Home buying thread

mkopec

mkopec

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We have a 2000 sqft 2.5 bath ranch and its perfect for the 4 of us. Plus it has a 2000sq ft basement too which is still unfinished but one of my kids is living down there. Its perfect for us since no stairs to climb, except basement. Wife has her living room, I occupy the family room, huge ass master bedroom with its own bath, kids share the other bath, the .5 is off the laundry room next to kitchen. Could not ask for more.

In fact when kids GTFO, hopefully soon, well downsize because the place is too fucking big for 2. Plus we get raped on taxes where we are, about $4k/yr which is a lot for Detroit suburb. Probably will move to more country setting in the boonies depending on drive to work and if the work from home thing continues, which it seems to be promising as of now.

Plus we have a 1.5 acre in northern MI which we plan to retire too. Probabaly bulldoze the existing cabin which is small, and put a manufactured home in, maybe 1,200 sq ft. It already has 2 huge ass pole barns that house all of our toys, one 20x30 and the other 30x40. Only problem out there is fucking internet. Shit is just not available other than shitty sattelite rioght now. Hoping starlink comes in and saves the day. Because like I told my wife, im not retiring up there if we have no fucking internet.
 
Borzak

Borzak

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Selling the extra house I ended up with. Multiple quick offers, no inspection etc...but they want the mineral rights. No shit sherlock, that's why it's listed as seller reserves mineral rights. Just got an offer to lease the rights two weeks ago which really surprised me right now. Pretty sure they are buying land/houses to get the mineral rights then sell off the house for next to nothing to unload it and move on. Guessing it would be very hard to pick up mineral rights after a fracking boom there about 15 years ago.
 
Lanx

Lanx

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mkopec said:
We have a 2000 sqft 2.5 bath ranch and its perfect for the 4 of us. Plus it has a 2000sq ft basement too which is still unfinished but one of my kids is living down there. Its perfect for us since no stairs to climb, except basement. Wife has her living room, I occupy the family room, huge ass master bedroom with its own bath, kids share the other bath, the .5 is off the laundry room next to kitchen. Could not ask for more.

In fact when kids GTFO, hopefully soon, well downsize because the place is too fucking big for 2. Plus we get raped on taxes where we are, about $4k/yr which is a lot for Detroit suburb. Probably will move to more country setting in the boonies depending on drive to work and if the work from home thing continues, which it seems to be promising as of now.

Plus we have a 1.5 acre in northern MI which we plan to retire too. Probabaly bulldoze the existing cabin which is small, and put a manufactured home in, maybe 1,200 sq ft. It already has 2 huge ass pole barns that house all of our toys, one 20x30 and the other 30x40. Only problem out there is fucking internet. Shit is just not available other than shitty sattelite rioght now. Hoping starlink comes in and saves the day. Because like I told my wife, im not retiring up there if we have no fucking internet.
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how low could you get your taxes tho?

i mean these taxes are stupid, i pay 3200 for less than 200k house in topeka and i stand to pay 2500 for a 500k home in tn while paying 6k for a tiny 800k home in brooklyn.
 
mkopec

mkopec

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Taxes at my northern place are like 900 a year, lol. Last place we were in was like $2400 not too far from where we live now, smaller house, yes, but different city.
 
Sanrith Descartes

Sanrith Descartes

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The area you live in determines a lot of the house design dynamics. When I moved to NY from FL, the houses here were 100 years old. They didnt build them then the way modern people live. I am not a huge fan of my current house, but love the large yard it sits on.
 
Blazin

Blazin

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Airisch said:
no offense bro. That house is uhh... bad. Your roof lines are all over the place. Having 40 different heights and angles is gonna come back to haunt you.

There is a reason Roofs used to be only a couple angles. With a design like that you will need major gutters. Also whats the point of the gable decoration? it doesn't work with the style. Also the heaviest looking floor should be on the bottom. And why does only one window on the bottom have a roof over it?

Also its been shown that smaller houses with more communal areas leads to a closer healthier family rather than letting people retreat 24/7. Plus the bedrooms are giant. You might want to consider smaller ones to encourage children to not just sit in their room all day. Base size and position on function. Function of bedrooms is to sleep and change. Maybe read a book on the bed for a bit to get away from people.


View attachment 357776

this is 4 bedroom. with a kitchen / dinning room. seperate living room. seperate rec room. And a utility mudroom between the garage/kitchen.

The roof line on your house alone adds thousands upon thousands of dollars and a lot of construction headache. Are you in a very snowy area? Your angle is so extreme and roof so tall its like you are in maine.

With a house like the one above you can actually even cut costs by using the really nice prebuilt trusses and it still has plenty of attic space to run the hvac.

