Memes

Lots of great advice here. I'll 2nd the YouTube as a resource. I've repaired AC units, a garbage disposal, and replaced the damn water heater all from an hour or 2 of research and watching YouTube.

Also keep a note book that you jot down the seldom done stuff, like blowing out sprinklers, which furnace filter size you need, etc.

Anything you buy for home improvement, from new cabinet handles to drywall, get an emailed receipt and put it in a special folder/tag that you can find again when you sell. Those dollars spent are tax deductible when you sell your house.

Builder's grade = cheapest shit they can buy in bulk.

Enjoy your new house!

Live there for you. Its your house. Make it your personal retreat from the world, and set it up how you like it. Don't worry about resale until it's actually time to sell.

One additional thing I'll add: make "nice" repairs, e.g. things that you normally repair when you're about to sell the house (e.g. wobbly toilet paper dispenser, crooked trim, etc.) as your budget and time allow. These things add up when you're selling and you'll regret not having your place look nice when you lived there.

These are nice weekend projects and often help you learn basic home repair.

I'll second the last bit. I've got too many friends who bought their houses and they're so insanely worried about "well what if the paint color on the outside makes people not want to buy the house" or whatever. That's (hopefully) a problem that's years and years in the future, and you shouldn't have to worry about it. Don't worry about how other people might see it - it's your house, and you should do things that please you. Always wanted a bright pink bedroom? Go for it.

The home improvement book.

It's on Amazon used for super cheap. I just paid $2.99 + $4 ship for it

Thanks!!

Great comment, though I disagree with

Electric and water generally* pretty are easy. Don’t mess with the gas lines.

I've done all three in multiple houses now, and I'd say that water and gas are pretty easy. Electrical is where you can get yourself in real trouble.

If you screw up water or gas you're going to know it. The tiniest gas leak smells noticeably even in larger spaces. Water leaks usually become evident once you turn the water on. If you inspect your work afterwards you'll find it.

Electrical is another story. You can turn on the circuit and everything works and you think you're good, but you've somehow switched the hot and neutral, which is dangerous. Or you used 14 gauge wire on a 20 amp circuit, which will be fine until you put a huge AC unit on that circuit and start a fire inside your walls. I'm not suggesting you shouldn't do your own electrical, because once you know the basics you're going to be fine, but as far as dangerous conditions go electrical is the one I worry most about.

Thank you very much, kind stranger

After 30 years of owning my own home my red flag is when they say "this is going to be a big job".

Ehhh some of this is great advice about sales tactics, but you should definitely get a contractor to come out and look over the place again.

Reason being is if there is something that was missed in your initial inspection that another contractor found, you can go back to the realtor and demand them to be fixed. Especially for new builds.

However you only have a small window for this, because if you wait too long the realtor and or contractors can say it was you and it's not their responsibility.

Also you should always get multiple bids from several contractors. If someone is going to do the job at a really low price, that means that contractor will cut corners, and do more harm than good. If someone is giving you an astronomical price that is completely unreasonable that means the contractor doesn't want the job.

There is also this other "tactic" that construction companies know very well. That is if the company is trying to give you a deal, you as a customer are going to nitpick every little thing. Flip side, if they mark it up the customer will always believe it's the best job that was ever done.

Source: my step father owned a large legit construction company, that I worked for, and my bio father owned a small shady construction company, that I also worked for.

I'm counting on it 😅

I was in your situation until about a week ago. It's such a relief once the bed moves and you get to start sleeping in your new house, but the first few sleeps were not very restful for me. Try to replicate your good sleep situation as best as you can. For me, that means a fan for air flow and white noise, plus blackout curtains to block out both the sunrise and outside noises. I'm assuming you would bring all of your normal bedding stuff.

I think that the best part was waking up in the house and being able to get coffee brewing and breakfast cooking while playing some Ray Lamontagne on the stereo. Do yourself a favor and think of how you want to start your first morning in your house and set yourself up!

Congratulations!

As you should be 😁

I did!

Not sure what this is implying. I personally know a few others (myself included) who have been working to get a house but stuck in the rent going up/cost of homes going up cycle. I feel (opinion) that most people would rather have a home instead of renting.