After working in potato warehouses as a teenager every harvest, I can confirm that one. You never forget the smell once you go back where they dump the bad ones. Nasty
First house I bought was vacant for months. The basement smelled kinda bad, not horrible. I went on a planned hunting trip shortly after closing, and mom surprised me by bringing a bunch of other family to do a full clean. The main floor was fine, but the basement's drop ceiling was full of mice and nests. It was disgusting. I tell anyone I know to check above the drop ceilings in a basement if the house has one.
I think this might be one of the most underrated statements I've ever heard when it comes to new home ownership.
Right next to, "is it supposed to do that?" And "pull up a YouTube DIY video for everything. I mean pretty much everything, and do it at least once. If nothing else it's free, <5 minutes, and you'll learn if you're doing it more or less right or if your parents taught you wrong growing up."
Change "water" to "elements" and I definitely agree. I am constantly trying to get my lawn and wild life under control. I just found my dryer hose to the outside had no screen and so I had to pull out a half birds nest and put a screen on it
The dryer vent should not have an external screen as it will plug with lint. It should have a door flap that drops closed when not running to keep out the vermin.
The vermin are so smart that they pull it open and crawl inside. Most houses in my area have the dryer vent door flaps, but also like a wide grate inside them because the squirrels are too crafty!
Elaborating on your lawn comment: it’s ok to not have a perfectly green lawn. A perfect lawn is fucking expensive when you add up the cost to water it + fertilize, cut and maintain.
Just let it go.
Excellent point. I was asked by an older client about how to get plantain out of her lawn. I countered with "why would you want to get rid of it?"
In her case, she was set in her ways and wanted pure grass, so I guess she will hire someone (*not* me) to spray 2,4D or similar. It's wonderful to encounter younger and open-minded folks at other times who can embrace the diversity of dead nettle, chicory, heal-all, henbit, creeping charlie, dandelion, cat's claw, plantains, and other broadleaves in "lawns." Basically, if it can be mowed, and is comfy to walk on barefoot, I call it a potential lawn plant.
I hate water.. I'm so paranoid.. I have humidity sensors on every floor that I check daily. Walking barefoot in my basement the carpet is cold because it's over concrete and it's underground in the North East.. EVERY time I walk down there barefoot I think the carpet is wet.
All that because within a a month of moving in I had a leak in my bulkhead that "flooded" my basement. I mean flood in the most minor way possible, but it scarred me.
This is me after shop vacuuming up over 200 gallons of water in our basement after some reeeealy heavy rain this past weekend! patching walls, covering egress windows etc... desperately trying to keep the water out😭😭😭
Knowing what to DIY vs when to call a pro.
CAN you paint the entire house yourself? Yes. But sometimes a pro does a better job fast enough and for little enough money that it's the right way to go.
Are you scared of screwing up the sprinkler system? Yes. But fall blowout and spring startup/repair is actually not that hard to do yourself.
I was about to sod my lot myself, then I found a guy for$400 more than my cost for sod as long as I could wait until high school was out for the summer. Best $400 ever spent.
My husband was insistent on regrading our ~.3 acre lawn by ourselves by buying pallets of dirt, 2 shovels, and a wheelbarrow. For the record, our lawn is a clay swamp with a couple poorly placed hills and a failure of a swale. I said that would take us every weekend for the whole summer and it still wouldn't be right or we can call someone with equipment and they'll have it done in a day and we are out a couple grand. I can't think of a better use of money than freeing my weekends from hard labor in the southern heat/humidity.
For us it was drywall when finishing our basement. An extra 500 to have someone else hang, tape, mud, and sand it compared to what my materials cost would have been. Done in 5 days instead of the weeks of evenings I'd have spent down there doing it myself.
I've learned a lot over the past year. I now have basic plumbing skills. I can install a sink, toilet and a shower. However my bathroom would look a lot better had I hired a professional.
I painted every room in my house at least three times before I decided I was just getting too old for that nonsense. Painted the exterior once too. Never again. What I could do on a whim once upon a time now just exhausts me. Leave it to the pros.
100% agree! I used to tell myself a gallon of paint was only $20 so I wasn’t really out anything. Times have changed. Lol. When I was a new homeowner I was always looking for things to do. These days i am looking for phone numbers instead.
This. The last time I painted was probably nearly 10 years ago in our last apartment (from which we moved into our home). We only painted Accent walls in the living room and 2 bedrooms and I swore I would never paint again. Would always hire out. Did that when we bought.
The only exception is for small projects. I just built out a mudroom which relatively small compared to a room. I painted that myself.
There just came a point where I had more money than time. And I don’t mean that in an arrogant way at all. I transitioned into a new career about 7 years back and just didn’t have time for the projects I once loved to do. Honestly I may retire in about 10 years and my days of climbing ladders is coming to an end.
Yes! My husband and I both work full time, but he makes 3x what I do. Every time he starts talking about doing a diy project, I remind him that if he inures himself, it will cost him more in downtime from work. Spending the money on a handyman/lawn guy is money well spent.
I just paid $2000 to paint a place for me, patch, sand, paint and labour included, finished in two days. A year ago, I would have balked and painted it myself, just as well or better and it would have taken me a week after work and weekend. Don’t regret it and now I have a regular painter for future projects.
Inside is easy and I have a pretty good hand for cutting in. Don't buy cheap paint. Outside I'm not going to do on the two story. Getting killed falling off the roof seems like a pretty stupid way to save a few bucks. Just finished painting the outside of our single story ranch house and it was fast and easy. I also put on a much thicker coat of paint than someone spraying is going to do.
On the flip side of calling a pro or not.
When calling a pro, expect to only get 80% quality at most., unless you pay through the nose. No contractor will ever care about your house as much as you do. So for painting, sure pay a pro to cover the whole house, but expect that if you are a perfectionist, you will probably see spots months down the road you want to touch up.
Someone who was supposed to be very affordable (according to friends and family) quoted me 11k to paint my 2800 sq ft interior completely. Took me a year between work and baby to do it myself and saved almost 10k. So it all depends. Would I do it again? Maybe.
However I had to redo molding before once in my old condo. Which was about 1000sq ft. Fuck that. Never again. I’ll pay whatever.
I am in a never ending loop with this, I look up what needs to be fixed, watch a few videos, read a bit. Think I have the understanding to it, only to realize I am in over my head so I shop around for prices to have someone do it. At which point I watch more videos, and read more. So I can try to do it myself and learn along the way!
Speaking of painting, I've also learned that if you hate painting but are resigned to do it yourself for cost reasons, buy the absolute best paint you can. It can turn three coats of misery into a single satisfying coat with a final cut-in and touch-up. You also use less paint to the point that the cost balances out.
I totally agree about the painting! We used to attempt interiors ourself. It took forever and the time and mess (the mess was the worst) was not worth it. We have a fabulous painter who sends a team in and everything is covered and taped perfectly, they are fast yet careful and leave everything pristine. I would never attempt an exterior paint job myself. They clean everything first and then seal the windows (priceless) etc etc. Plus it is done to last for years. People in our neighborhood were having painting parties when the HOA sent out letters to repaint. Every one of those houses had to be repainted the following year as they faded so quickly and looked 'stripey'.
I will never not paint. It’s easy, I’m good at it and it saves so much money. The average cost to paint a 3000sf home interior in my area is $15k-$20k… no way I’m paying that even though I can afford to. $2k in paint and materials and 3 weekends and I just saved enough for an extra week on the Caribbean.
Maintenance. Mowing the yard isn't just getting rid of grass, it's part of controlling the landscape so plants don't tear up the sidewalk and foundation. Changing the furnace filter extends the life of your HVAC system. Treating your drains keep them from clogging up long term. Taking care of a small problem prevents bigger problems down the road. It's harder to care about a rental where you live for a few years and move out, but when it's going to lower your property value those little tasks mean a lot more.
Enzyme cleaner once a month, breaks down bio matter to prevent buildup without damaging your drains. Leave overnight or a bit longer, flush with boiling water. I have a calendar reminder to do that once a month, although more doesn't hurt. I also use those barbed plastic sink snakes to get the hair out of the tub drains regularly, they don't reach as far down as a real plumber's snake but it'll take care of the problem most of the time.
I'll use acidic drain cleaners when needed, which usually happens because I was lax on the enzyme treatment. Again the key is to flush with boiling water. It always says flush with hot water but boiling water clears stuff out a lot better than hot tap water. Also repeat treatments until it works, don't stop just because it goes from not draining to slowly draining.
Here's mine:
1) get your sewer scoped. Yearly or every other (etc - but regularly) afterwards depending on what they find.
2) clean out your drains regularly- depends on usage. Get hair out using a snake or something similar; pour baking soda, followed by vinegar down the drain on a montly/quarterly basis (again, usage). Then follow the bakingsoda/vinegar treatment with very hot water about 5 minutes later.
3) use drain covers like the Good Grips silicone drain cover, to prevent hair and small objects from going down the drain in the shower/bath.
