cheap, pretty durable, probably doesn't look great

that's about all there is to say about it

2/10/2007 12:56:42 PM

^ agreed

i think you mentioned it's pre-construction - if it's an option to go with tile or hardwood i would - the resale value for spending money in kitchen is almost always worth it

2/10/2007 12:59:08 PM

I wanted hardwood, but the spending had to stop somewhere

2/10/2007 1:56:49 PM

I went hardwood first floor with tile kitchen and corian countertops

[Edited on February 10, 2007 at 10:46 PM. Reason : .]

2/10/2007 10:45:52 PM

Quote :

"^ you can't seal 95% of granites, they aren't porous enough to take a sealing compound (and thus do not stain)"

Good info. I knew only the light granites would stain, but I thought you still had to seal them to keep them from trapping bacteria.

2/11/2007 11:11:15 AM

hardwood or travertine in the kitchen? I think it's about the same price

2/11/2007 12:14:57 PM

Either should look great. There are no hard rules to go by. It really all depends on your specific application. If the kithen is visible from the other living areas it can be nice to do matching hardwoods throughout. From a design perspective it works really well to have continuity as your eyes move throughout the living space.

2/11/2007 3:22:32 PM

ya know... I've heard that before so I am starting to lean more towards it (hardwood) and just go wish a granite upgrade and do hardwood on my own. Anyone know how difficult it is to put down hardwood? Or is it something best left to professionals? I want to do my kitchen, living room, and dining room (they're all connected in 1 open area).

Here's a layout: http://www.bringyouhome.com/images/bridgehampton_ascott3FP.pdf

I've heard ikea has easy to assemble hardwood floors. I really want to try to put some sweat equity into it, but with my work schedule, it'll take 3-4 months to finish it likely. Does anyone know if home depot/lowes does a good job with flooring?

[Edited on February 11, 2007 at 3:57 PM. Reason : more info]

2/11/2007 3:54:37 PM

It's not that hard with the right tools. With the tongue and groove stuff you're basically just sticking it together like legos, knocking it into place, and shooting nails in with a nailer. Just have a mitre saw and pneumatic nailer since you'll be doing a lot of cuts and a lot of nailing. You'll want to rent the nailer since they are about $500 new. They also make some engineered or laminates that literally click together with no tools.

There are a lot of tricks to it, but there are guides on the internet. You'll need to put down a moisture barrier (rosin paper), let the hardwoods acclimate for a few days before you lay them, leave enough of a gap at the walls for expansion (covered by quarter round), make sure the ends of each piece are staggered at least 6" apart, etc.

2/11/2007 4:11:12 PM

if you really think it'll take you that long then pay somebody, it's not worth it to get 50% done, be three months in and then have somebody in to tear everything out and start over

some of the engineered products are really easy to install, i did a pretty large area at my parents house and it turned out great

my floors were site-finished and take up most of the bottom floor, you can't compare the prefinished products to them, but there's no way i'd take on that kind of project myself

2/11/2007 5:17:53 PM

I'd definately go with a prefinished hardwood if you do it yourself. Prefinished would mean a weekend of work to lay as opposed to unfinished which would take laying, sanding, staining, and sealing. You're looking at several days of not being able to walk across the floor if you buy the unfinished stuff.

2/11/2007 7:09:14 PM

definately. I am leaning towards putting in the hardwood myself and getting someone to lay travertine in the bathroom. I am trying to learn some of this stuff for myself and put some sweat equity in it. I think it'd take 3-4 months simply because I've been working 12hrish days M-F, so the weekends I like to relax a bit. I really liked the Thomasville stuff at home depot, but that's probably out of my league right now. I was thinking the ones that just lock together, no glue, no nails. I know ikea sells a hardwood. Has anyone tried it? Is it wood or is it some kind of plastic?

I am just trying to figure out how much it's all gonna cost...

I might wait to put in hardwood in the living/dining area and just let the builder put travertine in the kitchen and bathroom. My only problem is that since it's not a huge area, is having different flooring gonna make it seem smaller in the open area? I could hardwood the kitchen/dining/living areas and it might connect better and make it feel larger.

Which is better for resale?

[Edited on February 11, 2007 at 7:48 PM. Reason : resale?]

2/11/2007 7:46:37 PM

I haven't looked at the Ikea stuff, but you'd be advised to learn the difference between laminates, engineered flooring, and real hardwoods first. There are benefits to each.