*edit look at the house above and the feel/weight of the house compared to the roof. Your house feels like its being smooshed by your roof.
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You and I are so far apart that it's probably not worth further discussion. The two homes you have linked would never even get past architectural committee for looking so cheap. It's likely due to regional differences plus houses are like anything else in life people have different taste. Homes like that were built around here in the 60-70s and they certainly aren't built in the price range of the neighborhood we are building in. Again I'm not concerned with the utilitarian savings you're listing. Thank you for trying to help me though. The style though if you aren't familiar is modern farmhouse some pics of similar homes.
small-006.jpg

893A1872-Edit.jpg

Modern-Farmhouse-Glendale-Estates.jpg
 
Airisch

Airisch

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Blazin said:
You and I are so far apart that it's probably not worth further discussion. The two homes you have linked would never even get past architectural committee for looking so cheap. It's likely due to regional differences plus houses are like anything else in life people have different taste. Homes like that were built around here in the 60-70s and they certainly aren't built in the price range of the neighborhood we are building in. Again I'm not concerned with the utilitarian savings you're listing. Thank you for trying to help me though. The style though if you aren't familiar is modern farmhouse some pics of similar homes. View attachment 357822
View attachment 357823
View attachment 357824
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Firstly I currently live in farm country. And i'll power level here but I literally just bought a house im going to keep as a stop gap for finding the site i want to build on if it has enough acres.

Modern farmhouse is fine. But as for those old houses looking cheap? you must be mistaken. What the fuck architectural committee? are you in a HOA? A lot of "expensive properties" are just total shit. Its why a site like McMansion hell thrives.

Now compare these designs to yours. Theyr have similar roof lines with like angles etc. Yours are all different. Theirs has most of the "weight" is the house. Most of your designs weight is the roof.

The top house is better than the bottom house. It uses like windows instead of all different. It also has a better roof. Here is an actual old farmhouse to illustrate some points.

1623356310148.png
1623357014987.png


Yes this house is rundown but if built new i doubt you would say it "looks cheap". While the house does has some asymmetrical qualities it has a lot more symmetry than you would think. But Again firstly notice. House weight vs roof weight. The house doesn't feel like its being squashed. Here are some features of the old house.

A big feature is the practicality of the windows. They are all the same except for the bathroom/mudroom one on the side. If they wanted a bigger window they put 2 side by side. you could even do 3. But also notice that both of the windows on top are singles while the 2 on bottom are doubles. Making the bottom floor appear more weighted. They also instead of putting random rock places etc. Or weird accents. Decided to use a different decorative shingle style on the top third.

Another thing is Look at the roof. It uses the same ridgeline for 3 different roof sections. Each roof is its own length yes. But also they have at least some feature tied to the others so that there is a pleasantness to the asymmetry.

Slapping a Decorative 3 bar wood item under an eve doesn't make something farmhouse or nice looking.

and as an aside ask around to anyone whos lived in a house for a while. Those tall "great rooms" are often just frustrating wastes of space which increase heating/cooling costs as well as increases noise.


*edit to add yours next to the old farmhouse. also to add that your porch would look better and not get swallowed up if it had its "own roof" or roof line instead of being just an extension of another slope.
 
Blazin

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Airisch said:
Firstly I currently live in farm country. And i'll power level here but I literally just bought a house im going to keep as a stop gap for finding the site i want to build on if it has enough acres.

Modern farmhouse is fine. But as for those old houses looking cheap? you must be mistaken. What the fuck architectural committee? are you in a HOA? A lot of "expensive properties" are just total shit. Its why a site like McMansion hell thrives.

Now compare these designs to yours. Theyr have similar roof lines with like angles etc. Yours are all different. Theirs has most of the "weight" is the house. Most of your designs weight is the roof.

The top house is better than the bottom house. It uses like windows instead of all different. It also has a better roof. Here is an actual old farmhouse to illustrate some points.

View attachment 357832View attachment 357833

Yes this house is rundown but if built new i doubt you would say it "looks cheap". While the house does has some asymmetrical qualities it has a lot more symmetry than you would think. But Again firstly notice. House weight vs roof weight. The house doesn't feel like its being squashed. Here are some features of the old house.

A big feature is the practicality of the windows. They are all the same except for the bathroom/mudroom one on the side. If they wanted a bigger window they put 2 side by side. you could even do 3. But also notice that both of the windows on top are singles while the 2 on bottom are doubles. Making the bottom floor appear more weighted. They also instead of putting random rock places etc. Or weird accents. Decided to use a different decorative shingle style on the top third.

