8 Surprise expenses for new homeowners
Over a year ago, I bought my first home. And while I’d been warned about the extra expenses that come with homeownership, there were still some surprises.
I don’t mean the “unexpected” costs of property taxes and repairs — expenses that are often covered in articles about new homeownership. “Surprise! There’s no landlord to come fix your garbage disposal.” Is that really a surprise to anyone, though?
No, what I’m talking about are the less obvious expenses — the ones that new homeowners probably aren’t thinking about when they sign the closing documents and get the keys to their new home. Here are some of those less obvious expenses that took me by surprise in the last year.
1. Changing the locks. When I first moved in, my dad “reminded” me to call a locksmith and have the locks changed. Only, silly me, I had no idea that I should do that. Dad pointed out that my house had had several owners and was even a rental at one point. That means that any number of people could possibly have a key to my house.
Okay, so that’s three locks that needed to be changed. No big deal. Only the three estimates that I got came in at around $200 — much higher than I was expecting. Finally I found a special for $79 and got the locks rekeyed.
2. Lawn maintenance. One of the big selling points for our house was the half-acre yard. It feels like a bit of country in the city.
Well, the week we moved in, a neighbor asked us, “Do you guys have a riding lawnmower? ‘Cause you’re gonna need one!” The truth is that we hadn’t really thought about lawn care yet. We’d just bought the house, and we were 100 percent focused on some repairs and getting moved in. But our neighbor had a point — we’d either need a riding mower or a lawn service. And being the DIY-type, we wanted the mower.
Eventually the growing grass forced us to take the plunge.
3. Multiple appliance repairs and replacement. Okay, we knew we’d be responsible for our own appliances. But what I didn’t count on was so many of these repairs and replacements in the first year!
We had to replace a garage door opener, an AC motor (and it was an expensive one), and a water heater. Thankfully, our real estate agent negotiated a one-year home warranty, paid for by the seller. So these costs, which would have been well over $1,000, ended up costing only $180.
Each time I had to use the warranty, I emailed my agent to thank her for her foresight.
4. Cosmetic upgrades. I thought that cosmetic upgrades, like painting the bedrooms, would be quick and cheap. Well, they were neither quick nor cheap!
Just one bucket of paint ran $32, and with four rooms, I needed a lot of buckets of paint. Plus, there are all of the little things you don’t always think about — rollers, trays, gloves, paintbrushes, drop cloths, and rolls upon rolls of painter tape. Cosmetic upgrades turned out to be a lot more expensive than I originally thought.
5. Furnishing the house. Obviously, you don’t have to go crazy furnishing every inch of your house. And we haven’t. We’re going slowly.
But sometimes, things come up. For instance, when my in-laws were planning to visit, we decided to buy a daybed for the guest bedroom. We also needed guest towels for the bath. And a bath mat. If we hadn’t had guests, we might have held off on those expenses. But part of the reason we bought the house was to entertain family and friends more often (and more comfortably).
6. Window treatments and replacements. Not long after moving in, I realized just how old our windows are. As in, I’m pretty sure they’re original to our 1971 house. Plus, a couple of sets of blinds had shredded strings and didn’t work properly.
As I discovered in the window treatment section of Lowe’s, blinds are expensive! So we just replaced the two sets that weren’t working. As for replacing every window in the house, it’s something we’re starting to look into now.
7. Rising property taxes. Property taxes aren’t a surprise, but the fact that the county increased my taxes by 31 percent from one year to the next was a huge shock!
I’m currently protesting my taxes, and there are a couple of reasons why that assessment shouldn’t stick. For one, I paid less than the assessed value for the home just over a year ago. And two, my homestead paperwork is currently being processed and, according to their site, taxes shouldn’t increase on a homestead by more than 10 percent in a given year, plus the value of any improvements.
So, fingers crossed…
8. Tree trimming. This is the next to-do item on my list. Another thing about that great yard that we loved is that it came with a bunch of gorgeous, established oak trees.
Only it’s time we had those trees trimmed. There are some branches that need to go, and the trees are entirely too tall for us to do the work ourselves. Plus, we’re not arborists, and we’d like our trees to stay healthy and beautiful. After all, they’re part of the reason we fell in love with this property in the first place.
Covering Those Unexpected Expenses
Luckily, my husband and I had the extra money in the bank to cover these expenses, but I can see how people can get into serious trouble if they aren’t prepared for some of them.
And while I wish I had a magic formula to share with you, it’s impossible for me to tell you how much to shore up your emergency fund. It just depends on too many factors, like the size of your house, the size of your lawn, how much work you can do yourself, and even just plain luck (or lack of it).
So if you’re contemplating purchasing your first home, just be aware of these hidden costs. Save more than you think you need to, and don’t buy as much house as you can. We bought a fairly small house and, while I love the house and love working on it, I’m glad we didn’t get anything bigger!
