A good rule of thumb after buying your first Altoona home is to set aside roughly 1 to 2 percent of the home’s value each year for repairs and maintenance, and to keep a separate cushion for the surprises of year one. Homeownership costs do not end at closing, and the buyers who plan for that are the ones who stay calm.
On a $275,000 home, that is roughly $2,750 to $5,500 a year, some years less, some years a lot more when a big-ticket system reaches the end of its life. Roofs, HVAC, water heaters, and appliances all wear out on their own schedule, not yours.
Here is the trade-off: fixing versus budgeting for it later. You do not have to do everything at once, but you do have to know what is coming. This is where your inspection earns its keep, because it tells you which systems are near the end of their life so nothing blindsides you. As one example, an 18-year-old HVAC that still works is normal wear, so budget to replace it in the next two to three years, but if it is leaking refrigerant with a failing compressor, that is a now problem, not a later one.
What I typically see in Altoona is that the buyers who set aside a maintenance fund handle the first furnace or water heater without drama, while the ones who budgeted to the last dollar treat a normal repair like an emergency. As one option, a home warranty at about $600 to $800 a year turns aging-but-working systems into a capped, known cost, which can protect a thin first-year budget.
For a full picture of the real cost of owning a home and how to plan for it, my Buyer Encyclopedia breaks it down.
Related Resources: how much cash to keep after buying and renovating before or after you move in.
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Written by Jason Huffey, REALTOR with RE/MAX Revolution (License S73436000), serving Altoona and the greater Des Moines metro. Call or text (515) 606-1227. The Best Is Yet To Come.
