Struggling with this right now. The wall color in the house we just closed on isn’t objectionable and it’s like a shade or two off my ideal color. I’m just not sure I’m willing to commit 10,000 to a barely-perceptible difference.
Same
They painted everything white a couple of years ago. Which I think it is good for some room I find the house quitte bland too. I wish we did paint the living room/kitchen and the bedrooms
Came here to say this. The paint that was used on the interior of my new construction is very low quality. it would have benefited me greatly to have a painter come in while the house was completely empty and repaint the entire interior with Sherwin-Williams paint
Yup, my stairwell has cheap paint. Everytime we get a piece of furniture delivered up the stairs there is a big mark from the slightest touch. Mostly sweaty skin. Pretty gross and I hate looking at it every day.
I bought an older house/fixer upper, my first house, I should’ve refinished the wood floors!!! Now I have to strategize a way to get all my furniture out and do the floors as fast as possible
That’s what we get for being all fired up to move in. At this point I think I have to wait until I get new living room furniture to justify emptying that space of everything, then move the beds and dressers into the kitchen, hahah I can already picture what a headache it’ll be
Doing things right, rather than half-assed and having to do it over again 5 years later. Even if it meant waiting longer for things to get done. Might as well wait and do it right.
Change the air filter, I froze my whole line, including the compressor motor. I had to shut the AC down totally for a couple hours in 102° Heat. And don’t go with the cheap 1 inch one go for the 2 inch one that one has a lot more surface area hence more airflow easier on the fan.
I did that after being in my house for almost 10 years. The only good side on waiting that long was that I threw out a lot of junk. I did the whole house at once, so it was like moving without actually moving.
I wished I painted the whole housr and replaced the carpet in smaller bedrooms with Hardwood or Vinyl (which I did after sometime). Its just more hassle after you move in.
Bought water alarms. They're a whole lot cheaper than cleaning up a flooded basement. And if a pipe is just dumping water out, I'd rather know in a few minutes than several hours later.
We built our house in a new neighborhood 15 years ago and I wish we had planted a few trees or shrubs for more backyard privacy. Several of our neighbors have mature trees and evergreens and I envy them.
I wish we’d pulled up the carpet and replaced the sub-flooring. It squeaks in some places, especially in winter.
Also wish we’d taken out one of the bathtubs and replaced it with a walk-in shower. No home needs more than one tub. And now we are older and don’t need to be stepping into a slippery tub to shower.
Repainted the woodwork. It didn’t cost that much to have it done-we did it to sell the house, and I really regretted not having it to enjoy while we lived there.
1955 house. I did most of it.
Replace the 20 year old hvac
Remove mold and asbestos
Improve drainage and water management
Mitigate extreme radon level
Improve electrical situation, deal with 2 wire outlets by using gfci.
Ran out of money on have all the hardwood refinished before moving in. Oh well. Movers might have dinged it up anyway.
I hired it out. They did it as a package with the mold which was minor but spread out. They also demolished the finished end of the basement (1970s paneling with evident mold and a hard board ceiling, and asbestos floor tiles and mastic). They hauled away the 1980s kitchen that the previous owner had left down there when they did their upstairs remodel too.
Asbestos wise 3 ducts were fully wrapped, so they took those away. Some fittings had tape at the joints - all the loose was removed and tight was sealed down with glue spray and foil tape. They removed tight stuff in a few crucial places to make replacing the lost duct work easier for me, and I appreciated that. The asbestos floor was 250 sq ft of 9” tiles and black mastic. Good times. I wanted it gone cuz they were already doing work, and I wanted it out of the way for the future if I was going to do a perimeter drain system.
They took all the dumb hanging insulation out of the crawl space joist cavities too, which was nice. They killed all the mold and used Kilz to seal the wood.
20 gallons of kilz sprayed in the basement, and all that demo, and the asbestos work, totaled out $6800. The asbestos part was $2000 for the floor and $800 for the duct, but if I wasn’t doing all the additional work I bet my prices might have been higher.
We got popcorn ceilings removed and it was worth it. Wish we could have afforded to have the entire house repainted. Also wish we had a better inspector. I love our house, but some of the issues that have come to the surface over the years, I'm not sure we would have bought it.
Scraped the popcorn ceilings. Wife said it was too expensive and the popcorn ceilings didn’t bother her. 2 years later and she hates them and wishes we had it done. I should have fought harder
In my first house, 925 sq ft, I should have done windows. They were all rattlers and didn't fir well, drafty, etc....
In my current home, 1450 Sq ft, a few things should shouldda been done by now. Kitchen floor is mismatched with the rest of the hard wood.. roof probably could stand a replacement. For something fun, basement could be properly finished.
