<p>It’s just a joke based on what CountingDown mentioned earlier.</p>
<p>"CountingDown
Senior Member
*</p>
<p>An interior paint job for $30k? Where do I sign up??? I should invoice my DH for all the painting I’ve done around here!! "</p>
<p>VH, when I tell DH what a quote for house painting goes, perhaps he will appreciate my efforts a bit more! He takes my labor for granted.</p>
<p>Ah. Got it.</p>
<p>I made a list of the things that need to be done in the house pre-putting it on the market. It’s not overwhelming. We can do this.</p>
<p>Veryhappy, I am glad you have good news…I have bad news…</p>
<p>I had a leak on a deck above my family room so last month, I replaced it at a cost of 7500, and I found out yesterday…it still fu@@@@@ leaks…at the same place…at the doorway that leads to the deck…</p>
<p>This really pi@@es me off…I don’t know what this is going to do to the timing of putting my house on the market…let alone how to fix this thing…</p>
<p>dstark – Time to call the people who replaced the deck. </p>
<p>Very Happy – Consider leaving a little extra in the budget for those ‘unexpected’ extras…like unseen mold, rotted-out plywood in a vanity, a broken tile that means replacing a whole floor, etc. These are the ‘surprise!’ moments we all adore so much.</p>
<p>Novelisto, good point. All in, I’m anticipating spending around $20,000 before we put it on the market, but I’m sure other things will pop up as we go through the house room by room, and as we also address the “curb appeal” come spring. </p>
<p>We have been advised to declutter and make sure everything is sparkling clean, and to make sure all “systems” in the house work. I know we have to get the central air conditioning motor (or some such) replaced; that will be around $3,000. Just about everything else is minor repairs or cosmetic, to make it look sparkling clean and in perfect shape.</p>
<p>The problems I am having getting my house ready are not big deals compared to the problems others have…people dying, getting sick, addictions, etc…</p>
<p>I am just chronocling my experiences getting my house ready…I am not having similar experiences as VeryHappy…</p>
<p>Today…I found out my leak is caused by an outside door…and I have to break up a concrete deck because I have a clogged drain. </p>
<p>So far…I am ripping up another 3,000…tomorrow…</p>
<p>
Wow, what the heck is in that drain that can’t be routed out?</p>
<p>Outside door may just need caulking around it to seal it up.</p>
<p>Roof material, roots…i won’t know what else is in the drain until tomorrow…</p>
<p>The door has to be changed…it’s an indoor door posing as an outdoor door…And it leaks water…</p>
<p>Downstairs into my family room…where I see some wood rot…hopefully just 2 hours of labor to fix it…</p>
<p>I do like my new deck…it’s an ironwood deck and it is built so it can be taken apart if there is a problem with my deck…so that has already come in handy.</p>
<p>Bathroom work should start next week…hopefully the problems will be kept to a minimum…</p>
<p>A stager is coming tomorrow…can’t wait to see how much she wants to charge…</p>
<p>
A drain company I used had a camera they could snake down the drain line so they could see exactly what the problem is before they start ripping stuff apart.</p>
<p>We were getting sewage backing up into the tub on the first floor. After sticking the camera down the pipe, we were able to determine that when the city replaced the sewer main a few weeks earlier, they had somehow neglected to reconnect the house drain to the sewer main.</p>
<p>Oops!</p>
<p>We were actually very lucky that there were no outlets in the basement, or it could have been a huge mess.</p>
<p>Maybe it is worth taking a look before jacking up the cement.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Concrete?? ;)</p>
<p>Jokes aside, dstark, notrichenough makes really good points. A little drainoscopy can save you a lot of concrete demolition $$ and trouble.</p>
<p>And the really good news is that drainoscopy doesn’t require a complicated prep!</p>
<p>This thread has motivated me to start another list – all the little jobs that are going to have to be done before we sell, whenever that is. Might as well start dealing with the electrical socket where one plug doesn’t work, the molding that came unglued from the base of one of the vanities, the cheap polished brass light in D’s bathroom that looks diseased with the way it tarnished, several switchplate covers that turned really nasty yellow, the bathroom fan that is losing its bearings, and about five dozen other things, I’m sure.</p>
<p>I did the drainoscopy…i did the high pressure…the snakes…The camera…</p>
<p>I told my wife we are going to move to a much smaller place with fewer things that can ever go wrong…</p>
<p>I am really tired of owning a house…</p>
<p>But over time…a home does protect people from inflation in most areas of the country…at least that is true where I want to live.</p>
<p>So…I guess I will still own…</p>
<p>oh dstark, I feel so bad for you right now. We owned an older house and it just felt like we plugged a hole and another popped up. It was a never ending stream of things going wrong. Big things that are not easy to fix. It felt like a nightmare. I have such empathy for you.</p>
<p>We moved to a newer house that was very well built. I can sit by the windows and they don’t leak like a sieve! The roof seems stable, the bathrooms are relatively new (to me at least!). It does have problems but smaller problems, it’s heaven. I can’t tell you the difference between the two homes. And the anxiety is gone, the fear is gone. It’s so liberating!</p>
<p>Good luck plugging your holes and getting this monkey off your back.</p>
<p>dstark, what part of the country are you in? </p>
<p>And is it possible that your house is a teardown??</p>
<p>BTW, our realtor (whom we haven’t yet officially picked) has someone who does the staging; it’s “included” in the humongous commission that she’ll eventually receive. I don’t anticipate paying extra for that.</p>
<p>I’m in NorCal…homes are pretty expensive here…buyers have expectations…</p>
<p>My house is not a teardown…a few things are dated…</p>
<p>I have a lot of deferred maintenance…</p>
<p>I knew I was going to be selling when I turned 55…so I just put some things off…and now …I am going to be 55…</p>
<p>I am going to have to spend more than 25,000 to get my house ready…</p>
<p>The concrete deck issue is bad luck…</p>
<p>And building a deck on top of a room is not good because these decks tend to leak…and that is what the builder did many years ago…so I have to deal with that…</p>
<p>I had my house inspected and it has good bones…</p>
<p>When people come over…they like my house or the potential of my house…</p>
<p>Homes are not selling though…</p>
<p>RE commissions are 5%…staging is extra…maybe 1%…</p>
<p>VeryHappy…how long do you think it will take to sell your house?</p>
<p>Oh gosh – I really have no idea. In my neck of the woods (Fairfield County, CT), houses are selling – but only at the right price. So the challenge is determining what that right price is, and listing the house a little bit higher.</p>
<p>I’m hoping to put the house on the market by June 1 and I’d love to be out of it by Thanksgiving. But, truth be told, I have no idea – some houses languish for a year or more.</p>
<p>I know NoCal a little bit – I have a nephew and niece-in-law who are in Walnut Creek. Bought their house for $950K. Something like a $700K mortgage. I think the house is now worth $650K or so. Not a happy thing.</p>
<p>deb9222, thanks…I am glad it has worked out for you…</p>
<p>The homes I am looking at to buy were built in the late 80’s…so I am worried that those homes are like cars…20+ year old homes are probably entering their peak of needing remodeling…</p>
<p>But the area will work well for us…</p>
<p>And you are right about plugging holes…</p>
<p>“I’m hoping to put the house on the market by June 1 and I’d love to be out of it by Thanksgiving. But, truth be told, I have no idea – some houses languish for a year or more.”</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Yeah…I am going to price my house aggressively…what I think is aggressive…lol…and I hope to sell in 6 weeks. If I don’t …I think it is going to languish…and we might have to go to plan B…not sell…</p>
<p>It seems that houses sell in 6 weeks or they don’t sell…</p>