Show Notes
- Buying a Foreclosed Home: Is it a deal or a disaster to buy a foreclosed home?
- DIY Stone Countertops: Get the expensive look of a natural stone countertop at a fraction of the cost with a DIY refinishing kit.
- Installing Attic Flooring: Learn how installing attic flooring can add to your storage or weaken your structure.
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
Plus, answers to your home improvement questions about:
- Bad Odors: Jim can’t find the source of a strange odor in his new home. It may be bio-gases in the plumbing, but there are ways to clean out the bacteria.
- Dishwasher Stops Working: The dishwasher fills but then suddenly stops. Darlene should check the float in the bottom of the dishwasher to see if it’s clogged.
- Property Lines: How can you find your property line markers? Daniel’s home survey will show the boundaries, but it may be difficult to locate the metal corner pins.
- Broken Sewage Pipe: A cracked sewage pipe ruined Helen’s basement. She’ll need a remediation company but the damage should be covered by her insurance policy.
- Insulation: Marion’s old home has no insulation or vapor barriers. We’ve got tips on the best ways to insulate her house.
- Damaged Hardwood Floor: A water leak left a soft spot in the hardwood floor. We suggest that Heather use a piece of hidden flooring to replace the damaged boards.
- Leaking Toilet: An old-fashioned toilet tank keeps leaking. Fred should try using silicone to seal each connection and make his own gaskets.
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 0:00:27 | TOM: And coast to coast and floorboards to shingles. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:00:36 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:00:37 | TOM: And we are here to help you tackle the projects you want to get done around your house, inside or out. Whether you are working on painting, whether you’re working on pressure washing, whether you’re building a deck, cleaning out a garage, building some storage, thinking about a new kitchen, a new bathroom, a new laundry space, a new home office, whatever projects on your to do list to get done this fall, you can shift it over 2 hours by reaching out with your questions. We’ll help you get it done. Once get it done right, you can get back to enjoying your home. A couple of ways to get in touch with us. The best way is to go to moneypit.com/ask. Click the blue microphone button. You can record your question right there and shoot it over to us and we’ll get back to you quickly. Or you can call us at 1-888-Money-Pit. We’ll try to call you back. But the truth is, we only get in touch with a very small percentage of the people who actually call us because y’all don’t answer your phones and we don’t leave messages because we’re not always sure when we’re going to be back in the studio. So if you really want to get a question answered, go to Moneypit.com/ask. Coming up on today’s show, adding the right flooring your attic can make it a perfect place for storage. But if you do this wrong, it means you can weaken your structure, squish your insulation, or find yourself with one foot planted firmly through the ceiling below, which I will admit I actually did many, many years ago in my house. We’re going to share tips on attic flooring that works and works well just ahead. |
| 0:02:00 | LESLIE: And natural stone countertops have long been a popular but expensive option for kitchen renovations. But today, you can accomplish that very same look at a fraction of the cost by using a countertop refinishing kit. |
| 0:02:12 | TOM: And if you’d like to buy a house, it can be tempting to look for a good deal by buying a home that’s been foreclosed on. Or is it? We’re going to share the pros and cons of buying a foreclosed house just ahead. |
| 0:02:23 | LESLIE: But first, do you love your home? But sometimes you feel like it’s an endless pit that you throw your money into for home improvements and repairs? Well, we get it and we can help. So let us know what projects you have planned for this fall season and the upcoming holidays. And we are here to help you get those projects done quickly and confidently. And maybe you only have to do them once. How about that? |
| 0:02:44 | TOM: Reach out with your questions right now at money FT.com, slash ask or call us at 1-888-Money-Pit. Let’s get to it. |
| 0:02:52 | LESLIE: Jim in Oregon is on the line. How can we help you today? |
| 0:02:54 | CALLER: It’s a brand new home. I lived in it less than about three months. A strange odor started coming through in the master bedroom that can’t be detected. We had plumbers come and it’s like the sewage system. They did a smoke test on it couldn’t find that. We just don’t know what the problem is. It’s really an odd odor. |
