House Purchase Advice

[.RJ]

I read it, there isnt really much of value in there other than simple common sense items like "dont buy a money pit" or "dont over-extend yourself".

They cant even agree that paying extra on your Principal reduces the total P&I that you pay into the house.

You'll get a lot more spending some time with a good Realtor than you will from internet forums like that one. FWIW, Jake's dad has been really helpful up to this point. Its pretty much just a waiting game to find what I want.

[Goodspeed]

Food for thought I guess - for whatever reason I kinda like reading about this sorta thing and the MT thread might be more at "my" level of not-home-shopping than your for srs level :lol:.

[Ryan T]

So after looking for months and months we finally found a place we really like (were renting the townhouse we are in), made an offer, they accepted it, signed, got our loan and now we are just waiting on the inspection and everything to go well, then close which will be around the end of April. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage on a little over half an acre in a nice subdivision. I'll start a project thread once we get the ball rolling on it. This is a project/starter home. The day we close we are going to rip all the carpet out of the entire house and everything is getting hardwood floor. The lenolium (sp?) in the bathroom is being taken out and we are putting in tile. Then paint, then move all our stuff in. It'll probably take us a week to get the floors and paint done. Then it's just little bathroom updates, kitchen updates, etc. Our plan is to live in it for 5 or 6 years then sell it. Given what we paid for it (older lady lived there and recently died, her daughter is selling the house) and what other fixed up houses in the neighborhood sell for we should make about ~$30k.

[Steve85]

Nice!

As I was finishing the last room where we had to remove the carpet and finish the hardwoods underneath I was actually thinking about the difference between a money pit and an opportunity. Sounds like you grabbed an opportunity, especially if you enjoy doing the work and take pride in the results.

Looking forward to seeing this progress. Take pictures! I wish I would have taken a lot more pics of everything we did.

[Ryan T]

I enjoy doing home work so it should be fun. I've put down tons of hardwood flooring so my brother and I and a friend can make fairly quick work of it. We too were worried about a money pit and that's why it took us so long to decide on this one. We looked at several properties that needed work but sinking 5-10k into them wouldn't raise the value by more than....10-15k. The one major thing I don't look forward to is the deck. The supports and everything are in great shape but the planks need to be replaced eventually. It's still functional but it doesn't look all that great.

This neighborhood has homes ranging from the high 90s up to the low 200s in price. The closer you are to town, the older the homes and the less they are worth. We are pretty much dead center in the neighborhood.

[Feersty]

Nice Ryan. Looks late 70s home.

[Maengelito]

bump for this old thread.

Lee, which builder did you work for back in the day?

[WRXtranceformed]

bump for this old thread.

Lee, which builder did you work for back in the day?

NVHomes (NVR / Ryan)

What's up buddy?

[D_Eclipse9916]

Mike D'Amico just built their house if you have any questions. Actually by NVHomes I beleive

[WRXtranceformed]

Nice! NVHomes was a great builder in that area when I was there. They are the "Lexus" of the NVR family. Little stuff always comes up post settlement with any builder, but the team I worked with in the NoVA area did a great job with servicing homes after they were built. I built about 6 townhome rows and 6 single family homes in Chantilly off of Rt. 50 and sold homes for NV in Leesburg, Chantilly and Winchester.

[Maengelito]

We just put in an offer on a house built by Ryan Homes here in Cville. It was built in 2007, like right at the height of the housing boom, so I'm a little concerned that Ryan, being a national builder, might've cut some corners since they were trying to put up houses as fast as possible. I'm hoping that the housing inspection doesn't turn up anything too horrible. Is there anything in particular I should be concerned about with a Ryan built home?

[.RJ]

Is there anything in particular I should be concerned about with a Ryan built home?

Excessive use of Universal Gold™

[Maengelito]

Is there anything in particular I should be concerned about with a Ryan built home?

Excessive use of Universal Gold™

Unfortunately, I didn't invent Itchy and Scratchy and win my lawsuit against Krusty

[HAULN-SS]

I live in a Ryan homes house (2007) - check the roof. If they are standard 3-tab shingles, they are absolute shit. Architectural they're probably ok.
I'm sure somebody probably painted it in that time, but if they haven't the contractor grade paint is shitty and will smudge if anything at all touches the walls.
I'd shoot my eye down the sides wherever there is siding. my house is fairly straight, but some of the ones in my neighborhood have it looking pretty wavy. May not matter to you, but its annoying as shit to me.

My house been pretty trouble free with the exception of the roof. Had to replace the air conditioner core once. Typical nail pops from settling, in the ceiling.

[ScottyB]

weirdly the house we just bought is an '07 as well. not a Ryan home though.

we found out the hard way about AC system woes...be sure your inspector checks it over well especially if its the original system. 2 days after we moved in our condenser TXV valve seized up and took the whole system down. new condenser, new compressor, new lineset. i'm not a warranty guy most of the time but our home warranty bailed our asses out of that fiasco in a big way.

