Homeowners share the minor issues they ignored that are now much bigger problems

[ZLoth]

Two similar articles with overlapping material...

From Cheezburger-Fail Blog:

'It's the bane of my existence': Homeowners share the minor issues they ignored when buying their home that are now much bigger problems
It's always the little things that will end up biting you in the...
FULL ARTICLE HERE

From Buzzfeed:

"Absolute Nightmare": Homeowners Are Sharing The Struggles That They Were 100% Not Prepared For When They Bought Their Houses

As a forever-renter, I'm always fascinated by the stories and struggles of those who've bought their own homes. Recently, u/everybuddyup asked homeowners on Reddit to share the things about their house that they never expected to be as much of a nuisance as they've turned out to be, and some of the responses were really surprising.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

From my experience, these are my factors...

First off, don't assume that you will purchase a home expecting to move to a better one in a few years time. My parents did that in 1977 and kinda rushed into a home purchase decision. The interest rate at the time was 8.78% for a 30 year fixed. Three years later, it would spike to over 16%, and would even hit 18% in 1981. It would not drop below 12% until 1985. We ended up owning that home for fourty years, but because it was in a corner of the county, it was a bit of a drive for most things beyond shopping. A similar situation is happening now when people purchased or refinanced their homes at the low mortgage rates only a few short years ago. With interest rates hovering around 7% now instead of 3% only a few short years ago, people are reluctant to move.

This brings me to my next point... location location location. My parents home was located near the northern county line in Sacramento, and beyond nearby shopping, you had to drive everywhere. This also meant that you had to cross the American River across the dreaded Sunrise bridge. Depending on the time of day, it could take you up to sixty minutes to get home in a journey that may be 20 minutes off-peak. Since there are few bridges across the American River between Sacramento and Folsom, all of the bridges are congested. That was one of the few good points of working overnight shift: Being able to drive in the opposite direction of commute traffic.

Swimming pool. Here in Texas, it's nice for the four summer months, and a money pit for twelve. The price of pool chemicals have doubled in the past five years, and I swear a third of the electrical bill is just for the running of the pool. I actually didn't want a pool, but it was the best of five homes available at the time of purchase in the neighborhood I wanted to live in.

Living by a freeway has it's advantages and disadvantages. Now imagine living by a freeway that curves near your home. That's me. At 0.35 miles at the closest point, I barely hear the freeway beyond rush hour traffic... and at the late evening when someone had modified their emission system on their car or motorcycle so that you can hear them coming, going along the curve, and departing.

However, I'm also on the same electric circuit at the local fire/police station and, more importantly, the medical center. That means that it's very rare to get a electric interruption.

[SectorZ]

I thought this was going to be more of a deferred maintenance story than what it actually was.

I guess since I lived in my current home for 17 years before buying it 11 years after leaving it, I know all the nuisance things I'd have to live with, which to me are few if any.

[jeffandnicole]

Agreed that the article was a stretch of minor issues - apparently the author doesn't have a home of their own.

In the 20 years of owning our home, we've found hidden open wiring, a wall-mounted oven that wasn't flat and started leaning back, a shed which wasn't built with the right foundation and was leaning, a doorway that wasn't built with the proper opening, outlets with all sorts of hidden issues, etc.

That article claimed finding someone to do minor repairs was someone's biggest issue. Lol

[vdeane]

Agreed that the article was a stretch of minor issues - apparently the author doesn't have a home of their own.

In the 20 years of owning our home, we've found hidden open wiring, a wall-mounted oven that wasn't flat and started leaning back, a shed which wasn't built with the right foundation and was leaning, a doorway that wasn't built with the proper opening, outlets with all sorts of hidden issues, etc.

That article claimed finding someone to do minor repairs was someone's biggest issue. Lol

Where did it claim that it was someone's biggest issue?  The original Reddit question the responses were pulled from (yep, the author just copied a bunch of stuff from Reddit and called it a story) seemed to be aimed at things people didn't think of that turned out to be much more annoying than they assumed, which lends itself to minor but very annoying and long-lasting annoyances that either weren't known about or which the homeowner downplayed when they bought the house (and which probably does favor new homeowners, as experienced ones will know what to look for to avoid a lot of this).