Readers, if you own a home, what other hidden costs surprised you?
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There are 84 comments to "8 Surprise expenses for new homeowners".
I bought a condo in 2007. Since then, I have replaced all the appliances including the water heater, had two special assessments totalling $20,000, and had the condo fees and the property taxes go up by 30%+. Way more expensive than I had planned for, but I have a good emergency fund so it worked out. But it cured me of wanting to buy another condo!
When we bought this house in 2004, we had an inspection and the bank even sent out a structural engineer to check on a slightly bowed wall. Nobody gave us any indication of the impending doom…
The remnants of a hurricane came here to Ohio. The basement wall moved and cost $6,500 to repair. The motor in the heat pump blew. The garbage disposer fell off. The kitchen faucet fell off. The garage door got a goblin in it and decided to open itself at will. A severe storm gave us hail damage to the roof and gutters – just not enough to be worthwhile for an insurance claim. We also had the original windows. Then we found out there is a convicted rapist catty-corner to our back yard… hence the need for a fence. More heat pump repairs, another roof repair after another storm, … around $30k in repairs on a $150k house. None covered by the home warranty, either. We eventually replaced the problematic heat pump. We also had to replace the water heater after two years of living here. We had to replace a patio door that cracked. It never ends.
Back in 2010 we purchased a newly remodeled house. Surprise, surprise, the original sewer line was antiquated and backed up several times in the first week. $2,500 later we were good to go…(no crude pun intended).
You certainly hit all the unforeseen expenses I’ve experienced.
Don’t bother with the home warren y if you don’t have too. They are in the business of making money and will get there money out of you, then when something does break you are stuck going through who ever the lowest bidder is and they will only fix it to the bare minimum standard
Yes, home warranties are usually not worth it. A few months after we moved into our home, I finally got around to reading the fine print on our home warranty. I found out that there were very few things that the warranty would actually cover, and there would be a deductible to be paid with each claim.
Totally agree. Glad it helped April but the times I tried to use my home warranty were totally worthless. I should have chosen to get the seller to do some minor repairs instead.
We got burned, because there was a corroded pipe underneath the bathroom sink that our inspector flagged. When we brought it up to the seller, they countered with, “The home warranty will cover it.” Nope, it didn’t and we ended up having to foot the bill when it started leaking and ruined a ceiling as well. Lesson learned.
In general, home warranties stink, but if the seller is offering it as part of the sale, take it, especially if you are a first time home owner. You are so overwhelmed that first year that it might come in handy. We used it twice – on the water heater and on the garbage disposal. Who knew you can’t grind copious amounts of nectarine peels down your disposal? 😉 Me and my blasted pregnancy cravings…..
Another thing to keep in mind of is pest control. Sounds gross, but it’s true. There a just nests of bees around my home and it’s aggravating considering how some might just find their way inside my house! But another would be the furnace or air conditioning…. Okay, so it’s not as “hidden” necessarily. But it adds up all the same!
I’ve been hit with all but #7. Fortunately we’ve been able to defer them for a couple of years and I wouldn’t have called them a surprise. We knew the trees would have to go and that the house would need furniture. We went with the cheap blinds at Lowe’s and haven’t looked back.
Sometimes I just thank goodness I’m a renter. Around the house I’m a woman from the 50s, I rely on the handy men to do everything. How unprogressive of me!
A few years into our first home we had cesspool/septic issues. We need some major repairs to the cost of $2500.
Great article, completely on-point, we have run into several of these.
We are currently in the process of replacing the heating system on the condo we bought last August. During the summer/fall because of temperature conditions we did not hear the extreme banging in the old steam radiators that made it impossible for us (and our neighbors) to sleep in the winter. (Think elf with a crowbar hitting on cast iron radiators for extended periods.) It was so bad that we had to turn off the radiator in our bedroom – leading to many chilly mornings as winter ravaged the Northeast. The condo conversion had not allowed enough space between our floor and the neighbor’s ceiling to pitch the heating pipes properly, so repair of the old system was impossible. It is going to cost about $25K to replace the heating system – but we are also taking the bull by the horns and adding central AC and a combi-boiler since our current water heater was due for replacement in a year or so.
On the upside, especially since we plan to be here for a while, we will come out of this with a much more comfortable place to live – but we are very fortunate to have the “emergency” funds available to enable us to do this without going into debt and a state energy department that does offer some rebates and assistance that we can take advantage of. We also expect our heating/cooling bills to go down (though not enough to cover the cost of the new system for a long time).
The person who sold us the condo was obviously aware of this issue and chose not to disclose it. She was not legally obliged to, but it seems sneaky all the same.
