When building his house, my father took many shortcuts and often picked the cheaper option, even if it would be more costly in the long term. And even when a cheap piece of crap breaks becuse it’s a cheap piece of crap, he goes and buys another cheap piece of crap to replace it.
For example, he refuses to connect to the city water supply, instead he built a well. This can be a good way to save on water costs, as long as your regularly replace filters and test the water to make sure it’s safe, and descale it if too hard.
However, he rarely replaces the filters and refuses to install a water softening system. We got sick a few times because of the water (now we just buy bottled when visiting), and all appliances, faucets, water heater are clogged with limescale that cause low water pressure. Fixing or replacing all of them is going to be super expensive.
Similarly, he bought the cheapest doors, and we got stuck because the door handle broke. The house is full of improvised electric stuff. The fridge is so bad it regularly breaks, and even when it’s working sometimes food spoils after just 1-2 days because it doesn’t cool evenly. He is also a bit of a hoarder, and has a terrible taste in furniture and decorations.
I am the most likely to inherit the estate, and I’m honestly not looking forward to having to deal with all that crap.
Oh man. Oooooh maaannn that is going to suck HARD. Questionable taste in furniture is one thing, but a house that needs massive repairs and is potentially not up to code (the electrical stuff) is a huge liability. Depending on where you live, you may not even be allowed to sell it unless you bring it up to code… which could mean a full-on gut job.
Some localities may not even allow the sale of that house until it is connected to municipal water.
It is entirely possible it is more cost effective to remove the small amount of belongings you want to keep (a huge task in itself if he’s a hoarder), and raze the structure and sell the land cleared.
If you do go that route of destroying the house, contact your local fire department. They may be interested in burning your house down as part of firefighter training. They do this for free. It could mean significantly less costs of clearing the land if the house is burned down.
It’s not that bad that it needs to be torn down. The structure is fine. It just needs some expensive renovations to replace the inside doors (outside ones are fine), do some professional cleaning of the scale buildup in the pipes, fixup the electric stuff, insulate the roof, replace some of the flooring, replace some of the bad appliances, and some cleanup of the old junk.
Connecting to municipal water is not a problem, it can be done, it will only need digging a trench to the road.
You’ll love thinking back to the coffee machine as a problem when you have to handle your parents estate. I won’t sugar coat it: Adulting is hard.
When building his house, my father took many shortcuts and often picked the cheaper option, even if it would be more costly in the long term. And even when a cheap piece of crap breaks becuse it’s a cheap piece of crap, he goes and buys another cheap piece of crap to replace it.
For example, he refuses to connect to the city water supply, instead he built a well. This can be a good way to save on water costs, as long as your regularly replace filters and test the water to make sure it’s safe, and descale it if too hard.
However, he rarely replaces the filters and refuses to install a water softening system. We got sick a few times because of the water (now we just buy bottled when visiting), and all appliances, faucets, water heater are clogged with limescale that cause low water pressure. Fixing or replacing all of them is going to be super expensive.
Similarly, he bought the cheapest doors, and we got stuck because the door handle broke. The house is full of improvised electric stuff. The fridge is so bad it regularly breaks, and even when it’s working sometimes food spoils after just 1-2 days because it doesn’t cool evenly. He is also a bit of a hoarder, and has a terrible taste in furniture and decorations.
I am the most likely to inherit the estate, and I’m honestly not looking forward to having to deal with all that crap.
Oh man. Oooooh maaannn that is going to suck HARD. Questionable taste in furniture is one thing, but a house that needs massive repairs and is potentially not up to code (the electrical stuff) is a huge liability. Depending on where you live, you may not even be allowed to sell it unless you bring it up to code… which could mean a full-on gut job.
Some localities may not even allow the sale of that house until it is connected to municipal water.
It is entirely possible it is more cost effective to remove the small amount of belongings you want to keep (a huge task in itself if he’s a hoarder), and raze the structure and sell the land cleared.
If you do go that route of destroying the house, contact your local fire department. They may be interested in burning your house down as part of firefighter training. They do this for free. It could mean significantly less costs of clearing the land if the house is burned down.
It’s not that bad that it needs to be torn down. The structure is fine. It just needs some expensive renovations to replace the inside doors (outside ones are fine), do some professional cleaning of the scale buildup in the pipes, fixup the electric stuff, insulate the roof, replace some of the flooring, replace some of the bad appliances, and some cleanup of the old junk.
Connecting to municipal water is not a problem, it can be done, it will only need digging a trench to the road.