Buying a Home Without an Agent

The Home Lifespan House

Maintaining $$$$'s

By Mark Hasfurter — Remodeling since 1988 · Broker since 2000 · General Contractor

Nothing in a house lasts forever — but almost everything in a house has a schedule, and I've spent since 1988 learning those schedules the hard way. An asphalt roof gets 25 years. A furnace, about the same. A water heater gives you 12 to 15 — unless you flush the sediment like one family I knew, who got more than 20 out of theirs. Pressure-treated decking? Twenty years, no matter what the neighborhood believes, and fresh stain doesn't fool a screwdriver.

Why does this matter? Because whether you're buying, selling, or just living in a house, the ages of the majors ARE the money. A buyer who knows the water heater is in year 14 negotiates differently. A seller who has the furnace service records sells differently. And an owner who replaces on schedule instead of on emergency saves two to three times the cost — every time. So tap the house below. Fifteen components on the lawn, each with its honest life expectancy and the rule I give my own clients. No scare tactics. Just the schedules.

The Home Lifespan House

The financing jargon house A house with a closed gabled roof and smoking brown chimney under a blue sky. Tap a financing term on the green lawn: the roof hinges open, three dollar signs fly out, and the definition appears in a cloud. How long does it all last? Maintaining $$$$'s $ $ $

Tap or click any term on the lawn to open the roof. Tap the cloud to dismiss it.

The Glossary, In Writing

Everything the house teaches, on paper — because the buyers who write things down beat the buyers who wing it, every single time.

The other houses on this street: The Financing Jargon House — mortgage terms, from pre-approval to PMI; The Contract Jargon House — contingencies, earnest money, and the as-is clause.

Want help with your own sale or purchase? See my flat-fee consulting services — I walk you through it without a traditional agent.