First home of my own...what to plan for?

[Serif]

You forgot the screwdrivers man...

Haha, flat head and phillips head screw driver! Mah bah dawg

[Deimos]

Get a properly stocked toolbox.

In addition to this, assuming that you've always lived with your parents previously, don't forget to buy all those things that you just "take for granted" as being available in the house. Spare lightbulbs, that kind of thing. Buy them before they're needed, you'll be glad you did. Having to sit a flashlight on the side of the bathtub so you can take a shower isn't much fun.

Also, one other benefit I wanted to mention about getting a general home inspector first instead of going straight to specialists for each area - they generally can't have any ulterior motives. If you bring a plumber in, it's actually in their best interest to discover problems (or "problems"), because it probably means that they'll be getting more money out of you. With a home inspector, it doesn't matter to them if they find anything wrong or not, their job is done once everything's been inspected, whatever the results.

[Xiona]

have enough money to fix a major disaster like roof leak, water heater blowing etc.

[Cantih]

Depending on the house you buy, your mortgage/utilities/etc will quite probably be more than $1300/month.

Um.... that is just property taxes, you still have to pay a mortgage. Per month I pay $2k for my house that includes property tax, insurance and the mortgage.

I'm aware of the mortgage. And utilities is a moot point, already paying those so that doesn't change the bottom line (aside from having to take on water & trash & maybe gas, depending on the property).

You look at it backwards. I'm paying X in rent now, so X is my budget. Reduce by the "new" utilities and w/e, and you have the highest monthly payment you can make. Work that backwards through interest, insurance, and taxes, and find out exactly how much home you can afford. Then shop for something at or under (preferably under, so you can take the dif between your old and new housing cost, and save it away or use it to pay the mortgage off early). The hard part is the downpayment. In my area, you're basically squeezed for you're whole income, it's hard to save.

The traditional mortgage is what, 30 years?
1,300 a month is 15,600/yr, 156,000 a decade.

And here's the trick, I'm not looking for a 300k home. I'm aiming far, far lower. The median home price in my area has massively dropped, over half from it's top by now, and I've watched it go down another 50k since the start of the year.
And all sane indicators (unemployment, median income, etc.) are pointing to it continuing to drop.
I play my cards right, and get lucky on a price, I can own a place outright within a decade.

It's just, for the life of me, could not find even ballpark numbers on what homeowners insurance comes out to monthly. I know it can vary wildly by where you live, but I couldn't find any yardstick.

Zoo, with your 2k a month, do you know exactly how that itemizes out for the mortgage, the bank's interest, insurance, etc.?

[zoobernut]

I don't know the figures off the top of my head but I think it is approx. $1500 a month interest $200 towards principle (I pay an extra $100 every month so $300 goes to principle) and about $150 for insurance and $150 for taxes. Those are rough numbers but pretty close.

[Cantih]

Awesome, thanks.
Derail over

[BIGSTIC]

The traditional mortgage is what, 30 years?
1,300 a month is 15,600/yr, 156,000 a decade.

Just FYI. I just closed on a $180k 30 year and it is running me $1200/mo. About $100 of that is Taxes. So $1200/year in taxes for a 10k SF lot with a 2800sf house and 3 car garage sitting on it. I could have gotten more for less but the wife wanted to stay in town till the kids were older.

As for all the talk about Electrical. Being a licensed Electrician I am advising you to call a Licensed and Insured Electrician if you plan on doing any electrical. Most will give you FREE estimates and get everything in writing. And yes you will shit yourself when you see the price. Most electrician's charge $70/hr plus material and mileage. Might be more might be less.

But I will also advise you to live in the house for at least 6 months before you put any money into it. Hell for as old as your house sounds I would probably go a year before investing in upgrades. You will soon find that the minor fixes associated with owning a house will tear your little budget apart and you will be renting rooms to local hobos trying to make ends meet. Put ALL you spare money into savings because a rainy day will come and you will get a bill for $5k+ because the sewer needs replaced or the sill plate is rotten or you got termites. Trust me shit will go wrong and you will be trying to find a way to sell a kidney so you can get your water back running.

