New construction home owner blues
Cee Smith
6 years ago
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New construction vs old construction home values
Comments (19)My fiance and I have been looking to buy our first home for almost a year now. We have been looking for an older home (pre 1930's), because we love the historical feel, especially victorian architecture. A lot of us have that same dream. When I was a teen, I was dating a guy that was in a fraternity that was out of a beautiful Victorian. I remember the stairway, the flowers that were engraved in the wood. I remember the "dome room" and while it was a PITA to put furniture in, amazed me every time I went into it. I remember beautiful moldings, everything was etched and 3 or 4 fireplaces. It had a decent sized kitchen from what I remember, also had a servant room. Man I loved that house and swore that one day, if I could afford to have the house moved I would. The house was located in one of the worst neighborhoods. You had to lock your doors to drive there and run in the house. I bet that in it's day, it was one of the grandest houses. They ended up knocking it down, don't know when but I drove by about 16 years ago, there was nothing on the lot. Anyway, a lot of us have the same dream, to own a beautiful, grand house. Reality is the lack of things needed to live in it in today's world as Tricia said. Since you are not married with kids yet, it wouldn't really matter much, you would probably get by fine. Once you have kids and they start getting older is when you will notice how hard it is to raise a family there unless you luck out and get a house that has larger rooms where you can make closets, or one that has a decent kitchen. I wonder then if my fiance and I should actually change our dream to accomodate the current economy and the deals available? IMO, this might be a good idea, at least for now. Being newly married can be stressful. Unless the 2 of you are currently living together, you have to learn to live with your partner. How do both of you handle stress? Buying a house that you are working on all of the time is very stressful and could eventually start pulling you apart. You'll come home from work some days so tired but you have to sand & throw another coat of spackle on, or paint, or run out to the home store to buy supplies. Hubby & I worked on our last house starting 2 years after I moved in. We removed paneling, faux brick, painted, put in floors as well as putting a new floor frame on a concrete slab in the laundry area to build it up so that we could put a floor down. By the time we sold we were tired & cranky. Add to this a roof, electric upgrade, plumbing, which was a job in itself since there was only 1 shutoff valve, which meant we lost water for the day. We also did central air, a hot water heater as well as new furnace, and had planned to redo all of the baseboards as well. Are there any houses that are in between the old house and new construction for a compromise? You might be able to live a little bit more comfortably and not have to work as hard. It will also give you an idea of how the 2 of you work together as a team (or not). You can save the Victorian house for later on...See MoreNew Home/Lawn Owner - Questions
Comments (4)Crabgrass will die completely with the first frost. It only returns in the spring from seed. There are two requirement for crabgrass to return. First it has to have direct sunlight (thin turf is enough sunlight) AND if it gets water on a daily basis for several days. If you can grow a dense turf you should never see crabgrass. The second requirement is nearly continual soil surface moisture. If you can prevent yourself from watering more than once every 2-3 WEEKS in the spring and prevent Mother Nature from doing the same, then you should not see crabgrass. So the question to ask is why was your turf thin enough to allow the crabgrass to get in? The answer could be that you have a fescue lawn instead of KBG. The way to make it a bluegrass lawn is to seed in KBG now and let the fescue die out over time. A healthy bluegrass lawn should keep crabgrass out. If you want to fertilize I'm always going to suggest organic. Why? Too many reasons to enumerate, but for you the answer is that there is no guess work as to when and with what. Organic fertilizer can be put down any day of the year with no fear of hurting anything. You can apply at double the recommended rate with no fear of hurting anything. I would not do that, but at least the grass won't burn up. My favorite organic fertilizer is ordinary corn meal, but I like to apply alfalfa pellets at least once a year, too. The application rate for most organic fertilizers is 15-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. If you buy it at the feed store the cost will be about $4 per 1,000 square feet which is competitive with chemical type fertilizers. Here is a picture of an organically fertilized KBG lawn that is watered once per week in the hottest heat of summer compared to other KBG lawns that may or may not use organics but they are watered daily.The picture was taken in July several years ago, so it was hot....See MoreImproving front yard look-New home owner
Comments (16)I don't know what your zone is, but having large evergreen shrubs against the house around my way (zone 5, 4 seasons), creates problems by holding moisture and debris against the house which harbors insects and causes dust and mold to collect, which some people (like me) are sensitive to. If you want to replace those with a flowery, cottage garden, go for it! But only if you love to fiddle and fuss with the garden. I have a flowering border against a rock wall just like you describe. There are many beautiful dwarf flowering shrubs to choose from, but make sure they are dwarf. A flowery cottage garden doesn't lend itself to big shrubs and evergreens. We have large, hardy clumping perennials as our backdrop, and also trellises, which have a conical shape. Remember, repetition is your friend. You can have a few surprise single elements but too many and it just looks like a hodge podge. Also, perennial gardens looks kinda stark until late summer so plant for some spring interest. If you like to sit on the front porch, you have a great spot for a fountain there too, if you really want to go all out. They are a pain though, particularly in the sun due to algae growth, but if some of that area gets shaded by the house, it could work. Here's a photo, the blue stuff is Russian sage. There are coneflowers in there and rudbeckias and blanket flower and yarrow, and some small knock out roses in other places. No lilies but they would look great there, but where this garden is the deer would have them as their nightly salad. The trees in the background are redbuds but we have crab apples in the front yard in front of this garden. There is a big decorative bird bath off to the right which you can't see in this photo....See MoreNew Construction Homes - Home Building Options
Comments (23)Kristen we have built 4 houses, the first being a tract builder and could only choose from a few options. The others were totally custom where we provided plans to the builder who then gave us a estimate. Included in his estimate was a allowance for lighting, plumbing, appliances etc. We could choose from stores that he had accounts at which we would pay the “contractors” price. Or we could get them from anywhere we chose. When comparing, we found that the contractor’s price was not significantly higher than the big box stores. See Jeffrey Grenz’s comment above.... it was well worth it to go with our builders accounts....See MoreCee Smith
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agobeckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
6 years agoCee Smith thanked beckysharp Reinstate SW UnconditionallyCee Smith
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agobeckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
6 years agoCee Smith thanked beckysharp Reinstate SW UnconditionallyCee Smith
6 years agobeckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
6 years agoCee Smith thanked beckysharp Reinstate SW UnconditionallyCee Smith
6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agobeckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
6 years agoCee Smith thanked beckysharp Reinstate SW UnconditionallyCee Smith
6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agobeckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agobeckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
6 years agoFlo Mangan
6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agoCheryl Hannebauer
6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agoCee Smith
6 years agoCee Smith
6 years ago
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