Boston Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Poll for Homeowners
The board was way too slow yesterday so here's a random poll for you.
How long have you been in your place?
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have?
What's your favorite aspect of your home?
Least favorite aspect?
How long were you searching before you found it?
What random housing expense did you not expect?
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?)
What kind of improvements have you made to the place?
What's on the improvement to-do list?
How are the neighbors?
I'd rather be rock climbing or playing volleyball
Re: Poll for Homeowners
How long have you been in your place? 1 year 3 months
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have? Masshousing mortgage... not sure the rate!
What's your favorite aspect of your home? between a park & the river- doesn't feel like Lowell
Least favorite aspect? That we live in Lowell
How long were you searching before you found it? on & off for 6 months
What random housing expense did you not expect? Not sure!
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?) We live in a townhouse complex so all outside work is taken care of
What kind of improvements have you made to the place? Painted, currently tiling the downstairs.
What's on the improvement to-do list? Hopefully replacing carpets with wood floors & possibly replacing the windows
How are the neighbors? Quirky!
How long have you been in your place? Just over three years.
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have? We're currently refi'ing into a 30-year fixed mortgage at 4.875%.
What's your favorite aspect of your home? The size and style overall. We have a pretty open floorplan on the first floor, yet the spaces are still well-defined. There's plenty of room to host people and the general style of it is just "us."
Least favorite aspect? We're located on a busy street which isn't ideal but we love the house nonetheless.
How long were you searching before you found it? Our case is a little unusual. We were still living in CA when we came out to house hunt and we say 40 houses in 3.5 days and bought the one we live in now.
What random housing expense did you not expect? So this question is what got me thinking about this poll in the first place. Winterizing your sprinkler system is not something I had ever heard of or done before owning this house. Paying someone $50-60 to spend 10 minutes blowing water out of my sprinkler system so it doesn't freeze and burst the lines over the winter seems like such a ripoff.
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?) We used to pay someone to mow the lawn and do basic upkeep of the yard (fertilize, fall and spring cleanups, mulch). This past summer though we got an electric lawn mower and started doing everything ourselves.
What kind of improvements have you made to the place? Our house is still pretty new so we haven't done much. We added a radon mitigation system and put a real hood over the stove (one that vents to the outside to replace the over-the-stove microwave that recirculated the air into the room). Oh, and we painted the guest bathroom, but that's it.
What's on the improvement to-do list? I think we need to redo our back steps because some of the wood seems to be in bad shape and I'm toying with the idea of somehow expanding the back deck while we're at it.
How are the neighbors? Most of our neighbors are great and we've even hung out with some of them. We have each other's e-mail addresses and chat when we're outside together. It's a pretty friendly neighborhood overall and I think we kind of lucked out.
How long have you been in your place? - a year and a half
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have? - I have no idea. Which is pretty awful. But DH handles the mortgage
What's your favorite aspect of your home? - I love our kitchen, the hardwood floors and all the great storage space
Least favorite aspect? - hardwood floors are hard to keep clean!!
How long were you searching before you found it? - a year or so
What random housing expense did you not expect? - lawn care. We're not good at it. Thankfully it's not large
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?) - no. We've talked about hiring a cleaning lady once a month, but there's only 2 of us..granted it's 3 floors of home, but it's not like we have kids, we should be able to keep it clean ourselves!! I wouldn't be upset if DH just hired someone though :op
What kind of improvements have you made to the place? - we added shelving and racks in the master bedroom walk in closet, aside from that, not too much...
What's on the improvement to-do list?- nothing..it was a new construction home, it's pretty spiffy the way it is. We wanted something new specifically so we DIDN'T have to do updates for a while.
How are the neighbors? - Our condo is not in a condo complex, it's just a house split in 2 and our neighbors are another young couple. We got married this year and they got engaged soon after, it's cool that we're at the same stage of life
) Same with the neighbors across the street too
I don't own yet but I wanted to play anyway!
How long have you been in your place? A year and a half
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have? We're on a year lease, up in May
What's your favorite aspect of your home? I love lots of things about our apartment- that it's in a house, close to many things we need, but still on a quiet street, the wood working and molding, having a basement, etc.