| 0:03:13 | TOM: How would you describe the odor? |
| 0:03:15 | CALLER: It’s a cross between garbage and sewage smell. |
| 0:03:22 | TOM: Has anyone ever suggested bio gas as the source of this? |
| 0:03:26 | CALLER: No one ever suggested that. |
| 0:03:27 | TOM: All right. So this is I’m speculating here right now. I realize that they’ve done all these tests and so on, but sometimes you get bacteria that deteriorates in the traps of sinks and toilets and it can release a bio gas, which doesn’t absolutely terrible, terrible smell. One way to deal with that is to get in a concentrated like an oxygen and oxygenated bleach solution mixed up and like OxiClean or something like that, and then take a bottle brush and try to get that solution into the drain. Make sure you’re really scrubbing all the nooks and crannies of that drain and let it sit there for a bit. And if there’s any bacteria that’s forming there that could be contributing this odor, that will eliminate it. So that’s one idea. The second potential cause for this is simply a dead rodent. We’ve seen in the past where the rodents get into the spaces, you know, in an under or in the wall or something like that, and then they decompose and you get that kind of odor. So I don’t have a lot of solutions three on that. But I would try the try the biogas solution first and make sure you also get the overflow of the kitchen of the sort of the bathroom sink, that overflow channel by letting the water run up the block, the drain until it hits the overflow. Because if you have any of that bacteria in the overflow channel, that could contribute to it as well. |
| 0:04:58 | CALLER: Okay. Did you ever find this in a new home before? |
| 0:05:01 | TOM: Yeah. I mean, it can happen pretty quickly. |
| 0:05:02 | CALLER: Oh, really? |
| 0:05:04 | TOM: Even though it’s a new home, it’s been under construction for some period of time. And so, you know, it could have preexisted. |
| 0:05:09 | CALLER: Well, definitely give it all a try. |
| 0:05:10 | TOM: Give it a shot. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:05:15 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Darlene in South Carolina on the line who’s dealing with a dishwasher situation. What’s going on over there? |
| 0:05:21 | CALLER: When I read it, turn it on, turn it on. Pots and pans, it fills up and then it stops, does nothing. And you can turn the knob around to the different cycles and everything, and it does nothing. |
| 0:05:34 | TOM: Have you checked the float, which is in the bottom of the dishwasher, to see if maybe it’s become clogged? |
| 0:05:40 | CALLER: No, I didn’t know that was. |
| 0:05:42 | TOM: Yeah, because if it’s clogged, it might think it’s over. It might think that it’s about to overflow and it might shut the machine off. So on the bottom of the dishwasher, take a look at the float and it’ll move kind of up and down. It’ll pop up a little bit. And a lot of times it gets like filled with like food and grime and stuff. And if you clean it out, that might just be the thing to do it. And here’s a little trick of the trade. If you’re trying to clean up food from places you really can’t get to, you can use a wet, dry vacuum for that. You’ll sort of draw it right out. |
| 0:06:15 | CALLER: Oh, okay. That I have. |
| 0:06:17 | TOM: There you go. Good luck with that project. Darlene. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:06:23 | LESLIE: Do you love learning about home improvement on our podcast? Well, we love bringing you all the latest tips and tricks. |
| 0:06:28 | TOM: And if you want to make us smile, leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts. Just go to Money Pit dot com slash review. |
| 0:06:36 | LESLIE: All right. Now we’ve got Daniel in Mississippi on the line who’s got a question about his property lot. What’s going on? |
| 0:06:41 | CALLER: What would be the best way to find my property partners? I need to get like the metal detector and lock down the metal stakes at each corner. Or how expensive is a surveyor? I’m only talking about a lot. This about half an acre. |
