Buying an old house regret

[Anonymous]

we bought an older house and I have small children. We needed a split level home (not too many stairs) because I have medical issues--so these mcmansions weren't really an option because of all the stairs. Yes, there were tons of repairs and work to be done, but such is life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like many on here, we thought the 6,000 sft new build craftman were gaudy and too large, boy did I turn out to be wrong.

I just had our number two and my son is now 3 year old. Even with a nanny, DH and I are absolutely exhausted on the weekend from running repairs and meeting contractors for all sorts of work that needed to be done all over the place. We had our fridge and oven break over the course of the same month, our fridge installation had some issues because the waterlines were setup poorly in the house. Overtime, we found moldy spots in the carpeting and had to just live with it because putting hardwood floors is an investment we would never get our money back on. There were multiple leak on the roof that had to be patched. Our water heater had some issues despite being just 5 years old and our AC system had shorts, which we found was possibly due to the way the wiring is done in the house. If I had to do it all over again, I would just bite the costs and live in a new/new-ish build.

I am really on the verge of losing it even with a nanny. I feel like even having a full butler won't make up for the headache of owning these old homes. My husband tried to convince me to go for a new build but I wanted to budget some cushion for our retirement and vacation. Boy do I regret it now.

If you have young kids, i repeat, do not, ever buy an old house. You are better off renting in an apartment with repair on 24/7 standby or even a new townhouse. If you can stretch it, just buy a new build, the peace of mind of things working at least for the next 10 years is worth your sanity.

We live in a hundred-year-old house, but it was properly cared for over the decades. In the time I've lived here I have no regrets. I had previously owned a new build but my sense was the builder used high-end finishes but cut costs other places wherever they could. For example, they didn't bother with green board in the bathrooms but used Carrera marble tile. My old house, however, was built to last. We don't need green boad because the floor beneath the tile in the bathrooms is concrete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't get a medal dealing with an old house you get pissed off and broke

old houses are cheaper. you could still buy a new house and have to deal with repairs, but you will have spent a whole lot more.

Nope. Real estate is always about location, not age of the house. Older houses in prime areas sell for more than new houses in less prime areas. And even in prime areas it's all about the house, not the age of the house. A beautifully maintained old house can easily sell more than a new build in the same area.

This is dumb. All other things equal a new house will always be worth more than an old house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't get a medal dealing with an old house you get pissed off and broke

old houses are cheaper. you could still buy a new house and have to deal with repairs, but you will have spent a whole lot more.

Nope. Real estate is always about location, not age of the house. Older houses in prime areas sell for more than new houses in less prime areas. And even in prime areas it's all about the house, not the age of the house. A beautifully maintained old house can easily sell more than a new build in the same area.

This is dumb. All other things equal a new house will always be worth more than an old house.

On the contrary, many of the area's most expensive and desirable homes are in areas like Georgetown and Kalorama. The majority of the homes in these areas are historic and expensive. This is where Jeff Bezos and the Obamas live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering my brother was just hired to dig a foundation of a "new custom build" in Arlington where the people are surely paying well over 2M for the home and he has never in his life dug a foundation, I'm not too confident in new builds. I wouldn't allow my brother to remodel batheoom let alone dig a foundation. I have zero faith in new construction in this area. It is so hard to find workers to do anything, thr criteria is a heartbeat and that's all.

Well then it’s never going to pass inspection

Bets?

Sister here. Yes it did and I know they had to pump a ton of water out of it. My brother was even laughing that he got that subcontract, he had to YouTube a lot of videos before starting. . Didn't even own the equipment to to do work, had to rent it. That's how inexperienced he was. Normally he does carpentry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like many on here, we thought the 6,000 sft new build craftman were gaudy and too large, boy did I turn out to be wrong.

