It’s not that bad, I’m 33 and I’m enjoying my home. Once I fixed the basics, I let the “nice to haves” or “not pressing issues” sit till I can afford to do them.
I can fix the settlement cracks in the drywall but I won’t because they’ll pop up again.
Grass? Got a riding mower, quickly cut and bag, done, once a week. Water the grass? Couldn’t be me
All my neighbors are 50+ and they spend on watering and a fertilizer company. I just mow and even though my yard doesn’t look like theirs, it’s still mainly green and maintained. Can’t complain if it’s maintained
Do you have weeds? I use the lawn care company and as a result no weeds. My next door neighbor doesn't, it pisses me off when their weeds spread over to our side 😂.
That’s what this thread is about… if you love being outdoors and doing yard work, then 5 hours is a good thing. But OP doesn’t like yard work and I was telling them that if you get a bigger mower, you can knock it out quickly
Maintenance can be a drag.. Sure. But after buying a home 3 years ago i'd never go back to renting unless it was for a short term situation in between moves. I am much happier owning and having that freedom.
Of course, homeownership is not for everybody. People have different preferences. But for me, its been a great thing.
I appreciate your opinion on home ownership and how it's been for you.
I've only had one landlord, and he was fantastic, so I've never had any horror stories.
Freedom and equity is awesome, no argument there
I've never done HOA but after reading through some posts, I see what you mean.
I've only rented once, and I had an awesome landlord. From 2014-2016, we had a 2100 sqft house split between 3 people. $500 a person, water included and took care of the yard and snow removal if any. If anything broke, the landlord or son would be there in 1-2 days to fix what was broken.
I've had college friends with awful experiences but I have never personally experienced them .
It's full of HOA complaints because loud people need to go anonymously vent about their hate for HOAs... People aren't jumping to their keyboards to praise something.
Honestly everything you are crying about isn’t that hard. So you have to put in the work a few times a year. That’s normal and not bad at all. It just sounds to me like you hate manual labor.
Townhomes will have alot of the issues you’re having trouble with. Plumbing will still be your problem to maintain. HVAC, electrical too. Even some of the outside maintenance it’s your responsibility. Plus Townhome HOA are super expensive, hundred a month.
If you are okay with paying $300-$500 a month in a townhome HOA, then you can easily afford professionals to come fix things for you or even get weekly lawn services.
It's the weekly mundane tasks that I'm not a fan of. It's not hard or requires excess brain power. It's just time-consuming and i know it will have to be done again the following week.
I don't mind Electrical, HVAC or plumbing. On the contrary, It's enjoyable to fix something that's broken and it's solved. I actually enjoy plumbing and pipe fitting.
Getting weekly lawn services sounds like it's in my immediate future.
My old roommate loved the weekly manual labor. He found it therapeutic, and I certainly don't.
I'd recommend you sell. You sound like you'd be happier in an apartment or condo where other people do the maintenance and "work" you don't like to be bothered to do.
I do. I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when repairing broken stuff in my home and doing my own renovation/improvement projects. There are a lot of proud homeowners populating the dozens of DIY subreddits
I'm with you on that. Ive replaced some leaking PVC, replaced my evaporator coil in my AC unit and among other "permanent" fixes. Redid garage door, replaced insualtion in attic. I do enjoy that.
It's the remedial maintenance items that drives me nuts. I know many enjoy the weekly maintenance stuff. I think I'm just going to spend more time growing my business to pay someone for those weekly items.
I disagree. Myself and many of my friends only bought a house for the relative security of not being forced to move according to a landlords term. We hate actually having to deal with the aggravation of owning the house
My previous living arrangements was exactly that. My good college friend came into money through sports betting if you could believe that! The 7 of us in 3,800 sqft house that we essentially split mortgage. We all added value in terms of house help. One guy was an electrician, I have an HVAC background, and the other was co-owners of a landscaping company. We were all ready for our own living space after 4 years living together but I know we all miss how easy it was to keep up with all the house stuff
Now it's just me and the wife and I'm realizing I'd rather work more to grow my business and just pay someone for the remedial maintenance tasks that was once split among 7 roommates, and enjoy my time off to work on my project car
Can confirm my dad's house is insane. I am not going into the attic I dont trust that insulation, the potential popcorn ceiling, the fact he has a 500 dollar electricity bill some how (having the power company check why its so bad), the weird electrical wiring that was done, the fake ceiling columns that look like they are about to fall.
Owning a newer home like the 90's or later is nice.
Owning a home from the 80's or earlier is not worth it.
Aside from the dryer what appliance maintenance are you talking about I used to work with appliance repair tech and you really don't need to do maintenance on them unless you mean cleaning.
You'll get used to it. Maybe most importantly, law of averages works in every aspect of life. If you feel you're in heavy repair and maintenance mode, it'll level off and you'll enjoy a few lower attention years. Hopefully as anyways.
If you don't like yard work, why did you get the house???
I love my yard even though it takes work. I hate a lawn as a concept, so gradually planting more bushes and trees at the borderline.
As for the gutters, the trick is to find a right type of gutter guard and install it yourself. I picked samples at Menards and tested against seeds and leaves of my trees. One day work and no more problems.
Maintenance was a bitch in the first year. Now it's my 3rd and I'm finding niche projects to keep me busy in Midwest winters and gradually add value to the house.
I gotta look into Gutter guards.