2/11/2007 7:49:16 PM

i went under contract today on a three story townhouse (second time in two months since the first house (resale) failed inspection). i'm on presale so i get to build in everything i want and it will be done in june.

main floor has the living room, dining room and kitchen all connected and open...and i'm going with hardwood (dark maple) across the entire floor and bathroom. granite countertops, all stainless steel appliances, undermount flush moenstone sink, dark maple cabinets, and a pimp stone fireplace with gas logs.

basement is going to be my tv room and the unfinished room will be converted into my office with a half bath between the two.

2nd floor is master and guest bedroom. master has vaulted ceilings, bath has oversized garden tub with dual vanity. guest bedroom is pretty standard with a full size bath. now june just has to hurry up and get here

[Edited on February 11, 2007 at 9:55 PM. Reason : .]

2/11/2007 9:53:51 PM

The undermount sink is a pretty nice upgrade that no one mentioned. I got that with stainless steel appliances and dark cabinents as well. I can't wait for June to get here either. The damn ground needs to warm up so they can pour the slab.

2/11/2007 9:59:13 PM

i'm not going with a stainless steel sink because of water spots...i'm going to pick a moenstone one though.

2/11/2007 10:21:26 PM

hardwood in the bathroom??

I am leaning towards putting hardwood down myself, but it looks like the ikea stuff is laminant.

2/12/2007 10:22:42 AM

I would avoid anything Ikea. It's cheap for a reason.

---
I missed out on an awesome rental:

http://tinyurl.com/2tyy7w

Called about it, and it's already under contract, and there's already 3 others in line if it falls through

2/12/2007 10:27:27 AM

just bought a house on Ten Ten road


if you're gonna spend money on flooring, go ahead and spend it on real harwoods or tile

looks beter, holds up better, resale is better


I wouldn't put hardwoods in a full bathroom, I'd go with a nice large tile

[Edited on February 12, 2007 at 10:31 AM. Reason : ..]

2/12/2007 10:30:03 AM

maybe its just coincidence, but it looks like youre shopping near campus to rent to students. and i dont get it. are you assuming their folks will pay their way and they wont throw each other through the walls?

2/12/2007 10:30:44 AM

Who needs a mortgage? Shoot me a message with your contact info.

AK, CA, CO, FL, NC, NM, MD, MN, VA are that states I'm licensed in right now. Many more on the way in a couple months.

2/12/2007 11:02:37 AM

fuck that, i got your SC, FL, and MD

i'll beat bous!!1

2/12/2007 11:07:07 AM

ps bous are you just a licensed broker in all those states or do you have any of the other licenses?

2/12/2007 11:08:32 AM

who do you do mortgages for?


any experience with raw land?

2/12/2007 11:10:11 AM

does anyone know what the best route for putting hardwood in is? Home Depot? DIY? Contractor on craigslist?

I am pretty certain now I want to put some of the wider planks of a darker color (maybe mahogany) in the kitchen and living/dining areas. I saw some at home depot from Thomasville that look really nice. They're prefinished though. Not sure how much less that would add to value versus an in house finish. I also want to put travertine in the bathroom. It's a relatively small space, so I thought it would be inexpensive, but home depot was guesstimating like $1200. I know that if you have someone put it in who isn't experienced with travertine, it can end up being very expensive to have redone and what not. I figure that I could work a deal with someone from craigslist or somewhere that claims they know how to lay travertine and make it so I will only pay if it is done to my satisfaction (level and even). Anyone have experience with this?

2/12/2007 11:20:22 AM

I wouldn't put hardwoods in a bathroom. I'm pretty sure any manufacturer would say it's a no go.

If you want to do wide planks it will make the installation go faster if you do end up doing it yourself.

Your best bet on the hardwoods is just to ask around. Maybe your real estate agent can recommend an installer. Home Depot is just going to pay a contractor that they deal with to do the install which could turn out good or bad.

Also, educate yourself on installation procedures and ask questions ahead of time so that you'll know if they start fucking up. My parents just let an installer bring in hardwoods and install them without acclimating to the temp/humidity of the house. When they swelled up in the summer it popped all the base boards off the wall and the floor bowed up in the middle.

Did you check out the prefinished stuff at lumberliquidators.com? They have some beautiful exotics at great prices.

