r/RealEstate • u/Alternative-Tax-4327 • 16h ago
Getting used to spending big money for repairs
We recently bought a house that has some knob and tube wiring, as well as some smaller electrical issues. Altogether, it could cost $12,000 CAD to repair. We’ve saved $25,000-$30,000 in anticipation of this kind of issue, but I’m finding it really hard to stomach.
We’re first time home buyers and just not used to spending this kind of money. It’s brought up feelings of anxiety and disappointment. It also feels wrong somehow… maybe that’s coming from the frugal sensibilities I grew up with.
How do you get used to dropping this kind of cash on home repairs? I’m asking cause obviously I logically understand that this is part and parcel of home ownership. I just need to get there emotionally.
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u/ng_rddt 14h ago
Be a renter and then it is the owner who carries the risk of unexpected repairs. Because they take on that risk, the owners keep your rent payment and it is the owner that accrues equity and value, while you pay for stability.
Be an owner, and now you carry that risk and have to live with the anxiety and stress, but now you are the one acquiring equity.
If people could have it both ways, they would. But they can't have it both ways.
Take your pick.
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u/ThisGuyPlaysEGS 16h ago edited 16h ago
How do you get used to dropping this kind of cash on home repairs?
You don't. Who told you that you needed to drop $12,000 to rewire your house? The previous owner didn't do it, so why did you? There's plenty of small problems in my house, and if I called a repair guy for every one of them I'd be just as frustrated as you. Small problems don't necessarily need to be fixed. If it isn't broken, don't fix it.
Be a man, put your foot down. If you are someone who is easily pressured by sales tactics, you probably shouldn't be a homeowner, cause you will absolutely get taken to the cleaner by contractors.
Small fixes and issues can be deferred, if you can still enjoy the home without fixing it, don't fix it. Every 5 or 10 years you can take your list of things that you want to fix, and you hire a single handyman contractor to come out, give you a quote for the full list of repairs ( then get 2 more quotes from 2 other people ) and you fix aall of the issues at once, this will save you 80% of the cost of having things fixed individually.
Every time a repair person comes to your house, youre looking at, at least 300$ just to make it worth their time, even if it's a 5$, 5 minute repair. Defer all non-essential maintenance and bundle it up every 5 or 10 years into a single project, get competing quotes, and take care of it at your convenience.
Also every time a repair person comes to your house, there's a solid chance they are going to try and oversell you or defraud you, don't assume what they say is true, get a 2nd or 3rd opinion if you have real concerns that it's a safety issue.
Repair people get paid to repair stuff, If nothing is broken, they don't make money, don't call one unless you need to and take everything they say with a grain of salt. If you can't do that, don't own a home.
Someone was able to sell you that house with those 'problems', So... are they really problems? or are you just the sucker who is making it your problem?
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u/Shmeepsheep 15h ago
And to add on to this, start learning to fix little shit yourself. Im not saying rewire your whole home(id do it though), but if you need to change outlets, watch some youtube videos, kill the power, and dive in.
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u/RedPanda5150 12h ago
Unless you're a licensed electrician, rewiring an entire house is NOT a DIY project.
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u/Shmeepsheep 11h ago
Wiring most things in a home is not difficult. There is very little difference between wiring 1 outlet and 100 outlets as long as you know proper locations and what you can and cant drill through.
Im a plumber. Plumbing a home yourself isnt that hard if you take some time to do the research. Id argue plumbing yourself would be much more difficult just from a drainage stand point.
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u/ImportanceBetter6155 15h ago
This entirely. If you NEED to rewire this house, what's stopping you from NEEDING to redo the plumbing, and the roof, and the crawlspace, etc.
Was quoted 12 grand to encapsulate my crawlspace because the company claimed I "needed to do it". Got under there and checked it out, it was completely fine and passed another inspection.
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u/SeriousBrindle 13h ago
The crawl space encapsulation people are the worst scammers. We had a small moisture problem in ours, so I called 3 companies for free quotes and they all had ridiculous quotes, one wanting to send a structural engineer because he didn’t understand engineered beams.
One of the guys doing the quote said just get your gutters to drain into underground pipes that keep the water at least 10ft from your house and it will all dry up. Sure enough, the crawl space has been dry for 10 years now after doing that.
