Cruising Zillow as a Hobby

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Well I have many odd hobbies one of which is cutting open old oil filters....lol

Another is I go on zillow and get sucked down the rabbit hole looking at houses. Houses which I have no intention of buying such as extreme fixer uppers in questionable neighborhoods far away, or houses that I cannot afford.

Detroit house

Here is one in Detroit that is in terrible distress. It was a nicer home at one time and now its crumbling. I admire the craftsmanship in the house, look at the stone lintels above the exterior door, the fireplace, ect. What a grand old house it was.

Its obviously been unloved for a while and I am sure it is a sad story, but I enjoy looking at these old houses, wondering who lived there in its glory days and the eventual decline to a working class neighborhood that's barely hanging on, or at the cusp of revival.

I try to figure out the last time someone lived there, this house has a spongebob light switch plate on the wall of a room, so figure in the last 20 years. I cringe at all the peeling lead paint.

I ask myself what will happen to this old girl, will she continue to be neglected? Will someone flip it and make cheap apartments out of it? Will it be restored to its original glory? Only time will tell.

These are the architectural treasures of our crumbling neighborhoods in cities all over the country, and they fascinate me.

Does anyone else ever check out houses online like this?
 
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Nope.

I like looking, but only in town, as I want to move. Not quite as bad as surfing CL, but in the same vein.
 
many people do, but usually thry also make it practical by actually going out on weekends to open houses to see whats out there. You are 1 step away from turning your hobby into some actual practical useful knowledge in the real estate field. But you need to view properties in person otherwise its pretty useless only viewing through the online lens and stopping short of the real world. I suppose just as entertainment.

Othetwise its akin to just memorizing stats on cars but never actually driving althrm or watching others play videogames on youtube but not playing yourself
 
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I do go to some local area homes if they are close by. I have actually considered trying to flip a house. My problem is I have a hard time figuring out when something is good enough, or acceptable. I try to do everything perfectly and that's not feasible sometimes, I have lived in a new house that was far from perfect.

Our current house has seen a lot of remodeling since we bought it 10 years ago and I can point out to you every spot where I screwed up or wasn't happy with the results. If I wasn't to point this stuff out a lot of it would not be noticed by most people.

And yes, cruising zillow is a form of cheap entertainment for me.
 
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I gave in and visited one that we thought had potential, recently. Plenty gets lost in photos. Didn't like what we saw, and I noticed it was off the market pretty quickly.
 
It's a good hobby to see:
-current trends in renovation in dreamland and in your price-point/local area.

Local renovation project could cure your,.... "boredness" at your current workplace.

Also, the fact that you can do at least the electrical stuff, may be a good ace in the sleeve....

But I would check the competition:
-what they bought for (if you're lucky, could find older pictures trough google search)
-what they are selling for
-what kind of finishes

Could you one up them? cheaper and better looking?
What does families you know want for in a house in your area?

Do you want to fix and flip (short term) or fix and rent (long term)?
 
Originally Posted By: supton
Nope.

I like looking, but only in town, as I want to move. Not quite as bad as surfing CL, but in the same vein.


If I'm not looking to buy a property no need for me to spend time searching online.

Those houses were nice a long time ago before the the riots and people evacuated Detroit.
 
I've seen those houses (not too far from them), and it does make me sad too. I love old houses with history! New houses now are mostly cookie cutter, with nothing truly exciting about them.

I love history...so I am sure that helps as well.

I could upgrade in my current house and do well, but I see nothing that catches my eye.

Maybe an old farmhouse or something to that...
 
Seems like a lot for that house. Maybe it's being flipped now. Bought cheap from the bank, etc. with nothing done to it and put back on the market.

Plugging the address into google for a street view and the two homes across the street look like they will be bulldozed soon. Two big eyesores.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
Nope.

I like looking, but only in town, as I want to move. Not quite as bad as surfing CL, but in the same vein.
Sold 9 months ago FOR LESS THAN A THIRD of the asking price-if it's not totally rehabbed, it's overpriced.
 
Crazy idea:
Check southside of Chicago:

Same vintage and craftsmanship houses....

Now some of those houses which where sitting on the market for months/years at $20k-40k , renovated for bling are in the $180k+-$240k+ (with target low downpayment loans buyers)
 
In our recent search for a place to live we used Zillow plus other real estate apps. Whenever we saw a place that looked promising I then inputted the address into Apple Maps to get a overhead view of the neighborhood. In many cases the too good to be true house was next to a tavern or a school or something that would put a damper on the choice.
 
Being in IL, my wife and I play the property tax game. Because they do vary depending on location/incorporation/school and other factors, it's kind of fun. When we see a house we like, we'll pull it up on the app and guess. Most of these "likes" are $10k or over, so we just laugh at the suckers paying that much.

But I love the app and the website. Good times.
 
Originally Posted By: pandus13
It's a good hobby to see:
-current trends in renovation in dreamland and in your price-point/local area.

Local renovation project could cure your,.... "boredness" at your current workplace.

Also, the fact that you can do at least the electrical stuff, may be a good ace in the sleeve....

But I would check the competition:
-what they bought for (if you're lucky, could find older pictures trough google search)
-what they are selling for
-what kind of finishes

Could you one up them? cheaper and better looking?
What does families you know want for in a house in your area?

Do you want to fix and flip (short term) or fix and rent (long term)?


If anything I have an idea in the back of my head to buy a house in Indianapolis, rent it as an air bnb, and use it as a weekend house once a month or so. The Air Bnb market is good in Indy right now. This has its whole set of risks which I am not sure I want to take.

Honestly renting a house out in the county in which we live is scary because of the high number of methamphetamine production here. Get a renter in that starts cooking and now you have a disaster on your hands. And you can do all the backround checks you want, there's been many that have decent jobs and have no record that have set up cooking operations to supply their exponentially growing habit.
 
Originally Posted By: 5AcresAndAFool
If anything I have an idea in the back of my head to buy a house in Indianapolis, rent it as an air bnb, and use it as a weekend house once a month or so. The Air Bnb market is good in Indy right now. This has its whole set of risks which I am not sure I want to take.

Honestly renting a house out in the county in which we live is scary because of the high number of methamphetamine production here. Get a renter in that starts cooking and now you have a disaster on your hands. And you can do all the backround checks you want, there's been many that have decent jobs and have no record that have set up cooking operations to supply their exponentially growing habit.


Answer to second paragraph:
-Blue-collar neighborhoods
-chase where the transplant IL are going around you....

Airbnb would need you/family/somebody local on top of everything QUICK and PRONTO!!!

Couple airbnb alternative ideas: hospitals with traveling nurses/doctors; crashpad for air pilots; executives long-ish-terms
 
I was told once that we have medications for that now.
cry.gif
 
I don't look at Zillow but that house is very interesting in a sad way. That was quite the mansion in its day, makes you wonder when it took a turn for the worse. Kind of like seeing cool old cars in junkyards...no one cars about an old rusted to nothing 01 Hyundai but when you see what you could tell what was someone's pride and joy like a cool old Jeep or Cadillac or BMW you wonder what went wrong.
 
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