Y'all Been Checkin' Lumber Prices?

[arto98607]

..........Snip................ Imagine living your whole life inside 4 walls without a yard around all these other people.

I tried it once long time ago - paid one month rent but was out of there in under three weeks!

 

[fatjay]

I tried it once long time ago - paid one month rent but was out of there in under three weeks!

Reminds me of prison.

 

[Diggin It]

Barring some kind of medical situation where I might be forced into a care facility (waiting for the end), I don't plan on having another home within several hundred feet of me again.

 

[goeduck]

Around here, contractors are booked out at least a year, there just isn't enough people to go around. They're still plowing ahead with new construction, BUT they're ALL high density apartments and town homes. It's sick, and i hate it, I don't understand why anyone would want to live there. But they sell at record speed, typically sight unseen, before they're finished. Imagine living your whole life inside 4 walls without a yard around all these other people.

Same here, very high density with all the vehicles and garbage cans out front. I just cash purchased an investment/rental house with a flat 1.25 acres and was lucky to get it. I was going to make an offer on another that needs some work, called around before doing so and found all the contractors are booked into next year or so. So I passed on that one. I'd do the work myself but I have too many projects on my main properties.

 

[ultrarunner]

Same here, very high density with all the vehicles and garbage cans out front. I just cash purchased an investment/rental house with a flat 1.25 acres and was lucky to get it. I was going to make an offer on another that needs some work, called around before doing so and found all the contractors are booked into next year or so. So I passed on that one. I'd do the work myself but I have too many projects on my main properties.

Close to home?

My long distance Thurston County rent house is a challenge at times… simple things I could take care of become expensive.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Barring some kind of medical situation where I might be forced into a care facility (waiting for the end), I don't plan on having another home within several hundred feet of me again.

Like this? This makes me want to puke, although it’s probably better than a row home.
There’s probably several hundred together like this.

 

[JethroB]

Rapidly rising mortgage interest rates are or will be slowing new home starts. For those committed future homeowners I sure hope they locked in a low rate earlier somehow.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

My rate has been zero since 2014… and will remain so

 

[JethroB]

My rate has been zero since 2014… and will remain so

2008 for me. Fantastic that weight was gone. Whatever happened I always would have a place to sleep.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

2008 for me. Fantastic weight was gone. Whatever happened I always would have a place to sleep.

Indeed. We built a pole barn this year with cash as well… meanwhile I have coworkers lamenting their $4000/mo mortgages. They also drive new cars… etc. My newest is a 2007, but a $500k paid off property has been my greatest accomplishment. I don’t need a pretty depreciation piece, if it means I lI’ve in a home owned by a large bank. My first promise to my family, was to secure a roof over their heads.

 

[fatjay]

Like this? This makes me want to puke, although it’s probably better than a row home.
There’s probably several hundred together like this.
View attachment 758699

That's spacious. This used to be 3 ball fields where i grew up playing ball. There was a snack stand. But a developer came in and put up 212 town home units that started at the mid 500's.

 

[goeduck]

Close to home?

My long distance Thurston County rent house is a challenge at times… simple things I could take care of become expensive.

Yes, on the other side of town on a road I drive often. Great location.

The real estate agent said there are way fewer buyers now due to higher interest rates and lower pandemic panic, which is what I was waiting for. She said the house would likely have sold for $100K more a year ago, if not even more.

One of the crazy things about buying back then was most offers with an inspection contingency were bounced and not considered. On a previous offer I made an inspection saved my backside. Squeezing through a tiny attic hatch revealed that the house had a massive fire in the attic (only partially repaired) and still had live knob and tube wiring up there.

 

[MossRoad]

My rate has been zero since 2014… and will remain so

1995 for us. But, we’re looking for lake houses, sooooo…..

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

1995 for us. But, we’re looking for lake houses, sooooo…..

You probably have a lot of cash saved up in that case!

 

[MossRoad]

Yes, on the other side of town on a road I drive often. Great location.

The real estate agent said there are way fewer buyers now due to higher interest rates and lower pandemic panic, which is what I was waiting for. She said the house would likely have sold for $100K more a year ago, if not even more.

