Making the transition from renter to homeowner is a dream come true for many people.
When you buy a home, you have to pay property taxes on the value of the home. Rates vary across counties, but the average is less than 1.5% of your property’s value.
Property taxes
Homeowners insurance is essential to protect your investment in your home, and if you purchase your home via financing, it’s a requirement from the bank.
Homeowners insurance
If you are putting less than 20% down when you purchase your home, your lender will require you to purchase private mortgage insurance, which would protect the lender if you stopped making payments.
Private mortgage insurance
Mortgage protection insurance and term life insurance can both be used to protect your family and keep them in your home in the event of your death.
Mortgage protection insurance or term life insurance
On average, there are about 30 to 40 preventative maintenance tasks to complete over the course of a year, said Bodrozic. It’s important for homeowners to plan for those tasks and make room for them in their budget.
Preventative maintenance
When unexpected maintenance issues happen in a rental, your landlord is only a phone call away. But when you’re a homeowner, you’re the landlord.
Emergency maintenance & repair
For many people buying homes with yards, there’s often little knowledge of the true cost of landscaping, said Alison Bernstein of Suburban Jungle, a real estate group that caters to urbanites moving to the suburbs.
Landscaping
For people buying homes in co-op buildings or other planned developments, homeowners association dues are another expense to plan for.
Don’t forget HOA dues