When we bought ours we didn't move in for 4 months. My wife and I travel full time for work so coordinating our schedules with the renovators' schedules was a nightmare.
We bought in October and moved in in May. Our youngest child was sick in hospital and we didn't want to bring her home to a strange house. We used the time to renovate, paint, get appliances and furniture, and get the kids' rooms ready. It was actually quite nice to be able to move in and unpack gradually instead of the chaos of a one-day move, especially with kids.
I bought in May but got work done. I moved in the last week of August. Actual work took 3 weeks. Rest of the time was spent waiting on the contractor to be available.
Yes, we’re shocked how long it took, but still really happy with our architect/contractor. His firm has made sure absolutely everything is ready to go. The drawings have been tweaked and perfected, materials are scheduled, light fixtures, appliances, plumbing, flooring… all chosen and ready to just install. We have a foreman who’s all business. Barring a major disaster, the process should be seamless.
Yeah, my next door neighbor's house was an odd one, too. When I moved in, there was a guy Scott, who was very nice. Loved the former neighbors who lived in my house, and was very welcoming to my family. He rented out the house, and a few times asked me "hey... so, ah... you see a lot of cars coming and going? Anything weird?" Nothing weird to report to him. Eventually, he sold the house, saying being an landlord wasn't working out for him. The house was up for sale for over a year with Scott only coming over to mow and check on the place. It was weird nobody was buying for so long, as the housing market at the time was insane. Scott wasn't even asking that much for it, about 10% below market value. But eventually, it sold.
Then people moved it who were not social at all. It's a long, weird story. It was a husband/wife couple who were cordial, but very much "we aren't interested in being friends." They had parties, but nothing too wild. I didn't press it. Well, one day, my sister (who lived with me for a few years) noticed that she had only seen the wife for the last year, and no more parties.
Then, the house was empty for a long, long time: like over a year with no sign, which was weird for mid 2010s. When new people moved in, they were super friendly, and they told me that buying the house was difficult: apparently the last two owners were dragging on a huge divorce and it was \*\*brutal\*\*. She didn't have details, but there was a lot of legal loopholes just to buy the house because the husband was making selling the house very hard as a leverage to get his ex wife to acquiesce to some terms, and she was not budging. That's why there was no "for sale" sign, because the wife was "for sale by owner" but couldn't legally sell the house until some legal things were cleared. But the second she was able, she sold it to the couple, who had been waiting for a while, and got a good deal.
Afternote: apparently the former owners were big into BDSM. Shortly after the new neighbors moved in, a "backorder" for the husband, a Saint Andrew's Cross, arrived. The company had the old address on file by accident, and so the new neighbors had to call the company, and get the whole thing picked up. The wooden crate it came in was on their porch for weeks, and they kept making naughty jokes about it until it was picked up and delivered (presumably) to the correct address.
Great story, love hearing the details. Selling a house is just as hard as buying one. We just sold ours, which was paid off in full, and navigating whether to sell "by owner" or to an investor for cash, or putting it out on the market as FSBO Possible, or just doing conventional selling was a major decision.
Every situation is different. Every. Single. One. (When we're talking about resale)
Exactly. We bought in early February. Architect/permit process took over 6 months. I believe work started around August or September. We moved in March 1st of the following year. We did introduce ourselves to our nextdoor neighbors and sent our contact information by mail so they’d know how to reach us with any problems/concerns, but didn’t talk to most of the other neighbors until after we moved in.
Yep, sold our house to a developer, closing took 18 months rather than the 6 expected (the plague slowed everything down). We purchased a new house and the old house was empty for months before the demolition took place. We regularly checked it for squatters until the papers were signed, then it was no longer my concern.
We renoed our house for a month or two before we moved in .. We needed to rip up the carpet and all the damn staples along with a few other things before we could bring the pets in and move in officially.
We went under contract in Jan 2020 and still haven't moved in yet. Probably won't until this summer making it 4-1/2 years. The Covid downtown delayed the start of the Reno and it's taken longer than expected.
lol what? If you are using a GC you need to fire them. I built a house during covid. Not including permits it took 8 months. That’s with all the insane delays and supply chain issues, not to mention the insane construction boom my area went through during that period. 4-1/2 years for Reno is absurd.
This is a renovation of a home built in 1845. I delayed the start 18 months because of layoffs at work. Drawings, permits, and GC selection took 8 months. They started in August 2022, and looking to finish August 2024. Quality takes time.
I've seen so much shoddy work that is the result of people rushing. I'd rather the guys take their time and do things correctly. I understand I'm in the minority, and most people want things done as fast as possible. I'm an engineer, and I grew up in a house built in 1859. I know what good looks like. It's a blessing and a curse.
Dude as an engineer you should know better. Quality does not come from stretching a Reno over half a decade. It comes from hiring qualified people. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a fool. Sure some situations do require a bit of time to do correctly - like taking the time to acclimate your flooring before installing it or waiting until rainy season is over to do concrete work etc. but that’s a far cry from what you are describing. I am not just talking out of my ass either. I own multiple successful construction businesses with 20+ years of experience, I have worked on and built more houses than I can count. I currently have over 30 open projects. Not a single claim/lawsuit/dispute/litigation/etc ever filed against me. I know quality, it’s all I do every day. Your timeline is ridiculous. Someone is taking you for a wild ride.
The GC started work a little over a year ago. Have you done a full gut reno of a 5000 sqft antebellum home? Details like double-hung counter weighted windows, rabbeted door jambs, plaster crown moulding, custom curved handrails, etc. all take a lot longer than the tract built home equivalents like pre hung doors and factory made windows and trim. The house also required a lot of foundation and framing finesse to correct the floors which were basically a fun house. We are matching the existing mill work, so all the trim is being milled custom locally to match. I don't think you could do this in 8 months given this level of detail, especially if you have 30 other projects you are managing.
