Million Dollar Question - Buy or Wait? 2022 Edition (Plano, McKinney: lease, first time home buyer)

[Leonard123]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

If I'm not mistaken, $10K was the AC unit and gas furnace. The furnace was so old that the parts weren't available for it anymore, so they replaced it at the same time as the AC.

I'm guessing the cheaper one has costed you less in repairs? My friend bought some fancy front loading washer and it was always needing repairs. He sold it and bought a generic top loading washer and it has worked fine for years. Funny how that works.



My parents have had to complete the following work in the past 5yr:

New roof - $8000
AC - $10,000
Tree root that blocked the sewer line - $6000

Thankfully this type of work probably won't need to be done again for at least another decade.

Painting a wall or replacing a light fixture is something anyone can do, but how can someone manage to replace a sewer line on their own?

I agree, that kind of work is not for everyone. These things come up all the time where I live, and they are not simple jobs, especially for weaklings like myself. It's also extremely difficult to find trustworthy people to do the work. However, people who cannot pay for it or do it may be better off financially by renting. HVAC replacement is now closer to $12000. I just got a quote yesterday. While mine is still in good shape, it's over 20 years old, and I know it doesn't have much longer. This is just another case of "buy now or wait" for me.

Given my experience though, a good HVAC unit should last 20 years.

Sadly, where I live, people don't do these repairs. They just sell the house at a dirt cheap price for the next buyer to fix, and that's pretty much how things have gone here since the subdivision was built. I'm not sure what causes neighborhoods to go to pot like that, but that's possibly one reason home values have not risen where I live.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

If I'm not mistaken, $10K was the AC unit and gas furnace. The furnace was so old that the parts weren't available for it anymore, so they replaced it at the same time as the AC.

I'm guessing the cheaper one has costed you less in repairs? My friend bought some fancy front loading washer and it was always needing repairs. He sold it and bought a generic top loading washer and it has worked fine for years. Funny how that works.



My parents have had to complete the following work in the past 5yr:

New roof - $8000
AC - $10,000
Tree root that blocked the sewer line - $6000

Thankfully this type of work probably won't need to be done again for at least another decade.

Painting a wall or replacing a light fixture is something anyone can do, but how can someone manage to replace a sewer line on their own?

A sewer line can be worst-case scenario. This is why you should get a good sewer scope as part of your inspection. Typically, sewer pipes don't just suddenly go out. If it is in good shape when you buy, you likely have years and years and years before you need to worry about it. Also, some of this depends on when your house was built. If it was near the turn of the century, it's a clay pipe, and those are going to be more prone to issues at this point. If it's a relatively new home, it's likely PVC....and you don't need to worry about it.

I've only had to pay a contractor $2,000 or more once on a house I owned, and that was to fix some leaky plumbing underneath a second story bathroom. The lines were in very, very tight quarters, and I was busy. I think it cost $2,500, and that price included doing the new lines and drain for a new master bath shower, which I also just didn't feel like doing.

My advice: Get a good inspection, and put back a few hundred bucks per month for the first few years. That's your big repair fund. You most likely won't need it for a long time, but it can give you peace of mind.

[tewest86]

Originally Posted by Wittgenstein's Ghost

A sewer line can be worst-case scenario. This is why you should get a good sewer scope as part of your inspection. Typically, sewer pipes don't just suddenly go out. If it is in good shape when you buy, you likely have years and years and years before you need to worry about it. Also, some of this depends on when your house was built. If it was near the turn of the century, it's a clay pipe, and those are going to be more prone to issues at this point. If it's a relatively new home, it's likely PVC....and you don't need to worry about it.

I've only had to pay a contractor $2,000 or more once on a house I owned, and that was to fix some leaky plumbing underneath a second story bathroom. The lines were in very, very tight quarters, and I was busy. I think it cost $2,500, and that price included doing the new lines and drain for a new master bath shower, which I also just didn't feel like doing.

My advice: Get a good inspection, and put back a few hundred bucks per month for the first few years. That's your big repair fund. You most likely won't need it for a long time, but it can give you peace of mind.

I bought a new house 6 months ago. This house had the biggest repair I’ve every had. This is the 3rd house I’ve owned.

After smelling gas one day, come to find out that the valve for the fire place had a leak. In order to repair the valve, Sheetrock had to be busted out. I can do Sheetrock repair so it was no biggy. The big deal was that the first plumber I called wanted to do the repair and then have the city inspect it. The permit alone was $1,500. Gas here used threaded cast iron pipe so fixing it isn’t hard. I ended up getting the gas company involved and they really helped me out. They recommended a different plumber and in 4 hrs I was back in business. I ended up spending $400 vs $3,400.

