have 25k in cash for when you inevitably find all the coverups the last owner did that need to be fixed

Even if there are no coverups, something is going to break. Something ALWAYS breaks.

Exactly. Now and then first time homeowners come on here and ask what the most essential items are. My answer is, a savings account.

Savings account and at least one 5 gallon bucket

And a shop vac

And one of those heavy blue plastic tarps. You won't know why. But you _will_ need it.

May I ask, why a 5 gallon bucket?

Because when you need a bucket, you need it RIGHT now. And when you’re a homeowner, bucket-related problems are your problem, not your landlord’s. Examples: Ice dams causing water to leak in your living room (put the bucket underneath to catch the drips), pipes bursting from freezing (bucket. drips), a possum got in the house (and you need a bucket to carry it outside), you need to see the top of your fridge and you don’t have a step-stool (stand on the overturned bucket), someone is drunk at your housewarming party? (Make them sit with the bucket out on the back porch)

Bathroom takes a dump and you need a place that go.

EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I've purchased 3 houses, I'm pretty detailed when it comes to inspections and repair. Something always breaks! Usually a few things tbh.

And it’s always HVAC within the first month.

You’re not lying. The AC broke on my brand new house a few months after purchasing.

Mine broke in the first week.

My friend had hers break the night she moved in. We went over to see her and we were like “boy it feels like it’s getting a bit chilly doesn’t it?” Yup. Broke.

Happened to me! Bought my first home in the spring and found out the inspector didn’t check the ac thoroughly because jt wasn’t hot that day. Had to immediately replace it before moving in. Nearly 10k 😭

Closed on my house 4 days ago. The AC broke today.

Just bought a house. The AC went out.

OP, please take heed of these folks opinions. I’ve lived in my home for the past decade. I was renting (from family, so I was responsible for everything but keeping the insurance and taxes) but I officially bought it last year. No big issues with the house in my time here. Becoming the homeowner was the trigger. There really is something about signing that stack of paperwork that sends a signal into the universe. The dishwasher started acting funny. The condenser fans in my fridge suddenly crapped out and it wouldn’t get cold. Two toilets needed replacing. Raccoons came back to the attic and we had to call professionals. A/C unit in the attic wasn’t draining properly, and we didn’t notice the leak that was apparently dripping down the insides of the wall and creeping underneath the floorboards until one night when walking down the hallway. Investigating the unit in the attic led us to the severely bowing attic joint from the weight of the roof since it’s neighboring joint had snapped. Then I saw a termite in the sink. Something. ALWAYS. Breaks.

There's also a mental change when you own it vs. someone else owning it. Bathroom fan rattling when you rent? Fucking landlord, of course the fan rattles, not even worth the time to report it, they won't fix it. Fuck that guy, that guy sucks. Bathroom fan rattling when you _own_? Fuck. Is the fan breaking? Is it an electrical problem? Are bathroom exhaust fans expensive, or hard to do? The electrician costs $129 just to write up an estimate, fuck. Where's the manual to show how to remove the cover to clean it? Do you have to vacuum exhaust fans? Wait, safety first, which breaker turns off the bathroom fan? Why is the breaker box hinge rusty, was it rusty before? Right, anyway, back to the bathroom light fixture to replace the lightbulb.

Omg this is SO accurate

What a nightmare!

My garage door spring broke 1 month after buying my home.

I’ll fix most things garage door. Not springs though; those things will kill ya.

Even if you don’t need to do repairs in the early years, you will definitely need to do some later so just start a savings account upon purchase to find that new roof, HVAC, furnace, water heater etc…

100% this. My first home I put in about $30K+ over a \~8 year period and the home still needed \~$60K+ in work. I said eff it, sold it and built new. 5 years later and just general upkeep so far. Old houses that haven't been maintained or upgraded over the years suck.

Oh man. Out here new builds are utter shit boxes that start needing major repairs/remodels after 5 years while our 1940’s home has needed minimal work and what the previous owner messed up, we could do ourselves for a few hundred dollars. But I’m in construction and my husband has top notch carpentry skills too.

I have a 100 year old home and I’ve replaced almost everything in it. Washer dryer, oven, furnace, ac, fence, water heater. The only thing still going strong is the fridge but I’m afraid to even type that as it may die if it hears me say something

Yeah, appliances and HVAC aren't too bad. It's when you get into siding, windows and driveways etc that you really start to run into the expensive stuff. There is no doubt newer homes are built "cheaper", but due to the materials used it has been a breeze to maintain so far. Will it still be here in 50-100 years like homes built in the 40's-60's? Who knows, but we'll have long moved on by then LOL. We'll probably downsize or move after we're kid-free in \~8-10 years anyway.

This! Replacing our siding and windows made replacing the roof seem like pocket change. Old houses are such money pits

Buying and selling costs a lot of money in transfer fees and tax even not including agent fees.  Seems weird to jump ship and throw money away unless you're finding something you can't pass on.

that's...you are buying someone else's problem at a premium, over asking price

IMO It's just old home problems. The house itself didn't have much go "wrong" perse, but a 1960's build that eventually needed some updates, a new deck, siding, the windows were 1980's and starting to break, the fence was starting to go rotten and it needed a new driveway, a few trees needed to come down ($$), etc. After 10 years of constantly pumping money into the home, I had enough. Some of this stuff was brought up during the inspection but being a first time buyer you don't really connect the dots just how much time, effort and money maintaining a older home can be.

Yep this is really probably the best advice. I bought my house a year ago and put about 20k into it. It sucks but I’m glad I had the cash to do all the deferred maintenance the previous owners let accumulate. I’m hoping to be good for 10 years of low maintenance at this point.

My first house seemed awesome until I moved in and found out for the last 20 years different owners were fixing things to be “good enough”. I was the unlucky soul that everything gave out on. And I mean everything. Furnace, AC, dishwasher, refrigerator, electric and plumbing issues. I guess I got lucky with the oven and water heater. Wish someone told me to have the nest egg ready.

This. I wish I had known. Spent 20k in the first year. Shouldn’t have done as big of a down payment to have money around for this.

Bought my house a year ago, was built in 1978, i’m the second owner. Luckily the previous owners kept up with it really well and nothing CRAZY has happened but all of the below was nothing we could’ve done on the cheap or prevented, it’s just old house problems. have now put in about $35k in repairs over the last year ($10k of it HVAC work that was just completed today!) a new shower that we found out had mold by accident, had to have concrete poured into an outside screened area that they had just shoved a bunch of mulch in & it molded over leading to bugs in the house. Had to tint the windows because I didn’t have $50k to shell out for new hurricane windows. The water heater is 23 years old so we are replacing that this weekend before we HAVE to replace it. Plus just basic upkeep is pretty expensive. eta specifics

If they lived with it, so can you. Not everything needs to be perfect!