One of the crazy things about buying back then was most offers with an inspection contingency were bounced and not considered. On a previous offer I made an inspection saved my backside. Squeezing through a tiny attic hatch revealed that the house had a massive fire in the attic (only partially repaired) and still had live knob and tube wiring up there.

In his spare time, my dad used to inspect houses for HUD. Took me along as a kid and young man. While it was interesting, I really think his intention was to show me all the stuff that most people don’t notice, let alone even think about. Great lessons.

My favorite part as a kid would be we’d walk into a room and he’d hand me a large marble. We‘d set it down on the bare floor and see if it rolled, how far, how fast, and in what directions, etc… then we’d go in the basement and see why.

Fresh paint on basement walls and floors usually pointed to dampness/mold. 1st floor floor joists painted white in the basement often indicated past fire. Same with freshly painted attics.
Knobs and tubes. Cobbled wiring. Lead paint. Asbestos floor and ceiling tiles, and attic insulation. Windows that weren’t square. Gaps under both interior and exterior doors that weren’t even. Crumbling foundations. Cracked floor joists. Uneven roofs. Gutters that weren’t sloped right. Water damage. YIKES! I could go on.

Great lessons. Thanks, Pops!

 

[MossRoad]

You probably have a lot of cash saved up in that case!

We’re fortunate.

Hey, question for everyone that has adult children:

Did any of you notice that once your kids are out on their own, your own savings account seems to grow at a phenomenal rate?

 

[civilian]

We’re fortunate.

Hey, question for everyone that has adult children:

Did any of you notice that once your kids are out on their own, your own savings account seems to grow at a phenomenal rate?

Yes but no. When the kids moved out of state with no plans to back, we finally sold the house they grew up in on the lake. We then bought 80 acres in the woods, built our last home, first floor has everything to live. Basement accessible from walk out if we can't handle the stairs, but stairs are 4ft wide to handle a stair chair. Built a three car garage, and a separate work shop and storage building. And also had to get a land loan. But it is great. Jon

 

[JethroB]

That's spacious. This used to be 3 ball fields where i grew up playing ball. There was a snack stand. But a developer came in and put up 212 town home units that started at the mid 500's.

$500k around here will get you a nice 2,000 sq ft home and 60 acres of mature piney woods or farmland. I’ll take the woods or cotton fields any day.

 

[fatjay]

$500k around here will get you a nice 2,000 sq ft home and 60 acres of mature piney woods or farmland. I’ll take the woods or cotton fields any day.

I complain, but in reality, my home price has gone up 3x because of it. Once i'm ready to get the hell out of dodge, i can sell my house for 3/4m, go out to the middle of no where, and buy all the space and house i want for next to nothing.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

My first subdivision, 8-per acre. “Z-lots” a sort of shared driveway. One garage in the front, the other in the back. Minimum legal setbacks. Then I got to help on one that covered a square mile with a park, then another about half a mile away.

Again minimum legal 2-0 setbacks, 12 to the acre condos, 800 1000, and 1200 sf. .

They liked that, so more “Z-Lots” on a larger chunk of land so we could really optimize the concept. I was building four of them in 28-days, slab to C of O. Supers o other subdivisions were taking 6 to 8-weeks. Once I figured out that if you’re dried in, you can work all night and not get dinged for the noise ordinance, it was easy. You just give bonuses to the subs, and spend 8-hours a day on the phone herding the subs, and fourteen hours onsite. Somewhere in there the girlfriend decided she had enough. (If I ever decide I want another one, she will have grown up an a farm or ranch. They are much more understanding and used to dawn to dusk, and then some.)

They liked that so I got a four square mile project, a mix of z-lots and condos.
I started to feel like a nickle *****. I didn’t go to Engineering school to build tract homes. Felt there had to be something more meaningful.

Took a 65 to 70% cut in pay, and moved to central Idaho to design and build fish exclusion screens for irrigation diversions, to keep the salmon and steelhead in the river. Not nearly as lucrative, but I could sleep at night again.