The American Dream is not an Investment

I have written in the past how the American Dream is not an investment. I purchased my first house in the 90's - a first home fixer upper. I lived in the house for two years before job changes required us to move closer to the city, so, I put the house on the market and rented an apartment. It took two years to sell the house (so I owned the house for four years). During those two years I was paying a mortgage, taxes, and maintenance on a vacated house. When the house finally sold, I did the math and determined I had lost $28,000. All the work, time investment, and everything I had done to the house was rewarded with difficulty selling it and ultimately a huge loss.

Because I had been burned, I wasn't a fan of home ownership. We rented for five years, during which time our family grew and outgrew the apartment we were renting. My wife had the american dream in her heart. But this second house would be different: new construction instead of a fixer-upper. We wanted to settle in a house where we weren't starting off behind the 8-ball with an impossible amount of work.

We have been in our current house for eleven years. Home ownership has a lot of benefits. But financial benefit really isn't one of them. In these eleven years, we have payed over $70,000 in property taxes, over $70,000 in mortgage interest, and over $10,000 in PMI. That is $150,000 that I will never get back. The likelihood we could ever sell our house and regain that $150,000 is very unlikely.

In the past 11 years, we have put a lot of money into the house: landscaping, finishing the basement, adding a deck and a patio, and more. There has also been (and will be) maintenance done on the house and property. The best I could hope for when selling the house someday would be to recoup some of the investments we have made.

Home ownership makes people rich. Not the homeowner. The banker, politician, lawyers, hardware store, insurance companies, and contractors. But not the home owner.

The financial benefit to home ownership is the tax write-off on interest paid. Also, if I weren't paying a mortgage, I would be paying rent. That taken into account, I estimate the total cost of ownership roughly twice the cost to rent a suitable house or apartment for me. So why do we, as Americans, do it? Because home ownership is the American Dream.

Storm doors

Something I hate is doors. Doors are great when they work properly but are a pain when they have problems.

My back storm door was installed two years ago and the latch has always been trouble. It needs regular adjustment. When it is cold out, the strike plate needs to be moved in. And when it is warm out, as it has been lately, the strike plate needs to be moved out.

Just another joy of home ownership!

Car mechanic

In addition to being a carpenter, appliance repairman, engineer, electrician, plumber, and computer technician, home ownership requires as much of being an auto mechanic as you can. Unfortunately, this is a weak area for me but there are some things I can do.

My daughter complained her car wasn't driving correctly. It was 9:30 at night so I drove the car to a gas station. Along the way I felt a vibration. If the vibration is in the steering wheel it means a problem with the front tires. If you feel the vibration in the seat, it is coming from the back. I felt it in both, but much worse in the back.

Under the lights of the gas station, and using a tire gauge, I found the rear driver's tire to be at 10 pounds instead of 35! And both front tires were around 22. And yet she told me she checked her tires just three days ago.

When I was growing up my parents were always on me because they didn't think I spent enough time maintaining my car. They checked the oil and tires and fluids every time before they drove out of town (or so they told me, which I knew was false). I find myself increasingly sounding like my parents when I talk to my daughter about her car maintenance.

For example, I have asked her three times "Is your tire gauge in you car's glove box?" And each time she answers "No, it is still in my bedroom". Having a tire gauge in your bedroom is helpful when.... Ok, it is never helpful. It belongs in your glove box!

I try not to sound like my parents but sometimes I think it is inevitable. 

Outside faucets

One of the purposes of this blog is to celebrate all the work of home ownership. That includes maintaining outside water faucets. If water if left in the faucet during the winter, the water will freeze causing the pipe to burst and the basement to flood.

To avoid that, every fall the outside faucets need to be turned off. We have now entered spring and it appears we are done with freezes, so, I have been able to turn the outside faucets back on.

Fixing the Dryer

There is always work to be done around the house. It seems we just get holiday decorations up and it is time to take them down again and put up the next holiday decorations. Filters need to be changed, maintenance, cleaning, and repairs are a never ending routine.

A new routine seems to be the repair of our washer and dryer. Six months ago I installed a new control arm and belt for the dryer. Three months ago the washer received a new pump. And this month the dryer stopped working again. Specifically, my Whirpool Duet dryer would turn on but would not start spinning the drum.

I unplugged the dryer and then took the cover off to access the main board.

Next, I checked the main board to make sure it was OK.

The board was OK, so next was to follow the circuit down to the motor. My fear was that the motor was bad, which would be expensive. Along the way to the motor there are two thermal fuses.

The first tested fine but the second test failed. I verified it by bypassing the fuse and the dryer was able to start fine.

I could have ordered a new fuse online for $2.50, but my wife wanted it fixed right away. So, a trip to a local appliance store and the $2.50 fuse cost me $16 - what a rip off!

While I had the dryer torn apart, I took the opportunity to vacuum out the dryer.  

You should vacuum the dryer regularly to avoid a lint fire inside the dryer. 

The dryer is reassembled and back to working. 

Gym Project: Rearranging

Originally I just wanted a bench - someplace to sit. But the Olympic Bench was a steal. Unfortunately, Olympic Benches take up a lot of room. As a result, I have had to rearrange the home gym and say goodbye to the old stair stepper.

Gym Project: Weight Bench

Recently I attended an auction and picked up some gym gear cheap including this Olympic bench.

If you want to outfit a home gym? Go to auctions or look on Craig's List before buying new. You can get things for pennies on the dollar.

Gym project: DumbBells

It has been a while since I last updated this blog. Let me tell you what is going on. I attended an auction and bought 550 pounds worth of dumbbells to add to my collection.

Normally dumbbells cost around $1 per pound. I got these for under $.10 per pound.

My dumbell rack is screaming "Uncle!"