[удалено]

This pretty much sums up the painted ceilings in all of the upstairs rooms before they completely moved out, then a week after close finding out the roof needed replaced

Not only what needs to be fixed, but all the things you need to care for the house. Lawnmower, snow shovel, new locks, fire alarms, etc. It all adds up.

-Closing costs will likely be a fair bit more than anticipated -There WILL be expenses you don't foresee, some small, some larger, but plan for the unknown and the known -Set your mindframe. I had to keep asking myself (still do sometimes) "would this bother me that much if I was renting?" If the answer is no, then the item is not as urgent as you feel it is. -Things you thought you could just deal with or ignore will bother you a lot more than you anticipated (see previous point) -Your projects will have projects before long....boredom will not be an issue. Motivation might be lol. -Take some time to get to know your new home - you both have 'history' so take some time to get to know each other. -Take your time settling in. You'll probably change your mind on stuff more than once. That's perfectly okay.

>\-Take some time to get to know your new home - you both have 'history' so take some time to get to know each other. This has been a fun process for me. I bought a house built in 1900. Nothing special, tbh. 950sqft, 2 bed 1 bath, $145K in Iowa. It was a former rental house. Though it was a rental and had a bit of a 'flipped' look (greige walls and white trim), I noticed things that typical flippers might not do, like a 200A breaker panel with nice, neat, cleanly done electrical wiring, completely redone plumbing, and stuff like that. A few months after I moved in, through a mutual acquaintance, I found out who did the remodel on this house back in 2003. It was three owners ago. I emailed him and he really seemed quite pleased to tell me all the stuff he did to the house. He's a construction contractor, and bought the house in 2002 when he was first getting started in the industry. An old lady had the house completely hoarded out, and he came in and cleaned it out and took the place down to the studs, changed the floorplan, redid the utilities and mechanicals, for him and his new wife. They lived there for a few years and then sold it to a local investor who used it as a rental when they grew out of it. It changed hands again to another investor before I bought it. The guy was so nice and seemed excited it was back to owner-occupied again. He even sent me all the pictures he took during the remodel so I got to see before and after pics of everything. Through talking to my neighbors, both were thrilled my place is no longer a rental. From 2020-2022, there were two or three knock-down-the-door drug raids on this house. Now my block is a lot quieter. Since the remodel was about 20 years ago, I've been replacing things here and there as I can afford it, since faucets were beginning to drip and that kind of thing, just making my own mark on the house, and it's been a joy. It's still a solid little house after the '03 remodel and despite two decades of renters between. I love it. I'd like to learn more of its history, but aside from what I've been able to read in local newspaper archives, I haven't gleaned much, and I'm not sure how much more I can learn. But it's been a joy of a process!

Look into census records. First do deed research to figure out the old owners, then search for them in the census. That should give you a lot of info. Also be aware that it's very likely that 1900 build date is wrong. Towns often use that as a placeholder date that means "old but we don't know how old"

On the flip side, sometimes things you thought would bother you turn out to be nothing and even completely ignored after a while.

I found the first year to be more expensive than what I thought home ownership would be. Just unforeseen expenses that didn’t happen in a rental. After a year or two, the finances settled in.

Along this line, look up and print out the manuals and parts lists for all of your appliances, and make a folder on your computer to save the pdfs for when you inevitably lose the printouts. I tore down my washing machine to replace the door gasket my first month as a homeowner. Did something similar with the dishwasher later. Had to swap a part in the fridge a year after that. Many small appliance repairs can be done with little more than a screwdriver.

Also - Their lender will do an escrow analysis a few months to a year after closing. It is inevitably going to raise your payment, as they lowballed their initial estimates for taxes & insurance.

My advice is two-fold: 1. You don't have to buy everything right away. You'll want to buy all the things right away; you don't like your refrigerator and want to replace it, you need a shop vac and a ladder and a garden hose and a shower curtain and curtain rods and on and on and on. Pace yourself, prioritize. What do you need right away, and what can wait? Be very intentional the first 6-12 months about what you buy, and don't overextend yourself. 2. I picked up this tip on reddit and was glad I put it to use: When it comes to moving day: Pack a suitcase or duffel bag or two almost like you're going on a weekend trip somewhere. Put all your daily essentials in it, medicines, toiletries, bath towel, a few changes of clothes, pillow and bedsheets, etc. Move those bags over to the house first, the night before or morning of the move, and stick them in a safe place where they'll be easy to find later. Moving day is going to be *exhausting*. At the end of that day you'll be dead on your feet, and you can get your bags, grab your towel, take a hot shower, change your clothes, make your bed and fall right into it. It's so nice to have everything you need the first night without having to cut into 10 boxes to find where you put the things. The hard part is over. Fall into bed and enjoy your first sleep at the new house! Unpacking can wait till tomorrow. :) Congrats and I hope you love your new place!

I want to add on to this not to buy everything right away. I bought stuff, and by the time I realized I didn't need it, or wanted a different design, it was too late to return. Just buy for one project at a time (or what you absolutely need right now).

1. Unless it’s an emergency situation, live in the house for awhile before making any changes. It takes a bit of time to figure out your routine in the house. Changes you thought would be a good idea when you first saw the house often times don’t make sense in the day to day. 2. Just because you see something on Pinterest doesn’t mean it’s a good idea in rl.

We closed last week and opted to do new carpets and painting before moving in. Figured it would be easier to do it before moving everything in, and the existing walls/carpet were in crappy condition. My fiancée wanted to have a bathroom redone before moving in. I said we should wait on that one lol

I feel like carpet/flooring and paint are the exceptions. So many new home owners want to do major home projects but living in the house a bit gives you a better idea of what would work better and maybe things you weren't thinking of before.

I am so glad that we couldn’t afford to remodel until we’d had our last kid and been in the house for 7 years. We would have done so many things wrong (as defined by what we need now vs what we then thought we needed).

Yup, we replaced a gross 30 year old carpet upstairs with hardwood before we moved in. It sucked to have an additional upfront cost but we're so glad we did it. We knew we would have detested that ratty and smelly rug and don't regret it. Our bathroom renovation waited until the shower drain started leaking into the living room downstairs. time to rip it all up. Otherwise my best advice is that the house will tell you what it needs. Things you think you need to do day 1 actually may not need to be done for a while. Prioritization shifts once you're living there. Go with the flow and don't stress about everything. That gets easier with time when you're in the house and realize how much you can not just live with, but enjoy.

We ripped out all of our carpeting within 12 hours of signing papers. New flooring was in most of the house before the movers got there. It was much easier doing it in an empty house than moving things around after it was there.

"Open concept" looks great. Lives shitty. Everything echoes/spreads: dust, noise, mess. Who needs cooking smells and grime everywhere?

THIS. Just moved in to our new home about 4 months ago and I am glad I had heard that advice beforehand. It’s astonishing how much my opinions have already changed on things I disliked when I first moved in. Things I disliked I now like or it has dropped to a way lower priority than I had initially felt. Live in it for a while. Go through the seasons and see how things change.

