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A couple who renovated their first home have revealed four reasons why it was a nightmare.
Olivia and her partner Luke embarked on their first renovation journey more than three years ago, but it hasn’t been a bed of roses.
The mother of one revealed her ups and downs in a video posted to TikTok, explaining that she still “wouldn’t change” her experience.
Calling social media “fake,” the content creator detailed the struggles she and her partner faced when expanding their first home.
Olivia and Luke bought their first home over three years ago, but their renovation journey hasn’t been easy.
1. Duration of time with Contractors
Delving deeper into the renovation process, Olivia confessed that she knew making changes to the property would be expensive.
But what the first-time buyer didn’t take into account was the amount of time it takes contractors to complete the job.
As a result, Olivia admitted that they had to pay a significant amount to redo work they were not happy with.
“We underestimated how long that would take, how much it would take and how much it would go wrong, so we ended up having to pay to do a lot of things in the red,” he said.
2. Debt
The cost of the properties, let alone the additional construction work, will cost anyone a good amount of money.
However, Olivia and her partner were left with a “dark hole of debt” from which they are now beginning to climb out.
Explaining how the couple took out credit and debit cards, Olivia wrote: “I hate to admit this, but we drowned in so much debt those first 18 months.”
She divulged that the couple spent more on their monthly expenses and had more monthly expenses than the money we both made combined.
He added: “Looking back, I don’t know how our relationship didn’t have more difficulties because we were both so overwhelmed and depressed.”
3. Very few home visits
Another regret of Olivia’s was not having seen the property more before making the final decision to purchase it.
Realizing that they lived two hours away and that properties were going quickly, Olivia and her partner were eager to get the keys.
“We rushed into this (property) without realizing how much it was falling apart,” he confessed.
Speaking of a previous experience at the house, he also added that one of his windows almost fell when it was discovered that it was held on by the skin of his teeth thanks to a material that looked like “blue putty.”
Luke was ripping out the bathroom and the window almost fell because it was held on by some sort of blue putty.
4. Poor living conditions
If Olivia could redo her renovation journey, she would not live in the house during construction during the living conditions.
Divulging that they weren’t the “healthiest,” the mother of one said she was between a rock and a hard place as her parents lived far away and the couple couldn’t afford a hotel.
“We ended up living in the house when it didn’t even have a boiler for heating and it wasn’t until January that they revoked it,” he said.
Olivia added that they had not purchased any furniture before moving in and stated that she wished they had moved in when everything was complete.
Olivia regretted living in the house during construction and joked that it wasn’t the healthiest living conditions.
Social media users flooded the comments with some jokes about how their trip made them feel less of a failure.
“We ended up changing our minds about what we wanted the designs to be, but it was too late and too expensive to change,” he added.
Several users took to the comments section and shared their similar sentiments about their own renovation journeys.
‘I really feel that social media plays a big role in depression and anxiety. “People are becoming so materialistic and forgetting what really matters,” one wrote.
“I needed this because I felt like a failure, thank you,” a second joked.
Another chimed in: ‘How realistic. I’m very happy that it worked out for you in the end.’
“(It can) be a money pit, but also satisfying once it’s completed,” wrote one user.