5 Things to Prepare for in the Transition from Renting to Owning a Home
What should long-time renters be aware of as they enter the world of homeownership?
While renting poses its own unique set of challenges and headaches, the transition from renting to owning comes with a bit of a learning curve. Aspects you simply don’t have to give much thought to when renting can become full-day and multi-hundred-dollar ordeals as a homeowner. These are a few things to prepare for as you embark on the journey of homeownership!
Finishing Touches & Furniture
Not always, but much of the time, moving into homeownership also involves moving into more space. Going from an apartment to a house is a common shift, and it comes with more square footage to furnish! When working with a smaller budget, checking for high-quality used furniture on sites like Facebook Marketplace or OfferUp may be a good place to start.
Aside from furniture, additional finishing touches like rugs, window coverings, or fresh paint also demand some of the budget. Plus, each of these projects represents a sizable time commitment: hanging blinds or curtains, painting, and touching up small details to meet your tastes and standards all take hours if not days. One of the benefits of building a custom home from scratch is that you can choose your finishings like blinds and paint colors up-front, leaving less work and fewer costs to deal with later on.
Landscaping
Whether your new home is preexisting or custom built, it’s unlikely that everything about your yard is exactly the way you want it upon purchase. Some new builds leave you creating your landscaping from scratch, which means you get to design the exact outdoor oasis you’ve been dreaming of. On the other hand, some homes might just be missing a few outdoor features you’ve been dreaming of. Prepare for at least some investment here; even if you’re just looking to add a small fire pit, a garden, or a pathway, you’re looking at costly materials and a few days’ worth of work.
HOAs
In terms of fees as well as requirements and responsibilities, it’s important to read your HOA agreement carefully. Before you start on landscaping projects, painting, or additions, get familiar with the local covenants and what you’re allowed to change about the appearance of your home. Some HOAs get as specific as dictating whether you can park RVs at your home, how many cars you can keep outside, or what color your front door is.
On the flip side, diving into the details of your HOA can also mean learning about additional amenities available to you in your community! Realtors can help make sense of HOA agreements and compare communities as you prepare to buy.
Maintenance
When purchasing a pre-existing home, you’re also signing on for pre-existing issues and an unknown point in the maintenance cycle you’ll need to pick up with. Ducts need cleaning, water heaters need servicing, furnaces need replacing, and the list goes on. Even if nothing breaks or clogs in the first few years after your purchase, you’ll need reasonable savings and reliable service providers on-call to keep your appliances running correctly. One of the benefits of building a new custom home is that you can rest assured that all appliances and major systems are brand new and in great condition.
Aside from regularly scheduled servicing, there are also weather-related maintenance steps that homeowners need to prepare for, like prepping pipes to withstand cold weather. Because there are so many unknowns involved in the purchase of a home, many people opt to purchase a home warranty in order to protect their budget in case of any large breakdowns.
Waste Management and Utilities
While garbage and recycling services are typically billed right alongside rent, they’re generally separate for homeowners. Sometimes these services come bundled in an HOA, but much of the time it’s up to the homeowner to investigate, choose, and pay for a waste management service as well as electric and gas utilities.
Remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day! Each of these aspects hold importance, but you don’t have to figure everything out immediately after you close on a home or finish building.
To cut down on maintenance and touch-up time and costs, build a custom home exactly to your liking. Work with Atmos to connect with experts in your area ready to help you build your dream home. Get started today!
