When you live in a million $$ house,

[2Far]

Kwityerbitchin about $1,000 problems. Well pump went out. AC in Pool house went out. Had to pressure was the pool. Had to pressure wash the spa. Had to pressure wash the pool furniture. Power went out & lost all the sprinkler programming. Had a leak in the basement & damaged some drywall. The caulk between the tile & the pool is discolored. Some kinda problem with the new range hood.

Just trying to make a living here., put some money away for retirement, don't really wanna hear your 1%er problems.

[Longjohn ★]

Who are we referring to here?

[2Far]

2 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

Who are we referring to here?

The guy in the corner office.

[Longjohn ★]

Did you ever see all the abandoned million/ten million dollar houses on you tube? Other millionaires don’t want them and other people can’t even afford the taxes.

[Razors Edge ★]

38 minutes ago, 2Far said:

Just trying to make a living here., put some money away for retirement, don't really wanna hear your 1%er problems.

Million dollar homes aren't very uncommon in many places. Sure, the crazier ones come with a lot of upkeep, and the problems are self-created, so those folks should quit their bitching.  But, in a good school district and/or in a good neighborhood, a million bucks gets many folks a "normal" house with normal maint requirements.  But then he'd be happily chatting about the new pressure washer he bought last weekend to wash the pool furniture. I gotta say, though, EVERYONE should be bitching when they have to fix or replace their AC system.  We did ours a couple years ago, and I'd much rather have spent those $$$ on a lot of other things.

[Longjohn ★]

 

[Ralphie ★]

2 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

I gotta say, though, EVERYONE should be bitching when they have to fix or replace their AC system.  We did ours a couple years ago, and I'd much rather have spent those $$$ on a lot of other things.

I b!tched a helluva lot when I had to completely replace our 7 year old one when it failed prematurely due to a manufacturing defect. 

[bikeman564™]

15 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

Other millionaires don’t want them

Yup

I've biked past this house that never got finished. When it listed unfinished for $29 million, I thought no one in their right mind would pay that. I jokingly said it would sell for 2.9 million...I joked correctly

[Razors Edge ★]

4 minutes ago, bikeman564™ said:

Yup

I've biked past this house that never got finished. When it listed unfinished for $29 million, I thought no one in their right mind would pay that. I jokingly said it would sell for 2.9 million...I joked correctly

That doesn't look like a $29 million dollar home.  Maybe it has a lot of land?

[bikeman564™]

1 minute ago, Razors Edge said:

That doesn't look like a $29 million dollar home.  Maybe it has a lot of land?

It is almost 17k square feet, and on the water. But I agree, 29 seems steep. I'd say if it was finished, and in the current market, it would probably fetch over 10.

[2Far]

According to Zillow, $1.8 million

 

[jsharr ★]

No corner office,  No pool, no pool house, no pool furniture, no new range, no basement, esp not a finished basement.

[2Far]

He had to pay extra for the inwardly opening door to his gun room.

[MickinMD ★]

A lot of people are "house poor" because their property costs, including maintenance, eats up too much of their money and $1000 can be a major expense for them.

I have a close cousin who lives in a million dollar house in Morristown, NJ where the property taxes are around 4.5%.

She and her husband want to retire to North Carolina and originally planned to do so when she turned 60: 7 years ago.

But loans to their business beginning with the 2008 downturn and an inability to sell the property for what it's worth has kept them in the house and still working full-time: he's 72.

I fear they're in worse financial shape than the millions she says she has - he told me they took in partners for the business (sets up Internet and Intranet systems in buildings) and took out an insider-loan from the business several years ago. She has occasionally planned grandiose stuff like building a stable and buying horses and ends up planting several fruit trees. I tell her that my 2nd floor can be turned into their apartment after they run out of money.

[Razors Edge ★]

43 minutes ago, 2Far said:

He had to pay extra for the inwardly opening door to his gun room.

Doesn't that make it harder to go out with guns blazing?!?!?!  You're supposed to kick the door out hard and fast, and then jump through the opening.  Yanking inward instead really throws your momentum in the wrong direction.

[Kzoo]

Just now, Razors Edge said:

Doesn't that make it harder to go out with guns blazing?!?!?! 

That's what saloon windows are for.  Did you fall asleep during the movie or something?

 

[Razors Edge ★]

1 minute ago, Kzoo said:

That's what saloon windows are for.  Did you fall asleep during the movie or something?

 

I am very unsympathetic to folks with saloons that have gun rooms that are in their homes.  It is overkill. 

[shootingstar]

19 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

A lot of people are "house poor" because their property costs, including maintenance, eats up too much of their money and $1000 can be a major expense for them.

