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

[Achika]

My sister and I just acquired my late grandfather's home. We're going to get to live in it rent-free, with the intent to purchase it fully at a later date.

We're working on getting everything planned so that this will work well. We're splitting the utilities costs between us, and I'm working on the budget and will most likely be in charge of the financial duties of the home. We're making a list of everything we need to budget for, but I'm wondering if there's anyone around that might be able to add anything we may be forgetting?

So far, we've got:

1. Gas/Electric
2. Water
3. Sewage
4. Trash
5. Cable/Internet

We've both got cell phones on the same plan, so she's suggesting that we go without a land line.

She's hiring some of her friends to help do some work on the house, such as painting and redoing the bathroom. We'll be paying them some amount.

The house just got a new AC system within the last couple years, as well as new windows, so I don't think we have to worry about that.

We're looking into a new stove already. We're told that his refrigerator is still there, plus there's a chest freezer in his garage that we might move to the basement.

We're going to be very simple with furniture. My mom's giving us a dining room set, we have our own beds and TVs. My sister has dishes, pots, pans, and such. Past that, I think we're planning on picking up furniture to entertain guests at a later time, neither of us have many guests anyways. We're also going to see if my aunt has anything in storage that she might be willing to give or sell us.

One thing I considered though, my computer and gaming area at my current home consists of many daisy chained power strips. I've NEVER been comfortable with this, but we didn't have much option and my mom said it would be alright. This house we're moving into is an older house (My mother grew up in it.), and I'm not sure the room I'll have there will be able to handle the amount of electricity. Should I consider looking into an electrician to rewire my room and build in power strips?

We're also going to have a dog and a cat to take care of, the dog will be her responsibility and the cat will be mine.

We'll probably have a joint bank account specifically for bill paying, which I'll be in charge of most likely. And while I don't think it'll ever need to come to this, I plan to have a formal agreement, in writing, signed by both of us and notarized.

Is there anything I might be missing? I'm trying my best to be overly thorough, but I'm sure even the most detailed people can miss things occasionally. =)

[Souj]

Food.
as for electricity, if its an old house, like even just 50 years old, and its had just one owner since then, I'm sure the electricity systems are all pretty outdated. unless the owner updated them.

[Olo401]

I'm assuming it was willed to you and it just being held in trust until you turn 18? If that's the case you won't have to actually buy it since ownership will be passed to you by inheritance through the probate court. At that point there might be some one-time estate taxes.

Also, there's property taxes and insurance for the house. Once you have official ownership you'll have to pay for both; but right away I'm not sure. If the property is stuck in probate this might be paid for by whatever trust account or assets were left behind.

[pseudomatic]

like souj said, food.

[Pikarya]

Some form of security.

[Isiolia]

One thing I considered though, my computer and gaming area at my current home consists of many daisy chained power strips. I've NEVER been comfortable with this, but we didn't have much option and my mom said it would be alright. This house we're moving into is an older house (My mother grew up in it.), and I'm not sure the room I'll have there will be able to handle the amount of electricity. Should I consider looking into an electrician to rewire my room and build in power strips?

Probably do want to check this - there have been safety and standards updates to electrical components over the years, not just breaker panel capacity. When I moved into my house the bathroom/kitchen sockets were all replaced with ones that have breakers in the outlets themselves, for instance.

I wouldn't say to build in power strips necessarily, but I'd say making sure you can safely handle plugging in a house full of electronics would be prudent. I recall dorms and apartments that'd pop a breaker with too much stuff on or plugged into a given wall.

One aspect I see "missing" is outside stuff - obviously other chores need to get done too, but mowing the lawn, weeding, etc needs to get done, and may need a mower and various other implements of destruction to do properly (unless your grandfather's stuff is still all there).
Also, keeping gutters clean n' all that, I wound up with some minor flooding due to not even thinking about that (not like my roof gets much falling on it).

[Achika]

I'm assuming it was willed to you and it just being held in trust until you turn 18?

Not sure but you might have to cover property taxes and insurance on the home, if that isn't being paid for out of the trust account.

It was actually willed to be sold and the money split amongst his children. We have an agreement with them to do this, as long as we pay utilities and maintain the land, and plan to buy it.

Insurance was something I didn't think of. The taxes were in the back of my mind somewhere.

Food, definitely. I don't think we've figured out whether to buy for ourselves or buy together, but I'm sure we will.

I *think* he had a security system installed, but we'd obviously need to pay the fee to get it activated and maintained.

