When buying a house, pay as much as possible, or contribute to your PP instead?

[Greg]

I think I have put up this link before, but it might be interesting.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/busi ... lator.html

[Coffee]

Dualstow, would you mind talking a little about your renovation bills? Are these mandatory (e.g. your water heater goes kaput) or discretionary? I keep hearing that houses are money pits, but I wonder how much of that you can avoid by doing repairs yourself. Even with your house paid off, are you paying anything close to what you would have been paying in rent or with a mortgage?

Also, why do roofs require such costly repairs? Everyone I know who owns a home complains about their roof! Is it because shingle roofs need regular replacement, or are these cases where the roof was shoddily-constructed from the get-go? I wonder how much of that you could mitigate by replacing it with a metal roof whose surface at least is supposed to last darn near forever.

My general life concern right now is reducing expenditures as much as possible, so if home ownership entails a never-ending stream of unexpected repair payments as it gradually falls apart, that doesn't sounds like a great deal. 

Hi
Shortly after I moved in, I had problems with my AC/furnace unit, and the home inspector had no way to know that the pan was mostly rusted through. So, I spent a few thousand to have that replaced.

After having the roof repaired many times and still experiencing leaky skylights, I had the entire roof replaced. $10,000 for a very small roof. It's completely flat, on a townhouse/rowhouse. Had the skylights replaced as part of it. Much better now. But, the roofers found no fewer than seven layers of old roofing underneath that they first had to remove. Yes, it was in violation of many codes, but I didn't know about it when I moved in.

I also had a water problem in the basement, and while I lost some things to damage, I didn't have to pay much to have it fixed.

Spent $30K plus on kitchen renovations, but that was not really mandatory. It was mostly to please wife #1 although it turned out to be a good idea, because the floor beneath the kitchen tile had largely been chewed up by termites long before I moved in. No termite problems since I moved in, knock on (pressure-treated) wood.

JUST THIS WEEK: I have discovered a serious problem with water getting into the bathroom floor upstairs. AND: there's a tree in the backyard that has moved since superstorm Sandy and looks like it may fall and take telephone lines with it. I'm having an arborist come out to look at it.

Are you getting the picture?  As Rosanne Rosanna Danna used to say, it's always something.

To be fair, though, I am not handy. A neighbor of mine built his entire home from a shell and saved a lot of money. I'm sure he will be much more on top of things when they start to fall apart. I am vigilant, but I don't really know what I'm doing. I have a real house with a tiny backyard in the middle of a busy city, just like I wanted. But, there is this expensive downside.

Even with steadily rising taxes and burglar alarm & other fees, I think I would be paying more if I were renting. Not sure about my choice vs mortgage.

I think you hired the wrong inspector. 

Sometimes houses are duds, just like sometimes you can buy a car that's a lemon.  It happens. 

[edit: Just found this]

http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx? ... d=25490855

There’s no way to forecast these costs for sure. But mortgage-data firm HSH Associates suggests that homeowners assume they will come to about 1% of the property’s value — every year.

That’s $3,000 on a $300,000 home. To be on the safe side, you should probably use that as a minimum. So let’s say $4,000, and assume you’d also need a healthy cash reserve for any big expense that homeowners insurance doesn’t cover, such as a new furnace or roof.

A $4,000 annual maintenance and repair budget is $333 per month.

[dualstow]

I think you hired the wrong inspector.

I didn't hire him; he was just appointed. I wasn't thrilled that he didn't go on the roof, but I spoke to a LOT of people, and in the end I'm glad I got the house. Like most on my block, it was only on the market for a week. But there are headaches. 

[MachineGhost]

I think you hired the wrong inspector.

I didn't hire him; he was just appointed. I wasn't thrilled that he didn't go on the roof, but I spoke to a LOT of people, and in the end I'm glad I got the house. Like most on my block, it was only on the market for a week. But there are headaches.

Yeah, thats the problem with inspectors.  Lenders just don't have a vested interest in insuring that a highly competent inspector does a thorough job (probably because they sell off the mortgage).  Next time, hire one yourself independently.

As much as division of labor makes the world go round, 50% of all these people graduated in the bottom of their class.

[notsheigetz]

My own thinking....

"For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that."

1 Timothy 6:7-8

Whether it is because of that Bible verse or not, I don't know, but I've always looked at having a roof over your head as a kind of transitory thing. I mean, you can pay off the mortgage but you can't pay off the property taxes levied against it can you? They could always raise them up so high you couldn't afford it, or seize it through eminent domain - a communist takeover, whatever. I put as little down on my house when I bought it as I could and have no intention of paying off the mortgage early.