My first house was a rental for 12 years before I bought it, and it sounds like it was very much what you’re describing. I don’t want to give you advice, necessarily, but I can offer my experiences and perspective.

A lot of what you’ll be tempted to do is to “make better” and “correct” what someone else has done before you. It’s tempting to just try and “fix” this sort of thing. I tried that route, and found that I spent far more time, money, and emotional labor doing that than if I just ripped out the whole thing, and started fresh. Once I started fresh, I was no longer reverse engineering a clusterfuck. That part seemed to be the most difficult.

It’s hard to convince yourself that starting fresh is less work and often less money for better results, so it’s totally understandable that you may have to teach yourself that lesson by trying to fix bad work.

Secondly, check out some of these YouTube channels where I learned a SIGNIFICANT amount about how to do things, or what to look for when I felt like I needed to hire someone.

Scott Brown carpentry: Construction, renovation, and a great attitude every Friday

Samurai Carpenter: Look for the videos about 4-5 years ago when he was renovating his house

Tile Coach: bathrooms/showers

Home Renovision DIY: he’s got a video for damned near everything

Finish Carpentry TV: (older episodes) for trim, doors, general finish carpentry

Insider carpentry: Also finish carpentry, often tailored to the business side of things or focusing on production environments. However, tons of tips for regular folks

Life uncontained: general house diy construction tasks

Frank Howarth: Look for videos about 4-6 years ago about his house renovations

Essential Craftsman: specifically the spec house build playlist

Vancouver Carpenter: he’s good with drywall stuff (so I hear)

Additionally, anything else you want to do, just search YouTube. Watch a few different videos to get a feel for the parts of the task that everyone does the same way. You can also watch a few folks do it, then decide whether or not you think you’re capable.

If you’re concerned about budget and tools, check Craigslist for both used tools and building materials. If you’re ok with buying new tools, it’s hard to go wrong with the Big 3: DeWalt, Makita, Milwaukee. Really, it just depends on what your favorite color is. Ultimately, you’re committing to a battery style for all of your followup tool purchases, so just keep that in mind.

Full disclosure: my wife and I re-did every room in that house, which is why when we moved, we built new because we absolutely did want to do that again. It’s WORK. It’s satisfying and rewarding work that gives you much more confidence in yourself, however.

Good luck, and feel free to PM me if you have questions

Have I lost track of what memes are? Or is it the children who are wrong?

You were also probably electioneering, which you definitely shouldn’t do, even though I agree with your politics

Or even birth control

The book was excellent, by the way

Exactly the point here. Let’s force people to allocate money in a way they don’t want AS A GIFT BECAUSE WE’RE NICE!

Cash is superior in every way

To quote you Lindsey, you deserve it

Holy shit, was that a Frequency reference?

I watched Alien Romulus last night. It was pretty meh. I appreciated some of the other movies in the universe that covered new ground, but Romulus was basically

I do love German humor

That’s not a meme

Yeah, it was one of these when I was in the army: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precision_Lightweight_GPS_Receiver

This didn’t necessarily precede civilian GPS devices, but this was during the accuracy “embargo.” Certainly though, GPS devices available to the public were cost prohibitive at that time. Later, someone bought me a Garmin for because they thought it would be useful to me in the military. I didn’t have the heart to tell them I’d never need it because of the existence of very accurate military GPS devices. It was a very thoughtful gift from a family member who was a veteran

I couldn’t possibly be more excited about a video game than I am right now

That’s the movie that introduced me to Elliot Smith!

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I just put myself in that scenario and had the thought “man, what if she’s flustered about something else, and having a rough day in general, then I go and swoop in and basically accuse her of being poor in public. She’d feel terrible and I will have made her day worse.”

You would have walked out of there feeling like shit in two of the three ways that could have gone. Don’t beat yourself up over it; clearly you’re empathetic and care about people. That tells me you DO act when it’s appropriate and you do want to be a positive force in this world. Congratulations! The world is better with you in it

Is it virtue or laziness? Asking for a friend

No, but maybe I’ll find out when you hand me your driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance like I asked…

I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I personally think it’s telling of a person’s character, which is inextricably entwined with how they perform their jobs (especially those in public service). For me, it’s not an absolute deal breaker, but it’s heavily weighted if I was considering voting for that person