It can become a real mess really quick
[SIZE=2]"There are many things more horrible than bloodshed; and slavery is one of them."
Padraig Pearse[/SIZE]
definitely not something I would get in to, on either side of the deal.
Major K
"He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a Prince." George Graham Vest
"We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet: and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us." - Maurice Maeterlinck
There are people that take advantage of home buyers. If the deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. When you're spending that much money, check everything out beforehand. That just makes good sense.
Refitting houses is something I do with my brother. We're both licensed as contractors. I just got my license, in fact. :biggrin1: We sub out plumbing and electrical with licensed tradesmen. We do a house every winter.
Refitting houses is something I do with my brother. We're both licensed as contractors. I just got my license, in fact. :biggrin1: We sub out plumbing and electrical with licensed tradesmen. We do a house every winter.
This post was last modified: 03-02-2013, 09:19 PM by Brian.
There is no wise man without fault
I'm hoping to build our next home, eventually. If by chance we buy an existing structure, the buyer better be ready with any documentation they have on work done. We got completely hosed with the current house. But I read up on things as we go through them. I want to see evidence of permits pulled. Passed inspections. I know what a good roof should look like. I know what window casings should look like. What to look for in a floor. Just about any/all aspects of bathroom and kitchen fixtures/components. I know enough about electric stuff to see if the right ratings were used, and if there is any room left in the panel for upgrades. Haven't tackled HVAC yet, but I know enough about the other areas that if there are too many red flags I should get someone to look at it for me!
Id definitely be leery of professional flippers. They need to depend too much on short turn around and cheapest fixes that will work. Someone with experience but not trying to make a living at it, like Brian, might be a better bet if they have the documentation. I'm still shocked at how poorly some mass built development homes are built by reputable builders. This has been one very expensive lesson learned.
Id definitely be leery of professional flippers. They need to depend too much on short turn around and cheapest fixes that will work. Someone with experience but not trying to make a living at it, like Brian, might be a better bet if they have the documentation. I'm still shocked at how poorly some mass built development homes are built by reputable builders. This has been one very expensive lesson learned.
We didn't buy a flipped home but we bought a government foreclosed home. It needed some work but it was a hell of a deal. We financed $49K. Our mortgage payments are lower than most apartment rents. Its an older house (built in 1975) but it has large rooms and cathedral ceilings. I do wish it had a formal dining room instead of just a breakfast room though. We've been in it since 1995.
Sigokat Wrote:I would never buy a flipped house. My friend had real problems with one and I would bet that alot of the people that do the work to flip houses are not licensed contractors. Hm
rjack_fan Wrote:I'm hoping to build our next home, eventually. If by chance we buy an existing structure, the buyer better be ready with any documentation they have on work done. We got completely hosed with the current house. But I read up on things as we go through them. I want to see evidence of permits pulled. Passed inspections. I know what a good roof should look like. I know what window casings should look like. What to look for in a floor. Just about any/all aspects of bathroom and kitchen fixtures/components. I know enough about electric stuff to see if the right ratings were used, and if there is any room left in the panel for upgrades. Haven't tackled HVAC yet, but I know enough about the other areas that if there are too many red flags I should get someone to look at it for me!
That's great and you know exactly what to look for and any seller or contractor that doesn't give you the straight answer is obviosuly hiding something.
It sickens me that these contractors, and especially the ones that flip houses, care only about making a profit. They don't give a damn about the people that are going to LIVE in those houses and if their shoddy work (or the shoddy work of their subs that they are responsible for) is so bad that it ends up seriously injuring, harming, or killing someone...oh well. Half the time the business is gone and that crooked contractor has opened up a new one under a different name and bamboozled someone else into using his/her name to get all the proper paperwork.
Such crooks.
Quote:Id definitely be leery of professional flippers. They need to depend too much on short turn around and cheapest fixes that will work. Someone with experience but not trying to make a living at it, like Brian, might be a better bet if they have the documentation. I'm still shocked at how poorly some mass built development homes are built by reputable builders. This has been one very expensive lesson learned.
I'm leery of both. The "professional" flippers that make their living are concerned with profits and the casual flippers that only flip a couple houses a year in regards to their lack of experience and knowledge.
Major K
"He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a Prince." George Graham Vest
"We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet: and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us." - Maurice Maeterlinck
Most people do shoddy work anymore. I'd like to find a licensed contractor who doesn't.
I've recently had a gunsmith scratch a slide, on a pistol, changing the sights. He also broke the front sight I gave him, replaced it with one that was too small, and just glued it down. I had to get the gun shop that employed him to send it off to get it repaired and the sights corrected.
We hired a licensed contractor to finish out my wife's salon before she opened years ago. I had to repair the sheetrock, and every shampoo bowl in the salon leaked. We had to short their pay, and I had to make all the repairs since they wouldn't come back out.
I hired a licensed contractor to finish our Master bathroom. Guess what. Both sink drains leak, so did the toilet supply line. I did the repairs.
My dad paid a licensed contractor to replace the roof on his house, and remodel his master bathroom. Guess what. The roof leaks and a pipe, inside the wall, leaks in his bathroom. He has had to get a lawyer. Contractors don't seem to like to come back to fix their shoddy work.
I'd like to find one that doesn't do shoddy work.
I've recently had a gunsmith scratch a slide, on a pistol, changing the sights. He also broke the front sight I gave him, replaced it with one that was too small, and just glued it down. I had to get the gun shop that employed him to send it off to get it repaired and the sights corrected.
We hired a licensed contractor to finish out my wife's salon before she opened years ago. I had to repair the sheetrock, and every shampoo bowl in the salon leaked. We had to short their pay, and I had to make all the repairs since they wouldn't come back out.
I hired a licensed contractor to finish our Master bathroom. Guess what. Both sink drains leak, so did the toilet supply line. I did the repairs.
My dad paid a licensed contractor to replace the roof on his house, and remodel his master bathroom. Guess what. The roof leaks and a pipe, inside the wall, leaks in his bathroom. He has had to get a lawyer. Contractors don't seem to like to come back to fix their shoddy work.
I'd like to find one that doesn't do shoddy work.
tim, Sounds like a pretty big headache.
The house I rent at Fort Bragg is one of those cookie cutter houses that was built very cheaply. The kitchen floor is that vinyl (I think) roll of "tiles". You know the kind you just roll out as one big sheet. Yeah well its starting to come up at the corner by the sliding glass door leading to the back deck.
There are "soft spots' in the hardwood floors, they used the wrong type of screws when putting the vanity mirror on the master bathroom wall, the penisula in the kitchen is at a crooked angle, the "frosted" master bathroom window is the same as every other house on the block and its just a frost sheet over the glass. We've had to have the landlord have the master toliet replaced and both others have had to be repaired because they leaked. Oh and the idiot that replaced the master toliet...after he was done he used my bath towel to wipe up the mess, then hung it back up, and didn't say anything! I found out the hard way after taking a shower and trying to dry off...yeah...had to go get a new towel and shower again!
The landlord had a back deck built. It was built with the wrong type of nails and it wasn't stain finished. I actually stained and finished it myself! The landlord did reimburse me though.
The whole house is a headache. If I had had the opportunity to see it in person before we moved I would have walked away, but since the Army changed my orders last minute I didn't have much choice.
And the house is only like 5 years old and has all those problems! Oh yeah...the roof leaked also while I was in Huntsville so my wife had to deal with the landlord to get that fixed as well.
I could deal with all that as just a headache of having to rent because we move alot due to being in the Army, but the worst part are the goddamn neighbors. Between barking dogs that are caged up 24/7 outside, the hillbillies behind us (the husband is the one that went up for murder) and the damn hip hop/rap music that I can hear IN MY HOUSE from two houses down. My patience has run thin and I cannot wait to get home from this deployment and get the hell out of that place!
Ok, rant over.
The house I rent at Fort Bragg is one of those cookie cutter houses that was built very cheaply. The kitchen floor is that vinyl (I think) roll of "tiles". You know the kind you just roll out as one big sheet. Yeah well its starting to come up at the corner by the sliding glass door leading to the back deck.
There are "soft spots' in the hardwood floors, they used the wrong type of screws when putting the vanity mirror on the master bathroom wall, the penisula in the kitchen is at a crooked angle, the "frosted" master bathroom window is the same as every other house on the block and its just a frost sheet over the glass. We've had to have the landlord have the master toliet replaced and both others have had to be repaired because they leaked. Oh and the idiot that replaced the master toliet...after he was done he used my bath towel to wipe up the mess, then hung it back up, and didn't say anything! I found out the hard way after taking a shower and trying to dry off...yeah...had to go get a new towel and shower again!
The landlord had a back deck built. It was built with the wrong type of nails and it wasn't stain finished. I actually stained and finished it myself! The landlord did reimburse me though.
The whole house is a headache. If I had had the opportunity to see it in person before we moved I would have walked away, but since the Army changed my orders last minute I didn't have much choice.
And the house is only like 5 years old and has all those problems! Oh yeah...the roof leaked also while I was in Huntsville so my wife had to deal with the landlord to get that fixed as well.
I could deal with all that as just a headache of having to rent because we move alot due to being in the Army, but the worst part are the goddamn neighbors. Between barking dogs that are caged up 24/7 outside, the hillbillies behind us (the husband is the one that went up for murder) and the damn hip hop/rap music that I can hear IN MY HOUSE from two houses down. My patience has run thin and I cannot wait to get home from this deployment and get the hell out of that place!
Ok, rant over.
Major K
"He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a Prince." George Graham Vest
"We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet: and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us." - Maurice Maeterlinck
Some pussbucket SOB stole one of my wiper blades off the Subaru today. It started to rain as I pulled into the parking lot...so it was there before I went into the store. I didn't notice it till I turned on the wipers....and lo and behold....no driver's side wiper. Good thing there was a Napa store in the next shopping center and I didn't scratch the windshield.
I should have known better going to Walmart....won't go there again. :mad:
I should have known better going to Walmart....won't go there again. :mad:
EWMAN