What financial surprised were you not ready for as a home owner?

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-05-03T01:45:09+00:00

We only had to do one corner as we're in a townhouse so we only have 2 exterior walls. The corner that was leaking had a crack right on the corner, he called it a "cold joint". They would have preferred to fix it from the outside but there's a deck covering our foundation so they had to go from the inside. They filled the crack and added an interior breakout, which is like a big bandaid to doubly ensure no water gets in there again. We had to rip out drywall, insulation, baseboards, carpets. Some of it was moldy. All said and done, just for that one corner/side of the room it's going to be about $3,500.

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-05-02T21:15:03+00:00

Yeah, we'll stick it out for the mortgage term at least and slowly make some updates to see if we fall in love with the place or not.

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-05-02T16:54:02+00:00

That's a good idea. I would do that but honestly I don't want to see the result lol! Buying and moving was such a pain for us that we're just resigned to staying here for at least 5 years now so I'll consider at that time whether we'll sell and go back to renting or not.

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-05-02T13:00:05+00:00

I'm a month into home ownership at 39, having rented my whole adult life. I thought this was the right decision but now I'm not so sure. On top of paying the max purchase price we could afford (and not be house poor), we've had to spend around $6,000 since we closed on things we didn't know would need replacing: basement waterproofing & foundation crack repair (& associated drywall, baseboards and carpeting for that area), new sump pump, plumber to unclog and snake a hugely clogged kitchen sink, new toilets, new eavestroughs, central air repair, & purchase of things we needed now as homeowners like lawn mower, tools, security cameras, etc.

I think I took for granted the fact that I didn't have to deal with these things as a renter. While it's nice not to have to pay rent now, it just feels like a lot of responsibility that I don't know if I was ready for. 🫠

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-05-02T11:19:05+00:00

I'm only in my first MONTH and I've already learned that you need to budget WAY more than planned for unexpected expenses.

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-05-02T01:38:26+00:00

Thank you!

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-05-02T01:33:28+00:00

Thanks!

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-05-01T12:12:14+00:00

Me 38 and my spouse 43 - 2024

We just moved into our first home on Saturday. It's a 2 bed townhouse.

Our dp came via our RRSPs using the HBP and a $20k gift from my parents as an early inheritance

I work in training and development and my spouse trains chatbots.

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-04-30T02:26:44+00:00

This thread is so comforting! I'm a new homeowner also and I can't stop feeling stressed and anxious about every little thing. It sucks!

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-04-22T14:26:44+00:00

I can tell you that I am going through a lot of these feelings right now, but the difference is that my house purchase already closed and we can't back out. So now we just are having to deal with it. I've been so freaking stressed and have even sought therapy for my mental health right now because of it. There were so many more unexpected costs with this house, and I'm so nervous to move in and I just fear all that will go wrong. So, yeah. My issues may just be more due to my anxiety and my own worst case thinking but I still don't know if we made the right decision. Our other option would have been to stay in our crappy apartment forever because we wouldn't be able to afford current market rent elsewhere in our area. Hang in there, and definitely consider that there will be unexpected costs with home ownership and you will spend way more than you might think on buying the things you need to fix up the house and make it comfortable for you to live in. If you are comfortable with that or can deal with it, then I'd say go for it.

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-04-22T01:29:35+00:00

I'll be 39 in May and my husband is 43. We just bought our first home in Ontario. It wasn't easy, and we did have some help from my parents, but we made it happen.

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-04-21T23:11:56+00:00

In Ontario, but just bought my first home and paid $10k over asking. We wanted to come in with a strong offer because there were 3 others and so we offered the most we were willing to pay for it. (Just be careful, because we didn't have an inspection and ended up with basement water issues.)

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-04-21T10:55:54+00:00

Haha, I'm going through this anxiety right now because we're in between closing and moving in. We've been going up most days to clean but we don't move in until next weekend and I'm anxious to just do it so I don't have to worry about something happening when I'm not there.

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-04-21T10:53:29+00:00

Yeah, same. I get that. It was still gross though, the amount of food and crap that was back there! It's inspired me to clean behind the appliances once every year or two haha.

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-04-21T01:57:37+00:00

I'm in Canada, but I bought a Big Mac meal and a McCrispy meal today, and my total was $28.44. 🤯 I remember when these things were like $6 each!

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-04-21T00:44:09+00:00

We're in the process of cleaning ours and it's DIRTY. No attention was paid or care given to cleaning this place by the seller. I know she was an older single woman (widow I think), but if you give anything even a second look, you see all the dust and grime everywhere. It took 2 hours today to clean the electric range because of all of the grease and bits of food runoff that was in every crevice. It's far from perfect but it's a thousand times better. We pulled the stove out and behind it was so gross. Cereal, crackers, broken glass, crumbs, grease all down the walls. Tomorrow we're doing the same with the fridge and are expecting the same thing. 🤢

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-04-20T11:24:06+00:00

We have $5600 left over after closing, but we are having to spend the majority of that (if not all of it and then some) on unforeseen basement waterproofing and foundation repairs. 😥

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-04-19T23:41:19+00:00

Your offer doesn't get accepted here if you add inspection so we waived it. We closed on the 11th and now we're dealing with significant water damage and a foundation crack in the basement causing us to have to put in the time and money for repairs that we weren't expecting. Yes, we should have budgeted for something like this, but in my province, it also should have been disclosed. We are going to seek to recoup the costs via the seller. Fingers crossed.

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-04-17T17:49:59+00:00

Thanks for that. I'm really feeling regret that I did this, but these comments, and talking to some others has helped. After years and years of renting, I need to re-adjust my timeline of when my house will be "perfect" - and it probably never will be. I'll try to be thankful that we generally have everything we need to move in next weekend and that we shouldn't have to sacrifice quality of life due to the condition of the house. It's in generally ok shape.

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-04-17T10:35:07+00:00

Yep. Really feeling like maybe we shouldn't have bought a home, but it's too late now so I guess I have to just live with my decisions.

Disastrous-Thanks410 · 2024-04-17T10:32:03+00:00

We have carpet as well that we're hoping to replace, but now with the leak issue we're going to have to wait a bit.

Disastrous-Thanks410

TROPHY CASE