May I whine for just a minute?

[tarheels]

The lease is up on our one house that those tenants destroyed last year. I've asked the current tenant to please give me a list of any items that need attention when they move out. The list is mostly minor, but it'll add up to about $2k (much of that owing to the need for a new cooktop). The mental additions to the long list of never-ending projects for this house make me sad and frustrated and pissed off even.

If I could tell first time home buyers anything, it'd be to not buy a house that's 25 years old. I am convinced that that is the life expectancy of all modern house parts and every.single.thing inside it, and most of the stuff outside it, too, will need to be replaced at that age. Thank God the exterior's brick or that'd need to be redone too.

This is a really quality, custom-built house, but 25 years is just a bad age. We've done so much work to it, both cosmetically and for the more important systems underneath. We've probably spent $25k on it already, and that doesn't count all the things that are looming, like windows (replacements are NOT happening on our watch, sorry future new owners, but repairs have got to be made or water'll be pouring in), HVAC, carpet...

This house has showed us that we're not renovating people. And I know this doesn't compare to a really old house, but in some ways, if an old house has been taken care of, I think that'd be a better house. The ONLY things we haven't had to touch in this house are the roof (previous owners) and the exterior structure. We've had our hands on every other part and it's a major drain, mentally and financially. You don't think about a 25 yo house needing tens of thousands of dollars because it seems comparatively young.

Thank you if you made it this far, whine over. An "amen" from someone else with a "good" young house would make me feel awesome.

Oh, if you don't know what house I'm talking about, it's this one: sites.google.com/site/therealcostsofcosmeticupdates/home

[katie4253]

I agree with you about 20-25 years. The house we just sold was built in 1992. We replaced the roof. But they are going to have to replace windows (3-4) and do the HVAC system.

We also replaced nearly every door knob, light fixture, faucet, the flooring. In the 7 years we lived there. So, maybe they won't have *quite* as much to do. But, the HVAC system and windows will probably cost them around 10k.

[Deleted]

Aww..that sucks. Whine away!

I feel you though. I know exactly what you mean.

H and I are in about a .2 mile radius of a ton lakehomes. Most built 25-30 years ago. There were quite a few for sale at the time we got married. We seriously considered buying one because we could have a great lake house, a decent yard, a bigger house than we could afford to build and still be within spitting distance of the farm.

However, we gave up after looking at about 15 houses around either side of the lake. They were all at that age where they needed major, expensive repairs plus a lot of little work done. We didn't have the time or energy to buy a house just to fix on it. It's why we just built an average (but still nice) house on the farm. We were so turned off we even started looking at run down farm houses to have someone remodel for us. (We are not DIY-selfers in that respect at all). We shot that down quick, because most were too far away or needed a controlled burn more than anything.

I thought I was out of my mind and a bit sad over my loss of "best of both worlds" living. My friends did too. The our electrician and carpenter validated us when they both said they spend the greatest majority time on houses 25-30 years old. They swear there's something about the building materials of that time period that make them age faster (Read: we looked at houses with major structural damage, only seen in houses 100 years old). They also say it's just a hard age anyways because it's about the life limit for roof, siding, appliances etc. no matter how high end you go.

Who knows..I'm just talking with the wine...but I know exactly where you are coming from.

[ssmjlm]

I understand our house was 21 years old when we bought and thank god DH knows contracting bc otherwise we would be up a creek. But we like renovating and have friends in the biz so that makes the checks easier to write.

And I'm currently waiting for our outside ac unit to go any day now.

[alf17]

I totally agree with you. We built our house 23 years ago. It was very well built. We have put a fortune into it in the last few years. Some out of necessity and some just wanted to update. We had a stroke of good luck last year when hail struck our house and our insurance co paid for a new roof and siding. My DD and family bought in our neighborhood and could not believe that the houses in this very nice neighborhood needed so much work.
I think our house is good to go till we move to senior housing . Except for windows, I will never be able to replace our 40 + windows.

[adhdfashion]

Good to know. Now I know when to get the heck out of this house. Before it falls down around us. ;D

[tarheels]

Jun 2, 2012 22:26:22 GMT -5 @jimbooo said:

Just curious, do you think it's better to buy a 50 yr old house versus a 25 yr old? I too wonder how much quality has changed over time.

I don't think it's necessarily a quality issue; I think it's a timing issue. There are well-built homes and poorly built homes of every age.

I think the problem with a 50 year old house would be the same as what I'm experiencing: house parts seem to have a 25 year life span, so at age 50, it would be possible that the home would be due for its second big do-over.

[tarheels]

Jun 2, 2012 23:09:57 GMT -5 FormerlyRR said:

Mine was built in 1995. So much younger than yours. The next owners will probably have to replace the roof, A/C and siding in the next 3-5 years. I have completely renovated the interior. In the last three months I have spent a total of $12,000 on it. And now I'm going to sell it as fast as possible and not get to enjoy any of it. Sigh.
So I'm looking for something a bit newer this time. I'm thinking early 80s is my outer limit. And I figure I will be replacing a fence and counters in anything I buy.
I totally get your whine.