But also remember owning a house can be one of the best investment s you can make. Good Luck

[simozene]

Lots of good advice in this thread:
- Spend a few hundred to get the home inspected so you will be provided a list of things that need to be fixed and things that you should keep an eye on.
- Save up money for when something major breaks. Owning a house is like needing new brakes on your car... only 20x more expensive.
- Maintain the property as well as the house. (Mowing, Raking, Snow shoveling, gardening... etc)

While any major work should be done by a licensed contractor/plumber/electrician..etc, you can do most minor work yourself.

Amazon.com: How Your House Works: A Visual Guide to Understanding & Maintaining Your Home (9780876290156): Charlie Wing: Books
Amazon.com: Black & Decker Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair: with 350 Projects and 2000 Photos (9781589234178): Editors of creative Publishing: Books

Pick one of the two books and get it. It will save you an enormous amount of money. Even if you plan on hiring a contractor to do some work, it is still a good idea to be knowledgeable about the job being done.

Regarding home/auto insurance... in most states, you cannot insure a car that is not parked at your residence at night. Meaning, if your parents auto insurance company finds out that you do not live at your parents house, things could get ugly. I would get your own auto and home insurance from the same company as you can usually save a lot of money by doing so.

Another thing I thought of, and this is entirely between you and the other owners of the house, is agree now about how you are going to buy them out of their shares of the house. Let's say the house is split between you, your sister, and 2 others, meaning you and your sister owe them 50% of the house. Are you going to pay them 50% of how much the house is worth now? or 50% of the worth of the house at the time of payment a couple years down the road? The market is pretty low now, but if you do a lot of work on the house it will increase in value and therefore you will end up paying more when buying them out of their shares.

Enjoy your new home! Just make sure that you own the home and the home does not own you.

[Achika]

Alright, I'll work on having a little side money to have someone inspect the house. I'm sure my mom would know how recent things have been fixed, or her brother would, but there's always the chance that something might sneak up, so better to take care of it early.

We've made a verbal agreement for how much we're going to buy the house for. Obviously, I'll want this in writing too.

I'm not sure what the policy with our insurance company is regarding the car needing to be parked at the residence at night. I'd have to ask my dad about that one.

I suggested to my sister that she put in some extra into the joint account we'll have in the event that something unexpected comes up or we're unable to work for some reason. I'll also have my own money sitting in there. What's a good figure to look for? I was planning $1000 on my "in case" fund.

In looking at furniture, Ikea is popular and more affordable, but how comfortable are the things like couches? Would I be better off saving up for something like La-Z-Boy or other furniture dealers?

I think we've got the kitchen well set up. We've got a dining room set and a microwave from family, and my sister's working on a stove. My room, in the beginning, will mostly have my bed and a long table for my computer and TV and games (Which is the same setup I have right now.). Eventually, I'll add in a couch and probably switch over to a computer desk and entertainment center. I guess for a bit, I'll need a chair if I'm going to have guests.

We've also figured we need to cut corners a bit. With shopping, I'll have coupons and be watching sale ads. I was also thinking of getting a Sam's Club membership and doing shopping for everyday items there. Would that be worth doing?

I'll also have to look into the tools. I'm more mechanically inclined than my sister, but I'm fairly dumb when it comes to handiwork. I might look into those book suggestions. =D Benefits of working in a library!

[Norelco]

Dude...I'm gonna get some hate for saying this. Fuck IKEA.

Was just up at the one in Hamilton, ON while coming back from a concert and we decided to walk through there. I didn't see a single thing I liked.

Yeah, the stuff is affordable (cheap), but it looks cheap as well. Some stuff was cool and very funktional (their spelling, not mine), but the finish on each piece of furniture is synthetic.

The couches especially did not look very comfortable. And I'm not sure if you're going for the uber-chic modern look IKEA provides.

Just my opinion.

