The joys of home ownership - TIMES TWO!

[Scallywag]

Frankly, be glad you own a home. I'm a renter in my late 40s and terrified about always owing rent or a mortgage in retirement!

[Fishindude77]

Honestly, it's not even the money that bothers me. It's the hassle factor. Having to call repair people and contractors, get them to call you back and then actually show up, having to rearrange schedules, clean out areas for them to access what they need to access, etc. I don't mind the money so much. If I could make one call and get the work done promptly, that would be great. The AC fix was easy. I called and they came a few hours later and did the job. Back home, we're still waiting for our siding repair. It's been a couple of months.

Spent my career as a contractor and have hired a million subcontractors for all sorts of projects. I've got the benefit of lots of contacts and typically know who to call for speedy service.
When I find a good one, I never ask for a price on small projects. Just tell them to do the job and treat me fair. I feel that gets me better service and fair pricing.

[disneysteve]

I budget approx. $15k apiece for the other two in annual repairs and preventative maintenance.

Honestly, it's not even the money that bothers me. It's the hassle factor. Having to call repair people and contractors, get them to call you back and then actually show up, having to rearrange schedules, clean out areas for them to access what they need to access, etc. I don't mind the money so much. If I could make one call and get the work done promptly, that would be great. The AC fix was easy. I called and they came a few hours later and did the job. Back home, we're still waiting for our siding repair. It's been a couple of months.

[Fishindude77]

We've got three places; main house and farm, lake house and a hunting cabin.
The hunting cabin was built relatively maintenance free, so it's been pretty easy. I budget approx. $15k apiece for the other two in annual repairs and preventative maintenance.

[disneysteve]

Hopefully it was an easy fix and only cost the service call.

Ugh...humidity...I remember that well. I remember being shocked (and very much second-guessing life decisions) when waking on a late spring day in Minnesota and dew was running down the windows. Oh, a nice cool morning for a chance? LOL NO

That's because the dew point was 75 and the weather had only cooled to about 73 overnight. That is equivalent to about 4,000% relative humidity, risk of drowning by breathing the air. The AC ran constantly there.

It was just a clogged drain pipe. He cleaned it out and was on his way. No charge as the unit was installed less than a year ago and is still covered.

Yes, the humidity is a killer. That's why without AC, it's intolerable, and for folks with any sort of respiratory issues, it can literally be deadly. When our power goes out or our AC breaks, we pack up and head to a local hotel for the night.

[ua_guy]

Hopefully it was an easy fix and only cost the service call.

Ugh...humidity...I remember that well. I remember being shocked (and very much second-guessing life decisions) when waking on a late spring day in Minnesota and dew was running down the windows. Oh, a nice cool morning for a chance? LOL NO

That's because the dew point was 75 and the weather had only cooled to about 73 overnight. That is equivalent to about 4,000% relative humidity, risk of drowning by breathing the air. The AC ran constantly there.

[bjl584]

I have two homes.
My primary residence and my cabin.
I never run out of projects.

What are you going to do with your cousin's house?
Sell? Rent?

[Nutria]

That doesn't work when it's 90+ degrees and 75% humidity. My wife and daughter both have allergies so we never open the windows anyway. I would if it was in the 60s or low 70s and dry but not higher than that.

That's New Orleans in August; it does work, because we had to do it for a week when the power failed after^*a hurricane.

^* We survived the storm perfectly in tact, but next day someone knocked over a main telephone pole in the neighborhood, and out went the power. We waited a week for it to be fixed while other storm related damage was repaired.

[disneysteve]

Before we got cats who would scratch the window screens, shade, open windows and cold drinks would suffice.

That doesn't work when it's 90+ degrees and 75% humidity. My wife and daughter both have allergies so we never open the windows anyway. I would if it was in the 60s or low 70s and dry but not higher than that.

[kork13]

Yeah, homes just seem forever ready to throw surprises at you.... I got an email from my property manager that our rental home apparently tried to attack our tenants -- the bathroom mirror came off the wall & shattered everywhere! Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up.... lol

[Nutria]

+1

I'm in Palm Beach County Florida. Of course no AC back home in NJ is no better. We’ve bugged out to a hotel a couple of times when that happened.

Before we got cats who would scratch the window screens, shade, open windows and cold drinks would suffice.

[disneysteve]

I live in the Deep South, so perfectly understand what "no AC in the summer" means.

+1

I'm in Palm Beach County Florida. Of course no AC back home in NJ is no better. We’ve bugged out to a hotel a couple of times when that happened.

[Nutria]

Things still go wrong. You may not be the one responsible for fixing them but sometimes that's even worse because you have to wait for someone else to get it done. And no AC is no AC whether you own the place or not. You just don't get the repair bill.

I live in the Deep South, so perfectly understand what "no AC in the summer" means.

[disneysteve]

This is why I moved into an apartment after the divorce...

Things still go wrong. You may not be the one responsible for fixing them but sometimes that's even worse because you have to wait for someone else to get it done. And no AC is no AC whether you own the place or not. You just don't get the repair bill.

[Nutria]

This is why I moved into an apartment after the divorce...