Least favorite aspect? The driveway is terrible. We share it with the upstairs neighbors as well as the house next door and it's tiny. I hit the garage weekly trying to get my car in and out, there's no where to put the snow in the winter. Ugh! I'm also not too fond of the gross old fridge.
How long were you searching before you found it? A couple of months.
What random housing expense did you not expect? I guess not much since we rent, but there have been a few things we've done that wouldn't be necessary if the landlord would take care of them, but he just doesn't care.
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?) After cleaning this weekend and having our newish (6 months) vaccuum stop working we're thinking of hiring a cleaning service. Yikes!
What kind of improvements have you made to the place? We painted everything when we moved in- it was so drab and bland before (like everything was grey and purple). We do a lot of the landscaping ourselves also since the landlord doesn't care.
What's on the improvement to-do list? I really wanted to put new bamboo blinds in the kitchen and H wants heavy curtains in the sunroom to keep the heat in, but since we plan on moving in a few months it's probably not worth the effort. When we move we'll have to repaint everything white. And the fridge needs to be replaced, but we won't be doing that.
How are the neighbors? CRAZY
How long have you been in your place?
We were there from June 2006-August 2009 and it is now a rental property
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have?
BOA, first time homebuyer. I was pleased with the rate we got.
What's your favorite aspect of your home?
My granite/SS kitchen and my hardwood floors, which are refinished originals from the late 1800s when the building was built. They are gorgeous and so durable.
Least favorite aspect?
Lack of closet space
How long were you searching before you found it?
4 months
What random housing expense did you not expect?
discrimination against us for HO insurance due to DoggyBooster. I should have known, but we did secure the insurance, but had to take out a very hefty policy on her.
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?)
The hallways, snow shoveling, and outside maintenance is done by a company. I cleaned the condo myself until we moved out, then had someone go in and deep clean.
What kind of improvements have you made to the place?
We painted, updated hardware on closets and bathroom cabinets, and put in central air conditioning.
What's on the improvement to-do list?
The roof deck needs repainting
How are the neighbors?
The hood itself has great neighbors- pot lucks every month, very dog friendly. But it is gossipy, so you have to remember to keep your business to yourself.
How long have you been in your place? N/A Probably moving in on Halloween.
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have? We will have a conventional 30-year fixed at 5%.
What's your favorite aspect of your home? Not having ajoined neighbors!
Least favorite aspect? Not sure yet.
How long were you searching before you found it? I started looking online over last winter, we started going to open houses in April, got preapproved in May, offered on our place the end of June. Not too long.
What random housing expense did you not expect? Not sure yet.
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?) We won't be hiring out upkeep.
What kind of improvements have you made to the place? N/A Eventually we will finish the basement and put in central air, but not for a few years.
What's on the improvement to-do list? Decorate!
How are the neighbors? The few people we've met seem nice enough but it has only been brief aquatences so far.
How long have you been in your place? About 5 years
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have? 30 year fixed
What's your favorite aspect of your home? Actually owning something! Every penny we invest is improving OUR home! Plus, we have a lot of space inside and out.
Least favorite aspect? It's pretty far from Boston (where I work 3 days a week). Plus, we're far from most of our friends.
How long were you searching before you found it? About 7 monts
What random housing expense did you not expect? Our pool sucks up so much money every year!
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?) Nope
What kind of improvements have you made to the place? Replaced some appliances, painted, landscaping, replaced hot water heater and updated heat and air conditioning units.
What's on the improvement to-do list? Too many to list! First on the list one of our bathrooms and then comes the kitchen.
How are the neighbors? They're all really nice and it's a very quiet neighborhood. We are surrounded by seniors though, would love to have some young families as neighbors.
How long have you been in your place? 1 year and 5 months (and 4 days - but who's counting?)
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have? GMAC 30 year fixed. 5.75%
What's your favorite aspect of your home? our lot - it's at the end of a quiet street
Least favorite aspect? that our kitchen still needs to be gutted and renovated
How long were you searching before you found it? a couple months.
