Author Topic: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)  (Read 10830 times)

MountainTown

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Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« on: July 17, 2017, 12:56:43 PM »
So I became under contract recently on a house that is apparently on a private road. It's really a small Cul de sac off of city road so it's about 3-4 houses long(maybe a block) with our potential house at the end.

Honestly I don't think I would have put an offer on a house with this kind of situation. I just learned that as it is a private road, all the owners are responsible for plowing/maintaining it. The prior seller actually had a plow business so he just did it and sent people a bill. Not sure if they paid or not.

I should say there is a Private Road maintenance agreement filed in County but it is quite vague. There is no money collected, no reserves set, and there have never been any meetings. Basically the agreement just grants the easement to allow for the road and it also stipulates that each owner must share in the cost. TO me this agreement seems rather vague and a bit of a red flag. I'm sure if everyone is nice and jolly it all could work out. I have just had bad experience with shared driveways.

Thoughts on this? Any idea what this could cost me down the road?


Another Reader

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #1 on: July 17, 2017, 01:51:13 PM »
I would pass...  Go for the SFR on a standard lot on a public street.  Tell your agent not to show you any other properties except those.

MountainTown

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2017, 03:09:16 PM »
AR,

Ya I have(did). He said he was surprised and didn't realize that. I guess I wouldn't have offered on it knowing that but it's tough now when we feel emotionally and financially invested(did house and mold inspection at about $700)

bender: The road is about a block long. It is paved. I would have the house furthest from the road so the incentive to plow/maintain may be more on me. The agreement that is in place says all neighbors split equally, not according to distance. If someone doesn't pay...I mean it says that there could be a civil injunction...but my guess is a situation like this....is it worth it? If someone is $2,000 in a rears is it worth hiring a lawyer to bring a suit forward?  Yes, I think an HOA would be ideal. In fact I would have felt better about the deal if there already was an HOA in place with a nominal annual fee.


MountainTown

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #3 on: July 17, 2017, 08:16:30 PM »
Thanks bender:

To be clear...the seller of the house that we are under contract on was the guy that plowed...so this is new.

In fact I went there today and knocked on a neighbor's door. She said that basically the seller(who has a plowing business) would just plow for everyone and then sent a bill. She indicated that she paid for it but found it odd that he never asked her.

I should mention I don't own a plow, or a truck--I have a mustachian Corolla, 14 years old. Lol. I am screwed getting outta there on a bad snow day without some plowing. Though I do use snow tires.

This is fairly new so I think the neighbors are a bit oblivious(naive?) as to where this will go. I think the easement was put in 2012. This house was built in 1998. I am guessing the road was paved 1998...? Or who knows maybe it was done in 2012?

Regardless I am uncomfortable with how much i am reliant on neighbors to foot the bill on access to my property. I feel that going into it I almost have to know that I can afford it on my own and if people chip in--that's gravy. If people don't oh well. That's the tradeoff for me. It's a really nice neighborhood and a rather solid house with few inspection issues that aren't cosmetic.


Heroes821

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2017, 06:16:55 AM »
Possibly not a quick thing, but if you really like the house it might be worth calling the city or county and asking what steps would need taken by the residents to make the street no longer private.

The one neighbor you talked too sounded clueless about it and if you explain to them it will cost all of them thousands of dollars in maintenance they might petition the city to take over the road.

misshathaway

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #5 on: July 18, 2017, 07:09:02 AM »
I was a tenant on a short private road with 4 houses facing it, on a steep hill.  Only 2 of the houses were owner occupied and neither of those households had anyone in them who had to get to work every day. It was never plowed and had huge ruts and potholes. Just one example of how shared maintenance agreements can work in real life.

lizzzi

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #6 on: July 18, 2017, 08:00:44 AM »
It would have been a deal-breaker for me. I have seen nice houses with shared driveways, and wouldn't touch them with a bargepole--same thing for the shared private road situation. Just saying. I get it that OP likes the house and neighborhood, and is willing to take a chance on the potential nightmares.  As a Mustachian, he will probably have the money to be able to afford any pitfalls. When we almost bought a house on a private road, there was only one house on it--the one that would have been ours. That deal fell apart for unrelated reasons though.

This situation does underscore that you must be cold-eyed and businesslike to the core when buying a home. Whether or not you like it is not always the point. And the $700 the OP is in is not really very much compared to the possible future costs related to the road. I'm not face punching or anything like that--only the OP can make the right decision for him and his family--I hope it all turns out well.

