What You Need Know About Your Starter Home
Congratulations! You’ve inked that final contract, paid your closing costs, and you’re moving in. You’ve purchased your first home! For many young adults and new families, buying their first home is a significant milestone in their lives. It’s pretty much like their way of saying “We did it! We’ve arrived!” And it’s not like buying a home is easy; in fact, it’s one of the most expensive purchases a single person or small family can make in the US, with college probably coming in a close second. There can be a lot, and I mean A LOT of hidden costs associated with it: inspection fees, possible liens against the house, opening costs, closing costs, costs with moving in, etc. It’ll drain your pocket dry, like nothing else.
However, if you planned ahead and saved, (which you probably did to get to this point) then you would be able to purchase that home no problem! Now, seeing that you’ve invested so much into your first home, it’s only natural that you’ll want to exercise extra caution in taking care of it. After all, nothing is worse than paying out so much money for a roof over your head, only to lose it to internal damage, burglary, natural disasters, etc.
Now, when it comes to maintenance and overall taking care of your newly acquired investment, there are several things that one must consider. These are things that would mainly be covered in the initial inspection of the house prior to buying, but these are things that are still necessary to consider long after you get the green light to move in.
Internal Pipe Network
Water is life, plain and simple. With that said, you’ll no doubt want to have clean drinking water at your convenience. In order for that to happen, you need to ensure that your plumbing network is in proper order – there are no leaks in your pipes, toilet’s properly installed, water heater’s correctly set up – the works. Now would be a good time to enlist the services of a professional plumbing company, or a highly qualified, individual plumber to check your internal pipe structure. A good recommendation would be to have your plumbing checked twice a year. Remember, your pipes handle large volumes of water with various levels of pressure on a daily basis; they WILL suffer wear and tear over time.
House Safety and Security
You want to feel safe and happy in your brand new house. The last thing that you want to happen is when you’re travelling up your stairs, they give out on you – talk about a painful drop. With your plumbing, you should always ensure that the inner structure of your house is in tip top condition. Consider the materials that make up the structures in your home – if wooden stairs may not be a good idea, hire a contractor to swap them out for some tiled or concrete stairs. This tip is ESPECIALLY crucial if you have little ones running around – you want to keep them safe and healthy in your home. The only spills they should have are from their juice cups. Keep in mind to also secure your home from burglars and anyone else you want to keep out to ensure your family is safe.
Expansion
You’re a young couple and you’ve settled in. But you have twins on the way! Have you considered whether or not your house can accommodate your bundles of joy? Truth be told, this should have been considered from the initial stages of buying a house, but expansions are relatively simple to do. One tip would be to get in touch with a good architect to find out whether it is a cost effective idea to add on more rooms, or restructure existing ones.
Interior cleaning
This is something that you can easily do for your new home: keep it clean. You can quite simply clean your house twice a week or so, invest in a vacuum cleaner if you live somewhere that can get particularly dusty, for instance. Also change your curtains and so regularly; not only is it a bit unsightly to have dirty curtains up, but it can also foster allergens. Speaking of allergens, if you own pets, you’ll need to account for them as well: get an inexpensive pet vacuum and keep your new home spotless. If cleaning isn’t your strong suit, you can always hire a professional cleaning service.
Internal wiring
This is also something that should be considered when first purchasing a home – faulty wiring is not only costly to fix, but extremely dangerous. When it comes to the wiring in your home, this is something that is generally not recommended doing yourself – unless you’re a qualified electrician. Always have your wiring checked regularly, perhaps once every 4 months.
Owning a home comes with many challenges, costs and risks. But, it’s also one of the most satisfying feelings ever to be a homeowner. If you keep these tips in mind, you’ll be sure to enjoy your home for many years to come.
