I have owned four homes in my life, and I can tell you: The list of surprise expenses never seems to stop. Yes, I have always favored older homes, so I probably get more fix-its than someone with a brand-new house. But, I think that if your home is even just 10 years old, you are going to have to keep that savings account stocked with emergency funds, and keep that checkbook handy. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I think it can be really helpful to prospective and recent homebuyers to know about the kinds of expenses — surprises, as well as costs that can easily escalate — that they may expect. So, I’m throwing this story open to readers to share their experiences.
Readers:
What problems have you needed to throw money at,
when it comes to repairing or maintaining your home –
things you never really expected, or
which ended up costing much more than you planned?
.
I’ll start our list by explaining my photo above: Tree damage. A tree on my neighbor’s lot fell half-way out of the ground and onto our fence. We were responsible for all damage, can you believe it. Had to pay to have the tree completely removed (from the point at which it crossed our property line), and I have yet to have the fence repaired. Yes: Insurance paid for some of it. But overall, less than 1/4 of the expense, I’d say. We have spent A LOT of money trimming, cabling, removing and repairing damage — all due to trees on our mature lot. Pain in the a** and definitely, an unexpected pain in the wallet.
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Inherited my great aunt’s 1950′s bungalow in Redford, Michigan about 10 years ago. She hadn’t kept up with the repairs, and nothing had really been done since she moved in, in 1980. Most everything was original on the house. Which is good and bad. I owned it free and clear, except over the years it needed a new roof, new gutters, new chimney, new furnace, new A/C, new water tank, pipes rooted out a few times, new washtub, new stove, new fridge, new dishwasher, new countertop, floors refinished, sidewalk redone (Redford Township declares when your sidewalks need replacing, then sends you the bill for it… about $2k… and then we got to pay to have our own street paved… another 2k), two new toilets, new windows, trees trimmed, siding painted, new carpet, electrical upgrade (when the line coming into our house rotted and fell off). Then I got divorced in 2004 and had to pay him off half of the value (at that time). Even though it was given to me, and deeded in my name, the judge declared it marital property. House has since continued to lose value. I owe about $120k on a place that would sell for about $60k. If I’m lucky. When I inherited it, it was valued at $190k. I’ve lost so much.
Then I had renters come in 2009, as I moved across the country to flee the crumbling economy. Being a landlord sucks. The last guy skipped town, ruined my floors and carpet (scratched the wood floors, poured bleach on carpet stains), stole a bunch of light fixtures right out of the ceilings (who steals light fixtures?!), took all the window treatments, stole my chest freezer and antique butcher table (which wouldn’t have fit out of the finished basement at this point…. wait for the rest of the story….), ripped out my heirloom roses, azaleas and hydrangeas (which were replanted from my great-grandmother’s home… they were probably at least 80 years old). And the topper… when the handyman was cleaning out all the shit the tenant left behind (including a trampoline resting on it’s back, ruining the grass), he discovered a human skull in the garage. Now do you wonder what he did with the curtains, the antique butcher table and chest freezer? Police investigation, house untouchable for about two weeks, while I paid for repairs and exhausted his security deposit. Wasn’t worth suing him for the remaining $1k, as it would’ve cost me as much in lawyer fees. I’m a long ways away, and can’t take him to small claims myself. Plus, he might be in jail at this point, who knows. Police won’t talk to me.
The new tenants haven’t replaced the window treatments. My neighbors say there are garbage bags on the windows.
At this point, I would get more money burning the place down than selling it. I miss my home so much. I rent in LA now, a real dump for almost $3k/month. We have roaches and rat problems.
Wow, sorry to hear of such a story- I’m in Southfield, not more than a few miles away from your home, and sadly, the economy has taken such a toll on the area and it’s lovely homes.
The good news is that even in Redford Townhship and surrounding areas like Livonia and Southfield, things are stabilizing price wise, and our street, which had half a dozen foreclosures last year, has only two now, and most are selling to end users, not for rentals so much.
Having property so far away is difficult to handle, and it sounds like you had a serial killer living there! Hope that’s not the case, but we’ll keep our thoughts out there for you!
*waves from Dearborn*. Ugh! I feel for you fraujoolie. The hardest part is the fact that you are so far away from your rental. I’ve done the landlording thing before, and it helps to be nearby. It’s like a part-time job (that’s the way I looked at it).