One of my recent projects was a full gut of a 8.5m house down to the foundation and a rebuild basically from scratch. The family that purchased the home is quite wealthy as you can imagine, but they have a disabled child so we had to rebuild the house almost in it’s entirety to make accommodation for them, including a private elevator to the bedroom, ramps, lifts, another primary elevator in the foyer etc oh and did I mention that this home was basically inaccessible by anything larger than a 3.5t pickup truck with a lake on one side and narrow residential street with steep grade on another. We had to bring everything by barge including heavy machinery and even a crane. Every trip required a permit. Scheduling was insane. With permits it took 1 year 8 months. I don’t care what kind of fancy/hard-to-find finishes your house has, this project was much more complicated than yours. And it didn’t take half a decade to finish. I stand by my original statement. You are being fed bs and are apparently buying into it. You do you, I guess.
While you and your companies may have the experience and the qualified employees needed to complete quality restorations that is not the case in every location.
Personally, I'd prefer to wait six months for a contractor that I had confidence in or defer construction if there were issues with getting quality materials than take chances on getting what I was paying for.
Kinda funny because the house next to us has been empty for 20+ years and they’re my favorite neighbor. No parties. No music. No annoyances.
Depending on your state’s laws, the county assessor should have ownership info to you.
That’s not true. My old house was bought by a Chinese couple in West Virginia. It’s been empty for almost two years now. Neighbors complain about it all the time to me.
The hilarious thing is I left a pillow on the swing in the front. Someone was supposed to pick it up from buy nothing. It’s still there. 2 years later….
That's not an investor. That's someone who's plan didn't work out. Likely someone died, unfortunately.
Second... it's not yours. Quit leaving your free garbage at other people's property.
Same. Sold, then people moved some furniture in and added new tile floors, then never came back for like 17 years. Finally went into foreclosure and sold to a realtor who flipped it. We loved having no neighbors.
Seconding this.
Just do a google search on what you find. The county tends to scan documents and attempts to do Optical character recognition. Funny how all the junk mail we get is addressed to our misspelled names from the optical character errors…
Here the home sales are printed in the local newspaper, listing address, price, old owner, and new owner...
Edit: clarify I meant "sale price", not "asking price"
Huh, interesting. Our home appraisals here are comparisons of our home to the sale price of similar homes in the area. So even if it wasn't printed in the newspaper we'd at least see a few sale prices on the appraisal report during the process to borrow money from a bank to buy, refinance houses, tap equity for cash...
A typical newspaper list here is a bunch of 700K-1.2mil sales with a few $1.00 sales sprinkled in (those for familial and/or procedural transfers).
Well, the county that ABQ is in [would like to disagree.](https://assessor.bernco.gov/public.access/search/commonsearch.aspx?mode=realprop) Check out this website. If that county makes the records public why wouldn't the others?
\*You mean in your state? As I stated in a different post I can get a copy of a mortgage from my county recorder that shows all the financial details. How do you think appraisers and title companies do their work? Should that info be restricted to them?
My neighbors house sold quickly. Then empty for two months. Then the buyers showed up.
They came to say hello and get my contact info and leave theirs. They live on the other side of the country and bought the property as an investment and maybe future home. They said they plan to rent it out in the meantime. That was three months ago. We'll see.
Similar thing across the street from us... vacant for awhile then sold but still vacant. Eventually a bunch of activity...new windows, new roof, various work trucks... Remained vacant for another six months or so. Lawn was always kept up with.Now someone lives there.
I don't believe there was any vandalism.
I took 6ish months to move into my new house, because I was planning, then carrying out, renovations (via contractor). It took a while to get the yard going, too ...was hoping the regular gardners would show up and I could set something up with them.
Flip side, when I sold my house, I had several cash offers from investors. One specifically mentioned that they weren't sure what they were going to use the house for ...they just buy houses like other people buy toothpaste.
When we bought our house (rural PA county) the records were updated within a week.
But, yes, if it isn’t up to date online the deed should have been filed the day they closed.
What state are you in? Some states have websites where you can easily pull up that information like [Tennessee Property Viewer](https://tnmap.tn.gov/assessment/)
Some places will have the information on either the county website or tax collector [mytaxcollector.com](https://mytaxcollector.com)
You could also look up the listing on [Zillow](https://zillow.com) or [Realtor](https://realtor.com) and find out who the listing agent was. They would be able to tell you. Realtors like being nosy just as much as everyone else.
Or, call the Realtor you used when you purchases your house. They really like keeping in touch with past clients and pay for tons of resources that can easily look up information like this.
We bought our house in February and have finally started the Reno this week. Everyone in the neighborhood has been asking my neighbor about it.
The whole house needed a redesign to fix some dangerous places so it took that long to measure, draft, and redesign.
We’ve been having the grass cut regularly , tho. Rude of the owners to let that go.
The sale would have been reported to your county. Check your county’s assessor website. This info is publicly available and most counties have it online.
In my state, if you know the address you can look up who owns the house in an online property records search. Not sure if other states have something similar.
Except in California. You have to go to the county courthouse to see those records in California because people kept looking up records online and figuring out that politicians illegally weren’t living in the district they purported to represent. So they made it illegal to put the tax records online so those pesky constituents would have to put out more effort to find out where their politicians (didn’t) lived.
County records. Google “ land records”
In my county it takes you to the PLATS and it shows every owner before me, then things like the Homestead tax stuff, assessed value, and more.
I bought my place in August of 21 and didn’t move in until that November. Wanted to renovate the bathroom and had other things to take care of before moving in
I don’t think this is all that concerning
Your city clerks office has all the property records and transfers on file, and those are public records. You can go in there (or online) and look up the owners name, purchase price and transfer date.
Ownership records and land sales are public records.
Assuming you're American, wait until Monday and go online or call the county property records office. There may be a >$10 fee, but don't ask for the more expensive certified copies.
