Maintaining a House

Implausible-asset · 2019-02-09T16:54:34+00:00

In addition to your mortgage, you'll have to consider property tax, landscape upkeep, homeowner association fees if applicable, homeowners/fire/flood insurance, and home maintenance costs. My dad always said he would put away a couple hundred a month for "oh shit" expenses with the house. But on the flip side you do get to live alone, especially in rural, non-tract housing.

The housing problem is much more than "boomers" fucking up the market. There are plenty of other factors that jack up the price. For instance:

the US is one of the few countries that allows foreigners to buy property outright. Other countries require basically what amounts to a longterm lease with the property being "owned" by a national. So rich Chinese people can literally buy up as much property as they want without ever leaving beijing.
flippers. The scourge of the market, but playing by the rules. Buy the house cheap, fix it up with whatever is on discount at lowes, and sell it quickly. Up up up the prices go, with nobody ever living in the house. You could see the same home on the market 3 or 4 times in one year from flippers and market speculators.
developers make more money building luxury homes than they do affordable homes. A mcmansion will sell for tens or even hundreds of thousands more depending on the locale than a modestly built home.

KneeDeepThought · 2019-02-09T17:24:35+00:00

maintaining a property can be moderately difficult depending on your local climate and the age of the structure. unless you're in an absolute shit real estate market though it's definitely worth it money wise. basically anything you can do yourself without serious hazard you should be doing. lawn/driveway/deck/roof.. basic carpentry, sealing, painting, and replacing your own lights and doorknobs will pay for itself a hundred times over.

I would advocate drawing the line with doing your own electrical or plumbing work. the former can be lethal and the latter wreck your whole property if done incorrectly.

other than that, it's actually kind of fun to learn how to patch drywall or rebuild a deck. you will accumulate some tools but if you're working on your parent's condo then they should be paying for all tools and materials and not forcing you to store all the gear.

jkarovskaya · 2019-02-09T17:48:40+00:00

Depends on how big the house is, how old it is, how well built it was, but really it's not that hard for even a barely handy guy.

YOutube can teach you how to wire a wall socket, swap a water filter, or even re-roof the garage. For bigger jobs, you hire it done and/or go take a class or find someone to teach you.

FYI, every generation for the last 20,000 years has been complaining about old people who got there before they did, it's life man, and I bet you wouldn't trade your youthful energy for some oldster's aches and pains!

Tonyb33 · 2019-02-09T18:20:52+00:00

I think you will find your president Nixon combined with the fed fucked the housing market. Nixon broke the link between the dollar and gold in 1971 gold then was 35 an ounce it is now 1,300 an ounce. As your currency was depreciating massively due to government deficit spending people bought housing to preserve their wealth. This led to speculation that drove house prices to astronomical levels. When the market collapsed in 2008 the fed then drove interest levels to zero to prevent house prices collapsing and is now running a trillion plus annual deficit. When it collapses which it will do you will go down on your knees and thank god you do not have a housr

DWShimoda · 2019-02-09T18:21:05+00:00

Is maintaining your own house really that hard if you dont buy a bunch of unneccessary shit?

Much depends on the specifics of the house, the property, the location, etc. Also depends on what you consider "that hard."

Maintaining the house itself is generally just keeping the place relatively clean -- chiefly inside, but to a lesser extent outside -- and of course how much work THAT will be... depends on your definition or standard of "clean" (there is a whole spectrum from daily vacuuming & weekly window washing... to "meh... I vacuum when I feel like it, and wash the windows about once a year").
Keeping everything FUNCTIONAL in the house is more a matter of "repairing/replacing shit if & when it breaks" -- that WILL include DIY skill, and/or depending on what DIY skills you have, or learn, it MAY include paying professionals (plumbers, etc) -- regardless, it chiefly includes having sufficient "cash on hand" to get critical things fixed in a timely manner (if your furnace "dies" in the middle of winter, you can't exactly do without while you twiddle your thumbs thinking about how you can save up for a new one -- likewise with things like plumbing issues, if the water heater dies you probably CAN take cold showers for a while; but if the toilet needs to be fixed/replaced, then that HAS to be fixed ASAP). Fortunately such things are NOT frequent; OTOH they tend to happen in "batches" (one right after another).

