Do you really want to own…
…or do you just want to be able to say you have a house? I’m starting to think the 2nd part was true back when I bought mine. I did all the research on mortgages. I browsed a million listings. Drove around on my own, drove around with my friends, drove around with a realtor, even my parents came into town and helped me look. I narrowed down on a map of atlanta the zones I thought I wanted to live in. Compared commute times to my job and to my roommate’s job. Looked at all my finances to make sure I could afford it with or without a roommate. It all seemed like I had my i’s dotted and t’s crossed.
Well, it’s been almost 4 years since that day. What all have I done? The yard in the front is over-grown with weeds. The shrubs and flowers live in a bed of dirt. No there isn’t any pine straw or bark chips down. I’ve spent the last 2 months getting estimates for a new deck, new garage doors, and new painting on the outside. Had the retaining wall fixed.
There’s a lot more that was done along the way. But none of it compares to the crap we started finding after at least 4 years, most likely much much more, of neglect and bad design. I honestly think I’m going to have to start saying “Don’t start poking at that” to make sure I don’t find anything else that needs fixing.
It started with a simple replacment of a threshold on a door to the back deck. Guess what.. rotten floor below.. guess why… idiot who replaced it previously put in the threshold backwards and didn’t take the time to properly seal anything. Oh well $200 for a new door, and a few bucks here and there for some pressure treated wood. Guess what.. poke at the other door to the deck… what’d we find…. same situation only worse. The rotten wood there was a structural component. Oh well, guess it’s time for a new deck anyways, we’ll just fix it when the deck is off. Oh, and of course another $200+ to replace that door.
Water may be the lifeblood for all living things on earth, but does it have to be so destructive at the same time???? Same deal with the front porch roof… Down spout of the gutters ruined a section of the roof and some of the facia board at the corner… more money. Same deal with around the chimney… poorly designed roof lines and protection means more water damage to the siding and connecting sections of roof.
Oh.. and now guess what we come across today… oh, my master shower has been leaking water… and it’s all tiles. Yeah, so after popping a few of those bad boys off we find another nice mess. Guess I’ll be getting a new shower now too! Of course it looks like this was caused by yet another home improvement project gone wild. Although honestly what do you expect from someone that once tried to fix a whole in some drywall with PAPER TOWELS?! Yeah.. we found that in the kitchen about a year ago.
So anyways, enough of my ranting, I really just wanted to put this out there for anyone who’s thinking of buying a home. Know what you’re getting yourself into. I obviously didn’t spend enough time early on lookign for some of this stuff to fix it before it got too bad. But when you’re 23 you live and you learn. I think this has definitely helped me know what to watch out for when I try this again later in life.
Oh… and I would say the benefits of owning have definitely out weighed renting so far. Even if I am spening a bunch of money right now. Tax refunds, having a renter pay the mortgage, having a garage, peace and quiet, neighbors that watch out for you instead of complaining all the time. It’s all been a neat learning experience. Hopefully all the new plans will go well and I won’t have to worry about some of this stuff for quite a while.