Or maybe it's because I'm nearly 30 and can afford better looking stuff, but at least the IKEA stuff looked sturdy. May be the perfect furniture for a starter house.

edit: Yeah, wholesale clubs are awesome. Completely worth it.

[Zeb]

Don't forget a good first aid kid.

[greenhills]

1k will be enough for starting out, but you will most definately want a bit more in an oh shit fund than that. If money is tight normally, 5k would be a nice number to aim for, as 1k is barely going to scratch what you could end up paying a contractor for a larger job. General rule of thumb i've learned through trial and error on finances is make a budget, and have at least 3-4 months in the future paid off, and have this seperate (at least in your mind if not your bank) from general savings (which sounds like you should also have since you plan on buying this home).

edit:

We've also figured we need to cut corners a bit. With shopping, I'll have coupons and be watching sale ads. I was also thinking of getting a Sam's Club membership and doing shopping for everyday items there. Would that be worth doing?

I swear by Costco personnally, we buy pretty much all our veggies and meats there. For the record Costco is way better than sam's club.

[Soa]

Geez how the hell are some people's taxes so low. I pay $2300 a year and its pretty much the lowest there are for a 75 mile radius, with most all areas over $3k.

Homeowners insurance will cost around $150 a month, give or take.

For reference I paid $105k for my house and my mortgage, with taxes and insurance included, is $930 a month. I just applied for an interest rate drop from FHA (which I will likely get) and that will probably bump it down to around $900.

Like others have said, try to build up a small nest egg for a rainy day, and learn how to do simple repairs yourself. If your furnace breaks down, or if you have a septic tank and it leaks, its gonna cost several thousand dollars to fix.

Home inspections are required by law in PA before purchasing or acquiring a home, and usually run around $1000 for all of them, so check into that. Even if its not required its very highly recommended to get one anyway.

Well thats all I can think of right now, enjoy your house, I know I love mine.

[Khamsin]

Not to derail, but it is somewhat fitting. I came home yesterday to discover stuff in my freezer melted and soft. It was cold, but not freezing. Ice cubes still had a frozen outer shell, but had liquid sloshing inside. The fridge didn't seem as cool as usual either, but it's hard to tell. Just in case, I made sure the doors were tightly shut and checked the freezer this morning, and the ice cubes still weren't fully frozen.

It's a hell of a time for the fridge to break, especially given that it's like 90-100 degrees in my place during the day. But shit happens. Must've just been old and picked a bad time to crap out, it was here when I moved in.

So now that I may need a new fridge, unexpectedly, someone recommend me some fridges! I know nothing about fridge brands or models. I will go with stainless steel, I think, as long as I'm getting a new one. Then later I can replace the other (currently white) appliances to match and put in granite countertops.

Also, I just put in new vinyl flooring when I moved in, but feel free to recommend a better style. Not hardwood, though, as I'm thinking of putting that in the living room and I want a distinction between living room and kitchen.

[Norelco]

Geez how the hell are some people's taxes so low. I pay $2300 a year and its pretty much the lowest there are for a 75 mile radius, with most all areas over $3k.

Homeowners insurance will cost around $150 a month, give or take.

For reference I paid $105k for my house and my mortgage, with taxes and insurance included, is $930 a month. I just applied for an interest rate drop from FHA (which I will likely get) and that will probably bump it down to around $900.

Like others have said, try to build up a small nest egg for a rainy day, and learn how to do simple repairs yourself. If your furnace breaks down, or if you have a septic tank and it leaks, its gonna cost several thousand dollars to fix.

Home inspections are required by law in PA before purchasing or acquiring a home, and usually run around $1000 for all of them, so check into that. Even if its not required its very highly recommended to get one anyway.

Well thats all I can think of right now, enjoy your house, I know I love mine.

Try living in NY. My taxes are 5k a year.

[Achika]

According to the website that the house was listed on, the tax for my house will be $633 semi-annually. I've already factored taxes into our budget, and suggested to my sister that we each put 1/6 of the tax cost into the account each month.

