Lessons I learned after buying my first home

Be a homeowner they say. Buy a home so you can have an investment they say. Don’t get me wrong I think buying a home is a big step but please don’t let society make you feel bad if you stay in an apartment because right now you winning. I bought my first home as a single mom 5 years ago and whew there are some lessons I learned the hard way. Here are lessons I learned after buying my first home.

Lessons I learned after buying my first home

Lesson 1

I need to have at least 10k in savings. I moved into my home and 6 months after I moved in my air conditioner leaked and there was mold on my living room wall. Luckily I was still under warranty but what if I wasn’t. That cost would have come out of my pocket to fix. When I first moved in I didn’t have a lot of savings. Things kept breaking and I didn’t realize the upkeep of owning a home by myself. With a hubs you will be ok but me alone whew. I remember I couldn’t find anyone to lawn my yard for weeks and I got fined (HOA is another story). People would stand me up all the time and if they did show up they would charge me an outrageous price. I finally found someone who was trustworthy after weeks. My upstairs circuit just went out and I had to replace my entire upstairs. The cost? 5k. Thank God for that stimulus money or we would have been in the dark upstairs until I gathered that money up.

Lesson 2

Try your best to not get a home with HOA. I like HOA it keeps the community looking good but boy do you have folks that take things to the next level. Trash can can’t be out after 8pm on the evenings of trash day. I left mine out because I was gone all day and didn’t get home until 9 guess what I got? A ticket. Little shit like not having my grass green, or putting up decor that’s not “appropriate”, even down to a piece of trash that blows into my front yard. You will get fined! Do your research to see if you about that life because never again will I do this mess.

Lesson 3

Land taxes will go up if your area starts to see new things. When land taxes go up guess what else goes up? Ding Ding Ding…that mortgage. No one told me this so I was quite surprised when my cheap mortgage went up 100 bucks this isn’t a rent that goes up yearly but apparently in some cases that’s just what will happen.

Lesson 4

Know the school district before you buy a home. I didn’t do my research to make sure the schools in my area were top-notch. I guess I just saw a decent house in my price range and went for it without thinking. Think long-term especially high school because that is the one school that needs to be decent to help propel your child to the next level. My mistake was I didn’t think about high school and now that I have a son in high school I had to make some sacrifices by sending him to private school so that he can be equipped with a good education. If you buy a house in a good neighborhood be prepared to pay the extra cost for the house or buy in a cheaper neighborhood send your child to a different school if you care about education because some parents don’t.

Lesson 5

Get you 2 plumbers, 2 electricians, 2 HVAC people, 2 people to do the lawn, 2 folks for handyman stuff, just get more than one person who can do a job. There was a plumber that I was using and now they only service my area once a week so if I don’t call them on the day they come out I have to wait until the next week. Always have a backup for all areas and make sure you negotiate when it comes to prices. I will say ok let me check with my other guy and see which one of you has the lowest price that usually starts the talking for the price to come down.

Lesson 6

Meet your neighbors. I know this is the new era where folks don’t talk to their neighbors and trust me I get it but you still need to make sure you know who is who around you and vice versa. Know faces even if you don’t know names. Know who drives what so that you can be aware of your surroundings.

Here are some more quick lessons

• Be prepared for unexpected expenses like termites. Get a pest company, please.
• flooding. Does your home or area need it? you might wanna look into that
• make sure your car can fit into the garage. Some garages may look standard but if you drive a certain SUV you might want to know how well it fits and if you have room for 2 cars in there and all of your stuff
• Be sure to confirm your property line. My neighbor is doing something to her backyard and I was like wait a minute she looks like she is in mine

Any other lessons? Add them in the comment below.
Listen to the audio version below if you don’t feel like reading.