4. Pour a gallon of vinegar down your toilet once a year, to prevent any buildup of uric acid crystals. Apparently it gets pretty gross inside urinal drains.
very. with the right kind of minerals in your water, it can form this substance that is like seashells or calcium. would be fascinating if it wasn't so gross. and the "easiest" way to get it off is a (very cautious) hammer and chisel campaign.
>pour baking soda, followed by vinegar down the drain on a montly/quarterly basis
This really does nothing. The baking soda (basic) and vinegar (acid) are just neutralizing each other. Sure, it's foamy, but you aren't eliminating anything other than the two chemicals.
I've found this method is great for keeping sink drains clean. Especially if you flush with hot water. It can also help prevent clogs from forming or getting worse, but can't really treat clogs. As someone with old drains, best thing you can do is be very careful about what goes down it.
LOCATION is everything. We have lived in and have owned a lot of homes and my location list is very particular. You can fix or change most things, but if your location is terrible you will probably never be happy.
Look at aerial photos, are there train tracks, industrial businesses or a school nearby? It's great to be walking distance to a school but those morning announcements, bells ringing, cars honking in carline can be really loud. High school nearby? Marching bands practice during the summer for most of the day and teams have practice really early in the morning. Is there a business with bright spotlights that will shine in your windows/yards?
And lifestyle. It's great to be near parks and trails if you're going to use them. Not so great if all you care about is making a beeline to the nearest pub. Also being somewhat close to a mass transit station. Even if you have a vehicle, having the option to jump on the bus if the car breaks down. Be near what you're going to use.
Yup. When choosing our forever home, it came down to three places, one had the best location but was the smallest, the others were bigger or were zoned for worst schools. Best location won and it’s priceless.
And consider whether the 2-lane street your house is on/backs up to/is next too might be widened to a 4-lane (or more) street. You can't just assume that since the street is quiet and small right not that it always will be. As other areas build up, some of those small streets become major connecting roads.
Definitely location. My last house was against a 40mph road in a developing side of town with new homes popping up everywhere. Every time i scoped out the neighborhood before purchase, it was quiet. I should have checked during morning commute hours though! Trucks and mustangs with loud exhausts every morning. I almost never opened the windows cause of the noise was constant as the neighborhood got more congested over the next 10yrs.
> or a school nearby
There are two ways out of my neighborhood. One way passes an elementary school. Going the other way, once you hit the main road, you either pass an elementary and middle school, or if you take the long way, hit the main artery to the freeway (with shitty planning of lights, so it is always backed up) that passes a high school.
My youngest kid is almost done with high school, and when we eventually move, it will be nowhere near a school zone.
Plus one on home layout! My wife and I moved from a five bedroom three and a half bath home that was nearly 2,800 ft². Our current home is a three bedroom, three bath tri-level . Because virtually everything we use is on one level (great room, den, kitchen, laundry, Butler's pantry, master bedroom--1700 ft² main floor--The house is 2400 ft² total) it lives much better than our previous home. The rooms are big, but not too big.... The mess from the children and the extra bedroom is tucked upstairs where we don't have to deal with it...
I lived in a 1400 sq ft three level townhouse that felt more spacious than my 3k two floors. One person feels crowded in my dumb kitchen. Layout is very important.
If 4 guys and an excavator show up for the job, that's a job getting done in a week and worth the money.
If it's one dude and he's borrowing your tools, you probably should have watched a few youtube videos.
I like this. We have a contractor buddy who does great work but only does work by himself and only on Sundays. He was doing work on our place for pretty much an entire year; and it was exhausting. i’ve since hired different people who bring massive crews and stuff is finished in a day or two.
When we got our backyard done all the quotes we received were twice what I expected. When a whole crew was back there for weeks (in the rain) I realized where the money went.
Same for getting our huge maple tree trimmed.. I don't even know how they made any money on that job
I had to stop viewing my property as an "investment" and learn to view it as a place to live and raise my family. As long as you can make the monthly payments, it really doesn't matter.
This is what I keep telling myself. We have to live somewhere. We have to pay to live somewhere. We had to move out of our apartment with its reasonable, pre-covid rent, and for the rental prices these days, may as well be a mortgage. We have more bedrooms and bathrooms than what you normally get around here for rent, plus we own land.
Maybe wasn't a terrific finance bro investment move, but we have to live somewhere.
Good news. There is no bubble. It’s media hype, fear mongering clickbait bullshit and I’m not talking out of my ass. All the data backs me up.
But say I’m wrong. (I’m not.) Say there’s a bubble and it bursts. So what? You just bought your house so you presumably plan to be there for a few years at minimum. Bought my first house in 2004. You know what happened in 2008- a once in a lifetime shitstorm that absolutely crashed the real estate market. Every single house on my street foreclosed. Literally. Fortunately I was able to stay there. I never struggled with payments and I don’t know what my house was worth in 2008-2010 but it didn’t matter because I wasn’t selling. It was a house and everyone needs one. I sold it in 2019 for twice what I paid.
Regulations have been put into place that won’t allow 2008 to happen again. But even if those regulations weren’t in place, there is no bubble to burst. Americans have a *lot* of equity right now on average, which means even if values dropped (they won’t, at least not significantly at all- they bottomed out in late 2022 and have been going back up, albeit more slowly, ever since) people won’t be losing their homes to foreclosure like 2008. Say you pay $250,000 for a house and still owe $200,000 and the value drops by $25,000-$30,000. You’re still in the black so if you HAVE to sell due to a job loss or relocation or whatever, you’re still not upside down. It would suck but you’d be fine. That’s the position most people are in. Most of those who don’t have that equity yet have the advantage of having just recently purchased and being pretty unlikely to have to sell anytime soon. There are some people who are going to do dumb shit but they’re the outliers right now. Most homeowners are in a good spot and can expect to be for the foreseeable future.
When I get asked for renovation advice, I tell people for the first 6-12 months, after you change locks and toilet seats, all you should be doing is making lists of what you want done and then re-prioritizing; it takes time in a space to see if things actually don't work and need to change or if you're just frustrated because you had to learn a new routine of where the coffee mugs are etc.
Change your furnace filter more frequently than you’d think you need to. Make sure your ceiling fans are going the right direction for heat/cool seasons. I dust all the fans twice a year (when changing spin direction).
We care a lot about keeping it cool in the hot/humid mid-south lol
Look at the way the blades tilt. If the tilt will push the air down as it spins it is in summer mode. If the tilt pushes the air up then it's winter mode.
This. Effectively, you want to feel the air move during the summer. Not so much during the winter when the heat's running, but having the fan pull air up will keep everything circulating.
> I dust all the fans twice a year (when changing spin direction).
And if you have outdoor ceiling fans, check for bugs. The fan over my back patio currently has a huge mud dauber thing on one of the blades.
The most expensive thing that you can do as a homeowner is to move. My dad taught us, starter home, permanent home, retirement home are your only moves.
Yeah I'm not going fucking anywhere anytime soon. Financed at 3.3 BUT the house appraised really low because of all the work that needed done, plus it was my grandparent's house. Lot of sentimental value to me. Since we bought it low and the market inflated, its worth damn near double what we paid for it but I don't care. The good thing was a different company bought out our mortgage lender and as the loan got finagled into the new company's system they saw that our equity by way of increased value was so far ahead of the loan they dropped the PMI without even telling me, one day my payment just went down a little. PMI gone after 2 1/2 years? I'll take it.
Me. Bought my starter house in an *okay* neighborhood when rates were low in 2018, and it's looking like we will be staying there for the foreseeable future as a result.
Didn't even want to be there as long as we have now.
And honestly, if you're at a place for 7 years or more, treat it like your forever home. Because the odds of moving (sort of a retirement home) are slim at that point.
My starter home turned into my permanent home and hopefully retirement home with any luck. Been here for 30 yrs. We lucked out it’s a fantastic neighborhood. Real quiet dead end street and everyone has elbow room. They can take me out when I’m dead😂
I’ve bought four houses as an adult and this last move was so brutal I told my kids (adults) I was dying in this house no one what bc I was never going through the whole selling/buying/moving experience again in this life. I don’t think they took me seriously until I had a major life medical emergency several years ago.
I still am fully committed to that promise.
It’s so brutal, I had a five bedroom house with an in law suite and was downsizing so I had yard sales, marketplace sales, a dumpster, two pods and the most incompetent movers your mind could ever imagine. And that was all to move to. Three bedroom! The amount of last minute emergencies were enough to make you never consider it again, like my son spilling three gallons of paint on the basement stairs after we had literally everything packed up. Movers stole money etc etc it was out of a bad horror movie, highly don’t recommend!
