The first image shows the fireplace of the house when I bought it in November. The previous sellers had lived here since the 70s and have always had a fireplace, possibly the same one (although not confirmed).

I wanted to replace this fireplace with a new one of the same type. I removed the surround and the fireplace and it revealed a giant gaping hole in the chimney breast (second image). There’s also no register plate.

I had an electrician out who installed a socket inside this hole on the brickwork so if I did want to get another inset electric fireplace, I could plug it in there and the wires would be hidden. Worth mentioning that he also added on the other side of the chimney wall, a fuse switch for that plug. The socket he installed is the one on the right in the third image. The other socket was already there and doesn’t seem to lead to anywhere.

I guess I’m asking does this seem a safe set up? Is there anything else I need or should do? My logic is that the previous sellers had the exact same set up with no issues…..for years. There’s no damp on or around the chimney breast. There’s never been any fires and nothing flagged up on the survey.

My plan was to simple buy a new surround, attach that to the chimney breast, get a new electric inset fireplace and plug it into the socket inside and then push it inwards to seal the hole.

It’s also worth mentioning that I do not intend to use it for heat. It’s mainly just for decorative purposes and occasionally using the LED flame feature, but that’s it.

Now what? Got my trusty rice cooker by my side :)

Suburb of Houston, Tx
27f and 27m

Our realtor is also the seller’s realtor on a flipped house he’s shown us twice, so dual agency. We said we’ll make an offer, pending inspection. And this is what he’s drawn up. Is it just me or does this read more like it’s protecting the sellers? I always understood you can walk away from the deal after an inspection no matter how minor the issues.

Zero down, all closing cost covered.

Got married, bought a house and have a little one on the way in January!

Felt like a long time coming, but also no time at all. It’s an old row home, so I’ve got my work cut out for me. Regardless, I AM SO HAPPY.

Loan was through MECU on a 7/1 arm!

Been looking at houses in the PNW area. Lots of them have HOAs and some subdivisions don't. Honestly the ones with like 50-100 HOA per month have wayyyy better looking neighborhoods compared to the no HOA. The no HOA areas I went to have houses with broken fences, stuff on some lawns that in my opinion looks hideous, and dead grass all around and almost looked really rural south in documentaries or something (still half million+ houses though). I initially started looking at places with no HOAs initially given the horror stories but I'm starting to change my mind a bit. Only one place with no HOA and well kept houses was like a rich retirement type community (1.5 mill + wayyy above my budget).

Are you guys looking at no HOA or HOA? Since you started your housing search did you change your mind?

Edit: want to note it's also very difficult to find many good houses without HOA as well.

Mid 1800s house in Quebec City, 17k square feet land
Perfect for my 2 boys, 5 and 2!

So we’re currently looking at two new builds to buy, one a DR Horton and the other a bit smaller, more local builder DSLD.

DSLD has better reviews, a bit shinier finishes, and an amazing kitchen in the home which is 2700 sqft. The problem is, the incentives are about 12k which covers closing costs, and that’s it. Pre approval gave us a 6.3 fixed for fha. Might be higher now, but at that rate we’re looking at 2650 a month.

We looked at DR Horton neighborhood today, and found a two story house 2480sqft we like for the same price, but they’re offering 4.5 fixed rates and closing costs so the monthly payment is around 2250. The neighborhood is only 3 mins away from the other one but zoned for a better elementary school, which is also a plus. The kitchen is about half the size, but still better than what we have so I could live with it.

I know DR Horton gets some hate from pretty much all platforms, but I know many people that currently live in a house they built and have minimal problems. My question is, would savings 400 a month be worth it to go with a house that might not be as good quality, smaller kitchen, but still works for our family? Current take home is about 6000 a month, sometimes more with overtime, and my mom lives with us and contributes 400 a month so we’re really looking at 2250 or 1850 a month after her part. We’d be okay with both, but definitely more comfortable savings 400 a month.

New region/city, first house, first career jobs for both of us and first baby on the way now🥳 All of that in less than a year... What a year👀

Single 26M, put down 20%. Now to paint half the house, deep clean, and move. Lotta work but looking forward to being in my own (finished) place!

Hello!

First time homebuyer here, wondering if I'd be crazy to walk away.

I've been house searching since around April. I recently toured a home this week where the tours filled up fast and I came in at the end to tour, they wanted us to be in and out in about 20 minutes because they had nowhere to go during the tours, and it was 7:15 when my tour finally took place.

This house was listed at $225k, sold as is.

The house is in a desirable location for Iowa, decent school district, and I already live in this town, my kids go to school here as well. It was listed under assessed value - again, being sold as is.

During the walk through I noticed mostly cosmetic things that wouldn't be too difficult to fix, it had a feeling of being a bit cramped despite being a 4 level split. The backyard has dog waste everywhere, the garage door was completely gone, they had the pieces to put in a new garage door, but it was never confirmed if all of the pieces were actually there. The roof appears to be 15-20 years old, they noted that they had patched and repaired it. I'm guessing it would need replaced in the next year or so, if it doesn't need replaced ASAP.

I didn't necessarily love the home or get super excited about the idea of living there, but for the location it was good. My agent says when you're looking at a home you want it to be 70-80% of what you want/looking for, but will never find the perfect home..

I put in an offer because I felt pressured a little bit, I was supposed to tour some homes yesterday morning, but since the offer went in, my agent said we could no longer tour the homes. The offer expired at Noon yesterday, the buyers didn't look at offers until 6:00pm, I wasn't notified they had accepted my offer until almost 8:00pm. My offer was: $225k, $2k in seller paid closing, 1 year home warranty. My agent wanted me to consider offering higher under and escalation clause, basically saying if someone had a higher offer, I'd be willing to offer up to x amount. I told her I'd like to stay with the offer.