Floors. Made the mistake last house. Replacing all the carpet in new house. Just discovered black mold like an hour ago as part of that. Very glad I’m doing it this time. LVP 🥰
I wish we sold it. We made our offer just before covid started. At the time, we thought we were paying too much. By the time our closing date came around, covid was in full swing and the market blew up. Our real estate agent offered us not to move in at all, and had someone interested in the house offering double what we paid. We decided to keep the house. We like it, but that was a lot of money to turn down.
Update the kitchen and bathrooms right away. Lost years of enjoyment on the kitchen and bathrooms still undone, life takes over and the time and money never seem to coincide. Now I have given up in some ways
I wish I'd done a deep clean of my own (i.e. paid someone to come in and do one). I should've pushed for another walkthrough with the builders rep when they gave me the keys. I could've discovered little issues like the pilot on the water heater being unlit.
Bug bomb. I don’t know why I didn’t think of bug bombing or spraying while it was empty.
Other than that, wish I’d painted and refinished the wood floors. At the time, we didn’t have the extra cash for that.
I wish I had my whole house painted.
Struggling with this right now. The wall color in the house we just closed on isn’t objectionable and it’s like a shade or two off my ideal color. I’m just not sure I’m willing to commit 10,000 to a barely-perceptible difference.
Same They painted everything white a couple of years ago. Which I think it is good for some room I find the house quitte bland too. I wish we did paint the living room/kitchen and the bedrooms
Came here to say this. The paint that was used on the interior of my new construction is very low quality. it would have benefited me greatly to have a painter come in while the house was completely empty and repaint the entire interior with Sherwin-Williams paint
Yup, my stairwell has cheap paint. Everytime we get a piece of furniture delivered up the stairs there is a big mark from the slightest touch. Mostly sweaty skin. Pretty gross and I hate looking at it every day.
I bought an older house/fixer upper, my first house, I should’ve refinished the wood floors!!! Now I have to strategize a way to get all my furniture out and do the floors as fast as possible
Same issue. Beautiful floors scratched to shit that I now have to look at every day. Shouldve gotten them refinished when it was empty.
That’s what we get for being all fired up to move in. At this point I think I have to wait until I get new living room furniture to justify emptying that space of everything, then move the beds and dressers into the kitchen, hahah I can already picture what a headache it’ll be
(older home ‘47) Rewired the house and upgraded my panel.
Mine has the upgraded panel but they only partially rewired it. I am slowly working on that part.
Same. Upgraded to a 200 amp panel and replaced most wiring to 12 AWG to future-proof.
Can I ask where you are and what this cost you? This is my current #1 priority but I have no idea what to expect for cost.
Same, plus putting speaker wire, internet wire, and insulation in the walls while they were open.
14 years in, and I could PUNCH MYSELF for not putting hardwood floors in the one room we carpeted. Ugh.
Doing things right, rather than half-assed and having to do it over again 5 years later. Even if it meant waiting longer for things to get done. Might as well wait and do it right.
Do it nice or do it twice
Wish I had Painted every room. I painted 3 rooms before moving in and to this date, 3 years later, those are the only freshly painted rooms.
Put those little round guards to prevent the door knob from damaging the walls.
I wish I had redone the floors when the house was still empty.
M%rdered the neighbours and moved nicer people in
I feel this so deep in my soul
Change the air filter, I froze my whole line, including the compressor motor. I had to shut the AC down totally for a couple hours in 102° Heat. And don’t go with the cheap 1 inch one go for the 2 inch one that one has a lot more surface area hence more airflow easier on the fan.
Landscaping. I wish we had immediately finished the landscaping. We would have 20 year old trees if we did it as soon as we moved in.
Refinished the hardwoods, painted, installed new trim, baseboards and doors.
I did that after being in my house for almost 10 years. The only good side on waiting that long was that I threw out a lot of junk. I did the whole house at once, so it was like moving without actually moving.
Paint the inside of the closets.
Electrical outlets! Would have been so much easier when it was just studs
I wish I redid the floors immediately. The hardwood isn’t bad but now my shit and pets are all in here. How do I do it now? 😭😮💨
Painted first. We have that terrible flat paint that can’t be cleaned. Also cleaned the tile floors and grout.
The flat paint is so awful!
Literally the worst.
I don’t wish I did anything. I deep cleaned the house and that was all it needed.
Good to know.
I wished I painted the whole housr and replaced the carpet in smaller bedrooms with Hardwood or Vinyl (which I did after sometime). Its just more hassle after you move in.
Bought water alarms. They're a whole lot cheaper than cleaning up a flooded basement. And if a pipe is just dumping water out, I'd rather know in a few minutes than several hours later.
You can buy some off Amazon! I have one that I set on top of my sump pit and that baby is LOUD I spent less than $20 on it and it works great
Note that smart, internet-connected water alarms mostly suck - so make sure you have a dumb one as a backup! Plus, if the power's out, no wifi...
Changed the locks on all the exterior doors. I also took the short screws holding the latch and replaced them with longer ones.