| 0:06:56 | TOM: Hey, Dan. So the first thing you do is to find your survey because your survey, which you would have been given when you bought the property, is going to show you where those corners on it will show you other reference points. Now, typically when a surveyor is looking for those steel points pins, they call them, they’re going to use a metal detector. If it’s a fairly small area like that, sometimes you can take a shovel and hold it like in a 45 degree angle and gently poke and prod around the area where it should be. And if you do hit something, then very carefully dig down on top of it and see if it looks like a pin. But keep in mind that not all corners have permanent markers. They’re not really required by the banks or mortgage companies, and they’re an option when you buy a house, at least in our part of the country. They are. So they may or they may not exist. But there’s a couple of ways that you could do to trying to find it yourself. You could, of course, also hire surveyor to do it, but that’s going to cost you a lot of money. I’m not sure why you’re asking me to do this. If it’s a big project, you may want to have a surveyor involved just to make sure you don’t make a mistake on where that property is. You don’t want to put a fence line in and find out. You put it on your neighbor’s property, have to take the whole thing down and move it, but hope that it gives you some indication of how you can start to figure this out. |
| 0:08:10 | LESLIE: We’ve got Helen in Massachusetts on the line, who’s dealing with a leaky sewage system causing a whole bunch of issues. What’s going on? |
| 0:08:17 | CALLER: Unfortunately, I have had a crack in the waste pipe that takes all the waste from my top floor to the septic system. It has flooded my basement. Number one, is there a way to fix the waste pipe or do we have to go and have a plumber come in and type in, reinstall a new one? And number two, I need something to put on the floor of the basement. We had carpeting. The carpeting is ruined now and I don’t want to put carpeting down again. So what would you suggest for flooring? |
| 0:08:58 | TOM: Oh, that’s absolutely terrible, Helen. So here’s the good news, though, because you had a sudden crack and a sudden leak like this, this should actually be covered by your homeowner’s insurance policy. I would call them right away. I would file a claim. You know, if it’s a slow leak that goes on for a long time, that’s on you. But when you have a crack like this and it a sort of flood and all this damage, you definitely want to call your insurance company now, they’ll send out an investigator and estimate the damage, but you could also hire a public adjuster. These guys work on a percentage of the claim, and often they find a lot more than the insurance guys do because they’re basically working to make sure every single thing is covered from, you know, from the layer of paint, the nails, the screws, everything you also need because it’s sewage. They’re going to have to call a remediation company that will come in and treat all of these sewage affected areas, because obviously it’s a lot of waste down there that’s very, very unhealthy. And I’m sure it doesn’t smell very well. So you asked about the carpet. That’s the least of your problems. But two that will say don’t put carpet in a basement. It’s a really bad idea because basements are damp. You get a lot of dust down there. You can get a lot of dust mites, you get mold. It’s a real mess. So shoes, a hard surface floor. |
| 0:10:14 | LESLIE: Well, the right flooring can make your attic the perfect place for storage, but the wrong flooring could lead to collapse. Now, if you’d like to take on this project, here’s a couple of things that you should be keeping in mind. First of all, for the most part, attics were not designed to be storage spaces. They’re a part of that raw underbelly of structure that does hold your house together and then protect it from the elements. So because of this, installing a floor to the attic always involves some level of disturbance to that structure. And you really need to be smart about how you go about doing that. |
| 0:10:46 | TOM: Now, first up, think about the fact that the platform or the floor doesn’t have to be plywood to maneuver very heavy, four by eight foot sheets of plywood or OSB, up to an unfinished attic is kind of like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. So if you want to get the job easier, use a circular saw and cut the plywood sheet first into two foot by eight foot strips, which is a lot easier to handle. Another way to do this is skip the plywood altogether and use dimensional lumber. Now, if you use finished lumber like pine that you know you might use for trim, it’s pretty expensive, but there’s a type of lumber called spruce. And number three, spruce number three is the grade in particular. This is more akin to like pallet wood, if you know what I mean. It’s a step up from firewood, but not by much. The fact of the matter is that the quality makes it just fine and perfectly usable for a floor in an unfinished attic space. I floor an attic that had trusses in it some years ago. And that’s exactly how I did it, because I didn’t even want to have to wrestle any even stripped down plywood up there. I use the one by six, and it worked perfectly. |