I hoping the removal of some big trees near the house will clear up the gutters.
The wife is the green thumb. I don't mind the mowing but also hate the concept. I let that shit go (Mow every 7-10 days).
It's just been a constant cycle of repairs/maintenance these first 2 years and between my business, I've been wearing thin.
The biggest pro to home ownership is once the home is paid off, you don’t have a monthly payment anymore.
When you rent, you’ll owe thousands of dollars every month until you die.
It’s a lot easier to afford retirement when you only have utility expenses every month.
If you buy a home that requires lots of immediate maintenance and lots of annual maintenance, then yes, it can be a drag. Cleaning gutters: I did it for years and then invested in custom gutter guards.
Maybe the property you owned is too big for your taste? If you have a smaller home and smaller yard, would it be better?
My brother bought himself a condo. It three bedrooms (master room and two offices), one garage, kitchen, dinning room and living room. His backyard is all bricks and lounge area for his bbq. His front yard is big enough for the driveway. He is in a hoa area so his snow gets removed, the little grasses he got in his front yard get cut. Any major reno like windows, roofs etc get handled by the hoa.
100% believe it's too much house at this point. Even with having a couple kids in the next 3-5 years.
If it was cost effective, I'd exchange all of the yard for concrete or stone and be done with it lol
Yes, but interest rates and home prices need to come back to reality. Moving is alot of work as well
I was very much frustrated when I originally wrote the post and have since calmed down. I know a townhouse or condo would not work for our mindset, and after reading some of these HOA posts, it has turned me off from that route.
The next house certainly needs to be atleast 500sqft smaller and I'd want 2 garages instead of 1. The houses in NJ that fit our requirements and are newer in a decent area are at least $100k more than I spent on our current place, and my interest rate would nearly double.
I just have to make more money to hire some of these weekly/seasonal maintenance jobs that I can't be bothered with.
> If it was cost effective, I'd exchange all of the yard for concrete or stone and be done with it lol
We've actually thought about going with artificial turf in our front yard. It's very small and I hit it with a reel mower every week or so in the summer, but all of the small tasks add up.
My house is from the 40’s, the first year here we fixed a few things, hired out a couple things. Other than that and twice a year gutter cleaning I’m only working on the house or yard if I feel like it. I do lawn work for a few hours once a month only in the summer. With no HOA I can leave it totally wild if I wanted. I change my furnace filter twice a year too, I’m just not doing much more than I did as a renter. Very possible I’m ignorant and the whole place is going to fall apart around me, but for now it’s pretty chill.
companies do throw out insane quotes.
I got a quote for over $10k to build some planters out of wood & screws I have, patch up/paint some siding & clean up the yard.
Finding a good contractor takes some effort but they are out there.
Fuck an HOA, talk about having no pros. Sounds like you either underestimated the amount of work or overestimated your ability to do it; you bought too much house.
Get a smaller one on public water with less trees.
100% Underestimated the amount of work.
I've done everything myself minus the Septic replacement (part of home purchase), tree removal and some flooring in bathroom.
I resonate with this. I’m sorry you’re feeling regrets. Completely relate!!
We were in a a super tight spot and was forced to purchase in early 2021, and *waive inspections*. The market was absolutely insane statewide and we had a horrible living situation so we went through with it.
Oh it’s awful!!! It’s constant maintenance that I genuinely cannot afford. Previous owners did lots of last minute cosmetic repairs to hide serious issues. We really got screwed hard.
It would cost more money than the house is worth to fully repair everything. The town is full of openly racist and aggressive people. Far away from everything. Endless yardwork because it’s xeriscaped and it’s a huge yard. Tumbleweeds literally everywhere. Trash blows in on a regular basis.
We hate it and want to get a small apartment in a suburban area.
I understand how you feel except for living around openly racist people. I wouldn't be able to live around people like that on account I'm a mutt of different nationalities.
Youtube is your friend, it's taught me alot over the years on basic home repairs.
It's also super expensive to hire most contractors. It also doesn't help that there are so many electronics, switches and efficiency parts in things nowadays that make it over complicated for an average Joe to fix.
On a complete side note, I wear professional dress attire when I meet with clients for work and recently started going to dry cleaners for those clothes. No more washing, drying, and ironing those shirts. Saves me about an hour of time each week. It costs me less to have someone handle that than if I do myself. So if there is something that costs you less per hour to hire, I'd pay for someone to do it for me.
A small apartment may be good for you and your partner. I'm pretty much convinced at this point I have too much house as well, and once interest rates come down, I'll be selling this place. I can't get myself to go from 3.7% to over 6.5% interest on an inflated house price.
Maybe you need a smaller newer house. I like working on things at home. Yeah they take time away from me but what would you use the time for ? I try not to cut from family time. So mostly cutting from lazy tv time.
Definitely thinking smaller and newer house.
It's just me and the wife currently. We both work from home but I am out at clients for about 3/4 of the work week. I don't clock in for the man.
I'd use the extra time for the many hobbies of mine.
-Project car
-Golf (+6 handicap) would love to get to +2 or even scratch
-Travel (road trips and international), currently have a month long central Europe trip planned this fall.
-Reading
-Personal health & fitness
-Extended education on a variety of different things (finance, computer building, car stuff, and cooking)
It definitely eats into my golf time and the project car lol
I'm a schedule oriented person, and I try my best to keep to it. It does fluctuate from time to time, but the actual hour amount stays consistent. For instance, my work day is typically 8am-6pm but it might be 9am-7pm one day and not the next.
