Owning a Home

Ever since 1969, when I first got married at the age of 22, I have owned my own home.  My first home was in North Carolina and all the others about 4-5 were purchased in Tennessee.

Owning one's own home has its advantages and disadvantages...   and I am wondering if the advantages outweigh the disadvantages...

1. You own property and land.
2. You can use your home as collateral.
3. You are more trusted if you own a home.
4. Your home is an investment that grows in value.
5. You can use your home to trade up to a nicer more expensive home.
6. Owning a home helps your credit score.

I am sure there are others but those are the main ones.

On the downside of owning a home, there is:

1. mortgage that has to be paid
2. furniture and appliances must be purchased
3. home insurance that needs to acquired
4. there are property taxes that must be paid
5. home owners are responsible for all repairs
6. home owners are responsible for maintenance, such as:

• lawn care
• window care
• cleaning
• plumbing
• electrical
• painting

NOTE:  if you want to sell your home in 3-5 years so that you can upgrade to a better home in a better location, you have invest money in those improvements that you may or may not get back when you sell your home...  there are no guarantees.

Improvements should only be made in the kitchen and bathrooms.

If you decide to purchase a home with a basement, then depending upon several factors, you now have to worry about water drainage when it rains and were your basement walls properly sealed...  If the basement is unfinished, then there is that cost and labor these days is not cheap nor are building materials.

Bear in mind that new home owners need to take into consideration there annual income, and other expenses, and should create a budget that includes:

EXPENSES

Mortgage

Home insurance

Home Maintenance

Lawn Equipment

Car Payment

Gasoline costs

Car Insurance

Car Maintenance

Life Insurance

Food

Electric

Gas

Water

Taxes (IRS, City, County)

Health Insurance

Clothes

Cable or WIFI

Home Entertainment (Netflix, Hulu, etc)

Cell phones

Computers

Vacations

Holidays/Birthdays

Children?

• clothes
• medical
• school supplies
• clothes
• toys/games

MISC

• cigarettes
• alcohol
• out of pocket medical
• cost of pets (food, vet bills)
• cost of a divorce (50% of all first marriages in USA end in divorce)

One of the issues that first time homeowners miss when creating a budget is that they do not anticipate inflation and rising costs, illness, death of a spouse, being laid off, or getting sued because they caused an accident with injuries.

They also do not take into consideration items that are only paid once or twice a year and anticipating the cost of that expense each month so they will not get caught off guard.  What I am thinking about here is car insurance is only paid twice a year.

Owning a home is a big deal and it takes lots of planning to take everything into consideration and have an alternate plan for just in case situations.