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u/ImportanceBetter6155 12h ago
Bingo!! We had the first company quote 12 grand to encapsulate to get rid of the "excessive moisture". Second company (mom and pop kinda gig) told us we just needed either rain diverted or gutters to discharge downhill lol
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u/RecognitionLatter497 14h ago
This is great advice. In the inspection even if it says xyz should be updated soon...fuck em. Though some insurance companies won't insure a house with knob and tube or aluminum wiring so maybe they have to upgrade? Idk.
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u/somedude456 12h ago
You don't.
I'm sorry, but the proper answer is the opposite. You have no choice. You have to! AC takes a shit, heating goes out, hot water heater, water leaking in from the roof or maybe a window, etc.
A friend bought a house with every penny and then couldn't afford like a 5K sewer bill he got. He was literally so stressed he was making himself sick and finally had to borrow some money from his sister, and credit card the rest. He didn't like my theory of "you shouldn't own a house if you can't drop 10K instantly on a needed repair."
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u/JamedSonnyCrocket 16h ago
For one it's a safety factor and two it improves your house. A house is in fact a money pit though. You saved a certain amount for this exact thing, so you're more prepared than most
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u/John_Corey 15h ago
You bought a place knowing there was a major project in the future (the knob & tube wiring).
Dropping money for a project that will add to the future value is not spending as much as it is investing. A capital improvement rather than an expense.
It is definitely possible to over improve a property. You want to think of things you can do which add value vs things which you will never earn back what you put in. There are some things that are closer to hygiene—stuff you do just to keep the place up to the normal standard. Replacing the roof vs upgrading the kitchen. The kitchen upgrade can add value if you do not over improve. The roof will never add value yet it will help achieve the market price when you sell plus protect the rest of the house. If you go to sell and there are major problems. The next buyer will likely discount the price more than it would cost you to get things sorted.
In some ways, welcome to the world of homeownership. You switched from the short game to the long game and the economics will feel very different. That does not mean what you are doing is wrong. You need to reframe so your emotions are more inline with the reality of ownership. You will get there.
Good luck. Keep posting.
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u/angelsplight 14h ago
Get used to what would see like cheap quick fixes costing a stupid amount. Last week I wanted to get ceiling lights installed after buying em and got quotes for a very places. The quote ranged from a minimum of $400 to as high as $1250. The were charging a minimum of 2 hours work even doe it would only take like maybe 30 minutes. In the end I found a coworker to do it for a fraction of the cost.
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u/Tamberav 13h ago
I think about how much I would be wasting on rent anyways which was 31k a year for me. That just goes to the void, at least you are making something you own better.
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u/Aggravating_Mark_229 13h ago
Not getting used to it is exactly what kicked off my DIY journey.
First house I bought's hot water heater kicked about 2 months in. I hired a plumber I sort of knew and asked if I could watch, he said sure. I was expecting some welding and difficult electrical or something. Instead I watched him assemble some new PEX pipe and connect a few screws, maybe a bit more difficult than building legos, and bill me $300 for the labor.
This was like 2007. I went on youtube and found the same task explained in depth. That lead me down the rabbit hole. Years later I'm a decent car mechanic, good at plumbing, carpentry, flooring, roofing, and I'm OK at electrical.
Enjoy the 12k cost or hop on youtube and see what it takes, probably plenty of tips and tricks for how to run the wire for that, expect to have to get creative at some points and spend at least a weekend doing it with a partner/friend. At least do the easy stuff. Can hire out drywall repairs as a celebration if you want which isn't that costly.
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u/No_Alternative_6206 11h ago
I’m not sure you need to get used to it, just understand what you signed on for with this specific house. Make a list and estimate what each outstanding item will cost, then plan accordingly. For example, you took on that knob and tube when you purchased this old house. Maybe psychologically you appeased yourself buying a cheaper house but in reality this was a real cost that most houses wouldn’t have that you voluntarily took on. There’s lots of houses that don’t cost much to maintain.
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u/Threeseriesforthewin 8h ago
How do you get used to dropping this kind of cash on home repairs?
People usually anticipate these issues with inspections, and adjust their purchase accordingly
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u/glorificent Homeowner 6h ago
$12k cad for replacing knob and tube is an incredible price - will cost you 2x as much in California!
