How much owning a home can ACTUALLY cost you

Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Thu, Nov 19 2009 | 3 Comments

When you rent, there are things that you no longer have to worry with such as broken refrigerators and other appliances, as well as leaks and other problems with the actual property. In most cases, you don’t even have to cut the lawn, the landlord takes care of all of it.

As a homeowner, you do have expenses that HAVE to be taken care of; and even when the mortgage is paid off, there are things that you still have to deal with when it comes to the cost of a home.

So, if you have a mortgage, there are things that are added to your payment that are held in escrow and the mortgage company actually pays with the money. Property taxes and homeowner’s insurance are held in the escrow account. Once your mortgage is paid off, these are bills that will come around every year and you will HAVE to pay. There are some occasions where property taxes can be deduced from your income tax that you have to file at the beginning of the year, but at around $150 per month for the average home, this is still one bill that some may forget when they pay off their mortgage.

Another expense that all homeowners face, mortgage or not, is repairs. I can’t emphasize this enough. From personal experience, in the past year we have had to fix or replace the air conditioner, the refrigerator (which still isn’t fixed completely), both toilets (our water basically eats the parts) and the front and back doors. Things that still need to be fixed or replaced include or dishwasher and carpets. Something that we should probably start doing is setting aside a bit of money every month to help pay for something when it decides to break.

The same could be said about any other types of repairs, such as exterior repairs, that need to be done to a house. Roofs need to be replaced every 20 years or so and they cost a LOT of money when it comes time to replace the current one. Painting the exterior of a home can also cost a lot of money, particularly if you hire someone to do it. A 1,200 square foot brick home could run you about $4,000 for just two coats of paint if you hired someone to paint it. Then, you can’t forget how much it costs to maintain a yard. Chris loves playing in the yard and thanks to his concentration on the yard work, we have a nearly weed-free completely Bermuda grass lawn (in our neighborhood Bermuda grass is the best to have and is NOT considered a weed). He spends about $40 per month on just the lawn treatments and he does all the work himself.

If there are some things that should be considered when thinking of the cost of ownership of a home, include them in the comments below!

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What does it really cost to own a home?
Save money on home repairs and improvement
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Tags: money property, air conditioner, escrow account