Home Ownership

[Cmdr Data]

One of the biggest purchases you can make is buying a home. Home ownership will bring a lot of stress and duties that you may not be accustomed too as a renter/roommate. My wife and I just purchased our first home. We've already had to call out the HVAC people to fix our units. We've also put a lot of work into the landscaping. We still need to fix the fence on top of about 100 other items on my to-do list. Even though it's added a lot of work to our already busy schedules, it's been one of the most rewarding purchases as we are able to set it up how we want it to be as a home.

If you are a homeowner, what problems have you encountered? Do you have any homeowner horror stories to share? What makes owning a home worth it for you?

If you are looking to own a home, what's standing in your way? What are you looking for in a home?

 

[tango]

Digging out ancient wiring and replacing it all is something of a challenge.

Fixing gaps in exterior walls to seal drafts is tiresome. But it saves a huge amount of money.

Pulling down lath and plaster walls and ceilings makes a horrendous mess. I won't be sad when that job is completely done.

 

[Josiah]

My beloved and I purchased a home about a year after we got married. The "entry home" market here is extremely tight ... such homes tend to sell fast and often for more than the asking price (we put FULL PRICE offers on FOUR homes - all rejected because someone out bid us). But we finally got a really nice home. About 1700 square feet single family detached home in a very nice gated community, built in the 1990's. But it was a bit of a "fixer-upper." We paid a lot for it.

We soon replaced all the flooring, repainting it completely inside and out, and pretty much re-did the kitchen - doing cabinet resurfacing, new counter tops, all new appliances, new lighting. We did some remodeling of our master bath, too. A few other things - new landscaping and fence in the back, new garage door opener, etc. We hired this all out (not having time to do it myself).

We were a family of two then.... And now I need an office (doing some of my work at home)... so the house has become small for us. The secondary bedrooms are tiny and just 2, now both used. And I'm storing one of our cars at my parent's house. So we are thinking of moving. Fortunately, the home has appreciated a lot in the past 3 years. We can get back all we paid for improvements, our down, and at least $30K more. Unfortunately, bigger/nicer homes have also gone up! Right now, we're just looking.

 

[ValleyGal]

My first home was a beauty! All I had to do was paint inside. It had a tenant in the suite who wanted to stay. It was great! Till the tenant moved out and I found his sofa had been hiding a huge hole in the floorboards. Turned out all the floor was rotted out, including the sub-floor risers. Gutted and remodeled. It was really nice - until about 3 years later when the water main broke downstairs and flooded again. Tenants had to leave, and I once again had to pull everything out and do it all over yet again. Meanwhile, the upstairs bathtub tiles had started falling off the wall, so I ended up pulling all the tiles out and installing new drywall and new tub surround. I also did some beautiful landscaping. I had it for 6 years, and it appreciated more than $100,000 than I paid for it.

I'm now in my fourth home. I've been here for 7 years and have done nothing except replace a couple of faucets I didn't like. But... there are things I want to do, and can't do them yet because I can't afford it yet. I need new moldings, want to change all indoor doors, gut the bathroom cupboard and re-structure it with new innards, paint, and most of all, I want to remove the wall going from kitchen to living room. I have a feeling that is not possible because it is likely a load-bearing wall. If I can't take the wall out, I'm going to gut the kitchen and put in more functional cupboards. Mine are a waste of space. But if I can remove the wall, I'll have to fix a couple of sections of ceiling, change the flooring, change the electrical for the stove and plumbing for the sink, and then install a new kitchen. That would be an astronomical reno, and very costly.

Home ownership is a great thing, but it is a lot of responsibility. I used to be very handy when I was younger, and did all my own work, but now I'm not so fit or agile, so it's a lot harder. I could probably rip out my current kitchen and do some of the installing of new cabinetry, but I probably won't. Well, I might gut it, but certainly won't bother installing - I'll pay someone to do that. I figure in another 5 years I might have enough to refinance for a new kitchen.

 

[Forgiven1]

We purchased our first home about two years ago for our retirement home. Always lived in parsonages. It was 3 years old when we purchased it. We have not had to do anything major yet. We do have some projects we want to do, but these things take time. One is that I want to remove the bedroom carpets and put in wood flooring so there would be no carpet in the home. Need to expand the patio a bit to make it more useable. We are glad we purchased this house as it has been good for the two of us.