Clean Shaven

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #7 on: July 18, 2017, 09:05:30 AM »
This is exactly the layout where I live, but I'm on a longer shared private road (about 1/8 mile from county road to my house). No formal agreement among the neighbors. We just get along, and one owns a plow truck. Everyone has their own snow blowers. We share in the asphalt road resurfacing costs, apportioned roughly for the amount of road we share + our individual driveways.

No problems, but it's because we're all friendly.

MountainTown

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #8 on: July 18, 2017, 10:23:43 AM »
Thanks everyone.

Lizzi: not face punching at all! I am just trying to work through the emotions and your comment helped. Honestly I am more inclined to walk away from the deal because I feel I would never have offered if I had known this. The problem is we have backed out once before (due to mold) and been exhausted by this search. My wife is pretty frustrated and just wants it to be over. I think if we back out at this point we will just not look for awhile--possibly rent. It's a luxury we can afford as we have cheap rent/no kids/good landlord.

I would say that while I think we will be okay...I already felt stretch by the $1430/month PITI payment. Throwing in this and the idea of maintaining it, trying to get a SID in place, or HOA,...or deal with neighbors who don't pay...definitely stresses me out.

I guess I am trying to balance that with the whole "no house is perfect" thing. I am definitely prone to being too picky! And also we worry what will interest rates do in the next year along with house prices. Maybe we will be paying these extra costs in interest regardless ya know?

I should also mention I grew up on a shared driveway. It was a nightmare. My family will always have stories from sharing this driveway as the neighbors were hellish. One time they actually did pave the road, but only their half lol.

Clean: Thanks for your perspective. Ya I guess that's the gamble. Everyone could be nice and it could all work out fine and maybe no pavement problems for next 10 years...who knows?

Car Jack

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #9 on: July 18, 2017, 12:36:26 PM »
I have a very long unshared driveway.  Paved but up a hill with lots of area to plow at the top of the hill.  Circle and turnaround with a detached garage 200 feet from the house.  We've always had a plow vehicle and all our other vehicles are AWD.  If you don't have a good plow guy, you could be stuck till he gets to your road.  It's exactly why I initially bought my first plow vehicle.  Maybe trade the Corolla for a Crosstrek.  Probably the cheapest way to continue to get good mpg while being able to get through snow.  (we have one)

MountainTown

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #10 on: July 18, 2017, 12:54:28 PM »
Have you had to deal with road repairs? Do you share this with others?

Fuzz

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #11 on: July 18, 2017, 09:35:30 PM »
Dude! Your name is Mountain Town. Time to cowboy up and help your neighbors out. I bet people in your hood don't lock their doors and loan each other tools. Get a banger blow truck (have the seller give you his old one) and send your neighbors a bill if you feel like it. If they're old ladies, then do it for free. It's what? A block? How much snow are we talking about? Rockies or Sierras? This shouldn't be that bad, if you really want the house.

Fishindude

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #12 on: July 19, 2017, 08:37:23 AM »
I owned a home on driveway shared with two other homes, maybe 1/4 mile long total.
We all got along fine and just split the costs for a couple loads of stone and some grading every year or two, probably didn't cost me more than $150 annually.


MountainTown

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #13 on: July 19, 2017, 09:42:16 AM »
lol fuzz

MountainTown

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #14 on: July 22, 2017, 08:44:45 AM »
Ok now on top of all the other things with this house...I just found out there is mold in the basement. Now I am really thinking about walking. I have mold allergies for sure and while I'm sure it could be cleaned up I am not really comfortable buying this problem. I have heard some nightmare stories of people trying to sell moldy houses.

Rural

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #15 on: July 22, 2017, 12:14:29 PM »
I'd walk for no other reason than that it wasn't in the disclosures - what else is the seller hiding? Also, how solid are the easements across several other people's properties to let you access the property at all?


I've been in this situation without the snow, but it meant floods and ruts instead here in the South. My husband did the work on the road, and it was a major problem - more neighbors mean more traffic, which means more work on the road.


We also had trouble selling because of the easements. And we couldn't get trash pickup because of them. The public trash trucks wouldn't leave the public road and we had no legal right to put cans on a neighbor's property by the public road. Plus it was a long way. Oh, and we couldn't get public water or sewer.


We're on a private road now, too, but it's only us, and despite being much, much steeper and longer, it holds up better since we're the only traffic.

