Category: Rentals, Remodels, Relocations and Real Estate

Another house on an arroyo

They’re going to have to start calling me “the woman who buys houses on arroyos.”

The house John and I bought together in Albuquerque when we got married backed to an arroyo.

The one we we were under contract recently to buy just recently, that had the epic sewer installation failure, also backed to an arroyo.

The one I just made an offer on yesterday in Rio Rancho backs to an arroyo.

And now today I made an offer on one in NE Albuquerque that’s…you guessed it…on an arroyo!

Apparently I don’t like houses behind my houses.

And wait! I forgot the Academy Ridge house! That’s the first rental it looks like we’re actually going to manage to purchase…expected to close on Friday.  The Academy Ridge townhouse doesn’t back to an arroyo. But look! There’s still open space back there, just not an arroyo; it’s an alley way.

The stuff in your shed?

Yesterday I made an offer on a house in Rio Rancho.  It had been sitting on the market for 2 months, which means it’s overpriced.  I made a low offer. It was quite low, so I wasn’t surprised when they counter offered. However, they only came down a token amount from their list price. And if their list price was anything close to right, they would have already had an offer.

But that’s not the funny part.  Get this; they also included a long list of junk that they plan to leave at the house!

I could imagine that they might actually that someone would want their old patio furniture.

But then the counter offer said, “All items inside tool shed convey with home.” Meaning, I would be the new owner of who-knows-what in their toolshed. Really? What are they thinking?  There could be hazardous and/or illegal stuff in there. I think they need to hire somebody to clean up their own junk!

The 45-day countdown: Day 24

I think it’s day 24. It’s something like that. It’s all becoming a blur.

Today we’re signing the termination of the attempted purchase of the Calle del Norte house; that’s the one with the casita that ended up with a destroyed yard due to a septic install gone bad.

Also today we are trying to nail down whether there is actually anything wrong with the roof at Academy Ridge. If we’re not convinced there is, then there’s no way we’ll be able to convince the seller that there is! We expect to close on that townhouse on Friday.

And ALSO today, we’re making an offer on a house in Rio Rancho. John is hesitant to buy in Rio Rancho, which is considered by Burqueños (Albuquerque-ians) to be less desirable than Albuquerque.

But then, a lot of people who live in Rio Rancho would never want to live in Albuquerque. In Rio Rancho you can get a bigger, newer house for the same amount of money. And there’s a lot of old, rundown houses in Albuquerque. I think it’s just rivalry. Rivalry and the opposite of the grass-is-greener syndrome. There is definitely a tendency to imagine that what you chose is better than what someone else chose.

And it’s true, Rio Rancho is a suburb. But so is the Albuquerque NE Heights area where the Academy Ridge house is located. I am deliberately targeting the “leafy” suburbs where there’s less traffic, newer houses, and better schools. And some of the schools in Rio Rancho aren’t very good, but either are some of the schools in Albuquerque. And the schools in this particular district are good.

And finally, some people are concerned that the Intel plant (which has been going downhill for some years) will actually pull out altogether, causing Rio Rancho property values to crash. I doubt Intel will pull out, but even if it does, I don’t think Rio Rancho values will crash.

The neighborhood I’m looking at in Rio Rancho is centrally located and an easy commute to anywhere in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque. It’s immediately contiguous to Albuquerque, and only a few blocks away from an exclusive rural enclave called Corrales.  (Where John and I met for our first date, by the way!)

Actually, that is a funny story. Back when we met, I was living in Albuquerque and he was living out in Placitas. So he chose a Corrales restaurant for our first date. Yes, it was “fair,” we both had to drive halfway. But he was the one out in the middle of nowhere, asking me on a date. Don’t you think he should have driven to Albuquerque? Apparently it didn’t bother me at the time! And anyway, he brought biscochitos. (A type of local cookie.) He had me at the cookies.

But back to the house – it’s in great shape with nice countertops and floor tiles, in a newer neighborhood.

Plus, it has an arroyo with a walking/biking trail behind the backyard. Not only is that great for walking, but it provides a very open feel around the house.

