The Super Official Homeowners Thread

[Sijray21]

You can also look up the serial number of the water heater to see how old it is. That should help whether you are going to need to replace it soon. And/or service/flush it to extend its life.

[Deceus]

Assuming you haven't done the home inspection yet, I'd wait for that until you start spending money. How much grass does the property have? Do you need a riding mower?

Hot water heater is always a good idea if it's on the older side. Pretty cheap in the grand scheme of home ownership.

I would add some shutters for a bit more curb appeal. Another fairly cheap, but substantial update.

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Only spending the money in my head for now, I ain't that crazy hah. Trying to not go overboard but that usually involves a plan and prioritizing.

I have a self propelled mower and I don't think this yard will warrant a riding mower. Have the lawn equipment pretty squared away from keeping all the green space around my current place under control.

I figured a hybrid heater would pay for itself if there's an old cheapo unit. If there is, best not to wait til leaks and just pull the trigger when I move in. Don't want a repeat of randomly finding a huge bulge in the tank and scrambling to prevent a disaster like last time.

[Apoc]

Reading your posts stresses me out.

[Deceus]

Reading your posts stresses me out.

If it makes you feel better:

- Step 0 was/is getting rid of a lot of my current stuff. I sold my big workbench/toolbox for about what I paid for it. Consolidated the tools into one box and threw the rest at the pegboard. Also sold my engine hoist and other engine building stuff to downsize. I'm likely not building my next engine if I ever do get one. Even parted with a trail bike I was very much attached to because I know it's too much bike for the trails I'll be riding in Charlotte. Banked at least $3k there and freed up a lot of room.

- Step 1 will be taking out all my debt with the exception of the house, car and truck which will are 2.8%, 1.9% and 4.2% respectively. Mostly this entails killing off what's left of my student loans ($9k) and whatever I put on the credit card between now and closing to keep as much cash on hand as possible. $4,500 in earnest/due diligence after going all in on the rental items was a little painful for the savings account. Especially after all the maintenance and decorating we did for the listings and showings earlier this summer.

- Step 2 will be setting aside at least a 3 month cushion and building it up to six months ASAP. Only then will be I be making any kind of purchases.

That part is all figured out and a no-brainer. But I do like to live a little. I could sit on that $10k, add it to the cash pile to be extra safe and just hate life but I'd rather not. Moving into an empty house is a great time to get shit done and at least figure out what you want.

Mostly looking for ideas, doesn't have to be expensive or big purchases. My pot rack was $40 and I can't imagine living without it now. I spent way too long cooking everyday with pots and pans buried at the back of cabinets. I've also built many things like the murphy bed, my office desk and the kid's trundle/bunk bed after see some decent stuff that was just way too expensive.

Picked up a Nest thermostat recently and was really pleased with that. Really nice to tell the heat to stop when the upstairs hits 72 and not just keep pumping until the downstairs does. Also nice to set schedules and kick on the fan with a timer. Been letting the downstairs drop to 70 in the evenings now that it's cooling off and it really seems to help me sleep. Not bad for $200. Was wondering if anyone else has invested in any nice-to-haves lately. I can spend hours, even days, looking at car and bike parts but can't really seem to do that with housing stuff for some reason.

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Plus I figured it'd be a nice change of pace for the thread rather than just filling it with my bitching HAH.

[ScottyB]

flush out and pull the anode rod on the WH, if its eaten up but not entirely, just replace the rod.

that's how my last WH died (after 13 years). pure neglect, if i'd changed the rod out and flushed it maybe once or twice in its life it would probably still be soldiering on.

[Deceus]

flush out and pull the anode rod on the WH, if its eaten up but not entirely, just replace the rod.  

that's how my last WH died (after 13 years).  pure neglect, if i'd changed the rod out and flushed it maybe once or twice in its life it would probably still be soldiering on.

Haha yeah, flushing the water heater as soon as I get unpacked. That's what made the job here such a pain, couldn't even drain the damn thing without shoving a screwdriver into it every 10 seconds it was so backed up with junk. So that meant the hose I cut to reach the drain was useless and it all ended up all over the basement floor. I got lucky and the big drain was 2 feet away. Still had a mountain of crap to sweep up once it dried. It was about 10 years old and probably wasn't flushed once.