I’ve also done the divorce thing (twice). The first time I had to pay half the equity ($27,000) to my ex, which disappeared by the time I sold the house eight years later. The second time (going on right now) I had to refinance in my name and cover an extra $8,000 that the mortgage was “under water” in just the two years we lived there (he wouldn’t split the loss and I’m not going to fight about it). I’m lucky I have a job and a nice little brick bungalow to live in, that I am retro-redecorating with a lot of tips, help and resources from this blog!!
OK, here’s my saga: Bought a 1955 ranch with a slab foundation. (In the process of repainting and thinking about it, found your cool website). This spring, the water heater failed, and dumped gallons of gallons of water onto the floor, which ran under walls, and ran into the infloor heating ducts. Insurance came in, ripped out the carpet, put everything I own into the garage so they could tear out the asbestos tile which covered the slab and which was popping and cracking. When they found out the only way to repair the heating ducts was to jackhammer up the floor, they simply stopped calling me back. Just stopped returning calls. It took 5 months and an attorney to get them to resolve the case. In the meantime, I’ve been living in a shell of a house, with most everything in boxes in the garage.
The good news is that they finally got started on resolving it, and repairs are proceeding. I’m putting in radiant floor heating (to the tune of $15K) and floors. All of this, of course, raises other questions, like what about the kitchen? The bathroom? While the house is gutted it seems like a good time to do other things, but the budget is limited.
I had to chip up the bathroom floor, but I’m keeping the yellow tub. Actually, I have some questions: the tub has not been treated well — it looks like someone washed out paint brushes and left lots of drips and washes–and it could use attention beyond the usual cleaning products. I’ve noticed recent posts about finding yellow sinks, so I’m thinking about that.
Thanks for this website, Pam. I’m enjoying it.
Hi Pam,
We are renting a lovely “Executive Ranch” home built in 1960–part of our deal with the owner is that we will work on it, and it definitely needs it. (We are alternately rueful and ecstatic that we don’t actually own it.)
First unexpected expense: the heat was turned off over the winter, and we have had to replace much of the plumbing! Most of it was pretty ordinary stuff, but if you’d like to put out a call for a white American Standard 4040 74 toilet tank, we’d be much obliged…they seem to be as rare as hen’s teeth. Because it is wall-mounted, the only replacement toilet is $600 and would require us to remove the cabinetry opposite the toilet so that a person would have room for their knees!
Then of course there’s parquet floor in the family room which looks perfectly okay but managed to separate itself from the subfloor during the freeze/thaw/heat/humidity that resulted from the heat/ac being turned off. Rather than refinish it and risk sending bits of floor through the windows, we’re going to put some of the vast supply of wax products and the little buffer we found in the basement to good use…
The roof, the driveway, the in-ground sprinklers–the list goes on and on, doesn’t it? But it’s all fun!
We have lived in our 50′s tri-level for about 6 years. I can can safely assume that we will have 10,000 in expenses in any given year. So far we have replaced the roof, LOTS of plumbing, removal of dead trees, air conditioning, termite removal, painting, replaced dead appliances and repair of electrical wiring. Nothing I’ve mentioned here was covered by insurance. One of these years I’m actually going to renovate it and make it look nice!
We bought a house that was built around 1915. Everything about it seemed to have been updated so we were thrilled. We later discovered that the least visible part of the house was the worst off: the main drain was in horrible shape and needed major repair/replacement. We spent thousands of dollars repairing it. Money well spent in the end, but quite an unwelcome surprise…
The sewer line on my 1957 ranch collapsed on the day before Thanksgiving last year and started spewing out the clean out near my back door. A bonus was they had to tear down an old delapidated greenhouse in my back yard that was ugly and blocked the view of the large picture window in my den.
Then on Valentines Day (What’s it with me and holidays?!) , I was getting dressed to sing with my quartet at a gig when I heard water running while I was in my bathroom. But there was no water running in the house and no one else was home. The water pipe coming in from the street burst right under the foundation wall of the house.
