Vegas luxury homes falling apart
Quote:He’s among several Del Webb homeowners on a ridgeline in Lake Las Vegas who claim their luxury homes are “crumbling from below.” Attorney Norberto Cisneros, who has spent two decades representing families in construction-defect cases, describes this situation as “probably one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/angry-las-vegas-homeowners-say-their-million-dollar-luxury-homes-are-crumbling-after-just-5-years-buyer-beware-or-the-builder-s-fault/ar-AA1Pgi9u?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=68ff7cc75db646bbafbfbe482beead18&ei=14
Quote: EvenBobI see lots of articles that say do not buy a house that was built after 2019 and especially the last two or three years because it's crap. Everybody is using cheap materials to get as much profit as they can.
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I think the better statement would be "Don't buy a house made of cheap materials." I think that is a better logic no matter what the year it was built.
Quote: EvenBobI see lots of articles that say do not buy a house that was built after 2019 and especially the last two or three years because it's crap. Everybody is using cheap materials to get as much profit as they can.
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Even before then, new homes have been getting of lower and lower quality. But it is weird. When I moved to AZ people from back east would see the homes and remark how cheap they were made. The hard part was you could not explain just why or what made them feel cheap, they just felt cheap all over. You wondered how the unseen parts were made based on how flimsy other stuff felt.
Americans just seem to want as big a home as they can get for the price, quantity over quality. Since the 1990s homes have exploded in size and imploded in quality.
Quote: AZDuffman
Americans just seem to want as big a home as they can get for the price, quantity over quality. Since the 1990s homes have exploded in size and imploded in quality.
In my late 30's and 40's I wanted a bigger house so that I could entertain more. Prior to that I lived in smaller "starter" homes without many of the creature comforts. When I was able to afford the bigger home it was great, other than the wife bitching about it being to big to clean. Now that I am a feeble older man in my late 50's a small house is more appealing to me. My wife and I are exploring places to retire and a smaller single story home is what we are basing our cost estimates on. The wife says no bigger than 2200sqft but I think we would both be content with something around 2000sqft.
Quote: DRichQuote: AZDuffman
Americans just seem to want as big a home as they can get for the price, quantity over quality. Since the 1990s homes have exploded in size and imploded in quality.
In my late 30's and 40's I wanted a bigger house so that I could entertain more. Prior to that I lived in smaller "starter" homes without many of the creature comforts. When I was able to afford the bigger home it was great, other than the wife bitching about it being to big to clean. Now that I am a feeble older man in my late 50's a small house is more appealing to me. My wife and I are exploring places to retire and a smaller single story home is what we are basing our cost estimates on. The wife says no bigger than 2200sqft but I think we would both be content with something around 2000sqft.
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2000 is stil big. I have about 660 plus basement. A glorified apartment. I don’t need much more space. Part of me wants to go townhouse or condo but each have issues. If I make enough money to retire and travel a condo starts looking good. I just hate how they make you an inside urbanite type.
Quote: AZDuffman
2000 is stil big. I have about 660 plus basement. A glorified apartment. I don’t need much more space. Part of me wants to go townhouse or condo but each have issues. If I make enough money to retire and travel a condo starts looking good. I just hate how they make you an inside urbanite type.
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My first house was 1424sqft and I thought it was small but sufficient. I could live in that again but I want room to have an office and two spare bedrooms for when people visit. My current house is around 1900sqft and I am content with it.
I live in a 972 square foot house not counting the screened in porch. I could cut off the back bedroom/bathroom and never miss them.
Quote: billryanCondos might be the worst real estate investment one can make. I believe they were created so that people living in apartments can claim they don't rent.
I live in a 972 square foot house not counting the screened in porch. I could cut off the back bedroom/bathroom and never miss them.
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My only problem with condos and apartments is have others living attached to my space. I just don't want to deal with other peoples problems.
Quote: DRichQuote: billryanCondos might be the worst real estate investment one can make. I believe they were created so that people living in apartments can claim they don't rent.
I live in a 972 square foot house not counting the screened in porch. I could cut off the back bedroom/bathroom and never miss them.
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My only problem with condos and apartments is have others living attached to my space. I just don't want to deal with other peoples problems.