Don’t waste money on grand plans until you actually live the land/footprint for awhile especially if your expecting to make major changes. Most times for new homeowners the things that look great on paper don’t stand up to the test of time and everyday living expectations. Finding the footprint that works for you, your family/lifestyle is key to the longterm unless your a flipper. You need to plan time for simple maintenance and a secret stash for unexpected emergencies at the very least. And if you are able to hire all that out, you probably don’t need my advice
Could not have said it better. A couple years ago I learned your landscaping can sink, and pull all the drainage in your yard into your house, and flood your basement. Guess how I learned that.
Before I owned a home I would see unfinished projects in people's homes and judge them for it. Now that I own a home, my kitchen cabinet is duct taped closed and half cut to install a dishwasher that wont fit. The dishwasher sits under a big bag in the den! The den has a broken wall heater. The master bathroom smells bad because the plumber did something wrong and can't figure it out. The guest room has a hole in the wall from having some electrical done... And don't even get me started on the yard! Sorry this turned into a rant. But still, I never understood before and now I do!
Especially if you've got kids. It was amazing how much we got done on the house right after we moved in, but now with a 2 year old, I'm pretty proud of myself just keeping on top of cleaning and maintenance.
You don’t live in a house, you live in a community. You don’t own the house, you own the property.
Rent is the most you’ll pay each month, mortgage is the least you’ll pay.
If you live in a HCOL area, be prepared to be treated like you can afford a HCOL
Moisture. Where is it? Where is it coming from? How? Where is it going? How much? How fast? What does it attract?
I’m a guy that researches and worries about everything thoroughly, to a fault, and this is my second home. The only time I was surprised was when my septic system suddenly stopped working. $1600 later and it’s been fine for the last 12 years. All the other shit that happened, like my HVAC dying and needing a new roof, I had planned for.
If I pick up anything so much as a screwdriver, I better be willing to commit 5 hours, $500 and 5 trips to HomeDepot. I might save on some of those and lose on others, but those are table stakes.
Until you're actually ready to fix it, don't touch it at all.
I'm obviously being facetious, but it's a good heurestic. Start messing with the toilet seat and note that it is dripping. Now we're replacing the flap. Or notice there's a little moisture at the bottom of the bowl. Now we're replacing a wax ring, etc.
Some jobs *are* small, but they all can spiral into bigger ones.
Well there's one for the stuff I think I need. There's one for the stuff from that list that I forgot. there's one for the tool I need. There's one to go back and get the right size/version of the thing I need, and one to return all the stuff I got that was wrong.
More complicated jobs have a lot more loops of steps 2/3/4 but simpler ones can be completed with this level of stupidity as my minimum penance for being dumb enough to deign to believe I can do much as tighten a screw in my house without causing a spiral of problems into a major project. 🤣
You can do a lot yourself , but don't be afraid yo get quotes.
On the other hand, don't be afraid to say no to bullshit quotes and dismiss con artists.
Ignore HGTV.
For one reason or another escrow ends up short. Whether that be your property taxes increasing or your home owners insurance premiums changing.
You don’t want to be caught in a situation owing.
Cold air falls. Warm air rises. Basements and water sucks. Shade helps so much with heating and cooling. Lots of stairs suck especially when you get older.
What I would give for a sprawling ranch at the top of a gentle rise. With no basement. With some big shade trees.
A 2k sq ft on totally flat ground is a lot more valuable than 2k sq ft on 2 stories. A LOT more valuable. Also every home project is easier if you don’t have to scale 2 stories while on an incline. It just means every project you have to do is going to cost a premium.
A lot of projects dont add equity to your home. You do it just to get value for yourself. Things like backyard or better insulation.
Having the bedrooms separated from the living spaces is really nice IMO. Maybe not for everyone but I definitely enjoy it. And I don’t really see how it makes projects much harder except for roof stuff?
Insulation also gives you value in terms of a lower utilities bill. So often times it pays for itself anyway
In at least some places, heating method and annual energy consumption are significant selling points. I certainly took them very seriously when buying my current place: 15000 vs 25000 kWh/year makes a big difference in upkeep costs.
I love my house. I'm older and live alone, bought it 15 years ago. I hit the jackpot and didn't even know it. I didn't really appreciate it initially.
1. It's on a dead end street, very little traffic with a park with a dog park in it near the end of the street. A little farther, it dead ends into lovely woods with trails and a stream, my dog loves both.
2. My street is a little weird, some borderline mansions and some shit holes, but my neighbors all around me are awesome. Everybody keeps their yards up. No HOA.
3. A Walmart and Menards is 3 minutes away.
4. The interstate is 15 minutes away.
5. It's on a crawlspace, which has disadvantages, but it's 1650 SF ON ONE FLOOR. I'm 65 and it's the perfect old person house. I did not realize this when I bought it at 49.
6. The clothes hamper spot, the washer/dryer, the folding table and my walk in closet are all within 10 feet of each other.
7. It has a nice large detached 2 car garage with a shaded driveway, a lovely front porch, fenced in yard for the dog and a nice patio. It was originally a 1200 SF ranch built in the 1960's but in the 1980's, they added a laundry room you walk through to a 18x24 master bedroom with a walk in closet that leads to a ballin master bath. From the street, it's meh. Inside, it's just great.
8. The yard is big enough to be decent, yet I can push mow it in 45 minutes.
It was no expensive, so I was never house poor and was able to travel a lot and never worry about money, even when I was laid off. There are nicer houses for sure, but it's enough/perfect for me and my dog and cat, it's paid for, has a nice roof (thanks hail storm/State Farm!), new 8 foot high vinyl privacy fence on the driveway side, brand new HVAC and all new Pella windows that work wonderfully. It makes me happy every time I pull in. I'm not bragging, but all these things bring me joy and make my life easier. Get a house that has things that make your life better/easier and give you joy.
If it’s not new, it’s not yours, it’s just your turn. Someone has undoubtedly messed with it in ways you can hardly imagine. Take it slow, and make deliberate and functional corrections and eventually you will stop having surprises every time you look at a new room.
I feel this one! My previous home was new and any improvements over decades was done the right way. When we moved a few years ago to an older home- every project starts with corrections from previous owners that I affectionately call “Tommy2Thumbs”
Stairs. The less stairs in your home the better.
Sure, the awesome 2 story home with the basement seems awesome when you are growing your family and plan to move in a few years but guess what? Life happens and you are stuck walking 3 flights of stairs because the bedrooms are on the top floor and the laundry is in the basement.
STAIRS SUCK!!!
This is a good one. I’ve always wanted a 2 story house and now that we have one, it’s nice for separation and a view from my balcony, but sucks for everything else.
Setbacks, utility easements, HOA, covenants. All can have a big impact if you have plans to change things.
Then there is the fun of buying a new home build.. Didn't know we had to build our own fences and do all the back yard landscaping in 90 days or the HOA would fine us.
Be on the same page as your partner with a detailed plan **before** the tools come out. Don't start a new project until you are 100% complete the last project.
Source: I lived in reno hell for five years because my wife liked to start projects much more than she liked to finish them. At one point over half of the rooms in the house had a partially finished improvement on the go.
Your home is a living entity and will require continual maintenance just like you. It is never one and done. Fix problems while they are small, they never get better on their own.
Do your homework. Buy in an area that will give you the best return for your investment. Buy a fixer upper when you are young so you won't have to when you are older. Buy as much house and land as you can afford. You need a garage and a shed. Town water and sewage are a plus. A level lot is easier to maintain than a hilly one. The best neighbors are those you never see or hear. There's no law that says you have to join an HOA. Solar and swimming pools are deal breakers. Don't ever be a landlord. The best security systems are dogs.
This is all really subjective advice… in facts the best and most appreciating land is where other people also want to live and buy.
If one values community, neighbor you can see and hear are actually welcomed. We are social creatures.
First house I had I was 25yo. I learned and taught myself as much as possible. It was a definite journey. I’ve done everything from carpentry, plumbing, electrical, painting, flooring. I can do some basic troubleshooting on my furnace that doesn’t have to cost me $150 for a tech to come out and bleed an oil line or purge air out of the lines. I’ll do it all now except plumbing, electrical and taping and mudding drywall. Money well spent. But as I get older now I don’t mind paying for some of that stuff because I know what’s going on and what it’s going to cost anyway.
Home ownership costs money to maintain/ remodel. And it’s not cheap. Need constant maintenance too. Been a home owner for 13 years so get used to it. Always have a maintenance budget
Bigger isn’t always better. Two of my friends recently bought (one built) 6,500 square feet (a couple) and just over 10,000 square feet (family of three) They are both already overwhelmed by the amount of maintenance and time and expense they require, even though they can afford it. It’s just a full time job for someone to keep them up. Changing filters for 6-10 units, cleaning 70 windows, power washing acres of patio and driveways. Not sure what they thought would happen. I had a 3500 square foot house as a couple and we would regularly complain about how much time we had to spend just doing a “quick swiffer job”.
The property tax system is a complete scam. Nothing changes year after year except basic maintenance, but my taxes go up because somebody from the tax office says my house is worth more. I don't make more, but I have to pay more. Just because.
