Before you sign the dotted line, you need to understand everything about the house you’re wanting to buy, so you can make informed decisions. You need to know if the house you’re looking at is worth your money and time, and inevitably every house is going to cost you both. The best way to understand the current condition of the house is to have a professional home inspection performed by a licensed professional home inspector from Upright Professional Inspections. This guide will continue under the assumption you have gotten a professional home inspection and have been given the report.
The most important thing to remember is that you don’t have to panic. You don’t have to rush to fix everything. The house doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, a perfect house doesn’t exist. Being a good homeowner isn’t about doing everything immediately; it’s about doing things at the appropriate times, having a plan and a budget, and not making mountains out of mole hills.
Becoming familiar with your house, neighborhood & city will help you understand how to accomplish your short-term and long-term goals. Familiarizing yourself with your new house is easy with an inspection walk-through and report from Upright Professional Inspections. During the walk-through, we prioritize helping you understand the information we have gathered. We walk around the entire house, pointing out the location of key items, such as:
If someone’s being shocked, you’ll need to know where the main disconnect switch is located in the electrical panel. If you ever pop a breaker and need to reset it or need to turn off the electricity to a certain area of the house for repairs, you’ll need to know where the main electrical panel and sub panels are located. These locations are found in the “Service Entrance and Panels” section of the inspection report provided by Upright Professional Inspections.
The main disconnect for the gas line on any house is located outside the house, on one of the pipes below the meter. It’s located here, because if you ever smell gas and don’t know where it’s coming from, the safest thing for you to do is get everyone out of the house immediately and shut off the gas from outside the house. Code also requires a shut-off valve for each appliance to be located in the same room as the appliance, within 6 feet. So, for instance, many ovens have a shut-off valve located in the kitchen within 6 feet of the oven, typically either behind the appliance or in a cabinet. These locations are found in the “Gas Distribution Systems and Gas Appliances” and the “Ranges, Cooktops, and Ovens” sections of the inspection report provided by Upright Professional Inspections.
It’s standard practice for the outlets in multiple bathrooms to be wired on the same circuit and protected by a single GFCI device, so you can have a reset for the hall bathroom outlets located in the master bathroom or vice versa. It’s common for all of the outlets in the kitchen to be protected by only two GFCI outlets in the kitchen. It’s also common for bathtubs with jets to have ground-fault protection via an AFCI/GFCI breaker located in the main breaker box. Knowing the location of the GFCI reset breakers, outlets, and buttons will ensure you will always be able to turn the power back on to your outlets and circuits, after the ground-fault has been resolved. These locations are found in the “Branch Circuits, Connected Devices, and Fixtures” section of the inspection report provided by Upright Professional Inspections.
The dryer exhaust termination location is important to know, because there will be lint. If you don’t clean out any clogged lint from the termination, it can cause your dryer to not work properly and even creates a fire hazard. I recommend checking this for lint every time you replace the air filter in your house, every 1-3 months. The location of the dryer exhaust termination can be found in the “Dryer Exhaust Systems” section of the inspection report provided by Upright Professional Inspections.
The location of your well water pump is essential to know, especially in conjunction with the drain field of any septic system. Code requires drain fields to be a minimum of 100 feet from any wells, to prevent contamination of the water with bacteria, viruses, and other harmful substances. It’s also important to know if your well needs to be winterized. Typically, well houses are built around wells, to insulate them, so clean water can flow even during freezing temperatures. The location of the well pump can be found in the “Private Water Wells” section of the inspection report provided by Upright Professional Inspections.
There are two types of filters for H.V.A.C. systems: standard and media. Your system can either get air from a single location, such as a hallway, or from multiple locations, such as every bedroom. If your system gets air from a single location, a standard filter is used. If it gets air from multiple locations, it can either use a filter at each location or a single media filter at the unit. The location of the H.V.A.C. filter can be found in the “Heating Equipment” section of the inspection report provided by Upright Professional Inspections.
Every sprinkler system is required to have a back-flow preventer, to prevent ground water from flowing back into and contaminating the clean water system of the house. This device, on the exterior of the house, is also where you will winterize the system. Winterizing the system is essential, because it prevents damage to the system during freezing temperatures. The location of the back-flow preventer can be found in the “Landscape Irrigation (Sprinkler) System” section of the inspection report provided by Upright Professional Inspections.