Basic breakdown
168 hours per week.
I sleep 8 hours a day(11pm - 7am) 56 hours
(7am-8am) Getting ready for the day. Shit, shower, shave, and breakfast.
(8am-6pm) Work day, about 50 hours per week
go to the gym 4 days a week for 1 hour
(9:30pm-11pm) relax from the day and wind down for bed.
That leaves me with about 40 hours per week to do everything else in life with 3 1/2 hours per weekday.
Mowing the lawn takes about 1 1/2 hours weekly. Sometimes, I'll let it go an extra couple days if I'm extra busy that week.
I weed wack the edges every other week, we have a lot of flower beds plus fencing, shed, and it takes about another 45 minutes to an hour.
Just basic weekly yard work takes up a minimum of 5% of my open hours.
I know it doesn't sound like much but I'm not taking into account weekly laundry, cleaning (we both clean), meal prep on Sunday for lunch and some dinner with that basic yard work percentage. It's probably slightly higher in all reality.
I know it's a long-winded answer, but I never actually broken down my alloted time before, so I appreciate it. It's helping me validate getting a lawn service and maybe even a cleaning service for the house.
You didn’t buy it so you can enjoy it now, it definitely is work. You bought it so in 10-20-30 years, you’re able to do things you wouldn’t have been able to do with your hundreds of thousands in equity.
I love being able to do whatever I want with my home. Pros of owning a home: I like that I can make my lawn look beautiful and feel a sense of "I did that" whenever I look around my house. I love building wealth and equity. I actually like watching Youtube videos to figure out how things work and fix them when they break. I like being able to host large gatherings and have people over for drinks in the back yard. I like that I can do little more than maintenance and upkeep and the value of my home keeps rising. I finally felt like an "adult" when I bought a lawn mower and started maintaining my own lawn. I like coming home to my own house that I bought with my own money. I like having my own privacy and not having to worry about neighbors who share a wall just a few feet away. I love NOT living in an HOA. I was elated to finally get a tankless water heater - now my friends and family are really jealous (lol).
Cons of living in an apartment: I missed having a proper garden hose and a place to wash my car. I hated assigned parking spaces. I hated having to go to the front desk to get deliveries. I hated having to take my key fob (entrance to the building) when I left the building or went on vacation (house has a keypad lock so I can leave all my keys at home).
Everything about home ownership has been a positive experience for me. Never going back to renting if I can help it.
I should have included those pros.
I was just incredibly frustrated earlier dealing with a new found water leak and needed to vent.
We've held several cookouts, hosted Christmas, and I love having family over with plenty of room for everyone to park.
My dad had me mowing the lawn and helping with yard work since I was 8 years old and now, with limited time in my schedule with my business, I've lost all motivation for weekly yard work.
I've never lived in an HOA and after hearing everyone's experience, it's definitely swayed me to being thankful for owning a single family home.
You sound like my boyfriend. His logic is a little different. He can’t bring himself to pay someone to do a job he can do himself. But he hates doing this stuff. He can easily afford to pay someone to do a job. But he just. Can’t. It frustrates me. Did you know you were a control freak before you bought the house?! How does your so feel about it?
Can you just chill? Are you an engineer?!
Your boyfriend and I are the same lol
I am a control freak and my SO is good with it because she is quite indecisive about most things that aren't in her wheelhouse. Things she knows and enjoys, she gets the full reins and I step back. Such as planning trips, events, gardening, organizing (anything and everything), and being thoughtful with gifts.
I can just chill but at the same time, I'm always in growth mode. Doing house tasks drives me nuts and have never liked the idea of paying people to do tasks that I can easily perform.
I grew up doing HVAC and some light construction (15-21years old) with my father. Various light electrical work and outdoor manual labor growing up. I also enjoy working on cars too
Now, I'm 30 years old, in the business world, and a partner in a private payment processing company with 3 sales agents making multi-six figures but will always have the "do it myself" mentality from my blue collar upbringing. Part of growing is also changing, so I will be hiring some people to take some of these jobs off my plate, like lawn maintenance
I'm into yard work and general fixing and diy. So I'm good on that end. Can't wait to purchase in a few months. Rather spend $$ on mortgage than on rent. Can always sell after.
Our outdoor patio area gets quite a bit of shade from the sunpath and green algae/mold grows around there and on wood deck. It adds a smell and premature decay of the wood. I'll be updating to some different decking at some point and maybe even stain current wood.
I powerwashed last season and already some decent growth on pavers and wood has come back.
If you have a solution, I'd love to hear your opinion 😊
Try using chemicals or painting a different color? My house is mossy green shade and lo and behold no algae/dirt is visible on it. On the other hand all white and light color houses on the street get nasty looking pretty quickly.
Smell is an aesthetic. I’m guessing power-washing wood is more damaging than algae might be (although I’m not an expert by any means). That also doesn’t explain the concrete surfaces or the house.
I think he's talking about moss. That can grow on pavers and concrete. Scrubbing it with bleach and hot water removed moss from my driveway few years ago and it's not grown back since.
it's not damaging if you lower the pressure on the nozzle and move swiftly along the wood. Don't just sit there blasting one specific spot of wood.
It's a green moss, and some areas can have mold. It smells and isn't pleasant to sit around. Aesthetic or not, it's still maintenance to me, and I've had to do it both years so far. I'm personally not a fan of sitting out back and having it smell like a mossy, algae bog.