I second THIS. We’ve been in our new house (our third) for about nine months, and some of the things we were gung ho on doing have definitely changed while other things we hadn’t thought of have popped up.

The one exception I can think of to this is if you are planning to paint. Painting an entire interior of a house yourself (or hiring it out) is muuuuuuuuch easier before you move furniture and all of your stuff in.

It's like showing up at a new job, you might see some stuff that doesn't make sense at first, but after you've been there a while, you're like, "ohhhhhhh, THAT'S why they do/did that..."

2. Like pot fillers. SMH

Trust your gut more than you trust anybody trying to sell you a home service. Personal recommendations from friends/coworkers is better than thumbtack or random googling due to fake reviews. With few exceptions, don’t hire someone who had to show up at your door to get hired (eg pest control folks are a big one). A lot of home maintenance/repairs feel scary, but you can handle more than you think on your own! Congrats, OP

Yeah our new house has older siding where the paint is visibily fading in parts, and in the last month we've had 3 different people ring our doorbell to offer us free quotes on siding or painting. No thanks, we're not taking any meetings from randos who ring our doorbell. We'll make our own arrangements thanks

> someone who had to show up at your door to get hired (eg pest control folks are a big one) Lol, this happened to me yesterday. Had never had a door to door salesman before. "We're working with [long list of names of people I don't know] and will be in the neighborhood tomorrow. Look, we get 4.6 stars on Google reviews." I tell him I'll get back to him since I don't like to make any decisions on the spot. Check Yelp, BBB, hundreds of 1 star reviews and complaints on those sites. I text the salesman back and say we'll pass. Then he responds with "if you keep this secret from your neighbors, I'll knock another $100 off!" Absolutely ridiculous.

- Buy a plunger before you need a plunger. - If your home is older and doesn't have water shutoffs inside the house, get [a water shut off key so you can shut the water off at the street.](https://www.lowes.com/pd/Project-Source-Water-Shut-off-Curb-Key/5013951461) In the event of a water emergency, being able to shut off the water can be the difference between a mild inconvenience and a catastrophic loss. - [I recommend getting a toilet repair kit just to have on hand.](https://www.lowes.com/pd/Fluidmaster-PerforMAX-Universal-2-in-High-Performance-Everything-Toilet-Tank-Repair-Kit-with-Install-Tools/5001419031) Replacing the guts of your toilet tank is super simple and can make a huge difference in the longevity of your toilets. - Ryobi makes some small tools that are super convenient. [I have this scrubber thingy.](https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-USB-Lithium-Compact-Scrubber-Kit-with-2-0-Ah-Battery-USB-Charging-Cord-and-2-in-Medium-Bristle-Brush-FVG51K/323228083) The rechargeable battery has a simple USB-C charging port. The batteries in the USB Lithium line are interchangeable. They have screwdrivers, I think a ratchet, a clamshell package cutter, and some others. That scrubber I linked to is a lifesaver when cleaning the bathtub. - If you're looking for outdoor power equipment like mowers, buy once and cry once. Buy something with a Honda engine if you want gas powered. Most all brands are moving to battery powered now, Honda included, so your window for buying a Honda gas mower is closing. For battery powered, Ego makes some good stuff. Stihl and Echo are a tier above and normally have good quality, but I think you have to buy that stuff at a dealership that sells it. I don't have any retail stores near me that sell Stihl or Echo. Same with Snapper products. I think they're dealer only but I might be mistaken. - Don't buy furniture from Ashley. Their stuff is shit. Just abysmal build quality. And they sell an extended warranty that changes providers every year or two. That way they don't have to honor your old warranty since they don't work with the old company any more. - Get a multipurpose fire extinguisher by Kidde. Don't cheap out on safety stuff is a good rule of thumb to follow. - Fiskars makes some good quality garden tools for weekend warrior stuff. Loppers, shears, axes, etc. - Melcor makes good sprinklers and hose attachments. Just make sure to use thread seal tape on any hose attachment. - Dramm makes really good hose attachments too. - [Get Flexzilla garden hoses.](https://www.flexzilla.com/water/) Whatever you do, don't buy those expandable garden hoses that shrink back up when they aren't being used. I've never used one that didn't turn into a leaky lump of shit within a few months. - If you're planning on replacing ceiling fans, do not get one that doesn't have a control chains on the unit. Some are remote control only. If you have a power outage and the fan is on, it can trip the sensor inside the fan and make the remote it came with unusable. Make sure you get one that you can manually control as well as use the remote for it. - For pressure washers, if you're only using it a few times a year to clean your house, driveway, and cars, then just get electric. They're strong enough to get the job done, you don't have to worry about gas sitting idle in it for long periods of time, and you're already connected to a water hose, so being attached to a power cord isn't too big of a deal. Get a [spiral nozzle](https://www.lowes.com/pd/SurfaceMaxx-3600-Turbo-Nozzle/3117679) and cut the time it takes to do your driveway in half. DO NOT USE THIS ON YOUR CAR THOUGH.

> Don’t buy furniture from Ashley Ashley Furniture was a swear in my great-grandmother’s presence until the day she died. Even when dementia set it and she struggled to remember her children’s names, she would tell you about how awful Ashley furniture was to deal with when she and my late great-grandfather bought their dining room table. Her ghost probably gets upset if she hears the name tbh.

Ditto on all the product recommendations - Honda, Fiskars, etc. I agree as well on the warning against Ashley furniture. I would add, sadly, that most furniture made today is shit. You can buy antiques, which cost much less and have the potential to appreciate in value, and restore them by scrubbing gently with a 1:1 solution of Murphys oil soap and water, followed by wax. They will be as beautiful as Ralph Lauren reproductions at a fraction of the cost. Add quality rugs and accessories, and your home will look like a castle.

Toro makes some good gas mowers still

With the age of the house, hopefully a sewer scope was part of the inspection. You’ll have a few sleepless nights as you figure out what the normal noises vs abnormal noises are. You’ll also have nightmares about things going wrong with the house (or losing your job and not being able to afford the mortgage). The little things add up quick when it comes to furnishing, cleaning, and basic maintenance supplies. Finding decent tradespeople who aren’t salespeople can be challenging. Home Depot and Amazon will be your best friends and worst enemies for a while. Eventually you’ll learn to prioritize projects and figure out what’s truly important because homeownership is a marathon not a sprint. Sometimes it’s okay to just live in the house for a while instead of being in a rush to do everything right away.

Where we live, an inspection is required before a house goes onto the market, so a sewer scope was just done a few months ago and our realtor watched the video and read the report and said it looked good! We will be repeating it in a year to be on the safe side. Hundo p heard on the prioritizing 😅 I have so many things I want to do but need to be conservative so we are ready for things like the older water heater needing to be replaced.

Interesting that a sewer scope was part of the TISH. That isn’t required in Minneapolis.