There is always going to be something – even if your home inspector is thorough – as ours was. Caveat emptor!
That sounds about right. For us a leaky skylight was covered under a home warranty (that our real estate agent thoughtfully made sure the previous owners bought for us), but the leaky pipes going to our house were not covered by either the city or by the insurance policy because they were just outside the house.
In the end, the surprise expenses meant we put off buying a lot of furniture and we used the laundromat for a couple of months until we had enough money to pay cash.
I hope you had better luck with your property taxes than I did. Our old home was assessed for 40% more than we paid for it and I never got them to lower our property taxes or change the assessment. =/
We had all of these and more, but I can’t really say they were surprises as we had a very good idea of the condition of the foreclosure we were purchasing before we closed.
Good luck with the assessment challenge – we went through that and won our challenge and locked in much lower rates when our homestead set in place the following year. I would call your property appraiser and have them thoroughly explain the process they use to make their assessments (it will have specific date cutoffs that might be before you purchased your house). That’s what your challenge will be judged against, so it’s important to know what battle you are fighting.
Yes, all of the above, plus – HOA special assessments and hurricane shutters. We were hit by the hurricanes the first two years after moving into our home. New garage door (with hurricane bracing) plus shutters on 17 openings came to $15k. Hurricane damage repairs to our home $5k. Unbudgeted repairs to the neighborhood brought a $1k special assessment by the Homeowners Association.
Ka-ching. We used to have a big emergency buffer, now it’s kinda’ tight.
So far we’re dealing with nearly all of the above, except for property taxes and tree trimming (my husband is quite handy and does this himself).
One thing we did not expect the heating costs (oil) to be so expensive. We installed a wood stove before we moved in (wasn’t an unconsiderable expense) to cut back on our heating costs, but heating the home was still more than we bargained for!
And many of my windows are still bare – it’s so expensive!!
We were able to call the energy provider prior to purchasing the home to find out home much the owner had to pay each month for electricity and natural gas. While our monthly energy costs ended up being less than the previous owners, it was still a shock from what we had to pay at the apartment we had been living in. At the apartment, heat was included and we only had to pay electricity.
Another utility cost that was new to us was the water, sewer, and garbage expenses. That is something you kind of take for granted as an apartment dweller.
Your bare windows may be one of the reasons that your energy bill is so high. I think I would be covering the windows with something….even just at night….to keep the cold out….eg..blanket, cardboard,styrofoam board or bubble wrap.
We just lumped all those expenses together and started calling it the Home Depot bill. We jokingly estimated about $200 a month but I doubt it ever got that high. The key is to only take care of what needs attention and think carefully about any add-ons.
It’s also good to plan for a move-in surprise which we define as anything that breaks within a year of moving. Ours were fairly boring but the previous owners of our old house had a pipe burst 4 months in. They had to replace all the kitchen cabinets. Fortunately, it was a tiny galley kitchen and they got a lot of donations so they only had to buy a pantry.
We actually got an early break on our property taxes. The town had us down as having a 2 car garage instead of a single and it was only discovered during their 5-year audit just after we moved in.
Home ownership is wonderful but there are days when I miss renting when all I had to do to fix something was call the landlord.
We’re fortunate: Been in our 50 year old house a year and only minor issues. But, it’s a split level, and the difference between downstairs and upstairs is substantial for heating and cooling disparities. Hence, higher utility bills. I have no idea how to improve that. But for other minor repairs, I have found YouTube to be a real time and money saver. Our washer broke and I was able to determine the problem and fix it via watching a video, paying only $21 for a part. Other unforseen costs: moved closer to the city for better work/life balance and everything costs more – daycare, dog walkers, taxes, food, gas. I’m glad my commute decreased, but I was much better off financially in the country with lower property taxes and more social capital where people help each other out or barter for services because they can instead of outsourcing everything.
My biggest surprise was going from a home with all-electric heat to a a home with propane. I knew propane was expensive, but I was expecting more efficient propane heating to balance with what I previously paying with electricity for heat.
I was waaay off. My propane (for heating on a single floor, and hot water heating) costs me $2,000 – $3,000 per year. My electricity bill is maybe $300 less per year.
That was quite a shock to me, and when this unit needs to be replaced I will need to consider the dual fuel options or something else entirely.
Wow, that is surprising. I was used to natural gas heating, which is quite cheap in Utah, so when we had electric heat in NC, that made a significant difference. Didn’t realize propane was worse than electric!
I didn’t know it either. 🙂 My previous house was smaller, but I spent maybe $200/month in electricity over the winter months.
New larger house has propane heat on the first floor and my electricity bill over the winter months is now probably $150/month maybe a little lower. Rest of the year it is about the same.