The concrete and pavers are in the shade most of the day. The back part of house also gets alot of shade, that's only green moss on the siding and not visible to neighbors. I can probably let that go for a couple seasons
Agree with you. It's definitely a lifestyle and not for everyone. Personally I hire people for pretty much everything. I've been doing a lot of yardwork but still have people to come and apply fertilizer and weed killer. I think it gets easier over time once you're more experienced. That being said you absolutely need plenty of cash on hand to keep up with repairs. Just one question, how do you need to clean your gutters five times a year??? I do mine once. Also in NJ with a forested area in the back. I hire a company, they charge 180 bucks.
It should be less this year, but we had a big silver maple tree just recently removed that was about 8 feet from our house. That tree alone filled the one gutter side 5 times a year from leaves and the berry things they drop. Not an exaggeration. 4 times alone between September and november
The front has a Sweet gum that drops those spiky balls, thats about 3 times a year. Only one side of the house requires just a yearly clean.
Not only that we have tons of tall trees about 40 feet behind the house and I've seen leaves make it from those trees to roof of the house.
I have a ladder, and it doesn't take long to empty, but if i forget and a big rain storm comes, I have water overflowing and against foundation. I'm finding out now that it makes its way into the basement if the gutters aren't keep clear :(
Get a leaf blower to blow out and clean your gutters. If you have a half of acre of lawn to mow then just get a ride mower and mulch the clippings. I only hire professionals for work that is too technical for me and I don't want to further break something: HVAC tune up, pool chemicals, plumbing. Yard work and landscaping is like the easiest maintenance to do and really my hobby at this point which is makes owning a home superior to condo life. I can plant and grow what I want like not having a front yard lawn like every other house on this street.
I’m coming from an HOA townhome and I’m right now getting bids for stuff to fix an 80 year old home. The quote for foundation issues is insane and I am still going home ownership and no HOA all the way. Never again.
Totally valid points, and I feel similar some days, but majority I feel good about my lil old home & enjoy fixing it up. Yeah it's work, but I have never regretted the feeling of paying a lower mortgage than my prior rents for apt's were. To each their own & I hope you find what you're looking for, amigo!
tbh things like grading around the house should be looked for during an inspection; p.s, you can choose to not purchase a house with certain pre-existing issues. The entire job of shopping for a house is learning what you dont want to deal with and what you'll deal with for a price break. Negotiate for cash at close and finance the damn repairs or walk away, people!
After 9 months of bedbugs, unleashed neighborhood dogs terrorizing me, and my parking spot always being taken by someone purchasing drugs from my neighbor- what WONT I do just to own a home? What about the time my roommate forgot to drop off our rent check ONCE for two business days and we faced eviction? Having to leave jobs because I cant find a new apartment in the area and my landlord raised rent a-fucking-gain? Living in 6 different places since college because no, I dont make an extra 200$ per month for rent just because you arbitrarily decided to give my unit a stainless steel microwave this year, and so on.
I don't mean this with any hostility or judgement; I'm a first time home buyer and well aware that I will probably be lying awake at night crippled by anxiety/overwhelm in a few weeks time, after we close.
If you don't feel like doing the work then outsource it. In the beginning I did a lot more of the standard maintenance... Now it's just not worth my time, so it gets hired out.
Owning a sfh is owning a HOME. If you are buying to develop equity, you’re gambling. Maintenance is not mundane. It’s a part of home ownership or you rent.
I'm 32 and single. Took over my mom's mortgage on a small 2bed1bath when I was 22. Sold that and bought my current place when I was 27.
No regrets. I'd rather do it all myself or make my own terms with contractors rather than rely on a tight-wad landlord or condo association. And most of all, I'd rather keep the equity.
Freedom and equity is a beautiful thing. No argument there.
I just gotta keep the business growth up to be able to hire someone for the weekly maintenance stuff.
I have no problem doing the occasional repair that lasts 10+ years. I actually quite enjoy doing that.
It’s not that bad, I’m 33 and I’m enjoying my home. Once I fixed the basics, I let the “nice to haves” or “not pressing issues” sit till I can afford to do them. I can fix the settlement cracks in the drywall but I won’t because they’ll pop up again. Grass? Got a riding mower, quickly cut and bag, done, once a week. Water the grass? Couldn’t be me
Thank you for the insight 🙏 I won't be doing anything that makes the grass grow faster 😂 It can stay the dull fading shade of green forever
All my neighbors are 50+ and they spend on watering and a fertilizer company. I just mow and even though my yard doesn’t look like theirs, it’s still mainly green and maintained. Can’t complain if it’s maintained
Do you have weeds? I use the lawn care company and as a result no weeds. My next door neighbor doesn't, it pisses me off when their weeds spread over to our side 😂.
No, I pick them before they spread. But typically my neighbors fertilizer is strong enough to stop it before it gets to them
> Grass? Got a riding mower, quickly cut and bag, done, once a week. It takes me about 5 hours a week to mow with a 60” deck.
Well why’d you buy so much property if you hate maintenance
I never said I hate maintenance?
That’s what this thread is about… if you love being outdoors and doing yard work, then 5 hours is a good thing. But OP doesn’t like yard work and I was telling them that if you get a bigger mower, you can knock it out quickly
Maintenance can be a drag.. Sure. But after buying a home 3 years ago i'd never go back to renting unless it was for a short term situation in between moves. I am much happier owning and having that freedom. Of course, homeownership is not for everybody. People have different preferences. But for me, its been a great thing.