The locations of all access panels for the attic and/or crawl spaces are important to know, because these areas are where you can find plumbing lines, H.V.A.C. components, water heaters, ceiling or floor insulation, and more. The location of the access panels can be found in either the “Foundations” or the “Roof Structures and Attics” section of the inspection report provided by Upright Professional Inspections.
Every house has a primary clean-out for the plumbing drain line. This located between the house and the city sewer line or the septic tank. The most important reason to know this location is to be able to inform your plumber, if they ever need to clear a clogged drain line. However, it’s also important to keep it in mind when you’re mowing the lawn, because it’s very easy to mow over the top of this clean-out and have to replace the cap. These locations are found in the “Plumbing Supply, Distribution Systems, and Fixtures” section of the inspection report provided by Upright Professional Inspections.
While you’re becoming familiar with the rest of the house, it’s also important to familiarize yourself with the switches. Some switches you will need to know for your own safety, such as the switches controlling the lights above the stairways, while others are not safety related, they can be a little counterintuitive. For instance some switches will control the power to a single outlet on the wall (typically in older homes designed for the use of lamps). The locations of all switches are not detailed in the report, but an inspector from Upright Professional Inspections will have flipped every switch and determined its function during the inspection. If you have any questions, the time to ask is during the walk-through.
After you have familiarized yourself with your new home, it’s time to familiarize yourself with your new neighborhood, specifically with the people. I recommend throwing a block party soon after you move in. Grill some hamburgers or sausages and brush off one or two of your favorite stories about yourself. Oh, and have fun!
At the very least, your new neighbors can be a well-spring of knowledge, but they can do and become so much more. They will report any suspicious activity to help protect your family and your house, and can offer guidance and advice based on their experience as a homeowner. Their kids are going to play with your kids. If there is a natural disaster, they’re going to come together to help everyone overcome it. Some could even become your best friends.
In time, you will learn what your favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurants are and which short cuts to take to avoid traffic. The first things you need to learn about your city are the locations of hospitals, schools, government buildings, and home repair stores. I recommend asking your new neighbors their opinion about local hospitals and schools.
First thing’s first, when moving into a new home, you’ll need to change your address. Remember to change it for all of the following:
We all have important paper documents, such as birth certificates and tax records, and with your new house, comes new documents. I recommend keeping them in a fireproof, waterproof file-safe, so no matter what, your important documents will not be damaged.
Once you have a file-safe, it’s time to create four new folders, labeled “Proof of Ownership”, “Financial Documents”, “Maintenance Records”, & “Other Documents”. Each folder will contain many documents. I’ll list a few for each, but keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list. Also, feel free to organize these documents however you want.
The “Accounts Spreadsheet” is the last important document I recommend having in the “Other Documents” folder, and it’s one you’ll need to create. It’s states all of your service providers and their phone numbers, along with your account numbers. Now, you need to have a digital version of this as well, but it also helps to have a printed version for easy access while you’re on the phone. Here’s a link to a google-sheets template I created:
Once you have all these documents organized, it will provide peace of mind. You will always know where they’re located and have easy access to them. It will also be much easier to maintain your paperwork, if you start off with a good system.
Creating a budget for your house helps you be financially prepared for the maintenance, repairs, and upgrades. It can actually save you money by allowing you to address small problems immediately, before they have a chance to grow into big ones! The general rule of thumb is to set aside 1-4% of your home’s value annually.
While creating your house budget, you can refer to the professional home inspection report provided by Upright Professional Inspections. As you create the list of maintenance, repairs, and upgrades on paper or a spreadsheet, be sure to highlight the safety deficiencies that need to be addressed first. Then, add an estimated cost of repairs to each item. Finally, organize your list in a way that reflects your own priorities for safety, practicality, and desire.
Most likely, you aren’t going to be able to afford doing all of the repairs at once. In fact, most homeowners aren’t, and that’s okay. Remember, it’s not a race to accomplish everything. You don’t have to compare yourself or keep up with the Jones’. Every homeowner has to create a budget and live within their means. Remember, unexpected expenses will come up, so it’s important to designated some money for unexpected repairs. I recommend designating a minimum of $20/month to your unexpected repairs fund.