Another Reader

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #16 on: July 22, 2017, 12:22:18 PM »
If the mold was not disclosed and was easy to spot, I would wonder what other issues the seller was hiding.  Significant mold is a deal killer for me - you have to find the cause and fix that as well as clean up the mold.  Based on what you have said, I would probably pass on this one.

paddedhat

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #17 on: July 22, 2017, 12:43:11 PM »
Unless you stumbled on this place for sale, and had nothing but a FSBO agreement with the seller, who was clueless in real estate matters, something is very wrong. In my state, and I assume most others, you are to be provided with a full seller's disclosure document, available for you to review before making an offer.  I would expect that the seller, and any realtor involved, would make it VERY clear that the street is privately owned and maintained. Since, it is often a deal breaker, and tremendous fuel for the fire, if the buyer decided to file suit, and/or charges with a state RE board.

As for buying the place, it's simple, no way in hell, period. The average homeowner doesn't have a clue as to how horrifically expensive it is to repave a street. I almost pulled the trigger on a detached single on acreage, but I was concerned about a very long driveway and several large parking areas that would need to be repaved in the next decade, or so. I called a buddy in, who does large paving jobs. He did the math, and put the current value of repaving the whole thing at $35K.  Shared roads are a disaster, far too often. The road gets near the end of it's service life and the patching begins. Now the few bucks a year in plowing fees turns into a few hundred or a thousand. Pretty soon, one responsible party says they can't or won't contribute. Time go by until the value of all the homes are degrading, since the road outside your door looks like the road to Bagdad. Now, it's time to mill and resurface, and everybody needs to chip in $12-15K. Yea, good luck with that.

Don't walk, RUN, and don't look back. $700 was a cheap lesson in this case. If you were dealing with a realtor, I would hand them a bill for $700, and tell then you are filing a complain with the state realtor's board if you're not paid promptly,  since you should of been made aware of this before you even thought of making an offer.

Holyoak

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #18 on: July 22, 2017, 01:02:10 PM »
Shared anything, is on my deal-breakers list.  Heck, I was surprised homes actually share a well in some cases...  No way in hell.

MountainTown

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #19 on: July 24, 2017, 10:31:35 PM »
LoL thanks everyone. Doesn't seem like there is many leaning towards yes...

I talked to the realtor about it. Ended up extending the inspection contingency to see if anything more can be learned. Basically the mold specialist found that the air inside the room was about 5 times as much than in the back yard and the average for this area. It's a certain kind of mold that is known to cause allergies/breathing problems. Penicillum/Asperilligus ?

Anyways, apparently the seller is pretty motivated and sounds willing to pay for abatement. My experience in the past has been those guys charge a lot and do jack-shit. I was actually under contract on a house that had remediated mold(last year) and when I tested it still was live mold. I decided to walk away as I didn't think it was a very good investment to have a house with an unstoppable mold problem.

My wife is pretty bummed as we have been looking for awhile. It's hard to fight her urge and "nesting" ideals. We are talking about having a baby next year and she is really wanting a 3 bed or bigger space/at least 2 bed, bonus room.

Does anyone think it's worth it seeing how many concessions I can get out of the seller? I mean who knows maybe it's just under the carpet and they would redo the whole floor with new carpet(after abating).

We live in a 825 a month rental/2 bed/ 1 bath now. We are fairly content but she is pretty worried about how tight it will be when/if we have a baby. I guess I am ok just renting a bigger place later but it sucks that it will ultimately cost the same as the PITI on this particular place(or more). That being said, actually owning a house comes with a lot more unexpected expenses I hear...


Rural

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #20 on: July 25, 2017, 04:56:42 AM »
LoL thanks everyone. Doesn't seem like there is many leaning towards yes...

I talked to the realtor about it. Ended up extending the inspection contingency to see if anything more can be learned. Basically the mold specialist found that the air inside the room was about 5 times as much than in the back yard and the average for this area. It's a certain kind of mold that is known to cause allergies/breathing problems. Penicillum/Asperilligus ?

Anyways, apparently the seller is pretty motivated and sounds willing to pay for abatement. My experience in the past has been those guys charge a lot and do jack-shit. I was actually under contract on a house that had remediated mold(last year) and when I tested it still was live mold. I decided to walk away as I didn't think it was a very good investment to have a house with an unstoppable mold problem.

My wife is pretty bummed as we have been looking for awhile. It's hard to fight her urge and "nesting" ideals. We are talking about having a baby next year and she is really wanting a 3 bed or bigger space/at least 2 bed, bonus room.

Does anyone think it's worth it seeing how many concessions I can get out of the seller? I mean who knows maybe it's just under the carpet and they would redo the whole floor with new carpet(after abating).

We live in a 825 a month rental/2 bed/ 1 bath now. We are fairly content but she is pretty worried about how tight it will be when/if we have a baby. I guess I am ok just renting a bigger place later but it sucks that it will ultimately cost the same as the PITI on this particular place(or more). That being said, actually owning a house comes with a lot more unexpected expenses I hear...


