It's a trade either way because of our winter climate. In the winter we want as much sun as we can get everywhere we can get it. In the summer, we start looking for cover.
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Buying my first house... suggestions from car guys?
- Thread starter collkid
- Start date
It's a trade either way because of our winter climate. In the winter we want as much sun as we can get everywhere we can get it. In the summer, we start looking for cover.
dan1977p
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Virginia Beach, VA
A separate garage will help keep the battle over space to a minimum.
collkid
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Highlands Ranch, Colorado
Oh yeah we are set on that for sure.
The scariest part is thinking of paying it off for 30 years!
Taking our time, that's for sure!
collkid
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Highlands Ranch, Colorado
That's the dream.
My friend has a HUGE 2 car garage that is separate from the house.
I hope we could get into something like that.
xj-grin
NAXJA Member #1096
- Location
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
Buy less house than you can afford/are approved for -- winter is coming (I mean that on a larger scale, not the 2016 season), and you want to be certain you can continue to afford mortgage payments if things are less sunny than they are today. My advice aint as much fun as the garage-shop-whores, but its valuable!
On lines of what grin and trippled said. Buy under budget. Which is hard in Denver area. But really try. What I was approved for and what I spent are two totally different numbers. Can and should are not the same.
Do the bi weekly payments. Same per month but hacks off a ton of time in the long run. And it's easier to budget that way.
Do the bi weekly payments. Same per month but hacks off a ton of time in the long run. And it's easier to budget that way.
old_man
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Loveland, Colorado
Before you move in, clean the garage floors and epoxy them. Let them cure for a week.
xj-grin
NAXJA Member #1096
- Location
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
use muriatic acid on the floors before you epoxy, or it wont stick for shite.
- Location
- Thornton, CO
Put a little butter in there too for flavor.
freerider15
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- FoCo, Crawlorado
Bought our first house last September, closed on the 18th of that month.
I got lucky, our property is ~1/3 of a acre (would have loved at least 1 full acre), and came with a detached shop.
My shop is ~25' x 35', and ~14' I think at the eaves. The floor plan isn't that much bigger than a large 3 car garage, but the 14' at the eaves is what really makes it nice, allows me to have a second story on one end. It came plumbed with a natural gas heater, and hot/cold water hookup for a utility sink.
Both of those are things I felt I could live without before...but now they're THE BEST THINGS EVER! :laugh:
Also, the shop is the main panel (200A), and the house the sub panel (100A)...works nicely.
So try and find a larger two car garage, three if you can at all.
As well, enough room to be able to park a vehicle/trailer is almost a must.
Still not a bad time to get in. In the ~year we've been in our house...the house's value has gone up ~$65k...and that's not including any updates were doing.
Buy as much house as you can AFFORD, not as much house as you're approved for.
Don't take your inspection lightly, follow them and make sure to see what they're looking through. Trust...but verify.
If you have time, look through the county to get an idea on what your utilities would run, if there's ever been any major damage to the house, does the house lie in a floodplain, school any good in the area, crime statistics, etc. etc.
Try to find everything wrong with the place you can, and talk yourself into why it is worth it. To me, this helps with not "falling in love" with the place, but assessing it more from a "how much of a PITA will this place be on both my head and wallet in the next 1, 5, 10 years"
I got lucky, our property is ~1/3 of a acre (would have loved at least 1 full acre), and came with a detached shop.
My shop is ~25' x 35', and ~14' I think at the eaves. The floor plan isn't that much bigger than a large 3 car garage, but the 14' at the eaves is what really makes it nice, allows me to have a second story on one end. It came plumbed with a natural gas heater, and hot/cold water hookup for a utility sink.
Both of those are things I felt I could live without before...but now they're THE BEST THINGS EVER! :laugh:
Also, the shop is the main panel (200A), and the house the sub panel (100A)...works nicely.
So try and find a larger two car garage, three if you can at all.
As well, enough room to be able to park a vehicle/trailer is almost a must.
Still not a bad time to get in. In the ~year we've been in our house...the house's value has gone up ~$65k...and that's not including any updates were doing.
Buy as much house as you can AFFORD, not as much house as you're approved for.
Don't take your inspection lightly, follow them and make sure to see what they're looking through. Trust...but verify.
If you have time, look through the county to get an idea on what your utilities would run, if there's ever been any major damage to the house, does the house lie in a floodplain, school any good in the area, crime statistics, etc. etc.
Try to find everything wrong with the place you can, and talk yourself into why it is worth it. To me, this helps with not "falling in love" with the place, but assessing it more from a "how much of a PITA will this place be on both my head and wallet in the next 1, 5, 10 years"
- Location
- Cheyenne, Wyoming
I bought a brand new house almost two years ago. I was in Texas and my wife picked it out. We wanted a newer build so stuff would be efficient and reliable and I wanted at least a two car garage. She picked out a house that is more than enough room (1300Sq/ft upstairs finished and the same unfinished downstairs) and an oversize tandem 3 car garage. I also have enough room for a trailer or camper in the backyard and our HOA is a joke (in a good way). Our house is cheaper per month than renting something half as nice and we have a bunch equity being built up from the value rising due to the neighborhood being finished.
Do what I did and have your other half do everything that way you can blame it on her later when stuff is going wrong.
Do what I did and have your other half do everything that way you can blame it on her later when stuff is going wrong.
collkid
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Highlands Ranch, Colorado
amazing
collkid
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Highlands Ranch, Colorado
Yeah we are looking at a few in Castle Rock and Parker. Our Market is small and the ONLY thing I really care about is a Garage. Here goes nothing.
trippled
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- colorado springs, co
One more thing, I'm not sure how the market is there, bit down here, houses were selling within days of listing. Stuff like Zillow is third party and new houses that come up can take a while to go to them, so you'll see a house come up on there only to find d out its been under contract for a week. We got a realtor by chance, and he was a huge help in the process, and he was paid by the seller, so we owed him nothing on our part. And the Realtors will be the first to see any new houses come up.
collkid
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Highlands Ranch, Colorado
Putting in an offer in a house in Highlands Ranch.... Ironically enough.
zluster
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Colorado Baby!
I recently bought another house, and now I have another project around!
YELLAHEEP
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Littleton, Colorado
Ugh..... the LEAST car-guy-friendly place. Talk about hateful HOA's, that place is FULL of them. Some won't let you work on cars in your own garage, others won't allow cars in driveways, nor will they let you work on them in the driveway. All it takes is a nosy neighbor to screw things up. I've been fortunate over the years, but I've had to be an a-hole with members of my HOA on occasion too.
I sure hope you took the time to look at the HOA documents / rules / requirements. Alot of that crap should be considered violations of your Constitutional Rights.
Highlands Ranch....... I hate that people-farm.
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zluster
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Colorado Baby!
HOAs really bring the suck.
collkid
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Highlands Ranch, Colorado
Luckily, I know the Highlands Ranch HOA.
Obviously I've lived there the last 10 years.
That being said, this is the older side of HR. I talked to a few neighbors about what the street was like, few other car guys live on the court. One guy just finished resorting an old Mustang in his Garage.
All that to say, HR can totally suck-fest with car/garage, but I'm hopeful.
thejeepgod
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- CO
I would never buy a house with an HOA.
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