Photography by Getty Images; Illustration by Bankrate
My husband and I have owned our first home for a full year. In that year, we sharpened our painting skills, became frequent shoppers at The Home Depot and discovered just how much goes into owning a home versus renting an apartment.
One of our biggest takeaways: No matter what type of home you buy, it’s important to set aside funds for emergencies and unexpected expenses. This is even more important if you’re buying an older house, like we did, or waived the home inspection, which we also did.
What the walk-throughs didn’t show us
Although we forewent an inspection, we did two walk-throughs before moving in. We diligently looked through the home to ensure it was clean and empty and everything worked properly.
Fast-forward to our first week living there: We realized we had mice. Then we turned on the shower and the shower head fell apart. Our shower drain was clogged and one of the bathroom lights strobed. Even the dishwasher door needed adjusting; it wouldn’t stay open unless we rolled the bottom rack out.
We swore we checked for these things at our (two!) walk-throughs. No matter how thorough we were, we found out quickly that homeownership is all about keeping up with surprises.
That point became clearer that first winter, when the heat broke. We weren’t expecting to have to pay an HVAC technician a $200 service fee to fix it. In the scheme of homeownership costs, that’s not very much, but it emphasized to us that repairs can pop up at any time, whether it’s the HVAC system, an appliance or the roof. If we had to replace the HVAC compressor, for example, it would have cost us a lot more: between $750 to $2,000, according to HomeAdvisor estimates.
Those surprises were lessons
We encountered many unexpected maintenance and repair costs in our first year, but came out of it more empowered to tackle them. Here are three things we learned:
1. Don’t lose sight of wants versus needs
Instead of rushing to change everything you don’t like about your house, start with the musts. Aside from dealing with mice, the shower and dishwasher, we knew our house needed grounded outlets, so we prioritized that project, as well as anything else functional that needed immediate attention, room by room. Only after did we move onto the nice-to-haves, like painting and installing board and batten.
2. Embrace DIY
That first year taught us to adapt to doing home maintenance ourselves, including tasks like switching out air filters and winterizing the outdoor faucets. With more bathrooms and living space compared to our apartment, we also had to get used to cleaning a larger home. It quickly became overwhelming, exhausting (and impossible?) to clean in one day like we used to. Now, we break things up throughout the week. I estimate we save about $300 to $500 a month cleaning our home ourselves versus hiring a cleaner — funds that can go toward our emergency fund or other goals.
3. Keep up with savings
The ongoing expense of home maintenance and repairs — some very costly — makes having a dedicated fund crucial. The rule of thumb is to set aside anywhere from 1 to 4 percent of your home’s value a year for maintenance, but you might find you need more or less depending on your home’s age and condition. There are many ways to start an emergency fund — here are our best strategies.
Our piece of the American Dream
Our first year owning a home was full of surprises and lessons, but we also learned there’s a lot to love about homeownership. I now have plenty of outdoor space to garden — something I’ve dreamed of having since my days living in New York City apartments. I’ve also loved flexing my creative muscles to transform what was once someone else’s home into one that truly feels like ours.
There are obvious financial perks, too, like home equity and stable monthly payments with our fixed-rate mortgage. After being priced out of our apartment due to rent hikes, it feels good knowing we won’t have to move again due to unaffordable costs.
What’s next for us in year two? Finishing our basement.
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