House and Home II: Shelter In Place

[tabby]

Jun 18, 2021 18:11:52 GMT -4 @roisin54 said:

When I got rid of my old couch in anticipation of the new one being delivered, I used College Hunks Hauling Junk. They charge by the amount of space the items take up in their vehicle, and they give you a free no-obligation estimate before hand. The crew that took my couch consisted of two college guys and one older guy who was their supervisor. They were in and out in about 15 minutes, which was pretty impressive because they had to carry it down three flights of stairs in my building because the elevator was too small.

I just realized that I never thanked you for this recommendation. I used College Hunks and they were great. I had a bunch of electronics, which they have a surcharge for, but they gave me a very reasonable rate. Worth every penny to get all that stuff out of my closet without having to haul it somewhere myself. I'd use them again.

[Deleted]

Sept 17, 2021 15:11:01 GMT -4 tabby said:

Jun 18, 2021 18:11:52 GMT -4 @roisin54 said:

When I got rid of my old couch in anticipation of the new one being delivered, I used College Hunks Hauling Junk. They charge by the amount of space the items take up in their vehicle, and they give you a free no-obligation estimate before hand. The crew that took my couch consisted of two college guys and one older guy who was their supervisor. They were in and out in about 15 minutes, which was pretty impressive because they had to carry it down three flights of stairs in my building because the elevator was too small.

I just realized that I never thanked you for this recommendation. I used College Hunks and they were great. I had a bunch of electronics, which they have a surcharge for, but they gave me a very reasonable rate. Worth every penny to get all that stuff out of my closet without having to haul it somewhere myself. I'd use them again.

That's great! I'm so glad it worked out for you.

[PearlySweetcake]

Hey Greecies. Several months I wrote about coming into possession of my late mother's mobile home in a retirement park in my old hometown. This has been a long and difficult time, and I've come to the hard decision to throw in the towel and sell the place. I'd never thought I'd give up a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home, especially in the insane housing market in the Seattle area, but here we are. Every positive quality about the house is wiped out by negatives. It's three times the size of my current rental, but it has fallen into severe disrepair. It would take at least $30k in repairs just to get it to occupancy standard, and it's only assessed at $80k. The electrical, the plumbing, the roof, the structural repairs. And even though I've spent months cleaning the place out and putting in my own decorating touches, it has never felt like mine, no matter how many times I walk through and say "This is mine."

Part of the problem is even though I own the home, I rent the land, and this is the capper. The on-site managers of the park are probably the most toxic, bullying, unprofessional people I've ever met in my life. During my breaks from clean-out, I would walk my dog around the retirement park and talk with the residents, to get a feel for the place. Not one person had anything positive to say about the on-site managers (a husband and wife). It's really something for an octogenarian to use the "C" word. The nicest thing anyone said was "If you keep your head down, and don't get on their enemy list, you should be okay." My few encounters with the managers myself were quite unpleasant, and the thought of being under the thumb of these people has had my stomach in knots. When I made the decision to not leave Seattle and move up there, it was like a weight off my shoulders. I've met with a broker, and hopefully soon I can bring this chapter to a close.

[prisma]

That sinks, pearlysweetcake. I’m sorry it couldn’t work out. But that sounds like a situation you would not want to lock into for the long-term. It stinks when the right decision is so painful.

[PearlySweetcake]

Nov 6, 2021 9:16:02 GMT -4 prisma said:

That sinks, pearlysweetcake. I’m sorry it couldn’t work out. But that sounds like a situation you would not want to lock into for the long-term. It stinks when the right decision is so painful.

Thanks prisma. It's baffling that the property owners continue to carry water for the on-site managers, even though they've cost the owners hundreds of thousands of dollars in court costs, because they keep getting sued for being assholes. Ah well. Hopefully by the end of the year it will no longer be my problem.

[batmom]

I can understand why it took you so long to reach that decision, but it sounds like it's the right one for you.

[famvir]

When my dad died 10 years ago, I came in possession of his mobile home. It was very nice, two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and dealing with lot managers/owners.

He lived in the LA area, and apparently there was a scam involved to buy up the homes for cheap and take them down to Mexico where they could be sold for a profit.

A realtor specializing in mobile homes promised an inflated price for the home, but also demanded an inflated percentage (18% as opposed to the 7% that is the legal sales percentage in California).

