Unexpected change of circumstances! Buying/Selling homes

Congrats Scott. Good luck with the old house sale.

w00t!

So, I'm slow/catching up....is this the 5.5 acre deal?

And I won't believe you until I see pics.

Congratulations!

buck000 said:

w00t!

So, I'm slow/catching up....is this the 5.5 acre deal?

And I won't believe you until I see pics.

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THAT house was a long time ago and we never put a bid on it. Since then, we put in a bid on a 7-1/2 acre place with a 2000 sq ft home and two car attached garage. VERY nice place. Had not been on the market 24 hours when we put in our bid. Someone else outbid us by offering about $7 over the asking price The house we just got is a few houses down from that one and on 1.79 acres. It is 2000 sq ft with a large two car detached garage.

The heavy/bulky lifting part of the moving will be taking place tomorrow (Sat). We've already got a lot of the small stuff moved. Next is beds, dressers, cabinets, tables, etc,... Worst will be my office... I may wait and move that over the course of a few days.

The new house has MUCH less storage space. So we are having to do some serious thinning down. If anyone wants an upright piano or nice china cabinet, let me know. They are free for the taking, but you have to come get them

If you where nearer to Austin, I would have loved to give the piano a new home.. Good luck with the move and thinning of the herd!!

Gary

Well, the heavy lifting is done. All that remains is a few cabinets from the garage and the big TV (old school, not flat screen). Moving in 105 Temps is not recommended if it can be avoided By Saturday night I probably lost quite a bit of weight from the sweating. My shirt was heavily stained with salt lines. I was drinking like crazy but still felt pretty bad that night. The heat just really takes it out of me.

Now it is on to finding all the little quirks of the new place and getting them taken care of. We found one last night when the neighbor across the street came over and asked that we turn off a flood light over the garage because it was shining in his bedroom window. That would be fine with me... if I could figure out how to turn it off!? At first, it would not come on. It is motion activated. Then it came on and stayed on, no matter how I adjust the sensor I finally just rotated the fixture to point it to the ground, but now I have a 500W halogen burning non stop!! Time to climb into the garage attic and figure out how it is wired up so I can get a switch installed. Not looking forward to that oven baking...

The kids have already made friends with the neighbors and seem to be having a blast. They have five kids, 3, 5, 8, 12 and 15. The three youngest are perfect for our kids.

We have four really nice young (maybe 10-15 years old) Pecan trees in the back yard. Two look okay, but the other two look like the drought may be taking a serious toll on them. There are dead trees EVERYWHERE around here. Driving through town there are numerous BIG trees that are just completely dead. Those that are not dead look like they are about to go any time. We NEED rain!!

Anyway, once we get the old house totally empty, it will need another good cleaning. We still hope to sell it, but it is looking like we may be leasing it. Who knows...? Maybe leasing it might work out for the best with all the tax ramifications. I am trying to be open minded about it.

Now we just need to get settled in and make the new place our own. First order will be to get the garage in shape!

Many people who add motion lights over the garage tie them into the circuit for the light in the attic or space above the garage. I could turn mine off by a switch in the attic.

Thrasherg said:

If you where nearer to Austin, I would have loved to give the piano a new home.. Good luck with the move and thinning of the herd!!

Gary

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Gary....I may have a piano for you.

Tourmeister said:

We still hope to sell it, but it is looking like we may be leasing it. Who knows...? Maybe leasing it might work out for the best with all the tax ramifications. I am trying to be open minded about it.

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Scott,
You may very well be better off with your equity in your house than with dollars in your bank..

Lawman said:

Scott,
You may very well be better off with your equity in your house than with dollars in your bank..

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Well, I was hoping to take the money from the sale of the old house and put it toward the principal on the new house. Although, the way things are going in D.C. I might need to use it to stockpile food, toilet paper, and ammo...

kurt said:

Many people who add motion lights over the garage tie them into the circuit for the light in the attic or space above the garage. I could turn mine off by a switch in the attic.

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This is what I am hoping for, something simple. Right now I have no idea how many circuits are in the garage. I have two light switches by the side entry door. One controls over head lights. The other may control something, but I can't figure out what... There are ONLY two outlets right now, on the same wall. We have two freezers plugged in right now. I'd rather not have air compressors and power tools running off the same circuit. Also, I just need outlets in a better location, like where my workbench will be. I also need more lighting. I don't see as well as I used to So some wiring work may be in my future as well...

Tourmeister said:

Well, I was hoping to take the money from the sale of the old house and put it toward the principal on the new house. Although, the way things are going in D.C. I might need to use it to stockpile food, toilet paper, and ammo...