I have a close cousin who lives in a million dollar house in Morristown, NJ where the property taxes are around 4.5%.

She and her husband want to retire to North Carolina and originally planned to do so when she turned 60: 7 years ago.

But loans to their business beginning with the 2008 downturn and an inability to sell the property for what it's worth has kept them in the house and still working full-time: he's 72.

I fear they're in worse financial shape than the millions she says she has - he told me they took in partners for the business (sets up Internet and Intranet systems in buildings) and took out an insider-loan from the business several years ago. She has occasionally planned grandiose stuff like building a stable and buying horses and ends up planting several fruit trees. I tell her that my 2nd floor can be turned into their apartment after they run out of money.

I heard of a local story via a work colleague who won 2nd price in fundraiser charity for hospital, for a Lexus car (which he took $70,000 instead, for its value).  The lst prize went to a retired couple for a brand-new 5 bedroom huge house...  The problem was the property tax for that place.  Don't know what happened later with that "windfall" house win.  If I won a house of that size...I would sell it later. 

I realize alot of retirees are stuck in a situation where if they sell their large home, then it's finding a smaller home with right (lower)price at the right time.  It gets harder now that the detached home market prices are rising rapidly in several major Canadian cities....and even in mid-sized cities.

[2Far]

14 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

I heard of a local story via a work colleague who won 2nd price in fundraiser charity for hospital, for a Lexus car (which he took $70,000 instead, for its value).  The lst prize went to a retired couple for a brand-new 5 bedroom huge house...  The problem was the property tax for that place.  Don't know what happened later with that "windfall" house win.  If I won a house of that size...I would sell it later. 

I realize alot of retirees are stuck in a situation where if they sell their large home, then it's finding a smaller home with right (lower)price at the right time.  It gets harder now that the detached home market prices are rising rapidly in several major Canadian cities....and even in mid-sized cities.

A lot of those "winners" in the HGTV home giveaways have to sell them to pay the income taxes.

[Dirtyhip]

Did you say Range fan problems?  

[Zephyr]

Back in 2010 there was a website "crackshackormansion.com" where they would post a photo and you had to guess if it was a crack house or a house listed for $1,000,000 in Vancouver.  It was hard to tell the difference really.

Sadly, that is where my son has to live for his work.  

[Dirtyhip]

Downsizing our life was one of the best decisions we ever made.  We went from a longer commute and 1600 sq. ft. home to a more modest home with an easy bike commute to work.  This makes life easier and retirement earlier.   

Cleaning, maintenance and heating is much better with a smaller home.  The bigger places require more furniture too.  Less is better.

[maddmaxx ★]

If I was living in a million dollar home it would be in the gardeners shack.

[Wilbur ★]

https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2020/07/tiny-toronto-house-listed-1-million/

[Dottleshead ★]

7 hours ago, Dirtyhip said:

Downsizing our life was one of the best decisions we ever made.  We went from a longer commute and 1600 sq. ft. home to a more modest home with an easy bike commute to work.  This makes life easier and retirement earlier.   

Cleaning, maintenance and heating is much better with a smaller home.  The bigger places require more furniture too.  Less is better.

Definitely. Less is more. We sacrificed a few things and gained a whole lot more.

[Dottleshead ★]

10 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

Million dollar homes aren't very uncommon in many places. Sure, the crazier ones come with a lot of upkeep, and the problems are self-created, so those folks should quit their bitching.  But, in a good school district and/or in a good neighborhood, a million bucks gets many folks a "normal" house with normal maint requirements.  But then he'd be happily chatting about the new pressure washer he bought last weekend to wash the pool furniture. I gotta say, though, EVERYONE should be bitching when they have to fix or replace their AC system.  We did ours a couple years ago, and I'd much rather have spent those $$$ on a lot of other things.

Kwitcherbitchin and either move back to the PNW. AC? What is it?

[Kzoo]

1 hour ago, Wilbur said:

https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2020/07/tiny-toronto-house-listed-1-million/

Wow

[Razors Edge ★]

3 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

Wow

Did it sell? What's the on market duration up there? Three or fours days? If so, we ought to know the outcome of the sale!

FTR, one could assume the value was the land it was on?  Throw a four or five story modern brownstone and resell for ???? Two million?

[Thaddeus Kosciuszko]

9 hours ago, Zephyr said:

they would post a photo and you had to guess if it was a crack house or a house listed for $1,000,000 in Vancouver.  It was hard to tell the difference really.

Sadly, that is where my son has to live for his work.  

Hey, it's not all that bad!  Some of the best years of my life were spent living in a crack house!

