We got a 3.5 car garage, added sunroom and additional storage that comes with that. We currently have them finishing out the basement , including a full bathroom and bedroom. We elevated the ceilings to 10’ as well. I think it was $40k to do all of that. How much would that be doing it with an independent contractor? Would you guys carpet the basement or do vinyl plank? And yeah, we did the metal railings for the stairs.
No matter how much preventative work is done to a basement to prevent flooding, the risk is always there. Never go crazy with flooring in the basement unless you are fully prepared to rip it out if & when flooding occurs.
You have kids? I feel like a carpeted basement really helps with young kids to make it a better play room.
Seems like a decent soft carpet down there is the way to go until they are older. Maybe get it scotch guarded haha.
We finished out the whole basement with a full bath, wet bar, two storage closets, weight room for about $30k we did carpet to make it more comfortable for lil man and his friends and then tile by the wet bar. Tile in the bath and weight room but rubber floor over tile in weight room.
Pardon the mess. It’s like his own apartment and we only come down to work out. Also the rower needs put up in the storage closet but I’m mid workout and the elliptical isn’t folded up in there yet.
Fuck I don’t know what happened there. But the gym is in back and the bath is through there with a full shower.
Sorry for cluttering but I keep thinking of stuff. The neighbor behind me had his basement done by the builder and they didn’t build in any storage closets. I’m not sure if that’s an extra option but we took the bump out below the sunroom and made it a storage unit when we had someone else do it. Build in plywood shelves three high since you have the space and you likely won’t ever need to look for storage. We have the shelves filled and store the elliptical in there folded and then stand the tower up in the middle. Ask if that’s an option. I don’t think it was years ago. Only a separate space for your furnace and water heater and whatever small storage you had there.
This is unequivocally false. A home is worth what the current market bears. What someone previously paid for a home has no impact on future sales.
i was mostly just laughing at the kind of nonsense verbiage of that sentence i bolded. as in a home is worth what someone pays for it, like ok cool very insightful thank you business bro.
Uh, ok? What you spend on a house has no impact on what you will sell it for. And anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you.
LOL I thought Luis (my Francisco) was the only one who did the “what do you think?” shtick when you ask them about an odd job quote. Had no idea that was a fucking thing
First thing anyone looks at is the last time the home was sold and for how much, it’s definitely a factor
Wrong. They look at it, but it has no real impact on what the house is worth. That’s why people who bought in the height of the bubble lost their shirts when they tried to sell.
^ This ^ I really don't understand any counter argument. Brb happily selling my grandparents house for $70,000 since he paid a fraction of that 60 years ago... Ignoring that the neighbors house sold for $500,000. Previous purchase price means absolutely nothing.
It is low for any professional. Francisco is opening himself up to being taken advantage of. You want finish quality work for a bargain, go ahead and lowball him. Just don't bitch about it later.
my point was extremely convoluted and minimal in $ so I didn't care to argue it really, I also reflexively laugh at all the real estate agent jargon that is designed exclusively for agents and the other folks benefit vs sellers/buyers BUT now if everyone is selling their house for 10k inflated price due to closing costs being passed along, the comps people are looking at are going to be more than the effective and publicly available sale price correct? that was the short version of my point, that you're making apples to apples comps squishier with things that don't show up in the top line number. matters in the long run? no, but gets people selling/buying in that market a little extra juice? probably.
under contract now, 5% down 2.75% fixed for 30yrs no PMI was the best i found from the earlier discussions around "professional loans"
$400 for a days worth of labor is hardly lowballing. That is $100k/year at that rate for an undocumented worker. Plenty of people with bachelors/masters degrees only make about half that. If he was working for a company, he would be making about $20-$35/hour to do the same job he just got paid $50/hr for. And he is not a tile guy. He is a jack of all trades and a master of none. I am speaking of my Jose, not anyone elses.
Unless you are paying all cash, you have to get an appraisal which absolutely is impacted by sales prices.
It's going to cost more than $400 to refinish those floors after "your" guy grinds tile chips into them. The fireplace is going to be a prominent feature if not focal point of many rooms. If you want to underpay for a "jack of all trades" to give it a shot, go for it. I'm sure there's a correlation in the pool biz, and I've always enjoyed your insight. My opinion is that for this kind of project (fireplace/hearth tile) my pay would be commensurate with my expectations.
But it does impact how the other realtor portrays negotiations to the seller. Real estate isn’t an efficient market controlled by purely rational investors.
This, comps are what keep the prices in check. If you overpay by $20k or $200k it is the comps that anchor the price. Hence @Boo’s whole point. What you “pay” for your house means absolutely nothing unless there is market support. oh god, I need to shower just thinking about agreeing with him on something.
Back up a bit. He specifically said how much to pay his “Fransisco,” not a full blown GC or tile specialist. I think he knows he is not getting top of the line. I think your objection might be the route he is choosing to go, not the pay for the route. Noted and I agree with what you are saying.
Picked up my en suite vanity today. Also picked up wall fixtures to match my plumbing fixtures. So close to this project being done...
Come on Mr tramp I have a guy named Juan who is willing to clean my pool and maintain my pump for 50% of what you charge, you can't match his price?
and if your price is inflated by 10k which then influences every price in your building or many of them are also inflated by 10k due to closing cost pass throughs it impacts those comps moving forward, because the top line public number isn't always telling the full story of the net price paid by the seller, it's not always apples to apples. which is the whole point
“Can” influence, there are absolutely no guarantees in real estate. Every house/unit purchased in your market post your closing date “can” be <$100,000> your purchase price because real estate is a fickle bitch.
sure just a less transparent much squishier market than this guy expected diving into it for the first time, which leads to external factors or consistent internal undisclosed factors able to move markets by percentage points either way
Exactly. If the market can sustain it to get you through closing and you like the place, go for it. Just do not expect it to hold its value 6 months from now or you could be severely disappointed. But in six years it could springboard an early retirement.
You asked for advice as a novice. When someone who has experience in the thing you don’t tells you the reality, don’t mince words so you can say you’re right. You weren’t. And if your realtor told you that, he either really sucks, knows a mark when he sees one or both.
Boo, this entire discussion has confirmed what I thought because your statements largely didn't contradict anything when stripped of the platitudes. For the sake of the thread we'll leave it there though as in my explanation I admitted it's a small market inefficiency created by this quirk so mostly irrelevant!
Does anyone know if it's safe/acceptable to run a gas line and electric to a fireplace/firebox from the basement up through the ash pit and trap door into the fire box? edit: this is for a wood burning to gas conversion where we are using a new gas insert