| 0:11:51 | LESLIE: All right. Another thing, guys, that you really need to think about is that flooring and attic also require some level of tradeoff between the areas that you put flooring on and the areas that have the attic insulation. Most homes are going to have insulation that’s piled higher than those floor joists. And that’s what you want. But you need to understand that this insulation can’t be squished or it just isn’t going to insulate. So one option is to floor an area less than the entire attic, such as just a small section around the attic door opening. And this way you can preserve the maximum amount of attic insulation in the rest of the home. Now, another innovative option that is specifically designed for attic flooring is a product called Attic Deck. Now, Attic Deck is a specifically designed attic floor system, and it consists of 16 inch or 24 inch squares that are attached to the top of the ceiling joists. So there’s a lot of different ways that you can do this. |
| 0:12:42 | TOM: Yeah, the sections are very durable. They’re lightweight, they’re easy to handle, and they kind of look little bit like floor grates that allow for plenty of ventilation for the insulation below. They attach with just a few screws and they allow you to sort of build a safe, secure storage platform in your attic and just minutes and you can make a small area, you can make a big area, but I’m impressed with that system. So it’s a good option to consider. |
| 0:13:04 | LESLIE: Marvin, you’ve got the Money Pit. How can we help you today? |
| 0:13:07 | CALLER: Here’s my situation. My son just recently bought in Belmont, Massachusetts, a 1913 house was built in 1913 and it’s got no insulation. Okay. And we’re trying to figure out whether it’s cost effective, number one. And the other concern was that I read on the Internet that if you do blown in installation insulation on an old house like this, there’s no vapor barrier and the insulation would get wet and so on and so forth. |
| 0:13:48 | TOM: Well, first of all, you know, many older homes don’t have vapor barrier, so that’s not necessarily true. If it’s in the attic and you have proper attic ventilation, then any moisture that forms in that area will be vented out. There is another way to insulate this house where you don’t have to worry about even processing vapor, and that is to go with spray foam insulation. You know, I have an 1886 house and I did spray foam in my attic and I’m very happy with it because it basically turned the attic into a conditioned space. So we don’t have to worry about any ventilation issues up there. And I got to tell you, my air conditioning bills were a lot lower after we did it, as were our heating bills. So that’s a nice thing to due to an old house because there are so many nooks and crannies and places where you have gaps that let an ambient air and drive up energy costs. Spray foam kind of solves all of that. We used ice and the spray foam insulation. It worked really well. But if you want to go with a fiberglass insulation, you can certainly do that. You’re going to want to use 15 to 20 inches of insulation and you’re going to want to have a really good solid ridge vent across the peak of that roof, as well as some soffit vents or some lower vents on the roof. So you have plenty of air that’s flushing through that space because insulation that gets damp is not as effective as insulation. It’s dry and that’s why we vent it. |
| 0:15:03 | CALLER: Okay, that was very helpful. |
| 0:15:05 | TOM: Good luck. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:15:09 | LESLIE: Now we’ve got Heather in Tennessee who’s dealing with a flooring situation. What happened? |
| 0:15:24 | CALLER: Well, my husband and I were, we had a water filter on our countertop and we overfilled it one day and it leaked out onto the hardwood. And while we were at work. And it’s left a six eight inch diameter area of bulk of our hardwood floors. You can’t really see it. But you can feel it like when you’re walking over like with socks on, it kind of snags . So I didn’t know if there’s anything that you can do, like a DIY project or do. You have to have the whole floor sanded, re stained? I really don’t want to go through all that now. |
| 0:15:47 | TOM: Well, if the floor is swollen, it’s kind of a one way street and you’re not going to be able to kind of get the toothpaste back in the tube. At this point if you want to try to make it flat and smooth again, you do have to sand it out. Now, it might not be as terrible as a project as you think. You may not have to do the entire floor. You might just be able to do a repair of that particular area. Do you happen to have the stain and the finish that was used on that floor? |