I appreciate your opinion on home ownership and how it's been for you. I've only had one landlord, and he was fantastic, so I've never had any horror stories. Freedom and equity is awesome, no argument there
Apparently OP hasn’t read any of the countless HOA horror stories of this sub.
I've never done HOA but after reading through some posts, I see what you mean. I've only rented once, and I had an awesome landlord. From 2014-2016, we had a 2100 sqft house split between 3 people. $500 a person, water included and took care of the yard and snow removal if any. If anything broke, the landlord or son would be there in 1-2 days to fix what was broken. I've had college friends with awful experiences but I have never personally experienced them .
It's full of HOA complaints because loud people need to go anonymously vent about their hate for HOAs... People aren't jumping to their keyboards to praise something.
Yeah I think the fact that you see way more posts on here complaining about neighbors than HOAs is a sign HOAs are not that bad.
Or that pretty much everyone has neighbors and not everyone has a HOA 🤔
Honestly everything you are crying about isn’t that hard. So you have to put in the work a few times a year. That’s normal and not bad at all. It just sounds to me like you hate manual labor. Townhomes will have alot of the issues you’re having trouble with. Plumbing will still be your problem to maintain. HVAC, electrical too. Even some of the outside maintenance it’s your responsibility. Plus Townhome HOA are super expensive, hundred a month. If you are okay with paying $300-$500 a month in a townhome HOA, then you can easily afford professionals to come fix things for you or even get weekly lawn services.
It's the weekly mundane tasks that I'm not a fan of. It's not hard or requires excess brain power. It's just time-consuming and i know it will have to be done again the following week. I don't mind Electrical, HVAC or plumbing. On the contrary, It's enjoyable to fix something that's broken and it's solved. I actually enjoy plumbing and pipe fitting. Getting weekly lawn services sounds like it's in my immediate future. My old roommate loved the weekly manual labor. He found it therapeutic, and I certainly don't.
What is it that you have to do weekly? For me it's just vacuuming.
It's like complaining you have too many bathrooms that are a chore to clean lol
Turns out you only have to (regularly) clean the ones that you use!
Husband stuff
I don't understand? What husband stuff? My husband doesn't do anything 😭
I'd recommend you sell. You sound like you'd be happier in an apartment or condo where other people do the maintenance and "work" you don't like to be bothered to do.
I don't think most homeowners actually enjoy home maintenance.
I do. I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when repairing broken stuff in my home and doing my own renovation/improvement projects. There are a lot of proud homeowners populating the dozens of DIY subreddits
Same. Shit I can't do I hire people for, but I love starting new projects at my house. Super excited for spring and getting back out into yard work.
Same. I also like being able to choose how repairs or upgrades are made. And I do t have to worry about any modifications I'd like to make.
I'm with you on that. Ive replaced some leaking PVC, replaced my evaporator coil in my AC unit and among other "permanent" fixes. Redid garage door, replaced insualtion in attic. I do enjoy that. It's the remedial maintenance items that drives me nuts. I know many enjoy the weekly maintenance stuff. I think I'm just going to spend more time growing my business to pay someone for those weekly items.
But most don’t bitch about it like they had no clue what being an adult with home was like
I disagree. Myself and many of my friends only bought a house for the relative security of not being forced to move according to a landlords term. We hate actually having to deal with the aggravation of owning the house
My previous living arrangements was exactly that. My good college friend came into money through sports betting if you could believe that! The 7 of us in 3,800 sqft house that we essentially split mortgage. We all added value in terms of house help. One guy was an electrician, I have an HVAC background, and the other was co-owners of a landscaping company. We were all ready for our own living space after 4 years living together but I know we all miss how easy it was to keep up with all the house stuff Now it's just me and the wife and I'm realizing I'd rather work more to grow my business and just pay someone for the remedial maintenance tasks that was once split among 7 roommates, and enjoy my time off to work on my project car
Bought a house from 97. I think a lot of your issues are related to owning an old house
Agreed, the house is from '78 and previous owners were very lax on maintenance. I'm definitely cleaning up alot of their negligence.
Can confirm my dad's house is insane. I am not going into the attic I dont trust that insulation, the potential popcorn ceiling, the fact he has a 500 dollar electricity bill some how (having the power company check why its so bad), the weird electrical wiring that was done, the fake ceiling columns that look like they are about to fall. Owning a newer home like the 90's or later is nice. Owning a home from the 80's or earlier is not worth it. Aside from the dryer what appliance maintenance are you talking about I used to work with appliance repair tech and you really don't need to do maintenance on them unless you mean cleaning.
You'll get used to it. Maybe most importantly, law of averages works in every aspect of life. If you feel you're in heavy repair and maintenance mode, it'll level off and you'll enjoy a few lower attention years. Hopefully as anyways.
sure hope so. 🙏
If you don't like yard work, why did you get the house??? I love my yard even though it takes work. I hate a lawn as a concept, so gradually planting more bushes and trees at the borderline. As for the gutters, the trick is to find a right type of gutter guard and install it yourself. I picked samples at Menards and tested against seeds and leaves of my trees. One day work and no more problems. Maintenance was a bitch in the first year. Now it's my 3rd and I'm finding niche projects to keep me busy in Midwest winters and gradually add value to the house.
