All of the Sudden I'm buying my First House

[NightGod]

Kramer pic FTW...every house should have one!! That or the George Castanza nude on black velvet!!

[shmokes]

Congratulations.  This is many years away for me, but I imagine it's a damned fine feeling.

[NightGod]

Even better is the feeling as you get close to paying off the house and owning it free and clear-I figure I'm less than a year away *dances*

[danny_galaga]

mmmm, gameroom....

you will have what most of us desire but few possess. i hate you!

[AtomSmasher]

I was at the house again today and the thermostat is actually at eye level for me, which means its almost 6 feet high.  I'm going to tell them to lower it, thats just too high.

Also, I think they're trying to jip me out of one of the supposed upgrades.  Its supposed to have a Home Entertainment Package upgrade, which is a $775 upgrade, and they're telling me it just means its prewired for a plasma tv.  In other words, a cable outlet up high on the wall.  Thats a little expensive for that upgrade, especially considering theres a different $150 upgrade that lets you put 5 cable outlets anywhere you want, I'm guessing they forgot to do whatever its supposed to be and they're just going to lie about what it actually is.  I'm doing the final walkthrough tommorrow and I'll see if I can figure out what its actually supposed to be.

[NightGod]

For $775 it sounds like it should be pre-wired for surround sound.

[Zakk]

Home entertainment upgrade here (for a similar cost) uncludes central hub stereo hookups, speakers in main common areas (with volume), speaker wiring for 7.1 surround in media room, power outlet on ceiling for projector and cable/sat feeds.  What they're giving you is a $20 outlet move. 

Check with other people who have bought from the same builder.  If any of them got the entertainment upgrade, your builder will have to match, or you should do a holdback on the extra.  That's what I would recommend to my clients anyway. 

Still, sounds like you're getting a good deal anyway, so don't get too worked up about it, just go wireless



I'm curious guys, this HOA ---meadow muffin---...do you also pay property taxes?  I pay $5000 per year, but I bloody well expect the roads to be fixed, and the parks kept up... are you payin both??

[AtomSmasher]

Yup, both property taxes and HOA.  I met with the super intendent and a few other people today and went through the house pointing out any scratched windows or cabinets that they're going to replace.  They're still telling me that the home entertainment upgrade is just an outlet up high on the wall, so I told them to cancel it and reimburse me for the $775, which they were fine with.

As for the 6' high thermostat, they told me "they'd look into it", which I'm assuming means "go F yourself" but its not that big of deal to me, so I'm not going to raise a stink about it.  I'll just give them a bad grade on the satisfaction survey, if that means anything, and it might since KB is trying to become the #1 builder in terms of customer satisfaction.

[shardian]

I'm curious guys, this HOA ---meadow muffin---...do you also pay property taxes?  I pay $5000 per year, but I bloody well expect the roads to be fixed, and the parks kept up... are you payin both??

They are completely separate things. The following is a good read on property tax:
http://www.iopa.sc.edu/grs/SCCEP/Articles/Proptax.htm
Property tax is just another way of screwing the hard-working, earn their own keep, middle-class. That is the crappy part of owning a house. You officially qualify yourself for getting hit with every single tax the goverment can hit you with.

Oh, don't be too surprised when the fire department sends you a statement for their services every year too. I was pretty pissed when I got that one in the mail...

[Zakk]

Well I'm a Canuk, so things are a bit different here.  Remember we're communists. 

If the fire department sent me a bill, I'd set fire to it and torch the benches in the park with it

Of course, if the fire is bad enough, where would they send the bill then? 

[shardian]

Well the only reason we have a bill is becasue the dumbasses in this county voted in a levy for the fire department before I ever moved here.

[AtomSmasher]

WOOHOO!!!  I picked up the keys today, the house is officially mine.   

I'm still in awe of how fast this all happened.  Now I just need to call in all my favors with family and friends and move all my stuff.

And a few clarifications from earlier that I now know the answer to, the HOA is $56/mo., they did move the thremostat down about a foot, but they didn't replace the scratched cabinet or clean the ton of debree off the roof (nails and wood pieces from construction) which they said they would do.  Also, I've decide to put my TV screen over the fireplace, I use a projector and a 100'' screen for my tv, so I think it will look good there.

Oh, and one more thing....I"M A HOME OWNER!!!         I've been a renter my whole life, so this is a huge change.

[Vigo]

Oh, and one more thing....I"M A HOME OWNER!!!         I've been a renter my whole life, so this is a huge change.

 

Congrats, I'm Jealous happy for you!

[AtomSmasher]

I painted my living room light blue yesterday, so my house has a little color on the inside now, and tommorrow I'm moving in.  I've enlisted the help of a number of people, so it should be a pretty quick and easy move.

I'll probably be offline until Thurs or Fri since my internet won't be turned on until then, but I doubt anyone will miss me   

[SithMaster]

omg where did he go?

[DrewKaree]

Who's AtomSmasher?

