patrick.net

DinOR,

For my own parents' retirement, I'm trying to push them towards minimal property ownership. For the first 10 to 15 years of their retirement, it really makes much more sense to rent vacation homes than to buy one in any one place. That way, they're not locked to one area. Then, once the market goes down sufficiently, we can start looking for bargains.

But until then, nothing wrong with renting nice places for 50% the cost of buying and zero hassle.

Peter P,

I think the average American kitchen are very badly designed. Cluttered and high cabinets (Hello danger!), inch wide gaps for water and dirt to settle into, weak exhaust fans. I don't care how much the Subzero fridge costs - if they don't have an exhaust fan that vents out, the kitchen is basically worthless.

Home kitchens should be smaller versions of commercial kitchens...not pretty, but functional, sanitary and safe.

My wife and bought a piece of land on Daisy Meadows out in Canyon Country. It was a good size hilltop lot (just over two acres) but due to the slope on the hillside very little of the land is actually usable. There is a good sized plateau at the top which provides a very nice 180 degree view to the east south and west. It seemed a perfect place for a house. A lower plateau to the west of this would have made a nice usable yard. It seemed perfect so we bought it.

The first thing needed was an accurate survey. It turned out that the sloped sides of the lot were to steep and overgrown to survey in the traditional fasion so an aerial survey was needed($7000,00). This involves flying an aircraft over the site and taking a series of photograghs that are then combined by a computer into one three dimensional image. From this data a very detailed contour map was then created. Survey in hand our architect went down to the the city planners office to look into permits and building requirements and thats were things began to fall apart.

It turns out that ten years earlier the city had carted away a large portion of the hillside that had cut Daisy Meadows in half. This allowed them to replace the two culdesacs on either side of the hill with a connecting road. The problem is that the new connecting road that they built was only forty feet wide and had no curbs or sidewalks. The older roads at either end were sixty feet wide with sidewalks and curbs. It turns out that before they would grant me a permit to do anything I was expected to widen the road to sixty feet and put in the curbs and sidewalks on both sides of the street. About four hundred feet worth if I remember correctly.

Then there is the $15,000.00 per acre "bridges and thoroughfares" fee. It does'nt seem to matter to the city that only 1/4 of an acre was actually usable land. Add to this fees assessed for the fire department, the police department and the school system and the cost became prohibitive. Had I tried to complete the project with a modest house the architect figured the cost would approach one million dollars and possibly more.

We threw in the towel and sold the place about a year later for $5,000 more than we had invested in it. It's currently for sale again for well over twice what we sold it for.

@David J,

Thanks for sharing your story with us --and what a nightmare! Talk about your gratuitous, extortionate "just because" fees and red tape. Un-freakin'-believable... I'm surprised the city government hasn't tried charging an "oxygen use fee" per resident (plus a supplemental fee for visitors).

I think California leads the nation in anti-development fees, not to mention an extremely lopsided tax burden, thanks to Prop. 13. The NAHB came out with an estimate last year that showed average fees per new house topped $120K in some CA municipalities.

So much for trying to play the homebuilder "incentives" game to your advantage. It appears that incentives --as well as prices-- have also been rigged against you, Mr. Retail Buyer:

Feds Investigating Home Builder Mortgage Programs for Consumer Abuses
by Kenneth R. Harney

...Under the federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), builders and realty brokers are prohibited from requiring customers to use their own affiliates or subsidiaries for mortgage, title or other settlement-related services. They can recommend affiliates -- provided they also disclose the relationship -- but they cannot force consumers to use them.

Enforcement officials at HUD, which has regulatory oversight of RESPA, have begun looking into widespread allegations that some builders:

--Increase the prices of homes when purchasers decline to use their affiliated mortgage companies.

--Present $10,000 to $30,000 "incentives" -- upgrades to kitchens, "free" finished basements or "free" settlement costs -- as true discounts, when in fact the incentives are built into the cost of the house.

Require the use of an affiliated lender in order to qualify for incentives when they know their affiliates' mortgage programs carry intentionally inflated fees or interest rates to cover the incentives in whole or part.