I just had our number two and my son is now 3 year old. Even with a nanny, DH and I are absolutely exhausted on the weekend from running repairs and meeting contractors for all sorts of work that needed to be done all over the place. We had our fridge and oven break over the course of the same month, our fridge installation had some issues because the waterlines were setup poorly in the house. Overtime, we found moldy spots in the carpeting and had to just live with it because putting hardwood floors is an investment we would never get our money back on. There were multiple leak on the roof that had to be patched. Our water heater had some issues despite being just 5 years old and our AC system had shorts, which we found was possibly due to the way the wiring is done in the house. If I had to do it all over again, I would just bite the costs and live in a new/new-ish build.

I am really on the verge of losing it even with a nanny. I feel like even having a full butler won't make up for the headache of owning these old homes. My husband tried to convince me to go for a new build but I wanted to budget some cushion for our retirement and vacation. Boy do I regret it now.

If you have young kids, i repeat, do not, ever buy an old house. You are better off renting in an apartment with repair on 24/7 standby or even a new townhouse. If you can stretch it, just buy a new build, the peace of mind of things working at least for the next 10 years is worth your sanity.

We live in a hundred-year-old house, but it was properly cared for over the decades. In the time I've lived here I have no regrets. I had previously owned a new build but my sense was the builder used high-end finishes but cut costs other places wherever they could. For example, they didn't bother with green board in the bathrooms but used Carrera marble tile. My old house, however, was built to last. We don't need green boad because the floor beneath the tile in the bathrooms is concrete.

You're an idiot, green board doesn't go under the floor. Don't ever comment on anything about house quality or build you know nothing and are making everyone around you dumber.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like many on here, we thought the 6,000 sft new build craftman were gaudy and too large, boy did I turn out to be wrong.

I just had our number two and my son is now 3 year old. Even with a nanny, DH and I are absolutely exhausted on the weekend from running repairs and meeting contractors for all sorts of work that needed to be done all over the place. We had our fridge and oven break over the course of the same month, our fridge installation had some issues because the waterlines were setup poorly in the house. Overtime, we found moldy spots in the carpeting and had to just live with it because putting hardwood floors is an investment we would never get our money back on. There were multiple leak on the roof that had to be patched. Our water heater had some issues despite being just 5 years old and our AC system had shorts, which we found was possibly due to the way the wiring is done in the house. If I had to do it all over again, I would just bite the costs and live in a new/new-ish build.

I am really on the verge of losing it even with a nanny. I feel like even having a full butler won't make up for the headache of owning these old homes. My husband tried to convince me to go for a new build but I wanted to budget some cushion for our retirement and vacation. Boy do I regret it now.

If you have young kids, i repeat, do not, ever buy an old house. You are better off renting in an apartment with repair on 24/7 standby or even a new townhouse. If you can stretch it, just buy a new build, the peace of mind of things working at least for the next 10 years is worth your sanity.

We live in a hundred-year-old house, but it was properly cared for over the decades. In the time I've lived here I have no regrets. I had previously owned a new build but my sense was the builder used high-end finishes but cut costs other places wherever they could. For example, they didn't bother with green board in the bathrooms but used Carrera marble tile. My old house, however, was built to last. We don't need green boad because the floor beneath the tile in the bathrooms is concrete.

You're an idiot, green board doesn't go under the floor. Don't ever comment on anything about house quality or build you know nothing and are making everyone around you dumber.

To add green board is against code and only cement backer is used idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't get a medal dealing with an old house you get pissed off and broke

old houses are cheaper. you could still buy a new house and have to deal with repairs, but you will have spent a whole lot more.

Nope. Real estate is always about location, not age of the house. Older houses in prime areas sell for more than new houses in less prime areas. And even in prime areas it's all about the house, not the age of the house. A beautifully maintained old house can easily sell more than a new build in the same area.

This is dumb. All other things equal a new house will always be worth more than an old house.[/quote

New homes dont come with fences, blinds, shrubs, landscaping etc. etc. You can dump 20k-30K on that nonsense on move in. My Moms old 1923 Craftsman Home we sold that has survived being owned by a tear down asshole or flipper is in perfect conditon. Is is four hours from Metro entrance and in perfect shape. No way would a tear down be worth Just a piece of chinese drywall crab box.

[Anonymous]

"Just a piece of chinese drywall crab box."