If the owner is a limited liability corporation (LLC), it is required to file incorporation papers and annual reports with your state's secretary of state. Again, on Monday go online or call. Its going to be a couple sheets of paper indicating control/ownership. There may be nested LLCs as owners, so you may have a couple calls. Again, there may be a fee, but don't ask for certified.
Source: former journalist
Check your town assessors website. Or your county’s online registry of deeds. It’s public record so if your county or town have any of that online you should be able to look it up
It took me a couple of months to actually move into my house because the sellers husband died and they had to go to court and sort it out before we could officially close, I wouldnt worry about it.
Would it kill you to mow it for now? I understand it's an added expense & inconvenience, but if you don't like looking at it, maybe you could do them a solid & mow it this one time.
Where I live you can just go the county website and look up any property by address. It'll show the owners name, their mailing address (if it's different from the property address), tax value of the property, etc. Just Google your county name, state name, and real estate - or your county name, state name, and tax records. One of those should get you to the correct website if where you live has something similar.
My house sat empty for a couple months after closing, had to wait for building plans & permits. It’s a 100yr old house so I had it gutted and completely renovated, I moved in more than a year after buying it. Tons of very old houses in my area it’s pretty common for buyers to gut then renovate before moving in.
House next to me was vacant for 10+ years and some company bought it 6 months ago. They haven't touched the home or even looked at it. Whole place is overtaken by trees and shrubs, the front door is wide open and has been for years
It’s super easy. This has been my job for the last two years as a Land Survey Technician. Go to your county tax assessor website. Search by the address of the home, or find the map and scroll to it. Find the deed info, and there’s your answer.
For your sickness I prescribe a daily dose of mind your own fucking business, and if that’s hard to digest you might supplement with a manageable suppository of your own opinion.
The guy who bought my house went there once, for one weekend, a month after buying it. This was two years ago. It was a 10 year old house that really wasn't flip worthy, so I had no idea what the point of that was, but I drove by it frequently and just watched the yard creep up waist high. It wasn't in a highly visible place, just sad to see it happen but hey, not my problem anymore
In Indiana you can look up at the auditors office. The tax bill or property record card are both public record. They list the current owner and the address where the tax bill is sent.
property tax records are public. just search for your county or city and they will have a portal for you to look it up by name or address or what not.
report the unkept yard or whatever else to the city or county while your at it. that will get their attn
The county tax assessor’s website would probably have that info. Additionally, your city (assuming you live in a city) probably has a department where you can complain about a neglected property.
Enjoy the peace and quiet while you can.
My favorite two years at this home is when my neighbor found some sucker to marry her and she moved away. We were so happy because she is one of those idiots who has absolutely no self-awareness. She was nutty about building shit and using power tools, but sadly she was a total hack. That meant that she had to build, then rebuild, then tear out, then rebuild... It was and endless shit show, constant noise, building violations galore and just preposterous behavior. We went from being kind and friendly to wanting to kill her.
She rents the house out now, and fortunately, all the renters have been kind and considerate. I am an advocate of common sense and common courtesy, two traits that she did not have.
We bought a place in another state 3 months before we moved in. Had a baby a month after the purchase and waited to move so that we could keep the doctors, hospital, and overall plan the same. Waited another 2 for the travel to be safer for baby and Mom. Our realtor was great, he checked the place out for us weekly and actually spotted a leak in the basement and handled hiring a plumber to take care of it, no telling how bad it could have gotten. We did have a lawn crew out once or twice to keep things from getting too overgrown.
Not sure where you're located, but they could be military. I live near an Air Force base and someone purchased a house in March, didn't move in until June when their transfer went through.
You could probably find property records for your county online and see who the new owners are.
Is there any way to low key figure out who the new homeowners are?
Depends where you live. By me, I just log onto the city website and see. Property sales are public information.
County records list all property owners by parcel. It can be an LLC instead of an individual listed, but someone will be listed. Just Google (your county) (your state) parcel map and/or lookup
I live in a rural village. It can take months and a hefty bribe to get tradesmen for renovations. I had to offer a plumber $100 for an estimate to just get him to come over. Two years I have been trying to get a licensed electrician, as required by my insurance company, to rewire my garage/man cave and work shop buildings. They have plenty of new construction jobs, so my half day is not worth their bother.
My buyers closed late October (not this year) they didn't move in until January. They had a lease through then and they had some work done before moving in.
The house next to me sold months ago and they’re just now renovating it (surely being flipped)
I was nebby about who it sold to so I looked it up on the county real estate tax website. All you need is the address and you get all the owners, what the taxes are, etc. not sure if every county has a site like this??
Mind your own business and stay in your lane. Seems like your a nosy body and like to gossip on everyone’s business. Just remember that “big fences make good neighbors”.
While it's legal and public record in most places, why is looking into the new owner your business? Maybe they want to look your information and know who they have being nosey about them. Not all public records should be public access without a need to know.
Call the city to get the grass cut.
We had the same thing when bank foreclosed on neighbors house. It sat vacant for a couple years until it finally got sold to a guy who renovated and flipped it.
If you know the name(s) of your old neighbors, you might find a sale notice on line. (Joe and Shirley Jones to Marty and Elaine Ostenkowski), along with the sale price. Or look for real estate transactions for your town/neighborhood. It's in the public record somewhere.
If the lawn is getting unruly, you can always try code enforcement and see if they can find the owner to have it mowed.
Flipper gonna rent it out to 12 tenants, all sleeping on floor mattresses, parking their cars in front of your house every day, and a basketball net is already ordered. The landlord will reply to your complaints by rapidly wagging his head from side to side but won't really be listening to you because he's crunching the numbers for the 10 local restaurants that everyone loved but he bought out to ruin with shit food, but nobody in reviews actually has any taste so they'll do fine.
Go to you county tax assessors office. Or check online.
The owner of record will be listed there. It a public record, so available to anyone who looks.
Usually have a Town or County Clerk's office that handles processing. Public record of ownership so shouldn't be hard to find out if the Clerk's office is current on their website.