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The flip side is that apartment dwellers don't have to deal with their own problems. That's what the staff is for.
Everyone has different ideas on how to live. My friend just moved to Tucson. He's retired but got a nice gig at the Air Base. He thought about moving into my park but couldn't get over not owning the land the house is on. Instead of paying $30,000 and a few hundred each month for the land lease, he bought a small home for $210,000. He doesn't have a gated entrance, nor security patrols, nor three swimming pools nor any clubhouses. What he does have, at age 62, is a mortgage that will probably outlive him. He is happy, so all is well.
Quote: billryan[What he does have, at age 62, is a mortgage that will probably outlive him. He is happy, so all is well.
My plan is to retire by age 62 and hopefully not have a mortgage.
Interesting. I made about 250% over about 8 years. I spent a little money on updated improvements, but I enjoyed putting the time in and doing that stuff myself. I spent less than $600 updating the kitchen countertops, backsplash, and cabinet resurfacing. I spent less than $300 taking off the carpet and tiling the stairway. It cost me $1,500 to have the entire place painted and all the popcorn downstairs scraped off. I spent about $750 on new flooring upstairs. I spent about 4k getting the place ready to sell. To be honest, none of that stuff needed to be done it's perfectly fine when I moved in, the carpet wasn't that old, and it didn't really need repainting. It just had that 70s 80s look, and I wanted something more modern looking.Quote: billryanCondos might be the worst real estate investment one can make. I believe they were created so that people living in apartments can claim they don't rent.
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I should not have spent the $4,000 and the time getting the place ready to sell. I was going to sell for the same price regardless.
Quote: DRichQuote: billryanCondos might be the worst real estate investment one can make. I believe they were created so that people living in apartments can claim they don't rent.
I live in a 972 square foot house not counting the screened in porch. I could cut off the back bedroom/bathroom and never miss them.
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My only problem with condos and apartments is have others living attached to my space. I just don't want to deal with other peoples problems.
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Get yourself a nice RV. Move your home if you get tired of where you’re living or tired of the neighbors. If you can afford park rates anywhere, you can pretty much live anywhere.
Quote: AZDuffman
Americans just seem to want as big a home as they can get for the price, quantity over quality. Since the 1990s homes have exploded in size and imploded in quality.
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I am pretty sure I could be comfortable in around 250 square feet, doing laundry off-site. I feel no particular need to entertain or try to impress others.
Ashly, on the other hand, seems to want about 3000 square feet, with a crew to come in twice a week to clean up.
Quote: DRichQuote: billryan[What he does have, at age 62, is a mortgage that will probably outlive him. He is happy, so all is well.
My plan is to retire by age 62 and hopefully not have a mortgage.
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Sounds like a plan...literally; I retired six days before I turned 63 (I had to wait until I turned 62 so I could get the 10% bonus on my pension, then I waited until I had 40 years in my job, then I waited until after the annual pay raise in January), and the original idea was to pay off my mortgage at about the same time, but I got it refinanced right after the housing bubble burst and paid it off two years early.
Not only that, but right now, I own two homes (a townhouse, which I am in the process of selling, and a house), and don't have a mortgage on either of them.
Quote: ThatDonGuyQuote: DRichQuote: billryan[What he does have, at age 62, is a mortgage that will probably outlive him. He is happy, so all is well.
My plan is to retire by age 62 and hopefully not have a mortgage.
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Sounds like a plan...literally; I retired six days before I turned 63 (I had to wait until I turned 62 so I could get the 10% bonus on my pension, then I waited until I had 40 years in my job, then I waited until after the annual pay raise in January), and the original idea was to pay off my mortgage at about the same time, but I got it refinanced right after the housing bubble burst and paid it off two years early.
Not only that, but right now, I own two homes (a townhouse, which I am in the process of selling, and a house), and don't have a mortgage on either of them.
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And that is what is called a BINGO.
Quote: DRichQuote: billryanCondos might be the worst real estate investment one can make. I believe they were created so that people living in apartments can claim they don't rent.
I live in a 972 square foot house not counting the screened in porch. I could cut off the back bedroom/bathroom and never miss them.
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My only problem with condos and apartments is have others living attached to my space. I just don't want to deal with other peoples problems.