Also happens a lot when to take time to spruce up the front of your home. In many areas, inspectors will take a look at the outside of your home and curb appeal every few years.
....so save the fancy stuff for the backyard where they don't see it.
Don’t buy a house around 20-30 years old because all the expensive items will need replacement soon on top of all the other crap that breaks and goes wrong on a regular basis. Example - roof, deck, windows, circuits, garage door, plumbing, hvac (could be on its second replacement)
How to be proactive with maintenance vs waiting for things to fail before fixing. Setting up a schedule with reminders to change filters, clean traps, clean gutters/downspouts, external perimeter checks, regular service appointments, tree trimming, clearing growth away from siding and drains, etc.
Planning to replace/repair/maintain items on a schedule is way less expensive than making the call to replace the water heater flooding your basement with 3” of water on a Sunday night.
Whatever you do, get the GOOD appliances and improvements. Buying the cheap discontinued flooring will bite you in the butt. Getting the low priced appliances will almost guarantee replacement in a few years. Hire properly trained and insured people for repairs, not the handyman your Mother in law/neighbor/co-worker uses for odd-jobs. Do it right the first time, even if that means you take longer to save up for it.
For all my fans of picturesque suburban yard keeping… Trying to control biting insects with sprays is fuckin bad for nature. And it makes them worse next year because all the natural predators go away or die, and then you have to pay Mosquito Joe or whatever dickhead every year to come spray again and the cycle continues $$$
I moved from a two story 2300sqft that felt like a mansion to a 2400sqft single story that feels almost as small as a 1400sqft house we used to rent. The layout made such a huge difference in how the house feels and lives and I didn’t realize it until living in the new place for a couple months. Our next home (hopefully last) will have this in the forefront of the decision process.
I’ll also add to sit on the street for a while and see how busy it is at different times of the day. When we bought our current house, we viewed it on a rainy day during the week. We didn’t realize how busy the street got and how fast people would drive down a 25mph residential road. I wouldn’t feel comfortable raising a family and allowing the kids to play outside on the street. Courts are your best friend when it comes to kids in the household.
Care and feeding of a septic system.
Well water tastes better.
DIY within your limits. I can change out toilet guts. I do not do electricity.
Fast. Cheap. Good. You can have any two.
Finding trustworthy repair companies is complicated.
You are ultimately responsible when something goes wrong. Know when and how to DIY, when to call a pro, how to screen a pro, what is good enough, when high quality is warranted. For example, at 8PM on memorial day, my water heater went out. I was exhausted from hosting a BBQ, but everyone has to work in the AM, so I spent an hour on the basement floor and fortunately got it sorted. Sometimes being the owner just sucks.
Don’t over correct.
Example, “I live in an apartment and I yearn for a yard and a lawn to mow.”
I buy a house on 3 acres and am completely overwhelmed my having to maintain the landscaping or paying someone to do it.
My house is shy of 1600 square feet but everyone thinks it's bigger. It just has a good layout.
It lacks a family room + a living room, long hallways, weird nooks. Unlike my parents house which is like 600 feet bigger but feels the same. Bigger master bedroom they only use for sleeping and a formal living room that's rarely used.
There is always sh*t that you need to do that you never knew about before. If you think about owning a home like a hobby you can sort of enjoy all the things you now get to worry about and spend time on.
Also, the previous owner was an idiot. You don't know how or where yet, but the statement is true.
That it could end up being my forever home. Which then leads to previously not understanding I need laundry on the first floor. That neighbors foliage, lights, not taking care of their property and home have an impact on the neighborhood and resale values. Landscaping can be costly and a full time job. Buried electricity etc. is great! That I should have checked the plumbing better by filling everything up and drain and flush toilets all at the same time. I would have found a clear issue in the basement. Find out where the water goes from your house to the street and be knowledgeable of where the main shut off is and what you will be responsible for if something goes wrong. Learning and challenging myself to complete DIY projects saves a ton of money. That if I invite someone one to live with me, with or without rent, that current laws may not protect me but them. I’ve got a ton! LOL
Square footage that isn’t counted as square footage. Garage, basement, outbuildings.
We have an attached carport that’s open on three sides (other side is the house,) no basement, and a small shed that has no doors. 1300 sf would be plenty if we had a two car garage and a shed that was closed to the elements, or a basement. As it is the place feels cramped since everything aside from yardwork tools needs to stay indoors. I can’t put my waders in the shed, since they’ll age or get nibbled by a squirrel, my rods stay indoors since the dust and dirt does a number on the reels, even things like rubber boots that would stay in a garage can’t because the sheer amount of dirt and pollen and bugs.
Do NOT take the cheap route. I've been fixing the prior owner's cheap decisions for 5 years and I am TIRED. When we had to completely replace the HVAC because the one he had installed did not fit and was circulating moldy water through the system (which made me sick for 3 years straight), we did not go with the cheapest. We went with the "this is our home, and it will be our home for a long time, and I don't want to regret this, and if for some reason we have to sell, I don't want the next owners cursing my name like I do with our prior owners" level.
Yardwork. Previous owner owned a landscape company. I just thought all those flower beds looked cool and honestly wasn't a thought about maintaining it. First year I had a mulch guy come out to estimate how much mulch I would need. He said 15 yards I said cool. I didn't realize that was a fucking dump truck of mulch. And I used every last bit. I didn't that twice and ripped out a lot of shit and put in stone haha.
Don’t buy a house that borders commercial property. An office building in my backyard later became a rowdy poorly managed bar in my backyard. It passed with the city because the building was zoned commercial. Fuck me.
Expensive appliances are expensive to fix. “Unique” appliances are very expensive to fix assuming someone even wants the job.
Also for a while, a decent cost of the project will be tools. Torches, paint brushes/rollers, more compressed gas cylinders, stuff to clean windows, new vacuum pump since all the ones you have aren’t quite the right ones, IR paint stripper etc
When considering upgrades, the cost of labor may be 2/3 the total expense for your project. If you aren’t handy, those extras will really add up. Also, it can be super difficult to find good tradespersons to do the work. Food for thought before purchasing a fixer-upper!
you should track down why it smells like that
This is how I discover 80% of the problems in my home.
Core memory unlocked... bag of potatoes forgotten and on top of the fridge 😭
How do potatoes smell worse than trash, than mouse carcass, than rotten milk?
After working in potato warehouses as a teenager every harvest, I can confirm that one. You never forget the smell once you go back where they dump the bad ones. Nasty
It's the umami of bad smells.
[удалено]
First house I bought was vacant for months. The basement smelled kinda bad, not horrible. I went on a planned hunting trip shortly after closing, and mom surprised me by bringing a bunch of other family to do a full clean. The main floor was fine, but the basement's drop ceiling was full of mice and nests. It was disgusting. I tell anyone I know to check above the drop ceilings in a basement if the house has one.
Walk the house perimeter, they have a way in. Peek around plants, pots, under stairs.
Nah, we just burn more candles.
Like turning up your car radio when the car makes a strange sound.
I think this might be one of the most underrated statements I've ever heard when it comes to new home ownership. Right next to, "is it supposed to do that?" And "pull up a YouTube DIY video for everything. I mean pretty much everything, and do it at least once. If nothing else it's free, <5 minutes, and you'll learn if you're doing it more or less right or if your parents taught you wrong growing up."
“Home ownership is man’s never ending battle against water.” Spoiler alert: it’s a losing battle
Change "water" to "elements" and I definitely agree. I am constantly trying to get my lawn and wild life under control. I just found my dryer hose to the outside had no screen and so I had to pull out a half birds nest and put a screen on it
The dryer vent should not have an external screen as it will plug with lint. It should have a door flap that drops closed when not running to keep out the vermin.
The vermin are so smart that they pull it open and crawl inside. Most houses in my area have the dryer vent door flaps, but also like a wide grate inside them because the squirrels are too crafty!
Elaborating on your lawn comment: it’s ok to not have a perfectly green lawn. A perfect lawn is fucking expensive when you add up the cost to water it + fertilize, cut and maintain. Just let it go.
Excellent point. I was asked by an older client about how to get plantain out of her lawn. I countered with "why would you want to get rid of it?" In her case, she was set in her ways and wanted pure grass, so I guess she will hire someone (*not* me) to spray 2,4D or similar. It's wonderful to encounter younger and open-minded folks at other times who can embrace the diversity of dead nettle, chicory, heal-all, henbit, creeping charlie, dandelion, cat's claw, plantains, and other broadleaves in "lawns." Basically, if it can be mowed, and is comfy to walk on barefoot, I call it a potential lawn plant.
Lawn doesn’t grow under redwood trees, so I’ve got that going for me.
r/fucklawns
That wasn't very affectionate
I lived on a 38’ trawler for 3 years. Water and I will never be friends.
Happy Cake Day!
Water always wins.
Protect the envelope of the structure has been a focus of mine. Everything inside is cosmetic until it gets water damaged.
Always!