I'm not sure if he still has the mower there. I know my mom took the riding mower, but we might take that back with us. She doesn't need it. =p

Thanks for the advice about electrical things, I'll have to mention that to my sister. If we have to rewire the whole house, so be it. Just don't want anything going wrong. =D

[zoobernut]

Taxes and insurance can be quite costly for a house depending on several factors including value of the house as well as local and state laws.

Just to give an example my house which was appraised at $300k costs about $1,700 a year in taxes.

[Aerides]

Most current security systems require a land line. It's pretty much the only reason we still have one. If you are two single young girls living together it's a pretty good idea to have this active. Even if there isn't one already, most start ups can be done for not terribly much.

Do budget some amount for "oh wow that would be great in the living room" expenses as that's half the fun of a new home.

Have you taken a thorough look-thru? Look for stains, old carpet, any odd smells... these might not be immediate problems, but stuff you want to plan to fix over time. If you need to repaint, most of the Home Depot/Lowe type places offer specials on paint around the major 3 day holidays (Labor day coming soon) where you can save like $5 a gallon on paint.

[Stiker]

I bought an old house back in late January and I'm still working on the thing (didn't really have the cash to contract everything out) and considering how many issues it has had, this thread is going to be near and dear to my heart lol.

It sounds like though, most of your essentials are good. I would hire and electrician because I would wager your house isn't up to date or possibly even code with the wiring. For instance, my house had 3 previous owners (that I know of) and none of them updated the wiring. The wires were still seethed in cloth. Also, the electrician increased service to my house to actually be able to run a modern electricity payload as well.

I didn't see you mention homeowners insurance. I would highly suggest looking into this. I would also assume you have auto insurance, so I would chat with your current company and see what kind of combo discounts they can give you. In that same vein, alarm systems can also get you a discount (as well as updating things around the house).

Also, make sure you keep a keen eye on the place for a while and write things down that you see needing to be fixed. Some things will be nice "weekend projects" that aren't needed and others like, say you see a door not closing correctly could be signs of larger issues like foundation troubles.

Only other thing that I can think of is with the AC and that's the thermostat. If the current one isn't programmable, I would highly suggest investing in one as it is well worth it IMO. Swapping them out isn't hard, just takes some simple wiring (really it is more or less copying the wiring in your current thermostat). I will say this though, if you swap it out, make sure you turn your AC/furnace off! If you don't trying to swap out the thermostats will blow a fuse in your system (or worse a transformer) and will shut everything down.

I'll post more if I think of something. Best of luck!

[Dimmauk]

Taxes and insurance can be quite costly for a house depending on several factors including value of the house as well as local and state laws.

Just to give an example my house which was appraised at $300k costs about $1,700 a year in taxes.

Gad damn that house must be huge. I just bought a house for 80k, my wife and I are fixing it up, so we can ladder up to a nicer house. We just finished Tiling the bathroom.

[Stiker]

Most current security systems require a land line. It's pretty much the only reason we still have one.

Actually I think that is going away now. I have a friend that has an ACT security system and they don't have a land line. So it might be vendor specific. Also, I'm not sure about the OP's area, but the ACT in my area will give you the equipment for free if you sign a 1-year agreement with them. So if you need a fresh install, I'd take a look at that.

[Tyche]

As I've told a friend at work numerous times who's about to buy a home...it's almost impossible to budget beforehand. Make damn well sure you aren't pinching yourself tight on the money.

The psychology of homeownership. When you buy a home (or inherit one), it's not like your apartment or your room at your parents house. You're going to spend more money on nicer things for the home. You're going to host more guests, have more gatherings, thus, consuming more food. There's a lot of odds and ends shit that noone ever accounts for just because of the psychology of owning a home affects your wants and needs. Similar to how you adjust your standard of living with your income, you'll adjust your expeditures with your home's value.

You also have to do all the maitenance if something breaks. They say to keep about 3 months worth of mortgage saved up for that purpose, but since you don't pay mortgage, make sure to allocate properly for that.

[Stiker]

As I've told a friend at work numerous times who's about to buy a home...it's almost impossible to budget beforehand. Make damn well sure you aren't pinching yourself tight on the money.

The psychology of homeownership. When you buy a home (or inherit one), it's not like your apartment or your room at your parents house. You're going to spend more money on nicer things for the home. You're going to host more guests, have more gatherings, thus, consuming more food. There's a lot of odds and ends shit that noone ever accounts for just because of the psychology of owning a home affects your wants and needs. Similar to how you adjust your standard of living with your income, you'll adjust your expeditures with your home's value.

You also have to do all the maitenance if something breaks. They say to keep about 3 months worth of mortgage saved up for that purpose, but since you don't pay mortgage, make sure to allocate properly for that.