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Condos IIRC started in Puerto Rico of all places. They are an improvement on co-ops, which you should NEVER buy.
My problem with a condo or apartment is it makes you a different kind of person. An "inside" person. You have a house or even townhome you have probably a basement or/and garage. Thus allows for manly pursuits and storage of "heavy" items and tools you may need. You get outside for walks or work around the place. An apartment you kind of just spend your time inside, doing little in physical terms. You can't do many hobbies, etc.
But again, if bitcoin hits it big and I can spend half the time traveling, I would get one. In the unlikely event I got a road-warrior job I'd get one. Their big thing is turn the key and leave, don't even need to turn off the water.
I'd buy a co-op before a condo, but only if the co-op had great finances and met my other standards.
Quote: AZDuffman
My problem with a condo or apartment is it makes you a different kind of person. An "inside" person. You have a house or even townhome you have probably a basement or/and garage. Thus allows for manly pursuits and storage of "heavy" items and tools you may need. You get outside for walks or work around the place. An apartment you kind of just spend your time inside, doing little in physical terms. You can't do many hobbies, etc.
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A handful of guys I used to work with all chipped in to rent a big garage to work on their cars, drink beer, and avoid their wives and in-laws at their duplexes. It was nice enough, the back corner was set up as a man cave with couches and a beer fridge, the rest was car workshop.
These garages are ordinarily rented to small auto repair businesses. They said the cost was negligible, although I expect they had some negotiated terms with the building owner - favorable month to month rent in exchange for a willingness to vacate within 3 weeks if he found a paying business tenant.
Quote: AZDuffman
...My problem with a condo or apartment is it makes you a different kind of person. An "inside" person. You have a house or even townhome you have probably a basement or/and garage. Thus allows for manly pursuits and storage of "heavy" items and tools you may need. You get outside for walks or work around the place. An apartment you kind of just spend your time inside, doing little in physical terms. You can't do many hobbies, etc....
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Only sometimes. I've already done a few acts of carpentry on the curtilage of my tiny Vegas apartment. Sometimes I clamp a vise to the edge of the dumpster when I need a solid surface. My neighbors think I'm insane. I told them I am very glad to have such educated neighbors, and I can tell they are very educated, as the only other people who have ever called me insane were doctors and judges.
It helps to have a storage locker for tools, and a set of rechargeable tools. And you have to be a little flexible. So instead of using a big powered miter saw, I would cut lumber with a miter box and hand saw. I've had both a condo and a mobile and I've found the biggest impediment to doing things in a condo is not being on the ground floor or having quick access to the outside, like you do in a low-end apartment in Vegas. That's why I prefer a motel to a hotel when traveling; your car/truck and the outside are right there when you open the door in case you need to do something, unlike a hotel where you are dealing with corridors and elevators.
Quote: rxwineQuote: DRichQuote: billryanCondos might be the worst real estate investment one can make. I believe they were created so that people living in apartments can claim they don't rent.
I live in a 972 square foot house not counting the screened in porch. I could cut off the back bedroom/bathroom and never miss them.
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My only problem with condos and apartments is have others living attached to my space. I just don't want to deal with other peoples problems.
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Get yourself a nice RV. Move your home if you get tired of where you’re living or tired of the neighbors. If you can afford park rates anywhere, you can pretty much live anywhere.
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I still kind of like my wife and she would not agree to that.
Quote: AxelWolfInteresting. I made about 250% over about 8 years. I spent a little money on updated improvements, but I enjoyed putting the time in and doing that stuff myself. I spent less than $600 updating the kitchen countertops, backsplash, and cabinet resurfacing. I spent less than $300 taking off the carpet and tiling the stairway. It cost me $1,500 to have the entire place painted and all the popcorn downstairs scraped off. I spent about $750 on new flooring upstairs. I spent about 4k getting the place ready to sell. To be honest, none of that stuff needed to be done it's perfectly fine when I moved in, the carpet wasn't that old, and it didn't really need repainting. It just had that 70s 80s look, and I wanted something more modern looking.Quote: billryanCondos might be the worst real estate investment one can make. I believe they were created so that people living in apartments can claim they don't rent.
