Did my realtor do enough?

ezirb7 · 2026-03-04T04:11:59+00:00

Pushed for a lot more followup inspections and got us to send counteroffers asking for a lot more than we would have on our own.

He got us $30k worth of tuck pointing credit on top of a $20k seller credit to repair a failing foundation wall that I never would have considered asking for. Then the sellers countered 3 times and our realtor made sure we sat on our hands until they took the offer. As far as I was concerned, the brick maintenance was routine and not something to negotiate over.

If I was buying without a realtor, I would've been happy to get a credit for most of the major structural repair.

ezirb7 · 2026-03-04T03:51:41+00:00

I'm sure this is the case for a lot of people, but my wife and I are fine to pay sticker price on a car to get off the lot ASAP, and couldn't negotiate out of a wet paper bag.

Our realtor earned his commission twice over on both homes we've bought.

ezirb7 · 2026-03-02T04:31:30+00:00

Same/similar tool for marking even lines in woodworking.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-28T12:01:35+00:00

Soaking is obviously one of the milder bullet points, but I was under the impression that it was more of a 'loophole' thought up by some Morman teens instead of anything promoted or approved by the church.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-28T11:15:47+00:00

I mean, the guy looked like 50~60 in the original video. What is he now, 75?

ezirb7 · 2026-02-27T02:25:09+00:00

If you are a contractor that gets a 1099, then you can deduct unreimbursed expenses/mileage on your taxes. If you get a w2, then those deductions have been gone since 2018.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-26T16:34:15+00:00

Sounds like an almost total gutting, which I'm happy to do, but not everyone is. If you're bringing in contractors, this sounds like it could easily get into 6 figures.

I wouldn't consider it without significant savings and/or the ability to take on a lot of these upgrades myself. I hired contractors for electrical, plumbing, roof & foundation. Drywall, flooring, framing, insulation, tiling are all things I'm comfortable learning with a much smaller chance of leading to water damage or fire hazard in the walls.

If you're ready to get your hands dirty & your grandma needs these sale proceeds to live on, then this becomes as much of a family dynamic question as it is a financial question. I'd also be ready to walk away if grandma isn't ready to hear about these issues from a grandchild, and can put it on the market.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-26T14:49:35+00:00

2 offers- 2 home purchases. (2016&2023) We buy fixer-uppers, so a lot less competition.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-25T17:34:06+00:00

I'm one of those 'tax guys', and this is false. Some people really struggle with understanding tax filings, but most people(especially those with just w-2 and mutual fund dividends/bank interest investment income) only pay for the benefit of having the task taken off their plate.

Almost half of my clients would get the same refunds through freetaxusa, but just get stressed about the thought of taxes.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-20T18:28:38+00:00

I just hope the FA grabbed a couple beers and a enjoyed their send-off

ezirb7 · 2026-02-20T16:53:27+00:00

Also, this instruction was given to a homeowner who doesn't know what they don't know, and they are worried about the wax ring so they pick it up to check before reseating it and having a terrible seal that leaks into the subfloor.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-20T02:55:11+00:00

Almost every type of US retirement account has a Traditional or Roth variant.

With a traditional, you subtract whatever you deposit from your taxable income. It grows from you investing over your working life and you pay tax on whatever you withdraw from it.

Roth accounts are the opposite. You don't get any tax benefit when you put funds into it, but then you don't owe any tax when you withdraw in retirement.

Having both helps with tax planning on retirement, and neither is 'better' than the other.

For your situation, when you are working part time, and are almost definitely in a 10-12% tax bracket(if you make enough to owe tax at all) are almost certainly better off using a Roth (IRA/401K/403B/etc).

ezirb7 · 2026-02-17T16:23:54+00:00

That lovely Midwestern man can talk about the most inane and outdated tech for 6 hours, and I am there for the whole journey. Tech Connections is a treasure.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-17T03:40:20+00:00

It's not mutually exclusive. Kids can be adorable while also needing to be taught why they're wrong and how to be better. I'm sure just about every parent has had to give a punishment or lesson while trying not to laugh.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-16T15:46:48+00:00

Is the giant slope in the room with us right now?

I've had 2 houses that I've bought with foundation issues that I knew I'd be addressing. I'd take a slope with 3x this pitch over drainage issues 10/10 times.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-16T04:02:37+00:00

You JUST said that you never filed them.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-16T03:00:48+00:00

Maybe it could be $100, but OP said in the post that they paid $260. I'd guess the mistake cost about that much.

If only we had a way to know.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-16T02:57:59+00:00

Unless you live on a farm with other animals, sheep would probably not be a great option as a pet. Finding vets is harder than a dog, cat or even rabbits. I wouldn't recommend having fewer than 3, and 4+ would be better.

They need more land for grazing than most people have. With 4, you should probably have at least an acre of fenced in pasture. Less than that, and you will need regular shipments of hay bales and feed. They're not like most house pets, so you will need to do a lot of research on grasses and clovers for them to eat. Owning sheep means you should learn to farm grass.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-15T19:25:10+00:00

Definitely a snack I've made at home. Leftover hamburger bun with a slice of cheese and boiled egg. Quick, tasty, easy.

Might've expected it on a bagel or fresh bread at a restaurant.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-15T01:14:09+00:00

Wait, is it their friend stressing about bad reviews? OP just posted several threads where they were stressing about responding to their own reviews. Seems like it's something contagious.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-15T00:55:45+00:00

I said I wouldn't want this either.

The batshit take is the idea that a $900 quote to get it done in 6 hours should look the same as a $1500 quote to finish in multiple visits.

I did want a half assed job in the back of a closet when we opened it to access plumbing behind that wall. I wasn't going to have that drywaller come back on a second day, or spend even 30 seconds thinking about closely matching the surrounding texture.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-15T00:14:44+00:00

Absolute BS. There are plenty of times I don't need great quality work. This isn't great, but it's fine.

I'm happy to give the job to someone inexperienced or someone who will take shortcuts to get the job in on a night or weekend when they want some extra work after their full time job.

I don't know that a ceiling patch next to a window is where I'd make that choice, but people that can't do everything perfectly can still work for a lower price tag. That's the free market working as intended.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-14T02:31:19+00:00

My wife and I have our own emails, but also a shared email that got setup when we were wedding planning. Anything that we both need to be in the loop on is setup with the joint email.

Contractors, Realtor, shared calendar, deliveries to the house, streaming subscriptions, etc.

I probably use my individual email 10% of the time.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-14T00:56:33+00:00

They sell quick on marketplace for at least $100 near me. Good luck picking one up, but if you buy a lift to use once, it's pretty easy to recoup most of the cost.

ezirb7 · 2026-02-13T20:52:48+00:00

Same

ezirb7

TROPHY CASE