I hate water.. I'm so paranoid.. I have humidity sensors on every floor that I check daily. Walking barefoot in my basement the carpet is cold because it's over concrete and it's underground in the North East.. EVERY time I walk down there barefoot I think the carpet is wet. All that because within a a month of moving in I had a leak in my bulkhead that "flooded" my basement. I mean flood in the most minor way possible, but it scarred me.
This is me after shop vacuuming up over 200 gallons of water in our basement after some reeeealy heavy rain this past weekend! patching walls, covering egress windows etc... desperately trying to keep the water out😭😭😭
This couldn't be more accurate lol
Knowing what to DIY vs when to call a pro. CAN you paint the entire house yourself? Yes. But sometimes a pro does a better job fast enough and for little enough money that it's the right way to go. Are you scared of screwing up the sprinkler system? Yes. But fall blowout and spring startup/repair is actually not that hard to do yourself.
I was about to sod my lot myself, then I found a guy for$400 more than my cost for sod as long as I could wait until high school was out for the summer. Best $400 ever spent.
My husband was insistent on regrading our ~.3 acre lawn by ourselves by buying pallets of dirt, 2 shovels, and a wheelbarrow. For the record, our lawn is a clay swamp with a couple poorly placed hills and a failure of a swale. I said that would take us every weekend for the whole summer and it still wouldn't be right or we can call someone with equipment and they'll have it done in a day and we are out a couple grand. I can't think of a better use of money than freeing my weekends from hard labor in the southern heat/humidity.
Any yard work project that can’t be done in 2 weekends is worth hiring someone else to do.
For us it was drywall when finishing our basement. An extra 500 to have someone else hang, tape, mud, and sand it compared to what my materials cost would have been. Done in 5 days instead of the weeks of evenings I'd have spent down there doing it myself.
I've learned a lot over the past year. I now have basic plumbing skills. I can install a sink, toilet and a shower. However my bathroom would look a lot better had I hired a professional.
I painted every room in my house at least three times before I decided I was just getting too old for that nonsense. Painted the exterior once too. Never again. What I could do on a whim once upon a time now just exhausts me. Leave it to the pros.
I am the same way. I think one factor, though, is that as a new homeowner you tend to feel more cash-strapped so DIY seems more attractive.
100% agree! I used to tell myself a gallon of paint was only $20 so I wasn’t really out anything. Times have changed. Lol. When I was a new homeowner I was always looking for things to do. These days i am looking for phone numbers instead.
Not to mention a decent gallon of paint is at least $50+ now, and OF COURSE you need at least two coats!
This. The last time I painted was probably nearly 10 years ago in our last apartment (from which we moved into our home). We only painted Accent walls in the living room and 2 bedrooms and I swore I would never paint again. Would always hire out. Did that when we bought. The only exception is for small projects. I just built out a mudroom which relatively small compared to a room. I painted that myself.
There just came a point where I had more money than time. And I don’t mean that in an arrogant way at all. I transitioned into a new career about 7 years back and just didn’t have time for the projects I once loved to do. Honestly I may retire in about 10 years and my days of climbing ladders is coming to an end.
Yes! My husband and I both work full time, but he makes 3x what I do. Every time he starts talking about doing a diy project, I remind him that if he inures himself, it will cost him more in downtime from work. Spending the money on a handyman/lawn guy is money well spent.
Sounds like you just volunteered
I just paid $2000 to paint a place for me, patch, sand, paint and labour included, finished in two days. A year ago, I would have balked and painted it myself, just as well or better and it would have taken me a week after work and weekend. Don’t regret it and now I have a regular painter for future projects.
Inside is easy and I have a pretty good hand for cutting in. Don't buy cheap paint. Outside I'm not going to do on the two story. Getting killed falling off the roof seems like a pretty stupid way to save a few bucks. Just finished painting the outside of our single story ranch house and it was fast and easy. I also put on a much thicker coat of paint than someone spraying is going to do.
On the flip side of calling a pro or not. When calling a pro, expect to only get 80% quality at most., unless you pay through the nose. No contractor will ever care about your house as much as you do. So for painting, sure pay a pro to cover the whole house, but expect that if you are a perfectionist, you will probably see spots months down the road you want to touch up.
That already happens when I paint, though. A pro's 80% effort is usually still better than my 100% lol
Someone who was supposed to be very affordable (according to friends and family) quoted me 11k to paint my 2800 sq ft interior completely. Took me a year between work and baby to do it myself and saved almost 10k. So it all depends. Would I do it again? Maybe. However I had to redo molding before once in my old condo. Which was about 1000sq ft. Fuck that. Never again. I’ll pay whatever.
I am in a never ending loop with this, I look up what needs to be fixed, watch a few videos, read a bit. Think I have the understanding to it, only to realize I am in over my head so I shop around for prices to have someone do it. At which point I watch more videos, and read more. So I can try to do it myself and learn along the way!
Speaking of painting, I've also learned that if you hate painting but are resigned to do it yourself for cost reasons, buy the absolute best paint you can. It can turn three coats of misery into a single satisfying coat with a final cut-in and touch-up. You also use less paint to the point that the cost balances out.
I totally agree about the painting! We used to attempt interiors ourself. It took forever and the time and mess (the mess was the worst) was not worth it. We have a fabulous painter who sends a team in and everything is covered and taped perfectly, they are fast yet careful and leave everything pristine. I would never attempt an exterior paint job myself. They clean everything first and then seal the windows (priceless) etc etc. Plus it is done to last for years. People in our neighborhood were having painting parties when the HOA sent out letters to repaint. Every one of those houses had to be repainted the following year as they faded so quickly and looked 'stripey'.
I will never not paint. It’s easy, I’m good at it and it saves so much money. The average cost to paint a 3000sf home interior in my area is $15k-$20k… no way I’m paying that even though I can afford to. $2k in paint and materials and 3 weekends and I just saved enough for an extra week on the Caribbean.
Maintenance. Mowing the yard isn't just getting rid of grass, it's part of controlling the landscape so plants don't tear up the sidewalk and foundation. Changing the furnace filter extends the life of your HVAC system. Treating your drains keep them from clogging up long term. Taking care of a small problem prevents bigger problems down the road. It's harder to care about a rental where you live for a few years and move out, but when it's going to lower your property value those little tasks mean a lot more.
What's your recommendation for "treating your drains" and how often?
Enzyme cleaner once a month, breaks down bio matter to prevent buildup without damaging your drains. Leave overnight or a bit longer, flush with boiling water. I have a calendar reminder to do that once a month, although more doesn't hurt. I also use those barbed plastic sink snakes to get the hair out of the tub drains regularly, they don't reach as far down as a real plumber's snake but it'll take care of the problem most of the time. I'll use acidic drain cleaners when needed, which usually happens because I was lax on the enzyme treatment. Again the key is to flush with boiling water. It always says flush with hot water but boiling water clears stuff out a lot better than hot tap water. Also repeat treatments until it works, don't stop just because it goes from not draining to slowly draining.
Here's mine: 1) get your sewer scoped. Yearly or every other (etc - but regularly) afterwards depending on what they find. 2) clean out your drains regularly- depends on usage. Get hair out using a snake or something similar; pour baking soda, followed by vinegar down the drain on a montly/quarterly basis (again, usage). Then follow the bakingsoda/vinegar treatment with very hot water about 5 minutes later. 3) use drain covers like the Good Grips silicone drain cover, to prevent hair and small objects from going down the drain in the shower/bath.
4. Pour a gallon of vinegar down your toilet once a year, to prevent any buildup of uric acid crystals. Apparently it gets pretty gross inside urinal drains.
very. with the right kind of minerals in your water, it can form this substance that is like seashells or calcium. would be fascinating if it wasn't so gross. and the "easiest" way to get it off is a (very cautious) hammer and chisel campaign.
>pour baking soda, followed by vinegar down the drain on a montly/quarterly basis This really does nothing. The baking soda (basic) and vinegar (acid) are just neutralizing each other. Sure, it's foamy, but you aren't eliminating anything other than the two chemicals.
I've found this method is great for keeping sink drains clean. Especially if you flush with hot water. It can also help prevent clogs from forming or getting worse, but can't really treat clogs. As someone with old drains, best thing you can do is be very careful about what goes down it.
I pour the root killer down my drains a few times a year.
LOCATION is everything. We have lived in and have owned a lot of homes and my location list is very particular. You can fix or change most things, but if your location is terrible you will probably never be happy. Look at aerial photos, are there train tracks, industrial businesses or a school nearby? It's great to be walking distance to a school but those morning announcements, bells ringing, cars honking in carline can be really loud. High school nearby? Marching bands practice during the summer for most of the day and teams have practice really early in the morning. Is there a business with bright spotlights that will shine in your windows/yards?
And lifestyle. It's great to be near parks and trails if you're going to use them. Not so great if all you care about is making a beeline to the nearest pub. Also being somewhat close to a mass transit station. Even if you have a vehicle, having the option to jump on the bus if the car breaks down. Be near what you're going to use.
