Another vote for radon since it looked like you guys will be actively using the basement, right? The numbers tend to be even higher in the spring,* so if it’s a concern now, you’d know that you’d definitely want to address it.
*At least in CO
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I think it will very likely tell you that there is mold. The main thing is whether or not it is a lot of mold or very bad mold. IMO you should take what they tell you with a grain of salt and not as an upsell to the full remediation.
Sewer scope would have been a very helpful thing for us, and would have meant we replaced the broken pipes at a better time of our choosing. Luckily we only had tile in the basement, and didn’t lose anything when the melt water came up the drain pile.
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ACCURATE. Especially here. Mold is our state flower 
(that’s not true, it’s Oregon grape, but still).
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Lies it’s the Pacific rhododendron 
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Not gonna lie, I Googled this to see if it was slang for pot.
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It’s not called the Evergreen state for nothin
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Oh I was talking Oregon. I still identify as an Oregonian 
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I know I was totally giving you crap
My brother also identified as an Oregonian whilst living across the border so I’m well practiced 
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Is it?
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Nope
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Seems like a missed opportunity… 
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Also, when buying the first-time home? Make sure to get it inspected as a part of the purchase requirement and then make sure you’re THERE when the inspector is doing the inspection.
Ask if s/he sees things that aren’t issues now but will be in the future. The guy who inspected this place nailed the future rotting problems on the sills, other drainage issues (many of which we fixed when we added the porch), some insulation problems, etc. None of it was out of code. None of it was an issue for the purchase. All of it became issues in the future.
Before this house, we’d moved every 5-6 years, so we had very little maintenance to worry about. But you will have to replace components: roof, sills, upgrade electrical, pump the septic, update insulation, etc. about every 3 years if you stay much longer than that. Make sure it’s part of your budget.
In the 25 years we’ve been here we’ve replaced 2 well pumps, the water bladder, 2 water heaters, 2 furnace/heating systems, had the entire house reroofed, added a culvert on the driveway, upgraded the electrical system, installed ? modems, put in new sills, etc.
If you’d asked us when we got the place, the modems and kitchen appliances were part of what we considered, but the rest of it wasn’t something we thought would be our problem.
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Yes, those inspections are totally worth it. Be there during the inspection to ask them questions and use the results to negotiate. Our sewer scope found that tree roots were going in the sewer line and the sellers had to pay several thousand dollars to fix it. And we have radon but it’s such a leaky old house that it’s probably ok. With newer houses you want to do something (apparently not difficult) if you do have radon. I guess with the mold you want to see if there’s anything major indicating a leak and a serious mold problem. We didn’t get that inspection but can’t hurt!
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Question about buying a TV this week:
I’ve been putting off buying a tv for…more than a decade.
My plan to buy a tv when I moved (in July) + my brain = maybe buying a large tv (i.e., 65" or 70") with Thanksgiving/Black Friday related sales???
I do not enjoying researching such things and find the variety of stuff tvs have/do now bewildering. Of course, I wouldn’t dream of buying a tv without actually researching things.
Looking for either generalized advice (ordering from Big Box/Wearhouse store x was good/bad, make sure the tv does/has XYZ, etc.) or specific advice (this specific tv is on sale here and is good/bad).
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- I like Best Buy. Great customer service and lots of sales. I also like their refurb stuff.
- LG smart tvs have been super reliable IME. I’ve had two and both lasted a really long time.
- You do not need to worry about display (OLED vs 4k vs ultra high def) because at this point the difference is so minor and the bottom quality level so high that it’s really only important for people with super specific preferences.
- Do you care how you navigate to your streaming services? My tv has a button for netflix and amazon, but it has apps pre-installed for disney +, hulu, and a few others. If you use some super specific or unusual streaming services you might want to double check compatibility.
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I got a cheap off brand smart tv on amazon and it wouldn’t load any of the normal tv apps (netflix, etc), just its own proprietary ones. So my advice is to avoid the brands you’ve never heard of.
My panasonic TV has internet connectivity issues, which are apparently pretty common. If I could go back in time I would get something else.
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I bought a really affordable TCL Roku TV at Best Buy….I think it was $120 around Christmas time, and it’s a 32 inch. The bigger ones were around $200? It’s been great for everything I need (streaming services)….I’m sure it does other things but I never use those functions haha. I feel like you can get a really good tv for pretty cheap these days, if you aren’t picky about the fancy features
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We have an Insignia - Spouse bought it. No problems. TVs have really gotten so much better and cheaper over the last decade or two.
If you belong to Costco, their return policy is no questions asked (if you are worried).
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I have a 42" Sharp Roku tv that I got a few years ago now from Best Buy. Note that you can totally use a “Roku” tv even if you don’t use Roku (which I don’t). It accommodates all the apps that I have thrown at it, plus lots more (Netflix, YouTube, Hulu Prime Video, Paramount+, etc etc etc. It’s not top of the line but it works fine. Also accommodates other boxes (I get Disney + for example via a box from Xfinity) and HDMI IN (from my computer), plus composite cables (from my PS2) and I think DVI-D. Very good value for the money (though I don’t recall how much I paid).
Also note that the size of TV will ideally match up with the distance your primary viewing area is from it. My living room is so small that anything larger than 50" would really be too large for the focal distance.
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We’ve been thrilled with our TCL Roku from Best Buy. To the point that when we sold our last house and the guy bought the entire living room, we immediately went and got another one, lol.
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