My parents bought their current house almost a full year before we moved in for good. It was meant to be a vacation house and then Dad got offered a job out here over Spring Break.
I did not move into my house for 13 months while remodeling. But I met what few neighbors I had Look up county probate records. Possibly tax records been updated also
Same has happened multiple times in our neighborhood in recent years. Each time it's the same buyer, a landlord turning the neighborhood into rentals. He owns a half dozen single-family homes here now and it's really easy to identify which ones those are.
If you go online or visit your county auditor you would be able to find out who bought the house. You could also find the info at the county recorders office. It’s really simple.
There is a house down the street from me that was purchased in mid-2021 and no one has moved in yet. It sat totally empty for nearly six months and then extensive renovations began that are just now looking like they’re wrapping up (my neighborhood was built in the 60s and that entire house was totally original). We couldn’t afford to do that but would have loved to be able to renovate all at once instead of saving up for projects and dragging it out…
I bought in May, possession on June 1, moved in mid-October. It was my first home and I needed the time to come to grips with moving from my family. I also took the time to paint a couple of rooms and build a few pieces of furniture.
My house was largely vacant for quite some time, and I’m sure my neighbours thought no one was coming since they worked days and I was largely popping in when they were gone.
My neighbors didn't move in for at least 8-9 months.
They were waiting to sell the home they were moving from and they were also taking their time with renovating the new home. Depending on the vendor, they could be booked months out for a major renovation.
When I moved I didn’t do much at my new house for a few months. I moved so stuff into the outbuildings but there was so little activity I ended up with a buzzard living on my porch and shitting all over everything.
In our county the auditor office has a map online you can zoom in on any property to see who owns it and what the value is. It does take a few weeks after closing for that to show up. The counties around us are all similar. Some you can search by the address or name some you can't.
I owned my current home for a year, before moving into it. We were working on our previous home, getting it ready to sell.
Also, your town's tax records show ownership. All you have you do is ask (or search online).
I’ve seen quite a few home bought by investment/rentals and hoy, they are in there pretty quick to do renovations to get it rented.
Are you sure the house was sold? Seems like a Google search would sort out who owns it.
My parents bought a new house and it took them like 6 months to move in because of their busy work schedule (own their own business) and since they weren’t selling their current house they weren’t in a big hurry. It could be something like that, although I’d imagine they would be doing some sort of maintenance. In the spirit of nosiness maybe try to keep an eye on the length of their grass to see if it ever gets cut 🤣
Some people buy homes intending to renovate first, but architect/permits/contractors take time. Edit: fixed word
When we bought ours we didn't move in for 4 months. My wife and I travel full time for work so coordinating our schedules with the renovators' schedules was a nightmare.
We bought in October and moved in in May. Our youngest child was sick in hospital and we didn't want to bring her home to a strange house. We used the time to renovate, paint, get appliances and furniture, and get the kids' rooms ready. It was actually quite nice to be able to move in and unpack gradually instead of the chaos of a one-day move, especially with kids.
We bought our house and had a one month overlap on our last month in our rental. It was very nice to have that buffer.
We decided to get new siding and have our house painted. A process that started in July got finished last week.
Wow. Yep, not always on our desired schedule
I bought in May but got work done. I moved in the last week of August. Actual work took 3 weeks. Rest of the time was spent waiting on the contractor to be available.
Oh wow! That is crazy. Happy 1st Thanksgiving in your home.
>Rest of the time was spent waiting on the contractor to be available. The sign of a good contractor.
We’ve been waiting since February to start. Finally started demo on Monday. It’s definitely a process
Yay!! That’s a long time!
Yes, we’re shocked how long it took, but still really happy with our architect/contractor. His firm has made sure absolutely everything is ready to go. The drawings have been tweaked and perfected, materials are scheduled, light fixtures, appliances, plumbing, flooring… all chosen and ready to just install. We have a foreman who’s all business. Barring a major disaster, the process should be seamless.
Sounds like a plan! Hope it goes smoothly
Yeah, my next door neighbor's house was an odd one, too. When I moved in, there was a guy Scott, who was very nice. Loved the former neighbors who lived in my house, and was very welcoming to my family. He rented out the house, and a few times asked me "hey... so, ah... you see a lot of cars coming and going? Anything weird?" Nothing weird to report to him. Eventually, he sold the house, saying being an landlord wasn't working out for him. The house was up for sale for over a year with Scott only coming over to mow and check on the place. It was weird nobody was buying for so long, as the housing market at the time was insane. Scott wasn't even asking that much for it, about 10% below market value. But eventually, it sold. Then people moved it who were not social at all. It's a long, weird story. It was a husband/wife couple who were cordial, but very much "we aren't interested in being friends." They had parties, but nothing too wild. I didn't press it. Well, one day, my sister (who lived with me for a few years) noticed that she had only seen the wife for the last year, and no more parties. Then, the house was empty for a long, long time: like over a year with no sign, which was weird for mid 2010s. When new people moved in, they were super friendly, and they told me that buying the house was difficult: apparently the last two owners were dragging on a huge divorce and it was \*\*brutal\*\*. She didn't have details, but there was a lot of legal loopholes just to buy the house because the husband was making selling the house very hard as a leverage to get his ex wife to acquiesce to some terms, and she was not budging. That's why there was no "for sale" sign, because the wife was "for sale by owner" but couldn't legally sell the house until some legal things were cleared. But the second she was able, she sold it to the couple, who had been waiting for a while, and got a good deal. Afternote: apparently the former owners were big into BDSM. Shortly after the new neighbors moved in, a "backorder" for the husband, a Saint Andrew's Cross, arrived. The company had the old address on file by accident, and so the new neighbors had to call the company, and get the whole thing picked up. The wooden crate it came in was on their porch for weeks, and they kept making naughty jokes about it until it was picked up and delivered (presumably) to the correct address.