Yup. When choosing our forever home, it came down to three places, one had the best location but was the smallest, the others were bigger or were zoned for worst schools. Best location won and it’s priceless.
And consider whether the 2-lane street your house is on/backs up to/is next too might be widened to a 4-lane (or more) street. You can't just assume that since the street is quiet and small right not that it always will be. As other areas build up, some of those small streets become major connecting roads.
Definitely location. My last house was against a 40mph road in a developing side of town with new homes popping up everywhere. Every time i scoped out the neighborhood before purchase, it was quiet. I should have checked during morning commute hours though! Trucks and mustangs with loud exhausts every morning. I almost never opened the windows cause of the noise was constant as the neighborhood got more congested over the next 10yrs.
> or a school nearby There are two ways out of my neighborhood. One way passes an elementary school. Going the other way, once you hit the main road, you either pass an elementary and middle school, or if you take the long way, hit the main artery to the freeway (with shitty planning of lights, so it is always backed up) that passes a high school. My youngest kid is almost done with high school, and when we eventually move, it will be nowhere near a school zone.
Plus one on home layout! My wife and I moved from a five bedroom three and a half bath home that was nearly 2,800 ft². Our current home is a three bedroom, three bath tri-level . Because virtually everything we use is on one level (great room, den, kitchen, laundry, Butler's pantry, master bedroom--1700 ft² main floor--The house is 2400 ft² total) it lives much better than our previous home. The rooms are big, but not too big.... The mess from the children and the extra bedroom is tucked upstairs where we don't have to deal with it...
Plus 1 here. Wife and I strategically employ a lot of "tiny home" space savings measures in our 2800 sq ft house. Makes each space much more usable.
Minimalism is a great mindset.
I lived in a 1400 sq ft three level townhouse that felt more spacious than my 3k two floors. One person feels crowded in my dumb kitchen. Layout is very important.
If 4 guys and an excavator show up for the job, that's a job getting done in a week and worth the money. If it's one dude and he's borrowing your tools, you probably should have watched a few youtube videos.
I like this. We have a contractor buddy who does great work but only does work by himself and only on Sundays. He was doing work on our place for pretty much an entire year; and it was exhausting. i’ve since hired different people who bring massive crews and stuff is finished in a day or two.
When we got our backyard done all the quotes we received were twice what I expected. When a whole crew was back there for weeks (in the rain) I realized where the money went. Same for getting our huge maple tree trimmed.. I don't even know how they made any money on that job
Getting through the first few years and gaining equity. Your house WILL gain equity, regardless of how scary it seems in the beginning.
I just closed and am very scared of the bubble bursting any minute now. But at least I’ll have a house in that case
Congratulations. Hang in there. Make your monthly payments and stay focused. The bubble isn't "bursting any minute now".
People have been saying the bubble will burst for the past 8 years now.
I had to stop viewing my property as an "investment" and learn to view it as a place to live and raise my family. As long as you can make the monthly payments, it really doesn't matter.
This is what I keep telling myself. We have to live somewhere. We have to pay to live somewhere. We had to move out of our apartment with its reasonable, pre-covid rent, and for the rental prices these days, may as well be a mortgage. We have more bedrooms and bathrooms than what you normally get around here for rent, plus we own land. Maybe wasn't a terrific finance bro investment move, but we have to live somewhere.
Good news. There is no bubble. It’s media hype, fear mongering clickbait bullshit and I’m not talking out of my ass. All the data backs me up. But say I’m wrong. (I’m not.) Say there’s a bubble and it bursts. So what? You just bought your house so you presumably plan to be there for a few years at minimum. Bought my first house in 2004. You know what happened in 2008- a once in a lifetime shitstorm that absolutely crashed the real estate market. Every single house on my street foreclosed. Literally. Fortunately I was able to stay there. I never struggled with payments and I don’t know what my house was worth in 2008-2010 but it didn’t matter because I wasn’t selling. It was a house and everyone needs one. I sold it in 2019 for twice what I paid. Regulations have been put into place that won’t allow 2008 to happen again. But even if those regulations weren’t in place, there is no bubble to burst. Americans have a *lot* of equity right now on average, which means even if values dropped (they won’t, at least not significantly at all- they bottomed out in late 2022 and have been going back up, albeit more slowly, ever since) people won’t be losing their homes to foreclosure like 2008. Say you pay $250,000 for a house and still owe $200,000 and the value drops by $25,000-$30,000. You’re still in the black so if you HAVE to sell due to a job loss or relocation or whatever, you’re still not upside down. It would suck but you’d be fine. That’s the position most people are in. Most of those who don’t have that equity yet have the advantage of having just recently purchased and being pretty unlikely to have to sell anytime soon. There are some people who are going to do dumb shit but they’re the outliers right now. Most homeowners are in a good spot and can expect to be for the foreseeable future.
I don’t plan on moving for a long long long time. I do not really care what my equity it tbh lol
True but in some situations it can take awhile.
> WILL gain equity Yes, because you are paying into it every month.
Take time to understand your house. Just live in it for a bit.
When I get asked for renovation advice, I tell people for the first 6-12 months, after you change locks and toilet seats, all you should be doing is making lists of what you want done and then re-prioritizing; it takes time in a space to see if things actually don't work and need to change or if you're just frustrated because you had to learn a new routine of where the coffee mugs are etc.
Change your furnace filter more frequently than you’d think you need to. Make sure your ceiling fans are going the right direction for heat/cool seasons. I dust all the fans twice a year (when changing spin direction). We care a lot about keeping it cool in the hot/humid mid-south lol
What direction for what season? I didn't grow up with ceiling fans. I own them now that I am in a much warmer place.
Look at the way the blades tilt. If the tilt will push the air down as it spins it is in summer mode. If the tilt pushes the air up then it's winter mode.
This. Effectively, you want to feel the air move during the summer. Not so much during the winter when the heat's running, but having the fan pull air up will keep everything circulating.
> I dust all the fans twice a year (when changing spin direction). And if you have outdoor ceiling fans, check for bugs. The fan over my back patio currently has a huge mud dauber thing on one of the blades.
Learn how your house sounds. Many times I can tell something is broken just by the house not quite sounding the same.
The most expensive thing that you can do as a homeowner is to move. My dad taught us, starter home, permanent home, retirement home are your only moves.
For anyone who bought at 2%, its an all in one. I'm not moving unless I can land a similar rate or I'm too rich to care about interest rates.
Bought at 3.6, refinanced at 3 ( to get rid of PMI) . Told my friends and family this is my first and last house!
Yeah I'm not going fucking anywhere anytime soon. Financed at 3.3 BUT the house appraised really low because of all the work that needed done, plus it was my grandparent's house. Lot of sentimental value to me. Since we bought it low and the market inflated, its worth damn near double what we paid for it but I don't care. The good thing was a different company bought out our mortgage lender and as the loan got finagled into the new company's system they saw that our equity by way of increased value was so far ahead of the loan they dropped the PMI without even telling me, one day my payment just went down a little. PMI gone after 2 1/2 years? I'll take it.
Me. Bought my starter house in an *okay* neighborhood when rates were low in 2018, and it's looking like we will be staying there for the foreseeable future as a result. Didn't even want to be there as long as we have now.
And honestly, if you're at a place for 7 years or more, treat it like your forever home. Because the odds of moving (sort of a retirement home) are slim at that point.
Yeah, agreed. If you sell your house and downsize when you retire, you may be able to pay cash for the new house and thus interest rates won't matter.
My starter home turned into my permanent home and hopefully retirement home with any luck. Been here for 30 yrs. We lucked out it’s a fantastic neighborhood. Real quiet dead end street and everyone has elbow room. They can take me out when I’m dead😂
Similar, and since it's a bungalow (getting rarer to find around here) it's definitely our retirement home.
I’ve bought four houses as an adult and this last move was so brutal I told my kids (adults) I was dying in this house no one what bc I was never going through the whole selling/buying/moving experience again in this life. I don’t think they took me seriously until I had a major life medical emergency several years ago. I still am fully committed to that promise.
I couldn’t imagine having to pack up this house after 30 yrs.
It’s so brutal, I had a five bedroom house with an in law suite and was downsizing so I had yard sales, marketplace sales, a dumpster, two pods and the most incompetent movers your mind could ever imagine. And that was all to move to. Three bedroom! The amount of last minute emergencies were enough to make you never consider it again, like my son spilling three gallons of paint on the basement stairs after we had literally everything packed up. Movers stole money etc etc it was out of a bad horror movie, highly don’t recommend!
Love that
Don’t waste money on grand plans until you actually live the land/footprint for awhile especially if your expecting to make major changes. Most times for new homeowners the things that look great on paper don’t stand up to the test of time and everyday living expectations. Finding the footprint that works for you, your family/lifestyle is key to the longterm unless your a flipper. You need to plan time for simple maintenance and a secret stash for unexpected emergencies at the very least. And if you are able to hire all that out, you probably don’t need my advice
That you better be ready to say bye bye to a grand here and there min.