We built our house in a new neighborhood 15 years ago and I wish we had planted a few trees or shrubs for more backyard privacy. Several of our neighbors have mature trees and evergreens and I envy them.
Not too late.
Yard drainage
I wish we’d pulled up the carpet and replaced the sub-flooring. It squeaks in some places, especially in winter. Also wish we’d taken out one of the bathtubs and replaced it with a walk-in shower. No home needs more than one tub. And now we are older and don’t need to be stepping into a slippery tub to shower.
Redo all the flooring before moving in the furniture and filling the closets!
Nothing really. It’s best to live with the house for a while to see what your priorities really are
Repainted the woodwork. It didn’t cost that much to have it done-we did it to sell the house, and I really regretted not having it to enjoy while we lived there.
Put a French drain in the basement to stop all seepage
We definitely should’ve had more things done before we moved in as we had to deal with painting and refinishing the stairs after we moved in.
Painted
Changed the carpet for wood floors. Now with all the furniture and all it's so much more difficult.
1955 house. I did most of it. Replace the 20 year old hvac Remove mold and asbestos Improve drainage and water management Mitigate extreme radon level Improve electrical situation, deal with 2 wire outlets by using gfci. Ran out of money on have all the hardwood refinished before moving in. Oh well. Movers might have dinged it up anyway.
Did you do asbestos abatement or hire it out?
I hired it out. They did it as a package with the mold which was minor but spread out. They also demolished the finished end of the basement (1970s paneling with evident mold and a hard board ceiling, and asbestos floor tiles and mastic). They hauled away the 1980s kitchen that the previous owner had left down there when they did their upstairs remodel too. Asbestos wise 3 ducts were fully wrapped, so they took those away. Some fittings had tape at the joints - all the loose was removed and tight was sealed down with glue spray and foil tape. They removed tight stuff in a few crucial places to make replacing the lost duct work easier for me, and I appreciated that. The asbestos floor was 250 sq ft of 9” tiles and black mastic. Good times. I wanted it gone cuz they were already doing work, and I wanted it out of the way for the future if I was going to do a perimeter drain system. They took all the dumb hanging insulation out of the crawl space joist cavities too, which was nice. They killed all the mold and used Kilz to seal the wood. 20 gallons of kilz sprayed in the basement, and all that demo, and the asbestos work, totaled out $6800. The asbestos part was $2000 for the floor and $800 for the duct, but if I wasn’t doing all the additional work I bet my prices might have been higher.
I wish I had gotten the yard finished.
We got popcorn ceilings removed and it was worth it. Wish we could have afforded to have the entire house repainted. Also wish we had a better inspector. I love our house, but some of the issues that have come to the surface over the years, I'm not sure we would have bought it.
Scraped the popcorn ceilings. Wife said it was too expensive and the popcorn ceilings didn’t bother her. 2 years later and she hates them and wishes we had it done. I should have fought harder
In my first house, 925 sq ft, I should have done windows. They were all rattlers and didn't fir well, drafty, etc.... In my current home, 1450 Sq ft, a few things should shouldda been done by now. Kitchen floor is mismatched with the rest of the hard wood.. roof probably could stand a replacement. For something fun, basement could be properly finished.
The inaugural kegger.
Floors. Made the mistake last house. Replacing all the carpet in new house. Just discovered black mold like an hour ago as part of that. Very glad I’m doing it this time. LVP 🥰
Paid for a deep clean, and painted
I wish we sold it. We made our offer just before covid started. At the time, we thought we were paying too much. By the time our closing date came around, covid was in full swing and the market blew up. Our real estate agent offered us not to move in at all, and had someone interested in the house offering double what we paid. We decided to keep the house. We like it, but that was a lot of money to turn down.
Update the kitchen and bathrooms right away. Lost years of enjoyment on the kitchen and bathrooms still undone, life takes over and the time and money never seem to coincide. Now I have given up in some ways
Gutter guards. 100% should have had them installed when I had my roof done when I moved in.
I wish I had planted some fruit trees
I wish I'd done a deep clean of my own (i.e. paid someone to come in and do one). I should've pushed for another walkthrough with the builders rep when they gave me the keys. I could've discovered little issues like the pilot on the water heater being unlit.
Put those plastic or cloth thing in every cabinet to avoid stains and water
Bug bomb. I don’t know why I didn’t think of bug bombing or spraying while it was empty. Other than that, wish I’d painted and refinished the wood floors. At the time, we didn’t have the extra cash for that.
Refinished my hardwood floors. It wasn't in the budget at the time, and now it's going to be a HUGE pain to get done.
Refinished my hardwood floors. It wasn't in the budget at the time, and now it's going to be a HUGE pain to get done.
Removed the Bermuda sod before it was established 😭
My wife cried , the seller left food in the fridge,turned off the power in June . Didn’t plan on buying a new fridge
I wish we had refinished the hardwood floors before moving in. Now we’ll never do it, because it’s so disruptive.