[Max Rockatansky]

Usually I'm the one fixing most stuff at our house.  I can figure out most issues out if I have enough time to work the problem. 

My wife bought it as a short sale house back in 2011 and it was built in 2007.  The original owner abused and neglected a lot of things.  Changing out the exterior light fixtures and rehabbing the yard were probably the two items I found most annoying to work on.  Replacing a toilet wasn't very fun either but it only took about two hours.

[epzik8]

The original Reddit question the responses were pulled from (yep, the author just copied a bunch of stuff from Reddit and called it a story)

Is this the new "copy and paste from Wikipedia"?

[Scott5114]

"We glommed a bunch of Reddit comments into a story" has been a staple of clickbait purveyors for at least a decade now.

[kalvado]

Part of it is a divide between renters, who expect problems to be handled by a quick call to landlord for a fixed monthly rent - and property owners who have to pay things piecewise including property taxes and maintenance costs.
My latest conversation included a discussion on why that beautiful tree needs to come down? Honey, that tree is starting to fail, it can collapse or die... And it's already like $1500 to deal with it. Once it visibly rots, cost would skyrocket...  And if it falls on a roof...

[SectorZ]

The original Reddit question the responses were pulled from (yep, the author just copied a bunch of stuff from Reddit and called it a story)

Is this the new "copy and paste from Wikipedia"?

The offshoot of "here's five tweets about an event that means this is what everyone thinks about the matter" stories.

[ZLoth]

I thought it was a interesting conversation starter.

When I purchased my home five years ago, I knew that it had issues as it was build in the mid-1980s, including a window or two that was falling apart. I ended up making a list of repairs and improvements that I want to do over the next several years. I just had no idea that list would get accelerated. At least it was anticipated, and while I spend more for better quality materials, my philosophy is that it's less expensive in the long run.

Yes, I do admit that I purchased my home in a rushed manner, but at least I have time to do my homework. At the time, if you are selling your home in winter, you are fairly desperate. That paradigm changed during Covid when people discovered that their apartment wasn't spacious enough for working from home, and were desperate to get a home -- any home -- and take advantage of the low mortgage rates. That rush meant that things were overlooked, and they are now paying the price.

Yes, it's very helpful if you are able to perform the home repairs yourself. About as important is knowing that line between "doing it yourself" and "call in the professional" because of the time involved or your skill level.

[SEWIGuy]

Why is selling your home in winter "fairly desperate?" The last two homes I have sold were in December and February, and sure while there is less demand, there is also less supply. In fact the biggest hassle I had selling a home was smack dab in the middle of summer.

[Road Hog]

Not looking to sell anytime soon, but the biggest issue was a back door that wasn't properly sealed and caused some rain damage. Cost to fix is about $25K but that's a drop in the bucket of what the property has appreciated in value.

[triplemultiplex]

"We glommed a bunch of Reddit comments into a story" has been a staple of clickbait purveyors for at least a decade now.

Now it's "we read a Discord group about a well know pop culture IP, here's an article about it".

[vdeane]

"We glommed a bunch of Reddit comments into a story" has been a staple of clickbait purveyors for at least a decade now.

Now it's "we read a Discord group about a well know pop culture IP, here's an article about it".

That feels slightly different to me, even though it's just as low-effort, if only because anyone can read those Reddit threads whenever, while Discord chats are ephemeral and behind closed doors.

[7/8]

Swimming pool. Here in Texas, it's nice for the four summer months, and a money pit for twelve.

A bit off topic, but as a Canadian I find this funny. Dallas' average highs and lows for April and October are about the same as Kitchener's July, our hottest month and most certainly pool weather here.

[ZLoth]

Swimming pool. Here in Texas, it's nice for the four summer months, and a money pit for twelve.