This is my 2nd year in a 1971 Split Level home in Georgia. The house, now I will call it a “flipped” home, had been updated and repaired in a few areas but us a sturdy house with good bones. But, I think it is too much for me. While my mortgage is cheaper than rent, I am scared that I won’t be able to keep up with the repairs and upkeep. I hate to admit, but I believe I just bought the wrong house. First thing, after 6 months of living in the house, the ceiling fell in my downstairs bathroom, result of a faulty install of the toilet the seller installed upstairs. Got that bathroom redone, after repairing and correcting faulty plumbing in that bathroom. A few months later, sewage started backing up in that tub. Had it snaked twice in six months. The people who snaked it muddied up and nastied up my newly updated bathroom it just made me sick! On top of a heating and air system that is old, and has not worked most of the summer months. It has gone out two summers, warranty patches it up but nothing that is long term. New deck built, not so new. Deck needs securing and sealing, kitchen countertops are bubbling up, need replacing, could use new windows, whole house fan went out after moving in, garage light doesn’t work, electrician said it’s a wiring problem, had to replace circuit box after breaker kept breaking, believe tree roots are in sewer pipes in yard, plumber coming to put camera down line, needs this, need that. A tree fell down in the back yard, and I was told I need to worry about one in my yard and another one in the neighbor’s yard. found out a whole bunch of construction crap is buried in the back yard, and I keep hearing a whistling noise when I flush the toilet.
yea, I got the homebuyer tax credit but to be honest, I don’t even see where it went. As soon as I moved in, $200 here, $2300, here, $500 here, $1000 here, yadda, yadda,yadda and my income just doesn’t support these type of repairs.
My mistake. I wanted to take advantage of these affordable prices, especially in the urban area I live in … but I feel I have allowed real estate to take advantage of me.
The home is a beautiful home with a beautiful spirit and warmth to it … but it needs a family with a handyman husband and a better credit score who could just borrow $25K to $30k and just get it in shape and up to date. It was nicely updated when I bought it, but when I moved MY stuff in and started using the home, it soon revealed all its needs to me ….. and I feel overwhelmed by it all.
Angela -
I hope that my response makes you feel a bit better in terms of you purchasing an older home. I’ve had 4 houses now. I’ve had two brand new houses, one house from 1987 (purchased in 2003) and my current home (1940). Believe it or not, even brand new houses come with problems. Mine came with leaking windows, a propane tank installed next to a sewer line, trees damaged by construction, and a wet basement, to name a few. My house from 1987, only 16 years old when I bought it, needed all new plumbing, a new electrical box, a new roof, new HVAC, new windows (that leaked and didn’t open), a new skylight (leaked), new toilets (that leaked into the kitchen), regrading (the house was built, I’m sure, on a former stream bed), etc, etc, etc. With that house, the list went on and on. I think it’s best to view a home like you view a relationship -it’s an investment that sometimes brings you joy and sometimes brings you heartache. Sometimes it’s worth the time, and sometimes it’s worth it to let go. Home ownership, no matter how old the house, can break the bank over time. One of the positive aspects of renting – it’s someone else’s problem. Best of luck to you.
After living in our home for years we have had a full gambit of repairs – some have been completed and some remain, well, incomplete. As an example – our bathrooms have both been “in progress” for about six or seven years. No, I am not exaggerating. Repairs have been both expected and unexpected. The normal things have seemingly all gone wrong, i.e. air conditioning, siding, roof, toilets, and the list goes on for miles – no real surprises. For the most part the house is a dependable one…with lots of memories both good and sad. It’s your basic 3 bedroom ranch style home with a fireplace – nothing fancy or elaborate. Just a little house with a fenced back yard that seperates us from our neighbors illegal free roaming city chickens, a couple of barking dogs (including mine) and a little garden in front. We’ve raised our family in this house, nursed my mom after cancer surgery, welcomed new grandchildren and cried over the passing of dear friends and family. We’ve expereienced a mixture of happiness and sadness as my son prepared for his wedding here; watched our daughter’s prom come and go and her relationship begin and end in this house. My husband and I have had garage sales, delicious meals, disagreements, made up (yay!) and talked about our future together. We’ve also tried to plan our funeral around our dining room table…without too much success. I know, we will have to complete that task one day. However, the home repairs must be addressd and are almost too many to count using my fingers AND toes. We just don’t have the money…who ever does..there is no convenient time for pay for everything…but that’s okay. It’s our house and we know that we’ll get it all done…some how. It may not be right away, but we’ll get through. So, it isn’t just a house, it’s a home. It’s a memory spot. A place to hang our hats..a soft place to land. Just a few thoughts about our litle house.
YAY!!
We are talking about buying our first house and of course, I want to buy an older house. Reading all of these stories kind of scare me!! lol What are the most important things to check out when buying an older house? I am fine with fixing minor updates but the major stuff is not something we want to tackle.
