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[#] Thu May 15 2014 00:29:52 EDT from ax25

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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.



[#] Thu May 15 2014 12:39:47 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

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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.

[#] Thu May 15 2014 17:18:22 EDT from vince-q <vince-q@ns1.netk2ne.net>

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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

[#] Thu May 15 2014 18:25:15 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

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The leisurely move-in is soooooooo attractive. I would love to have a week or three to self-move the stuff I don't want movers to handle (computers etc), do some painting, cleaning, running all the cables I need for computers/telecom/audio/video, and of course have our FiOS service moved over instead of having to suspend and re-order the service.

We have a minivan :)

[#] Thu May 15 2014 18:53:42 EDT from triLcat

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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!

 



[#] Mon May 19 2014 22:49:27 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

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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.

[#] Tue May 20 2014 01:36:10 EDT from the_mgt

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Oil tanks above ground, behind the garage? What happens if it leaks, does it simply flow all over your property?



[#] Tue May 20 2014 09:34:25 EDT from fleeb

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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.

[#] Tue May 20 2014 10:47:12 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

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If you're trying to sell a house in the US, the kiss of death is having an *underground* oil tank. Even an empty abandoned tank will kick off a process resulting in lengthy environmental red tape and very expensive tank removal.

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.

[#] Tue May 20 2014 11:11:29 EDT from zooer

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Over the long cold winter I heard stories of pellet shortages... along with stories of people saying where to
find/buy pellets.

[#] Tue May 20 2014 21:40:03 EDT from vince-q <vince-q@ns1.netk2ne.net>

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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"... ;)

[#] Wed May 21 2014 18:22:30 EDT from the_mgt

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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.



[#] Thu May 22 2014 19:33:35 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

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Lots of homes in the US have indoor oil tanks. Quite frankly I'm happy to be getting away from oil heat entirely. It's now the most expensive way to heat your home. Gas is cheapest by far, but oil even exceeds the price of electric resistance heat now, thanks to Obama oil prices. (The "peak oil" priests can whine all they want, but the current price is set by politics, not supply and demand.)

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.

[#] Fri May 23 2014 04:44:36 EDT from the_mgt

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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.



[#] Fri May 23 2014 08:48:53 EDT from fleeb

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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.

[#] Fri May 23 2014 08:49:11 EDT from zooer

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Good to hear Ignat.

[#] Fri May 23 2014 14:31:31 EDT from vince-q <vince-q@ns1.netk2ne.net>

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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

[#] Fri May 23 2014 14:40:16 EDT from fleeb

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It's a trick used in other countries... pity we haven't really embraced it here.

[#] Mon May 26 2014 10:03:20 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

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Building materials vary as you travel around the world. I'd be very hesitant to put radiant heat into a wood floor, which is the kind of construction predominant in the US. On the other hand, a concrete subfloor with tile over it -- let's heat that puppy up!

[#] Mon May 26 2014 16:56:31 EDT from vince-q <vince-q@ns1.netk2ne.net>

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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.... ;)

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