[Schneed10]

I wouldn't have bought the house I did six years ago, the one we're in now. When we looked at it, we were 24 and knew jack about buying houses. We checked out the upstairs and the closet and the bathroom had a bit of a musty odor to it. I thought nothing of it, figuring we could clean/refresh/paint and it would do the trick.

It turned out the roof had been neglected and had formed tiny small leaks in places. Mold and fungus infections were rampant throughout the roof and siding. While we knew a new roof was needed when we bought the house, the mold damage required that we replace the roof, the siding down to the sheathing, and redo the bathroom all in one fell swoop. Luckily my wife and I were double income, no kids for a few years there, and were big savers. Still, it wiped out our savings.

In the end it's going to be alright because in the process we upgraded the house quite nicely and now have more equity in the home than we otherwise would have. But if I acted on my suspicions regarding that musty smell, I would have been told by countless people who knew better, to run like hell from that house. Musty stenches almost always indicate a big mold problem. Now I know.

If I had bought a house without those issues, I'd be better off financially right now, and probably ready to move into the house we really want. Instead I'm about 2-3 years away at this point.

That's the one regret I kick myself over. I guess there are worse things. After all, it's a good place to live, even if it's smaller than I'd like at the moment.