@daihashi wrote:I bought my house when I was 28, I'm 35 now. I hope you do a better job of researching and knowing what to look for in a house than I did. I found a billions gremlins after I bought this house, and have been in "home renovation" mode ever since... Ugh
One more thing pay for an inspector, preferably one who is also a structural engineer. If you can't find an inspector that is also a structural engineer then get a good quality normal home inspector + see about having a foundation repair company come out to give their opinion.
Home shopping has a way of making flaws invisible to the buyer. Everything on the surface looks perfect, but its what's underneath that is most important. If the core of your house is rough, then recurring problems will soon follow.
I actually work for the city I live in, I plan on taking advantage of all of our city inspectors 
and following up with my own. The good thing about wanting to buy a home in the city I work for is I can see what permits have been pulled , average water bill, etc. You're absolutely right though. Here's hoping two years down the road I'm a smarter person than i am now.
@Anonymous wrote:I actually work for the city I live in, I plan on taking advantage of all of our city inspectors
Thats awesome; I wish I was savvy enough to know to do these things at the time, or had direct exposure to it like you do working directly for the city. If only I had listened to my real estate agent... but nooooo, I was under pressure to find a home before my locked rate ended... and I was blinded by the giant back yard I have.
Sounds like you will be in a much better position; in terms of strategy and overall knowledge, than I ever could have been when I purchased my home several years ago. 
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@Spider15 wrote:
daihashi - the money pit ... understand. Structural is never cheap ... good luck on your reno!
ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOVIES!
Apologies, I felt you needed to feel my excitment that someone else has seen this movie. LOL
@Spider15 wrote:
daihashi - the money pit ... understand. Structural is never cheap ... good luck on your reno!
lol; funny movie.
And thanks.. I am finally almost done. Today I am installing new windows. I'm the kind of person who is really curious about how everything around them works; and because of this I've done all of my own home renovation. Figured that if I screwed up then I'll think about paying someone to come in and clean my mess... or at least get an estimate/opinion on what it would cost to clean up my mess, and then calculate whether or not I could still do it cheaper (and use it as a reason to buy more tools).
I'm glad to say that I've run into relatively minor hiccups. I encourage others to try their hand at major renovations if they have the time to do it; which is really the key... anything is possible if a person has enough time on their hands. I treated the renovations the same way I learned how to work on cars and build engines; just tear it all apart and soon the logic/understanding on how to tackle the job will follow.
After I finish with the windows I think I will revisit my attic. I recently did the insulation on my exterior walls and I realized that the insulation job I did in the attic is not really as good as I would have liked it to be. I also want to explore knocking out some walls where I found some hidden space and turn them into rooms for additional storage, or maybe a small study... maybe I'll get really fancy and "hide" them by building out a pocket door in front of them.
Hello GC! On a mission to pack everything into a single carry on for this Montego Bay trip. 8 days left. Still not too excited but all my VS stuff finally arrived and the bikinis fit perfect. 
In credit news I've still got nothing except AARP is by far the prettiest card I now possess. 😍
In credit news I've still got nothing except AARP is by far the prettiest card I now possess. 😍
@Anonymous wrote:
@ljthomas wrote:
Yikes Fingerhut is NOT worth leaving the garden for. Glad you didn't pull the trigger.I'm just so desperate to try and build / fix my credit so I can buy a home. I've set a goal of being ready by December 2017, and buying in Late Winter/Early Spring of 2018.. Here's hoping.. I'll be 28... ugh.. I'm gettin old.
I think that if you are diligent and work hard on correcting any baddies, you could be ready to buy by the end of 2016.
Evening GCrs!! Chillin like Frosty. 