Couple that with the ridiculous propane costs and you have a recipe for me collapsing every time they fill up my tank. 🙂
L.P. gas WAS way cheaper than oil or electricity until the last few years. 1997 was the last year I was in the LP business and even in the dead of winter (Iowa cold) gas would run 50-60 cents and 60 was high. Price ranges for competitors were usually under 5 cents. Then 9-11 happened and of course petroleum refiners have found a way to gouge everyone. This last winter I paid $5.30!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! per gallon for LP. This had the whole Midwest in an uproar as probably 90% of rural and small town Iowa homes are heated with LP. Compare with 1.15 for summer fill(2013) and paying 45 cents for summer fill in 1997 and you can tell where this is going.
This year I’m pre-paying extra gas for the winter and also looking to get another extra LP tank so I can have more on hand. Also, am looking into getting my coal stove hooked up in the cellar for auxiliary heat. The battle never ends! Cheers!
This kind of thing makes me glad I’m a renter. Whenever I look at those “Should I rent or buy” calculators, they seem flawed because they’re only looking at mortgage payments vs rent. They don’t factor in things like maintenance costs, condo fees or utilities (my landlord pays all my utilities now).
#7 wouldn’t be such a big deal for me here–property taxes in MA can’t rise more than 2.5% without a voter override. The other stuff would be a big concern.
Yikes on the property tax increase! Even 10% is a big hit. In Michigan it is limited to 5% in a year or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower, but it still has to be related to the value of the property, not an automatic increase.
Re: lawn care. It isn’t just the cost of the mower. Add in the string trimmer, hand saw, branch trimmer, wheel barrow, lawn seed, fertilizer, new plants, patio furniture, hoses, garden rakes, etc., and you are easily at a couple of grand in costs.
If you live in the frozen north, you also have the cost of the snow blower, shovels, and ice melt salt.
don’t forget gas for the mower haha!
Don’t forget repairing the riding lawn mower when a mouse builds a nest inside the engine over the winter and even your pretty-handy husband can’t figure out how to make it work again!
The biggest shock we got was that all three of our (older)vehicles died in the first week after closing on our house. The worst part was that we were dealing with a sleazy mechanic because we hadn’t yet established a relationship with a reliable mechanic.
Ahh home ownership. We’ve had similar discoveries from our home. Sometimes I wonder if it was worth it, but then I realize we will own our home in 14.5 years (we got a 15 yr mortgage) at the very latest. And even if it’s a broken home as long as it still has four walls and a roof, it means we will have somewhere to stay if the going gets tough. I would like something fancier, obviously. Who doesn’t when you look at all the magazine and pinterest, but I don’t want to pay for it.
We had most of the furnishings we needed, so we didn’t have that expense. We did, however, need a washer and dryer, lawn mower, and fridge. We haven’t rekeyed our doors — that actually never even crossed our minds.
The house hasn’t needed any repairs and had fresh paint. However, we know that we’ll need a new roof sooner than later.
SO… yeah, muy expensive!
Sprinkling system has caused us plenty of grief. In Utah if you don’t water it, it dies. If your sprinkler doesn’t hit a small spot of your grass, it dies. That’s been one expense I just didn’t think about.
Why not opt for more desert-capable plants, then, instead of grass?
It’s also my opinion that people who live in desert climes should consider green lawns to be a luxury item. My cousin who lives just outside of Las Vegas already knows how little sympathy I have for his grass.
One thing to consider is lead water pipes, in main land europe these are still present in several houses and need changing as they risk lead contamination.
The joys of home ownership.
The biggest surprise in our house was that the previous owner was a DIYer with zero skills, so everything he touched is wrong and costs twice as much to fix. Replacing an exhaust fan in the bathroom, which should have taken a couple of hours at most, ended up being a two-day project. When the water heater died we had to replace all the pipes, since they were the wrong size, and the venting which was not to code. We’ve had an electrician out several times for weird little repairs. I’ve had enough bad landlords that I’d be terrified of getting one like him. I’d rather manage the repairs myself – at least I know they’re getting done right.
The other surprise was the yard. All the time we were renting we dreamed of an immense grassy lawn and vegetable garden. Neither of us realized how much we dislike yardwork. Now the yard is an albatross that we pay someone to maintain.
We’ve been in our house for a while now, but when we first moved in, we realized that the people before us just let things break down around them. We had to replace every single light fixture, every single faucet (the faucets were all plastic – I didn’t even know plastic faucets existed), and every single wall plug. I don’t know how they managed to actually live here under those conditions.
Every remodel/refurbishing project, large and small, unearthed shoddy, 2 cent “fixes” that required 4x the work to make it right. Now, we know that when a project comes up, that we need to figure in extra for whatever the previous owners touched beforehand.