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I should not have spent the $4,000 and the time getting the place ready to sell. I was going to sell for the same price regardless.
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Your apartment was pretty dated when you got it, and I'm sure thats why it was priced as it was. You put in hundreds of hours of labor making it yours.
If I buy a fair condition 65 Nova, install a new tranny and engine, then spend weeks customizing it, pay to have it painted , I'd expect to eaily double or triple my investment.
You lived in your unit, so it was more a place to live than an investment. I'm glad you lived there , enjoyed it, and made it your own. You may have recieved 2 1/2 times your money when you sold, but that is far from making 250% on an investment.
The bottom line is that you were happy when you bought it, when you lived there, and when you sold it. Nothing else really matters.
Quote: billryanCo-ops started in my old neighborhood of Jackson Heights. My co-op was the third in NYC and, I think, the country. The gentleman who owned it before me paid $91,000 for it and abandoned it when the neighborhood went to hell. After I had it for three years on a lease to own agreement, the bank offered it to me for $23,000 cash,all in after fees,taxes, ect,ect. . That was in 1992. Today it would sell for $280,000 as is, but some updated units are going for over $500,000. My building was built with four apartments on each floor ,back in 1914, but in 1943, my floor and the one below me were somehow subdivided into eight apartments.
I'd buy a co-op before a condo, but only if the co-op had great finances and met my other standards.
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The problem is you do not own your unit, you own part of the building with a right to your unit. If you want to get a mortgage on a co-op it can take 3-4Xs as long to get done with still more restrictions. When a person called in with a question on their mortgage we were not allowed to say ANYTHING about it, just send the call to the co-op team. And a co-op is an HOA on steroids.
Quote: AutomaticMonkeyThat's why I prefer a motel to a hotel when traveling; your car/truck and the outside are right there when you open the door in case you need to do something, unlike a hotel where you are dealing with corridors and elevators.
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I had this discussion with a boss once. He made it a point to me to get interior hallways vs. door to the outside. He asked me if I liked the same, I said in winter give me the hallways, summer I kind of liked the door right at the lot to get to your car, etc. He didn't get it then again his logic to things and mine differed all the time. The motel also reminds me of family trips as a kid, which is nice.
I don't mind truncating quote blocks, but please... balance your tags, and verify that attributions are correct.
Quote: AZDuffmanQuote: billryanCo-ops started in my old neighborhood of Jackson Heights. My co-op was the third in NYC and, I think, the country. The gentleman who owned it before me paid $91,000 for it and abandoned it when the neighborhood went to hell. After I had it for three years on a lease to own agreement, the bank offered it to me for $23,000 cash,all in after fees,taxes, ect,ect. . That was in 1992. Today it would sell for $280,000 as is, but some updated units are going for over $500,000. My building was built with four apartments on each floor ,back in 1914, but in 1943, my floor and the one below me were somehow subdivided into eight apartments.
I'd buy a co-op before a condo, but only if the co-op had great finances and met my other standards.
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The problem is you do not own your unit, you own part of the building with a right to your unit. If you want to get a mortgage on a co-op it can take 3-4Xs as long to get done with still more restrictions. When a person called in with a question on their mortgage we were not allowed to say ANYTHING about it, just send the call to the co-op team. And a co-op is an HOA on steroids.
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I'd rather own a piece of an entire building than own an apartment within the building. Others prefer owning the condo.
I don't see Co-ops as HOAs on steroids. My Co-op was just that. We cooperated in running the building. We were our own landlords. The nice thing about having a Co-op is that you can literally choose who lives in the building. We had the right of first refusal so the building could buy any apartment that came up for sale, and we had a strong vetting committee. My interview when I moved in was tough, but three years later when I went for ownership it was nuts. It was like I was applying to marry their daughters.
Co-ops are very popular in Queens, and much of NYC and seem to work well. For whatever reason, Condos are bigger everywhere else.
Quote: billryanQuote: AZDuffmanQuote: billryanCo-ops started in my old neighborhood of Jackson Heights. My co-op was the third in NYC and, I think, the country. The gentleman who owned it before me paid $91,000 for it and abandoned it when the neighborhood went to hell. After I had it for three years on a lease to own agreement, the bank offered it to me for $23,000 cash,all in after fees,taxes, ect,ect. . That was in 1992. Today it would sell for $280,000 as is, but some updated units are going for over $500,000. My building was built with four apartments on each floor ,back in 1914, but in 1943, my floor and the one below me were somehow subdivided into eight apartments.