Hi Megan, yes… these lists are scary — but you should know what you are getting yourself into. Home ownership can be amazingly gratifying, but it is a hassle, to say the least, and can for sure be a money pit. I do not have the expertise to tell you which things are most important to check — you are going to get a home inspector, as discussed by many readers. Meanwhile, study up — and see A LOT of houses, this will help you build your knowledge. Meanwhile, here’s a story I wrote a while back with some of my thoughts about what to consider when buying a house: http://retrorenovation.com/2009/04/20/shopping-for-a-midcentury-home/
Yes, Megan, buying an old house does mean that some work is inevitable in the near-ish future. But, so many old houses are built so much better than new ones! We bought our first home about two and a half years ago, and since it was built in 1957 by a man who really new what he was doing, it is rock solid. The only thing we’ve really had to do is get the AC serviced and septic tank pumped once. The rest we’ve done because we wanted to (cosmetic stuff). The yard was completely overgrown and is stil kind of out of control a bit, but we love working on it. A good home inspector will make sure there’s nothing that’s going to break the bank after you move in, and that will give you great peace of mind. We need to have some plumbing work done on the upstairs restroom, but since there’s only two of us and the main bath downstairs, it’s not an urgent matter. We’ve got our whole lives to work on things, so it’s not a big hurry.
That being said…We do have lots and lots and LOTS of very mature, huge trees. It’s one thing that drew us to the house. I love them. However, there is a dead tree we have to get cut down soon, and it’s a big one…on the property line. Really big. So, that will be our first major expense.
megan,
first, don’t let this scare you away from an older house. i know a lot of folks who bought new (or even had something built) because they didn’t want to deal with major repairs…it doesn’t help. that’s not to say that it’s hopeless. what does help – new, old or custom – is knowing what you’re getting into.
from my mistakes, i would say the top things are:
only work with people you trust! our real estate agent was (emphasis on was) a friend of a friend. between that and being overwhelmed with the process, we sort of kept chugging even though we weren’t very happy with her.
get a good inspector and *ask questions*! we used an inspector recommended by said agent (we should have looked up inspectors and reviews, ratings, etc.) and, as much as i know about building, i assumed that “he’s the professional” and didn’t check stuff out myself. well, that hole to the outdoors in our attic? he didn’t mention it, and i didn’t think i needed to climb around the un-floored side of the attic because we had paid someone to do so. even if you aren’t prepared to do all that, at least have a list of the things you want to make sure about.
also, there’s no such thing as a “little problem” – okay, there is, but you don’t know until you check. common example: is that spot on the ceiling a spot on the ceiling or a sign of a leak? real-life example: is the soft spot in the floor old damage (it will need to be fixed anyhow), or ongoing damage because they sheathed the whole kitchen floor in plastic under the plywood so that nothing can evaporate?
don’t buy a house with wood paneling unless they’ll let you look behind it. that stuff is indestructible, and can hide anything (including a foot of standing water).
i am truly not saying any of this to scare you – and certainly not to scare you out of buying an old house. i don’t have any more faith in new houses, and the true problem is not what is or isn’t wrong with it, but *knowing what you’re getting into*.
again, ask questions – all the questions you have (and know that you’ll never know all the answers). we may still have bought our house, knowing what we know now – but we would have bought it for a lot less money! and that difference could have gone into the repairs right off the bat.
Water factors in many of these stories, in the form of leaking pipes, leaking roofs, overflowing toilets, busted water heaters, etc. We’ve experienced all of these things in the five different homes we’ve owned, ranging from a 1910 cottage to a 1995 mobile home, and including our current ’59 ranch. The worst thing to happen was when the crawlspace got flooded at the ’72 ranch during a giant storm, and the sump pump didn’t kick on, resulting in a ruined furnace. The funniest water experience was at the mobile home, which sat on a hillside — water ran right under it during a storm, so no flooding there!
We moved in to our house a little over two years ago. It is a three bedroom, two bath ranch built in 1960, and then added onto and renovated over the years. In the early 1970′s, the carport was enclosed to make a large living room, and around the same time, the kitchen was totally redone, replacing modern light wood with dark Early American cabinets (there were other changes, which we didn’t find out about until later). A later owner added on a office/guest room and a storage room, along with a foyer that connected these rooms, and the existing laundry room with the rest of the house. A different set of owners had covered the kitchen, hallway and two of the bedrooms with laminate flooring.
When we first moved in, it appeared that the few repairs that needed to be made were mainly cosmetic. The kitchen cabinets appeared to be in decent shape, and the stove-flat top with a built in grill was really cool (once we managed to get it working) and the layout was awesome. Otherwise, the house seemed to be in good shape, and all of the visible pipe was copper.
