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Something you wish you had known
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DisgruntledVirus
Lifer
If the tree is on the neighbors property, that is their responsibility and covered by their homeowners insurance.
Before I moved in, I did THREE inspections. Once with my dad, once with a certified inspector, and once with the inspector the VA sent out.
One thing neither, me, my wife, or all three inspectors thought to do: Use the toilet.
As soon as we moved in we found out the ground floor toilet would clog very easily. Anything more than a kleenex needed 3 flushes to go down. We went out and bought the American Standard "Champion 4" for $175 at lowes. this is the one that can flush a bucket of golf balls without missin a beat.
One thing neither, me, my wife, or all three inspectors thought to do: Use the toilet.
As soon as we moved in we found out the ground floor toilet would clog very easily. Anything more than a kleenex needed 3 flushes to go down. We went out and bought the American Standard "Champion 4" for $175 at lowes. this is the one that can flush a bucket of golf balls without missin a beat.
hanoverphist
Diamond Member
things i know now that i wish i knew then:
- that id be paying for the house myself instead with my wife.
- that my neighbors would be either whacked out religious crazy or just totally antisocial
- that the market would end up sucking so badly
- that after 10 years its hardly possible to even sell in my area
- that the grass wont grow at all
- that living on a lot next to a turn would result in cars popping curbs and ending in my yard
- that id be paying for the house myself instead with my wife.
- that my neighbors would be either whacked out religious crazy or just totally antisocial
- that the market would end up sucking so badly
- that after 10 years its hardly possible to even sell in my area
- that the grass wont grow at all
- that living on a lot next to a turn would result in cars popping curbs and ending in my yard
HannibalX
Diamond Member
Always see your neighborhood or complex at night before you make an offer.
Always tour the home at night before you make an offer. This is really important for condo/townhome buyers as you may not realize how loud it can be living in a condo/townhome if you only tour the place during the day while everyone is at work.
If you have the option before moving into a condo/townhome have any shared walls redone with quiet-rock and sound deadening insulation. It doesn't cost much but you will be EXTREMELY pleased with the result. You won't hear your neighbors and they won't hear you!
Always tour the home at night before you make an offer. This is really important for condo/townhome buyers as you may not realize how loud it can be living in a condo/townhome if you only tour the place during the day while everyone is at work.
If you have the option before moving into a condo/townhome have any shared walls redone with quiet-rock and sound deadening insulation. It doesn't cost much but you will be EXTREMELY pleased with the result. You won't hear your neighbors and they won't hear you!
*shrug* I'm sure this doesn't go for everyone but I love owning a house. I do not want to go back to renting! We actually enjoy most of the small projects and look forward to taking on projects ever increasing difficulty/scope.
I don't even mind mowing the lawn....too much
Gunslinger08
Lifer
As long as they don't talk to me, I don't care what they do. I guess that means I'm antisocial.
hanoverphist
Diamond Member
i thought that as well for a long time. but it does kind of suck to live somewhere for 11 years and not know anyones name on your street. not for lack of trying either.
BoomerD
No Lifer
We've been in our house a bit over 10 years and I know MAYBE a handful of the neighbors who live within a couple of doors of us. I know some of the others well enough to speak to in a friendly conversation, the rest...who are you?
I AM anti-social...I don't want to attend the neighborhood 4th of July party, the annual Neighborhood WTF get together...just leave me the fuck alone and we'll get along fine. (and don't send your dammed kids to my house selling candy, trinkets, girl scout cookies, etc...)
When we first bought the house, there was no Lowes in the area. They came here about 2 years later. Home Depot is MAYBE a mile down the street...we became very good friends. :roll:
Gawd-Dammed paint and supplies get EXPENSIVE!! (especially when she wants the best Behr paint they sell...and we needed a few gallons of Kilz to cover magic marker on the walls in a couple of places. (previous owners' kid was pretty fucked up from an accident and they let him do just about anything he wanted...till he died in the bathtub...(which is why they sold the house) Now, I gotta deal with "Bobby" messing with stuff all the time. 😀 (it's convenient to blame "Bobby" everytime something doesn't work right) 😛
Red Squirrel
No Lifer
How freaken expensive labour is, and that an estimate is , an estimate. You will probably pay 10% more. 😛
I started off with 35k in the bank, I put 15k down, the rest is all construction / other expenses. Add a 6k loan to that.
I started off with 35k in the bank, I put 15k down, the rest is all construction / other expenses. Add a 6k loan to that.
blackdogdeek
Lifer
here are my best friends:
ratcheting screwdriver w/bits (this is the tool we use most often)
drill
hammer
ladder
wet/dry vac (this is my favorite)
step stool
hand vac
minibroom and dust pan
tool set (make sure it's got good wrenches and ratchets)
ratcheting screwdriver w/bits (this is the tool we use most often)
drill
hammer
ladder
wet/dry vac (this is my favorite)
step stool
hand vac
minibroom and dust pan
tool set (make sure it's got good wrenches and ratchets)
Mermaidman
Diamond Member
:Q Was that something you wish you had known before buying the house?
Don't buy a house on a hill, almost impossible to run sprinkler enough to keep grass green. Don't get too much yard, all day mowing lawn is a pain every saturday. Don't get too big/ too many windows, when the sun comes out you know what the bug under the magnifying glass feels like, and wearing a welding helmet makes it hard to watch tv.
BoomerD
No Lifer
We knew it. It was legally disclosed before the sale.
I don't care if the kid died in my spare bathroom...I just wish he'd go the hell away...😛
I DO wish that we'd have known that the previous owners had drainage problems with the house...and that one wall had been replaced because of water damage.
We didn't find that little tidbit out until about 2 years after the sale.
Fortunately, there's no mold problems associated with it, nor any water intrusion problems since...but the contractor fucked me by sloping the back yard TOWARDS the house (about a 10" slope over about 25 feet) that gives me headaches in the winter when it rains. I put in a french drain system that helps...but doesn't completely prevent flooding up to the concrete patio. (just never gets bad enough to actually cause any problems...yet.)
My concrete contractor and I have been talking about some possible fixes...including re-leveling the yard and building some retaining walls...which my wife hates. :roll:
mugs
Lifer
Where do you live? My parents live on a (small) mountain, and it has one pretty big advantage - they have never had to worry about getting water in their basement. They don't even have a sump pump. They have the pit, but there's no pump in it. It's not even accessible anymore, they boxed it in when they finished the basement. When my wife and I were looking for houses the surrounding topography was always something we considered. Evidence that the basement was susceptible to water intrusion ruled out several houses. In the house we bought I'm obsessive about keeping water away from the house. I use buried pipe to drain several of the gutters at least 10 feet away from the house, and I plan to do the same on the rest of the gutters soon. Water is a homeowner's worst enemy. I hate rain.
Back to the lawn though - my parents have never even used a sprinkler, and their lawn is pretty nice. They live in NJ though, so it's not as hot and dry as someplace in the southern half of the US.
I live near a small town in Idaho, and the basement only gets water in it if I screw up and leave a window open with the sprinkler on. After I bought the place, I found out that the people who built it made the hill it sits on. It's mostly sand, over a rocky patch in the field. Drainage isn't a problem, but keeping the grass green is a pain. We're basically in the middle of a desert, lots of snow, not too much rain. The hill overlooks a river bottom, you can see for miles to the southwest from my living room, which is why I loved the big windows at first. BUT, the afternoon sun is deadly, unless the blinds and drapes are closed. I have a perfect view of the Grand Teton, to the east, from my patio (another thing, never get a concrete patio). In the afternoon when I get home from work I like to grab a beer and a smoke and just look at the mountains while I unwind.
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