u/Goodness_Gracious7

I just bought a 1950's home and did some at home lead tests that came back positive. There was a leak in my attic (it is fixed), but now I have a 3x3ft area of my ceiling that is 50% wet and needs to be replaced asap. I was having a hard time finding a contractor that can work with lead and posted my frustrations on reddit and was downvoted for mentioning lead to contractors. Can you please help me out? This is my first home and I don't really have anyone to ask these questions, but I don't understand how to handle this. Everyone is telling me not to mention the lead, is that really the standard procedure? How do I make sure ya'll are safe?

This house seemed great, passed the inspection with just a few issues, now after a week of homeownership I'm finding a horror of issues. Started with mold caking the air handler and now this. How am I supposed to replace 3 ft x 3ft section of ceiling if there is lead in the paint? I've called dozens of companies. There's no contractor that fixes ceilings that is licensed to work with lead paint and all the abatement companies don't replace ceilings. And after sanitizing the house from mold spores in the air handler, I'm running against the clock trying to remove a 50% wet ceiling spot before it creates new mold....or completely collapses on me.

Closed on my house last week. Was a great deal, great location, half acre lot. It was an older house, so I came in knowing I'd need to update electric ($1.6k), install radon mitigation ($2k), and install water systems (S10k) - I have acidity, hard, water, and nitrates. There's also a bunch of small fixes that would all be DIY.

Within the first week, I found out that the air handler in the attic was caked in mold and that remediation plus other HVAC work cost me $9k. The outside was spotless upon inspection, so I think the sellers must have scrubbed it clean. There was also gaps in the air system that may have spread fiberglass shards all over my house. Now my lungs burn and I'm itchy all over. And now I spent my water money on the mold.

There's also a groundhog issue that the sellers are under contract to still fix (it was contractually agreed they will take care of it post sell) but they have been MIA. They were supposed to hire someone to trap them, but they are not responding or doing anything. But there's a groundhog hole next to the house that we need to fill as it is creating moisture in a corner of the basement. I'm done waiting so my uncle will set up the traps instead. Can I get money from the sellers since they were obligated to do this?

Also found some lead pain pealing in a far back kitchen cabinet. Oh and the oil water heater/radiator system won't start. It worked at inspection. The official company tech is coming next week to check on it, but HVAC guy said something is wrong with it.

Is this relatively normal or did I just buy a money pit? Will the purchase ever feel like it's worth it? The house setup itself is perfect for me, it has everything I was hoping for... just all the problems are so overwhelming.

I'm in US-NC. In just closed on a house and after a week of cleaning it up and getting contractors to fix things, I started to get really itchy and developed a cough. I called in a duct cleaning company to clean the AC unit's ducts and they discovered a lot of mold inside of the air handler... just caked in mold. Turns out the issue was standing water in the drip pan. The air handler is in the attic too, so that's not the best. They cleaned out the mold, sanitized (sprayed all over and into the vents) and sprayed my whole house down. And put in UV lights. I'm having my AC guy come in a few days to check it once over.

Is that really it? Is that the standard practice? It was wildly expensive (8k total) but was all done in 4-ish hours. Should I be doing anything else? Can I relax about the issue now?

I don't see any mold elsewhere except for a corner of the basement (dealing with a groundhog issue) that lead to moisture.

I'm sorry I don't have photos, there is so much going on with this nightmare of a house that I didn't think to take any of the air handler.

Also, is this something I should contact my realtor about? Or my insurance company?

I clicked on a website windstonefarmmd (dot) com that a friend sent me last year and it suddenly took me through a bunch of other sites including:

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/69c4d5b1c2b070a9675564a9db51d35585ce1f41b75269a52e1526867eb7bde2

The links it took me through:

example (dot) com

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/2a1b402420ef46577471cdc7409b0fa2c6a204db316e59ade2d805435489a067

filter (dot) explorads (dot) com - there was a longer extension and I have it saved in a word file if needed

basic link:

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/9d624c4dae15072c36596dc86e13f46d9883e2f9c527f32d142f226315a0ea68

full extension:

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/3f69a182c85d78ce446517a52a1cd5dbadfc550e26d0bd8827eb19c6be2b3446

and landed on chaturbate (dot) com - there was a longer extension, but I don't have it saved

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/80d0f94caf6a4bb8b147075b3f19d7ae93764b5b59b4546d8a991c5e92fc2770/detection

I'm on android, UI 2.5

Am I in trouble? What should I do now? I ran the free malwarebytes and it didn't find anything. The link took me through a number of sites, so I might not have all of them listed as they didn't save in my phone's history.

Hello, I'm purchasing a home and had a septic inspection. The inspector didn't find any glaring problems, but didn't explain much to me. I'm brand new to septic systems and would love some advice on what I'm dealing with and if I need to take any action at this time.

House is from 1960, I think has original septic system. 1 septic tank and 1 drywell.

Here was his summary:

Septic tank is relatively clean. Tank does have some light intrusion. Inlet line is completely under deck. Drywell has approx 3' of liquid depth remaining. There are 2 large maple trees in the rear yard near septic. Roots could eventually create an issue.

And do ya'll have any general septic maintenance advice and any long term things I should be preparing for?

I thought he said 3/4 of the drywell is full, but that's since the 1960's, so I should not worry about it yet? How will I know if I need to do something about it? What is usually done?

My mum passed away recently and I'm the beneficiary of her Empower 401k account. I need the funds at the moment to purchase a house.

I'm filling out the paperwork to withdraw the funds, and I was wondering if it's advisable to get an accountant to evaluate the tax withholding, or should I just do it myself? I'm unemployed right now, so no salary this year, but I have received about 1k a month from interest on my savings.

Is this something people usually get an accountant for? Would I be making a mistake if I did the paperwork myself?

And secondly, since my max tax withholding rate will be at 32% for federal, is that the tax amount I need to indicate in the form or do I need to do some calculations since that percent should only affect my income over $217,875?

Broker initially approved me for a loan. I had no idea, but that loan was not applicable to my situation. It's one of those investment property vs owner-occupied property schemes. We got through underwriting and they asked me to sign some disclosures and that's when I understood the issue and refused to sign. I've talked to the broker and they keep insisting that I'm approved and I should just sign. I'm going to reject them but will that typically mean that I owe them money for admin fees like the credit pull? I paid for the appraisal out of pocket already. Can I fight the fees since their initial pre-approval was disingenuous?

Hello! I'm in the process of buying my first home (we are a week and a half from closing) but there was an issue with the mortgage deal my broker procured for me. We had just passed the underwriting stage and I was asked to sign some documents, but there were issues in the loan docs that I would not agree to. So I asked them to change the loan. They agreed and are working on it. Aside from that, this brokerage firm has been working really hard for me and communication has been good.

Is it ok for me to call up a bank and a credit union to see if they could offer me a loan as a contingency in case there are any other issues with the brokerage firm? What's the smart and/or right thing to do here? Would the brokerage firm find out that I'm seeking alternative loans? I don't fully understand the process so I would love as much advice as possible. I'm guessing regardless of whether I stay with by broker or get a new lender, I'm not going to close in a week and a half? Or is there still a chance?

Hello! I'm in the process of buying a house with a well and I got my well water test results back. The company's main concern was nitrates, but a few other tests were off. Are the nitrates the only thing I need to fix, or should I address everything? And do I have to install multiple systems or can some of the systems address multiple issues? I'm in the US.

My results:

Nitrates: 10.2

PH: 6.5

Hardness: 7

Total dissolved solids: 147

Basically, how concerned should I be? Is this reasonably fixed? Would really appreciate your input!