Despite not having a binding agreement, we went ahead with our home inspection on our dream home. (To recap: This is the short sale that we offered on way back in May; under the belief that we were just days away from having a binding contract, our agent recommended getting the inspection out of the way. This was about a month ago, and we still don’t have a binding contract. See Lesson Three: Nationstar Sucks for more.)
This would be a good time to say that we LOVE our home inspector. He came highly recommended by a friend of ours, and we think he is awesome (especially since he did two home inspections for the price of one because he felt bad for us).
After our first experience with a home inspection (the highlights of which included an overflowing septic tank, an A/C with most of the guts missing, and best of all, MASSIVE termite damage), we approached this one with a jaundiced eye. Sure, the house LOOKED great and it SEEMED to have been well maintained...but it could harbor giant sewer rats inside the walls. Who knows?
Our home inspector, Ray, wasn’t going to go easy on the house. While waiting for our agent to arrive and unlock the doors, he began his inspection of the exterior, carefully (and frequently) pointing out defects -- there’s some siding that will need to be replaced, there’s some moulding that is starting to rot, those windows need to be re-glazed, etc., etc.
But hey, that’s the mark of a good inspector: Someone who will tell you about EVERY TEENY TINY MINOR DEFECT. Sure, the list of things that need to be repaired seems dauntingly long, but 9 out of 10 of those items are simple, DIY-friendly, and (most importantly) cheap.
This trend continued inside the house. I won’t bore you with every minor detail. Instead, let’s hit the highs and lows.
The mousetraps in the kitchen -- admittedly somewhat worrisome. We have three cats, but they’re all giant chickens and can’t even manage to kill bugs never mind mice. I imagine myself coming home one day to find one of my cats cornered by a little mouse.
The many DIY-done-wrong projects -- frustrating, but not overwhelmingly bad. The worst one is the master bathroom. First, they re-tiled the floor. Great, except they tiled around the toilet in such a way that the toilet can’t be moved without ruining a good portion of the floor. And the toilet’s on its last leg. Then they redid the ridiculously TINY shower. Only they didn’t put shower-grade light fixtures in, they added a second shower head that serves no purpose and is disconcertingly close to the non-water resistant light fixture, and the knob to the turn the water on wasn’t installed right, so water runs inside the wall anytime that shower is used.
As a DIY-er, the quality (or lack thereof) of workmanship in these projects makes me sad. I want to track the homeowners down and give them lessons in tiling, laying carpet, and hanging blinds because they failed at each of these projects.
But then there were some highs, too. Best one of all: The house has two furnaces and both are practically brand spanking new. YES!
It was while Dear Hubby and I were dancing for joy upon hearing this news that we both realized...we must be getting older. Think about it: When you were younger, did you ever once give the slightest thought to a furnace? Probably not. You also probably didn’t think about shingles, siding, A/C units, or hot water heaters. Nor did you think about interest rates, loan points, closing costs, escrow, or title insurance.
I’m convinced that buying a house automatically makes you a grown up. Getting married was stressful, but it was stressful in the way that planning a big party is stressful and not in the way that spending your entire life’s savings on four walls and a roof is stressful. Buying a house forces you to think about your future in concrete terms -- how long before we have kids? Will we still have enough room? Will the school district be good enough?
As daunting as the prospect is, we’re ready to grow up. Now we just need that house.
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