Little by little, we’ve fixed, upgraded and generally cleaned out the house, but we will never be able to remove the ginormous bird cage that’s in the attic that they bricked in so that it can’t come out.
You do not “need” a riding mower. We have one, but about half the time I mow our half-acre lot with a reel mower instead (for the workout, and for the environment). Many of our neighbors with similar-sized lots use a regular gas push mower.
I agree. We’ve owned a home with a half acre lot for 18 years and have never seen the need for a riding mower; it takes 30 to 45 minutes to mow the yard with a self-propelled walk-behind mower. And it’s not just the expense of a riding mower that’s kept us from buying one–it’s having to store it, too. Our mower can be folded down and stored on a shelf in the garage in the winter.
Agreed. Our yard is a little bigger than 1/2 acre, and quite sloped as well. My husband gets a very good workout when he mows the lawn, and thereby we save on the cost of the mower and gym fees!
All of the houses on my street have at least half-acre lots an only owner uses a riding mower. Even my two elderly neighbors use push mowers and I use an electric with a 100 foot cord.
Get back to me on the necessity of the riding mower when you have seven acres and a bad knee. A half acre is a city plot in this part of the country.
I buy mistinted paint by the gallon and five gallon sizes. I buy from the big paint companies like Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams, and from Home Depot and Lowe’s. I buy good quality at low prices. I also like to buy closeout/clearance good quality white paint.
I can retint the lighter shades into just about any color I want. I can turn blue or yellow into green. I can lighten with the addition of white. I can deepen the shade with some of my tubes of acrylic or oils, depending on the paint. I buy laser-cut wallpaper borders on clearance, too. They make a nice accent for the folks that don’t have crown moldings.
I just redecorated a room for my new granddaughter for $13.00, but I had to buy new paint.
I suggest that anybody with a house make a notebook to carry with them whenever they visit DIY stores that has paint samples for various rooms, the area that paint (or wallpaper) will need to cover, floor dimensions, window dimensions, and maybe linear feet for things like wallpaper borders. That way, when you run across clearance items like wooden blinds and other window treatments, or the wallpaper that was too expensive previously, you can consult your book and scoop up things at a bargain price.
I can go into a store and pick up a wallpaper border or gallon of mistinted paint that will *exactly* match what is in the room, but I have found, to my surprise, that other people can’t do this, so I recommend keeping a book.
A riding mower for a half acre? Please. I keep our front yard mowed (over an acre in size) with a reel mower and a scythe for the tough weeds and I live in Florida with 95-degree heat and 100% humidity in the summer months. Our growing season is year round. If you have less than 5 acres, a riding mower is definitely not needed unless you’re handicapped or very elderly. My mother, 72 with rheumatoid arthritis and a cancer survivor, uses a riding mower with her three acres. If she only had an acre, she’d be out there pushing her lawn mower.
A garage door opener isn’t really a necessity. It’s more of a luxury. We have one, but if it didn’t function, either one of us can change it out for a new one. SwampMan would probably be able to fix it. I’m too impatient. We usually don’t even have it on.
Home ownership really *is* waaaay less expensive if you possess or make an effort to learn any kind of mechanical and carpentry skills. If you don’t have any, expect to pay. An acquaintance with a smaller house than mine just spent $30,000 to reroof her two-story house. It took a real effort on my part to keep from face palming.
$30,000 sounds high to me, but I would happily pay a roofing crew $10,000-$20,000 to put a new roof on our house. I even pay someone to clean our gutters, because I don’t want my semi-clumsy but much loved husband up on a ladder or on the roof. To me it’s worth the money to guarantee his safety. Disability or premature death are rather expensive propositions.
We stick to DIY projects on the ground :).
Hubby’s old truck died a few months after closing on the house and had to be replaced. Then a year in the A/C died and that was a killer 6K to replace. We did plenty of painting projects (older home done entirely in pastel pink & green) and replaced the carpet in the back bedrooms with laminate wood flooring. Ceiling fans, doggie door, refinishing cabinets most done DIY. There was also termines and we had to get the house tented a few years in. We love being homeowners but have found the old rule of thumb that 1% of the home’s value a year is earmarked for required maintenance is about right. We have also found that DIY is hard but sometimes finding a good general contractor is even harder!
Just so you know next time, you can replace the locks yourself. It is not difficult. Go to the local home improvement store and buy the same brand that’s already in the door, as many locks keyed alike as you need. (Kwikset also sells locks that you can re-key yourself, if there aren’t enough with the same key available.) Follow the instructions in the package and take your time, and you should have no problems. I have done this for our locks three times.
We replaced all of our exterior door handles with the kind that you can re-key yourself. We have been able to make all of the doors operate with the same key. We saved the alternate keys so that we can rekey them if need be. It only takes a minute each, so we could even rekey it if we needed to give temporary access for a relative or repairman. They also now have the keypad door handles which would be great, but they are more expensive.
