Home buying thread

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Blazin

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See, you want modern houses... I want to buy land and essentially build a castle , but with modern energy and efficiency technology.


Love their concept, hate the fact that it looks like their site was designed in 1992...
3d printed castles! Embrace the past and the future
 
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Haus

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3d printed castles! Embrace the past and the future
I could easily see this. 3d print in concrete, with a follow along plate to mold the exterior to look like cut stone, and smooth the interior walls. In my head I already see the method and how it would work. 2 layer wall with a space to run cabling/conduits/plumbing between. Then once all the essential has been run you fill it with expanding foam insulation. One of the limitations of the current 3d printing concrete technology though has to do with strength as you multi multi-floor structures, have to overcome that.
 

Aldarion

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Any attempts to transform the homebuilding industry needs to make sure you don't end up in an iphone situation.

When your home is built by hand it can be repaired and modified by anyone, by hand. When your home is built by a machine using machine specific technologies and tools there is a risk that now you need to get the manufacturer involved for the most minor home repairs.

Not everything needs to be, or should be, high tech. There is a good reason for limiting tech in some situations. A house should not be an iphone.
 
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Sanrith Descartes

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I could easily see this. 3d print in concrete, with a follow along plate to mold the exterior to look like cut stone, and smooth the interior walls. In my head I already see the method and how it would work. 2 layer wall with a space to run cabling/conduits/plumbing between. Then once all the essential has been run you fill it with expanding foam insulation. One of the limitations of the current 3d printing concrete technology though has to do with strength as you multi multi-floor structures, have to overcome that.
There was an article i linked last year about a European company 3d printing basic homes using concrete.
 
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Fogel

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Any attempts to transform the homebuilding industry needs to make sure you don't end up in an iphone situation.

When your home is built by hand it can be repaired and modified by anyone, by hand. When your home is built by a machine using machine specific technologies and tools there is a risk that now you need to get the manufacturer involved for the most minor home repairs.

Not everything needs to be, or should be, high tech. There is a good reason for limiting tech in some situations. A house should not be an iphone.

I can see it now, the iHome. Each iteration they just take more and more things away until the iHome20 releases and its just 4 walls, a roof, a floor, and a picture of Steve Jobs hanging on the wall.
 
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Blakkheim

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Hilarious thing is not many who sold at this bubble's top are gonna make out good thanks to these interest rates.
Bullshit! We (wife and I)locked in our construction to permanent loan interest rate in August of 2021 at 2.75%. Our house build was finished in May of this year. We then sold our old house in June of this year, which was pretty much at the peak. I’m still completely shocked by what we managed to pull off.
 
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Big Phoenix

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Bullshit! We (wife and I)locked in our construction to permanent loan interest rate in August of 2021 at 2.75%. Our house build was finished in May of this year. We then sold our old house in June of this year, which was pretty much at the peak. I’m still completely shocked by what we managed to pull off.
What did you end up in after that second sale and at what rate?
 

Drinsic

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Bullshit! We (wife and I)locked in our construction to permanent loan interest rate in August of 2021 at 2.75%. Our house build was finished in May of this year. We then sold our old house in June of this year, which was pretty much at the peak. I’m still completely shocked by what we managed to pull off.
He said not many. That's awesome, but I doubt it represents the majority of people that moved this year.
 

Lanx

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We have also had a real issue with what a "starter" home should look like. A newlywed couple with no kids does not need a 3000 sq ft 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms with a bonus room, media room, and second master suite; they need a 1000 sq ft 2 or 3 beds and 1 or 1/2 baths and no extra rooms. However, since the start home market now looks like the former, no builders are building new versions of the latter.

So people that complain that their parents made 40k a year and bought a house for 70k they don't realize that the house their parents bought was 900 sq ft with no amenities. If someone today made 60k a year they could buy a true starter home for 130k and it would be functionally the same situation.
imo this is what a perfect starter home should be
30e18b9871848eaec9e29bd3461af0cc.jpg


i mean it's 1000 sq/ft, and by definition "sparse" but livable, it's so dense the w&d right in the kitchen b/c you don't get a laundry room or even a laundry closet for a starter home, not even a garage cuz that would take up too much lot space, however there is a carport, so you can park your 1car b/c it's a starter home, theres no way a new family has 2 cars anyway.

but yea, 3 tiny bedrooms and 2 baths, a family of 4 or 5 could live here just fine and really think about "moving on up"
 
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Captain Suave

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theres no way a new family has 2 cars anyway.
Agree except here. Basically every adult will have a vehicle long before they are in a position to own a home, if only to get to work. Just park it in the driveway, though.
 
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Tmac

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I believe we need a tectonic shift in how we build homes. Homes are built primarily the same way since the industrial revolution. We have increased energy efficiency but it's an industry that needs just completely revamped from the ground up. The issue with this is that the consumer is very stubborn about changes in homes. Our expectations are deeply rooted in what a home should be, how it's set up, how it looks, etc.