| 0:16:15 | CALLER: I don’t. I don’t. And I actually, another reason I’m kind of weary of it is because we got the same man that that our heart forced to begin with, come back and put hardwood in our bedrooms and they don’t match whatsoever. So I’m really worried. |
| 0:16:31 | TOM: Let me ask you another question. Do you have any extra pieces of that floor anywhere? |
| CALLER: I don’t. | |
| TOM: Do you have any area of a floor that’s less noticeable like in a closet or a pantry. | |
| CALLER: Yes. | |
| 0:16:41 | TOM: Okay. Here’s a solution for you. A good carpenter can do this. You can basically cut out some of the floor that’s in the lesser visible area, cut it enough of it to be able to use to repair the area in your kitchen. Then you could cut out the bad boards, throw those away, and then insert the boards that you salvaged from the closet area and then go ahead and repair that closet area with whatever is handy or whatever new you can purchase and stain it to get as close as you can because it’s inside the closet. No one will probably ever know be the wiser for it. Yet you’ll have some boards that match exactly the damaged boards in the kitchen in order to repair that spot. How about that? |
| 0:17:26 | CALLER: And that sounds a whole lot better than resanding everything. |
| 0:17:30 | TOM: Well, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:17:35 | LESLIE: Naturals, stone countertops have long been a popular but expensive option for kitchen renovations. But today, you can accomplish that same look at a fraction of the cost by using a countertop refinishing kit. |
| 0:17:49 | TOM: Yeah, you know, I just did exactly that on my last kitchen. Ryno was about a year ago now, and I used LuxROCK by Daich Coatings to create a beautiful granite top. And now that line has been expanded to include a beautiful marble top option called Marble Dream. |
| 0:18:06 | LESLIE: Peter Daich is joining us now to talk about this latest advancement in countertop finishes. Welcome, Peter. This is awesome. |
| 0:18:13 | PETER DAICH: Hey, thank you very much. Well, marble is a timeless look and it’s beautiful. It’s definitely something desirable for, you know, many interiors, kitchens, bathrooms, you name it, tabletops. But the point is that marble, as beautiful as it is, is also prone to staining and is not extremely durable. And what we’ve done with this kid is we’ve given you the ability to put an actual marble coating down. It’s the real thing, and you’re applying it onto your surface, but you are getting excellent stain resistance and excellent durability. So it’s really something there to last for a long time. And, you know, save you a little bit of money as well. |
| 0:18:56 | LESLIE: So, Peter, much like your other products, I mean, there’s real stone, real marble in this finish. So it’s not just paint. You’re actually putting the stone on. This is awesome. |
| 0:19:07 | PETER: It’s real marble that you’re applying on to your surface. And there are specific techniques for installing the actual vein that’s in the finish that gives it an extremely authentic and beautiful appearance. So really, if that’s the kind of accent you’ve wired for your kitchen, for instance, for a long time, but you’re just not ready to spend the money to do it and probably also struggle with things like stains and possibly some damage on marble, because marble is actually a fairly soft material. This product has been engineered to go down, give you that marble appearance, give you that beautiful, airy, soft feel, but you don’t have to worry about the staining issue or the durability issue. It’s something there that can last you for years and serve you and your family very nicely and quite stylishly, I must say. |
| 0:20:04 | TOM: Let’s talk about the services that this can go over because you do have quite a variety of surfaces. I know you can go over laminate. I know in my case, I went over plywood. What about old bathroom vanity tops that are like, I guess sort of like a soap stone? Yeah, a cast. Yeah, A surface that just looks really worn. Will the product cover all of those different types of surfaces? |
| 0:20:23 | PETER: It absolutely will. So if you want to go over that kind of surface, the old cultured marble, as they like to call it, the one piece, you can definitely do that if you have a kitchen table made of wood or any other material you can go over that you can do your bar, you can do your fireplace mantle, you can even do your wall if you want to. If you feel like you want a very authentic marble surface. The beauty of it is that it comes in one complete kit. It’s got everything in it. It’s easy to do. It’s just a few simple steps. And best of all, you don’t have to have any artistic skill. You don’t have to be terribly creative or capable, frankly. I mean, if I can do it, anybody can do it honestly. |