Unfortunately, all of the pipe we couldn’t see was polybutyl pipe. The house had been replumbed at some point, when the original, galvanized pipe wore out and they had used what was, at the time, the new wonder pipe. Unfortunately, this wonder pipe was totally defective. It wasn’t a question of ‘if’ the pipe was going to burst, it was ‘where, when, and how badly’. We found this out when we called in a plumber to fix a leak that had appeared in the laundry room. At this point, we mentally earmarked the new homeowner tax credit for a replumb.
But before tax time rolled around, we had to have a plumber come out and fix a minor leak in the kitchen sink. Once this was done, he was running a lot of water down the sink (as is normal, to make sure the leak is really fixed) and I saw water coming out from the wall on the other side. This lead to the exciting discovery that the t-joint that connected the kitchen sink to the main drain for the entire house (one of the few pieces of copper pipe in the dang walls) had corroded and gotten a hole in it. The slow leak had rotted out the backs of most of the cabinets, and the water had gotten under the laminate flooring which, we were happy to discover, had been laid over beautiful 8 inch white ceramic tile. The discovery that the cabinets were trashed was less welcome, although I was interested to see what their removal revealed about the history of colors in the kitchen. The progression seems to have been pink-taupe(when the 1970′s-Remodel) was done-white and blue floral wallpaper-white paint.
We opted to leave the awesome white tile, and replaced the lower cabinets with one’s from IKEA’s Varde series. They aren’t exactly period, but we felt that the stainless steel, double bowl drainboard sink, butcher block counter tops, light wood and white slab fronts managed to evoke the period of the house, without being actually of the period. I made my own contribution to the walls by painting them a light lemon yellow. We didn’t have room for the Varde cabinet that would hold a flattop range, so we opted for a free standing range. This ended up being more complicated than expected, since the old stove was hardwired in, and the new stove needed a plug. Luckily, my sister is an electrician!
Then, a month before we’d planned on having the plumbers come out, disaster struck. The pipe had developed a pinhole leak, waaaay back in the wall that connected the two bathrooms, by the time it was severe enough to be discovered, the drywall in both bathrooms, and one wall in our bedroom had been ruined. Following mold abatement, a week in a hotel and a replumb that happened sooner than we expected, and new bathroom vanities, and new drywall, everything was back to rights.
The kitchen still isn’t totally done, we need to replace the upper cabinets, and put in a wall oven. We’d bought one to replace the old wall oven, but the pillar it was supposed to go in got ripped out with the redo. We took out a large, built in pantry that was damaged and poorly installed and are going to be replacing it with a wall oven, a freestanding pantry unit and a 12 inch wide cabinet that will go next to the wall oven, for additional storage space. By the time all this is done, we’ll have tripled the storage space, doubled the workspace, and kept the same layout that I loved to start with.
We’ll also have spent about 12K, when all is said and done. Is it worth it? I think that it has been. I love the house, love the neighborhood, and other than the plumbing issues, which have been dealt with, the house is in excellent shape and is well built. Best of all, we bought it when the market had bottomed out, so even with all of the repairs, we still haven’t spent as much as the house is worth.
Our first house, bought a fixer upper because it was all that we could afford. Spent more fixing it up than we paid for it. The worst two items were/are the addition and the chimney.
The chimney obviously leaked because you could see the damage to the wall above the fireplace. So, we paid to have a new roof put on it and assumed that would fix both the chimney problem and the roof needing replaced problem. Paid someone to come in and replaster the wall, and everything was grand. About a year later, the chimney leaked again and ruined the newly plastered wall. Paid someone to reflash the chimney and fixed the wall best I could myself. It leaked again after about 6 months so we paid someone to tear the entire chiney off the house down below the roof line and rebuild it. All was good for about a decade and then, it started leaking again. Paid someone else to come look at it and they tore the flashing off and discovered that when it was rebricked, they had used the old flashing mixed with new and did not do a very good job of it. Furthermore, the brick they used to rebuild the chimney was too porous and was starting to “flake” and they said I would need to put sealer on it every fall. They reflashed it from scratch and I fixed the wall, again, and part of the ceiling. It now has not leaked for a number of years BUT, the chimney bricks are disintigrating. Every spring there are more pieces of thin brick falling down the roof due to absorbing water, freezing, popping off, etc. I guess I should have sealed it more often or better or whatever.