If “location, location, location” is the key to purchasing real estate, then “maintenance, maintenance, maintenance” is the key to being a good homeowner. Every homeowner needs to know how to maintain their house, even you. It’s not a matter of how much money you have, and it doesn’t have anything to do with how much you dislike this kind of work. Some repairs will need to be done immediately, and it’s your responsibility.
At the beginning, beware of biting off more than you can chew. Hire professionals for any field in which you are not skilled and try to learn from them as they work. In many cases, if a job is done wrong, it could damage the house or even pose a health hazard to you and your family. Before you start working, you’re going to need some tools.
In this initial phase of maintenance, you should consider what needs to be done to the house before you move in, to make you feel safe and secure. The first thing I recommend to everyone who has just purchased a new home is to change the locks. Also, make sure there are no other ways to enter the house, via unlocked windows or unlocked exterior attic access panels.
After that, verify that all of the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms are working properly. Also, make sure that you don’t smell gas anywhere inside the house. Then, gather your entire family together, and create an evacuation plan. Everyone needs to know where the closest points of egress are located, including exterior doors and windows, in case of an emergency. They need to know where to meet outside of the house, so everyone can safely be accounted for. Assign roles and responsibilities, especially for assisting anyone with special needs.
Make sure all of the lights in stairways are working properly. It seems silly, but you never want to risk using the stairs in the dark, especially in an unfamiliar house.
Consider adding a security system to your new house. You may want to start with a Ring doorbell or something similar and upgrade to a more comprehensive system in time.
The second phase of maintenance is all about helping your new house feel more like your home, by making it fully functional and comfortable. This phase will definitely take more than a few days. In fact, it never ends, because once you get your house to that point, you’ll have to do regular maintenance to keep it that way. The key to it is to not do too much at one time-not only because it can be overwhelming, but because you never fully know how much time and money a project will actually take, until you’re in the middle of it.
Permits may be required by your city, especially for repairs that involve structural changes, electrical, gas, or plumbing work, or work that includes significant modifications to the H.V.A.C. system. When making a major repairs to critical systems, it’s best to check with your local building department to inform you of the specific requirements for your projects.
There will be jobs that only licensed professionals should do, such as replace the H.V.A.C. unit. You will be able to handle the majority of the jobs yourself, such as replacing a faucet or door handle, or patching a corner-pop in the foundation. There will also be jobs that even your children will be able to do, such as replacing light bulbs, changing air filters, and mowing the lawn.
Home maintenance needs fluctuate constantly, and while the air filter might have been new and the gutters might have been clean during the original home inspection, they may not be anymore. It’s your responsibility to determine when any maintenance needs to be done.
Here is a list of the 10 most common home maintenance that is forgotten:
It’s important to be aware of how old each of your systems and components are, so you will not be caught off guard, when they need to be replaced. You need to budget accordingly and schedule this maintenance. Regular maintenance typically extends the life of many of the major systems and components, but they all have limited life expectancies and will eventually need to be replaced.
Below is a list of some of the major systems with their average life expectancy in years:
| Systems & Components | Life Expectancy in Years |
|---|
| Septic Tank Pumping | 3-5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Water Heater | 8-15 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dishwasher | 9-16 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Washer & Dryer | 10-13 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oven | 13-17 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Silicone Caulk | 8-20 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fridge | 10-20 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| H.V.A.C. | 15-20 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Asphalt Shingles | 15-25 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Energy Efficient Windows | 15-40 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Septic System | 20-40 |
Well, it’s up to you if there will be more maintenance or not. This final phase of maintenance is about upgrading and renovating your house to make it more you. Yes, you should be repairing your house and maintaining your house in ways that reflect your personality. What differentiates this work from the work in previous phases is that these upgrades and renovations are not necessary, but they can increase your home’s value. More importantly, they can bring you joy and peace of mind, which is a lot more valuable than money.
Renovating is extremely hard work. So much time and energy goes into budgeting, researching, designing, scheduling, & overseeing, and you want to make sure that the renovations are either something that you can’t live without in your dream home or something that will provide a return on your investment. When you renovate, be sure to: