BTW - Home ownership SUCKS!!!

[LynneSin]

Let's see so far....

+ My garbage disposel does not work
+ My hardwood floors are cracking and I'm not sure why
+ My ancient microwave almost exploded
+ My tub has leaked thru the ceiling (faulty caulk)

And I'm getting shit back on my income taxes

Someone please remind me why I should love owning my own home? Other than my cats love the place

[catzies]

1. If your cats love it, that should be good enough

Mine are nice enough to let me live there & pay the bills and feed them. :P

[TZ]

2. You love it...

Cause its good for hosting parties?;)

[ronnykmarshall]

3. It's all about the cats.

We have another leak under the kitchen sink. Luckily we have a one year home owners protection policy to cover crap like this.

[LynneSin]

8. And the cats are damn happy

Now if only they could get a job and help pay the bills

:cry:

[CreekDog]

22. i guarantee if they could get a job

they would not spend the money on you --they're cats!

[LynneSin]

23. Especially not Abbott - he's got a Catnip addiction

I'd have to send him to that Circe Lodge where all the celebs go to rehab

[Midlodemocrat]

4. Whiner.

:rofl:

It won't suck when you are living there without a house payment when you retire. That's the goal, babykins.

And, I just sent the IRS $13,000, so your complaint about a refund is falling on deaf Midlo ears.

[LynneSin]

6. STFU!!!!

Anyhow, I'll be dead by the time the house is paid off

:cry:

[Midlodemocrat]

9. No you won't.

Making just one extra payment a year effectively cuts your mortgage down from 30 years to 15. I pay 1/2 of my mortgage every two weeks, thereby making one extra payment every year.

Four more years and we're done. :woohoo:

[LynneSin]

15. Right now all I can afford is to 'round-up' my mortgage

My monthly mortgage is $XXXXXXXXX62, I round it up to XXXXXXXXXXY00. I calculated it out and it'll take 23 years to pay it off.

When I make more money I'll up what I pay each month.

[Midlodemocrat]

17. Good for you. That's what everyone should be doing.

Our mortgage is really, really small. <$1200 a month. We bought at a great time, apparently.

[Tektonik]

25. That must have been an excellent time

A 1 bedroom apartment around UCSD costs $1300 ($1500 or more in some complexes) a month.

[matcom]

31. yeah, well you are RICH (I've seen your BBQ)

AND you drive a fancy-dancy MINIVAN! :eyes:

rich.bitch. :eyes:

[sasquatch]

36. She also has a McMansion too

No imagination
:eyes:

[matcom]

37. yeah but TM DOES have a canopy bed!

I just LOVE closing the satin curtains around it! Makes me feel like a Sultan or sumptin'

:rofl:

[Midlodemocrat]

40. She sleeps on a futon you freak.

:eyes:

[sasquatch]

43. You do hate your children

:wow:
Wow and I thought this whole thing was a joke all along.





































:silly:

[sasquatch]

44. Emperor Matcom

:rofl:

[Midlodemocrat]

39. I DO NOT live in Massachusetts. you elitist asshole.

And, I LURVES my van. Series. I know. It's a bit sad, but I do.

TM graduates 6/13. I expect you to be here.

[kentauros]

5. My hope is that when I am ready to own a home

it will be a prefab and I will know that the quality will be at least as good but likely far better than the average "stick" home. Plus, I really don't need any more than 1500 sq.ft. of space and I know that's difficult to find in most new homes anymore. "Old" houses can be that small, but are usually waiting for someone to rebuild them to be flipped. Then you really pay a premium for home-ownership, with any inherent problems that were missed by the flippers.

We really need to see prefab come into its own in this country again. It has so much more to offer this time around and can be designed so much better (and greener) than what the current building industry deems us worthy of.

I know that doesn't really assuage your emotions on home-ownership, but maybe it's a future to look forward to after your current home :)

[LynneSin]

7. My home is a rowhome in a good neighborhood in Wilmington

built sometime in the 1930s

I think it's the orginal hardwood floors

[kentauros]

10. If you're handy with the tools

you might then consider looking for derelict buildings and salvaging the old wood from them. You can even find true-dimension boards that way. I have a friend that built a 3-storey post-and-lintel home using many "found" materials in the Galveston area. You might also look at any sources of shipping forms and materials for pieces of wood that would otherwise go to waste.