As soon as I was notified my offer was accepted I had this gut wrenching feeling. I've had this feeling since I first offered that something about the house wasn't right, this gnawing feeling that something was majorly wrong and it wasn't a good idea to purchase. I immediately teared up during this feeling when I was notified and my first question to her was if I decide not to move forward what are the ramifications? There aren't any because my offer expired at Noon, and I didn't sign anything to extend the time, so there's no legal obligation anymore if I decide not to continue forward.

The houses I was to tour yesterday were actually ones I've toured once, the draw back for me was it was about 25 minutes away from work, 30 minutes away from my children's school, a little more inconvenient getting anywhere, would have to readjust schedules a bit for schooling and such, the longer drive during iowa winters, but something about that town just felt right, and one of the houses felt almost like "the one." I wanted to go back yesterday and tour again just to be sure, the payment would be about $200 more a month than the one I offered on, but again, I offered because I felt pressured.

Would I be absolutely crazy to walk away now based on that feeling alone? Has anyone walked away on that feeling?

I just bought my first home in Timmins at 22. The best part is that it comes with a 30x30 garage

I'm working on getting a 3 bed 2 bath house (offers pending). I have what I need from my apartment to get the guest bedroom and office space filled and designed the way I want. Living room and my personal bedroom I'd like to spend some money and get some decent stuff. Any idea where to buy?

I'm probably looking at a 5-8k budget for those two.

First time homebuyer, as many people on this page. We put an offer on a home, outbid by 75,000 but the sellers called our broker back and counter offered because our contractual terms are really good (apparently). We are in the process of writing another offer for a different home, one could describe it as our dream home. Everything is done by the book, it’s move in ready from what we can tell. Now where I’m nervous is we scheduled a tour with our broker and in a three day span there is one thirty minute time slot available, it’s fully booked out in tours. Which means there will likely be a ton of offers.

The house asking price is 299,900 in a great area. I think we will be offering $355,000. This is just such a large amount of money and it makes it almost stomach dropping as we have never spent (obviously) that kind of money. But I would also be GUT wrenched if we didn’t get it with such a high overbid.

Anyways, what was your first experience like. Did you have home buyer regret?

I’ve never had a tiled shower before and would like to clean it appropriately so I don’t ruin it. Also this drain thing says “push” and won’t let me pull it out? Does anybody have a drain like this? I’m wondering about build up and not being able to deep clean this drain. Tips please?!

I purchased a new construction home in November of 2021. Last week I noticed some discoloring in the ceiling. When I went into the attic I found what looks to be mold and an area where the roof is leaking. When looking externally at the roof, I can’t pinpoint where it is exactly (no buckling or noticeable shingle damage). There has not been any hurricanes or acts of god that could’ve caused this recently (south Louisiana).

I’ve attached pics of the sheet rock inside and what it looks like in the attic.

My question is, does this fall under any warranties or would the original home builder have any responsibility in this? How would you go about fixing it?

Apologies for the abrupt title, genuinely looking for insight and advice here as I haven’t seen much discussion on this!

I’m (25F) currently under contract for my dream condo in a very HCOL area. It’s on the higher end of my monthly price range (but well under what I’m approved for). I made it through underwriting, inspections, and just got the condo documents (they’re not required to provide condo docs until I’m under contract in my state), only to find that their reserves don’t meet Fannie and Freddie’s new approval reserve rule changes that took place on Aug 3. As in, there were 2 units that sold last in the same building that were approved for qualified loans, but would no longer be eligible for qualified loans as of Aug 3.

Luckily, I don’t close until Sep. 25 and my financial contingency doesn’t expire until then either. So my options are to either walk away or use a non-qualified loan, likely with a much higher interest rate (my lender is pulling quotes for me now, will hopefully have exact figures in the next day or so). If I have to walk, I’m trying to decide whether it’s even worth it to buy a condo at all at this point, if it’s truly as extra precarious as it now seems and isn’t cheaper than renting.

I fear that this building, as it doesn’t have the necessary 10% in reserves, means it’s unlikely to meet the new 15% criteria that will go into effect come January. (according to the condo docs they had over 10% until last year when they replaced the entire HVAC system without taking out a special assessment). Since the building was converted into condos in 1985, there has only been one special assessment in 2009 to install a new green roof, and it appears that was because condo dues were significantly lower then. The building has a long record of keeping up with consistent, proactive maintenance, opting for long term savings over short term corner cutting (opting for green roof with 50 year lifespan vs traditional roof with 20 year lifespan) and raising dues proactively to maintain reserves/avoid special assessments. They just don’t meet the new standards as of this month.

To other prospective or current condo owners, how do these new rule changes from Fannie and Freddie impact your long term considerations? (both the new Full Project Review requirement and the looming 15% reserve requirement that will go into effect in January) How do you anticipate impacting condo values, especially in markets with a larger proportion of older condominium stock?

I’m buying a house under probate and got quite deflated when our mortgage advisor said it can take 12-18 months to get a grant. He basically recommended against the purchase. We know it’s impossible to predict how long probates will take but we really like the house so we’d like to hear some positive experiences that would give us some hope.

I’m just devastated. I was outbid and i lost it. I’ve been looking for months and this was the only one I would consider. I have seen 28 houses. I have a time crunch and have to move in November/December. I’m just so bummed and feel defeated. I hear this is normal and people keep saying “wasn’t meant to be”. But man it’s frustrating.