what to aviod while buying a house.

caddylakman's perdicatment kinda brought up a few things to avoid so i thought maybe we should do a list for tha car guy.
feel free to add to 'em, maybe we'll save somebody a headache.
i'll start;

#1 NO FUCKING COVENANCES!!

#2 is the garage big enough?if not, can you expand?

 

When I bought my property it had a 30' x 32' garage, oil heat, and an over size garage door....oh bye the way, the house came with it........stan

 

How about how active is the home owners association. they have got to be the biggest pain in the butt I've had in the last few years.

I mean gime a break, I got a crack house across the street and they got their panties in a wad about how many and what kind of cars I got on my driveway.

 

Make sure you have neighbors with same intrests or are at least understandable.

 

#3. Neighbors

 

I'm talking about the bad ones. Good neighbors are like Gold.

 

Look around the neiborhood. What kind of activities, vehicle choices and yard maintainance do you see. Will you be surrounded by by Mercedes and Prius owners? You know how much time you're willing to put into the lawn, will you be the thing of ridicule? Not that either thing should matter shit, but if you are seen as a "bad" niebor, you can expect constant hassle from local officials. If you see some automotive or motorcycle activity in your area of interest, feel free to knock on doors to try to get a feeling for the level of problems other folks have experianced.

 

NO HOME OWNERS "ASS" OCIATIONS!!!!
No nieghbors within 40ft of the garage
backyard access is a must. We gotta have a place to put the next project.

 

Do like I did: Find a new subdivision, build a house, build a shop, and make sure you're one of the first people in the subdivision. That way, when anyone bitches, you were here first--they should have known what they were getting into.
Second thing: Out-of-the-way parking for parts cars and projects. Put up a privacy fence to hide them, or make sure it can go behind the shop. Out-of-site is out-of-mind.
-Brad

 

This might sound petty, but the only thing i would change bout where i live, is the neighbors dogs. they bark everytime a fly farts. I was repairing my fence the other day, and seriously thought i was going to get bit. I wanted to come inside and grab my S&W and fix things.

trey

 

My first house was a 1 cent sale house. I bought the garage and for a penny more they gave me the house. The garage was 2 story the house was 1 story. Almost 300 a month...I was scared shitless. I disconnected the electric range to use the breaker to feed the garage.

 

I do not like new houses at all, I hate subdivisions, I refuse to have anything to do with a home owners association. I bought a brick ranch built in '57, outside of town, on an acre with a 2500 sq. ft. shop, the house is only 1960 sq. ft. I don't like the zoning problems you have within the city here. There are still issues in the county but not near what they have in town. I have a neighbor behind me into Chevy muscle, a British sportscar guy across the street, it's mostly blue collar and I like it. I had some issues with the guy who owns two of the houses next to me, but now they're for sale. One has a shop as big if not bigger than mine, I'm trying to stock the neighborhood with car guys. Life's to short to not get what you want out of YOUR property...

 

Definately find out the county codes and what they allow. They just came up with a list of bullshit around here and have been bustin my balls. I only have one project car right now and its under a cover and tagged and INSURED on my carport (no Garage). It ain't my neighbors that turned me in it was the county water meter readers for a "junk' car. Not only do you have to watch out the covenants and associations but the county as well.

 

Check with the Army Corp of Engineers to see if it is in a flood plain. Though this didn't do some of my friends in Biloxi much good recently!

 

yep, one asshole neighbor can ruin your whole plan !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

make sure to avoid a house that needs much updating!!! You will never have time or money for your hotrod again!!!

jeff

 

while this might really fall under Rule #3, Rule # 1 should be make sure there are no renters near your house. It's big out here to convert a single family home into two, three, four (or more) little apartments. And as if dealing with the trashy renters these places get (rent in one is half what a real apt would cost) isn't bad enough, the owners won't give two shits about any problems your having with their tenents. And they'll never pour a longer or wider drive so their renters will have somewhere to park. Nope... they'll park in front of YOUR house... and the neighbors houses... all over the place they'll park...what does the trashy apt owner care.. he doesn't live there. And most of the time they have MORE rights than you! Can you belive that shit?

(Can you tell who my neighbors are )

Funny HOA's were mentioned, President of the HOA where my parents live is a rod builder himself.... Wonder if he wakes up every morning wanting to kick his own ass?