There's always dumpster-diving, too ;)

Sounds like a great home, though. I hope you can fix things anyway. Ever considered putting in a graywater system and not using a food-disposal? All of that can usually be dumped on a compost heap anyway.

[mainegreen]

11. And how is that different from renting?

Other than at least you have the right to fix those things in a timely manner as opposed to threatening to sue just to get something fixed?

[JVS]

12. Couldn't they add another tollbooth to compensate you for all those expenses?

:evilgrin:

[madinmaryland]

13. I thought they were skimming off of the profits (lots) from the tollbooths!!

:hide:

[kwassa]

14. Did your home purchase come with a warranty?

Disposals and microwaves are cheap, relatively speaking.

Your floors might be cracking from dryness, and need either oiling or refinishing.

The water damage is more of a challenge.

[LynneSin]

16. The water damage is not severe - the tub needs caulk

The microwave still works, I'll stick with it for now. And the Garbage disposal I'm fine with out. I put a screen over the drain to prevent junk going down but I'll get it replaced.

No warranty came with the house - that was my bad.

[kwassa]

18. Lesson for the future

I would not buy anything without a warranty. There are just things even the best home inspector will not see.

For caulk all you need is a caulk gun and caulk, both cheap, and a little practice.

I've replaced disposals, and they are tough not because they are complicated, but because working under a sink on my back installing something that heavy is a bitch. Also, the rust and crap from the old fittings falls into my eyes and face. Unpleasant, but do-able.

[LeftyMom]

26. A tube of caulk costs a buck or two.

A caulking gun is a few dollars, but now that you're a homeowner you'll need one from time to time.

[av8rdave]

19. I'm replacing my windows

you don't even want to know what the bill for that is! I'd still rather own than pay a landlord.

[BreweryYardRat]

20. Because you're not having to cough up to a landlord just to get nothing permanent.

Your money/mortgage goes toward making the place permanently yours.

I'd love to own my own place.

[Lars39]

21. Are you running a humidifier when you run the heat?

Hardwood floors can dry out, especially if you heat with gas.

[LynneSin]

24. Um, no

ok lessons learned

[hunter]

27. I can fix anything that's wrong with our house.

Or not. If the parrot chews a hole through the wall, I'll fix it when I fix it. (Or when my wife makes me!)

I always hated having a landlord.

We had one who thought he was a great handyman. He wasn't. It was painful for me to watch him work, and his repairs always looked awful, or failed. He'd fix something, it would break. He'd come back, fix it again, and it would break. Eventually he'd give up and call a professional -- usually whoever charged the least and often somebody who looked like they needed a drink or a smoke or a fix really bad.. Sometimes they'd ask too. So I stopped calling him for minor stuff.

I had another landlord who was crazy, but it wasn't so bad because I was crazy too. He was OCD about some things, but not about keeping the place in good repair. I never saw him again after I moved away, but I suspect we've both improved significantly thanks to modern psych meds. Still, I feel sorry for the tenants who came before and after me. It must have been hell for them. He was oblivious to most things, but painfully compulsive and exacting about a few things. He had a mail-order bride who let him be the man of his house, but she used to stand behind him, cross her arms, purse her lips, shake her head, do everything but roll her eyes and wave her finger when he was off on some wild tangent.

My wife and I owned our own home a few years after we married, and it was very nice not to have a landlord. We got used to it. Then we moved to a place where the housing was much more expensive, and we had to rent for a few years. That was hard. Now we own our own house again, which is great. We can paint the walls any color we want to, rip out the carpet and replace it with wood, plant the yard however we like. One of the first things we did was rip out the front lawn and replant with something friendlier to the environment, and we could just do it, which made the place ours.

[LSK]

28. ummmm

Throw things in a trash can like us no-elitists
Turn the music up
Buy another one (they are less than $100)
Faster showers

And I am getting $3000 back.

:hi:

[LynneSin]

38. Did you see - you've been downgraded

No longer a tool.

Damnit, you're not working hard enough

:loveya:

[tigereye]

29. that's the way it goes, unfortunately

I always refer to water as "the homeowner's friend" and there is always something to fix, esp. when money is short.


or you can use that 600 bucks from the govt. for repairs.... :eyes:

[Amerigo Vespucci]

30. I had to move 3 times in 4 years because of landlords selling or moving back in

1). Apartments sold to a developer who converted them to condos for sale.

