What do you wish you had known before you bought your house?

[SCGranny]

It wasn't so much the lack of maintenance on the house, it was the fact that we were assured that the previous owner was a carpenter and construction worker with experience in wiring, plumbing, and roofing. It wasn't until we started losing tiles off of the roof in the first windstorm that we realized that his idea of roofing was to put a nail in the center of each tile... We kept hearing a noise - bang Bang BANG - on the roof of the barn; the nails he had used to tack down the metal roofing were not long enough, so he had just thrown tires on top to hold it down... three of the four beautiful wall sconces in the living room were not grounded when they were installed...The laundry room was downstairs in the basement, but apparently he couldn't figure out how to plumb a line upward to the drain; the first time I used the washer it spewed everywhere.... The feed shed was just a frame with some boards from old wooden signs nailed across them; we trimmed the corners, and sealed and insulated it from the snows that used to blow in between the cracks. You could almost live in it now! The Jenn-Aire stove had apparently not been cleaned or maintained in years, maybe ever; we took it completely apart, cleaned years' worth of congealed and packed grease out of every corner and surface, and voila! the burners all worked!

DH and I have spent a lot of money and time rewiring, re-plumbing, and reroofing the house and outbuildings, as well as cleaning up, repairing, and repainting. I heard that the previous owners drove past the house and were amazed by and jealous of all of the work we'd done; their retort to a neighbor's question was "Well, yeah, but they don't have kids!" - our kids were raised how to build, repair, and replace, not destroy or cover up or make do.

Oh, well. We love our 100-year-old house, and now that the 3-inch trim and wainscoting have gotten their long-needed polishing, the dim, cheap lighting on the 10-foot ceilings has been replaced with lovely and bright chandelier-style lighting, and the wood floors have been sanded and refurbished, it is lovely and lives up to its potential.

[timfountain]

Originally Posted by mscrash

I hope you are not having to fix everything right away like we are. We are dealing with the effects of 30 years of no maintenance or very very shoddy maintenance. Our house was supposed to be "move in ready" - yeah right.

Our house was bought & flipped by a real estate agent who's been in the biz for 30yrs. He knew exactly how to spend the least amount possible to get the best visual appeal and what would get it past the inspectors.

I wish I knew - not to buy a flipped house!!!!

Well let's see. We have been hare 13 months, in that time this is the work that has been done to the house:-




By Contractors

• New cedar privacy fence all the way round. The old one was falling down and held together with rope in some places.
• New roof -the old cedar shake roof was leaking in a couple of places, split and warped in many places and of course hadn’t been maintained so was beyond repair. New roof is a 40-year presidential TL so it should last and looks great.
• New water heater - old one was red-tagged as unsafe. Upgraded from 60 to 75 gallon high effeciency AO Smith industrial unit.
• 6 new sealed double glazed window units - the old ones were fogged up.
• New A/C and furnace (the old furnace was OK but the A/C line set was leaking as it had been cold soldered! Whole system was 18 years old and A/C was 10 SEER (new is 21 SEER). New one is a Lennox Signature edition with variable speed fans and a HEPA air filtration system.
• Front yard dug up and 6ft of sewer line replaced due to tree roots in the sewer line.
• Removal of 5 trees that were either diseased to too close to the house.

By me and my wife

• New thermostat - old one was calling for heat and A/C at the same time.
• New blinds/shades in most rooms (old ones were literally falling apart).
• Repaired the burglar alarm - 5 window/door magnets missing and 2 wires broken.
• Repaired the remote control on the gas fireplace.
• Repaired a garage door opener (magic eye sensors not working).
• Repaired the outside hot tub/spa (the control board had a fire at one point!).
• Replaced 11 light fittings and installed 4 timers for outside lights.
• Replaced 4 sets of faucets. Some of them had stopped working.
• Extensive landscaping/de-weeding/de-mossing and planting.
• Painted most rooms top to bottom (still got a couple more to do).
• New microwave.
• New dishwasher.
• Re-routed all the cable TV/phone wiring to better suit our needs.

Upgrades

• New 14’x20’ deck
• Professionally built summer house/play room. Built on a concrete slab base with footings etc. Dimensions are 12’x14’ and 13’ at the roof apex with sliding windows on both sides, double French doors and slate flooring. It is wired with light and heating and finished inside with sheetrock and insulation and hardiplank on the outside. You could almost live in it (except it has no water and is a bit small!).

Of course the big ticket items were the new roof, heating/AC, fence, summer house and deck.

I've still got a pretty good list of things to work on but all the big things are done....

[James1202]

The front wall was built before the 45' setback requirement was established (it's 43' from the right of way). So, to add a second floor front wall above it we needed a variance.

The roof cricket leaked.

Would have bought it anyway.

[chris410]

Thought of a few more.

These would not have stopped me from buying the house, but they would have been nice to know.

I wish i knew the three pretty trees in the yard were apple trees, and how much of a pita they would be to maintain.

I wish i knew the wasps and bees loved building nests Everywhere on my house.
I wish I fully realized how much more maintenance this house required vs. my old house.

[stacy.nelson]

I know this is an old thread, but maybe it will help someone who's currently looking at purchasing a home, like we are.

Check for exterior electrical access and plumbing fixtures.

When we bought our first-ever house in 2005, the yard was crap and we just figured we would throw down some grass seed and water using the good old "move the sprinkler around the yard" method until the lawn was established.

