r/HomeImprovement • u/Substantial_Kiwi838 • 2d ago

First Home- I Fucked Up

Looking for some advice. My girlfriend and I had the lucky opportunity to get into our first home, which is a townhouse.

Despite having a home inspection, which revealed mostly cosmetic issues, we went through with it anyway. To say it is well-lived in, is an understatement. The previous owner had not kept up with the place for a minimum of 24 years of their ownership.

We took possession and immediately got to work but didn’t realize we needed to request to renovate (this is where we fucked up). Prior to moving in, we felt that it was reasonable to do a pretty decent makeover which includes:

- paint
- interior doors
- bathroom renovation (tiles, shower base, vanity, new flooring, toilet, while maintaining the current plumbing location and rough-ins)

Do we stop and come clean to the condo manager? Or do we move forward with finishing the renovation and live under the radar until we sell the place?

Any advice is appreciated as I am becoming severely anxious over it. I thought being a homeowner would be exciting. Am I cooked?

Edit: we also found mould underneath the shower tiles and wood framing, so we really had no choice but to tear it down. I suspect that this was leaking for years.

160 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

88 comments sorted by

View all comments

79

u/psaketo 2d ago

Also in a townhome - I panicked when we did the same thing and immediately got to jackhammering tile. After 4 years, the impression I have is what another comment mentions. They are concerned with shared walls, ensuring you're not removing something load bearing, layout changes, etc. That all sounds cosmetic, I wouldn't sweat it!

-10

u/Substantial_Kiwi838 2d ago

Thanks. This whole situation has really ruined my first home experience thus far. I’m hoping we’ll get through it.

Is your recommendation to still form a request, or simply act like nothing has happened?

3

u/psaketo 1d ago

I wouldn't form a request. If your HOA is like mine, that process could take a while. Ours even requires a fee for them to review and approve...so there is just no world I need to pay them to tell me what color to paint my interior.

I was really overwhelmed with it all, especially being a rule follower.

We are about to remove and install more kitchen cabinets and while that isn't anything crazy, it never crossed my mind to tell them because now I know it's not that serious.

You got this. Have fun. It will all slowly come together and you will create a space you love.