Rent or own? Well... #rant

[RT2MD]

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This is not a rent vs. own thread. This is a rant about owning a house.

Right before I went on my first residency interview of the season one side of my 6' privacy fence was blown down. I have to dig up and replace all the concrete and posts. Fun.

During Thanksgiving I had a house full of guests... and the Saturday after Thanksgiving my sewer line clogged and backed raw sewage up into my finished basement (as the result of the 11 people in my house using the bathroom and taking showers). After opening the line, I was able to determine that the backup occured because of roots being inside of a broken pipe... meaning the whole line needed to be replaced. I have had a 30 ft long, 12 foot deep ditch in my front yard since last Wednesday and still don't have a working sewer line. At least a remediation company came in and pulled up all the carpet, cut out the drywall, etc. of my basement. Now I get to redo our entire basement, on top of all the things I was going to do to get the house ready to sell if I match away from home. More fun.

ARRRGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Renting sounds pretty damn nice right now.

</rant>

 

[Laryngophed]

This is not a rent vs. own thread. This is a rant about owning a house.

Right before I went on my first residency interview of the season one side of my 6' privacy fence was blown down. I have to dig up and replace all the concrete and posts. Fun.

During Thanksgiving I had a house full of guests... and the Saturday after Thanksgiving my sewer line clogged and backed raw sewage up into my finished basement (as the result of the 11 people in my house using the bathroom and taking showers). After opening the line, I was able to determine that the backup occured because of roots being inside of a broken pipe... meaning the whole line needed to be replaced. I have had a 30 ft long, 12 foot deep ditch in my front yard since last Wednesday and still don't have a working sewer line. At least a remediation company came in and pulled up all the carpet, cut out the drywall, etc. of my basement. Now I get to redo our entire basement, on top of all the things I was going to do to get the house ready to sell if I match away from home. More fun.

ARRRGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Renting sounds pretty damn nice right now.

</rant>

Sorry dude. I feel your pain. We closed on this house two months before my white coat ceremony. Within a year, we had to have the waterline from the meter to the house replaced. And then when my wife was 8 months pregnant (this is July-August), our 24 year old ac unit died. And once I repaired the water heater (it was apparently never flushed) by digging out lime for 9 hours and replacing the elements. And then four months later, the tank cracked.

There are days that I envy those with a landlord.

 

[pgg]

You could always burn the place for the insurance money. That's an option renters don't have.

 

[nimbus]

This is a great thread for young folks starting out. There are ALWAYS unexpected expenses in homeownership. Be prepared.

 

[pjl]

The advice I heard is plan 2% of home cost per year for repairs, and you shouldnt be overwhelmed by expenses, even big ones. I have been doing this and still thankfully have a positive balance in my home repair account.

 

[Jay K]

I feel you, man.

I've never been a fan of home ownership… unfortunately the wife is…

All I can say is thank god for youtube tutorials on home maintenance and repair…. among other things...

 

[ruralsurg4now]

All I can say is thank god for youtube tutorials on home maintenance and repair…. among other things...

This is why I've always been leery of buying a house. You never know what jury-rigged thing the previous owner has done to it (no offense intended). Sometimes, that's true even with "professional contractors," as there are shows like "Love It Or List It" (which may not be entirely factual, I will grant) which shows them renovating and running across prior renovations that were not up to code or ignored things that were potential disasters.

 

[RT2MD]

You could always burn the place for the insurance money. That's an option renters don't have.

Hahahahahaha!!!! So very, very true. I'd be lying if I said the thought never crossed my mind. 🙂

 

[norwood]

This is why I've always been leery of buying a house. You never know what jury-rigged thing the previous owner has done to it (no offense intended). Sometimes, that's true even with "professional contractors," as there are shows like "Love It Or List It" (which may not be entirely factual, I will grant) which shows them renovating and running across prior renovations that were not up to code or ignored things that were potential disasters.

Heh. One of my friends just went through this. The job started with having to undo some insanely ghetto stuff (hint: lamp cord is for lamps, not for running electrical service to the attic).

With that said, a home inspection before purchase should give you a reasonable idea of what you're getting into. They won't find every last thing, but massive code violations should get an inspector's attention. In my friend's case, he knew about the wiring and adjusted his offer accordingly.