Purchasing a home is an ongoing series of privileges and responsibilities creating an emotional tie to your real estate.  Along with your desire to improve, and the even stronger desire to make the mortgage payment, should be a commitment to the upkeep of your home. 

Creating an Improvements Budget for upgrades and aesthetic features, along with a Maintenance Budget for repairs and preservation requires planning and a dose of discipline.  Planning is what keeps home ownership a joy.

If you have a mortgage, save the equivalent of three months payments each year in a special savings account.  Designate one-third for cosmetic improvements like painting.  One-third for short-term maintenance like appliance repairs or when the dog takes down your mini-blinds and you get to replace them.  The final third is your long-term investment; stockpiled for replacing the roof, new appliances, and other long-term expenses.  If you don’t have a mortgage, set aside 1% of your home value each year dedicated to your maintenance and repairs. 

• According to the National Association of Home Builders, gas ranges have the longest life expectancy of any of your appliances, fifteen years. 
• Your garbage disposal is likely to give up the ghost in only six years. 
• A good wooden deck, adored by purists but now becoming outdated by Trex inspired products, should last 20 years. 
• Your bathroom faucets are excepted to last fifty years but the working components are likely to quit around year fifteen
• My dishwasher recently quit though statistically five years longer than its expected nine years. 

In a culture where new and sparkling is sometimes revered above the loyal creaks of an aging home, a frustrated homeowner without a maintenance and replacement budget could become overwhelmed and opt to sell rather than repair.

• If you have recently purchased a home, or are about to purchase a home, consider a Home Warranty.  Not to be mistaken with Homeowner’s Insurance, a Home Warranty provides coverage to appliances and systems of a home.  Coverage can be as general as your heating system or as specific as the icemaker on the refrigerator. 

According to American Home Shield, the nation’s largest provider of home warranties, when a home changes ownership it also goes through a change of usage.  A large family moving into a home previously occupied by retired travel-happy snowbirds taxes appliances and systems which are forced to adapt to new usage rhythms.  Some appliances and system adapt gracefully, while others rebel.  Home Warranties provide coverage, including house calls, during the initial years of homeownership. 

I believe owning real estate is one of our great privileges.  Whether you own acreage or a home, demonstrating pride of ownership and enjoying the privilege of owning real estate go hand in hand.  However, as many a motto advises: Be Prepared!  Breakdowns and repairs are unpredictably predictable which is why having a budget in place will keep your ownership experience rewarding. 

Lead your life so you wouldn’t be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip!  ~Will Rogers