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Already sick of house shopping


Indy

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I swear this has to be the biggest pain in the ass thing there is to do.  Especially when you add in kids and you are trying to make sure they are in a good school system.  Around here at least, that means spending far more money on a place.  Talk about a freaking juggling act.

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5 minutes ago, Indy said:

...add in kids and you are trying to make sure they are in a good school system.  Around here at least, that means spending far more money on a place.  

A good school system is a desirable feature, just like a finished basement or that fourth bedroom... gonna pay more for it.  Good luck.

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8 minutes ago, Indy said:

I swear this has to be the biggest pain in the ass thing there is to do.  Especially when you add in kids and you are trying to make sure they are in a good school system.  Around here at least, that means spending far more money on a place.  Talk about a freaking juggling act.

It took me from August 2016 to November 2017 of substantial dedicated work to find a place, and I'm single w/no kids.

And this is an area with loads of housing availability.

 

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2 minutes ago, Old#7 said:

If you think shopping is bad, wait until you actually move all the crap you've accumulated.

That's an easy task for me, but then again, I'm single w/no kids. ;)

/non-accumulator of crap
/just pay the movers/packers

 

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11 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

Makes staying put look good, eh?

I'm driving 3 hours a day and have a HOA now.  So no, it doesn't.  But at least because of all the reasons that houses I'm looking at are higher, they will drive the price of mine up. 

Current house is in the best elementary in one of the best school districts in the state.  Also happens to be the cheapest neighborhood assigned to that elementary.

So we will definitely being upgrading house wise, just how much the payment upgrades as a result.  I couldn't even think about affording any of the places we are even considering in the area I currently live.  If we let schools slide, we would actually downgrade the payment while upgrading the house, but it's that damn responsible parent thing that keeps biting us in the butt.

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14 minutes ago, LabDaddy said:

A fundamental issue/problem with schooling system funding.

I disagree, at least in Indiana, all schools are funded the same per student.  Now if a local school system wants more funding, they have to pass a referendum to increase it for a set time period (only good for so many years).  So if people want to spend more on their local education, they can. 

The biggest issue I've seen with the districts that are struggling big time is the fact they have a lot of building that are under utilized because of shrinking population.  So you are stuck with a huge budget drain maintaining building you shouldn't be because everyone complains about funding, but no one wants to give up a freaking building in order to increase the actual amount of money you would have for education.  I do not understand people's emotional attachment to basically a big, mostly empty building.  The systems that are good at adjusting their building space and closing schools they don't need anymore have kept up with their education scores while the ones that are fighting to hang onto building continue to fall behind. 

That's Indiana's education issues in a nutshell.  Of course my sister would argue with me but she's a nut job school teacher who gets attached to buildings full of teachers with few students.  Great teacher to student ratio but no funding for equipment and supplies.

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When my sister and her husband decided to look for a new house, the first thing she did was ask me, a teacher in our countywide school system, which middle and high school were best for her son, who was attending a $10,000/year Catholic school and she hoped for the alternative of a good public school.

I pointed out that the Severna Park area, midway between Baltimore and Annapolis, wasn't too far from her and her husband's jobs, the middle school was ranked #2 in the state and the high school #8, with both being Presidential Blue Ribbon schools. In my first year of teaching, I had been assigned to that high school and knew it was first-class. Additionally, while the better homes on the same side of the main highway as those two schools were approaching $1 million in price, the homes on the other side of the highway, within 1/2 mile of the high school, were $250K - $499K in price.

That's where they moved, into a $400K home, and they saved $90,000 in tuition over what they'd have paid for grades 6-12 in Catholic Elementary and High Schools while getting as good or better an education for their son.

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5 minutes ago, Indy said:

Now if a local school system wants more funding, they have to pass a referendum to increase it for a set time period (only good for so many years).  So if people want to spend more on their local education, they can. 

That, to me, is a fundamental problem.

