Anonymous wrote:In the first year?

Just bought in the fall and already having to spend $6000 on a leak, $3000 on a toilet repair/damage, $1000 on a new fridge, $2500 on electrical upgrades, and $1000 on fixes to pipes that were done wrong.

That’s all?

Anonymous wrote:First year: refinished wood floors and replaced some windows = $10K; relined chimney which required removing old terracotta lining = $6K. Miscellaneous plumbing and electric issues = $2K. So, all but the plumbing was optional.
Second year: frozen burst pipe in finished garage required redoing plumbing and drywall = $6K. Not optional unless we wanted to lose functionality of that space.
Third year: bathroom reno = $20K; painting = $1K. All optional.
Anticipate having to replace HVAC in year 4 or 5. Won’t be optional

Pp, who did your bathroom for $20k? That’s a bargain

Anonymous wrote:OMG these are NIGHTMARE stories! Why buy a house?

Yes, some of these are crazy, but it's par for the course when you buy a house. It's the non-sexy stuff that no one talks about when buying, and no one tells you just how much repairs ACTUALLY cost, especially if you hire it out. I like to say things in your house are in 3 states: hasn't broken yet, about to break, or broken.

A lot of things people listed don't HAVE to be done the first year anyway. We bought a fixer in the closest and safest neighborhood we could afford. It's now worth nearly $200K more than we paid. We do one elective project a year, and keep savings on hand for emergency repairs.

In the first year, we spent $7K on our badly neglected chimney (we had a lot of flues), and $17K on roof, insulation, and gutters. We were told by the inspector we had "4-5 years" left on the roof (turns out we didn't, it was actively leaking), the insulation was in horrible shape, and even with gutter guards, animals, were still nesting in them.

Bought a 2006-built house in 2020

Year 1:
Roof $8k
Smoke detectors: $200
Replacing ugly ceiling fan with flush mount fixture so our four poster bed wouldn’t get hit: $200

That’s it for year 1, I think, not counting the decorator stuff.

First year: refinished wood floors and replaced some windows = $10K; relined chimney which required removing old terracotta lining = $6K. Miscellaneous plumbing and electric issues = $2K. So, all but the plumbing was optional.
Second year: frozen burst pipe in finished garage required redoing plumbing and drywall = $6K. Not optional unless we wanted to lose functionality of that space.
Third year: bathroom reno = $20K; painting = $1K. All optional.
Anticipate having to replace HVAC in year 4 or 5. Won’t be optional

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1920s home on national register of historic homes
$5500 repainting exterior
$6500 repainting interior
$15000 reroof
$12000 rewiring -this was horrible and took 3 weeks
$3500 concrete walkway
$2500 porch repair
$2500 new light fixtures
$6500 new appliances
$1500 replace broken glass windows
$6000 retile bathroom
$4500 landscaping
$500 replace door knobs and hinges with period door knobs
$600 refinish hardwood floors (I did it myself with a rental otherwise it would have been $8 a square foot, took me a week)
$3500 new gutters
$12000 hvac
$800 to buy and install nest thermostat and ring door bell
$1500 new hot water heater
$600 bracing sagging floor
$150 kitchen quarter round molding
$8500 new cabinets
$4000 quartz counter top and farmers sink.

Such cheap cabinets but expensive countertop? Did you just do new doors or something?

NP. The higher end cabinet at IKEA will probably run you around 5k.

Anonymous wrote:Everyone I know has something plumbing related happen after they move in.

I think sometimes it’s because an older person is living there alone and then a family comes in and starts turning a lot more things on.

Also it happens because the devil knows you’re out of cash.

Haha! So true

Anonymous wrote:None since it was new, but drapes and painting and blinds probably $70k.

WHAT? I just remodeled a small house for 20k

*the “old” new unit that is

Bought a 1940s fixer. The AC broke a month after we moved in (during summer). Replaced the hvac and then 3 years later did an addition/major reno with lots of duct changes and ended up doing dual systems. So had to replace it again.

Argh. The timing sucked, but in the scheme of things it was about 5k lost (in 250k) of upgrades. I was mostly upset about the waste of it, but we were able to donate the old unit.

Around $10k when we bought a 1920’s home on the Hill with a lot of deferred maintenance.

Anonymous wrote:1920s home on national register of historic homes
$5500 repainting exterior
$6500 repainting interior
$15000 reroof
$12000 rewiring -this was horrible and took 3 weeks
$3500 concrete walkway
$2500 porch repair
$2500 new light fixtures
$6500 new appliances
$1500 replace broken glass windows
$6000 retile bathroom
$4500 landscaping
$500 replace door knobs and hinges with period door knobs
$600 refinish hardwood floors (I did it myself with a rental otherwise it would have been $8 a square foot, took me a week)
$3500 new gutters
$12000 hvac
$800 to buy and install nest thermostat and ring door bell
$1500 new hot water heater
$600 bracing sagging floor
$150 kitchen quarter round molding
$8500 new cabinets
$4000 quartz counter top and farmers sink.

Such cheap cabinets but expensive countertop? Did you just do new doors or something?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1960s colonial, purchased from original owner in 2022

$1100 - initial yard clean out
$200 - carpet steam clean (one room and stair treads)
$1800 - interior painting, wallpaper power bath, repair outdoor rotting wood trim
$900 - emergency toilet drain repair
$700 - updated two prong outlets to three prong throughout house, added one overhead light, swapped out two fixtures
$400 - replaced two toilets
$1200 - new hot water heater
$8000 - new AC unit
$1800 - redid one patio (five!!! Left)
$900 - recapped two chimneys
$650 - shades (upstairs) and curtains (main floor)
$200 - chimney inspection
$2300 - repaired existing gas fireplace to working order
$1700 - tree removal

Next up:
Install ceiling fans in bedrooms - $1200?
Install outdoor lighting in back - $300?
Planting some bushes this spring - $400?
One day we’ll replace the original single-pane wood windows - three quotes between $32-40k

PP, you got a screaming good deal on paint, electric & hardscaping. Would you recommend your trades people to others?

The chimney recap was also like 25% of what the quotes we are getting.

New build. 2019 purchase, late 2020 occupancy (thanks COVID). Base price just over $1.1M. Approximately $200K in upgrades/changes. $50K post occupancy to fit out home theatre. No significant repairs.

Ooh.

Let's see...

10K on painting (our choice)
7K on tree removal for hazardous trees
4.5K on electrical upgrade
1K on radon remediation
2K on landscaping
500 on toilet repair/replacement that we DIYed with help from FIL
1.5K on new washer and dryer
1K on new utility sink + install
1K on project to repair door threshold to utility room
1K on door hardware replacements and new lock sets
2K on new door hardware for all interior doors that DH has yet to install
Furniture expenses are probably at about 20K.
Probably at least 2K on misc. Home Depot stuff (smaller repairs, new tools to do things, small one off purchases, etc...).

We still need to do a bathroom, which we will do as basic as possible. Also need to make some minor repairs. Also want to do some additional landscaping.