Home Upkeep: Are You Prepared?

For first time home buyers, having the luxury to call a landlord for repairs, they often don’t realize how much they are responsible for repairing by themselves.

I wants future homeowners to be fully prepared for the upkeep a house requires.

“You may call a landlord for a leaking faucet or broken A/C but do you know all the work that is required in true residential maintenance?

New homeowners often run out and shop with the interior of the home as their focus with buying furniture, appliances, televisions and more. When often a first time buyer may not consider the cost of items needed to maintain the lawn, garden, gutters, deck or siding. After all, gutters need to be cleaned regularly to avoid drainage issues, which can often cause water to back up into the home causing ceiling leaks if the gutters go ignored.

Or if you have a deck or perhaps a cedar siding home, you will need a pest control company to treat regularly for wood bees, carpenter ants, and maybe even new siding pieces replaced as those pests, and woodpeckers manage to make holes and nests in the home’s exterior amenities. All that maintenance is needed and you haven’t even entered the home yet.

Once inside, the home requires that the heating / ac system have new filters replaced, often recommended to be changed monthly or quarterly. Do you have a fireplace? Don’t forget you have to sweep the chimney to avoid potential fire hazards. Did I mention fire? Yes, all the smoke, carbon monoxide or radon detectors need to be routinely checked to replace batteries.”

These are just a few of the items I go over with my clients to prepare them to own a home.  I am looking forward to doing business with you.