So much truth in this post. It really is a whole other ballgame. I've dumped more money and thought of more things I want to do to my house than I ever thought I would. After you get done with one thing, you see another thing you want to fix/upgrade. It's really a never-ending money pit sometimes lol.

[Achika]

Just of note since I saw a mention of it above, I'm male, and she's licensed to use a gun should a threat come. I'm still going to look into a security system.

Bundling insurance would be good. My dad currently pays for our car insurance, but dunno if he still will once we move out.

My sister had replacement carpeting planned out already. Something about my uncle messing it up when taking something out. She also wants to add carpet into areas that don't have it.

I've also taken into account future additions to the home regarding furniture. I personally plan to add a couch into my room that can be closer to my gaming systems (It's a BIG room.), and I'm also considering an electric fireplace for the front room. My sister said she might set her TV up in that room, I'm not sure if she will or not though. Once I can get some room measurements, I want to make some arrangements. We'll definitely need a couple chairs and a couch in the front room if we're going to host family Xmas, which we might since we actually have a wheelchair ramp there (My aunt is confined to a wheelchair. =( We had to lift her up into our house, as well as my grandfather.).

[zoobernut]

Gad damn that house must be huge. I just bought a house for 80k, my wife and I are fixing it up, so we can ladder up to a nicer house. We just finished Tiling the bathroom.

Only about 1,700 sqft with a 2 car garage (big enough for my truck to fit in). It is also on 2 acres of land.

[Cyn]

Rewiring an old house is very very expensive (especially if it is one of the really old ones with plaster walls). Honestly unless there is some kind of actual damage to the existing wiring (like circuits pop at random or at low loads), then your best bet is just to make sure that the fuse or breaker for the receptacle in your bedroom is rated for 20 amps and not 15. Even with a large flat panel and a powerful PC running you should not be pulling all that much anyways, just avoid plugging things in with heating elements at the same time, such as space heaters or hairdryers.

[greenhills]

All i can suggest, like the others above, is that you do a walk through and make sure to spot any potential trouble spots. Especially if it is older and your grandfather has been the only one to live there in a long time, even getting a home inspector in there or someone knowledgeable that will be honest about it. You don't want rainy season/winter to hit and all of a sudden find out you have a bad roof or leaky spot in the foundation for example. Cosmetics are fun to worry about, but ultimately it will be the bones of the house that will break your wallet if you are unprepared.

edit:

Rewiring an old house is very very expensive (especially if it is one of the really old ones with plaster walls). Honestly unless there is some kind of actual damage to the existing wiring (like circuits pop at random or at low loads), then your best bet is just to make sure that the fuse or breaker for the receptacle in your bedroom is rated for 20 amps and not 15.

^is very correct, you probly don't even need 20 amps, 15 should do unless you have an insane pc setup.

[MisterBob]

Gad damn that house must be huge. I just bought a house for 80k, my wife and I are fixing it up, so we can ladder up to a nicer house. We just finished Tiling the bathroom.

Err, it really depends on where you live. In the nicer areas of MA (primarily withing driving distance of Boston), an average home is 250-500k. Nicer ones go for a lot more.

[volcanicweather]

I live in a big-ass old Victorian house. It was built in the early 1900's. Needless to say, the house has a lot of "character" to it.

Here's some recommendations...

- Absolutely have someone come out and check your electric and gas. These can lead to huge problems if they aren't attended to. You might not even need rewiring. A good way to tell how old your electrical system is is to look at the outlets on the wall - are they 2-prong or 3-prong? If they are 3-prong odds are it's been updated within the past 20-30 years... if they are still 2-prong it might be time to gut everything, especially if you're going to be using a lot of power

- Understand what outlets are on what circuits. I'm a tech-person like you with a lot of stuff. You'd be surprised how old houses were wired. The basement in my house is connected to 2 bedrooms upstairs, totally bypassing the dining room, living room, other bedrooms, and everything else downstairs. But yet the bathroom right next to both bedrooms is on a totally different circuit. It's strange. What I do is run a surge protector + extension cord from the bathroom into my room to relieve the power strain on the circuit. You might want to look into this as a solution.

- Get an electronic thermostat that can be programed to change the temperature automatically. This can be a huge $$$ saver all year round. Make it cooler at night during the winter and so it turns the AC off at night as well during the summer. It's totally worth the investment. Also examine your insulation and the envelope of your home (how well your house retains/loses hot and cold air). Heating/Cooling a big house can cost a ton of money. You can get a person to come out and run tests to determine where your largest sources of hot/cool air losses are and then fix them. Just pray you have good insulation lol - you said your windows were newish, which certainly helps, but how about your doors?

That's all I can think of off the top of my head right now.