I bought my home last February and only wish I had waited to buy. I had a lease that was up on my apartment and I didn’t want to stay another year or move into a cheaper place because I wanted to own. I bought a 50+ year old Cape Cod in a neighborhood I grew up in as a child and always wanted to return to. After almost 20 grand in repairs (flooded basement that had to be repaired by a basement foundation company, new flooring, new walls, backed up drains, painting, etc. plus problems in other parts of the house), I could have spent that money and bought a newer home for a higher price. But, I didn’t know the repairs were to occur, obviously, and only hope some of the money I put in will pay off at the end. Had I waited, I could have moved into a newer, nicer place without the hassles of an older home. BUT, it’s my very first place so I’m learning and am just darn happy to be away from apartment living.
Arrrgh....are "home warranties" common in your area? They are here; almost all realtors have the seller buy a one year policy which covers a whole bunch of stuff...cost is maybe a bit over 400 bucks.
Back in Midland TX in the early 80s we bought an older home (built in 1934). Fortunately for us the owner had to repair all of the plumbing underneath the house as part of the deal, and they put in all modern stuff. We did have to do some replacement of electrical wiring (it had the old cloth covered wiring) and did some remodeling to make it suit us (added a room on the back, completely gutted and redid the kitchen, had the floors sanded and polyurothaned (it was gorgeous old oak flooring that had never been touched) painted, etc. We lived there for 15 years, and loved that place.
I’m sure we lost money if you put a pencil to everything we did, but we also learned a lot and had fun in the process. I would like to do it again when we retire, but my husband is not so keen on it! I think the older homes have a charm that most newer ones don’t, unless you can afford to build and have a bucketful of money.
susie