iamshack

QUOTE (Chi Town Sox @ Apr 8, 2013 -> 02:49 PM) How did you all break the news to her father that you want to marry his daughter? Golf? Dinner? Bar? What seems like it should be so easy, is actually very nerve-wrecking! Hah....I have to do this as well in the next few months most likely...I think I am just going to go over to his house and tell him I plan to ask his daughter to marry me, and I would appreciate it if he would give me his blessing first...

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 8, 2013 -> 08:37 AM) They were filming that s*** on my block on Friday night. What a pain in the ass that was. It started from 6pm until 2am, the rerouting made no sense, and I had no idea where the fullerton bus was picking people up. Screw that show. I actually really like it, but that may be because I miss the old stomping grounds a bit...

Y2H will enjoy that.

So I was watching Chicago Fire last night with the girlfriend, and since the show takes place in Chicago, and of course they want to add in some local flavor to each episode, last night they had a scene where the firefighters were in the station watching baseball games. They were arguing about the Cubs vs the Sox while watching a Sox game. Then one guy shouts out "Be quiet, I am trying to listen to 'The Hawk.'" Dead give away that the writers have no clue...

Way to go, you incredibly frustrating young man!

QUOTE (Pants Rowland @ Apr 6, 2013 -> 03:58 PM) In Scotland, they call it "Gof", without the "L" Good man...glad to see someone saw where I was going with that one...

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Apr 6, 2013 -> 09:07 PM) Not to pile on (by which I mean, time to pile on!) but that guy was a crazyface. Everyone in the world who disagrees with him is literally the same awful person. I believe they call that psychological splitting, and it's for crazyfaces. I'm pretty sure he implied that I was one of Kyyle's alter egos. I don't think that's true but I'll have to defer to Kyyle on that one. Kyyle, am I just a construct of your imagination, and is all this autonomy and individualism I think I have an illusion? It's a shame too, because he was a very good writer...I enjoyed reading his well-constructed sentences and solid vocabulary.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 09:46 AM) Yeah, they don't count them until they're sold. Flip side is that they can't count upkeep costs (grass cuttings, property taxes, etc.) either. There's two houses on our block that have been empty for at least two years now without being put up for sale. Yeah, I believe at some point a few months ago, there were only 3400 homes on the market or something, which was like a low point in inventory in recent history here. That began driving up prices. My home is now probably up 40% since I bought it in August of 2011, which was probably right at the bottom of the market. But now people are starting to get stupid about it, and listing their homes for like 2006 prices, which were ridiculous then and are ridiculous now. I'm somewhat conflicted, because I feel like now may be the time to sell, but at the same time, this one house is literally the only one I think I would want to buy right now (within a reasonable price, of course).

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 09:43 AM) Shack, At the end of the day if you would be devastated by losing that house I would pull out every option to get it. I went over budget for my condo in the west loop and there isnt a day that I regret it. Yeah, we're looking at every option. I mean in the end, it is just a home...I do value homes and properties very highly in my spectrum of wants...I do feel like the right property seriously impacts your lifestyle, your family life, etc, which are directly linked to happiness...but at the end of the day, we could be happy together in my home for several years. This is the ONLY home I have found within a reasonable price range that I would rather live in than my own home...the other one I showed pictures of before, of the pool and backyard, that one was awesome too, but it needed a ton of work and the woman is being unreasonable about her asking price...this one, it is just in such pristine condition, and so in line with the design that I like...it is honestly perfect in my eyes...but we have to deal with the hand we are dealt here.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 09:37 AM) I thought Vegas had one of the worst foreclosure rates in the country? Has that mostly cleared out, or are the foreclosed homes just not coming to market yet? The banks are holding them back to raise market values. I don't recall the specifics of it, but there was a law passed a few years ago which basically allows the banks to keep them on the books without having to count them as losses or whatever. So they are creating an artificial shortage in inventory by staggering the release of foreclosed homes to market.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 09:35 AM) You were the shirtless model greeter, weren't you? Hah, no...but I did have to hire those kids...although I quit right around the time they were doing that nonsense... I used to have to go to college campuses and recruit kids to work for us...it was really a fun job for a kid that age.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 09:32 AM) Addicted to them actually. Thats why I tried to keep my scope within the 90's builds because although it needs work, it USUALLY doesnt have those horrible issues they run into. (fingers crossed) I like the bones and the space (2500 sq ft) with a two car garage and the location. I'm hoping that a decent reno with some more over the next 5 years makes it into that premium property. For sure...you are in a perfect spot to pull that off...I think it's very smart.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 09:31 AM) Shack, Then instead of making it contingent on appraisal, just make it contingent on financing? Its basically the same thing, but sometimes they are more willing to agree to that. And theoretically you arent on the hook for the full contract, if you breach you are likely only on the hook for the earnest money. But that is a lot of risk if you dont have the actual ability to pay for it. The other option would be to get someone to appraise it before you make the offer. Ahh, I missed what you were saying about the $10k...I should have picked up on that... Yeah, we'll see what the little lady thinks about it when we go see it this afternoon...if she loves it, we may be putting our houses on the market soon...there is super-low inventory here so it certainly wouldn't take very long to get some offers. Yeah, getting an appraisal would be great...maybe that is an option...maybe they will let us have an appraiser walk through it before making the offer, that way, they don't have to take the house to pending status while we wait for that figure to come in. Thanks, Badger.