Sometimes being nice to people pays off. We had only owned the home 2 days.

[Leonard123]

The absolute, number one biggest pain of all is the dreaded slab leak. We have had many. It drove my mother to tears and nearly cost us the whole house. I don't think I could ever put up with another one of those. We had a sewer backup as well, and it was in large part the result of a big tree in the front yard that was starting to interfere with the plumbing underground. It may have contributed to some of those slab leaks as well. We had to replace the tree and the leak. These have always been in excess of $2000. I hate to think what they would cost now, although I'm sure plumbing is better on newer houses, and I know not to trust a slab foundation with a retaining wall in back, especially one that isn't well built. It seemed to be a common issue in the subdivision. I never had a favorable opinion of Darling Homes as long as they were in the metro area. I don't know if their new company Taylor Morrison is any better, but I would not bet on it.

[lepoisson]

Originally Posted by Leonard123

The absolute, number one biggest pain of all is the dreaded slab leak. We have had many. It drove my mother to tears and nearly cost us the whole house. I don't think I could ever put up with another one of those. We had a sewer backup as well, and it was in large part the result of a big tree in the front yard that was starting to interfere with the plumbing underground. It may have contributed to some of those slab leaks as well. We had to replace the tree and the leak. These have always been in excess of $2000. I hate to think what they would cost now, although I'm sure plumbing is better on newer houses, and I know not to trust a slab foundation with a retaining wall in back, especially one that isn't well built. It seemed to be a common issue in the subdivision. I never had a favorable opinion of Darling Homes as long as they were in the metro area. I don't know if their new company Taylor Morrison is any better, but I would not bet on it.

I've heard slab problems are common in North Texas. Is this true?

In many other states, slab homes aren't as desirable as those built on a traditional foundation but I don't see a lot of traditional foundation homes here in TX. I guess it's the soil composition.

[NP78]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

I've heard slab problems are common in North Texas. Is this true?

In many other states, slab homes aren't as desirable as those built on a traditional foundation but I don't see a lot of traditional foundation homes here in TX. I guess it's the soil composition.

What do you mean by "traditional foundation". Do you mean a basement foundation? Those are certainly common as you go up North, but I think across the South, slab is the most common.

Our house has a Pier and Beam foundation, but those are not common in newer homes.

[tewest86]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

I've heard slab problems are common in North Texas. Is this true?

In many other states, slab homes aren't as desirable as those built on a traditional foundation but I don't see a lot of traditional foundation homes here in TX. I guess it's the soil composition.

Slab homes are common all throughout the south. The only non-slab homes I've seen are older homes that sit on blocks or bricks. I used to see those a lot in MS, LA, etc. Just about any recent home is on a slab foundation with the copper line underneath slab. Now they use Pex and run it through the attic. The only bad thing with that is the attic isn't conditioned so when we had the big freeze in 2021, alot of people had busted water lines in the attic. Pex does take more deformation than copper before failure.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

I've heard slab problems are common in North Texas. Is this true?

In many other states, slab homes aren't as desirable as those built on a traditional foundation but I don't see a lot of traditional foundation homes here in TX. I guess it's the soil composition.

Yes, there's a lot of expansive soil in north Texas. Slab on grade is very common, particularly in new-ish construction. Old houses are often pier and beam. There are pros and cons to both. As others have alluded to, one big downside with a slab is the potential for a plumbing leak within the slab. However, this most commonly occurs with large foundation repairs. It can occur otherwise, but it's not super common.

[lepoisson]

Originally Posted by NP78

What do you mean by "traditional foundation". Do you mean a basement foundation? Those are certainly common as you go up North, but I think across the South, slab is the most common.

Our house has a Pier and Beam foundation, but those are not common in newer homes.

My parents' house has pier & beam and there is a small crawl space underneath that has the water heater, gas furnace, and some tool storage. It was built in the 1970s. The newer homes in their area are built on slabs but there is a negative reputation with them for some reason.

I think part of the reason is because where they live, the land isn't flat. Their house is built on a bit of a slope, so the left side of the crawlspace has more head room than the right side.

[Xalistiq]

This discussion about expensive repairs underscores why it makes zero sense to buy a house right now.

Many winning bids right now are waiving pre-purchase inspections completely. This is so incomprehensibly foolish and irresponsible, and many of these buyers are already on the hook for expensive, unplanned repairs.