Most readers will know that my family moved into a new home a while back. Indeed, I’ve written lots of design articles based on our experiences during the last year or so. However, I thought today would be a good time to release a post that details everything that went wrong. I’d like to say we did our research, and our property purchase was perfect, but that simply wasn’t the case. The idea of paying for building assessments never crossed our minds. We just presumed the property was safe and free from damage. It became a different story after we moved in and started to notice problems.
I’ll mention some of the property issues we faced today in the hope of helping you to avoid the same situation. All these repairs cost an arm and a leg. We would have kept more cash aside to pay for them if we’d thought ahead.
Roof repairs
You probably won’t believe it, but we didn’t bother to take a look at the roof before moving into our new home. It soon became apparent the structure was not watertight. Within a couple of weeks, there was a heavy downpour, and the walls became wet. We called a roof repair company as soon as possible. Thankfully, they fixed the issue the next day. However, it was a close call. Two days later there was a huge thunderstorm that could have flooded our property.
Desperate Housewife lesson no1: Always check the roof!
Structural repairs
As you can see from the image attached to this post, we had to replace some of the supporting beams. There were also lots of structural repairs we had to cover. My husband put his drink on the kitchen side one morning, and it slid off onto the floor. Upon closer expert inspection, the property had begun to subside. The repair company used a quick-fix, but we’ll have to pay for more substantial repairs in a couple of years. Had we known about the cost involved, we might not have purchased the property.
Desperate Housewife lesson no2: Pay for structural assessments before you buy!
Drainage repairs
During our fourth week in the property, I walked outside to discover a disgusting smell. One of our neighbors also commented on the stench. So, I had to get in touch with a drainage specialist to find out more. Apparently, the drain system has been blocked for quite some time. God knows how the previous owners had coped with the issue. It cost us nearly $1000 to have the drains cleaned and repaired. Again, we would have lowered our offer on the home initially if we were alerted to that expense.
Desperate Housewife lesson no3: Always sniff around the drains!
Thankfully, our property has now become a loving family home. We’ve still got some issues to deal with in the future, but everything is on the right track. At the end of the day, I just wanted to make you all aware of the potential problems you might face. Next time, we’re not even going to make an offer until assessments have been performed. You shouldn’t risk your cash either unless you are 100% satisfied with the house.
See you next time!
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