The average cost of a home in the United States is just over a quarter million USD. That tag, however, doesn’t include the various costs of maintenance and upkeep on a home, which many new home purchasers forget to factor in. From plumbing to yard work, there’s a multitude of smaller details that go into the cost of a home that can catch some new homeowners off guard. Disregarding the outliers of natural disasters or serious accidents, there are a few universal upkeep tasks that you need to look out for when considering a new home purchase.
Every homeowner views maintenance in a different way, so even if the curb appeal of the home you are looking to purchase is great, you need to consider things that to an untrained eye look like small issues. Getting a home inspector to review the home you are putting an offer on can make or break a deal, and it can also give you the knowledge that you need to make an informed decision on short- and long-term issues and maintenance costs which will factor into your purchase decision. Ignoring any issues that are found, or failing to check for them, can be irresponsible in the long term because it can drastically increase the cost of fixing the issues later if neglected.
Discovering a problem doesn’t fix it, and many of the issues discovered will prove to be more complicated than the average new homeowner can handle. In today’s “do-it-yourself” culture, many untested new homeowners might seek to save money on their new home investment by taking on repair and maintenance tasks on their own. This can often end just as poorly as ignoring the issue entirely, if not worse.
Get the work done right by hiring trusted professionals that have the right tools and knowledge to do a wide range of complex tasks such as take proper care for plumbing pipes during repairs and maintenance and do proper cleaning of weathered gutters, which many homeowners attempt to do themselves out of the assumption that the task is easy. In-depth and difficult tasks should be left to those professionally trained, as a novice could easily end up causing more damage or even outright destroying the items and equipment being worked on. Skip the headache and potential extra costs by calling in the professionals to begin with.
Buying a new home, whether it be brand new or 20 years old, comes with both short term and long-term maintenance and repair issues that you need to consider and contend with in order to maximize your investment and minimize your homeownership costs. Letting things go into disrepair without proper maintenance can have mounting financial consequences proper maintenance and repair are the two most important factors to keeping things running smoothly and keeping your ownership costs down.