Turns out there was only one exterior faucet. For the entire freaking house. Which was probably fine in 1955 when the house was built, but a subsequent attached garage and breezeway addition made it impossible to run hoses all the way around the house to water the backyard.

We also had only one exterior electrical outlet, which made decorating for holidays a little difficult. We had to get creative with running extension cords through windows and doors. Probably not the safest thing to do in hindsight.

Turns out the house needed a lot of cosmetic work, and we never did end up fixing up the yard. It was pretty much dirt when we sold the house three years later (we tend to kill plants and lawns). We completely remodeled the interior, though, and it was gorgeous! Less than one month from listing it for sale to closing, and this was right after the market crashed in 2008.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by stacy.nelson

I know this is an old thread, but maybe it will help someone who's currently looking at purchasing a home, like we are.

Nothing wrong with bringing back an old thread. Some people grouse about it but that can only be because they have already seen the thread and it adds nothing to their personal entertainment value. However you are correct, frequently an old thread will some back and it will catch the attention of someone looking for precisely that information. that has happened to me and to others I have seen.

Sometimes it is amusing to look at something I posted five plus years ago and considered all I have learned since then. once i read something I had written and realized I no longer remembered any of it and it was useful to me to know that information again.

Sure bring em back. CD even encourages it.

[ESPLUMBING]

This is an old thread but I will tell ya we brought our place back in August 1987. I sure wish I could tell you who built this place then but I know for sure it was an englishman who hired local "I can do that" to build this home. In April of 1987 the owner of the place(never lived in) went back to England and they would not renew his visa to travel out so he placed this home on the market which my girlfriend at the time fell in love with.. Had to drive by and check it out, which I drove bye.. She informed me at the time to pull into the so called driveway so she could look at the place. I have to tell ya, there was at least 6" of water surrounding this place including this "driveway" I pulled into. Of course I would meet a neighbor at the time we had to be pulled out, buried the truck in the "driveway"..
I can tell ya'all that this place of ours has been remodeled, rebuilt, re done time and time again in all the 26 years we have been here. There were alot of things done wrong with this place at the time of construction and honestly I really can not see how some things could have passed inspection, but the girlfriend at the time which became my wife in October of '87 loved it.. I also have grow to love our place.( Been the one who re built it) Its only 1800 sq ft and raised 3 great sons in it..
So there is not really anything I would have done different at the time, yeah a home inspector may have pointed out some things( A lot of issues), but if you really like something, you can make it work..There here been a few weddings here, including mine, a lot of celebrating type parties.
Heres a pic, Just re painted this year, it is on close to an acre of land too.. Been married to this home for 26 years

[FLSkater]

Where do I start?

I wish I knew that the short sale next door was a drug house. Wasn't so obvious when we looked at the house, but now the weeds growing in place of grass, different cars coming at all hours of the day/night, dogs barking like they were training for dogfighting, are all not things we're thrilled with. Hopefully they will be out soon.

I wish I knew that many of the things in the house, while nice upgrades, were done half-you know whatted. The sellers left the wall mounted tvs (nice, right?) but the 65" plasma in the family room came crashing down to the floor one night. Apparently they did not mount such a behemoth into studs. The beautiful rope tile as part of the backsplash was installed too close to one of the electrical boxes, and I have to get someone in to cut some of the tile out so a wall plate cover can be put on the exposed box. Near the sink. And they installed a beautiful, double bullnosed granite on the kitchen counters & island --- on top of crappy, peeling cabinets made of particle board interiors which had stains in them that totally grossed me out. Now, the cabinets may not have been peeling when they put the granite in, but this is giving us major headaches in terms of replacing cabinets/refacing cabinets.

I wish I knew that they didn't take care of things very well. I had to scrub the insides of the cabinets, fridge, & cooktop 3x with clorox in order to get off the splatters that they didn't bother to clean up.

Anyone who has come into the house to give us quotes on anything (window shades, kitchen, electrical, bath, you name it) has scratched their heads in amazement at how some of the things were done here.

Ok, many of these things may be minor. This is the first resale house we bought that was actually lived in, so it's the first time I'm not dealing with a brand spanking new home. But it just seems like every time we fix something, something else needs attention. And it's not like my husband is going to do it. It's either me or call in a professional.

Unfortunately, many of these things were found in the inspection report, but the market here has been nuts, and we were basically told that if we got nitpicky, they would go to the next backup offer.

There, I feel better now. My husband is sick of me complaining.

[photogal9]

That due to the construction of the complex and the time it was built, building codes started to lax and it was common for joists to be 24" apart, nailed in sparingly and 1/2" drywall used on ceilings, which is not adequate and resulted in...

ceilings, in all but one room, starting to pull away from the joists, or "pillow." This was noted after the painters dropped simple flush mount light fixtures to paint underneath it. All being corrected.

The upper cabinets were installed incorrectly and without drywall behind them and on what I can only call, a fake soffit. Lots of fun taking them down and bagging up piles of blown in insulation to re-use once the cabinets are hung correctly and on a proper soffit.

I won't mention the many electrical issue's, how dirty the place was left, or that the previous owner took the patio screen and storm door. When their attorney was questioned about it at closing, they came back with "it wasn't part of the sale." I should of grabbed my check and walked out of closing, my instinct was gnawing at me that something about this place was not right.

I always told myself I would never buy a certain age property or one of certain construction. Lesson learned, fixing it up, then will look in to selling it FSBO, depending upon the market conditions.