Look at this low-maintenance yard with a view!

45-Day Countdown, Day 22, Halfway

I typically do whatever it takes to stay way ahead of my deadlines, because I tend to be quite stressed by looming due dates. My motto is, “Better to do today what I might not have time to do tomorrow.” So I expected to be much further along by now.

We’re doing a 1013 exchange; selling rental property, and exchanging it for replacement property, rather than cashing out. By the rules, we need to have identified replacement property within 45 days of selling the original property.

A week ago, I thought I was almost done. We were under contract on one house, and making an offer on a second one. But now we’re not going to buy the first house. The second house is going well, and we should close on Friday. It’s a cute house, and we’re very happy about it. It doesn’t need any work, and I should be able to advertise it for rent soon after we close.

However, this townhouse is only 1/3 of the exchange funds. Suddenly I find myself in the position of needing to buy 2 more rentals in 23 days!

Desert Destruction

The natural desert environment is very beautiful. It varies greatly from region to region, but here are some pictures of undisturbed land behind our house on the hill.

Undisturbed land:

Over time, the fine sands erode away, leaving a natural rock garden. However, this can take decades to develop.

 

Next are photos of disturbed land only a few feet away. This land was graded 30 years ago when the house was built. In the 20 years that John has owned it, this section of land has been mostly left alone, except for someone occasionally walking through.

20 years after grading:

Now here’s a section of land at the base of our current house, where we had to install a new well in 2012. So this is what disturbed desert in our area looks like after 5 years, with no remediation.

5 years after disturbance:

Here’s photos of the destruction after the septic installation at the potential new house went awry. I’m estimating about half an acre has been completely dug up, in two large sections; one shown here between the house and the casita, and the other on the far side of the casita.

We could rake the tire marks, but we’d still just have dirt for many years. The other alternative is to landscape it; bring in quarried rock of various sizes and native plants. This would be very time consuming and expensive. And even natives need irrigation to get started.

Restoration:

Here’s an example of a disturbed hillside that was then extensively landscaped in a natural style. It’s probably been about 20 years since the disturbance and remediation, and they did a good job, so now it looks very natural.

However, this level of remediation & restoration would be an enormous undertaking for such a large section of land. Therefore, we’ve reluctantly decided not to buy this house.

Real estate contracts are conditioned upon the property being in essentially the same condition at closing as when the purchase contract was signed. Since it’s obvious the property is now in much worse condition than it was when we got under contract last month, we are free to get out of the contract, and will get our earnest money back. We’re sad though. It was a nice property.

Sewer Scope

This video is (depending on your point of view) either gross, or hilarious, or just a little boring and weird.

We’re buying 2 houses. The first house, out in the country with a septic system, failed the septic inspection and now they are laboring to put a new one in. It’s been painful to watch, as they tear up the landscape with backhoes.

The second house, in the city, has a sewer pipe to the city system. To ensure the integrity of the sewer line from the house, they run a camera down it and film a video. Seriously.  Poop, cockroaches and all.

When buying houses, making sure the poop goes away is important! The very first rental I ever owned, back in the late 1990’s, ended up with raw sewage in the backyard. So from then on I’ve known, poop transport matters!

Farewell Bocce

The Bocce ball court is now gone.

The septic system replacement project hits rock bottom

The new septic system in the house we are buying was supposed to be done today. Our final walk-thru was scheduled for this evening, and closing was supposed to be tomorrow.

But this septic project has run into several problems. First, they wanted to plow through several trees.

Then they discovered that rules have changed (or are recently being implemented more strictly by the inspectors), and they have to build a much bigger system than expected, because of the casita (guest house).

Here’s the dual tank system, adequate for a 5 bedroom house (in this case, a 3-bedroom house plus a 1-bedroom casita counts the same as a 5-bedroom house).

Then they hit bedrock while trenching for the drain field. This required the drain field to be installed at a slightly higher elevation, so they could no longer depend entirely on gravity, and they had to install a pump. We were very disappointed to have to have a pump, which will require maintenance and electricity.  Here’s the pump system.

