u/1dirtbiker

We recently put an offer in on a house, and I think we were patsies.

Background: There is a large data center going into our area, with buyouts in the range of $2-4 million per acre, with a few hundred buyouts. Unfortunately, this is driving up the real estate market here. It's far enough away that we didn't realize this was even happening, but close enough to affect us.

We put in a $1.3 million offer, no inspection as is, on a house listed at $1.4 million. This is a rural LCOL area, on a very nice house on acreage (50ish acres). The house was on the market for about 5 months, with no price reduction. Our offer was a conventional loan without any contingencies.

Prior to making the offer, the listing agent said not having contingencies is much more important than the price. We knew they had offers from data center buyouts, and had been put in awhile ago, but contingent on the buyouts going through in the next few months. We thought we had a very competitive offer. However, after putting in the offer, there was no counter offer, and they then accepted the contingency offer the next day.

I think we were patsies, and the other data center buyout client was swindled into a higher price. I think they had no intention of selling to a conventional buyer, and just needed a no contingency offer to drive up the price well over asking price. I know there's nothing I can do about this, but it's quite frustrating to fall in love with the house, go through the loan process, and get a pre-approval, only to have no chance at it in the first place

Just wondering what this sub thinks about it?

Edit for clarification: We, and the house we put the offer on, are about 20 miles from the data center. There is no buy out in this area.

We've been looking at adding an addition onto our house, and after getting the plans from our architect, we're in shell shock at the price of additions, and how WAY overbudget they are going to be, and now we're starting to look at just selling this place and buying another place. I'll start with saying I love my property. I'm on 40 acres. We have livestock, an orchard, a large garden, and plenty of woods for me to hunt. However, we hate the house. It really is going to take hundreds of thousands of dollars to really get it to where we want it, and even then we're getting concerned we're forcing a square peg through a round hole.

We found a beautiful house on 45 acres with a barn and cleared area for our livestock, though we'd need to fence it in. It is listed at $1.3 million, and has been on the market for about 5 months, so I'm hoping we can get it for a bit less, let's just pretend $1.25 million for sake of argument. I live in a LCOL area, and anything in the 7 figures sits for a long time.

Our details: Both my wife and I are in our mid-40s, with 4 kids, two are grown and out of the house. My wife teaches and I'm a family physician. I got a late start due to military time prior to med school and am about 8 years out of residency.

Income

Mine $450K, wife $115K

Total income $565K

Assets:

Brokerage: $325K

401Ks: $1.1 million

Roths: $180K

Other less liquid investments: $200K

Current home value $850K (-$390k mortgage balance)

Rental house value $180K (-$115 mortgage balance)

Total assets: ~$2.8 million

We each have a car loan with less than a year on each of them that we could pay off if needed, but the interest rates are reasonable, so I don't want to pull money out of the market and take a tax hit. I also still owe $300K on my student loans, but I am doing the PSLF, so they will be forgiven in 5 years. I pay $1.5K per month on these.

Total liabilities: ~$800K

We currently invest $120K into investments/retirements annually.

We'd put down 20% ($250K), and then put another $150K toward it after selling our house. Assuming a recast and a 20 year mortgage (or at least a 20 year pay down schedule), we're looking at roughly $7300 per month, including taxes and insurance, which is a $2300 monthly increase over what we're paying now (15 year mortgage). We'd have to tighten things up a bit for the next year, and then when the car loans are paid, it won't be much of a difference (both are $800 per month). However, this just seems like too much to spend...

I haven't contacted a bank for a mortgage yet, but we both have excellent credit, so I'm assuming I'll be approved. If I'm not, the answer is easy. lol.

Can I (should I) afford this?

I have a 5 V WeBoost Drive Reach that I just installed in my hunting blind (really a small cabin on stilts). It came with an AC plug, but I only have DC power at the blind. I thought it came with a DC cigarette lighter type plug. I could, of course, install an inverter. However, that would be such a waste of power to invert 12 V DC to 120 V AC to 5 V DC. I'm wondering if I can just use a USB to WeBoost adapter in a USB port I already have installed in the blind.

The blind has a 230 amp hour lead acid battery bank with 700 W solar, for reference.

I just can't fathom why SO many of my patients think that when I'm listening to their body with my stethoscope is the time to talk to me. Common sense is so lacking in so many people. Just shut up and let me listen, and then talk to me afterwards. Rant over. Thanks for listening. Off to see the next patient...

I'm itching to make some pizza for tomorrow night, but I didn't make any dough ahead of time. My go-to pizza dough is a 3 day fridge ferment recipe. I'm looking to speed this up to a 24 hour turnaround.

Should I add extra sugar? I use 2% (baker's percentage). Maybe up it to 3 or 4%?

Add extra yeast?

Let it rest at room temp longer? I usually let it rest for about 2 hours.

Use beer in place of water fully or partially? I've seen this mentioned online.

Just wondering what tips you guys recommend. I'll be starting my dough in about 2-3 hours once I get home.

I have about 200,000 points. 100,00 Amex, 80,000 Chase, and 20,000 Capital One.

I am planning on a trip to Europe in December. Specifically, I'm planning to leave from NYC and fly into Europe and fly out of Prague. There will be four of us. Myself, my wife, and two children. I don't care about business or first class. I just want to maximize the number of tickets I can get for the points we have. Between the fees and number of points earned, I'm doing the math, and I'm better off cashing in at $0.01 per point on my credit card bill.

