Home

Home Ownership

Considerations on purchasing and owning a home; personal projects around my home; general information and suggestions about home ownership.

Contents

• Considerations
• Projects
• Information
• Suggestions
• See Also

Considerations

Stress

Home ownership can be really fucking stressful. Everything is the homeowner's responsibility: repairs, maintenance, payments, projects, upgrades, cleaning, design, security. I suppose some of those are part of the beauty of home ownership in that efforts can be streamlined since they are up to the homeowner and not a corporation/employee, but for those that don't care that much about projects and such, the allure is non-existent.

Home ownership is stressful for me. A cold front comes in, the house contracts, and cracks start forming at the crown molding-drywall interface and I freak out. My pipes freeze and I spend 12 hours babysitting them in my kitchen to make sure a burst doesn't flood the first floor, only to get water back in the kitchen and lose the shower lines. The list goes on, some complaints minute and trivial and others large.

There are saving graces for wealthy folk. First, the number of suitable homes price-wise is much larger, giving flexibility to the buyers in case something unacceptable or suspect is found during inspection. Second, most issues can be fixed by applying money. HVAC system goes out and no warranty? Pay $X to fix it. Pipe burst in the wall? Pay $X to fix it. Foundation shifting. Pay $X to fix it or move out. While I'm by no means wealthy nor poor, it's difficult to imagine what those who can't afford any of the above do. I suppose invention is the mother of necessity.

I greatly underestimated the stress home ownership would bring to me. I'm sure part of me unconsciously ported over the apartment lifestyle of "hey, this broke, fix it" to a house and another part of me figured repairs wouldn't be that frequent or time-consuming/effortful. This brings up my personal laziness-money cost-benefit analysis. I'm really lazy when it comes to house work and whatnot—I'd rather by training or writing or working or socializing. But I also really like to save money to facilitate financial independence, and owning a house prevents wasting money on rent through gaining equity. In the end it was probably a good decision for me for a few reasons: I can rent the house out if needed/wanted, I get equity, and it's good for my credit.

I think this is an important point people should consider before moving forward on a home purchase, especially if the home is older or wasn't well-maintained, as the cost and frequency repairs correlate with age. No one will come to save you when shit hits the fan unless you're willing to pay money. Ask yourself how lazy you are and how important home ownership is to you. If the former is high and the latter low, reconsider. If low and high, continue forward with the home search.

Proximity

Location should be influenced by personality type. Sociable and likes to go out a lot? Look for a condo or apartment in the fun part of town, or close to. Reclusive and want to be isolated? Look far out from the busy parts of the city. Somewhere in between? Find a happy medium of suburb/city life.

This is one of my main regrets about my house. Without traffic, it takes me at least 25 minutes to get to the fun part of Dallas. With traffic, it takes 45. This limits friendships, relationships, and the population of possible roommates. Who wants to drive 30-45 minutes after work to go visit someone or be far from "fun"?

A few example of hobbies, essentials, and activities that should be taken into account:

• Grocery store
• Home improvement store
• Gym
• Restaurants
• Nightlife

Work Needed

Most homeowners seem to start out giddy with excitement at everything they plan to do around the house: improve this, install that, remodel here. The goals are lofty, but gradually wane as they realize the undertaking the projects requires. Improvements take time, energy, and money. They are rarely easy and often underestimated in terms of time and money needed. Coming home after a long, exhausting day of work and realizing there's even more work to do is a humbling experience. Doing work on weekends doesn't help. All this being said, the finishing the project and seeing the fruits of labor is a wonderful feeling.

Work needed is not exclusive to improvements. It also encompasses maintenance and upkeep: yard work, cleaning, etc.

Some options to lessen the burden include hiring someone else to do it, getting a friend to help you, or breaking it up into small, manageable chunks/goals that can be completed in a day or week.

Cost

Many costs go towards a home which can be categorized into fixed (F), ever-increasing (I), or eventually-ending (E, as in it will effectively be completed at some point or the costs are negligible): mortgage (F), insurance (I), property taxes (I), improvements (E), homeowner association dues (I), maintenance and upkeep (F-ish, this is variable, but never ending and not necessarily ever-increasing), decorating (E).

As with most things, the bigger or nicer something is, the more expensive it will be, both in upfront and recurring costs.

Property Value Increases

One sub-category of cost is the expected increase of property value due to a) standard appreciation, and b) improvements. Zillow offers housing data, some of which is determined through its Zillow Home Value Index measure and others through raw statistics. I could not find data on its forecasting accuracy.