 

 

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We, well my wife was looking to move about 10 years ago.  The market onnour area boomed, an outlying area about 50 miles away was dirt cheap and we could have bought a house 3X bigger on a big lot on equity.  But the schools were not at the same level as our district and the education infrastructure hadn't caught up with the new homes so bussing was in order.  

I understand the dillema, its a big decision with huge ramifications fir your kids.  We opted to stay put and keep the kids in schools close to home. Kids are in college now and we are still there!

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Well, the accountant finally decided to stretch the budget a bit and go look at a house I love in a really good school system.  It's probably a step down from where we are, but not much of one.  Her coworkers wife is an Education Professor specializing in high ability programs, she gave the schools a thumbs up.  Of course as this process had gone so far, I'm sure we will run into a snag somehow other than the fact my wife hates the dark wood trim and wall paper in the house, because that stuff is so hard to change compared to the complete remodels she usually sends me.  Figure she must be getting serious about considering it since she called our loan officer and he gave her the thumbs up on the increased amount with out having to sell ours first.

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47 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

When my sister and her husband decided to look for a new house, the first thing she did was ask me, a teacher in our countywide school system, which middle and high school were best for her son, who was attending a $10,000/year Catholic school and she hoped for the alternative of a good public school.

I pointed out that the Severna Park area, midway between Baltimore and Annapolis, wasn't too far from her and her husband's jobs, the middle school was ranked #2 in the state and the high school #8, with both being Presidential Blue Ribbon schools. In my first year of teaching, I had been assigned to that high school and knew it was first-class. Additionally, while the better homes on the same side of the main highway as those two schools were approaching $1 million in price, the homes on the other side of the highway, within 1/2 mile of the high school, were $250K - $499K in price.

That's where they moved, into a $400K home, and they saved $90,000 in tuition over what they'd have paid for grades 6-12 in Catholic Elementary and High Schools while getting as good or better an education for their son.

We were just debating that this morning, cheaper house and going private school or more expensive house and public school after I found a house this morning that was just listed that didn't have great public schools.  There was a good private school directly across the road from it though.  Wife talked to her coworker who talked to his wife and next thing I know, we are trying to find a time to go look at a more expensive house. 

 

My wife can not make up her mind on what she wants to save herself.  We looked at a complete gut job house in the area of the one we are trying to go look at now, it was in the more redneck side of town with a well below average elementary.  On the way back home we drove by the house we are trying to go look at and she kept commenting how much she loved the area, she then proceeded to start looking in even more out lying areas to try and save a buck.  Freaking accountants.

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3 minutes ago, Indy said:

We were just debating that this morning, cheaper house and going private school or more expensive house and public school after I found a house this morning that was just listed that didn't have great public schools.  There was a good private school directly across the road from it though.  Wife talked to her coworker who talked to his wife and next thing I know, we are trying to find a time to go look at a more expensive house. 

 

My wife can not make up her mind on what she wants to save herself.  We looked at a complete gut job house in the area of the one we are trying to go look at now, it was in the more redneck side of town with a well below average elementary.  On the way back home we drove by the house we are trying to go look at and she kept commenting how much she loved the area, she then proceeded to start looking in even more out lying areas to try and save a buck.  Freaking accountants.

You should take WoKzoo care shopping some time.  Total lack of focus.

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Just now, Kzoo said:

You should take WoKzoo care shopping some time.  Total lack of focus.

Maybe it is just a female thing.

 

I made a list of everything I was looking for and ranked them as far as what I would drop first.  Then I look at houses as how I would use it and see if it would work, the one we are looking at has a formal dining room but no office.  We would never use a formal dining room, but it would make a nice home office.  My wife will say what she wants, then sends me houses the exact opposite.  She wants an open house, or at least more open than current.  She sent me a house with so many freaking small rooms I couldn't figure out what to do with even half of them.  But she loved the back splash in the kitchen. <hits head on desk>

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My sisters each bought their homes to be in good neighbourhoods with elementary school just 1 or .5 block away.

