You need to watch Deric Cahill’s “Fuck This House” series.
Up until about 2022 it was living the dream. Now, you’ll need the cash for a down payment on another house to repair anything of significance. That’s not hyperbole. Repair has gone double or triple in 5 years, depending. And most repair is pay it all right now. For something like a roof, it’s like paying cash for a new vehicle. And property taxes went off the rails, most locales eager to reassess and cash in on those high sales prices. Remember, a mortgage is your minimum monthly payment.
I suspect the next couple years is going to see a severe rise in derelict level undisclosed problems in newly purchased homes. Repair used to be affordable. It isn’t, now.
Licenses and bonds are public info at the state level. Like with most licensed professions, any issues are public too. Found this while looking up potential electricians. Most of the time, it appeared to be not enough higher level electricians per journeymen. One guy had a lapsed license.
In four years of owning my home I went an additional 50k in debt over things that were hidden and not revealed during inspection or random unlucky things like a pipe bursting in the same basement room twice in six months (bad fitting replaced with an apparently counterfeit fitting). I’m just about to close on the sale and have no idea what my next steps are because wow, that was a terrible financial experience.
I’m not even breaking even on the sale even though the house is now in perfect condition, because it’s a very small town and people noticed how many repairs were going on in those few years :(
A new roof on a basic straight shotgun house used to be $5-6k, in 2019. 2023: $15k. And it needs to be total paid on completion. This is why people don’t do repairs.
You need to watch Deric Cahill’s “Fuck This House” series.
Up until about 2022 it was living the dream. Now, you’ll need the cash for a down payment on another house to repair anything of significance. That’s not hyperbole. Repair has gone double or triple in 5 years, depending. And most repair is pay it all right now. For something like a roof, it’s like paying cash for a new vehicle. And property taxes went off the rails, most locales eager to reassess and cash in on those high sales prices. Remember, a mortgage is your minimum monthly payment.
I suspect the next couple years is going to see a severe rise in derelict level undisclosed problems in newly purchased homes. Repair used to be affordable. It isn’t, now.
Almost every person we’ve hired to fix anything on our house has ended up screwing it up.
My goal now is to keep it holding together until I can retire and then fix it myself.
I’ve found that with time, patience, and a willingness to learn, I can get better results than most “professionals”.
With any luck it will be in good, sellable shape by the time I die, so the kids can get some money from it.
Licenses and bonds are public info at the state level. Like with most licensed professions, any issues are public too. Found this while looking up potential electricians. Most of the time, it appeared to be not enough higher level electricians per journeymen. One guy had a lapsed license.
In four years of owning my home I went an additional 50k in debt over things that were hidden and not revealed during inspection or random unlucky things like a pipe bursting in the same basement room twice in six months (bad fitting replaced with an apparently counterfeit fitting). I’m just about to close on the sale and have no idea what my next steps are because wow, that was a terrible financial experience.
I’m not even breaking even on the sale even though the house is now in perfect condition, because it’s a very small town and people noticed how many repairs were going on in those few years :(
A new roof on a basic straight shotgun house used to be $5-6k, in 2019. 2023: $15k. And it needs to be total paid on completion. This is why people don’t do repairs.