Home Building Tips

[shel311]

HOAs are insurance against shitty neighbors.

If you live close to other folks, it's well worth it IMO.

[Weasel]

No fences, other than invisible, per HOA

So odd but i guess that's the norm in the midwest/rural areas?

50 or so homes, 0.5-1.0 acre lots. Who knows, Ive never heard of it.

Im mixed on HOA, but as mentioned, Im okay with it. Previous house had a neighbor (great guy) who would keep a car in on the front lawn all the time, park in the road just across my driveway and in front of my house, etc. These are things Id rather not look at/deal with

[Cnasty]

Yea can’t stand the street parking and this neighborhood squashes that quick versus my last one.

I highly prefer an HOA especially when they have good perks as well and I’ve lived in both.

[ReignOnU]

No fences, other than invisible, per HOA

So odd but i guess that's the norm in the midwest/rural areas?

Definitely in SW Ohio. Most suburbs here allow them, but HOAs typically restrict the style. They almost never allow 6', full view blocking privacy fences or anything that is chain.

[ReignOnU]

Yea can’t stand the street parking and this neighborhood squashes that quick versus my last one.

I highly prefer an HOA especially when they have good perks as well and I’ve lived in both.

I think it's all a crapshoot. Some can be great and really support what needs to be done. Others become annoying and excessive.

I'll be looking at plots/land options over the next year and this one is on the list of things that I have to thoroughly vet.

[shel311]

I think it's all a crapshoot. Some can be great and really support what needs to be done. Others become annoying and excessive.

I'll be looking at plots/land options over the next year and this one is on the list of things that I have to thoroughly vet.

Getting an old realtor who had worked the DFW area for 35 years really helped us.


Every house we looked at or wanted to look at, he could immediately tell us all about the reputation of the HOA. Scratched a few houses we loved off the list based on some bad stories he was able to tell us from experience.

[ReignOnU]

I think it's all a crapshoot. Some can be great and really support what needs to be done. Others become annoying and excessive.

I'll be looking at plots/land options over the next year and this one is on the list of things that I have to thoroughly vet.

Getting an old realtor who had worked the DFW area for 35 years really helped us.


Every house we looked at or wanted to look at, he could immediately tell us all about the reputation of the HOA. Scratched a few houses we loved off the list based on some bad stories he was able to tell us from experience.

+1 for super experienced local realtor... adding to my list.

[Weasel]

Trying to mentally sort out how to wire the home for ethernet.

ISP -> Modem -> Router (potentially Google Wifi)

A router only has a couple ports, in Googles case 2. How would it "branch" out to each of the other rooms in the house? Would it just use a switch?

Google WiFi Router port 1 -> Modem
Google WiFi Router port 2 -> Switch -> Various rooms in the house

So you would essentially have the router, modem, and switch hidden in some cabinet in the house to get the desired rooms wired connections, then place the other Google 'pods' at various places in the house for better WiFi coverage. Is this correct?

[Cnasty]

I have my router/modem from my internet provider centralized in a spot in the house connected to the “main” google Wifi pod.

I put Ethernet switches behind all possible tv spots in the house so the builder wired it and provider activated it.

Then place google Wifi pods strategically across the house to kill any Wifi dead zones. 1 in the living room, 1 in the front of the house, one in the middle.

There is a newer version of google Wifi they just released. Haven’t researched what it offers over the current model which is perfectly fine.

[Weasel]

There is a newer version of google Wifi they just released. Haven’t researched what it offers over the current model which is perfectly fine.

"Nest WiFi". Apparently a very minor hardware upgraded router. Access points lose their ethernet ports, which is actually a downgrade in my book. They also now double as Google Home speakers, which I actually would rather do without anyway. Ill likely just go with the older version TBH

[Weasel]

Cat5e sufficient? Or do I need to go with Cat6?

[Cnasty]

And I assume the older version is cheaper at this point and Black Friday coming up.

Win win.

Another tip, make a huge ass list of your ideal/dream scenario of things you want and set alerts on Slickdeals for items.
Google homes
Google home video
Cameras
Wifi
Tvs
Streaming devices
Etc

I didn’t buy one item at full price of tech for this house. I did luck out that we moved into the new home in December which was great timing with Black Friday/cyber Monday.

I have 4 cameras around the house all integrated into google homes/videos and Nest setup. Got most of it 50-75% off at various points of the year going into the new home.

[Cnasty]

Cat5e sufficient? Or do I need to go with Cat6?

Always future proof as high as you can with something like that imo and go Cat 6.

Especially as cost is negligible when you spread across 30 years or whatever you are doing for your terms.

[The_Niddler]

Always go with the newest cabling! As Corey said, future proof as much as you can.
Technology will never downgrade.

Cat6 cables provide performance speeds up to 250MHz.
Cat5 cables in contrast, only provide speeds up to 100 MHz and they support 1000 Mbps (1Gbps).
Cat6a supports the same 10 Gbps transmission speed as Cat6, but up to 328 feet and at 500 MHz.

[Weasel]

Been having issues w our WiFi being very slow, with very spotty coverage in the basement. Router and extender are about 8 years old, so figured might as well replace them now if I'm going to when I move anyway. Went with the Google WiFi mesh network. Without changing anything about my internet service, speeds increased from 4-10x depending on the room. Too about 15 mins to setup. Thrilled so far

[DRWebs]

Been having issues w our WiFi being very slow, with very spotty coverage in the basement. Router and extender are about 8 years old, so figured might as well replace them now if I'm going to when I move anyway. Went with the Google WiFi mesh network. Without changing anything about my internet service, speeds increased from 4-10x depending on the room. Too about 15 mins to setup. Thrilled so far

Also make sure your laptop or devices are capable of receiving the newer bands/speeds... Most cell phones are but if your laptop or computer is say 5 years old it might not be

[Cnasty]

Been having issues w our WiFi being very slow, with very spotty coverage in the basement. Router and extender are about 8 years old, so figured might as well replace them now if I'm going to when I move anyway. Went with the Google WiFi mesh network. Without changing anything about my internet service, speeds increased from 4-10x depending on the room. Too about 15 mins to setup. Thrilled so far

They are magical devices.
We are consistently streaming multiple streaming boxes, iPads, and phones and it rarely ever skips a beat.

Highly recommend to anyone with dead zones and for increased speeds.

Also a nice perk is giving friends/family guest Wifi functionality and also timers set on kids iPads/devices to limit as needed too.

Tons of functionality.

[Weasel]

Also a nice perk is giving friends/family guest Wifi functionality

Whats the benefit of this opposed to just giving them the main wifi pw?

[Cnasty]

Just easier if your password is very long and hasn't been changed since internet installed.

Also depending on how much you trust your family and friends if the password is something you use frequently

[The_Niddler]

When people are on your guest wifi, they have internet access, but cannot see any of your devices that are on your main wifi.
So if you do have family members you don't fully trust, they cannot get into anything on your network.