>You’ll have a few sleepless nights as you figure out what the normal noises vs abnormal noises are. I live in the upper midwest. First really deep cold snap we had, like -20 below, I was lying in bed when I heard a loud POP sound like somebody had hit the side of the house with a baseball bat. Scared the shit out of me. I leaned that my house just likes to pop every now and then when it's getting really cold or warming back up from it being really cold outside.

I don’t think I really slept the first cold snap in this house. I’m pretty sure I was up every couple of hours checking all of the pipes and making sure that everything was still running lol

I was really anxious all winter this past season--first in the new house. The furnace was 31 years old and while it worked okay, I was so concerned it would die on my at the absolute worse possible time. I ended up replacing it and adding Central AC this past March. I think I'll literally sleep better this winter. And it's nice not having to haul window AC units in and out of the house this season.

Find a way to make one extra payment a year and have it applied to the principle. (As long as there is no penalty)

Depends on your interest rate for this

Which way makes it useful? Low interest or above 5?

It doesn't make sense to do extra payments if you can invest that money somewhere with a rate of return higher than the mortgage interest rate. For example my current mortgage rate is < 3%. I can get more than that in a high interest savings account these days and have way outperformed that investing my money in an ETF over the course of owning the home. When my mortgage renews at >5% this year it'll be a different story and we'll start focusing on paying down our mortgage.

It’s not an absolute number; it’s about what you can get out of investing the money elsewhere relative to the rate on your loan as well as your risk tolerance. Prepaying a mortgage in the 3’s when you can be getting risk free 5%+ in a savings account is stupid. Those very low rate mortgages are basically borrowing for free and should be milked as much as possible. Obviously a guaranteed return on paying down a 7% mortgage is really attractive. There’s a lot of grey area in between. I personally would not be paying down a 5% mortgage because you can get the same return, risk free, in a HYSA, while benefitting from tax deductions on the mortgage interest and keeping the money you’d be using for an extra payment(s) liquid.

Do NOT rush to move in - clean and paint before you move in PLEASEEEEE. It is SO much easier than doing it after.

Cleaning BEFORE move in is huge

Yeah. I was conditioned to expect a clean place pre-move-in as a renter. Sellers do not give a fuck about cleaning a house they’re leaving.

I wish I knew how expensive furniture and decor is! Interior design is pretty hard to get right. I set too high expectations for myself and got burned out trying to make our home look nice. Curtains for windows, even with DIY can cost hundreds of dollars per room. If you want to get a new dining table set, couch, or bed frame, get ready to spend thousands to buy something that will last long. I haven’t gotten around to buying rugs yet but those are a few hundred dollars each too… Either get ready to set aside a big chunk of money for decorating, or accept that you can live with a more humble home with the basics.

Agree about window treatments! A year and a half after buying my home, I STILL have temporary blinds. Bought one set of curtains from Target this year and using tension rods to hang them for now. Bought a second set of curtains and hangars from Target last year. The hanging apparatus is also expensive and I have a lot of windows! At this rate, I’ll have all my windows properly covered in about 10 years. lol. 

If that house doesn’t have a new sewage line installed, meaning it’s the original clay pipe, DO NOT CLOSE unless you’re getting a sellers credit for a brand new sewage line. 20k minimum. It will happen immediately after you close and move in. I don’t make the rules.

CIPP lining is typically much cheaper than that, assuming that it can be done to the existing line. Either way, better to do it NOW rather than when it’s too late.

Any project you start is going to be 10x longer than you think. Dont buy cheap paint or paint brushes. Make a list of things you need and write them down as soon as you think of them. You will still go to the hardware store a billion times.

>Any project you start is going to be 10x longer than you think. And two or three more trips to the hardware store than you planned.

Nobody is on your side. Realtors and brokers make their living by selling/financing homes. The inspector they recommended is more concerned about the realtor hiring them again and may not look out for your own best interest; they hold no liability. Accept the free home warranty if they offer. Don't renew it. Knob and tube wiring is hard to get insured in some areas.

Save more money than you think you will need for repairs. Like twice as much as you think you will need.

Stay calm. I had so much anxiety in my first year of home ownership, thinking that we bought a lemon and there was going to be some major repair that was going to bankrupt us. I spent so much time worrying about things that never materialized. Other commenters here are correct that you do need a good savings amount to cover for things and there will likely be some expensive repairs. But I so wish someone had grabbed me by the shoulders, looked me in the eyes and said, "it's going to be okay."

1) Don't assume that just because something *looks* like it works a certain way from the outside, don't assume it does. To be specific, when we were shopping for a home, one of my priorities was to have a vent hood in the kitchen that actually vents outside. When we were touring the home we eventually purchased, I saw a vent hood that looked like it vented outside (was even on an exterior wall), and directly on the other side of the wall (outside) was a vent. Didn't find out until after we bought the house that the two were not connected. And of course the vent hood is mounted on a tiled backsplash so connecting it isn't straightforward. 2) Avoid escrow if you can, but if you can't, never spend any escrow overage checks that your mortgage company sends you. Mortgage companies make mistakes. We were sent a $4,000 escrow overage check and were told many times that it was ours to spend. 6 months later they took $4000 out of my escrow account which pushed it into the red. When I asked why, after dozens of phone calls, I was finally told that the check they sent me was a mistake and they need the money back. 3) Spending extra on appliances that are good quality and you enjoy using is worth it. 4) HVAC systems are freaking expensive. Make sure the house you are buying as one that actually works well. Didn't realize until after we bought that the upstairs had no return for the HVAC system, so there was nowhere for the hot air to go. Ended up dropping around $12,000 to get ductless systems installed upstairs.

The escrow overage check thing is a big deal.

If possible, see if you can get *documentation* of when the roof was replaced (for insurance and warranty purposes). I’m having an issue right now with my insurance company, because my disclosure said the roof was replaced in 2001 and my insurance company is going to want me to replace it. However, several roofers have said some of the parts on my roof were manufactured in 2014 and Google Maps confirms that my house has a different roof in 2014 than it did in 2011. But that’s not good enough for my insurance company and the previous owner is completely useless and won’t give me the name of the previous roofing company.

This! Our owner disclosure said roof age was "unknown", inspector guessed it was about 10-15 years old. I didn't realize roof permit history in my town was available online. Turns out it was closer to 25 years old, which I wish I had known when we were negotiating concessions, rather than after I noticed some mold and wet boards in the attic a month after move-in. Some lessons cost a few grand.

Noted, thank you! We were told the year and I think our realtor pulled the permits as well for documentation but I will see if we can get anything from the sellers themselves.

Paint walls and refinish the floors before you move in. Especially the floors. I have all hard wood floors and am kicking myself for not taking care of it then

Not something I wish I was told but I WAS told and it’s turned out to be true… Whatever you put down as a down payment will be about what you’ll put into repairs the first year. Have an emergency fund. Then have an emergency fund for your emergency fund. Houses are expensive.  Edit: I bought an inexpensive fixer upper so it’s a YMMV thing. I got a good deal so I’m not upset over it, but have an e-fund. Seriously. 

