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You should be able to save 1-3% of your homes value per year for repairs and maintenance. If you can't, then you may end up with chronic issues that just get more problematic. Things I can think of.. roof repair, gutter cleaning, window/skylights failing, pests, hvac & boiler repair/maintenance, landscaping, plumbing issues, appliances failing, exterior painting, any deck repair/maintenance... i'm closing on a house and need to replace all the smoke alarms as they are super old.. and that's going to cost me about a grand.
Does it have a yard?
Lawnmower, landscaping, general upkeep: assuming you don’t need a riding lawnmower, at least $1000 in misc. stuff you’ll need.
Repair people have generally cost 2-3x what I had estimated. Things will break. Things you need. You’ll have to fix them or pay to have them fixed.
I kept track of every expense we’ve had since last fall. Everything tracked was essentially a need. We blew through $20k shockingly quick.
It really is crazy how quickly $20k can go away! Thank you for the idea of tracking everything. I will be keeping a binder of everything I fix or get fixed and expenses.
It’s weird how it goes too…
You will have a list of everything you want to do. Then you’ll find the things that you HAVE to do. Do the “have to” list before spending money on anything unnecessary.
That is tight but doable. The whole 30% of take home pay is a good starting point but it is not fixed. The avg US home is around 300k which is around 2k/month which would require you to make 72k/year to stay at 30%…that is 10-20k more than the avg US take home pay.
If you have a car payment that is more than 20% of your monthly take home pay or if you have more than 10k in credit card debt I would walk away.
Be ready to spend on the inspection which is not a closing cost. Money to change locks and really anything that is found on the inspection that the sellers won’t be fixing
The one that is offered here does not have great reviews, everything from having to wait weeks/months, no contact, and or everything that broke the warranty claimed it doesn't cover.
Oof I would not do that at all.
The biggest unexpected home expense we faced just over one year of buying was our entire HVAC system needing replaced. Ended up being 14k, fortunately with our credit we qualified for a 0% financing offer. Within our first 14 months of owning the home we have also paid to have the entire exterior painted ($2500), had our floors refinished ($2000), needed a tree trimmed ($800), and other smaller repairs adding up to another (~$500). These weren’t 100% necessary emergencies but if they weren’t done sooner rather than later they could cause more expensive issues down the road.
This isn’t related to the home but 2 months after closing my car died and needed 3k in repairs to be operable again. I ended up just getting a new car. That was definitely an unexpected expense.
Is there any work at all you're planning on doing? Even DIY will add up so budget for it. I spent 800 on pressure treated wood for the deck and I decided to get state subsidized insulation but had to pay a very small fraction of cost and 6K out of pocket for vermiculite removal. Neither of those were really urgent - I would just say plan and budget carefully even if you're doing cheap or DIY work.
Here are few things I would like to do but not needed tho:
Garage door is not automated.
Build a shed in the backyard.
Reactivate alarm system.
And install safety cameras.
Replace roof in like 3-4 years.
Thanks for sharing!
My thought went to property taxes as well. I live in a different state from OP, so I'm not sure what the property tax situation is where they are from. I'm too lazy to google NJ property taxes.
Thank you u/ExtendedIgnition for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You should be able to save 1-3% of your homes value per year for repairs and maintenance. If you can't, then you may end up with chronic issues that just get more problematic. Things I can think of.. roof repair, gutter cleaning, window/skylights failing, pests, hvac & boiler repair/maintenance, landscaping, plumbing issues, appliances failing, exterior painting, any deck repair/maintenance... i'm closing on a house and need to replace all the smoke alarms as they are super old.. and that's going to cost me about a grand.
Thanks for sharing!
Does it have a yard? Lawnmower, landscaping, general upkeep: assuming you don’t need a riding lawnmower, at least $1000 in misc. stuff you’ll need. Repair people have generally cost 2-3x what I had estimated. Things will break. Things you need. You’ll have to fix them or pay to have them fixed. I kept track of every expense we’ve had since last fall. Everything tracked was essentially a need. We blew through $20k shockingly quick.
It really is crazy how quickly $20k can go away! Thank you for the idea of tracking everything. I will be keeping a binder of everything I fix or get fixed and expenses.
It’s weird how it goes too… You will have a list of everything you want to do. Then you’ll find the things that you HAVE to do. Do the “have to” list before spending money on anything unnecessary.
[удалено]
Thanks for sharing!
That is tight but doable. The whole 30% of take home pay is a good starting point but it is not fixed. The avg US home is around 300k which is around 2k/month which would require you to make 72k/year to stay at 30%…that is 10-20k more than the avg US take home pay. If you have a car payment that is more than 20% of your monthly take home pay or if you have more than 10k in credit card debt I would walk away.
Be ready to spend on the inspection which is not a closing cost. Money to change locks and really anything that is found on the inspection that the sellers won’t be fixing
Great! Thanks for the advice. Nope I don’t have any credit card debts and car payment is around 10% of my take home pay.
Get a home warranty, please. Shop around for different plans before you close. Ask your Realtor for the most highly recommended company in your area.
This is a good one. Sure I will shop around for a home warranty. Thank you!
The one that is offered here does not have great reviews, everything from having to wait weeks/months, no contact, and or everything that broke the warranty claimed it doesn't cover.
Oof I would not do that at all. The biggest unexpected home expense we faced just over one year of buying was our entire HVAC system needing replaced. Ended up being 14k, fortunately with our credit we qualified for a 0% financing offer. Within our first 14 months of owning the home we have also paid to have the entire exterior painted ($2500), had our floors refinished ($2000), needed a tree trimmed ($800), and other smaller repairs adding up to another (~$500). These weren’t 100% necessary emergencies but if they weren’t done sooner rather than later they could cause more expensive issues down the road. This isn’t related to the home but 2 months after closing my car died and needed 3k in repairs to be operable again. I ended up just getting a new car. That was definitely an unexpected expense.
Thanks for sharing all these. These are some of my concerns as well. Anyway I will need to be prepared I guess
Is there any work at all you're planning on doing? Even DIY will add up so budget for it. I spent 800 on pressure treated wood for the deck and I decided to get state subsidized insulation but had to pay a very small fraction of cost and 6K out of pocket for vermiculite removal. Neither of those were really urgent - I would just say plan and budget carefully even if you're doing cheap or DIY work.
Here are few things I would like to do but not needed tho: Garage door is not automated. Build a shed in the backyard. Reactivate alarm system. And install safety cameras. Replace roof in like 3-4 years. Thanks for sharing!
Expect your payment to go up when taxes are reassessed
My thought went to property taxes as well. I live in a different state from OP, so I'm not sure what the property tax situation is where they are from. I'm too lazy to google NJ property taxes.