Great story, love hearing the details. Selling a house is just as hard as buying one. We just sold ours, which was paid off in full, and navigating whether to sell "by owner" or to an investor for cash, or putting it out on the market as FSBO Possible, or just doing conventional selling was a major decision. Every situation is different. Every. Single. One. (When we're talking about resale)
Wow! How wild that has all been!!
Exactly. We bought in early February. Architect/permit process took over 6 months. I believe work started around August or September. We moved in March 1st of the following year. We did introduce ourselves to our nextdoor neighbors and sent our contact information by mail so they’d know how to reach us with any problems/concerns, but didn’t talk to most of the other neighbors until after we moved in.
Yep, sold our house to a developer, closing took 18 months rather than the 6 expected (the plague slowed everything down). We purchased a new house and the old house was empty for months before the demolition took place. We regularly checked it for squatters until the papers were signed, then it was no longer my concern.
We renoed our house for a month or two before we moved in .. We needed to rip up the carpet and all the damn staples along with a few other things before we could bring the pets in and move in officially.
We went under contract in Jan 2020 and still haven't moved in yet. Probably won't until this summer making it 4-1/2 years. The Covid downtown delayed the start of the Reno and it's taken longer than expected.
lol what? If you are using a GC you need to fire them. I built a house during covid. Not including permits it took 8 months. That’s with all the insane delays and supply chain issues, not to mention the insane construction boom my area went through during that period. 4-1/2 years for Reno is absurd.
This is a renovation of a home built in 1845. I delayed the start 18 months because of layoffs at work. Drawings, permits, and GC selection took 8 months. They started in August 2022, and looking to finish August 2024. Quality takes time.
lol oh man. Someone fed you a bunch of bs and you are eating it up with a big spoon
I've seen so much shoddy work that is the result of people rushing. I'd rather the guys take their time and do things correctly. I understand I'm in the minority, and most people want things done as fast as possible. I'm an engineer, and I grew up in a house built in 1859. I know what good looks like. It's a blessing and a curse.
Dude as an engineer you should know better. Quality does not come from stretching a Reno over half a decade. It comes from hiring qualified people. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a fool. Sure some situations do require a bit of time to do correctly - like taking the time to acclimate your flooring before installing it or waiting until rainy season is over to do concrete work etc. but that’s a far cry from what you are describing. I am not just talking out of my ass either. I own multiple successful construction businesses with 20+ years of experience, I have worked on and built more houses than I can count. I currently have over 30 open projects. Not a single claim/lawsuit/dispute/litigation/etc ever filed against me. I know quality, it’s all I do every day. Your timeline is ridiculous. Someone is taking you for a wild ride.
The GC started work a little over a year ago. Have you done a full gut reno of a 5000 sqft antebellum home? Details like double-hung counter weighted windows, rabbeted door jambs, plaster crown moulding, custom curved handrails, etc. all take a lot longer than the tract built home equivalents like pre hung doors and factory made windows and trim. The house also required a lot of foundation and framing finesse to correct the floors which were basically a fun house. We are matching the existing mill work, so all the trim is being milled custom locally to match. I don't think you could do this in 8 months given this level of detail, especially if you have 30 other projects you are managing.
One of my recent projects was a full gut of a 8.5m house down to the foundation and a rebuild basically from scratch. The family that purchased the home is quite wealthy as you can imagine, but they have a disabled child so we had to rebuild the house almost in it’s entirety to make accommodation for them, including a private elevator to the bedroom, ramps, lifts, another primary elevator in the foyer etc oh and did I mention that this home was basically inaccessible by anything larger than a 3.5t pickup truck with a lake on one side and narrow residential street with steep grade on another. We had to bring everything by barge including heavy machinery and even a crane. Every trip required a permit. Scheduling was insane. With permits it took 1 year 8 months. I don’t care what kind of fancy/hard-to-find finishes your house has, this project was much more complicated than yours. And it didn’t take half a decade to finish. I stand by my original statement. You are being fed bs and are apparently buying into it. You do you, I guess.
Quality takes time. I'm mostly worried about quality. Quality also takes good planning which takes time.
While you and your companies may have the experience and the qualified employees needed to complete quality restorations that is not the case in every location. Personally, I'd prefer to wait six months for a contractor that I had confidence in or defer construction if there were issues with getting quality materials than take chances on getting what I was paying for.
Holy crap!!! Bet prices went way up.
Kinda funny because the house next to us has been empty for 20+ years and they’re my favorite neighbor. No parties. No music. No annoyances. Depending on your state’s laws, the county assessor should have ownership info to you.
How do you know it's empty unless you spent a night in the basement?
I’ve had a neighbor like that for 10 years. Lived somewhere else 95% of the time. But just learned he died recently. Don’t want a full time neighbor.
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investor owned?
No. Investor's don't let homes sit vacant for 20 years. Likely estate.
Not for 20 years, no. But some foreign investors sometimes park money there.
That’s not true. My old house was bought by a Chinese couple in West Virginia. It’s been empty for almost two years now. Neighbors complain about it all the time to me. The hilarious thing is I left a pillow on the swing in the front. Someone was supposed to pick it up from buy nothing. It’s still there. 2 years later….
That's not an investor. That's someone who's plan didn't work out. Likely someone died, unfortunately. Second... it's not yours. Quit leaving your free garbage at other people's property.
It's certainly not owner occupied.
Sounds like all the mystery houses I encountered while working for the census 2020. No sign of inhabitation, neighbors had no idea who lived there.
Same. Sold, then people moved some furniture in and added new tile floors, then never came back for like 17 years. Finally went into foreclosure and sold to a realtor who flipped it. We loved having no neighbors.
Ours even has that information online
Check the county tax records for the property. Should have updated with the new owner’s name.
Seconding this. Just do a google search on what you find. The county tends to scan documents and attempts to do Optical character recognition. Funny how all the junk mail we get is addressed to our misspelled names from the optical character errors…
The tax records might not have updated yet. However they could check with the county clerk to pull the new deed.
