Buying a home for the first time is a very exciting time in anyone’s life. However, along with the excitement comes a lot of responsibility. Here are some tips for new homeowners in their first years of ownership.
5 Tips for New Homeowners
1- Build up a savings account
Be sure that after making your down payment and paying for closing costs that you still have some money left in savings. At some point a large unexpected expense will come your way. Having a savings account in place gives you some breathing room in your budget to when these unexpected circumstances arise.
2- Be Prepared for Maintenance
Now that you are new homeowners you no longer get to call the landlord or maintenance when the garbage disposal stops working. Being a homeowner means you are responsible for home maintenance for small matters like sealing your granite countertops or large expenses like replacing your roof. If you know that you have a large expense coming up, budget for that repair by adding some money into a savings account for it every month until you are ready to make the purchase. Be proactive and take preventative measures with your home maintenance and to avoid a roof leaking in your home or a basement being flooded with a faulty sump pump.
3- Your home Will Never Be Perfect
Unless you built a complete custom home where you chose every feature and fixture, chances are that there are some things that you’d like to change. Don’t let this lead you to having buyers remorse. Even if you searched for a house longer you would not have found the perfect house. Try to focus on what makes you happy about your home and keep a running list of projects you’d like to do to improve your house over time.
4- Take Your Time Furnishing Your Home
Take your time filling your home with furniture. Accept hand me downs from family to fill some spaces in the meantime and make a prioritized list of what you’d like in the home. Check out different blogs on how to build your own furniture for half the cost. Go thrifting for furniture pieces that you can refinish to your taste. Furnishing your home over time helps you to develop your own taste instead of spending thousands at a big box furniture store and realizing a few years down the line that the furniture doesn’t really suit your taste.
5- Things Take Time
Inevitably there are many things that you would like to do to your home. Perhaps you want to renovate your master bathroom, add a patio outside or install an inground swimming pool in your backyard. Take your time in completing major repairs and renovations. Live in your your home and see what your needs are so when you do upgrade that master bathroom it is functional as well as pretty.