I just wanted the house sold so I signed the papers. Nothing happened, I suspect she was just getting ready for the hard luck story and extreme price drop that would secure her her 18% after doing zero work, because the Mexico sales guys would haul it off after that.

So anyway, after the 3 month contract expired, I fired her, dropped the price of the home her 18% sales fee, put it on Craigs List and sold it within a week.

That part was easy. Then I had to deal with the Lot Manager and the owner.

The guy paid cash, so I was good.

But the lot manager wanted to make sure he had a secure job, could pay the monthly fee, that he wasn’t going to trash the place or break the rules. It was two months of crap the poor guy had to go through before he was allowed to move in, so it was two months before we could close even though he was ready to close the first day I met him.

Just my experiences in selling a really nice mobile home in California.

I think yours will sell fast, you’ve been making improvements and people are buying. But do pay attention to the manager and owner. You may not like them, but they are critical to the sell going through seamlessly. Find out what they need, proof of employment, proof of ability to pay the monthly lot fee, age of owner, number of occupants, and use that list to pre-approve any buyers.

I was able to sell my dad’s home without a realtor. I hired someone in a law office who did the paperwork and submitted it, the cost was under $1000.

[mojogirl]

So we're about to become empty nesters and one of the things I want to do is fix up the house, now that it won't be trashed by teenagers (we live in a hundred-year-old house here in Seattle and after seeing some of the damage my three have done I often wonder how houses last that long!)

Item one: interior paint and drywall repair (see: damage caused by 3 kids.) This is technically something we could do ourselves, but my bedroom ceiling has been awaiting being repainted for over three years now. Meanwhile we have a crew here this week and they will knock everything out in three days. (We're not repainting the entire house.)

Yesterday they completed retexturing and painting the kitchen ceiling, and I am AMAZED at how good it looks now, without anything else being done.

I have also been working for the past few years on relandscaping our backyard. Everything else is much more expensive (refinish the hardwood floors, kitchen facelift with new cooktop and hood) and will have to wait.

[ladyboy]

Nov 8, 2021 13:48:23 GMT -4 famvir said:

When my dad died 10 years ago, I came in possession of his mobile home. It was very nice, two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and dealing with lot managers/owners.

He lived in the LA area, and apparently there was a scam involved to buy up the homes for cheap and take them down to Mexico where they could be sold for a profit.

A realtor specializing in mobile homes promised an inflated price for the home, but also demanded an inflated percentage (18% as opposed to the 7% that is the legal sales percentage in California).

I just wanted the house sold so I signed the papers. Nothing happened, I suspect she was just getting ready for the hard luck story and extreme price drop that would secure her her 18% after doing zero work, because the Mexico sales guys would haul it off after that.

So anyway, after the 3 month contract expired, I fired her, dropped the price of the home her 18% sales fee, put it on Craigs List and sold it within a week.

That part was easy. Then I had to deal with the Lot Manager and the owner.

The guy paid cash, so I was good.

But the lot manager wanted to make sure he had a secure job, could pay the monthly fee, that he wasn’t going to trash the place or break the rules. It was two months of crap the poor guy had to go through before he was allowed to move in, so it was two months before we could close even though he was ready to close the first day I met him.

Just my experiences in selling a really nice mobile home in California.

I'm, what, 3 years late to this post? But I am dying over here at a mobile home park acting like a NYC coop board.

[prisma]

Seeking advice about cameras around the home. I live in an older neighborhood where small houses are being torn down and massive houses go up in their place. I just went through it with the lot next to me, and now am about to go through it with the house directly across the street from me. The builder asked for variances so that he could build closer up to the property line and the zoning board meetings got a little tense. Multiple neighbors opposed it, including me, but the builder got the variances approved. The builder already has a bad reputation for being inconsiderate to people in the neighborhoods where he builds and now I am worried about being singled out for a grudge since I am right across the street and I was very clear about opposing it. I live alone and have no security system. I was thinking about getting a Ring doorbell since it has a camera, but I was wondering if it would be better to get a straight security camera mounted. Does anyone have experience with this kind of stuff? I'm also getting ready to put out a Harris Walz sign out and I live in a deeply red area (Trump banner right down the street from me, and a Trump sign around the corner), so I'm also worried about vandalism from that.