MONEY PIT?!?

Anyone else feel like they bought a money pit?

We bought a home that we thought was in good shape - new siding, brand new roof...what could go wrong, right?

Within a month of purchasing our home we had to have a HUGE oak tree removed from our side yard which cracked our foundation in the basement. Our engineer had ASSURED us that this tree had been there forever and it could not possibly be causing a problem or we would have known about it. We have water/moisture issues in our basement and this is pending a major fix for us. We got quotes as low as $7k and as high as $30k to repair this issue in the basement!

Now that is has gotten warmer we have TERMITES! UGH! $3K later TERMINIX has baited our entire property but we are still seeing the buggers in our house which is making me crazy.

The latest and greatest - we have birds in our gutters! We have gutter screens which I thought was a pretty good assurance that we weren't going to have this ONE problem, but go figure.

All of our crown molding is cracking thanks to our moron contractor and his incompetent carpenter.

I am so stressed I could just SCREAM.

I can't take one more thing going wrong with this damn house.

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sorry you've had to deal w/so much in a short time.
is the house old?

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Sorry you have to deal with so much!!! We have the bird issue too, my parents have had problems with them as well, they keep coming back.

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Sorry you have to go through this....

We're closing on Friday and your post seriously has me so worried....That's a whole lot of stuff to go wrong so early on and for what seemed to be a move in condition house.

ETA: Your engineer didn't see the possible termite issue? moisture in basement?

Message edited 4/11/2007 2:33:00 PM.

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I'm so sorry you are going through this!

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OMG - I am so sorry you are going through this!

You also have me a little worried since we will probably be closing in less than a month and honestly cannot afford to have things like this come up! I mean I know things come up in a house, but $30k for the basement is huge.

As the other poster mentioned ... your inspector didn't at least find the termites?

Best of Luck! I am sure it will get better!!

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Yes!! I feel you're pain. we've been in our house since labor day and this is what we've had to deal with so far:

Our inspector told us that he "rarely saw a house in such great condition". 3 months after we closed, we were getting leaks in our windows every time it rained. we tried recaulking and it didn't help at all. Cost of new windows - $350-$500 per window, we have 15 that leak.

Basement - was covered with carpet. we went down one day and it was soaked. There was minor flooding. did'n't get an estimate for that yet.

Patio deck - huge carpenter ant issue, most boards were rotted down to the point of crumbling. we now have to redo the whole deck.

It truly is a money pit!!

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Well I am semi comforted to see that there are others like us. I am beginning to think that the entire group of home engineers our there conspire with homeowners to fool buyers into thinking they are getting such a great deal. The 1st engineer we hired as well as both realtors kept saying what a WONDERFUL house we were buying and what IMMACULATE condition it was in.

Oh I forgot to mention that when the crazy lady who owned this house before us had her roof replaced she failed to put in ANY sort of attic vent (we live in a 2 story colonial). So I anticipate that it will be 9 MILLION degrees in the upstairs bedrooms this summer. This is something that we will have to tackle but we are so dry with $ these days we just don't have the extra $500 or whatever it costs...

Oh, the 1st engineer did discover termite damage in the garage but it was old and supposedly "treated." We closed in the fall when termites are usually dormant and already underground for the winter so of course we didn't see them!

I honeslty and truly want to hunt the woman down who sold us this house and HURT her. I honestly believe that she was hiding this stuff from us - no one could have been this naive.

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I am sorry this has happened to you!!
Unfortunately, I think these are the kinds of things that come with home ownership Once the house is yours, the previous owners are absolved from all responsibility.
There is only so much that can be seen with a visual inspection..

I think there is stuff out there that you can put on the concrete in the basement to stop leaking that you can do yourself. Here is one thing I found for waterproofing the basement.

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Yup. One week after closing we had a leak from a dripping faucet in the bathroom that came through the kitchen ceilling. I thought i was going to die. But the plumber was a friend of the previous owners and did not charge us.

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When we moved in - the new D/W leaked, the gutters bent into a V shape and came off the roof, the basement flooded with water, the side molding came off from a wind storm, and our yard became littered with tree limbs, we lost power for an entire evening and thus our heat. And that was just the first month, but at least now we know what to look out for during winter storms and we believed we corrected the problems and we'll learn if we did next winter.

It all comes with owning a house and you just take each day one day at a time.

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Yes we are in the money pit. We have had to replace EVERY major appliance in the house, re-do the electrical that almost caused a fire, we have to hoist our floor which sank when the basement flooded with 3 feet of water from when we had 15 straight days of rain, we have to re-do the plumbing disaster that is in my house, and oh yeah, our garage is collapsing.