And every now and again you're probably going to face some MAJOR repair, and a BIG amount of work and/or BIG expense: re-shingling the roof as the biggest/most common (typically needs to be done about once every 20 to 30 years, though in some instances -- storm damage and other -- there will be minor "fix it/patch it" work in between); and things like repainting (either full house or trim, exterior and/or interior); possibly repairing/replacing windows, doors (especially storm-windows, storm-doors), etc.

It should go without saying that ALL of the above will be less intensive (less work/less cost) for a SMALL or MODEST sized house, and bit more intensive/expensive for a LARGER home.

When it comes to the property (the yard, etc) the amount of work will vary all over the map, from really HIGH to very little -- to wit: If you live somewhere that it snows... how long (or steep) is the driveway? Is there a large yard to mow? Or is there virtually no "lawn"? And is there no lawn because you live in some desert area or is it because the whole lot is covered in trees? (If it's trees, then you've not only got to deal with the leaves -- including cleaning/clearing gutters -- but also with dead/fallen tree removal {can be expensive}, trimming, etc.)

And then of course there is the "neighborhood expectation" -- which may be intensive (i.e. everyone has manicured lawns, and there's some HOA that enforces such) -- to moderate (just don't let the place look like an abandoned property or junkyard) -- to non-existent (you're out in the country with NO neighbors).

Again -- as with the size of the house -- the amount of work will vary with the SIZE of the yard/lot, the LENGTH of the driveway, etc. (It's one thing to have to manually shovel a foot or two of deep snow off a small car-length paved or concrete driveway, quite another to deal with {snowblow or plow} the same on a 100 ft long drive, and yet another to deal with a longish gravel drive {basically you need a truck/tractor with a BIG-ass low}, etc). And of course mowing a smallish flat "postage stamp" city-lot yard of grass is relatively trivial and can be done with a push mower, not so some acre+ of lawn (especially if it isn't "flat"), that's gonna require a bigger mower and more time/effort/cost.

NONE of that is necessarily all that difficult... and there obviously CAN be major benefits: in addition to the peace & quiet you noted, the possibility/probability of a garage/workshop... a decent plot of land will allow vege gardens, maybe fruit trees, etc; if you're rural, possibly even raising chickens (eggs) or other small animals (though of course those DO "tie you to the property" -- animals need DAILY care, you can't just "bog off" for a week w/o someone ELSE to diligently do your "chores").

But OTOH, to anyone who isn't used to having to bother with -- or even THINK about -- any maintenance or repair, or even general upkeep/cleaning... it can be a bit of a daunting endeavor. (If you're used to not only NOT having to concern yourself with "outside" tasks -- but also habituated to more or less just sitting on your arse, having meals prepped, laundry done, and other things all just done FOR you w/o a single thought -- then it's likely to be a bit overwhelming, or at least a dramatic change.)

And then too there is the "bill paying" -- especially if you've NEVER lived on your own -- then chances are you take entirely for granted just how much things like heat & light (electricity, etc), to say nothing of FOOD and sundries... how much they actually cost on a monthly basis, and how much work is involved in simply "keeping things on hand."

ADULTING really isn't that difficult... unless you've led a pampered/sheltered/coddled life -- which alas it seems all too many Millennials have.

jamocadyn · 2019-02-10T05:08:11+00:00

This has got to be a troll post. What adult with a job (or two) complains that he can't "play a CD at whatever time" he likes and complain about having to turn down the volume? And complain about putting stuff away in the right place all the time?

Title	Maintaining a House
Author	MGTOWMayhem
Upvotes	11
Comments	14
Date	February 9, 2019 4:38 PM UTC (7 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MGTOW
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MGTOW/comments/aotw86/maintaining_a_house/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MGTOW/maintaining-a-house.397005 https://theredarchive.com/post/397005

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