Advice for Houston Home buyers

If you are considering or have purchased a home or property, don’t forget this important item: Maintenance. I particularly stress the cost of maintenance here in Texas where it’s even more crucial. So many new home buyers fail to budget in a certain amount of annual maintenance when purchasing their home. Homeowners often don’t consider how fast issues arise and how poor construction standards are here. When deciding how much of a house payment you can afford, don’t forget to throw in a bit for repairs and such. Large items such as AC, water heaters, roofs and appliances will need repairs or replacement eventually. Even smaller maintenance such as keeping windows, doors, and roof vents caulked is important to attend to annually. Removing debris from gutters and roof valleys as well as keeping trees cleared needs to be done often. Exterior painting will have to be done as often as every few years if you have wood siding or trim. Maintaining proper drainage, especially in Houston, is a big issue. Fence maintenance, believe it or not, is big here. How many fairly new but dilapidated privacy fences do you see driving down the street? Poor fence construction is an eyesore and a big problem for Houston I believe. You will need to keep an eye on duct work in the attic and registers in various rooms. Duct work in the attics and registers in the rooms can quickly degrade. Separation on attic plenums and returns can end up sucking dirty attic air into your system. Registers in your rooms can separate from duct work and cause mixing of attic air. This mixing is the general cause of condensation and subsequent mold/mildew buildup on registers. These are just a few items that most people don’t consider. There are many more issues that can arise obviously but I did want to stress these because they aren’t as well known. Maintenance issues can occur in a just a few years on even newly built homes as construction standards are relatively low in Texas. Remember, Texas has no General Contractor licensing. Certain municipalities have stricter permitting then others but there is still no general test to grade a contractor. Insurance and sometimes bonding are the only requirements for being a GC. It wasn’t until 2001 that Texas even began requiring electricians to be licensed. I don’t mean to scare you but I have seen maintenance costs become a real problem for unsuspecting homeowners in Texas and other places. And how much money should one throw back? Personally, I would put back a grand a year for a home under 10 years and a 2-3 grand for anything over a decade old. A little more money might be needed if you have an AC more than 5 years old. Also, wood sided and trimmed housing will require more money to maintain. Furthermore, these same numbers would apply even if the house has been remodeled. Remodeling craftsmanship in Texas is many times poor also so expect to do at least some corrections for bad work. The case for poor remodeling work is even stronger for homes that are being flipped. Flipping homes, especially in Texas, is a huge investment industry so the chance you will be buying a home that has been flipped at least once is good. Remember this; a home investors’ first priority is profit, not quality. The urge to mask problems and cover issues that should be fixed on homes period is extremely high. That same urge to cut corners on investment homes is stratospheric. In my 20 years as a contractor, I have seen the issues caused by greedy investors and their contractors many times. Combine investor greed with lax Texas regulation and you end up with some pretty bad maintenance situations. A flood tear out I did last summer in Spring is a prime example of lax and even dangerous investor remodeling. The flooded garage I repaired revealed that the previous contractor had covered up major structural damage. In fact, only 5 2x4 studs were holding up the entire back two story wall. We were able to find and fix the problem before the new owners moved in luckily. However, what a poor welcome to Texas the issue was. To add insult to injury, the home warranty they purchased didn’t cover the repair. I guess Its buyer beware in the Lone star State. To cap off though, there are plenty of good homes and buying is still a great investment here. Homes are still appreciating even through the oil down turn and Texas is a great place to live. Just don’t forget your home will most certainly need a bit of work, even if its new. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your homes’ upkeep please email, message or just give me a call.

John Teeter

281 770 0368