Are you considering buying an older house, either because you love the era or because you need the space for your Sandwich Generation multi-generational family? These can be wonderful investment properties / homes, especially in this market. Fixer-uppers are often great ways to save money and the older the house, the more likely you are to find a fixer. Just make sure you go into this with your eyes wide open. This is especially true if you are buying it as-is.
- Follow all the usual and practical steps like getting a good home inspection from a reputable company.
- Consider buying a home warranty even if the seller isn't offering it. In order to save your valuable time and money, I'd recommend the extended coverage, at least for the first year.
- Be aware that, with an older house, even if it passes inspection the warranty company may disallow certain repairs. Read your warranty carefully and if you are concerned a problem might not be covered, see if you can get a couple of free estimates from various companies first. If you then discover the problem is covered, that's great. If not, you'll be ahead of the game with the estimates done.
- No matter how tight your budget is, try to allow a few days to clean, do basic repairs and move some items in BEFORE you move your family in. Otherwise you, your aging parents, and your kids/grandkids could find yourselves in your new-to-you home with no heat, no hot water, and no energy to want to deal with it. (Yes, this happened to good friends of mine.
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- If you're planning on sharing this house with an elderly parent, be sure there is a bed and bath on the first floor for them. While many aging parents can still handle the stairs, you will all be caught off guard if they get sick. Trust me, those stairs will seem like a million miles long with a sick elderly parent and no first floor accommodations.
- If there will be young children/grandchildren living with you as well, look carefully when you are in the market as house buyers. See if the house offers enough separated areas to give your elderly parents and your kids/grandkids at least a tiny space away from each other. At the end of the day, everyone's nerves will appreciate that. Many older houses do offer that, but I've seen plenty of other homes that have lots of square footage due to huge rooms. But there's not that many actual rooms to give elderly parents some much needed privacy.
- Elderly parents can sometimes be a bit unsteady on their feet. Many older houses are a bit uneven when it comes to the flooring. When you are making up your "house buyers" list, make sure you keep fall protection at the top of the list.
- Check the surrounding neighborhood thoroughly. Make sure it is a safe environment for the wee ones to play in and has a good area for senior parents to walk in. Check the sidewalks for adequate width for wheelchairs, trikes, and scooters. As with any house purchase, it's always wise to visit a house you are interested in several times during both daytime and nighttime hours to get a true feel for the neighborhood. Talking to neighbors can be helpful too. You probably won't get the full scoop, but you might learn some valuable tips that can help you make your decision. Checking the internet for any Megan's Law violaters in the immediate area is also a wise idea. I usually go to Google and type "megan's law AND State" (putting in the name of the state you will be living in where it says state ).
As Sandwich Generation senior home care givers and grandparents, we wear a lot of hats and have to juggle more needs than most. Hopefully this list will give you, as house buyers, a good starting point for house hunting with an emphasis on a big, older house. If you have more ideas, we'd love to have you share them. Also, be sure to sign up for the free SandwichINK Real Estate Info email so you'll get the latest info and resources direct to your email.
Tagged as:
elderly parents,
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grandchildren,
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home warranty,
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Sandwich Generation,
ways to save money
I was out and about today, virtually, visiting different websites. Smiling Sally: Blue Monday – Blue Bath had an interesting post describing her new house and the various paints they used to redecorate. As I was enjoying the photos she had posted, I noticed that, as new house buyers, they used temporary window treatments until they got their permanent window shades and blinds installed.
That reminded me of the different times we were house buyers. For our first house, over 30 years ago, they either didn't make temporary curtains or we didn't know they were available. We hung towels and blankets in the window, which was a royal pain in the neck as they kept falling off. The next house came with cheap window blinds, which we loved. They were easy to care for and cheap to replace. Very handy when you have young children in the home who may accidentally bend a shade the wrong way.
House number three was brand new and it took a couple of weeks to get the different window shades and blinds installed. That's when I first discovered those handy temporary window treatments called Redi Shades. We purchased them from the new home's designer company and hung them in the windows, giving us the privacy and safety we appreciate in window treatments.
When it was time for me to buy my fourth house, I again used Redi Shades. This time I was out shopping at Home Depot, one of my favorite ways to save money, and discovered that I could purchase them there and save money. That's always a nice treat!
I had to chuckle when I visited the Redi Shade site and read that, "Our original pleated window shades install in less than a minute without any tools-just trim, peel, and stick! Then when you're ready to put up your permanent shades, you can remove them in a jiffy (though lots of people tell us they love them so much they never take them down!)." I have to admit that, for a couple of rooms we rarely used, I seriously considered leaving them up.
Whether you put them up as temporary window treatments because you are new house buyers or leave them up as cheap window blinds in rooms you aren't ready to pour a lot of money into, these Redi Shades are definitely very useful! They brought back a lot of fun memories as well.
Tagged as:
cheap window blinds,
Home Depot,
house buyers,
Redi Shades,
ways to save money,
window blind,
window treatment
Home warranties can be a Sandwich Generation, tool-challenged, property owner’s friend! It doesn’t matter if your investment properties are your home, your aging parents’ property, or used as rentals. It’s important to stay on top of repairs and routine maintenance. For many of us in the Baby Boomer Generation, that can be easier to say than to do. That’s where home warranties can help.
We bought our first house as a fixer upper over thirty years ago. My husband was young, lithe and very good at repairs. Even so, with his busy work schedule and our tight budget, home and appliance repairs were sometimes tough to deal with.
When we moved a few hundred miles away 15 years later, we were thrilled to buy a house that offered an Old Republic home warranty. Because my husband and I were no longer as lithe as we used to be, and his overtime requirements were even higher, we gladly paid to renew it each year. It wasn’t cheap but it more than paid for itself over the years when the dishwasher broke on Thanksgiving, the garbage disposal broke on Christmas, and the air conditioner broke in the middle of a heat wave in the summer!
When I, as a widow, bought a new property on my own, there was no question about it. I definitely made sure I bought a home warranty, in spite of the house being brand new. Once again, my policy about home warranties paid for itself in the second year, when the new air conditioner broke down just AFTER the manufacturer’s warranty ended!
That whole incident also led me to discover one of my easier ways to save money. It always pays to shop around AND to read the small print. Because I did just that, I was able to take advantage of a major savings by getting a five year warranty plan under their new house option for a fraction of the normal cost. My real estate agent hadn’t even known about that. It was a great deal that I almost missed out on!
If you or your spouse are very talented at home repairs and have plenty of time. you could probably skip buying home warranties. On the other hand, I personally think the headaches they save make them worthwhile for me, even if I wasn’t tool-challenged.
Tagged as:
buy my house,
home warranties,
investment properties,
Old Republic home warranty,
ways to save money