I'd buy a co-op before a condo, but only if the co-op had great finances and met my other standards.
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The problem is you do not own your unit, you own part of the building with a right to your unit. If you want to get a mortgage on a co-op it can take 3-4Xs as long to get done with still more restrictions. When a person called in with a question on their mortgage we were not allowed to say ANYTHING about it, just send the call to the co-op team. And a co-op is an HOA on steroids.
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I'd rather own a piece of an entire building than own an apartment within the building. Others prefer owning the condo.
I don't see Co-ops as HOAs on steroids. My Co-op was just that. We cooperated in running the building. We were our own landlords. The nice thing about having a Co-op is that you can literally choose who lives in the building. We had the right of first refusal so the building could buy any apartment that came up for sale, and we had a strong vetting committee. My interview when I moved in was tough, but three years later when I went for ownership it was nuts. It was like I was applying to marry their daughters.
Co-ops are very popular in Queens, and much of NYC and seem to work well. For whatever reason, Condos are bigger everywhere else.
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Seems like the toughness is the solution for good management. You make absolutely sure the person is on board with the peculiarities of your group or what to expect. The better you do that up front, the fewer problems later.
Another way that Co-ops differ is that they usually want a much higher down payment, if not an all-cash purchase.
They want a deep commitment from the buyers, not the no money down, so we walk away at the first downturn type. t
Quote: billryan
I'd rather own a piece of an entire building than own an apartment within the building. Others prefer owning the condo.
I don't see Co-ops as HOAs on steroids. My Co-op was just that. We cooperated in running the building. We were our own landlords. The nice thing about having a Co-op is that you can literally choose who lives in the building. We had the right of first refusal so the building could buy any apartment that came up for sale, and we had a strong vetting committee. My interview when I moved in was tough, but three years later when I went for ownership it was nuts. It was like I was applying to marry their daughters.
Co-ops are very popular in Queens, and much of NYC and seem to work well. For whatever reason, Condos are bigger everywhere else.
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And you know darned well the reason for all that vetting and exclusivity. Not blaming you, you didn't make those rules, and I can't really blame anyone who prefers to live under them either. We all like what we like.
But I prefer the condo system. I don't like people poking around in my business, and I'd rather not be in a position where I'm expected to poke around in anyone else's. In the condo I owned (in CT) there was no reason you could exclude a buyer or tenant except for something they did right there on the property. That leads to problems too, as you might imagine, but I think that kind of problem is easier to deal with than someone who is your peer in the co-op and has a grudge against you- oh and by the way you can't just sell.
I guess it depends on what you mean dated. Everything worked, and it looked fine. I just didn't like the carpet upstairs. I didn't like the off white paint or the wood colors in the kitchen. But it wasn't dated in the sense of being rundown, it just wasn't a modern style. Most of the places I was looking at were very similar in style. Even remodeld place's with the most modern styles with brand new this and that were only 17% more.. the most important things were square footage, number of rooms, bathrooms and location.Quote: billryanQuote: AxelWolfInteresting. I made about 250% over about 8 years. I spent a little money on updated improvements, but I enjoyed putting the time in and doing that stuff myself. I spent less than $600 updating the kitchen countertops, backsplash, and cabinet resurfacing. I spent less than $300 taking off the carpet and tiling the stairway. It cost me $1,500 to have the entire place painted and all the popcorn downstairs scraped off. I spent about $750 on new flooring upstairs. I spent about 4k getting the place ready to sell. To be honest, none of that stuff needed to be done it's perfectly fine when I moved in, the carpet wasn't that old, and it didn't really need repainting. It just had that 70s 80s look, and I wanted something more modern looking.Quote: billryanCondos might be the worst real estate investment one can make. I believe they were created so that people living in apartments can claim they don't rent.
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I should not have spent the $4,000 and the time getting the place ready to sell. I was going to sell for the same price regardless.