What random housing expense did you not expect? having to get rid of bats - twice.
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?) nope
What kind of improvements have you made to the place?
What's on the improvement to-do list? in no particular order - renovate kitchen, finish renovating breezeway/den, rip up carpets and refinish (or possibly replace) hardwoods, replace baseboards, renovate upstairs bath, get new carpet in family room
How are the neighbors? fine - most are elderly and we haven't even met the. The neighbors we have met are very nice.
How long have you been in your place? We closed on 11/30/07, and moved in shortly after the new year.
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have? FHA - 30 yr fixed. Our current rate is 6.375, and we are trying to refinance. Long story short - we're having issues with the appraisal. But if we can get it to go through, it will be down to 5%, which would be SUCH a huge difference!
What's your favorite aspect of your home? The yard - it still needs a lot of work, but it's huge, which is awesome for the dogs, and future children.
Least favorite aspect? That it's a ranch. But we'll be adding a floor on eventually.
How long were you searching before you found it? Actively - 1 month. Browsing online - 6+ months.
What random housing expense did you not expect? Yardwork things.. I was so used to my parents having all of it, that when it came time to buying it all it sucked haha.
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?) No way. I would love a cleaner to come monthly eventually, but otherwise we are big believers in doing it yourself.
What kind of improvements have you made to the place? Hoo boy... lots! Before we moved in we painted everything.. literally. Every room (walls, trim, and ceiling), plus the basement walls and floor. We gutted the bathroom.
Since we moved in, we have painted the porch walls and ceiling, gutted the kitchen (including taking down a wall to open the kitchen to the living room), re-did the office ceiling, painted the outside of the house, and landscaped the front yard (sort of.. still a little bit to be done).
And we did every little bit of it ourselves!
What's on the improvement to-do list? Next on the list is the basement. Half of it will be finished.
How are the neighbors? We like them! There is a mix of people who have been there for 50 years, and people who bought within the last 5. So older folks, and then young families that are moving in as the original owners move out.
Ah, but imagine how much more it would cost to repair the system if you didn't
How long have you been in your place?
Almost 3 years
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have?
6.25% on big loan
7% on smaller loan (we only put down 5% so we'd have cash for home improvements) - now that we're done with big stuff, we're paying this off.
What's your favorite aspect of your home?
I have a very old home so I love it's charm. Also love my new kitchen!
Least favorite aspect?
Old house = money pit! I also wish we had a garage
How long were you searching before you found it?
On and off for about a year
What random housing expense did you not expect?
We've put a LOT of work into our house. Some expected, some not.
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?)
We have cleaners and lawn guys. We work a lot and don't have a lot of time to do this stuff. We're fortunate to be able to afford it.
What kind of improvements have you made to the place?
A couple of new plaster ceilings, painting, crown molding installation, gut renovation of kitchen and main bath, new roof, new storm windows, new siding on one side of house + exterior painting, update to sprinkler system, pointing in basement. I am sure I'm forgetting something, it has been endless! Oh, forgot the repair of the back fence and added fencing to fence off the whole yard.
What's on the improvement to-do list?
We are taking a break unless it's an emergency. I'd like to re-side another side of our house soon though.
How are the neighbors?
Can't complain on my street. We do have renters on the main street below that park their crappy cars in front of our house sometimes..oh and have parties and pee on the neighbors lawn. ugh.
I know, but seriously it's like 10 minutes of "work." Ridiculous.
How long have you been in your place? It will be 3 years this Feb
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have? 30 year fixed at 6.25%
What's your favorite aspect of your home? The location is fantastic and very sought out.
Least favorite aspect? only 2 bedroom
How long were you searching before you found it? about 2 months
What random housing expense did you not expect? we have pretty much replumed the whole house.
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?) No, I wish
What kind of improvements have you made to the place? New kitchen, new bathroom, removed wallpaper and painted everyroom, painted shutters, installed paver patio and paver front walkway, installed fence around backyard, installed new lawn, converted from oil to gas, new boiler, new water heater, and cosmetic improvements. We joke that we should have torn it down and rebuilt.