Good times...

[Deceus]

Inspection day, so exciting!!! lol jk. The house is plumbed with polybutylene through-out the first floor ... there is a leak running into the crawlspace ... a decent steady stream... the listing agent took 5 hours to even get back to us when we let them know the vapor barrier was in the process of becoming an indoor pool



The good news is that there's a vapor barrier and my buyer's are already sending someone over to draw up plans to finish out the basement.

[ScottyB]

at least it was a crawl space and wasn't flooding a finished basement. sorry man...but at least fixable.

immediately after we moved in our A/C system yeeted itself to the tune of $8k in a heat wave. every move is going to bone you somehow.

[Sijray21]

Water issues are some of the worst issues to have in a house. I hope they fix it fully with some sort of a warranty or something.

[Deceus]

Water issues are some of the worst issues to have in a house. I hope they fix it fully with some sort of a warranty or something.

Yeah I'm glad at least we're on the same page here. My agent pissed me off the most yesterday. "Oh the VA inspector can't fail it just because it's not what the pipping they prefer to see. They can't fail it because it's PEX or something they don't like. Maybe they won't even go into the crawlspace. What really matters is that they don't find moisture down there."



Just so much to unpack there... I'm just imagining an inspector with a meter in his hand, stomping through puddles in the crawlspace, majestic waterfalls in the background, looking down and going "yup, readings look good"


Perhaps I need to be crystal clear tomorrow: this is not some kind of silly preference. This is a known DEFECTIVE PRODUCT actively failing before our very eyes. The house gets repipped by a reputable plumber AND I get a detailed report on the damage of that current leak or I'm fucking walking. I'm not throwing half a million dollars on the table unless I have a good feeling about the place, good grief I find it weird I even have to say that.

[JPolen01]

There's no law about what an inspector can say. That's bullshit. Inspectors can notate whatever they want and so can the buyer.

There's no pass or fail with a home inspection. There's issues found or there's no issues found. Are the inspection police going to come by to check his work?

Your realtor sounds like an idiot.

Our inspector noted the weirdest, dumbest stuff imaginable - loose doorknob here, scratched floors here. We didn't ask for things like that to be fixed, but it didn't mean he couldn't make note of it.


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[CaptainHenreh]

There's no law about what an inspector can say. That's bullshit. Inspectors can notate whatever they want and so can the buyer.

There's no pass or fail with a home inspection. There's issues found or there's no issues found. Are the inspection police going to come by to check his work?

Your realtor sounds like an idiot.

Our inspector noted the weirdest, dumbest stuff imaginable - loose doorknob here, scratched floors here. We didn't ask for things like that to be fixed, but it didn't mean he couldn't make note of it.

This, 100%.

Did you do the home inspection with the inspector?

My guy was fantastic for the new place, explained what he was checking and why, and gave me a bunch of tips on how to future proof myself. Absolutely fantastic.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Wait, this is on the new place?

Seriously if this place turns out to not be what you get; please call my uncle. He has been doing Charlotte real estate for 25+ years; not just a bored nimby wife doing real estate for fun.

Also I have a much better inspector down here in Charlotte; he isn’t cheap but he is detailed and takes his job very seriously.

[Deceus]

Veteran home loans are a little different. They can refuse to allow me to buy the place over the piping. Underwriters usually aren't too keen about giving money to people for houses that need immediate repairs either. My last lender actually took ALL the concession money and applied it to the funding fee for me.

The part that's pissing me off is everyone seems to want to "wait and see" when my move in date is less than a month out. If the lender comes back and says I can't take ownership until the repairs are made, then this whole gravy train is derailed.

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Wait, this is on the new place?

Seriously if this place turns out to not be what you get; please call my uncle. He has been doing Charlotte real estate for 25+ years; not just a bored nimby wife doing real estate for fun.