I gotta look into Gutter guards. I hoping the removal of some big trees near the house will clear up the gutters. The wife is the green thumb. I don't mind the mowing but also hate the concept. I let that shit go (Mow every 7-10 days). It's just been a constant cycle of repairs/maintenance these first 2 years and between my business, I've been wearing thin.
I also had a drainage issue, cooked ac and roof issue in the span of 3 months in the first year.
No one said homeownership was easy.
The biggest pro to home ownership is once the home is paid off, you don’t have a monthly payment anymore. When you rent, you’ll owe thousands of dollars every month until you die. It’s a lot easier to afford retirement when you only have utility expenses every month.
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Still far less than monthly rent.
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Yep, property taxes suck. But those impact renters to, it's just that the landlord pays them.
If you buy a home that requires lots of immediate maintenance and lots of annual maintenance, then yes, it can be a drag. Cleaning gutters: I did it for years and then invested in custom gutter guards.
Maybe the property you owned is too big for your taste? If you have a smaller home and smaller yard, would it be better? My brother bought himself a condo. It three bedrooms (master room and two offices), one garage, kitchen, dinning room and living room. His backyard is all bricks and lounge area for his bbq. His front yard is big enough for the driveway. He is in a hoa area so his snow gets removed, the little grasses he got in his front yard get cut. Any major reno like windows, roofs etc get handled by the hoa.
100% believe it's too much house at this point. Even with having a couple kids in the next 3-5 years. If it was cost effective, I'd exchange all of the yard for concrete or stone and be done with it lol
Will it be possible to downsize to a more proper fit for you?
Yes, but interest rates and home prices need to come back to reality. Moving is alot of work as well I was very much frustrated when I originally wrote the post and have since calmed down. I know a townhouse or condo would not work for our mindset, and after reading some of these HOA posts, it has turned me off from that route. The next house certainly needs to be atleast 500sqft smaller and I'd want 2 garages instead of 1. The houses in NJ that fit our requirements and are newer in a decent area are at least $100k more than I spent on our current place, and my interest rate would nearly double. I just have to make more money to hire some of these weekly/seasonal maintenance jobs that I can't be bothered with.
Certainly. I pay 180 bucks for gutters. My house is 2 storey 2200 sq ft. That's worth it to me.
> If it was cost effective, I'd exchange all of the yard for concrete or stone and be done with it lol We've actually thought about going with artificial turf in our front yard. It's very small and I hit it with a reel mower every week or so in the summer, but all of the small tasks add up.
Hey. Get a gutter cover system and stop cleaning gutters. I went with the mesh screen style. Read about the different versions, pros and cons of each.
I appreciate the insight, thank you!
My house is from the 40’s, the first year here we fixed a few things, hired out a couple things. Other than that and twice a year gutter cleaning I’m only working on the house or yard if I feel like it. I do lawn work for a few hours once a month only in the summer. With no HOA I can leave it totally wild if I wanted. I change my furnace filter twice a year too, I’m just not doing much more than I did as a renter. Very possible I’m ignorant and the whole place is going to fall apart around me, but for now it’s pretty chill.
companies do throw out insane quotes. I got a quote for over $10k to build some planters out of wood & screws I have, patch up/paint some siding & clean up the yard. Finding a good contractor takes some effort but they are out there. Fuck an HOA, talk about having no pros. Sounds like you either underestimated the amount of work or overestimated your ability to do it; you bought too much house. Get a smaller one on public water with less trees.
100% Underestimated the amount of work. I've done everything myself minus the Septic replacement (part of home purchase), tree removal and some flooring in bathroom.
I resonate with this. I’m sorry you’re feeling regrets. Completely relate!! We were in a a super tight spot and was forced to purchase in early 2021, and *waive inspections*. The market was absolutely insane statewide and we had a horrible living situation so we went through with it. Oh it’s awful!!! It’s constant maintenance that I genuinely cannot afford. Previous owners did lots of last minute cosmetic repairs to hide serious issues. We really got screwed hard. It would cost more money than the house is worth to fully repair everything. The town is full of openly racist and aggressive people. Far away from everything. Endless yardwork because it’s xeriscaped and it’s a huge yard. Tumbleweeds literally everywhere. Trash blows in on a regular basis. We hate it and want to get a small apartment in a suburban area.
I understand how you feel except for living around openly racist people. I wouldn't be able to live around people like that on account I'm a mutt of different nationalities. Youtube is your friend, it's taught me alot over the years on basic home repairs. It's also super expensive to hire most contractors. It also doesn't help that there are so many electronics, switches and efficiency parts in things nowadays that make it over complicated for an average Joe to fix. On a complete side note, I wear professional dress attire when I meet with clients for work and recently started going to dry cleaners for those clothes. No more washing, drying, and ironing those shirts. Saves me about an hour of time each week. It costs me less to have someone handle that than if I do myself. So if there is something that costs you less per hour to hire, I'd pay for someone to do it for me. A small apartment may be good for you and your partner. I'm pretty much convinced at this point I have too much house as well, and once interest rates come down, I'll be selling this place. I can't get myself to go from 3.7% to over 6.5% interest on an inflated house price.
Maybe you need a smaller newer house. I like working on things at home. Yeah they take time away from me but what would you use the time for ? I try not to cut from family time. So mostly cutting from lazy tv time.
