Hi Mama,
When I was pregnant with Mia, we decided to buy a home. We didn’t want to welcome a baby into the world in our apartment because it was noisy. The idea of owning a home sounded like a dream. A place where we would bring our baby home, raise our family, and make lots of memories.
I’m so grateful that we own our home, but it’s also come with a lot of challenges. Compared to renting an apartment, there’s a lot more to be responsible for and worry about on the day-to-day. As a first time home-owner, we have had to make a lot of little investments that we didn’t think about when we rented apartments.
Today I wanted to share some of the things you should know before buying a home so you know what you can expect in terms of maintenance and cost.
Things To Know Before Buying A Home!
Yard work isn’t fun (and is expensive)
When we first bought the house, I was pregnant, so even though I was excited to be the one to take care of the lawn and garden, my husband had to do the job for a while. He cannot stand doing yard work! Every time he had to mow the lawn he would moan and groan. He grew up in a city in Vietnam so this was very new to him. And for me, I never actually mowed a lawn before, but since I enjoy shoveling I thought, how bad can it be? But our lawn grew at super speed due to the amount of crab grass we had. We plan to eventually get the whole yard re-done but honestly it’s just not in the budget right now. So that means mowing the lawn is a weekly chore. Not only that, but we had to purchase all the tools to take care of the yard: lawn mower, weed wacker, leaf blower… it adds up fast! We got to the point where we ended up paying someone to mow the lawn because it was getting to be too much of a headache. Now I laugh when I think about how I was excited to mow the lawn and thought, “this will be so fun!” It’s really not!! 
Painting also isn’t fun or easy
When we moved in to our home, my husband thought he would be able to do all of the painting by himself to save money. He painted every weekend for the first 5-6 weeks after we moved in (he had to go to work during the week and I was pregnant so I couldn’t help). He ended up painting the kitchen cabinets, the spare bedroom and the nursery before waving his white flag and calling a professional to help. Painting can be fun but it’s also extremely exhausting and takes a lot of time to do, especially if you’ve never painted before and don’t know what you’re doing!
Appliances can die at any moment
When we bought the house, some of the appliances were old. We ended up needing to replace the washer and dryer because the dryer was ruining our clothes and they were probably at least 30 years old. Next came the stove. The oven door fell apart and was going to cost $360+ to fix so we just decided to replace it with a new one. Even the refrigerator, which was brand new, has issues! The ice maker stopped working and we’ve been waiting months for the parts to come in. The water heater is old and on it’s last leg, and the furnace might be next. My grandma always told me, “when you own a home, there’s always something!” She was right! It literally never ends.
The air quality of your home can vary
I used to think if I just open the windows, my home would air itself out and we would have clean air to breathe. I learned that it’s not that easy. There are two grates in every room: one that blows air out and one that sucks air in. What I didn’t know if that the grate that sucks air in also sucks in dirt, debris, pet hair, allergens, etc. which is why it’s important to semi-regularly get your ducts cleaned to ensure the air in your home is truly clean. Luckily you can hire professionals to come in and do this job for you. I know I wouldn’t have a clue where to even start!
If you’re local to NJ, a service provider like Nash Everett can help! They offer mold removal, moisture management, microbial testing, and duct cleaning. It’s recommended to have your ducts cleaned every 3-5 years or when you buy or build a new home to ensure the best air quality. If you are looking for a mold removal company in the Delran, NJ area, you can learn more about mold removal by visiting their website!
You take better care of your home when it’s YOUR HOME
After renting apartments, I noticed that when things broke, I wasn’t as upset about it. Even though I lived there, it wasn’t really my own. I would simply wait for someone to come magically fix the issue. Now that we own a home, we are a lot more careful about taking care of everything in order to extend the life of certain things or prevent things from breaking. Sometimes things happen that you can’t avoid, like a pinhole leak in a pipe that required the plumber to come fix the pipe and re-do the wall, but for the most part we try to make it so we have the least amount of headaches by simply taking care of our home.
It’s never truly “done”
We have lived in our home for a little under two years, and we still feel like we are nowhere near close to being “done” with making the updates we want. There are so many little projects that we want to do, but have to do them slowly over time as our budget won’t allow for a complete remodel overnight! Some ideas we have are making the half bath into a full bath, changing out the light fixtures, and potentially re-doing the entire kitchen (!). We don’t plan to move anytime soon so we will enjoy taking it slow and watching our house transform into the perfect home for our family.
I hope this post was helpful if you’re in the process of looking for your first home. Honestly, it sounds stressful, and sometimes it can be very stressful, but it’s still 100% worth it to buy your own home. By reading this post, I hope it helps you to plan for some of these expected costs and maintenance issues that will turn up over the first few years of owning your home.
Leave a comment and let me know if you have had any MAJOR issues with your home? Is there something else I should be prepared to deal with?
Thanks for reading.
Stay safe and well, mama.
xo
Mother of Fawn
Read Next: From $100 to Buying A House At Age 27
Watch Next: Buying Our First House! (Vlog)
*Disclaimer: this is a sponsored post but all opinion are my own*