What's on the improvement to-do list? new front steps, install new basement flooring, replace basement paneling with dryway, tile mudroom, storm windows, chimney cap
How are the neighbors? Snoopy, but very nice and friendly.
What random housing expense did you not expect? So this question is what got me thinking about this poll in the first place. Winterizing your sprinkler system is not something I had ever heard of or done before owning this house. Paying someone $50-60 to spend 10 minutes blowing water out of my sprinkler system so it doesn't freeze and burst the lines over the winter seems like such a ripoff.
What company do you use? That is actually a great price. We get charged almost $100 and to turn it on in the spring is more like $150 plus any new heads we need. Of course they only work M-F 9-5, and they have to get into the basement so someone has to be at the house.
It makes me feel better to know we're not the only ones who have completely redone their house!
Wow, $100? And I'm not sure what you mean about paying to turn it on, we just turn the system back on ourselves when it's time. Maybe you're getting more complicated service? When we winterize they just hook up an air compressor to the system and blow air through the pipes or whatever to get the water out of them before they freeze. That's it.
I've used two companies that both charge $50, Graham's Irrigation and Boyle's Irrigation. If you want the contact info let me know and I'll go dig it up.
How long have you been in your place? We've owned it for a year and 3 months
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have? 30 yr fixed, I think our rate was 6%
What's your favorite aspect of your home? The location, close to tons of stuff
Least favorite aspect? It's in Florida
How long were you searching before you found it? We were looking online for a few weeks but only looked at 3 houses before we put an offer in
What random housing expense did you not expect? Paying for garbage service sucked!
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?) No, our HOA cuts the lawn for us
What kind of improvements have you made to the place? We were only there for 6 months before we moved so we hadn't done a thing, oh, except repair a running toilet and did a little landscaping
What's on the improvement to-do list? We were going to renovate the bathrooms, have new carpet installed, have hurricane shutters installed, and update the appliances.
How are the neighbors? They were fine, we had an old lady immediately next door who was really quiet and next to her was a guy who drives a tow truck and he was super nice
How long have you been in your place?
2.5 years
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have?
30 yr fixed @ 6.75%
What's your favorite aspect of your home?
The neighborhood.
Least favorite aspect?
The trailer park 100 ft through the woods in my back yard.
How long were you searching before you found it?
We weren't even looking into moving or getting engaged! But when we saw these townhouses being built we decided to jump on it!
What random housing expense did you not expect?
It was our first house so we needed EVERYTHING!
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?)
We have a condo association that takes care of all the outside stuff.
What kind of improvements have you made to the place?
We finished our basement into a home theater and added a bathroom down there.
What's on the improvement to-do list?
We're hoping to paint in the next month. Other than that to lay plywood in the attic so we can store stuff up there!
How are the neighbors?
We have 44 townhouses in our cul-de-sac and we couldn't ask for better neighbors! Everyone is so nice!
How long have you been in your place? 3 years!
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have? 30 year fixed, 5.25%
What's your favorite aspect of your home? It was my grandparents house, I spent a lot of my childhood here and have always said I would raise my family here.
Least favorite aspect? Since it is a 60yr old house, there is always something to be fixed/improved.
How long were you searching before you found it? 1 year
What random housing expense did you not expect? New plumbing in the basement...
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?) Nope, I wish!
What kind of improvements have you made to the place? New roof, new windows, new carpet upstairs and we are now in the process of finishing the basement.
What's on the improvement to-do list? Remodel kitchen...
How are the neighbors? Awesome, my BFF's parents live across the street.
How long have you been in your place? 18 months
What kind of mortgage and rate do you have? bimothly at 4.875% 30 year
What's your favorite aspect of your home? everything
Least favorite aspect? one bathroom
How long were you searching before you found it? a week
What random housing expense did you not expect? nothing
Do you hire out for any upkeep services (lawn care, house cleaning, etc?) some yard work, twice a year.
What kind of improvements have you made to the place? added cabinets and new garage door
What's on the improvement to-do list? add a bathroom
How are the neighbors? awesome!