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 06:31 AM) Worked at Blockbuster for two years in high school. Can still smell it. Despite the rude customers, worked with a lot of cool people and had fun times hanging with them outside of work. You guys got me all nostalgic. This is how I am with Abercrombie & Fitch...I worked there for about 4 years when I was in college, eventually running my own store...still have friends from there that I've kept in touch with for almost 15 years now....and man, did I take for granted to access to hot college chicks I had...

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 09:25 AM) Market times have been around the 2 week area for nice places. Within 24 hours the unit in my building had almost 5 offers right away. You need to be ready to go. Which sucks. I've changed gears and started looking at renos in good locations. You ever watch HGTV or DIY? There are a few shows where folks buy fixer-uppers and then renovate them...Property Brothers and House Hunters Renovation are some good ones...you should check them out.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 09:19 AM) Shack, Sometimes I hate having options. My advice would be, is this the house that you really want, no other house will ever make you as happy. If it is, you probably eat the $10k, skip the appraisal and make the deal. If it is not, then try and work it. Worst case scenario you are in the exact same position you were 2 days ago. If you dont need this house, you can try and work them. They are coming from a position of weakness. Well, the house is like my dream house...there IS no other house like this in Las Vegas. There probably are only a handful of original mid century modern homes in this condition in the entire country. Then you factor in location, and that it's on a 1 acre lot (very tough to find in a developed neighborhood out here), and it is sort of like my dream property. Unfortunately, we need to finance the home. We're both relatively young and don't have $450k to put down on a home. Not even close. So say it appraised at $375k, and we offered 450k with no contingency on appraisal, we'd be on the hook contractually to come up with $75k in cash to make up the difference between the loan value and the contracted price, plus the downpayment on the financed amount, plus the closing costs. That would come to, at the very least, about $130k or so. Now we both own properties which we think we could probably make about $50-75k on each if we sold them now, but other than by doing that, we couldn't come up with $130k at this moment. And I don't think they are going to agree to an offer that is contingent on two home sales. Sooo....we have to have a REALLY good idea of the value of the home if we are going in without a contingency on the appraisal.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 09:16 AM) On top of this though, I am about to purchase a townhouse in little italy. However it needs a bunch of work, I am thinking about dropping 50-75k on renovations. Does that seem like a good number to anyone who knows the biz? I had a guy scope it out and he said I could get a new basement, master bath, kitchen and some touch ups around the place Depends on the finishes you choose, how many problems they run into when doing the renovations, etc. If I know you, you aren't going to settle for some mid-line finishes, and so if you want to redo the kitchen, master bath, and basement, you'll probably need at least $75k-100k...

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 09:16 AM) Option 3 may be smarter since you probably want to save some cash up again anyways. I doubt they really would consider a lower offer that much considering they had raised the price. My guess is they are willing to hold out a little bit to get the price they want. Yeah, they may...we have no idea what the seller's financial situation is...but I found it interesting that the email did instruct her to solicit all offers. Secondly, I am not really concerned about offending them with a lower offer, either. They already screwed us over, and now they come back to us looking for another offer. So it makes you think they are at least on some kind of timeline.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 09:08 AM) I had an offer on a place that I thought I was about to close and all of a sudden they took the place off the market because the guy got caught cheating on his wife and now the sale is going through court. Yeah, buying a home in this market is rough...you may get a little cheaper price than say, 7-8 years ago, but you also have to deal with a lot of nonsense because of the overarching financial atmosphere. Tough to find a traditional sale, and then when you do, crap like this pops up.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Apr 5, 2013 -> 08:55 AM) So are you going to buy it now? Not sure...we gave up on it and decided to move the girlfriend into my house...and I spent $10k or so on light renovations, furniture, getting the landscaping cleaned up, the floors redone, etc...she spent some money preparing to move as well. She is actually moving in this morning. We have an appt to go see the house at 1230 though, because she has actually never seen it. We made the offer with just me seeing it before. So there are a few issues now: 1) We spent money previously earmarked for a downpayment; 2) These people are claiming they won't accept an offer which is contingent on an appraisal; 3) We would have to liquidate a lot of our assets in order to put down any kind of sizable amount of cash if the home were to appraise low; and 4) We think the home is worth the original listing price, but the appraisal algorithms are heavily based on sq footage and the age of the home, and so even though the home is in pristine condition (it has never been used as a primary residence - always has served as a guest home), it probably will appraise for a decent figure lower than the original listing price. So we probably have three options: 1) Put in an offer that is contingent on an appraisal anyways, and see what they do with it; 2) Put in a lower offer that is not contingent on an appraisal, and see what they do with it; or 3) Let it sit on the market for a bit longer and see if they become more amenable to our terms.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 12:31 PM) Guess they should have hired me to be their attorney. They would already have the money in their pocket. Yeah, you were right on...I think everyone but this woman's "business manager" felt that they should have taken the offer...

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 01:17 PM) Salvador Perez. If you ask Hawk and Stone, he's a lock for Cooperstown

QUOTE (Baron @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 12:37 PM) Uh....what was that? What happened?

QUOTE (chw42 @ Mar 28, 2013 -> 11:05 AM) But she's from Ohio State... And she is a fan of whistles and owls? It's always gotta be something...

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 4, 2013 -> 08:30 AM) There is really only 1 sport where offensive players' requirements doesn't involve playing defense, and that's football. Football is 100% the most specialized sport in all of American sports, and that is likely true internationally too, though I'm not familiar with every sport around the world. Umm, clearly you aren't familiar with gof...