Home Inspectors - Are They Worth It?

This is going to be a bit of a rant on our recent experience with a home inspector. So get ready!

Our house was built in 1977 and we moved into it in 1984. That means the house is 33 years old, and we've owned it for 26 of those years. It is priced to sell as a used home; not a new one. It is in excellent condition. We have worked hard to maintain it.

About a month ago, we received a low-ball offer from some buyers. After 4 counter-offers, we finally agreed upon a price (still a very good deal for them). Now to the home inspector. He came in and wrote a 26 page report. He actually found only a few minor items that needed to be repaired (which we have since done). However, on every section of his report he wrote "potential for failure" and recommended having a licensed electrician, plumber and HVAC service person inspect all the mechanicals. One pipe in the basement had a bit of rust on it so he wrote there was a possibility of a substantial leak behind the wall and this too should be inspected by a licensed contractor. He charged the buyer $420 for this report in which he took no responsibility and passed the buck on everything.

The buyers went nuts. They now wanted us to pay for licensed contractors to come in and check everything. They also wanted us to purchase a home warranty and replace items that were in perfect working order. They became so unreasonable, we had to back out of the deal.

When we bought this house, there was no such thing as a home inspection. I think the original idea of having a professional inspector check to make sure there weren't any hidden problems was a good concept. Our real estate agent told us that in the past few years some inspectors have been sued because buyer's felt they missed something so now some inspectors are recommending contractors inspect everything to cover their behinds.

So, what was once a good idea to protect buyers has now become a nightmare for sellers. I'm sure not all inspectors are this ridiculous, but here is another example where our litigious society has gone haywire.

Thanks for listening to my rant. I would be interested to hear if anyone else has had this experience with a home inspection. Well, we have another showing on Saturday; maybe this is the one.

Trying to stay hopeful .........

Stuff, Stuff And More Stuff (And A Few Treasures, Too)

One of the most daunting projects when changing your lifestyle to fulltime RVing, is what to do with all your things.

I've read many other fulltimers blogs, and it seems everyone has a different way to accomplish this task.

First, I offered our sons whatever they wanted. They didn't want much! No matter how much I told them that my Hummels, collector plates and other treasures should be considered family heirlooms, they just weren't interested. Neither are married. I think if they had wives, they would have taken more. I decided I would not keep things "just in case" they wanted them later. I will keep a few personal treasures, some Christmas items, our tax returns and a few other special items. These will fit into several storage bins. Our son has agreed to keep these for us.

You may have noticed I did not mention pictures in the items I am keeping. I have scanned all of our pictures and slides (thousands of them) to our computer. I also purchased a program that allowed me to transfer VHS tapes to the computer. We had over 50 hours worth of taped band concerts, baseball games, soccer games, etc. saved on VHS tapes. It took me months to accomplish this because I edited as I went along. I kept just a bit of each event and created a file for each year. I really had fun doing this. No one had watched those tapes in a long time, and it was fun watching my little boys grow up all over again. My biggest concern was losing the files if my harddrive crashed. So, I bought three external harddrives. I copied the videos and pictures onto each one. Now each son has a copy and I have a back-up copy as well. THEN, I threw away the VHS tapes and the pictures. That was one of the hardest things I have done. At first I was going to save them, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized no one was going to look at them. They would just sit in a storage bin. So, out they went. I can hear some of you gasping as you read this. If you want to save your pictures, by all means do so! Everyone has a different tolerence for what they let go.

We began planning for our lifestyle change over three years ago. At that time, I discovered selling on ebay. It has been a very successful outlet for me to sell quite a bit of our stuff (Kevin would call it junk). I have been amazed time and time again what people will buy. It was not difficult to set up an account. I started small with a few items, and worked my way up. There is a time commitment involved; cleaning your items, taking pictures, downloading pictures, preparing well written and descriptive entries, communicating with buyers, packing the items, and then shipping them. I feel it has been extremely worthwhile. I have made over $2,000 selling our old stuff on ebay. There is no way I would have gotten the same prices at an estate sale or rummage sale. Most of what I sold were older items we had laying around from the 70s and 80s. Old toys our sons left behind fetched a nice price. My 1960s Barbie items sold for an astonishing amount. The Barbie accessories (case, clothes, kitchen) sold for more than the actual doll. Frequently, I was going to throw something away or give it to charity. At the last minute, I would decide to research it on ebay first and wind up getting a pretty penny for it. Things like used blank cassette tapes, old toys, slide projector and trays, a turntable and other old stuff laying around all sold for a decent amount. I encourage everyone to give it a try if you have the time before you must get rid of all your stuff.