Nope. Get out while you can. The mold isn't even the important issue with this one. There are other houses out there that won't make you and a baby sick if you can even get to them. Plus this is a money pit.

paddedhat

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #21 on: July 25, 2017, 05:30:30 AM »
So, lets review. You buy this mess, against a lot of good advice from those with experience in shared utilities. Ten years go  by. You are unexpectedly in a situation where you have to relocate. The road now looks like it's been carpet bombed and you can do fuck all nothing about it, since you have two neighbors that refuse to pony up $ fifteen thousand a piece to repair the place. The very first agent you call makes it quite clear that you will have a very difficult time finding a buyer, and will be selling for a significant discount, because of the shared road issue. You also will be explaining in detail, in your sellers disclosure, that the road is private and degrading, without much hope for improvement due to a shared ownership dispute.  Don't forget to disclose the mold remediation too. Now, you might think that you can skip the mold, but I've seen cases where the new homeowner has a serious case of buyer's remorse until the  old neighbor says, "did Jim and Diane tell you about all the  problems they had with their place?"  Bingo, it's game over, new buyer goes to a lawyer, house deal is unwrapped and YOU pay damages. Now the house has been for sale for a few months and no offers, but lots of feedback about the road being a deal breaker. Finally, a year later, you dump the place for 70% of the appraisal, and lose your ass.

Reap what you sow
self inflicted wounds
well, bless your heart


Any of these ring a bell? You are looking at a distressed property with two major issues and you're asking about concessions. How about asking why you are still thinking of doing something dumb? Having bought and sold millions of dollars of SFRs as a builder/investor and homeowner, I can imagine if was approached about buying something similar to this. My first question to whoever was pitching the deal would be, "how do I benefit by relieving a "motivated" seller of his distressed property". In most cases, the answer would be, "you can pick it up for a fraction of the value, but it's still a BIG risk"
« Last Edit: July 25, 2017, 05:55:44 AM by paddedhat »

Bosco4789

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #22 on: July 25, 2017, 05:45:04 AM »
This is like a horror movie where the phone rings and the caller tells the teenage girl, "Get out of the house"!  But of course, she doesn't listen.

GET OUT NOW!!!!

paddedhat

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #23 on: July 25, 2017, 05:56:53 AM »
This is like a horror movie where the phone rings and the caller tells the teenage girl, "Get out of the house"!  But of course, she doesn't listen.

GET OUT NOW!!!!

No shit, this sure is interesting.

lizzzi

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #24 on: July 25, 2017, 06:32:33 AM »
MountainTown, please get out of this deal IMMEDIATELY. People are giving you excellent advice--please heed it.

And even if you don't purchase something else right away, trust me on this because I've done it--there is plenty of room in your apartment for a new baby.

Another Reader

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #25 on: July 25, 2017, 08:14:33 AM »
I'm of the opinion now that these folks don't have the right real estate agent.  If my agent encouraged me to make an offer on a property with a private road after I stated I did not want to see properties with common roads, driveways, etc., I would find an agent that would listen to me and only show me homes that met my criteria.  This agent has gotten them in deep (with their assistance) on a property that they should not have ever seen.

ETA:  If the agent did not know there was a private road, either it was not stated somewhere in the listing or s/he did not read the listing.  An experienced agent that is familiar with the area should have spotted the issue right away and questioned the listing agent if the private road was not disclosed in the listing.
« Last Edit: July 25, 2017, 08:19:15 AM by Another Reader »

MountainTown

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #26 on: July 25, 2017, 12:01:46 PM »
I sent a request to terminate due to the inspection problems. It's a bittersweet relief. Thanks for the advice Internet people.

It definitely leaves me in a bit of a depressed state. This market has got me to the point where all those Rent 4 Life Articles from GCC are much more attractive!

It's hard to not look as I am afraid of rising interest rates and this local market has been exploding. That being said I just don't think it's mentally healthy for me right now.

Holyoak

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #27 on: July 25, 2017, 01:20:21 PM »
I sent a request to terminate due to the inspection problems. It's a bittersweet relief. Thanks for the advice Internet people.

It definitely leaves me in a bit of a depressed state. This market has got me to the point where all those Rent 4 Life Articles from GCC are much more attractive!

It's hard to not look as I am afraid of rising interest rates and this local market has been exploding. That being said I just don't think it's mentally healthy for me right now.