The home had an addition on the back of it when we bought it, with a flat roof. It also leaked as was evident by the stains on the wooden ceiling inside. So, we paid a contractor to tear off the flat roof and replace it with a peaked one, along with a new plastered ceiling inside. First big rain after the project, and the ceiling is leaking. Called the contractor back and he came and looked at it and said he can’t understand where it could be leaking and left. Called a different contractor and he says that the peaked roof the other guy installed doesn’t allow for correct drainage where it meets the garage peak and water is goi going down the valley and then up under the shinhgles on the new roof because there is nowhere for it to go. Unbelievable. Called the first contractor back and tell him the information and he tells us to just have the new contractor fix it because he is too busy and that he will pay half…So, we pay the new guy to tear the shingles off of it in the affected area and put a rubber “sheet” of sorts on the area affected and replace the shingles over the edges of it. And guess who never got around to paying his half…$1200 more down the tube, but has never leaked since.
I don’t even begin to want to talk about the water problems in the basement, the around the basement walls drainage system and sump pump to suppposedly fix the water seeping through the block walls, or the cracks in the basement walls that will eventually require the dirt to be dug out all around the rear of the house and the walls rebuilt…
I’m still sitting with 45-year-old red carpet, a bathroom with floor tiles coming up, another one with wall tiles coming up, and a 1970′s harvest gold kitchen, because of all the surprises: new electrical panel when we moved in. Insulation. Replacing clogged galvanized pipe. 2 new water heaters. New oil burner. New gutters 3 times before they got it right. Sump pump. Generator with manual transfer switch. Chimney repairs. Driveway repairs. Now the 3 steps from my garage to the backyard sprung a HOLE and have to be replaced. My downstairs bath has 2 holes in the plaster walls from a plumbing repair. And that’s before we even get to the new siding, windows, and roof that we did.
The squirrel that fell down the chimney and died and it was 3 weeks before my cat found the corpse underneath the bar in the basement. The mouse infestation in the cupboards that had me cleaning them out with ammonia. The window caps that went and in a heavy rain water kept pouring into the house. Getting the front steps repaired because my DH decided it would be a good idea to break up some ice with a metal shovel…
Our house was built prior to 1903, yet (knock on wood) no gigantic unexpected expenses yet. We’ve had to: replace some slate on the roof when we bought the house, then again when a storm blew some tiles off; replace flashing around a chimney when we saw a leak in the second floor ceiling; take down a giant tree that was sick; replace the back steps when they collapsed; replace the attic windows when it became clear that everything was rotted beyond repair; and then basic, annual expenses like cleaning the gutters, cleaning the chimneys/fireplace, and getting the furnace serviced. We still haven’t removed the shed that collapsed after a storm or repaired the radon system that broke probably the day after we signed the mortgage. Before we bought our first home, I wish someone had knocked us over the head and told us to budget, like, $300 per month for repairs and maintenance in addition to the mortgage, insurance, etc.
Yes, Going Steady: I think you are spot on: Homeowners need to budget for repairs — I’m going to do some research to see what actual data indicates is a good figure to budget. I already did some super quick looking and it seems like the budget should be based on the cost or value of the home (which makes sense).
Hi Pam,
So happy I found your wonderful blog!!
I bought an oddball little ranch / cape cod hybrid. Loved it at first sight, as the front door opens directly into the kitchen– sort of the exact opposite of a McMansion.
I still love it, even though I find the constant repairs a bit exhausting. But it is good to know I’m not the only one that feels this way…thanks again. Kathleen
The hardest thing for me in our last two older fixers was having to listen to my husband grumble and moan while he fixed everything (he has really high standards and hated what any previous owner did or didn’t do). I thought I could solve that by buying a new house. He still grumbles. Even the inspection couldn’t have uncovered that.
Oh, the horror. I am feeling so awful for everyone with the unexpected expenses. Although, I gotta say that I’m feeling a lot better about all of my expensive house projects. Thankfully, our realtor connected us with a great inspector. He was pretty spot on with everything. So, we knew when we bought our house that the roof was failing (yea, water through ceiling), the masonry needed stripping and tuckpointing, the furnace was sized wrong, plumbing needed some updates, original clay sewer line probably needed replacing (it did) etc.
So, even though we knew we had a lot of expenses, we factored that into our offer on the house. Of course, I wish we had paid less (it was worth a little less), we know we paid a premium for this particular house, the lot, the location, the neighborhood.