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Your apartment was pretty dated when you got it, and I'm sure thats why it was priced as it was. You put in hundreds of hours of labor making it yours.
If I buy a fair condition 65 Nova, install a new tranny and engine, then spend weeks customizing it, pay to have it painted , I'd expect to eaily double or triple my investment.
You lived in your unit, so it was more a place to live than an investment. I'm glad you lived there , enjoyed it, and made it your own. You may have recieved 2 1/2 times your money when you sold, but that is far from making 250% on an investment.
The bottom line is that you were happy when you bought it, when you lived there, and when you sold it. Nothing else really matters.
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There were very few two story townhouses with 2 bedrooms 2 bathrooms and a 2 car attached garage. I also got a fenced courtyard and an outside storage.
Yes, I absolutely loved my place. I didn't like the fact that my HOA shot up to $300 a month $100 for water and garbage $200 for internet and cable, 75 for phone and my power bill was $500 during the summer during the last 2 years of being there.
I now pay less than 300 a month for all utilities and internet and phones. however, I burn, and have to refill propain myself
Next summer I hope to have my solar in, and set up for wood burning for heat instead of propain. I should be able to get that down to $100 a month. I do have to spend $50 a month on lawnmower fuel if I want to.
Until last night, when a car filled with hopped-up cartel soldiers crashed through the gate and invaded our paradise, that was the phone call my friend Joe got from a panicked gatekeeper, right after alerting the security patrol and 911.
Joe grabbed his gun while his wife jumped on Facebook to send a warning to the residents.
Two squad cars arrived in minutes to find Joe talking to a couple of lost teenagers, who were looking for their friend in the next park. They swore they didn't see the half-dozen stop signs and insisted they'd been to their friends and there were no guards, so they weren't paying attention.
Quote: billryanQuote: AZDuffmanQuote: billryanCo-ops started in my old neighborhood of Jackson Heights. My co-op was the third in NYC and, I think, the country. The gentleman who owned it before me paid $91,000 for it and abandoned it when the neighborhood went to hell. After I had it for three years on a lease to own agreement, the bank offered it to me for $23,000 cash,all in after fees,taxes, ect,ect. . That was in 1992. Today it would sell for $280,000 as is, but some updated units are going for over $500,000. My building was built with four apartments on each floor ,back in 1914, but in 1943, my floor and the one below me were somehow subdivided into eight apartments.
I'd buy a co-op before a condo, but only if the co-op had great finances and met my other standards.
link to original post
The problem is you do not own your unit, you own part of the building with a right to your unit. If you want to get a mortgage on a co-op it can take 3-4Xs as long to get done with still more restrictions. When a person called in with a question on their mortgage we were not allowed to say ANYTHING about it, just send the call to the co-op team. And a co-op is an HOA on steroids.
link to original post
I'd rather own a piece of an entire building than own an apartment within the building. Others prefer owning the condo.
I don't see Co-ops as HOAs on steroids. My Co-op was just that. We cooperated in running the building. We were our own landlords. The nice thing about having a Co-op is that you can literally choose who lives in the building. We had the right of first refusal so the building could buy any apartment that came up for sale, and we had a strong vetting committee. My interview when I moved in was tough, but three years later when I went for ownership it was nuts. It was like I was applying to marry their daughters.
Co-ops are very popular in Queens, and much of NYC and seem to work well. For whatever reason, Condos are bigger everywhere else.
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The concept of a condo IIRC is from the 1950s or so, co-ops established before this. When I was in mortgage I was told some co-ops convert to condos because of the better structure.
I thought you lived in a trailer park? Perhaps I misunderstood? In most trailer parks, you own your mobile home but pay a monthly lot rent on the land(?)Quote: billryanQuote: AZDuffmanQuote: billryanCo-ops started in my old neighborhood of Jackson Heights. My co-op was the third in NYC and, I think, the country. The gentleman who owned it before me paid $91,000 for it and abandoned it when the neighborhood went to hell. After I had it for three years on a lease to own agreement, the bank offered it to me for $23,000 cash,all in after fees,taxes, ect,ect. . That was in 1992. Today it would sell for $280,000 as is, but some updated units are going for over $500,000. My building was built with four apartments on each floor ,back in 1914, but in 1943, my floor and the one below me were somehow subdivided into eight apartments.
