All Forum Posts by: Steven N.

@Evan R.  a town of about 6k people called Spydeberg ( translated Spear Hill)

@Louis Leone  - There are neighboring towns which are larger than Spydeberg within 7 miles, and the major highway E18 connects them all, along with the major passenger train railway. But spydeberg is a more "quiet" town. The same size apartment but brand new above a supermarket about 1mile from the property in question is listed for 500kUSD. Insane.

@Lynn McGeein  Agreed. The exit strategy is certainly dumping the property after one year.  Renting a property in the surrounding area will be around 1507USD/month . From calculations of actually just taking a loan out on the 100k purchase price and paying the building Loan, we actually come out ahead with purchasing.

We spoke over dinner and she is completely set on buying this property. I feel like now its all about me trying to mitigate loss.... ugh...

@Account Closed - This area is where she wants to live for the next year, and there is nothing to rent. But there are properties to buy. 

I apologize ahead of time for the way I lay this out as it will be amatuer, because I am a amateur. Also for most likely leaving some numbers out you all need to help me out. We would occupy this property for a year and be moving to the US in late fall 2015. 

This property is in Norway. Centrally located near the shops and public transportation, and schools. check check check. 

I will be converting all the $ amounts USD as of exchange rates today.

678sqft 2Bedroom 1bath apartment. In great shape.

Asking price: Now this is where it is a little confusing for me. The actual apartment asking price is $100,000 (630,000nok) which is what we would pay to get into the place all cash. But immediately there is a monthly payment due on a loan which is assumed upon purchase for the actual Apartment Building, which is merged with other expenses for the apartment; water, garbage, television and internet(upgradeable naturally) building insurance, janitor services, snow removal, and overall grounds upkeep, and other maintenance.

This payment is $1040 (6,558.00kr) per month. This loan is $152,952 (963 598kr)

All apartments are like this in Norway. What is strange (unverified) is my wife said we cannot pay this portion off early.

So I lump this loan with the asking price of the apartment for a total of $252,952.

Upon moving out, and attempting to turn this into a rental or selling; Potential Buyers and Tenants must be approved by the Apartment Building Board. 

More Problems: No property management company to speak of. In my search I have yet to find one that actually is a 100% service. Several will let you list your property on their rental sites for a fee. So living 6000 miles from this property already seems a deal breaker.

Plus sides : There are no available rentals in this property's town. None. But there are several houses for sale, but no other apartments. This area is desirable. Comparable apartments rent for  $1507/month (9500kr)

I plan on making a few calls on Monday to get some clarifications, but my wife is really pushing me for this property. Open house is next week also.  

Thanks for your time!

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@Account Closed 

You're asking good questions.

@Account Closed

not sure if serious.

If the area that is getting touched up is above your knee level, and the bathroom has decent lighting, trying to touch it up without the exact color is just going to look tacky/terrible. If it is below the knee and not well lit, you could get away with just being in the color family.

Buy one gallon of paint which is close to the color family of what is currently on the walls and spend the couple hours painting to make it right. All hardware stores/paint stores sell cheap roller setup/brush kits to get you through it.

I see that people are mentioning HardiePlank as a solution. If you go this route, please find someone who has hung it before.

Few years ago I was called to come bid a new construction home for paint. They used pre-painted navy blue HardiePlank on the exterior and the professional contractors hanging it had typical size gaps where the siding pieces meet eachother } So when it was all said and done, they had to caulk the cracks with the Hardie colored caulking, which in turn left this very glossy shine outlining every crack on the house. The siding comes with some touchup paint, they applied this to Just those crack areas and feathered out hoping to blend.

Didn't work.

I came out as I said to the homeowners disappointment  to bid painting the exterior which he thought he wasn't going to need to do with HardiePlank. But we couldn't come to a agreement on price so there it sits unpainted and unimpressive overall.

While walking back to my truck I looked in the contractors truck-bed and saw a bunch of bracket-like things all piled up. I don't know much about HardiePlank but that sure looked like a sheath for the siding boards.

Maybe to help minimize the size of crack gaps? Maybe to ensure waterproofing? 

Sorry this went kind of long. Wood is King in my opinion but than again that was my job security.

I have five uncles who are house painting/cabinet finishing contractors with about 25-35 years experience for each of them. I'd just cycle through calling them about any questions I'd encounter. I have a little over 6 years  experience myself.

You need to at least spot-prime the exposed raw wood. If you had a lot of peeling on the siding, the contractor should scrape it well and light hand-sand the edges down(if you're dealing with lead paint then take proper respiratory precautions.)

I'd also not trust anything that's primer-paint all in one. But that's opinion. Skipping a step is what I look at it as.