Agreed. We did our own locks as well.
Sounds very familiar, haha. We haven’t had any hugely shocking expenses but there were plenty of little things we didn’t think about before buying (like having to change the locks).
Someone I know bought their house in the winter when it was covered in snow. What they assumed would be a grassy backyard ended up to be covered in 2 feet deep of pea rock. They were also looking forward to the shade from that lovely big tree. The tree turned out to be dead, and they had to pay hundreds of dollars to have it removed.
We have been in our house almost 5 years now, and I am sooooo over this home ownership stuff. My husband is not at all handy, and even worse, he has no desire whatsoever to learn even the smallest things. I am not handy, but thanks to Youtube and a little common sense I have been able to make minor fixes to the washing machine, the garage door opener, and several other things around the house. In the last 5 years, we have replaced the roof, the water heater, the a/c unit, the fridge, both toilets, and the stove. We are currently dealing with a retaining wall that is starting to fall over, and cracks in the ceiling. It just never ends. I have been trying my best to get him to sell the house and go back to renting.
1. Tree cutting/maintenance – we live on nearly an acre with huge trees that were not properly maintained. This is a multi-year project
2. Yard maintenance – Apparently our yard used to be the “jewel of the neighborhood” but when the original owners got sick the yard turned into a jungle of bramble. Phase 1 is complete, phase 2 for the “back 40” as we call it will happen in the next two years or so and prob cost 8-10k (shudder).
3. Garage doors. When we purchased the house we were prepared to fix the roof but our wood garage doors failed the same week the roof was being fixed. So we ended up upgrading both garage doors + openers (since they were no longer made/no longer up to code/dangerous).
I also bought a 70’s era house. I bought on the Homepath Renovation program so I got a foreclosed house that hoarders lived in. The bank had gutted it, so I already knew most of the issues. The only appliances were the furnace and water heater. Luckily I’ve had very little issue with anything since, and being very handy myself, I’ve been able to fix most everything that has happened.
I am sinking over a grand into tree and stump removal, but I have saved up for that in my ‘extra’ saving account. Next will be window replacements all around.
I had taken a first time home buyer’s class and asked many questions of the 5 realtors I went through ( I had standards I expected from a realtor ). I also was financially prepared to buy thanks to JD Roth and this website.
That must be one HUGE stump – good lord! Where I live you can rent your own commercial grade stump grinder for $400 for the day with delivery btw…
I did it once before and was able to get 18 stumps in one day.
Seester Sara said, “I am sinking over a grand into tree and stump removal.”
Depending on the types of trees and how busy the trimmers are, you could easily spend that.
We had a large elm tree that got diseased. The city gave us a notice that we had 1 week to have it removed. We got multiple bids ranging from $300 to $1,100. We offered the job to the $450 guy for $350 cash, and he agreed.
That is perfectly in line with what tree removal costs if the tree is big enough. So far we have spent around $2,000 removing dead mature trees in our backyard. And these were the cheap bids with no stump removal and no expensive bucket trucks! This might have to do with the fact that all the trees were located close to power lines.
One company ended up losing money on the removal of a dead tree, since they snapped the power line and took out the power to a whole street. Oops! The power company ended up fining them $750. I was just happy no one died in our backyard that day. Tree removal is a dangerous proposition.
Good list! I have a couple of little nits to pick.
Guest towels and a bath mat for the guest bathroom are not needs. They are wants. Unless you have only one towel per family member, there’s no need to buy new towels for guests. They will completely understand using an old towel. And if they don’t — well, you need to find nicer guests!
Lawn care. This is a perfect example of finding a local teenager who wants to earn some extra money and can bring his or her own mower to your property. I agree with the other poster who says you don’t need a riding mower for half an acre. Half an acre is nothing! (Ok, if you are missing your legs, a push mower is out of the question, I get it. But for a normal healthy adult or teen, half an acre is nothing.)
Painting: check the barter section of Craigslist for things like painter’s tape, paint brushes, drop cloths, etc. Or freecycle or your local free/swap website.
Good point about Freecycle. When I moved out of my house into an apartment, I gave some painting supplies to a friend and freecycled the rest.
#3 and #6 caught us unexpectedly when we moved into our new house. This is a great list that folks should be aware of before buying a new house.
$4,000 to repair sidewalks that are in good shape, but not code compliant according to the city.
We bought our house 9 months ago and I couldn’t agree more! Here are the things I never saw coming (I did actually see the lock changing and had that done day one 🙂 ):
Pest control – what to do when all of the sudden we have carpenter ants coming in? This led to a $500 contract with Terminex plus they advised us that “nothing green should touch the house” which means we have to do landscaping to trim back all the bushes a foot and lay down rocks around the house outside. We have been trying to do all of this work ourselves on the weekends but it is going to take most weekends and we have spent a good $100 on equipment already that we never saw coming.