| 0:21:09 | LESLIE: Tom All right. But let’s talk about the process. Is this like a weekend long project? Let’s talk about the steps here so I know how long this is going to take me. |
| 0:21:16 | PETER: Yeah, basically, it is a weekend project. Essentially, you can start it on a Saturday morning and you’ll probably put the last coating of the clear on Monday. So it’s roughly a weekend. That having been said, most of your time is going to be spent just allowing things to dry and applying the actual product is all done by roller except for the veins. There’s a tool in there to apply the veins. It’s just simply apply a good solid base coat of the marble and you’re going to apply your veins and there’s some more marble that goes over top and then clear coats and you’re done. But, you know, I think your listeners, you know, those who want to try this are going to be shocked at how quick the results are and how authentic the results are and how well it lasts over time. This is meant to serve you for years. And of course, because it’s so inexpensive and you decide down the road you want a different color of marble, go ahead and apply right over top. You’re good to go regardless of how your decor changes. |
| 0:22:19 | LESLIE: I mean, this is really great for $169 that kit is going to cover 40 square feet comes in a bunch of different colors. It looks just like the real marble thing. And if you were to go buy a real marble countertop, I mean, we’re talking a lot more than the cost of the dish coating marble dream product. So this is great. You can do it in a weekend. I mean, I say give it a try. If you’ve got a worn out top, definitely put your skills to work here and see what you can do. I bet you’re going to love it. Peter How many colors does marble dream come in? |
| 0:22:51 | PETER: It comes in three right now. There’s a nice bright white called pristine white. There’s a black, and there’s also a nice light gray. But what you’re going to find is that this look is a little bit more minimalist. It’s a little bit softer. There’s not as much activity going on for the it’s just a very soft, very minimalist feel, something very modern and something that should look great in your kitchen or any other room for a long, long time. |
| 0:23:21 | TOM: I’m sure it will. And of course, you have two other countertop kit products. You have the minerals select and then the luxe rock that I mentioned previously, which by the way, I think we’re at least 6 to 9 months into the Luxe rock finish on the countertops that we put it down in the kitchen and still wearing perfectly. And it looks great. And I could tell when I was working with that product, as I have some of your other products that I can tell what a finish is, a good quality finish, because it just goes down differently. It feels like it has a different tact, a different flow to it, and that’s the only way you’ve been able to perfect these finishes is just because of the quality and the chemistry really, that you guys put behind it. So well done. Once again, the product called Marble Dream available in three colors. You can go to DaischCoatings.com to learn more dishes. DaichCoatings.com. Peter Daich, thanks for stopping by the Money Pit. |
| 0:24:12 | PETER: Hey, thank you very much. Have a great day. |
| 0:24:15 | LESLIE: Hi, Fred. Welcome to the Money Pit. How can I help you today? |
| 0:24:18 | CALLER: I have a standard toilet house built in 29. So it’s what, 80 years old? It’s the type where the tank hangs on the wall, and then you have an owl, and then you have, I guess you would call that the bull. And it started to leak. And so, you know, the old the metal was pretty corroded and everything. So we took everything out. We took the tank off the wall, we cleaned. I say we the plumber, who I’ve been using for many years, cleaned everything up. One the hardware store that handles these kind of fittings. And we just cannot get this thing to work. It leaks. |
| 0:24:54 | TOM: Where does it leak? Does it leak at that? We’re at the base of the tank where the pipe connects in. |
| 0:24:59 | CALLER: Both. Yeah, well, one time we did it, it leaked at the bottom of the tank. The other time, at least when it went into the bowl. |
| 0:25:05 | TOM: What kind of a washer you’re using or what kind of a gasket or seal are you using in those two places. |