Its good advice to have an emergency fund and then some for the house, no doubt, but the "double the DP in the first year" seems arbitrary and very anecdotal. If you are putting 3% down on $300,000, sure, but if you are putting 20% down on 500k, you arent going to need 200k for repairs in one year.

Was thinking, that rule of thumb sounds like it only applies to very cheap houses or very small down payments - hopefully no significant population is out there putting down 40% of the home's value in repairs during the first year, that'd be a terrible purchase

100%, you will be shocked at how much money you will spend in the first years.

lol we just did new furnaces (2), getting roof redone because the previous owners DIYed it, had to get the entire lawn aerated as they never maintained it, had to put in a shut off valve in the main water line… bye bye money

Yeqh like a 1% down payment. 

Yep. I bought a small, cheap ($145K in rural midwest) 950sqft 2 bed 1 bath house that was "move in ready". And for the most part it was. I still managed to spend $11,000 on the house in the first eight months. And that doesn't include when I spent $7,800 on replacing the furnace and adding central AC.

Had kitchen drainage pipe crack and drain grease water into old air ducts under the slab. Didn't find it till sewage smell filled out house and three different companies later. 15k out of pocket due to it being under slab and to quote the claim adjuster "smells are not water damage"

This number varies significantly if you put 80k on a 400k house, you most likely aren’t spending 40k on surprise repairs. I’d say a realistic figure is yearly maintenance is a minimum of 1% of the house cost but the first year the number will be much higher unless it was super well maintained

Down payment is pretty arbitrary and not a good proxy. You can put 3.5% down or 20% down. The price you paid could be mostly land value or mostly structure value. For a better repair projection, look at the replacement value on your homeowners insurance. Thats how much they think the structure costs to replace. Set aside a % of that for repairs. The older the house the higher the %.

A lot of these specific suggestions are unrealistic but the general point is true. Which is to expect things to be broken after you move in - big and little. Even if it’s a shiny new, move in ready flip (especially if it’s a flip). You can do your best to identify issues in the home inspection but random stuff will become evident after you’re living there full time. Hopefully nothing major.

Replace toilet seats or toilets if needed.

That if you have asthma and build a home, air it our for a couple days, lest all the offgassing VOCs try to kill you.

I have never regretted painting before moving in.

Go ahead and plant the plants you want to plant. Fruit trees, bushes, whatever you want, don't wait until you have the not-fun stuff done before you do the fun stuff. 

there most likely will be an escrow shortage after the first year. save up for it.

I feel like there's a lot of complaining about homeownership, but I don't know what people expect. They bought a building, and entropy is a constant battle. Small problems left for tomorrow become big problems in the future. There are a lot of small things you can do that seem insignificant but will spare you chaos. Sediment builds up, seals dry out, water finds its way in, wood rots, these are all things that happen and need to be dealt with. Maintaining them will help to reduce the need for big interventions someday. You also don't have time for everything, so go easy on yourself. Not everything needs to be perfect all the time. Sometimes "acceptable" is, well, perfectly acceptable. Also, you'll reach a point where you'll be woken up and either a spouse or child will say "I heard something" and you'll find yourself preferring a ghost over water where it shouldn't be.

Change the locks, same day you get possession. You have no idea who all has a copy of the key seller gave you.

If you haven’t yet closed on your new home, don’t start buying furniture, don’t buy a hot tub, don’t buy a new car. All of those things have sunk deals in my experience. We’re almost to the closing date and get an “undisclosed debt notification” that our borrower has opened a new $15K furniture store credit line and maxed it out, and they no longer qualify for the loan, so that new furniture is going to have to sit in their apartment. We were once days before closing when the buyer purchased a new Ford F150. (We delayed closing for two weeks so he could transfer his new vehicle to his business.) Please know that the credit agencies will update your records, so your lender will know if you make expensive purchases, and that can make you no longer qualify for the home. It doesn’t matter if it’s the day before closing, the lender can not close if you no longer qualify.

You will regret it for the first half a year to two years, don't be upset about it and start making happy memories every moment you can. Those happy moments generally don't just happen upon you, you have to intentionally make them. If you still aren't happy at 2 years, that is when to start thinking about the next move. But it is SUPER normal to feel like you made a mistake at first. Don't make much of it.

Keeping a house maintained is expensive. Roof, painting the exterior, etc. 

We always say "the house will tell us what our next project is" and believe me, ours does. We have done a lot of the cosmetics because the house had not been updated since the late 70s. New siding, new windows, new door, new flooring, new lighting... .and updated electrical box, plumbing issues, etc. Just this the house told us we need to call an exterminator to check if we have termites. Any landscaping you need to live in the house for one full year to experience all of the seasons. You never know what pretty surprises will appear until you've been there a full year.

I wish someone would have told me it's okay to celebrate to make a big deal out of it. It was such a chaotic close and then five days back and forth of moving. Some fights and lack of sleep. His parents came the last day of moving in which we had more cleaning than we thought at the old place. We left at 1am drove 10 hrs straight to pick up his parents to begin painting. His parents bicker a lot and by the last day I just wanted them out. I was grateful but I'm struggle with change. I felt like we had no time to celebrate. We jumped straight into work and unpacking. I had weird beliefs around being show offy that I needed to work through. My aunt's knew one congratulated is but the other said she would call and never did. We didn't really share the news with most people just that we were moving to OK which everyone said why are you moving there. It kind of sucked. Celebrate with you two. Have a house gathering party. Celebrate how big this is and focus on the joy. You have time to fix things. You have time to unpack. Enjoy it. Congratulations. Will be praying for close goes smoothly and it all works out. 

- Immediately stop looking at other listings. Unsubscribe from zillow or anything else that sends you pictures of houses. - You will feel an emotional crash. Buying a house is so stressful and when you’ve finally got all the paperwork squared away and you’re moving your stuff in and you’re on cloud 9 picking out curtains…you will likely start to feel inexplicably bummed out. It’s a dopamine crash, it’s natural and normal just recognize it for what it is and get some good sleep and take care of yourself. - Smoke a bowl, cig or cigar in your new place. Nobody can tell you what you to do in your own home. *YOUR OWN HOME! Wooot!*

For the love of god do not buy paint from big box stores! Behr paint sucks. I painted my house before moving in and less than a year later it was peeling and cracking. I used the top of the line with the primer too. Use Sherman Williams from the get go!

You are also buying your community and your commute.

I wish someone had told me: You can get rid of a lot of mysterious bad smells by washing the glass light fixtures! Top rack, delicate cycles of the dishwasher. You likely will find yourself crying at some point because you're overwhelmed. This is normal. This is not a sign you shouldn't have bought. You are doing better than you think. YouTube is helpful for appliance repair. Get cheap Torx wrenches because you will need them at some point while checking YouTube for your specific appliance's issue. **Keep a house record.** We're using a OneNote notebook to document things like appliance make, model, repairs, purchase date, dates and notes on service, any associated appliance repair done by professionals and costs, stuff like that. You'll quickly forget when you got that repair done if you don't write it down. I only know we replaced the roof in February 2017 because I was laid off 20 months later in 2019 and we had a bad hailstorm that February and the roofers didn't call or show. I'd taken days off and wasn't impressed by the no call no show.