I've never traveled with points before, but this is frustrating, as I was hoping I'd be able to fly mostly for free with this many points, but I'm finding that not to be the case....

I'm looking to book a Germany and Czech Republic trip in December. I'm going to fly into Munich and fly out of Prague. I usually use Expedia, and bundle flight, hotel, and rental car (if needed). This will be the first time I am flying into one airport and flying out of another. I can't find a travel website that will allow me to bundle using different airports and different cities to stay.

Hello all, we're thinking about selling our travel trailer and getting a fifth wheel. We have an Alpha Wolf 26BHL currently. I tow it with a 2022 F350 diesel.

We don't want a huge fifth wheel, probably a maximum of around 36-37 feet or so. We do a lot of camping in state parks, so huge campers really limit us, but the kids are getting bigger, and having some extra room would be appreciated.

We want a separate bunkhouse room. It doesn't have to be huge, but something they can go in and have their own privacy.

I don't want to spend more than $75K, and preferably around $50K.

What we've had our eyes on so far:

Arctic Wolf 287BH

Keystone Arcadia 27BHS

Grand Design 27BH

Coleman 3000LOFT

Any other models to look at?

This sub was an absolute pit when silver was over $100. It's so much better now that the silver-to-the-moon bros are all back to the Wallstreet Bets sub. I've been stacking for a couple of decades, and I just loved being downvoted and denigrated by bros who had been stacking for all of a few weeks of only seeing silver grow. This being said, I do want to see silver back over $100.

This past weekend, my family was hiking up Hurricane Mountain. It was my wife and I, and our two daughters, along with our Golden Retriever. We keep her on a leash at all times while hiking. About a quarter mile from the summit on the way down, out of nowhere, another dog came tearing up the trail, almost knocked over an older hiker just ahead of us, did knock over my youngest daughter, and started rough playing with my dog. Nobody was injured, and the dog was clearly young and friendly, but wild and rambunctious.

This dog stayed with us being a true nuisance for a few minutes as we were hiking down the trail, until the owner finally showed up. I immediately ask if the dog is his, and his response is "Yeah, don't worry though, he's friendly." I gave him a piece of my mind. I told him that he nearly knocked over an older woman, did knock my daughter over, and wouldn't leave my dog alone. I told him to put him on a leash. No acknowledgement or apology. He just reiterated that he was friendly. He had a boy with him, maybe 9 to 10 years old, who kept saying "Dad, we have to put him on a leash," but the dad said leashes aren't required as they were hiking away, with the dog running far ahead out of their sight again...

I'm not sure what the actual leash laws are here, but common courtesy dictates to keep your unruly dog on a leash on public trails...

Hello all. I just installed a Bestway above ground pool 4 days ago. I filled it with my well water (non-chlorinated), and finished 3 days ago, at which time I treated it for the first time. I initially shocked it, then chlorinated it, and then tested it. After the initial test, I had to add more chlorine, pH up, a lot of baking soda, CYA, and calcium hardness increaser. Over the last few days, I had been keeping an eye on levels, and making small chemical additions, and they have remained pretty good:

Total chlorine 4

pH 7.5

Total alkalinity 130

Total hardness 220

CYA 40

I have the HTH 6 way liquid titration test kit. It does not have a test for free chlorine, though I also have some dipstick tests that only test for free chlorine, and they are showing the same chlorine levels.

I have been running the filter 24/7 since adding the chemicals.

Ever since filling the pool, the water has been slightly green and a bit cloudy. The water smells like normal pool water without any stale/stagnant smells.

Last night, after doing some reading, I did a double dose of shock. I tested the chlorine and pH about an hour after shocking. The pH remained unchanged, and the chlorine levels were off the chart high. I'm assuming this is fairly normal an hour after shocking? Regardless, this morning I checked the water before work, and no change in color or clarity. I didn't test the water due to time constraints. I will retest after work.

Where do I go from here?

I have a new 18 ft above ground pool, and I am filling it with well water, so non-chlorinated. Due to needing to rest my pump, it will likely take about 2 days to fill it completely full. Should I wait until it's completely full to add chemicals, or should I add shock, or chlorine, prior to it being completely full?

I have two grafted Ayers pears that I planted in spring 2023. They were about 4 feet tall with just a few branch points and about 1/2" or smaller in diameter above the graft point when I planted them. They are now about seven feet high, though would be much higher except that I've been pruning to keep them lower, and about 2.5" in diameter above the branch point, so growing very well. However, there have still been no flowers or fruits. Just wondering how long until I can expect to have some fruit.

And FWIW, I did have a third pear tree of a different variety (Kieffer) that just never thrived. It stayed small, was late to bud, and just never really did anything. After three years, it wasn't much bigger than when I planted it, so I removed it and planted a Bartlett pear this spring. I just figured I'd mention this, as the logical reply to my post would be to tell me to plant a different variety for pollination.

Why are we doing these? I mean, cataract surgery is roughly as physiologically stressful as getting your toenails trimmed.

I live in zone 5B, though locally, based upon historical low temps over the last ten years on my personal weather station, should be zone 5A.

I'm looking to add a couple nectarine trees to my orchard. I love very crisp freestone nectarines. What are some of the best varieties for me?