House Purchase Advice

[Apoc]

No. The general idea is you keep the same one when you sell.

Redfin kinda throws all that on its head.

[.RJ]

Realtors, closing costs, property taxes, HOA fees, insurance, maintenance.... fuck.

[HAULN-SS]

ive paid 250$ in maintenance on my house in 3 years. Its not that big of a deal. HOA fees are cheap too,if you buy in the right place

[Sijray21]

ive paid 250$ in maintenance on my house in 3 years. Its not that big of a deal. HOA fees are cheap too,if you buy in the right place

Was that how much it cost to fix the drain line you broke when you drilled a hole for your deck without calling Miss Utility? ;-)

[Sijray21]

Realtors, closing costs, property taxes, HOA fees, insurance, maintenance.... fuck.

oh, c'mon. You knew that when you thought about home ownership :-p. Don't forget about title insurance (one time fee) and PMI if you don't put 20% down (good on you if you can avoid this!). Hopefully where you're looking doesn't have local taxes like Vienna and falls church city have; I thought herndon had something similar.

[.RJ]

FFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU

[HAULN-SS]

ha..no..that was about a 5 second fix that I did myself. Coincidentally, that drain line is for the AC condensation, which for me runs into the basement sump pump and gets pumped out. A lot safer setup, so that you dont have to worry about anything ever overflowing (well, unless the pump goes out, but at least it would be in the basement floor).

I had to pay a guy 250$ to fix some shingles that blew off during a wind storm. I could have done it myself for less than that probably, if I had bought a tall extension ladder to reach the roof - but then I have an extension latter sitting around i might use once a year tops.

Re: vienna and falls church have extra taxes? any idea the amount?

[.RJ]

Everything in vienna/falls church has extra taxes. Meals, local tax, car tax (the windshield stickers), property tax. Its a show.

[HAULN-SS]

oh. good to know. i was kind of kicking around maybe moving to falls church next yearish

[WRXtranceformed]

Well, the condensate lines for my AC unit somehow failed, causing water to pour into the overflow pan for my unit. Additionally, the auto kill switch for the unit that's located in the pan failed so water proceeded to pool up in it until it overflowed in my attic and came streaming down through my hall closet and all over the upstairs floor. Fortunately I caught it when I did and fortunately I used to build homes so I know what to do during disasters like that. Carpet is currently pulled up with fans on it all night, closet is draining from holes I poked in the ceiling and all soggy padding is removed. Hopefully I can get someone out here today to fix it, but I have to say that it wasn't too uncomfortable last night sleeping without the AC...thank God it dropped down to about 72*.

Hoping that it isn't an expensive fix, but pretty much ruins my work morning

Lee, i feel your pain, our condensate drain line cracked at a joint last week - water everywhere. we got it early though.

I worked for an HVAC company over the last 4 years. Not an expert, and you can look at lots of companies that offer similar items but I can recommend a few things you may want to look into as preventative things that can either be set-and-forget or quick application from time to time.

- "pan tabs" are little pill shaped things you put in the drain pan from time to time. they dissolve over a period of weeks and are basically an anti-fungal, anti-algae concoction that keeps your line from filling with sludge. alot of our customers would use PT-151 but check your tonnage first.

- the overflow alarms are often hit or miss because the moving floats jam up with sludge or the magnet gets coated. I'd recommend supplementing the float in the pan with a pipe-mounted safety switch for the unit drainage pipe. i like them because they're very reliable and very accurate. they use sonar to determine how full the pipe is with water.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://diversitech.com/prod/sos.php">http://diversitech.com/prod/sos.php</a><!-- m -->

$350 later and it's fixed. Dude was really cool, I gave him a bunch of beers and put a fan in the attic while he worked. He showed me how bad the original installers fucked up the condensate line pipes. Basically they must have been huffing dope. They put the trap too far downstream from the pan, they didn't use a proper trap, and the sloping of the drainage pipe was fucked...it was basically creating two "traps" because it went uphill near where it drained out. He replaced the trap with a clear one so you can see blocks building up (it also has a switch built into it in case it starts to overflow), replaced all the other piping to how it should have been when it was installed, rewired a bunch of stuff that was wrong, and plugged up the open hole in the overflow pan so that the switch in it will actually work. He also checked the unit outside and the refrigerant is right where it should be, which is awesome because I haven't had it recharged since I moved in.

Just so glad to have the AC on again!!!!!

[Jewels]

Well, the condensate lines for my AC unit somehow failed, causing water to pour into the overflow pan for my unit. Additionally, the auto kill switch for the unit that's located in the pan failed so water proceeded to pool up in it until it overflowed in my attic and came streaming down through my hall closet and all over the upstairs floor. Fortunately I caught it when I did and fortunately I used to build homes so I know what to do during disasters like that. Carpet is currently pulled up with fans on it all night, closet is draining from holes I poked in the ceiling and all soggy padding is removed. Hopefully I can get someone out here today to fix it, but I have to say that it wasn't too uncomfortable last night sleeping without the AC...thank God it dropped down to about 72*.

Hoping that it isn't an expensive fix, but pretty much ruins my work morning

Lee, i feel your pain, our condensate drain line cracked at a joint last week - water everywhere. we got it early though.