With public high school, one can only do so much:  In Ontario at least for people who I went to school, as well as my nieces and nephews, friends' children, after awhile, they each decided which high school to go to after going to closest one for a year or more.  Sure, parents tried to influence..

There are some things parents can't control completely later on.  By the way, these public high schools bred, university bound students who I know:  My eldest nephew went Harvard to do his PhD (I know I don't mention this because this forum might think of me as a snot).  His sister asked parents to go to a private school downtown.....15 km. away from home in Toronto.  She graduated from university in geotechnical engineering and did work in the field for consulting firm.

I personally don't know anyone who went to a private high school for their entire schooling yet who I know all who finished university and went on to full time jobs, some related while some had unrelated jobs.  Maybe I just knew the "good" kids.  They came from a blend of poor and middle class families.  I knew kids who chose to leave private school to switch to our public high school. 

I don't know anyone who went to private school in elementary levels nor junior high/middle school at all. Either within my generation or next generation.   If you have the money, great.  

 

 

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9 hours ago, Indy said:

I swear this has to be the biggest pain in the ass thing there is to do.  Especially when you add in kids and you are trying to make sure they are in a good school system.  Around here at least, that means spending far more money on a place.  Talk about a freaking juggling act.

Oh fuck, cry me a river about housing prices, you pay a $1.25/sq. ft vs. $1.00/sq.ft.  Try buying a shitty 800sq.ft place for $1M+ in a less shitty school district here for some perspective.  And send me some 3 Floyds Alpha King already, dammit!

How is the job, btw?

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Just getting started. Wait until

  • the home WoIndy loves gets outbid with a full  cash offer and 10 day closing
  • every other home you see is overpriced & under maintained
  • One word and 2 initials....Amazon HQ
  • the docs you submitted to the loan co aren't enough and they want a W-2 from 30 years ago when you were in Middle School
  • Those docs you submitted? Mortgage co lost em. Can you resend? 
  • Can you document the birth of your kids? For the underwriter
  • by tommorow at 0900? Because we need to get cracking on your loan

it gets better

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I think I worried more about buying a condo where the developer went into bankruptcy. However I loved the location, unit, etc.  It took condo board and property manager to sort on infrastructure problems over 2 yrs.  

Now it's just related simple passage of time and age. (It's 7 yrs. old now.)  At least, I am in a good place with decent soundproofing and a conscientious property manager...we pay the firm a low rate for a good diligent person.  And board members which include a trained accountant and another member who is herself a property manager for a job elsewhere.

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3 hours ago, Goat Geddah said:

LMAO

 

What about that one you posted pics of a week or two ago?

Listing realtor got flakey (also home owner).  Gave me time to do more research, it was in a zoned commercial area, they had recently put in a pool and I think they probably didn't have permits as usually they will not grant that time of stuff in an area that's been zoned commercial.  Plus I had time to read about how big of a headache that is so dodged a bullet there.

So now I'm checking zoning on all property I'm interested in.

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7 minutes ago, Scrapr said:

Just getting started. Wait until

  • the home WoIndy loves gets outbid with a full  cash offer and 10 day closing
  • every other home you see is overpriced & under maintained
  • One word and 2 initials....Amazon HQ
  • the docs you submitted to the loan co aren't enough and they want a W-2 from 30 years ago when you were in Middle School
  • Those docs you submitted? Mortgage co lost em. Can you resend? 
  • Can you document the birth of your kids? For the underwriter
  • by tommorow at 0900? Because we need to get cracking on your loan

it gets better

Amazon HQ is north side, I'm going south.  Now that news would be great for the sale of my house.  Everything else, we got our ducks in a row, preapproved for way more than we want to spend and that's with out selling our house first.  So we can easily go full asking price with no contingencies.  Biggest issue is our realtor, she keeps drinking all the beer in my garage fridge, but she's been doing that for a decade.  Guess the price is of some Miller Light (I stock my garage fridge with it just for her) is worth it for her commission cost.  We just have to cover her expenses. 

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