Mission, you're right.  We really need the

[AtomSmasher]

Well I'm all moved in and the computers up and running, so I'm back wasting my time here again.  I think I need to lay low from my friends and family for a while becuase I had a lot of heavy/large stuff to move upstairs.  They told me that if I ever move again, I either need to sell the arcade cabinet with the house or hire a moving crew to move it   Good times.

[AtomSmasher]

Well its official, I'm a complete dumbass.  All the blinds I ordered for my house are 1 1/2'' too wide, thats what I get for not double checking my measurements and ordering them before I move into the house.  Since the company I bought them from custom makes the blinds for each order, they won't let me return them.  My options are to make them outside hanging blinds and buy outside hanging hardware (around $30 total), mail them back and have them cut them smaller for me ($20 per blind plus shipping, with 16 blinds, it adds up pretty quick), or cut them myself and hope I don't screw up. 

I'm going to try cutting one of the smallest blinds myself and see how I do.  I figure if I screw one up, its not that bad to just replace the one.  I think I'm going to have tommorrow off, so I'll give it a try then.  And if your wondering, they are all 2'' wood blinds.

[shardian]

I've cut down cheap Wal-mart mini blinds, but You are probably pushing your luck cutting high-end custom blinds. I find it outrageous that they don't have a return policy. Bet you'll look closer at the fine print from now on, huh? Hang them outside the sill if you can bear it.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Hang them outside the sill if you can bear it.

One benefit of hanging them outside might be less light leaking in. I know that's a huge plus for me, since I'm a vampire.



mrC

[AtomSmasher]

Hang them outside the sill if you can bear it.

One benefit of hanging them outside might be less light leaking in. I know that's a huge plus for me, since I'm a vampire.

mrC

I'm pretty sure the blinds are about 1/2'' away from the wall when hung from the outside, which would probably let more light in.  The mounting brackets are universal for inside or outside mounting, so I'll check that out before I do anything.  I use a projector for my tv so darker is better.

The blinds are wood and the top part is aluminum, so I think it should be pretty easy to cut.  I'll just circular saw the blinds and jigsaw the top part.  If it doesn't work, then I'll know after the one and I'll be out $30 for a new blind.  I think its worth the risk.

[AtomSmasher]

I just installed one on the outside of the window, and it does do a good job at blocking the light even though it is sitting about 1/2'' away from the wall.  I don't think it blocks it any better then an inside mount, but I don't think its any worse either.

After thinking about this for a bit, I think I'm going to just outside mount all the blinds.  The only place where it may bug me is in the living room since thats what anyone who comes over will see them, but if it really starts to get to me, then I can just buy 3 new blinds for the LR.  I want to eventually get plantation shutters for the LR anyways, so maybe I'll just get those sooner rather then later.

edit* thinking about it more, I am still going to outside mount them.  But if I decide I hate it, then I can always try cutting them later.

[shardian]

so...you have anything else you need talked into doing? 

[DrewKaree]

All of   the    a sudden.

[AtomSmasher]

All of   the    a sudden.

[shmokes]

It's funny because I've been thinking about that since this thread first appeared.  I said "all of the sudden" for my entire life.  It wasn't until I was in college that a friend of mine said, "Did you just say 'all of the sudden'?"  "Yeah."  "It's 'all of A sudden."  "Really?  Hmm . . . I've always said 'the'."  Then I noticed it written in some book or another written the way my friend said and I kind of figured he's either right or both ways are correct. 

Does anybody else say 'all of the sudden'?

[billf]

To me its: "All of a sudden"

[Zakk]

It's funny because I've been thinking about that since this thread first appeared.  I said "all of the sudden" for my entire life.  It wasn't until I was in college that a friend of mine said, "Did you just say 'all of the sudden'?"  "Yeah."  "It's 'all of A sudden."  "Really?  Hmm . . . I've always said 'the'."  Then I noticed it written in some book or another written the way my friend said and I kind of figured he's either right or both ways are correct. 

Does anybody else say 'all of the sudden'?

Sue that guy's mangly *ss someday and MAKE him say THE.  Of course, you will be the only two in the world saying it, but at least you'll show HIM!

[AtomSmasher]

Back on topic, today a guy came to install whatever I needed for 4 hours (its a free service KB Homes offers) and I was going to have him install all the blinds.  I told him how I screwed up and they're all too big, so they need to be outside mounted.  I mentioned I was going to try to cut them with a circular saw, but decided against it.  He looked at the blinds and said "A circular saw would be pretty difficult to do it with, but a miter saw would work great."  I said, "Well ya, but I don't have a miter saw."  He replied, "I do, I have one in my truck.  I'll go get it"  So we commenced cutting down all the blinds, 3/4'' on each side, and they turned out perfect. 

With both of us working we had all 3 ceiling fans installed, and all the blinds cut and installed within the 4 hours time.  That guy was awesome, I'm going to call customer service and give him a great review.  The only annoying thing is that I just paid a few days ago to have the outside mount valances made and sent to me.  Oh well, I guess I'll just toss them when I get them.

[NightGod]

Sell um on Ebay, someone will buy them...