2023 Real Estate Observations (Burlington: selling a house, appraisers, architects)

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by massnative71

There's also nothing stopping you from moving to those less crowded places. Northern Maine is mostly empty, and lots of wildlife to go around. Even as more people discover it, (unlike near a major city) there is little to no chances of it becoming overcrowded in our lifetimes.

Perhaps more companies should set up shop in those places as well.

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by msRB311

so we just go ahead and destroy wildlife to accommodate more people? There's plenty of places in the US that are not overpopulated. Why not try and make those places more desirable?

South America is a beautiful country, no one wants to focus on making that whole continent a better place to live.

Since you're so passionate about this, why don't you sell your home to a teacher in need at the price you paid in 2020 and move to an affordable home in South America (that is a continent btw, not a country). Win win situation.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

Since you're so passionate about this, why don't you sell your home to a teacher in need at the price you paid in 2020 and move to an affordable home in South America (that is a continent btw, not a country). Win win situation.

Nah. I mean I have needs too. That wouldn't work for me.

I had actually meant to say continent which makes my point even more. It's a CONTINENT that no one seems to want to live on....but no one is doing anything to make it better. Me moving there would not help things. My point was more about the people wanting to leave there to come here. Seems like a win win situation to make that continent better so we aren't overrun with their citizens.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by msRB311

My point was more about the people wanting to leave there to come here.

People say that, but they don't go.

Hell, i say it all the time, but I'm still here. There's reasons for that.

[ca1337]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

Serious question . . . how did you "confirm the square footage from the plans"? I ask because as a real estate professional I find 99% of people in the public have absolutely NO idea how square footage is calculated and typically they end up doing it wrong and falling way short of the numbers quoted in listings which typically come from the assessor's office or from an architectural plan. So, basically the square footage in the listing comes from someone who actually knows how to calculate living area and then when someone who doesn't know how to do it seeks to verify it they come out with a different number.

I know my way around plans. In the past I've used CAD architecture software to create floor plans and 3D renders of major additions to my homes.

Most of the realtor plans show little triangles where the measurements were taken. So it's pretty easy to calculate room-by-room, making sure to also include spaces that may not have been measured such as closets, etc. We can also do an exterior wall-to-wall measurement to confirm, usually that adds in a couple dozen sq ft for the wall cavities, nothing more.

For this house, whoever did the measurements didn't account for the odd shape of some of the rooms, for example an L shape was measured as a full rectangle, measurements started from the glass of a bay window so the grass outside gets counted, unfinished basement included, things like that.

I agree that 99% of people are dummies.

[ca1337]

Originally Posted by simplexsimon

Serious question, how are you calculating fair value of a house?

Lots of serious questions today huh? That's kind of a code word for "I'm preparing ammo for my retort" but whatever.

I visit a very large amount of homes in the markets I'm interested in, and I pay attention to the selling price of these homes. I then adjust for the tangible and intangible elements that differentiate these homes and that are important to me. I only judge a home in relation to others have seen. It's not about "fair value", which implies universality, it's about what I personally feel. everyone is going to values different features differently.

Say I saw an awesome house in Lexington that sold for 2.2M which I couldn't have afforded. And then a turd pops up for 1.85M. Even if I can afford the turd, the $ delta is not commensurate with how much worse the second one is. So that's a pass for me, because being able to afford it isn't enough to make me want to buy it. I'm not buying any turd just because I can.

This stuff becomes automatic as time goes on.

[ThatGuy781]

Originally Posted by MtPleasantDream

For people from most other countries, living in a SFH is not the norm. When I was in Switzerland, all my colleagues lived in some apartment/flat, and very few had a car. That is one of the richest countries in the world.

Immigrants with a low level of education tend to live together in some "undesirable neighborhood" too, where the price is not very high.

Your example of Switzerland is not necessarily a lifestyle downgrade. With everything being much closer than in the US and a functional transportation system people might have better quality of life than someone living n a SFH 20 miles from downtown Boston and driving a nice car.

[bricka]

real estate in the united states is insanely cheap compared to the rest of the developed world.

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by ca1337

I agree that 99% of people are dummies.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking they're smarter than everyone else.

[robr2]

Back to houses - this house I posted a few weeks ago in Burlington at $1.975 is now under agreement:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...57050608_zpid/