There is an insane difference between renting and owning. As first time home buyers, I don’t think we were realistically prepared for how much responsibility owning a home was. We figured “how different could it really be from just owning?” Well, it was extremely different.
Over the last two years (we bought our first home August 2019) we have learned more than we ever expected. It becomes more than just a roof over your head. It requires a ton of work and maintenance, even if you have a turnkey property. It starts to feel like a living thing to you. You need to keep up with it, take care of it, clean it, check for any issues, even become emotionally attached. Sounds dramatic, I know! But for us, it has.
I’m sure there are and will be many more lessons to be learned than just the four I’ve listed.
1. Be Financially Aware
When Lyle and I made the very quick and unexpected decision to buy a home, we weren’t exactly as financially literate as we are now. We were not “spending responsibly” as I like to say. We had debt, we didn’t track a single expense. We threw all our savings into a down payment and scraped what we could for the closing costs. Yes, seriously…it wasn’t until this time that we realized we needed to take a hard look at our financial health. Luckily, we did not run into the amount of issues we have as of recent! We are now fully financially ready to handle any financial emergency that may arise.
2. Emergency Funds
Over the last two years, we’ve had 2 roof, water and mold damage from a botched bathroom remodel from previous owners, cracked pipe, broken fridge, washer/dryer AND termite treatment within the same 2 weeks. These were/could have been extremely expensive. We’ve been lucky enough to have saved an emergency fund for such rainy days. When it rains, it pours! So, be prepared with a financial umbrella.
3. Get Handy or Pay the Price
Through it all, we’ve learned to fix plumbing, patch and replace drywall, caulking and trim, relocate light and electrical outlets, tiling and so much more. We didn’t learn these things for sh*ts and giggles! We learned because we couldn’t justify paying the crazy amount of money for someone else to do it. We had to remodel our bathroom due to a bad remodel job from the last owners of the home.
4. Should’ve, Could’ve, Would’ve
There were many things we should have done and we would have if we knew what we know now. We would have gotten a termite inspection if the home inspector AND the agent didn’t suggest we skip it. We should have interviewed more than one RE agent to ensure they had our best interest at heart and not their commission. But we didn’t. And that is OKAY! We have learned so much from trial and error and research/prep at this point. You learn from your mistakes and you can learn from other’s mistakes! Hopefully you can learn from ours!
