New Homestead:

[HomeDefence83]

Nothing new under the son about Realtors. They aren't working for you. They aren't even really working for the buyers. They only care about themselves. Don't trust a word that comes out of their mouth. As for inspectors, having a personal contact is the best. My father's buddy checked just about EVERYTHING when we bought our new place. He was digging up information about the furnace and the water usage. I always try to have a personal friend for those situations...

[RememberGoliad]

...Cousin Bubba's construction and night time stealing company...

If I'd been drinking something, I'd be reaching for the windex right about now, for the monitor.... to quote some guy, "now that's funny right there, I don't care who you are."

Plenty of those in existence. Ones you want to do business with are the ones for whom you can find a street address of either the owner or their shop/warehouse/storefront... it's not foolproof but at least you know where to go to find them... or serve them....

[sjhopkins]

Congratulations! Looking forward to hearing how things go for you as you build your homestead. We are also looking at property to build our own homestead. We are hoping to find a handyman that would be willing to help us fix up a property through a barter-type situation. We're handy, but not ready to handle all the projects that we'll be facing.

Since I first wrote this we've been able to tackle many things we didn't think we could. We did have to call a couple of friends to help us in the bathroom. They used to be NYC plumbers so we trusted them, plus they were willing to work on a bartering basis. Win win!

[miked2345]

Reminds me of the first house I bought... Older place, about 60 yrs old. The seller told me the basement didn't leak much, maybe a little damp after a really heavy rain....

The FIRST night we were there, it rained... As the wife and I were laying in bed, we heard water running - "Did you leave the faucet on, dear??"
"Of course NOT! Did you??"

After checking the sinks, tub, toilet, I went down stairs to the basement... Half way down the wall, there is water SHOOTING out of the wall, about
a 6" arc down to the floor, where it was making a nice little river across half the floor.

Turns out the neighbor's gutter-less roof drained onto their driveway, which drained into the 2 ft wide strip of land between my basement wall and their driveway. (My house had a gutter!) I fixed it by cementing that 2ft strip of land. No more leaks.

Ah, the joys of home ownership!

[Grand58742]

Reminds me of the first house I bought... Older place, about 60 yrs old. The seller told me the basement didn't leak much, maybe a little damp after a really heavy rain....

Funny, that's very close to the same thing I was told by the seller on my new place lol About the same age on the house as well.

So finally found another place and will be signing the papers in about an hour. 1400 sq ft with another thousand in the basement. 3.5 acres. Has a well, but is also on city water. Not quite the fixer upper as the old residents kept it shipshape the entire 30+ years they lived there, but I'm sure I'll find something to do/fix. I tend to find work.

Buying a house sucks! Probably the most infuriating situation I've ever been in! But I'm happy about it and found what I liked.