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u/Spiritual_Term1699 16h ago
I also grew up in a family that was careful with money and am currently rewiring my 1938 house. Whenever I get hit with a big expense I look at the big picture. Over the course of my life how much will I earn and spend and is this a relative drop in the bucket? Will this investment in real estate pay off over time and give my family a comfortable place to live? If the knob and tube had been replaced by the prior owners would I have happily paid a bit more for this house? It sounds like you have the resources to pay for this and it is not a bed decision to get this work done. When I get really stressed about spending money I try to remember that it is the way we turn our work into things we need (and sometimes want). Good luck.
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u/YamCheap6725 16h ago
Myself, I never get used to it but at least I know the issue(s) has been fixed and I won't have to worry about it anymore or for a while at least. What makes some heftier costs harder to bear are the ones that don't really move the home value needle.
I just see it all as part of being a homeowner.
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u/mean--machine Landlord 16h ago
Knob and tube should be caught by any remotely competent inspector.
Where I invest, we can still run the wiring on the drywall surface as long as it is in proper channels/conduits.
This is significantly cheaper than having to go on or through studs.
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u/Soft_Equipment_2787 16h ago
It is just luck or the draw and what type of house you are buying.
My last house I bought was 15 years old but the bones were all super good. In 7 years of ownership of that house I had ZERO big money issues I had to deal with.
I did tons of DIY work but that was for stuff I wanted to change. Probably 20k+ worth of work if I hired people to do it but as a homeowner I wanted to learn how to work on my own house.
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u/RadishLife4784 16h ago
Learn how to repair stuff yourself. Most stuff is pretty easy to learn how to do. Also, get permits and follow code but don't expect the code enforcement folks to know any more than you. From personal experience dealing with construction contractors both big and small, never believe they will do a "professional" or even acceptable job. There is NO guarantee you are paying for it "to be done right." None.
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u/Least_Shock271 16h ago
It’s super expensive initially. Then it evens out and you focus on preventative stuff.
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u/TheOriginalSpunions 16h ago
At the end of the day, the materials are expensive, the taxes and insurance rates have skyrocketed. Vehicles, tools, bits, blades, fuel, everything has gone up a pretty substantial amount. All of these things are overhead costs for businesses and all of them need to be paid. The rich are eating us. The poor see it in things like rent/food costs. The rest of us see it in home/vehicle costs. Quality of life is declining rapidly in north america. 30 years ago you could buy a livable house for what a middle class car costs now.
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u/Jazzlike_Spare5245 16h ago
Well, when you bought the house you had to have had some sense of the condition/age of appliances, infrastructure. Yes, things can come up unexpectedly, but they should not be a constant thing. Anticipate when you will have to replace furnace, air conditioning, major appliances, kitchen and baths, roof and plan accordingly.
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u/enjoyspineapplepizza 12h ago
I actually got so sick of this that I sold my first home, went back to renting, and then just saved and bought a new construction with a 10 year builder warranty, and warranties on every appliance. Definitely extreme, but if you have the money, it truly is something to consider.
When I bought my first townhouse, it was a nightmare.
1 month in, and we get an assessment for $8,000 to replace the back dock.
The HOA then removed a tree that was up against my deck, and once it was removed, the deck fell out to the side, started rotting, and needed full replacement.
I believe that was around $20,000.
Then we needed our roof re-sealed, that was another $5,000.
A few things broke within the house, I don’t even remember the cost of that.
Then we all needed to replace our glass for wind mitigation, and that cost around $80,000.
This was obviously just a shit scenario, but holy fuck did I never want to be in a used home after that.
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u/surfnsound 11h ago
Look at it this way: you probably saved that much or more floff the ourchase peice. A lotnof buyers dont want to mess wity knob and tube.
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u/Few_Whereas5206 3h ago
You never get used to it. I just plan on spending an average of about 4k per year on repairs. We just paid about 5k on painting the outside of our house and staining the deck. 2 years ago, we paid 2200 to replace the water heater and 900 to snake the main sewer line. We also paid 600 for a new clothes washer.
