10 homes first-time buyers should avoid

I would be very wary of an older home that was being flipped and had been "HGTV'ed" inside.  Don't fall in love with the interior finishes without knowing what was covered up in terms of old electrical and plumbing and no insulation.  If buying an older home, I would much rather buy a solid, unimproved home and have it restored correctly under my supervision than buy it "renovated" and move-in ready.

The best show by far on HGTV is Holmes on Homes, even though on a personal level I'm sure that I couldn't stand Mike Holmes if I knew him.  A lot of his shows are dedicated to ripping apart those cosmetic flips to reveal the concealed and incredibly expensive nastiness beneath.  The show should be required viewing for first time home buyers.

Bought a 5 yr. old house almost 3 yrs. ago (Sept. '09). Looked like minor problems if any until we had our first winter/spring. We were so busy inspecting inside the house we neglected to look at the slope of our yard. Beware of DRAINAGE problems!!!! Whoever built this place put it at the bottom of a puddle! Front yard slopes toward house, as well as backyard and part of the side property. So, snow melt and heavy rains flooded our basement with about 2 inches of water. Also, look at the concrete. Ours was not poured properly- no vapor barrier. If there's a white powdery substance (Looks like baby powder) forming on top of the concrete it's bad news. Our inspector either lied to us or was unknowledgeable and said that was from covering the curing concrete with plastic before it was fully set. Not at all- it means your concete is wicking all moisture from the ground and needs to be sealed with a special concrete sealer that also penetrates inside the concrete.   

I'm in my first home which was purchased in 2002.  An inspection is required for many types of loans, and we had one.  But the inspection is not always an indicator of some of the things mentioned in these slides.

Our biggest failure was buying an older home - 1978, so not ancient.  As novices we thought that some cosmetic work and fixing up the wild jungle of a yard would make it our dream house.  We underestimated our own time, money and expertise.  A few personal setbacks put our dreams of updates on hold.  And in the meantime, there were things that were ALWAYS requiring our attention and most of all, MONEY to fix or maintain.  Of course, when your AC goes out in June in Florida, that needs your attention immediatelly.

We bought this house because it was spacious with lots of acerage, and the few updates that had already been made to it gave it some appeal.  But now every day I regret buying this house.  The updates and repairs that we need to make just pile up, and we can barely scrape together money and credit to make one or two fixes per year.  Also, insurance - it was fairly easy to get when the house was 24 years old, but now that it's 34 years old, insurers are rare and expensive.

My advise is, be realistic with fixer-uppers.  Also, see the advice of seasoned homeowners and LISTEN.  I sincerely wish that I had.

There a contractor I think building a home in my neighborhood and noticed one of the corners of the house to have only one 2x4 not even in the corner but rather about 4 inches from it. I took photo and if he does not fix it then I will report him. Once I was have a house built and would go everyday to observe and check to make sure the contractor was following the contract. I noticed when the  cement slap was being done the contractor put rebarb ( metal rods) prior to have cement poured. THe city inspector came over and approved the work. Once the inspector left the contractor took all the rebarb out and poured the cement. I complained and got my deposit back and eventually the contractor got banned from building again.

My daughter bought a house in CT and on my visit noticed there was 3 layers of weather stripping arround her front door. I had a carpenter come over to fix it , but his attempt was fruitless and come to find out the door was to small for the frame.. WHen the carpentor was working after the door there was no insulation at all around the door jam or frame and only two screws holding the the door frame.  I had my daughter put in a new door. There were several other problems with house. WHat pisses me off was that the house had been inspected prior to purchase. In my opinion don't trust inspectors or even realators. The system is set up to rip honest buyers off. Don't get an inspector the realitor recommends. What I don't understand the realator for my daughter was also the realator for the seller.

Gotta love those bad neighbors!!!!   Mine are sooooo "Nosy".   I had some concrete poured for the new "Man Cave", my neighbor came over (UNINVITED) to ask questions about the job being done.  He brought his dog with him and the dog RAN THROUGH the new concrete. I still have a dog print we didn't catch, do you think this Jack @ZZ" offered to fix or even appogize for HIS mutt messing up a $3000.00 job?? Nope Natta dime nothing.

So I now lock my gate and put up No Trespassing signs just to keep him out.

I'm still torqued about it.  When he was having his McMansion built I NEVER once went over there with my now deceased dog to see what was going on, over on the other side of the fence.  I didn't care and still don't care how deep in debt he and his wife are.

What I do care about is my place is PAID FOR and they will have to work dang near forever for that big house, 2 new cars, boat, trailer etc. 

Ha ha!!!!!

The one thing I do care about is crime and if it does happen I will expect someone to call 911 if they see something happing to anyones property.