 

[Lamb]

We purchased our first home about two years ago for our retirement home. Always lived in parsonages. It was 3 years old when we purchased it. We have not had to do anything major yet. We do have some projects we want to do, but these things take time. One is that I want to remove the bedroom carpets and put in wood flooring so there would be no carpet in the home. Need to expand the patio a bit to make it more useable. We are glad we purchased this house as it has been good for the two of us.

I hate carpets in the house too but this house has it that we've lived in for the past 5 years and in the winter I kind of get used to it

 

[Forgiven1]

I hate carpets in the house too but this house has it that we've lived in for the past 5 years and in the winter I kind of get used to it

Here, in the south, not needed. Well in my opinion they aren't needed.

 

[tango]

I hate carpets in the house too but this house has it that we've lived in for the past 5 years and in the winter I kind of get used to it

Carpets can be much friendlier on bare feet than wood, when you get out of bed in the cold.

 

[Forgiven1]

Carpets can be much friendlier on bare feet than wood, when you get out of bed in the cold.

I live in south Texas. When I lived up north I would agree with you. Down here nope. Plus there are rugs you can put out if need be.

 

[tango]

I live in south Texas. When I lived up north I would agree with you. Down here nope. Plus there are rugs you can put out if need be.

Is there such a thing as "getting out of bed in the cold" in south Texas?

 

[Lamb]

I live in south Texas. When I lived up north I would agree with you. Down here nope. Plus there are rugs you can put out if need be.

South Texas gets really wicked weather. Have you ever had to vacate until a storm passed through?

 

[Forgiven1]

Is there such a thing as "getting out of bed in the cold" in south Texas?

Depends on your definition of cold. Some would say it is cold when it gets to 70 or below.

 

[Lamb]

Depends on your definition of cold. Some would say it is cold when it gets to 70 or below.

I'm almost always cold! Except right now. It's 89 F outside and my daughter and I went for a walk because she wanted to see the Amish neighbor's pug and now I'm sweating which I rarely do.

 

[Forgiven1]

South Texas gets really wicked weather. Have you ever had to vacate until a storm passed through?

We purchased our home in April and Harvey came through in August. We moved here in September so we have not had that privilege. Thought was a voluntary evacuation for Harvey where our home is located and Harvey was a Category 5.

 

[Lamb]

We purchased our home in April and Harvey came through in August. We moved here in September so we have not had that privilege. Thought was a voluntary evacuation for Harvey where our home is located and Harvey was a Category 5.

That's so scary to think about! We almost moved to Texas and the year after we moved elsewhere is when it flooded in the neighborhood we considered. We would have lost everything. I don't mind losing a lot of our things but the photographs and little mementos from family members as well as our precious Christmas ornaments would have devastated me.

 

[tango]

Depends on your definition of cold. Some would say it is cold when it gets to 70 or below.

70 isn't cold at all. Years ago my wife and I stayed with her aunt and she kept her house at 74 degrees through the winter. It was so warm and dry I couldn't sleep so I ended up moving to her third bedroom that had no heating in it at all. That was an experience in a Pennsylvania winter. I'd get into bed and immediately freeze, slowly warm up a pocket of air around me and not move until morning unless I absolutely had to.

The option was waking up with my mouth, nose and throat so dry I couldn't swallow and my lips so dry I couldn't even talk without them cracking and bleeding.

 

[Forgiven1]

Cold is relative. When you have about 9 months of temps 80 and above and the heat index in the summer is over 100 daily, below 70 is cold. We rarely run our furnace in the winter.

 

[tango]

Cold is relative. When you have about 9 months of temps 80 and above and the heat index in the summer is over 100 daily, below 70 is cold. We rarely run our furnace in the winter.

I hear ya, I used to hang out with a guy who was originally from Jamaica whose family asked him to send gloves because it was getting cold. That surprised him, so he asked how cold it was getting. It turned out the temperature had dropped below 80 for a couple of days and people struggled to cope with it.