Refuse to go to settlement when buyers change their minds and decline to use the builder's affiliated or wholly-owned mortgage company. In one case, a builder declared an $11,845 good faith deposit forfeited when the customer switched to an independent, nonaffiliated lender.

http://www.dqnews.com/ZIPSJMN.shtm
SANTA CLARA through 10/20/2006
Total resale houses $749,000 7.0%
Mountain View 94040 $809,000
Mountain View 94041 $812,500
Mountain View 94043 $735,000

Drop damnit! Drop already! What the hell?

ConfusedRealtwhore/Marinara Prime,

This thread is all about building houses with alternative/green materials, such as cobb, which usually contains manure. Since you're such an expert on bullshit, I was hoping you'd be able to contribute something to the discussion.

Cheers.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm pretty much fed up with CR McFuckKnob and his repetitive, childish flame-baiting. As he contributes nothing useful to the discussion, I'm banning his ass (again).

Feel free to go right ahead and flame me if you don't agree with my decision.

Feel free to go right ahead and flame me if you don’t agree with my decision.

On the one hand, it is sadistically enjoyable to verbally pummel this toolbag called ConfusedRealtor once in a while. On the other hand, I worry that lurkers and other regular readers find his flame-baiting and trolling distracting from the discussion.

It's clear he is getting more and more desparate, resorting to personal attacks - SP, astrid, SFWoman, to mention a few. He must be very stressed about not having any RE commissions of late.

We went through a whole thread on this earlier, but I remain ambivalent about banning him.

As the threadmaster, I'll go ahead and ban CR on this thread.

skibum,

What bothers me is that CR is making personal attacks and baiting people into engaging him. Then he or she ignores the responses actually elicited. It's pretty much textbook trolling, and offensive textbook trolling at that.

SFWoman,

I'm very sorry. Maybe you can ask Peter P to disagree with you? :)

You bring up an excellent point, much of the American high deserts is prone to flash flooding. DinOR, DO NOT build your dream home in a slot canyon. You'll be very sorry if you do.

astrid/SFWoman,

Thanks for the heads up. Like I say, still very much in the fledgling state. One of the things I may have neglected to mention is that the "retired crowd" in say the Philippines is basically nocturnal. They drink, party, raise hell, shoot pool and settle their bets by the light of the moon.

By the time sunrise rolls around they're having their nightcap and sleep (pass out) during the heat of the day. I can't imagine hanging out in the Amargosa Desert would be too different.

HARM,

I felt the real news in your Realty Times link was the fact that HUD was actually recognizing the abuses and DOING something about it! We've been aware that the "incentives" have more stick than carrot so just hearing this kind coverage is a positive!

Given the current state of ethical affairs at NAR was there any doubt the incentive driven sales model would be short lived? I mean what is this? Double or nothing?

DinOR,

I'm looking forward to TV "analysts" comparing home builders to the Big Three auto manufacturers. That would be pretty sweet and very fitting. McSuburbanAssaultVehicle, meet McCrappyOverpricedHovel.

Sellers are helping buyers slice their wrists.

allah,

Praise be! If a "buyer" can't afford the house or don't plan to stay long, maybe they should, eh, rent instead.

DinOR: I have also looked in to earth sheltered homes, particularly those made with shotcrete (spray-on concrete). I found the idea of an underground, energy-efficient home as very intriguing. Unfortunately, the sq.ft. costs come out about the same as a regular ol' McHovel, so what's the point? It would be a very expensive style statement.

I also looked at converted grain silos for unconventional housing. I had most factors worked out, except for stairs. But I thought it would be brilliant to build a secret lair in a grain silo. It's just sitting out there in the field, looking all agrarian, and then you walk up with a garage remote. One button push later, the hidden windows and door are revealed as the galvanized steel slides out of place.

Hey, a guy can dream, can't he? :)

Brand,

LOL, for a moment there I thought you were going to hide nuclear tipped missiles and laser armed sharks in those silos.

dryfly,

I think container conversions are awesome. At the very least, they're earthquake proof and termite proof.

And Container City, of course: http://www.containercity.com/

Shark tank? Nah. Well, unless they had frickin' laser beams on their heads! And perhaps flippy chairs on the ground floor recreation chamber. Then if someone starts rooting against the Eagles, I can just drop them into the cistern below.

The problem I have is, with flippy chairs into the cistern, how are you going to purify the drinking water afterwards? Even pirahnas leave something behind.

