Need an opinion on housing. I trust you guys!

[athenna]

Just need an unbiased opinion:
I just put my condo on the market. I have been looking at townhouses. Found the perfect one, love it! They were asking more than I can afford, I made them an offer, they rejected it, I counted w/a 2nd offer (just 5 grand more than the 1st offer) They said they'd take it!!!
On one condition:
They won't install the master bathroom, we'd have to have it done ourselves. What would you do? It still has a bath and a half even w/out the master bath, so I'd survive. And I'd have plenty of time to save for the mathroom installation.
ugh! dillemas!

[jiggerj]

Yikes! Wish I could help you with some kind of words of wisdom but I cant! :( But, you did say that you found the perfect one and that you love it! Good luck with your decision. :)

[jaysue]

Is the Master Bathroom at least roughed in?

Will they do any of the other work - (electrical for example) in the room?

cheers
jaysue

[dvcconvert]

My best advice is not to focus on a bathroom, but the larger more important question of affordability. I've know alot of people have really over bot, then if things get tough for them in their personal financial postion they were forced to have a fire sale. If you're really sure you'll be secure with the currently proposed debt service, then you should have time and financial capacity to save to complete the bathroom.

HTH

[Colorado Belle]

Yep..you'd have to give us lots more info.
What's the sq.ftage? How does the price compare with the other townhomes in the development that sold recently or are on the market? Where is this master bath going...and yep, is it roughed in, electrical, are there fixtures, etc. A do it your self bathroom can cost a lot or very little...depending on what you want, how hard you shop for bargains and how much of it you do yourself. ME, I find Home Depot the way to go! I did a bath in white tub, sinks,cabinets with green marble and glass block.DIVINE and cheap cause I did the work myself.

I'm glad you found a townhome you really love...is the only one in the development or are there lots? If only one, you are pretty much stuck. If there are several on the market...let the sellers know that you are considering all of them and that one of them seems to be more workable in your price range....art of negotiation!

good luck, girlfriend, you deserve a wonderful place!

[athenna]

Yep..you'd have to give us lots more info.
What's the sq.ftage? How does the price compare with the other townhomes in the development that sold recently or are on the market? Where is this master bath going...and yep, is it roughed in, electrical, are there fixtures, etc. A do it your self bathroom can cost a lot or very little...depending on what you want, how hard you shop for bargains and how much of it you do yourself. ME, I find Home Depot the way to go! I did a bath in white tub, sinks,cabinets with green marble and glass block.DIVINE and cheap cause I did the work myself.

I'm glad you found a townhome you really love...is the only one in the development or are there lots? If only one, you are pretty much stuck. If there are several on the market...let the sellers know that you are considering all of them and that one of them seems to be more workable in your price range....art of negotiation!

good luck, girlfriend, you deserve a wonderful place!

Ok, I'll see what info I can give:
The square ft is over 1900 sq ft, which is almost triple what I've got now.
It is for sure comparable to what's on the market around here, MA is very expensive.
The master bath would be on the 3rd floor, which is the master suite, for me and eventually my other half, it's bathroom, bedroom and sitting room.
All the electrical is down, but I'd have to buy all the fixtures.I would most lkely go w/home depot anyway, my boyfriend just got a 2nd job there, ironically enough.
It is only one on the development. What I love most about it is, we'd a;; have our own space. My father isn't well enough to live alone, he would have the whole second floor! I could get married and the place is big enough for all of us.
Lots to ponder.

[Colorado Belle]

Well boyfriends who work at Home Depot get excellent discounts!!!! And discounts on having work done by the HD experts!!! so on that score, I;d say: try to negotiate a little less on the price and say ok to doing the bath.
That way, you can use the savings in price to get a bath in the colors you want!
Would you and your dad be buying this? Or you and your bf?

Sounds exciting Athenna...oh and you will love all that room!

[athenna]

Well boyfriends who work at Home Depot get excellent discounts!!!! And discounts on having work done by the HD experts!!! so on that score, I;d say: try to negotiate a little less on the price and say ok to doing the bath.
That way, you can use the savings in price to get a bath in the colors you want!
Would you and your dad be buying this? Or you and your bf?

Sounds exciting Athenna...oh and you will love all that room!

Well, the negative part is, HD employee don't get discounts. NADA, none at all :mad:
But they are experts.
It would be me, dad, and boyfriend. :doublekis

[rinkwide]

No problem, just raise dear-old-Dad's rent to cover the bathroom. (Nothing's worse than freeloading parents ;) )

[cruise-o-matic]

Well, the negative part is, HD employee don't get discounts. NADA, none at all :mad:
But they are experts.
It would be me, dad, and boyfriend. :doublekis

Trust me HD employees may not get discounts, but they know how to get them.....and no, I'm not talking about the 5 finger discount either.

[athenna]

Trust me HD employees may not get discounts, but they know how to get them.....and no, I'm not talking about the 5 finger discount either.

Hmmm, dunno what you mean.

[athenna]

No problem, just raise dear-old-Dad's rent to cover the bathroom. (Nothing's worse than freeloading parents ;) )


LOL. Wish I could, but he isnt getting any younger.

