It's expensive to own a house.
If there is one thing I've learned over this past year of living in our new house, it's the above sentence. It was a year ago today that Christy and I signed the papers and moved into our house. At the advice of our real estate agent, and because we had a one year "bumper to bumper" warranty on the house, we decided to get another home inspection, at the cost of $345. Yep, $345 for a guy to come out for 90 minutes and tell us what needs to be fixed.
I suppose it was worth it, because right now as I'm typing this, our front driveway is being torn up and re-paved. According to the inspector, the driveway "has severely separated, heaved, and moved away from each section at the expansion boards." Our back fence needs to be fixed as well, and about 15 little interior problems. Most of these things we would never have noticed, and because of our 1 year warranty, everything will be fixed at the builders expense. As of tomorrow, though, only the foundation of the house is covered (for 9 more years). Since we might move before then, I'm glad these things are covered.
We also got our first "Home Owners Association" (HOA) bill in the mail. Our "annual maintenance fee" is $220. Not as much as some neighborhoods, but still, this seems like a lot of money to pay for virtually nothing. There is no community swimming pool here that needs to be maintained, and everyone maintains their own property. So what do they do? Oh yeah, they send letters to residents telling them to cut their lawns. Big freaking deal. For this I have to pay $220? The HOA just seems like a big fat scam to me. Perhaps someone can write to me and explain just why the HOA is necessary. For condos, I can understand, but not for homes.
Our house payment increased by $7 as well. Perhaps it's because the value of the house went up a few dollars? I'm not really sure.
So, yes, as everyone has informed me, it is indeed expensive to own a house. Were we tricked, like many other Americans, into buying a house that we couldn't afford? No. We can manage. One of the reasons we decided to live out in farm country is because of the low interest and mortgage rates out here. Our monthly mortgage payment is less than rent money for a one bedroom apartment in California. Christy and I could work minimum wage jobs at McDonalds and we'd still have enough to pay our mortgage payment (although I hope that never happens!)
A year ago, I wrote that I feel "content", rather than "excited" about living in our new house. I still feel that way. I still like the house, and I'm glad that D.R. Horton (the home builder) isn't giving us any crap about fixing everything that we want them to.
We now begin year two in the house, with the economy still in the toilet, and with more home foreclosures expected this year than last. Some economists predict six million people will lose their homes this year (primarily in the states already suffering, like California, Nevada, and Florida.) Pretty scary figures. Although it's something I never thought I'd say, but right now I'm glad I live in Texas.
If there is one thing I've learned over this past year of living in our new house, it's the above sentence. It was a year ago today that Christy and I signed the papers and moved into our house. At the advice of our real estate agent, and because we had a one year "bumper to bumper" warranty on the house, we decided to get another home inspection, at the cost of $345. Yep, $345 for a guy to come out for 90 minutes and tell us what needs to be fixed.
I suppose it was worth it, because right now as I'm typing this, our front driveway is being torn up and re-paved. According to the inspector, the driveway "has severely separated, heaved, and moved away from each section at the expansion boards." Our back fence needs to be fixed as well, and about 15 little interior problems. Most of these things we would never have noticed, and because of our 1 year warranty, everything will be fixed at the builders expense. As of tomorrow, though, only the foundation of the house is covered (for 9 more years). Since we might move before then, I'm glad these things are covered.
We also got our first "Home Owners Association" (HOA) bill in the mail. Our "annual maintenance fee" is $220. Not as much as some neighborhoods, but still, this seems like a lot of money to pay for virtually nothing. There is no community swimming pool here that needs to be maintained, and everyone maintains their own property. So what do they do? Oh yeah, they send letters to residents telling them to cut their lawns. Big freaking deal. For this I have to pay $220? The HOA just seems like a big fat scam to me. Perhaps someone can write to me and explain just why the HOA is necessary. For condos, I can understand, but not for homes.
Our house payment increased by $7 as well. Perhaps it's because the value of the house went up a few dollars? I'm not really sure.
So, yes, as everyone has informed me, it is indeed expensive to own a house. Were we tricked, like many other Americans, into buying a house that we couldn't afford? No. We can manage. One of the reasons we decided to live out in farm country is because of the low interest and mortgage rates out here. Our monthly mortgage payment is less than rent money for a one bedroom apartment in California. Christy and I could work minimum wage jobs at McDonalds and we'd still have enough to pay our mortgage payment (although I hope that never happens!)
A year ago, I wrote that I feel "content", rather than "excited" about living in our new house. I still feel that way. I still like the house, and I'm glad that D.R. Horton (the home builder) isn't giving us any crap about fixing everything that we want them to.
We now begin year two in the house, with the economy still in the toilet, and with more home foreclosures expected this year than last. Some economists predict six million people will lose their homes this year (primarily in the states already suffering, like California, Nevada, and Florida.) Pretty scary figures. Although it's something I never thought I'd say, but right now I'm glad I live in Texas.
Great post, Ken. Thanks for including the details! Happy 2011.
ReplyDeleteDo you pay your property taxes and/or your house insurance through your house payment? That would explain the payment going up 7 bucks. Also, an ARM could cause your payments to go up, but it seems like you said it was fixed.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you got that inspection. For that much to go wrong in a year is bad and could have been catastrophic if you'd let it go. I'm glad they are fixing it.
The foundation is so important that I'm glad you have 9 more years on that.
You remember Fredna? They bought their house new several years ago. They developed some problems recently, got it inspected, and found they had major problems. Pieces of the house had to be torn away and rebuilt.
So, I'm glad you had yours inspected and fixed. This may save you heartache down the line.
Janet
Janet,
ReplyDeleteOur property taxes and insurance are both part of our mortgage. The bank overcharged us last year on property taxes. They took out around $3500 in property taxes and the actual bill was only $2100. So they're sending us a refund, and that may lead to a lowering of the mortgage payment, which would be pretty nice.
We don't have an ARM loan. I read too many horror stories about ARM loans, so we went with a fixed loan.
None of the repairs are catastrophic. Mostly they are just for appearance. But still, I'd rather do it all now while everything is still under warranty.