Charlotte, NC area: hate on OP, houses, boats & hoes

While we’re on the real estate updates, pickings are still slim in NE Charlotte area.

Met with a custom builder last Monday to see about going down that route. He took us to a current build which was very nice. He has two lots he wants to sell and build on. Community well, city sewer, 1/2 acre for $60K. Wider than longer lot with a neighborhood behind. Very little foliage separating the lots from this. Decided against that.

The better half is now sold on building custom, honestly not much higher than the ridiculous prices of existing homes. Land market is not much better than homes though. 1.1 acre lot lot listed last Monday $42K, contingent Wednesday. 1.4 acres has been listed 70 days at $48.5K. We look at it Friday, under contract Sunday.

Those are the lots that were desirable. Plenty of non-perking, oddly-shaped, terribly-located lots available. Surprised we haven’t seen any haunted Indian Burial Ground sites listed. Much like homes, looks like this market is a prime opportunity to offload something less than desirable unfortunately.

 

Inventory will pick up in a month or two here. Not saying dont build, because you'll certainly still have some crap to sift through buying existing, but I've been seeing new build construction schedules slide way further than normal lately. Mostly due to materials supply issues but good labor is increasingly tough to find too. I'd build as a last resort right now if I were you. That advice is worth what you paid for it though.

 

Be careful of the "community well" deal.

 

Yeah, the realtor gave us a report showing this time of year is the worst time for inventory but also showing just how historically low inventory is at the moment.

Custom builder was talking about the cost of materials too, how some of the common lumber cuts (2X4X8, for example or 4X8 OSB sheets) have tripled in price from their normal cost.

We’re still looking for existing inventory but that builder knew what he was doing when he showed her that new custom master bathroom and kitchen. Not sure I want to wait the 7 months he ballparked to finish one though.

That was a new one on me. Actually three wells he said supporting 3 neighborhoods. First neighborhood was there since I was in high school, 25 years ago. Been adding homes over time, really picked up recently with very few lots left in the three neighborhoods. It’s quite a few homes though.

 

I did that...it's been "painted" about 4-5 times now...I think it was originally a red tub after sanding through a couple layers. Whatever coating I sanded down to is not compatiable with the tub/tile paint I have...it's like trying to put latex on oil...idk.

 

Went down to RimzOne and got the lift ordered. Going with a FOX 2 inch front suspension/coil lift and a rear 1 inch spacer block to level out the rake. ~$2,000 is the lift + install and alignment. Original idea was bilstein 5100 or 5160 with ome 888 coils and aal in rear but this works too


Bilstein and Eibach is on a 60 day back order apparently

 

I couldn't agree with this more. Too many go down due to dropping the water table a lot.

 

here is the info on the lift.

 

Did they quote you for install? Likely will will be $700-900. Also, not sure I would trust "RimzOne" to do my lift, you might consider taking it to another shop for just a little more.

 

I've never heard of anyone painting a tub. Sucks that you have to deal with that.

 

Yeah, thats everything. I totally thought the labor would be like $900

The labor is like $500

 

Oh I see they have labor on there, I missed that. $360. Seems exceptionally cheap. I don't know anything about RimzOne.

I would price out an add-a-leaf before you put a 2" block on there.

 

They said the AAL would make the rear feel pretty rough. The rear block is not as rough and its less expensive

 

Well, they are the experts. He said sarcastically to no one in particular.

 

Not sure if the sanding has damaged the surface too much or not but there is specialized paint for those surfaces depending on what type of material it is.

I only know this because my grandfather owned a countertop and tub refinishing business when he was alive. Apartment complexes would bring him in between tenants to repaint/surface countertops with burns and stains and bathtubs that were stained or paint worn down and damaged. I’m not sure on price of a service like that but might be cheaper than a new one. Might be an option if you’re just trying to make something passable to list it.

Worked with him a few summers, those solvents for prep, fill and paint were some powerful shit. Wore plenty of protection when applying it. His work also brought him into some of the poorest government-funded living in Charlotte, he always carried and got packed up and out of the place before sunset. I’ll never forget one place we went - Somerset Apts. in Hidden Valley neighborhood. It’s off I-85 and Sugar Creek Rd., down the service road. You can see it from the interstate. We walked into this one apartment and there was easily 6-12” of garbage on the floor, smelled terrible. We were there to redo the countertops in the kitchen and bathroom. When we got to the kitchen the smell got worse and we realized someone had taken shit and smeared it all over the countertops and cabinets. We walked out of that job, he told management to clean and call him back or tear it out he wasn’t touching it. That was the worst one I remember but it wasn’t uncommon to break out the masks/respirators before you even opened the chemical containers to get to work.

 

I’m no expert.. but that makes zero sense

do you plan on ever having any weight in it?

 

no im not planning on adding bumpers or anything of significant weight.

 

Do you plan to put anything in the bed of your truck? Because the stock springs are good for about 100 pounds of weight. You want to put any kind of weight back there, plan to take @McRib mom out for a night on the town for instance, you are going to wish you had at least an AAL. I'm not trying to convince you one way or another, it's your truck after all, but just telling you as someone with a little bit more experience, a 2" block lift is not the way to go. If that's all you can afford I get it, but I would recommend saving up a little more before you lift.

 

I'm aware. I'm not planning on running that block forever because I guarantee its going to suck after a while.

 

I run a 1 inch block and its ok. I have nothing good or bad to say about it. Will go AAL sooner or later.

I do load it up regularly. Big roto cooler, fishing gear, camping gear. Prob in the 2-300lbs range. Havnt noticed any sag or bro lean. Im sure after time it will start to sag more. At that point ill prob just go with full leaf packs, but until then im rockin the block.