| 0:25:11 | CALLER: Well, I don’t know the technical names of it. You know, the guy at the they looked like the same stuff we took off. You know, I’m a musician. I don’t open these things. |
| 0:25:23 | TOM: Well, this shouldn’t be that hard to accomplish. And it sounds like whatever they’re using in that gasket space right there is not working. And look, if all else fails, you can simply use silicone here. You could apply the silicone in as you put this together, you could you seal all of those joints, silicone, let it dry, try not to touch it until it dries. And then you can take a razor blade and cut off the excess nice and neat and essentially make your own gasket. |
| 0:25:49 | CALLER: You know, the plumber mentioned something. He said the only thing is if that thing fails and I’m not home, I’m going to have a house full of water that’s true. |
| 0:25:57 | TOM: But the thing is, if it once it works, it usually works, you know, continuously. It’s not it doesn’t usually fail if you get it right. It’s not going to fail. Okay. |
| 0:26:07 | CALLER: So in other words, unless I can see some chips or damage on the porcelain or something like that, which I don’t see it, it should work. |
| 0:26:15 | TOM: But I would take it apart and I would seal with silicone each connection as it goes together so that you end up with a good compression of silicone around that. That’s the solution. Okay. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money Pit. |
| 0:26:30 | LESLIE: Well, it can be tempting to look for a good deal by buying a home that’s been foreclosed upon. It’s not a bad way to get a price break potential either. But there are a lot of pros and cons that you do need to consider before you take that plunge. So here’s the pro side of it. Lower cost for sure. I mean, that is the biggest advantage of buying a home in foreclosure is the price because they’re being sold under duress. Foreclosed homes are typically cheaper than comparable homes in the same area. You’ve got motivated sellers. Lenders don’t want to own those foreclosed properties and they are looking to move them quickly. And some lenders will even beautify the property or make repairs to help get this property sold. And there’s a good chance here for you to build up some equity. After buying a cheaper home that needs renovation you’ve got a chance to increase your equity considerably When you do fix it up. Products like the FHA 203K mortgage can help, and this mortgage offers enough money to buy, but then also to rehab that property. So there’s definitely a bunch of creative ways to get financing for that home and make it the home you want. |
| 0:27:37 | TOM: Now, there are some downsides. First, foreclosed homes are sold as is, which means just that. What you see is what you get in buying a home at a foreclosure usually means you’re buying the home, warts and all. Now, some foreclosed homes have severe structural issues or code violations that can cost you a lot of money to fix. Homeowners being evicted also may have abused the home and not paid for needed repairs. Secondly, prices are rising. So while you still tend to get a substantial discount when you’re buying a foreclosed property, that discount is shrinking because house prices are still going up. And check this out, the home may never actually go up for sale. So if you have your eye on a house because it’s in foreclosure proceedings, keep in mind that that can take months or even years for actually to go to a for sale situation, if it ever does at all. Most states give homeowners numerous opportunities to catch back up on their mortgages. So it could take a while or it might never happen. |
| 0:28:38 | LESLIE: Yeah, I mean, it’s amazing. Like when you’re scrolling through Zillow, you see all these homes for sale, but then at the bottom you see all these foreclosed things and it’s like been in foreclosure for 137 weeks or some like ridiculous amount of time. And you’re like, Oh, guess that’s never going to happen. So if you can adjust your strategy and your expectations, you know, buying a foreclosed home can still be a good deal. So don’t turn your eye to them. It could be a good chance for you. Harry reached out and says The outside wall of my house is made of brick. Inside. We have plaster attached directly to the brick wall. We need a vapor barrier to keep moisture from coming through the brick and into the plaster. |