[Jewels]

weirdly the house we just bought is an '07 as well. not a Ryan home though.

we found out the hard way about AC system woes...be sure your inspector checks it over well especially if its the original system. 2 days after we moved in our condenser TXV valve seized up and took the whole system down. new condenser, new compressor, new lineset. i'm not a warranty guy most of the time but our home warranty bailed our asses out of that fiasco in a big way.

SO... the major thing I learned working for a Heating and Air Conditioning company for 4 years, was this... Builder grade systems are junk. And unless you've built your own house or selected your own A/C system yourself, you will deal with this. Its not so much that its junk equipment as they rush to put the system in, and its usually the cheapest of the cheap. Our house was built about 2005 and I cringe every year, luckily I know a guy who charges my system for the cost of the refrigerant. If I was looking to buy a house in that 2005-2008 build time frame, I would just assume I'm going to replace and start putting aside money. Home Warranties though they get you out of a pinch, really only want to repair not replace and a lot of the time replacing is the correct answer. A/C systems are closed systems, if you are low on refrigerant your system has a leak, and if it has a leak its busted. May be only a small leak now, but will be a big leak later. Oh your compressor died, we'll replace it.... but don't be surprised if your coil or air handler shits the bed next year. That's just how that works. Replace the fucker with an A/C that is the correct size for your house, and from a reputable installer and you'll appreciate the peace of mind later.

[WRXtranceformed]

We just put in an offer on a house built by Ryan Homes here in Cville. It was built in 2007, like right at the height of the housing boom, so I'm a little concerned that Ryan, being a national builder, might've cut some corners since they were trying to put up houses as fast as possible. I'm hoping that the housing inspection doesn't turn up anything too horrible. Is there anything in particular I should be concerned about with a Ryan built home?

That is exciting Brian congrats! So my short answer is have a healthy concern of any home built by a national or large scale builder, especially back then. Ryan has built some fine homes. I live in one right now, but it was owned by a project manager for Ryan who was an acquaintance of mine and built it himself...so it has a lot of "tightening up" (stringers were screwed instead of nailed, way more blown insulation in my attic than the other townhouses, etc.). I also had him go through a punch list I made for him before I bought it. I will also say however that I worked alongside Ryan project managers in the first shared community I built homes in and they did some of the dumbest stuff I have ever seen. I never walked through one of their homes under construction there but I saw a number of oversights on the outside of the home before close in and they had OSHA on site several times for violations whereas we didn't have a single visit (other than routine inspections). The county building inspectors always talked trash about the Ryan PMs to us too :lol:

I also built another Ryan home down here before a contract dispute with the company caused me to cancel it before completion. The PMs down here were really good and did a great job, I helped frame check the house and I found very little that needed to be addressed before drywall. Toll Brothers had an AWFUL reputation in Virginia but they are fine down here. I guess my point is that it really depends on local construction leadership and PMs. I would definitely trust a run through from a home inspector. And yeah, your AC is going to need to be replaced soon and unfortunately your windows are going to be complete builder-grade junk. It's generally a little more costly but I decided that our next home is going to be custom built...not necessarily a huge one but one that has energy efficient windows / upgrades as well as an HVAC system that is worth a damn.

[ScottyB]

Home Warranties though they get you out of a pinch, really only want to repair not replace and a lot of the time replacing is the correct answer. A/C systems are closed systems, if you are low on refrigerant your system has a leak, and if it has a leak its busted. May be only a small leak now, but will be a big leak later. Oh your compressor died, we'll replace it.... but don't be surprised if your coil or air handler shits the bed next year. That's just how that works. Replace the fucker with an A/C that is the correct size for your house, and from a reputable installer and you'll appreciate the peace of mind later.

we got lucky and our AC repair company convinced the Warranty company to replace everything. its like you said, closed system, so if one thing bites it, the whole system comes down. looking forward to not having to screw with this again for another 8-10 years, especially when the air temps get up to nuclear fission levels down here from June-August.

[Ryan T]

AC problems suck. We have had at least one AC problem at the beginning of summer every year we've owned our house. First summer a fuse blew. Free fix thanks to a buddy that works for an AC company. Next summer the capacitor blew and swelled up. Easy enough to fix and fairly cheap. Next summer the compressor crapped out. Cost $500 to have that replaced but we got one rated for a larger home than we have and it has helped our power bill a lot. Guess we will wait and see what craps out next year...

[WRXtranceformed]

Our coils have a massive leak, I just had the system recharged and trying to make it through until the winter. I will deal with it next spring when we have to use the AC again, but replacing the coils or the system entirely seem to be the only solution. What ANNOYS me is that the coils were made of metal that rusts. Makes SO much sense, making a part that is constantly covered in moisture out of a material that falls apart.