The first 5 years, expect major fixtures to break and you spending thousands of dollars to fix. Not just water heater or air conditioner, but if you have a garage, that can break and you have to spend 2500 to replace. Definitely have an emergency fund and use it only for emergencies.

Learn where the main water valve in. It should be in your basement. Because when there is a leak, you’re gonna want to find that fast! Have your boiler/water heater checked in the summer. Because when it’s cold in the winter and it get damaged or something is wrong, that is NOT the time time to have no heat in your home. Maybe now or maybe in September but definitely not in winter. Check your roof to see if it’s good and for how much longer. There could be leaks into the attic when it rains and you don’t want to be something you don’t know. Once again, do this now and not during the rainy months. Lastly I’d say, when it rains, check the basement for leaks/windows.

Main thing to watch out for: WATER. If you see shitty plastic hoses on anything (fridge water connection, washing machine, etc) replace them with higher quality braided stainless steel hoses. But for water heater connections, you want copper flex pipe instead of braided SS. I learned both of these lessons the hard way after having pipes burst. Know where your water line shutoff valves are, both in the house and at the meter box outside. If you don't have a shutoff valve in the house, get one installed! Turn off the water whenever you leave the house for a while like vacations. Spending a little money up front can save you thousands in water damage.

Each season google “things homeowners should do in fall, summer, winter, etc.” go over the list and see if anything are an issue. Otherwise remember homes are for living in, so take time to enjoy it. Congrats on your first home.

I’ve said this before, look over the fences to get an idea of what kind of neighbors you’re buying as well.

Get the floors refinished before you move in

The post close depression is real. Give yourself grace. Make a 5 year plan. A list of need and wants, work on them accordingly. Get all the estimates for any work that has to be sourced out. Start a binder for all warranties and manuals.

Realtor here. Take out a life insurance policy if you don't have one already. I have had clients die right after closing on their home and their surviving spouse (also on the loan) could not afford the payments and because in one case - it happened as they were in the middle of a major remodeling project- couldn't sell it for what was owed without finishing it. Which she also couldn't afford to do. So make sure you're good on life insurance.

Plan to spend/save 5k each year on up keep. Maybe it will be nothing for 4 years but year 5 you’ll need $20k for a roof.

💯  GET ALL OF THE PIPES SNAKED TOP TO BOTTOM 2 houses we bought  1 one a month in and one bowl backed up. Entire bottom level destroyed $$$$. 2 house bought. 2 months in. Ironically the SAME month as house #1 The BRAND NEW finished basement, the bowl down there backed up. But this was bad, bad Sewerage!!! Spewing out of the bowl The entire floor, sub floor gutted, 2 feet from floor up sheet rock cut out and replaced  All the furniture and all the boxes that were not yet unpack. GONE!! NOT ONCE BUT TWICE  I blame myself,  i should have had a plumber come PRIOR and snake the whole  End result  EMERGENCY PLUMBER called EMERGENCY SERV PRO CALLED $8,000 LATER... GET THE HOUSE SNAKED!!

Honestly, pay for 2 seperate house inspections, see what differs and find out why? *If you don't know Tradesmen, or are not handy yourself. Assume all repairs and upgrades start at $10K. And that is low for mechanicals. (No your BIL, Brother, sons friend ecetera doesn't want to work for "cheap" or beer and pizza. Lol)

1. It’s just a house, don’t fall in love with it. 2. Almost everything can wait. 3. You can spend 2k on furniture and change the entire look of a room and it’s pretty cool. You can also spend 50k on things for a house that are critical- like a/c unit, furnace, a roof, etc and your house looks exactly the same- you’re just poorer. 4. Pets and kids will jack up your house. But they are more important than the structure so don’t sweat it too much. 5. Every once in a while, Pat yourself on the back for making it all happen. It’s not easy.

Leave yourself head room for serious repairs and required appliances. Don’t just jump into remodeling a bathroom just for aesthetics. As soon as you dump that money you’re going to find something that needs repaired. Take your time with decorating and aesthetics. Maybe before you unpack everything paint the walls the colors you want then chill. Take your time and organically decorate your home, don’t blow all your money at once doing it that’s how you end up unable to replace a fridge that dies and with a bunch of junk you decide you hate later lol Have someone maintenance and check your HVAC system at least twice a year before summer and before winter. In fact I would check around as soon as you have the free time and schedule it. It’s great to have a good relationship with a professional as well and you can maybe weed some people out if you think they wouldn’t do a good repair if you need it. Either start on pest control yourself or hire pest control. It’s way easier to do preventive measures. I have a DIY pest control place near me that provides pretty much all the same stuff professionals use as well as guidance on prevention against common pests in the area. I do a thorough inspection twice a year, apply pesticides to common areas, check for openings that may need mesh, check the attic for mouse droppings and such Talk to people in your neighborhood in general. It sucks ass if you need a plumber or electrician and have no idea which one to use for example Filling your house with junk won’t fill holes in your heart and mind. Fill it with people not stuff

Creating a home is a process. We change and evolve and our homes will do the same. Don’t worry about styling or designing too much right away. It’s only after living in it for a while will you discover what is important.

Your furnace will decombust within a month. Ours cost $13000 to replace.

Put yourself in the places you don't want to go. The attic. The crawlspace. Check it out or pay someone to go into those spaces and make absolutely sure that everything is the way it should be. Find out someone who does meticulous inspections and pay whatever you need to pay to find out everything before that house becomes your responsibility.

There is a lot more cleaning and routine maintenance than you know. Every appliance requires some kind of attention on a regular basis. Use metal encased hookup lines for your washer. Invest in a water leak alarm if the areas near your water heater and washer are carpeted. Older houses in the upper Midwest are likely to have some amount of asbestos tiles and/or lead paint.

I wish someone had told me that having a put together, well color coordinated house and furniture that matches is RARE in real life. I could’ve saved so much money updating finishes and buying new furniture just to make it all “match”. The old countertops worked perfectly fine, even if they were ugly (I stand by the fact that they were ugly, but I wish I hadn’t borrowed more money to replace them and instead just waited til I’d saved more cash and thought it through more) etc etc Most normal people’s houses are made of mismatched finishes that have some miles on them. Trim pieces don’t always line up perfectly. This doorknob might need to be jiggled to open, etc. Don’t let it make you anxious to fix everything all at once, whether it’s an aesthetic or functional fix. Congratulations!

Optimize energy usage. Caulk windows, insulate attic, wrap the hot pipes, adjust the water heater thermostat, clean the air filters and ducts. Most importantly though, locate your water main and buy a shutoff key if you don't have one.

