Brain: "You know, with no work truck in the driveway or snow, you could easily fit two more cars"

"CB" (jrcb) 04/23/2020 at 16:38 • Filed to: gretel

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Wallet: “please don’t hurt me”

In any case, driveway photo thread?

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > CB 04/23/2020 at 16:44

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You should have kept the ST!!!!

CB > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 04/23/2020 at 16:46

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But I didn't want to keep it. Additional money means motorcycle or Mustang faster.

fintail > CB 04/23/2020 at 16:47

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Driveway lol, with what houses cost here, funny.

Michael > CB 04/23/2020 at 16:49

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3 wide 2 deep driveway, and everything fits in the garage! Lots of work went into this

Nom De Plume > CB 04/23/2020 at 16:49

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[muted cough]

Pet damage.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > fintail 04/23/2020 at 16:51

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you gotta move a little downmarket in terms of area. I figured I could have the crappiest house in a nice area or a nice house in a ...slightly worse area.

In unrelated news, I saw two homeless men fighting from my kitchen window today.

CB > Nom De Plume 04/23/2020 at 16:51

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Yeah, who am I kidding.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > CB 04/23/2020 at 16:52

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Unnecessary car T etris.: n ot my idea.

fintail > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 04/23/2020 at 17:07

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That means a 2 hour each way commute on rainy days (at least before ‘rona) , I think I’ll live with my “ common garage” (at least the spots are reserved, and my garage neighbors are respectful) . Or really, that’s why I am open to relocating outside of this rat race.

Haven’t seen any homeless fights here anyway.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > CB 04/23/2020 at 17:08

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Well I’m no brain person, but I see room for at least 5 more cars.

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Current state of my “driveway”

CB > WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI 04/23/2020 at 17:09

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SHHH DON’T TELL ME THAT.

Mid Engine > fintail 04/23/2020 at 17:15

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I’m an hour east of Seattle, 45 minutes from Redmond. 7 acres, lots of room for vehicles. I have five of ‘em currently

lone_liberal > CB 04/23/2020 at 17:15

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My driveway is wide, but not long. Girth is important!!!

Anyway, since there are three cars kept in the three car garage there really isn’t space for parking more in the driveway. That’s kind of weird because I grew up out in the country where driveways could be a mile long.

Nothing > CB 04/23/2020 at 17:22

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There’s my boring suburban driveway. The garage space is begging for a “fun” car.

Poor_Sh > CB 04/23/2020 at 17:23

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Nom De Plume > CB 04/23/2020 at 17:25

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Then all of sudden she will be perfect and attuned to your home environment.

Poor_Sh > Poor_Sh 04/23/2020 at 17:28

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A good group from last fall though:

fintail > Mid Engine 04/23/2020 at 17:31

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Paved driveway? I’m just thinking of people I know who live in Mill Creek or Puyallup and work in Bellevue. Commute from hell, I’d eventually drive off a cliff on purpose.

Come to think of it, I had a chance to buy an acre out close to Maple Valley, but getting facilities installed was going to be a chore, so I didn’t move on it. Even that commute can be 90 minutes easy, as a co-worker lives adjacent to the plot I was looking at, and has constant horror stories. It’s those last 5 miles to Bellevue where the gongshow starts.

RPM esq. > CB 04/23/2020 at 17:34

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Just wide enough to keep one car parked in the driveway without blocking either spot in the garage. I guess now that I’m not socializing in person or driving very much I could keep one more in the driveway, but it’s well protected in storage at the moment and I don’t have to do any car tetris.

Mid Engine > fintail 04/23/2020 at 17:59

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My driveway is 1/4 mile long, so gravel is the choice. We’re in Gold Bar (on the Wallace River, facing the state park) and work from home, I do a lot of work with Microsoft but generally can pick times when I’m on campus. Generally meet between 10:30 and 2:00 to avoid the bulk of the traffic.

We lived in Bothell for 4.5 years, got sick of being in a burb (and a HOA), sold the house at Thanksgiving last year and made bank. Bought the 7 acre s in Gold Bar for $273k

facw > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/23/2020 at 18:17

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My home parking has been good, but I used to work here:

It got worse than that, it wasn’t uncommon to another four or so cars in the lot (plus there were two garage bays as well ) . Eventually they converted the garage bays to offices , and limited the number of cars that could park there (reserving spots for the leadership team and the administrative assistants, which meant we had like two spots for a 20 person engineering team), which was annoying, but then so is having to move four cars to get someone out.  

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > facw 04/23/2020 at 18:35

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Car Tetris is not fun, especially when you have to wait for everyone to move on their own time. That sounds horrific.

fintail > Mid Engine 04/23/2020 at 18:36

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I’m hoping after this shitstorm calms down, more moronic micromanagers will be open to WFH, and commuting will become less of a requirement, at least on a daily basis. I won’t hold my breath, however.

I wasn’t in the right spot able to cash in on the recent boom, but an old co-worker almost doubled her money on a house in Redmond from 2015-19. Left the area (husband retired from a nice position at Starbucks, she works remotely, bought their new place for cash with the equity).

I could have bought the lot out in far east Renton/Maple Valley for 90K. But improvements to build would probably be 50K+ , then the cost to build. Gave me cold feet.  I’d have built a tiny house and a large garage.

Mid Engine > fintail 04/23/2020 at 18:40

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We live in a 670sq ft cottage currently , however we’r e building a 1500 sq ft shop and 24oo sq ft house on the property (with a three car garage) . Just gotta wait for the permits, 4-5 month wait.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > CB 04/23/2020 at 18:58

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Given our driveway continues out of shot for another 200 metres and it never snows here...I should have a lot more cars. M'lady is a tempering factor.