2/12/2007 12:17:46 PM

how difficult is laying hardwood? ...and I mean actual hardwood, not laminant or the ikea stuff.

2/12/2007 9:46:01 PM

not too bad, really. I laid the wood in my bedroom when I was 16. It was unfinished pine. Luckily the room was 10 ft wide and the boards were just a tad bit wider than that, so I just laid it out so there were no end joints at all. I didn't have the patience to do a good job on the finish though. 6 years later the gaps are still tight, just need to scuff it up and put a few more coats of urethane on.

2/12/2007 9:55:21 PM

yeah, these would be finished already... so I'd just have to lay it down. I don't see any immediate problems. I am half way handy... so reading up on it and a little guidance, and I should be able to do it.

I looked at lumber liquidators and saw that lumber isnt priced bad at all. In fact, if I opt out of getting the builder to put travertine in the bathroom and kitchen. I could afford to buy most of the materials to put down hardwood in the kitchen, dining, and living areas, and then probably ceramic tiles in the bathroom. Would that be more worth it? I am thinking about resale (not planning on living here more than 5-6 yrs). I know travertine is nice, but it might be too much of an upgrade that people wouldn't notice between ceramic tiles and travertine... or it wouldn't make much difference for resale later.

2/12/2007 10:05:11 PM

i'm doing hardwood in the bathroom because it's only a half bath on the main floor and it will have a continuous flow for the entire floor that way. It's only $70 to add hardwood in the bathroom anyway. i'm going tile in the master bath obviously.

2/13/2007 12:04:24 AM

my associate dropped the ball on this house on this one on dixie trail across from east village and we lost it.

pissed

2/13/2007 12:10:54 AM

^ That's sweet. What do you do?

2/13/2007 12:47:38 AM

so I am probably going to be closing through the mail. I've been around the place and the builder offers a 1 yr warranty. Any cons anyone can think of?

2/14/2007 1:53:20 PM

How much $$$ and what does it cover?

2/14/2007 2:06:18 PM

So I'm curious. What do people think about buying a foreclosed home?

My boyfriend's mom bought her house (foreclosed) in the early '90s and loves it.

And one of my boyfriend's clients bought his house for like 1.2 million when it was worth 2.2 or something.

Any experience?

Seems like you can get some really good deals.

2/14/2007 2:35:51 PM

it's not necessarily a bad idea - just be sure to inspect things closer

2/14/2007 2:51:08 PM

^^my realtor has done nearly 40 foreclosures this year and that's basically his side business since he works full time at siemens. it's extremely important that you have a very good inspector and a very good foreclosure realtor. some realtors get advance notice of what houses are going on foreclosure while they are still occupied and can move more quickly. if you're interested in getting a foreclosure, send me a pm and i'll put you in touch with someone who can help.

2/14/2007 3:04:05 PM

damnit, i typed a huge reply to another thread and it was locked with a link here.. so..

Quote :

"Okay, I just got a job offer in Durham and currently I live in Hickory. I think I am going to go ahead and accept the job since i've been waiting a long time for this specific job... and there's a good chance I'll be going to grad school at UNCG in the fall so I'd rather commute from the Durham area than Hickory... etc. etc. The point is... I do not have a lot of money but I have good credit (pay car payments, students loans, etc.) and I am looking to possibly BUY instead of rent. Since I don't have a lot of money for a down payment I was wondering... what about foreclosure priced homes?? are they legit? are they all haunted and/or former crack houses? and what about the advertisements to buy a new home with no money down? is that a scam? how high are monthly payments on things like that? i really just would like to buy a one-bedroom townhome but it looks like all of those are way above what i can afford. maybe i should just give in and pay rent at some apartment complex. thanks for any advice."

there are a lot of benefits offered to first-time home buyers... you can get no money down.. you can even have the closing costs financed. go talk to someone at your bank (or whoever you're planning on financing through)

forclosures are pretty hit or miss.. sometimes they're an awesome deal, sometimes they're beat all to hell.. its not uncommon for people who are about to have their house forclosed, to tear shit up, put holes in the wall, rip out fixtures, etc. just look it over really well and get an inspection. you can sometimes write an offer contingent upon an inspection. a lot of times forclosures (the banks that own them) wont let you do that, but you can always pay for the inspection before you make the offer.. spending ~$100 to avoid a bad mistake is better than what you could potenitally lose by purchasing the wrong house.

check for anything out of the ordinary when you go to look at the house, look in the cabinets under the sinks for sings of water damage or mold. look under the house if it has a crawlspace foundation. look behind the toilets in the bathrooms (water damage). look in all of the kitchen cabinets. of course, a building inspection would cover all of that stuff also...

