What EXPENSES COME WITH OWNING A HOME?

Question

IM LOOKIN TO BUY A HOME AND BESIDES RENT AND ELECTRICITY WHAT OTHER NESSITIES DO I HAVE TO PAY FOR

Answer 1

Owning does have its benefits. When you buy your house its YOURS. You will most likely have a fixed interest rate mortgage, so you will know what your monthly house payment will be, when you do your taxes at the end of the year you can write off the interest paid, which includes property taxes, which are in most cases included with your monthly mortgage payment, thats part of your Escrow.

But once you get in there, its the case with everyone, a house is always a work in progress, im sure growing up with your family, your parents were always working on something.

You will have electric, water and gas/heat, if you have a yard, but don't have your own tractor, etc. you will have to hire someone to cut your grass, but also remember thats not every month out of the year, you'll prob stop grass cutting from November - April.

You will have to do normal up keep, get your furnace checked, replace an Air Conditioner if needed (if you have Central A/C) You may have to at some point call a plumber for a leaky pipe, You may want to upgrade or replace the appliances, esp if the ones that come with the house are older, getting new, energy efficient ones, will overall, save you on electricity costs.

You might want to repaint, decide to fence your yard, add a deck, put in new windows.

But you can space this out over time, it generally doesn't have to be all at once, and since you'll own it, you can paint your bedroom any color you want, you can design your own kitchen and know if you leave you don't have to change it back.

If you add up how much you spend on renting each month, you are prob paying close to what you would pay to own, owing is a good thing. At least you feel better about paying your monthly rent knowing its YOUR house.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Property taxes can be a big one. Some times they are included in your mortgage via an escrow account and sometimes you pay them yourself.

PMI is mortgage insurance that you pay. It doesn't protect you, it protects the lender. You can avoid it by taking out two mortgages: The first at 80% and the second at 20%. The second mortgage will have a higher interest rate than the first mortgage, but you will still come out better than by paying PMI unless you already have the 20% down.

If you are buying an existing home, get the seller to include a one year home owner's warranty covering the major appliances such as the Heating/Air Conditioning system, Water Heater, Electrical Panel, Stove Etc. This will keep the heavy repairs down while you adjust to home ownership and the new payments.

Answer 4

You should repost this question with more details, such as what country you live in.

If you're buying a home in Australia, you need to pay for conveyancing (the legal transfer of property) and you should also get a pest inspection and a building inspection, to ensure that you're not buying a termite infested shed built by a builder whose only experience in building involved Lego. For conveyancing, $1000, pest and building, $1000 each.

There are costs associated with having a mortgage, too. If you don't have a big enough deposit, you will need to pay mortgage insurance, which protects THE BANK, NOT YOU, from your defaulting on the loan. This can be $30 a week or more on top of your mortgage repayments, which are based on how much you borrow to buy the house.

FOr the life of your mortgage, you will need to pay home insurance on the structure. This is a requirement of having the mortgage. The bank wants to know it will get it's money back if you accidentally burn your house down.

On top of these, your council needs you to pay rates. These are for roadworks and maintenance of your area, and also garbage collection and recycling. These will be based on what the council values your house at, as well as what size bins you have.

On top of these, there are utilities, like phone, power, and gas. These are the essentials. Everything else is superfluous and you should reconsider luxuries if you want to pay off your house.

You don't pay rent if you own a house, only if you are renting someone else's house to live in yourself.

These are all for Australia, in Australian dollars, but I think it would be pretty similar in other countries.

Answer 5

Owning a home definitely isn't as easy as renting..
expenses are:
Mortgage (same as rent but with rent you can give 30 days if something happens)
Property Tax
Household Bills: Water, Garbage and Sewer, Utilities, Phone and Internet
Yard Care Service
Home Warranty: This is usually $400 a year, if something breaks then you only pay $40 a visit instead of having to fix it yourself.. for example, if your furnace breaks, it would be your responsibility and it can easily cost $5,000.
Homeowners Insurance
Earthquake and/or flood insurance (depending on where you live)

Answer 6

First, you say buy a house and then mention rent payment instead of a mortgage payment (appropriate term when you are purchasing a home) which consists of principal (goes to the repayment of the actual loan amount), interest (goes to pay the lender for the loan), taxes (state, county and city property taxes), insurance (insurance on your home to in-case of damage or lost). Largest portion of the mortgage payment goes to pay the loan interest. Then you have electricity, water, gas (maybe), garbage, sewage, maintenance on the house (these are incidental and irregular costs you pay for upkeep/improvements of the house, lawn equipment (maintenance and use). Don't forget the closing costs and down payment when you buy the house (need to discuss these amounts with your real estate agent or whomever you use to do the closing on the house. Reminder to have your home inspected by a reputable house inspector before you purchase to determine if there are any faults in the house
(suggest do this for a new or older home), also termite inspection is necessary to make sure you do not have
these pests. Normally, you will have to have a down payment
of about 20 percent of the home purchase price (to avoid
PMI (another insurance to protect the loan lender). Some
lenders may work with you to avoid this cost.

Answer 7

Owning is very different than renting. When you rent you pay your rent and whatever utilities you are responsible for. If something goes wrong you call your landlord.

If you own everything is your own responsibility and there are many. To list a few:
Taxes (they usually go up every year)
Insurance (If you have a mortgage you'll be required to have it)
Repairs both large and small.
Improvements. If you own there will always be something you'll either want or have to do.
All utilities including removing trash.

Answer 8

Water, insurance, home repairs.....the list goes on and on. It is amazing how much money it takes to keep up a house. Have a nest egg in case you need to get a new furnance or have the roof done in the future. There can be many unexpected expenses when you are a home owner.

Answer 9

As the others have said, there are a lot of expenses that come with homeownership. There is one that some don't think about when making that initial purchase. Property taxes are the biggest recurring expense you will have. Be sure to ask your realtor for current property tax information on any property you consider.

Answer 10

Besides rent and electricity, you should expect to pay a phone bill, homeowners insurance, utilities (which include electricity), and trash, if trash pick-up isn't free. Everything else is pretty much optional.