Читать книгу Home Buying Kit For Dummies - Eric Tyson - Страница 59

As a homeowner, you must make your mortgage and property tax payments. If you don’t, you’ll eventually lose your home. Homes also require maintenance over the years. You must do some kinds of maintenance (repairs, for example) at a certain time. You never know precisely when you may need to fix an electrical problem, patch a leaking roof, or replace the washer and dryer — until the problem rears its ugly head, which is why maintenance is difficult to budget for. (Painting and other elective improvements can take place at your discretion.)

As a rule of thumb, expect to spend about 1 percent of your home’s purchase price each year on maintenance. So, for example, if you spend $150,000 on a home, you should budget about $1,500 per year (or about $125 per month) for maintenance. Although some years you may spend less, other years you may spend more. When your home’s roof goes, for example, replacing it may cost you several years’ worth of your budgeted maintenance expenses. With some types of housing, such as condominiums, you actually pay monthly dues into a homeowners association, which takes care of the maintenance for the complex. In that case, you’re responsible for maintaining only the interior of your unit. Before you buy such a unit, check with the association to see what the dues are and whether any new assessments are planned for future repairs. (See Chapter 8 for more information.)

In addition to necessary maintenance, you should be aware (and beware) of what you may spend on nonessential home improvements. This Other category can really get you into trouble. Advertisements, your neighbors, and your co-workers can all entice you into blowing big bucks on new furniture, endless remodeling projects, landscaping, and you name it.

Budget for these nonessentials; otherwise, your home can become a money pit by causing you to spend too much, not save enough, and (possibly) go into debt via credit cards and the like. (We cover the other dangers of over-improvement in Chapter 8.) Unless you’re a terrific saver, can easily accomplish your savings goal, and have lots of slack in your budget, be sure not to overlook this part of your home-expense budget.

The amount you expect to spend on improvements is just a guess. It depends on how finished the home is that you buy and on your personal tastes and desires. Consider your previous spending behavior and the types of projects you expect to do as you examine potential homes for purchase.

Item	Estimated Monthly Expense
Mortgage payment	$
Property taxes	+ $
Insurance	+ $
Improvements, maintenance, and other	+ $
Homeownership expenses (pretax)	= $
Tax savings	– $
Homeownership expenses (after tax benefits)	= $