 

we've been looking for a house for awhile, we rent a three bedroom house downtown bakersfield for 625.00. the house was built in the late 20's small single car garage kinda sucks. we found a house still in the downtown area my wife and kids really love it. i go with them and look at it, the living room area is huge the master bedroom is a little bigger then what we have now the kids rooms are about the same i'm thinking a mortgage around 1800 is way to much triple what we're paying now. we walk out back the yards really nice open the back garage door (garage is in the back of house with alley access) WOW three car garage with garage door openner im thinking it might be worth three times as much with three times as much space for my bike and my projects with out having to pull every thing out of the garage to work on something. its a great neighborhood Tony across the street helped me build the ironhead i had and has two pans in his garage, my buddy kelley has a chopped 52 buick and a shoebox about a hundred yards from my front door in his garage. sweet deal

 

If you ever have a real estate agent suggest than they should act as a "dual status" agent, representing both the buyer and the seller, just SHOOT THEM!

You'll be glad you did!

 

Don't be cracking off your zoomies every time you turn around! Neighbors tend to get real hyper about that,especially if they've got little kids! Oh yeah, if you can, always volunteer to fix things around the neighborhood, like mowers, & stuff! Most folks next door love that kind of thing!




.....

 

I live in a neighborhood that has a few covenants, but I've decided that having cool neighbors far outweighs not having the covenants. Make certain that if you have a covenant, there are ways out of each clause: in my case, I just have to get over 1/2 of the neighbors to sign off on any variance... there are sixteen houses in my development, and all of them are good motor-loving people.

Also, possibly important is to have some trees or something to mask the pile of misc parts that is waiting to be sold or scrapped... I don't have many trees, so I have an ugly pile in the yard waiting to go to the junkyard. Ugh.

Ben

 

I dont know where your at but i bought a 1 acre piece of property on a corner no less for 27000in 1997 and built the house myself(i was the general contracter hired the subcontracters after put the jobs up for bid,plumbing,masonary,framing etc) saved ooh gobs of money.I built a center hall colonial 4 bdrs,3 full baths a tub in every one for ........152000 in 1997 thats interior painted and carpeted w/ vinyl siding.9 yrs later this same house is going for........450000.you make the call. i invested 152000 to bring the value up to 450000 in 9 yrs but thats all talk as im not considering selling at this time.My sons 5 miles away and i want to see my grandkids grow up.mike

 

My wife and I bought a couple of acres after getting married. After the property was paid off, I built MY garage and HER house.


Powerband

 

i like what my parents did. there was a 2 unit apartment complex in the back of thier house. My dad cut the floor out of it, had a concrete slab poured in it. Cut the wall out of one side installed a garage door. bam! instant 5 car garage!

 

If a Beetle won't fit in the garage,

Walk away...

 

make sure you aren't buying a house near a real "low rent" apt. complex.

this is gonna sound shitty for a min,but bear with me...

they typically house sexual predators (no good for kids/wives) and theives (certianly no good for your ride)

how do you find out if a complex is like this? Easy. every zip code has a list of these guys--usually in number only.it also has addresses. if one address has 10 ot 15 of the "bad guys" in it, it is a slum that does nothing for the neighborhood as a whole. I only know this after the fact. (I have replaced 6 windows and 2 wing ding frames in 3 years.SUCK)

it's simple research that is easily done.

and good neighbors kick ass. tell 'em up front what your plans are. I have the greatest neighbors in the world.I call 'em "My kickass redneck lesbian neighbors" they have keys to my house,cars, and garage. the other side works weird hours so I se her in the flesh about once a month. but the secret is GET TO KNOW THEM!!! invite them to your barbecues,trim thier lawn once in a while,and they WILL save your ass in a bad situation!

 

It would probably help if you sold the crack house. That's probably why they're on your ass.....they think you're a parking lot for your crack house... the rent from the crack house can't be that good...

Mutt

 

ya got that right and if you buy from old people get ready to take it up the chute when ya get re-assesed a month after moving in

 

Lots of good advice, but some worth repeating. I've been in the business almost 30 years. Find a realtor to represent you, period. Tell them what you want, exactly. If you get one of the snoooty bitches, walk away. find a realtor that is a car guy, or just a plain redneck, we come in all shapes, sizes and proclivities. Be patient, but be ready. You should know it when you see it. Before you sign the contract get the public info. in texas we use title companies and they will round up all the covenants, restrictions, and other legal rules you will have to follow to live there peaceably. Have you realtor get you a zoning map of the neighborhood, especially the raw land. doesn't take much diggining to figure out what can and will be built on it eventually.
Always get a survey with a flood plain certification. Check out odds and ends like septic tank rules and well permitting if it is not on city services.
It's not rocket science, just common sense, but most people just make assumptions without getting the facts and too damn many realtors are too lazy (or too busy doing the next deal) to go that extra mile. just keep changeing realtors until you find the one that does the job you need done. No different than finding the right mechanic among all those computer jockeys. Good luck.