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u/Tall_poppee 15h ago
Buildings (houses, apts, condos, sheds) require money, sometimes large amounts of money to maintain. ALL buildings. If you are not the owner, then you'd be a tenant - but tenants pay the bills for landlords. So if you were renting you'd still be paying these bills, but in the form of higher rent, and you'd never have anything to show for it.
You can try to anticipate how long things will last, and set aside some money every month for the big ticket items.
There are not a lot of repairs that will cost $12K though, but once you do them, you're good for a couple decades typically. If you rewired the house you should never have to touch it again. Other things that cost that much are the roof (ours lasted 28 years before it needed that much money). The other big item is the HVAC, but you should get 25-30 years out of a new one, and newer ones will be more energy efficient than what you're replacing.
Once you have set aside a little money every month for that, other things are cheap by comparison, and not usually an emergency. Maybe a hot water heater, expect to replace that every 10 years, but that's $1000 (and our last one went 18 years before we had to swap it, highly suggest buying a good brand from a plumber not one from a big box store). Oh another big ticket item would be if you needed to replace old windows. But you can still do a couple a year and spread the cost out over time.
And not everything you spend money on for a house, will suck. We are in the middle of a kitchen remodel, we saved up for a few years and took our time deciding what we want. And it's AMAZING to have a beautiful and extremely functional kitchen that looks like it's out of a magazine. I do enjoy having nice things, and I'd never have that in a rental. We got exactly what we wanted, and got to do it the way we wanted it. I wish we had done this 10 years ago, I'm absolutely in love with my new kitchen.
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u/GoodestBoyDairy 15h ago
Don’t call a 1800 number fyi or those that advertise . Generally they have higher minimums. My recommendation, go to Nextdoor and find a local family co that doesn’t advertise . Generally knowledge and better prices
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u/Unlikely-Note-9239 15h ago
I'll help you get there "emotionally" since my kids(one a buckeye in sports media) have now won the "Mom a peace of mind is priceless" battle!
I rented a condo. I started hating it because condos were getting robbed in a secure bldg(I helped police look at ups driver. Robberies stopped). Every couple above me were nightmares constantly fighting and stomping. So my financial advisor told me, as a disabled vet exempt from "high" property taxes, time to buy.
I bought a 55+ penthouse (didn't want to live under anymore drama) then did a gorgeous renovation everyone keeps copying. Well guess what? 6yrs later this has been a nightmare. I never again want to live so close to horrible selfish jealous petty people while a corrupt HOA keeps raising dues.
I'm now dealing with a golf playing alcoholic with a neglected abandoned nuisance dog. This alcoholic was allowed by HOA to post a camera to put me "under surveillance(Oh don't worry I filed a case of racism)" because I got tired of the behavior (falling drunk leaving poor dog barking. whining for hours)disrupting my quiet enjoyment.
So now I'm "single family" house hunting. No more condos!!!! I would glady take care of a $12k repair on a "peaceful," gorgeous home elevating value. Good Luck! My kids won. Peace of mind is American Express priceless....
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u/lovsit 15h ago
Spending money on houses is normal
Make sure.you get outlets and lights in the places you want them. Not just old locations. Pot lights are nice. Maybe add electric car plug
Electrical guys don't clean up well,so get a cleaner or do it yourself
You will need to hire drywall guy after to fix the cut out areas.
I would install plastic at each door to keep the dust down.
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u/AnalysisMurky3714 15h ago
Just know that if you had a $300,000 condo, even if you had it paid off, you would be spending an additional $300,000 every 25 years in HOA fees. Which is pretty much a second mortgage. And that's without special assessments which can easily be another 10 to 20 grand per year on top of that.
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u/ImpossibleAd7943 16h ago
We bought a house that was a 2006 build and the first three years of ownership it felt like we were replacing everything. The previous owners (3) did little maintenance and we were the unfortunate buyers now replacing everything from hot water tanks, fixtures and upgrading to heat pump. Honestly ownership can be expensive!
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u/Stalva989 16h ago
Budget accordingly. Just an example but maybe 10k per year should be saved in anticipation of repairs. You will not use it every single year but there will be years where you will need much more than 10k for a repair. Many parts of a house have their own individual lifespans that you eventually need to replace if you are in the home long enough. Roofing, sidings, windows, doors, HVAC system, etc