Another ignorant person. Chinese drywall hasn't been used in decades and were in the South Florida Mississippi and Newport news

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Just a piece of chinese drywall crab box."

Another ignorant person. Chinese drywall hasn't been used in decades and were in the South Florida Mississippi and Newport news

Builders are complaining costs to build a home is rising due to potential Chinese tariffs. Yep those houses dont use new cheap stuff

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't get a medal dealing with an old house you get pissed off and broke

old houses are cheaper. you could still buy a new house and have to deal with repairs, but you will have spent a whole lot more.

Nope. Real estate is always about location, not age of the house. Older houses in prime areas sell for more than new houses in less prime areas. And even in prime areas it's all about the house, not the age of the house. A beautifully maintained old house can easily sell more than a new build in the same area.

This is dumb. All other things equal a new house will always be worth more than an old house.

Good grief. I'd much rather be in an old house that's been updated and well-maintained than a shit new build. They actually don't make them like they used to. At least with an old house, you know you that issues such as foundation settling, drainage, and basic build quality like popping drywall screws, quality of materials, workmanship, and so on are all settled.

Every new build I've ever seen - even very expensive ones - has ridiculous corners cut, like no competent carpenter on staff so every miter joint is filled with caulk and looks like crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP how old is your house?

When people talk about preferring old houses, I think they mean prewar. So anything in the 1930s or older.

No one wants a house from the 70s or 80s though in 2019, you might consider those old too.

That's completely untrue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like many on here, we thought the 6,000 sft new build craftman were gaudy and too large, boy did I turn out to be wrong.

I just had our number two and my son is now 3 year old. Even with a nanny, DH and I are absolutely exhausted on the weekend from running repairs and meeting contractors for all sorts of work that needed to be done all over the place. We had our fridge and oven break over the course of the same month, our fridge installation had some issues because the waterlines were setup poorly in the house. Overtime, we found moldy spots in the carpeting and had to just live with it because putting hardwood floors is an investment we would never get our money back on. There were multiple leak on the roof that had to be patched. Our water heater had some issues despite being just 5 years old and our AC system had shorts, which we found was possibly due to the way the wiring is done in the house. If I had to do it all over again, I would just bite the costs and live in a new/new-ish build.

I am really on the verge of losing it even with a nanny. I feel like even having a full butler won't make up for the headache of owning these old homes. My husband tried to convince me to go for a new build but I wanted to budget some cushion for our retirement and vacation. Boy do I regret it now.

If you have young kids, i repeat, do not, ever buy an old house. You are better off renting in an apartment with repair on 24/7 standby or even a new townhouse. If you can stretch it, just buy a new build, the peace of mind of things working at least for the next 10 years is worth your sanity.

We live in a hundred-year-old house, but it was properly cared for over the decades. In the time I've lived here I have no regrets. I had previously owned a new build but my sense was the builder used high-end finishes but cut costs other places wherever they could. For example, they didn't bother with green board in the bathrooms but used Carrera marble tile. My old house, however, was built to last. We don't need green boad because the floor beneath the tile in the bathrooms is concrete.

You're an idiot, green board doesn't go under the floor. Don't ever comment on anything about house quality or build you know nothing and are making everyone around you dumber.

The floor in the new places rotted out within a 5 years of buying the place and the irony is it was a bathroom only guests used.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP how old is your house?

When people talk about preferring old houses, I think they mean prewar. So anything in the 1930s or older.

No one wants a house from the 70s or 80s though in 2019, you might consider those old too.

That's completely untrue.

I wouldn't consider buying anything built after 1960. Everything is so cheaply done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP how old is your house?

When people talk about preferring old houses, I think they mean prewar. So anything in the 1930s or older.

No one wants a house from the 70s or 80s though in 2019, you might consider those old too.

That's completely untrue.

I wouldn't consider buying anything built after 1960. Everything is so cheaply done.

Not true. It is the opposite. Houses in the US that were build before the 60s are crumbling and look like crap today. When you buy them, the only solution is
to tear down and rebuild. I would only buy an old house in Europe. Nobody needs to tear down houses in Europe. That's what I call good old builds, not the crap they are building here in the US.