True - but its not my money fixing it.
The nice thing about seeing what goes wrong in these situations is that when I helped my dad build his house, I was able to avoid all these pitfalls. Mostly by doing the work that we could do ourselves vs. farming out the work we really needed expertise on. The drywallers were amazing to watch.
I’m not an architect, but since I design the demising structure and mechanical systems to prevent noise transfer, it usually results in the overall build quality going up. But I mostly work on multi-family complexes; separated houses can still be frighteningly shoddy, often giving no outward indication their foundations will implode in 3 years’ time, 5 if you’re lucky. And they use shell companies to disappear into the woodwork, making litigation…problematic. At this point, I’m seriously looking at buying land, staying in a trailer, and building my own house. My dad’s place is worth multiple times what he spent building it.
My favorite in the HGTV shows are the “open concept” make overs
If and when I do ever buy or build, my SO and I are gonna have an argument over this. I grew up with walls, and she’s bought in fully to the HGTV “looks good on camera” ethos. Privacy is a good thing. I get not needing a separate dining room, but walls are useful.
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I’m not a terribly social person, extroverted introvert. But yeah i prefer to have discreet rooms over bigger open spaces, i don’t mind if a room is decorated to be roomy but having minimal walls separating the different areas is not ideal for me. The house i grew up in did have huge windows separating some of the areas so it was possible to open up curtains and make the space look bigger so that’s a possible compromise you two could hit.
Notably, you can rent houses. If you’re able to live outside of a major city it might not even be that expensive or crazy.
Yeah, we looked into this. I work in downtown Denver. We would basically be trading rent for privacy and a couple hours’ commute a day. Of course, I have been working from home pretty seamlessly these past few weeks, so…
Yes it is, you just paid it up front. And if your landlord doesn’t feel like fixing the problem, well you still paid for it up front anyway.
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You do have legal recourse. We were able to break a lease because of really terrible property management, using a clause in the lease. But yeah, one of the downsides of renting is that you have to hope your management company isn’t a disaster, which they don’t exactly advertise when you’re taking the tour. Thankfully, I’ve been lucky in this regard, with the one exception.
Once the term “legal recourse” appears I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that. What a headache.
And yet, I’ve never had to deal with lenders, realtors, sellers, inspections, closing, etc. I guess it’s all down to what kind of headache you’re willing to endure.
Buying a house was the single most stressful thing I have ever done.
I’d probably do it again someday, but I need to work on other things first.
I’m pissed they came to my house and didn’t tell me
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Crappy home inspections tend to be the major issue in buying a house around here, too. There are multiple home inspector diploma mills. Most require clients to sign a disclaimer/waiver upfront so that inspectors won’t be held liable for anything they miss. After being burned once, I did a lot of research before hiring my last one.
While searching for complaints, I found an inspection company that sellers claimed was too detailed and excessive with their reports. As a buyer, that was exactly what I wanted. Even though the previous owners of my condo didn’t agree to repair everything in the report, at least the issues won’t be a surprise at some point in the future.
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Hm. 59 doesn’t look like an inspection failure, it looks like the rubber gasket fell out of the hose last time it was disconnected.
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If you’re using a buyer’s agent when buying your house, never use the home inspector they recommend.
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I own a house and have a shared wall. It’s called a semi-detached. Just about every house on my street is one.
Landlord here! 
My partner and I own 5 houses, all single-family, in the college town where we live. Rents are around $250 - $300 per bedroom. I’m currently doing repairs to a big 100-year-old Victorian foursquare.
You’d be amazed how much can be avoided or at least caught early by just looking at your house thoroughly. I work in the home performance industry (home energy retrofits, etc.) and I’m often the first person who has looked at certain parts of the house since the last builder finished the work. Just walking around the exterior and looking at and touching the things you can reach and taking a set of photos each year is quick and we almost always catch some minor thing before it gets major. Same for looking at the inside, attic, crawlspace, etc. Do that each year or five, or pay an energy auditor to do it. Anyone worth their salt will notice deferred maintenance and other issues if you let them know you’re interested.
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