Then she will certainly be interested in the Rocky Mountain Foundry Project in Fort Collins, CO. The RMF is using steel cargo containers as artist studios.

http://www.fortcollinsweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=127&Itemid=35

Er, forgive the enthusiasm... they intend to use steel cargo containers if they can find a location, sponsorship and funding.

But I think it kicks ass. :)

Brand,

The Eagles? Is that the band, the sports franchise (I assume there is one, right?) or do supervillans like to refer to their pets with capital letters?

I never thought about bone removal...

By Eagles I mean the NFL team. Although I might consider incinerating someone for mocking the band, just on principle. Any foul beasts in my secret lair will not have such mundane names. They will be either fearsome, such as Hounds of Despair, or ironically entertaining, such as Pander Bears to guard the harem.

Now, if perhaps there were instead a way to compost the insolent henchmen, that might be useful. I could use various species of nasty termites and worms to dispose of the evidence. And perhaps the flowers in the Zen Garden (of Doom) might respond well to such fertilizer.

Best of luck convincing your wife of the inherent genius. :)

But I have to admit I was sure he would’ve been tempted by the opportunity to “turn” Randy H

The offer still stands. I would love nothing more than for someone to convince me that now is a good time to buy. Renting is a serious pain in the ass for me. Having a mostly disabled elder and a young child makes renting very suboptimal. I'm data driven, rational, and am willing to pay a pretty hefty premium to own, plus I've been a homeowner for over a decade, so I should be easy prey if CR has anything at all of substance.

C'mon CR. Here's your chance to get a foothold in South Marin. Just think of the commissions.

Since there have been a few links to container/prefab sites, I thought I should pass along one that may appeal to the minimalists among us:

http://www.rocioromero.com/LVSeries/LVL.htm

Not my cup 'o tea, but hard not to appreciate the clarity of design.

This is a test...

allah,

Praise be! If a “buyer” can’t afford the house or don’t plan to stay long, maybe they should, eh, rent instead.

astrid er, eh,

That's why I titled the link :

Sellers are helping buyers slice their wrists.

Brand,

I had seen some time back where a fellow had finished out two containers and had them shipped around the world where he set them up in various port cities. I think it's great that the art community has broken the ice but I've always wondered why we didn't use them for prisons.

Now I don't want to get into some huge debate about prisons. Let's assume this individual is where he belongs for a minute ok? This would solve so much of the overcrowding and could be set up in heart beat.

Disaster relief. Rather than put a huge strain on the building materials supply chain (as Katrina did) ship these babies down to the coast! Re-useable as well. Very common to see these on job sites for secure storage and also used as temporary shops. I've heard they can be had for $1,500-$1,800 delivered.

SFWoman,

What in Montreal DOES age well?

The season is opening this week.

Don't I know it! I will be blogging much less rippin' pow a lot more in a few weeks!

SFWoman,

That would have been the same year the "Expo's" introduced MLB to Canadian fans. They are now the "DC Nationals" and their old stadium in Montreal is a real dump from what I hear. They refused to put ANY money into it.

allah,

Huh? I was agreeing with your original point and working out a way to address you.

Totally OT but.......

Has anyone else noticed that for about the 3rd time in 4 days there have been main Street media articles about 60's "icons" in court or back in court over copyright infringements? Over the last week we've had to endure claims from Jimi Hendrix' estate, Procol Harem and Jimmy Buffet (a regular) and I just wondered if anyone was as tired of it as I was?

DinOR,

Stupid American copyright running time. 20-25 years from registration makes much more sense.

astrid,

I'm hardly an expert it just is so depressing to have to "wade through" these p@ssing contests. I thought it was all about love and peace and dope man! You fight the urge to click on the link hoping against hope that there's some kind of interesting wrinkle there and...... nope. Just greed.

Home Depot a real stinker this morning w/CEO Bernie saying he doesn't see any catalyst for improvement in 2007. Buckle up!

King_Cobra,

Oh that's right. They're having the big lender's event in NY. The "We have another year of adjustment" line really floored me! With 2,500 more being laid off (MB's) I'd love to see some projections on what NAR's membership will look like after another year of........ adjustment?

Maybe instead of having a link to the "Boomer Death Clock" we could have a "simulated" realt-whore memberships count down?