Are you doing that thing I do sometimes where I forget what year it is? If your home was built in 1995, it's 17 years old, just on the cusp of the 20-30 yo repair bracket. A home built in your max limit of the early '80s will be 30 years old, so it'd better have new everything or you'll be spending the same fortune we're all lamenting. When I was HHing when I was younger, I never really cared all that much when listings listed all the new stuff a house came with...for the age you're considering, you'd better study those listings!

[house]

Do you think the same goes for a house that's 32 yrs old?

[tarheels]

Jun 3, 2012 14:17:44 GMT -5 house said:

Do you think the same goes for a house that's 32 yrs old?

...? It's not my opinion, really, it's whether or not previous owners have replaced and updated systems and elements as they've worn out.

If the previous owners didn't take care of anything, then the new owners are buying a house with systems at the end of their useful lives. If the previous owners proactively took care of everything, then the new owners get a house in good operating condition. Conceivably by the time a house is 32 years old, many/most/all things will have worn out and been replaced by previous owners, so it's a like-new house with maybe a couple things still hanging on.

[lolzlala]

Jun 3, 2012 15:46:25 GMT -5 tarheels said:

Jun 3, 2012 14:17:44 GMT -5 house said:

Do you think the same goes for a house that's 32 yrs old?

...? It's not my opinion, really, it's whether or not previous owners have replaced and updated systems and elements as they've worn out.

If the previous owners didn't take care of anything, then the new owners are buying a house with systems at the end of their useful lives. If the previous owners proactively took care of everything, then the new owners get a house in good operating condition. Conceivably by the time a house is 32 years old, many/most/all things will have worn out and been replaced by previous owners, so it's a like-new house with maybe a couple things still hanging on.

This! The home from 1970 we got has HVAC, blower, water heater, metal roof, and double paned windows all new within the last 5 years. Beyond fixing the electrical system, which hasn't been recently updated (it has a circuit breaker but it's smaller than the current standard size and still has ungrounded outlets) - we should get away a number of years without issues.

Most systems have different lifespans so if maintenance and replacement was kept up with as needed, things shouldn't be needing to be replaced all at once even on an older home. Every home I grew up in was built in the 70s or earlier (always 25+ years old homes) and there were never any catastrophic issues with needing to replace more than one thing every few years because the previous owners had kept things well maintained.

[setsail1999]

I agree. My house is 26 and we were facing some major work. Then 2 trees fell on it so we got a new roof, siding, windows and used the time to update other fixtures while the contractor is here. We still need to save up for other things so we aren't "done" yet.

[Susie]

It is a tough age for houses. Ours was 23 when we bought, and is 27 now. Our sellers replaced the roof, furnace, central air, the slider, the bow window, and a number of other "not fun" things to replace, so we haven't had that tough a road. But we've had every single appliance in the house die except one, so in the first two years in the house we shelled out for a fridge, a microwave, a dishwasher, a washer, and a dryer. That's a collective several grand. And the siding will have to be done in the foreseeable future; I've been scouting ideas already.

[simpsongal]

Spread the word, b/c that is a tough age and I don't think a lot of buyers realize it. We bought a 40 year-old house knowing full well it needed work.

[emoflamingo]

In this area, most houses built at that time need everything done. So we're mostly looking for something built in the 1960s or 1970s that have had all the work done already lol. Roof replacing? Okay I can handle that. A window or two? Maybe. But the last thing I want to do is redo the entire heating and cooling system. (At least I have my own heating/cooling guy in the family?)

[sjh722]

Sorry, tarheels. Not a fun way to spend money.

I told H the other day that the upside of building a house now is that either it will be paid off before all the major replacements need to be done (windows, roof, HVAC, etc), or we'll have moved at that point, LOL!

[lemondrop]

All of this is why I told H we shouldn't use the profit from our current house sale to pay off our cars. We really need to have some extra cash if we need to replace any of the vital components of the house. An ugly kitchen can be lived with, but bad windos, HVAC, AC and appliances need to be replaced.

[candreco]

I completely agree- we just sold a 25 year old townhouse and are closing on a 50 year old SFH tomorrow, and the older home seems so much more solid, plus the sellers have already replaced the roof and the windows. Both the building and maintenance practices are so different in newer homes.

[lifesapeach]

I'm so glad I read this. We are debating building a new construction house, or buying in a different part of town that would put us in a 25ish year old house. I had the same thought process that you just posted about. I don't think new is always better, but I think that is just the sweet spot for everything going out at once, and we really don't feel like dealing with that now. I'm sending this post to my H, thanks again for sharing, and I'm so sorry you've had a rough run of it in that house.

[perhapsprincess]

Hrms. We're buying a 1997 house. But planning on living there 10 years so I guess we better save up!

(though your Cost of Updating a house was interesting. I'm finding the same thing with the changes we're having to do to fix it up when we buy it!)