I haven't fully worked out with her on who's going to be dealing with the financial end of the thing, but I'm going to convince her (Possibly with help from my parents if it comes to that.) to let me do it. My dad doesn't think I should necessarily make a legal contract with her for payments each month, and he told me that if she comes up short, that he can help me out a little. Neither of my parents actually expect me to come up short.

First aid kit is a great idea. I'll have to grab one or five (Decent sized home with two floors and a basement.).

I think for furniture, I might save up a little bit and buy some good furniture. Thanks for the comment on Ikea. =D I actually looked on their website for a computer desk, none of them actually appealed to me.

The fridge topic is a good bit too. I still don't know if that fridge is there or not. If it's not, we'll have to get one. Knowing which brands to buy is good.

[simozene]

As far as furniture... if you have a friend with a truck and don't mind moving it yourself get it off of craigslist. I've gotten so much nice stuff there for my condo. My kitchen table and chairs would probably cost $700 to $1000 in a store (custom glass table with solid iron base and solid iron chairs... they're HEAVY!) and it cost me $200 through craigslist.

Another thing you should always have in your house... a fire extinguisher. I keep one in the kitchen and one in the bedroom.

I have a story regarding your 'oh shit' fund... I live in a 1 bedroom condo. One day my girlfriend was over and decided to take a bath. This ended up flooding my downstair neighbors bathroom. Not too badly, but you can see slight water damage in the sheetrock in her shower. I had never taken a bath there before so I never realized it, but the overflow drain on the bathtub has improper plumbing. I told my neighbor that I fixed it, but the truth is I just outlawed baths in the condo. Talking with my neighbors I also found out that the bathroom does not have waterproof sheetrock, so if any tile cracks and water starts getting back there, the entire wall could be damaged.

Long story short... I need to replace the plumbing, bathtub, and tile walls surrounding the bathtub in my bathroom. This will run me about $3500. Luckily, it does not need to get done immediately because as a shower it works fine and I am always very careful to check for wear and reseal any tiles in the shower. Therefore, I would agree with the suggestion of having about $5k in an 'oh shit' fund for a house as there is a lot more that can go wrong for a house as compared to a condo.

[simozene]

So now that I may need a new fridge, unexpectedly, someone recommend me some fridges! I know nothing about fridge brands or models. I will go with stainless steel, I think, as long as I'm getting a new one. Then later I can replace the other (currently white) appliances to match and put in granite countertops.

I recently got a new BOSCH dishwasher at Lowe's. Although not a fridge, I can offer a few pieces of advice.
- Look for a promotion where they will install the appliance for free.
- Shop around (Lowe's, PC Richards, Sears)
- Get something that is energy star certified.
- Remember that at the end of the year, certain energy star appliances qualify as a tax write-off. My new dishwasher will end up costing $75 less due to the tax write-off I will file in my 2009 taxes.

[BIGSTIC]

So now that I may need a new fridge, unexpectedly, someone recommend me some fridges! I know nothing about fridge brands or models. I will go with stainless steel, I think, as long as I'm getting a new one. Then later I can replace the other (currently white) appliances to match and put in granite countertops.

Also, I just put in new vinyl flooring when I moved in, but feel free to recommend a better style. Not hardwood, though, as I'm thinking of putting that in the living room and I want a distinction between living room and kitchen.

Personally, I hate granite counter tops since they are porous and impossible to keep clean from germs and stains and Stainless is a bear to keep looking good and I cant use magnets on the fridge to hang my kids pics. I feel both of these design features, though popular, are utterly worthless.

Although I also see that it is a MUST for Kitchen remodels. I am looking at IceStone, EnviroSLAB, and Granicrete. They are all "Green" and look amazing. Kinda spendy but have all the features I am looking for.

As for you Fridge, just head down to Sears. They have price matching and 0% for a year(I think) on their Credit Card. Personally I would stay away from LG but most other brands are all made at the same place and just branded differently. And read the reviews online.

And for Floors, I prefer the look of Large (24x24) Tile laid Diagonally. It can give the Kitchen a bigger feel. But for the most part it comes down to personal preference.

[Siddharta]

I don't agree much but w/e :/