2). Moved to a townhome. Owner moved into her boyfriend's home. They were going to use my rent money and their joint savings to buy their Barbie Dream Home. They broke up a few months after. Threw me out so she could move back in.

Never move into the home of a man / woman who is planning to move in with their boyfriend / girlfriend. Just don't. Things change between a man and a woman when they can't go home after sex because they are ALREADY HOME.

3). Last May, landlord smelled the coming meltdown and got out while the going was good. Sold the place, I had to move.

So the biggest difference between you and me is that you don't get calls from the landlord telling you that he / she is selling the place out from under you. Yeah, the stuff on your list sucks, and the landlord phone call sucks, so to me it's apples and oranges...two completely different scenarios that suck.

And the apartment I referenced in #1? I moved there after the owner of the townhome I was in...you guessed it...called to say he was selling. That was the worst move of all...moving during the peak of the "dot com" thing, from a $950 per month two bedroom 1-1/2 bath townhome with a garage into a $1200 one bedroom apartment. At the worst of the dot com thing, they were GOING to charge me $1875 per month to renew my lease, and...within a few days...the rotten dot com melon started caving in. Instead, they dropped my $1650 rent down to $1350, and on the next renewal it went down to $1250, and before the NEXT one, they sold the place. One-bedroom apartments with paper-thin walls got new carpets and a slap of paint and went on the market for $275K, $375K for the 2-bedrooms.

:toast:

[Lex]

32. Did you own the home all of 2007?

What you deduct on your taxes would be for the interest you paid for the months in 2007.

[Coyote_Bandit]

33. Best Reminder I Can Think Of

would be the sixteen year old couple that lived above me when I rented an apartment once. Not sure where their parents were or how they afforded their lifestyle. Neither went to school. Neither had a job. They were ALWAYS there. They stomped around on my ceiling. They had lots of loud headboard banging against the wall sex. They drank too much too often. And smoked a fair amount of weed. They had lots of loud parties. All hours of the day and night. Even when they knew their neighbors had to get up and go to work or school. Sometimes they forewarned us. Sometimes they didn't. Not uncommon for them to empty their ashtrays onto the patio below. Sometimes they let their dog do his business out on the balcony above my patio too. They thought they were musicians. One took voice lessons and practiced. Loudly. Badly. They had a drum machine connected to their stereo. My walls vibrated. Sometimes they decided to open up all the doors and windows and "entertain" their neighbors. They neighbors complained about them so much that they became friends with the security guards - who would sometimes join them in the wee hours of the morning for a beer while they partied outside my bedroom window. Worst fucking neighbors I ever had. And worst fucking apartment managers. I try to remember how miserable I was living in that apartment when I have unpleasant and expensive homeowner responsibilities.

[KitchenWitch]

34. I agree

I miss being able to call the landlord and tell him/her to fix things.

[tammywammy]

35. It's such a joy

My favorite two things about it is when the main line gets back up and the toilet waste comes up my bathtub or when the hot water heater broke and sent hot water under my house for a week before I realized what was going on.

[GOPisEvil]

41. Answers

1. Buy a new disposal. They're 80 bucks. Not hard to put in.

2. You got the answer; it might be the heat. Keep your floors finished as well. They might just be dried out.

3. Buy a new one. They're cheaper than the disposal.

4. Caulk costs 5 bucks.

As for your taxes, wait until next year.

[lizerdbits]

42. We can help fix them Saturday after a couple drinks.

:P Actually booze + caulk sounds like a REALLY bad idea.

I own a TH condo so I don't have to do outside or yard maintenance, just the indoor stuff. I was questioning my decision too when I replaced all my pipes (polybutylene) but if I still rented I'd still be paying an extra $50 a month every year I signed a lease like I was 4 years ago renting. Not sure if the rent prices/trends up there are the same way, but my mortgage only goes up and down a little based on my property taxes coming out of my escrow. I think when you get everything fixed you'll feel good about it again. Even I re caulked a bathtub and I'm not very handy with fixing things, so it shouldn't be a problem for anyone with hands.

[LuckyTheDog]

45. Well, there's all that wonderful market appreciation

.... oops! D'OH!

I feel your pain. I've put about 20 grand into my house over the years. And, if I sold now, I'd be glad to get back what I paid for the place when I bought it.