vg- don't blame the baby!!!
Well, we're looking at moving out of state in 2yrs, so I guess we've decided not to buy yet. We're still saving a lot tho!
And when our lease is up we're going to find a smaller, more affordable home to rent, so hopefully we can hit that 20% savings goal.
Hot off the press: I just met with a client who bought a home last year with her S.O. Both of these people are meticulously organized with budgeting, savings, and I did fin. plans for each of them. They should be in good shape, right? Not really.
Why? Because they grossly underestimated the costs involved AFTER buying a home. And they got a fixer-upper as well. Not only do you have to repair, paint, upgrade, buy appliances, etc...you will want to furnish it, do lawnwork, etc. Even though you have some inexpensive contractors at your disposal, it will add UP.
It happened to me as well after I got this place. So, as part of your home-savings plan, I would try to save an additional $5K (or whatever amount) towards post-purchase purchases.
My clients went through a lot of their savings and had to sell stock to complete their home improvement projects.
"Have you ever been to American wedding? Where is the vodka, where's marinated herring?" - GB
"And do the cats give a shit? No, they do not. Why? Because they're cats."-from The Onion
Originally Posted by Mia M
Agreed. Our home was pretty new...but to paint, furnish the place, it took about $5,000. If you are going to purchase a fixer-upper home...you'd better have an additional $50,000 (depending on the repairs that made it a 'fixer-upper'). Some people think they save money on buying the "handyman special" but...unless you can do all the work yourselves or it's just minor cosmetic work...by the time you get done doing everything...you've spent just as much for that house as you would for a home that didn't need that work.
Do your research.
That is true that repairs/renovations on a house can cause a person to spend more than if he/she bought a fully renovated house from the start(similarly to restoring an old car vs. an old car that is already restored). However, getting a "project house" can be a good idea if the person can get it for cheap and if the person is looking at customizing the house in big ways...e.g., repainting it in unusual colors, knocking down extra walls/hallways to allow for more "open space" living on the first floor, tearing apart and reinstalling the kitchen, etc. That's what my dad did with his current home(a farmhouse built in 1895) and a few houses before that. Sometimes there's no sense in paying extra for a home that you're just going to tear up and renovate anyway.
But it is all up to research and each person's individual situation, I suppose.
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