We paid full price b/c the house was supposed to be "finished" with "all new appliances"

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you are all scaring the beegeesus out of me.

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I think all homes are money pits, really. We are constantly spending money/buying new things/updating old things...it's just part of owning a home.

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I agree - I think you always discover the things the previous owner just didn't think were important enough to spend money on at the time. We had torrential rains within a month after I moved in, and I was getting flooding in my basement. Found an excellent basement guy (I'll give you his name if you need it) who charged me a lot less than all the other estimates. He did an excellent job and no more leaks. I had to buy a new washing machine. I had carpenter ants (so much for the pest inspection). Once you get things under control, you can fix them before they become major issues. Good luck!

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Wow, that is a lot to happen so soon.

Unfortunately, many of these issues happen after closing. That's why on so mamy flip shows you see horrible things "covered up" but not really fixed.

My dad has a multi-family rental in PA and he is about to go after the Seller in court behind some issues she did not disclose. PA has a real estate disclosure law wherein material defects that the owner knows about must be disclosed to the buyer. This woman did not disclose some issue with water damage in the basement. It would be no big deal if people did not live in the basement apartment which thankfully has not flooded at all since dad bought the building. We just found out this week from the prior tenants who lived in the house just before my dad bought it. They helped the owner clean up the basement before closing.

There is only so much that can be seen with a visual inspection hence the reason sellers in PA must disclose what they know. He is lucky to have met the prior tenants otherwise he could never prove that the seller knew about such things.

The seller also never mentioned that some of the light fixtures and the stainless appliances were not hers but the tenants (rent to own appliances). This was discovered during the walk through after the ivory appliances were installed.

Message edited 4/11/2007 8:40:53 PM.

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As someone else as has stated here: to a certain extent, all houses are money pits, even new ones. They all need work somewhere or another, and that costs $. We had some issues with our house too, flooding in the basement the first two years ( we have unfinished basement with french drains that tend to flood after a major rainfall -- the first time it happened we had just moved in). We need to install a permanent sump pump which would cost a few grand. We were never told of this issue by anyone. Shortly after we moved in our dryer and stove broke (they were on their last legs anyway and were told that so we knew that), also in the summer we had alot of ants outside and some came in the house upstairs, so we had to get an exterminator for that.

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I am glad I am not alone! When DH and I see that movie with Tom Hanks we crack up! We bought our house 31/2 YEARS ago. We bought it knowing that it needed work, but my DH is so handy. We thought we could handle the renovations--one room at a time. Well, when DH took down the wood paneling in the den, the sliding glass door practically fell out. They were being held in place by the paneling! The termites had destroyed the entire wall. The termite damage was so extensive--and it was all hidden behind the paneling and the sheetrock. So renovating one room at a time went out the window. My husband started taking down one wall at a time, and ended up gutting the house--including removing the entire back to the house--including part of the foundation. He was able to find the termites nest--midway into the house, under the kitchen floor. There was some mold, dozens of honeycombs (from bees), birds' nests, other animals all living in the walls. I don't have enough time to write about everything that has gone wrong over the past few years. So we are renting and paying a mortgage going on 4 years now. I am hoping this year...when we finally do move, it will practically be a brand new house!

This post was not meant to scare anyone--just venting!

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Posted by anedi

I am glad I am not alone! When DH and I see that movie with Tom Hanks we crack up! We bought our house 31/2 YEARS ago. We bought it knowing that it needed work, but my DH is so handy. We thought we could handle the renovations--one room at a time. Well, when DH took down the wood paneling in the den, the sliding glass door practically fell out. They were being held in place by the paneling! The termites had destroyed the entire wall. The termite damage was so extensive--and it was all hidden behind the paneling and the sheetrock. So renovating one room at a time went out the window. My husband started taking down one wall at a time, and ended up gutting the house--including removing the entire back to the house--including part of the foundation. He was able to find the termites nest--midway into the house, under the kitchen floor. There was some mold, dozens of honeycombs (from bees), birds' nests, other animals all living in the walls. I don't have enough time to write about everything that has gone wrong over the past few years. So we are renting and paying a mortgage going on 4 years now. I am hoping this year...when we finally do move, it will practically be a brand new house!

This post was not meant to scare anyone--just venting!

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Posted by annienyc

Well I am semi comforted to see that there are others like us. I am beginning to think that the entire group of home engineers our there conspire with homeowners to fool buyers into thinking they are getting such a great deal. The 1st engineer we hired as well as both realtors kept saying what a WONDERFUL house we were buying and what IMMACULATE condition it was in.