CB > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 04/23/2020 at 19:00

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Think of it this way: someone gets onto your property and steals one of your cars? No problem, you have fifty more.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > CB 04/23/2020 at 19:06

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Yes but, in my world,   none of them would be driveable...

Snuze: Needs another Swede > CB 04/23/2020 at 20:03

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There you go - got the Snuze in the foreground, the Volvo waiting patiently for a buyer, and the GMC pretending to do work.

Sadly nothing is in the garage at the moment besides my old motorcyle because I'm trying to finish drywalling inside. 

fintail > Mid Engine 04/23/2020 at 20:53

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The lot I was looking at had power and water at the street, but needed septic. I was thinking of bringing in a ~600-800 sq ft tiny house/park model and building a ~1500 sq ft garage, and then putting in some kind of driveway/parking area with maybe asphalt or paving stones.  I then started having visions of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House combined with The Money Pit combined with my co-worker’s often 90+ minute commute, and chickened out. No regrets.

Mid Engine > fintail 04/23/2020 at 23:46

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I have power, DirectTv, and Frontier internet. We’re on septic (I’ll need to add a separate 1000g pumped septic for the new house), and a private well pumping out 15 gallons per minute. I’ll need to trench and connect to the well for the new house, shared with the cottage. I’ll also need to pull power from the pole to the shop, and the house. None of this is a big deal to me, mind you I’ve been a general contractor in the past. It’s going to be a busy year :)

404 - User No Longer Available > CB 04/24/2020 at 00:15

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Just imagine all the deals when this whole thing blows over.

fintail > Mid Engine 04/24/2020 at 12:23

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The idea of a well scares me a bit, too. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. Fortunately the lot I looked at was in some kind of private water association, but the costs to bring it in from the street were going to be yuuuge. In a way I am glad I didn’t proceed, with the current unpleasantness and being a single income household without a trust fund , laying down what would almost certainly end up exceeding 300K might have been a risk.  I also don’t have any experience in this past my dad’s home improvement boondoggles when I was a kid.

Mid Engine > fintail 04/24/2020 at 12:33

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I get my well water tested annually, cost $40. The only element that’s a bit high is arsenic, mind you it’s also a bit high in city water. You can install a filter system inline at your kitchen faucet, or treat the entire house with a reverse osmosis kit. The minerals in well water are very beneficial and you’re not shar ing with a bunch of households. Additional benefit: I don’t pay for city water or sewage.

The property we bought had all the services in place, and a very small but livable home on it. For $273k. I avoided buying property without services in place, it’s very expensive to get set up. I can’t see neighbors, at all. The property directly north and east are state park. So.. my only real ne ighbors are deer, and other wildlife. 

Times have certainly changed when it comes to maintaining and repairing/upg rading a home. Not sure what you’re doing? It’s on YouTube. Roll up your sleeves and have some fun!

fintail > Mid Engine 04/24/2020 at 14:32

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I assume the well was already there when you bought it? I suppose it’s like an old car, let someone else do the big work before you buy it. The place I was looking at had a cheap water association and apparently it is fine, but it’s not like city water is expensive.  Neighbors don’t bug me, I’d just like a big garage and not have to spend 7 figures for it.     I like old houses, but not the idea of maintaining one, or building my own.  I see why flippers are still in demand.  

Really, the commute scares me most.  I’d need to find a majority WFH position before I got into such a drive, I couldn’t do it daily.  That, or leave the area. 

Mid Engine > fintail 04/24/2020 at 15:39

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Y eah, the current well was dug in 2014 and goes down 168 feet to a massive aquifer. Every so often my wife has to go to downtown Seattle, she drives to Monroe and hops on a bus. It would get old if she had to do that 5 days a week, however, you can’t beat the serenity and peace out here.

I’ll have two garages: a three car garage https://www.adairhomes.com/homes/plan/josephine

And a separate 50' x 30' standalone shop which will be $50k all in (including a lif t) . Four 10' by 10' garage doors and a 4' wide side door. We have a small mortgage on the property, I made enough selling the Bothell house to pay for the new house and shop cash.

fintail > Mid Engine 04/24/2020 at 19:31

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What would a well like that cost? I can’t imagine a bus from Monroe to DT on a weekday, sounds like a 2 hour ride.

A 3-5 car garage would be ideal for me, I am not too concerned with a house, happiness is being single (in all but income).  Big enough to store, small enough to discourage hoarding.  50K all in for that? Including foundation?  Less than I assumed.  I was imagining 50% more.

Mid Engine > fintail 04/24/2020 at 20:22

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Well is roughly $10k, it depends on the make up of the ground itself (we have a lot of rock here, sand or sandy loam would be less ). The bus ride is usually 90 minutes, she reads the news and whatnot on her phone to pass the time. Yup, $50k all in, there is no foundation as it’s a pole barn with a cement floor , company is Permabuilt.

fintail > Mid Engine 04/24/2020 at 21:41

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Good news on the garage, I am surprised - yeah, I meant cement slab.  Does it have any plumbing/heating?  That’s encouraging for when I ever get to it, maybe in a few years.

Mid Engine > fintail 04/25/2020 at 12:51

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There will be heating, initially a wood burning stove then eventually , a split ductless heat pump after I insulate and drywall the shop . No plumbing, that introduces a level of complexity and cost that isn’t worth the benefit. Connecting to a septic, bringing water to the building, and the p er mitting process is far more stringent and expensive.

fintail > Mid Engine 04/25/2020 at 20:25

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Permits? In rural SnoCo don’t those involve passing a $50 bill to someone? :)

I suppose it doesn’t get *that* cold here most of the year, a couple space heaters would probably suffice most of the time. Having some water would be nice, but maybe hooking up a big tank to a spigot would do it .