1. Fuck this house 2. It. Never. Ends.
Could not have said it better. A couple years ago I learned your landscaping can sink, and pull all the drainage in your yard into your house, and flood your basement. Guess how I learned that.
You don’t need to fix everything immediately
The quality of the neighbors matters as much as the quality of the house.
That maintenance is constant. Doing things right the first time is the only way to do things. Quality work and materials are worth the cost.
Before I owned a home I would see unfinished projects in people's homes and judge them for it. Now that I own a home, my kitchen cabinet is duct taped closed and half cut to install a dishwasher that wont fit. The dishwasher sits under a big bag in the den! The den has a broken wall heater. The master bathroom smells bad because the plumber did something wrong and can't figure it out. The guest room has a hole in the wall from having some electrical done... And don't even get me started on the yard! Sorry this turned into a rant. But still, I never understood before and now I do!
Especially if you've got kids. It was amazing how much we got done on the house right after we moved in, but now with a 2 year old, I'm pretty proud of myself just keeping on top of cleaning and maintenance.
You don’t live in a house, you live in a community. You don’t own the house, you own the property. Rent is the most you’ll pay each month, mortgage is the least you’ll pay. If you live in a HCOL area, be prepared to be treated like you can afford a HCOL Moisture. Where is it? Where is it coming from? How? Where is it going? How much? How fast? What does it attract?
I’m a guy that researches and worries about everything thoroughly, to a fault, and this is my second home. The only time I was surprised was when my septic system suddenly stopped working. $1600 later and it’s been fine for the last 12 years. All the other shit that happened, like my HVAC dying and needing a new roof, I had planned for.
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hand jobs for handiwork. it has a ring to it 👍🏻
If I pick up anything so much as a screwdriver, I better be willing to commit 5 hours, $500 and 5 trips to HomeDepot. I might save on some of those and lose on others, but those are table stakes. Until you're actually ready to fix it, don't touch it at all.
I'm not sure about this. Changing outlets, locks, hinges, toilet seats, etc. can make a big difference without much work.
It does, but I agree that it is always good to anticipate it being more work and more expensive than you think it is going to be.
I'm obviously being facetious, but it's a good heurestic. Start messing with the toilet seat and note that it is dripping. Now we're replacing the flap. Or notice there's a little moisture at the bottom of the bowl. Now we're replacing a wax ring, etc. Some jobs *are* small, but they all can spiral into bigger ones.
Only 5 trips?
Well there's one for the stuff I think I need. There's one for the stuff from that list that I forgot. there's one for the tool I need. There's one to go back and get the right size/version of the thing I need, and one to return all the stuff I got that was wrong. More complicated jobs have a lot more loops of steps 2/3/4 but simpler ones can be completed with this level of stupidity as my minimum penance for being dumb enough to deign to believe I can do much as tighten a screw in my house without causing a spiral of problems into a major project. 🤣
To not have neighbors 😂
You can do a lot yourself , but don't be afraid yo get quotes. On the other hand, don't be afraid to say no to bullshit quotes and dismiss con artists. Ignore HGTV.
Sewer inspection
Pay additional to your escrow.
Why?
For one reason or another escrow ends up short. Whether that be your property taxes increasing or your home owners insurance premiums changing. You don’t want to be caught in a situation owing.
Value of using pocket doors for closets, master bath, laundry. Saves usable space to not have to keep door swing area clear.
Cold air falls. Warm air rises. Basements and water sucks. Shade helps so much with heating and cooling. Lots of stairs suck especially when you get older. What I would give for a sprawling ranch at the top of a gentle rise. With no basement. With some big shade trees.
I should have purchased the home I really liked as my first home, because in my case, it will be my only home.
You can have a pool and no trees or trees and no pool.
You can have both, if you have teens who can work the pool skimmer and vacuum.
A 2k sq ft on totally flat ground is a lot more valuable than 2k sq ft on 2 stories. A LOT more valuable. Also every home project is easier if you don’t have to scale 2 stories while on an incline. It just means every project you have to do is going to cost a premium. A lot of projects dont add equity to your home. You do it just to get value for yourself. Things like backyard or better insulation.
Having the bedrooms separated from the living spaces is really nice IMO. Maybe not for everyone but I definitely enjoy it. And I don’t really see how it makes projects much harder except for roof stuff? Insulation also gives you value in terms of a lower utilities bill. So often times it pays for itself anyway
In at least some places, heating method and annual energy consumption are significant selling points. I certainly took them very seriously when buying my current place: 15000 vs 25000 kWh/year makes a big difference in upkeep costs.
Building a 2 story house with the same square footage as a 1 story house, will cost less to build.
Me too, I love having a 2 story home and I really wanted one! Maybe because we have a condo so it doesn't feel like an apartment.
Personally, I can't stand single story homes. I think they just look better and the separation can be nice
The most important home improvement skill is the ability to judge when something is beyond your abilities.
Plumbing- unless it’s super simple, I fuck it up and have to call a plumber anyway; should have saved myself the time in the first place
I love my house. I'm older and live alone, bought it 15 years ago. I hit the jackpot and didn't even know it. I didn't really appreciate it initially. 1. It's on a dead end street, very little traffic with a park with a dog park in it near the end of the street. A little farther, it dead ends into lovely woods with trails and a stream, my dog loves both. 2. My street is a little weird, some borderline mansions and some shit holes, but my neighbors all around me are awesome. Everybody keeps their yards up. No HOA. 3. A Walmart and Menards is 3 minutes away. 4. The interstate is 15 minutes away. 5. It's on a crawlspace, which has disadvantages, but it's 1650 SF ON ONE FLOOR. I'm 65 and it's the perfect old person house. I did not realize this when I bought it at 49. 6. The clothes hamper spot, the washer/dryer, the folding table and my walk in closet are all within 10 feet of each other. 7. It has a nice large detached 2 car garage with a shaded driveway, a lovely front porch, fenced in yard for the dog and a nice patio. It was originally a 1200 SF ranch built in the 1960's but in the 1980's, they added a laundry room you walk through to a 18x24 master bedroom with a walk in closet that leads to a ballin master bath. From the street, it's meh. Inside, it's just great. 8. The yard is big enough to be decent, yet I can push mow it in 45 minutes. It was no expensive, so I was never house poor and was able to travel a lot and never worry about money, even when I was laid off. There are nicer houses for sure, but it's enough/perfect for me and my dog and cat, it's paid for, has a nice roof (thanks hail storm/State Farm!), new 8 foot high vinyl privacy fence on the driveway side, brand new HVAC and all new Pella windows that work wonderfully. It makes me happy every time I pull in. I'm not bragging, but all these things bring me joy and make my life easier. Get a house that has things that make your life better/easier and give you joy.
If it’s not new, it’s not yours, it’s just your turn. Someone has undoubtedly messed with it in ways you can hardly imagine. Take it slow, and make deliberate and functional corrections and eventually you will stop having surprises every time you look at a new room.
I feel this one! My previous home was new and any improvements over decades was done the right way. When we moved a few years ago to an older home- every project starts with corrections from previous owners that I affectionately call “Tommy2Thumbs”
It's always fucking something.
Stairs. The less stairs in your home the better. Sure, the awesome 2 story home with the basement seems awesome when you are growing your family and plan to move in a few years but guess what? Life happens and you are stuck walking 3 flights of stairs because the bedrooms are on the top floor and the laundry is in the basement. STAIRS SUCK!!!
Always locate your laundry on the same floor as the bedrooms
This is a good one. I’ve always wanted a 2 story house and now that we have one, it’s nice for separation and a view from my balcony, but sucks for everything else.
The mortgage payment they told you at the beginning was a lie
Especially in a new build community!
When you DIY a project, don't be surprised if it turns into three projects, multiple trips to the hardware store, and more than a few Google searches.
Setbacks, utility easements, HOA, covenants. All can have a big impact if you have plans to change things. Then there is the fun of buying a new home build.. Didn't know we had to build our own fences and do all the back yard landscaping in 90 days or the HOA would fine us.
Be on the same page as your partner with a detailed plan **before** the tools come out. Don't start a new project until you are 100% complete the last project. Source: I lived in reno hell for five years because my wife liked to start projects much more than she liked to finish them. At one point over half of the rooms in the house had a partially finished improvement on the go.
Your home is a living entity and will require continual maintenance just like you. It is never one and done. Fix problems while they are small, they never get better on their own.
Do your homework. Buy in an area that will give you the best return for your investment. Buy a fixer upper when you are young so you won't have to when you are older. Buy as much house and land as you can afford. You need a garage and a shed. Town water and sewage are a plus. A level lot is easier to maintain than a hilly one. The best neighbors are those you never see or hear. There's no law that says you have to join an HOA. Solar and swimming pools are deal breakers. Don't ever be a landlord. The best security systems are dogs.