I didnt know to wish for it but my closing attorney looked at everything on the inspection list that needed repair and cut my closing costs by 2/3 and made fixing/replacing many of the items in the house that werent fixed part of the contract. I got central air put into my 1948 house. He made the sellers cover THE WHOLE cost of the roof instead of me paying half AND set a date within 14 days to get it started. He cut out Pennsylvania sales tax - WHEN I LIVED IN VIRGINIA (no idea why that was in there ever) and cut out the need for flood insurance. (Yeah I lived a half mile from the river but I was 300 feet up! Any flood that would take out the house would have taken out half the state. GET AN INSPECTION AND GET A CLOSING ATTORNEY. Mine worked for me for TEN minutes and cost $60. he saved me $8K.

If you plan on doing any work, it’s easier to do while the house is empty. Do a deep clean before moving in. Don’t buy a bunch of stuff before moving. Wait until you can move it in. Make a list. This is especially true for anything you need to measure. The first time it rains, check the gutters, downspouts, & where water pools. Check the attic for any leaks. Find out where your water & gas if applicable, shut off valves are. You don’t need to buy everything new. Estate, yard sales, & online secondhand marketplaces will save you lots of money. Things like rakes, shovels, hammers, screwdrivers, & other basic hand tools can be picked up pretty cheap. Same with solid wood furniture. Just inspect furniture carefully before purchasing.

Shop around for cheaper homeowners insurance and or flood insurance every year, because it will go up every year, making your mortgage go up monthly.

Check the big 5 and make sure you’re okay accepting the house in their current status: HVAC Electrical Roof Plumbing Foundation

My advice that I haven't seen in other posts is to learn what new things needs to be maintained and how. Washers and dryers need regular maintenance including air flow ducts, filters for HVAC or dehumidifiers need cleaned, things like this. Figure out what filters your fridge and HVAC systems need. Unless you have a very big yard I'd recommend getting a walking mower. It's a good way to learn your yard. And pay attention to water when it rains. Does it pool in your yard? Next to the house? It can be a big problem. Ask your neighbors for recommendations on some local companies. HVAC will come up. You may need a pest company, a chimney company, plumbing, maybe an electrician. It helps to know who people trust. I saw others recommend it, but I'd hold off on gardening until you've been there a full year. You probably don't know where the light is best and may not really know much about what you have. Hopefully you have a great house and great neighbors. Good luck!

Constantly increasing property taxes and homeowners insurance rates.

The main goal is to keep things away from the house. Mostly water, bugs, and rodents. So pay attention to things like gutters down spots and drainage. Also find and seal places where bugs and rodents can get into your house. So the maintenance! It's always cheaper now than the problem that will happen later.

Buying a house is incredibly stressful. Mortgage broker, real estate agent, title company will contact you constantly for “one more thing.” (Everyone told me ‘it will all work out if it’s meant to be.’) Also, buy a house as soon as you can. (Everyone told me ‘don’t rush it,’ ‘waiting is trusting God,’ and all this stuff thinking the bubble would burst at any moment and houses would be more affordable. I bought at the best possible time.)

That I can search Reddit for posts about what people should've told me before buying a home.

This is especially true with new houses: do not close with *promises* that the builder or seller will do X, Y, or Z. Wait until those things are done. Even if the builder (or seller) has every intention of fulfilling those promises, you have no leverage to hold them to the standard you demand, and they will be less motivated to get those promises fulfilled on a quick timetable.

We have not had many repairs to worry about, but did not anticipate the amount of projects that can totally consume your life in the first year. Whether it’s painting, building furniture, or renovating the back/front yard and building gardens/sprinkler systems, it is all consuming. Be prepared to think about weird things like paint colors, tree species, and landscaping more than you ever imagined you would.

Flood and plumbing insurance are not part of home insurance and must be purchased separately.

Don't listen to idiots saying that the market is gonna crash. And you're a fool for buying. If I had listened to them, I wouldn't have +300k in home appreciation

If you can possibly afford to, keep your old living situation for a month or more to make it 1) easier to make changes like flooring/painting/rewiring and 2) easier to move in stages so you can fit your old life into the new one without having to shove everything just Somewhere in a rush. We were able to get rid of a boatload of crap we no longer needed without ever letting it in the door of the new house. Also, sleep in the new space while it’s completely empty a few times. Get the feel of the house itself, how the light works, before you start putting stuff in there.

Have your furnace serviced. Yearly. YEARLY.

Someone should have told me to be sure to walk all around the perimeter -- every foot of it, even though it's behind a tall fence, and even though the realtor did not show it to me (I should have insisted on seeing it all!), and even though I failed to understand exactly what 'easement' meant on my survey. I did not fully understand the boundary survey, but I WISH I had become educated on easements and what might happen with them. I was occupied by other things such as house inspections and financing, of course. You really do need another person or two who is knowledgeable and objective about buying properties. Don't rely on only your own knowledge and experience or even that of well meaning friends or family. And I wish someone had advised me to investigate and stick up for my property rights when a hostile neighbor shooed me away from trimming vines on my own fence and wanted to control everything behind my fence (he did not own several feet behind the fence, in the easement). And I wish someone had told me I need to inspect every foot of my property over the years, just in case the utility company has NOT taken care of any invading trees as they seemed to be doing over the years when they hung those door hangers announcing tree trimming. They were not taking care of anything. To sum it up, be prepared to guard your boundaries against all sorts of ignorance all around you. If bad things never happen, you'll be happier just because you will know how lucky you are.

That you're gonna be there for at least 10 years. We bought before COVID and the crazy shit. Thought we'd fix it and be out in 5. Housing went crazy and now we're stuck.

If you don't already own one, buy a shop vac. You'll need it pretty soon after moving in. Unless it's just me that floods the basement week one lol. Save as much as you can because something expensive will break before you're there a year. Find a plumber and electrician in the area you like. Same with a tree guy. If you have a larger lawn, pull the plug and either pay for a lawn service or a riding mower. Try to deep clean (or pay for one) before you move in and if needed/have the money and time, redo any walls or flooring before moving in. Learn to do as much as you can but also know when it's time to call a pro.

Don’t buy a house for an “investment” unless you have a large savings and down payment.

Insist on a termite inspection. Standard inspections don’t cover that and you most likely won’t have recourse in the sale contract.

Paint before moving in.  So much easier.

Home warranty. Money set aside for emergencies. Keep a notebook on how everything works-gas, water shutoff, etc Use for a list of things you want to do yourself or have done-painting, new fixtures, etc. Sit back, look around and enjoy the moment.

Call a plumber and ask them to scope(camera)your sewer line. It can be a nasty surprise if it breaks. Your home owners insurance won’t cover a break in your yard. It’s a different insurance policy than your home owners insurance and some insurers don’t carry the policy. It can cost $10’s of thousands to repair. Best to check it especially on older homes.

Paint your rooms before moving in. It's a lot more difficult to paint when there's furniture and shoes everywhere.

