The money pit

Last week we got the keys to our new house.  We haven’t moved in yet, because there are things that we want to have done prior to us moving in.   Things that we didn’t count on doing.  Things that weren’t in the budget. 

Isn’t that the way it always is?

Our first house was brand new.  There was nothing to be fixed or updated.  Everything was perfect.  So in all honesty, I don’t think we had a real home buying experience.    It was lovely, we were happy… we were naive.

When we bought this new house we went off of a few criteria:  school district, size of house, functionality of layout, property inspection report.   All seems reasonable right?  Ahhh… that is what we thought too. 

We forgot to look closely at how decor would affect us:

The walls - ALL THE WALLS - aren’t ’actually’ white.  They are a slight shade of mauve.  Apparently this shade is also in the marble floor.  Oh and it was also painted in a lighter shade on all the doors and trim.   This is all so subtle that my husband, realtor and I argued over this after we made the offer .. because no one believed me.  That was because all the previous owners furniture was in blacks and pastels…. which complimented the walls and made them look white.   However, when you take out their furniture and try to imagine ours in it’s place… it looks ridiculous.

Or what about how we missed that the lighting might be a problem:

We didn’t notice that they used lamps everywhere.   Sure there is a dining room lamp, a hallway lamp, and a kitchen table lamp.  But that is it.  There is no other overhead lighting in the whole house except the bathrooms.  Thus, we either invest in a gazillion lamps, or we have an electrician re-do the whole house.

 Or how about the fact that we didn’t notice how the landscaping might be a big sham:

The previous owners didn’t disclose that their ’sprinkler system’ was a joke and didn’t work at all.  And I mean it doesn’t work AT ALL…won’t power up electrically, wires are randomly cut, and some heads seem to be mysteriously gone.   Thus all plants will die before we move in unless it’s fixed.   

Basically we made our offer thinking that all we had to fix was what was in the property report, and now we are kicking ourselves in the pants.   We wouldn’t change the actual purchase of this house.  However we definitely would have done it differently.   I guess this is our lesson learned.   It’s a new feeling for us.   Usually we are so Type A thorough that something this big wouldn’t have sneaked past us.  However, here we are, hiring a bunch of contractors to do work that we weren’t expecting to do. 

When it’s done, the house will be awesome.   However my kids might be eating Top Ramen for the next 3 years.   Do you think that would stunt their growth?