I worked for an HVAC company over the last 4 years. Not an expert, and you can look at lots of companies that offer similar items but I can recommend a few things you may want to look into as preventative things that can either be set-and-forget or quick application from time to time.

- "pan tabs" are little pill shaped things you put in the drain pan from time to time. they dissolve over a period of weeks and are basically an anti-fungal, anti-algae concoction that keeps your line from filling with sludge. alot of our customers would use PT-151 but check your tonnage first.

- the overflow alarms are often hit or miss because the moving floats jam up with sludge or the magnet gets coated. I'd recommend supplementing the float in the pan with a pipe-mounted safety switch for the unit drainage pipe. i like them because they're very reliable and very accurate. they use sonar to determine how full the pipe is with water.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://diversitech.com/prod/sos.php">http://diversitech.com/prod/sos.php</a><!-- m -->

$350 later and it's fixed. Dude was really cool, I gave him a bunch of beers and put a fan in the attic while he worked. He showed me how bad the original installers fucked up the condensate line pipes. Basically they must have been huffing dope. They put the trap too far downstream from the pan, they didn't use a proper trap, and the sloping of the drainage pipe was fucked...it was basically creating two "traps" because it went uphill near where it drained out. He replaced the trap with a clear one so you can see blocks building up (it also has a switch built into it in case it starts to overflow), replaced all the other piping to how it should have been when it was installed, rewired a bunch of stuff that was wrong, and plugged up the open hole in the overflow pan so that the switch in it will actually work. He also checked the unit outside and the refrigerant is right where it should be, which is awesome because I haven't had it recharged since I moved in.

Just so glad to have the AC on again!!!!!

Since I work for a heating and a/c company I will tell you that if you have to have your system recharged you have a leak, and a leak is bad. Since they switched to new refrigerant the cost of refrigerant has gone up a lot. So just keep in mind that you should never have to recharge your system, if you do, you have a problem. Refrigerant just doesn't disappear, its a closed system.

[WRXtranceformed]

Since I work for a heating and a/c company I will tell you that if you have to have your system recharged you have a leak, and a leak is bad. Since they switched to new refrigerant the cost of refrigerant has gone up a lot. So just keep in mind that you should never have to recharge your system, if you do, you have a problem. Refrigerant just doesn't disappear, its a closed system.

That's good to know. What other types of service should I consider for the HVAC system? Aside from the obvious stuff like changing out the filters. The guy told me I should turn off the AC every now and then and pour a mix of bleach and water into the vent for the trap to clean out whatever gunk is growing in there.

[Evan]

Everything in vienna/falls church has extra taxes. Meals, local tax, car tax (the windshield stickers), property tax. Its a show.

Falls Church city fucks you again with taxes.

I live in Falls Church non-city and just get fucked once with Fairfax County taxes

[Jewels]

Since I work for a heating and a/c company I will tell you that if you have to have your system recharged you have a leak, and a leak is bad. Since they switched to new refrigerant the cost of refrigerant has gone up a lot. So just keep in mind that you should never have to recharge your system, if you do, you have a problem. Refrigerant just doesn't disappear, its a closed system.

That's good to know. What other types of service should I consider for the HVAC system? Aside from the obvious stuff like changing out the filters. The guy told me I should turn off the AC every now and then and pour a mix of bleach and water into the vent for the trap to clean out whatever gunk is growing in there.

Filters are the most important thing. If you don't change them regularly and the airflow gets minimized you may get a frozen coil, or condenser. When its frozen it'll stop cooling. Nothing can be done until the system thaws. I cannot tell you how many people we've gone out to this summer and all they needed was to change the filter on their system. We don't tell people to clean out vent traps and things like that, but I doubt its a bad idea.

[Apoc]

Thanks for the previous post. Went on vaca for a few weeks and came back to a system that was barely working. I thought of this post and looked at the filter (can't remember the last time I changed it :oops: ) and the thing was caked. Felt the outside of the coil housing and it was ice cold and covered in condensation. It's currently defrosting - hope my laziness is the only problem it has. I'm looking forward to seeing the electric bill to see just how continuously it was running (set at 80┬░).

[.RJ]

So, I've started looking, at least fairly seriously - I've got my $$ in order and I'm out looking at houses. Being a grown up is scary.

[WRXtranceformed]

Awesome man good luck! Interest rates are still somewhat low so it's a good time to pull the trigger. Let us know if you need any advice / help!

[ViPER1313]

Lots of good deals out there! Hope you find something awesome.

[Steve85]

Just curious, what are your must haves, would likes, and don't care abouts?

[.RJ]

I havent really written it all down, but in my head....

Must haves:
- enough space and separate bathrooms in the house for a roommate to offset costs, at least in the short term
- walk out basement that I can use as a 'bike room'
- townhouse
- location (reston/herndon)
- kitchen counter space
- no big upcoming 'money pit' projects, i.e. roof/hvac/etc.

Would like -
- Deck/outside space
- Somewhere I can use my Grill
- big tub in master bath
- renovated kitchen/hardwood floors
- half bath on kitchen/living room level
- running/walking distance to lake fairfax
- something not 40 years old

Dont care about -
- everything else. first house is going to be all about compromise