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When I call the super they drag their feet, do a half-assed job, take a dump in my bathroom, and then I get a rent increase for "improvements" they've made to t

When I call the super they drag their feet, do a half-assed job, take a dump in my bathroom, and then I get a rent increase for "improvements" they've made to the property. I used to own a 1000 sq ft cape cod that was built in 1942. I fixed everything myself and since it was small, nothing could really get out of hand. I believe most of the pain involved in home owning lately has come from bigger houses with more complex systems/appliances.

ip26 7y ago
Even worse, they make them bigger for the same price by cutting quality.
- asark 7y ago
  And walls. "Open concept" might look great in photos and provide good "wow" factor, and it's definitely cheaper to build, but it's also a great way to make a lot of square footage feel small when you live in it. Contrast smaller, older houses with lots of smaller rooms, which can often feel as big as much larger, newer houses. Unfortunately, at least in our market, there's not much built in the last 20 years where the builders favored actual rooms instead of just one giant open public space. If you're lucky the basement's finished so maybe you get two of those.
  - JeffreyKaine 7y ago
    What would you use all of the extra rooms for? One room for each person to sleep, a laundry room, a couple bathrooms, and a great room with living, dining, and kitchen is all you ever really need right?
    - cosmodisk 7y ago
      The same logic applies to a living room that doesn't need to be as big as a football stadium: sofa,TV, a few chairs,table and sobe cabinets..what else is there?
    - asark 7y ago
      A lot of the open concept houses around here use enough space for four rooms for one big one. Usually kitchen + dining area + a single living room easily large enough to be two. If you're lucky you have one other room in the public area, designated by design as a dining room (distinct from the merely-yards-away dining area!), and if you're super lucky it's at least got three walls rather than just being designated by flooring and maybe like one pillar. More rooms is nice if you don't like being on top of every single other person in the house all the time, without having to go to your bedroom (aren't we supposed to only go there for sleep, for sleep-hygiene reasons?) to escape. In recent houses this means using ~3x the space you actually need to accomplish that, mostly by adding a room or two in a finished basement, because the main public area's gigantic, yes, but also entirely open. It's also very nice to be able to contain messes. So nice. One large shared living space plus kids means no part of your house ever doesn't look like shit without heroic efforts or paid help.
    - rayiner 7y ago
      Having different rooms really helps keep the kids’ shit from permeating everywhere. We’ve got a big living room mostly open to the kitchen and dining room and I’m very lukewarm on it. I’d love to be able to serve guests without everyone being able to see the kitchen mess, or being able to watch TV without seeing the kids’ toys and kitchen mess and dining table mess. (We have maids come twice a week and it’s still impossible to get that under control.)
- downrightmike 7y ago
  Little boxes on the hill side made of ticky-tacky.
nostrademons 7y ago
Ditto, but that's the experience when calling most tradespeople. In many cases what looks like the super dragging their feet is actually the super calling their a series of tradespeople and having them all flake out. One window repair at my apartment took over a year to complete and I had 4 different contractors all come to the apartment, forget a part, say that they'd be back in a week, and never show up again. The way to do it is really to find a small set of good, reliable tradespeople, give them your business for all your repairs and improvements, and pay them well. There aren't many of them, though, and they'll cost you. Finding that small set of reliable contractors is part of what your rent goes to. My dad used to do a lot of the home maintenance himself. Sometimes it worked fine, and sometimes (like the time he tried to replace the roof himself right before a thunderstorm, without having a giant tarp) it was pretty disastrous. In any case, it's not really realistic in today's world (where you usually need two incomes to survive) with today's homes (which are giant, complex, and built to a labyrinth of building codes that you are probably violating when you do improvements yourself).
cblum 7y ago
Did you enjoy making repairs though? In my experience that’s what makes people either love or hate owning their place. Personally I loathe doing any kind of maintenance work. I hate dealing with drywall, paint, wiring, pipes, and whatever else you have to deal with when maintaining a home.
- mox1 7y ago
  As an engineer (software) who owns his own SFH, I absolutely love doing repairs to my house. I preemptively replaced my water system this spring (electric to gas heater, added water softener). Took me a whole week (5-10pm work) and lots of pre-planning, but every time I walk downstairs I can't help but admire all the coppers lines I piped in. I dunno it was kinda like Hello World of the building trades, hearing the heater kick in after all was done was awesome. Now, I've worked with my hands my whole life and have done tons of smallerish projects around this house, but this was the biggest one I tackled. Saved me 3-5k I'm sure and it really gave me a sense of accomplishment. To each is own though.
  - cosmodisk 7y ago
    Plumbing, woodwork,and even concrete work can be very enjoyable and rewarding experiences when done for your own purposes and very occasionally.
  - kasey_junk 7y ago
    As an engineer (software) who owns his own SFH and also did a gut rehab. I hate doing repairs on my house. Between not having the correct tooling, the time premium I pay beyond what a reputable tradesman will take and how much I prefer working on software for dealing with home repair, it makes _zero_ sense for me to do this work. Every time I do repairs I think of my run rate vs the professional I could be paying to do the work and get disgusted. The only reason I ever do it is that finding said professional is a gig unto itself. I like the _control_ I have in owning my place, but I abhor the responsibility of fixing systems.
    - cblum 7y ago

ip26 7y ago

Even worse, they make them bigger for the same price by cutting quality.