Installing a disposal – our house didn’t come with one but the way the dishwasher is hooked up to the sink, it backs up a lot. We had 2 specialists look at it and both recommended getting a garbage disposal put in.
We froze over the winter because our attic is not insulated. We have to do that still.
I had really wanted to try to get a couch for the TV room instead of the really back hurting futon there now but I think that will have to wait a few years….
I can’t emphasize enough buying less home than you are pre-approved for. I like that you are fixing up some items to make your house even more valuable in the long run.
1/2 acre, I used cut that amount with a mower with no engine, all you need is a blade on your mower and a pair of legs. JK I’m not that old, but I will say for a couple years we definetly mowed by hand(engine included).
I bought a brand new house about 10 years ago, the biggest expense that surprised me was the cost of custom window blinds. It costs about $100 average for each window and we have 20 windows! You do the math.
As a new home owner, I can personally attest to all of these surprises. I swear, we make a trip to Home Depot or Lowe’s at least once a week!
Oh wow!
Great list!
I’m considering purchasing my first house, and most of these things did not even cross my mind.
Thanks for the article!
Good thing you had some extra cash to cover these unforeseen expenses.
I set aside $200/mo for house repairs and upkeep. It helps a lot.
Regarding the property taxes. Not sure what the set up is in other states but here in Honolulu Hawaii, if you actually live in the house, you can get a homeowners exemption so that $40.000 or so of the house worth is tax free. It is not set up automatically when you buy the house….you have to notify the city and fill out a form. I think there is also a discount for old folks which I will be looking into soon. It is worth checking into the rules of your area.
These are great notes, and very important to think about for first time home buyers. A house costs a lot more than the mortgage payment. I’ve seen the rule of thumb for budgeting home maintenance between 1-2% of home value a year, on average. That seems roughly in line with what I’ve experienced, but DIY cuts keeps it to the lower end. A new roof or other major project though can bring you back to that average; 3-5% of value for a new roof, 1-2% for an external paint job or new carpets aren’t crazy estimates.
Also, when you buy a house the seller doesn’t exactly pay any costs (such as the home warranty mentioned or closing costs). The buyer pays them in the form of the negotiated house price. As general financial advice, nothing is ever free for the buyer; the new car warranty is factored into the price, same goes for any “free” item thrown in for the purchase of another item. IT ISN’T FREE, IT’S INCLUDED IN THE PRICE! sorry, pet peeve of mine 😛
More than just the lawn, yard care. We’ve needed grass seed, pavers for a walkway, mulch, plants, pots for plants, soil for pots, etc. I recognize that these aren’t truly needs, but maintaining curb appeal is important for resale.)
And, of course, I decided to start a veggie garden to save on food over the summer. But first we needed raised beds and large pots to plant in, soil and compost, seeds and plants, fertilizer, supports for plants, etc. Living off the land isn’t cheap! 🙂
Last year we learned that our water softener was no longer functional, and had to replace it.
these were good & timely, since i am buying a house soon. i’m set on the lawn since i already have a small business with mowers 🙂 thanks for reminding me about the locks & also to check to see if i have a home warranty!
Skyrocketing insurance premiums after a series of natural disasters. We went unconditional on our contract to purchase (I believe it is called escrow in the US) three days before the big earthquake in Feb 2011 in Christchurch, New Zealand. The house was badly damaged but liveable. Major cracks through all the foundations but as it is timber construction it just bent, it didn’t fall down. We could have walked away but we would have lost our 25k deposit, now over three years later we are battling the insurance company for the repairs we are due, which incidentally total more than we paid for the house. After that, our insurance bill will at least triple. If we were renting we would have just moved house when the earthquake struck and been in a much better cash position now (although house prices have nearly doubled since then so we might come out on top yet).
We found lack of storage and hidden repairs (closet doors falling off?) to be a surprise, as well as a surprise $5000 special assessment from our condo board for new windows we personally didn’t need. Our place was built in the 70s and has all it’s original (some purple!) finishings, so we’re slowly upgrading as we can.
I am in my 10th month of first-time home ownership and I can totally relate! I also underestimated the cost to paint the house (money dried up so bath and kitchen are still not done!) and most especially the cost of yard maintenance. (A mower, trimmer, pruners, rakes, hoses, gloves, plant food, grass seed, etc. etc.) After living in apartments for years I was woefully underprepared to take care of the landscaping that was already at the house – even after being given a garden themed housewarming party. I have also spent roughly the cost of a new dryer trying to repair an old one (not covered under the home warranty!) and eventually replacing it with another used dryer only to find out that the problem was electrical.