[Edited on February 21, 2007 at 12:32 PM. Reason : clarity]

2/21/2007 12:31:36 PM

I would be concerned about resale on a one-bedroom townhome.

2/21/2007 12:48:21 PM

there is little to no resale on a one bedroom townhome and it will never appreciate. if any, it will be YEARS before you'd ever see anything out of it. we have done several closings in the hedingham area like that where the sellers end up bringing money to closing because they couldn't make anything off of it.

2/21/2007 12:54:06 PM

somebody in my neighborhood just listed my floor plan (with 400 more sq ft finished on the second floor) for $200,000 more than they paid for it a year ago and it's already got some showing action

and the last home in the hood just sold for $115,000 more than mine and it's smaller with a lot less unfinished space and it's a bad plan to boot

free money for me in two years

hooray

[Edited on February 21, 2007 at 1:15 PM. Reason : ddgh]

2/21/2007 1:14:15 PM

^^ Isn't that just Hedingham in general? I know two people that bought 2 Bedroom townhomes over there and they both had trouble selling them. I never asked if they had to take a loss after all the closing costs, realtor fees, etc but I suspect they did.

^ Nice. Congrats.

[Edited on February 21, 2007 at 1:16 PM. Reason : d]

2/21/2007 1:15:29 PM

does anyone here have recent experience buying raw land? i am most interested in the financing side of it. what should i expect in today's market? 20% down? what kind of mortgages are available?

i am eyeing some large tracts of mountainous property that currently have no improvements.

[Edited on February 21, 2007 at 1:50 PM. Reason : .]

2/21/2007 1:49:46 PM

Quote :

"does anyone here have recent experience buying raw land? i am most interested in the financing side of it. what should i expect in today's market? 20% down? what kind of mortgages are available? i am eyeing some large tracts of mountainous property that currently have no improvements. "

send me a pm


I don't deal with the financing part of it as much, but since I am a broker and 99% of my land deals are raw land(investment, recreational, hunting, timber, farmland) I guess I'll have a better idea than the avg tww person

as for a abank, the easiest place to get raw land loans is through Farm Credit branches, these people understand whats going on in this business

we deal primarily with Farm Credit in Louisburg

2/21/2007 2:34:16 PM

Quote :

"somebody in my neighborhood just listed my floor plan (with 400 more sq ft finished on the second floor) for $200,000 more than they paid for it a year ago and it's already got some showing action and the last home in the hood just sold for $115,000 more than mine and it's smaller with a lot less unfinished space and it's a bad plan to boot free money for me in two years hooray"

Where are you and how much did you pay for your joint?

2/21/2007 2:47:06 PM

http://tinyurl.com/25zft3

This house is hot. The interior colors are though.

2/21/2007 6:59:45 PM

FYI for anyone buying/sellling/renovating and wants modern/contemporary work done

Our company, Line Inc. does specialty casework, millwork, concrete countertops and elements, and furniture. I'm working on getting our last few jobs online, but I can send along portfolio pieces for anyone interested.

For countertops and elements, we are significantly cheaper than other local options and very comparable to granite with a lot more options.

If you need anything out of wood, we can make it. We can work with your plans/drawings or we can coordinate with you to design what you want built.

For furniture, we have a couple of lines of modern furniture on sale right now, and we can also do custom designed pieces to fit specific needs. Our prices for custom pieces are in line with most modern furniture.

If anyone is interested in our services, head over to http://www.linemodern.com, or shoot me an email to tyler.gibson@linemodern.com

And yea, as soon as the website is ready, we will be purchasing an ad Just been slammed with work the last 6 months!

2/21/2007 7:09:32 PM

^^ That house is neato, but the price is ridiculous. It sold for $164k in late 2002.

2/21/2007 9:18:26 PM

What it sold for in 2002 is irrelavant. It may have been sinking into the ground when they purchased it for that price. There are only two single family homes in 27607 under $220k and Medfield is a very nice neighborhood.

2/21/2007 10:45:10 PM

6% appreciation isn't ridiculous

2/21/2007 11:11:00 PM