Another excellent avenue for selling has been Craigslist. Items that were too large for ebay sold very well on Craigslist. When we began staging our house for selling, we sold some of our furniture. We have also sold yard items, outdoor Christmas decorations, and snow fence. All for cash, of course. No checks or money orders. Did you know crooks are now passing fake money orders? We even sold our previous 5th wheel on Craigslist.

The final step will be an estate/moving sale. I have interviewed several companies that do these types of sales in our area. After all is said and done, they end up with somewhere between 1/3 to 1/2 of the total sales. It sounds like a lot, but in return, I don't have to deal with it. We live in a somewhat rural area and rummage sales just aren't that successful. So, once we have a firm closing date on the house, I will set a date for the estate sale.

Speaking of selling the house; still no luck. After accepting two offers, it is still not sold. The first buyers are still trying to sell their house. The second buyers just didn't work out. So, it's still being shown. To date, we've had 26 showings in 3 months. We have 5 or 6 who say they may come back for a second look or that it is in their top 2. Come on people, make us an offer!!!

We've had temperatures in the 40's the last few days. I've got spring fever! :)

"The Journey of a thousand miles begins with one step"

Something's Not Right

I have been following the trip journal of fulltimers Jo and Fred Wishnie for about a year now. They are also from Wisconsin. We have never met, but have corresponded a few times. I look forward to meeting them in our travels once we get on the road.

A few weeks ago Fred posted that Jo was in the hospital. She was quite sick and needed to stay for a few days. It turns out she has diverticulitis and it has been getting worse over the last few years.

Here's where the something wrong part comes into play. Jo retired before she was eligible for Medicare. During her career, she paid all of her health insurance premiums. When she retired, she had a difficult time finding an insurance company that would cover her. Eventually, she found a policy that would cover her, but not her diverticulitis as this was considered a pre-existing condition. She has been paying over $400 a month for this policy. She now needs surgery to correct her condition. You guessed it. The insurance company won't cover it and she will have to pay the entire costs of the surgery. She took the risk that this might happen when she bought the policy. But, why did she even have to make that choice?

I know there are many people in this country who are opposed to changes in health insurance. I think some politicians and the lobbyists for the health insurance industry have done an extremely good job scaring people. I believe the health care system in this country is very broken. There are two main issues that really bother me about health insurance.

One: Why is it that in our travels, whenever we come into a city with a downtown, the largest buildings always belong to banks or insurance companies? These same companies that needed our tax dollars for a bailout. Something smells very fishy!

Two: Why is it that our tax dollars can pay for our police and fire protection, but not our health protection? I don't hear anyone complaining about equal protection for fire and police. People from every income level get the same protection. Isn't protecting our health just as important? Can't our politicians find a way to protect all of our citizens?

I don't have the answers, but I know something stinks about the way things are now. I feel bad for Jo and Fred. I hope things work out for them. It doesn't make sense to me that they are even in this situation. I give them credit for not letting this get them down. They have an amazing spirit!

If you would like to read the details of their story, here's the link to their blog.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/WanderingWishnies

With something to think about......See you soon.

Garbage Truck People

I was cleaning up my desk and found an email someone sent me a few months ago. I remember printing it because I thought it was so true. I thought I would share it here.

I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, the car skidded, the tires squealed, and at the very last moment our car stopped just one inch from the other car’s back-end.

I couldn’t believe it. But then I couldn’t believe what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us. How do I know? Ask any New Yorker, some words in New York come with a special face. And for emphasis, he threw in a one finger salute, as if his words were not enough.

But then here’s what really blew me away. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was friendly. So, I said, “Why did you just do that!? This guy could have killed us!” And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, “The Law of the Garbage Truck.”

He said: Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they look for a place to dump it. And if you let them, they’ll dump it on you.

So when someone wants to dump on you, don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Believe me. You’ll be happier.

As I said, I got this in one of those emails that has been forwarded around the globe. I don't know who wrote it, but it struck me as so true.

