A young woman, whose name will not be included here because she is an idiot, decided to purchase her first home – a 1940s ranch-style house in North Carolina.
She is described in the New York Post article as an “Internet Creator”, that apparently being the creator of a site called “Making Money Online”.
She claims she was successfully paying off student loans, making monthly car payments, and putting back money for retirement.
She felt good about her financial situation.
This is all good because, after all, she is advising people on how to make money online, right?
But this home purchase, according to her melodramatic reporting on TikTok, has wiped out her savings and left her deep in debt.
$65,000 deep!
Captain's Note: The Captain's cynical side wonders if this story is either fabricated or embellished to help her "make money online".
Okay, so. Let's assume this is real.
As yer Captain sees it, her first mistake was buying an 80-year-old house.
Anyone who has ever watched “This Old House” on PBS knows that home repairs are expensive.
And with an older house there are often hidden problems that need to be addressed.
I remember one episode in which the TOH crew was working on an historic mansion in Georgia.
Norm, the Master Carpenter, found termites.
"NORM!"
No, wait. Sorry. That's a different show.
So, termites. This was unexpected.
The home had been purchased for an outrageous price.
The renovation budget was set at $100,000.
But this was going to require another $20,000.
Captain’s Note: This was the 90s.
Norm took the problem to the homeowner.
Her response: “Well you know money doesn’t just grow on trees!”
Yer Captain felt sure she had a money tree somewhere!
In the case of our North Carolina home buyer, she obviously didn’t have a money tree.
We are not told what she paid for the house, or whether she paid cash or took out a mortgage.
She admitted she knew the house would need some work.
She apparently didn’t realize it would need $25,000 for electrical and HVAC, $15,000 for termite, dry rot and water damage, $10,000 to bring her porch and deck up to code, and $15,000 to remedy the tree growing up through the middle of the house.
Yes, that’s right!
A FREAKIN’ TREE was growing up into the attic and through the roof!
A FREAKIN’ TREE!
The Captain wants to know: Did she not ever look at the house before buying it?
She claims the seller did not disclose any of these problems.
So her realtor let her down.
She claims she hired a home inspector, who did not report any of these problems.
So her home inspector let her down.
Captain’s Note: Let the buyer beware. Anyone can be a home inspector. In most places the job requires no specialized skills or certification.
She felt like she had done everything she was supposed to do, therefore…
“It isn’t my fault!”
To get the required work done, she maxxed out three credit cards (probably at 18-25% interest) and spent all of her retirement savings.
Captain's Note: It doesn’t sound like she had that much in retirement savings, but then again, she’s still young…
The Captain and First Mate bought our first & forever home 4½ years ago.
I was 57.
We searched for months for the house we wanted, got a great price and an amazingly low interest rate on a two-story house in a quiet neighborhood built in the late 70s.
We knew it was a “fixer-upper”, but the Captain has mad skills when it comes to home renovations and the First Mate is pretty handy with tools too.
And we have years of experience from fixing up every parsonage we have ever lived in.
Nonetheless, we, too, hired a home inspector.
A reputable home inspector.
And the Captain followed him around during his inspection, asking questions along the way to make sure he was being thorough.
We got a full written report of things needing to be attended to and things needing to be “watched”.
Sure, he missed a couple things.
But you can be sure there was no FREAKIN’ TREE growing up through the roof!
We knew the house would need a new roof.
$$
We knew the front porch was sinking into the ground.
$$
We knew the property needed drainage work.
$$
We knew there were cracks in the brick façade, and although
we had a letter from a mason assuring us it wasn’t a structural problem, the
crack has grown and the remedy (at this point) is going to cost us.
$$$
A home warranty covered the cost of a new refrigerator and a repair to the furnace, but we ended up paying for the new dishwasher because dealing with the home warranty people got frustrating.
$
I’m replacing a glass cooktop this weekend, a project we knew about but deferred.
$$
We knew there were electrical issues [see Home Inspection] but the Captain has tackled most of those.
$
We knew about these things because we made the effort to know about these things!
And knowing about these things allowed us to make a lower offer to the seller.
With every home there are needs.
And then there are the “wants”.
We knew we would want to paint the interior, and today there are only three small spaces where the original paint color is still showing.
$
We built a home office in an unused portion of the basement, as well as a home bar complete with pool table and dart board.
[Cost undocumented.]
And we added a fire pit and hot tub outside.
$
I know there will be more to do as the house ages, some of it just routine maintenance.
“The joys of home ownership.”
There. I said it. Beat ya to it, ya little shit!
But to be fair, if this woman had let a Boomer advise her, she wouldn't have bought a house with A FREAKIN' TREE growing up through the roof!
Frankly, I am sick and tired of Millennials whining and crying on TikTok and other places about how tough their life is.
I saw a TikTok from one Millennial who was crying because she got her first 40-hour per week job and now she doesn’t have a social life!
Captain’s Note: To complete the story, she commutes 1½ hours each way to her low-paying job, so she has to get up early and there’s little time left once she gets home.
Wow! They're busy today!
Mates, life has always been tough. Whoever told you otherwise lied to you.
But go ahead.
Ya wanna be an “internet creator” – fine. That is your decision. I wish you well.
Ya only wanna work four days a week – fine. That is your decision. I wish you well.
Ya wanna only work half a day so you can hang out with your friends like you did in high school – fine. That is your decision. I wish you well.
Ya wanna be a homeowner – fine. I wish you well.
But decisions have consequences!
Home ownership is expensive, more so now than it has ever been.
And home ownership takes a little effort on your part.
Don’t expect others to do the hard work for you.
Because, yes, there are a lot of untrustworthy people in this world.
But...
…A FREAKIN’ TREE!
Damn!
