im headed. 1 bed 1 couch 1 lazy boy 1 table 2 chairs and a 70 inch TV. Would take 20 minutes to clean.
Yeah, they catch ghosts with a great dane.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
I had my house built about twelve years ago. Guys were almost begging for work at that time because the economy was in the toilet and nobody was building. I asked to see the work of different builders. I don't know crap about building a house but I assumed it would be a good litmus test. Amazing how many wouldn't let me on a job site. In the end, I paid a little more (maybe $10k?) but found a Mennonite that was unbelievably transparent and really good at his job. I'm hearing about serious structural issues, like you describe, in homes that some of these other builders put up around that time, that I talked to. You're probably chasing your tail if you're seeking perfection but structural issues never really go away.
I've been in construction in one form or another (residential, commercial, utility, infrastructure) since I graduated college. Actually since middle school if we are getting technical, as I worked summers for my dad.
That was great intuition you had. Not going to lie, home owners are a pain in the ass and you don't want them around for numerous reasons from safety, bizarre request, to a million questions that slow you down, etc etc. With that said, they are the client and any trade should accommodate any reasonable request.
If they would not allow you to either see their work or talk to previous customers, that is a huge red flag. There are exceptions like if their current build was for a Paul Skenes type of celebrity, I could see why they would not want you seeing that job from a confidential stand point. But for the most part, they should be transparent with their work.
Great job following your gut.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Well, I'm notably cheap so I wanted to make sure I wasn't getting something I was going to have to throw more money at later. Just an instinct I have from growing up poor. I'm not even a tough negotiator or anything. I just wanted to see who was proud of their work or if they were inclined to hide something. That's all.
And I get why you don't want customers hanging around. I did end up with a change or two but nothing over the top (added a partition wall in the basement and some OSB to walk on in the attic). There were a couple of times I felt like I was being annoying and left but I was shocked by the number of people who just showed up that lived in the area and tried to tell the builder what to do. It was really weird and I had to tell a bunch of people to f-off.
Tap the brakes there fir a sec.
1st let's address those 80's homes. It depends on who the builder was. A good custom builder in the 80's, built good custom homes. A production builder ( the 80s is when these guys really started to building en masses), did not build good homes. You probably ran into a lot of these type homes, that is why you say they are garbage.
2nd There is more to it then blow in insulation and get new windows. You need to make sure there is no live knob and tube in the house before you insulate the home. Plus adding insulation, does not make it air or vapor sealed. This is very important to know on clapboard (siding) homes more so than brick or stone homes.
Even if you have MC or romex wiring, chance are it is outdated, along with the HVAC system. I know what I am going to suggest is expensive and many think is overkill, but you plan on making it your forever home, youare better off gutting an old home and bring it all to modern standards as that is the cheaper way in the long run and the most comfortable to live in.
My .02 anyways.
Lots of people are coming from the south to PA and Ohio, just from much further south than I think you were alluding to.
Trust me it's your house, you should be involved and DEMAND what you want. You're paying good money that you worked hard for. It is one thing to give a few change orders, it is another thing when you have constant change orders (some of them reverting back to how it was or contradicting another change you made) that delays you from getting to your other customers who are now pissed that you are delaying their project. Yes we make money with all the change orders, but it still delays our schedule with other customers when mother nature and suppliers do a great job of that already.
Oh yes, people telling us how to do our job. I get it, people are nosey and they want to learn and think they found a shortcut if they don't outright think they know more. I am sure it happens to more professions then the cx trades, but it is over the top here.
Haha, touche. Getting quite a few from the East as well. Not something I'm inherently against, but I've never noticed it at these levels.
Yea, that would be terrible. Go find a 300K house in a middle of the road school district. You dont need an 800K house in USC as your first home.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
I don't think there are many first time home buyers in the $800k range that need assistance.
Ya no shit bro… Obviously wiring plumbing HVAC. Etc.etc.etc. etc etc…
Did not feel like posting engineering drawings….
pittdan77
Athletic Director
You're also forgetting that the generation that bought those homes didn't bother employing a contractor when they needed to add an outlet or fix the plumbing.
I’m ready to move back to Pa. The south is so hot that it’s become brutal to go out in the sun.
We are looking east of Pgh in the Ligonier to Donegal areas.
Construction quality is a mixed bag. Not many dry basements on the older stuff because of a porous foundation.
Houses built in the 80’s here in Hilton Head have their issues, too. Very poor construction, and cheap materials.
Lots of termite damage here, that isn’t covered by pest companies. Also a 2000sf house sells for over a million $. Then needs a ton of updates.
Code enforcement has gotten better. My Villa built in 2006 is like a fort.
Property insurance has doubled in 5 years. People that paid way too much during Covid, are now flooding the short term rental market to offset expense.
Good news is my house doubled in value.i can buy a nice $450k house with some property, and have enough cash to leave Pa. Jan-March as a snow bird.
We are looking east of Pgh in the Ligonier to Donegal areas.
Construction quality is a mixed bag. Not many dry basements on the older stuff because of a porous foundation.
Houses built in the 80’s here in Hilton Head have their issues, too. Very poor construction, and cheap materials.
Lots of termite damage here, that isn’t covered by pest companies. Also a 2000sf house sells for over a million $. Then needs a ton of updates.
Code enforcement has gotten better. My Villa built in 2006 is like a fort.
Property insurance has doubled in 5 years. People that paid way too much during Covid, are now flooding the short term rental market to offset expense.
Good news is my house doubled in value.i can buy a nice $450k house with some property, and have enough cash to leave Pa. Jan-March as a snow bird.
I bought a starter house when I was 26 and have made extra payments on it, blah blah. It has also doubled in value. I'm strongly considering trying to rent it out and seeing how that goes. Would definitely require me tapping into my 401k for a downpayment on my next house, though. Not sure if that'd be ill-advised, but I feel like I need to do something like that so as to not have to sit at a desk for another few decades. I assume the gross rental income would be enough to cover the mortgage/monthly escrow on my current house and maybe about 25% - 50% of it on my hypothetical new house. Of course it would be taxable, though, so it's not like I would be getting 100% of it.
Would it be much more prudent if I just waited until I paid this one off and saved up more toward a downpayment on my next one? I feel like the answer is probably yes. But the thing that sucks is the taxes are so high here that my mortgage (I put down 20%) isn't even half of my monthly payment.
Would it be much more prudent if I just waited until I paid this one off and saved up more toward a downpayment on my next one? I feel like the answer is probably yes. But the thing that sucks is the taxes are so high here that my mortgage (I put down 20%) isn't even half of my monthly payment.
Disclaimer: this is not me saying to do this because it's the best way. Far from it, I am just telling you another option that is out there instead of tapping into a 401k. I do not know your Financials or your risk tolerance, just providing a 1000' view to see if you want to look more into it.
Now that the disclaimer is out the way.
Look and see if you can take a home equity loan out and use that for your next homes down-payment. Or if you really like your current house, do the same but put that towards a rental.
Just food for thought.
If you are trying to upgrade, why dont you just sell your house and put the money towards a new one like everyone else does.
Never thought of that!
Because I chose a profession I'm not crazy about and feel like it might be time to take a chance with getting into something else. If I could swing having two properties paid off by the time I'm 55, I might not have to stick this out as long. Or, as TheSpecialSauce would tell me, I could donate all the rental income from one of them to Alliance 412. Win/win!