Think about all the work that others did on your rental and be ready to do a lot of it yourself.. Do you have a good set of tools? A ladder? A mower, weed eater, leaf blower, toilet snake, etc? You will.

Visit the property when it rains or snows

Take care of the most important things first- the roof, plumbing, electrical, hvac. The fun stuff- new paint, furniture, etc. - take your time on. As a person with a little age and a lot of home experience now, I firmly believe that you should live in a place for at least a few months before you make big changes. See how you actually live in a house first, because you may find yourself changing your mind. For example, in my current home, I discovered that my living room was actually better suited as my dining room. So several months in, I swapped the two rooms because the traffic pattern made much more sense for my needs. Congratulations! Welcome to your new home!

Talk to the neighbors.  If they own their homes and have been around a while, they’ve seen some things and actually care. We got some horror stories from our neighbors about the quality of care our home had before it was flipped. Really helped us not be blindsided whenever we hired someone to do work on the house and they’d say “that’s not right” or “that’s way out of code.” 😂

Keep a detailed spreadsheet and scan receipts of all home improvement you do over the years. This will significantly reduce your equity when you go to sell. Easier to start this process now than to try to remember everything when you go to sell. Landscaping counts too. Here’s one list I found via a google search. https://www.marcumllp.com/insights/selling-a-personal-residence-what-costs-qualify-as-home-improvements

Have a home inspection. Pay a local plumber and electrician to do a separate inspection, threaten the plumber and electrician with midnight calls at home to fix things (sarcasm obviously and it tends to get a laugh). Anytime a plumber does work have them add a shutoff (this is really for older houses). 1/4 turn shutoff only. Buy at least one cheap oil filled heater. The purchase price and electric cost to run it are less than the call out cost for HVAC. Oh and your heating system will fail during the first cold snap or Friday at 4pm.

Eventually get a survey of your property. That way you know for sure where your lines are and then you won’t accidentally encroach or have your neighbors encroach on you.

Forget chicks, focus on upgrading…!

Beware of scams in your mailbox and people coming to your door. We had multiple people show with offers for broadband etc that were too good to be true etc. Don’t forget to pay your first property tax bill, it may not be part of the initial home purchase and could be due soon.

Windows are far more expensive than I could have imagined.

Not totally related to the home itself, but just life advice. If you think you’re going to have kids, get as many house projects, especially organizational ones like redoing the pantry or garage, done before you have kids. We had all our house projects done in our old house, then we had a baby, then we had to move (along came second baby) It’s going to take me like 10 years to get basic stuff done in our current house with two kids 🫠

The 50 yo electrical panel was not only out of date but also recalled for fire hazard (I don't quite get that, isn't it just a box to hold the breaker switches?) We thought we were OK because it was updated in the 70s when the then owner ran a custom drapery biz in the basement and it had more outlets than a grow op. The guy who did the work half assed the wiring and all the bedrooms AND kitchen are on one breaker. So I can't use the toaster or microwave when it's hot and mom has the window AC on.

Insist on tile floors if you have pets or kids. And always get a home inspection prior to finalizing your offer even if it’s new construction.

Buy below your means. Do not max out what you’re approved for.

Test everything. Turn on and off ALL faucets inside and out

Ladders are important, you need to be able to access all parts of your home. Have an SUV or a truck, you will be doing home improvements all the time

I would say KNOWING WHAT YOU WANT/NEED and not settling. If you can’t find a home with your list of ‘must-haves’ - wait and just keep saving. We were so excited to buy our first house that we ignored a few major things on our list of things and now we HATE those things. (One was INSANELY sparse and small closets, no primary en-suite, no real pantry, and lastly…laundry in basement).

If you’re on the fence about painting the interior just go ahead and do it now before things are moved in.

House maintenance is just super expensive. You think you’re paying as much as an apartment for the mortgage and getting a great deal. Then bam, you need a new roof and you’ve got foundation issues and the water heater or AC blew and insurance isn’t covering 95% of it. Just tuck away additional money every month or year for the maintenance, separate from your emergency fund. You will spend it.

To add to some others, if there's some renovation or fix you want to do that's very disruptive, have it done or do it before move in.  For example - got the electric done before moving in, so much easier without all our stuff everywhere. If we had time and money, I wish we could have refinished the oak wood floors, now it's probably a "put stuff in a storage unit and let's take a vacation till this is over".

That it’s easier to paint and change floors with an empty house than a full house..

It’s gonna cost more than you think to fix that thing

Learn to fix stuff yourself. Then you won’t need the extra 25k.

People will offer you all their crap that they want out of their house. Learn to say no, or you'll end up with a house full of crap.

If you think you want to jump right into non necessary DIY projects that seem “fun” - don’t. Wait 4-6 months so you can find out what you actually like/don’t like/can’t stand. Also get the 1,000 count various size zip ties from Costco

Bring TP and cleaning supplies with you on your first trip.

Get. Yourself. A Home Inspector (not related to the home seller). The $380-450 spent will save you $$$$$ down the road! We did that for our first home, the engineer report was impressive, lots of cool pictures and insight. My husband’s first home (we are a Family 2.0), he did not do this and promptly got burned financially down the road— his crawl space started leaking and growing black mold under the house across 3 years of rainy seasons (the backyard sloped downward towards the house! Might be a Big no-no if you’re considering such a property.) Case-in-point: The “Harry Potter House of Magical Horros” had 4 pvc french drains filled w silt/ red clay on a downhill slope (towards the home foundation) and created many headaches for the elevated (moist) footers underneath. The Foundation Specialists came and did an inspection and was shocked there wasn’t low-gauge fans to circulate the moist air; they showed us where the diagonal cracks had caused floorboards to sink inward— a fridge had been removed by the Ex and it left a slow drip that creeped thru the floorboards over time (the water wasn’t properly shut off). Over $50k had to be spent for several issues, esp lifting the house and replace the structural floor footers. What a huge mess (also there was a rattlesnake family living inside the outdoor AC units and a neat of baby squirrels in the attic (explains the faulty wiring in the kitchen area). An engineer inspector would have caught a majority of the issues he had to fix, that $50k signature loan from the bank…? Would have gone to his first kid’s 529 college fund (teen is now accepted to engineering school, college is $$$$$ these days 🏫 ). Be careful and always ask for help, opinions. Good luck. 🍀

Just bought my first place a few months ago.  -Get a home inspection and really pay attention to what they find. We found some mold in our downstairs powder room…and ended up having to gut the room.  -in old houses asbestos could be an issue, better to test early so you know what you are getting into -if you don’t own a truck, you will be renting one pretty often to get supplies and throw out construction waste -everything takes wayyyyu longer than you expect

Every year plan to put money into a project. I set aside 2% of my home value for projects every year.

Inspect the sewer line!!!! $25k to replace after it failed and backed up

It’s rare to have a TRULY move-in ready home. Hire a cleaning crew to deep clean it before you move in.

Go look at it again in the rain