asark 7y ago
And walls. "Open concept" might look great in photos and provide good "wow" factor, and it's definitely cheaper to build, but it's also a great way to make a lot of square footage feel small when you live in it. Contrast smaller, older houses with lots of smaller rooms, which can often feel as big as much larger, newer houses. Unfortunately, at least in our market, there's not much built in the last 20 years where the builders favored actual rooms instead of just one giant open public space. If you're lucky the basement's finished so maybe you get two of those.
- JeffreyKaine 7y ago
  What would you use all of the extra rooms for? One room for each person to sleep, a laundry room, a couple bathrooms, and a great room with living, dining, and kitchen is all you ever really need right?
  - cosmodisk 7y ago
    The same logic applies to a living room that doesn't need to be as big as a football stadium: sofa,TV, a few chairs,table and sobe cabinets..what else is there?
  - asark 7y ago
    A lot of the open concept houses around here use enough space for four rooms for one big one. Usually kitchen + dining area + a single living room easily large enough to be two. If you're lucky you have one other room in the public area, designated by design as a dining room (distinct from the merely-yards-away dining area!), and if you're super lucky it's at least got three walls rather than just being designated by flooring and maybe like one pillar. More rooms is nice if you don't like being on top of every single other person in the house all the time, without having to go to your bedroom (aren't we supposed to only go there for sleep, for sleep-hygiene reasons?) to escape. In recent houses this means using ~3x the space you actually need to accomplish that, mostly by adding a room or two in a finished basement, because the main public area's gigantic, yes, but also entirely open. It's also very nice to be able to contain messes. So nice. One large shared living space plus kids means no part of your house ever doesn't look like shit without heroic efforts or paid help.
  - rayiner 7y ago
    Having different rooms really helps keep the kids’ shit from permeating everywhere. We’ve got a big living room mostly open to the kitchen and dining room and I’m very lukewarm on it. I’d love to be able to serve guests without everyone being able to see the kitchen mess, or being able to watch TV without seeing the kids’ toys and kitchen mess and dining table mess. (We have maids come twice a week and it’s still impossible to get that under control.)
downrightmike 7y ago
Little boxes on the hill side made of ticky-tacky.

nostrademons 7y ago

Ditto, but that's the experience when calling most tradespeople. In many cases what looks like the super dragging their feet is actually the super calling their a series of tradespeople and having them all flake out. One window repair at my apartment took over a year to complete and I had 4 different contractors all come to the apartment, forget a part, say that they'd be back in a week, and never show up again. The way to do it is really to find a small set of good, reliable tradespeople, give them your business for all your repairs and improvements, and pay them well. There aren't many of them, though, and they'll cost you. Finding that small set of reliable contractors is part of what your rent goes to. My dad used to do a lot of the home maintenance himself. Sometimes it worked fine, and sometimes (like the time he tried to replace the roof himself right before a thunderstorm, without having a giant tarp) it was pretty disastrous. In any case, it's not really realistic in today's world (where you usually need two incomes to survive) with today's homes (which are giant, complex, and built to a labyrinth of building codes that you are probably violating when you do improvements yourself).

cblum 7y ago

Did you enjoy making repairs though? In my experience that’s what makes people either love or hate owning their place. Personally I loathe doing any kind of maintenance work. I hate dealing with drywall, paint, wiring, pipes, and whatever else you have to deal with when maintaining a home.

mox1 7y ago
As an engineer (software) who owns his own SFH, I absolutely love doing repairs to my house. I preemptively replaced my water system this spring (electric to gas heater, added water softener). Took me a whole week (5-10pm work) and lots of pre-planning, but every time I walk downstairs I can't help but admire all the coppers lines I piped in. I dunno it was kinda like Hello World of the building trades, hearing the heater kick in after all was done was awesome. Now, I've worked with my hands my whole life and have done tons of smallerish projects around this house, but this was the biggest one I tackled. Saved me 3-5k I'm sure and it really gave me a sense of accomplishment. To each is own though.
- cosmodisk 7y ago
  Plumbing, woodwork,and even concrete work can be very enjoyable and rewarding experiences when done for your own purposes and very occasionally.
- kasey_junk 7y ago
  As an engineer (software) who owns his own SFH and also did a gut rehab. I hate doing repairs on my house. Between not having the correct tooling, the time premium I pay beyond what a reputable tradesman will take and how much I prefer working on software for dealing with home repair, it makes _zero_ sense for me to do this work. Every time I do repairs I think of my run rate vs the professional I could be paying to do the work and get disgusted. The only reason I ever do it is that finding said professional is a gig unto itself. I like the _control_ I have in owning my place, but I abhor the responsibility of fixing systems.
  - cblum 7y ago