Here they are wiring the pump system to the casita’s electrical system. This is requiring trenching all the way around the casita into the front yard.

Here’s you can see the pretty little flagstone walkway that no longer exists.

But even with the pump in, they are still having a great deal of trouble finding adequate drain field space due to the unexpected bedrock. They dug lots of holes all over the land, trying to find a section without bedrock.

 

Now they’re saying they may have to take out the bocce ball court.

 

It was so beautiful when we first made an offer, but now I am starting to wonder if we should even buy this house.

We’re currently feeling discouraged, but we’ve rescheduled closing to June 9, and we’ll just have to see what happens between now and then.

 

New Windows

Like any remodel, we’re having a variety of little issues out there. The plumber caused a leak, damaging a cabinet. The bottom drawer swelled up so much it will need replaced.

The electrician broke an expensive new light fixture. Someone installed a baseboard heater a foot off the ground (why?) and it needs moved down, to line up with the others. The window installers broke a riser for the sprinkler system, so when it came on, water was gushing everywhere. Luckily John had stopped up there on his way to work and noticed it.

But it’s exciting to see the upgrades.  One of my biggest priorities was to get the windows replaced. They were failing, and leaking. Not only leaking water when it rained, but also leaking air. They were extremely noisy in the wind; howling and whistling. And we get a lot of wind in New Mexico, particularly on top of that hill.  It was like a haunted house up there!

All the windows are getting replaced. Most of them are just being switched out with the same size, but one, with an excellent view of the mountains, is being reconfigured to take better advantage of the view.

Here’s the before and after shots. Originally we had 3 windows with a total of 5 window panes breaking up that view. Now there’s just one big picture window. Actually, that’s a terrible photo and doesn’t do it justice. Let’s just say that in person, it’s a surprising and dramatic improvement.

 

Greed or Guilt?

Greed, guilt, or just plain fear? I’m noticing I’m really stressing about buying rentals, and trying to make the best choices with the funds. Trying to avoid tax pitfalls and maximize returns…to the point where I’m getting insomnia. And I’m wondering why that is? Why am I not simply grateful for what we have? Why don’t I just make a good guess and go for it?

I think part of it is guilt. I’ve always worked very hard in life. I was a single parent while working, going to school, and earning both a master’s degree in environmental science and a certification in life coaching. For many years I worked in 2 careers simultaneously, environmental planning and life coaching.

Now I’m only working part-time as a life coach. I don’t make that much money anymore, compared to when I was working 2 jobs. Meanwhile, John is working very hard. I worry about him. His health isn’t perfect. We’re both getting older. I feel like I should be doing as much as I can; doing my part by investing this money wisely.

I want him to be able to retire while his health is still good, before he ruins his health working too hard. But with the health care system so messed up in this country, how can we even guess how much we’ll be spending on health care?

Guilt – John works harder than I do. Guesswork – the inscrutability of the future. Grateful – to not have to work as hard as I used to. Grateful – to be in New Mexico again. Grateful – to be able to coach my clients. Greed? What is that, really? How do we ever know when enough is enough, and when wanting becomes wanting too much?

One thing I think I will do, is lower my coaching rates a little bit. My rates seemed normal in California. In fact, they were normal in California. But my perspective is different now that I’m back in New Mexico. Of course my clients are mostly in California (and New York and Boston), which is possible because I work over the phone with them.  But still, I’m here now, in New Mexico. Maybe my rates can reflect that, to some degree at least.

At my request, John spent this evening building a spreadsheet to try to estimate this final leg of our working life prior to retirement. How long do we have to work? How hard do we have to work? How many rentals or other investments do we need? Do I need to accept more clients, or go back into my environmental career? I’ve run spreadsheets before myself, and now I’m looking forward to seeing his.

We hope to go hiking on Mt. Taylor tomorrow and we can talk about it then. It’s our little mini-trip since we canceled our 4-day backpacking trip; being too busy working.