Another thing is Look at the roof. It uses the same ridgeline for 3 different roof sections. Each roof is its own length yes. But also they have at least some feature tied to the others so that there is a pleasantness to the asymmetry.

Slapping a Decorative 3 bar wood item under an eve doesn't make something farmhouse or nice looking.

and as an aside ask around to anyone whos lived in a house for a while. Those tall "great rooms" are often just frustrating wastes of space which increase heating/cooling costs as well as increases noise.


*edit to add yours next to the old farmhouse. also to add that your porch would look better and not get swallowed up if it had its "own roof" or roof line instead of being just an extension of another slope.
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Not sure how to read your attitude which seems more combative/argumentative than I am interested in. Thanks again for the advice.
I agree the old farmhouse you linked is far better than the previous two and is not at all similar . Would look nice new or fixed up.
 
Tmac

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Two things worth noting w McMansions are multiple window sizes and roof angles.

And he's got a good point about using the roof to move water away from entryways.
 
Sanrith Descartes

Sanrith Descartes

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Bah. Nothing with more style than a Tudor. I couldn't find one here in my price range when I was looking.

449b4f2c443f071b06a9a1579e8d6e46.jpg
 
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Airisch

Airisch

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Blazin said:
Not sure how to read your attitude which seems more combative/argumentative than I am interested in. Thanks again for the advice.
I agree the old farmhouse you linked is far better than the previous two and is not at all similar . Would look nice new or fixed up.
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Sorry you feel my "tone" is combative. I know of no other way to say someone is wrong other than saying the word wrong. I was mearly trying to point out flaws in things in order to save you Tens of thousands of dollars for a less well off living experience/less pleasant to look at situation.

Get someone else with a background in construction and talk to them. They will agree about the roofs. And about the porch.

Also it might look better if you raised it up to the level of the surounding brick. And have the step up to the porch Rather than the half step and half step again for the door.
 
Blazin

Blazin

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Airisch said:
Sorry you feel my "tone" is combative. I know of no other way to say someone is wrong other than saying the word wrong. I was mearly trying to point out flaws in things in order to save you Tens of thousands of dollars for a less well off living experience/less pleasant to look at situation.

Get someone else with a background in construction and talk to them. They will agree about the roofs. And about the porch.

Also it might look better if you raised it up to the level of the surounding brick. And have the step up to the porch Rather than the half step and half step again for the door.
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I worked in construction for 15 years. The guy who designed that roof your questioning has been very successfully building homes for over 40 years.

As I’ve said twice now thank you for the input, it would probably really rustle you if I show their original design which had yet another roof peak that I was able to eliminate .

If the house was bigger it would eliminate most of your issues with the roof. Meaning if the second floor extended over master suite and garage, but that is just something we don’t want and there are other design elements that are more important to us .

The layout is our priority and I won’t sacrifice it for the exterior . We had considered eliminating the front porch other than at the front door. As we will spend more time to the back , but the back is south facing and the front porch could be a nice place to escape the sun.
 
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Fucker

Fucker

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Blazin said:
I worked in construction for 15 years. The guy who designed that roof your questioning has been very successfully building homes for over 40 years.

As I’ve said twice now thank you for the input, it would probably really rustle you if I show their original design which had yet another roof peak that I was able to eliminate .

If the house was bigger it would eliminate most of your issues with the roof. Meaning if the second floor extended over master suite and garage, but that is just something we don’t want and there are other design elements that are more important to us .

The layout is our priority and I won’t sacrifice it for the exterior . We had considered eliminating the front porch other than at the front door. As we will spend more time to the back , but the back is south facing and the front porch could be a nice place to escape the sun.
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Designing a house is easy, right up to the point of designing it. I tried it once. I had all these great ideas and I set about designing it. It looked like complete ass. This has nothing to do with your house at all.

A guy on another forum is an architect. He spent years designing and building the perfect house. Stunning in every detail. He even had the paint in the sitting room matched to the sunset. His wife saw it and started crying.

She didn't like it.
 
Airisch

Airisch

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Blazin said:
I worked in construction for 15 years. The guy who designed that roof your questioning has been very successfully building homes for over 40 years.

As I’ve said twice now thank you for the input, it would probably really rustle you if I show their original design which had yet another roof peak that I was able to eliminate .

If the house was bigger it would eliminate most of your issues with the roof. Meaning if the second floor extended over master suite and garage, but that is just something we don’t want and there are other design elements that are more important to us .

The layout is our priority and I won’t sacrifice it for the exterior . We had considered eliminating the front porch other than at the front door. As we will spend more time to the back , but the back is south facing and the front porch could be a nice place to escape the sun.
Click to expand...

So the guy getting money from building the roofs like that says the design is good? Did i read that right?
 
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