A few things to note regarding home value increases:

• If a move is planned in the coming years to a different location with a lower COL rate of change, then a forecasted increase in property values is good. If a move is planned in the coming years to another location in the same city, then a forecasted increase is slightly negative due to closing costs and time spent on finding a new house. If no move is planned, then a forecasted increase in property value is good and bad: good because it's more money in case a move is made, bad because property tax and insurance fees increase over time.

Projects

Ethernet

Wireless ethernet is convenient for obvious reasons, but the speed can be detrimental, especially if the router is upstairs and in the furthest point of the furthest room from the main usage point (my situation). The solution is not power-line communication nor Wi-Fi extenders, but rather running ethernet wires from the router (or a switch) around the house, or at least to the main usage point.

This was actually a bit easier than expected, but partially because my house lends well to the installation and partially because I wasn't alone—I asked a coworker who was much more familiar with projects like this. (I probably could have suffered through this, but there would have been much more trial-and-error when pulling the cable up into the attic.) Here's the order in which we planned and executed:

1. Mapped out the approximate path of the cable. End locations and a rough intermediate path (in my case, how exactly it gets through the attic is relatively unimportant) must be identified.
2. Confirm how to get cable to said end locations. The cable will go between two studs for EL1 and hole needs to be bored through metal and an exterior wall to get to the router (EL2). This includes verifying lack of obstructions along the path (fireblocks in the wall, etc).
3. Make holes for EL1 and EL2.
4. Make appropriate measurements. A hole was needed to make a clear path between EL1 and the attic, but because the two vertical studs weren't visible, a rough measurement had to be made.
5. Dropped a fiberglass cable puller between the two studs and attached the ethernet cable to it. The ethernet was tightly wrapped in duct tape to ensure it didn't snag on the way up.
6. Pulled the puller up into the attic and brought most of the slack out of the cable (minus an extra 1 ft at EL1 just in case). The cable was then routed attic supports to be out of the way.
7. Confirm intermediate path. In this case, it was along the exterior and then through an attic wall. Hole was made and cable fed out of it.
8. Cable was pulled tightly along the exterior of the roof, inserted into the EL2 hole, and connected into the router. Done!

A few considerations:

• Cat6 vs Cat5e probably doesn't matter, but the price is negligible, so might as well splurge on the 6.
• Map everything out!
• Caulk any holes made—exterior or interior walls.
• There are weatherproof ethernet cables that are designed for being buried. These are probably a better bet than the ones I bought.
• Running along the exterior is probably the most convenient option. Doing anything through the walls would suck.

Results

Right at my paid-for and advertised speed of 500 Mbps! Sweet.

Information

This section is for various tips and knowledge I've learned.

Foundation

If the foundation needs to be inspected, use a structural engineering firm, not a foundation repair company. A SEF doesn't have skin in the game for the house getting repaired, so a less biased opinion/report is more likely.

Some notes from a foundation inspection report:

Cracks and separations (distress) do not always indicate adverse foundation movement. There are many natural forces that contribute to distress, such as, seasonal moisture and volumetric changes in the supporting soils, proximity of vegetation and large trees, sprinkler frequency and usage, wind, snow and rain, seismic activity, thermal expansion and contraction of building materials (bricks, wood and concrete), changes in seasonal humidity, impacts from re-roofing, repairs or remodeling efforts, earth and traffic vibrations, changes in occupancy or usage and normal human activity. All of these forces contribute to normal seasonal movements and distress.

Maintain consistent soil moisture around the foundation perimeter. The amount and locations of soil watering should be zoned, monitored and regulated based on seasonal requirements with consideration of, foundation proximity to large or actively growing trees/vegetations, locations of sun and wind exposure, locations of extended floorplan features (that extend away from the main body of the foundation) and locations of drainage, downspouts and frequency of sprinkler activities. [Structural engineering firm] recommends the XFS Subsurface Dripline system from Rainbird (XFS Subsurface Dripline System). We do not recommend the soft black soaker hoses (they only last for one year and they get damaged by landscaping activities). We recommend the dripline system be set at 12" to 18" inches away from the foundation and be buried below the surface by 3" to 6".

Maintain positive drainage away from the foundation. Water should never be allowed to pool or pond within 10 feet of the foundation. It is recommended to maintain a 5% slope away from the foundation (6" in the first 10'). It may be required to swale or grade down the soils to achieve this desired positive drainage.

