Do We Really Need A Home Inspection?
patti43
16 years ago
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Comments (38)
terezosa / terriks
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Do house plans reflect the way we really live?
Comments (55)What a timely post for me! My DH and I just retired, sold our large and primarily formal home in two weeks and then moved several states west to be closer to family. We have been house hunting the past two years during visits to this area. We have finally decided to custom build a small home, but highly functional for the way we live. We are also making modifications for our continued aging in place. We almost bought a much larger home with a formal dining room but I just could not see myself using that space. It was nice to have while my daughter was growing up but I really do not wish to have a dedicated formal dining room. I do plan to use my formal dining room furniture on a daily basis. It was my grandmother's and I know she would be happy to know it is being used. I will also have the kitchen island to use for breakfast and snacks. We do not have a lot of family left so small is okay for us. At least, I hope so. I keep on second guessing myself thinking maybe I should have gone with the bigger house that my husband liked. My new home will have a combined living/dining/kitchen area. I hope I will like that. I am excited that the house we are building has a laundry room with a door into the master bedroom closet. You can go from the yard into the laundry room on into the closet and then directly into the master shower. We both enjoy gardening and this is just a handy set up when you work outside in the yard. I am planning on having this whole area including the closet tiled. The rest of the home will be the wide hickory hardwood floors. I live in Texas and it is hot here more often than it is cold so the tile floors will be cool and easy to care for. I am just hoping I will be happy in a much smaller space. I sold a lot of my furniture before the move and I do not miss it. The last few years we lived in the big house, we never used the upstairs. We did all of our living on the main floor and it was quite comfortable. DH and I only have one grown daughter and she has not lived near us in years. We have no grandchildren either and very few family members left. I lived in the Atlanta area when they had a terrible drought several years ago and just could not bring myself to use the whirlpool tub knowing I was wasting precious water. I am trying to be very aware of my water usage since I am in another state that has been undergoing a drought. I hope I will be making a smaller footprint with this retirement home....See Morereally need some advice on flooring for home we're buying! pics!
Comments (15)Thanks for all the replies and suggestions, all are appreciated!!!! I guess I'll have to find some flooring I like and hopefully, be able to get some samples, take them to the house and put them down in different areas of the house and see how they look, esp. against the base of the fireplace. I don't mind the parquet and it may look better once it's cleaned or refinished, but do I think it really looks good, not really. While I think it's okay in the entry, I just don't like how it looks in the area surrounding the base of the bricks. Any suggestions on what may look good against the brick?? Or, should I possibly consider some of the resilient tiles that look like slate in a color that would go with the brick? Would something like that complement?? Maybe a light color tile just in the entry, wood elsewhere? Any other suggestions?...See MoreDo we love our new build homes because we need to?
Comments (34)We "built" the house we live in now, tract home in new neighborhood, with some customization. House conversations with friends and neighbors always have regrets in there. Bump-outs, boneheaded designs we should have caught, upgrades that should have been made, upgrades that aren't worth it... the list goes on. Based on our experiences here, I already know there will be design / decor issues that will have D'oh! moments. It's impossible to think about EVERYthing. I think we've hit all the major points, and have enough flexibility to change in the future. Our lives changed quite a bit in the 6 years since building (the once large pantry is now crammed because I now do the majority of grocery shopping at Costco and that not change for at least 15 years for example). I can't see into the future, but we learned from this build, and kept the evolution of our family in mind with our design. 1) The architect/draftsman is only as good as the information provided. They don't know us, or live our lives, ( I wonder if there'd be a benefit to having separate design consultations with the clients, much like relationship counseling, to get a really clear picture, lol), which is why we rely on their education and expertise. 2) The reason copy editors exist: to catch the technical mistakes writers make, and can no longer "see" due to closeness to the project. Same reason med errors occur. I think when we originally like a design, then look at it, dream about it, obsess over it, we can't "see" the flaws or potential problems that others might. Hence all the floor plan critique posts here. I think too, that online and builder plans lull us into a false sense of security- "they design and build houses all the time, they're experts, hundreds of people have bought the design, what could go wrong?!" We found that customizing our builders plan threw them for a loop, and didn't realize it would do so, until after the house was built, and weird things weren't right; towel bar location, depth o linen closet, outlets, etc. 3) We are often playing on tilt. We're all living SOMEwhere, right now, and designing a new place to live, with many features that we love (or would love to have) or without the ones we loathe, those HTOD, that we obsess over in our current or past homes. Finally, the same way any artist of any medium does, we aren't always satisfied with the end result of a project. Sometimes you just have to be DONE, even if to your artists eye, you could have kept going. Having said all that, I know there's going to be some regrets, but hopefully -I believe- the joy will outweigh them!...See MoreHome Inspection Revealed lots of issues.. what should we ask for?
Comments (23)I have purchased a number of older homes, and this sounds like par for the course for me. All this "money pit" and "walk away" stuff is perplexing. If you want a new home, then get one. If you want one from 1960, it is going to have systems near the end of their lives and some items to repair. Anything already disclosed or already visually obvious is off the table. No Seller is going to rebuild the deck for you, or replace a roof that is not leaking. You are buying what you see. The only reason for inspection is to reveal unknown issues you will have to deal with in the future. I'd ask for repair of the electrical issues because those can be safety issues. Then evaluate the cost of a new roof and a new deck, compare that with the cost of a similar house in perfect new repair, and ask for some reasonable dollar amount or amount off the purchase price. If you cannot afford to repair these items, think twice about an older home....See Morexamsx
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