ArcaMax

I shared with you last week that my youngest daughter is trying to purchase a home. She’s looking in central New Hampshire. This part of the state has a vast inventory of old homes. After all, New Hampshire was one of the original 13 colonies and became the ninth state in 1788. Many of these houses have substantial amounts of accumulated neglect.

My job in this column is to share with you what happens if you start to ignore periodic maintenance at your home. At first, it might be small things. Small things grow into big things. Defects start to become invisible to you, as you walk past them every day.

The last two houses my daughter asked me to look at were abysmal. The first home was built in 1790, and the second one was built in 1951. Think about that. The first home was built 70 years before the U.S. Civil War. Layers of lead paint were peeling from windows, woodwork, and wall. There was deteriorated shake siding, and a laundry list of other things that needed immediate attention.

The only reason I even considered looking at this house was the brand-new three-car garage the owner had built in the past three years. Why he spent all this money on a detached garage instead of investing it in the house, I’ll never know. I knew this enormous garage could be rented out to store boats, motorcycles, jet skis, and snowmobiles. This income would have covered almost 70% of the mortgage.

My daughter made the correct choice to kick this house to the curb. The second time she saw it, she was overwhelmed with the amount of work that had to be done to bring it up to a decent living standard. She was terrified of the lead paint hazard — as she should be with her 23-month-old daughter.

I shared with the listing agent that the homeowner’s failure to maintain the house caused my daughter to walk away. I estimated the house needed at least $175,000 worth of work. I did the simple math and determined the cost per square foot of buying and fixing up this house would be greater than the cost per square foot of a brand new home. Never forget that when you buy a new home you often don’t need to do any significant maintenance for 15 or 20 years.

The online listing photos of the second house, thanks to the magic of artificial intelligence, looked delightful. But it was another example of slathering lipstick on a pig. The list of defects in this home was long.

The listing agent shared that the owner was partially disabled and unable to do the repairs herself. It’s also possible the owner had run into financial hard times. I understand that all too well. However, the owner was unwilling to discount the asking price to cover the cost of the accumulated neglect. My conservative three-page estimate put the repairs at just under $68,000.

Why is this important to you? I was a real estate broker for over 20 years, in addition to being a home builder. I know that 1 in 10 people at any given time would love to sell their home. You might be one.

The real estate market is dynamic. It changes each day depending on who is in the marketplace trying to sell or buy. The issue we have now is that many sellers are blinded by the fog of cheap money. I’ll go one step further; let’s call it what it was: stupid, cheap money.

For the past 13 years or so, real estate prices rose to stratospheric levels because the interest rates on home loans were so low. Look at the historic records, and you’ll discover that 30-year loan rates below 4% didn’t exist except in the past 15 years or so. I was able to refinance my own home loan in 2011 with an unbelievable 2.65% interest rate!

Current interest rates on 30-year mortgages are now well over 7%, but when interest rates were dropping, buyers could afford to buy (and borrow) more money. This automatically caused the prices of homes to rise faster than they should have. In the last few years, as mortgage rates have risen, many sellers have been unwilling to recognize the new reality that potential buyers cannot borrow as much money, and therefore the prices they are asking for their homes will need to drop.

If you are a seller, this means that your home must be in excellent shape to stand out in the marketplace. Your home should be the belle of the ball. This will allow you to get the highest sales price possible.

You couldn’t live in a more DIY-friendly time than now. There are countless online videos that show you how to do minor projects and even some tougher ones once you accumulate some confidence. I’ve got over 1,000 of them on my Ask the Builder YouTube channel. Investing some sweat equity by painting and repairing things might allow you to collect tens of thousands of dollars or more at the closing table.

I’m available to answer any questions you have about what to look for when looking at an existing home for sale. Just use this link to set up a phone call: https://go.askthebuilder.com/coaching

Subscribe to Tim’s FREE newsletter at AsktheBuilder.com. Tim offers phone coaching calls if you get stuck during a DIY job. Go here: go.askthebuilder.com/coaching

©2026 Tim Carter. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.