Manage roof water runoff. Roof water run off should never be allowed to splash up on the exterior cladding.

Discharge ALL gutter downspout water to at least 10 feet away from the foundation and water should never be allowed to flow back towards the foundation. It is preferred that all gutter downspouts be connected into solid 4" PVC drain pipe and be discharged via gravity to daylight.

Repair ALL plumbing leaks immediately. Leaks in the sub-surface plumbing systems and landscape sprinklers are major contributors to foundation movement and damage. Plumbing systems prior to 1980 are more susceptible to plumbing leaks due to deteriorated cast iron drain piping. In our experience, the majority of foundation damaging plumbing leaks occur on the drain side of the system - drain side leaks do not register movement at the meter. For homes of any age, it is recommended to periodically check the plumbing system and landscape sprinklers for leaks.

Repair any locations of exposed steel reinforcement in the foundation. Cracks in the foundation grade beam can expose post-tensioning cable ends and conventional reinforcing steel rebar. If left unprotected , rust and corrosion will slowly reduce the originally intended strength of these reinforcing steel members and will continue to allow for more rusting and corrosion. Remove all loose concrete and clean with a stiff wire brush, coat the exposed steel with a Rust-Oleum paint and repair the concrete with a non-shrink epoxy grout to protect the reinforcement.

Piping

Freezing

I had my pipes freeze in December 2022. I dripped all faucets—regardless of where they were—starting a few hours before the freeze. I woke up to my kitchen faucet, which is in the corner of my house, meaning two of its "walls" are in contact with the outside. It's also poorly insulated (I knew this), but I was stingy with my dripping amount. In hindsight, I should have had a steady, albeit low, flow of water going. I unthawed the pipes with a blow dryer, then stuck a space heater outside the cabinet and kept it on high while watching it. The pipes went into the wall and down into the slab, so there's no much I could do after this. Water started flowing about 10 hours after I found it, so maybe 16-ish hours after it froze. (Then the fucking shower cold water pipes froze...)

Notes on tactical freeze prevention:

• Pipes generally freeze around 20 °F if not directly exposed.
• Drip far interior water sources and gently flow water sources (faucets, showers) that share a wall with the outside. Use a combination of hot and cold water to ensure both lines are flowing water.
• For pipes that touch exterior walls, the flow should be much more than interior faucets. The cost of water used is much less than a broken pipe!
• Use faucet covers on any outside faucets.
• Open cabinets to allow warm air flow from the house to heat pipes.
• A drastic, but much safer option if done right, is to drain the house entirely of water:
  1. Turn off the main water valve at the street to isolate the house from the main supply. A water meter cover key and valve closer (two separate tools) are likely needed.
  2. Open sink faucets starting from the top floor. The lowest sink in the house should be last.
  3. Open bathtub/shower faucets. If dual tub/shower, make sure the selector is set to the tub faucet so water can drain from the shower head.
  4. Flush toilets and confirm they don't refill with water.
  5. Leave all faucets in the open position and wait 30 minutes before confirming no water is coming out.
• Drains can clog. This is due to the architecture of the plumbing. Pouring boiling water may help, but the clog thawing out will ultimately solve the issue. This is another reason to flow (instead of drip) water.

Notes on strategic freeze prevention:

• Add insulation to the house, especially where pipes run close to the outside of the house.
• Add pipe insulation to high-risk pipes.

HVAC

Date of my unit install: 05 May 2022 / 5/5/2022

Air handler is a Lennox CBA25UH-048-230-01. Heat pump is a Lennox ML14XP1-048-230.

Furnaces

Reasons for the furnace breakers tripping:

• The thermostat wiring can be bad. This causes it not to call on the heat pump, which in turn overloads the furnace.
• Dirty or clogged air filters force the furnace to work harder to blow air. If the blower motor gets overloaded, the breaker trips. This is one reason why it's recommended to replace the filter at regular intervals. Restricted airflow (not caused by air filter) can do the same thing. Check air ducts for kins or blockage, and check that vents are open (within reason).
• Bad breaker. This was ultimately the fix that resolved my furnace continuing to trip. The breaker was hot to the touch (implying it was overloaded), whereas the new one never got hot. I'm not super satisfied with this solution because I feel like it should have been something else, but it worked, so whatever.

