LexieCat

Doing laundry today, heard weird noise, washer leaked through ceiling into my kitchen. At least it was a relatively small load, but I can't get hold of my carpenter friend to help me move the washer (it's wedged into a small laundry closet and I can't maneuver it out on my own), and I'll probably have to open up the ceiling in the kitchen to dry it out thoroughly. I was debating whether to call a plumber or an appliance repair person, and of course nobody works on the weekend. I need to try to get something done this week because I will be traveling on business most of the following week.

In other lovely news, my lawyer has FINALLY gotten the necessary information to file a lawsuit on my foundation problem. As part of toting up the damages, he suggested I take an appeal of my property tax assessment. I bought this place at the HEIGHT of housing prices (and paid a premium because I liked it so much--custom cabinets and such), and the UNDAMAGED comparable homes are selling for about half of what I paid. I have an appraiser coming out this week for the property tax appeal, and I have a feeling it will be one of those "good news/bad news" situations. “The good news is you’ll be paying a whole lot less property tax! The bad news is, well, in terms of what you could sell your property for, there are some squatters in Camden who might be able to afford it if they pool their drug-habit money.”

I don't know why this house hates me.

happybeingme

Sorry for your troubles but must admit I giggled at your Camden reference. You and I are from the same area.

LexieCat

I shouldn't be whining about something so trivial, but I just finished two incredibly intense weeks in terms of work, was looking forward to relaxing a bit and getting caught up on some other things, and then this crap comes along. I guess I should be grateful that it didn't happen right in the middle of all the stuff going on the past couple of weeks, but it seems like with this house I just can't catch a break. I still haven't had the flooring in my basement fixed after this winter's back-to-back sewer backups. I'm sick of thinking about it, paying for it, dealing with it.

I wish it were possible to go "no contact" with a house. Unfortunately, the bank still expects me to pay my mortgage. I can't sell it without the MAJOR and expensive repairs that need to be done.

Just ugh.

Impurrfect

Lexie - I'm so sorry you are having more problems with the house I hope that your lawyer comes back with good/good news!

I had to laugh about going NC with your house. I rent, and the riding lawn mower came with the house, but I wanted to go NC with it, today, when it died.

I've always wanted to own a home, but your troubles and knowing *I* don't have to fix or buy a new lawn mower has it's benefits.

That being said, I'm pretty sure the above-knee-height weeds in my yard are laughing at me and giving me the finger

Hugs and prayers,

Amy

maybear

I'm sorry Lexie.
I would feel the same, it's not so trivial. You are dealing with all that in your break and that sucks. Especially the fact it's one thing after another.
I bought my house with my heart, not really my head. It needs heaps of work too. In fact, the downstairs started leaking today! I'm just about to sell mine and hoping I don't lose money, but I have enjoyed living here, it's brought me a lot of joy. I can take that with me, money I can't.
Still though, I'm sorry you have to deal with all that.

HopefulElle

I feel your pain. I have been trapped in an old house I can't afford for years. Once, I get out, I never want to own a house again. I dream of a life where all the crap that breaks is someone else's problem. Maybe the damage won't be as bad as you think? Try to enjoy your Sunday despite it all. Staying in the moment helps when everything is falling apart around you!

redatlanta

Lord it isn't trivial.

I also bought at the height of the housing market in 2006. Looks like my unit is selling now for about what I owe, 40k less than I paid. This is good news as during the recession they were selling 110k to 200k less than I paid.

You win some you lose some.

LexieCat

Exactly. I'm lucky that I can at least afford to make my mortgage payments. I didn't overextend myself financially when I bought it, but by the time all is said and done I probably will have paid in the neighborhood of $30k in legal fees, and if I don't get any recovery/settlement I'll probably be out another $50k for the repairs. And even when the repairs are done it will probably sell for half of what I paid for it.

I have friends who have been evicted, who have been foreclosed on, and at least this monstrosity has kept a roof over my head (though that isn't in great shape and I have all these tall trees around my house, so I figure one of these days one of them will come crashing through the roof).

And I did all the right things when I bought it. The home inspector said, "This is JUST the kind of house you want to buy--it's 30 years old and if something were going to go wrong it probably would have." I am convinced that the sellers had no clue about the foundation problem. It appeared to be sound when I bought it.

Most of the time I just accept it as one of those things--life on life's terms. Right now, though, it's reared its ugly head back into my consciousness and I'm feeling bummed. Being tired, of course, doesn't help.

I'm up early because I called the home service I pay a monthly subscription to for plumbing problems. I went through the drill of their reminding me that if it's the washing machine, it isn't covered. I told them I don't know WHERE it's coming from, and with my luck I'd get an appliance repairman out here only to find out it's in the pipes. Hopefully the plumber can fix whatever it is--even if I have to pay for the call--and I can get this all resolved.

Incidentally, I knew water had come through the ceiling into my kitchen, but when I went down to the basement, there was a puddle below the kitchen, too.

Ugh, ugh.

CodeJob

Water is a destructive force. I hope they figure the latest issue out for you quickly and the expense is not too great Lexie!

LexieCat

OK, well, the good news is that the washing machine drain hose popped off the back of the washing machine. Easy fix, IOW. The guy charged me only $110 for the weekend house call, used my shop vac to suck up some of the water in the carpet, helped me arrange some fans to start drying it out. He said his guess was that the water didn't go through the floor so much as underneath the access panel and that probably that's how it wound up in the basement. He also gave me advice about how to replace the hose, and how to test the new one before I put the washing machine back.

So on the good side, I had him give me his card so I could use them again. SUPER nice guy. I actually used that company when I moved in, to put the washer and dryer where they are now. At the time I thought they were a little pricy, and I've used several assorted plumbers since then and haven't been happy with any of them. So from now on I think I'll stick with these guys. They've been around for a long time and were recommended to me by the previous homeowners (you know, the lucky devils who sold this place JUST in the nick of time).

I've ordered my new hose and will go pick it up at Lowe's shortly. At least I know now what happened. It's that "oh f*ck, what now" feeling that is so disconcerting. I don't think the appliance repair company would have been a whole lot cheaper, and this has helped get it off my mind a bit.

DesertEyes

Lexie, I hear you about houses. I have heard that a house is a hole in the ground you throw money in and it never comes back.

Something to cheer you up? Had one place with snakes in the heating ducts, that was an adventure.

Bathroom vent directly above the toilet, first night there was a thunderstorm we discovered the vent was really a straight pipe to the roof. Water _cascaded_ down onto whoever was making use of the facility, shorting out the fan in said vent, causing a minor fire that was fortunately put out by the same flood that caused it.

etc, etc.

I'm glad your leak was not serious, and that it was just a cheap hose.

Mike

LexieCat

OK, I am NOT freaking out. I am NOT freaking out.

The real estate appraiser came today to estimate the current market value of my house. It came in at one THIRD of what I paid for it. I was thinking it would come in at half, maybe a bit lower.

And I got a bill from my lawyer today for another $3500. (That's because of all the work to finally file the lawsuit.) And unless the case settles quickly, now we get to go through the lovely process of discovery, with MORE legal fees.

I'll be working till I'm 80.

DesertEyes

No worries. Freak out all you want. I know that feeling well, at one point my home was appraised at one _tenth_ of what I paid for it. So "freak away", I would guess more than half the peeps in the USA freak out over home values every day.

Oh I dunno. Somehow I get the feeling that you are much too kind a person to _not_ reach out to others. I suspect that you will be helping peeps all the way to the end, whether you call it "work" or not After all, just look at all you do here on SR, and we are not paying you a penny

Mike

LexieCat

You just haven't gotten the bill yet.

DesertEyes

Mike