I'd buy a co-op before a condo, but only if the co-op had great finances and met my other standards.
link to original post
The problem is you do not own your unit, you own part of the building with a right to your unit. If you want to get a mortgage on a co-op it can take 3-4Xs as long to get done with still more restrictions. When a person called in with a question on their mortgage we were not allowed to say ANYTHING about it, just send the call to the co-op team. And a co-op is an HOA on steroids.
link to original post
I'd rather own a piece of an entire building than own an apartment within the building. Others prefer owning the condo.
I don't see Co-ops as HOAs on steroids. My Co-op was just that. We cooperated in running the building. We were our own landlords. The nice thing about having a Co-op is that you can literally choose who lives in the building. We had the right of first refusal so the building could buy any apartment that came up for sale, and we had a strong vetting committee. My interview when I moved in was tough, but three years later when I went for ownership it was nuts. It was like I was applying to marry their daughters.
Co-ops are very popular in Queens, and much of NYC and seem to work well. For whatever reason, Condos are bigger everywhere else.
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The retirement park is a land-lease arrangement and as a 55+ community, we get substantial tax savings. It's not paradise but an incredible bang for the buck.
I'm 100% sure that a mobile Community investment, or whatever you call it, is a much worse of an investment than a condo.Quote: billryanI currently own and live in a mobile park retirement community in Tucson but I still own my Co-op in NYC. I've had the same tenant since 1995 and I'm pretty much stuck with him until he moves or dies.
The retirement park is a land-lease arrangement and as a 55+ community, we get substantial tax savings. It's not paradise but an incredible bang for the buck.
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Mobile homes don't generally go up in value; however, if you own the land and the mobile home on it, that should go up in value.
You can get some pretty nice trailers in a nice trailer park for a very good price, 25-75k for 2000 square feet plus+, but they get you on the lot rent for 800+.
I don't consider the $11,000 I paid for my home an investment. It was the initiation fee for the country club lifestyle. By my math, I break even next year rather than having rented a nice apartment for the three years. After that I'll save around $500 a month.
What has been an excellent investment is the $80,000 I didn't use from my $100,000 home budget, rather than tying it up in equity. When I decide to move, I'd like to give this place to a low-income vet.
I paid $600 rent when I bought, and it went up $15 last year and will go up another $15 on November 1st. However, due to a quirk in Arizona law, I get a $500 rebate on something from the state every year I live here. Anyone over 62 gets it after three years residency in a retirement community.
Quote: AxelWolfI'm 100% sure that a mobile Community investment, or whatever you call it, is a much worse of an investment than a condo.Quote: billryanI currently own and live in a mobile park retirement community in Tucson but I still own my Co-op in NYC. I've had the same tenant since 1995 and I'm pretty much stuck with him until he moves or dies.
The retirement park is a land-lease arrangement and as a 55+ community, we get substantial tax savings. It's not paradise but an incredible bang for the buck.
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Mobile homes don't generally go up in value; however, if you own the land and the mobile home on it, that should go up in value.
You can get some pretty nice trailers in a nice trailer park for a very good price, 25-75k for 2000 square feet plus+, but they get you on the lot rent for 800+.
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I owned my trailer for 5 years and sold it for triple what I paid for it. But there's a trick required: I have this magical ability to do repairs for the cost of things at Home Depot instead of the cost of a contractor. Only thing I can't do is a roof because I'll fall.
I'm convinced that a major component of high housing costs is the inability of so many of the younger generation to do practical things.
Quote: rxwineQuote:He’s among several Del Webb homeowners on a ridgeline in Lake Las Vegas who claim their luxury homes are “crumbling from below.” Attorney Norberto Cisneros, who has spent two decades representing families in construction-defect cases, describes this situation as “probably one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/angry-las-vegas-homeowners-say-their-million-dollar-luxury-homes-are-crumbling-after-just-5-years-buyer-beware-or-the-builder-s-fault/ar-AA1Pgi9u?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=68ff7cc75db646bbafbfbe482beead18&ei=14
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Shocked they didn't incorporate just for that community then disband/bankruptcy that company after they were done.
Just buy a 10yr home warranty for every home from a home warranty company
