"Probably the biggest one I see a lot (insurance agent) is people not trimming trees over their roof. Usually the company has something to say about it, and it’s not just because you want to avoid having a giant limb fall onto your roof during a storm, but also because the falling leaves/pine needles will make short work of your roof by encouraging moss, rot, whatever else to propagate.
I’ve told clients if they won’t trim the trees, they’ll want to get up there once or twice a year with a roof rake/broom, so it’s easier to just take down the limbs and be safe"
"Ignoring the anode rod replacement requirements of your hot water heater"
"I had a wash sink next to my washing machine. Had NO idea that the washing machine actually drained into the sink. Left a pile of rags in the sink and flooded the whole basement. I would like to say this was isolated, but I went on to do it two more times. The shop vac was my friend."
"The first 10 years we owned our house, we rarely (maybe never, I can’t recall) got our gutters cleaned. We didn’t see the value in it. Eventually we had to replace an entire bay window and the surrounding wall. I think it cost $10-15k twenty years ago."
"Our sump pump was working when we moved in but about 9 months later we had a week of heavy spring rains. I realized I hadn’t heard the sump pump making noise for a while so I went into the garage to check the 3ft crawlspace we never use which runs the length of our entire house. I kid you not — we had a 2ft deep swimming pool under our home. We spent $7k on getting the water pumped out, mold mitigation, getting a vapor barrier installed, and replacing the sump pump with one that has an alarm.
The old sump pump was the cheapest one our plumber had ever seen. Would’ve been nice if our home inspector had bothered to mention it."
"Forgot to take a hose off of the spigot before the first freeze of winter."
"Not reroofing your house. Water will leak in and start ruining your house. Also, mold. You do not want mold!"
"I only learned recently about the filter in the dishwasher and I’m so grossed out."
"A future customer replaced the ballcock in his second-floor toilet and then went out of town.A neighbor called the police the next day when water started coming out the front door.Always call a licensed plumber."
"Failure to have the chimney of a wood-burning fireplace inspected and cleaned before lighting a fire in your new home. Burning cardboard in a fireplace. That house burned down day 3 when the family decided to get rid of boxes."
"I’ve seen stone countertops destroyed by the use of the wrong cleaners and lack of proper care."
"Don’t ignore a dank smell in the basement, get a dehumidifier ASAP because that smell is going to only get worse and ruin anything stored there stink, and eventually black mold will arrive"
"Putting hamburger grease down the drain."
"Something I learned late in life but thankfully early in homeownership… ladies – tampons aren’t flushable!!!"
"Check for gas leaks regularly!!! The detectors are less than $20 on Amazon. You can get acclimated to the rotten egg smell they add to make it more noticeable. Whole neighborhoods have been wiped off the map by gas leaks.
Our newly purchased (one-year) home nearly killed me this year. A pocket of leaked natural gas had floated into and sat in our nearby bedroom from the kitchen after I made a whole bunch of stuff for dinner with the gas oven and stove."
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