Landscaping

• Weed barrier fabrics do NOT work. Period. This is not from personal experience, but rather everyone on the internet deeming it so, which is good enough for me. Weeds will break through at some point. The fabric also reduces the amount of air and organic matter from reaching the soil. The soil's health deteriorates because of this, causing any plants in the area to have growth issues.
• There is practically no such thing as a maintenance-free yard. Mulch needs to be reapplied on a (bi-)yearly basis, weeds will often need to be picked.

Suggestions

Inspection

There were a few things I wished I had inspected more thoroughly myself during inspection. These could have made move-in a bit easier and less stressful.

• Foundation:
  • See the Foundation section for specifics. It's probably worth getting a SEF to inspect the home's foundation beforehand. A few hundred dollars upfront is better than thousands down the line.
  • Do doors bind at all (I believe this mostly happens as a result of hinges, but still worth checking!)?
  • Are there cracks in the middle of the brick, if brick is installed? "Stair step" cracking, which occurs in the mortar between the bricks themselves, is common.
  • Are there cracks in any walls of the house?
  • How is drainage?
  • Are there gutters installed? If not, there haven't been for the life of the house.
  • Request from the city a history of permits associated with the address to see if any foundation work has been performed.
• Caulking: Has everywhere that needs to be caulked been caulked? This is especially important in bathrooms (sinks, bathtubs, showers).
• Appliances: Do they turn on and work properly? Is there anything strange happening with them?
• HVAC:
  • Is there a P-trap in the inside unit's drain line?
  • Is the inside unit wired to reflect the outside unit's capabilities, and vice versa? My outside unit is single stage, but the inside unit was wired for two stage.
  • Install exterior solar screens to greatly reduce energy consumption for heating and cooling.
• Does the water meter show any minor leaks? Shut off all faucets in the house and observe the fine leak part of the water meter for a few minutes.
• Neighborhood:
  • Check county crime maps
  • Spend a morning, afternoon, and evening on both a weekday and weeknight to see what goes on. Is it quiet or loud? Bright or dark? Busy or calm?
  • Talk to the next-door neighbors about their experience living in the neighborhood

I also wish I had gotten two separate inspectors to come out. More eyes are almost always better, and one may have more expertise in one area than the other. An extra few hundreds dollars is well worth avoiding a major issue in the electrical, plumbing, foundation, or HVAC systems.

Do not use an inspector suggested by the realtor.

Cost

• Mature trees that shade the house provide excellent HVAC cost savings.
• File for a homestead exemption. This will reduce property tax burden by $40,000 (at least in Texas). It also caps property tax increases at 10% per year.
• If any rooms in the house are not being regularly used, close their HVAC vents. This prevents the warm/cool air from entering and focuses it on the rooms that need it most, reducing the work required to heat/cool the house.
• Use a programmable Wi-Fi thermostat to a) take the thought out of adjusting thermostats when home/not home, and b) automatically or remotely adjust temperatures when not home. Google Nests will switch to eco mode when it detects no one his home via location services.

Convenience

• Front door locks with a keypad are awesome. No more fumbling with keys or having to leave one hidden for people to get in. Guest codes can be set and erased for one-time use. Some locks even allow remote access.
• Use a programmable Wi-Fi thermostat to adjust the temperature without getting up.
• Wire ethernet throughout the house for ultra-fast internet speeds.

HVAC

• Pour 0.25-0.5 cups of vinegar down the AC drain line every 2-4 weeks to kill any bacteria, mold, etc. Let it sit for 30 minutes, then flush thoroughly with water.
• Take a hose to the outdoor coils every 2-4 weeks to improve efficiency.
• Low quality air filters can get pulled up into the air handler if the system is configured in a certain way. Opt for a mid-grade air filter that is sturdy, but not too thick (which causes excess strain on the unit).

Miscellaneous

• Do not buy a flipped house. Ever. Even if it looks good. The risk is not worth the reward and too many people have had problems with flipped houses. They are not worth it.
• Install adhesive cabinet stoppers to avoid loud slamming
• Useful tools to have below. As the saying goes, it's better to have it before you need it.
  • Multimeter with leads. Good for testing outlets, fuses, etc.
  • Stud finder
  • Rechargeable batteries: AA, AAA, 9 V
  • Water meter box key
  • Water meter valve key
• Drill pilot holes for anything going into a wall or stud
• If you're hanging something from drywall, always use drywall anchors. And not the dinky ones that have to get hammered in, but the thick ones that require a Phillips-head screwdriver to get in. Much more secure, way fewer headaches.
• Install gutters and downspout extenders to keep water away from the foundation

See Also

• Where to Live for Happiness