Lessons for first-time home buyers: Down payment just the start | Home & Garden

I’ve lost count of the handymen, electricians and plumbers who have paraded through the home my husband and I bought in October 2019. As I type this, our dryer is being repaired for the second time since we moved in. All told, we’ve spent around $1,300 on small fixes.

Repairing problems yourself is cost-effective, but only if you know what you’re doing. If a repair involves dangerous work, or you lack the skills and equipment to do it safely and correctly, hire a licensed and insured professional.

• PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE HOME INSPECTION. “Leaking roofs, mold, electrical and plumbing issues are the mostly commonly noted concerns on an inspection report,” says Day Coker, owner of AC by Day C, an HVAC maintenance and repair company based in High Point, North Carolina. If the inspection turns up problems, negotiate with the seller to either repair them or lower the selling price.
• FIND OUT THE AGE OF MAJOR APPLIANCES. When you can estimate how many years an appliance has left, you can save up for its replacement.
• CREATE A REPAIR FUND. Aim to save around $5,000, says Chelsea Lipford Wolf, co-host of the “Today’s Homeowner” TV show and creator of “Checking In With Chelsea,” a home improvement blog and video series. “That would cover most home systems that you would need to repair to keep your house running.”

As a renter, you may have put up with lumpy sofas or rickety chairs, thinking eventually you’d have “real” furniture in your own home like the kind you see at a carefully staged open house. But you’re purchasing a structure; the furnishings typically don’t come with it.

We spent around $8,000 on furniture this year. Another sneaky expense? Smaller accessories like towel racks, shower curtains, shelves, and storage bins that make a space functional.

• SAVE ON FURNITURE AND DECOR. Brand-new, solid wood furniture is expensive, but antiques are well-constructed and can be had for a fraction of the price. Between antique stores, estate sales and Craigslist, we spent less to score high-quality pieces.
• DO THE SMALL STUFF YOURSELF. When in doubt, watch a tutorial on YouTube or ask for guidance at a hardware store. I’ve hung art, shelving and curtain rods, and our current project is painting our guest room, which doubles as my office. We hire a handyman only for more complicated work.
• PLAN FOR THE BIG STUFF. “Beyond the first year, that’s when you see people taking on bigger projects,” Wolf says. “They’ve had a chance to live in their house and use the space.” Begin to budget for renovations, especially if you need to hire a general contractor. Wolf recommends getting on the contractor’s schedule during their low season and buying some items when they happen to be on sale, even if the installation has to wait.

A new neighbor told me she spent $500 on an electrician to replace older, ungrounded electrical outlets throughout her house. We lucked out with modern outlets, but not enough of them. We hired an electrician at $75 an hour to install more than a dozen additional outlets. Neither our house nor our neighbor’s was sold as a fixer-upper.

“The first year of homeownership is usually spent finding out all of the flaws you didn’t notice during open house and the final walkthrough,” Coker says.