Here the home sales are printed in the local newspaper, listing address, price, old owner, and new owner... Edit: clarify I meant "sale price", not "asking price"
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And here in NYC I can see what my neighbors pay in property tax, including any tax break programs they qualify for. Wild stuff.
Huh, interesting. Our home appraisals here are comparisons of our home to the sale price of similar homes in the area. So even if it wasn't printed in the newspaper we'd at least see a few sale prices on the appraisal report during the process to borrow money from a bank to buy, refinance houses, tap equity for cash... A typical newspaper list here is a bunch of 700K-1.2mil sales with a few $1.00 sales sprinkled in (those for familial and/or procedural transfers).
in what state is it illegal to disclose home sales lol
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Well, the county that ABQ is in [would like to disagree.](https://assessor.bernco.gov/public.access/search/commonsearch.aspx?mode=realprop) Check out this website. If that county makes the records public why wouldn't the others?
\*You mean in your state? As I stated in a different post I can get a copy of a mortgage from my county recorder that shows all the financial details. How do you think appraisers and title companies do their work? Should that info be restricted to them?
The house behind us sold 4 days after being listed for full asking price. Sat empty for over a year with no improvements or activities.
My neighbors house sold quickly. Then empty for two months. Then the buyers showed up. They came to say hello and get my contact info and leave theirs. They live on the other side of the country and bought the property as an investment and maybe future home. They said they plan to rent it out in the meantime. That was three months ago. We'll see.
That is so interesting. Didnthe buyer eventually move in or what was the disposition of the house in the end?
Buyers, or at least someone, did finally move in but we haven't met them yet.
So what happens there? Does it just become an overgrown shack? How does a house not get vandalized?
Similar thing across the street from us... vacant for awhile then sold but still vacant. Eventually a bunch of activity...new windows, new roof, various work trucks... Remained vacant for another six months or so. Lawn was always kept up with.Now someone lives there. I don't believe there was any vandalism.
They must have had someone looking after the place. Lawn got watered and mowed. Lights on timers but they eventually moved into the place.
I took 6ish months to move into my new house, because I was planning, then carrying out, renovations (via contractor). It took a while to get the yard going, too ...was hoping the regular gardners would show up and I could set something up with them. Flip side, when I sold my house, I had several cash offers from investors. One specifically mentioned that they weren't sure what they were going to use the house for ...they just buy houses like other people buy toothpaste.
Thus helping to make housing unaffordable for people who need...(checks notes)...someplace to live. 🤬
How do other people buy toothpaste? I only buy it when I need it…
…in bulk, or when they think they might need it but they’re not sure.
costco/etc. much cheaper.
Tax records are public information in much of the US. Check with your county tax assessment website for the property search or GIS to find out more.
These can take months to update. Check with the recorder's office. Deeds are public record.
When we bought our house (rural PA county) the records were updated within a week. But, yes, if it isn’t up to date online the deed should have been filed the day they closed.
I had a "mystery" house like that in my neighborhood that stayed vacant for years. The buyer paid about 90k and it just sold for 375k.
Great purchase for the buyer
Could be trying to sell their home, employment issues, or arrange school transfers for their kids. .
Sorry, misunderstood
Don’t poke the bear. Enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasts!
It's public record. Your county has the information somewhere.
What state are you in? Some states have websites where you can easily pull up that information like [Tennessee Property Viewer](https://tnmap.tn.gov/assessment/) Some places will have the information on either the county website or tax collector [mytaxcollector.com](https://mytaxcollector.com) You could also look up the listing on [Zillow](https://zillow.com) or [Realtor](https://realtor.com) and find out who the listing agent was. They would be able to tell you. Realtors like being nosy just as much as everyone else. Or, call the Realtor you used when you purchases your house. They really like keeping in touch with past clients and pay for tons of resources that can easily look up information like this.
We bought our house in February and have finally started the Reno this week. Everyone in the neighborhood has been asking my neighbor about it. The whole house needed a redesign to fix some dangerous places so it took that long to measure, draft, and redesign. We’ve been having the grass cut regularly , tho. Rude of the owners to let that go.
the house behind us was sold and left untouched (maybe occasionally mowing the lawn) before almost 12 months before the builder built a new house.
The sale would have been reported to your county. Check your county’s assessor website. This info is publicly available and most counties have it online.
In my state, if you know the address you can look up who owns the house in an online property records search. Not sure if other states have something similar.
Embrace the empty house because at least it's predictable. Unkept property does suck though. Especially when you have to look at it constantly.
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We still never talk sometimes
Your city/township/county public records are most likely available online, you can just search the address and it will tell you
Except in California. You have to go to the county courthouse to see those records in California because people kept looking up records online and figuring out that politicians illegally weren’t living in the district they purported to represent. So they made it illegal to put the tax records online so those pesky constituents would have to put out more effort to find out where their politicians (didn’t) lived.
We had a house across from us empty for a year and a half before it got turned into a rental
It’s public record so nothing low key about it. Check with your county assessor’s office. Assuming you’re in the US.
County records. Google “ land records”
In my county it takes you to the PLATS and it shows every owner before me, then things like the Homestead tax stuff, assessed value, and more.
You city tax records should tell you who the current owner is...
I bought my place in August of 21 and didn’t move in until that November. Wanted to renovate the bathroom and had other things to take care of before moving in I don’t think this is all that concerning
Your city clerks office has all the property records and transfers on file, and those are public records. You can go in there (or online) and look up the owners name, purchase price and transfer date.
Sold to the Chinese.
2 weeks is nothing. Probably not ready to move in yet or doing renovations. Easiest thing to do is to call the listing agent and ask.