In my experience, I run into garbage truck people at work more than anywhere else. Getting away from these type of people is one of the primary reasons the fulltime RV lifestyle appeals so much to us. From everything I've seen in forums, travel journals, blogs, etc. it seems fulltimers are friendly and relaxed. Friendships are quickly formed; everyone is accepted for who they are; your career, size of house, how many toys you have mean nothing. I can't wait to get away from so many garbage truck people!

Have a great day!

Avatar

We had two showings on the house today so we needed to leave for a few hours. We went to see Avatar 3D.

Wow, what a great movie. It reminded me of a mix between Matrix, Lord of the Rings and Jurassic Park. Yet it was a totally original movie unlike anything we've seen before. The special effects were astonishing. This movie has set the bar for special effects. And I liked the message as well.

We're keeping our fingers crossed on the two showings today :)

"Home is where we park our RV" Hopefully, soon!

Cart Before the Horse

Yesterday we got a call offering us a position as a volunteer camphost for the summer at a county park about 30 miles from our home!

There is just one small problem. Our house hasn't sold yet. About a month ago, we had accepted an offer and thought we would be closing at the end of March. We started checking around for a place to stay for the summer. When we contacted a county park we have enjoyed camping at, they told us they had a volunteer camphost position available for the summer. They sent us an application and we applied. We thought this would be perfect. We could stay in the area for the summer while organizing the RV for fulltime living. My mom has a farm nearby with a large garage we could store things in. The thought was to put what we wanted to take with us in her garage and organize in a relaxed manner; rather than throwing everything in the RV and taking it from there.

Well, in the meantime the offer on our house fell through. Yesterday the county park manager called and offered us the job. We decided to take it! We have had many showings on the house and a few who want to come back for a second look. Our agent is pretty confident we will get an offer by April as the government homebuyer incentives will expire at the end of April.

If the house hasn't sold by May, Kevin will do the camphosting. I will continue to work; staying at the house during the week and camphosting with him on the weekends.

It feels like this is right for us. I believe things frequently happen for a reason. I am hopeful the "cart is before the horse" because our house will be sold in time.

Keep your fingers crossed for us! I will close with a quote about patience. I'll just keep repeating these words to myself every day while we continue waiting and waiting and waiting......

"He that can have Patience, can have what he will" Benjamin Franklin

What About Your Family?

What about your family? This is another question we are often asked. So many people who hear of our plans, immediately say "Oh, we could never do that. We can't leave our children/grandchildren/elderly parents/friends, etc." I have to admit being away from my children was one of my biggest concerns when we first started exploring this life change.

I have been a lurker on many fulltimer websites, blogs and travel journals for a few years now. I was surprised to find out how many of you have family members you "left behind" in order to fulfill your dream. Knowing this made me feel better about our plans. Thanks for sharing your stories!

Our immediate family consists of our two grown sons and my mother. Kevin's parents are both deceased. We do not have grandchildren yet. I also have a brother in the area and Kevin has a sister in Wisconsin and a brother in Iowa. Our youngest son moved to Minnesota last year for his job. Just so happens his girlfriend lives and attends school in Minnesota as well :) Our oldest son lives in this area, but is considering moving to a warmer climate at some point. My mother has been a widow for four years. Last year she met a very nice man and they have been dating ever since. She is very happy. I guess what I'm saying is that everyone in our family has their own life to live; just as Kevin and I do.

When we started discussing our plans with our family, we got mixed reactions at first. They are all very happy for us, but had emotions of their own to deal with. I think both boys at first felt a little sad seeing their "home" going up for sale. They lived in the same house most of their lives. My mother was worried that we might be making a financial mistake and that we would be leaving her. She will not be alone as my brother lives nearby. Once I pointed out that she and my dad had spent many enjoyable years after retirement traveling and that it was now our turn, she understood better.

Does this mean we won't see them often and call frequently? Absolutely not. My children bring me great joy, and I can't imagine going more than a few months without spending time with them. I believe that by living a mobile lifestyle without many of the encumbrances we now have, it will be possible to see them often. We can drive to where they are, they can visit us or Mom (that's me) can fly in for a short visit (get ready boys). We plan to spend time each summer in Wisconsin so I will be able to see my mother as well. With cell phones, Skype, blogs and mobile internet; my family will probably be sick of hearing from me :)

"Change your thoughts and you change your world"....Norman Vincent Peale