The Joys of Home Ownership

Last night I woke up suddenly because I thought I heard someone downstairs. We aren't used to all the sounds our house makes so I find myself frequently waking up at the smallest squeaks- like the other night I woke up at 3 am to Mike walking around and when I asked him what's wrong he said he heard water running and since we were advised that our water heater needed to be replaced, he thought maybe it had gone out. Turns out it was just the next-door neighbor's outdoor fountain that they let run all night, every night.

Also turns out that no one was downstairs but the sound I heard was from a massive tree in the common area toppling over. See that silver car? That's mine. Luckily it fell just right so that it missed any cars or houses but I still had an interesting call with the HOA management company that didn't inspire a lot of faith in me. The actual manager of the HOA was out but I got his assistant who said she'd send the landscapers over... I don't think she realizes how big of a tree I was talking about. Other than that, what really worries me is the fact that the roots of the tree were completely rotted out. As in, I probably could have leaned against the tree and it would have fallen over. Looks like this couple might have to get on the board and convince the HOA to send out a tree specialist to check the rest of them because the last thing I want to deal with right now is huge tree coming through our roof while we are sleeping.

Other surprises or inconveniences we have been dealing with include not being able to access our mail and a leaky water heater. We get our mail through a common box but unfortunately, the last owner didn't have the right keys to it (they never actually lived here, just rented it out). This isn't a huge deal but the post office never seems to be open when I have time to visit it. I actually tried going to the small one by our home the other day during lunch and it turns out we have to visit the larger one a few miles away. The good news is it's free to have your lock changed if you have just moved in as opposed to the $50 it costs if you need to get a new lock because you lost all the keys.

The other issue is with our leaky water heater which was pointed out to us during the inspection. We had gone ahead and ordered the home warranty before our inspection just in case he found something (they won't cover anything 'preexisting') and so it looks like we'll get a new 40-gallon tank for about $60. The one we have no is pretty gross looking but that is also because it is in a closet outside of the house so it's more exposed to the elements and rodents. Mike and I are considering a tankless water heater but with the cost of the actual unit being around $800 as opposed to $350, we are going to have to weigh the pros and cons a little more. I think the real deciding factor will be how much it is to install. We have the water heater guy that the insurance called coming out on Thursday so we will have to see what he quotes us. Anyone else have any big surprises with in the first few weeks moving in?