When we got married last year, our guest were more than generous with the monetary gifts they gave us.
We really felt Blessed to have so many people come out to support our new lives together. We put the money in the savings account to hopefully be able to put a down payment on a house within the year. We started looking slowly at properties that we could afford. They had to be close to work for both of us, in a lower tax area, and we needed a fenced yard for our two puppies. We figured that anything else we could handle, such as cosmetic upgrades and such. The opportunity arose to purchase one of my uncle’s homes as he was relocating. He was willing to lower the asking price so that family could purchase the home and it met all of our most important needs. We made a huge mistake in not hiring an inspector when buying the house. After all, we were buying from family, what could go wrong? After spending all of our savings on the down payment, painting, and some landscaping, we just found out the the HVAC system is shot. The company that had serviced it for years told us that they had been telling my uncle to upgrade or replaced for several years. This, was a fact he failed to mention, when he sold us the house. My parents are really mad and have offered to loan us the money for the repairs. The HVAC company said that they do offer financing so either way, we will be stuck making payments for the new system. At least we can save money on our utility bills as the new one will be way more efficient. Buyer beware, I never thought I needed it when dealing with family, guess I was wrong.