| 0:29:17 | TOM: You know, that’s a very old style construction and those guys really knew what they’re doing. You don’t really need a vapor barrier. Water vapor is going to migrate from warm to cold. And many things we do as part of daily life generate moisture. Harry. I mean, we’re talking about taking showers, doing laundry and well, it’s not forget breathing it. They all generate moisture which moves through the plaster walls and into the brick where it evaporates outside. The only time this becomes an issue is when we do things to seal off that brick surface by painting it, for example, because therefore we stop that moisture being able to evaporate. It can’t get through that fabric. It’s trapped behind that paint. So when that happens, you start to see conversation in mineral deposits forming on the inside of plaster walls, old home walls made in brick and plaster work and they work well as long as we don’t mess with them. So keep that in mind and you’ll just be fine with the construction that you have right now. |
| 0:30:11 | LESLIE: I mean, it’s been working for this long, Harry, so it’s got to keep working, right? |
| 0:30:14 | TOM: Why do we always think we have to fix it. |
| 0:30:16 | LESLIE: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. |
| 0:30:18 | TOM: Isn’t that right? Well, when temperatures drop, mice, rats and other ruins like to make their way into your home. For relief from the chill, Leslie has some tips on how to keep them from doing just that in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word. Leslie, We like to be welcoming with our homes, you know, when it comes to rodents, right? |
| 0:30:38 | LESLIE: Yeah. And you know what? It’s not as easy as just putting up, like, a no vacancy sign and being like, get out of here. But you can make some changes that are going to keep those mice and critters moving on and away from your house and finding the next one that’s going to be welcoming. So keep in mind that I always find it so crazy that mice can squeeze through spaces that are smaller than a nickel, which is really tiny. So seal any potential entrances to your home with sheet metal, steel, wool or cement, anything that they cannot chew through because expandable foam, they like to eat it. But if you’re going to go that route, mix in some steel wool and then they cannot. Now, if you’ve got a dog or a cat at home, definitely they love their dry food, so why wouldn’t a mouse. So as much as you want to leave it out for the dogs to kind of nibble on throughout the day, do not leave the food out. Definitely establish some set eating times, put the food out, take it away so you’re not making something tempting for the mice, but also where you store the dog and cat food. Think about it. Put it in a, you know, a very durable container so that doesn’t smell so great and attract all of those rodents. There’s a lot of things you can do. And just from a general tidying standpoint around the kitchen, I mean, I know when my kids take stuff up out from the cabin in a snack or something, little crumbs fall over the counter. And, you know, they never think about wiping them up. But somebody’s got to so think about wiping up those kitchen counters every single day just to get rid of another animal treat there. And while it doesn’t seem to help their IQ, I mean, who knew that mice and those rodents couldn’t read, but they love newspapers, magazines, all of that stuff that maybe sometimes pile up against the foundation. Just don’t get rid of all those stacks of things because they turn that into nesting sites, they drag it around, they build stuff with it. So don’t give them that opportunity. If you’re looking for some more ways to keep your home critter free, head to money Pets.com. And we’re going to have some solutions there for all areas of your home, inside and out. |
| 0:32:32 | TOM: You know how high a mouse can jump three feet. Oh, gosh. Think about that, people. Each time you see a crumb on your countertop. |
| 0:32:38 | LESLIE: I don’t want to. |
| 0:32:40 | TOM: This is the Money Pit Home Improvement show. Coming up next time on the program, we’re going talk about garages. They’re unique places. They organize because they are the only spot in your home where tools, toys and toxins are often stored side by side. So also some tips for better organization and improved safety. On the very next edition of the Money Pit, I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:33:01 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:33:02 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 0:33:03 | LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone. |
| (Note: The above referenced transcript is AI-Generated, Unedited and Unproofed and as such may not accurately reflect the recorded audio. Copyright 2023 Squeaky Door Productions, Inc. No portion of this transcript or audio file may be reproduced in any format without the express written permission of Squeaky Door Productions, Inc.) |
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