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When I sold my house last time that was the case (contingent on sale). I think the market looks good in your area. Hope it works in the area you want to purchase IG. I don't disagree that it might be sometimes a whirlwind of decisions going on. You will need to question things (as you already do), and inspect the flow of the money (and fees) to who ultimately will benefit.
We got some good news this morning though. The most recent house that we "lost" has had their sale fall through, and it looks like we are still the backup offer. We might be able to make this work. It could be advantageous too, as the house is currently unoccupied so if we do make a deal and the closing cannot be set in time to coincide with our own sale, we might be able to rent the property from them in the interim. This would be great because we could do a nice leisurely move.
May 15 2014 9:39am from IGnatius T Foobar @uncnsrd (Uncensored)
This whole thing is a roller coaster and I don't have the stomach for
it.
We got some good news this morning though. The most recent house that
we "lost" has had their sale fall through, and it looks like we are
still the backup offer. We might be able to make this work. It could
be advantageous too, as the house is currently unoccupied so if we do
make a deal and the closing cannot be set in time to coincide with our
own sale, we might be able to rent the property from them in the
interim. This would be great because we could do a nice leisurely
move.
The "renting from them in the interim" is the best of both worlds.
1. try to build the rental period into your offer price. That way...
a) you don't have to write a rent check every month, and
b) the seller won't have to declare the "rent" as income since it is in the sale price (for him) of the house and most likely shielded from cap-gains tax.
2. it does indeed make for a leisurely move-in.
--Vince
We have a minivan :)
we had over a month of overlap between getting the keys and moving out of our old place.
Gave us a chance to redo the kitchen (which was totally falling apart), put in screens, repaint, redo 1/3 of the flooring, and get the place professionally cleaned. HIGHLY worthwhile!
So things are actually moving along. We have a small army of people praying for everything to go well.
We accepted the sale contingency with a 60 day expiration, after which we can tell them to go away if we want to. However it does seem that things are still on track. Last week it was precarious. The buyers' attorney got all pissy about language in the contract stating that we (the sellers) have no knowledge of any underground or above-ground oil tanks. Uh, hello genius, it's *your* rider and it's an oil heated house. So yeah, that big oil tank behind the garage? You probably want it there, so be a peach and strike the words "or above ground." An electronic copy of the signed contract has been emailed to us and the hardcopy is supposed to arrive by mid week.
At the same time, one of the houses we "lost" had its sale fall through, and we were their backup offer. We agreed on a price and did our inspections last weekend. This is the property that I was talking about renting up until we close, a few messages back. If things work out, we could be moving by early summer.
Oil tanks above ground, behind the garage? What happens if it leaks, does it simply flow all over your property?
Having oil tanks above ground is pretty normal where I live.
Yeah, it would simplly flow all over the property. So you make sure it doesn't leak. Typically, they don't, or you can have it addressed fairly quickly if it does.
I'd like to get a wood stove for the next house as a supplementary heat source.
A discussion on the relative merits of traditional wood stoves vs. pellet stoves would be welcome at this time.
find/buy pellets.
A discussion on the relative merits of traditional wood stoves vs.
pellet stoves would be welcome at this time.
Pellet stoves require electricity.
power failure = no heat
Get a regular wood stove, but make sure it is a modern one so that it has a good flue controller.
Also, make sure you are moving to an area where you will have access to a plentiful supply of oak, maple, or apple wood for the stove - apple is my favorite. Not only does it burn hot, it smells wonderful. ***Do not*** burn any "sappy" wood - that's a direct path to a chimney fire.
Of course, in NJ the pineys call those things "chimleys"... ;)
In germany, you have the oil tanks in your basement, in a special room which has a door with an entry above waist height. Think of it as a window that mimics a door. Completely made out of 10cm of steel. The floor is concrete and sealed, the walls too, iirc. So that no oil can reach groundwater. You paint the walls with special paint. Twice, in different colors, so it can clearly be seen as having been painted twice. It is kind of a bunker.
Automatic pellet supply is nice for a constant heating. You have your generator to bridge power outtakes.
We use briquettes in a standard wood burning stove. If you buy the right ones and not the cheapest, they are pretty efficient. The cheap ones use crappy material and are not pressed enough. Bonus: No need for electricity. Malus: Need for a human to throw in another briquette. They are pretty neat to store, price is about 200-300€ for 960kg, depends on quality and the season in which you order.
We signed the contract to sell our house today. There are still a few things that could make the deal go south but basically we're done.
We are also in possession of the contract to buy our next home. The house is 60% larger and the property is 300% larger. And it has 100% more bathrooms, which is a big relief (no pun intended, but go ahead and run with it anyway).
This is the one with electric heat, so I'll be looking to buy that wood burning stove within the next couple of years.
I'm just relieved to find out that I'm overpaying for heat now, so it'll either be a wash or lower.
Sounds great!
Thinking about heating with electricity, we will fuel cars in the future with electricity. If the source is all green and cheap, why not keep the electric heating in your home? Part of the house of the parents of my gf have storage heaters. Atm, this is quiet costly, because in germany, we are producing so much solar and wind energy that our electricity prices went skywards. Don't ask me about the logic, ask Angela Merkel. But I guess when Putin decides to quit gas pipelines over this stupid Ukrain shit, we might be ending up with the cheapest source of power in 5+ years.
But they really do an awful sort of heat, I prefer a wood stove over it at any time.
If one wishes to heat their home vie electricity, at least wire the floor to be heated and allow it to radiate up. You would likely save even more money and have a far more efficient handling of your heat.
May 23 2014 5:48am from fleeb @uncnsrd (Uncensored)
If one wishes to heat their home vie electricity, at least wire the
floor to be heated and allow it to radiate up. You would likely save
even more money and have a far more efficient handling of your heat.
A very clever (and ultimately excellent) idea.
Goes directly to that old maxim: if your feet are warm you are comfortable.
The only reason most folks insist on carpet on their floors is that wood or tile surfaces make your feet cold - when you are comfortable in your living room with your shoes off, and you go to walk anywhere, if your feet hit a cold hardwood or tile floor, you are *not* happy. Hence the carpet.
However, if the floor is heated that effect goes away.
Smart thinking, fleeb!
--K2NE
Hmmmm... let's see... 2-storey home, wood frame with standard joists and subflooring on the 2nd floor and a nice big woodstove in the living room.
Guess what? You're putting a *bucket-load* of heat into that 2nd storey's wood subflooring. And I've not heard of that burning down a house quite yet.... ;)