Home Ownership

Home ownership is not for the faint of heart, mind and soul because a house can suck away your life! "They" were not kidding when they referred to it as a cash cow.

Disclaimer: There are some phrases and idioms that don't make sense in English, but in Spanish they just go. I translate as best as I can, but there are just certain things that cannot be said in English (ooh, idea for another post!).

I was advised that if I were to ever enter the housing market, to buy the most house/land for my dollar. I got over 1400 sq.ft living space and 7500 sq.ft total land. For me, it all equals to a lot of house to clean and a lot of grass to mow. Aside from all the chores, I do love my house. I love getting away from the city and escaping to my home. I can decorate and redecorate as I please (I don't)... where I can knock down a wall (too much dust involved), or paint the walls super-saturated colors (but not too vivid because that is just crazy). A home is also about freedom; the freedom to do with it as you please; the freedom to relax with a cup of coffee on a nice Saturday morning reflecting on the birds and squirrels (as I did this weekend with my 3yr old).

Here are mistakes that we made that I may be able to save you from:

• When you find that house that you think you want, think about it again. Think about the current owners and how they maintained the home while they lived there. Think about the additional work you will need to put into it. I just heard about a man (my roofer, but that is another story) that purchased his home in September 2008 but didn't move in until October 2009 from all the work that needed to be done. A girlfriend did the same thing, she all but leveled the house and started all over again. Why?

Getting off the point for a second: HGTV had a show that allowed potential home buyers to spend the night in a house before they bought it. That is a great idea. You wouldn't buy a car without test driving it first; so why should you buy a home without spending time inside it at all hours of the day? All of the visits we made to the house were during the day, never at night, nor did we hear the noises it made (if you are buying it with a person that believes in "other beings" then you need to know if the house makes noises).

• Visit your dream home at different times of the day if possible. Are you going to have to install more lights, add additional outlets for lamps? Old houses, like mine, do not have power in the living room ceiling which means that at night, we have to turn on 2 lamps just to get decent lighting in there and now we are planning on having an electrician come in to add recessed lights to the living room (on a dimmer - yay). All this equals to more money we have to pay out to make our house more comfortable. Good grief!
• Check out other comp. homes in the neighborhood. Most homes in any givien area sells for about the same price - so what do they have that yours doesn't? Compare, compare, compare!
• Go beyond paint! Some homes are staged and that is great, but a lot of others are not. If the home you like is not staged, look beyond the Pepto Bismal pink oil-based painted walls (as I did), look beyond the chair rail that looks like as if it was pegado con saliva (installed with spit as opposed to with nails, screws, etc). Try to figure how you would make it yours and get thee online and get prices from Home Depot & Lowes! You need to know, how much it will all cost you!
• Appliances matter! I was lucky that my very wonderful, significant other is the manager of a retail appliance and furniture store so I was able to get my beautiful Whirlpool Duet washer/dryer for more than 1/2 the cost compared to Sears & Best Buy (yeah!). We also got our range through his job, and both our GE fridge (stainless steel French-door, double bottom drawer freezer) and microhood from another store nearby that we get appliances from at a very low price (I did have to order a piece directly from GE but still paid thousands less if I had gone through regular retail stores). I inherited a washer that didn't wash, it just saturated dirty clothes with water and fabric softner and a dryer that was a hazard to my "new" house.
• Don't go full blast into construction especially if you are living in the house. Not good. The mess and the stress of all that is going on in the house brings tension to your back, shoulders and relationship. Do not pick up a sledge hammer if you do not know the consequences of your demo (also, demo brings BIG messes, and more to clean up).

All homes need some type of update: paint, appliances, new drywall. Be careful and always, always, always save for repairs. You never know! I have a 10K estimate on my roof right now... SMH

~CT