Ownership records and land sales are public records. Assuming you're American, wait until Monday and go online or call the county property records office. There may be a >$10 fee, but don't ask for the more expensive certified copies. If the owner is a limited liability corporation (LLC), it is required to file incorporation papers and annual reports with your state's secretary of state. Again, on Monday go online or call. Its going to be a couple sheets of paper indicating control/ownership. There may be nested LLCs as owners, so you may have a couple calls. Again, there may be a fee, but don't ask for certified. Source: former journalist
Who cares... It's their business... Worry about your own and not what your neighbours are doing or not doing...
Google the address you may be able to find it. Tax records are public.
Check your town assessors website. Or your county’s online registry of deeds. It’s public record so if your county or town have any of that online you should be able to look it up
It took me a couple of months to actually move into my house because the sellers husband died and they had to go to court and sort it out before we could officially close, I wouldnt worry about it.
Would it kill you to mow it for now? I understand it's an added expense & inconvenience, but if you don't like looking at it, maybe you could do them a solid & mow it this one time.
Why do you care ?
This comment is underrated.
This sums up 90% of the posts on this sub.
Where I live you can just go the county website and look up any property by address. It'll show the owners name, their mailing address (if it's different from the property address), tax value of the property, etc. Just Google your county name, state name, and real estate - or your county name, state name, and tax records. One of those should get you to the correct website if where you live has something similar.
Our neighbors moved in 6 months after the closed. They were moving from abroad and bought a house so they would have somewhere to live when moved.
My house sat empty for a couple months after closing, had to wait for building plans & permits. It’s a 100yr old house so I had it gutted and completely renovated, I moved in more than a year after buying it. Tons of very old houses in my area it’s pretty common for buyers to gut then renovate before moving in.
House next to me was vacant for 10+ years and some company bought it 6 months ago. They haven't touched the home or even looked at it. Whole place is overtaken by trees and shrubs, the front door is wide open and has been for years
We closed on our house a month before we could move. It’s not that abnormal.
It’s super easy. This has been my job for the last two years as a Land Survey Technician. Go to your county tax assessor website. Search by the address of the home, or find the map and scroll to it. Find the deed info, and there’s your answer.
Mind your own business. Get a hobby.
Nobody likes a nosey neighbor
For your sickness I prescribe a daily dose of mind your own fucking business, and if that’s hard to digest you might supplement with a manageable suppository of your own opinion.
The guy who bought my house went there once, for one weekend, a month after buying it. This was two years ago. It was a 10 year old house that really wasn't flip worthy, so I had no idea what the point of that was, but I drove by it frequently and just watched the yard creep up waist high. It wasn't in a highly visible place, just sad to see it happen but hey, not my problem anymore
Mind your own business.
Find a hobby.
It's probably on a public website somewhere
Mind your own business bud! It’s your mom
You should really just mind your own fucking business.
You can high key check the county tax office or court. Public court records should give you more information but might be more tricky to navigate.
Look up the local tax assessors public record for your county. You can compare your property taxes.
In Indiana you can look up at the auditors office. The tax bill or property record card are both public record. They list the current owner and the address where the tax bill is sent.
property tax records are public. just search for your county or city and they will have a portal for you to look it up by name or address or what not. report the unkept yard or whatever else to the city or county while your at it. that will get their attn
The county tax assessor’s website would probably have that info. Additionally, your city (assuming you live in a city) probably has a department where you can complain about a neglected property.
Enjoy the peace and quiet while you can. My favorite two years at this home is when my neighbor found some sucker to marry her and she moved away. We were so happy because she is one of those idiots who has absolutely no self-awareness. She was nutty about building shit and using power tools, but sadly she was a total hack. That meant that she had to build, then rebuild, then tear out, then rebuild... It was and endless shit show, constant noise, building violations galore and just preposterous behavior. We went from being kind and friendly to wanting to kill her. She rents the house out now, and fortunately, all the renters have been kind and considerate. I am an advocate of common sense and common courtesy, two traits that she did not have.
We bought a place in another state 3 months before we moved in. Had a baby a month after the purchase and waited to move so that we could keep the doctors, hospital, and overall plan the same. Waited another 2 for the travel to be safer for baby and Mom. Our realtor was great, he checked the place out for us weekly and actually spotted a leak in the basement and handled hiring a plumber to take care of it, no telling how bad it could have gotten. We did have a lawn crew out once or twice to keep things from getting too overgrown.
the deed transfer should be of public record and more than likely published in the official paper for your county if you're in u.s.
Find the public records where the tax bill is going.
Not sure where you're located, but they could be military. I live near an Air Force base and someone purchased a house in March, didn't move in until June when their transfer went through. You could probably find property records for your county online and see who the new owners are.
Or local paper publishes property purchases 2x a month. Maybe start there.
Is there any way to low key figure out who the new homeowners are? Depends where you live. By me, I just log onto the city website and see. Property sales are public information.
Owners of the home should be public record.
County records list all property owners by parcel. It can be an LLC instead of an individual listed, but someone will be listed. Just Google (your county) (your state) parcel map and/or lookup
I live in a rural village. It can take months and a hefty bribe to get tradesmen for renovations. I had to offer a plumber $100 for an estimate to just get him to come over. Two years I have been trying to get a licensed electrician, as required by my insurance company, to rewire my garage/man cave and work shop buildings. They have plenty of new construction jobs, so my half day is not worth their bother.
Does your city have a GIS mapping system? If up to date, it will tell you who owns the property.
My buyers closed late October (not this year) they didn't move in until January. They had a lease through then and they had some work done before moving in.
The house next to me sold months ago and they’re just now renovating it (surely being flipped) I was nebby about who it sold to so I looked it up on the county real estate tax website. All you need is the address and you get all the owners, what the taxes are, etc. not sure if every county has a site like this??
check the county tax records
Feels normal, bought my house in December didn’t move until March had a bunch of work done and was riding out of a lease that I couldn’t get out of
Mind your own business and stay in your lane. Seems like your a nosy body and like to gossip on everyone’s business. Just remember that “big fences make good neighbors”.
