Typical Older Home Issues in Palm Springs (appliances, house)

[tmashworth]

Considering a move in a couple of years to Palm Springs. Here in the midwest, like anywhere, we tend to have home repair issues, especially on older homes. Plumbing issues tend to be what we have found to be the greatest expense--and I don't mean fixing a toilet or a drip. I've also read that in many of the older homes there is minimal insulation (ie. Racquet Club).

Most homes in this area built before 1974 were built with cast-iron sewage pipes underneath foundations and basements. I've had to spend $12k on one home to replace the pipes, and $2k on another.

Is this an issue with Palm Springs homes? Via Google, I notice a lot of PS plumbing companies specialize in replacing or re-lining these pipes. When purchasing a home, I plan on ensuring they are video inspected, mostly because of the times I've been burnt in the past.

Any experiences or knowledgable folks out there that can share about these two issues, or anything else that tends to be a common expense in older homes?

What are you finding these days to be typical billing rates for water, electricity, etc.?

[HBsteve]

I live in Racquet Club in a house built in 1959. Two common concerns are that the plumbing has been redone with copper, and that the roof has been insulated. The typical roof material is polyurethane foam covered by a reflective elastic coating. It works very well. I'm not aware of sewer pipe problems but your plan to have the pipes inspected by video sounds good (I didn't). Your mileage may vary but my typical electric bill this past summer was about $300 and is about half that in the winter. Electric rates vary with the season, so my summer bill is about 2x when my electric usage is 3x that of winter. Electric rates are tiered so that larger users pay more - rates right now start at 15c per kWh and go up to 30c in the highest tier. Most homes have an evaporative cooler that you can use instead of A/C when temperatures are below about 100 or 105, they use 110V and are much cheaper to run than A/C. Water rates are low, my typical bill is about $50 but we are in a drought and asked to conserve so usage is low. Feel free to send me a message if you have other questions.

[Tolerance999]

Earthquakes!!! If you buy a mid century modern house and plan to stay long term, to protect your investment it will need earthquake retrofitting. There is a 100 percent chance of a 7.8 quake in the next 30 years. Older one story homes can be retrofitted by replacing bricks with thick framed walls. All electric appliances are best given that gas lines can blow up. Single pane windows will break but many folks don't replace them and just have duck tape and plastic sheeting ready. But that will get broken into if there is an evacuation and looters.

[Tolerance999]

Chimneys should be secured so they won't fall through the foundation. Get a 99 cent used copy of peace of mind in earthquake country by Peter yanev on Amazon. It's a classic, out of print, Peter yanev and his sons are the world's foremost earthquake engineers.