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Scott,
I've only borrowed money a few times in my life. The most I've evered owed was $33,000.00 I borrowed to buy my first house...I can't stand being in debt and borrowed nothing on the house I'm living in now..Having said that I would think twice before paying off a mortgage on a new loan now..I'm not saying you shouldn't but strictly from a financial perspective I think today's dollar is likely to lose a lot of value in the coming years. But if it helps you sleep at night that counts for a lot..I think your ammo idea might be better use of funds..

Lawman said:

Scott,
I've only borrowed money a few times in my life. The most I've evered owed was $33,000.00 I borrowed to buy my first house...I can't stand being in debt and borrowed nothing on the house I'm living in now..Having said that I would think twice before paying off a mortgage on a new loan now..I'm not saying you shouldn't but strictly from a financial perspective I think today's dollar is likely to lose a lot of value in the coming years. But if it helps you sleep at night that counts for a lot..I think your ammo idea might be better use of funds..

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Well, the other option is to buy gold, watch it continue to climb, then eventually sell and use that money to pay off the debt. The trick is that waiting means having to pay off more because of the interest charges. However, if things keep going the way they are, the rate at which the dollar falls will far outstrip the interest so I should come out ahead. That is one reason why I wanted to borrow now, before rates inevitably go up again. The FED cannot simply hold rates at near zero forever.

We found one last night when the neighbor across the street came over and asked that we turn off a flood light over the garage because it was shining in his bedroom window.

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Well, that's a fine "welcome to the neighborhood," for ya. Of course, that light has probably been pissing him off for 8 years and he finally had a new person that might listen he could go yell at.

Congrats, btw!

Tourmeister said:

Well, the other option is to buy gold, watch it continue to climb, then eventually sell and use that money to pay off the debt. The trick is that waiting means having to pay off more because of the interest charges. However, if things keep going the way they are, the rate at which the dollar falls will far outstrip the interest so I should come out ahead. That is one reason why I wanted to borrow now, before rates inevitably go up again. The FED cannot simply hold rates at near zero forever.

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Yeah, I'm sure they said that about the Japanese central bank, too, back in the early 90s.

The bad news is that if the hyperinflation theorists are wrong and we go into a deflationary cycle, borrowed money will cost more to repay. All hard assets fall in value. Cash will be king.

brd said:

Well, that's a fine "welcome to the neighborhood," for ya. Of course, that light has probably been pissing him off for 8 years and he finally had a new person that might listen he could go yell at.

Congrats, btw!

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He was cool about it. And it was obviously quite bright. I climbed in the garage attic this evening. No switch... I found the breaker that controls the light, but it also controls the inside lights and garage door opening. I need to get some other electrical stuff done in the garage, so I may just call an electrician and get it all taken care of at once rather than killing myself.

brd said:

Yeah, I'm sure they said that about the Japanese central bank, too, back in the early 90s.

The bad news is that if the hyperinflation theorists are wrong and we go into a deflationary cycle, borrowed money will cost more to repay. All hard assets fall in value. Cash will be king.

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True, but I think the odds are pretty heavily stacked in favor of either full blown hyper inflation or at least mildly raging inflation Just look at the rise in the price of gold in the last few years! I don't think it is anywhere near the top yet. There hasn't even been the panic run on it yet. Of course, never put ALL the eggs in one basket

Tourmeister said:

...rather than killing myself.

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Please don't kill yourself, that would be highly unfortunate. I'm looking forward to a meetup at your place.

I've learned that occasionally it is worth paying someone to do it right. I'm just still stuck in my starving student ways. Though I have payed to get new rubber spooned onto my new bike. One step at a time, right?

Tourmeister said:

True, but I think the odds are pretty heavily stacked in favor of either full blown hyper inflation or at least mildly raging inflation Just look at the rise in the price of gold in the last few years! I don't think it is anywhere near the top yet. There hasn't even been the panic run on it yet. Of course, never put ALL the eggs in one basket

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Funny, I was just checking spot prices as you replied. 24 hours ago I was sitting here with my jaw dropped as it broke through $1700. Just now it was $1769.

Believe me, I am a goldbug (thank you for that, Harry Browne), and was long a believer in hyperinflation theory, but I can also see the deflation argument. Look at everything else besides gold (and maybe some foodstuffs still) right now: oil, global equities (BRIC + Australia especially), housing, cotton, copper, wages--it's all coming down, despite the 0% fed rate and the trillions that have been pumped in. Bernanke would love to have some inflation to show for it. There is nothing a central banker fears more than deflation, but he is quickly running out of hole cards.

When Jamey added outlets to the garage he ran a separate line to the outside box and (I think?) brought in 220v so he could run bigger equipment in the future. Just something to think about if you're going through to upgrade electrical.