Hang in there MT I fully understand how you are feeling; buying a home can suck, even when your stars are more closely aligned.  IMO, you dodged a bullet here, as much as you wanted to stick with it.  Anything shared is an absolute deal breaker for me, regardless of any B.S. the agent might try to apply.  It's always "Oh yeah, everyone always gets along, pays the cost for repair, plowing, etc..."  Until they don't/someone moves/dies, and the A-hole family moves in.

No one in the world, is more sick of home shopping/trying to find my spot than me, I HATE my $930/mo duplex, but I have held fast until enough of what I want clicks.  At least the craziest of May-mid July crap is over, and I'm hoping the fall will be less hectic, and I get to at least see a homes, before they have offers on them 2 hrs after listing.  Good luck!

BTW, when my daughter was born, the three of us lived in a very small 2BR/1BA home, and it was no problem.

MountainTown

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #28 on: July 25, 2017, 03:13:12 PM »
Thanks for the encouragement Holy Oak. I am glad to hear that about your daughter...unfortunately my wife feels different. I think I will spend some time getting rid of at least MY stuff(hopefully this will inspire her) to create space and more storage in our house. Like everyone we have gotten sloppy and acquired random shit and even storage devices that really just block space.

I am trying to not worry about market timing but it is scary with rising interest rates and this booming market.

Oh and on top of that apparently the appraiser made a mistake and sent it out to me...let's just say it was more than what we woulda paid. I know it's all subjective to one appraiser but that sorta hurt :(

I tried to remind myself that appraisers don't go inside, they don't test for mold, and they probably don't check whether the road is one giant easement. That being said it wouldn't surprise me if someone pays the appraised value in this market.

lizzzi

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #29 on: July 25, 2017, 06:56:30 PM »
I think over the long haul you will be glad you got out, OP. Buying and selling houses is the most stress-producing, teeth-grinding, fist-clenching thing in the world. While you're in contract and waiting to go to closing, if you're not staring at the ceiling all night having chest pain, you're not doing it right. lol

There is a house out there for you. It will be the right house, at the right price, with some normal not-perfect things...but there will be no major deal-breakers. You will like it, and try not to be too emotional (conceal it if you are)...and move forward in a business-like way to close the transaction and move in to that place where you can have six dogs and paint the walls purple if you want.

Now, slightly off-topic. With a two-bedroom apartment, how could you need more room because there is possibly a baby in the future? For the first six weeks or so, it will be in a bassinet in your and your wife's room anyway. That would be the logical time for grandma/s to come and help, and they can sleep in bedroom #2.  I'll admit that an extra toilet somewhere would be nice, but everybody can just manage as we all did when most families only had one. Make it quick...if you can't make it quick, ask if anybody else wants to get in there first...and you could always invest in some kind of camping toilet for real emergencies. Guys can pee into anything, and dump it out later. My parents used to keep an empty coffee can for my 3 brothers to use if they got desperate. See? Easy-peasy. (God, what a terrible pun.) Sending you and your wife encouraging thoughts by ESP.

MountainTown

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #30 on: July 25, 2017, 07:11:52 PM »
Thanks Lizzi...I hear you on the two bedroom thing.

Honestly when I bring it up to the wife she gets a little defensive about it. I will admit that the bedrooms we have are a bit tiny, definitely of the older style. The closets were built in as an afterthought. But I agree we could make it work. We have a dresser and a nightstand in here and it is tight. Lately it occurred to me why not just get rid of one of those. Actually today I started moving around shelving/furniture to just start seeing what we could get rid of to create more space.

Maybe she will come around on the two bedroom thing. Maybe not. I guess we will see and in the end hopefully we still saved a lot of money, the real estate market tanks, and we can re-assess when she is expecting. If she is adamant that we get a bigger space or at least a 2 bed, 1 bonus then hopefully we can find something under 1400.

I should also mention that I work from home part time but already told her that this is optional for now and I could always goto the office if we ran outta space here or if she was staying home.

I ran the numbers on my FI # and I do wonder how people do it when renting. Real rents in my area for a 3 bed/2 bath are up to 1500 here ....it sure makes it tough to FI. i guess I always thought i had to buy real estate, pay it off to FI but some of the articles have made me think differently about house costs. That being said, a 1500 a month rent perpetually isn't easy to factor into FI either. I know it's predictable but I can't help but wonder if you are better off with a paid off mortgage.

ponyboy

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Re: Private Road maintenance agreement(or lack thereof)
« Reply #31 on: August 04, 2017, 09:48:13 AM »
Ponyboy also has a house with a shared road.  Only one other home lives on this road.  Ponyboy just moved there so he didnt have to tell the neighbor to foot any bills yet...but he will.