I have mixed feelings about the home warranty. My realtor bought one for me as a closing gift, so yay, I’ll take it. And I have used it twice, but for relatively minor things that would not have cost me much more out of pocket (still had to pay for a service call under the warranty). Since I did not purchase the warranty I really can not complain. But many things that need doing are not covered. I echo the recommendations of previous commenters to negotiate that the seller pay repairs. Don’t rely on the home warranty!
Many good tips listed here! I would add that finding reputable repair companies is a major money saver both in the short run and in the future. Network with all your neighbors and home owning friends to find names of plumbers, yard care, handymen, etc. My next door neighbor was extremely handy and had just retired so he would offer his services for free on small jobs. He also could refer me to great companies he had dealt with for years, so my plumbing and electrical work came in lower than other estimates and has held up for the 14 years I had this house.
I would also recommend that you ask your realtor for recommendations, since they deal with homes needing repairs. My favorite handyman was referred to me by my realtor. (And she gifted me the locksmith charge as a closing gift).
They tried to raise our appraised value from $260k to $315k in one year too (we moved in Oct 2012). I just finished the protesting process and it settled at $262k. I actually wrote about the whole process on my blog. Good luck!
Great article! When unprepared, these things can make home ownership a curse instead of a blessing. That is why we believe it is important that in addition to saving for a down payment, future homeowners should also consider going beyond to ensure they are able to cover the items mentioned here.
Nice list but I do have some nitpicks:
1. Changing the locks.
This is not only a no-brainer but really, $200 for a locksmith? Unless you have really old doors with mortise locks (like my front door) it’s very easy and much cheaper to replace the locks yourself.
2. Lawn maintenance.
I have a half-acre as well but anyone who thinks that needs a riding mower is just plain lazy. I use an electric with a 100′ extension cord, even my elderly neighbors still use gas push-mowers.
I have had someone ask about how much work it is and do I ever get tired of it but I say that it’s exercise. I can’t go for walks or run on a treadmill, it’s BORING, but if I get chores done then I don’t mind sweating a bit.
3. Multiple appliance repairs and replacement.
I went in knowing that the water heater was almost dead (it sprung a leak two days after closing) and that there was no washer or dryer. Also I simply bought a new modern water softener and had the deliverymen take the ancient questionable one away for free. These were things that were used to negotiate down the price of the house.
And as others have said about how rarely home warranties work, my realtor (who is also a personal friend) flat out recommended that I don’t waste my money on one.
4. Cosmetic upgrades.
Fortunately aside from a couple rooms I already liked the colors (lots of neutral tones) and the wood floors in nearly every room. A couple areas could use repainting but that’s on hold until I’m done cutting/patching any holes I need to make to run new wiring.
5. Furnishing the house.
This were the majority of the money I had left after closing went, I owned very little furniture so getting a sofa, dining room table, etc added up fast.
As for guests, we have a Holiday Inn 10 minutes away I’d just put them up at if need be. Guest bedrooms are a waste of space and money in my mind.
You can get cheap blinds at many places that still look pretty good. Obviously you won’t get plantation blinds for cheap but Home Depot has some (Project Source) that were less than $10 a window for my smaller ones and they’ll cut them down to size even.
Curtains though are silly expensive no matter where you go.
7. Rising property taxes.
This one is true. Fortunately mine increased only a fraction of what my parents did.
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It does seem that for every item I check off my to-do list I have to add two more, but I still find homeownership to be much more worth it than having some landlord to answer to.
A riding mower for a 1/2 acre? Seriously?
I am very glad I read the article in FoxNews about buying a house. I have never owned one. I will be turning 60 soon and have been seriously thinking about buying because rents are skyrocketing in Houston and elsewhere. It seems to me that owning would be less expensive on a monthly basis but after reading all of this, I might have to rethink that. I also realize that for someone who is not in debt at my age, I may want to rethink a mortgage but I never associated a mortgage with debt per se. Thanks April so VERY very much.
You’re absolutely right — don’t buy as much house as you can.
Just because a bank approves you for $375,000 home loan doesn’t mean you should spend it… no matter what your real estate agent says. Lol
When I moved into my new home, I was surprised when I received an email about a thousand dollar expense that I did not know about. I guess they were planning to get a new roof, that my real estate agent never mentioned to me. Every home owner had to come up with a thousand dollars. Make sure that you ask if there are any HOA expenses in the near term, before you buy.
I just bought a house 2 weeks ago. Having to get a washer and dryer was one big expense, but a welcome one since modern appliances are much more efficient than the more than 10 year old equipment at my apartment. Getting a large garbage container was a surprise as I was used to the community dumpster next to each apartment building .
What else? Shelving for the garage , outdoor security camera, skylights, custom-built and more are on the docket !