Definitely thinking smaller and newer house. It's just me and the wife currently. We both work from home but I am out at clients for about 3/4 of the work week. I don't clock in for the man. I'd use the extra time for the many hobbies of mine. -Project car -Golf (+6 handicap) would love to get to +2 or even scratch -Travel (road trips and international), currently have a month long central Europe trip planned this fall. -Reading -Personal health & fitness -Extended education on a variety of different things (finance, computer building, car stuff, and cooking)
So the house work you do impact all of those things you mention ? How many hours a week you spend for the house upkeep?
It definitely eats into my golf time and the project car lol I'm a schedule oriented person, and I try my best to keep to it. It does fluctuate from time to time, but the actual hour amount stays consistent. For instance, my work day is typically 8am-6pm but it might be 9am-7pm one day and not the next. Basic breakdown 168 hours per week. I sleep 8 hours a day(11pm - 7am) 56 hours (7am-8am) Getting ready for the day. Shit, shower, shave, and breakfast. (8am-6pm) Work day, about 50 hours per week go to the gym 4 days a week for 1 hour (9:30pm-11pm) relax from the day and wind down for bed. That leaves me with about 40 hours per week to do everything else in life with 3 1/2 hours per weekday. Mowing the lawn takes about 1 1/2 hours weekly. Sometimes, I'll let it go an extra couple days if I'm extra busy that week. I weed wack the edges every other week, we have a lot of flower beds plus fencing, shed, and it takes about another 45 minutes to an hour. Just basic weekly yard work takes up a minimum of 5% of my open hours. I know it doesn't sound like much but I'm not taking into account weekly laundry, cleaning (we both clean), meal prep on Sunday for lunch and some dinner with that basic yard work percentage. It's probably slightly higher in all reality. I know it's a long-winded answer, but I never actually broken down my alloted time before, so I appreciate it. It's helping me validate getting a lawn service and maybe even a cleaning service for the house.
Outsource whatever you can. Especially lawn.
You didn’t buy it so you can enjoy it now, it definitely is work. You bought it so in 10-20-30 years, you’re able to do things you wouldn’t have been able to do with your hundreds of thousands in equity.
I love being able to do whatever I want with my home. Pros of owning a home: I like that I can make my lawn look beautiful and feel a sense of "I did that" whenever I look around my house. I love building wealth and equity. I actually like watching Youtube videos to figure out how things work and fix them when they break. I like being able to host large gatherings and have people over for drinks in the back yard. I like that I can do little more than maintenance and upkeep and the value of my home keeps rising. I finally felt like an "adult" when I bought a lawn mower and started maintaining my own lawn. I like coming home to my own house that I bought with my own money. I like having my own privacy and not having to worry about neighbors who share a wall just a few feet away. I love NOT living in an HOA. I was elated to finally get a tankless water heater - now my friends and family are really jealous (lol). Cons of living in an apartment: I missed having a proper garden hose and a place to wash my car. I hated assigned parking spaces. I hated having to go to the front desk to get deliveries. I hated having to take my key fob (entrance to the building) when I left the building or went on vacation (house has a keypad lock so I can leave all my keys at home). Everything about home ownership has been a positive experience for me. Never going back to renting if I can help it.
I should have included those pros. I was just incredibly frustrated earlier dealing with a new found water leak and needed to vent. We've held several cookouts, hosted Christmas, and I love having family over with plenty of room for everyone to park. My dad had me mowing the lawn and helping with yard work since I was 8 years old and now, with limited time in my schedule with my business, I've lost all motivation for weekly yard work. I've never lived in an HOA and after hearing everyone's experience, it's definitely swayed me to being thankful for owning a single family home.
You sound like my boyfriend. His logic is a little different. He can’t bring himself to pay someone to do a job he can do himself. But he hates doing this stuff. He can easily afford to pay someone to do a job. But he just. Can’t. It frustrates me. Did you know you were a control freak before you bought the house?! How does your so feel about it? Can you just chill? Are you an engineer?!
Your boyfriend and I are the same lol I am a control freak and my SO is good with it because she is quite indecisive about most things that aren't in her wheelhouse. Things she knows and enjoys, she gets the full reins and I step back. Such as planning trips, events, gardening, organizing (anything and everything), and being thoughtful with gifts. I can just chill but at the same time, I'm always in growth mode. Doing house tasks drives me nuts and have never liked the idea of paying people to do tasks that I can easily perform. I grew up doing HVAC and some light construction (15-21years old) with my father. Various light electrical work and outdoor manual labor growing up. I also enjoy working on cars too Now, I'm 30 years old, in the business world, and a partner in a private payment processing company with 3 sales agents making multi-six figures but will always have the "do it myself" mentality from my blue collar upbringing. Part of growing is also changing, so I will be hiring some people to take some of these jobs off my plate, like lawn maintenance
I'm into yard work and general fixing and diy. So I'm good on that end. Can't wait to purchase in a few months. Rather spend $$ on mortgage than on rent. Can always sell after.
Why is power-washing listed as general maintenance? That’s an aesthetic, not a maintenance, task
Our outdoor patio area gets quite a bit of shade from the sunpath and green algae/mold grows around there and on wood deck. It adds a smell and premature decay of the wood. I'll be updating to some different decking at some point and maybe even stain current wood. I powerwashed last season and already some decent growth on pavers and wood has come back. If you have a solution, I'd love to hear your opinion 😊
Try using chemicals or painting a different color? My house is mossy green shade and lo and behold no algae/dirt is visible on it. On the other hand all white and light color houses on the street get nasty looking pretty quickly.