[crisi]

Hmmm, dunno what you mean.

I suspect she means that Home Depot employees usually have a lot of personal relationships with the HD subcontractors and will make arrangements "on the side." Also a lot of HD employees are pretty handy themselves, and you can find a bunch of guys willing to "swap work" (you help me with my bathroom, I'll help you put on the deck") and act as their own contractors.

I think the important thing is to have a realistic idea of how the house payment and other expenses involved will impact your cash flow. If cash flow is tight, you won't get that bathroom done. Make sure not to look at the moment, but what things might be like a year or two or five down the road. We have a deck I've hated since the moment we moved in, but the cash and time to fix it have never been made a priority. I have kitchen cabinets I don't like, but once again, I've never felt like I wanted to make the cash for a kitchen redo a priority. We have an unfinished basement - guess what! Now, cash has never been tight for us, I'm just tight with my cash and had other things to do with it - I've paid off the house in seven years and taken three WDW trips and a cruise, adopted a child and had a second one, built up a savings account and a decent stock fund - instead of replacing that horrible deck.

[athenna]

I suspect she means that Home Depot employees usually have a lot of personal relationships with the HD subcontractors and will make arrangements "on the side." Also a lot of HD employees are pretty handy themselves, and you can find a bunch of guys willing to "swap work" (you help me with my bathroom, I'll help you put on the deck") and act as their own contractors.

I think the important thing is to have a realistic idea of how the house payment and other expenses involved will impact your cash flow. If cash flow is tight, you won't get that bathroom done. Make sure not to look at the moment, but what things might be like a year or two or five down the road. We have a deck I've hated since the moment we moved in, but the cash and time to fix it have never been made a priority. I have kitchen cabinets I don't like, but once again, I've never felt like I wanted to make the cash for a kitchen redo a priority. We have an unfinished basement - guess what! Now, cash has never been tight for us, I'm just tight with my cash and had other things to do with it - I've paid off the house in seven years and taken three WDW trips and a cruise, adopted a child and had a second one, built up a savings account and a decent stock fund - instead of replacing that horrible deck.
Oh, now I gotcha. Sorry, I was having a brain cramp.
You're right , good advise.
Today the guy is being a jerk and not sure he wants my offer whether the bathroom is done or not. ugh.

[dianeschlicht]

If his counter was without the master bath done, doesn't he have to abide by that? I would take it at that offer, but then we are pretty handy at doing things ourselves.

[athenna]

If his counter was without the master bath done, doesn't he have to abide by that? I would take it at that offer, but then we are pretty handy at doing things ourselves.

I would think, but I'm new to this whole thing. Thank goodness I have a real estate agent who is a good friend and it doing the best she can with this guy. We even offered to split the cost of getting the bathroom done, I'm waiting to hear back from her about that offer.
I'll let you all know.
Thanks

[cruise-o-matic]

Hmmm, dunno what you mean.

OK,OK..."Uncle! Uncle!".....

the HD cashiers have been instructed to honor competitor prices (if the difference is $50 or less) with no questions asked, plus they'll give you an extra 10% off too..... :sherlock:

[athenna]

OK,OK..."Uncle! Uncle!".....

the HD cashiers have been instructed to honor competitor prices (if the difference is $50 or less) with no questions asked, plus they'll give you an extra 10% off too..... :sherlock:


Oh, I didn't know that and neither did bf, he's still new.

[athenna]

I got the house!!!! :bluebloun
And he is doing the bathroom!
We are actually going halves on the cost of the bathroom!
But I am excited. Just got to work on selling my condo now!

[jnrrt]

Only following this, since I had no advice, but now wanted to say:

Woohoo! Yea for you! That's great.

I hope you love it, and pixie dust in selling your condo.

[athenna]

Only following this, since I had no advice, but now wanted to say:

Woohoo! Yea for you! That's great.

I hope you love it, and pixie dust in selling your condo.


Thanks! I'll need all the pixie dust I can get!

[dianeschlicht]

CONGRATULATIONS & WELCOME HOME
That seems appropriate for this post too! GOod luck on selling the condo extra quick! Better start watching HGTV's Designed to Sell and get some good hints!

[athenna]

CONGRATULATIONS & WELCOME HOME
That seems appropriate for this post too! GOod luck on selling the condo extra quick! Better start watching HGTV's Designed to Sell and get some good hints!

Thanks Diane, this gave me a great big smile! :)
Yup, i will need some good hints, I've never really ''decorated'' a house before, but it's high time I did :bluebloun

[PoohsPal]

Congrats & Good luck!

[dianeschlicht]

Thanks Diane, this gave me a great big smile! :)
Yup, i will need some good hints, I've never really ''decorated'' a house before, but it's high time I did :bluebloun
On Designed to Sell, they show how decorating before you sell is so important and gets you more money for what you are selling. They usually spend $2000 to make $10,000. For a condo, it would be much less money needed, but making it look spacious and neat and with good colors is the key to a high sale price. Kitchens and bathrooms that are redone get the best results.