But, I did get a surprise recently. After 3 years of being in the house, rain suddenly started pouring down my walls during a really bad storm. Turns out that my husband didn’t caulk under my little transom windows. Which is usually fine, but we had horizontal rain. Fortunately, I was home and could address the water so it didn’t ruin anything. And, as soon as the rain stopped, I spent $5 on caulk and sent my husband to the roof!
Yikes! “For want of a nail, the battle was lost!”
Our 1949 house has few problems. The only problems there are are with the new junk the previous owners put in (like cheap new windows, ceramic tile in the kitchen, vinyl shutters and siding with cracks, cupboard hinges). All the old stuff is just fine. I wish the former owners would have left the house as it was meant to be. That said, it’s been a pretty easy house to own.
My sister on the other hand, bought a beautiful house from 1959. The house didn’t have very many problems, but they declined an inspection because they wanted the house so badly (my sister had been eyeing it since she was a kid). Well, it had a buried oil tank that leaked. There goes $10,000! Ouch!
Wow, I thought my experiences with my 1959 raised ranch in Camp Hill PA were awful until reading some of these posts. I moved in January 2006, into a very original raised ranch – I had purchased from the estate of the 2nd owner, who had been there since 1968. The furnace was old, and sounded like a jetliner spooling up every time it kicked on. The next month, the area had an epic ice storm, and the furnace decided to die at the same time. Dealt with more than a few opportunistic contractors in the phone book, with quotes up to $10-12K. Finally got a good referral, and had a new boiler in for $6K. The house needed a lot of cosmetic work that I was dealing with, and the next summer I decided to put in central AC – Used the same contractor, who did less than a stellar job on this one. The unit was up in the attic, and the contractor ‘forgot’ to install the condensation drain, so the water was all collecting in the drip pan – 2 days later, the ceiling in the living room came crashing down. The contractor came out, nailed up some sheetrock, and I never heard back from him, and still have some of his tools. Made some major updates on the jack-n-jill bathroom, added a deck and fenced in backyard. Total updates were pushing $25K, just as I was transferred this past January to TX. Final insult was the plummeting housing market in Harrisburg, where I had a $15K loss on sale. $40K down the tubes on that venture – But, I found a great 1955 bungalow time capsule that I bought for a song, and really needed nothing. Clean hardwoods, the bathrooms are all original, and the tile is beautiful, and I still even have the original ’55 Frigidare built in stove that works like a dream!!
Hi,
I am writing from a northwest suburb, 35 minutes from the heart of Philadelphia.
We purchased a 1937 home. Benign neglect is the best description. We have 3.5 acres, most of which is in a flood plain. The house is 3300 sq. ft, strong, sturdy, and appears as it did (although aged) when it was built.
Yet, we have dropped bags of cash on:
Basement Waterproofing – Can you guess if it solved the problem?
Arborist
Landscaper
Masonry
Garage Doors (3)
Plumber-New sewer pipes, Hook up to sewer and pay township $5,000. for the pleasure
OIl tank–Removal
Electrical-Updated and added new box with space for more lines
Roofer-some work – $3,000. (can’t complain)
Testing for asbestos-fortunately it is not in the wall, but is on some of pipes
Carpenter to repair known termite damage in basement.
Carpenter to repair unknown extensive termite damage in basement.
Carpenter to repair unknown and surprise! termite damage in garage door trim X3
Still to come:
There will be more termite repairs. I guarantee it.
Heating/AC-/$ –the sky is the limit as my husband is looking into GEOTHERMAL
Windows: 73 steel casement windows..I can’t even count that high.
Refinishing floors
Painting
Gas-Gas company pays most of the charges
Woodwork restoration
AND that is all before bathrooms, kitchen and our bedroom—–Oh, and we hired an architect to draw up plans for the master bedroom and bathroom.
The kitchen is old and quaint, but I would like a dishwasher. Is that too much to ask?
Someday we will move in (we are two months into the process–I expect at least 4 more).
We are trading a small home — no mortgage — for a grander home.
We took vows to never fight. We have been minding our manners and our frustrations.
By the way, this was an impulse move. Oh well, we’ll figure it out.
So, the moral of the story:
Yes, we have a fantastic, beautiful house. The views are absolutely heavenly. But, for all those people out there who have idealistic notions about home restoration–you need to get real. The expenses are real and really costly.