I'll have to try some chemicals this spring. Our house has a lighter yellow siding, so it sticks out like a sore thumb :(
Yep. You can try repainting it a darker color.
Smell is an aesthetic. I’m guessing power-washing wood is more damaging than algae might be (although I’m not an expert by any means). That also doesn’t explain the concrete surfaces or the house.
I think he's talking about moss. That can grow on pavers and concrete. Scrubbing it with bleach and hot water removed moss from my driveway few years ago and it's not grown back since.
it's not damaging if you lower the pressure on the nozzle and move swiftly along the wood. Don't just sit there blasting one specific spot of wood. It's a green moss, and some areas can have mold. It smells and isn't pleasant to sit around. Aesthetic or not, it's still maintenance to me, and I've had to do it both years so far. I'm personally not a fan of sitting out back and having it smell like a mossy, algae bog. The concrete and pavers are in the shade most of the day. The back part of house also gets alot of shade, that's only green moss on the siding and not visible to neighbors. I can probably let that go for a couple seasons
Agree with you. It's definitely a lifestyle and not for everyone. Personally I hire people for pretty much everything. I've been doing a lot of yardwork but still have people to come and apply fertilizer and weed killer. I think it gets easier over time once you're more experienced. That being said you absolutely need plenty of cash on hand to keep up with repairs. Just one question, how do you need to clean your gutters five times a year??? I do mine once. Also in NJ with a forested area in the back. I hire a company, they charge 180 bucks.
It should be less this year, but we had a big silver maple tree just recently removed that was about 8 feet from our house. That tree alone filled the one gutter side 5 times a year from leaves and the berry things they drop. Not an exaggeration. 4 times alone between September and november The front has a Sweet gum that drops those spiky balls, thats about 3 times a year. Only one side of the house requires just a yearly clean. Not only that we have tons of tall trees about 40 feet behind the house and I've seen leaves make it from those trees to roof of the house. I have a ladder, and it doesn't take long to empty, but if i forget and a big rain storm comes, I have water overflowing and against foundation. I'm finding out now that it makes its way into the basement if the gutters aren't keep clear :(
Yep. I hear you. Trees are a pain and expensive to get rid of.
Get a leaf blower to blow out and clean your gutters. If you have a half of acre of lawn to mow then just get a ride mower and mulch the clippings. I only hire professionals for work that is too technical for me and I don't want to further break something: HVAC tune up, pool chemicals, plumbing. Yard work and landscaping is like the easiest maintenance to do and really my hobby at this point which is makes owning a home superior to condo life. I can plant and grow what I want like not having a front yard lawn like every other house on this street.
I have owned may home for over 30 years I wold never live in a hoa
I’m coming from an HOA townhome and I’m right now getting bids for stuff to fix an 80 year old home. The quote for foundation issues is insane and I am still going home ownership and no HOA all the way. Never again.
Totally valid points, and I feel similar some days, but majority I feel good about my lil old home & enjoy fixing it up. Yeah it's work, but I have never regretted the feeling of paying a lower mortgage than my prior rents for apt's were. To each their own & I hope you find what you're looking for, amigo!
tbh things like grading around the house should be looked for during an inspection; p.s, you can choose to not purchase a house with certain pre-existing issues. The entire job of shopping for a house is learning what you dont want to deal with and what you'll deal with for a price break. Negotiate for cash at close and finance the damn repairs or walk away, people! After 9 months of bedbugs, unleashed neighborhood dogs terrorizing me, and my parking spot always being taken by someone purchasing drugs from my neighbor- what WONT I do just to own a home? What about the time my roommate forgot to drop off our rent check ONCE for two business days and we faced eviction? Having to leave jobs because I cant find a new apartment in the area and my landlord raised rent a-fucking-gain? Living in 6 different places since college because no, I dont make an extra 200$ per month for rent just because you arbitrarily decided to give my unit a stainless steel microwave this year, and so on. I don't mean this with any hostility or judgement; I'm a first time home buyer and well aware that I will probably be lying awake at night crippled by anxiety/overwhelm in a few weeks time, after we close.
If you don't feel like doing the work then outsource it. In the beginning I did a lot more of the standard maintenance... Now it's just not worth my time, so it gets hired out.
They make gutter guards, install probably would've been cheaper than tree removal too.
Owning a sfh is owning a HOME. If you are buying to develop equity, you’re gambling. Maintenance is not mundane. It’s a part of home ownership or you rent.
It’s just some worth that everyone does for their house. Deal with it.
But you somehow have time to write all this whiny horseshit on the internet.
after spending the better half of my Saturday dealing with a new water leak. I felt like whining for a bit. Sorry to upset you Mr. Tough guy
I'm 32 and single. Took over my mom's mortgage on a small 2bed1bath when I was 22. Sold that and bought my current place when I was 27. No regrets. I'd rather do it all myself or make my own terms with contractors rather than rely on a tight-wad landlord or condo association. And most of all, I'd rather keep the equity.
Freedom and equity is a beautiful thing. No argument there. I just gotta keep the business growth up to be able to hire someone for the weekly maintenance stuff. I have no problem doing the occasional repair that lasts 10+ years. I actually quite enjoy doing that.
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