A bit off topic, but as a Canadian I find this funny. Dallas' average highs and lows for April and October are about the same as Kitchener's July, our hottest month and most certainly pool weather here.

Go ahead and laugh. The water cools down in the wintertime, and takes time to warm back up in the spring time. I just went into the pool this past memorial day, and it still was a bit cold and took getting used to.

[Scott5114]

I dunno, when I had a pool in Oklahoma I usually didn't shut it down until mid-October. The real challenge with maintaining a pool in that climate is that spring thunderstorms tend to drop a lot of really cold rain, which not only screws up the temperature, but also the composition of the pool (mine was salt water, so it would dilute the salt content, which was annoying, but probably not as annoying as if it was chlorine). I normally wouldn't bother to open it until May for that reason.

Of course, in Vegas, you can run the pool March to November if you so desire.

[Road Hog]

I got swimming areas at 4 lakes within a 30-minute drive. I ain't building a pool, even though it's big business in my neighborhood.

POOL:
Pay
Out
Obscure
Liabilities.

[SectorZ]

Swimming pool. Here in Texas, it's nice for the four summer months, and a money pit for twelve.

A bit off topic, but as a Canadian I find this funny. Dallas' average highs and lows for April and October are about the same as Kitchener's July, our hottest month and most certainly pool weather here.

Go ahead and laugh. The water cools down in the wintertime, and takes time to warm back up in the spring time. I just went into the pool this past memorial day, and it still was a bit cold and took getting used to.

One of my neighbors has a pool, and his daughter (in her mid-20's) was in it the day after Memorial Day with her boyfriend's young son. I think you guys have forgotten what cold is down there.

[Max Rockatansky]

I only really ever used my pool in Scottsdale to swim between June and late September.  Those cold desert nights made for some really uncomfortable swimming waters. 

[hotdogPi]

with her boyfriend's young son

I hope this is also her son...

[SEWIGuy]

I dunno, when I had a pool in Oklahoma I usually didn't shut it down until mid-October. The real challenge with maintaining a pool in that climate is that spring thunderstorms tend to drop a lot of really cold rain, which not only screws up the temperature, but also the composition of the pool (mine was salt water, so it would dilute the salt content, which was annoying, but probably not as annoying as if it was chlorine). I normally wouldn't bother to open it until May for that reason.

Of course, in Vegas, you can run the pool March to November if you so desire.

Chlorine is easy. Just add shock until it gets to the level you need. You can even over-shock it and it dilutes with time. When I owned a pool, that was routine when it was heavily used on a weekend. Sunday night, overshock the pool and put in some clarifier. By Monday afternoon, it was pristine.

BTW, in Wisconsin I would open the pool in late May and close it just after Labor Day.

[Scott5114]

I mean, that's more or less how it works with salt. The thing beeps if it's out of the salt range it likes. If it's too low, add more until it stops beeping. If it's too high, you add water until it stops beeping.

The nice thing about salt is that it doesn't require as much attention to keep the levels up as a traditional chlorine system—the saltwater system is basically doing 2NaCl + 2H₂O → Cl₂ + 2NaOH + H₂. When the Cl₂ and NaOH breaks down, it naturally recombines to make NaCl again. So you just run the same chemicals through on a loop indefinitely. The only thing that upsets the balance is rain (though you do have to make sure that any Ca in the water doesn't glom onto the salt cell, since that will cause it to not make enough Cl₂ to keep the pool clean, and evaporation can make the salt too strong, but that's easy to fix). Fifty bucks worth of salt was usually enough to get me through a whole year.

[epzik8]

I got swimming areas at 4 lakes within a 30-minute drive. I ain't building a pool, even though it's big business in my neighborhood.

POOL:
Pay
Out
Obscure
Liabilities.

I believe this is called being based.

[SectorZ]

with her boyfriend's young son

I hope this is also her son...

Negative. She's weekday mom. I don't know full details as I try not to pay attention. The less I know the better. I've known her since she was born so I know enough to know the kid just appeared fully grown after the boyfriend did. Her parents still live in and own the house. It's very on brand for my town.