For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

[m1ke_nyc]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Congrats man. My wife and I are closing on April 20. I've got a lot to learn about maintaining a home and just reading through this thread has been pretty helpful.

Looks awesome congratulations. This is our first home. We are excited. We don't have any kids yet, however we are taking care of our niece right now. It's a 3 bedroom so more than enough space for us. My goal is to live there for a few years and then either rent it out for some extra income, or hopefully the value rises enough to where we can make a decent profit to put to our next place. And yea I see alot of YouTube videos in my future as I wanna learn all the handy work.

[L_O_B_27]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

So it is becoming more and more apparent that my GF and I won't be homeowners in NJ, and are strongly looking towards NC to buy property and build a house.

My Dad retired to Charlotte, and my GF has friends there as well.

We're both just fed up dropping 1700 a month in rent and not owning anything versus saving money for a year, and getting a brand new house built to our specs for 175-200K for what would go for nearly 600K here in NJ.

[ODogg]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

So it is becoming more and more apparent that my GF and I won't be homeowners in NJ, and are strongly looking towards NC to buy property and build a house.

My Dad retired to Charlotte, and my GF has friends there as well.

We're both just fed up dropping 1700 a month in rent and not owning anything versus saving money for a year, and getting a brand new house built to our specs for 175-200K for what would go for nearly 600K here in NJ.

Dude trust me, get out of New Jersey and get down to North Carolina asap. Anyone I know who has moved there, including my sister, love it there and you will be so much happier with the better weather, lower taxes and just overall lower cost of living. And a house will be so much cheaper there!

[ODogg]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Here is a picture of the house that my wife and I bought about 2 years ago.



It's been pretty good maintenance wise (our AC/Heating unit died but thankfully the home warranty took care of that $7,000 bill) but yesterday our sump pump died. Had been having issues with it and a few months back had a couple of plumbers give us a quote of about $1000 to replace but thankfully a guy I met here on OS who I've known since 2005 knew a plumber who was able to come out here and replace it for $405!

Got my new pump working right now and pumps 68 gallons every minute.

[m1ke_nyc]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

For those of you more experienced with purchasing a home and closing wanted to ask what do you think about me and my wife giving our agent a gift basket at closing ? She was awesome and went above and beyond for us. Focused more on getting us into a home we liked, and would be happy with, than trying to rush us and getting her commission. I'm not sure if there are rules where real estate agents can't accept gifts from clients or not. We just wanna show our appreciation. Is that acceptable or should we keep it strictly professional ?

[ODogg]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

For those of you more experienced with purchasing a home and closing wanted to ask what do you think about me and my wife giving our agent a gift basket at closing ? She was awesome and went above and beyond for us. Focused more on getting us into a home we liked, and would be happy with, than trying to rush us and getting her commission. I'm not sure if there are rules where real estate agents can't accept gifts from clients or not. We just wanna show our appreciation. Is that acceptable or should we keep it strictly professional ?

Are you sure maybe you don't just "accidentally" leave a $100 bill on her desk next time you meet with her? Be sure to wink when you leave.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

A gift basket would be perfectly fine.

[DJ]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

For those of you more experienced with purchasing a home and closing wanted to ask what do you think about me and my wife giving our agent a gift basket at closing ? She was awesome and went above and beyond for us. Focused more on getting us into a home we liked, and would be happy with, than trying to rush us and getting her commission. I'm not sure if there are rules where real estate agents can't accept gifts from clients or not. We just wanna show our appreciation. Is that acceptable or should we keep it strictly professional ?

Can't go wrong with a gift basket. Glad your realtor worked out well for you; definitely helps make the process easier when that relationship is good.

[m1ke_nyc]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Appreciate the responses guys.

[mgoblue]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

My pool's backwash push/pull valve was not working properly...got the o-rings and lube for 10ish bucks on Amazon and was able to replace them myself...and it actually seemed to work! Saved myself a bunch in having a pool guy come out, I call it a win!

[jeremym480]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Anyone ever tried making a pallet garden?

A few years ago we planted some tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs in a container garden and it turned out great. We just put the containers on our driveway and I would like to move it into the backyard (without killing a bunch of grass), but I'm concerned about the dogs getting to them.

Last time the tomatoes grew almost as tall as me, so I'm wondering how well they would work growing in a pallet.

Examples:

http://www.motherearthliving.com/gardening/vegetable-gardening/vertical-pallet-garden-plan-ze0z1407zpit

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

We had a pallet garden box at our old rental house. The bottom was open like a normal box, but we set a pallet on its side (similar to the first picture) and used it on the back of the box.

I would keep tomatoes out of a pallet, though. If you can only plant in containers/boxes then I think planting them by themselves is your best bet because they can get huge (obviously depending on the type) and they suck water anyway.

[Scott]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Took out all the pinestraw in our yard, 35 bags of mulch later, it looks amazing.

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[Stu]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Has anyone had solar installed? I'm sure the incentives vary by state but it seems like a no brainer if you have the right roof for it. I've gotten a few estimates and after the Fed tax credit, State tax credit and electric company rebate I'd be looking at about 12-13k for a system that would generate 101% of my electricity needs.

If I take a 10 year loan to pay for the system the payment is basically a wash with my current electric bill. I'd also get a small credit from the electric company for any surplus I generate plus about $2,000 a year in SREC credits.

Seems too good to be true so just wondering if anyone else has gone through this process.

[Scott]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Has anyone had solar installed? I'm sure the incentives vary by state but it seems like a no brainer if you have the right roof for it. I've gotten a few estimates and after the Fed tax credit, State tax credit and electric company rebate I'd be looking at about 12-13k for a system that would generate 101% of my electricity needs.

If I take a 10 year loan to pay for the system the payment is basically a wash with my current electric bill. I'd also get a small credit from the electric company for any surplus I generate plus about $2,000 a year in SREC credits.

Seems too good to be true so just wondering if anyone else has gone through this process.

I have solar panels. We have about 10 panels on the roof. Just pay a monthly fee of 45 for solar and about 80 for electric.

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