Atlanta Area Members

I had a thought about house prices in US and Au.
One thing I did not think of in my last post was the exchange rate. The $ Au is worth about 60 cents US.
Makes a big difference at the end of the day I guess, BUT seems US is like much more expensive that Au.

Just me wandering through my brain.

Joe
 
ihmeyers said:
I've been to Greenville. Many years ago for an interview when I was in grad school. I didn't get the job, but I don't think it would have been a good fit. We've looked at houses in Huntsville, didn't think the home value was there anymore. So much of this is what you know, what your used to. I was born in NYC and lived in NY for the first 35 years of my life (except 2 years grad school in NC). My wife lived her entire like on Long Island until we moved to Cleveland in 1996. I am a quintessential NYer in a lot of ways, good and bad. I worked my formative years on a trading desk and now consult for a hedge fund/betting syndicate so I'm pretty Type A. It's why I love this hobby. When I'm working on DIY or playing with gear I've got nothing else on my mind. It's so immersive for me. My wife is much more laid back but she likes a certain pace to things as well. We flirted with Chattanooga after seeing the Songbirds guitar musuem documentary. If people haven't seen, that it is an amazing movie.

I've come to the conclusion that we will have to pay 10-15% more for a property than it's worth in my estimation. Having worked on a mortgage trading desk I have a pretty good feel for how to value residential real estate. Unfortunately these days houses trade like meme stocks rather than based on their intrinsic worth so I am just going to have to not focus on over-paying and think about how cool it will be to set-up new listening rooms. Hopefully with new audio friends I meet wherever we end up. :)


p.s. Tennessee is bad for me from a tax standpoint because my incomne comes from a sub-S and Tennessee doesn't recognize those. I still like Nashville though because of all the live music.
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You should revisit Greenville. Its a very cool place. Lots of music. outdoor restaurants, one of the best downtowns in the South, great weather, close to Asheville and the Smokey's, half between Atl and Charlotte. Cool old houses and tons of condo's. Good mix of young and old. It's nothing like it was before BMW showed up and transformed it.

1682037304654.png
 
We looked at a house today (online tour) that might work. Big issue is it's 26 years old and I fear it's the original roof which is long past expiration. Seller is 82 and thinks he might have replaced it but he can't remember when and if he had papwerwork at one time he doesn't know where it would be. New roof at least $30k so that would have to factor in. We'll see. Had space for a couple of music rooms which would be nice...
 
26 years and it needs a roof ??? WTF is it made of?, doped tissue like a model aeroplane?. Hasnt America discovered corrugated iron yet ?.



Seems Australia might be more expensive, but they last longer.
With respect, AND tongue in cheek.

Joe
 
The economic useful life of a roof is 20-30 years depending upon how it was constructed and maintained. From a purchase standpoint it is at the end of it's useful life (even if it doesn't leak) and you have to factor this into the purchase price. I am a asset valuation guy by training and experience and I look at all of these kinds of thing when hanging a number on something whether it's a house, car, pair of speakers, etc. Of course when it comes to a pair of speakers, certainly whether I "really want them or not" carries more wait than anything because I can afford to make mistakes with a $5k pair of speakers that I can't afford with a big ticket purchase. That it about the typical life expectancy in the U.S.

In Florida, insurance companies wont insure houses with roofs more than 15 years old.
 
Well, for over 150 years we have "mostly " had tin rooves ( corrugated iron ). Better houses have ceramic tiles ( baked clay, some from Spain, some from Italy some aussie made ". There as an attempt to make cement tiles ( same mob as make Columbia USA cement bricks,) known as Bessa Blocks here, Cinder blocks in USA (( maybe thats Britian )), but they leak from new. I have NEVER seen a bitumen soaked bit of felt that I have seen in USA building shows, or split timber, although our origional setllers just had small tree trunks as a roof.
A quick question, HOW do you control a fire with bitumen ( ashfelt, tar, ?? felt soaked tiles ) ?.

England had soldered together crimped copper sheets, Italy spain france have "mostly baked clay tiles".

You drive cars with an engine BIGGER than many light aircraft, BUT make houses with felt tiles ??? .

Once again, with respect,

Joe
 
Our houses are not built to last for long, especially these days. The house has a pool too (of unknown age). Typical in-ground pools are rated for about 20 years. The pool in the rental we're in now is 22 and leaks a lot through it's sides meaning it's loses chlorine soon after we put it in. It needs to be resurfaced which costs about $5k. Landlord is too cheap to pay for it.

I kid my wife that I have Atwater Kent radios from 1925 that still work and I just bought 60 year old Altec drivers that are good and yet with all the advances. in technology the stuff they build now lasts no more than 20 years (with rare exception)
 
This so f***ing complicated I could pull my hair out.