The labor and materials that go into a home is too intensive and costly, the manufactured home was the right idea but very poorly executed. Manufacturing holds the keys but it may take a prolonged period of unaffordable homes and a tragic housing shortage to pave the way for the necessary change. Humans don't like solving problems until they hit a more critical mass and we are on the path.

Laminated timber could hold one of the keys to this. They just need to figure out the standards for doing it. The whole industry is just ad hoc custom work right now. But once it gets dialed in it'll create a new wave of home building imo.

I toured a facility last year and the things they can do are amazing. To give you an idea of what they can do, imagine a piece of wood that's laying on it's side 4' feet thick and runs 50 yards long, and it all got CNC'd and glued together.

Now imagine them CNC'ing an entire home and shipping it, so that a crane just pieces it all together. Would be awesome. Right now everything is commercial, bc expensive.

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Mizake

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imo this is what a perfect starter home should be
30e18b9871848eaec9e29bd3461af0cc.jpg


i mean it's 1000 sq/ft, and by definition "sparse" but livable, it's so dense the w&d right in the kitchen b/c you don't get a laundry room or even a laundry closet for a starter home, not even a garage cuz that would take up too much lot space, however there is a carport, so you can park your 1car b/c it's a starter home, theres no way a new family has 2 cars anyway.

but yea, 3 tiny bedrooms and 2 baths, a family of 4 or 5 could live here just fine and really think about "moving on up"

The problem is that in places like California, that home would be located in Compton and cost $800,000.

Sure, you can say don't live in a shithole like Cali, and I would agree with you, but it's the same in most major cities whether you are talking about Boston, New York, etc. So for people tied to jobs in major metropolitan areas, home ownership is just not going to be in the cards. Sometimes I'm truly amazed how people can even afford housing in Los Angeles where a one bedroom condo goes for $500,000.
 

ToeMissile

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The problem is that in places like California, that home would be located in Compton and cost $800,000.

Sure, you can say don't live in a shithole like Cali, and I would agree with you, but it's the same in most major cities whether you are talking about Boston, New York, etc. So for people tied to jobs in major metropolitan areas, home ownership is just not going to be in the cards. Sometimes I'm truly amazed how people can even afford housing in Los Angeles where a one bedroom condo goes for $500,000.
Looks like topping out at 625k for Compton under 1k sqft

and 370k at the bottom
 

Mizake

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ToeMissile ToeMissile

Both the homes you quoted are smaller than the one Lanx posted, so it's not really a direct comparison, but I'll humor you.

The $625k home you quoted is 825 sq feet, and is selling for $759/sq ft.

The $370k home you quoted is 504 sq feet, and is selling for $734/sq. ft.

So let's split the difference, in your favor, and say the average home in Compton sells for $740/ sq. ft.

Then a home like the one Lanx linked, at 1,076 sq ft, would sell for 1,076 x 740 = $796,240, or about $800k.

It's almost like I know the LA real estate market. Almost.
 

Sanrith Descartes

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ToeMissile ToeMissile

Both the homes you quoted are smaller than the one Lanx posted, so it's not really a direct comparison, but I'll humor you.

The $625k home you quoted is 825 sq feet, and is selling for $759/sq ft.

The $370k home you quoted is 504 sq feet, and is selling for $734/sq. ft.

So let's split the difference, in your favor, and say the average home in Compton sells for $740/ sq. ft.

Then a home like the one Lanx linked, at 1,076 sq ft, would sell for 1,076 x 740 = $796,240, or about $800k.

It's almost like I know the LA real estate market. Almost.
I cant even fathom paying more than $700/sq ft for a house.
 

Mizake

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I cant even fathom paying more than $700/sq ft for a house.

Like I said, LA is a complete shitshow. Compton is ghetto, 100% chance your catalytic converter would be gone the next day if you parked on the street. Iron bars over doors/windows. Gun violence. You name it. It's gotten better over the past decade, but it's still not somewhere you wanna raise a family.

Nicer areas you are looking at $1000/sq ft, and that's for a fixer-upper or a home that like 40 years old.

Again, not unique to LA, other large cities like New York it's the same or worse.

The point being most people living in these cities are doomed to be eternal renters. Which is why so many are moving away to friendlier pastures where they can actually afford a home. I don't blame them.
 

Cad

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Like I said, LA is a complete shitshow. Compton is ghetto, 100% chance your catalytic converter would be gone the next day if you parked on the street. Iron bars over doors/windows. Gun violence. You name it. It's gotten better over the past decade, but it's still not somewhere you wanna raise a family.

Nicer areas you are looking at $1000/sq ft, and that's for a fixer-upper or a home that like 40 years old.

Again, not unique to LA, other large cities like New York it's the same or worse.

The point being most people living in these cities are doomed to be eternal renters. Which is why so many are moving away to friendlier pastures where they can actually afford a home. I don't blame them.
Are the people who own these homes all landlords? Where do the gangbangers and welfare queens who live in Compton coming up with $600k purchase prices?