I bought a 950 square foot 1950 minimal traditional last year! And love this site! I must agree with a previous messge, take the time to review and hire a good inspector so you know what you are getting into! I have some repairs and restoration work to do, but nothing that time and money can’t take care of as the house is a solid little old lady and cute as well! And yes, it is a labor of love, and after being without a home for several years living in an apartment after owning 2 homes previously there is nothing like owning your home! Now l need to get back to finding the time and money to make it my own!
We bought our first home last year, a 1929 spanish style in Los Angeles. The house was a flip, and presented great. We had a spot on inspector, who let us know that the flip was a quick one. We’ve had some surprises this year, and some expected expenses that were pointed out in the home inspection. Roof repair, and entirely new roof for garage (previous owner nailed down tar paper, as if that was never going to leak) $3400, which inspector pointed out, and gave fair estimate to fix.
We hear a loud pop, and low and behold, our original plaster ceiling in the laundry room had cracked and was hanging down, cost to have replastered, the old fashioned way, $1000. Paint suddenly peeling off the walls in not often used guest bathroom, walls had to be scraped, re-surfaced, and painted, cost approx. $500.00 Thanks flippers for not using primer! Good thing we we have another bathroom that’s covered in paint that is a ticking time bomb.
We also are waiting to have the entire plumbing redone, as it’s 50% cast iron piping, we can live with the sometimes rusty water, for now!
Other flipper gafs, installing sub standard sprinklers and not having a shut off valve, the sprinkler main line sprung a leak, and that all had to be replaced. Cost was rolled in to removing dead trees, and trimming other old growth ones that threatened the house, and adding some landscaping.
I grew up in old and very old homes in New England, and they have problems. As far as the difference between renting and owning, I never want to share walls with a neighbor ever again. I also love that we have over time, repainted and are making the house ours. I don’t have to get a landlords approval to paint my bathroom mid century pink, or convert our pull down ironing board cupboard into a better use spice cabinet. I love our vintage house.
Just make sure you have a rainy day fund for the unexpected, because that check is in the mail.
Fall is coming quickly here in central PA and we finally see the chance to build a fire in our great fireplace. We just moved into the house in June, so we were looking forward the a nice crackling fire. Hubby decided to do the right thing and get someone in to clean the chimney before we got started using. We were expecting a quick sweep and a low bill. What we got was a 3 hour inspection and a $4800 estimate for re-do the chimney. I think it is time for a second opinion! I was so ready for a warm fire. Yuck!
40+ years in a 1931 federal row house in Washington DC. Luckily, we are the 3rd owners, acquired it before the renovation craze of the last couple of decades. Bathroom is a DIVINE Deco style, black and white high gloss tile on walls, small black and white marble tile on floor, dreamy American Standard LILAC fixtures…
All inside original. We stripped the doors, pocket doors and french doors and repainted them when we moved in, stripped the kitchen cabinets to their original wood and lead glass. Wonderful 1930′s Magic Chef 36 inch stove. This work was elbow grease. Otherwise, full upgrade on electric twice, just in order to be up to date with all the electrical demands, in the 1970′s with kitchen appliances, in the late 1990′s to keep up with computers, printers, etc. 6K (or the equivalent in the 70′s) at a time.
Truly MAJOR upgrade was total house re-piping – inside and out – upgrade to 1/2 inch copper – it had lead piping. 13.5K including new boiler and new water heater. (no new car that year…).
Painting refresh every 10 years. Floors sanded and redone when we first moved in. Contemplating redoing them if needed before sale.
I have been thinking of a kitchen change, but not an overhaul, unless prep for sale…. If only I could clone the lilac bathroom….
This house has been so good to us…and it will be a jackpot to the next owners – when we get ready to part with it – if they just ‘listen’ to its beat.
I forgot the new high energy efficient windows and back siding – total 10K last year.
Contemplating a light tunnel over staircase. Anyone has an opinion about or experience with that?
After reading all of the above stories, I really can’t complain! I bought a house because there aren’t many legal apartments allowed on the entire island where I live, and most of the ones that are here are 2 bedrooms or less. I wanted a small house that wasn’t updated, and the 1965 ranch is what I got. The inspector found most of the important stuff so all I really needed was a new roof and some minor repairs. What is absolutley KILLING me is the price of heating oil (700 bucks a pop, a fillup every winter month) I went ahead and made homemade plexiglass storm windows for the aluminum windows that leak like a seive-these cost over 200 bucks for ten windows. Taxes here are almost ten grand too-ouch!