[Razors Edge ★]

4 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Did it sell? What's the on market duration up there? Three or fours days? If so, we ought to know the outcome of the sale!

FTR, one could assume the value was the land it was on?  Throw a four or five story modern brownstone and resell for ???? Two million?

Sold!! And probably resold and resold a couple more times!

[Scrapr ★]

23 hours ago, Dirtyhip said:

Downsizing our life was one of the best decisions we ever made.  We went from a longer commute and 1600 sq. ft. home to a more modest home with an easy bike commute to work.  This makes life easier and retirement earlier.   

Cleaning, maintenance and heating is much better with a smaller home.  The bigger places require more furniture too.  Less is better.

You both really live your values. I'm proud of you. You and K are an inspiration. Much of our society is driven by keeping up with the Jones. More house, big car, designer furniture. And just worried about how much the payments are per month

[Dirtyhip]

8 minutes ago, Scrapr said:

You both really live your values. I'm proud of you. You and K are an inspiration. Much of our society is driven by keeping up with the Jones. More house, big car, designer furniture. And just worried about how much the payments are per month

Gosh, thank you.  Knowing you personally and hearing this compliment is really nice.  You are someone I respect, someone who seems to have their ducks in a row.

Living modestly just feels right.  Side bonus was how it affected our net. We can save and there is very little stress in the house. People have told us how awful building a home was, and how it caused friction in relationships.  We have done pretty well.  Not one fight about the design and build.  We had to do a few compromises to get it done and stay within a reasonable figure with the build.

The trailer dance is tougher while working full time.  People that do this fulltime are way stronger than I am.

[Razors Edge ★]

17 minutes ago, Scrapr said:

 Much of our society is driven by keeping up with the Jones. More house, big car, designer furniture. And just worried about how much the payments are per month

The nice part is that no one here in the Cafe feels that way. I don't know how we did it, but no one (except that greedy guy @jsharr) are motivated by the Jones.

[Square Wheels]

A million doesn't go far anymore.

[Razors Edge ★]

1 minute ago, Square Wheels said:

A million doesn't go far anymore.

Very true but also very locality dependent.  The one 2far posted, at $1.8M looked like a reasonable mix of size and comfort, but hard to judge location.  Plop that in a city, and it is a 10M+ home for the property alone. Drop it in a depressed area, and it will sit empty and decaying.

I feel bad for folks moving between lower priced markets into higher priced markets.  That's where the prices hit you.  Swapping an expensive home for another expensive home only hurts in the realtor fees, otherwise it is just a push.

[Square Wheels]

5 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Very true but also very locality dependent.  The one 2far posted, at $1.8M looked like a reasonable mix of size and comfort, but hard to judge location.  Plop that in a city, and it is a 10M+ home for the property alone. Drop it in a depressed area, and it will sit empty and decaying.

I feel bad for folks moving between lower priced markets into higher priced markets.  That's where the prices hit you.  Swapping an expensive home for another expensive home only hurts in the realtor fees, otherwise it is just a push.

We bought for 400, current value over 600.  Will sell in less than 10 years, no idea where it will be then.

We will move to a less expensive area.

[Razors Edge ★]

Just now, Square Wheels said:

We will move to a less expensive area.

...and get "more" or downsize?  It's sort of like the stock market so when the market moves, nothing matters unless you are buying or selling (except the damn TAXES!).

[Dirtyhip]

18 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

A million doesn't go far anymore.

It all depends on how you spend it.

I just looked at our budget sheet.  Not including this home build, cause that is property development costs (investment), we live on a bit less than 2000 a month for food, taxes, health costs, shopping and everything else.  

[Square Wheels]

41 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

...and get "more" or downsize?  It's sort of like the stock market so when the market moves, nothing matters unless you are buying or selling (except the damn TAXES!).

More is an odd term for us.  Our house is 1800 sg ft, but oddly arranged.  We can't easily have many people over.  We have 4 bedrooms, not needed.

We'll hopefully build.  Maybe two bedrooms, with another room that could be a bedroom.

Large kitchen with entertainment area.

Home gym.

[Razors Edge ★]

31 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

More is an odd term for us.  Our house is 1800 sg ft, but oddly arranged.  We can't easily have many people over.  We have 4 bedrooms, not needed.

We'll hopefully build.  Maybe two bedrooms, with another room that could be a bedroom.

Large kitchen with entertainment area.

Home gym.

Pre or post retirement?

Considering how home design has evolved so much over the years, and seeing how folks like DH are designing new homes, it definitely can make sense to build your own.  Or shop around a lot looking for good "bones" to adapt to your needs.