Also I have a much better inspector down here in Charlotte; he isn’t cheap but he is detailed and takes his job very seriously.

I absolutely will, everyone is getting canned if this falls through.

The inspector was great, also not cheap but good. The inspector with the meter comment was how I imagined my realtor was thinking how the water intrusion inspection was going to go on the 8th. The inspector cut off the water to the toilets in case it was leak at the seal and broke everything down for me in plain english. He also noted what things were minor and what were legit concerns. For the poly B piping he just recommended to replace ASAP but did note it had the metal fittings which were a lot less prone to issues. Probably how it's made it this long.

[JPolen01]

Sure different lenders require certain things. Some lenders require handrails be installed on staircases, some don't care. Doesn't stop the inspector from notating anything.


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[Deceus]

Sure different lenders require certain things. Some lenders require handrails be installed on staircases, some don't care. Doesn't stop the inspector from notating anything.


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Yeah he did note it. The PEX vs Copper was in relation to the inspection that comes with the VA checklist/appraisal

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[.RJ]

The home inspection business is kind of shitty. The lender can likely pull a loan over stuff like the piping, asbestos, oil tanks, etc, but its case by case and lender by lender.

The piping here, and, if you have a crawl space in the house, its not the end of the world, as long as the sellers concede the $20k its going to cost to re-plumb the house. If they do, you have peace of mind because that stuff is a time bomb - not, you walk. Hot market or not, they wont be able to sell the house without fixing this.

I will never do another home inspection without a) crawling up the inspectors asses the whole time they're here and 2) hiring a GC I trust to walk behind them. At this point in the process you can walk away for just about any reason so use it to your advantage.

[JPolen01]

I'm with Rj. Our inspector was good but was no expert in everything. I'll bring my electrician and plumber to the next house we buy to do their own inspection.


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[Deceus]

Yeah I have a plumber coming Monday morning. The sellers have already dug in and said they're not paying a cent since there's no current leaks other than the one drain that apparently wasn't reconnected properly. I honestly don't give a shit if they pay or not, it's getting fixed by me, we're splitting the cost or I'm walking. There's no scenario where this deal goes through without it getting fixed. Not sure why they're even debating if they "have to" or not. So stupid.

They seem to have misinterpreted my intentions since I'm trying to get ahead of the VA appraisal/minimum eligibility. The lender very likely is going to find out about the piping. Not sure why everyone seems to want to bank on them not finding out. They seem to think I'm using the inspection from Friday morning to justify preventative repairs. They are indeed correct the past inspection was purely for the current state of the house. The VA is a different beast all together. They can and will look at the life expectancy of things and offer conditional approvals based on them. Crazy I have to explain that to not one but both realtors.

Also crazy they're both committed to convincing me this is just some minor preference and not some defective material that resulted in a billion dollar law suit. Guess we'll see, it shouldn't be too expensive as it's just the first floor and the crawlspace is HUGE.

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[Tyler.M]

Yeah I have a plumber coming Monday morning. The sellers have already dug in and said they're not paying a cent since there's no current leaks other than the one drain that apparently wasn't reconnected properly. I honestly don't give a shit if they pay or not, it's getting fixed by me, we're splitting the cost or I'm walking. There's no scenario where this deal goes through without it getting fixed. Not sure why they're even debating if they "have to" or not. So stupid.

They seem to have misinterpreted my intentions since I'm trying to get ahead of the VA appraisal/minimum eligibility. The lender very likely is going to find out about the piping. Not sure why everyone seems to want to bank on them not finding out. They seem to think I'm using the inspection from Friday morning to justify preventative repairs. They are indeed correct the past inspection was purely for the current state of the house. The VA is a different beast all together. They can and will look at the life expectancy of things and offer conditional approvals based on them. Crazy I have to explain that to not one but both realtors.

Also crazy they're both committed to convincing me this is just some minor preference and not some defective material that resulted in a billion dollar law suit. Guess we'll see, it shouldn't be too expensive as it's just the first floor and the crawlspace is HUGE.

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You have more patience then me. I would have walked away from this place and went to a different realtor at this point.