Unwitttingly diving in the deep end

So in this on-going saga (I'm calling it a saga) about our house move, we're learning the rules the hard way -

- Please check out the house throughly before buying, i.e. go through ALL the rooms, open ALL the cupboards, visit the house at least twice and walk through thoroughly, check the floors, the tiling
- Get a proper valuation BEFORE making an offer
- Take a general contractor to the house to see what might need doing BEFORE making an offer
- Inspect the roof and electricity (the latter is good in this place, NOT the former)
- Check the plumbing, inspect the ceiling for leaks
- Talk to the neighbours about possible natural disasters, safety, crime, traffic (flooding, earthquake)

Of course, you're probably guessing by now that we didn't do most of these things until it was too late, and now we are learning the hard way.

We dove in the deep end first. Seems to the story of my family's life. We always learn by doing, even if it means making terrible mistakes.

My only silver-lining of hope is that when the house is renovated, we will have a very nice, fairly modern home on a quiet street.

And that little peace of mine may be worth all the expense.