Oh I forgot to mention that when the crazy lady who owned this house before us had her roof replaced she failed to put in ANY sort of attic vent (we live in a 2 story colonial). So I anticipate that it will be 9 MILLION degrees in the upstairs bedrooms this summer. This is something that we will have to tackle but we are so dry with $ these days we just don't have the extra $500 or whatever it costs...

Oh, the 1st engineer did discover termite damage in the garage but it was old and supposedly "treated." We closed in the fall when termites are usually dormant and already underground for the winter so of course we didn't see them!

I honeslty and truly want to hunt the woman down who sold us this house and HURT her. I honestly believe that she was hiding this stuff from us - no one could have been this naive.

I am with you...if you do a search on my screename either on this site or LIWEDDINGS, you'll know what we went through I feel for you ladies but like you, I feel like the inspector was paid off or just plain incompetant. With the oversights that he missed, I could have been the freakin' inspector. We had to rebuild 80% of the exterior due to termites, water damage, etc. $150,000 later, the house is solid as a rock. We saw it all; termites, fire, water damage/rot, failed cesspool, failed heating system, roof damage, black ants. It goes on and on...Makes me sort of happy to get rid of the house..

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That is exactly what a friend of mine said when we closed. Welcome to owning a money pit.

So far we haven't seen anything major but we aren't moving until Saturday. We did notice some inconsistences like new molding in half of the room but not the other half. We need to get new door knobs, stain the new doors they put in, replace switchplates, take down wallpaper and update electric. Fun fun!

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ugh, us too!!!

In our case, it wasn't things that broke, etc (knock wood), but more like things we didn't realize...we were so excited we walked through the house with blinders on! I wish someone would have warned us!!!!

It started out with trying to take down stubborn wallpaper, and the smell of mothballs that just wouldn't quit. We wound up gutting the whole house and reinsulating and sheetrocking before we even moved in

And, since we were demo-ing, we decided to rip out the old kitchen too...

this is what we found on top of the cabinets when we went to pull them out


I'd like to thank the Yuskowitz's...I've never been so amused and DISGUSTED in my whole life!!!!

We replaced our 40 year old furnace and added CAC, replaced all the doors (the smell), tossed all the smelly carpet and redid all the wood floors, had to have all the holes patched from the old filthy wall ac's, all new appliances, new kitchen floor, had to replace our buckling driveway and walkways....the list goes on and on...

Been living without kitchen cabinets and countertops for almost 2 years now...and desperately need new windows (have 40 year old aluminums)...need siding, new fence...

Ok, need to stop or I will start crying...

Oh, and for good measure, they left us this gem over the washer and dryer

Message edited 4/15/2007 9:26:41 AM.

Re: MONEY PIT?!?

Let's see...a week after we bought our house, we learned that the giant "very healthy" oak tree that provided great shade to the back yard was dead, and completely hollow - cost of removal - $1500. Then the washing machine died before we ever even used it. Then...the oven. Then...the dryer. Most recently the refrigerator. We have had to replace almost every major appliance in the 1.5 years we've owned the house.

Oh and did I forget to mention that when we were having our bathroom tub area regrouted, we needed to have a wall removed because there was water damage, only to discover that - we had what was called "a very large army of carpenter ants" having a feast on the wood. Then when an architect came to see if we had structural damage - discovered that our exterior walls are made of corrugated board, and not plywood!?!?

Sorry you are going through all of this, but you're not alone! We keep joking that the previous owners got out just in time!

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Posted by LisaW

ugh, us too!!!

In our case, it wasn't things that broke, etc (knock wood), but more like things we didn't realize...we were so excited we walked through the house with blinders on! I wish someone would have warned us!!!!

It started out with trying to take down stubborn wallpaper, and the smell of mothballs that just wouldn't quit. We wound up gutting the whole house and reinsulating and sheetrocking before we even moved in

And, since we were demo-ing, we decided to rip out the old kitchen too...

this is what we found on top of the cabinets when we went to pull them out


I'd like to thank the Yuskowitz's...I've never been so amused and DISGUSTED in my whole life!!!!

We replaced our 40 year old furnace and added CAC, replaced all the doors (the smell), tossed all the smelly carpet and redid all the wood floors, had to have all the holes patched from the old filthy wall ac's, all new appliances, new kitchen floor, had to replace our buckling driveway and walkways....the list goes on and on...

Been living without kitchen cabinets and countertops for almost 2 years now...and desperately need new windows (have 40 year old aluminums)...need siding, new fence...

Ok, need to stop or I will start crying...

Oh, and for good measure, they left us this gem over the washer and dryer

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