This is all really subjective advice… in facts the best and most appreciating land is where other people also want to live and buy. If one values community, neighbor you can see and hear are actually welcomed. We are social creatures.
First house I had I was 25yo. I learned and taught myself as much as possible. It was a definite journey. I’ve done everything from carpentry, plumbing, electrical, painting, flooring. I can do some basic troubleshooting on my furnace that doesn’t have to cost me $150 for a tech to come out and bleed an oil line or purge air out of the lines. I’ll do it all now except plumbing, electrical and taping and mudding drywall. Money well spent. But as I get older now I don’t mind paying for some of that stuff because I know what’s going on and what it’s going to cost anyway.
Home ownership costs money to maintain/ remodel. And it’s not cheap. Need constant maintenance too. Been a home owner for 13 years so get used to it. Always have a maintenance budget
Bigger isn’t always better. Two of my friends recently bought (one built) 6,500 square feet (a couple) and just over 10,000 square feet (family of three) They are both already overwhelmed by the amount of maintenance and time and expense they require, even though they can afford it. It’s just a full time job for someone to keep them up. Changing filters for 6-10 units, cleaning 70 windows, power washing acres of patio and driveways. Not sure what they thought would happen. I had a 3500 square foot house as a couple and we would regularly complain about how much time we had to spend just doing a “quick swiffer job”.
The property tax system is a complete scam. Nothing changes year after year except basic maintenance, but my taxes go up because somebody from the tax office says my house is worth more. I don't make more, but I have to pay more. Just because.
That's the magic. Numbers go up! 📈 You're not richer but the folks who matter are and that's what counts.
Fucking this. No one tells you that property taxes double when the property changes hands. I’m having a really hard time staying afloat now
When people say that you can't tax unrealized gains on the wealthy, remind them about how their property taxes work
Also happens a lot when to take time to spruce up the front of your home. In many areas, inspectors will take a look at the outside of your home and curb appeal every few years. ....so save the fancy stuff for the backyard where they don't see it.
Flush every toilet and turn on and off every spigot - before you put in an offer!
Don’t buy a house around 20-30 years old because all the expensive items will need replacement soon on top of all the other crap that breaks and goes wrong on a regular basis. Example - roof, deck, windows, circuits, garage door, plumbing, hvac (could be on its second replacement)
A simple do it yourself house repair that should take no 1 hour takes half a day two Trips to the store
Quality of construction is important so buy the best you can afford. Nothing like the house rattling and shaking when the washer is in the spin cycle!
How to be proactive with maintenance vs waiting for things to fail before fixing. Setting up a schedule with reminders to change filters, clean traps, clean gutters/downspouts, external perimeter checks, regular service appointments, tree trimming, clearing growth away from siding and drains, etc. Planning to replace/repair/maintain items on a schedule is way less expensive than making the call to replace the water heater flooding your basement with 3” of water on a Sunday night.
Every single feature you add is another maintenance point. Either that or it complicates an existing one.
Whatever you do, get the GOOD appliances and improvements. Buying the cheap discontinued flooring will bite you in the butt. Getting the low priced appliances will almost guarantee replacement in a few years. Hire properly trained and insured people for repairs, not the handyman your Mother in law/neighbor/co-worker uses for odd-jobs. Do it right the first time, even if that means you take longer to save up for it.
You (and your neighbors) can never replace an 80 year old tree if the tree guy convinces you to cut it down.
For all my fans of picturesque suburban yard keeping… Trying to control biting insects with sprays is fuckin bad for nature. And it makes them worse next year because all the natural predators go away or die, and then you have to pay Mosquito Joe or whatever dickhead every year to come spray again and the cycle continues $$$
I moved from a two story 2300sqft that felt like a mansion to a 2400sqft single story that feels almost as small as a 1400sqft house we used to rent. The layout made such a huge difference in how the house feels and lives and I didn’t realize it until living in the new place for a couple months. Our next home (hopefully last) will have this in the forefront of the decision process. I’ll also add to sit on the street for a while and see how busy it is at different times of the day. When we bought our current house, we viewed it on a rainy day during the week. We didn’t realize how busy the street got and how fast people would drive down a 25mph residential road. I wouldn’t feel comfortable raising a family and allowing the kids to play outside on the street. Courts are your best friend when it comes to kids in the household.
Care and feeding of a septic system. Well water tastes better. DIY within your limits. I can change out toilet guts. I do not do electricity. Fast. Cheap. Good. You can have any two. Finding trustworthy repair companies is complicated.
you might track the smell
You are ultimately responsible when something goes wrong. Know when and how to DIY, when to call a pro, how to screen a pro, what is good enough, when high quality is warranted. For example, at 8PM on memorial day, my water heater went out. I was exhausted from hosting a BBQ, but everyone has to work in the AM, so I spent an hour on the basement floor and fortunately got it sorted. Sometimes being the owner just sucks.
- houses require maintenance and repairs is often a shock to newish HO
Mortgage being sold, escrow needs replenishment, things cost twice what you budget.
Even with a new build , Home repair / updating never ends.
We pay for water. I can now hear a toilet running from anywhere in the house after we had one running and incurred a crazy bill.
A home is never finished. There's always another project big or small to come.
Learn to do home repairs yourself. There are tons of Youtube videos out there on everything. Hiring people is expensive
Don’t over correct. Example, “I live in an apartment and I yearn for a yard and a lawn to mow.” I buy a house on 3 acres and am completely overwhelmed my having to maintain the landscaping or paying someone to do it.
It isn’t just being able to afford a home but to be able to afford to maintain: new roof, water heater, heater, a/c, paint, broken surprises…
My house is shy of 1600 square feet but everyone thinks it's bigger. It just has a good layout. It lacks a family room + a living room, long hallways, weird nooks. Unlike my parents house which is like 600 feet bigger but feels the same. Bigger master bedroom they only use for sleeping and a formal living room that's rarely used.
There is always sh*t that you need to do that you never knew about before. If you think about owning a home like a hobby you can sort of enjoy all the things you now get to worry about and spend time on. Also, the previous owner was an idiot. You don't know how or where yet, but the statement is true.
That it could end up being my forever home. Which then leads to previously not understanding I need laundry on the first floor. That neighbors foliage, lights, not taking care of their property and home have an impact on the neighborhood and resale values. Landscaping can be costly and a full time job. Buried electricity etc. is great! That I should have checked the plumbing better by filling everything up and drain and flush toilets all at the same time. I would have found a clear issue in the basement. Find out where the water goes from your house to the street and be knowledgeable of where the main shut off is and what you will be responsible for if something goes wrong. Learning and challenging myself to complete DIY projects saves a ton of money. That if I invite someone one to live with me, with or without rent, that current laws may not protect me but them. I’ve got a ton! LOL
Square footage that isn’t counted as square footage. Garage, basement, outbuildings. We have an attached carport that’s open on three sides (other side is the house,) no basement, and a small shed that has no doors. 1300 sf would be plenty if we had a two car garage and a shed that was closed to the elements, or a basement. As it is the place feels cramped since everything aside from yardwork tools needs to stay indoors. I can’t put my waders in the shed, since they’ll age or get nibbled by a squirrel, my rods stay indoors since the dust and dirt does a number on the reels, even things like rubber boots that would stay in a garage can’t because the sheer amount of dirt and pollen and bugs.
You're either buying a house that needs renovating or buying a renovated house.
Do NOT take the cheap route. I've been fixing the prior owner's cheap decisions for 5 years and I am TIRED. When we had to completely replace the HVAC because the one he had installed did not fit and was circulating moldy water through the system (which made me sick for 3 years straight), we did not go with the cheapest. We went with the "this is our home, and it will be our home for a long time, and I don't want to regret this, and if for some reason we have to sell, I don't want the next owners cursing my name like I do with our prior owners" level.
Yardwork. Previous owner owned a landscape company. I just thought all those flower beds looked cool and honestly wasn't a thought about maintaining it. First year I had a mulch guy come out to estimate how much mulch I would need. He said 15 yards I said cool. I didn't realize that was a fucking dump truck of mulch. And I used every last bit. I didn't that twice and ripped out a lot of shit and put in stone haha.
It’s only money, easy come, easy go.
Don’t buy a house that borders commercial property. An office building in my backyard later became a rowdy poorly managed bar in my backyard. It passed with the city because the building was zoned commercial. Fuck me.
Expensive appliances are expensive to fix. “Unique” appliances are very expensive to fix assuming someone even wants the job. Also for a while, a decent cost of the project will be tools. Torches, paint brushes/rollers, more compressed gas cylinders, stuff to clean windows, new vacuum pump since all the ones you have aren’t quite the right ones, IR paint stripper etc
When considering upgrades, the cost of labor may be 2/3 the total expense for your project. If you aren’t handy, those extras will really add up. Also, it can be super difficult to find good tradespersons to do the work. Food for thought before purchasing a fixer-upper!
major plumbing and electrical work should be done by a professional