When we moved in 1995, our house was brand new filled with your typical builder grade appliances and features. To us, kids that had grown up in a great east coast home built in the 60's with awesome green carpet and yellow kitchen appliances, the new builder grade items were a step up.
But that was back in 1995. Almost 17 years have passed by and as my mom says "these items don't owe me a thing", because they have produced for so long it's only natural that they would start to die out. One of the first appliances to bite the dust was the microwave. Replacing that microwave started a revamp of the kitchen appliances including a new dishwasher and refrigerator. Next on their list is that oven.
Recently they started to have issues with their 3 toilets, and no one wants to have issues with your toilets. They were able to make little fixes here and there to prolong the lives, but the reality was that they needed to be replaced. So it was out with the old and in with the new.
Not too much of a difference (still you average white toilet) but the new ones have an oval bowl, sit a little higher and are more efficient because they use less water with every flush. To help promote newer toilets, our town actually offers a credit on your water bill for every water saving toilet and will haul off the old ones for you. Not too shabby of a deal!
Witnessing issues like these help to add a little reality to our house hunt dreams. It won't all be choosing fun paint and working on projects that we want to. There will be times where we have to shell out the bucks for something that we might not actually want to, but need to fix.
For the home owners out there, what was one of the first things that you had to replace or fix that you didn't necessarily want to, but needed to?
Oh man, we've been learning this lesson lately! We currently have a broken sprinkler system and a messed up furnace right now, but we're ignoring both of them for the next few months until we actually need to use one of them again. Home-ownership is expensive!
ReplyDeleteWe've been homeowners since last July, and right off the bat we had a leaky faucet in need of repair. The plumber charged so much, that when a few months later the shower handles broke unexpectedly, we figured out how to do it. Ditto when the kitchen sink was leaking all over the place. I highly recommend learning some basic skills - it can save you a ton of money!
ReplyDeleteMy husband is more handy than I am, but I definitely see some learning of basic skills in my future!
DeleteI don't own yet, but this is definitely the stuff I'm not looking forward to.
ReplyDeleteWe still have a hole in the side of the house..and a leaky kitchen sink! Not fun :P
ReplyDeleteOne of the first things we replaced was the toilets. They kept running all the time, so we decided to go more efficient. Smart move for our water bill, but MAN those things were a pain to install!
ReplyDeleteah the joys of ownership! although you get to pick out your new shiny fixtures and appliances, which is kinda fun.
ReplyDeletehaha, yes that can be fun. Right now its more fun because I can help to pick out things, but don't have to pay for them (also don't get a final vote either but I like throwing in my opinion anyways).
DeleteCarpet and new kitchen appliances were our first major purchases. And it only went down hill from there. LOL!
ReplyDeleteI've actually started a list of new things we'll need to buy (mainly furniture), but a new washer and dryer are the top of my wish list. I feel like I'm getting so old because I'm excited about kitchen appliances and washers and dryers hehe.
DeleteUghhh we just had a pipe burst the other day! Luckily, we could repair it temporarily before shelling out the big bucks to replace it (which is ultimately inevitable) but STILL. It was a lot easier when we could just call the apartment's maintenance man and he'd do it for us :)
ReplyDeleteSo many things pop up. We are almost two years in with our house and there's so much that needs replacing. The worst so far has been getting new pipes after we got a leak. Don't let it deter you though, even when I'm really angry with our home, I still love it.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I'm hoping I'll feel, even with expensive repairs it'll still be our house.
DeleteWell, we've owned our house for three years now. We got the first time buyers credit and with that we re-shingled the roof, replaced the HVAC (note: We live in Arizona, the A/C worked the first summer, but the heater went out that winter. Not the typical problem in AZ...), and poured some concrete. Then that summer our pool pump died. That was what hit me the most because we had to actually pull our own money to get a new one.
ReplyDeleteWe are also landscaping the entire yard, front and back. Even though the house was built in the late 80's, when we moved in it was just dirt. And a pool out back.
Anyhow, I'll end my novel now :-)
Sounds like so many improvements, nope the landscaping is going well! My parents have a pool, and those repairs aren't fun either.
DeleteWe've owned for almost 3 years now and still have a long list of fixes & improvements that need to be made. It is definitely good to have a realistic outlook when purchasing a home. Luckily my stepdad is a carpenter/contractor and can fix almost anything so the only major purchase we've had to invest in is a new washer (and we had a gift card to pay for most of it!) I'm looking forward to the day when we can put in some grass instead of having just random patches in between lots of dirt LOL!
ReplyDelete