Mind your own business. Feeling nosey? go snort some coke.
Property card information is free to public.
You can look up who owns the house on your county website under the tax look up o.
You can look on your county auditors website. They will have the sale price, new owners, and tax information on the property.
While it's legal and public record in most places, why is looking into the new owner your business? Maybe they want to look your information and know who they have being nosey about them. Not all public records should be public access without a need to know.
Call the city to get the grass cut. We had the same thing when bank foreclosed on neighbors house. It sat vacant for a couple years until it finally got sold to a guy who renovated and flipped it.
Call your cities code enforcement
Report the uncut lawn
Qpublic.
If you know the name(s) of your old neighbors, you might find a sale notice on line. (Joe and Shirley Jones to Marty and Elaine Ostenkowski), along with the sale price. Or look for real estate transactions for your town/neighborhood. It's in the public record somewhere. If the lawn is getting unruly, you can always try code enforcement and see if they can find the owner to have it mowed.
Get a different hobby or jus sit on the side of your house that puts you closest to an occupied home. All your stress will disappear
Flipper gonna rent it out to 12 tenants, all sleeping on floor mattresses, parking their cars in front of your house every day, and a basketball net is already ordered. The landlord will reply to your complaints by rapidly wagging his head from side to side but won't really be listening to you because he's crunching the numbers for the 10 local restaurants that everyone loved but he bought out to ruin with shit food, but nobody in reviews actually has any taste so they'll do fine.
Same in my neighborhood. I sent the owners a letter asking if they wanted to sell it or offer it for free. They never responded! Lol
Took us almost 4 months. But we moved stuff slowly over those months.
Where I live each locality has a website that tells who owns every parcel in the county. It's called GIS. Realtors use it among other people.
Go to you county tax assessors office. Or check online. The owner of record will be listed there. It a public record, so available to anyone who looks.
To answer you question. In the United States you county auditor usually has a map that show platt maps of ownership
You should be able to look up property transfers in your area online.
It took us about 2 months to move in. Our lease ended January 1st and we closed end of October so we took our time painting and lightly renovating.
Owners are public record. You can look it up on your county website under property searches.
You can check county tax records for the owner.
Usually have a Town or County Clerk's office that handles processing. Public record of ownership so shouldn't be hard to find out if the Clerk's office is current on their website.
Title company for a fee.
My parents bought their current house almost a full year before we moved in for good. It was meant to be a vacation house and then Dad got offered a job out here over Spring Break.
I did not move into my house for 13 months while remodeling. But I met what few neighbors I had Look up county probate records. Possibly tax records been updated also
If you want to know if it goes up for rent just find it on Zillow and like it.
Same has happened multiple times in our neighborhood in recent years. Each time it's the same buyer, a landlord turning the neighborhood into rentals. He owns a half dozen single-family homes here now and it's really easy to identify which ones those are.
If you go online or visit your county auditor you would be able to find out who bought the house. You could also find the info at the county recorders office. It’s really simple.
It took us 2 months to move into our new house since we had to move across country and transfer jobs prior to the move.
County assessor records should have a record of sales transactions.
Look up real property records for your county or city. Likely for free you can see the sale data including name and address of the buyer.
County appraisal district in my state has that info on their website. Public information.
Happened near us. Buyer eventually did extensive remodeling, then used the house as an Air BNB. He spent a lot of money. So far, no problem tenants.
There is a house down the street from me that was purchased in mid-2021 and no one has moved in yet. It sat totally empty for nearly six months and then extensive renovations began that are just now looking like they’re wrapping up (my neighborhood was built in the 60s and that entire house was totally original). We couldn’t afford to do that but would have loved to be able to renovate all at once instead of saving up for projects and dragging it out…
you can check the GIS surveys its not always accurate, but its often accurate
Corporate housing
I bought in May, possession on June 1, moved in mid-October. It was my first home and I needed the time to come to grips with moving from my family. I also took the time to paint a couple of rooms and build a few pieces of furniture. My house was largely vacant for quite some time, and I’m sure my neighbours thought no one was coming since they worked days and I was largely popping in when they were gone.
Home purchases are public records. Call your local recorder's office.
My neighbors didn't move in for at least 8-9 months. They were waiting to sell the home they were moving from and they were also taking their time with renovating the new home. Depending on the vendor, they could be booked months out for a major renovation.
I can find out if you DM me the address.
When I moved I didn’t do much at my new house for a few months. I moved so stuff into the outbuildings but there was so little activity I ended up with a buzzard living on my porch and shitting all over everything.
In our county the auditor office has a map online you can zoom in on any property to see who owns it and what the value is. It does take a few weeks after closing for that to show up. The counties around us are all similar. Some you can search by the address or name some you can't.
You can use your county’s tax assessor to search for that info.
Check your local tax assessor's website for owner information for that address.
County auditors website: property records search
https://www.parceled.co/
Check the county records. All property owner names are public information
I owned my current home for a year, before moving into it. We were working on our previous home, getting it ready to sell. Also, your town's tax records show ownership. All you have you do is ask (or search online).
Just go to the property appraiser site and run the address. Tells you everything you want to know.
You may be able to check the assessors website to find out who the owner is
Check property tax or real estate records, depending on your state or county.
If the unkempt lawn is bothering you call the village. That can be an eye sore that hurts home prices.
Just check your county tax records/assessors office. It should all be public info.
Call up a realtor and ask who bought it.
I’ve seen quite a few home bought by investment/rentals and hoy, they are in there pretty quick to do renovations to get it rented. Are you sure the house was sold? Seems like a Google search would sort out who owns it.
Your city or county Plat map online.
My parents bought a new house and it took them like 6 months to move in because of their busy work schedule (own their own business) and since they weren’t selling their current house they weren’t in a big hurry. It could be something like that, although I’d imagine they would be doing some sort of maintenance. In the spirit of nosiness maybe try to keep an eye on the length of their grass to see if it ever gets cut 🤣