Thought we found a house this weekend. Way overpriced, we we're willing to do it and what comps show as fair value. I say go ask the seller if he'd consider it before we jump through hoops. Sellers agent tells my agent "fill out an offer and then we'll tell you if we'd accept that price." I'm not thrilled by that, speak to wife we reluctantly agree. Our agent just texts me Are you pre-approved? Yes, I say and send letter. She asks so this will be lender? No, I say we are looking in both GA and KY and this firm is only licensed in KY. Obviously to close we would need to apply to a GA lender. Oh she says, seller won't accept this pre-approval letter then. I tell her every time we get pre-approval renewed (we've been looking for like 18 months) they ding our credit score by 4-5 points. Plus I don't like just send bank records/tax returns to a bunch of different places and there's a really good chance seller would tell us to go pound sand because he's a cranky 82 year old man who has drastically over-valued his home (his agent admitted as much to our agent).

If I didn't laugh, I'd cry. Arghhhhhh. :mad:
 
??? I am still blown out by the fact that you need submit your records or tax returns.
I dunno maybe Im a dumb arse, but SOME americanisms are just plain bloody crazy, personal, intrusive and reek of some dark regime of the military in the past. Some times I am glad I am a broke peasant living in ( the VERY peaceful bush ) in australia.

Ian, keep looking, even some of those with big sharp teeth are NOT sharks.

With best wishes in your search,

Joe
 
If you have't applied for a mortgage or have been pre-approved recently...It's not even submitting records. That's not good enough anymore. Now you have to allow the lender to log-in to your bank account to look at you statements online so they know the info is legit. There is this company that facilitates this, it's not like the lender can take money from your account but they get read only access to all of your transactions. They don't just see that you have $147 in your bank account, they can see that you had Chilis for dinner on Saturday, bought stuff from Amazon on Monday and paid for Netflix on Tuesday. I worked in banking for more than 20 years and I know how poorly data is secured. It's a scary process.
 
Oye Vey !!!!..
I will stay a peasant in Australia!!..
THAT to me is positively bloody scary. Sounds like Russia, NOT America.
Hmm Big brother is watching you er sorry US !!. (US meaning all of us NOT US of A ).

Maybe take a bit of a loss and migrate Ian, Its a bloody nice country here. ( NOT that I have experience of anywhere else )
I already told you I dont hold a passport and never have.

Again my best respect, and best of luck in finding somewhere that suits.

Joe
 
Wait til they make money all digital. They'll tie it to your social media and other "data points" and make decisions to how much of your money you get to access. Sounds like utopian conspiracy theories but this is exactly what they're trying to do. The Brits are well on they're way this.

I mention this to my College kids and they just shrug their shoulders. The youth has no fear of Government. I didnt much either I guess until the big tech digitized everything. Throw AI in the mix and I have no idea what the future looks like.
 
Same situation here doglv. BUT, well, whadda we gunna do now ? whadda we gunna do now ?.

No social security link to .Gov.au, and you cant even fart legally.

Joe
 
Update . Put in a lot of due diligence on a house here (Cumming, GA). Made an offer on the property for 5% above recently sold comp. Guy wants 20% more than that and it's 25 years old and will need a new roof. FWIW, Atlanta real estate has appreciated only 2.4% in last 12 months so 5% was a gift because we wanted out of here.

Back to square one.
 
Thanks, I saw that. Just another way I'll take in the shorts,

So far none of this matters since we can't find a reasonably priced property. My gear will have to stay mostly packed up for a while longer.
:roflmao:
 
ihmeyers said:
Update . Put in a lot of due diligence on a house here (Cumming, GA). Made an offer on the property for 5% above recently sold comp. Guy wants 20% more than that and it's 25 years old and will need a new roof. FWIW, Atlanta real estate has appreciated only 2.4% in last 12 months so 5% was a gift because we wanted out of here.

Back to square one.
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Just found out that buyer can't close. It's easy to offer money you don't have. It's ours if we want it but not sure how much more I want to offer.

Lost out on another house this week in Marietta, we came in 35k over asking it sold for 100k above that, I worry my 26 year old son will never be able to afford a house. Might have to sell some gear to help him. :)
 
Every time I thought we were paying too much for a house, I was wrong. Last time around I balked, the wife pulled rank, and the decision proved itself well.

Yeah, I'll either have to carry the paper or croak to get my youngest into a house.
 
Pat McGinty said:
Every time I thought we were paying too much for a house, I was wrong. Last time around I balked, the wife pulled rank, and the decision proved itself well.

Yeah, I'll either have to carry the paper or croak to get my youngest into a house.
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I know the feeling, when moved here from the Austin area it was a seller's market.
I missed one and when bought this house I was in agony.. sort of 🤐
It's the first fixer upper for me but it has doubled what I payed 8 years ago.
 
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